Icarus 15

The Battle between Wyatt and Griffin began as The American summed his drill tipped spear in an attempt to get in the first hit. But with her knuckles shaped drones, Griffin was able to get a solid one-two combo on her opponent.

The girl smirked "You might've been able to block a goal against me last year. But I won't let you win this time."

Griffin charged at her opponent as Wyatt evaded the girl's attack and managed to strike her with a solid spear thrust.

Wyatt was able to get another good 3 thrust in before get knocked away by one of Griffin's knuckle drones.

Before the girl could further her assault, Wyatt opens fired with his wrist mounted Gatling gun.

Once Griffin caught her breath, she says "Seems you've come to play, well then let's."

At that moment something resembling a blue soccer ball spores in her hands. Griffin dropped the ball towards the ground and kicked it right at the American. Wyatt attempts to deflects the ball away but the second it touched his spear, the ball instantly exploded and knocked Wyatt onto his back.

Just as Wyatt could process what had just occurred, he saw Griffin descending from the air about to strike her opponent with an axe kick. With his amazingly fast reflexes, Wyatt was able to pierce the girl right in the chest with his spear, stopping Griffin's attack dead in its track. With the girl still on his spear, the drill tip began to spin while Wyatt took flight into the sky.

Griffin attempts to knock her opponent away with her knuckle drones, but with his Shield, Wyatt was able to block each hit.

Wyatt shot himself right into the wall with his unit's ignition boost, forcing Griffin to take most of the damage.

The Spanish girl managed to kick Wyatt away and create two more soccer balls. She kicked them toward Wyatt as the American flew away from them and switched his drill spear tip to his anchors shaped one. Immediately the anchor unfolded into a trident as he charged right towards Griffin.

As Wyatt was able to get a solid strike against his opponent, Griffin nearly took Wyatt's head off with a roundhouse kick.

Griffin asked after regaining her balance "Exactly why are you fighting for a spot? I never saw you as the competitor type."

Wyatt answered "There's someone I have to face in that tournament. Plus beating you is the key to a few questions I need answers to."

Before Griffin could ask what those questions were, Wyatt went on the offensive and trapped his opponent in a rapid flurry of thrusting attacks that once again knocked Griffin into a wall.

Right as Griffin got herself out of the indentation within the stadium wall, she saw a jet shaped object speeding at her faster than she could react as it hit her dead center.

To Griffin's horror, her IS was completely unresponsive as Wyatt leaped towards her and began to beat the girl with his blade-less staff.

After withstanding a 7 second beat down, Griffin could feel her IS unit began to move but after one taking one more hit from Wyatt, an official announced "Griffin Redram has been eliminated, Winner: Wyatt Joseph."

Wyatt extended his hand to Griffin and says "That was a good match Griffin."

Griffin shook the American's hand and says "Yeah, a deal's a deal. You'll be the one representing Spain in a Mondo Grosso."

Wyatt states "Don't worry, I'll make sure to do this country proud. Plus I still need a training partner."

A few moments later as Wyatt changed back into his street clothes, he saw Dr. Maxwell waiting for him outside the changing area.

Dr. Maxwell says "Seems you've got what you want. A chance to challenge the strongest pilots in the world."

Wyatt sighed "Well there is something else, I want in."

Confused Dr. Maxwell asked "In what? You've got to be more specific."

Wyatt shoved his mentor into the wall and clarified "You know what I mean doc, I want a seat at the table of whatever secret society you and Kutsuwagi are apart of."

Dr. Maxwell smiled as he says "You're smarter than they gave you credit for, alright I'll do it."

Wyatt complimented "I knew it you don't trust me and… wait you said you'll do it."

Dr. Maxwell states "Kid since the Brazil incident , I believed you were ready to know the truth. But the council vetoed the decision as they thought you weren't ready for our secrets."

Wyatt asked "Exactly what secrets does this council believe I wasn't ready for?"

The doctor motioned for Wyatt to follow him as the older male answered "Come on, we're going to have a meeting at the hotel room."

As the two returned to the hotel room they were staying at, Dr. Maxwell orders "Turn off the lights and close the blinds."

Wyatt did as he was told while Dr. Maxwell logged onto his computer and stared up a private chat room.

Within a few minutes, Dr. Maxwell says "Alright not too many members but just enough for today's meeting."

As Wyatt walked over to view the monitor he was shocked to see the rooster of those included in the video call. Tatenashi, Barack Obama, Juuzou Kutsuwagi , Albert Dunios, Xander Truman, Clarissa Harfouch and most surprisingly Squall Meusel.

Obama exclaimed "What the hell Elliot, I thought we agreed Joseph couldn't know about our gatherings."

Albert adds "Exactly, he might be your assistant but he's still a child."

Dr. Maxwell argued "He's way too wrapped into this mess, plus he meet up with Agent 001."

Xander asked "Is Ace okay, I haven't seen him since the day before the raid?"

Wyatt answers "He's safe, he's healing from a couple of injuries but he's fine."

After giving a sigh of relief, Xander says "That's reassuring lad."

Wyatt asked "Okay most of you guys I understand, but why the hell is a Phantom Task operative apart of this meet up?"

Obama groaned "If we're going to reveal one secret, we might reveal them all. You see , before the IS was invented Squall was sent to correct one of the biggest mistakes our country made, creating Phantom Task."

Wyatt was completely dumbfounded by the news as he asked "H-How? Why?"

Squall responds "With the Cold War, America created an independent agency in order to protect our country. They even helped deescalate the Cuban Missile crisis. Just as the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Soviet Union nearly collapsed, the world was ready for peace."

Obama adds "But Phantom Task believed that the only way through peace was through a war that would destroy all enemies, past , present and future. Seeing that Phantom Task had became too radicalized, H. W. Bush had discontinued the program , hoping without its resource it would eventually fall apart."

Wyatt guessed "Judging from the battle last week, I assume that plan didn't work?"

Tatenashi answered "Through military deals and selling solider, they were able to maintain their power until the birth of the IS."

Albert states "That's where we come in. Along with the Alaska Treaty , Obama created this organization in order to influence the IS world to avoid them to be weaponized."

Wyatt says "Wow that's a-lot to process , wait does that mean Rain is a triple agent?"

Squall answered "No she was a clone made from me to act as a potential replacement. In fact Phantom Task's genetics research division is responsible for Ichika's birth."

Wyatt asked "So does that mean the rest of the male pilots were modified by Phantom Task as well."

Juuzou replied "Not exactly, it seems that was done through a Dr. Nakadai and a few of his associates after breaking free from the organization."

Wyatt recalled that name and says "Wait I remember Ace saying that name before in the raid?"

Xander says "That's because he's the one who created not only Ichika through his own DNA, but modified all the male pilots. But more important, he has another son by the name of Reiji."

Tatenashi asked "Hold on , Ichika has secret another sibling?"

Xander elaborates "Somewhat, Dr. Nakadai told me that Reiji was considered a failure with a decade at best to live as a weaker than average human. Then with the help of Chifuyu's and Ichika's escape, the doctor was able to seemingly drop off the face of the earth."

Squall mentioned "During this period, he attempted to find ways to synthesize a cure by modifying the DNA of others. From what I've read from his files, the subject needed to be prepubescent and most of the time, the body fights the serum off like a cold. But for a select few it created a sort of second generation of Orimura's."

Wyatt says "That definitely makes sense, after all this Dr. Nakadai probably didn't know guys could pilot an IS. So he wouldn't be focused on creating an army."

Albert says "But now that's he's under Phantom Task employ, it could be the case once more."

Xander confirmed "While testing is being done, there hasn't been any major successes yet."

Wyatt asked "What about one of those drones that attacked on of the dummy prisons that Squall was listed in?"

Xander says "It was pretty much a suicide bomber. The male pilot who was hooked up to it was pretty much a corpse by the time he was sent off."

Obama declared "Even so continue to observe the project, with Tabane it's possible she could crack the formula."

Juuzou asked "Do all of these answers satisfy you Joseph?"

Wyatt responds "Yeah, it's definitely it to take in but this definitely answered a lot of questions."

Clarrisa mentioned "Now Joseph you must keep all the information you've learned a secret, even to the Orimura's."

Wyatt asked "But why, shouldn't Ichika know more about his family and his biological dad is out there?"

Dr. Maxwell responds "Like Albert said, our organization was made to stop any IS related threats to the world and Chifuyu is considered one of them."

Shocked Wyatt utters "Seriously, I know she's not the most social person but I doubt she's a threat."

Juuzou says "You have a point but it's shown that Tabane has proven to be capable of manipulating Miss Orimura, after all she was the pilot of the Shirokishi."

Wyatt says "I….. honestly that makes a lot of sense and should've guess that after we found out the Byakushi's core was originally for the White Knight."

Squall mentions "Look kid some secrets are best kept hidden, after all have you've even talked to anyone else about Agent 001."

Wyatt takes a deep breath "No, but I'll keep my mouth shut. But you have to consider adding Ichika's into the fold. He's even more wrapped up in this conflict than I am."

After a few seconds of silence, Obama states "We'll thinking about it and take a vote during our next gathering. Until then stay safe and keep our secrets secure."

Everyone left the video call as Dr. Maxwell says "I'm definitely going to get a lot of shift from the rest of the group once this is over with."

Wyatt says "I couldn't keep fighting for a group I knew nothing about. Plus like you said, I've been ready for awhile now."

After letting out a slight yawn, Dr. Maxwell asked "So want to get some grub, you've got to be starving after that match."

Wyatt says "Yeah , I think there was a spot a few blocks from here that smells good."

Back in Japan later that night, Kaitlynn, Ichika, Laura, Madoka and Charlotte were eating dinner.

Laura asked "Are you sure you looked everywhere?"

Ichika confirmed "Yeah, I checked the Doc's cabin, the maintenance areas, but I haven't found him."

Kaitlynn exhaled "Ichika, I'm going to kill your roommate the second I see him."

At that moment, Caleb and Trent ran towards the table as the former said "Ichika did you hear the news, this is huge."

Ichika could see the frantic look on the freshmen's faces as asked "What's the big news guys?"

Trent shoved his phone into Ichika's face to show an interview between Wyatt and a male reporter from Spain.

The reporter asked "So Mr. Joseph care to ask why you choose to become Spain's representative for the Mondo Grosso?"

Wyatt smirks "Please, call me Wyatt. For why I choose Spain is because it's always been considered just outside the European G4. It somewhat reminds me of myself on how people talk more about Ichika when we joined the academy at the same time."

The reporter says "So you're saying Ichika is someone you want to face in the tournament?"

Wyatt responds "Definitely, while there's a lot of pilots I want to face in this tournament, me and Ichika are tied at one win and one loss. So what other way to break it than at the global stage."

The reporter chuckles "That's definitely a big goal, remember that the whole country of Spain will be rooting for you."

Wyatt says "Don't worry, I'll make sure to make the most of this opportunity and bring Spain to the forefront of IS based research."

As the video ended , the second years minus Madoka started to cackle while the freshman looked at them in confusion.

Trent asked "Exactly what's so funny about Wyatt joining the Mondo Grosso."

Once she composed herself enough to speak, Kaitlynn answered "Because this is exactly the type of thing Wyatt would do?"

Ichika says "I know , he probably went to the main research lab and fought Spain's previous competitor in a match for the position."

Charlotte adds "And by some miracle, he always manages to pull these schemes off."

Madoka says "So it seems they'll be two boys fighting in this years tournament. This will definitely be one of the history books."

Laura sighed "Yet I can't fight this time. The second Clarissa discovered that Miss Orimura was competing, she demanded to take part this year."

Ichika says "Don't worry, by the next one you'll definitely be a shoe in to compete."

Madoka says "Though you might not win, after all by the time that happens I might take over for Chifuyu as Japan's rep."

Ichika mentions "But didn't I beat you last time we fought?"

Madoka answered"You only dealt the last attack, your friends did most of the work."

Kaitlynn says "Either way, this year's tournament is definitely going to show off how much stronger the second generation of pilots are."