Infinite Stratos: Digital Prototype CH. 6 (I don't own Infinite Stratos)
No intro speech today, just story, enjoy!
Find Out My Mind
Crap! I'm late for the tournament! I mentally yelled as I skidded around yet another hallway corner on my way to the arena to see the first match of the tournament. Why'd they make this place so large, there aren't enough students to fill even two floors to begin with! I shook my head and ducked under a flying shoe as a girl tripped on something. I caught her and set her on the ground without breaking stride and ran all the faster, trying to get to the arena. I briefly heard a "thank you" before I turned another corner and was out of earshot. After Char and I had removed Laura from the arena where she had nearly killed Rin and Cecilia, I had gone back to my room to get cleaned up, while Char had gone down to the infirmary to check on Cecilia and Rin. From what I had heard, Orimura had changed the type of tournament fighting we were to be using from one-on-one to being partnered up with another person to fight another pair. After hearing this, most of the school's population had grabbed the necessary form and had rushed to find Ichika. They found him in the Infirmary with Char, Cecilia and Rin. To avoid harm, Ichika had said that he was paired up with Charles. And that was the reason I was currently running down the hall towards the arena, alone. Apparently the schools roster found that we had an odd number of students, and I volunteered to be the one person who didn't fight today, unless someone was unable to fight and then I would take their place. This conversation took place behind closed doors with Orimura and the other staff, so no one besides them, Charl and I knew. Char was at first unhappy, having been basically forced to accept Ichika's impromptu partnership, but I told her to do it. "Otherwise, he'd have to find someone who could keep him from being used to wipe the arena's floor," I had remarked with a little grin. Char still hadn't been happy, but went through with it anyway. I had promised to be there to watch the fight, even though we both knew I hated crowds, and this was the biggest one yet. Although, no one said I couldn't give advice from the sidelines. I grinned and took a seat at the very top of the stadium style seating, giving me the best view of the fights floor. And the first match is… wow, really? They got paired up? This is going to be interesting to say the least. I said as I took notice of Char and Ichika's first duel, Laura and Houki. Char knows how to fight against Laura, since her and I thoroughly trashed her yesterday, but Houki is an unknown. Even if she is using one of the schools generic IS, she's still an unknown threat. I set the leaflet next to me and activated my IS HUD, giving me access to Prototype's eyes and ears, theoretically speaking, as well as strengthening our connection to each other for the best results possible.
"Alright Proto, what's your first thoughts on this match. I mentally asked my IS companion as we surveyed the arena and its soon to be combatants. Well, since fighting Laura's Schwarzer Roegen, the data I compiled during it has turned out some interesting results. One of which is dangerous to the pilot themselves, if not their combatants. I heard Prototype say, the data streaming across the HUD in front of my eyes, which thanks to Prototype's programming allowed me to understand them as well as he did. I was about to ask for an explanation when a piece of data caught my eye. I mentally highlighted it. "What is the V.T system? I've never heard of it before." I asked Prototype, I looked down just as the timer hit zero and Ichika immediately rushed Laura. Step one, lock up the AIC, apparently with Ichika himself. That leaves her open to flanking and all out attacks from the other's partner, in this case, Charl. I thought, watching as that was what happened as Charl made her presence known with a close up shot from her rifle, the round missed, but broke Laura's concentration also causing her cannon's shot to just miss Ichika. She releases Ichika and started moving away, trying to put distance between them. So Charl gained some air and used Rapid Switch to switch her rifle for her SMG's as she began to track Laura's path, Ichika gathered himself and was ready to engage Laura again, when Houki made her appearance. She placed herself between Laura and Charl, absorbing the shots that weren't missing to begin with. "Good strategy, if Laura was going to use it." I remarked to Prototype, who was still trying to find out what he could on the 'V.T system' in Laura's IS. He agreed, not taking too much processing power off his main objective. I watched as Charl landed, Ichika behind her, blocked from Houki's view. I just barely heard "Don't you forget about me!" from Houki before she rushed forward, closing the distance between her and Charl. Charl quickly moved, opening Ichika up for the rest of his charge, clashing swords with Houki, while Charl landed behind Ichika, having used Rapid Switch again to bring out her shotguns. Houki looked down at Ichika, seeing him grin. A grin that was matched by Charl as she pulled the trigger. Just as Laura wrapped her cords around Houki's legs and throwing her out of her way as she rushed Ichika and Charl, laser blades extended as she clashed blades with Ichika. They danced around each other as Charl engaged Houki with her shotguns, having dodged Laura's attempt at snagging her with her cords. She cut between Houki and the other two, firing to stop Houki and force her back away from them. Ichika was still faring pretty well against Laura, blocking most attacks dodging most of what he couldn't, but he was still taking hits. I looked back to see Charl and Houki had closed the distance. Charl dropped her right shotgun for a scary looking IS sized knife and catching Houki's blade with it, bringing her left shotgun up, point blank with Houki. 1..2..3 You're out! I counted, watching as Charl, firing each time I counted, put Houki out of the fight. 1 down, 1 badass to go, I said, sighing.
"Any progress on the "V.T system Proto?" I asked as I leaned back, watching as Charl turned and fired twice into the clashing pair, hitting Laura with slug after slug, knocking her slightly off balance. Laura and Ichika jumped apart. The two seemed to have a small conversation before Ichika activated his one-off ability Reiraku Byakuyu. Charl rushed Laura this time, drawing her attention, not to mention AIC, leaving enough of a distraction for Ichika to get in close. Laura however, caught Ichika out of the corner of her eye and dodged away, coming away unscathed by Ichika. Ichika pressed her, leaving her no room to change tactics. Nice idea, but she'll just use… ahhhh smart. Good idea guys. I thought as Ichika was caught up in Laura's AIC, allowing Charl to pepper Laura with both her SMG's, forcing her to release Ichika. Char pressed the advantage and continued the fleeing Laura with a wall of lead, quickly followed up by Ichika as he pursed Laura, his one-off still burning up his shield. It came down to Ichika losing too much power just as he was about to finish Laura, who pressed her new advantage with her laser sword, forcing Ichika to dodge. Char tried to help, but was knocked away by one of Laura's cords. Ichika lost his focus and Laura smashed him into the ground. She was going for the coup de grâce when Char intercepted her and forced Laura a good distance away. Laura got back on her feet, turning to Charl who used something I didn't know she had, Ignition Boost. Where'd you get that Char? Oh, Ichika, right. I answered my own question after catching Ichika, holding Char's rifle. Switching abilities and weaponry to confuse the opponent, nice thinking! I mentally praised them, just as Ichika fired into Laura's back, drawing her attention. She turned and released a cord, hitting and knocking Ichika over. She was about to go and finish him off when Charles got in close again, using Shield Pierce just like our last match. She knocked Laura into the far wall of the arena, creating a dust cloud as Laura impacted the wall. Charles followed close behind, swinging Shield Pierce again and again into Laura. Laura had all but stopped fighting now. That's when Prototype spoke up in my mind. I've got it! V.T stands for Valkyrie Trace! It was an add on developed at the beginning of the 2nd generation I believe. It was so unstable that it was made illegal to use and was removed from production. "Well, looks like Laura got one, is it combatable?" I asked, now worried about what could happen. It was barely field tested before being shut down. There's not enough data to be certain. I tensed at Prototype's words before leaping from my seat, headed for the hangar. "Get me what combat data you can on it! We may need it!" I was interrupted by screaming coming from the arena. I looked at a camera feed to see Laura was the one screaming, electricity seemed to be arcing off her IS, but coming from nowhere, then her IS began to activate Valkyrie. "Get ready Proto! We're about to engage with Valkyrie first hand." I said as I barged into the hangar. Nothing could be ready for Valkyrie, Zeke. I hope you're ready for the fight of your life!
I was rushing towards the hangar exit when I heard Orimura yelling for me to stand down and help with the evac. "Sorry ma'am, but I need to get out there and help!" I said over my shoulder as Prototype self-activated and we boosted out of the hangar. I quickly activated a comm channel to Char and Ichika. "What have you guys got?" I asked, flying higher to get a better view. "The thing engulfed Laura, she's inside it, apparently its modeled after Ichika's sister and her fighting style. He tried to engage, but it knocked his shields out and his IS is out. It isn't engaging now, which is strange." Char said, eyes focused on the large IS in front of her. I landed next to her, "Nice job, by the way." I said, looking up at the new threat. "Thanks, what do you want to do?" She asked. "It only attacked Ichika, right?" I asked, stowing my weapons. "Yeah, why do you ask?" "Can you get his IS some power, I think this thing is looking for a fight, and Ichika is the only one that can give it that." I answered, looking at her. She nodded and walked over to Ichika, using her IS's own energy to power Ichika's. He summoned his IS's sword, which drew the 'things' attention. "I'll see what I can do in the way of defense. You focus on offense." I told him, shifting Prototype into a more defensive mode. I called a similar knife to what I used earlier and formed up behind him. "Ready when you are, Ichika." I said, watching. "Ichika!" "Zeke!" We turned to the persons who had called us, Houki and Char, respectively. I kneeled down to come face to face with Char, "Yeah, Char?" I asked. She looked down for a second, then looked back at me, "Don't die, okay? I'm not sure what I'd do without you right now. Please." She said, quietly enough that the other two didn't hear. I smiled at her, "I'll be right back, I promise." I said, then stood and turned to Ichika. "Ready?" I asked. He nodded, I nodded back and dropped the last part of my defensive mode into place. "Then let's do this!" He said, activating Reiraku Byakuyu and running at it. I sped up, taking the lead and caught the first swing the humanoid took at us. I planted my feet, sliding a few feet, but not letting the sword go. "GO! Ichika, GO, NOW!" I yelled, trying to hold the sword in place. I felt the edge, slide across the extra armor I had added on, but the sword cut right through, into my side. Forgetting I was still connected to the girls as well, I let out a string of expletives, hearing Char frantically ask what was wrong. I looked to her and saw her, wide eyed, watching me. "I'm sorry, Char. I messed up." I said, just as Ichika reached the torso and cut through, releasing Laura and making this thing dissipate. Char's eyes went wider as she took in my posture and the position of the blade, which was buried into the side of the IS, and in mine. "No, Zeke, NO!" I felt the blade soften as whatever was making it solid left and I fell forward onto my hands. Prototype returned and I fell the couple feet to the ground. As soon as I came into contact with the ground, I tried to hold it it, but I just couldn't. I screamed in pain, my side feeling like it was on fire. I tried to stop, but I wasn't in complete control of my body anymore. I covered the wound and pressed down, still screaming out my pain. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and I fell unconscious. The last thing I heard was Char yelling at me to stay awake.
Cliffhanger! HAHA, I was feeling evil this time. I don't know what has been going on, but I've been on a writing spree for the past couple days. Hope you liked it! Peace out guys!