Infinite Stratos Year Two: Wings
Chapter 5
By Warrior Seadra
"Okay class," Yamada-sensei gathers everyones attention. "once I finish taking attendance, we will begin our lessons for the- Adriana!"
At Yamada-sensei's out burst, every student in the class shifts their attention on their newest student.
"Yep, that's me." Adriana winks. She giggles while carelessly leaning her chair onto it's hind legs.
"A-Adrian!" Ichika jumps to the edge of his seat as he notices his friend. Quickly, but with a hushed voice, he continues, "wh-when did you arri-, no that's not important. Why are you 'her'?"
"I told you silly," Adriana turns to Ichika and cheerfully holds up her left hand. Pointing at the ring on her ring finger, she says, "The projector is broken."
Adriana turns and faces the entire class, "Please don't mind me everyone. Some days I'll be Adrian and others I'll be Adriana. Since my hologram projector is broken, I can't really control which gender I appear in. But that won't rea~lly be much of a problem, will it?" Adriana brings her palms together, praying her classmates to understand her situation.
"Well, something like this isn't bad." A student mumbles.
"Yeah, it could even be exciting."
"Everyday will be a surprise. You'll never know who to expect."
"Yeah!"
The girls frenzy themselves into fantasizing the different ways on which Adrian's gender might surprise them.
"Calm down you idiots!" A bark cuts threw the excitement. Orimura-sensei enters the classroom and slams her book on the front desk. "Class is now starting."
…..
"Everyone, we're having battle practicals today!" Orimura-sensei barks from the middle of a training field. "Janius, Orimura!"
"Yes!" Adriana and Ichika respond.
"You two are up first!" Orimura-sensei walks off the field. She passes the two as they proceed to the center of the arena.
"Adriana's going to fight?" a student whispers.
"Yeah, this hasn't happened in so long."
"But what I.S. is she using?"
"Call your I.S.s and begin!" Orimura-sensei interrupts the chatter of her students.
Ichika lunges towards Adriana, using [Ignition Boost] as his I.S. materializes. He swings his Yukihara Nigata downward. The blade stops before Adriana's head.
The girl stands in place with her arms crossed. As her upper, left wing holds Ichika's blade, her mid, right wing thrusts towards him. Ichika pulls back and avoids the jab. Ichika floats in place meters away from Adriana. He holds his sword, ready to strike or evade.
Adriana remains unmoving with her arms crosses.
"Wa, that's so cool."
"That must be a personalized I.S."
"But when did she get one?"
"No, she's actually a he, right?"
"Who knew Argentina would have a guy like Ichika."
"That must be why they disguised him as a her."
With the visor on Adriana's face stopping above her mouth, the edge of her lips form a faint smile. She's relieved to hear on her Stratos' sensors that the golden V of her stratos' helmet is not being connected to those on the invaders' tiaras.
"Hey," Ichika contacts Adriana through a private com-link. "aren't you going to use the arm guards?"
"I need not the shields or blasters for this." Adriana closes the distance between herself and Ichika and thrusts her lower, left wing upward, arcing it towards his torso.
Ichika blocks using the energy shield from his [Setsura], second shift. With his free arm, he cuts with his sword towards Adriana's neck. Adriana thrusts her upper, left wing forward. The tip of the bladed, wing meets and stop Ichika's attack.
From behind Ichika's shield, Adriana thrust her Stratos towards Ichika. With her left hand, she draws a katana from her lower, left wing and uses her [reiraku byakuya] to through his energy shield straight to his side. She continues the cut, using her [barrier void attack] to drain Ichika's shield energy and bring the match to a close.
"Match over," Orimura-sensei announces over the commotion of the students watching. As the two pilots returns, she declares, "Janius wins."
"That was amazing Adriana-san!" The students surround the girl and begin pestering her.
"That was reiraku byakuya, right? Isn't that Ichika's technique?"
"Oh this?" Adriana scratches the back of her head, grinning widely. "Any nation can copy it."
"But you used it so easily."
"Anyone can use it, all you need is a little practice."
Thuack Orimura-sensei's book strikes everyone's skull. "Calm down you idiots! Janius, you're up again. Houki, you're his opponent!"
"Yes!" The two students respond.
Adriana and Houki make there way to the center of the arena. Houki calls fourth her I.S. and Orimura-sensei shouts, "Begin!"
Adriana appears past Houki and spins around to face her. In shock, Houki turns her head. She calls her katana as she turns to meet Adriana when an invisible force blows into her.
Adriana, shielded from most of the force by Houki, swings his sword into her open side and depletes her shield energy to zero.
"So-so fast..." A student gaps.
"Tha-that was a sonic boom, right?"
"That's so reckless."
"But so cool~!" various girls squeal in delight.
"Next match!" Orimura-sensei barks. "Bodwig!"
"Yes, instructor!"
…..
Adriana dives forward, weaving between artillery fire. She holds her sword ready to strike. With only a few meters between herself and Laura's Schwarzer Regen, Adriana cuts diagonally upward. She arcs around over Laura and dives back down from behind.
Laura blinks in shock, and mostly withstands the sonic boom. Following Adriana on her I.S. sensors, she manages to turn around and activates her [AIC] shield. She misses as Adriana sweeps past. She turns, trying to follow after Adriana, when a second sonic boom disorients her crumbling form further. She stumbles, but remains on her feet. A sharp pain thrusts into her back. From her peripheral, she sees Adriana stabbing her from behind, depleting her shield energy to zero.
"H-How?" She manages to ask.
"As long as they know the range of your [AIC], active inertia canceler, shield, all they need is the right speed."
"Impossible, the g-forces from those turns would kill a person."
Adriana merely smiles as she disengages Laura. With the match over, she rejoins her class to await further instruction from Orimura-sensei.
…..
"You didn't fight anyone else after that." Ichika comments to Adriana inside the changing room. From his locker, he pulls out the top to his uniform. "I thought Chifuyu-nee was going to have you fight everyone."
"She was just measuring my ability." Adriana steps into her academy pants. As she pulls them up, they transform into an academy skirt. "That must have been enough for her."
"You're just putting your clothes on over the combat suit?" Ichika asks, staring at Adriana. "No, more importantly, it turned into a skirt?"
"Hologram projector." Adriana responds, pulling out her academy uniform top from the locker. It too transforms into a girls top as she starts putting it on. "But I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping to fight Charlotte."
Ichika blinks, shaking his head. "You don't really care about anything other than the I.S., huh?"
Adriana turns to Ichika and looks into his eyes, "I wanted to see her abilities first hand."
"Ri-right..." Ichika mutters. He looks away as he recalls the circumstance surrounding Adriana. "A-anyway, you ended your battles really quick."
"It's how I was trained. Hypersonic combat is the core of how Stratos functions. They believed this was the ideal method for effectively dealing with multiple opponents as fast as possible." Adriana off handedly responds as she crouches and ties her shoes.
"The design shows," Ichika sighs. He runs his hand through his hair and turns to Adriana, "The [AIC] on my Byakushiki's isn't strong enough to negate the g-forces on those turns."
Adrian stands and faces Ichika. "The [AIC] on my Stratos is not much stronger than on yours."
"Bu-but your body!" Ichika grabs Adriana's shoulders, "That must be why Chifuyu-nee stopped you."
Adriana tilts her head while furrowing her eyebrows. "How troublesome. If my body breaks down, then that's my problem, is it not?"
"What are you saying?" Ichika shouts, shaking Adriana. "How can you not care about your well being?"
"If my body breaks down, then it breaks down." Adriana states. She purses her lips, trying to understand Ichika's concern.
"Don't you realize you could die!"
"What of it?" Adriana stares into Ichika's eyes. Her listless eyes emanate emptiness.
"Yo-you..." Ichika, his voice getting softer with each word, forces himself to speak. "don't you see a future for yourself?"
"Hey you two!" Yamada-sensei's voice echoes throughout the locker room as a heavy knocking resounds on the hallway door. "What's with all the shouting? Is everything alright in there?"
"Look, my body can handle it. But if you must know, the future I see is one where everyone dies." Adriana turns her head towards the door. She ignores Ichika's restraint and shouts, "Everything is fine. We'll be out in just a moment."
…..
"I demand another match." Laura says as she places a tray of food on the cafeteria table.
"As do I." Houki seats herself at the cafeteria table.
"Very well," Adriana looks to the girls from her seat. She turns to Charlotte, Rin, and Cecilia, "but first-"
"So you want to go against us?" Rin grins, cutting Adriana mid sentence.
"Please, you may have defeated them, but there's no way you'll defeat I, Cecilia Alcott." Cecilia flicks her hair.
Adriana smiles in response and continues consuming her food.
"Cecilia, would you like to go first?" Charlotte gestures to Adriana.
"It would be my pleasure." Cecilia lifts her head, "Just wait and see."
Laura turns to Charlotte and raises an eyebrow.
Charlotte, making sure Cecilia is not paying attention, winks in response. Houki, catching the action, nods once in approval as a small smirk stretches across her lips. Rin smiles in anticipation, understanding a scheme is in the progress.
Adriana, ignoring the scene before her, stops drinking her water and asks, "Where's Ichika?"
"My bride said something about talking to the instructor." Laura responds.
"That man, how dare he keep a lady waiting like this." Cecilia takes a fork and knife and begins to cut her food, "Well, that's too bad for him. We might as well start without him."
"Adriana didn't wait for any of us." Rin points to Adriana's half eaten plate.
Adriana looks up to the girls and tilts her head, "Isn't consuming food what people do when they're hungry?"
The five girls sigh, dropping their heads onto their palms. "No, Adriana..." Houki begins explaining social, dinning etiquette as everyone else begins eating their own food.
"I'll see you all later then." Adriana excuses herself from the table.
"Don't forget, field seven at five thirty." Rin waves.
Adriana smiles, returning the wave with her own. She turns away and walks out of the cafeteria towards the prisons. She enters a near by building and walks down a hall. Lost in thought, Adriana turns at a corner and,
"Ufff," a brownish-red haired girl gasps as she's knocked to the ground.
"Sorry," Adriana extends her hand. The girl takes the hand as she stands from the ground. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, thank you for asking." The girl shakes her head. She brushes her skirt and bows saying, "But I should be the one apologizing."
"For being knocked over?" Adriana raises an eyebrow.
The girl chuckles, "Very well, I accept your apology, then. If you'll excuse me." The girl continues down the hall.
Adriana turns away and continues down the hallway. She opens a door and enters a computer lab. As she walks up to a window side computer, she pulls a cord from a pocket. She plugs the cord into a hand-held computer while seating herself. Placing the hand-held on the table, Adriana logs into the computer and then plugs the opposite end of the cord into a port. She accesses the internet and begins typing.
"Fufufufu," a voice giggles.
Adriana ignores the blowing on her ear and continues researching old news paper articles. She stops on an article dated ten years of age. It's labeled: Mass Abduction?
"I had a feeling you'd be in the computer lab. You know, you almost always come to this one." The voice continues to blow in her ear.
Adriana archives the article and continues searching. She finds a similarly aged, translated, Chinese article labeled: No Boys Missing.
"I heard you had an exhibition match earlier." The voice stops as the speaker purses her lips. "I missed that one, but I promise to watch your other ones later today."
Adriana pulls her fingers from the computer's keyboard and rests her hands on the desk. "You're well informed, Tatenashi." Adriana replies. She grabs the mouse and begins uploading her archive of articles onto a hand held computer.
"Of course," Tatenashi pulls away from Adriana's ear and hides behind her fan. "As the student council president, and your senpai, it's my duty to watch over my cute, little kohai. Even the mischievous, naughty ones."
Adriana turns off the computer and stands from the desk. She picks up her bag and begins walking to the door.
"But this is some hologram projector, I can even touch skirt. Honestly, I think red would suit you better than dark blue." Tatenashi comments from behind Adriana.
"It's partially derived from stratos technology." Adriana sighs. She stops walking, but doesn't bother to turn around. Facing the door, she answers her senpai's unspoken question. "Yes, my abilities are comparable to theirs."
"Now was that so hard?" Tatenashi stands, and pats Adriana's back. She walks past the girl, and opens the door. With a waves of her fan, she leaves while saying, "I look forward to your matches."
…..
"I hope you're ready." Cecilia calls, floating in the air with her rifle ready
"At your signal." Adriana's smile is her only visible expression.
"Begin!" Cecilia cries, snipping Adriana.
Adriana, with her arms crossed, evades upward and thrusts towards Cecilia. She flies with her six wings out and spread. Cecilia launches her [Bits] and begins firing at Adriana from multiple directions. Adriana evades the beams with various sudden forward thrusts, back thrusts, spins, and stops.
Adriana appears before Cecilia who she smirks. "Got you!" Two plates of her [Blue Tear's] skirt lift, revealing a pair of missiles. As the missiles come into view, they are stabbed by two of Adriana's wings. The resulting explosion fully envelops the two pilots.
Cecilia groans as the smoke clears. She opens her eyes to see a blade slash towards her. She screams as it cuts across her body, draining her shield energy to zero.
"Ho-how are you unharmed?" She demands to know as they land. "You were at the center of it too! Explain yourself!"
"I pulled out."
"Impossible! Do you know how-"
"Five to seven thousand."
"Wha-?" Cecilia blinks at Adriana's interruption.
"The explosion from your missiles traveled at about five to seven thousand meters per second. Although fast, it was small. The one second delay before the explosion was sufficient for me to escape the epicenter and fireball."
Cecilia grits her and turns to the others, "Charlotte, you set me up! I demand you fight him next!"
"Okay, okay," Charlotte holds her palms towards Cecilia, attempting to ease the tension. She walks past Cecilia and up to Adriana. She deploys her [Raphael Revive] saying, "let's have a good match."
Adriana nods her head as the two float away from each other. They come to a stop uppong reaching a distance of seven meters.
"At your signal." Adriana holds her katana at guard.
"Let's begin!" Charlotte summons two machine guns and opens fire while pulling away.
Adriana flies towards Charlotte, adjusting her angel to dive below the shells. As she reaches the midway point between herself and Charlotte, the shell before her explodes. Adriana enters hypersonic speed and cuts upward to avoid the explosion. From above, she dives toward Charlotte. Adriana continuously changes her speed as she weaves across the field to avoid Charlotte's rounds.
As Adriana closes the distance, Charlotte exchanges her machine guns for a pair of combat blades. She lunges towards Adriana, but has her hands parried by Stratos' two mid wings. The upper and lower wings of Stratos reach out and close themselves around Charlotte. Like a claw, they pull her in, impaling her upon Adriana's katana.
With Charlotte's shield energy drained, Adriana releases the girl. Charlotte sighs as they float back to the ground.
"The first shell would have hit," Adriana says as Charlotte calls back her I.S. "if you had timed it better."
"Looks like it's my turn!" Rin calls out. She grins ad she stretches her arm. Walking up to Adriana, she says, "I'm not going to loose."
Rin continues past Adriana towards the center of the field and deploys her I.S. "Wat'cha waiting for, hurry it up!"
"Very well," Adriana turns and flies into position.
"Begin!" Rin opens fire with her [impact cannons].
Adriana, anticipating Rin's attack, veers to the left and dodges the invisible blast. Entering hypersonic speed, Adriana appears behind Rin and swings her katana.
Rin grins, having anticipated Adriana's reaction, and fires her pre-charged [impact cannon].
Adriana's top wings pierce into her cannon's barrels as the shells emerge. With the compressed air pierced, they explode, destroying Rin's cannons in the process. Adriana draws her second blade from her bottom, right wing and slashes Rin's back. With her shield energy drained, the match ends.
"That would have worked if you weren't so eager to fight." Adriana comments as she and Rin rejoin with their friends.
"Your strong." Houki comments as Rin and Adriana call back their I.S.s.
"The ones from the organization are just as strong, if not stronger." Adriana replies.
"But I'm surprised," Cecilia brings a finger to her cheek. "don't you have any ranged weaponry."
"I do." Adriana replies.
"Why didn't you use them?" Charlotte asks.
"I didn't need to."
The girls and Ichika stare at Adriana for her blunt response. They imagine the long training they'll have to undertake to force Adriana into using her full I.S. but find the goal satisfactory.
"Now, to our start training." Adriana smiles.
…..
"You're late." Orimura-sensei says. Leaning against a wall, she turns her head to the side toward an open door way.
"Sorry, sorry," Agent K's silhouette is seen as she steps into the dark room. She shakes her hand in apology. "my delivery took a little longer than I anticipated. That Adriana-chan sure can be energetic."
"You didn't-" Yamada-sensei, from her seat, covers her mouth to hid her shock.
"I only ensured she'd walk the halls with a smile on her face." Agent K chuckles.
"Enough," Orimura-sensei shakes her head. "Yamada-sensei, have you analyzed the data from earlier."
"Yes," Yamada-sensei turns to the computer screen before her. She type on the keyboard and projects an image of Adriana deployed in her Stratos. "It's as you assumed. From earlier studies, we know Adriana doesn't have any special shielding on her I.S. Also, from the DNA samples, I've found that she doesn't appear to have been genetically altered, or have nano-devices implanted inside her."
"In other words," Agent K interrupts. "she withstands the G-forces on her own? That's incredible. Just what kind of training has she received?"
"We should assume that her former comrades are also just as capable." Orimura-sensei advices.
"They're monsters." Agent K comments.
"No," Yamada-sensei corrects. She sighs, down casting her eyes as she purses her lips. "they aren't the monsters..."
…..
"Ichika!" Adriana sings upon opening his dorm room door. "Guess who your ne~w roommate is."
"A-Adriana," Ichika looks up from his desk. "Sorry, I mean-"
"Save it," Adriana shuts the door and drops her bag on the spare bed. She puffs her cheeks and pouts, "Everyone's been calling me Adriana the entire trip here, the entire trip!"
Adriana stops her foot. "My condition resets itself for five minutes every time someone calls me that! That means I'm all happy, spunky, joy joy for another five minutes! If it wasn't cause K called me Adriana earlier, I could have walked the halls unnoticed like I always do! Bahhh!" Adriana cries, throwing her hands into the air.
"Adri-" Ichika stops himself. "hey, just ca-calm down. Aren't you happy to finally have an actual room."
"Not really," Adriana sniffs. "I had a private bathroom. But thanks, Agent K told me. You skipped lunch for me."
A/N: I'm back. Sorry for the break. With my classes going on, I didn't really have time to write during hte past few months. But, as I hope you can all see, my writing has improved. So I'd say this was worth the wait. Not much happened this story. Some insight into Adrian/Adriana and how the other pilots measure up to her. She's also moved up in the academy. Now before anyone says anything, yes, she is stronger than the others, way stronger. While this gap will close some as the story progresses, it isn't that important. The real enemies are the pilots from the organization, therefore, Adrian/Adriana's won't be an over powered character. Please, let me know what you think in your reviews.