For some reason, Sakyo Qilin has issued a challenge for Davis Motomiya and Ichika Orimura. The two of them are to face each of the Four Heavenly Kings. They accepted the challenge and the first one stepping up is Iratin Genbu. As he jumped right off from his position, he landed down in the arena and was ready to face either of them.
"As Sakyo Qilin's shield, I will not be defeated so easily." Iratin claimed with the two of them ready to fight.
"Hold on, big guy. Who said you get them first?" Senka said.
"For once we agree. Why should you be the first to go?" Seyu questioned.
"I have already decided on the order." Sakyo claimed. "Genbu will be the first, followed by Shirotora, then Ryudoragon, and finally Suzaku."
"Is there a reason for this order?" Seyu asked.
"Who cares?! I'm ready to take you guys on! Let's go!" Davis said as he was ready to jump in a fight, but Ichika stopped him from doing anything.
"Hold on, Davis. Let me take on the first two matches." Ichika said.
"Why?" Davis asked.
"You need a moment to calm down, and we need to handle this carefully." Ichika said. "We don't know what they're planning with all of this, but we've got to be smart. Right now, you're a little too worked up." Davis wants to get in their and fight, but he's already on bad terms with Chifuyu. He'll just have to go with it.
"Fine, but I don't think having me wait is going to help." Davis said as he stepped down and left Ichika to face Iratin.
"So, you will be my opponent, Orimura. Time to see what the first I.S. male pilot is really capable of." Iratin said.
"How do you plan to fight me exactly?" Ichika questioned.
"With this." Iratin said as he held up his black brace. "You're in for a surprise." He unleashed the power that brace held. When he unleashed it, no one could believe what they were seeing. Iratin was placed in some sort of armor and machinery, armor and machinery that looked way too familiar.
"That's...impossible!" Ichika said. All who were watching couldn't believe it, especially Laura.
"That can't be! That's... That's Schwarzer Regen!" Laura called as she was completely shocked. Somehow, Iratin has his own copy of Schwarzer Regen, Laura's I.S., with it being completely black and grey.
"How the hell is that possible?!" Lita said.
"There's just no way this could be real!" Sierra said.
"What the hell?!" Ichika said.
"Surprised? Well, you can relax. This isn't an I.S." Iratin claimed, but that just made things all the more confusing. "Thanks to the data that Ryudoragon and Shirotora acquired from here, we developed our own weapons to be used against them. We know that the I.S. is a powerful weapon, and we need an equally powerful weapon to do that."
"But how? How do you have Schwarzer Regen?" Ichika questioned.
"It might look similar to an I.S., but it is not." Iratin said. "A leopard has spots like a jaguar. They are two animals that look similar, but are quite different. Animals use mimicry as a means of surviving and such. This is a similar principle. Although they look similar to your I.S., these pieces of machine are much different. We call them Shadow Units."
"Shadow Units?" Ichika said.
"This is called Shadow Schwarzer Regen." Iratin claimed. "The data we had was of the personal units in this academy and allowed us to develop these prototypes. That is why they look similar, for now at least. Now, the time has come to see what they can really do."
"Enough stalling!" Sakyo called. "Orimura, you will be in the first fight against Genbu! I highly suggest you bring out your I.S. if you want to have a chance! The Shadow Units operate similar to the I.S. units. You and Motomiya will fight one-on-one against the Four Heavenly Kings. That means that you will both fight two opponents each. I'm interested to see what the only two male pilots can really do with my own eyes. Now, it's time to begin. " After that, he reached for a communication piece in his ear and was on a private channel. "Are you reading all of this, professor?"
"Yes, Lord Sakyo. I have ran numerous tests and simulations of the Shadow Units, but now we must see how they handle actual combat. However, I'm afraid compatibility is only at twenty-percent."
"That will have to do." Sakyo said as he tried to enjoy the show. "The data we gather on what happens here will be most useful."
"All right. You want to get this started? Let's get this started!" Ichika said as he unleashed Byakushiki and got himself ready for a fight. "You're cheap imitations can't compare to the real thing!" Ichika didn't waste another moment. He flew straight at him and tried striking him with his sword, but Iratin formed a saber from a beam and blocked the attack and pushed him off. Iratin swung the sword at him, but Ichika flew straight up and avoided him.
"You can't run from me!" Iratin called. He was even able to fly and flew straight at him. Iratin tried striking at him this time, but Ichika blocked each one of his attacks. Ichika blocked each one of his attacks until Iratin was able to get it pinned down. Once he did that, Iratin aimed with a railgun.
"Damn!" Ichika complained. He tried moving away, but Iratin still fired and landed a good hit on Ichika that he was sent falling to the ground. Everyone was shocked to see Ichika get pushed around like that. The worst part was that Iratin wasn't done. He flew straight down at Ichika and tried to stab him, but Ichika was able to move out of the way in time.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing." Lita said as they all watched the two of them keep going at each other.
"Neither can I. It's like that guy knows what he's doing." Kimi said. "I can't believe they already know how to model and pilot something similar to an I.S. How would that even be possible?"
"And we still don't know enough about these things, but they did a pretty good job of copying it." Serene said. They watched as the two of them kept fighting with their sabers and flew up in the air. As they flew around, Laura noticed something strange.
"Hold on. It might be a cheaper copy than we thought." Laura said with all of them wondering what she meant. "I know my Schwarzer Regen very well, and I know it can move much faster than that." They took a look and saw that the Shadow Unit was moving much slower than the real thing.
"Laura's right! That's why he used the railgun at such a close range." Houki said. "He must be trying to close the distance and keep this as a close-range combat to make up for the lack of speed."
"So, if Ichika can strike faster, he has the advantage." Sierra claimed. Iratin tried to close the distance, but Ichika was moving much faster. Something Ichika certainly noticed.
'It looks like he has a hard time keeping up.' Ichika thought. 'Still, if I get in close, he's not afraid to use that railgun. He also throws some weight in those strikes of his. That means my best chance to win is to keep my distance.' Ichika followed through with his plan and tried firing at him. However, Iratin didn't need to dodge or was able to deflect his attacks.
"It would seem your specialty lies with fighting up close. Too bad for you, I'm simply stronger!" Iratin declared as he flew up to him again and tried to strike at him. He swung his blade down with Ichika trying to block it, but there was some weight behind that attack. Ichika ended up crashing and skidding against the ground. He tried to keep his footing, but Iratin didn't stop with the attacks. He fired the railgun again. Ichika tried to clear away from the attack, but the blast still detonated and tossed him back.
"Come on, Ichika! Don't give him the chance to attack like that!" Houki cheered.
"What is he going to do? That brute certainly has some strength and powerful weapons. His style of fighting is different from Laura's." Cecilia said. "Laura, what are the weaknesses of your I.S.? That thing must have the same ones."
"As if I would reveal that." Laura said.
"I don't think he needs to." Fria claimed. "Didn't you notice that he is using the same weapons. He hasn't used any of the weapons that Laura's unit would have." When Fria pointed that out, they all realized that she was right. "Maybe that's because he doesn't have them." Fria brought up a point, and brought up the problem without realizing this.
"Iratin, end this quickly. The professor wasn't able to copy all the features of Schwarzer Regen. The longer this fight goes on, the more problematic it will be for you." Sakyo claimed as he knew Iratin won't be able to last much longer. It's only a matter of time until Ichika finds the flaws and exploits them.
"This guy isn't fooling around." Ichika said. Ichika was careful with what he would do next. He just stayed where he was, noticed his shield energy was deleting, and won't last long at this rate. Iratin flew down and stood across from him.
"It seems that the brother of the infamous Chifuyu is nothing compared to the older sibling." Iratin said and got under Ichika's skin. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You never really stood a chance. It as I said earlier, I am the impenetrable shield of Lord Sakyo Qilin. I will not and shall not break or yield so easily! I stand for his ideals, his ambition, and I will defend them to the end!"
"Oh, give me a break!" Ichika said as he thought that was garbage. "You claim you stand for his ideals?! Those ideals is that you stand against I.S. units, yet look at you! You're fighting me with I.S. technology! You're just big hypocrites!"
"As I said before, this technology is used to FIGHT I.S.! They are similar, but the Shadow Units is very different!" Iratin declared as he went on the attack again. He swung his saber down at him, but Ichika tried to hold it back. "Lord Qilin, is a visionary! He saw that in order to defeat the I.S., we must have weapons similar to the I.S.! These weapons aid in a step further to equality! He is not one to let his pride cloud his judgement for the cause! Lord Qilin's will and ambition can't be stopped! It is absolute! If you would join us, you would understand!"
"I don't want to understand!" Ichika said as he tried to push back. He saw his shield power was dropping and needed to get out of there before it was too late. Ichika jumped away when he got the chance and readied himself. 'I need to end this now. I could use the Reiraku Byakuya, but if I don't take him out with that one hit, I'm not going to have enough power to defend myself. However...' Ichika things he might have something as he looks down at his left arm.
"I say this is just about over!" Iratin called as he aimed the railgun, but Ichika made the next move as he flew straight at him. He swung his weapon straight at him, but Iratin blocked his attack. "That was your last mistake!" He aimed the railgun right at Ichika.
"Oh dear. It looks like this match is over." Seyu said.
"I guess he wasn't that tough after all." Byako said as they thought Ichika lost with that last resort of his.
"Wait! Look there!" Senku said with the others noticing Ichika's left arm built some power. He stored energy into his left hand and smashed it right into Iratin's chest. When he did that, a powerful blast came out from it and smashed right through all of Iratin's defenses. The force and power of the attack did some real damage and Iratin was sent flying with his Shadow Unit torn to pieces. The win was unreal and impressive. This marked the first of the Four Heavenly Kings defeated.
"Ichika won!" Houki cheered.
"As if there was any doubt!" Cecilia said with admiration.
"Yeah! that's Ichika!" Davis cheered. Everyone was pleased and happy that Ichika won, but Iratin felt shame.
"I was...defeated... I brought shame to Lord Qilin." Iratin moaned as he hates himself for this.
"Not bad..." Sakyo said as he acknowledge what Ichika has accomplished. "He didn't even use his signature attack: the Reiraku Byakuya. He's a little craftier than I thought."
"Hoo..." Ichika sighed as Byakushiki went back to lock mode. "That was a tough one."
"Don't get too comfortable!" Ichika looked to the side and looked at Byako. "It's now my turn."
"You're free to rest and do maintenance on your I.S." Sakyo allowed. "That said, will Motomiya be taking part in the second fight?"
"No. I can't take the second match." Ichika said.
"You better brace yourself, then. I'm not as nice as Iratin." Byako claimed as he was he had a few sneaky tricks up his sleeve.
...
Davis: Genbu was tough, but Shirotora seems to be pretty sly. He claims that no one has ever defeated him before. Just how cocky is this guy? I would like to get in there and take him, but Ichika wants to take him on as well. Luckily, I'll get my turn soon enough.
Next Time: The Cunning Tiger
Ichika has a few tricks, but this guy is a little trickier.