Chapter 21; The Gathering Storm

Houki was in a bad way, and she knew it. Rin and Ichika were worse off, considering that Houki's Regeneration ability gave her near infinite energy. Normally, she would try and use it to support them, but the bitch of a machine they were battling wasn't about to give them an opening for that. Even though it only had one javelin, it was using all manner of maneuvers to keep them off-balance. Its laser bits didn't help matters. Any time one of them tried to focus on taking them out, the Fairy would appear behind them and land an attack of its own. As a result, both Ichika and Rin were down below 50% on their shields. If it came down to it, Houki was confident she could go toe-to-toe with it alone, but she didn't know how long her stamina would hold out against a machine determined to kill her. Come on, Cecilia; hurry up she thought as she charged the Fairy again.

"Simon!" Cecilia called out as she saw the pain on his face. He glanced at her briefly, and she could see the internal struggle in his eyes. Whatever that program was doing to him, it was fighting back with everything it had. Steeling herself for the possible pain, she started walking forward. When she got close to the wall of blades, he said, "Please, stop." Ignoring it, she brushed past the blades, mildly surprised that they didn't turn and dice her. Finally kneeling down next to him, she put her arms around him and pulled Simon in, resting her chin on his head. While it was a little awkward with them both in their IS, she wasn't about to care now. "Please," she whispered, "Come back to me."

In the inner space, he was struggling with the AI. 'Kill her, Simon!' it commanded, finally losing all patience with the boy. "Why? What is it that you're so desperate to hide?" he demanded. There was clearly something that it didn't want him to know, memories it was trying to conceal. The fact that it could do that brought into question everything else it had told him. If it can hide my own memories from me, then maybe it… Grabbing him by the throat, the AI picked him up and hurled him against the cliffs. While this wasn't a real place, it felt real enough for the wind to get knocked from him on impact. Lying on the ground he tried to recover, breathing heavily. 'You're such a disappointment,' it said as it stalked forward, 'You had one job, one simple job. But that girl had to show up, and now you've lost all will to fight.' Grabbing him by the collar, it hauled him up so they were face-to-face. 'If you won't finish her, then I will,' it said as it laid a hand on his forehead.

When it did, he could feel himself losing control of everything, his body started to feel cold and distant. This is what it's like to die he thought as he slowly slipped into a pool of oblivion. That is, until he felt something in him cry out against it. With strength he didn't know he possessed, he reached up and pulled its hand from his head before twisting free of its grasp, shouting, "No!" This took the AI by surprise since it hadn't known this boy had this kind of willpower. This temporary shock was enough to shake free some of the memories it had been withholding. Images came back to him; the night at the resort, their time spent together training, when Simon had visited Cecilia after Maylin's death, and the promise he had made. In one brief instant, enough of his old self returned for him to fully realize who his enemy truly was. "It was you," he said, anger beginning to rise, "You did this!"

'Stupid human! You should have just done as you were told!' it shouted as it lunged at him. If it could just make contact again, it could remove those memories again. Starting over from square one wasn't ideal, but there wasn't much choice at this stage. Before it could grab hold, Simon reached up and grabbed it wrists, stopping it cold. "You shouldn't have used this place as our point of meeting," he told it, smiling coldly at the AI, "And you really shouldn't have restored all of my technical knowledge, since I'm pretty sure I've worked out where we are now." Letting go of the things hands, he continued to smile as it stepped away. This was not something it had been programmed to handle, and it was reeling as it tried to stay in control. Looking around the space they were in with his senses clear, Simon could tell there was another presence. Whether it was being blocked out or had been biding its time didn't matter much now, he needed its help. "I know you're there now. Any time you feel like stepping in would be appreciated," he called out.

As if summoned, another being appeared out of thin air next to him. It was a young woman with raven hair down to the middle of her back and wearing light armor. Her eyes were a deep green, like his, and they held a mischievous glint which was also mirrored in her smile. "I was wondering when you would stop playing house with this cheap knock-off," she said, turning to look at the AI. 'Who are you calling a cheap knock-off?' the AI asked, finally recovering from its shock. "Why, you, of course," the woman replied, stepping forward and smiling sweetly at it, "You didn't really think you were keeping me out of my own house, did you?" When she got no reply, she just giggled and shook her head. "Silly little program, you really don't understand the scale of your fuck-up, do you?" In the blink of an eye, the woman was in front of the AI and lifting the avatar by its throat. "You think you could come into my house and take my operator from me?" she asked, still sounding sweet but clearly meaning business, "Sweetie, you just crossed the wrong girl."

The AI suddenly screamed in pain, its body starting to radiate energy like it was on fire. The cry turned mechanical after a few seconds, and Simon could tell that this woman, program, whatever, was slowly tearing it apart. "You're nothing but a shadow of me," she continued, taking no notice of the other program's pain, "Like a candle held near the sun. You're nothing, and you will return to it." In one final screech, the AI's avatar flew apart, the shreds quickly dissipating to nothing. Turning back to face Simon, she gestured to the surroundings and changed them. The beach was suddenly gone, as were the cliffs, replaced by a clear ground that mirrored the sky like still water. "That's better," she mused as she walked over to Simon, still smiling like a kid. "You made short work of that thing," Simon commented, standing his ground. This being, unlike the other, felt familiar to him, like a long-lost friend. And of course it would, since it had been with him from the beginning. Stopping before him, she touched his head lightly and Simon felt the final obstacles in his mind clear and the rest of his memories return.

"I never got the chance to tell you this properly," she said, "but I still can't believe you're crazy enough to have a neural plug." "The benefits far outweigh the risks," he responded, smiling back, "And besides, what fun is life without a little risk now and then?" This earned him a laugh out of the girl. What was odd to him was that it was like listening to Cecilia laugh; he could never see himself getting tired of listening to it. "I knew I made the right choice. Alright, Simon, you have a job to do," she told him, stepping away, "Get out there and kick their ass." He just smiled back as the realm around him faded. As he returned to the real world, he noticed that Cecilia was still holding him and had started to cry. Pulling back slightly so he could look at her properly, he said, "I promised you that I wasn't going anywhere. And I'm not." She was stunned for a moment, but she recovered quickly and hugged him closer. "Thank you," she whispered. He just hugged her back for a second before he got back up and docked his fangs. "Now then, let's end this, princess," he said, taking flight.

Rin was down on the beach with Houki while Ichika was locked with the Fairy. Houki was trying to use the distraction to recover the Chinese girl's energy, but they didn't have much time. Throwing Ichika back, the Fairy prepared to shoot the two girls before they could separate. Instead, a lightning bolt came at it from behind and threw its aim off. The Fairy turned around in time to catch an energy bolt to the chest as Cecilia and Simon moved in. "This ends here, Fairy!" Simon shouted as he charged a pair of bolts up. Cecilia stopped and gained altitude while Simon kept going straight in. At the last second, before the Fairy could try and impale him on its javelin, he dodged to the side as Cecilia opened fire, hitting it square in the head. Taking advantage of the opening, Simon fired the charged bolts and sent it towards the ground. Reaching up to grab his sword, he pursued the Fairy as it tried to return fire.

Dodging the shot, Simon brought his sword down only to have the Fairy block it with its own weapon. When they hit the sand, they rolled a ways, each of them trying to gain the upper hand. Finally Simon kicked himself up and away, landing a few feet away from it and bringing his sword up. The Fairy also got back on its feet quickly and was standing there. He could almost imagine it was glaring at him in hatred. "Do you even understand how much planning you just ruined?" it asked him. Smirking, he replied, "Nope, and I don't care." In response, Fairy launched its laser bits and charged him. Jumping back to avoid the initial swipe and shots, he triggered his Phoenix Shift and prepared to take it out. He wasn't prepared for the increase in movement, since it turned his small jump into a leap that sent he meters away. He also briefly noticed that his IS was crackling with electricity, but that wasn't his primary concern.

Triggering another Ignition burst, he slammed into the Fairy before it even knew what was happening, taking it out over the water. Letting go of the IS, Simon quickly moved behind it. It was like he was teleporting with each move; he thought I need to be there and he was suddenly there. Bringing his foot up, he kicked the Fairy away to get some distance. He had noticed earlier that his sword had changed, and now was the time to figure out just how much. Bringing his arm back, he disengaged the locks on the sword and let the new blade fly. It had changed from the usual smooth metal coating into segments about two inches in width. The engine at the hilt which had originally powered the saw blade was now replaced with a spool of strong cable and another dynamo. With the magnetic lock disengaged, the blade turned into an electrified whip with teeth. Combat with a whip wasn't something he was used to, but now wasn't the time to be picky. Treating it more like an extended sword, he made several slashes at the IS, finally succeeding in severing its leg at the knee.

Growling in frustration, it sent its laser bits into his face before self-destructing them, blinding him. Using the distraction, the Fairy quickly retreated, leaving behind a rather pissed-off teen. However, he noted that his Phoenix Shift wasn't about to last long enough in this mode to chase after it. Instead, he disengaged it and sheathed his sword before returning to the beach. The others were there waiting for him, although Cecilia looked a little pissed-off herself. I am going to have to do some serious apologizing for this one he realized as he landed and destructed his IS. "Before any of you ask," he began, "Yes, they are all back. Yes, I'm sorry for what I did. And yes, I won't let it happen again. Anything else?" Walking up so she was in his face, Cecilia put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I only have one thing to say to you, Simon Felix," she said, her tone making Simon gulp, "You ever do something that stupid again, and I will let Rin and Tatenashi do whatever they want to you. Are we clear?"

He just gave her a stiff nod, a little too concerned with the smile that Rin was giving him. Those two with a free pass? No thank you he thought. "Good," she said before stepping forward and kissing him, too relieved to have him back to stay mad. She didn't count on how stunned he was, and as a result he lost his balance and took them both into the surf. The cold water was enough that it shocked the two apart. Sitting there looking at each other, both of them dripping wet, Simon couldn't help but find this unbelievably funny. He started laughing uncontrollably, and Cecilia joined him not too soon after. In fact, the others on the beach were caught up in the relief and were grinning like mad at the two love birds in the water, although Rin was also starting to laugh along with them. Before the next wave could soak them through more, Simon got up and helped Cecilia out of the water, still laughing softly. Rather than stick around and try to dry on the beach, they summoned their IS and returned to the Academy. Cecilia made it a point to stay near Simon and keep an eye on him, trying to convince herself that it was out of concern and not because she was admiring the view.

After arriving at the Academy, Simon was immediately whisked away by Tabane to perform a full physical evaluation. Despite his protests and assurances that he was fine, she dragged him to a private lab and stripped him to his underwear before attaching all manner of sensors to his chest and head. She had also built her own version of his neural sync collar and had attached it to his neural link to run a test on it as well. After a few minutes of taking all manner of scans and readings, she asked, "So, what was it like?" "It was…I can't say that I enjoyed it," he said after a moment, "But there was a silver lining to it." "Oh? Did our little princess make you a secret promise?" Tabane asked, smiling sweetly. She had heard about his nickname for Cecilia, and had also, to his misfortune, been spending time with Tatenashi lately. The girl was fun to be around, and the two of them got along quite well. "What? Nonono, nothing like that!" he replied, blushing, "What I meant to say was that I finally met my IS' core."

"You did what now?" she asked, moving so they were face-to-face. The look she was giving him was enough to make him regret mentioning anything. "I…uh, met the AI that dwells in my IS' core," he repeated, trying not to sound nervous, "Why? Is that a problem?" Without saying a word, she turned around and waved her hand at an empty table. In a flash of light, the core housing from his IS appeared on the table, as well as a small projector. "How did you-?" "Genius," she replied without turning around. She quickly hooked the core to the projector and turned it on, saying, "I know you can hear me. So, are you the reason this boy can pilot?" For a second, nothing happened. Tabane had even begun to tap her foot, a habit she was picking up from Chifuyu. This core has always been a pain she thought as it remained unresponsive. "Don't make me force an activation," she threatened. And then in a flash, the woman he had met inside the core appeared before them, smiling sweetly at Tabane.

"Now now, there's no need for that, mother dear," she said, giggling softly. "13, I should have known it was you," Tabane said, sounding a little frustrated. This just got her another giggle as the AI turned and looked at Simon. "My, now that's quite a view," she said, causing the blonde to blush slightly. "Oh, shut up," he said. "You didn't answer my question, 13," Tabane said, getting the AI's attention again. "Fine, I'll admit it. I wanted to have some fun, so I may have modified my protocols," she said, "Is that going to be an issue?" "I would have preferred that you cleared it with me first." "But this boy is so much fun!" the AI protested, sounding like a kid.

"So, wait," Simon said, finally realizing something, "You're the reason I can pilot an IS? Not because of my sister?" The AI just nodded, beaming in triumph. "Of course! You really thought that it was just because you were twins?" she asked, "Also, while we're on that topic, I learned something while burning out that little shadow. We're going to have problems soon." "Nice to know someone in this room can focus on the important issues," Chifuyu said, startling Tabane and Simon. They hadn't even realized she had entered the room, let alone was standing behind Tabane and looking rather annoyed with the girl. "Just when did you plan on telling me about this, Tabane?" she asked, glaring at the girl as she backed away, looking like a scolded child. "I was just on my way to tell you, Chifu-ni," she claimed. "Uh huh. So, 13 is it?" Chifuyu asked, stepping forward, "Just what exactly is this 'problem' we're going to have?" "Man, she really has you whipped," 13 noted, making the mistake of ignoring Chifuyu. One of her patented glares was enough to get the program to focus, however, and Simon wasn't surprised to see that his teacher could make programs cower as easily as people.

"I, uh, pulled some data out of the program before I removed it," she reported, dropping the playful attitude, "I also piggybacked on its communications to the other IS. It was…strange, being inside that machine, and it had a lot of countermeasures I wasn't familiar with. But, I got enough to know they have an attack group on the way here." Everyone stopped cold and stared at the AI's avatar. "How big?" Chifuyu asked, hoping it was just going to be another raid. Maybe if it was small enough, they could intercept it at sea and minimize the damage. "At least three ships," 13 reported, "And from the records I was able to copy, most of their forces. Including all of their IS." They were all deathly quiet after that. The last time this group had been here, several people had been hospitalized and a third of the grounds had been wrecked, and that had just been a small raiding party. This sounded like their entire army, and that they meant business. "How long do we have?" Simon asked, feeling a little sick. "Till tomorrow afternoon," 13 reported. We just can't catch a break.

After Simon was released he went over to the cafeteria, since he was starving. Walking out onto the cafeteria roof with his food, Simon was mildly surprised that everyone was sitting in their usual spot, eating and enjoying the weather. Even Tatenashi and Kanzashi where there, with Kanzashi appearing to have gotten over her discomfort of large groups. When he approached the group, Tatenashi was the first to spot him. "Feli!" she shouted as she rushed him. Before he could react, she had slammed into him with a hug, knocking them both down. "Good to see you, to, Tatenashi," he managed after he could breathe again, "But I'd prefer not to have to make another trip to the infirmary, please." She just giggled as she got off him before helping him to his feet. Sitting down next to Cecilia, he spent the next few minutes assuring everyone that he was fine and had all of his memories back. This didn't seem to satisfy Rin, who insisted on giving all manner of memory tests. "Alright then," she said finally, "How about this one? Do you remember what happened that night before the Gospel showed up at the resort?"

"Of course. I was-" he began before he realized the trap he had almost walked into. Sighing, he tossed a wadded-up piece of paper at her as she laughed at him. Yep, he's back she thought in triumph. "Um, guys? There's something I need to tell you all," he said, taking Cecilia's hand. He was going to need the support for this. "You two officially announcing it?" Tatenashi asked, getting a laugh out of everyone. "No, it's a little more urgent than that," he said, hating himself for this, "I learned that the Gospel and its allies are coming back." Everyone stopped eating and looked directly at him, some too stunned to speak. "Are they trying to conduct another raid?" Laura asked. If so, she would be happy to blow away more of those pesky machines. However, when Simon shook his head she began thinking through what else he could mean. It was probably because of her military background, but she realized what he meant a lot sooner than everyone else. "You mean they are conducting a full-scale assault?" she asked, receiving a nod.

You could have heard a mouse fart in the ensuing silence as everyone imagined what that would mean. They had only even been able to win small victories against these things, and even those had come at a price. Rin and Ichika still had repairs they needed to complete on their IS from the last fight, and now this foe was coming back in full force? "They just can't seem to take a hint, can they, Feli?" Tatenashi asked, smiling at him, "Maybe we shouldn't let them off so easily this time." Looking at her in surprise, it took Simon a moment to figure out what the possibly crazy girl was doing. "Yeah, I guess we should actually teach them a lesson," he agreed, finally figuring it out. We can't dwell on this now he thought as he looked at the others. They all clearly thought the two of them were insane, except for Cecilia who was squeezing his hand softly. "No one is taking you from me, not again," she swore, looking determined.

And that seemed to be all it took as, one by one, they all turned from scared and depressed to boasting how they were going to finally take this enemy down. "If that knight IS shows its face, I will personally rip it off," Houki said, startling everyone. She wasn't exactly the violent type, at least not verbally. Ichika and Simon had collected several scars that said otherwise about her actions. This outburst earned her a laugh from several of them while she blushed slightly. "Well, if that's the case, then you'll have to beat me to it," Ichika replied, smiling. The mood finally returning to a comfortable place, they spent the rest of the lunch break talking and laughing. Privately, though, Simon had been working on his own plan to deal with this impending attack. If their numbers are reduced by enough, then we might have a chance he reasoned as he glanced at Cecilia. As much as this was going to pain him, this was his fault in a way. And he had decided that it was time that he finally made up for that.

That evening, around 10 o'clock, Simon slipped out of his room while Ichika was asleep. He had stashed his pilot suit in the bay where he had his IS stored. It was simple enough to get to the building, and even simpler to get inside. No one was awake at this hour that didn't have to be, and the electronic security was easy enough to bypass. After he entered the maintenance bay, he quickly set his IS to do a final check on all systems while he changed into the suit. After it was confirmed that everything was at 100%, he slipped back out of the building and went down to one of the docks on the east end of the island. When he got there, Simon was surprised to see that his friends had gathered there before him, all of them suited up and in their IS. "We were wondering if you were going to show at all," Tatenashi said as he gaped at them. "How did you-?" "Ichika isn't half as stupid as you seem to think," she replied, smiling. "Hey!" Ignoring the ensuing argument, Cecilia walked up to Simon and said, "What happened to not going anywhere?" "Clearly, I'm not," Simon said with a smile. He got one back from Cecilia, and he couldn't describe how touching this was. "So, we're in agreement?" he asked, receiving nods from everyone, "Then we end this now, on our terms."

The final battle is about to begin, with both sides putting all they hold dear on the line. Will the IS pilots come out victorious? Or will the Gospel succeeding in its goals? And at what cost will victory come? Till the next chapter.