Disclaimer: I do not know anything by IS: Infinite Stratos, and other referenced merchandise/items in the fanfiction. However, original characters all belong to me, Grayjedi-Productions...

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April 13, 2022-IS Academy-Stadium Battlegrounds-1435 Hours

(Main theme is Heaven's Divide from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker...Trust me, it'll make more sense as the fanfiction continues)

"Ready? FIGHT!"

"I hope that you brought a body bag." said Rin coldly.

Ichika waited no time and charged at Rin, Yukihira Type-2 blade at the side. Rin swatted the attack away with a quick materialization of a scimitar. With a midair back flip, Rin gain some distance before she boasted towards Ichika slashing at Ichika. The two backed up a distance.

"Ha! I'm surprised that you survived the first attack!" Rin materialized a second scimitar.

1437 Hours-IS Academy-Command Booth

"Damn it Ichika, why don't you use the cross grid turn that I taught you!" screeched Cecelia.

Kenneth coughed a bit, eyes scanning the battle. A small screen appeared, visible to only his eyes. Good, the battle data is analyzed and ready for "shadow dance" usage.

1439 Hours-IS Academy-Battlegrounds

Combining both scimitars end to end, Rin created a bow-sword. Twirling it around to see if it's functional, Rin immediately charged at Ichika, only to narrowly miss with a midair front-flip by Ichika.

At this rate, it comes down to who wears down whom...Gotta get some distance first. Ichika backpedaled at full speed, but Rin continued her charge. The two zoomed in the aerospace of the stadium, dodging each other at constant velocities.

"Idiot!" yelled Rin, as Ichika saw an air column condense at Rin's IS shoulders, barreling straight for him...

Ichika feel as if firecracker exploded in his shoulder, slightly losing control of flying. He turned back towards Rin.

"Just so you know...That was just a jab..." smirked Rin, charging another round, hitting Ichika square in the chest.

1442 Hours-IS Academy-Command Booth

"Just what the hell was that attack just now!" questioned Houki, watching Ichika slowly get up.

"It must be the Impact Cannons..." Thought Maya.

"A third generation ability, just like my Blue Tears." whispered Cecilia, watching attention to Ichika dodging more shots.

"It's impossible to detect by the human eye, if with IS abilities. Ichika must be predicting when Rin is lining up her shot, then moving last second." continued Maya.

As the video feed continued, Ichika started approaching his aggressor. "Rin, I will fight serious." he said with absolution.

Rin tilted her head, dumbfounded and annoyed. "Isn't that what's expected? You will see the true power of the Shenlong!" Ignoring his comment, Rin continued with Impact Cannon shots.

Ichika carefully zoomed away from Rin, only barely avoiding her shots.

"Ichika's up to something..." noted Maya.

"It's the Ignition Boost. I taught him that." said Chifuyu, who has been unusually quiet.

"Ignition Boost?" asked Houki and Cecilia.

"May I?" jumped in Kenneth. Chifuyu nodded. "It's when the IS pilot breaks supersonic, and accelerates at top speeds. At that speeds, the pilot closes in on the enemy. With Ichika's barrier void attack, he should win. There's only one problem, the energy usage is great on the shields; it can only be used once."

1446 Hours-IS Academy-Battlegrounds

There! An opening! Ichika charged, Rin barely having anytime to see Ichika boosting his way towards her.

Suddenly an explosion rocked the stadium from the middle of the battlegrounds. Large clouds of smoke spurted from the center of the explosion. Ichika veered away from Rin, barely missing a head-on collision.

"Orimura, Huang! The match is suspended! Retreat at once!" yelled Chifuyu over the communicator.

A large particle beam shot out from smoke, narrowly missing Rin's face. As the smoke cleared, a large black IS stood, aiming dual arm cannons at Rin. Ichika grabbed Rin just before the laser shot out.

"You ok?" asked Ichika, carrying Rin.

"Yeah... I'm fine." said a startled Rin. "Wait...What the hell are you doing? Let me go!" She started to bonk Ichika on the head.

"Gah! Fine." Ichika pushed Rin away, both floating in the air. The foreign IS blasted out of the crater it created, blasting more shots at both Rin and Ichika.

1452-IS Academy-Command Booth

"The teacher assault unit is on standby. Buyuu, you're taking command." order Chifuyu.

"Hey! What about me?" exclaimed Cecilia.

"Buyuu has commanded multiple units in the past. Your Blue Tears IS is only useful with multiple targets. Have you any cooperative training?"

"Well...I..."

"So then, what was your rank? Your combat effectiveness? The setup of the operation?" With every listing, Cecilia slowly lowered her head.

Cecilia waved her hands wildly. "Alright, I understand..."

"Orimura-sensei, if I may? I wish to take Cecilia as my second-in-command."

Chifuyu glared at Kenneth, only to see Kenneth's eyes shifting to a dull grey. "Sigh Very well, permission granted."

Cecilia walked next to Kenneth. "Thank you." she whispered.

Kenneth shrugged. "It's not like we can do anything, the barriers are strong enough to block anything on the outside." Chifuyu passed a cup of coffee to Kenneth.

"Sorry, but I don't drink coffee."

1459-IS Academy-Stadium Battleground

"Ichika! Swing properly!" screamed Rin.

"Damn thing is moving fast; I can't get a lock!" retorted Ichika.

The foreign IS weaved and dodged Ichika's swings and Rin's shots, bombarding them with high powered cannons.

"That's the ninth time you missed." Rin gasped, barely dodging the attacks.

"We can also just run away." suggested Ichika.

"Screw that! I'm a cadet Representative after all."

"Well, I guess that means that I got your back then."

The two continued to dodged and dive away from the particle beams. The IS eventually stopped, fading behind a dust cloud.

"Hey Rin, don't you think this thing is acting machine-like?" Rin flew her way towards Ichika.

"What do you mean? ISs are machines."

"Yeah, but its is moving like an machine."

"Huh, now that you mention it, it doesn't attack us while we are talking... But an unmanned IS is impossible."

"But if it is... We can attack it at full force." Ichika opened a new channel. "Kenny, Cecilia you there?"

"This is Kenneth. What you got Ichika?"

"Set up around the stadium. Wait for the right opportunity."

"Haha, you're starting to learn Ichika. Alright, got it."

Ichika resettled himself. "I guess this means I can use Reiraku Byakuya."

"Wait what's that?" asked Rin.

"A powered slash that cuts through anything. It's usually too dangerous to use in an interclass match."

"I haven't a clue what that is, but if it works."

"ICHIKA!" yelled a voice, echoing around the stadium.

Ichika and Rin turned towards the noise. In the hanger bay stood Houki, barely with breathe. "If you're a man... then how can you not win against an enemy of that level?"

The foreign IS turned towards Houki, aiming it's cannons at her.

"Damn it, we're out of time! Rin fire your Dragon Cannons!"

As Rin charged the cannons, Ichika flew between her line of fire. "What the hell are you doing? Get out of the way!"

"Just do it!"

"Ahhh, if this gets out of hand...!"

Rin fired, the impact shells piecing right through Ichika...And yet, the cohesive shells warped towards Ichika's back. Ichika felt the extreme pressure hitting his back, despite his IS absorbing the blast. A small screen appeared before Ichika, reading 100% unit power. Reiraku Byakuya Ready the screen flashed.

Ichika charged at full speed towards the enemy IS.

I'll defend Chifuyu-nee, Houki, Rin, Kenny...all of the people around me!.

Ichika swung...and sliced right through the right arm of the IS... and slammed right on to the ground beside it. The IS turned it's other arm towards Ichika.

"Kenny, Cecilia." coughed Ichika, crawling away from the IS drone. "You guys ready?"

"...We got your back Ichika." Blue particle beams rained down on the enemy IS from combat drones, followed by a missiles barrage.

From the rafters, Cecilia and Kenneth stood, Cecilia firing all her weapons at the IS. Kenneth materialized twin Backburner sniper rifle, slapping them together.

"Let's see how 65 millimeters of tungsten feels ya!" Kenneth aimed and fired, blasting off the head of the IS.

"Cecilia, finish it off!" yelled Ichika. Cecilia's aim was true; piecing the midsection of the IS. With that, the machine fell.

"Knew you two could do." smiled Ichika, getting to his feet.

Kenneth gave Ichika a half-salute, Cecilia's face blushing. "O...Of course!" she said.

A red screen appeared before Ichika's eyes. Enemy start up sequence initiated. You are locked.

The enemy IS stumbled to it's knees, aiming one final time at Ichika.

1701 Hours-IS Academy-Hospital Wing

Ichika laid in bed, bandages wrapped around his waist. Rin stood right next to the bed, staring at Ichika. She slowly moved towards Ichika's lips. Just a simple little kis...

Ichika groan, starting to become conscience, seeing Rin's face barely touching his. Rin quickly peeled back.

"Wha...What are you doing?" asked Ichika.

"No..no...nothing.." Rin stuttered.

Ichika sat up. "Why are you so startled?"

"I'..I'm not! Stop saying things!" Ichika noticed Rin shaking, as if shivering.

"So what happened to that IS?" Ichika said, changing the subject.

"It simply stopped moving."

"I see..." Ichika shifted his gaze towards the window. "Hey, it was like this sunset when you and I made that promise...Now that the match is cancelled, and everything is done..."

"What you mean the Promise? No-no-no No, it meant exactly what I said." Rin scratched her head, letting out a nervous laugh, almost admitting what she meant by it.

"Well, it would be nice to eat your father's food again."

Rin started playing with her thumbs. "I...err...We don't own the restaurant anymore."

"Huh? What happened?"

Ichika saw a small tear come out of Rin's eyes. "My parents got divorced...That's why I had to move back to China. My mom got custody of me... and...well..."

"I understand." Ichika closed his eyes, wondering what could have happened between her family; Rin's parents were such a lovely couple. "So...any time soon, you and I just wanta have fun?"

"You...mean...a date?"

"Oh Ichika!" said a voice behind the door. It opened, revealing Cecilia. "I came here to nurse..." Cecilia leered at Rin, approaching her. "What are you doing here? We all agreed to stay out of the room until Ichika was awake!"

"Yeah for you too." In the doorway, Houki stood, with a sigh of grief. "Get a head-start I see?"

"Well that's..."

Rin started getting frustrated. "Both of you leave! Ichika's my childhood friend!"

"That also applies to me." rebuked Houki.

"Students from other classes shouldn't..." started up Cecilia.

"Wait...Where's Chifuyu-nee and Kenneth?" pointed out Ichika.

The girls turned towards him, leaving their argument.

"Yeah you're right." said Cecilia.

"There were right next to us." added Houki, placing her hand under her chin, in thought.

"I wonder where they went..." thought aloud Rin.

1710-IS Academy-Underground Bunker and Research Center

In the barely lit room stood Chifuyu and Maya, staring at a screen, reading off the materials on the alien IS. In the middle of the room laid the IS, with mechanical arms dismantling the cannons and propulsion systems.

"It's what we thought...An unmanned IS drone." analyzed Maya.

"I see" said Chifuyu. "Buyuu, you see anything?"

Kenneth popped his head from beneath the IS. A flashlight bandana was attached to his head, bits of grease plastered over his face.

"You know how hard it is to operate with these mech arms flowing around?" Kenneth whacked one with his wrench.

"Ahh, whatever." Kenneth slowly moved himself from under the IS.

"Well?"

"It's an unregistered core alright, despite Cecilia blasting most of it away." Chifuyu simply glared at Kenneth.

"There are only 468 IS cores in the world...So where did this come from?" asked Maya.

"Whoever made this drone did a fantastic job, I couldn't tell where they got the material for this thing." Kenneth said, wiping the grease from his face with a rag.

"Not a single registration on the materials?"

Kenneth shook his head. "Not a single one...But I've seen these weapons before. It's like the illegal stuff we found back in Operation Zulu."

"Anti-IS weapons?"

"No, it's low grade to be a pure anti-IS weapon...But still up there."

Chifuyu thought about this for a moment. "So what you're trying to say, Midshipmen, is that whoever made this IS is also responsible with Operation Zulu?"

"Exactly..." Kenneth threw the rag to the side, walking towards the exit. "This is the reason why the Infinite Stratos System should not be the hands of children." he added coldly, his voice changing tone.

"A bit harsh if you ask..." Maya rebuked but stopped mid-sentence. From the exit door stood Kenneth, eyes shifting to an ice grey.

"Ask me again when you lose everything at the hands of these monstrosities."

Maya looked at Chifuyu as Kenneth walked out the door, Chifuyu stoically staring at Kenneth.

"And what about yourself Midshipmen?"

Kenneth stopped between the doors. "I am a means to that end."