Openings song: The walking dead of Dropkick Murphy's. This chapter has a bit of action, but quite a plottwist.
Ichika and Anaton stood in front of each other. "Byakushiki. Second shift." Ichika's Infinite Stratos began to glow just like Anaton. "This looks interesting. Hell's Fire. 50%." His friends looked to him. "You're mad, you can't."
They stopped as they saw that Anaton touched his armour and that it expanded on his body. "You guys, does this remind you of something?"
"Yeah, he begin to look more and more like Kerlongsj."
Anaton pulled his hood up. Ichika advanced towards the boy and the kid just waited until he bent down and evaded the swipe. He turned around, flew back and attacked Ichika. Ichika stood ready and with Yukihira protecting his body, Anaton gave him a huge impact. The two were struggling. Ichika had one sword, while Anaton had two knives each on one hand.
The two broke off their attack and clashed. It happened at such a speed that Chifuyu couldn't believe it. The only one she knew who fought like that was Kerlongsj. After that, the two looked at each other and when Anaton turned his back, he saw Ichika aiming his canons and fired at the boy. Anaton made a shield, blocking it off.
"Oh, now, it's my turn." He pushed a button and Ichika fell his Infinite Stratos gathering energy. "Nanite C4." It blew up, but Anaton couldn't believe it. He was still standing; "How in the world?" Normally spoken, he would have been blown up to shreds. Well, either. I fight back."
The two advanced at each other, but this time, Anaton used his fists to fight with. Ichika gave a swipe and Anaton could nearly catch it. Ichika and he pushed on, but not before Anaton gave Ichika a high kick. Ichika dropped the sword and with his knives activated, Anaton began to cut on Ichika. Ichika had never seen someone fighting like that, the way Anaton got control over the knives. It was almost like he grew up with them.
Ichika felt that the cuts began to take their toll. When Anaton pushed with both his hands in him, he began to hack and he sended energy towards Ichika. He didn't suspect he would find something like that from it. Ichika decided he wouldn't get down without a proper fight. "Byakushiki."
He fired his canons on the boy. Anaton evaded them, but caught the last one with his bare hands. He made a summersault and threw it back to Ichika. He braced himself and cut it open with Yukihira. Ichika looked up and saw Anaton right in front of him. Just like Kashal did with Laura, Anaton focussed on hurting Ichika.
With a punch, he found his fist buried in a shield. "Fuck." The energy coming from it was amazing. Most of the girls wouldn't consider Anaton capable of doing such a thing. He kicked himself of Ichika and Ichika looked at his shield meter. "150 points. 100 points disordered." Ichika smiled. "I still have enough." Anaton grinned. "Did they never teach you to preserve power?" Ichika analysed Anaton. He couldn't see if Anaton was tired or at the end of his rope. He didn't know if Anaton could fight on or how much power he had left. He had to end it quickly.
Ichika hold on to the sword and flew towards Anaton. With a jump, he made a large vertical swipe at the young hacker. He didn't expect energy to loosen up. He looked to the boy and saw how he blocked his sword with his arm. Ichika tried to get off him, but found that Anaton slowly, but steady turned the sword to his right side. He grabbed Ichika's left arm and the Japanese boy saw how Anaton let the hidden knife to Ichika. Ichika had no chance evading the target and felt how Anaton's knife hit target. He only didn't expect such impact. It wasn't a small cut, but an enormous energy exploding at Ichika's Infinite Stratos.
The two fell on the ground, looking towards each other. Ichika and Anaton stood up at the same time. Ichika leaned to the sword and took it back up. Anaton could stand on his own two feet. He turned his right knife pivot and lent forward with his left.
Before the two could go on, Ichika look to his right arm and saw how the bracelet of Byakushiki lightening up like never before. A metallic, female voice spoke to him. "Recognising hackers program. Hackers unique. Hell's Fire. Syncing up with remaining nanites"
Ichika looked to Anaton who took his left hand and he looked at it as well. He saw how the palm of his hand was also covered in energy. In his case, a male voice spoke. "Hell's Fire, synching up with Byakushiki. Connecting to the nanites left in core 001. Searching for remaining nanites. Found in person. Ichika Orimura."
The two looked at each other. "What have you done to Byakushiki/ Hell's Fire?" The two yelled at each other.
"Orlejov, Orimura. Quit the fight immediately." Chifuyu shouted at the two. The two looked at each other. Better not facing an angry Chifuyu. The two stopped and Chifuyu entered in the arena accompanied by Houki, Rin, Cecilia, Tatenashi, Tizof, Thazalof, Izolf, Raton, Erzof and Kashal. The two fell down on the ground. Both deactivating their weapons and only their inactive mode. Chifuyu looked to the two. "What in the world happened to them?"
"Best take them to the infirmary. Than we can find out what responsible for this." Tizof took Anaton up and carried him away. The guys followed their friend, hands buried in their pockets. When they looked back, they saw the girls who were bickering over Ichika. "Oh, for God's sake." Chifuyu said. "As far I as I go, he's still my younger brother and because I allowed the fight. He's my responsibility." She took Ichika in her back and walked away. "Are you hackers coming with us?"
"Eh, yeah, for what I've seen, the two systems connected with each other. This is unique. Better look in to it."
At the infirmary, they looked to Ichika and Anaton. Charlotte and Laura looked up. "Ichika." Charlotte was shocked. "What have you done to my wife?" Laura was furious. She jumped towards Tizof who was carrying Anaton. She felt a strong push around her wrist and was pushed down. She looked up and saw Kashal holding her on with one hand, while keeping his other up, ready to punch her again.
"What happened to them? Well, we're going to find that out. But don't have the gut to go after the kid. Besides, wife, of who're you speaking?"
"Ichika Oriumura." Raton looked to Houki and pointed a thumb to Laura. "Eh?"
She sighed. "Don't even bother."
The guys looked to each other, shrugged their shoulders and Tizof put the kid in a bed. "Miss Orimura. Could you place Ichika next to him?" She placed her brother next to Anaton. They could see that Byakushiki was connecting with Anaton.
"What the hell is this?" Chifuyu asked. Tizof opened a computer and looked to Anaton, connecting with him. "For what I can tell, nothing wrong or live threatening. But what for I could see, the system is connecting with something that I can't trace. Something else, I can see a massive amount of data flowing in."
Kanzashi did the same thing with Ichika. "The same thing here. Byakushiki is connecting with something and I have the same amount of data."
"They're connecting with each other." The two said at the same time. They looked at each other and nodded. "Wait, what do you mean with connecting?" Cecilia asked. "Getting deaf. The two systems are communicating with each other. The only question I have is why?" Izolf looked to Cecilia.
Erzof started to think. "Eh, Miss Orimura. The core Ichika is using was once your own, right?" He crossed his arms. "What has that do with it?" Kashal sighed. "Nothing much, but it would explain this."
"Why? How would it explain that the core Chifuyu once used that Ichika and Anaton programs are connected?" Houki crossed her arms.
"Easy enough." Thazalof said. "Miss Orimura. You've come in contact with Kerlongsj a few times before. I think that somehow he left some nanites inside of your core without even knowing so. Kerlongsj has a huge amount of nanites, he can't control them all. Those little things connects to everything intresting."
Chifuyu stood back. "Okay, maybe he did so. What has that do with this?" Tizof looked up. "Maybe you guys should see this." They all looked to the screen. They saw two light who were connected by a line.
"The right one is Anaton, the left one is Ichika. The thread you see are nanites. I have a theory. Like those guys said, when you met Kerlongsj he left some nanites inside your core without even knowing. Those nanites were hibernating and were never detected due to their small number. The reason why we're having this situation is because he was the developer of Hell's Fire, making it so that the core of Hell's Fire are those of Kerlongsj. Devil's Code was normally meant for Anaton, Azalof created that, but in his last will, he wanted that Kerlongsj took it. Kerlongsj customised the program so Anaton could use it. Hell's Fire is not made off from neutral nanites or nanites from the hacker for who the program is made for. Still following?"
They all nodded. "So you're stating that the nanites left in core 001 connected with Hell's Fire." Raton asked. "In a simple version, indeed Raton." Tizof said, "but the chance that would happen would be 0,00000001% or even in our terms extremely low." Chifuyu butted in. "So, you're stating that they connected, because of the interactions of me and Kerlongsj?"
"Not only that. Ms. Orimura. Ichika Byakushiki has also a connection with yours, right?" Erzof said. "What has that do with it?" Laura looked to the guy. "Kerlongsj checked your Infinite Stratos up a few months before Ichika began at the ISA. The thing is that Kerlongsj carried Devil's Code inside of him and he left some nanites inside of that Infinite Stratos as well. That was also a source for Ichika to get access to them. Just like the connection between you and Ichika, Devil's Code and Hell's Fire are connected."
"Short version, the nanites of Kerlongsj are responsible for this." Anaton sat up. "You're back." Thazalof looked to the kid. "Yeah, I had a weird dream."
"I still have one question." Rin asked. "If the program of Kerlongsj connected with Ichika, why didn't that happened before? I mean, you and he fought."
"Can't hardly call that a fight. There is another reason." Anaton got their attention. "Hell's Fire is an offensive program, meant for a fighter type, not a supportive type. Kerlongsj made that program. It's indeed a heavy modified Devil's Code, but even Kerlongsj couldn't get Alesia out of it. That's the reason I fight like this. Kerlongsj doesn't rely one of the two. He can't separate them a full 100%. He runs them both at the same time, that's why he is so strong. You can say that Hell's Fire is a descendant from Devil's Code and Alesia combined, just like Byakushiki is one of Shirokishi." Anaton amazed the two. "That's not the only reason that Ichika and are connected. As our programs are connected, so are our siblings."
Ichika got up. "What do you mean with that?"
"Ichika!" Seven voices said. They all got around his bed. Chifuyu looked to the young hacker. "What do you mean?"
Anaton sighed. "Kerlongsj has healed you and Ichika. Ichika has a high chance rate. 85%. If he wasn't a pilot, Kerlongsj made him a hacker."
"I think I found out what happened." Tizof spoke from the pc. "Normally spoken, the nanites left inside of him wouldn't connect to Ichika, but because you two gave everything Ichika released the nanites out of him and they connected to Anaton. Ms. Orimura, we don't know a lot of Hell's Fire. Kerlongsj could make the program, but the real developer of the core was Azalof and that guy's dead."
In the meantime, the girls got away from Ichika and Chifuyu looked from the hackers to him.
Erzof looked to Ichika and then to Anaton. "Normally, that connection won't happen, but because you, Ichika asked all the energy you could get, you got access to the nanites. For what I've seen, you did that before, without even knowing it. Those nanites weren't responsible for the other times and they didn't enough to be looked upon. The only reason why we have this is, because you got them out. Those nanites were activated and they recongised Anaton's nanites as their brothers. Because the two of you went all out, we got this connection."
"We don't know a lot of Byakushiki either. Orlejov." Anaton jumped out the bed. "Yes."
"I want that you check Byakushiki and tell us what you find. I want you to search for a link."
Anaton shrugged his shoulders and the rest of the hackers were calm. "No problem. Give me a second."
The only thing he found in his way were eight girls who looked like a bunch of serial killers. He never believed in killer intent, but now, he began to doubt. The most frightening was Tatenashi.
At her fan, "TORTURE" written. Before they had a chance, they found the hackers standing in front of them. "He's asked something. Let him pass."
Before they could go on, they all, except for Ichika and Anaton got a hit from their book. "You had your chance to fight. This is not the time nor the place." Anaton got at Ichika's bedside. "Give me your arm."
Ichika nodded and Anaton started. Ichika felt how the nanites got in him and he saw his bracelet lightening up. He heard the voice again just like Anaton. "Infinite Stratos Byakushiki connected to hackers program Hell's Fire. Powers exchange started." In a light flash, Anaton was thrown of Ichika and landed five meters further.
"Orimura." Chifuyu looked to her brother. "I didn't do that." He said and in a second an energy shield was made up. "What the devil?" Tizof jumped up. "Ichik, that's a hackers shield. How did you get access to it?" Ichika looked away. "I don't know. It just came up." They all heard the same metallic, female voice. "Byakushiki, third shift. Hell's Fire connected." Anaton crawled up. "That hurt. What the Devil?" He looked to his hand. "Hell's Fire. Upgrade. Byakushiki connected."
The two groups looked to each other. "What for heaven's sake happened?" Tatenashi asked. Tizof swallowed and he looked to the two. "Well, we had a connection. If someone wants to break that, you're too late. Congrats, Ichika Orimura, Anaton Orlejov. You went from a very low connection to the point that you guys have access to each other powers and abilities."
"Eh?" The girls including Chifuyu said.
"Say what now?" The hackers had an unbelieved look in their eyes
Ichika and Anaton were the only ones calm. They first looked to their wrists and hands and then to each other.
".."
".."
".."
"EEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Now everyone shouted.
And that's the end of my eight chapter. I don't know if I've done a right thing making this connection, but hey, I like it that way. If you guys want more info about Kerlongsj and Chifuyu. This is a sequel to Crossed Paths. For my guest on the review the fifth of August, I've planned to do this story on the long run.
This took less long than I excepted. Glad I'm done. Now, I need some time to think over a new chapter. I think/ hope that at the end of summer, you guys you got a new chapter or two.
Please reviews on this and I want to thank Dark Silver and OrangePhoenixVIP for their reviews.
Stay safe and if you have ideas, sent them. No one can tell if can't use them.
Groeten uit Vlaanderen.
Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov.