A/n
Thank you readers for the support of reading this story, it just started as a somewhat an amusing idea, didn't think it would become this, but that's how it goes. Again I don't own nothing but my characters and musing. On with the show!
Chapter 6: Class League Match
-Sai's pov-
Sunday was well, a non-quiet affair for me which isn't all the unusual, unfortunately, at least it was louder than usual. You see, I'd thought that me being gone for most of Saturday from the academy hadn't been noticed. Silly me, my absence yesterday was noticed by the girls of my class as well as most of the first years. I found this out Sunday morning at breakfast what those consequences of this entailed. Cecilia, Houki, and Rin had a bad reaction to me as I was leaving true, and thankfully that wasn't the case for me at breakfast on Sunday. However, being accosted by thirty or so girls who are bombarding you with questions about where you were the day before along with being told what they had planned to do with you that day, isn't all that much better.
I'd woken up, thinking that I would have an easy-going Sunday, nothing to worry about and just time to kick back and relax, no such luck for me. Once I'd calmed the girls, or rather the other members of my class down, I told them I had had a previous engagement that required most of Saturday. Most accepted that which is better than the trio fighting over me. That notwithstanding, I was literally dragged off by the girls, two on each arm and the rest surrounding me and the rest of my 'relaxing Sunday' was spent with my peers playing and me being forced to participate. Nonetheless, I'm a good sport and didn't complain about not wanting to 'play' with my classmates, suffering in silence like a gentleman would.
And so, then came Monday and the beginning signs of an added workload coming my way appeared and it was in the first-morning class no less. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business like I usually do even was awake and not tempted to put my head down to nap. I was on my best behavior, none could deny that, not even Chifuyu and be honest about it. So then, why is it that I get trouble shoved at and onto me for no apparent damn reason and it is worse when there is a slow build-up to the real problem.
It started with Chifuyu saying that she had something to talk about to us students before dismissing class. "Listen up! The class league matches start this week and so the morning's practical training will be canceled as the matches will be taking place at that time. For each representative to have a chance to fight against the other three representatives, the matches will take place for the next three days. This is so we can get the best view of skills of the pilots. Since Taichi is the class representative, you will be judged by his performance. So, don't go taking up all of his time he should be using for preparation," Chifuyu then focused on me. "Taichi, your match will be the first one tomorrow morning, prepare yourself."
Great, three fights over the next three days, at least it's something a little different to do, I'll take that. Still, how nice for my classmates to be rated by my performance since I take matches seriously every time. If you go by how some of them do in training, and some don't do much work at that time, then a few of them would be seriously reprimanded or possibly suspended. I'm not saying that all my female peers aren't working hard at training to use the IS, I've seen the ones who really try. I'm just good and have the experience, both recently acquired and my time as one of the two original test pilots. And then, me using my IS is kind of unfair even if no one says it.
Also, my unit can be considered a match to a fourth-generation when it's fully operational. The rest of the world is working on producing working third generation ISs, so how can my machine be compared to a generation ahead of current R&D one might ask? Because there isn't a doubt in my mind that the rabbit and the doll, wherever they are, would be testing their version of a fourth-generation IS unit they're developing or the equivalent to such, just as I am. The three of us original creators see each other as competition… unofficially at least.
Back to my predicament, if things had ended with Chifuyu's explanation and everyone did as she said, then it would've been fine. Of course, that's not how events went down, the second after Chifuyu dismissed class, I was accosted by my classmates, either saying variations of wishing me luck or saying that I'd their support, some even showed their 'support'. I tensed up for those ones, for example, Honne Nohotoke just came up and hugged me hard, causing the normal reaction I have. Her friends had been shocked, where she didn't see a problem, though I do. That particular classmate reminds me more and more of Jia, she acts much like an airhead, as Jia can be at times, just feel sick with the contact. Thankfully none of them kissed me, though one or two of them did make an attempt, which the other girls pull them back preventing my classmates that were trying to lock lips with me. I'm going to have to be more careful moving forward, some of these girls are getting bolder by the day!
When lunch came, things only escalated for me and my position, which just goes to justify my reasons for not spending much time with my age group. You see normally, I just pick a booth on the half of the cafeteria that was closer to the exit and once I got a booth I would eat. The reason I go for a booth is that I've to deal with the stares from the first-year girls less. Anyway, once sitting at a booth, a number of girls will come and wish to sit with me. It's become a norm for them to do now. I have the trio that harries me more than the others do for the moment as usual settees for lunch and dinner. However, with the booths in the cafeteria, they sit a maximum of eight if you really squeeze in unlike the tables with chairs. So, with that in mind, the first three spots are almost always taken up by Houki, Cecilia, and Rin and that left four seats left.
And if you're wondering why girls haven't tried to say they could sit in my lap, some have. There've been some that have asked and others who have tried to just sit in my lap without asking. Can anyone blame me for installing a rule by the end of the first week here? It had been me putting my foot down, simply say that there were seven seats available at the booth and it was first come, first served and would stand by that period. Sitting on my lap isn't allowed at meals and I'll not budge on that point for anyone! I've been enforcing that unofficial rule strictly at the start of week two, threatening to go to Chifuyu if any broke the rules!
It was in my afternoon lectures that I found solace, to be in a classroom, though it's virtually transmitted into the physical lecture hall at Cornell. But I was around mature people that weren't driving me up the walls. Plus, for my quantum physics lecture, Matt and Luther were there and the familiar company was wonderful! With the Advanced Calculus lecture, I was with Cassidy, Olivia, and Luther and once the lectures of the day were over, the gang met back up and I invited them to watch the first fight of the Class League matches that I would be in. To which my friends agreed, and Jia especially was excited about watching the skirmish but then, she's usually excited about things that involve one of us or more.
Tuesday morning arrived, to me, it was a normal morning. For the other ladies in the first year, there was an atmosphere of excitement and building tension. Actually, I say normal, but it wasn't exactly like the days before, and allow me to elaborate. I'd two of the trio sitting with me, Rin wasn't at the booth for breakfast, yet as she's a class representative for class two of the first year. She's probably getting ready for her match today since none of us knew who would face who yet. Houki, Cecilia and my other classmates headed off to the first-morning class after breakfast, where I was excused, and I won't complain. No offense against Miss Yamada however, the uninteresting way she delivers the information and the material itself… it's SO boring to me. I know more about the IS than my sub-homeroom teacher and more about the inner workings than my homeroom teacher, Chifuyu. I helped design and develop the dang thing after all. Can anyone blame me for being bored and being tempted to snooze in class?!
I used the free time to meet my friends at the front gate, where other people who were coming to see the league skirmishes. I figured these fights would also serve as an exhibition for developers and high-level company representatives to watch and see future potential test pilots. I don't doubt that quite a few of them will be very interested in me and wish to recruit me. I'll refuse them as I've no intention of working for anyone anytime soon. My reasons being the same for not talking about my past, my personal freedoms and what I've worked for would be taken from me and not given back! So, that serves as motivation not to say anything or work for anyone even if a background check wouldn't find anything. I've made sure a background check on me won't turn up anything of value on me, not with the effort I've put forth to not be connected to the Bunny or Doll.
The gang separated at the entrance to the arena, they went to the stands and I made my way to the IS bay to suit up. I quickly got into my unit and had finished minutes before the operator arrived. Now that I was mounted, I waited for the signal to board the catapult to launch out into the arena while wondering who my opponent would be for the first match, I wasn't told as part of the rules or something like that. There were in the first year here at the IS academy, four classes in total so, logically four class representatives that'll be duking it out in the arena. Yet, the mentality here is that everyone gets a chance. So, I'll have to by the end fight all of the other three class reps.
Not that I don't enjoy a good skirmish, because I do, but the last fight in the IS arena I had around here, it'd been more a joke than a match. I was brought out of my thinking as information flashed on the screen on the right wall beside the catapult. Looking at it, I skimmed it a second time as it was info on my opponent in this match, the representative from Class Two… wait, isn't Class Two's rep Rin?
The voice of the operator came over the speaker and told me to board the catapult to launch out and I did so. I cleared my head of clutter and focused on the match getting into the zone. Leaning forward as the launch plate moved forward and picked up speed, I saw daylight coming up fast as the tunnel was coming to an end. Shooting off the catapult and into the air above the arena, I hovered looking across the field to my opponent.
Rin was hovering in her IS unit across from where I came to hover and just stared at me. At this time, Rin was wearing a pink one-piece swimsuit-like pilot suit, which seemingly fit her, pink is a good color for Rin. A white-collar sat at her neck, going down to cover her chest, but leaving space in the middle between her collarbone and upper chest. Also, there was an orange tie looking object that was placed between the collar and filled the nonwhite space. There were white clamps on her waist and magenta ones at her bust; all of these parts were of course, a part of the restraint system of Rin's IS. Then on her forehead, was a magenta headpiece that made it appear that Rin had horns that pointed outward from her head at a horizontal angle. Although, that 'head ornament' was more likely the interface controller for her IS.
The unit's legs were black on the base color and the outside plating was magenta, like most ISs they either look like it's based on old school armor from medieval times or more science fiction looking. For Rin's machine, it was more towards the science fiction end. Whereas, the IS's arms was along the lines of old school armor, even if they were magenta. Now her machine's shoulder apparatus were somewhat hard for me to figure; simply put, they were spheres with spikes on them, coming out from the top diagonal direction on either side. The spheres were then covered by two sections of armor that were black and had a line of yellow-orange, then in the very center of the sphere was an energy emitter. Now what was confusing me, was that by the specs, Rin's IS is supposed to have two impact/shock cannons; the sensible place to put them would be the shoulders and those energy emitters would agree with that assumption. Yet, with the size of the emitters, those would be rather weak impact cannons. For weapons, all it seemed that Rin had other than her 'impact cannons' were a pair of scimitars. The scimitars had longer handles than one would think of with Scimitars, and then with two scimitars, they likely could combine into a double-bladed scimitar setup.
-Rin's pov-
Seeing my opponent was Sai, I focused on the point that this was an IS match. As much I like Sai, in this I can't let feelings cloud my mind. "I wasn't expecting you would be the first opponent that I would fight against Rin," he said with a friendly air.
His IS unit was quite different than others that I've seen before now and by a decent margin. The overall framework was clearly custom built and could and likely was built from scratch which had unsaid implications. What really stuck out, were the four sets of wings behind the unit's shoulders as well as Sai having the majority of his front covered by what looked like armor. There was no hint or sight of weapons, so there was no clue as to what sort of armaments the IS had. That made any estimation of what his IS could do much more difficult and there was no data available on it other than the one instance it was in a match. I had watched the fight between Sai and Cecilia Alcott several times and Sai's IS was still a real mystery.
I shook my head to clear it of stray thoughts and set on the match at hand for it would prove to the others in the school how good I am. So, I took both of my Shen Long's scimitars, spun them around and then brought them to the ready. "Don't take this the wrong way Sai, we're friends and I'm glad we are, but that doesn't mean I will be going easy on you in this match," I replied.
Sai smiled back to me, and I felt a blush come to my face, "Dooley noted Rin, I wouldn't want it any other way. May the best pilot win," he returned.
When the match was signaled to start, I zoomed forward at Sai intending to strike hard and end this match quickly. Yet, Sai didn't take out any weapons in response to my incoming attack, which was odd. Sai had come off as one aware of their surroundings most of the time when we were younger, so I didn't think that would've changed. But his avoidance and evasion were almost done as if it was a dance. As I swung my left scimitar, Sai leaned back and let the blade pass by him looking completely calm as he did so. I sliced vertically downward with my right scimitar, but Sai rolled out of the way and to the right. This kept happening, every swing I made Sai would evade using no weapons at all.
Even after I combined my scimitars, the routine didn't vary or change, Sai still evaded out of the way of my attacks. And every time I caught sight of his face, he had a soft smile as he kept weaving in and out of every strike I made. However, after a few minutes, when I was coming down from above, Sai didn't move out of the path. Not wanting to refuse the opportunity, I brought my scimitars down at Sai, but I was forced to a halt as I hit something. I blinked looking at the two energy sabers that Sai had in his hands and was using to block my swords. Sai was making this fight look like it was some sort of dance to him, and I don't know if that angered me more or made me kind of giddy. Just how good at this is Sai?!
I broke off and made some distance from Sai deciding to use the Ryuhou impact cannons the ShenLong had. The cannons were built into the shoulder apparatus and they opened and charged up before I fired them at Sai. One of the shots missed, but the other struck him on the left side sending Sai spinning a short distance. I smiled at getting in a hit for Sai had been dodging my attacks up till now which was surprising. I charged the impact cannons again and let off another shot from each cannon. Once again, a shot missed but the other hit, yet there was something off with the shot that made contact. I gazed at where Sai had been hovering and found that he appeared fine and there was a smaller shield over his arm that was fading.
Understanding that Sai had the means to block incoming shots and probably projectiles forced me to have to rethink strategy. I prepared to fire the impact cannons to buy some time to revise my battle plan. However, before I could fire them off, there was a boom and a second afterward, something struck me hard and I was sent tumbling towards the wall behind me. I couldn't help screaming as I was tumbling, at the same time I was attempting to stabilize myself. Yet, I righted myself before I crashed into the wall before I faced Sai who was a sizable distance away from me now.
-Sai's pov-
I had sent Rin a good distance and we were about to continue the match against each other when Corinthos blared out a warning to me, and I shot backward as an energy beam came down from above, blasting through the arena's barrier shield. Sirens began sounding and an announcement of the match being suspended and as I glanced around I observed the spectator stands' security bulkheads started closing one after the other to protect the students and guests. I landed softly on the ground still looking around to spot the cause of the hole in the barrier shield above. Breaking through the shield from the outside isn't an easy task, the shield is set to deflect and that's stronger than absorbing shots hitting it. When I saw five red glowing dots appeared in the smoke, I focused on them and tried to make out more of whatever had intruded into the arena.
The smoke settled and one of the oddest looking IS unit stood in the middle of a large crater. There was a human-shaped figure in the middle, the pilot I would guess, but she was wearing a black skin-tight suit that was showed nothing of the pilot herself. Two yellow lines ran down lengthwise in line with the shoulders and legs and then three lines ran perpendicular to the vertical ones intersecting at the mid-chest, waist, and hips. Even her head was in some kind of helmet or whatever it was over her head. The five red dots I had locked onto before, were probably optical sensors, there was one where a person's mouth would be, one in the position of the right eye, two just left of where the left eye would be, and the final optic was above the right eye. Whoever this was, she was going to a lot of trouble to prevent her identity from being found out, making sure to cover any place that could assist in the task.
The legs of this machine were simple and had a small section of white armor at the top and then a white stripe running down the leg and the rest was black. There were also yellow ports along the joints and for the legs, on the outside just below the knees. The arms were quite different from the norm when it came to ISs, they were bulky and large and seemed to be connected with the shoulder weapons. The main arms were connected by three-ring braces to the arm controls that the pilot was using. Also, the braces severed as the structures that the shoulder weapons were mounted on and the larger forearms and hands were attached to them. The forearms were much like the legs, simple yet bulky, though by my observations, had some type of cannon built into the top of the arm to sit on the wrist. As for the hands, they were much like what science fiction portrays robotic hands to be like.
There were two white tubes or cables going from the 'elbow' to the shoulders, for what purpose, I haven't the faintest. The shoulder weapons themselves looked like mushrooms with protuberances sticking out of the top and pointing outward of the arm. There also were indentions with energy emitters on the front center of the shoulders. All in all, I didn't quite know what to make of this machine's design or what it could do, nevertheless, the one thing that's clear is this unit is dangerous! The shot through the defection setting of the barrier shield proved that not just any kind of weapon can do such things.
Corinthos sound an alert and popped up two messages to me, the first message said that the arena's security systems had just activated to near their maximum levels, which was a tad odd. That doesn't just happen on a whim, nor due to operator error, only if an emergency occurs with the designed safety measures that the security protocols were executing come into play. The penetration of the barrier shield might fit an emergency, but not necessarily, it would still need input from the operators. The other message, though they were readings on this unknown IS, the readings didn't make sense to me or rather the implications that were being made by the information, "Corinthos, you're sure these readings of this machine are accurate?"
"Affirmative, there are no vital signs, nor any readings to register the pilot's condition," answered Corinthos.
That shouldn't be possible… unless, "Then, can that mean that this IS doesn't have a physical pilot, that it could be unmanned somehow," I asked.
Corinthos was quiet for a moment, "It is the logical explanation with the current information," was the answer.
Incredible! I mean, in theory, such an idea of an unpiloted IS is feasible, but I didn't think anyone had actually succeeded yet! Not even the doll, the bunny or myself have done so yet as far as I know, which does bring up the possibility of either the life-sized doll or the meddling bunny being responsible for this. However, that's nuts, as eccentric as they are, they wouldn't do… I shouldn't finish that thought. With those two women, they would pull this kind of crap if given the right motivation for them. I've known them far too long not to be aware of that, they tend not to care much about what others thought about them or think through the consequences of their actions.
My thought processes were interrupted as I saw the machine's right arm raise up and point at me. I shot right, and a high-powered beam shot through where I had been… and the power output was ridiculous! Hell, thus far, only my unit has something that can match it, one weapon configuration I have which gets around levels that high and that's in theory as I haven't tested it yet, something wasn't right in this. The current situation is an extremely unlikely happenstance, this was planned, but why was what I couldn't figure out. It was almost like this machine has another goal in mind other than attacking whoever is in front of it. Rapidly fired bolts came from the shoulder emitters aimed at me forcing me to focus back on the battle. I began dodging the incoming fire and grabbed my beam rifles and began shooting back at the enemy. "Corinthos, scan for any signals or transmissions being used at the moment that weren't going when the match started," I said while aiming and taking shots at the IS.
"Understood, scanning all frequencies," Corinthos replied.
I kept dodging the energy bolts, but they kept coming, "SAI, LOOK OUT," called Rin's voice.
The girl barreled into me and pushed me to the left and seconds later, there came a heavy powered beam, passing through where I had been. Damn! That was close! I need to seriously focus or I'm going to die here! Bringing out my railguns, aimed and fired off some rounds at the enemy IS. Out of the four shots, I got only one direct hit, but with the explosive yield that the ammo I was using had, as long as I got in the close general area, which I did with all the shots, then the shockwave did enough damage to be effective in forcing my opponent back. The IS was forced to back up a good twenty meters and by the way it moved and with the equipment it had that I could see, it wouldn't be able to fly easily. This machine wasn't exactly the most agile or nimble construct, that's for sure. Rin was using her shock cannons against the enemy machine, we were hitting the thing, but it was shaking off the shots and impacts with relative ease.
"Two distinct signals detected, they are being transmitted on a vast frequency range. Their sources come from outside the academy, unable to trace the origin, both signals are overriding all other signals here," Corinthos said to me.
Interesting indeed, the plot thickens! This fact that Corinthos had just delivered made me surer now than I was before, that either the bunny or the doll are involved in this situation somehow. This kind of signal transmission would require serious transceivers and hacking skills to get them here without the one responsible being here or being noticed until now. "Can you disrupt them," I asked Corinthos.
The ten seconds that followed my question seemed longer than the ten seconds they were, "Negative, both signals are being transmitted so they overload all other transmission vectors," Corinthos answered.
Really, all of this is more than little coincidental circumstances occurring, from the two massive signals scrambling to the IS shooting at me. Whichever one of those women are doing this, I'll be having a stern talking to, and then doing whatever is needed to get the point across of how wrong this is! However, first things first, turn this construct into scrap metal and do so quickly. Yet, with this thing's weapons and power output from said weapons, that's easier said than done, but I have got to find a way, lives are at stake!
-Chifuyu's pov-
The intruder that had broken through the arena's deflection shield had made a mess just from their entry. However, what came with them was far more problematic, not only had they somehow broken through the barrier, they had forced security measures to come into play and got to the maximum. That should require operator command input, then there was also the jamming signal that had started just after the intruder arrived. All of that together had caused panic and chaos to ensue and left Sai and Huáng trapped inside the arena with the unknown IS. I wasn't worried about Sai, he could look after himself, the girl with him, I'm not so sure of that and I'll be the one held responsible.
Those of us in the control room, which included Maya, myself, Alcott and Shinonono were left to watch as things were playing out. I strode over and looked at the screen Maya was sitting at to see what information there was on the current situation. Unfortunately, what I saw I already knew about, the deflection shield took a harsh hit and was repairing. In response, security had reacted, but more than it should have in this, which again, though odd, didn't help with understanding the why. An evacuation had been ordered for the students, but with the exits locked down, that wasn't helpful. The other thing that was adding to the situation, with the jamming, long-range communication had been made useless, so contacting Sai or Huáng was pretty much impossible.
This whole event felt more like a setup or a planned thing, which if it was, then the question was what the purpose of it would be. For attacking the IS Academy didn't make sense with the facts known, so what possible benefit could there be.
"Taichi, Huáng, come in! Please respond, if you can hear this in any way, please respond! What do you think you're doing," called Maya at the control console.
I sighed knowing that with the jamming, communication to either Sai or Miss Huáng was not going to be possible. "Trying to contact them isn't going to work right now, long-range communication is scrambled. They are on their own for the time being," I stated.
Nothing else was said for a few minutes as the fight between Sai and Huáng against the unknown continued. Then Alcott spoke up, "Please ma'am, give me the authorization to use my IS, I can get out there right away and help!"
I paused, thinking of how I could explain the problem there was since the girl didn't get the magnitude of the situation we were in now. "I wish I could, but at the moment, that's not possible," I said. Maya brought up the overall readouts of the arena and I continued, "If this display doesn't make it clear, the arena is locked down."
"The arena's shield is at level four," Shinonono uttered.
"And, all the doors have been sealed and locked?! But, how could the unknown IS do such a thing," questioned Alcott.
I folded my arms, "Honestly, whether the unknown IS is responsible or being used as a distraction doesn't matter right now." I looked back at the screen displaying the status of the arena and next it the ongoing fight. "As things stand currently, none can evacuate, nor can we send any in for rescue or bring this situation under control," I said, not liking any of this.
"Well then ma'am," spoke up Alcott, "Deem this an emergency and request government assistance!"
I sighed as the blonde was letting her emotions get the better of her and making her not think clearly. We were doing what we could already, they would have to be patient and let those that can change things do just that. "We've done that already, and even Japan's best code crackers are having difficulty breaking whatever is doing this. When they have the system under control, the troops will move in," I stated.
"So then, right now, there is nothing that we can do," Alcott muttered sadly.
This girl just doesn't understand, she would be no help to those that were waiting to go in. Alcott's fighting style would only make things more difficult and that was the last thing needed in this. "That's right, but it's not like you would be of any help in this, so there's no reason for you to concern yourself with this situation," I remarked.
"Wh-what, what are you trying to say," Alcott snapped.
I gazed at the British blonde and then laid out the situation, "I'm saying that Blue Tears is designed to fight multiple opponents alone, not for working efficiently within a multi-member team. Plain and simple, you would merely get in the way Alcott," I iterated.
The girls shook her head, "No, that is not true! I would not, how can you say such a thing," she challenged.
I was trying to be nice and not spell out the point, but if she wants it, then who am I to deny her the embarrassment. "Really, so you've had group training then, if so then tell me what positions you have had and worked in. Who was your team leader and what kind of operations did you perform? What formations were used and what methods were used to assess the enemy force you were assigned to go against," I listed.
Alcott waved her arms, "Alright, you made your point Miss Orimura," she said.
"Good, you need to understand that things are the way they are for a reason," I returned.
-Sai's pov-
Rin and I were dodging the best we could, but this IS was shooting with pinpoint accuracy and was not easy to hit. We were running out of options to work with to take on this IS! I have the option of using my combined beam rifles, yet that's crazy! I would puncture not just the enemy IS energy shield, but wherever I was aiming, but also the barrier shield and the stands behind it. It's times like this that the weapons and other things I make with the help of my friends, the magnitude of them sinks into my brain. Wait hang on, if I shoot upward, then there will be nothing behind the target other than the barrier shield. Nonetheless, how to get that unit up in the air for long enough for me to get a shot off?
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Rin flying above me, she was weaving and dodging out of the weapon fire from the enemy machine. To her credit, the girl was really trying to help me handle this intruder in order to protect the lives of those in the arena stands, she wasn't doing much more than providing a distraction and an annoyance to this IS, but that's better than nothing. Nevertheless, with her here, perhaps we could execute my plan with her help. If she could somehow get the hunk of metal that we were trying to disable airborne, then I could unload a blast that could take this thing down. Yet, the question is, could she do the task of getting this IS to leap into the air in some way, shape or form?
Let's hope that short-range communication isn't being affected by the signal overloading interference being broadcasted. I opened a communication line to Rin's IS, "Rin, do you read me?"
"Yeah, what," was her reply.
Making my way over to where she was, it took me a moment to realize that the beams had ceased. That weird IS had stopped firing at us for whatever reason, I couldn't begin to think of why though. However, I returned the majority of my attention back to my female comrade, "Rin, you okay?" I asked.
She was breathing hard, but she nodded, "Yes, I believe so."
I was glancing in the direction or where there was a cloud of smoke, which I think is covering the IS from being visible. Our opponent wasn't making any movement or noise for that matter right now… like it was listening, perhaps to Rin and I talking. Yet, why would it be interested in listening to Rin and me having a conversation?
"Is it just me or is the way this IS is acting odd to you as well," I casually asked Rin.
She looked at me confused, "What do you mean? It's an IS, a machine with a pilot, what is there to be odd? The pilot is probably just crazy."
What Rin said was possible, but with what has happened, I doubt it more and more. I kept my gaze on the area that the enemy IS was, "That's not what I was getting at, the way it's moving to the way it attacks, it's too precise and calculated to be natural," I answered.
"So, she's a really good shot," Said Rin shrugging.
I shook my head a bit before giving my answer, "No, the accuracy this IS is showing goes beyond just being a good shot. This would be pinpoint target nailing that human beings don't often achieve if we weren't moving unpredictably, we would be in far worse states than we are now I can assure you. Also, if you haven't noticed, it hasn't been shooting at us as we've been talking, doesn't that strike you as different and out of the ordinary?"
Rin looked towards the field in the direction of the IS we had been fighting, "Yeah, I have been wondering why she hasn't been shooting at us, but what are you trying to say?"
"What if, this IS doesn't have an actual pilot? I mean, if it could be unmanned, even as unlikely as it might be, that could explain some of this, no," I stated as a question.
"Unmanned," queried Rin looking at me, then glancing back at where the IS likely was. "But that's not possible, an IS won't activate or move without a pilot, that's just the way it is."
I took a deep breath unable to let this go, "Hypothetically speaking, let's say this thing is unmanned…"
Rin stared at me in slight shock and incredulity, "Fine, for the sake of argument, let's say you're right and this IS doesn't have a pilot, what difference does that make," she asked.
All the difference in the world Rin and a smile spread across my face, "No pilot, no need to hold back at all."
Such a simple statement earned me a look of confusion from Rin, "And you have something that can take that machine?"
Nodding, I went on, "Yes, I do have weapons that I don't use in competition and ones that I can't use in a match, mostly because they're too powerful to use. One, in particular, would do wonderfully in this situation. The problem is it's far too powerful to use in an IS match or against a piloted IS, but if I don't have to hold back, I can unload. I just need you to get that hulk up into the air and then I can hit it, you think you're up to that Rin?"
"Well um, I think I could do that, but do you really think you can pull this off," Rin asked me, almost in a plea for me to dismiss my crazy plan.
"Not a doubt about it, have faith Rin, just do your part and I'll handle the rest from there," I replied.
Rin gave me one last look before she moved forward, and I slowly moved to the ground. I had barely touched down when I heard weapon fire come from in front of me, glancing forward, I saw the enemy IS firing at Rin, but missing. The machine was completely ignoring me, it makes me wonder what the program that it's running off of is supposed to be doing. Hovering a short distance above the ground watching if this machine would take the bait that Rin was providing and hoping that it would. After a minute, the IS leaped into the air to chase Rin, which was what I wanted for the setup I wished for.
I took out my beam rifles, flipped a switch on each rifle. The left beam rifle's butt slid open, leaving a space for something to slot in; then the upper section of the barrel including the muzzle of the rifle itself, moved forward two thirds its own length, extending the rifle. In slight contrast, the right beam rifle changed much less, with only having the butt extending out. Once both rifles had shifted, I slotted my right beam rifle into the back of the left and folded the left rifle's handle in, combining the two guns into one long powerful gun, or as Matt has jokingly called this particular weapon configuration, 'BFG or, of course, Big F**king Gun', sometimes I wonder about where these kinds of thoughts come from with him.
The butt of the rifle against my shoulder and my right hand held the handle and trigger which was on the still on the back half of the long rifle and my left hand held the underside of the weapon just in front of the middle of the rifle. I brought the long-barreled rifle along with orienting my body to point upward at the area Rin was dodging the enemy IS's attacks. Corinthos displayed the charging sequence of my long rifle and the climbing power levels. I was charging to 75% and the hum of the charging became audible as the power climbed and was being fed from some of my shield energy. I quickly locked in the IS causing so many problems and the second I had a lock and the charge was where I wanted. I yelled through the communication line to Rin, "RIN, HIT THE DECK!"
I'd just enough time to see Rin shooting out of the way when I pulled the trigger. Out of the muzzle of my rifle came a two-foot diameter green colored beam that shot upward towards the target. I was forced back towards the ground a few feet from the recoil of the rifle, but I held the rifle to keep pointing at the target. For a split second, it seemed like my beam would just miss the IS, but that wasn't so. My beam slammed into the enemy IS's energy shield with an audible boom, before the beam kept going and ripped through the energy shield and engulfed the right arm of the IS. The beam continued onward passed the machine and crashed into the barrier shield and within half a second pushed forward and shattered through it with a booming crash. This renewed the alarming sirens going off, due to the damage my weapon had just done to the arena defense and security. I ceased firing and stared to assess the damage I had caused. I hadn't been able to get a good look as I had been working on holding the rifle in which the recoil and sheer force from the beam had made it difficult.
When I caught sight of my target for the beam I had shot, I noted with satisfaction that the right arm, shoulder and the rest of the arm were completely gone for the IS. This only left arcing sparks from the port that the arm had been connected to and a bit of smoke from the port as well. My satisfaction waned a bit at the sight of the gaping hole behind the enemy machine in the barrier shield, that won't be a fun explanation later, damn it! And I'll probably have to give my justification to Chifuyu, double damn it, that will really suck!
My attention was snapped back to the enemy IS when it changed direction, backing away from Rin and heading towards the hole in the barrier shield I had created. OH NO IT DON'T! My unit's wings unfolded for full speed with a loud bang and igniting the thrusters, I shot off in pursuit of the machine. As I gave chase to the IS, I saw it go through the hole and that hole was getting smaller, the barrier shield was regenerating and repairing as it was designed to do. I needed to kick things into high gear or I would lose my quarry! As this won't be a closed quarters chase, I won't need to activate the other interface to go supersonic. My wing thrusters burned with a blinding flash as I gained a great deal of speed and I shot forward at near-supersonic speeds, shooting through the gap in the barrier shield just before it got too small for me to get through. I quickly locked my targeting sites on the IS that had caused the problems today and began the work of closing the distance between us.
All communication had ceased shortly after leaving the arena and now I was out of range, I had shut off my com-system to conserve power. I didn't need the distractions from people trying to talk to me, mostly so I could focus on taking down this machine than anything else. It took almost an hour to catch up to my prey while chasing it, I had to keep an eye on my MS unit's energy as I had used a lot to fire that high-powered beam before, have to do some adjusting later to prevent that in future. Once I had closed the distance separating the two of us to thirty-five feet, I took aim with my rifles and began sending bolts of energy at my opponent. I needed to end this battle soon, with the amount of power than I had used already, I was left with about a third of the maximum energy level. I hadn't known my beam rifles combined and the following chase would suck that much down, but then I've never test-fired the combined rifles either. It was on the fifth shot I scored a solid hit on its propulsion system and the IS began its plummeting arc downward and I followed at a distance as if fell.
The machine hit the ground and bounced a few times before it scraped to a halt making a trench as it went. I landed a short bit away, deactivated my wings for power conservation and observed the unusual machine, to make sure that it wasn't going to get up and start blasting away at me. My shield was sitting at an even two hundred at the current moment and I doubt that would last long under the firepower from this thing. Nonetheless, as smoke rose from the unit and the sound of cracking electricity, I approached cautiously, keeping up my guard. There were still energy readings coming from this thing according to Corinthos and I was inclined to believe its information as it had yet to fail me.
When I had gotten mere feet from the damaged IS, I kept my eye on it, I wasn't entirely sure it was disarmed and unable to attack. This thing had proven that it was resilient to a ridiculous degree. Rin and I had pounded this thing and it had been able to keep going without that many problems. Stiffening as the thing's head rose up and from one of the optical sensors put out a blue light and seemed to scan me. I stood still, not knowing what was going on completely, for this machine was acting in a way that I have never seen for other ISs. The scanning light disappeared after a few seconds and then a clicking sound got my full attention back to this unit. I readied myself to put this thing down once and for all, with a beam saber ready to ignite in one hand and a beam rifle in the other.
Yet, what actually happened, was that part of its 'head' split open and some kind of projecting lens was exposed. The lens lit up and projecting to a spot right in front of me, the image of a woman appeared with her looking at me. The woman or rather the image of the woman as that's what was being projected from this machine unit, was… 'different'. She was five foot six in height with a figure overall was feminine and was somewhat on the thinner side that the average. Her skin was porcelain in color, so much so that it could almost be considered white. This woman had straight golden blonde hair that went just beyond her shoulders and stopped on the top of her chest. Her hair had a blue ribbon or bow off center of the top of her forehead. The golden locks of hair framed her face and also accented her light blue eyes and pink lips.
The woman's manner of dress consisted of a sky-blue knee-length puffed sleeve dress that had a pinafore worn over the top of it. Then she had what could only be a white apron, likely made of silk sitting over her midsection, starting from just below her ribs and falling to her mid-thighs. In fact, the apron drew attention to the woman's chest, and it wasn't small! It appeared more like the fabric of the dress was being strained holding her double D sized breasts or at least that's the size they appeared to be. Completing her outfit, she was wearing ankle-high boots with straps on the front. To be completely honest, she reminded me of one of those old fashion porcelain dolls. You know, the ones that people don't usually play with by display as they have lots of detail and tend to be handcrafted.
The woman gained a smile at seeing me, "I guess I should have figured it would be you, logically it makes the most sense. Long-time no see my dear Sai."
I stared back at the female and a whisper escaped my lips, "Alice."
The woman's name as I had just uttered, Alice Masta was the third genius and creator of the Infinite Stratos along with the bunny and myself. The doll, chuckled at me whispering of her name, her smile was somewhat unnerving to me. I haven't seen her for around a year and a half, ever since she had gotten me out of a harsh bind I had been in and now she just suddenly appears right in front of me without warning?! I have no idea why she's here even if it's in an image, but that explains a few things about this IS, she's likely responsible for its construction and design.
"Nice of you to remember me Sai," said the doll.
Like I could ever forget either of the two women that I spent around two years with after my male sire abandoned me. And the porcelain doll had been the nicer of the two, between the damn bunny and her, she gave me time alone and separate from her, the stupid rabbit did only when she was forced to and pulled off me by someone else usually. However, that didn't mean she hadn't done more than her fair share of hugging me when I gave her permission or when I didn't. See like the bunny, the life-size doll still has the urge to wear eccentric clothing and for her, something very similar to that of the main character 'Alice' from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" is described to be wearing. "It's kind of hard to forget ones like the bunny and you, doll. Tell me, did you make this IS unit," was my reply to her.
The doll didn't really care that I didn't call her by name, unlike the bunny who would try to convince me to use her name. The golden blonde opened her arms as if she wanted, and she probably did want to hug me, still kind of creeps me out, "Yes, I made the IS, did you like it? Did you enjoy the experiment that it was tested in?"
You know, if it wasn't just the tone or the fact that Miss doll was smiling, when she rarely shows much emotion, then her question wouldn't seem out of the ordinary. Heck, with the face she has right now, smiling makes her look rather beautiful. But the doll I had come to know showed little if any emotion when she was around other people, only around the bunny and myself really, hence the reason I call her doll. She really didn't open up much with Chifuyu and reacts more like she does with other people or rather the lack of reacting emotionally. It had taken some getting used to at first, the way that the porcelain doll was like when I had first met her she had a straight, expressionless face all the time. However, not even a month past, she began showing her feelings around me and she took a shine to me. The doll then turned into the big sister doting on her little brother that she loves far too much than she should, with me being her little brother she dotes on.
Anyways, I didn't like the happy tone in which she stated responsibility for the wrecked machine in front of me. I'll admit this is quite impressive by this IS, though I somehow doubt this is the fourth generation or equivalent of the idea, that the life-like doll is developing. Still, this thing could have hurt those watching the match in the arena and might have already, and the doll sounded like she didn't care about that fact at all! She was pleased as 'her' test had gone in a way that had gotten good data that helped advanced her work. But then, she probably doesn't care what could have happened to the people at the arena, the doll had rarely shown any thought in the possibility of injuring others. To her, they're nameless and faceless people that she doesn't know and just happen to be around where she's testing something… just numbers, that's all. The life-sized doll is all about the empirical results of testing, experimenting and her work and the data that comes from it, not those who happen to be around it. "That depends, if you mean performance, then yes, it was impressive. If you mean what it was doing and the danger it presented to the innocent bystanders, then no, I wasn't amused," I answered.
The doll's face became flat and expressionless… now that's the look I remember seeing when we first met, "I see you're the same as you were the last time we talked, two different views of the same situation. Still, think that you should just look at the resulting data rather than the possible damage, it's far easier, quicker and you get clearer results," the doll said dryly.
The sigh came of its own accord at hearing the reasoning of Miss doll, this just goes to prove a sad truth. I'm the responsible one of the three creators and developer of the IS and I'm years younger than the two women, that just makes it all the sadder! "As scientifically minded as ever porcelain doll, always looking at the empirical results rather than those you might hurt. On that as I said before, we must agree to disagree. It's why I'm considered the responsible adult out of the three of us as I'm the one that thinks about all the factors. However, I doubt that's the reason you sent this unit of yours to the IS academy, so what are you trying to accomplish," I asked her.
The doll's lips once again regained the sisterly smile, "Now now dear Sai, you should know I won't just give an answer to a question. That's not how it works, you would become lazy were I to do that," returned the woman.
"Of course, you've always been of the 'find the answer yourself so that you learn' mentality. Nonetheless, life-sized doll, so that you know, try to pull a 'test' like this again around me, then don't expect me to help you in your tests or to even cover for you as I won't. I'll just turn your machine into scrap metal, then find you and give you a spanking for your actions," I stated calmly and coolly.
The doll giggled at my reply, it was borderline between creepy and freaky, "Dooley noted, it really is nice to see you again dearest Sai. Next time, let's do this in person, I would love to hug you as I haven't done so for so long, and I would recommend you start running."
The image of the doll faded, and the projected light shut off. What did she mean, 'start running'? "Self-destruct will activate in twenty seconds… twenty… nineteen" came a mechanical voice from the IS in front of me.
Ah crap, that's what she meant! Running would be a good idea, but the information the core that this unit had, could provide was very valuable! Making my decision, I rushed forward, and then I proceeded to rip open the chest area and was proved right that this was unmanned. And there, nestled inside was the IS core, connected to wires and cables. Grabbing the core, ripping it out and then without further hesitation, bolted off in the opposite direction, reactivating my wing thrusters and putting on speed. I wanted to make as much distance between that IS and myself! With the things the doll knows, I can't begin to guess what the coming explosion will be like… All I can say is that it's likely to be big! Once the remaining seconds of the countdown passed, there was a loud boom and I was sent to the ground by the shockwave from the explosion. The sound of fragments of metal and other material from the IS slamming into the ground around where I had fallen to the ground.
It took a few minutes for the ringing in my ears to stop, that shockwave from the blast had been harsh, even with the distance I had been able to gain before it occurred. My IS deactivated itself and I slowly got to my hands and knees, coughing from the dust and dirt that had whipped up. There were wreckage and debris scattered sporadically over an area of fifty feet; glancing around my immediate area I saw that I had a close call! Shrapnel on both sides and a couple feet away from where I had fallen, even had a piece that had impacted mere inches from the right side of where my head had been. Yet with all the scrap metal, I was unharmed… quite an amazing thing actually with the debris! And I still had the IS core with me and I was alive, that was a good thing!
Yet, as I kept looking around me, taking in my environment, I began to realize that my troubles weren't over just yet, or as the phrase goes, 'I ain't out of the woods yet'! I couldn't help myself in what I was about to do, but as there was no one around me, so I can embarrass myself without shame.
"DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE TO MYSELF AND WHERE IN THE F**K AM I?!"
Wilderness as far as I could see, nothing but sparse grass and lots of dirt, all riddled with fragments of metal. I hadn't thought about where I had been heading when I had chased the IS the life-like doll had built, and now here I am in the middle of freaking nowhere! Talk about getting yourself into a horrible situation by jumping into something headfirst. I was breathing hard after shouting at the top of my lungs, I hunched over, hands on my knees… screw it. I plopped down on my butt and sat, "Great… now what?" Once I took the time to think, I decided on a plan of action… I can't just sit here and do nothing, I would go nuts! "Corinthos, what's the unit's status?"
"Unit is operational, repairs will be needed before heavy use. recommend keeping in standby mode for recharging sequence," Corinthos answered.
"And estimated time recharge will take?" I asked.
Corinthos's answer came promptly, "Three hours, twenty-two minutes and fifteen seconds."
So, no long-distance flying if I want to stay alive, and unwise to use my unit for a little over three hours… that's wasn't what I wanted to hear, moving on to plan B. At least I have Corinthos to work with me, if that weren't the case, then I would be in even more direr straits! "Okay, let's start with figuring out where we are Corinthos."
There was silence for a full minute, "There are no public or open signals detected, unable to calculate location."
"Then are there other signals that aren't open or public that you could use to pinpoint our location," I asked in a bit of a sarcastic tone.
"Affirmative, there are military transmission signals and government channels," Corinthos replied.
I sighed at this as granted, I believe that Corinthos is developing into a kind of artificial intelligence and can state a couple of reasons to prove my point, but still, it has a ways to go. "Corinthos, let me rephrase what I said, use whatever means necessary to find out our location, if that means you need to do things that aren't within the law, then don't get caught when you hack and cover your tracks when you do."
"Understood," Corinthos said.
Waiting as Corinthos did as I asked it to, I sat on the ground for two minutes. "Location confirmed," my right arm IS section deployed, "Displaying map and location," stated Corinthos.
As I stared at the map and took in just how far I had chased the machine, I knew this would be a long day. Getting to my feet and beginning to trek in the direction in which the nearest place where people were. It was as the sun was almost touching the horizon, so a couple of hours, when I caught sight of a city and I headed down to it. Once I got directions to the train station and got myself a train ticket and rode it back towards Shinkrai. You know, having the time to think now, maybe it would be wise to catch dinner with the gang at the house before heading back to the academy. I'm no idiot, I'm likely going to be mobbed when I do get back and it would be a long while before I could get food with that in mind.
The train ride was an hour and a half when I had gotten to town I headed straight to the house. Of course, the gang had been a bit worried about me after I had gone off on the chase, but they didn't drown me as the girls will. Dinner was amazing and very much appreciated, I was hungry! While I was at the house, I extracted the data from the IS core, made a copy, altered a few pieces to make sure that the doll wouldn't be identified. I owed her a huge way even if I don't like to admit it, so I'm repaying my debt to her by covering what she did.
A year and a half ago, that infuriating bunny 'asked', no, more told me to take care of an 'issue' for her, that had ended actually being me having to take the fall for crap that cursed bunny committed and she was having me face the consequences in her place! That's why I'm so outright ticked at her right now! And the perverted bunny still has yet to give me a single explanation as to why she nearly, and if not for the doll, would have ended out in prison for most if not the rest of my life; nor has she given a single apology for what happened! The porcelain… no, Alice had bailed me out the situation, by hacking and manipulating information. She had saved me and helped me in a way I couldn't have done myself. That's one of the major reasons I still talk to the doll and don't want to talk to the bunny. That metal eared bunny screws me over, the life-sized doll may, but with her, I do get to choose some of the elements of it, and she does help me from time to time.
Well eventually, I did head back to the academy and after reporting to the office to prove I was all right, was sent to my dorm. I had been asked about the unknown IS, to which I handed over the core with the- altered information. I had no further interest in it, I had the original data and had no reason to make that known.
Anyways, I headed back towards the dorm and seeing that the lights were on, the feeling of dread grew in me. Again, I don't hate girls or anything like that, I just dislike them smothering me! That's due to the actions of the perverted bunny and the over sisterly doll pretty much doing that every day for two years to me. I was only able to squirm out of that occasionally, mostly because of Chifuyu's helpful interference. With trepidation, I placed my right hand on the handle of the front door of the dorm and after taking a deep steadying breath, opened the door.
Chapter end!
A/n
And there is chapter 6, and yes, I am leaving it off on a cliffhanger for my amusement and enjoyment. I find it fairly amusing to build anticipation to a funny event. Anyway, please take the time to write a review and tell me what you think or if you think I should change something; heck suggest idea if you have them. The input is appreciated; until the next chapter.