Infinite Stratos: Digital Prototype CH:3 (I do not own Infinite Stratos)
We finished changing, Charles doing so in record time. Not surprisingly. I thought to myself. I led the group out of the changing rooms and into the second arena. We grouped ourselves at the back of the class. Ichika moved through toward one of his friends when his sister started talking.
"We'll begin training today. First we'll have exhibition matches. Fan, Alcott!"
"Yes!" "Yes ma'am!" were the resounding replies as Rin and Cecilia were called up to start the matches. The girls did so, reluctantly. Then Chifuyu said something to them and they had an attitude change within milliseconds from discouraged to happy and energetic. Chifuyu then looked at me and Charles and I tensed, waiting for an order.
"Altec, Dunois! You get up here as well. You'll be after them." "Yes ma'am!" Both Charles and I said. I weaved my way through the crowd and Charles followed behind me. I tugged my dog tags into sight and readied to call my IS into existence. Cecilia and Rin called their IS's and started insulting each other. Chifuyu rebutted them and that's when I noticed what looked like a green blob falling out of the sky, in our direction. I called Prototype into existence and was in the air before everyone else noticed. I caught what was actually an IS and landed quickly and set the IS on their feet. I caught sight of Ms. Yamada's blushing face before I sent Prototype back into standby and stepping back to give the IS's space. "Wait, two on one? Doesn't seem fair to gang up on Yamada-sensei." Rin said, eying Yamada's IS. I was checking out Ms. Yamada's IS as well. It was a original Rafael Revive with the standard amount of bus slots for almost any package.
"Don't worry. You two will be defeated in no time." I heard Ms. Orimura say in reply to the girls. The girls, understandably, were not amused. "Now, begin!" Ms. Orimura shouted. At once, the three IS's took to the sky to do battle.
I stepped out from below one of the IS hangar runways and looked up, watching the battle take place as soon as the three IS were high enough to fight safely. There seemed to be some brief conversation before Rin and Cecilia split apart in two different directions. Cecilia was quick to activate her drone bits, immediately opening fire on Yamada-sensei. Yamada dodged their shots easily. Just as Rin opened fire with her shoulder cannons. Yamada dodged what she could, blocking the ones she couldn't.
Back on the ground, Orimura turned to Dunois and I, focusing on Dunois. "Dunois, give us an explanation of the IS that Miss Yamada is using." "Y.. Yes! Miss Yamada's IS is called the "Rafale Revive" made by the Dunois Corporation. It's a machine created at the end of the second-generation development. However, its spec are not inferior to early third-generation models. It is the latest model…" I stopped listening after that since I knew exactly what the Rafale Revive was capable of. I turned back to watch the battle, or more precisely, Cecilia and Rin's cannon fire as they tried to knock Yamada out of the sky. I watched as Yamada started to return fire with her rifle, forcing Cecilia to move or risk being hit. Cecilia was so focused on not getting hit, she and Rin, who was also distracted, to collide mid-air. I saw an explosion, then Rin and Cecilia hit the stadium floor next to us in a twisted pile of robotic limbs and unhappy words being flung at each other. "Now you understand what your instructor is capable of. I'd hope this urges you to start showing her more respect."
Yamada landed while Orimura was talking, smiling and blushing. Orimura turned back to Dunois and I, "Altec, Dunois! You're up!" She called to us. I nodded and called Prototype back onto the field, Dunois followed shortly after. I turned to see Dunois' IS and had to look again. It was almost an exact copy of mine! I noticed Charles doing the same and we looked at each other and started laughing. The rest of the students didn't seem to get what was so funny.
"Orimura-sensei, who are we to fight?" Charles asked. I looked to see Yamada had sent her IS back into standby, and nobody else seemed to be able to fight us, except Cecilia, Ichika and Rin. And two of the three weren't in the best of moods. Orimura looked at us and seemed to smirk before she said; "Each other, of course." Charles and I looked at each other and shrugged.
"Ms. Orimura, this could take awhile. From what I can tell, Zeke and I are well matched and won't be able to defeat each other like earlier." Charles explained. Orimura turned to the rest of the students and waved them into the stands. "I know, that is why everyone else is going into the stands to watch. And the two of you are to stay grounded except for however high you can jump unassisted with boosters." I grinned, recognising the challenge that Orimura had set for us. "One question, Instructor. If I may." I asked, realising this was the first time I had talked outside of my introduction earlier. Orimura looked at me, "And what is your question, Altec?" "Are we able to use boosters on the ground? For maneuverability." I added, to clarify to the rest of the class. Orimura nodded and stepped into the stands. I accessed my stored packages and selected one from the list. I felt my IS begin to adapt to my packages specifications. I watched as my aerial flight controls and capabilities were rearranged or removed and stored for later use. I turned to see Charles watching with a vested interest as my IS finished its mods. "Like what you see, Dunois?" I teased, smirking. She blushed, then summoned what looked like two SMG's into her hands. I grinned and summoned one of my favorites. My main rifle, modeled after the M16. "Ready" Charles and I called at the same time as we brought our weapons to bear. Then we waited for Orimura to start the match. In the few seconds that felt like hours, I could hear every little sound around me, the birds chirping as they flew above us, the kids cheering in the stands, calling out our names, etc. My breathing was calm and so was Charles. We tensed, seemingly for no reason, then we heard what we were waiting for. "Begin!"
At first, Charles and I didn't move like most figured we would. When we still hadn't moved, people started to look around and call out at us. Then, with a flash, Charles and I were in motion. While Charles was peppering my area with blistering small arms fire, I was boosting left and right, causing most rounds to miss their target. I was about to switch tactics when Charles guns ran empty. She was mid reload when I stopped on the far end of the arena and started firing my rifle in short bursts. She jumped over my first volley, landing her in my second, third and fourth one. Now we were both on the move again, trying to get the upper hand as we traded rounds periodically.
I quickly switched my rifle out for two pistols and stopped moving. Charles noticed and stopped as well. She looked at me and I grinned at her, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. I twirled the two pistols on my fingers, raising my arms and finishing the flashy trick with both pistols facing her. Her eyes got wide when I finished and switched to her SMG's. I shrugged, the motion mirrored by my IS. The crowd was standing now, trying to get the best view for our final show.
"Could we have a timer set for three seconds, please?" I asked, not moving from my position. I noticed a timer box open up in my HUD, counting down. I crouched low to the ground, tensing my legs for my next, and possibly last move in this battle. Charles raised one SMG, the other against her hip, ready to fire in needed. Oh, you'll need it soon chicha I grinned, hearing the buzzer sound. Just as Charles pulled the trigger, sending hundreds of rounds speeding towards me to end the match, I disappeared. I jumped, moving my cloaked body away from the wall of lead headed at me. I watched as Charles' jaw dropped, seeing her bullets pass through empty air. I grinned and fired one shot, aiming at her leg. She heard the shot and turned, right into the bullets path. The bullet struck her IS's left leg and it went down onto its knee. She put a hand out to catch herself and I fired two more shots. One hit her raised hand, flinging the SMG out of her hand. The other impacted right in her shielded chest, knocking her IS backwards. As she landed, the IS went into standby, as did mine. I walked over to her and held out my hand, she took it and we stood together, smiling and waving like idiots to the crowd. "How did you do that?" She whispered to me, I just grinned and motioned to her that I'd tell her later. I looked at my wristwatch and noticed that half an hour had gone by while we were fighting. I took her hand in mine and we walked to the crowd that had formed at the entrance to the stands, Orimura and Yamada at the front. We stepped into the stands and Orimura just said, "Now that was a good fight! I knew it would be, but you two still surprised me." We smiled at her and waited for the next activity.
"Next, you're going to form groups for practical training. The one with a personal IS should be the group leader. Now, form groups." I had figured that was coming so I ducked away from the main student body and activated my IS and stepped out of him, sending him into a standby mode next to me. By the time students started to group up, most girls were paired with the other guys. Charles to my left, Ichika to my right and Cecilia and Rin in front of me. What few girls were still looking for a group came over to me, somewhat timidly. I smiled at them and waved them over, trying to seem friendly. The girls walked the rest of the to me and one of the Academy's training IS was set next to Prototype. I answered any questions the girls had and helped the first one into the IS. She activated it and walked around a bit, then set it down so the next one could get in. This cycle repeated till each girl had had a turn and Orimura called for lunch. The girls thanked me and walked off. I returned Prototype to his standby mode and I felt my shoulder sting slightly as he returned. I was about to head to my room when Charles grabbed my hand as she and Ichika ran by, headed for the roof. I just shrugged and followed them, soon followed by Houki, Cecilia and Rin. Uh oh was all I could think when I saw the glare that Houki gave Ichika's back.
And there we go! Sorry I didn't update for a long time. I had just moved back to my parents house and was in the process of unpacking and still trying to find a job. But, I'll try and be more diligent with my updates. Not to mention this is my biggest chapter yet!
P.S. To the guest who commented on my first chapter, I don't really care whether you read or not. But just because it's a self-insert (somewhat) doesn't mean you have to put me down for it.
P.P.S Thanks Drake! You've been a great help! Can't wait to hear from you again!