- 5 -
"A Promise Best Left Forgotten"
That afternoon, as the sun was midway through setting, I was in arena 3 again. Paxis was deployed and I was running some flight drills.
Fly the length of the arena, followed by an upward corkscrew and a power dive. The trick was keeping the target at the center of the onslaught by continuously striking them with the Yukihira. I called it the gutbender. It was an effective attack strategy, but I just couldn't seem to do it right.
Then Houki arrived, and I landed. She was wearing a necklace I'd never seen her in before.
I greeted her, she greeted me, and she deployed her Uchigane from the necklace.
"What in the devil is going on here, Miss Shinonono?!" Cecilia cried, walking over from the second pit's field entrance, "And how did you-"
"I've been given clearance to use a training IS!" Houki cut her off flatly, "And I'll be using it for Sten's intensive training!"
Cecilia's face furrowed in rage. I really hated it when she got like this. Never ended well.
For me, that is.
"Now, hold on... That's the Japanese production IS! How on Earth could you have possibly gotten clearance to use the Uchigane?!"
"You know, you go through a huge stack of paperwork, then you have to wait to get a unit freed up, then you have to get fitted-"
"Shut up, Sten!" Cecilia screamed, probably not even realizing what she said.
Houki's hand went to the ring that sat at her waist, and she drew a katana from the ensuing flash of light. "Alright, Sten. Let's begin!"
"Gotcha, boss," I drew Yukihira Nigata, but didn't deploy the energy blade yet. The blade itself was self-sustaining, so it supplied its own power, but it took about five percent of Paxis' power to generate it. On the flip side, though, even without the barrier-null attack, the energy blade was sixty percent more effective at disabling a shield.
This weapon gave me a headache sometimes...
Why couldn't Tabane have just given me a machine gun, or something? No, don't give someone a 'pick up, point and shoot' weapon that anyone can learn to use in five seconds. Give him a weapon that some people take a lifetime to learn how to use effectively! Who the hell has that kind of thought process?!
It then occured to me that it was Tabane Shinonono I was talking about..
"You wait just one minute!" Cecilia screamed indignantly, "I'm the one who's supposed to be conducting Sten's training, do you hear me?!" Blue Tears materialized.
I had a feeling this was about to get veeeeeery ugly.
"Concentrate, Sten," Houki said, "We'll start your lesson now!"
"No! Let me start your lesson, Sten!" Cecilia's Starlight Mk III sniper rifle appeared.
I laughed sheepishly while Houki and Cecilia growled menacingly at each other. Their grips on their respective weapons tightened, and I cringed as I realized something. When Houki and Cecilia were angry at each other, they typically worked together to hit the closest thing to them really, really hard.
Unfortunately, that happened to be me in this case.
"I swear, if one of you attacks me, you're gonna take the Yukihira to the face later."
Cecilia sprang upward, Starlight Mk III alight as Houki charged in with her katana. I sidestepped Cecilia's first shot and parried Houki's blow before launching into the air. I flew as fast as I could away from the site, but they followed me. I rolled side to side, narrowly avoiding the expert shot as Houki struggled to catch up and land a strike on me.
"What the hell is wrong with you two tonight?!"
"Stop dodging so I can shoot you!"
"Slow down so I can hack you to bits!"
I rolled my eyes and decided I would do exactly what they wanted. I came around in an Immelmann Maneuver and engaged Yukihira Nigata's energy blade, immediately striking at Houki and rolling again to ablate a shot from Cecilia.
I needed to create distance to escape Houki, but CQC was my only hope against Cecilia. I found myself at an impass as I felt a volley of blue energy bolts strike my shield.
SHIELD ENERGY: 536/600
"Crap," I muttered angrily, "This seriously sucks!"
At that point, we were pretty high up. About a half a kilometer, if my Hyper Sensors were working properly.
Smiling, I gave a whoop of euphoria and dove straight for the ground. Foolishly, Cecilia and Houki followed. The web of bolts Cecilia's now-deployed BITs were firing straight into my path forced me to improvise a bit.
I was too far from the arena for a gutbender, and beyond that, I still couldn't pull it off, so that was out of the question... An idea suddenly popped into my head.
Flaps deployed around my body as I braked. Hard. So hard, in fact, that I got the wind knocked out of me as Houki unexpectedly slammed into me. Not part of the idea, but I could roll with it. Cecilia had already passed me, and was having trouble stopping her rage-fuelled descent.
I kicked Houki off and slashed with the barrier-null, but she dodged just as fast, coming up behind me again and striking my shield for a good thirty-seven energy units.
SHIELD ENERGY: 499/600
"That was a dirty move, Sten!" she cried, backhanding me across the face with her steel-clad fist. Granted, my shield protected me from any serious injury, but I still felt the impact, and it sent me spinning.
"OW!"
WARNING! INCOMING ENERGY PROJECTILES!
The warning came a second too late. I only managed to dodge about half of the dozen shots Cecilia and her BITs sent at me, and the rest pounded the crap out of me. My shield, at this point, was actually flickering in and out of sight as I dove upward and kept rolling.
The sun had set an hour ago when Cecilia shot me down.
No, I mean she actually shot me down. My right wing was about a hundred feet away, a pitted crater at the center from the shot the followed after Houki mercilessly shattered my shield. I was lucky the bolt hadn't gone through my head.
I'd have to tell Miss Yamada about the damage later, because flying with one wing really wasn't a very good idea, as I'm sure you can imagine.
I was lying at the center of the arena in the small crater I'd created when my one-winged form had hit the ground at two-hundred KPH. Panting hard, I cracked an eyelid to see Houki and Cecilia standing over me, looking at me like I was something to pity.
"Don't you give me those looks," I said breathlessly.
"Well," Cecilia said, "I suppose we can call it a day now, can't we?"
I grunted in agreement and kept panting, trying very hard to catch my breath.
"You feel that was because you haven't kept up your training," Houki said irritatedly.
"Oh, please! I train more than the two of you combined!"
Houki huffed and shut up. Thank god...
Cecilia then turned to go. "Well, Sten, I'll see you later, then!" the British aristocrat said cheerily, sauntering away.
Houki looked at me incredulously. "What are you still doing down there? We should head back to our room now," she said.
"Yeah... You go on ahead. I can't move my legs..."
She smiled. "What am I gonna do about you? Alright, I'll go ahead and use the shower first."
"Yeah, fine..."
Houki left too. I waited for blood to start pumping back into my legs as I looked up into the starry sky. It was really clear and pretty. Laurentian was a very eco-friendly place, so it was common to have really clear skies at night.
I grunted and picked myself up before heading for the boys' (my) locker room. I unlocked my locker and sat down on the bench between rows.
"Oh, man... Is it gonna be this bad right up 'till the class league match?" I muttered, wiping sweat off my face with a towel.
It was constantly too much to handle, this training. Cecilia trained me like I had a University level education, and Houki made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
"Hey! Good work out there, Sten!" I turned to the sound of the jovial voice to see Rin walking over to me with another towel and a bottle. "You could probably go for some water, right? Here!"
I took the bottle from her and set it down beside me. "Thanks, Rin. Have you actually been waiting here this whole time?"
The Chinese girl giggled, before answering, "You could say that."
She seemed really cheerful. So...
Why did I feel terrified?
She sat down beside me as I took a swig of the cool water. I put the bottle down and yanked off the shoes of my IS suit.
"So... we're finally alone together..."
Oh crap.
My back stiffened a bit as I turned to face her again. "I... Uh, I suppose?"
She was staring seriously at her feet, her eyebrows furrowed in what seemed like concentration. She squeezed the towel in her hands tightly. "Sten, I was wondering if you missed me after I moved."
"Well, I suppose not having a reason to get out of chopping firewood did make me feel a bit lonely."
Her head whipped around. "That's not what I meant," she insisted, "I'm a childhood friend you haven't seen in a long time, and I know you've got something to say to me!"
I sighed. "Don't be ridiculous, Rin. Of course I missed you! It was sorta annoying only having Nate to talk to. You know how he can be," I wiped away some of the sweat that was starting to reform, "As for the thing I need to tell you, is it about your PS5? 'Cause I sorta thought that was a gift!"
She blushed horrendously. "That's not it! I-"
"Listen, I need to get back to the Bat Cave, okay? I feel sorta gross, and hopefully, Houki's done with our shower by now," I got up and grabbed my uniform from my locker, slinging it over my shoulder.
"Shower?" Rin muttered in confusion.
I turned to go, but she shot up off the bench and darted in front of me. "And Houki's that girl I met earlier? What kind of relationship do you two have?!"
"Well, I'm her sister's ward right now, and other than that, we're just friends," I said, a bit befuddled.
"But what's does that have to do with taking a shower?!"
I then realized what she was asking. "Ohhhhh, that. Houki and I are living together right now, and she loves her sho-"
"WHAAAAAT?!" Rin's face contorted in annoyance, rapidly cycling through fifty shades of gray- no, green- black- red!
God, I'm tired...
"Well, yeah. They couldn't give me my own room, so-"
"So what you're saying is that you and this Houki person are living together?!"
Was she ever going to let me finish a sentence again? The prospect looked bleak.
"Yeah. Thanks goodness it was Houki, though. If it were with someone I didn't know it'd be pretty awkward almost all the time."
Rin's gaze dropped and she frowned. "Euhhhhh..."
"Huh? Hey, what's wrong?"
"It's okay because you know her...," she muttered.
"Huh?"
"What I said was that you don't mind because you know her!"
No good could come of this. Nope, none at all...
Rin practically dragged me back to the room. She seemed quite peeved at me, but, for the life of me, I couldn't understand why! Houki was sitting on her bed in her yukata when Rin kicked the door down (if we went through many more doors, the ISA administration probably wouldn't bother putting up another) and started babbling about what good friends she and I were three years ago.
I gradually moved to stand beside Houki, which I'm pretty sure neither of them registered. Surprisingly, Houki was staying pretty calm about the whole thing. Then, Rin came out and said something that may as well have been the Enola Gay dropping the atomic bomb.
"And that is why," the Chinese girl clapped her hands together, "We need to switch rooms!"
Of course, Houki reacted badly to this.
"Is your brain not functioning?! Why switch with me?!" the sword-wielding girl replied. Apparently she had no concept of how valuable the commodity that she had a monopoly on was.
The commodity being me, of course.
"Well, I figured it must be horrible for you to have to share a room with a guy!" Rin said.
"But I never said that sharing with him was horrible. Besides, the issue is between me and Sten, got it?"
"Oh, don't worry! After all, I'm his best friend, right?" she looked over Houki's shoulder at me expectantly.
"You're not getting me involved in this argument!" I said flatly, wanting no part in Rin's bullshit. Harsh way of saying it, but ever-so-true.
Houki subtly nudged me with her elbow, before returning her angry glare to Rin. "In any case, I will not switch rooms with you! Now go back to your own room!" Houki pointed to the doorway. The door was busy being a doormat at that moment, so there were, no doubt, spectators all around the doorway, trying to stay out of sight.
Then, Rin pulled a card I really thought she was above. "Oh, by the way Sten! Do you still remember our promise?"
"Huh? Promise?" I asked.
"Mm-hm! From the Drop?"
The Drop was a big cliff that went down into the ocean near where I lived in BC. Rin, Nate and I used to go there to swim a lot.
But the promise...
...
Oh, that one.
"Stop ignoring me, you trollop!" Houki yelled angrily, "Okay, it's come to this."
She darted over to the umbrella stand and yanked her shinai out. She spun around to strike Rin. "Houki, stop!" I shouted, but it was too late to stop her.
There was a brilliant flash of light, and Houki's shinai hit metal. Rin was standing with her arm outstretched, the shinai caught in her hand. What shocked me about it was that the pink gauntlet of an IS was on her arm. But the rest of the machine wasn't materialized.
"A full Partial Deployment...," I muttered, extremely impressed. A Partial Deployment was really hard to pull off.
"You know, a normal person would have been seriously injured by that!" Rin snapped, more than a little peeved.
Houki backed off, ashamed of herself for losing control like she had. Rin's IS armor disappeared.
"So, Sten, do you remember the promise we made?" Rin asked expectantly.
Of course I remembered.
"Sten, if I become a better cook, will you eat my sweet and sour pork every day?"
"I promise, Rin."
The deeper meaning behind that promise being that I'd be with her every day as her boyfriend. I'd understood what she was implying at the time, but I didn't truly understand what it meant.
I liked Rin. I liked her a lot. That didn't change the fact that I really wasn't interested in her romantically anymore. I had a feeling it would be more damaging to say that than to just say, "No."
Rin's smile froze and shattered. "What?"
"I really don't remember what promise you're talking ab-"
*Slap!*
The sound of her hand slapping me echoed what seemed like a thousand times in my mind. My head went spinning sideways.
"What a jerk!" she cried, tears in her eyes.
I just shut my eyes and took it.
"How can you not remember a secret promise you made to a girl?! You're the most despicable guy ever! I hope a dog bites you to death!" she screamed.
Rin was sensitive. I'd known that, but I guess I'd forgotten just how sensitive she was.
"How about this, then?! In next week's class league match, if you win, I'll tell you what the promise was! If I win, you'll be my slave! What do you say?!"
"Fine by me, Rin," I said. To be perfectly honest, being a slave didn't really appeal to me, and I already knew what the promise was. But, I had to temper her wrath somehow, and this seemed like the best way to do it.
Rin stalked off toward the door. "You had better be ready for it, you understand?!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
Rin left the room.
I sighed and sat down on the end of Houki's bed. It had been a long day...
"Sten?"
"Yeah, Houki?"
"I hope a horse kicks you to death!"
Are things ever going to get easier for me?
That night, after Houki's lights out, I wrote to my dad. I don't know why I didn't do it before, but I figured I should. We didn't have internet, and our phone wasn't international, so I wrote him a letter detailing my high school experience so far. I told him about Houki and Cecilia.
He'd probably get a kick out of how whipped I was.
I mentioned Rin, but I tried really hard not to linger on the subject for too long.
I looked over to Houki's bed. She was sleeping soundly, her hands bunched up against her lips and her body curled into a ball. It was incredibly cute, which was something I only saw extremely rarely from my Samurai-like roommate.
I turned back to the desk and the dimmed lamp I was writing under. I finished up my letter and sealed it in the white envelope beside me. I missed my dad a lot. Writing to him provided relief for some of the anxiety I felt from being away from home, but it was still there, no matter how cool I acted.
I flicked off the lamp and got back into bed. For what seemed like hours, I just stared at the ceiling and tried to think about how I was going to deal with Rin. She was a Representative Contender, one of a handful of people under consideration to be China's National Representative in the next Mondo Grosso. If she was that good, then I seriously doubted that Houki could help me much.
Cecilia was too straight-laced to come up with a strategy other than the one she always used, which limited how much she could help a pilot who didn't use BITs, which had been created for the still-in-development 3rd generation IS units. Essentially, mentally controlled components. In that sense, I guess Paxis must've been a 3rd generation IS, what with the free-floating wings.
If those two were out, and Rin would stab me if I asked her for help, there was really only one person to ask. Someone who knew the territories of National Representatives.
The trick was asking without getting whacked with a steel attendance clipboard...
- IS -
"Murdoch!"
I turned in the hallway outside the gym to see Miss Yamada running toward me with a stack of papers and books in her hands.
"Afternoon, Miss Yamada!" I greeted cheerily.
Two days had passed since I'd sent my letter, and I was still on edge. Chifuyu was MIA for some reason, Houki was mad at me (then again, she always was), and Rin was doing everything she could to publicly show me how strong she was.
I noticed that one of Yamada's boots was loose about a second before she tripped over it and went flying.
"Waaaaaah!" she cried, her arms flailing.
Thankfully, I was quick enough to dart over and catch her before she did a boobplant (sorta like a faceplant, but with your b- you know what, I'm sure you can figure it out). After all, it'd be awfully hard to hit the ground face-first with those in the way.
Unfortunately, what she was carrying was scattered all over the floor.
"You okay?" I asked.
I finally really noticed just quite how small she was, now that I was holding her and all that. She was maybe 4' 11", and her clothes were a lot looser than I originally thought. But, despite all that, she still had a nice body, her chest aside.
Well, this is a charming line of conversation.
It took her a moment before she realized that I was holding her and blushed furiously. "U-uh-m-mm... Y-yea-h!" she stuttered.
I smirked and helped her back to her feet. "Here, let me get the stuff you dropped, Miss Yamada."
"Oh, um- thanks!" she squeezed her hands together and tried her best to hide her face behind her shoulder.
I collected the papers, which I noticed were our last test scores, and the three textbooks she was carrying. All of them were third year books.
I put them on the ground and reached over to her leg. She yelped and jumped in fright.
"Hey, calm down," I said, smiling, "I'm just fixing your boot."
She tentatively returned the boot to within arm's reach. I put my left hand against her foot and ran it up the side of her leg to get the boot straight, before zipping it up with my right hand. Her cheeks and the bridge of her nose were quite crimson, which, beyond making me blush a little as I picked her stuff up again, made me chuckle.
"What is it you needed to talk to me about?" I asked, deciding to carry the stuff for her. She didn't answer, and just kept staring at me like I she'd never met me before. "If you want to carry your stuff..."
"Oh, what?" she finally came back to herself and blinked around in mild confusion.
"You wanted to speak to me?"
"Huh?" I mentally slapped myself, but she shook her head, fixed her glasses and finally remembered what her intercepting me was about. "Oh, right! The repairs to your IS are finished, so come see me later and I'll have it for you!"
She brightened up. "Thanks," I said, "You're headed to the staff room?"
"Uh, yeah..."
"Think you could do with some company?"
The redness returned. Jesus, it was easy to get her worked up. "S-sure!" she answered, way over-enthusiastically.
So, we set off for the staff room, which was two floors up, on the other side of the school building.
I tried to start a conversation, but I couldn't find anything quite good enough to say.
The class league tournament somehow found its way into my head at that moment. I still needed an operator, but I didn't know who the hell was an operator! If I didn't hurry up and find one, I'd have to forfeit and Rin would have me doing all sorts of degrading stuff for who knew how long.
I glanced at Yamada. During my fight with Cecilia, she'd been a spectacular operator, getting me the Blue Tears data, and maintaining Paxis' energy levels as well as anyone could. The thing was a freaking gas guzzler.
"Miss Yamada?"
"Yes, Murdoch?"
I was fully prepared for her to say no, but I asked anyway. "Would you be willing to be my operator?"
Her jaw stiffened.
"I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine. It's just that you were really good during my fight against Cecilia," I said, silently adding that I didn't know anyone else.
"OF COURSE!" she cried happily, startling me, "I'D LOVE TO!"
With a response that enthusiastic, she must've meant it.
"Great," I said sheepishly, although quite relieved, "I was really worried you were gonna say no."
"Why would I say no, Murdoch? I am your teacher, after all! I want to support you!" she smiled brightly. I've got to say, in terms of assistant teachers, I definitely got the pick of the lot.
"Though, one thing I think I should get straight is that I'm okay with you calling me Sten, Miss Yamada." we were standing outside the staff room at this point.
"O-okay, then, Sten! Call me M-Maya, then!" she insisted, her blush returning.
I smiled. "Right, then. Maya it is."
I was about to open the door for her when it opened from the inside, and out walked three people I was torn on whether or not I wanted to see.
The first was my mother. She was a tall woman. Almost as tall as me when she had her heels on. Her blue eyes looked at me poisonously.
Behind her were Olivia and Valerie. They were dressed identically, so the only way to tell them apart was by the little black spot they had under one of their eyes. Olivia's was under the left eye, Valerie's under the right. They were both almost as tall as Houki.
What shocked me was that they didn't look at me with hostility. More like confusion. Like, 'how can this guy be my little brother?'.
"Afternoon, Miss Yamada," mom said.
My sisters each bowed their head in reverence to my teacher. Now I just felt like I had poor manners.
"Miss Murdochs," Yamad- Maya (this is going to take some getting used to) greeted pleasantly, "Where are you three off to?"
"We were going to run some practicals with Miss Sarashiki, but now that I think about it, I think he and I should have a talk," she pointed at me.
Maybe she wanted to make peace? Yeah, right. That's about as likely as Houki prancing around the island buck naked, screaming, "I BELIEVE IN POLYGAMY!"
I'd pay to see that, actually.
"Uh, okay," I said, confused, "Just let me set this stuff down inside and I'll be right with you."
I let Maya go in first. As soon as I was inside, and out of sight of that harpy I turned to Maya. "How long has she been teaching here?" I asked.
The green-haired woman looked up from her desk across the room and said, "Hm? Oh, Miss Murdoch's been working here for... Hmm... What's it been, seven months since she and Miss Orimura got back from Germany? Her daughters have been coming here all three years, though."
Which made me the odd one out. "Wait, what the hell was Chifuyu doing in Germany, of all places?"
Maya shrugged. "You'd have to ask her."
I buttoned down my questions and filed them away in my shit-for-brains brain. I told Maya to meet me outside the third arena that night so that I could get my IS back and she could get a better handle on my fighting style.
Not having Paxis on my arm made me feel a bit naked, after a few weeks of its constant presence.
I waved goodbye and stepped back into the hall. "So, what's this all about?" I asked.
Mom turned away wordlessly. "Walk with us, Murdoch."
Olivia and Valerie started walking, each half a pace behind her on either side. I was stunned. Last time I'd seen my sisters they were bigger trouble makers than I was. So, why did they now look like they'd just walked out of the Obedient Child Catalogue?
Then again, ten years was a long time, and people change with time.
God, now I sound like an old man.
They led me a couple hallways over, to an empty third year classroom. May I please say that what I say next is totally justified.
I HATE THE THIRD YEARS!
While I had a desk that reflected the sun up into my eyes all day, they were on the shady side of the school. Not only that, but the classroom was essentially a hangar. Uchiganes and green IS that I didn't know the names of lined the walls, and the outer wall was a gigantic door.
Not to mention that they had a fishtank.
Mom settled herself sitting on the desk, and the twins each stood on either side. I leaned against a support beam from one of the IS alcoves and waited for the insults to start flying.
"I'm going to be blunt," mom said, "I want you to leave this school. Immediately."
"I guessed that much. Any particular reason?" I blew a lock of hair out of my eye and shot her a level stare. I wasn't going to let her provoke me.
"Yes, actually. You're disturbing the life that we've made for ourselves, and your presence makes my daughters uncomfortable," She somehow managed to make it sound like I'd come to school to stalk them.
"First of all," I frowned and put my hands in my pockets, "I didn't exactly come to this school intentionally. I was sort of forced. And, second of all, I'd like to hear that from them."
I looked expectantly at Olivia, who was staring levelly at her feet, her head bowed. She and Valerie both raised their eyes when mom gestured to, and I tried to get a read on them.
"So, how do you guys feel about me?" I asked.
Valerie opened her mouth to speak but closed it just as fast. Olivia was a bit more daring.
"I don't really mind-" she started. Mom fixed her with a commanding glare and she closed her eyes in apology. She finished, "I don't really think that you should be here."
I laughed and clapped a bit, more than a little appalled. "Well, you're a gigantic bitch," I said to my aptly addressed mother
"You insolent little-"
"Ah ah ah! Not done!" I stood a few feet in front of her. "Who the hell do you think you are? I asked them what they thought and you intimidate them into agreeing with you? Seriously?!"
My sisters ground their teeth together as my mother's anger clearly flew through the roof. She had possibly the worst temper of anyone I had ever seen.
She slammed a fist down on the desk and fixed me with a look of total miffedness. "YOU WILL LEAVE THIS SCHOOL AND NEVER EVEN THINK OF RETURNING!" She roared.
I walked to the door and looked back for a second.
"No, but, you know what I will do?"
I yanked down my pants and gave her an eyeful of my ass.
That night, I walked back to arena three in my IS suit, fully prepped to run some practicals with Maya.
The thing was starting to become sort of like my second skin, I found myself wearing it so much. It was sweat resistant, so it was comfortable in that sense, but it still hurt to run without my IS deployed.
I stood in the center of the arena and waited. And waited. And waited.
An hour past our designated meeting time, I figured she must have forgotten, which shouldn't have surprised me, in all honesty. I sighed in exasperation, and was about to leave when the second pit's field entrance whirred open and a figure in a track suit entered, shinai in one hand and Paxis in the other.
It was Chifuyu.
"Murdoch, Miss Yamada isn't going to be coming tonight. I caught her when she was on her way over and told her I'd handle you. You'll run your drills with her tomorrow night," she said, tossing me the bracer.
"...When was this?" I asked, slipping it on. As I clipped the bottom shut, the seam glowed white and disappeared, leaving no evidence that it was even removable.
"About an hour ago."
"THEN WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" was what I wanted to say, but it came out more like, "Lovely. Can we get started?"
I threw my fist in the air and deployed my white and blue IS.
"Bring out the Yukihira's energy blade," Chifuyu ordered.
I slammed the top of my right fist into my open left palm and drew the Yukihira Nigata out of my hand. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. Swinging the metal blade to the side, I collapsed it in on itself and willed the swirling blade of blue energy to coalesce.
I weighed it in my hand. "So, is the Yukihira Nigata the only weapon the Paxis has?"
"And I won the championship with just that," she said. She swung the shinai to point at me. "Just one strike is good enough to win!"
"Why am I being compared to a world champion, exactly?"
"If you want to be realistic, an amateur like you has no chance of winning a shooting battle! Do you know anything about recoil control? How to distance yourself from the bullet line? One-Zero Stops? Absolute turns? What about ammo characteristics? Atmospheric conditions? Or the intellectual aspects of battle, such as the influence caused by the opponent's equipment? And that's only the beginning, so can you handle all that? Well, can you?!" she slammed the shinai against the ground.
I hung my head in defeat. "Fine..."
Chifuyu's face softened a bit, and she smiled. "Look, I know you pretty well at this point, and mastering one technique is really more your style," she said, "Tabane isn't a stupid person, as you well know. She gave you my weapon for a reason, Murdoch. It's quick and powerful, but difficult to use effectively. I know how, and I can teach you. All you have to be willing to do is be patient, because it isn't easy."
I nodded and gripped Yukihira with both hands. "I'm ready. Just tell me what to do, boss."
She smirked. "Good. Now, fly!
- IS -
Five days passed quickly. Chifuyu taught me so much about my IS that I was a bit flabbergasted. Tabane must've been tutoring her on it, because she told me about some pretty obscure stuff.
I was back in arena three, pit one, waiting for Maya to tell me to take off. The reason I was so ready to go? Just take a look at the notification board.
IS ACADEMY CLASS LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
I
—
I I
STEN MURDOCH LINGYIN HUANG
Oh, yeah. First freaking match. Ass kicking time.
Houki and Cecilia were with me, whispering (yelling) sweet nothings (IS facts) to me like it would kill them to stop.
A screen popped up in front of me as I stood on the launch plate. It displayed a very ungainly looking IS, with V-shaped feet that stretched backward almost two feet. It had wingpods, just like Paxis used to, albeit her's were extremely bulbous. It was also, if Rin's Partial Deployment last week was to be an example, hot pink.
Really, Rin?
"Her IS is called Shenlong. This model is a Close-Quarters Combat (CQC) type, just like your Paxis," Maya said over the IS Core network, on a channel. I could talk by thinking toward the back right side of my mind.
"Thanks, Maya."
"This match is not going to be the same as the one between you and me," Cecilia said, "So please don't let your guard down."
"Wasn't planning on it, Blondie."
"Don't get too stressed out," Houki added, "You can win as long as you fight like you would during practice."
I ran my eyes over the image of Rin out on the field and groaned. "Looks like getting hit by that would be pretty painful."
A voice rang out over the loudspeaker. "Both contestants are to move to their designated positions at this time."
I hunched my back and braced myself to get hurled out into the arena.
"Sten, deploy!" Maya yelled.
The launch plate jolted forward, and the track glowed green. I threw back my mental accelerator and flew out of the pit, spinning to a stop as I reached my marker. Rin was hovering about two hundred feet away. "If you apologize now, I'll reduce the amount of pain you're about to endure!" she yelled. Of course, we were talking over the IS channel, so all she did was hurt my ears.
Then again, she probably knew that.
"I don't need any favors!" I said indignantly, "Come at me with all you've got!"
"Fine, but for your information, the absolute defence isn't so perfect. If your attack is powerful enough to rip through the shield, it's possible to injure your opponent severely, but not kill them."
"I'll try not to mess up your face too much!"
"Both contestants, you may commence the match at this time," said the announcer.
Rin drew a scimitar-like sword from her back and put herself in a ready stance.
I deployed Yukihira's blade and charged.
The Chinese girl smirked and dodged upward, laughing a bit as I flew through right where she'd been. I did an aerial somersault and used my momentum to fly straight back at her, but she brought the scimitar down at me.
I raised Yukihira to parry, but the blades caught onto each other. She kicked me in the gut and distanced herself. "Not bad," she said, "You actually managed to block my first attack!"
"Wasn't too hard! You move like molasses, Rin!" I taunted, twirling Yukihira in my hand.
She ground her teeth together in anger and materialized a second scimitar in her left hand. The incredible unfairness of it was astounding.
The two blades spun like fans on her hands before she came at me like a freaking crazy person. I blocked her strike, but she slashed at my waist with the other blade. I shoved the first away and blocked the second. The crowd cheered loudly as I disengaged and zipped behind her, stabbing at her wingpod.
"You should be using the cross-grid turn I taught you!" Cecilia yelled over the channel, "Have you forgotten how to do it?!"
"I'm a little busy here, Blondie!" I snapped.
I leaned back under a pair of slashes and brought myself into a backward somersault to kick Rin in the face. She backed off, looped around, and kept coming. She was like a wild bull, if you looked at her.
She stopped and slammed the pommels of her scimitars together. "Sten," Maya said, "Watch out for that thing! It's called Souten Gagetsu, and it has a good shield pierce rate!"
"You don't need to tell me to stay away from the bigass sword, Maya!"
I jetted up over Rin's lunge and flew down again as she put the Souten Gagetsu right through where my head would've been. I was starting to see why everyone found her so intimidating.
Without an IS, Rin was a short little ball of attitude.
With an IS, Rin was undeniably deadly.
At that rate, I realized the match was going to be really gruelling. Neither of us had lost any shield points. She'd probably tire me out before the fight was through if I didn't distance myself.
I continued the aerial chase for a bit, and when we were going straight up, I completely reversed, going straight back down for the ground. I shot past Rin and heard her laugh haughtily.
"So naïve!" she cried.
Her 'wingpods' popped open and glowed orange moments before an invisible force hit me with the force of a ballistic missile.
I cried out in pain and crashed into the ground.
"What the hell of a kind of attack did she use?!" Houki cried as Sten struggled to stand, using the Yukihira as a support.
Miss Yamada turned in her seat. "What she used was a Ryuhou shock cannon. It's a weapon that manipulates barometric pressure in an isolated area to apply massive amounts of kinetic force to a target."
"Oh, that's right," Cecilia said, "The Shenlong is a 3rd Generation model, like my Blue Tears..."
Through all this, Chifuyu just stared at a screen that showed her protégé's struggle to rise to his feet. 'You can do it, Sten...'
I managed to stand up after a couple seconds. I could feel my legs trembling in Paxis' armor. Whatever the hell she hit me with, it really freaking hurt. I looked up just in time to see the weapon pods glow again, and the air pressure spiked. I rolled aside just as the ground exploded to my left and started running away. Shock blasts hit a split second after my feet left the ground
I stopped when one hit the ground in front of me and glared up at Rin, who was hovering on the other side of the arena.
"You're dodging pretty well!" she said, "I thought Ryuhou's invisible barrel and ammunition would give me a decisive advantage, however..."
"There's something else about the shock cannon," Miss Yamada said, "It fires at any angle, unlimited by its barrel's angle of skew."
Cecilia could feel the cold hand of fear grasp her heart. Sten didn't have the experience to coordinate his own melee assault while under constant long-range attack. "So what you're saying is that it doesn't have a blind spot."
"Yes, I'm afraid that's exactly right," Miss Yamada looked just as concerned as Cecilia felt, and when she looked over at Houki, she could see the Japanese girl's face was plastered into a deep frown of worry.
Once again, Cecilia made a silent wish that her dearest Sten would emerge victorious.
I skimmed along the ground, snaking left and right as the Ryuhou cannons peppered the arena with small craters.
"Damn it," I cursed aloud, "If I don't make some kind of move, she's gonna win!"
I jumped up and looped around a strut for the retracting roof, watching the cannon bolts batter the arena's impenetrable defence shield.
Rin followed me, striking my shield with the Souten Gagetsu as I barrel-rolled to avoid another volley. Her IS was really starting to get on my nerves...
'Come on, you're using the Yukihira Nigata! Think of something!' I yelled in my mind. I seriously hoped it hadn't been broadcasted.
I'd pulled out all the stops so far. I couldn't get close enough fast enough to use Yukihira without her blocking, and the gutbender had just gotten me slammed into a wall. I was starting to realize that Paxis was really one of the least versatile IS that had probably ever been produced.
Wait... I couldn't get close enough fast enough?!
I smiled as a strategy took shape in my head. I banked below a shot and swung through another. It surprised me when it didn't just ablate, but instead went flying off in another direction altogether.
Rin stopped in shock, and I used the opportunity to take a tense breather. I gripped the Yukihira Nigata's hilt in both hands and got ready to launch myself at her.
"Rin," I yelled.
"Yeah?! What is it?!"
"Be warned: I'm not holding back any more!"
"What's that mean? That's what you're supposed to do! Besides," she twirled Souten Gagetsu menacingly, "I'll show you that we are not in the same league!"
Get Rin angry; check.
I spun around and blasted away as Rin threw her double-bladed sword at me. It whirled back into her hand like a boomerang, but I was already well ahead of her, batting aside Ryuhou bolts as I lured Rin into position.
In pit one's control room, Maya Yamada leaned a bit closer to her console and watched as Sten started making some very odd moves. "It looks like Sten's going to try something..."
"My guess," Miss Orimura said, "Is that he's going to use the Ignition Boost, exactly like I taught him."
Maya smiled. Sten certainly was turning out to be a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for. Seeing him succeed... it was one of the things that made her feel happiest. Her face took on a reddish tint as she smiled to herself.
"Hold on," Miss Alcott demanded, "What is this Ignition Boost?"
"It's a form of surprise attack in which you close in on your opponent at maximum speed. As long as Murdoch ignites at the right moment, he can even go toe-to-toe with a Representative Contender like Huang or yourself," the black-haired woman then smirked, "This is his only chance, though, because Huang won't fall for it again."
Maya's hand clenched and her brow furrowed.
I led Rin all around the arena, dodging and deflecting her Ryuhou bolts so I could get her turned around. She matched me move for move, though, expertly bringing her Shenlong into tight turns and odd maneuvers, some of which I'd been certain would have gotten her into optimal position.
I struck Souten Gagetsu away and ducked a volley as we dove back for the floor of the arena. Rin stopped moving and kept firing.
I turned in a wide arc back toward her left side. Pre-emptively, she turned left, but I faked out and turned right. Rin's expression of horror was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen.
This was my chance.
I turned toward her and was about to engage my Ignition Boost, but the entire arena's shield violently lit up as a massive purple blast hit it.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The blast pierced the arena's shield and exploded inside the arena.
The shockwave knocked both of us back. I managed to right myself with a backflip, but Rin wasn't so lucky. The Chinese girl slammed into the ground, but quickly took to the air again. The explosion still hadn't subsided, and flames shot out in every direction.
I was completely shocked. "What the hell..."
For the first time in a long time, Houki was well and truly panicking. Every warning there was was flashing on Miss Yamada's screens, and the assistant teacher's hands were flying to keep everything under control.
"What the devil just happened out there?" Cecilia cried, her gaze flying worriedly between displays.
"Sten...," Houki muttered.
"The system's been damaged!" Miss Yamada sounded shocked, "An unidentified object has pierced the arena's deflection shield!"
Miss Orimura cursed and picked up a microphone for the loudspeakers. "Suspend the match!" she yelled, "Murdoch, Huang, get out of there immediately!"
Doors clanked shut over the stands all around the arena, leaving me, Rin, and whatever had pierced the arena's shields alone together.
"Chifuyu, what the hell's going on?!" I yelled.
She didn't respond, but Rin did as her face appeared on a screen. "Sten, the match is cancelled! Get back to the pit, now!"
A bright red screen fizzed into existence to my right.
WARNING
HEAT SOURCE DETECTED IN ARENA CENTER
UNIDENTIFIED INFINITE STRATOS UNIT
UNIT LOCKED
"Another IS?!" I asked myself, "No ID, either. How the hell is it locking me out?!"
Rin's screen moved in front of it. "What are you doing?! Get back to the pit!"
"Get back? And what are you gonna do?!"
The Shenlong maneuvered to hover between me and the still-smoky crater, its back to me. Rin gripped the Souten Gagetsu in both hands, holding it pointed at the center of the crater.
"I'm going to buy us some time, but you need to get out of here right now!"
"Wait a second! There's no way I'm gonna leave you behind!" I yelled, a bit peeved.
"You idiot!" she took her eyes off the crater to look at me, "You're the weaker fighter, so you don't get any choice! Now move!"
"But..."
Rin sighed and seemed to calm a bit. "It's not like I'm going to handle this all the way to the end, okay?" she said, "I'm just standing in until one of the teachers can get out here to-"
"LOOK OUT!" I gunned Paxis' thrusters and tackled Rin out of the way of a powerful-looking blast of cackling purple energy.
I rolled out of the way of another blast and ascended a couple hundred feet. "That beam weapon has a higher output than Cecilia's IS!" I marvelled.
It was then that both Rin and I realized I had her in a princess carry. "Hey, you idiot!" she yelled, slamming a steel-clad palm into my cheek and pushing as she bashed the top of my head with her other hand, "You need to let me go!"
"Ack! Watch it, I'm trying to drive here, woman!"
"Ah, shut up! Shut up!"
A warning flashed. "Ah, here it comes!"
I had to pull an Immelmann to bring myself up over the literal shelf of energy that the unidentified IS sent at me.
Finally, it revealed itself.
It was a massive, obsidian IS that covered the pilot's entire body. Beyond that, it had to be at least ten feet tall! Its arms reached all the way down to its ankles, and a pair of gigantic cannons were built into its wrists.
What struck me most were the eyes. Five glowing crimson circles set into a gold faceplate.
"What the hell is that thing?" I asked to no one in particular, before yelling, "Identify yourself, asshole!"
She gave no response. She just... stood there...
"Answer me, dammit! Who are you?!"
Sill no answer. I was about five seconds away from charging at it when I heard Maya's voice over the IS channel.
"Sten, Huang, you need to vacate the arena at once! The teachers will be there soon in their IS units to neutralize the threat!" she said.
"Sorry, Maya, but we've gotta keep it occupied until everyone evacuates," I argued.
"I understand how you must feel about this, but you just can't do that! Get out of there now!"
"Sten, run!" I heard Cecilia yell.
"Get out of there!" Houki agreed.
I pressed my lips together and sighed out my nose. They both thought I was so frail. I turned to Rin. "Where do you stand on all of this?"
"Are you talking to me, you jerk?" she hissed, "Can't you see all I want is for you to let me go? I can't even move with you holding me like this!"
She flailed her arms and legs until I let her go. "Sorry!"
We both dodged as the other IS sent another lance of energy at us. We were both rendered speechless as she lowered her arm and hunched her back. A pair of thrust rings on her shoulder blades sent out jets of smoke as she launched herself into the air at me.
"Holy crap!" I banked to avoid the mammoth fist she sent at me, and had to split off from Rin as the unknown IS loosed a volley of smaller bolts from a pair of shoulder-mounted cannons.
"Looks like she's ready to do this!" Rin smiled a bit, flying in figure eights of varying sizes and vectors.
"Oh, really? What gave you that idea?" I smirked and broke off. The IS stopped firing as Rin and I met up again and hovered.
"Sten," she said, "How 'bout you charge in, while I cover you? That sword's your only offensive weapon, right?"
"Pretty much. Now, let's get this bitch!"
The other IS beat us to the punch, flying in a wide arc and coming around to face us with its arms raised Superman style, cannons alight. I glanced a shot off Yukihira Nigata and watched as Rin fired her Ryuhou. Now that I knew what I was looking for, I could see that each shot had a barely-there orange tinge. Honestly, if I didn't have the Hyper Sensors sharpening all of my senses, they would've been totally invisible.
Rin went after her, swinging Souten Gagetsu like a madwoman. If there was a method to her madness, I couldn't see it.
They looped around, and the IS flew up into a gigantic cloud.
"Rin, wait!" I yelled, but it was too late. Rin dove into the clouds after it and kept up her Ryuhou assault, blasting every direction indiscriminately. I groaned in annoyance and went after her.
"Sten, come in! If you can hear me, please respond!" Maya was freaking out, and Chifuyu was pretty sure she could see tears welling in the younger woman's eyes. "Are either of you listening to me?! Sten! Huang! What are you doing?!"
Chifuyu huffed in annoyance. "They said they could handle the situation, didn't they? So, I say we let them go for it."
The three other occupants of the room turned to her in shock. "What?" Maya cried, totally frazzled, "Please say that you're not serious! How can you say something like that at a time like this?!"
Chifuyu smiled lightheartedly and walked over to the refreshments table. She poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot that sat under the grinder.
"Oh, calm down. Just chill and have a cup of coffee or something," Chifuyu picked up the spoon in the sugar box and poured a lump into her coffee, "You're only stressing because your body's low on sugar!"
Chifuyu picked up the cup, but as she put it to her lips, Maya stopped her. "Umm... before you drink that, what you actually just added was the salt..."
Chifuyu's eyes popped open and saw that, indeed, the sugar box was still closed and she had the salt spoon in her left hand. The teacher blushed in embarrassment.
"It's okay that you're worried too, Miss Orimura."
Oh, is it now? Chifuyu then proceeded to hold her assistant's jaw open and pour the lukewarm-at-best, salty coffee down her throat.
"Please ma'am!" Alcott said from in front of Houki, "Give me authorization to use my IS! I can move out right away!"
Chifuyu put the cup down again as Maya went into a fit of coughing. She crossed her arms and said, "I wish I could do that, but...," she turned to look at one of the ceiling-mounted monitors, "Well..."
LOCKDOWN LEVEL: 4 INITIATED
ALL ENTRANCED AND EXITS SEALED
DEFLECTION SHIELDS MAXIMIZED
Houki stared at it in shock and horror. "The arena's deflection shield's at level four..."
"And on top of that," Alcott muttered, "All the doors have been automatically sealed."
"As things stand," Chifuyu said, "We can't evacuate, and we can't go in and stage a rescue either."
I was really starting to get sick of this game of Cat and Mouse. The other IS had to have some sort of sonic dampener, because neither Rin or I could hear a damn thing. I glanced at my shield readout.
SHIELD ENERGY: 243/600
I'd been hit pretty hard. Rin's shields were still in pretty good shape, but then, I was the one the other IS seemed to be most interested in.
I heard a whoosh sound a split second before a massive fist collided with me. I managed to put my arms in the way, but I accidentally dropped Yukihira. It dissolved into particles of light and returned to my weapons list before it could fall more than a hundred feet, though.
She kept up the pressure, pushing us out of the cloud Rin was in and into another.
Cecilia turned and faced Miss Orimura. "Very well, then! Deem this an emergency and ask for UN support!"
"We've done that, but they can't get in either," her teacher responded, "The third years are trying to crack the system as we speak. Just as soon as they get the deflection shield under control, we'll be sending in the troops."
"So... I suppose that means that all we can do right now is wait..."
"That's right," Miss Orimura confirmed, nodding, "But you couldn't help the shock troops in any case, so there's no need for you to worry about it."
"What?" Cecilia cried indignantly, "Exactly what are you trying to say?!"
"I'm saying that Blue Tears is designed to fight multiple opponents by itself. Which means that if you tried to work with a group, you'd just be getting in everyone's way."
"No, that isn't true! I wouldn't! How could you think something like that?!"
"So have you had group training? What was your position on the team? What was your allies' formation?"
"But I-" Miss Orimura cut her off again.
"How did your squad assess the enemy, and what was the duration of the operation?"
Cecilia threw her hands and said, flustered, "Alright then, I give up! You've made your point..."
"I hope so. You need to understand why things are as they are."
A volley of shock blasts struck the strange, obsidian IS, and it tumbled in its flight path.
"Sten, do it now!" Rin cried out.
I brought Yukihira to bear again and activated the barrier-null attack. The obsidian IS righted itself and spun out of the way again as I viciously slashed at it. The pilot pulled back to a safe distance and opened up with her shoulder cannons again.
"Oh, you idiot!" Rin screamed, more than a bit peeved at me, "Aim that thing like you're supposed to! That was your fourth try, already!"
"Damn it, shut up, Rin! I am aiming!"
SHIELD ENERGY: 60/600
UNIT POWER: 23%
"Shit...," I muttered. I only had enough shield power to use the barrier-null one more time. And then, one hit would be the end of Sten Murdoch. Not an idea I particularly fancied.
"Sten, break away!" Rin yelled.
"Don't need to tell me!"
I banked and stayed close to the ground while Rin stayed high in the air. A shoulder cannon targeted each of us and kept up the barrage.
"What are we going to do?!" Rin asked, "We'll never beat her without some kind of strategy!"
"Hey, you can still run if you wanna!" I said playfully.
"Who said anything about running, you jerk?! I'm still a Representative Contender, you know!"
I pulled up beside her. "Alright, how's this sound? You move in and deal some damage, while I distract it and take the heat?"
Her face flushed and she looked down at her feet. "That's appreciated..."
A blast whizzed by her head, and she barely managed to dodge. "Stay focused!" I snapped.
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know!"
Rin made a break for it and the IS turned its cannons on me again. I skimmed along the ground, deflecting what shots I could as I tried to get out of the obsidian IS' range, which seemed to be fairly limited.
It stopped, and the pilot settled back into the center of the crater, where the fight had started.
I stopped and panted a bit, tired from all the flying around.
"You know what? Don't you think its movements are a bit too mechanical?" I said, bringing up Rin's face on a screen to my left.
"Hmm? What do you mean? It is a machine, you know," Rin replied.
"No, that's not what I meant," I said, a bit confused, "I'm wondering if... well, I'm wondering if there's anyone in that thing at all."
"What? But an IS won't work without a pilot."
"Well, think about it. Every time I've used the barrier-null attack to try to take it out, it's evaded, tried to punch me, then pulled back to a safe distance and opened up with those damn cannons. Then, it stops firing after a bit, and lets us regroup to talk."
Rin's eyes slowly widened. "Now that you mention it, I've noticed it hasn't attacked us much when we're talking to each other. It's almost like... she's curious about our conversation."
"Well, that wasn't an ominous way to put it at all," I said snidely as Rin settled into a hover beside me.
She shook her head in denial again. "There's no way it can be unmanned," she said, "Someone has to be inside an IS or it won't move. That's just how it is."
The dust cloud started to finally clear around the obsidian IS and I could see the pentacle of crimson eyes staring at us. Its gaze was cold, almost calculating.
"But think about it, Rin," I said, "What if there really is no one in there?"
"Wait, are you saying we could beat it if it's unmanned?"
I smirked and tightened my grip on Yukihira Nigata. "Damn straight. If it was unmanned, we could pound the crap out of it and no one would get hurt."
"Pound the crap out of it, eh?" she said, as if she were weighing the words, "I like it."
"Reiraku Byakuya," I said, "Paxis' all-out attack. The full force of my IS is too much for a regular match, so I can't go all out against people without running the risk of hurting or even killing them. However, I could pull out all the stops if my opponent was unmanned."
"Look," Rin said, "I don't know anything about your Reiraku thing, or whatever, but you can't seem to hit a damn thing right now!"
"Oh, I'll hit it," I said, smirking.
She sighed. "Well, you sound pretty determined. So, even though I don't think it's a possibility, let's just say it's unmanned and attack the thing anyway."
"That's so your style, Rin!" I laughed and punched her shoulder.
"So, what's the plan, Supreme General Murdoch?" Rin asked. I smiled at her old nickname for me. I couldn't even remember the last time she'd called me that.
"On my mark, I want you to fire Ryuhou at full power at the stinkin' thing's face, got it?"
"Sure, but you do know that it'll miss, right?"
"No worries. It'll be fine even if it does miss. Alright, let's do th-"
"STEEEEEEN!"
What the f*ck?! I turned to see Houki standing on an observation deck near pit one.
"IF YOU'RE A MAN," she screamed, "THEN YOU'D BETTER DEFEAT THE ENEMY COMPLETELY!"
The Obsidian turned its head to look at Houki and raised an arm.
"Crap!" I yelled, "Houki run!"
The shield was still up, but this damn IS could obviously pierce it. Purple energy started building up in the cannon.
"Rin, do it now!"
"You've got it!" the Ryuhou cannons glowed as they built up power.
I jetted in front of Rin just before she fired. "Idiot! What are you doing?! Get out of my line of fire!"
I turned and shot her the most venomous glare I'd ever sent anyone. "JUST FIRE THE F*CKING CANNONS!"
She hesitated for another second, before she said, "You crazy jerk! Whatever happens, it's not my fault!"
The Ryuhou fired their maximum yield straight at my back, just as I activated my energy intakes. White hot pain flared through my entire body, and the whole world turned red as the blasts stopped moving and started feeding into my engines. I screamed as my unit power climbed to 100%.
Yukihira Nigata's blade blazed orange.
REIRAKU BYAKUYA: ACTIVE
IGNITION BOOST: ACTIVE
I shot forward, spending less than a nanosecond accelerating to 700 KPH.
The Obsidian's right fist flew out to meet me, but I saw it coming. I brought down Yukihira Nigata, and the IS' shield was completely cancelled out.
The orange blade severed the right arm at the shoulder, and for a brief second, I thought we'd won. Then, the left fist slammed into my side like a freight train, slamming me into the wall of the crater.
"Ow...," I muttered. I felt I could barely move, I was in so much pain.
The Obsidian stood over my and raised its remaining arm cannon. Rin screamed desperately for me to get away, but I ignored her. The arena's shield flickered for a split second, but it didn't escape my notice. It had been disabled, which meant...
I smirked.
"How's your aim?"
"Perfect, of course!"
The massive IS stumbled as a storm of blue energy bolts struck its back. Behind it, Cecilia, clad in the Blue Tears, was staring down the scope of her sniper rifle, taking aim.
I openly laughed, I was so happy. No dying for me today! "Cecilia, take 'er out!"
"I'm on it!"
A single lance of energy burst from the barrel of her rifle and, quick as a lightning bolt, went clean through the Obsidian, which collapsed to the ground.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and looked at the image of Cecilia that popped up beside me. "Looks like I made it without a second to spare."
"I knew you'd come through for me, Blondie!" I said.
She blushed. "Oh? Do you really mean it? Well, that's to be expected, right?"
"Well, it's over now. In any case-"
WARNING
DETECTING ENEMY IS REACTIVATION
"Oh, you're kidding me!" I yelled, whipping around and launching myself back at the Obsidian just in time to see its remaining arm firing at me.
The blast was the same as the one that had pierced the arena shield, but I flew into it anyway, screaming as my vision started to get fuzzy and tunnelled.
I don't remember anything else, just... black.
- IS -
Seven hours had passed since the Obsidian IS had been shut down. The sun was low in the sky, leaving everything on the island glowing with a reddish aura.
In the infirmary, Rin sat beside Sten's bed. He'd been unconscious since the end of the match, but all of the doctors had said that he'd be totally fine.
Rin desperately wanted to deny how horrified she'd been when she's lost sight of Sten inside the blast. It had felt like her soul had been rend into pieces. She smiled and squeezed the dummy's hand, relieved that it still felt warm; if a bit limp.
She slowly leaned forward, not really conscious of her actions.
Awareness returned suddenly.
Well, not so much awareness, as feeling. I could feel one spot that probably would've hurt a lot more if I hadn't slept through getting the injury that had undoubtedly caused it on my upper right bicep. I'd probably broken my arm, but the bone had already been repaired, for the most part.
I felt warmth. Not just from the blanket I was under, but... breath. I cracked an eyelid and saw Rin leaning over me, poised to kiss me.
She noticed I was awake immediately and zipped back, blushing furiously.
"Good morning to you too, Rin," I chuckled.
"W-were you awake?" she asked tentatively.
"Only for a minute or so," I replied, more than a bit amused by her jumpiness, "You nervous?"
"What m-makes you say that? I'm not nervous. That's a completely ridiculous thing to say!"
I sat up and looked down at myself. Someone (I dared not imagine who) had changed me into a sleeveless shirt and some baggy shorts, under which I was covered in bandages for burns I couldn't feel. "So what happened to the Obsidian?"
"It got shut down," Rin said, "Don't worry, though, you were the only one who was hurt in the attack. Everyone else is fine."
I sighed. "Now that's a relief..."
I looked out the window as Rin sat back down in the stool beside my bed. Orange clouds rolled lazily across the sky, the fluffy edges looking like pillows.
"You know, now that I think about it, wasn't it on a night just like this that we made that promise about eating sweet and sour pork?" I asked, crossing my arms behind my head and laying down again.
"Huh? You do remember?"
"Of course I do, Rin."
-It was warm where we sat on the Drop, our legs hanging over the side. Rin and I sat side by side, me leaning back on my hands and Rin resting her head on my shoulder.
"The sky sure is pretty tonight, huh?" I said. A sheet of orange and red light obscured the blue of the sky as fluffy clouds floated lazily overhead.
"Yup..."
We sat in silence for a few more minutes.
"Sten?" Rin asked.
"Yeah, Rin?"
"If... if I become a better cook, would you eat my sweet and sour pork every day?"
I smiled, the flush if my cheeks mercifully hidden by the light of the sky. "Of course I will!"
"You mean it?"
"I promise, Rin."
I held out my pinkie. She looped hers around mine and we shook on it.-
"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.
"Because... well... let me put it this way, Rin. We were twelve. It's a bit unrealistic for you to expect me to be in love with you because of a promise we made then. I-"
"Sten," she put a hand on my shoulder and smiled, "You're right. I just... I don't know. I just wanted to be special to you."
I chuckled and gripped her hand. "Rin, you are, and will always be special to me. You've been my friend for who knows how long, and people don't forget that kind of stuff, even if it has been three years."
She blushed and smiled. I was about to say something else (suggest we go get dinner sometime) when the door opened and a certain British aristocrat skipped in, eyes closed in joy and hands clasped behind her back. "Surprise, Sten, dear!" she cried, totally oblivious to Rin sitting there, "I hope you're feeling better now, but I've come to look after you, so-"
She finally caught sight of Rin and froze. Not in horror, nor in irritation. No, this was anger.
"What is this?" she snapped, stomping over to stand over Rin. Cecilia wasn't a tall girl by any means, but next to Rin she was a giant, "Just what are you doing here?! Remember, we decided that no one could make a move on Sten until he wakes up!"
The door slid open again, revealing Houki standing there with her arms crossed. "And what about you, then?" she said, "Because from my view of your fat ass, it sure looks like you were trying to get ahead of me."
She sauntered into the room as Cecilia whipped around, embarrassed. "Oh, well- the thing is, uh..."
Meanwhile, Rin was about to blow a gasket. "Get out of here, both of you!" she yelled, "Don't you understand that Sten's my childhood friend?!"
"Well he's my roommate!"
"You're from Class 1-2, Miss Takeaway so you-!"
I cut Cecilia off. "Hey... where's Chifuyu?"
The three of them seemed to come to their senses a bit and stopped arguing. "Now that you ask...," said Cecilia.
"Yeah," Rin agreed, "Where do you think she went?"
"She was right there with us until just a few minutes ago...," Houki added.
All three seemed confused, which in turn confused me. "Either way," I said, "I'm freaking starving. You guys up for dinner?"
"Yep."
"Sounds good!"
"That seems agreeable."
I heaved myself out of bed, took a second to balance myself, then started off toward the door. It didn't take long for Cecilia, Rin and Houki to start in about everything I'd done wrong against the Obsidian.
I smiled and realized that no matter how much I liked to joke about how horrible life was at the academy... I wouldn't change it for the world. These three were too precious to me.
If only I'd known then how many turns for the worse my life was about to take.
Deep in the bowels of the IS Academy, there is a laboratory used only for the most secret of projects. It was there that the Obsidian IS lay on a table, half a dozen electrodes attached to its head and each of its limbs.
On an observation deck above, Chifuyu Orimura stood just behind Maya Yamada, who was sitting before a console, tapping away at keys and reading the diagnostic data.
"So it really is unmanned," she muttered, "And it seems that the Core is unregistered?"
"I see...," Chifuyu acknowledged.
"There are only 4670 IS Cores worldwide, and yet this IS was equipped with a Core we know nothing about. How is that possible...?"
Chifuyu had no answer for her. She just stared over the console's monitor, almost like she was just waiting for the IS to get back up and start firing again. There was no mistaking that it had been trying to attack Sten, which, for some reason, worried her more than she would ever care to admit.
It seemed that, no matter how safe the ISA liked to believe it was, a storm was brewing.
And Sten Murdoch was standing at its eye.
The Story Continues in
Infinite Stratos: Paxis
Volume II