Chapter 4 The Call did not Miss
IS Academy- Briefing Room
A scream filled the room
"HE DID WHAT?!"
The briefing room in the IS Academy, which hosted many mission briefings, and doubled as meeting rooms for the bureaucrats and the teachers were filled with a tense atmosphere.
It didn't help matters that Kimiko Mori was very close to strangling Umi's neck for this news, only being stopped from doing a forceful promotion to her boss by Ichika.
"Will you calm down for a sec, Kimiko-san? She's not finished with her news."
" How the hell can I stay calm after THAT? My brother…", She argued, pointing out her main issue with the news she just heard.
Her brother, Hiroki, her sole remaining family member after her parents passed away, her pride and joy, was one of THEM, holder of one of that 33 cores, a Vertexer, of all things!
"At least he's safe now, for the time being…" Umi followed.
" How can you call THAT being safe? He nearly met his maker! What happened to the Pilot Relative Protection Clause?"
Ahh…. Such a clause was technically a gentlefolk's agreement only. Enforced due to the near volatility of such situations if handled poorly, it stopped countries from committing anything untoward to the loved ones of a pilot, but not the non-country entities from doing anything about it.
"Indeed, such law exists, but consider that his circumstances to awakening to it can be grounds for many greater infractions, and thus punishment." Umi duly stated, while handing Kimiko a tablet with a video marked with the date of awakening.
" September 12th, 2026, four months ago. I thought he awakened to it like mere weeks or days ago…."
"As noted, this video was used as evidence for the court hearing regarding the massacre of the Hongwanji yakuza clan at the heart of Kyoto, they were known to be politically powerful, able to wrangle anyone to grant them legal immunity and all that. However, Spectra happened, and suddenly they are on the run."
" But what of the court's verdict for him?"
"The verdict was of the contest, considering the fall of Hongwanji did air a lot of our higher up's dirty laundry, so we were lucky that the worst did not happen." Ichika sardonically replied, clearly wanting to end the conversation then and there.
"I've heard worse news, Ichika-san", Kimiko groused. "You don't have to sugarcoat it by that much."
"Fine then"
Ichika took a deep breath, he did not like being the bearer of bad news.
"Before it was decided that he was to be with us, some very influential folks wanted him dead, citing that either the core's more useful to them, or it destroys the integrity of an IS as a symbol."
Kimiko promptly grabbed Ichika by the collar. But he did not flinch, whatever bad news carried the implication that dealing with her was a low-risk affair. She promptly raised her fist, only to be caught by Umi's hands.
"Calm down, Kimiko. You're being hysterical again."
She couldn't take this lying down, not when this bomb of news still rang true
"Calm down? Who can calm down after this news?"
" He didn't finish yet."
" Then spill it, Umi-san. I've very tempted to cold-clock this prick at this moment for the news."
" Terrazi lobbied for his safety. And the verdict was a time of service as a pilot."
The news, even if it was better than death, did not give her any joy.
"As beautiful as this scene of you trying to calm down your underling here, the kicker of his status. He's not to be affiliated with the ISA, considering that place was already a hotbed of nonsensical issues, some grandfathered by yours truly. He's to be under my wing for the time being."
"And the tests?" Kimiko asked.
" It will be held in April, the exact date not known yet.", He answered."But the ISA will set up an Arena. We can finally know either it's the machine, or it's the pilot fully controlling it."
Some good news that was…..
Hiroki began to recall whatever happened that led to all of this nonsense.
He remembered that fishing trip, the one that gave him Spectra in its inactive form.
He remembered that before being shot dead in the harbor, his girlfriend left him, for reasons finely known to him.
Did she have any part in any of this nonsense?
It can't be. She confessed, that she grew to love another girl, citing the lack of romance as the main reason. So that was out.
He remembered being shot by a man at the harbor, and then regaining consciousness, however little, at that compound, in the midst of a series of experiments. All ran by men with scary-looking suits.
Then, after all of that, he remembered that he stood before a girl before being assaulted by a man with the intention to do unspeakable deeds. He slashed the man in half, probably scaring the girl to death. He had no regret for the act, or for any of the people doing the experiments at the compound.
It mattered little that his blade sang too freely and wildly during his fight, be it to the compound's goons, or their remnants months later, or Katsuragi.
Whatever recollection he had, he is to make peace with whatever verdict handed down to him.
The days ahead will be dreadful.
The first week came and went, and finally, he was able to leave the hospital. After that, he went back to his home. And he found his sister there, Kimiko Mori, in a rather sullen mood.
Whatever greeting he had in mind, was silenced by her usual, her sister is the scarier one in the house. Being considered a good combination of a beautiful woman and a literally strong person will do that to one's perception.
It did not help that she had all the trappings of a military-related fellow, fresh from a particularly hellish tour.
She, noticing that her brother have returned, summoned him to the living room, and gave him a concerned look for her standards, along with that a yellow thick book, titled "The basics of IS usage" with a rather taunting font, clearly fit to be thrown away, or being mistaken as a telephone book
" Hiroki, I say this as your sister, you are to be accepted as an interceptor. However before you can celebrate the home stretch, you are to learn everything from this book . ."
'Only she can make a statement of reading the book sound akin to a threat' he thought.
"Any questions?"
There are many questions in Hiroki's head. However, all queries wilted before her gaze.
"N-no sis…"
"And Hiroki?"
"What is it, sis?"
"Welcome back"
"Welcome back to you too, sis."
"Ugh….."
The book that Kimiko brought him was truly a difficult quest. Whatever words were printed on the damn book were filled to the brim with honest-to-god jargon and whatnot that made little to no sense without the context necessary. He felt his confidence in his intelligence, which was middling at the high standards of Ayasato High, truly tested. If it were the treaties, like the 1st and 2nd Alaskan Treaty, and many other nonsenses made to regulate the IS' proliferation, it was somewhat understandable. But the tech part on the other hand….
'What sort of lingo is this book written?'
Indeed, the tech part of the book was not his strong suit. He understood the basic technology included in an IS, however, the deeper part of the tech notes, despite the simplification included in the book, prove to be the nail in his nearly sleep-deprived brain's coffin
'This book insults me so…'
It was a very tempting prospect to use the book as a bludgeon or a projectile, rather than a tool of education. The book was heavy enough to be used as such. He can sympathize with the girls his age that got an early start reading the book. Clearly, they earned the right to bitch to you incessantly when they are smarter than you, and force-fed with incessant knowledge fit for literal Ph.D. students, not for literal high school.
He then looked at the clock, with the display monitor showing that it was way past 10 wisely decided to end the damn study session before another window joined its brethren in the casualty list.
' That's it, then. Tomorrow's the day for a further sesh."
Then tomorrow came.
Before he went back to the grind of post-graduation study sesh, he went back to the school that he was technically an alumnus from. Regardless of the fact that the graduation was interrupted by Meltfire.
Ayasato High. The academy of some renown. The building was in the middle of renovation after being in the crossfire. The building was big, not sprawling-academy-on-a-good-portion of the city big, however, it was big enough to house facilities for 4 classes of 30 students for each student year from 1st year to their 3rd year, teachers to accommodate the students and dormitories.
The snow-filled sky gave the school a somewhat homely decor, betraying the high pedigree such a school demanded.
His thought wandered for a while, reminiscing good memories made at the place. However, he had near to no recollection of it. Whatever goodwill he earned there, it's probably coming from his relation to his sister. Nor did he have the ability to socialize with people his age.
Whatever reminiscence he had ended there. He had to finish the damn tome first. Only 300 pages of exercise and theorem left….
Day after day, Hiroki's study gained ground. Whatever confusion he had regarding the materials included in the damned book has been lifted ever so damn book only had 50 pages left, with the remaining problems for the upcoming written part of the initiation test.
However, whatever progress he had in his study for the upcoming test, be it on the theoretical or the physical, his mind became plagued by a series of visions.
It began at a harbor of no significance, whatever happened to the place was akin to an after-effect of a particularly nasty. Then came the pain, an unspeakable pain, be it an overexaggerated migraine, or his innards liquefying that, an effigy of him appeared, his mutated body twisted and turned in a manner in which human bodies are not supposed to move, pierced from every direction by pink energies of unknown origin, all while uttering a single sentence over and over again as his blood stained the once-kindly color to a grotesque sheen.
'Ascend… I must…..ascend….i must'
He kept uttering the words in his mouth, as if begging his body to shuffle itself from its cage, like a mantra spoken by a monk taken by his own mania.
And finally, he saw the final vision. He saw his sister and her friends, some laid low on the ground, blood gushing from whatever orifice it saw fit, be it from severed limbs, or gored innards. The other half of her friends mutated into forms that can be described as humanoid in the most charitable of descriptions, with parts of their IS merging into their bodies.
"GAH!"
The sheer horror from the nightmare jolted him awake.
' what was that vision
He desperately pinched himself, as if trying to convince himself that the dream was a result of watching too many horror flicks at night.
He could no longer sleep for the night. He needed all the focus he can muster.
Not when the trial is tomorrow.
Then came the day of the examination.
He was escorted from his house by the Japanese MIB.
The travel there was a bit eventful, considering the traffic and the shuttering slogging through the seas of traffic, he looked at the tall buildings of the ISA island, filled with futuristic gizmo, that screamed 'this is the 23rd-century tech' all over its clean and polished walls. He then headed straight to the assigned arena on his tablet.'Arena no.6'
The arenas provided by the ISA were considered top-notch ones, graded fit to standards for the Mondo Grosso. The place was oddly sterile, like a sci-fi setting that is far removed from the bustling traditionality of Kyoto, or the modernity embraced by Tokyo
"Wow…"
His wonder regarding the sacred halls of the ISA's paddocks was only halted by the surprise of meeting two of his sister's squadmates, Marie and Sheila Vergne.
"Hey, it's the lil' bro. Fancy meeting you to scout out a girl?"
"Simmer down Marie, he's clearly not for that right now.":
"Aww… why not Sheila? Life's not that full without something to fight for!"
" I'm here for testing, Marie-san."
The news surprised the Vergne sisters for a bit.
" So you're the rumored Spectra"
" and what about it?"
"Our deepest apologies, your test would be a rather impossible quest," Sheila answered with a tone of finality.
" Don't say that, Sheila. You'll demoralize him!"
" That's rich, coming from someone who bet against the leader for this fight."
'Is this the best folks for her squad?'
Packing his thoughts inside, he then changed into the bodysuit customary for IS pilots. The suit was too tight for his liking, and this was from the fact that he tend to pilot his IS above his normal clothing.
'Ack… too tight!'
It didn't take long for him to reach for the suit's auto-adjuster, finely adjusting the suit from purpling his limbs. After the suit finished adjusting himself, he summoned Spectra from his bracelet, a familiar crimson armor covering his entire body, with both Kirmizi and StrikeVeil in tip-top condition, reminding him to thank whatever techie dared to touch the damn thing.
"This is Hiroki, Launching."
The catapult roared to life like the scenes seen in many a mecha anime, carrying him from one end of the pit to the center of the arena. In the middle of the arena stood his sister, clad in an Uchigane Fiera, and he noticed the peanut gallery at the seats.
"I thought it's to be a private affair, Kimiko-nee."
"Don't blame me, the news leaked way too fast for news like this." She retorted, as she switched to her combat posture " Ready yourself, I don't hold back for this."
After finishing that sentence, it did not take her long to close the gap between the two, sword brandished and the machine gun she held roared to life.
Meanwhile, within the control center of arena 6…
" What do you make of him, ?" Umi asked.
Now that he had a better view of the situation, he can somewhat know why these 'things' were of note, not some random IS-Piloting-induced narcissistic nonsense about godhoods and the like.
"He's at least familiar enough with the IS," Ichika answered. "Even with the help of a semi-VT system, his piloting still reeks of inexperience."
" So this one's a bust, then?"
" He's not that terrible, all things speaking. We've had graduates make errors worse than his." Ichika explained. "And we've had graduates make errors worse than this."
The screen in front of them showed the current tidings of this 'test'. Kimiko with her still had the upper ground, while she suffers a huge shield energy deficit caused by her opponent, no thanks to the overpowered weapons he had. However, Hiroki himself was on the losing end in the maneuvering battle, sometimes able to dodge the attacks, sometimes struck by her attacks. Merely having a great attacking power is not an IS pilot make, much less Mondo Grosso level.
*Woosh*
Whatever rumination they both have, was interrupted by the arrival of Houki Shinonono and Kanzashi Sarashiki.
" It's been a while Ichika."
" H-Hello, Ichika."
They, Ichika mused, have grown more beautiful in the passage of five years.
"What's up you two? What exactly brings you to this place?"
" You know damn well what the hell are we for, Ichika. We're here to gauge the Vertexer." Houki answered with a friendly tone.
Considering the two visitors had a hand in the defense and technology divisions of Japan's IS Forces, the question proved to be just an icebreaker in hindsight. Houki wants to see the pilot's skill firsthand, Kanzashi wants to dissect the spectra and see what made it tick. They both seem unimpressed with the showing. With the current ISIF Ace having the upper ground, as expected.
"You know," Kanzashi asked " If the test is all it took, why the gallery? Why made it that flashy?"
" The gallery was not by our hands as the tester, maybe the grapevines or some curious students tend to look forward to the new man," Umi answered.
She did not dig further into that reason. Considering Ichika's own test a few years back did draw an audience or two. The underlying question became why she became the tester. Normally, they had an instructor as the tester. Not the Interceptors.
" As for the interceptors, "consider this a futureproofing test" is what Ichika said for this test. The other being for legal's sake." Umi responded, her eyes still glued to the battle below, enjoying the somewhat good show.
" The other, other reason then, Ichika?" Houki inquired, catching on to the tone underlying his answer, as quoted by Umi.
" The other reason than those, Houki, is a test of their readiness of sorts," Ichika answered as the battle below raged on, the advantages of its two fighters switching ever faster now.
"Consider that the pilot is someone that close to you, with ever-expanding capabilities like the G-00, along with whatever those Angelus pricks were on to, we need the Interceptor's ability to be greater than ever, their weaponry and tactics need to be improved further to reduce casualty on their ranks. And on his end, we need something in case we need a force multiplier to be as big as possible, or not to lose control that much if he's not able to be that big of a multiplier."
Current technical reports:
Uchigane Fiera:
An upgrade to the Uchigane-type IS after its somewhat disappointing performance during the phantom task insurgence and the G-00 Fiasco. The upgrade plan can trace its roots to Kanzashi's own Uchigane Nishiki. With its expanded armaments the Fiera can be expected to adapt to everchanging battlefields. It has seen use by the general forces and the interceptors, each with their own customization
K12 special version: The version of Uchigane Fiera fielded by the interceptor's squad to which Kimiko Mori belongs. It incorporated numerous feedbacks from the other Japanese RepCan's IS units, with the efficiency of the weapons systems being their selling point, even amongst other Fiera variants.
Weaponry:
Yama Arashi Wing-Mounted Missile Launcher
Zansetsu High-Vibration Physical Sword
Type 77R-K12 Custom Beam Machine Gun with Auxiliary Munitions launcher.
A/N: Well that's that for this chapter. If you have any suggestions on how to improve more, feel free to give comments on the faults found in the story. Thanks.