The 4th chapter is finally here! To be honest, this was the hardest and probably the longest I've created so far because of the amount of the words. Plus, originally this chapter was meant to be darker, but I figured that it would be too soon, at least until later.
As for the reviewers:
mega1987 - I'm sure he'll get used with his new Gundam fast, after all there are Saturday and Sunday before the match where he could train alone.
Wing Zero 032 - Thanks for waiting patiently. Here is your 4th chapter.
Gurest1 - Find out here and tell me whaddaya think, okay?
Dimensional Records - Thanks. Good luck to your fic too as well.
Fireminer - Of course, but ideal of what? I don't think Banagher could apply spacenoids earthnoids could live altogether in IS world. Unicorn wouldn't get its awakened green psycoframe state until later. So be patient, okay?
BlaLig - You mean like the IS could be used by anyone? Interesting concept indeed. If you wonder about what happens with the UC crews, well you'll have to wait a bit longer.
shikyoseinen - Okay, I mean majority of the school. I already fixed that. Thanks for pointing it out.
dragon shinobi - I believe you've seen the War of HARO's, right? So what do you think along with Knight Gundam's appearance in the end?
Dp11 - Of course!
Guest1 #2 - Hmm... how about I make one, but Kira and Shinn aren't soldiers? The setting will be in GBF universe. How does that sound?
Nivek Beldo - Now you suddenly gave me the idea of FFxSquall...
GundamGuyUC - I already watched it! It was awesome! Can't wait for next year!
Just an IS fan - Thanks.
Euphonia - You'll find out in this chapter ^^
Guest - Thank You.
WhoeverIam - Here's your 4th chapter then.
Kayman141 - The answer is now! Of course Rin will appear later! Besides I already have some plans about what to do with her in this story.
Sky Zephyrus - Uuuummmmm... maybe~?
Xorn - I agree with that, plus Zinnerman can now have some father-daughter bonding with her.
Final Genesis - Thank you so much! The last episode has been confirmed to appear in May 2014 for your information.
CanadianRider - Well actually, someone gave me the idea that Banagher's name sounds Polish, so that's why I choose Poland. And to be honest, I didn't know that until you told me. (Edit: It's Ireland now)
val'tanelle - I already gave you the answer via PM, okay? Thanks for your support too.
Ressan - Read and find out here :)
Beta by Vandenbz
Chapter 4: The War Horse
IS Academy – Teacher's Office
"Here's your key to your room, Links." said Maya from her desk as she handed the key to Banagher, "It's on the 2nd floor. The number of your room is the same as the number on that key."
"Thanks." Banagher replied before looking at the room number engraved on the key in his hand. To his surprise, his room number was 0096, the same year of the Universal Century that he came from.
Looking back at Maya, the teacher began to explain things further, "The room is still empty at the moment, so you won't have a roommate for a while. Hopefully in a week or two…"
"I have a roommate?" Banagher asked, cocking one of his eyebrows.
"Yes, Orimura was supposed to be your roommate since both of you are boys. However, due to the room arrangement documents, it will take a while before he can be transferred from Shinonono to your room."
"I see…" He replied, slipping the key into his pocket. After a moment, Banagher then realized he had no idea where his Unicorn Gundam was, "By the way, Miss Maya. Do you know where my Gun- I mean my Unicorn is?"
"Ah, that's right!" Immediately Maya stood up from her desk, bouncing her breasts in the process which made Banagher blush a bit at the sight which was fortunately unnoticed by her, "Come. I'll show you where we put your IS last night."
Just before Banagher could follow her, Maya suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned back, giving him a serious but still adorable look, "But next time, call me Yamada-sensei just like how you address Orimura-sensei, understood?"
"Ah. S-sorry about that, Yamada-sensei."
As the two left the room, some teachers began to whisper about the boy that had just walked in and left with Maya, save for Chifuyu who was examining her day planner for tomorrow's class. Apparently, even though the whole teaching staff already knew about Ichika's presence as the first male student who could pilot an IS, they didn't have any idea about the other male student named Banagher Links. Seeing that Chifuyu was the only one who didn't join their conversations, one teacher started to ask her…
"Orimura-sensei. Do you happen to know about that boy who just left with Yamada-sensei?"
Taking a sip from her tea first, Chifuyu answered her. "I do. Do you have any problem with that?" She replied while giving the teacher her trademark look which made her quiver in fear.
"Ah, n-nothing. Just curious, that's all, a-ha-ha." The teacher nervously replied, looking back at her paperwork. Soon after, Chifuyu began to glare at every teacher who stared at her which made them immediately resume what they had been doing as if nothing strange had happened at all. Even among the teachers in the school, the elder sister of the Orimura siblings was known for being really scary when she wanted to be.
'I wonder how she treats her brother outside the school. Poor thing…' thought all of the teachers about Ichika while working.
"Stop thinking nonsense and just keep working." Chifuyu suddenly said, still examining her planner without looking at anyone. This of course made the teachers wonder in awe and fear as they focused back on their papers. How could she read their minds while working at the same time, something that only a superhuman could do?
…
IS Academy – IS Maintenance Hangar
When the door slid open, both Maya and Banagher entered the cavernous room which somehow reminded the brown haired boy of the Mobile Suit hangar on the Nahel Argama, Garencieres, and the Ra Cailum, only smaller and located inside a building or school to be more precise instead of a warship. Looking around the facilities of the hangar which consisted of a downscaled linear catapult leading to an open arena field and an observation room on the 2nd level, Banagher suddenly heard Maya calling him.
"Links, your 'IS' is over here."
When Banagher came to Maya at her call, he noticed that beside her was an analyzer bed with a pure white colored mechanical suit lying on it. Banagher's eyes widened in shock upon seeing his Unicorn Gundam (he recognized it from its overall design and the seams all over its frame), the 20 meter tall Mobile Suit had shrunk into a human-sized MS without its head and chest armor. Although both Chifuyu and Maya had told him that he had been wearing it when they found him lying unconscious yesterday, at that time Banagher had been too exhausted to notice the changes.
"This… this… is… my Unicorn..?" Banagher stammered as he slowly approached his newly transformed Gundam before laying his hand on one of its legs, "So different… and yet it still feels familiar…"
"Umm… Links, are you okay?" Maya worriedly asked, making Banagher snap out of his preoccupied thoughts as he looked at her.
"I-I'm okay, Miss Ma- I mean Yamada-sensei. It's just… I'm… kinda surprised with how it looks now, that's all."
Sighing in relief as she held her chest, Maya examined the cables connected to Unicorn's body for a moment before looking at Banagher, "Umm… before we can officially enter your IS for the battle, we need to register your machine first."
Banagher frowned in confusion upon hearing this, "What do you mean?"
"Well… actually, when you were in the infirmary yesterday, we tried to access the data in your IS." admitted Maya in shame as she scratched her left cheek with her finger, "But we couldn't find anything aside from your unusual IS Core..."
"That's because it's locked with my biometric code." Banagher replied, surprising Maya as he moved around the bed, "To access its database…" he placed his right hand on the scanner-like device on the Unicorn's empty upper body which produced a humming sound and glowing red lines beneath its white armor for a moment, indicating its activation sequence.
"IDENTIFYING DNA… ACCESS GRANTED" announced a female computerized voice from the Unicorn's body.
"…you need my ID code first to bypass the lock." as he finished speaking, Banagher turned around to see the teacher with an astonished look on her face as her glasses started to dip slightly.
"Umm… Yamada-sensei, are you okay?" now it was his turn to ask the same question which made Maya return to her senses.
"A-ah, I'm fine, just kinda surprised. Ah-ha-ha…" She nervously replied with a small laugh as she fixed her glasses. "Now all I need to do is enter your IS' specs and technical information into our school's database." She said, turning to Banagher, "You don't mind if I take a look into your IS' information for a moment, do you?"
Feeling that Maya didn't have any bad intentions regarding the information in his Gundam, Banagher smiled a bit and shook his head slowly, "Not at all, Yamada-sensei."
"Good. Then please wait here while I'm gone, okay? It won't take long." Maya ascended to the 2nd level using the nearby elevator, entered the observation area, and activated her computer on her desk. Sitting down while adjusting her glasses, she started running the analyzer program on the Unicorn. When the monitor finally showed the results after three minutes of analysis, Maya began to scroll through the report until something suddenly caught her interest…
"Hmm? What's this?" As she zoomed in the 'special equipment' section of the report, Maya frowned in confusion when she read its contents, "NT-D System? I-Field? La+ Program? What are these things?"
Curious, she moved the pointer over to one of them. However, just before her finger could click the mouse, Banagher's voice suddenly called her from below.
"Yamada-sensei, are you finished yet?"
"I'm almost done." She immediately replied before looking back at the monitor. 'Maybe I should check this with Orimura-sensei later…' She thought, closing all files and programs, and shutting down her computer before leaving.
When Banagher heard the sound of the descending elevator, he turned around to see Maya carrying a thick book almost as thick as a yellow page phone book in her hands. As the teacher walked up to him, Banagher asked her another question.
"So… how is it going?"
With a smile, Maya answered him, "Your 'IS' is in good condition, so you don't have to worry about that. Oh, and make sure to read this when you have time…" she handed Banagher the thick book which he accepted while explaining, "This book contains the regulations about the IS and how to switch your IS into its standby mode, as well as how to call and deploy it."
"Standby mode?" Banagher arched an eyebrow upon hearing this, "What's that?"
"It's the form that the IS takes when not being used by the pilot." explained Maya as she looked at the Unicorn and then at Banagher, "Why don't you try it? Just touch it and try to concentrate your mind to change it."
Banagher nodded as he put the book down on the floor and touched his Gundam, he closed his eyes and focused his mind just like when he did it inside the Unicorn's cockpit to power up the psycoframe. A bright white light began to envelope the Unicorn's entire body, causing Maya to shield her eyes from the intense light. When the light finally faded, Banagher opened his eyes and looked at his hand only to find a pendant with a silvery white Unicorn emblem that resembled the Vist Foundation's logo. (RX-0 – Gundam Unicorn)
"This… this is…"
"That's your IS in its standby mode." Maya explained, taking a closer look at the pendant in Banagher's hand. "I must say it's quite beautiful. I have seen some IS which have taken the form of pendants before, but not like this."
Looking at the pendant for a moment, Banagher asked her again, "How do I restore it as it was before?"
"Hold that pendant and focus your mind on deploying it again, just like when you did it before." answered Maya, "Can you give it a try?"
With a nod, Banagher closed his eyes again and concentrated, except this time the light coming from the pendant was dimmer and it only covered Banagher's body. When Banagher opened his eyes, he couldn't help but look at his new appearance in awe and astonishment courtesy of a nearby wall mirror.
He was clad in armor reminiscent of the Unicorn Gundam, complete with its armored shoulders, arms, and legs, except the chest plate was less bulky, the skirt armor was missing, and the most distinguishing feature of all was a piece of horned headgear with two cylindrical tubes on its sides in place of the Unicorn's head. It was like he was wearing a powered suit version of the Unicorn Gundam.
"Whoa…" that was the first thing that came out from Banagher's mouth as he tried to move his arms and limbs to get used to the new sensations he was experiencing.
'Takuya would surely love this if he was here …'
"Currently your IS is now in its default setting." Maya said, holding the book that Banagher had put down earlier as she approached and handed it to him, "This book also contains the manual on how to calibrate the settings and weapons of your IS."
Taking the book from Maya's hands, Banagher looked at the title. "Infinite Stratos Practice Book..."
"I guess we have covered all of the basics here." Maya said, getting Banagher's attention as he turned to her, "If you want to train to get used to your IS more, feel free to use the arena after the study session is over."
"Okay…" replied Banagher as he reverted the Unicorn into its pendant form and thanked Maya, "Thanks for your help, Yamada-sensei."
"You don't have to." Maya replied back with a smile, "It's a teacher's job to help their students after all."
Looking at the digital wall clock, Maya was very surprised when she saw the time displayed which read 15:00. "Oh no! Look at the time now!" She gasped before turning to Banagher and giving him a quick bow, "I'm so sorry Links, but I have to go back to the office now! I forgot that I still have some papers to handle!"
As the teacher left at a run, leaving Banagher alone, he looked at the pendant in his hand with narrowed eyes for one last time before hanging it around his neck and leaving the hangar as well.
(End of RX-0)
…
Later that evening in the school's dormitory…
"0096… Hmm… where could it be?" Banagher muttered as he looked for his room number while looking to his right and left until he finally came across a door with a 0096 sign mounted on it, "Ah, this must be it…"
Digging into his pocket to find his room key, Banagher inserted and turned it, unlocking the door with a 'click' sound. When he was about to open it, Banagher suddenly heard the sound of a nearby door being opened. Turning to the door beside him, he saw a dark pink haired girl with glasses coming out of her room.
When she noticed that her neighbor was a male student who wasn't Ichika Orimura, the girl couldn't help but get excited as she approached Banagher and eyed him curiously as if she was studying him, much to the brown haired boy's discomfort for being stared at like that.
"Umm… could it be you're the rumored second male student in this academy?" The girl asked Banagher.
"Uuh… yeah I guess…"
"Ah, my name is Mayuzumi Kaoruko from the Newspaper Club." Mayuzumi enthusiastically introduced herself before taking a small mike with a recorder from her pocket and pointing it at him, "I heard from the first year students about the male representative contender from Ireland named Banagher Links who was challenged by England's representative this morning. Is that you?"
"Err, yeah. That's me." Banagher replied with a nod.
"Wow, I guess I'm very lucky to have you as my next door neighbor. Could you tell me more about yourself?"
Surprised with the sudden interview, Banagher wasn't even sure where and how he should answer her until Mayuzumi took the initiative to ask him first.
"How about we start with this one: How did you feel when you discovered yourself able to pilot an IS?"
"Ahhh… Umm…" Banagher scratched his cheek with his forefinger, both nervous and unsure on how to answer that. How did it feel? He didn't even know that much because everything had happened so fast. But if one thought logically when you got thrown into that kind of situation the first thing you felt of course would be…
"Overwhelming, I guess?"
The vice-president of the newspaper club nodded slowly, satisfied with his simple answer before she continued.
"Okay, now could you tell us more about your IS? Being a representative contender just like Alcott, you surely have your own personal unit, right?"
"Um, I think I'll save that for now." Looking at the digital wall clock which read 18:30, an idea suddenly popped up in his head to end this interview as soon as possible. Banagher spoke again, "How about we continue this later? Right now I'm already tired and I think I need to get some sleep…"
"Ah, it can't be helped then." She said with a hint of disappointment as she put away the mike and the recorder, "But can you stand still for me for a moment?"
"Hmm? What for?"
*SNAP!*
Out of nowhere, a digital camera with the brand of Nihon was in her hands and taking a snapshot of Banagher. Looking at the preview of the photo on the camera, Mayuzumi sighed in even more disappointment, "(Sigh) I should have turned the flash on. This corridor's light is too dim after all…"
"Hey, what was that for?" asked Banagher.
"Ah, don't worry about that. I just took your (too bad it's blurred) picture for the next school newspaper." She replied as she returned to her room but not before thanking to him first, "By the way, thanks for your time. I hope to see your performance next Monday."
As she closed the door and left Banagher alone again, he sighed in relief for not to have to deal with this kind of matter anymore. When he opened the door his eyes widened in both shock and awe. He hadn't expected this from a school dormitory, this was an extravagant room comparable to one in a luxury-class hotel. Inside the room were two single beds, two LED monitor computers on the desk, bookshelves, a small kitchen set, and even a balcony with a sliding glass door. He had to admit, even during his days at the Anaheim Industry Technical School, his shared dormitory room with Takuya wasn't as big as this. Putting the practice book given by Maya on the computer desk, Banagher slumped on the bed and looked at the Unicorn pendant with tired eyes.
"So much happened on my first day here…" He muttered before getting off the bed slowly and looking at the door leading to the bathroom, "Maybe a quick shower before sleep will make me feel better…"
…
Next morning in Class 1-1
Just like in any other school before the study session began, the students liked to have a small chat or gossip to each other save for Banagher who just sat in his seat while resting his chin on his hand, Ichika who played around with his mechanical pencil by twirling it between his fingers, Houki who stared out the window, and Cecilia who just sat in the corner, still eyeing the boys from afar. When both Maya and Chifuyu entered the room, the class however still wasn't aware of their presence until Chifuyu cleared her throat and silenced them…
"Orimura, I'm afraid that it will be a while before your 'IS' is ready for you." Chifuyu said as she approached her younger brother's desk.
"What?" Upon hearing his confusion, the black haired teacher began to explain.
"The school doesn't have any spare units for you to use. On the plus side, due to certain issues, the school will provide you with a personal IS."
At her words, the students (again save for Banagher, Cecilia, and Houki) started to murmur and whisper to each other about how lucky Ichika was for getting a personal machine despite still being a freshman.
"Really? A personal IS for a first year freshman?"
"In other words, that means the government is supporting this?"
"It's so awesome! I wanna get my own IS, too!"
Noticing how the girls seemed excited with this personal IS thingy, Ichika spoke up, "Is having your own IS really such a big deal?"
Cecilia bolted from her seat and halted before Ichika with her royal highborn look as she crossed her arms, much to Banagher's annoyance as he took a deep breath and sighed at her antics.
"I'm actually rather relieved to hear that. After all as a noble, it's my duty to tell you, commoner." clearing her throat, the blonde haired girl proudly explained, "I, Cecilia Alcott, am a glorious representative contender from Great Britain. In other words, I currently possess my own personal IS. There are only 467 IS units worldwide. Obviously, those who have their own personal units are the best of the elite amongst the planet's population of seven billion!" she emphasized the last part while dramatically pointing her finger at the raven haired boy.
'Only 467 units of these machines exist?' Banagher thought in surprise after learning that their number wasn't too large, 'I didn't know that there are so few compared to standard mass production type Mobile Suits… but, I guess that's not surprising here since I'm not in my world anymore…'
"That's because the technology behind the central component of all IS technology, the core, has never been released." explained a raven haired girl who suddenly came from behind Ichika's desk "As a result, there are only 467 machines in the entire world. And Doctor Tabane Shinonono has personally produced every one of those cores."
'Wait. Isn't that Houki's sister?' Ichika thought, looking at Houki who was still staring outside.
"Supposedly, the IS core's like a self-contained black box. This is because no one other than Doctor Shinonono can create one." Another girl explained.
"But the thing is, so far, she's refused to manufacture more than a certain number of cores." Another one explained, "Therefore countries, corporations and organizations are forced to conduct their research, development and training, using the limited number of IS units."
"To complete our little history lesson, personal IS units were originally only intended for those sponsored by governments or corporations." concluded Chifuyu as she turned to Ichika, "However, your case is exceptional. Therefore they will provide you with a personal IS for data collection purposes. Is that clear?"
"Uh… I guess so." Ichika replied, still feeling unsure with his own answer.
The raven haired girl who gave Ichika a brief explanation earlier and sitting two seats behind him raised her hand in question, "Um, excuse me, ma'am. Do you know if Ms. Shinonono in our class is related to Doctor Shinonono by any chance?"
Turning to the girl, Chifuyu answered her, "Actually, your classmate is her younger sister."
"Her sister is the creator of those machines?" Banagher asked with eyes wide in surprise as he turned to her too, 'Then perhaps she knows the reason why she made these machines only operable by females… Maybe I should ask her later…'
A commotion quickly ensued inside the class. The girls started questioning Houki whether it was true or not, or about her sister's whereabouts. Normally, being the sibling of the most well-known professor in the entire world was something that anyone would be proud of. However, Houki's expression remained stoic, in fact she seemed to hate being the sister of Tabane Shinonono.
"She has nothing to do with me!" Houki sternly said, almost yelling at the class, "I am not my sister. And there's nothing I can tell you about her."
'So much hatred I feel from her words…' Banagher thought, looking at Houki with concern, 'Does she really hate her that much? But why?'
After most of the students groaned in disappointment at her answer, Chifuyu turned to Maya and told her to continue the lesson.
"All right. Now then, let's begin the class. Everyone please open your textbooks. We'll continue from where we left off yesterday." Miss Yamada said as she activated the image of an IS on the board. "The IS, or Infinite Stratos, deploys a special energy barrier that operates as protection for its pilot. The unit's system has something similar to a consciousness."
An image of a man (which was strange since IS could be piloted by women only) then appeared beside the IS, followed with multi-colored lines spread between them. "So through sharing dialogue and spending time together, the two of you will actually get to know each other. Depending on how much time a pilot spends controlling an IS, it begins to understand the user's characteristics."
"I just don't understand this…" Ichika muttered, lowering his head as he looked at Houki writing in her notebook and then at Banagher who seemed to understand what Maya was saying as he just focused on the teacher (not her cleavage, got it!?).
Banagher on the other hand had different thoughts about how the IS could react to the pilot's mind, one trait shared with the psycoframe system. 'If an IS responds to the pilot's mind, then is there a possibility that it might also try to take control?' He thought, remembering how the Mobile Armor Shamblo and Unicorn's Banshee Destroy Mode had made both Loni and Marida go berserk before.
"So your IS isn't just a tool, think of it as your big mechanical partner. Are there any questions so far?" Yamada concluded before asking the class.
"Yes, ma'am! So, did you mean partner as a boyfriend or a girlfriend?" A girl student bluntly asked, raising her hand in question.
Maya was taken aback with her question as her cheeks turned red. "Oh I'm not sure!" She nervously answered, "That is... I'm not experienced that way so I don't know. Oh but I wonder…" the green haired teacher closed her eyes, cupped her cheeks, and swayed side to side with a dreamy expression like a lovestruck high school girl.
The girls started to giggle and chatter about what it felt like to have a boyfriend. Their little discussions of course led to them staring at two particular boys which made Ichika sigh in defeat because the study session had turned into the girls' group chat, while Banagher on the other hand just smiled a bit, finding the situation to be quite relaxing and amusing for someone like him.
'If Micott was here, I bet she'd love to join in.' thought Banagher.
…
Later in the cafeteria…
Just like yesterday, Banagher was having his lunch together with Ichika and Houki. While both Ichika and Houki had a bowl of rice and soup with a baked fish, Banagher had a plate of mashed potatoes with sausages for his meal. At first, everyone just enjoyed their meals until Ichika broke the ice first.
"Say Banagher, I wanna ask you something."
"Hmm? What is it?" Banagher asked, looking at Ichika.
"Could you teach me more about the IS? Honestly, I didn't understand a bit of what Yamada-sensei was talking about during class." He replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly with his free hand, "So, I wonder if-"
"What!? Why don't you ask me instead?" Houki suddenly interjected, surprising both boys as she glared at Ichika, "I'm your roommate and your childhood friend as well. You could have just asked me if there's anything that you don't understand about the lesson."
"W-wait Houki! Don't get me wrong." Ichika nervously replied, waving his hands defensively in front of her, "It's just that since Banagher is here, I think I'll be more comfortable with-"
"But he has to prepare himself for his upcoming match with that pompous blonde haired girl! Right, Banagher?" She cut him off again before looking at Banagher with a look on her face that seemed to say 'if you don't agree with me, I swear you'll regret it later.'
Feeling that his life would be in great danger if he didn't play along with this girl, Banagher swallowed his food before answering, "Um, she's right, Ichika. I'm sorry but maybe next time."
"It's decided then. From now on after class, you'll have private lessons with me as your tutor for two hours. Understood?" declared Houki to Ichika who slumped and sighed in defeat.
"I guess it can't be helped then…" muttered Ichika.
"Humph, I'm just trying to help you, you know?"
As the three continued their lunches, Banagher could swear that he saw a faint blush appear on Houki's cheeks as she ate her meal. It was then that he realized there was another reason behind her sudden intention to help Ichika.
'Ah, so she did that on purpose, huh?' He thought, smiling a bit at the ponytailed girl before continuing to eat his meal.
…
Later that night in room 0096…
Banagher couldn't seem to get any peaceful sleep that night. He was twitching, sweating, tossing and turning his head in discomfort. He was having a very unpleasant dream, the strangest and the worst to date. In his dream, Banagher found himself floating in the midst of a sea of stars in outer space.
Outer space… the endless last frontier of humanity which they sought in the hopes of beginning a new life from square one, away from their Mother Earth… Wandering aimlessly like a lost puppy on the street, Banagher floated above the Earth's sphere and not too far from his position were two Mobile Suits in white and red fighting each other while falling through the Earth's atmosphere.
But neither of them gave up as the two kept exchanging blows with each other, destroying the nearby debris in their fight. Being overpowered as the beam saber from the white Mobile Suit was obviously stronger, the red Mobile Suit tried to escape…
Only to have one of its legs ripped away by the white Mobile Suit and fall uncontrollably within the increased heat of atmospheric reentry...
Then it hit him like a thousand bricks when he realized that the two Mobile Suits were none other than the Unicorn Gundam and the Sinanju. This was the moment where he did something that he couldn't forgive himself in doing for the rest of his life.
The moment where he took Gilboa's life away…
Looking at the Unicorn whose beam magnum was already aimed at the Sinanju with his eyes wide open in horror, Banagher desperately reached out his hand as if he wanted to tell his other self inside the Unicorn to stop.
"NO! STOP! DON'T SHOOT! IT WILL HIT-"
But it was too late. His words failed to stop the Unicorn Gundam from firing its beam magnum as a purple and red beam of death came from the tip of the gun and hit a customized Geara Zulu which suddenly appeared in front of the Sinanju to shield it, piercing it through its chest instead…
"Banagher…" He heard the pilot calling his name gravely for the last time before meeting his demise as his Geara Zulu exploded and the remnants burned away in the atmosphere.
"MR. GILBOA!" Banagher screamed and suddenly jolted up from his bed, finally awakened from his nightmare. He looked at his surroundings which were now was his room at the IS academy while breathing heavily.
"Just… a dream..?" Banagher muttered. After a moment, he looked at his hands and couldn't help but feel guilty at the memory as he lowered his head.
Gilboa Sant, although he was a soldier in the Sleeves, he had been very kind to Banagher when he was taken into custody at Palau. It even got to the point where Gilboa had brought him to have dinner with his family and Marida, even treating him like a guest instead of a POW. If anything, Gilboa was a great man, both as a soldier and as the father of his family.
Family…
Right, Banagher realized that he had killed someone who was supposed to look after the woman and children in the household.
He had taken someone who was very important to them away.
"Mr. Gilboa…" Banagher whispered his name sadly, tears started to well up in his eyes as he curled up on the bed.
"(Sniff) I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… (Sniff)"
…
Six days later in the IS Arena…
The spectator benches were filled by the girls who were curious about the unofficial battle between the representatives, or rather between a male and a female for those who thought of it that way. Some of them chattered (mostly about Banagher's skill in IS piloting since they had never seen a boy in an IS battle before) while waiting until the match started, some of them just sat and patiently waited, some of them even played games on their various gadgets while waiting.
In the middle of the Arena, Cecilia, piloting her IS Blue Tears floated in midair while waiting for her 'supposed to be her slave in the end' opponent.
Blue Tears, as its name suggested, was an IS in mostly blue colors. Designed and built for taking out multiple enemies from long distance at once, this IS was armed with a powerful laser sniper rifle, heat-seeking missiles, CQC knives, and four bits stored in its wing binders as its primary weapons.
Looking at the launching gate where Banagher was supposed to emerge, Cecilia grinned with a confident look on her face. Why was she so confident that she would win? Simple, her skill as a representative contender was quite remarkable with 'A' rank IS compatibility. Defeating that instructor when simply lasting long enough in a spar would have sufficed just further established her prowess in an IS.
But her main reason for her confidence was because she would face off against Banagher Links, a male student who she considered to be weak and worthless just like every single man she knew.
Only one thing that she didn't know yet though, Banagher Links wasn't like any other man that she had ever met before…
Inside the hangar, Banagher was clad in his own IS pilot suit which resembled a full white and grey bodysuit with a red circuit lines motif on it (imagine the bodysuit from TRON Legacy only with his pilot suit color scheme) looked at the holographic image of Blue Tears with a serious expression on his face along with Ichika and Houki. Apparently Ichika had been called in to receive his own personal IS which had just arrived, and Houki just wanted to see how both his and Banagher's personal IS looked… as an excuse to be with Ichika.
Despite only five days' worth of training to get used to his new Unicorn Gundam, the boy was a quick learner. On the first few days of training, he covered all the basics on how to pilot an IS including the advanced level maneuvers. It wasn't actually too different from when he used a spacesuit with a propulsion unit to navigate through zero gravity back in the Universal Century. While the outward appearance was bulky enough, he could move freely without much of an issue. The rest of his time had been spent on some combat training via VR simulator to get the grasp of how an IS battle worked.
But perhaps what was truly impressive was that he could master the initial modes and weapon deployment of his IS in such a short time which usually required a more focused mind, although it might because the psycoframe did most of the job and his Cyber-Newtype training when he was younger.
"Banagher, are you really sure about this?" Ichika worriedly asked as he turned to Banagher, "From what I've heard, her 'IS' is built for multi-directional attacks and pinning down her opponent."
Averting his gaze from the screen to the raven haired boy, Banagher gave him a nod as his reply, "Yeah, I've already accepted her challenge after all…"
"Orimura! Orimura! Orimura!" The voice of Maya suddenly called Ichika's name from the observation room on the 2nd floor, "It's here. Your personal IS has just arrived."
As Yamada-sensei finished speaking, the metallic gate behind the three started to open, making them turn around to see a silvery grey IS standing firmly before them. The metallic armor of the IS reflected the light from the room's ceiling and made it look quite shiny, giving it the impression of a knight in silver armor kneeling before his master. Regardless to say, Ichika, Houki, and Banagher were astonished at the sight of the IS as they gaped in awe.
"This is Orimura's personal IS. The Byakushiki!" announced Maya enthusiastically.
"This is… Byakushiki." Ichika muttered in amazement as he approached the IS and touched it. But as soon as his hand made contact with the metallic skin armor of Byakushiki, Ichika suddenly pulled his hand away in shock.
"What's wrong?" Houki asked him.
"It's not like the first time I touched an IS. There's something different." replied Ichika without looking back at Houki as he remembered the weird sensation that he felt when he had touched an IS before. "There's something familiar about it…"
"Just like what Yamada-sensei said before." Banagher said as he walked up to Ichika's side and looked at the IS, "The IS isn't just a mere machine. They are more like your mechanical partner."
'Just like every other Gundam pilot, I like to think that it chose you. It was always the inevitable outcome. Be it good or bad.'
The words of Captain Bright Noa reminded him of when he believed that he had found the Unicorn Gundam by coincidence. Banagher turned to Ichika, "Perhaps… this IS chose you to be its pilot for a reason."
"What do you mean by that?" Houki asked, arching her eyebrow in confusion.
"Well, to be honest, I don't know either. But-"
"Hurry up and get suited up, Links! Time is limited and your opponent won't waste her time too, unless you want to forfeit the match." The commanding voice of Chifuyu from the speaker cut off Banagher before he could reply.
"Uh, yes ma'am!" After replying, Banagher turned back to Houki, "Sorry, but we'll talk about this later."
Earning a nod from the ponytailed girl, Banagher held the pendant on his neck and concentrated to call forth his IS. In a flash of light, Banagher was clad in the IS formed from the Unicorn Gundam again. Except, unlike before when he first activated it, this time his entire body was fully covered within the armored frame of the Unicorn Gundam in its default form, albeit much smaller than its Mobile Suit version.
"Whoa!" Ichika marveled at the fully armored IS from top to bottom, "So that's your personal IS, huh? It looks pretty cool!"
The same thing however couldn't be said for Houki who looked rather unimpressed at Unicorn's appearance which she found to be quite plain and simple.
"I must say its design is… pretty simple for an IS." Houki voiced her opinion, placing her finger under her chin as she looked at Banagher or rather the Unicorn's head, "Are you really sure you can fight her with this?"
Looking at her, Banagher nodded and replied in a slightly distorted voice by the Unicorn's helmet, "Yeah, I am."
As Banagher left the two and walked toward the linear catapult, Chifuyu's voice spoke again from the speaker, "As soon as you enter the arena, the match will start. Remember, when your opponent's shield has reached zero, the match is over."
"I got it." He replied, adjusting his Gundam's footing on the catapult before looking at the gate.
Taking a deep breath before letting it out, Banagher spoke before launching.
"Banagher Links in Unicorn Gundam, taking off!"
…
Back to the Arena…
Finally launching from the hangar, Banagher brought his IS higher to greet his opponent, Cecilia Alcott and her Blue Tears. When the two IS met each other, Cecilia gave him a confused look as she stared at Banagher's IS.
"Is… that your personal… IS?" She asked, cocking one of her eyebrows.
With a single nod, Banagher replied, "It is. Got a problem with that?"
"Pfffft… AHAHAHAHAHA!" Instead of answering him, Cecilia suddenly burst out laughing while holding her stomach with her free left hand. This of course left Banagher confused and annoyed as he narrowed his eyes and glared at her.
"What's so funny?"
"You… you Irish people are really humorous, aren't you?" Cecilia asked in a mocking manner before regaining her composure and pointing at him, "Do you seriously think you can defeat me with that simple, ugly IS of yours? Where are your binders and stabilizer units? I don't even see your weapons anywhere."
"And have you ever heard about never judging the book by its cover?" Banagher retorted, "For someone who thinks herself a lady, you really have a loud mouth!"
"W-what did you just say!?" Shocked and angry from his insult, Cecilia's face turned red in a mix of embarrassment and anger. It was then that the referee announced the start of the battle.
"Begin the match, ready… GO!"
Cecilia made her first move by aiming her Starlight Mk. III rifle at him, "You should learn how to speak properly to a lady with your foul mouth! Now, take this!"
As she pulled the trigger, a single blue laser beam blasted towards Banagher from her rifle. From behind his helmet, the Unicorn pilot narrowed his eyes and boosted backwards to evade the shot before returning fire using the Unicorn's Vulcan Cannons.
"Urgh!" The blonde British girl flinched and evaded the blue stream of bullets. She took aim again with her energy rifle, but this time, she had to ensure that she would get a clean shot.
The Blue Tears pilot smirked when her crosshairs turned red and she pulled the trigger.
"Ha! I got you now!"
But to her surprise, the Unicorn Gundam's pilot didn't evade and instead rushed in with the shield on his left arm raised. A loud sparking noise was heard as the blue beam hit the shield and bounced away into the air, a moment later hitting the arena's barrier.
"What?!" Cecilia exclaimed in shock. Normally, a physical shield in IS battles was only capable of reducing the damage received, but a shield that could deflect an energy shot and render the user unharmed was unheard of.
Banagher seized this opportunity and increased power to the Unicorn's thrusters in a bid to close in on his opponent. The Unicorn's eyes flashed bright green right before Cecilia's eyes, blinding her vision momentarily from the intense light flash before the white Gundam spun and delivered a roundhouse kick followed by a stream of Vulcan shots.
A collective gasp and 'Ooh's from the girls filled the arena at the scene as the scoreboard showed Blue Tears' energy shield which had dropped from full (1000) to 965. Despite the small amount of damage Banagher inflicted, some of them even began cheering at the boy like fangirls while ignoring the fact that they were close enough for Cecilia to clearly hear their shouts. Talk about rubbing salt into wounded pride…
"Links is so cool!"
"His kick was like one from an action movie!"
"Win this match, Links! We're all rooting for you!"
…
IS Hangar – Observation Room
"Wow! Links is quite skilled, isn't he?" Maya said with an impressed look as she watched her terminal's screen which showed the two IS exchanging shots with each other. After Blue Tears recovered from the attack, the pilot started shooting blindly out of frustration. However, her childish tactic was fruitless as the Unicorn Gundam just barrel-rolled while diving in and countered with more Vulcan fire from below.
"Uh-huh." Chifuyu nodded.
Houki however arched an eyebrow questioningly after noting how Banagher was only attacking with Vulcans or hand to hand combat instead of using heavier weaponry, "But why does he only use the guns on his head? It will take forever at this rate to defeat her."
"Yeah." Ichika also agreed with a nod, "Doesn't he have any other weapons to use?"
"He's doing it on purpose." came a reply from Chifuyu which earned her strange looks from her students, "Links is trying to lure Alcott into going all out. By doing so, he can measure her skill and Blue Tears' capability without revealing too much of what he and his IS are capable of."
"Whoa…" Ichika trailed off, impressed, "That's… a smart strategy I guess…"
Chifuyu spoke again to her younger brother, "Watch and learn, Orimura. You should be able to learn a thing or two from this fight. This will be good for your future match later."
"Ah, okay, Chifuyu-"
*BONK!*
The raven haired boy couldn't finish his sentence as he was suddenly brought down by the clenched fist of his sister on his head. Groaning as he rubbed the bump on his head, Ichika looked at Chifuyu.
"I told you, it's Orimura-sensei!" scolded Chifuyu with an angry look on her face.
"Y-yes ma'am. Orimura-sensei." Ichika said with a stutter as he stood up and looked at the screen, 'Gee. No wonder she's never had a boyfriend with that kind of attitude.'
"Don't you dare go thinking something rude, got it!?" Chifuyu suddenly snarled, giving a dark, menacing glare to Ichika which sent a chill down his spine.
'How in the world did she know what I was thinking?' Ichika thought, shivering at how his sister could read his mind like a psychic.
'What an idiot…' Houki thought with a sigh as she rubbed her temples.
…
Back at the Arena…
Cecilia gritted her teeth in frustration as she recovered her bearings from another salvo of Vulcan fire. Never before had she felt so humiliated in an IS battle and by a boy too! She was a Representative Contender, a symbol of England's pride, and yet she was being toyed with by a male Irish who was only used melee attacks and a low caliber weapon. As much as Cecilia hated to admit it, it seemed she had underestimated Banagher…
"I was going to go easy on you. But now you've done it!" She shouted as she distanced herself from her opponent, "This will teach you why you're out of my league, Links!"
From behind Unicorn's helmet, Banagher's eyes went wide when he saw four of Blue Tears' binders suddenly split off and float around her IS like attack drones. These were the Blue Tears' bits, the IS' most useful piece of equipment when it came to gaining an advantage over its opponent.
"Funnels!?" Banagher exclaimed in shock at the bits' presence which looked pretty similar to the remote attack weapons from his world, 'So, they have similar technology as well?'
"Now then… get him!"
By Cecilia's command, the bits rushed towards Banagher while she took aim and fired her rifle again. Instinctively, Banagher boosted sideways again to evade the first shot, but his Newtype senses suddenly alerted him to spin around and dodge another shot that came from one of the bit drones. But another bit fired from above, to his left, from below, and Blue Tears' rifle further complicated things. Although he successfully evaded or deflected the incoming shots using the I-Field shield, the Gundam pilot now found himself dancing between barrages of energy that never seemed to end.
From afar, Cecilia chuckled at her opponent as she kept firing her weapons.
"Ha-ha-ha! That's right! Dance for me like how you Irishes usually do it! Dance to the waltz that Cecilia Alcott and Blue Tears are playing!"
'Darn! It's harder to move here because of the gravity!' Banagher cursed in his mind, 'I have to get outta here quick!'
The Unicorn Gundam fired the Vulcan cannons in a wide arc which made the bits scatter away, but that moment was all the Gundam pilot needed. He only had to make room and prepare another strategy to take down the bits before they could shoot at him again.
Blue flares came out from the Unicorn's thrusters as Banagher got away from the bits. However, Banagher suddenly felt a strange sensation from his Gundam. His visor screen suddenly showed several warning messages with the word 'NT-D' and an image of the Unicorn Gundam transforming into its Destroyer Mode.
Out of nowhere, the white Gundam stopped moving in midair and the boy found it pretty hard to move his arms and legs, as if his Gundam was restraining him from doing so. A female AI voice then announced:
"ANALYSIS COMPLETE… MARKING THE ACTIVITY AS PSYCOMMU… INITIATING NT-D SYSTEM…"
It was then that Banagher realized what this familiar feeling was as his pupils shrank in shock: The Unicorn Gundam was trying to activate the NT-D on its own due to the presence of the Blue Tears' funnel-like objects.
"What!? No! Not here, Unicorn!" Banagher told his Gundam to stop. He couldn't take the risk of revealing the true capabilities of the Unicorn Gundam right now in front of everyone here, at least until he really needed it in a tight situation or he trusted others enough who could keep it secret. The last thing he wanted was to reveal the Unicorn's Destroy Mode lest some shady private military organization or the Sleeves' equivalent in this world take an interest in him and try to get their hands on the technology for their own purposes.
But, unlike when the Unicorn Gundam was still a Mobile Suit, he couldn't cancel the system activation via command input anymore.
"Urrrrrggghhh! Cancel it! Overwrite! Stop!" Banagher tried to shout while fighting back the NT-D, but it didn't do much aside from slowing down the process a bit.
No! He couldn't give up yet! He had to keep trying to overcome the system!
…
IS Hangar – Observation Room
"What the heck is he doing!? Why doesn't he move!?" asked Houki who was now anxious at what she was seeing, "At this rate, he's going to be a sitting duck!"
"Is his IS malfunctioning?" Ichika worriedly asked before he turned to Maya, "Yamada-sensei, what's happening to Banagher?"
"I… uhh…" Maya nervously stuttered as she typed on her keyboard, "I-I don't even understand what's happening here. His IS status was normal until Alcott deployed her bits…"
Chifuyu on the other hand was silent, both her arms crossed and her eyes never left the screen. The possibility of an IS taking control wasn't something new for her. It usually happened due to the pilot's low compatibility rate with said IS, growing to the point where the pilot's mind couldn't handle the stress or a special feature installed on the IS activated, one meant to improve the IS' overall performance going haywire and assuming command over the control system instead.
But this one was different. Instead of the causes she was familiar with, it was more like a certain event had triggered this strange behavior which was most likely the presence of Blue Tears' bits. If her narrowed eyes didn't deceive her, she swore that she could see faint glowing red lines appear on the Unicorn's Gundam's frame with specks of red particles.
The question that she currently had on her mind now was: What was her student trying to keep from activating?
'Looks like this IS… no, the Unicorn Gundam is something more than what meets the eye…'
…
Meanwhile, Cecilia stopped firing her rifle and bits, confused as to why her opponent suddenly stopped moving and started twitching erratically, like he was having trouble controlling his IS. But her expression quickly turned into glee as this was a chance she wouldn't let slip away. Now she could finally pay Links back for the humiliation she'd suffered for half the battle.
'Heh, I don't know what's wrong with him but this is my chance!' Cecilia smirked and arranged the bits to surround Banagher from four angles before she took aim again. "Ha! It's over now! I win!"
The blonde girl fired her Starlight Mk. III and all her bits altogether at Banagher who still struggled against his own machine, hoping to reduce his shield energy to 0. Some girls from the spectator seats rooting for Banagher gasped in worry and even shouted at him to snap out of it and evade, but Banagher was too busy to hear them…
However none of them expected what happened next with the Unicorn in its current state…
Instead of reducing the white IS down to zero energy or at least reducing the shields severely, all of Blue Tears' shots were bounced off into the air or hit the arena's barrier. Once again, the spectators were stunned by the Unicorn Gundam's I-Field, which possessed a level of strength that had been unrevealed before now.
Cecilia's pupils shrank in utter shock. She'd thought that victory was within reach after she revealed her trump card, but this result told her otherwise.
'T-this guy…! Just what kind of Infinite Stratos is that?' thought Cecilia who didn't even notice a single bead of sweat drip down her cheek. At the same time…
"I… said… STOP!"
Banagher finally got the upper hand over the system and shouted aloud, canceling the NT-D System which had started forming red, glowing lines on the armor plates and dispersing red particles. The HUD screen slowly returned to normal as he breathed in and out slowly. He looked closer at the four bits which he marked as high priority targets.
'Those funnels are like drones, I'll have to take them out before the NT-D tries to reactivate itself!'
(Soldiers in Metal – Dynasty Warriors Gundam)
The Unicorn Gundam made its first move by boosting towards the Blue Tears who in return regrouped. The Blue Tears and its bits resumed firing at the Unicorn, but the white Gundam evaded them like it was dancing in-between the shots.
With a mental command, Banagher materialized the ReZel Beam Rifle; a long energy gun that was almost on par in terms of size with Blue Tears' rifle in his right hand and took out one beam saber with the left from his right forearm. The white Gundam threw the Beam Saber like a boomerang towards the bits before firing its rifle at the spinning saber. Small bursts of energy were created as a result of the beam shots and beam saber colliding with each other, surprising the blue IS pilot who quickly retreated.
Unfortunately for the bits, they were hit by the beam waves that were similar to the spread from a shotgun, causing them to spark violently before exploding.
"My bits! How dare you!" Banagher heard Cecilia shout in anger as he caught up to, retrieved, and stored the beam saber in its sheath before he turned to her. She aimed her sniper rifle again, but this time the two side armors on her waist also folded out. As she fired her rifle, two missiles were launched from her waist panels which were actually were a pair of missile racks.
Banagher frowned behind the Unicorn's helmet and evaded the energy shots with a barrel roll while shooting down the missiles with his Vulcans before dismissing the ReZel Rifle.
Cecilia gasped when the white IS appeared in front of her but she never expected what happened next. The Unicorn Gundam suddenly grabbed her Starlight Mk. III, trying to take it away from her.
"W-what!? Get off! I said get off of me!" Cecilia shouted while struggling against the Gundam pilot before she brought her missile racks up again to shoot Banagher from point blank range, but he acted first by punching the rifle into the air and then kicked Blue Tears in the chest, causing Cecilia to lose her bearings and divert the missiles as they launched.
"Wuagh!?"
Still recovering from the kick, the Gundam pilot looked up at where the Starlight Mk. III had gone. The Unicorn Gundam caught the sniper rifle and broke it into two pieces with a loud 'CRACK' before throwing the remains to the ground.
From behind the helmet, Banagher looked at Cecilia who had regained the control of her IS and was at a loss for words after having most of her weapons destroyed.
"Give it up! You don't have any effective weapons left!"
"Giving up? Did you just tell me to give up after what you've done!?" Cecilia roared back at him as she raised her remaining missiles. "Besides, I still have these!"
'…! She's more stubborn than I thought! Is winning this stupid match really such a big deal to her?' thought Banagher, irritated.
Folding out both beam sabers on his forearms into beam tonfas, Banagher dispatched the two missiles with ease by slashing them apart horizontally. Cecilia fired again and again, but the Unicorn Gundam dashed forward and stabbed the missile cannons with its beam tonfas before slicing them apart, destroying them and removing another chunk of Blue Tears' energy in the process.
"Aaaargh!" Cecilia screamed as she got knocked back by the explosion. After recovering her bearings again, she looked at the small holograph screen which displayed her Blue Tears' current status, the results causing her to frown.
Despite the fact that her IS still had enough energy to continue, she was now weaponless… Well, not really weaponless as the Blue Tears still possessed a CQC weapon as shown by the only one active weapon slot on her screen: a combat knife 'Interceptor' which was installed on both arms. However she was relatively inexperienced using them and her current situation now was quite unfavorable…
Now cornered by her opponent, Cecilia had no choice but to turn around and boost away as fast as she could to escape from Banagher who began chasing her.
'T-this is ridiculous!' She thought in disbelief. 'I'm losing against a man? This is outrageous! Women are obviously stronger and better than men thanks to the Infinite Stratos! This exo-armor is what made us who we are now! Just what kind of nonsense is this!?'
The British girl gritted her teeth in anger. Throughout her career as an IS pilot, Cecilia had never backed away from an opponent. In any battle thus far, she was the one who attacked first and always found a way to corner and strike down her opponent with her skill and grace. Strong, elegant, and beautiful were the words used to describe her…
And yet, right now she was playing a game of cat and mouse where she was the mouse instead of the cat…
A mouse…? No! She would never accept that! She was the cat… no a lion! A proud and brave lion which was the very symbol of her nation!
And now where was that pride of hers? Trampled down by some kind of lowborn brute?
"I can't lose… I won't lose… I won't get defeated by a weakling like you!"
Suddenly Cecilia spun around and with a loud battle cry she rushed towards Banagher with the Interceptor combat knives now equipped on Blue Tears' arms.
"What the?!" Banagher was surprised by her sudden move and immediately stopped in midair, spinning his body to evade the first strike, but Cecilia didn't stop at that…
The Blue Tears pilot swung her blades furiously despite her lack of skill. However such a harsh move combined with the fact that she was too incensed to think straight gave her opponent plenty of chances to evade.
As Banagher evaded the sharp tips of the blades, he saw something in Cecilia's eyes: The fiery rage of hers combined with the will and determination to win this battle despite her current state. It felt almost like when he was consumed by the need to kill Full Frontal in his Sinanju after he killed Daguza. He was so angry back then that he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone standing in his way… until he accidentally shot Gilboa instead.
Which was why it felt so misplaced, and wrong…
"WHY! WON'T! YOU! JUST! STAY! STILL!?" Cecilia shouted with every slash which of course was ignored by Banagher who kept dodging her attacks. She wasn't even aware that she was now sweating a lot and her breathing had grown heavier, a clear physical sign that her body was growing exhausted due to the prolonged battle.
In her battle records, Cecilia often won against her opponents in a short time which was an impressive achievement; on the other hand her achievements so far also meant one thing: She rarely trained her stamina in favor of her marksmanship and bit control skill.
"I've had enough!" Banagher suddenly raised his voice, loud enough for Cecilia to hear. The white Gundam caught both of Blue Tears' hands and squeezed them hard, slowly crushing them like how it did the same with the Kshatriya's hands during their first encounter. Banagher took care not to damage Cecilia's limbs as well. With a roundhouse kick, the Gundam kicked the blue IS down which hit the ground really hard.
*BOOOM!*
A very loud crash was heard followed by a cloud of dust from where the Blue Tears impacted as the Unicorn Gundam landed several meters away and deactivated its thrusters. (End of Soldiers in Metal)
Banagher winced at what he was seeing now and couldn't help but felt bad at the sight of the damage he had inflicted. Had he gone too far? But if what he'd learned about the Absolute Barrier feature the IS possessed was right, then Cecilia should be physically fine… right?
The boy got his answer when his sensors detected the presence of his opponent as the dust dispersed and revealed the beaten form of Cecilia and her Blue Tears which made Banagher wish that this match had never happened in the first place.
Before him, said blonde British girl and her IS were definitely in no condition to fight anymore. Lots of its parts were now visibly damaged as seen from the exposed internal components flashing with electricity. As for the pilot herself, she was breathing uncontrollably, staggering back and forth while trying to keep her balance with her entire body sweating badly. The once prideful and elegant expression of hers was gone, replaced with an angry yet exhausted look.
Unable to handle the physical stresses on her body anymore despite what her mind kept telling her, Cecilia finally gave in and collapsed as her Blue Tears disappeared in a flash of light…
"CECILIA!" Banagher screamed in shock, running towards the unconscious form of the girl.
…
IS Hangar – Observation Room
"The match is concluded. Winner: Banagher Links!"
The sound of the referee announcing the end of the match echoed throughout the sound system. The scoreboard showed the final result that Banagher had defeated his opponent. While the scoreboard also showed that Blue Tears still had some energy left, its pilot was too incapacitated to fight anymore.
However… for the victory the Gundam pilot had earned, the atmosphere was tense. Everyone was acting as if they had just watched a terrible accident on the news, except for one person who still looked indifferent towards the screen.
"He… he won, Ichika…" Houki finally spoke first, breaking the silence. A single bead of sweat ran down her cheek.
"Yeah…" Ichika replied in a low whisper, nodding, "He really did it…"
Both of them were at a loss for words. On one hand, they should be happy that Banagher had won the match and taught Cecilia a lesson, but the sight of her current state was too much for them to bear which made them feel pity towards the blonde girl.
Sure they didn't like how snobbish and arrogant Cecilia was when she badmouthed Japan right in front of everyone else back then, but even this felt like too much for her as a lesson of humility.
Ichika turned to Chifuyu, "Orimura-sensei, will Alcott be okay?"
The woman looked back at him, "From what I can tell, Alcott was just exhausted from either wasting too much energy or she just didn't have enough stamina to continue on, so she should be fine after resting."
"What do you mean?" Now it was Houki who asked.
"You saw how she fought in close-quarters combat, it was pretty clear that she's still an amateur and yet she still forced herself in trying to hit Links." She explained, "And because she got carried away, Alcott used too much energy swinging her knives which in turn only tired her out and gave her opponent an opening to retaliate and disarm her."
Once she was finished explaining, Chifuyu looked at Maya. "Yamada-sensei?"
"Y-Yes. I've already called the school's medical team to fetch Miss Alcott immediately." She stuttered, still a bit stunned from the outcome of the match.
Chifuyu looked back at the screen which now showed two medical team members carrying the unconscious Cecilia on a stretcher, leaving the young Gundam pilot alone as he watched them leave the arena. The teacher walked towards Maya's terminal and picked up the headset nearby.
"Links, report to the Observation Room, now!"
Phew! I guess that's all for now. Oh, by the way can you guess what Gundam series that I put in the first part of Banagher's dream? 100 points for correct answer.
Oh and almost forgot!
\(^0^)/MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!\(^0^)/