Chapter 12: Uninvited Guest

Ichika had now headed out to the arena. Watching the boy back leaving the hangar reminded Tobia of the same image of his friend, Font. Both were dense try-hards who never know when to give up, always tried to act cool despite ending up looking an idiot, and most of all, they would know what to say to rally others up or crack a laugh from time to time. Truly, he was an interesting guy, Tobia regarded.

Making his way to the observation room, inside were Maya, Chifuyu, Houki, Cecilia, and a few other teachers. He didn't know why students without duty were allowed to come into the room during an official tournament like this, but the fact that he could be in some way a good thing for him, he guessed?

Seeing that there was a coffee tray on the side, he reached for it and made 3 cups. One for him, one for Maya, and the other one for Chifuyu. As he offered them to the respective person, Chifuyu was the only one who reacted differently from what he expected. Instead of a usual hum, this time she looked at him with a weird look, which was somewhat of another déjà vu feeling for him.

"Oh, you are quite a gentleman ey?" she said, making him somewhat cringed and shuddered at the same time.

"What's with that comment? You're creeping me out." He squinted his eyes at her, what she had just said was really out of character for her and sounded like she was teasing him.

"Hmm, nothing. It's just that if my idiot brother doesn't have his brain cells tied back like you, he may very well not fall into this kind of situation."

Was that a compliment or a troll from her? He felt like it was more on the latter though when his vein popped with her statement. But he did have to agree with her that Ichika's dense skull was what brought him into this mess.

"So, you do know about his situation and didn't help him out?"

"Don't judge me, you know too, don't you? And you didn't tell him either, that makes you a partner in crime too." she laughed it off while pointing out the fact, causing Tobia to dart his glance away with a light whistle. Houki and Cecilia, of course, didn't understand what the two of them were talking about.

Looking back at the screen showing the arena, Tobia could only bid the bastard a good-luck this time.

When Byakushiki finally emerged from the gate, the girls of Class 1-1 immediately cheered, shouting the name 'Orimura-kun' several times.

However, there was something that was noticeably different about the Byakushiki's pilot. His eyes were sharper, his shoulders were broader, his statue denoted a sense of reliability and confidence.

Now Ichika was one on one with Rin, his childhood friend who was also his opponent.

"You sure have changed over the month." He suddenly heard her spoke.

With every single ounce of courage she had, the Chinese representative took a long breath and chuckled. "Even though I had tried to stay away from you over that time, I still couldn't help but notice how much you have grown."

"Certainly, it must have been because of them." The twin-tailed girl looked at the observation room, where Houki, Cecilia, and most importantly, Tobia was watching. With a determined expression, she then pointed her scimitar at him and smirked confidently, "Will you show me, Ichika? Your determination and capability."

Her opponent was slightly taken aback by her words for a moment until he gave her back an equally assured grin in return.

"No doubt I will," Ichika replied before he pointed his sword at her. "After all, I have sworn upon this sword to protect my sister's name."

Now filled with full determination to win, both IS pilots entered their position before the referee announced the start of the battle.

"Begin the match, ready… GO!"

Both Byakushiki and Shenlong dived forward with their weapons ready to attack. Sword and scimitars clashed and interlocked with each other, causing a spark between the two pilots before they pulled back to gain some distance.

With a fierce battle cry, Rin dashed towards her opponent while holding her Souten Gagetsu in a cross pattern. Ichika saw her coming and with experience in hand, he evaded the slash by diving down, taking Rin by surprise.

"Gotcha!" After getting beneath her and quickly got on her 6', he swung his Yukihira at her shoulder binders, hoping to take her out in a single strike or at least neutralize her weapon pods.

The Shenlong suddenly spun its body and caused the Byakushiki to overswing its weapon. With an opening now present, the Shenlong combined both its scimitars back into their double-bladed form and twirled it back at Ichika

Dangerously close, but it was within Ichika's prediction. With precise movement, he used his right elbow and knee armor to pin down the blade. Mimicking Tobia's move, his left knee came knocking at her hip, sending her flying away.

"You got me huh, Ichika?" She grinned, baring her fang out. Realizing that her counter-attack had rebelled and she was the one who received the damage, she squinted her eyes. 'So, he's tougher than I thought." she thought bitterly.

"You got lucky there," Rin said, looking dead-eye at Ichika. "I won't hold back anymore?"

But Ichika's reaction was only a confused one as he tilted his head. "You shouldn't be holding back. It would only bring you a disadvantage. And also... wandering thoughts and talking have no place in a battle." He said, bringing his sword over his shoulder with both hands.

"?" Rin blinked, bewildered as she considered if the Ichika in front of her was still the pre-mature and ignorant boy she used to know. The fact that he said such a sentence made her understand that she could not look down on him anymore.

"Here I come, Rin!"

Hearing the voice of the Byakushiki pilot, Rin snapped out of her thoughts and took on a defensive stance. She now knew that attacking him without careful consideration would only bring her doom.

In a blink of an eye, the white armor spun towards her with a break-neck speed using its Ignition Boost, effectively closing the 100-meter distance between them immediately.

Ignition Boost was a high-velocity charge which is usually followed by a critical blow from Yukihira Nigata. When activated, the exhaust from the thrusters is absorbed inside a nozzle chamber and pressurized before being released, allowing for acceleration beyond normal conditions. This ability was unlocked by Ichika during his time training with Tobia to counter the Crossbone Gundam.

"!"

Traveling at an incredible speed, all that Rin could see was a blue flash from Yukihira Nigata. Should it not had been for the Shenlong excellent sensors, Rin would not be able to avoid the attack. And when she managed to dodge it, it was only barely as the slash was an inch away from making contact with her armor.

Byakushiki, missing its strike, continued on with the momentum and reached the ground. Digging the claws into the earth, Ichika made a forceful stop before turning his eyes back on his opponent.

After a moment, Rin managed to recover her bearings. She glanced at her shield and noticed that she had taken 100 points of damage. Upset, the Shenlong pilot pointed her double-bladed scimitar at her opponent.

"That was a dangerous move there, Ichika." She exclaimed in accusation but calmly at the same time.

"Don't blame me for that! I only took my chance." Ichika countered back with a light smile. "After all, what ability I have is my strongest asset in a battle."

A wry smile forced itself onto Rin's face. "Oh, so you want to play it that way, huh? Fine then."

Right after she said that the Shenlong's round shoulders suddenly began charging up while aiming at Ichika. Noticing the incoming danger as a result of his training, the Byakushiki's pilot instinctively evaded the blast that impacted the arena's barrier behind him.

"Finally showing your fangs, huh?" exclaimed Ichika in amusement. "I've been wondering when you will use them."

"Oh, it seems like you have taken the time to study my IS." surprised the twin-tail girls. It appeared that Ichika had researched about Shelong beforehand, which by now was not so much of a surprise anymore to her. What Ichika had shown until now already proved to her that such action was indeed something he would do.

"Of course, if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." the raven-hair boy replied.

"Quoting Sun Zue now, are we?" fascinated Rin, her hands balled into fists. Forgot about the petty reason, forgot about her childishness of dragging Ichika into this dispute, what she wanted right now was to fight him with everything she got. Right now, the man in front of her eyes was someone who she truly wanted to fight over, both against him and the other girls. "Then, will you have the strength to not lose, idiot Ichika?"

"..." He paused for a moment, before reassuming his demeanor. "Yeah, of course."

His words were straight and crystal-clear.

From the observation room, Houki was greatly pleased with the spectacle that Ichika had carried out. To her, what she had taught had brought him to this point, she smug full of satisfaction inside. "That's right, Ichika. Show her what I have taught you."

"I think he was able to evade it thanks to the lesson with me. Don't you see Ichika-san's calmness and rational approach? I don't think a brute such as Shinonono-san here would be able to teach him that." Standing on the side, Cecilia proudly stated as she put her hand onto her buffed chest.

"Heh, a brute, huh?" Houki turned over to the blonde, clearly did not take well to her words.

"Yes, I believe so," Cecilia answered. Flash could be seen crossing between their eyes.

While the two of the girls were fighting with each other, Tobia continued on watching the battle over the arena in silence. To be honest, it was beyond his imagination that Ichika would grow that fast as he only expected the boy to only be able to keep up with Lingyin to some extent. But for Ichika to overwhelm the twin-tail girl like that, it was quite absurd. A month ago, he still got his butt kicked around by both Cecilia and Houki, yet now, he was like a different person.

Thinking about it, it was already unexpected back then. An amateur like Ichika almost took down Cecilia had it not been for his shield draining out. He had also taken Tobia by surprise a few times with Ichika's unnatural reflex ability. It may be attributed to Byakushiki's excellent characteristics? However, no matter how good a machine is, if a pilot is not capable of utilizing it, then it is just a glass cannon.

It was barely noticeable when both of the boys trained with each other, however, the sign was much more obvious now than ever.

Did Ichika have a natural talent for piloting? Well, judging that he was the brother of Chifuyu Orimura, it was expected that he could have some talent, but his growth was still abnormal. Even Tobia himself had to go through years of training to get to where he was today. If back in Tobia's world, Ichika could be considered something like a Newtype. Two people that Tobia knew, Font Baud and Tobia Arronax also started out the same way.

"Thinking of something?"

"?" Tobia glanced to the side when he heard the question. Standing next to him was Chifuyu with her usual indifferent face.

"Well, more or less. Don't you worry about his fight today?" he asked.

"Not really. Whether he lose or win is none of my concern. This is his fight, what he should look forward to is what he will learn from it." Chifuyu replied, her eyes static, fixating on the screen that projected the fight. "If he wins but grows too contempt with it and stop improving, then what's the point?"

'Said the person who spent every day of her weekends training Ichika. Seriously, she was so dishonest with herself.' He rolled his eyes with a sigh at her reply. Though, at the same time, he agreed that it was part of her charm in a way. When being an adult, people tended to hide away their emotions, and he was also the same, so it was understandable.

On the outside, Chifuyu may appear rational and impassive, but Tobia knew that she did indeed care for her brother. Her words had basically told it all.

"But Orimura-kun has definitely improved a lot, hasn't he? To be capable of evading those cannons on Shelong's back at such a range is no small feat." Maya complimented

"Now that you mention it. I couldn't even see the bullets." commented Houki who was also amazed by the Shenlong's Impact Cannon, "How could he dodge that?"

As Houki mentioned Lingyin's attack, both Tobia and Cecilia looked at each other and laughed slightly.

Returning to the arena, Rin was having a hard time hitting Ichika with her Ryuhou cannons, however, it did leave him less room to approach.

"You sure can dodge pretty well. But how long can you keep that up?" Rin mocked, further intensifying her attack. "But can you keep on running? My Ryuhou will follow you wherever you are!"

Yes, it was true, keep on dodging the shots like this would only give his opponent precious time to formulate a plan, no way would he let her have it.

Though, it was easier said than done as despite constantly moving around and changing his flight altitude in an effort to fool her targeting system, said tactic wasn't that effective at all since they had been anticipated by Ryuhou's unlimited angle of fire. This feature was possible thanks to its spherical shape which could move 360 degrees.

Even worse was despite dodging the attacks, a few shots had managed to graze the Byakushiki. It was bad news for Ichika as it meant that Rin had begun to be familiarized with his flight pattern.

Dodging another salvo, Ichika desperately tried to think of a way out of his predicament. 'So, this is when she gets serious huh?' He smug.

Good for him was that when he studied the Shenlong weapons, he also made out some tactics in advance with the help of Tobia and Cecilia to counter Rin's long-range attack. In response to his lack of range weapon, he must always force his opponent into a CQC position, where he would have an advantage. And that was exactly what he did.

Instead of hovering around on the ground, he pitched up and launched himself high into the sky with Ignition Boost. Like his expectation, Rin's impact cannons weren't able to catch up to him with their short-range attack. Having an unlimited firing range that they did, those cannons had to have some kind of short-comings. And they did. Their output was quite weak compared to energy weapons and was susceptible to be affected by gravity, air density, and angular velocity. Well, those were what Tobia explained to him at least.

Before reaching the ceiling level, he twisted his body around and launched himself downward. With the speed he got from the dive, he refocused all of his reactor output to the verniers to make evasive maneuvers without fear of losing his speed too much. The dive was too fast for Rin to react as Ichika was able to break through the sound barrier. In an instant, they met eyes to eyes.

Receiving the full force of gravity and Ichika's attack, Rin was forced down to her knees, breaking the ground beneath her. A clang of metal resounded as sparks glimmered from the Yukihira Nigata and Souten Gagetsu. Legs bending, Rin managed to push Ichika out of the way by discharging her cannons. She knew it was dangerous when using in such close proximity, both parties would be affected, but since Ichika dodged it because she deliberately slowed down the firing process, none was injured. Now retreated, the soles of her feet armor leaving trailing dust on the ground where she pushed herself off.

Thinking that she was safe for a moment, Rin was soon reminded of how wrong she was. As if Ichika would leave out such a chance now that Rin was in a full wide opening. He charged at her with another Ignition Boost, even though it was not something he should do as using them continuously would drain the reactor dry. Yet, it was now or never, and so he had to make the choice.

Within a certain range, there was no getting away unless you were lucky, and Rin must have understood this point by instinct. Her Shenlong maneuverability was indeed remarkably high, but after getting out of that situation just now, it was not recovering fast enough to escape this final attack from Ichika.

'Ah, this is it, huh? How could I make such a mistake?' Rin reprimanded herself at her rotten luck just now, but if people were to think that she would to simply give up, she would laugh at them. Looking at Ichika, she could feel that there wasn't any hesitation inside him at all. Despite all the shots she was firing at him, he still disregarded them with his quickly depleting shield energy.

"Got you!" His voice dropped in tone, the energy around him condensing over his sword. His pupils shone, radiating a golden tint as his arms thrusting the Yukihira Nigata forward.

Rin raised up her scimitars in her last desperate attempt of counter-attack, but it was futile when she saw her weapon got deflected off Byakushiki's final bits of shield energy. While the same didn't apply to Yukihira as the sword sliced right through her shield with certainty.

Time seemed to freeze as the world going to a standstill and shifting into shades of grey. The result, however, was decided.

"The match is concluded. Winner: Ichika Orimura!"

The whole arena held its breath in a moment of silence at the final verdict and yet, seconds later, everything erupted with shouts and applauds echoed throughout the arena. Class 1-1 was the most cheerful, overjoyed with their first victory against class 1-2's representative.

"You did it Orimura-kun!"

"Wonderful fight!"

"If we continue to win, we will have half a year's worth of free dessert coupons."

Many of the VIP spectators were also very impressed with his performance, members of GAIA included. With their intelligent gathering that both Tobia Arno and Ichikia Orimura were on good terms with each other, if they could recruit the former, then maybe the latter would also follow?

In the observation room, the atmosphere was also the same with Houki, Cecilia and Tobia smiled in content with what had turned out. Even Chifuyu put up a slight simper over her face for a moment before returning to her usual stoic self.

"Woah, Orimura-kun really did it!" Maya complimented.

But Chifuyu still remained dishonest with herself despite her earlier grin. "Hmm, so that idiot brother of mine could actually do something right if he focuses on it, huh?"

Tobia rolled his eyes at her once again but chose to ignore her comment this time. With Lingyin defeated, class 1-1's biggest trouble was no more. True that they shouldn't underestimate other class representatives, but still, they all trusted that Ichika could do it well.

Everything seemed to be going on well and everyone believed that Ichika would finally have a day of his life. However, it all came crashing down on them as an unknown signal appeared over the IS Academy. Haro was the first to discover the impended threat looming on top thanks to it link with the Crossbone's radar.

"Master, unidentified target approaching from South-West, speed is Mach 2.5, ETA 5 minutes."

"It may just be a civilian plane or personals on their way to this island?" commented Tobia, not understanding why his companion was telling him something so minu. He looked over to the radar near Maya, who was still too hooked with the cheering for her colleague's brother, it shows that there was an approaching signal.

"No, master. The sky above the Academy is a no-flight zone and there is no record of cargo transport on the Academy's data."

With a bad feeling running down his spine, he gulped and quickly called out to Maya to check on the signal. The teacher was quite surprised when he called out to her, even Chifuyu was noticing. Both of the teachers seemed to have no idea what was coming and without a second thought, efforts were made to contact the unidentified target, but it was futile as no response was given. The short time frame didn't allow for any further action, which led to the three nodded on a single decision.

"I did it..." murmured Ichika as he hovered on top of the arena, overseeing the crash site that Rin had made when she fell down from his strike.

It was... overwhelming for him.

For the first time since coming to the Academy, it was his first victory against another person. For over a month, he had been constantly training every day; regardless of the many losses and bruises he had received, he kept ongoing. Now, his effort had been paid off.

He felt proud, delighted, and surprised at the same time. It was an unusual experience for him after being constantly beaten up by his friends and sister.

Though, he was quick to suppress his instant of joy and instead, went for his childhood friend who was still lying disgruntled on the ground.

"Are you ok, Rin?" From atop, he extended his right hand out to her as he was very worried for her, feeling that he may strike her too hard at the final moment. But there was no immediate response from her.

Rin was lying over the dirt; her face was far from pleased, clearly not happy with what had turned out, Ichika thought. Yet, a moment later, she left out a long sigh before grabbing his hand and got helped standing up.

"You really have improved a lot, idiot Ichika," Rin spoke in a soft voice. This time her facial expression changed to a more sober look. And then a warm smile formed over her face. "I lost this time."

Ichika was expecting to meet an angry Rin who would rage at him for being too harsh, but what he received was an image of a small girl back in his days of secondary school. It was the time when Rin used to run over to his house to complain and somber whenever she got into a fight with her parents. Whenever she went to him for comfort, he always patted her head and listen to her complain, that was when she would have that expression.

The same could be said this time and just like how he usually comforted her, his other hand reached out to soothe her.

"Then maybe you can tell me the deeper meaning of our promise," he smiled. "I'm sorry that I didn't get it back then. But tell me, and I will carry out your promise. After all, we are good childhood friends, right?"

Rin's cheeks flushed red like a tomato at his regard and she instantly turned aside. Though, a part of her was not happy with the words 'childhood friends' as she felt that Ichika only considered her as such.

"Idi-idiot, until now you still haven't figured it out yet?"

"Well, I'm sorry. But I said I would keep my promise right, so just tell me." Ichika laughed lightly while scratching his neck. He may learn quickly through action, but he certainly was not very good at understanding words and the heart of a girl.

"It can't be helped then. Seriously, you are so dense," she shifted her eyes back to him, her lips colored blossom as she finally decided to tell him her true feelings over the years. "Ichika, actually... I..."

Before the girl could finish her sentence, however, an emergency alarm loudly blared throughout the Academy, signaling to everyone that a suspected threat was incoming.

"All students and teachers please evacuate to the safe rooms! I repeat, all students and teachers please evacuate to the safe rooms! This is not a drill!"

It was already too late, however, as an energy beam pierced through the arena's barrier, creating a loud shattering noise with a huge explosion that soon followed.

It hit the arena's bedrock, causing a huge explosion in addition to smoke and fire quickly spreading around the crater. In response, the security system automatically responded by sealing the bulkheads of the open stadium, starting from the VIP's area before spreading to the students' seats. A lot of them began expressing their concern and worry about what was happening.

"What was that explosion!?"

"I saw a beam broke through the arena's barrier!"

"What's happening? Is it an attack!?"

Confusion, panic, and terror immediately surrounded the Arena as the first-year students began evacuating under the guidance of their seniors, telling them to keep calm while the teachers and staff helped evacuate the VIPs. However, once everyone ran to the exit gates, they were all being shut closed and absolutely refused to open, causing even greater chaos among the students.

"Orimura, do you hear me? Orimura?" A familiar voice brought him back to reality. Appearing on his video call was Chifuyu in a hurried state. "Hurry up and get back to the control zone! NOW!"

"Chifuyu-nee? What do you mean?" What is happe-"

The words Ichika should continue on were covered by the sharp approaching alarm. He was forced to immediately look up to the source of where the sound was coming from.

As the smoke was blown aside by the wind, there was a mirage of a silhouette up in the blue sky. Something small, the size of an ant, was already over his head. It appeared under the sunlight, and the humanoid figure soon entered Ichika's eyes when the camera zoomed in on the target.

A thing, something that had its limbs spread wide open fell down quickly like it was gliding down from the sky. The bright morning sun lit its streamlined profile, and the golden lone horn on its forehead was radiating. That machine was pitch black, and it was flickering strongly under the bright sunlight, absorbing everything in—

"A black…IS?"

Rin unconditionally moved her Shenlong and quickly fall back, while the Byakushiki retreated at almost the same instant when Rin called out to him.

Another beam came scorching down a moment later and broke the arena surface once again. That beam caused the surrounding rubble to vaporize, shaking the ground violently. The explosive flash and shockwaves expanded right near where the two machines were.

That's not an ordinary energy shot like from the laser sniper rifle of Cecilia. Is that the same type as Tobia's Silver Phantom weird rifle—a beam weapon? Anyway, his thought process was cut short when he had to quickly dodge another shot from that unidentified IS in the midst of the scattering rubble. He really didn't know what was going on anymore.

Standing before his sight now was a black IS with grey and gold parts over its body. Its arms were abnormally long and gigantic, seemingly reaching all the way down below to its ankle. And those eyes, 5 in total and were arranged asymmetrically, gave the IS a striking and terrifying look, unlike any IS he had seen before. And most of all, it was enclosed in full body armor, just like the Silver Phantom. Propulsion nozzles were also sticking out everywhere on the machine.

Without a second thought, Ichika put up a defensive stand.

"Who are you?" he asked.

No reply.

Those eyes of the black unit just hollowly staring at him. There was no sign of attack nor trying to establish communication. It was-spine chilling.

He was not worried about himself right now however, Rin was his priority to protect at the moment. Since her shield energy was completely empty with her absolute defense engaged, the left-over energy inside the unit was still recovering. With a limited amount of energy, Ichika couldn't expect to keep Rin in a battle. One-shot from that IS beam weapons may very well be detrimental to her life. And as if he would allow that.

"Rin! You fall back to the hangar! I will hold that IS back!"

"What you're saying, idiot? Both of us should retreat back. We're all low on shield energy, there's nothing we can do. We should fall back and let the teachers and the seniors deal with this!"

"I can't," Rin heard, stupefied by Ichika's response. "I have to hold that thing back, at least until the teachers arrive. If we let it go rampage, it will attack the audience."

"Even if you say that, it's still too dangerous for you to face it alone. You may get killed, idiot!"

He knew. He goddamn knew what may happen to him. This was not a mock battle anymore. The black IS he was seeing may very well bear the full intention to kill and he would be damn to say that was the case. Yet, what was that feeling inside him, telling him to protect those that were behind his back? What was telling him to fight back this threat that could kill him?

"Huang is correct, Orimura, I am telling you to fall back. This is an order!" From over the line, Chifuyu called him once more, her voice was stern and full of authority. Yet, the boy wasn't listening. The only thing that was processing in his head was that black IS and how to get Rin to safety.

"Orimura, do you even listen to me? Orimura?" Chifuyu continued through the comms, despite knowing that her words were not getting through. She began to grow frustrated and then clicked her tongue, throwing the comms to the side. "That idiot brother, never listen to me," she grunted, though barely audible.

Maya for her part went back to establish order and made contact with other teachers to deal with the threat. She herself was also very worried about the fact that their Academy was being attacked in broad daylight like that. Everything was a complete mess for her.

The three students who were standing on the side, they were also having similar type of emotions. For Tobia, it was rare to see Chifuyu acting out of her usual calm and collective character, but knowing that Ichika was her brother, he could fully understand why. Both Cecilia and Houki held their hands tight to their chest, hoping that the situation would turn out fine for Ichika down there.

"Hmm, since he wanted to fight instead, I don't care anymore." hissed Chifuyu, she clearly wasn't looking pleased.

"Sensei, how could you say it like that? He is your brother and stud-"

"Hmm, calm down. You're worrying too much."

"...Erm, sensei, that's..."

"What? Don't worry, you're overrea-" paused Chifuyu when Tobia suddenly reached out to her hands and held it back before she drank the coffee. His eyes met hers, and for a moment, he could see the anguish and wariness inside her.

"The coffee, you put salt into it," he mentioned, bringing her back to the usual composure to notice that the spoon she had taken from was by the salt cup. "You do worry about your brother, don't you?" he continued. "But that's not something to make you lose focus on this. You're an adult, Orimura-sensei. Please remember what you must do."

Her face reddened by his remedy, but what he said was true. In a spur of the moment, she had allowed her emotions to take over and lost control. With a woman who rarely exposes her true feelings, it should indeed be difficult for her in times like this.

"I will help you out on this, Orimura-sensei. Since I own you, consider this one of my payments," he said, then turning back to Maya. With a clear and confident voice, he asked her. "Yamada-sensei, the students are currently being trapped and couldn't get out of the arena, correct?"

"Y-yes?"

"Can you tell them to move to the closest gate near the exit area? I will go down there to help them out, then I will go into the arena with the seniors and teachers to deal with that IS."

"A-ah, but Arno-kun, you can't go out there, it's too dangerous."

Maya's words fell on deaf ears however when Tobia walked out of the room. Eyes trailing behind his back were Houki and Cecilia, who also wanted to help and tried to voice their opinion, but was quickly shot down by Chifuyu.

Still holding onto her cup, Chifuyu's grip became tighter and her other hand balled into a fist so hard that they drew blood. After that, she took a drink of the salted coffee, her teeth gritted.

"What a bitter taste."

Racing down the hallway to the designated point, Tobia spat angrily. He was furious, furious about not knowing why an unknown IS suddenly attacked the Academy. Was it because of him, or was it just for the sake of causing a ruckus? Either way, he would not let go of today's event lightly. It may not be relevant to him and he had not purpose nor advantages to be gained by helping the Academy, he knew that. But the fact that it involved innocent people in this was what was unacceptable for him. Being a soldier and an ex-member of the Crossbone Vanguard, his priority was to always protect the civilian at all cost, and to see them getting in danger was what made his blood boiling right now. He had gone through war, he damn understood how sickening it was to involve civilians in this. Thus, he swore to find out who was behind this attack and teach them a lesson.

"Haro, I want you to find a way to counter the hacking of those doors! If possible, track the for any communication signal that is coming from that black IS!"

"Understood, master."

'Hurry up, Tobia! If not, people will die.' he reminded himself to push his body forwards. He had seen people died, those who were close to him died. When the Zanscare Empire attacked his hometown on Earth, he had seen them massacre the people there, and he was powerless to do anything. Had it not been for his father and the ex-members of the Crossbone Vanguard, he would have lost everything. And now was the same. He didn't want to acknowledge it, but to him, the members of class 1-1 had grown a bond with him. He didn't want to lose them. So, he would protect them, like his father once did.

Reaching near the exit route, he saw a group of students and a few adults stacking up in front of the designated entrance into the arena's stadium. They were properly the seniors and teachers coming for reinforcement. The group was in their training IS models, a few of them were trying to hack into the security protocols while the rest is waiting anxiously to burst the door through by force.

On the other side of the entrance's door, he could hear the calls for help of the female students, desperate to get to safety. It wasn't sure if there were any injured students inside, but he would register it as a yes and time was at the limit to help them out.

"Hey! Who are you?" said one of the senior students who noticed him running towards them. She quickly realized who he was and simply tried to dissuade him to go away. "The 1st year's male student? Hey, don't get near, this place is dangerous!"

He disregarded her words and only focused on the electronic panel on the wall that one of the teachers was attempting to bypass the door's lock.

"Haro, can you hack through that door? We need to help the students inside get to safety fast."

"I have already tried, master. However, there is someone deliberately blocking the system from opening, and I can't get through it."

"Damn it, then forcing our way in then."

"HEY!" shouted the girl whose words had been put to deaf ears for a while by Tobia. "Are you listening? We are ordering you to get to safety."

The response that she got was him looking past her and focused on the door. With a raised voice, he got everyone to shift their attention onto him.

"Everyone, get out of the way!"

After a moment, he walks towards the front of the door and materialized his armor, the Crossbone Gundam. In the silver armor that he donned, the group made way for him unconsciously.

"Those who are on the other side of the door, stay to the side and away at least 20 meters. I will destroy this door," he stated and repeated it one more time until he heard the noise stacking up on the other side became smaller.

Without any more warning, he summoned a pair of iconic weapons of the Crossbone Gundam Ghost during his day in the Serpiente Tacon, a group of the old members of Crossbone Vanguard under the lead of his former teacher, Tobia Arronax. They were a pair of dual barrels beam shotgun, capable of switching between gun mode and saber mode, named the Butterfly Buster.

"Haro, release the limiter on the weapons."

"Understood, master."

Since the limiter on his beam weapon was released, now, they could function in their original mobile suit output. With such a massive energy volume, using the saber mode of the Butterfly Buster, he easily sliced the door open like a hot knife through butter, melting right through the thick steel door that the group of students was so struggling with.

"I-impossible..." many of the seniors were unable to voice their shock while the others were left speechless. The Academy's security doors were all designed to be resilient against IS energy weapons to some extent; but for the Crossbone, which looked smaller in comparison to a normal 2nd gen IS, to slice its way through that easily really made them doubt their belief.

For the boy who those expressions were directed to, it was nothing to be surprised about. Most of the weapons in his arsenal were all meant to slice through a mobile suit or a battleship's hardened Titanium or Gundarium alloy armor, so that much of a hardened steel door was nothing in their path.

Seeing that the door was finally removed, the group of seniors used fire extinguishers to lower the temperature of the sliced away part so that no students would be burned by the melted steel when rushing through. When the process was finally over, they immediately went inside to guide the students and other VIP members out to safety.

As the members of GAIA rushed out, they caught a glim of the Crossbone Gundam. For a long last, they had had the chance to see their collaborator's IS up close and it was truly like what they had been so astonished by. A very compact design compared to other IS, its deceptively simple design really gave an air of a possible mass-produce unit, just like what they had envisioned. The chairman, Maria; the foreign minister, Albert; and the head developer, Wernher all decided to stay back with their group to closely observe the machine.

Seeing that the evacuation of the students and personals was completed, the eyes and ears of the reinforcement group shifted to the wall blocking their field of view of the outside arena. They could hear it, the sounds of steel clashing against each other and a large explosion. The question was, how would they go outside when the emergency barrier that was blocking them? Soon, the eyes slowly crept to the silver IS standing before them. The answer was clear. As seniors and teachers, bringing the 1st year into this mess was a blow to their moral code. But a priority must be set straight, their duty was to save all the students, so even if it goes against their principles, they would have to use it. At least, they promised to themselves that they would keep him safe despite knowing his capabilities from what they had observed.

Noticing that many gazes were on his back, he shook his head and let out a sigh, for he knew what they were thinking. Well, it was good that there were people worrying about him if he thought about it. Talking was to left for another time as he moved outside of the Arena and flew to the sky, overseeing the top of the Arena.

Good, he saw that Ichika and Rin were still fine. Both of them were working together well enough to cover each other from the unknown IS with Ichika leading the front.

For the unknown IS, it was holding its ground in the center of the Arena and using its beam weapons to keep Ichika and Rin at bay. It was a perfect opportunity for Tobia that the target was remaining stationary, which would make the aiming easier. With Ichika and Lingyin being far away from the strike zone, there was nothing for Tobia to hold back as he aimed the muzzles of the Butterfly Buster.

However, halfway through, he remembered one of the main rules of the Crossbone Vanguard that both his father and Tobia Arronax had taught him. To not kill the pilot.

"Tsk, how could I forget that." his mood sour drastically when he remembered about all of the blood lessons that he had to learn when he followed that rule, yet, it was still something he honored and followed.

'If that option is a no go, then the only option left is to dive head in, huh?' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and took a slow breath. It was a usual habit before he going into a battle. And as he reopened them again, they shone, the Gundam's main camera lit up in a bright shade of green.

"Let's go, Crossbone Gundam."

A/N: Hi, everyone, I'm back. This chapter took longer than I expected since I had quite a lot of works on hand. This month I will have my final examinations too so it will properly be a month before having another update.

Dragon lord Syed 101: Will GAIA get the Crossbone's data? Well, yes and no. You will have to wait to find out :D

ericsofly2: Thanks man, I appreciate it.

Guest Dcd: Yeah, I didn't get the chance to watch them on TV on their first run though. Not until 2006 that I first watched 08th MS team and F91 on DVD, after that I was completely hooked on Gundam. Damn, good time.

R reyes: I'm glad to hear your enthusiasm, though I will need some time to plan things out. Also after doing some research, I may have to change it into the Zeta Plus from Gundam Sentinel. I don't know whether to have the protagonist being in a similar state like Tobia here where he is alone and have to rely on the JSDF or to bring the Earth Federation to the Gate world, the latter being harder to write since I have to work everything from scratch while with the former option, I can rely on existing sources. Well, time will soon tell.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. See ya all again next month.