"Representatives of Hammond? I thought their only focus is in Mars colonization and military armaments. They are already years ahead of NASA in aerospace engineering, and their Spectres are widely used by most militaries. Why would they suddenly be interested in participating in a worldwide IS tournament they haven't been a part of for the past decade?"
"You're not the only one who thought the same, Orimura-san. Ever since they showed the Titans to the world 5 years ago, people have been comparing them with the IS for god knows how long. Of course, the world mainly still think that the IS is superior, but a lot can change in 5 years."
"Pardon me, Kutsuwagi-san. I'm just concerned that Hammond Robotics may be planning on something that could be considered morally and legally questionable. What if they're working with Phantom Task to steal our IS cores? Our academy's security will be seriously compromised, and worse, we might not even realize it until it's too late."
"Don't jump to conclusions too quickly, Orimura-san. While I can agree with you that Hammond's decision is suspicious at best, they are still considered a mutual party whose interests are shared by all of the world's leading nations, Japan included. The government officials have agreed to Hammond's demands, with reasons that have been deemed classified, even kept secret from me, as though my position as the principal of this academy matters little to them. We have no choice but to simply comply.
I know how you feel about this, Orimura-san. Phantom Task has been hiding their tracks and operations rather efficiently from us, even we couldn't figure out what they're next move is. My advice to you is, just try and be vigilant. Keep an eye out on the two new representatives. That is the least we could do for now."
"...understood, Kutsuwagi-san."
--
Today is not a good day for a certain homeroom teacher, who also happened to be the first Brunhilde, and older sister of the only male IS pilot in existence.
Her recent conversation with the principal of IS Academy, Juuzou Kutsuwagi, did little to rid her of her anxiety. A constant fear that something bad was about to happen never left her mind. Though her peers did not notice it due to her exceptional talent at hiding her own emotions.
Chifuyu Orimura stood with anticipation, the serious look in her eyes never fading. Alongside her, was Maya Yamada, assistant homeroom teacher of Class One, who was looking rather cheerful upon thinking that she will get to meet two new, hopefully friendly, students for the first year.
The Crow dropship carefully landed on a constructed helicopter pad on top of one of the academy's buildings, reserved usually for VIPs and other special guests. The powerful gust of wind followed nearly uplifted Maya's skirt, much to her embarassment.
As the dropship's engines died down, and its rear ramp finally opened, the two new additions to the IS Academy finally made their appearance.
The first thing Chifuyu noted was how..unusual both of their attires were. They have not been given their school uniforms yet, so it was understandable for their clothing to be different. But that's still no excuse for these two kids to be wearing military-grade armor of all things. Not to mention they were carrying futuristic helmets between their hands and hips and other distinct items on their persons she could not recognize. They were here to enroll in a school, not be recruited into a warzone, for god's sake!
The second thing she noticed was that the two representatives were of different genders. The girl had short crimson hair, amber eyes, and an expression that made her almost think she was looking in a mirror. The boy, however...
Chifuyu nearly lost her composure for a split second. The boy...he looks almost like Ichika.
Except his hair was shorter, he had emerald eyes, and he lacked the usual smile that Ichika often carries. Instead, in its place was a face of silent lamentation.
For a brief moment, she gravely imagined how Ichika would be like if he was never rescued by her. How he would have ended up if she never came for him. Is that the face that he would possess? A face devoid of radiance?
"Psst...Orimura-san, are you okay?"
Maya's voice brought Chifuyu back to reality. She realized she had accidentally zoned out for a while, and now she was trapped in an awkward position as the two Hammond representatives, now standing right in front of her, started looking at her weirdly with their eyebrows raised. She managed to hide her embarassment by quickly regaining her serious composure.
"*cough*...pardon me, gentlemen. It's just not everyday you get to see a real life Titan Pilot, much less two of them, considering Hammond's confidentiality. You must be Hammond's representatives, I assume?"
Thankfully her English wasn't terrible, though she felt her accent was a bit much.The boy was the first one to speak.
"That's right. Jack Cooper, representative of Hammond Robotics. You must be Ms. Chifuyu Orimura?"
"That is correct. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cooper. And she is...?"
"Zoe Grey, representative of Hammond Robotics, reporting for duty, ma'am."
The girl spoke up with a regal stance, showcasing a formality one would only see in the military. Which was something that slightly bothers Chifuyu. Infantry armor, manner of speech similar to a soldier, something was not right with these two. And did she really just call her "ma'am"? Now she felt really old.
"Nice to meet you as well, Ms. Grey. Now I assume you both had been informed of the rules and basics related to this academy and its functionality?"
"Yes, ma'am." "Affirmative."
"Ahh...my..name..Maya Yamada! Nice..meet you..."
The sudden voice of a certain green-haired assistant homeroom teacher with quite rusty English caused the two to gaze in curiosity. However, Chifuyu managed to answer their questions before they even asked.
"Pardon Ms. Yamada's introduction, she's still trying to get the hang of her English." Chifuyu's explanation simply caused the aforementioned Ms. Yamada to blush in embarassment.
"In case you're wondering, she's the assistant homeroom teacher of Class 1, which is also the class you both will be in. I have been informed that your belongings have been sent via a different transport, and your rooms have also been assigned.
I'd also like to inform you that there has been a change of plans. As newcomers to this academy, you both were supposed to be given a tour of the IS Academy first so you could get yourselves adjusted to your new homes for the rest of this year, but considering your flight was a bit late, lesson periods have already begun right now. So I'm afraid that'll have to wait until later. I'll also have our staff bring you two Japanese-English translation books that you might need."
"Ah, that won't be necessary, Orimura-san." The male Pilot, Jack Cooper, spoke up in surprisingly fine Japanese, surprising her.
"We have had time to practise our Japanese before coming here, Orimura-san. We have not memorized everything yet, but we know plenty to speak casually and formally." The female Pilot, Zoe Grey, explained in perfect Japanese, an action which also slightly surprised the male Pilot.
Rasing her eyebrow, Chifuyu simply accepted the situation. "Very well then. That makes everything a lot simpler. And call me Orimura-sensei. Yamada-san will escort the two of you to your class."
"Excuse me, Orimura-sa..sensei, but I thought we were supposed to have an...entrance exam, like all new pilots do." Jack asked a rather appropriate question towards Chifuyu. A question which was quickly answered.
"Well, I was told by your superiors that since you pilot Titans instead of IS, a pilot exam which was designed to test beginner IS pilots, would rather be unsuitable for the two of you.
However, the principal have agreed to arrange a "mock battle" between Hammond's representatives and the IS representatives. The battle will be held in one of the arenas, and the entire academy, as well as some VIP guests, will be present to watch the match live. Apparently a lot of people wants to see how Hammond Robotics' own Titans would fare against the Infinite Stratos, and the Academy is in no position to deny their requests.
The mock battle will be held after recess, so I will need the two of you to at least introduce yourself to your class first. But afterwards, I will expect great performance from two of Hammond's supposably finest Pilots."
As she was speaking, Chifuyu noticed something...missing from both the representatives. Something they shoud really have with them.
"Speaking of which...where are your Titans?"
Zoe was the first to speak.
"Titans lack the physical compression technology that all personal IS units possess, and as such they have to be physically transported via Widow dropships and airship carriers, while being stored as disassembled parts on the ship to optimize storage space. Combat Titans will often be quickly reassembled for rapid deployment and dropped from the outer atmospheric orbit during combat. This method of deployment have been proven to be extremely precise and generally takes under a minute, though the rate of deployment is still abysmal compared to the IS."
Needless to say, Chifuyu wasn't expecting the...lecture she had just received. Though it definitely cleared things up a little.
"Ahem...alright, then when can we expect their arrival?"
"Our Titans are still onboard the Solaris as we speak, but they should be ready for deployment anytime we need." Jack explained to her.
"Then why not send them now?"
Upon hearing Chifuyu's question, Jack simply smirked, catching her slightly off guard.
"Let's just say we want to make it, one hell of an entrance."
Chifuyu merely raised an eyebrow in return, but decided she had received enough answers.
"Well, in that case..welcome to the IS Academy. Your superiors have sent me a special package for you, containing clothes that you would wear to replace your current...attire. Normally I would object students wearing their own personal clothing since this is an academy and academy uniforms are a regulation, but I guess you two are a special case, so you'll be given some leeway. Now get changed, I don't want to see you walking around this school looking like a couple of misplaced Marines."
"Yes, Orimura-sensei." "Roger, ma'am."
--
Jack Cooper was not having a good day.
To be fair, he wasn't expecting for this day to go over well anyway. Being forced to learn Japanese before coming here, and though he's a fast learner, he's still struggling to memorize some of the more complicated the words.
Afterwards, having to strip his armor and Pilot attire to be replaced with a military jacket and cargo pants but with blue-white colour themes to match the theme of the IS Academy uniforms. He almost never took off his armor the whole time he served in the Frontier. It made him feel naked and vulnerable without his armor vest and Kevlar harness.
And then he had to share a room with the other Pilot who couldn't seem to talk like a normal human being. Not to say he didn't like her company, at least she's polite and quiet, if a little too formal.
And now this.
"Another boy in our school?"
"So both men and women can pilot Titans?"
"Look at how weird their uniforms are.."
"Is it just me or does he look a bit like Ichika?"
"He looks like a bad guy."
"He looks kinda handsome.."
"Wait, what?"
Apparently their introduction caused a lot of commotion amongst the students of Class 1, mostly directed at him. Most of the girls either looked at him in awe or mild curiosity, and some of them even gave him a...lustful gaze? The hell?
This is starting to feel like his first day as a recruit in the Frontier Division, except it was even more awkward. Instead of a bunch of Riflemen staring at him because he was around 10 years younger than everyone else, now he was stared at by a class full of female teenagers because he had a different set of genitals than everyone else. It was like these girls had never seen an actual male before.
However, what really caught Jack's attention, was the presence of one other male in said class, more accurately, his primary objective for being here in the first place.
Ichika Orimura.
The boy in question, locked eyes with him in bewilderment, and he couldn't help but feel the same. Aside from the different clothing, difference in hair length, and different eye colors, they both look almost the same. The boy, Ichika, seemed uneasy upon locking eyes with him, for reasons unknown.
He realized that a few of the girls harbored a look of malice directed at his companion, Zoe. Like a weird mixture of hatred and jealousy. He wasn't sure why exactly. He's not exactly good at reading other people, but even an infant would feel the ill tension growing among some of the students upon seeing their arrival.
The sudden sound of a bang caused the girls to shit their mouths, courtesy of an agry homeroom teacher smashing her fist against the teacher's table.
"SILENCE!!! Everyone, as you already know, Jack Cooper and Zoe Grey will be representing Hammond Robotics to demonstrate their Titans and as a way to solidify business relations with the global nations. After recess, we will be arranging a mock battle against Hammond's representatives and the IS national candidates. This battle will not affect any rankings whatsoever.
However, that does not mean I don't expect you to do your best. The reputation of not only your nation which you represent, but also the IS as a whole, is at stake. Everyone in the Academy, as well as some VIP guests whose identities I will not reveal for privacy reasons, will be watching this match. Such circumstances, is why I shall personally choose the ones I think is best suited for the following match.
Ichika Orimura, Cecilia Alcott, I want the two of you to get prepared. You two will be going up against Jack Cooper and Zoe Grey after recess. The match will be held at Arena 6. I expect the best from you two, especially you, Orimura-kun."
The whole class focused their eyes onto Ichika with high expectations, which sligthly bothered the latter. Ichika wasn't sure how well he would perform in this battle, considering how different Titans are compared to IS. How strong are their shields? How much firepower do they carry? Do they even have a weak spot?
Unbeknownst to him and Cecilia, another girl with long brown hair who also happened to be the childhood friend of the former, was glaring at them from behind in fiery envy.
"Us two, against them? Isn't that a bit unfair? I've heard that Titans are incapable of flight, so what chance do these two have against us when they can't even reach us?"
Cecilia's prideful voice caused Ichika to look at her in surprise. Her mocking the Hammond representatives definitely sounded like what she would usually do, but such an insult was sure to attract spiteful glares from the ones on the receiving side.
"Yeah, it is unfair for the both of you, so how about we take a handicap for you two?"
The question caused a lot of "oooh"s coming from the class, especially since it came from none other than the male Titan Pilot, Jack Cooper, who seemed to be trying to get on the England representative's nerves.
"Oho, what's this? Are you trying to take give us an advantage, when it should be the other way around? The IS have been the dominant weapon of mankind for over a decade, and your Titans have only recently made their debut to the world. Even then, you shouldn't be too confident of yourselves. After all, I, Cecilia Alcott, is the IS representative of England, and the role of being a national candidate is only given to the most elite IS pilots. Ichika-kun himself is also not bad in his skills, so what do you have to say about yourselves?"
Jack couldn't believe his eyes. This blonde girl, is actually trying to challenge a Pilot to a battle. A Vanguard Pilot at that. Two Vanguard Pilots, at that.
There used to be a saying that Riflemen often joke among themselves in the Frontier, and that was, "Never piss off a Pilot." Unfortunately, most of the stuff that happened in the Frontier was left classified by Hammond, and so the rest of the world didn't know much about what exactly Titans are actually capable of, so he couldn't really blame the blonde for being so ignorant.
Jack took a quick glance at Zoe, who simply nodded in silence. As if she knew what he was thinking, and simply agreed to it. They barely knew each other, but considering they were both Pilots, Jack had a feeling they both were thinking the same thing.
"How about this, then? Since you're so confident that you'll win against us, we'll take a handicap. We'll give you a 1 minute head-start to try and force us to surrender while equipping your IS, and until 1 minute hasn't passed, we won't use our Titans. Although, we get to bring our own equipments into battle."
Jack's proposal caused everyone in the class to gasp wildly. Even Cecilia was taken aback. Ichika stared at the male Pilot, his eyes filled with shock. He's practically challenging the two IS pilots to attack them with their IS, while the former are rendered literally outmatched. The thought that they could somehow survive such an unfair battle was just unfathomable.
"Wait! I can't accept this. It's too dangerous for the two of you." Chifuyu decided to intervene, feeling that the commotion is getting out of hand.
"No offense, Orimura-senpai, but you're underestimating the capabilities of a Combat Pilot. That goes to you as well, Alcott-san. That is not a wise decision to make. As Pilots, we have experience not just in piloting Titans, but also how to fight without them. We are not stupid as to giving ourselves an unwinnable chance. Cooper and I will take this handicap if you would allow it, Orimura-senpai. We only ask that you have more faith in us."
This answer was unexpected by anyone, since it came from Zoe, who had been relatively silent the whole time. Jack simply stared at her with amazement, clearly not expecting the female Pilot to speak up with a hint of anger in her tone.
'So she does have feelings. Good to know.'
Chifuyu struggled on what to say. On one hand, she'll be held responsible for whatever injuries might happen in this match should things go wrong. But on the other hand, she also wanted to see what these Pilots are capable of. And they don't seem like the type who would overstate their own abilities.
'I really want to know who these kids really are. This could be a good chance.'
She contemplated her choices, before eventually relenting.
"Very well..Jack Cooper and Zoe Grey will be given a 1 minute handicap in which they are not allowed to use their Titans in battle, only what they have on themselves. They will lose the moment they have been deemed unable to continue fighting or trapped in a deadly position and forced to forfeit. Ichika Orimura, Cecilia Alcott, I hope you will use your given edge wisely, and do not go overboard. Use as much non-lethal force as possible.
Lastly, I want all four of you to do your best in this match. Do not let me down. Dismissed."
--
Jump Kits, check.
Cloaking Module,check.
Grappling hook, check.
SA-3 Mozambique, double check.
L-STAR, triple check.
Frags and Arc Stars, definitely check.
Now all that's left for him is trying to survive a couple of hormone-fuelled teenagers armed with superweapons coming at himself.
Jack scanned the entire arena with his eyes. Hundreds of eyes all focused on them. An open air arena, where IS obviously have a clear advantage. Of course, that's what they want to think.
Beside him, Zoe stood with her Assault Pilot armour, equipped with a Volt SMG, a B3 Wingman Elite, some Gravity Stars and Arc Grenades. He could also see a Phasing Kit on her back, and a weird circular device on her arm. Impressive, to say the least.
On the other side of the arena, stood two individuals, clad in their IS units. Cecilia Alcott, the IS representstive of England, and Ichika Orimura, the younger brother of the first Brunhilde.
He didn't accept this fight blindly, of course. He did his research. Alcott's personal IS, the Blue Tears, is a long-ranged based IS, utilizing tactical drones and long-ranged weapons like a sniper rifle to overwhelm its opponents. Apparently lacking any melee weapons. Basically, she's weak to close-range combat. A Ronin-based loadout should be enough.
Ichika Orimura's IS, the Byakushiki, is a close-ranged based IS, equipped with only one weapon in its arsenal, an energy sword designed to overwhelm opponents in close quarters combat. That's pretty much all he could gather about the IS. So, any longe-range loadout like the Northstar, or even medium-range loadouts like the Legion or Tone, should be a decent counter.
If things go rough, resorting to melee is also an option. Over the recent years, Hammond Robotics had made numerous upgrades to their Titan models to allow for more versatility in combat, including the installment of melee weaponry for every Titan class beside the Ronin. Now any Titan is capable of getting up close and personal if they need to.
But that was beside the point right now. He and Zoe needed to figure out an appropriate plan to survive at least one minute against their opponents without their Titans. Energy weapons could give plenty of sting, but it wouldn't be enough to take out their shields. They just needed to stall enough time.
Jack turned towards Zoe. "You got a plan?"
She didn't look back, but she did respond.
"Our only advantage is our body size and our agility. We'd be harder to hit as such small targets, and our skills as Pilots should be enough to try and evade their attacks.
However, they have air superiority and an edge in speed, which they could use to outmaneuver us. Not to mention more firepower compared to our own arsenal. Excluding luck as a reliable factor, our chances of winning are less than 60%. However, that is only a rough estimation, and could change depending on the situation."
"Well, assuming they underestimate our skills, I'd say our chances are higher than that."
"I suggest using the element of surprise. Utilize hit-and-run tactics. Use their lack of tactical information against them."
"You know...you don't have to talk like robot all the time."
"Suppressing normal human instinct is crucial for every soldier. Emotions usually only serve as a distraction in the battlefield."
"You're starting to sound like a freaking Titan."
"I take it that is sarcasm?"
"You think?...speaking of Titans, I've never seen your-"
"Now is not the time to talk. The match is about to begin."
Upon hearing her words, a loud voice echoed throughout the arena.
"Match begin. Countdown: 1 minute."
At the same time, an audio message was heard from his own helmet's internal comms, coming from the Solaris. He was expecting the message.
"Solaris to Pilot Jack Cooper, your Titan will arrive in ETA: 60 seconds. Good luck."
'Alright. Let's do this.'
-
Chifuyu Orimura stared at the monitor screen in suspense.
She anxiously waited to see how the seemingly one-sided battle would turn out. She personally picked Cecilia and Ichika together because she thought that Cecilia's long-ranged attacks paired with Ichika's deadly short-range strikes should complement each other's fighting styles and provide little opening to weaknesses to the enemy.
Alongside her, assistant teacher Maya Yamada. Behind her were three holographic screens, each showcasing the image of a certain important figure, whose presence in this match were kept hidden from the rest of the Academy. One of them was Hikaruno Kagaribi, the head researcher of the Kuromochi Research Center, who decided to watch out of sheer curiosity. The second guest was Juuzou Kutsuwagi, the principal of the academy himself, who had also taken interest in watching the match.
The last, but definitely not least, was none other than Tabane Shinonono, the inventor of the IS herself. Initially she wasn't planned to be invited, but by her own childish desire and ingenuity, managed to establish a highly secure, untraceable private comms link into the academy's network, just to be able to see her own invention battle against Hammond's trump card. After a brief "reunion session" with her "Chi-chan", she returned to a relatively calm demeanor.
"This ought to be so exciting! For years, I've been trying to get my hands on one of Hammond's Titans and understand their inner workings, and if possible, how to enhance them. This feels like a once in a lifetime chance!" Hikaruno, the mad IS geek, exclaimed out of obvious excitement.
"Might I suggest that you calm down, Kagaribi-san. We all seek the same desire, but there's no need to get too enthusiastic." Principal Kutsuwagi decided to chime in. Tabane also decided to share her thoughts vocally.
"I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Katsuragi-san on this one. To think that the great invention of Tabane the Genius now has a supposed rival is an exhilirating thought indeed!"
"Umm...it's Kagaribi-san..."
"Hmm, what was that?"
"Ahem...gentlemen, I believe we should start paying attention to the main monitor. The match is about to begin." Chifuyu had to verbally stop the conversation so that her guests could return their attention to the important matter at hand.
On the screen, the image of the two Titan Pilots became visible. They were standing completely still, possibly planning something. Meanwhile, the two IS pilots, Cecilia and Ichika, already in their IS units, were hovering a few feet in the air, prepared to draw their weapons out and immediately corner the former two to a checkmate. They both needed to restrain themselves so as to prevent any fatal accidents, and only resort to non-lethal attacks with their IS. It sounded complicated, but should be easy enough for them.
After all, they both have the upper hand. Right?
"Match begin. Countdown: 1 minute."
As soon as the announcement was made, the two Titan Pilots suddenly...vanished into thin air.
Chifuyu widened her eyes. Everyone else in the observation room did the same.
'What!?'
-
Ichika's eyes carefully scanned the two Pilots from Hammond.
Their outfits are eerily reminiscent of modern military armor and camo, and their helmets are of unique designs he had never seen before. It didn't feel human at all.
"Match Begin. Countdown: 1 minute."
For a second, the male Pilot's figure was there. And then it flickered. And then he was gone.
The female Pilot also suddenly disappeared, leaving a faint trail of blueish particles where she used to be.
Ichika's jaws physically dropped. He hadn't made his move yet, and they were suddenly...gone.
"I-Ichika!! They've disappeared!! But how!?" Cecilia's voice jolted him out of his train of thought.
"I..I don't-" clang clang
There was a metallic sound, and under him just several feet below, were two perfectly placed frag grenades.
He couldn't react fast enough.
BOOM
Two explosions occured, and Ichika slightly lost his balance. However, he managed to fly away from the ground, with 92% of his shield still remaining.
"Ichika!! Are you okay!?"
Ichika suddenly saw a silhoutte appearing out of thin air behind Cecilia, and she didn't seem to notice it.
"Cecilia!!! Behind you!!"
She was too late to respond, as a hail of energy projectiles made contact with her shields, slightly draining it.
Flying away into the air, she instinctively pulled out her Starlight Mk.III laser rifle, which was set to non-lethal rounds to retaliate, but she failed to see another barrage of red energy projectiles coming from another direction.
Hastily flying upwards with tremendous speed to escape the storm of projectiles, she was shocked to see that 7% of her energy shield was already down. A tremendous feat accomplished by two people who were supposed to be at a clear disadvantage.
Ichika, who was still relatively on the ground, narrowly avoided two more frag grenades exploding where he last stood. He locked eyes with the blue visor of Jack Cooper's helmet, now visible, and holding some kind of odd looking gun. Whose barrel was now pointed at him.
His eyes widened. He reacted quickly.
Dozens of red projectiles zipped through the air. Thanks to the speed of his IS, Ichika managed to easily dodge all of the projectiles. Holding his energy sword upward to block the incoming red projectiles, he immediately boosted forward using his thrusters, and tried to tackle Jack and hopefully knock him out immediately.
The keyword here is "tried".
His actions were for naught when all of a sudden, Jack's figure flickered into non-existence once more, and Ichika found himself nearly smashing the wall of the arena face-first.
'How the hell did he keep doing that!?'
Immediately recovering himself, Ichika was greeted by the sudden appearance of a triple-barreled gun in front of him.
Bang
Three high powered rounds collided with his shield, draining another percent of his shield. Reacting on instinct, Ichika tried roundhouse kicking the male Pilot away, but he managed to roll away from it and delivered another blast from his gun in return. Ichika frantically flew vertically to avoid anymore attacks from the surprisingly powerful hand cannon.
He thought he was safe out of range, until he felt a heavy weight on his left leg.
Looking down, Ichika was shocked to see a metallic claw firmly gripping his left leg, more specifically the IS part of his appendage, and attached to said claw was a long thin wire which was carrying a certain load. Armed with the triple barreled hand cannon.
Ichika resorted to performing rapid flight maneuvers to shake Jack off him, but the grappling hook was surprisingly strong, and his grip held tight. He hastily thought of an idea, by holding his energy sword and slashing the wire of the hook and ridding the load on his IS.
His idea never bore fruit, as Jack immediately detached his hook and fired three consecutive rounds using the gun in his right hand, further draining Ichika's shield. Jack freefell to the ground, and Ichika was suddenly hit with a wave of panic as he thought the Pilot wouldn't survive such a long fall.
Without thinking, he flew down to Jack's direction, hoping to catch him before his body met the earth.
Reaching out with his left hand, Ichika grabbed Jack's left arm and caught him midair.
"Are you alright!?"
Jack, even with his faceless helmet on, seemed quite shocked by Ichika's heroic act, and decided to repay his kindness.
"Thanks!...and sorry for this!"
And by "repay", he actually meant planting an Arc Star at Ichika's metallic arm appendage.
The resulting jolt caused severe electrical damage to Ichika's IS and momentarily discharged his energy shield, causing him to release his grip, and yet Jack managed to land safely on the ground with his Jump Kits, though Ichika didn't know that initially.
Ichika managed to immediately recover and flew far away from Jack as possible. He was astounded by the fact that Jack's recent attack had already drained 15 percent of his shields.
The sounds of explosions behind him caused Ichika to look back to be greeted by the sight of Cecilia utilizing her Tears to simply level the entire battlefield from high up in the sky. Her shields were already down to 20 percent.
"God dammit, where the hell is she!!?" Cecilia exclaimed loudly, filled with rage. She knew this would be breaking the rules, but she didn't care anymore. She simply couldn't believe it. A single "pilot" who didn't even have an IS to begin with, managed to outsmart and outmaneuver her multiple times, and already drained nearly a quarter of her IS shields, and it hasn't even been 1 minute yet!
A terrifying realization struck her. How long has it been since the beginning of the fight? Has it already been 1 minute?
"Countdown: 10 seconds."
10 seconds!? 50 seconds have already passed, and her shields are already down 20 percent!? And these "pilots" haven't even gotten serious yet!
Just as her Tears have stopped firing, the figure of the female Pilot, Zoe Grey, reappeared into reality once more.
Realizing this is her chance, Cecilia hurriedly zoomed in on her Blue Pierce, preparing to fire a single paralyzing round, which was sure to hurt for someone without an IS.
She fired, but the projectile didn't hit its target.
Cecilia stared in silence.
'You have got to be shitting me.'
Unexpected to her, or by anyone watching, a large, bluish dome shield surrounded the female Pilot, shielding her entirely from harm. A flickering image began forming visibly beside her, which turned out to be Jack Cooper, who took the time when Ichika wasn't paying attention to him to sprint back towards Zoe to get inside her Dome Shield. A question mark began forming in his mind.
"A Dome Shield for Pilots? How come I didn't hear of this?"
"Titanfall in 3 seconds."
Right. He could pry out information from her later.
Right now, it's time to get serious.
"Countdown: 1 second."
"STANDBY FOR TITANFALL."
The announcement was not unheard of by everyone present in the arena.
Ichika and Cecilia was dumbstruck, unfamiliar with the term. A Titanfall? Does that mean...
A ominous sound of something piercing through the atmosphere began ringing throughout the arena.
Slicing through the clouds, two large objects became visible from the pale blue sky, crashing to the earth at an alarming speed.
Two loud explosions followed, and dozens of debris fell from the sky. The two objects began taking a humanoid form.
CRASH
The shockwave was unprecedented. The thunderous bang of metal hitting the ground could be heard across the entire academy.
As the smoke cleared, the two large silhouttes became more visible. Hulking beasts, each one stood over 6 metres tall, easily towering over every other exoskeletal machinery and IS known to man.
One of them sported a unique but nearly identical Tone chassis design, complete with a green-white-orange paintjob combination.
The second one harbored a similar design to the Northstar model but with bulkier armor, covered with a red-black-blue color scheme to complete the look.
Zoe's Dome Shield eventually ran out of energy, and both Pilots made their way to their respective Titans.
Jack Cooper hopped onto the interior of his Vanguard-class Titan, BT-7274. Upon closing the chassis, his helmet automatically established a neural link between his mind and his Titan.
A familiar voice greeted his comms.
"Neural link established. Welcome back, Pilot Cooper."
"Nice to see you again, BT."
As the Dome Shield surrounding his Titan eventually disappeared, Jack, now piloting BT, pulled out the 40mm Tracker Cannon, ready to finish the fight.
He took a look to his opponents, Cecilia and Ichika, who had been petrified the whole time.
With confidence, he smiled.
'Now this, is where the real fun begins.'
-
Silence permeated the observation room, where five distinct figures stood awestruck.
Chifuyu Orimura, the proclaimed strongest IS pilot, the first Brunhilde, was visibly jaw-dropped by the display she had just laid eyes on.
She had seen it in the live recordings before, only ones captured during the Washington Incident.
To be able to see it happening firsthand, was a whole new experience.
She briefly recalled what the male Pilot, Jack Cooper, said to her before, and couldn't help but agree with him.
'Now that is one hell of an entrance.'
--
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Author's Note
Wooh. This took a while to write and read. I apologize for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, I tried my best.
Honestly, I don't have much to write here. Except the next chapter is probably going to be awesome, since we'll finally get to see Titans fighting against the Infinite Stratos. If you were expecting more, I'm sorry. This is the most I could do, and my fingers are tired from typing right now.
Like I mentioned before, some familiar, or unfamiliar terms will be explained in later chapters. More new characters are to come. More Titans and Pilots to kick ass. And more Jack and BT coming soon.
Hopefully I managed to make this fight seem "realistic" enough, even if some characters might feel OOC. The short fight was just to set up an example that will be prominent in the story, and that is, "don't fuck with a Pilot." No, I'm not trying to bash on the IS. Okay, well, kinda, since Titans are more buffed in this story than their canon versions, but this is still an Infinite Stratos fanfic, so there will be some IS action to come, if you ask for it.
(Fun fact: Jack Cooper is perhaps the tallest "student" in the IS Academy, since he's over 180 cm tall. Zoe Grey is around the same height as Chifuyu Orimura. Just to let you know.)
Sayonara, and thanks for reading.