Chapter 15: Practical Class

-Laura's memory-

The first thing that Laura Bodewig remembered was waking up inside a pure white lab.

She's not even Laura Bodewig at that time. Just another child among hundreds similar to her. So instead of names, they are called by serial number consisting of the code for their batch and the order of their activation…. Or waking up or whatever it is. Laura honestly doesn't know. All she knows back then was the white ceiling of the lab and the white hair of all those who are the same as her. And the white lab coat of all the people working in the facility.

All she knew then was white. It was dull and her days consists of waking up, doing things she was told to do by the people in white, eat, and then sleep and wake up again to do the same thing over and over. It was repetitive, bland, and it was simple. It was life as she knew it. A life where everything she knew was white. It was not an interesting life but it was a simple and orderly life.

But everything changed when she learned of a new color. Red. The color of blood and the second color she learned in the facility. It was a color she could never forget because that was the first time she was bathed in a color other than white. It was fascinating for her at that time. That was the first time she experienced seeing something different and… colorful.

To her of that time, seeing red was fascinating. She thought that everything was white. But she finally sees that it's not the case. There's another color in this world and it is simply mesmerizing. Having only seen white all this time, she wanted to see more red. The only problem with it though is that to see it, she has to get the color from inside people. And she didn't know how.

Fortunately, the adults in the lab helps her find that color. And all she has to do is follow their instructions. It's no different from usual but this time, she gets rewarded with seeing more color. Ahh, if there was any downside to this, the people she took those colors from tend to not get back up again once she draws out enough red.

But she doesn't care. Those dolls she drew her beautiful red from never did anything for her unlike the adults who told her what to do and gave her food and teach her how to find red to see so them not getting back up is not a problem. She gets to see something that is not white and all she has to do is one simple thing. Follow orders and just…

KILL.

After the transfer students' introductions, class continued as usual. And as usual, when it's time for practical class, Mikazuki left the class to change by himself… all the while forgetting about Charles entirely who he left in class. With his usual efficiency, Mikazuki changed to his piloting suit and left the changing room and towards the training field where the rest of the class is waiting… or the rest of the class who he'll be waiting for. Despite his changing room being far from the class and the field, he is much faster and efficient in changing that he's often the one waiting instead of the other way around.

Today though, they arrived at the same time with Mikazuki arriving just as the rest of his class also arrived. With everyone present, Chifuyu who is in active charge of practical announced today's lesson to the class… or she was about to when she noticed that they're missing someone among them. She then turn to Mikazuki and asked.

"Orimura, where is Dunois?"

She asked. Mikazuki stared at her before tilting his head and asked back.

"Who?"

Hearing his genuine wonder, the class thought that it's so like him. He had forgotten that there actually is another male in this school. Chifuyu wanted to smack him on the head but refrained from doing so. He is the only person in the class she had never smacked on the head, and that is because she knew that hitting him won't solve anything since his problem, as she had observed from his time in the academy, is something much more fundamental that she couldn't identify yet. So she opted to simply sigh and explain.

"The new transfer student. He's another boy so he should be changing with you. Where is he?"

"Another boy? But I went to the changing room alone."

Mikazuki replied. Chifuyu and the others could imagine what happened. Mikazuki forgot about Charles entirely and failed to show the new boy where the changing room for boys is and the poor new student must be wondering where to change and got lost in the corridor. Chifuyu won't yell at him for being late this time.

Expecting Mikazuki to take initiative to show the new boy around on the assumption of them being the same gender and thus would get along proves to be very incorrect. She should've explicitly told him to show Charles around the school or he won't do it. What's done is done though so she turn to the rest of the class.

"Anyone here volunteer to look for Dunois?"

"I'm here, miss Orimura!"

Chifuyu's request became unneeded when a new voice interjected. It is the androgynous voice of the new boy who, surprisingly, had managed to find his way to the field and have changed into the male piloting suit. How he managed to arrive just in time is because of the thing that is currently in his arm.

"Thank you for showing me the way, Haro."

"Anytime! Anytime!"

Charles thanked the green ball that is flapping its 'wings' in his arm. That's right. Chifuyu had forgotten about that thing since it's usually sitting at the back of the class and stayed in sleep mode normally but they do have that toy bot in class and it has some interesting AI. Come to think of it, that is the toy that has been released recently in the market as a cute pet robot. How did Houki get one before its commercial release, Chifuyu doesn't know, but it has proven to be of help today.

The blonde boy then placed the Haro on the ground and it rolled towards Houki who picked it up from the ground. Usually, Chifuyu won't allow such a thing to be present in the middle of her lesson, but since it had helped Charles and it's usually quiet, she would let it slide this time. Besides, they've waited long enough already and putting Haro back in class would take too much time.

"Now that everyone is here, pay attention! First thing for today, we'll be watching a practical battle that involves close range and shooting."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Today, I would like to let everyone see a real battle. So with that said, Orimura! Alcott!"

Hearing their names being called out, Mikazuki and Cecillia stepped forward. Cecillia looks very tense and everyone could guess why. Practical battle involving close range and shooting. Mikazuki is a close range specialist while Cecillia is a shooting specialist. Putting two and two together, it's not hard to guess what Chifuyu has in mind. The whole class sent Cecillia a sympathetic look. Only two didn't. The two transfer students, Laura Bodewig and Charles Dunois, look interested in the matchup.

'Orimura Ichika, the first ever male pilot in existence. I have seen the footage of your matches. You are… different. But videos are one thing. Let's see what you're really made of.'

Laura thought. From the moment she saw him, there's something about him that resonates with her. Something that she couldn't quite put. And now that she's finally seeing him fight for the first time with her own eyes instead from behind a screen, she might be able to figure out what this 'something' about him is.

Cecillia and Mikazuki turn to face each other. Mikazuki has his usual neutral expression but Cecillia can see that he's ready to fight because his posture is currently straightened. Fear began to creep up to grip her heart as she looked into his eyes. She remembered how he trashed her in their first match and how he fought against Lafter. But she pushed her fear down. She won't be able to advance if she let fear grip her. Showing a determined look, Cecillia face Mikazuki with pride.

Chifuyu noticed this and smiled. The girl is certainly growing up and that's good. She looks ready for a rematch with her first opponent. But unfortunately, she would have to dash that hope for now.

"No need to rush. As interesting as it is to see your rematch, that's not what I have in mind today. Your opponent will be-"

The whistling sound of the air being split was heard. It is a sound familiar to both Mikazuki and Cecillia. Following that sound is a voice, a very familiar voice screaming at the top of her lung.

"AHHH-! PL-PLEASE GET OUT OF THE WAY~!"

Instinctively, Mikazuki stepped out of the way. Moments later, something crashed at the spot where he stood moments before. Dirt was blown all over the field as something crash-landed in the field. Amidst all this, Mikazuki look down curiously and asked.

"Sensei, are you alright?"

"Ehehe, I'm fine, Orimura-kun."

Yamada Maya, now wearing a female pilot suit with a dark colored IS deployed replied to Mikazuki. She got up from her position and started to float. Everyone else was surprised seeing there is theory teacher piloting an IS, everyone except Mikazuki who is not easy to be surprised and the transfer students who did not know Maya well enough.

"Your opponent today will be Yamada-sensei. Though Yamada-sensei doesn't look like it, she was a former representative candidate, so her ability can't be underestimated."

"Well, that was ages ago. And I never got past being a representative candidate..."

Maya replied bashfully. Everyone was surprised and impressed at finding out that Maya was previously a representative candidate. She doesn't look like someone who would even step on an ant. Appearance really can be deceiving in this case. Chifuyu then continue her instruction as she turn to the two teens who would be fighting.

"You two, prepare yourself. And Orimura… this is just a practice. I want you to coordinate with Alcott. This is ultimately a show, you got that?"

Chifuyu specifically addressed Mikazuki who nodded, understanding what she wanted to say. As Mikazuki summons Byakushiki, Chifuyu exhales and prayed that he does understand what she said. She felt that there's a need to add that last part considering what she had figured out so far about him. It certainly feels odd to actually have to tell someone to hold back but Chifuyu felt that she needed to make that clear to him.

From what she had observed so far, she had guessed that the boy who used to be her brother is familiar with combat. Not street fighting or competitive fighting but real combat. His movement, his style, his lack of any hesitation in being brutal, it all points to that fact. That he was sold and made into a child soldier and that life had done a lot of damage to him as a person.

While she is confident in Maya's skill, her fellow teacher had not piloted an IS for a while and Maya had never been an official soldier. Ichika is both a talented pilot who possess combat experience and deadly instinct. From how he fights, Chifuyu could tell that even military pilots would find it hard to best him. So just to be on the safe side, Chifuyu informed Ichika to hold back on fighting seriously.

"Then… begin!"

Chifuyu announced. The first to move is Mikazuki, dashing straight towards Maya with a basic sword slash. Maya flew up to avoid the slash but has to immediately maneuver when Cecillia began shooting at her. Maya easily evade the shots but has to deploy a knife to block an attack from behind by Mikazuki who had flown up after her.

Chifuyu nodded in approval. From his movement, she can tell that Mikazuki had heard her instruction and understood. His attacks are done much less fiercely than usual but still possess all the skills he showed normally, albeit his discomfort in strictly using the sword shows with how slower he is moving and his displeased look, which is understandable. Normally, he would throw in punches and kicks or even literally throw his sword to rip apart his opponent with his bare hands.

It was a rather unorthodox fighting style but it is effective. It makes him dangerous even when disarmed. In fact, perhaps being disarmed makes him more dangerous. Honestly, out of all students, Chifuyu felt like she doesn't have to worry about him in terms of practical. His theoretical knowledge though… left a lot to be desired. But he does put effort and while he won't be the smartest in class at all, he can keep up.

"During this time...Dunois, give a commentary on the IS Yamada-sensei's using."

"O-Okay."

Charles continued to watch the battle in the sky as he explained with a reliable voice,

"The IS Yamada-sensei's using is a [Raphael Revive] from Dunois Enterprise. It's a machine developed at the end of the 2nd generation phase, but the specifications rival that of the early 3rd generation machines. In terms of deployed mass production IS models, it was the last to be sold, but has the 3rd largest user-base in the world. Only 7 countries are permitted to create it, and 12 countries use it as a standard IS. Most notably, because of the controls it can allow pilots to fit what they want. By changing the equipment, it can be configured for all types of combat, including close ranged combat, sniping and defending types, so there are many partnering companies working on it."

As Charles explain about the IS, Maya is still engaging Mikazuki and Cecillia. As the battle continue, Maya began to draw her weapons. She drew an assault rifle to engage Mikazuki, firing at him rapidly. The first male pilot dodged the shots with little effort despite Maya's accuracy, showing his skill in evasion, maneuvering in between bullets as he got close. Maya also drew a large caliber cannon to shoot at Cecillia. Unlike Mikazuki though, Cecillia has a harder time dodging, unable to mount a counterattack through Maya's shots.

Cecillia finally got some breathing room when Mikazuki reached Maya who tried to quickly intercept his attack. But he used an ignition boost at close range to catch her off guard and while she managed to switch her assault rifle with a knife, Mikazuki easily duck under her slash and aimed his sword at the high caliber cannon, cutting it with his sword powered by Reiraku Byakuya. The rifle lost half its body and it happened so fast that Maya was stunned for a moment.

That gave Cecillia an opportunity to fire at Maya, who was hit on the shoulder while attempting to dodge the shot at the last moment. While the first shot hit, the rest of Cecillia's shots did not. Maya who regained her bearing easily dodge Cecillia's sniper fire. Seeing that just sniping her won't work, Cecillia switched to using BTs, deploying her remote weapons. Those are slightly more difficult to dodge but it's still easy for Maya to deal with… if not for Mikazuki who could dance around the beam shots harassing her and making it much more difficult to avoid getting hit.

This is the first time Maya engaged Mikazuki in combat and she could now truly appreciate the skill he possesses. While they appear quite well-coordinated despite their history with each other, Mikazuki had actually been accommodating Cecillia. He is giving her the chance to strike down Maya herself and so that's why he didn't put much effort in total offense, which Maya knew is his preference in a fight.

It's just a short fight but so far, Mikazuki only did basic attacks that they both knew won't work on her, especially since they knew Mikazuki can do more than what he had shown so far. Instead, his attacks are all meant to herd Maya towards Cecilia's line of sight. He also cut down the canon pointed at Cecilia instead of directly attacking Maya like what he would do based on his preference. It's surprisingly considerate of him

Taking her chance, Maya called a portable shield to her left hand while also summoning something else to her right hand. Maya allowed several shots of the BTs to hit her as she stopped in midair to intercept Mikazuki's next assault. When he came down with his sword, Maya blocked the attack with her shield to soften it and then disorient him by letting his blade slides down her shield by moving it at an angle. Mikazuki who did not expect that was caught off guard for a moment. Then Maya thrust out her right hand.

A pile bunker rests on her right hand and as she shoved it towards Mikazuki, the boy let go of his sword and brace for the coming attack with his left hand gauntlet. Byakushiki couldn't maneuver quickly enough to dodge it so the only option is to take it. The pile bunker connects and the spike shot out from the weapon, throwing Mikazuki back.

With Mikazuki temporarily out, Maya use this small chance to assault Cecillia. The sniper was surprised when Maya suddenly turn her attention towards her and tried to shoot her with the BTs. But without Mikazuki to harass her, Maya easily dodge the shots and close the distance between her and Cecillia who is unable to maneuver much when controlling the BTs.

Once Maya is in front of her face, Cecillia yelped and tried to summon her close combat weapon… but she couldn't call it without verbal command yet so she couldn't intercept Maya. The teacher then drew a massive IS-use shotgun and fired at Cecillia in point blank range. Cecillia screamed when she was hit with a barrage of shotgun bullets. Her shield depleting quickly as Maya mercilessly assaulted her with the addition of a machinegun in her left hand.

But before Cecilia can be fully taken out of the battle, a sword punched through Maya's shotgun just as she pulled the trigger, blowing her gun, herself, and the sword away. Mikazuki had returned to the fight, and he just threw his sword at her. Maya prepare for another round with the male pilot but that was when a whistle was heard.

"Match is over! Good work, Yamada-sensei, Orimura. Alcott, you need to work more on your maneuvering and learn to dogfight. Otherwise, you did good today."

Chifuyu praised them but left a critic for Cecillia. The blonde girl look down a bit in disappointment for being the only one Chifuyu criticized in their performance but at least the strict teacher told her that she's done nicely. Earning that much from Orimura Chifuyu is extremely rare so she would take what she can get without complaining.

"I hope the rest of you paid attention to the demonstration. Orimura and Alcott had shown us how a basic team of a close combat fighter and long range fighter can do and Yamada-sensei had shown one way on how to deal with it. Take note as I want all of you to be able to eventually perform like they did, hopefully more."

Chifuyu said. Though it's not actually an unreasonable request. Apart from Cecillia, the other pilots, Maya and Mikazuki, did not fight to their full potential and, while it's cruel to admit it, they are accommodating to Cecilia so it's at a level that even someone without personal IS could reach reasonably provided they put enough effort. If it was at Mikazuki or a serious Maya's level, then even she won't expect her students to reach it, not if they don't have a personal unit. Chifuyu is strict. But she's not wholly unreasonable.

"With the demonstration over, we'll continue with the practical lesson. The ones with personal frames are Orimura, Alcott, Dunois, and Bodewig. Then, we'll be dividing the class into groups of 5. Personal machine users will act as leaders, got that? Split up now."

Everyone answered in affirmative and began splitting up. Most of them try to group up with Laura or Charles as they attempt to get to know them better. Cecillia's friends grouped up with her after giving up trying to join Charles while Houki is the only one readily joining Mikazuki's group followed shortly by a few other girls whose name he can't remember but whose face he recognized as those who still talk to him from time to time. Though they joined him mostly because the rest are still trying to decide whether to join Charles or Laura.

After two minutes, the groups were decided. It's actually more orderly than Chifuyu had expected. Then again, compared to some other class, this class has Mikazuki as class representative. Most of them still have problem deciding on how to interact with him. They don't want to offend him but leaving him alone is also not okay. It surprisingly made the class more disciplined in an awkward sort of way.

Take this moment for example. The rest of the girls are obviously fawning over Charles, and Laura to a lesser degree, but with all of them trying to get close to Charles, no one would try joining Mikazuki's group. The possibility that it might upset him immediately came to their mind so some of them decided to bow out and join Mikazuki.

Seeing that some of them bowed out to join Mikazuki, others then join Cecillia since it would be rude to leave her alone, especially to those who are friends with her. That leaves the other to decide between joining Laura and Charles' group, which can be sorted much more easily. It's admittedly not a very nice way to achieve discipline but compared to other classes, this is much more preferable.

With the groups sorted, the practical lesson began.

"Listen up. Each group is to take one training suit. There are 2 Uchigane and 2 Revives, so each group decide on the type of frame you prefer. It's first comes first served."

Chifuyu instructed. The pilots with personal unit then decide what type they want to use. As Uchigane is a close combat unit armed with a sword which means it a similar type with his Byakushiki, Mikazuki picked the Uchigane for his group. Cecillia picked a Revive, the same with Charles, so the last unit which is an Uchigane went to Laura's group. With their training units decided, the practical lesson began as each group leader instruct their respective group members.

"Everyone, line up in an orderly manner!"

The first to begin with a loud and harsh shout is Laura Bodewig's group. The girl with eyepatch stood with her arms crossed and legs spread as wide as her hip. Despite being rather short, she made for an imposing sight to the girls in her group. Following her order immediately as they quickly noticed how dead serious she is, the girls began to line up in front of the Uchigane.

'I didn't see much during that demonstration and now I have to do this.'

Laura sighs. With the girls now lined up, she started her first lesson, namely, how to get into an IS. Though she wonders why she even need to do this. Most of these girls won't ever get into an IS after they graduate after all. Despite having a substantial number of students from around the world, less than even a third of them will actually get into an IS. After all, there are actually less amount of IS cores than there are students in the academy, and in reality, not all Representative and Representative Candidates are sent to IS Academy for training.

Representatives and Representative Candidates are the people who actually pilots an IS. They and other official military personnel or corporate test pilots. And really, most countries prefer to train their Representatives within their own country so as to keep state secrets as… secret. ISA, while officially an international school meant to train IS pilots, is actually just a PR movement to show that IS tech is regulated in a peaceful way. In reality, it is not very different from an ordinary all-girls school, with some specialty put in.

An ordinary ISA student's chance of actually becoming an IS pilot upon graduation is very slim. In fact, there's really no record of an ordinary student becoming a representative pilot upon graduation if they're not already a representative pilot or candidate upon enrolling. The best an ordinary graduate could get after graduating is becoming an engineer or consultant related to IS matters. Though Laura supposed that those jobs are also important.

Laura shook her head. It's not her place to think about those things. She has her own reasons to be here and to accomplish it, she needs to play nice. She is lieutenant Laura Bodewig of the German military. Jeopardizing her job because of personal dissatisfaction is not her style.

"Umm, Bodewig-san, what should we do first?"

One of the girls nervously asked. Laura finally realized that she had been spacing out for a while so she began the instruction immediately. Though that's what she intended to do, she had never instructed someone on the most basics of IS piloting. Everyone she knew had already completed basic and intermediate training by the time she met them so this would be the first time she's handling a total rookie. So she tried to remember what her drill sergeant taught her.

"Climb into the IS. Make sure to put your legs into the leg armors properly first. Now, climb on!"

She barked. The first girl quickly followed her instruction and entered the IS. Following Laura's order, the girl put her hands and legs into the IS' armor sockets. When the machines clamped down on her body, the Uchigane activated. Laura then ordered her to walk for a bit as, by experience, flying would be too much for a complete rookie… at least without messing something up. The last time someone let a complete rookie fly, they crashed into one of the warehouse back home.

With the first girl done, she got off the IS to let the second person try it on. The second girl in the row Laura set stepped forward… but did nothing as she stared at the inactive Uchigane. Laura frowned and immediately saw the problem. To get into an IS, the machine must be set in kneeling position. The last girl got off with the machine in standing position, making it difficult for the next girl to get into.

"Umm… I can't get up there."

Laura's visible eye twitched in annoyance. She can see that so there's no need to point it out. She then turned to the girl who went first and then point at her.

"You, get back inside and make it kneel. You did this, you have to deal with it."

The girl looked flabbergasted and didn't move, so Laura shouted at her.

"NOW! I won't help you so figure out how to climb onto it yourself! This goes for the next one! If you forget to leave the IS kneeling, I will make you climb it and set it down properly, you got that?!"

The girl scrambled to the rear side of the IS as she try to get into it. Laura sighs. She's really not cut out for this. But it's the teacher's order. She then looked to the other groups. Cecillia is not having much problem with her group. She is equipped with her own IS as she walked together with the student currently using their group's Revive while instructing them.

Then she looked towards Charles' group. The girls are being gently lectured by Charles as he carried one of the girls into the Revive he is using for his group as they faced the same problem as she did. Unlike her though, he instead carried the next student onto the standing Revive their group is using. This made her own group look at Charles' group with envy. Unfortunately, Laura is not as nice as Charles, so she'll instruct them like how she was instructed; with an iron fist.

Like Cecillia, Charles has his IS deployed. An orange Revive that looks heavily customized. Laura raised an eyebrow at this. Representatives and Candidates should be using a 3rd Gen unit by now. That is until she remembered. France is having trouble developing their own 3rd Gen unit according to their intel so that's why Charles is using a customized 2nd Gen model.

Charles looks to be doing fine with the girls swooning all around him. Laura scoffed at that. Treating them nicely will not help the girls. They won't learn what it means to be a real IS pilot if they are treated so gently. Then her eyes went to Orimura Ichika's group and blinked. Like her, he's not deploying his IS and didn't help his group by carrying them. He instead showed them how to get into the IS with a demonstration. He had gotten into the Uchigane himself and put it on. After walking a few steps and hovering in place for a few seconds, he got down and exited the unit, allowing the girls to try it by themselves.

Well, that's one way to do that.

Laura look back to her group. The first girl is still having problem trying to get into the IS. It's just jumping into a standing IS! Anyone she knew could do it! Hell, even Orimura Ichika did it just moments ago! It's all about climbing onto the shoulder pauldron and use it to climb up! It's that easy!

This will be a very long day.

Well, this took some time to finish. Anyway, we're entering the Laura arc which will focus on the ISA side of things a bit more, particularly Mika and Laura. In canon, this arc is a mix between focusing on Charlotte/Charles and Laura, mostly Charles, but in here, this will mostly focus on Laura because let's face it, Charles arriving in ISA is not a big deal for Mika but Laura's child soldier status will resonate with him more. Especially since I will be totally reworking Laura's background. The bits and pieces of that can be seen in 'Laura's Memory' segment of this arc's chapters. One of the thing I have to question about IS canon is Laura's very existence. Why is a super soldier made during times of peace? And by Germany no less. Also, more changes is that Laura was not trained by Chifuyu. Instead... well, I'll leave that as a surprise for later. Let's just say it's Gundam related. Besides, this version of Laura is more Gundam-related. I write her with the various Cyber Newtype type of Gundam heroines in mind. Particularly Soma Peries. She will be better adjusted with society but also more soldier-like. I will leave it at that for now since anything else will be saying too much. Anyway, next chapter will be Rin's introduction in ISA.

Nerf585: Because her name doesn't fit in the summary. While she's in, this story will put more focus on Mika, Mcgillis, Kudelia, and Tatenashi/Almiria as main characters so those are the names that shows.

Azure Dragon of the East: I wouldn't know. But it sounds awesome.

jan2dumlao: Kimaris' armament will be closer to Mysterious Lady since Tatenashi will be its pilot but I can equip that damned weapon as extra.

Czar Joseph: Well, Rin and Dan/Shino have an interesting relationship in this story. They're actually the pair I rather look forward to writing. They're not overly complicated like Mcgillis and Tatenashi but not in the 'going steady' stage like Mika and Kudelia. And yeah, Mcgillis liking loli will be a running joke in this story.

JustPassingBy: Hmm, that's a difficult question. Technically, Mika doesn't need that system to pilot an IS here. But the current operating method is not ideal for him either, being a bit slower compared to the Alaya Vijnana system. I'll think about it.

Beowolf 43: He can hear it from Kudelia since Kudelia is kinda like Akatsuki's 2nd mother. I will bring it up when it's time to focus on Kudelia/Atra/Mikazuki.

Amir-015: I already have a unit in mind for Kudelia, not that she will use it frequently. Phenex belongs to someone else though.

Ghostly: Gremory has been designated as Akira's unit so while it will retain similar form as in IBO, it will also have additional capabilities based on Akira's personal unit in the series she came from. As for Flauros, hmm, I'll think about it. As for Kudelia and Atra being pilots, Kudelia already has a unit being worked on but Atra... nope.