ALRIGHT GUYS ITS TIME FOR CHAPTER FOUR! And if you remember from last time, that means we get to find out WHO JAMES' STALKER IS!

James: yay….

Come on James, have a little enthusiasm. Besides, I'm guessing more than a couple of readers have already guessed who it is.

James: no surprise there. Most of the readers are probably smarter than you are.

…

James:…

…

James: please don't

…fine. But that's the last time you're getting out of punishment. ANYWAY, I actually intended for a different character to make their debut, but as I was writing I just felt like things worked out better this way instead. So NEXT chapter, if things go right, that character shall be revealed. Not that I'm promising that will happen, seeing as I write these top author notes before writing the chapter, then clarifying things at the bottom.

James: not saying anything…

Good. Also, my other story is going to be on hiatus during the school year. I'll still be writing, but I won't be posting anything until a break or the end of school. I just want to be able to focus more on school and not have to worry about two different stories to write as well. Sorry about that, but collage is hard and I need to pass my classes. Now, without further delay…

James: HERES CHAPTER 4!

Chapter 4

WHY ARE YOU MY STALKER?!

It had been a week since I had awoken from being nearly killed by some wackjob who had a grudge against me and Ichika for being able to pilot an IS. A whole week of being bedridden due to lingering side effects from firing my shoulder mounted cannons at point blank range. To everyone's dismay, some of those 'side effects' were going to be permanent, such as my inability to see out of my left eye. No one was expecting that to just happen, seeing as when I had woke up I was just sore as hell and could USE both of my eyes.

Eventually, the let me leave the infirmary and start attending class again, but had me come in now and then for checkups and to see how I was adjusting. They had even given me my own personal counselor who, being rather nice, had agreed to meet me at any time of the day. Other than the brief visit she paid me in the infirmary, I hadn't seen her since and had told her that I probably wouldn't need her services. Thankfully she had taken that in a good way instead of assuming that I was just being reluctant. I just didn't think I really needed a counselor since I figured this would happen at some point. Though losing an eye was a shocker.

And the IS core breaking was another. After getting permission from the school, the president himself had flown over with some technical advisors and went over the combat data as well as talked to me about the incident. They discovered that someone had been tampering with the unit, but nothing that had been messed with would have affected the Active Shield from only protecting me and not the core as well.

The president had been very sympathetic, seeing as he didn't expect me to be attacked at the school of all places, and told me that I had already served my country gloriously and that if I wanted to I wouldn't be officially named the US representative contender, though due to my telling people and technically agreeing to the contract, I would be a representative contender no matter what.

I told him that I just wanted out of the spotlight and happily took the secondary position. Let someone else be the true US contender, I just wanted to survive being at the damn school now. The president then left with his technicians, the rouge having already been sent back while I was still knocked out, saying they would be repairing it and would try to find a spare IS core, but that I shouldn't get my hopes up on that. I understood and let them leave with the rouge, saddened to see it go. I knew that I would likely never pilot it again, but that didn't mean that it was any less a part of me than my own skin and bones. It was a part of me, and I was watching it go. Instead of just losing my eye, it felt like I had lost my eye and my body.

But then there was that message to deal with, which was why I was currently sitting on a helicopter, heading to an unknown destination in the middle of the night. My mysterious 'friend' had decided that it was time to meet, and that as soon as I was to be released form the infirmary I was to message them. What I didn't expect was instructions to go to the roof at midnight, and having to dodge several patrols of the schools guards to get there. The board of directors apparently hadn't liked the idea of a student being nearly killed, so they had upped security a lot since the incident.

I still had no idea who this 'friend' of mine was. They refused to tell me their identity, only saying: "You'll know me when you see me!" As the helicopter started to descend, I sighed and hoped that what they said would be true. I would have looked out the windows to see where we were heading or landing, but the helicopters passenger bay had no windows to speak of, leaving me in the dark, literally, until we finally landed and moonlight filled the room as the cargo ramp dropped down. What happened next, yeah I'm still trying to sort that out myself.

"JAMES-KUN!" a female voice said, seconds before I was tackled to the ground. The cargo bay door wasn't even half way open! How had this person gotten in and tackled me!

"W-What?" I stammered as the female pinned me to the ground, then rolled off and started to drag me out the door, WHICH WAS STILL NOT HALF OPEN! "Hold on, who are you and where are you taking me?"

"You'll see~" was all I heard before my head landed on some rocks and I was knocked out.

"Are you ok? I didn't mean to knock you out like that! I was going to use gas instead, I swear!" the voice said as I slowly started to wake up. Why was I being knocked out so much lately?

"Yeah, I'm fine… wait, you planned to knock me out?" I said, my eyes still closed.

"Yeah, but only after you agreed! I am here to help you, ya know!" the voice said. So this was my 'friend.' Yeah, the universe was being exceptionally cruel to me to give me a friend who knocks me out BEFORE they wanted to knock me out. Begrudgingly, I started to open my eyes and see who fate had decided to throw at me this time.

The first thing I noticed was her frilly, maid-like blue and white dress, promptly before noticing her pair of robotic rabbit ears and her long purple hair. Upon noticing just these three traits, I let out a very large sigh, both out of surprise, and at my own stupidity for not thinking it would be her. Her antics had caught the attention of the entire world, and most of the time, not in a good way.

Yeah, if you haven't guessed it, standing in front of me was Tabane Shinonono. The creator of the IS and Houki's older sister. The only thing going through my head was a single question. Well, more than one, but this one was the most prominent.

"Why? Why go through all of this simply to get me here. You know that if you had just asked, ANYONE would have come rushing out here." I asked her as she twirled around the room we were now in.

"But I don't want just anyone! I wanted you here! And if I had done it any other way, you wouldn't have acted normally towards me." She said, her ears drooping as she said that last part in a sad tone. Well, that was probably true. If I had known it was Tabane I had been talking to, I wouldn't have cussed her out a couple times… which I deeply regretted doing now.

"Alright, but why me?" I asked, curious as to why I had been chosen.

"Because you shouldn't be able to pilot an IS." She said, taking up a more serious tone. "I had arranged for Ichika to be able to pilot an IS, but you shouldn't be able to. At least, in theory you shouldn't be able to."

"In theory? I'd say that it's been a pretty proven theory before me and Ichika came along." I said, sitting up from the couch I was laying on.

"No, the IS Ichika had touched had a modified core in it so that it would simply move when he used it, and during his entrance test, he had been given a shot that added an extra gene to let him pilot any IS. You shouldn't have that gene, and if you do, it still shouldn't let you pilot an IS." Tabane said, sitting down in a chair across from me.

"Why not? If I have the same gene as Ichika, wouldn't it make sense for me to pilot an IS?" I asked.

"No, because I only set the cores to check for the gene within Ichika's blood and no one else's. You are a huge outlier in my plans." She said before taking up a bright smile. "But a very welcome one at that! It's been too long since I've had a good challenge!"

"Why do I think that this will end badly for me…" I muttered under my breath. "Alright, so why did you bring me here?"

"To help you obviously! Why else do you think I had given you a shield pierce dagger and the glove to summon your IS?" she said, still smiling as bright as ever. "But before that, we need to make a deal. You have information that I want, and I have, obviously, ways of getting you a new IS. So it's a trade. Your information for my continued help!"

"What information? You mean the reason why I can pilot an IS?" I asked.

"Nope!" she said, getting serious again. "It's about your old IS, the Rouge. The power generators on that use an element that is not natural to earth and are far beyond earths most advanced nuclear reactors. Your armor also contains the same element, as well as a second unknown element and is much stronger than any metal combination on earth while remaining impossibly light."

Upon hearing this I got nervous. What she was asking for was highly classified information, secrets that I couldn't just be let out to just anyone. This whole decision could greatly affect not only my future, but global relations should she share the information with the world's leaders. Then again, there was that meeting a few years ago that told several nations about the Stargate program, and if I remembered right, Japan was one of them…

"Fuck it." I said, which surprised Tabane, probably because she though I meant I wasn't going to answer. "Despite it being HIGHLY classified information, I guess I can tell you. But remember this, you can't tell ANYONE about this. Not your parents, not your sister, no one. Ok?"

"YEAHYEAHYEAH! THANK YOUUUUU!" she yelled, diving forward and hugging me tightly. My face, incidentally, ended up right in her chest and I quickly realized I couldn't breathe. After pushing her back just enough, I took a gasp for air. Tabane realized what had happened and, while blushing slightly, loosened her grip on me. "Wow! I thought Chi-Chan was the only one who could push me back without an IS! Still, are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I said, still being hugged by her. "Now, do you want to know this, or would you rather just keep hugging me all night?"

"Both!" she said, her blush fading away as she took back her childlike attitude. I simply sighed and sat down, dragging her down with me seeing as she wouldn't let go.

"Well, I guess I should start by explaining a project that he US military has been running for a while now…"

LATER

"And that's how I ended up attending this school, with a prototype IS equipped with advanced tech we acquired through the Stargate." I said, wrapping up the story that had taken FAR too long to tell with her questioning everything.

"That makes a lot of sense." She said, having long ago taken up her scientific side and questioning me on things during my story. Despite that, she was STILL hugging me, but I had gotten used to it. "But why has the US kept me away from a project like that?"

"We haven't…" I said, standing up and freeing myself from her hug. I walked over to a table in the room and sifted through the pile of letters that was there, taking every one that was sent from the US. "You just don't check your mail is all. I have 20 letters here asking you to join the program, though they don't say what program exactly. There's also some letters asking for more cores since they were using the IS for live combat and have been very effective in fighting the Goa'uld."

"Ohhhh…." She said, her rabbit ears folding down as she twiddled her fingers. "So that's what they meant. Well, knowing there's probably more to the story that you don't know.."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" I interrupted.

"Then I should probably get in touch with them. Just thinking of all the possible new variants I could build, all the advances to the IS I can make..!" she said, bouncing around in pure glee. "This is what the IS was truly made for! Space exploration!"

"Well, be sure to not mention that I told you about the project. Last thing I need is to be charged with treason for handing out military secrets." I deadpanned, walking over and sitting back on the couch, only to be engulfed in another hug from Tabane.

"I wouldn't do that to you, James-Kun~!" she said smiling. "You trusted with that information, so trust me a little more when I say I won't implicate you in anything!"

"Then how would you get me a new IS?" I asked. Tabane just blinked a couple times, her mouth forming an O before returning to a smile.

"Ok, so I might implicate you a little!" she said, not even trying to hide it! "But don't worry, I have a plan! Now, I believe it's time for me to honor my part of the deal!" She got up and dragged me, again, to a room filled with medical equipment. In the center was an operating table, which she promptly threw me on.

"Ummm, what's going on?" I asked, growing nervous of what she might have planned.

"Well, seeing as you lost the use of your left eye, I was going to help you by replacing it!" she said as she put a mask over my mouth. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit, and you'll thank me later!"

"What do you mean replace my eye?! And why would this hurt! What's goi… going on…" I tried to say, before being knocked out by the gas I was inhaling through the mask.

LATER

I awoke with a small pain in my eye, but I guess that was better than feeling nothing instead. I tried to get up, but found myself restrained to the operating table. 'Probably tried to fight it, even being knocked out.' I thought to myself.

"So you're awake!" Tabane said, not that I could see her with the blindfolds she had put on me, but I imagined she was probably happy that I wasn't dead. "Tell me, do you feel any intense pain or sharp jolts anywhere?"

"Is there a reason I should?" I asked, still groggy from the gas. "And a reason why you did that WITHOUT MY CONSENT!"

"Well, you do have a new electronic eye, so I wanted to be sure that you were going to be ok, and I doubt you would have said yes to my methods!" She said, her voice holding that childlike tone to it.

"Then can you take off my blindfolds and un-restrain me please?" I asked simply.

"Sure!" she said. For some reason I imagined her skipping over to me from wherever she was. It… wasn't an unpleasant thought and that scared me. When she finally took of the blindfold, I waited until she had unrestrained me before opening my eyes. As I did so, I immediately noticed that something was off.

"Tabane… Why does it look like there's computer icons in my vision?"

"Well, since it's a prototype prosthetic eye, I figured that it should do more than just what a regular eye should. Though you will need a special contact lenses for your other eye in order to properly see and use it." She explained.

"No, I mean WHY IS THERE COMPUTER ICONS IN MY HEAD WHEN YOU SAID THE DEAL WAS TO GIVE ME A IS CORE?" I yelled. Tabane simply smiled.

"Go on, introduce yourself!" she said, instead of explaining herself.

"Um… Hello." A young sounding female voice said from the speakers in the room, though it sounded like it came from my head as well.

"Um, who's there?" I asked, curious as to where the voice was coming from. "And why does it sound like you're in my head?"

"That's because I am." The voice said before a light appeared on the screen from the contact lenses and my new 'eye.' It was a young looking girl with a pink dress and detached sleeves with pink anklets. She had long, dark hair and bright black eyes. She also had a pair of semi-transparent wings coming from her back. Without saying another word, I looked at Tabane with a glare that demanded an explanation.

"That is the personality of your new IS core! A new prototype that was a part of the prosthetic eye I gave you. Basically, it made you half man, half machine! Also, the screen of yours is kind of a heads up display, or HUD for short. You can turn it off and on at your leasure, but she will always be there unless she decided to fly off." Tabane explained. "Go on, give him your name!" She said, seemingly looking right at the girl and ushering her. I looked back at the girl, who was smiling innocently, but also shyly.

"My n-name is Yui! I-It's a pleasure to meet you!" she said nervously before bowing on the HUD. This was going to take some MAJOR getting used to.

"Hello Yui." I said with a sigh. "So you're the personality of my new IS?"

"Kind of. I'm the personality of the IS core… not the IS itself. A good analogy is that I am the IS's soul, while the frame is the body and the pilot it the consciousness." Yui explained, while Tabane nodded.

"Well, this is going to take some time to get used to. I better carry around some wireless speakers so that no one thinks I'm crazy for talking to myself.

'Well you can always just think your words. I'm connected to your brain, so I can tell your thoughts as well as share some of your memories, but only what you let me see.' Yui said inside my head. That was an extremely strange experience. 'I know it's strange. I'm also getting used to it as well.'

"Anyway, I think we need a cover story. There's no way anyone will believe that you just gave me a prototype IS core, plus an IS for free. They'll know something was up. I say we come forward and say that I told you a bit about the Stargate project, after you approached me as being one of the male IS pilots. I told you that the project was where I got my advanced generator and armor for my IS and nothing else, but your curiosity got piqued and you decided to give me the IS and the core for shedding light on the project that you had heard about but wouldn't trust yet."

"Okey-doki!" Tabane said with a smile while Yui wrote that all down so that it could be brought up at a moment's notice. That was going to be extremely helpful in countless situations. Hearing that, Yui looked up and smiled, apparently over her shyness. "Now then," Tabane said, getting me and Yui's attention, "Let me show you to your new IS."

She led us out of the room down a long corridor. Yui's hologram appearance flying off HUD, so I followed and saw her land on my shoulder. It was only then that I got a real image of how small she really was, around 10cm tall. Why would Tabane have given me this…pixie… as my IS core. Seeming to hear that, despite my attempts to hide it from her, Yui looked over and smiled.

'Tabane gave me to you because she felt like you were someone special. I was the first core Tabane created, but instead of being used, she felt like I would be needed for something more special than just being the first. To hide this, I wasn't given the core number 001, and was instead given number 000. Also, to help me feel more at ease, she created the contact lenses your using on your right eye so that she could see and talk to me as well.' Yui explained.

'So you were that special to her?' I asked, feeling weird about talking inside my own head.

'Yes, though she has never told me why. Even her friend Chi-Chan doesn't know about me.' Yui said.

'I assume that Chi-Chan is Chifuyu Orimura?'

'Yup! She's always seemed like a nice person, though she was quick to be annoyed by Tabane's antics.'

"That doesn't surprise me." I unknowingly said out loud until Yui told me and Tabane turned around and smiled at us.

"So, already having private conversations?" she teased until she saw where Yui was sitting. "No fair! Yui-Chan gets to sit on your shoulders? She never did that with me!" Tabane said, crossing her arms and pouting. Yui laughed.

"You never asked me to. And I was never inside your body." Yui said, though it sounded a bit creepy and even she shuddered when she said that.

"Well, its still not fair." Tabane continued pouting until Yui sighed and flew over to her and sat on her shoulders. "Thank you Yui-Chan~!" she said, immediately perking up. I simply sighed and followed the two, seemingly the only one who was completely sane and I doubted I would remain that way for very long.

'No fair, I'm perfectly sane! An AI can't go insane unless presented with a logic loop, and I was designed so even that couldn't stop me!' Yui said, somehow yelling and startling me, which caused her to laugh.

"Here we are!" Tabane said, throwing a pair of doors open and revealing a large, brightly lit room, filled with various equipment and monitors, but most noticeably, a large garage-like door leading to the open air. I had thought she would have had a sealed off base, not an out in the open work area. Lord know there were plenty of people out to kill her, or abduct her and have her work for them. Both of those were unlikely to happen, but still it's better to be safe than sorry.

"Ok… so where's the IS?" I asked, looking around and not seeing it.

"Tabane, you forgot to raise the platform!" Yui chastised.

"Oh right!" Tabane said, pulling a remote out of her pocket and pressing it. The floor opened up in a circular shape and lowered, only to slide into slots to avoid a similarly shaped platform that rose up to replace it. Standing on the platform was… a breifcase.

"Huh… I thought it would be bigger." I joked, getting a laugh out of Yui and a snicker out of Tabane.

"This is the armor in its most compact state, which allows for much easier travel with it compared to a traditional IS." Tabane explained as we walked up to it, Yui deciding to float using her wings.

"Wow Tabane, your giving him me and THAT unit?" Yui exclaimed, then took on a sly grin. "Just how special is James to you?"

"Oh hush Yui!" Tabane said, her cheeks getting slightly red. She took a quick glance at me to see if I noticed, and I did, but I acted like I was more interested in the IS at the moment. Which was true in a way, since Tabane felt I was special enough to get this unit. Tabane sighed, out of relief or disappointment I'm not sure, and continued here explanation. "The suit incorporates advanced fold-out armor throughout the entirety of the unit. If you step here," she said, indicating a certain spot on the metal briefcase, "then it activates the equipping protocol and conforms to your body. Go on now, try it!"

I looked at Tabane and Yui nervously before sighing. With a quick tap, I stepped on the spot Tabane marked and the briefcase folded out and two small cylindrical tubes came out. From the looks of it I was supposed to reach down and grab it, so I did just that, then pulled it up to my chest and extended my arms to my sides. The suit then slowly built itself around me until it had completely engulfed me. The HUD in my eyes turned off as the HUD on the unit activated.

"Ohhhhh, it looks better than I thought it would!" Tabane said with glee as she admired me in her IS. I rose my hand and looked at it, completely engulfed in a silver, almost mirror like armor. It was only when I looked in a mirror that Tabane had materialized out of nowhere that I realized just what she had based this IS after.

"…YOU MADE AN IRON MAN SUIT?!" I yelled in utter shock. "MORE SPCIFICLY, THE MARK 2 PROTOTYPE?"

"That's right! I loved the iron man movies and when I finished watching them, I thought to myself, huh, I wonder if I can make an IS like that. So I went out and bought the rights from Marvel and built the Mark II!" Tabane explained, spinning around the room as she talked. "I won't go into all the details, which would ruin a lot of surprises for you, but it has basically the same combat capability's as the Mark III with the repulsor gauntlets, the flares, its shoulder mounted multi-threat removal system, and of course, the Unibeam chest laser!"

"So… you literally recreated the iron man suit…" I said, still in shock. "Wait, if you recreated it with today's tech, then is it possible to upgrade it?" That caught Tabane off guard and she fell to the floor. After springing back up, she looked at me in confusion.

"What do you mean by upgrading it?" she asked, Yui flying up from where Tabane fell and plopping down on Tabane's head.

"Well, if it's a perfect recreation, then it uses a titanium-gold alloy for the armor, correct?" at Tabane's nod I continued. "Well the SGC has armor that's stronger and lighter as well. Would it be possible to replace or upgrade the armor to that eventually?"

"Hmmm, I don't see why not. Especially since some of the later suits use Vibranium for armor instead of the titanium-gold alloy which doesn't exist. I'll see what I can do, but it will have to wait for after I get working with the SGC." Tabane said, thinking about all the possibility's to improve the armor after finding out just what the SGC has to offer.

"That's fine. Just a thought I had and felt like sharing." I said, when all of a sudden I felt a horrible urge that could ruin my whole visit here. "Um… Tabane? How do I get this off?" I asked, holding in my urge to the best of my ability's.

"Oh, there's an icon on the HUD. Look at it and blink twice, then let the armor do the rest." She said, walking over to a workstation to already start drafting plans for future armor types. Yui was sitting on the top of the couch, laughing due to the thoughts running around in my head. I activated the icon and the suit came off, much slower than I wanted it to considering how fast it attached to me. Finally, after a couple of minutes, it returned to its briefcase state.

"Good, now… where's the bathroom?" I asked, the urge getting close to being overwhelming. Yui was laughing like a maniac now and Tabane started to laugh as well.

"Down the hall…. Third door on the left…" Tabane said, between fits of laughter. I ran off, hoping that I wouldn't piss myself on the way there.

A FEW MINUTES LATER

"That was too close for comfort…" I muttered as I walked back into the large lab/lounge/work room.

"You know there's a built in waist remover… right?" Tabane asked, still laughing a bit. Yui was nowhere to be seen.

"No, I didn't because you didn't tell me." I said, slightly angry that I almost pissed myself because she didn't tell me there was a toilet inside the damn suit, but I got over it and sat down on the couch.

"What are you doing?" Tabane asked as I started to nod off.

"Going to sleep. It was Friday when I got here and we don't have classes on the weekends at the academy. Plus since I have a room to myself, I won't be missed until later in the day, and ive postponed training for Ichika and the girls until I was sure I was back to a hundred percent." I explained, kicking off my shoes and adjusting a pillow. "Why, is that a problem?"

"N-No, it's just that I'm not use to having people over. And that couch isn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on." Tabane said, looking somewhat red.

"Eh, if you know as much about me as I know you do, then you know I've slept on worse." I retorted, slowly getting more and more tired. "Besides, it's not that uncomfortable. Beets sleeping outside on the ground."

"I suppose it does." Tabane laughed.

"Well, I'm going to fall asleep now. You should get some shut-eye too. Even the most knowledgeable scientists in history knew to get enough sleep." I said, already half asleep myself.

"I-I'll be fine." She stuttered before hearing a light snoring coming from the couch. Smiling lightly to herself, she walked over and looked down at me. Materializing a blanket out of nowhere, she laid it on me before brushing a few stray hairs on my face. "Goodnight James. Sleep well."

THE NEXT MORNING

I awoke with a jolt and my eyes shot open. I had just had one of the worst nightmares of my life, and had no clue why. Ever since I had joined the military, I hadn't had a single dream, good or bad. Now that I was attending the IS academy, it seemed I was dreaming more and more. And this dream had been the first nightmare.

Trying to sit up, I realized there was, not only a blanket on me, but also a person laying half on me, half off me while being completely covered by a separate blanket. And instead of being on the couch, we were laying on a bed where the couch had been. After the initial panic and confusion, I checked to be sure my clothes were on and let out a sigh when they were. Then, I nervously checked to see who this person was, only to find Tabane, fully dressed and still sleeping soundly.

"Phew," I sighed in relief that this wasn't as bad as it could have been. "That's one way to wake up I guess…"

'Good morning' I heard Yui say in my head. Looking down, I saw her crawl out of a gap between the blankets and me, yawning. I didn't know why, but it made me feel good to know that she had been "sleeping" with me. Aaaand that sounded wrong. Way to go brain.

'Good morning Yui. Did you sleep well?' I asked, receiving a small smile from the pixie girl.

'Well, I technically don't sleep, but have a function that more or less simulates sleep. In that case, yes, I slept extremely well.' She answered.

'Well, that means you get the night watch.' I joked and we both laughed. Then I slowly, so I wouldn't wake Tabane, moved myself from under her and sat on the edge of bed. Looking out the large garage-door like shudder thingy, I still had no clue what the hell to call that, I saw the sun just start to come up. If I was a more sentimental man, I would probably have thought about how lucky I was to have a virtual pixie in my head, a, while I hated to admit it, good looking girl in bed with me, and a beautiful sunrise to wake up to. But I'm not that sentimental, thanks to THAT incident back before I even told my uncle I wanted to join the military.

What's worse was the nightmare had brought back up memories that I didn't want to have right now, especially not with Yui in my head and no real effective way to block my thoughts from her. I just didn't want to tell her yet, or anyone for that matter. Not even Robert knew yet, though he knew something had happened. He didn't pry though, and I was grateful for that.

Yui had flew off somewhere again and Tabane had awoken from her sleep somewhat. I hadn't noticed until I felt her arms wrap around me and her head lay on my lap, yanking away from the bad memories. She snuggled into my lap and started to lightly snore again. Grateful for the distraction, I shook her slightly, trying to wake her up. Eventually, she opened her eyes.

"Hmmm? Five more minutes…" she said before shutting her eyes. I chuckled, thinking of a perfect way to mess with her.

"Come on Tabane," I said with a bit of urgency, shaking her again, "you need to hurry up! You're late for school!"

Upon hearing this, Tabane bolded strait up and started to panic, She quickly ran behind a curtained off area and clothing started flying everywhere. Seconds later, she was in a school girl uniform and panicking about not being able to find her bag. After watching her run around for a couple of minutes, franticly searching for a bag she wouldn't find, Yui flew back in and immediately started laughing with me. Eventually, Tabane heard our hysterical laughter and looked over. She looked confused until it dawned on her just what I had done.

"JAMES!" she yelled with a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and sadness. "That's not funny!"

"YOU'RE…. YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S… HULARIOUS!" I said, gasping for breath from laughing so hard. Tabane's face kept getting redder and redder, though from embarrassment or anger I wasn't sure. I hoped it was the former instead of the later.

"Not funny…" Tabane pouted, confirming it was mostly embarrassment and not anger that caused her to redden up. I walked over to her, still laughing a bit, and hugged her which, unbeknown to me, caused her to get even redder.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you that much." I said, hugging her tightly. "Besides, it was Yui's idea."

"NO IT WASN'T!" Yui yelled over the PA system and in my head. "THERES NO WAY IT WAS MY IDEA!"

"Yui, you don't realize that I can hear your thoughts as well." I lied, mostly to my own amusement. If I was going to be stuck with pixie girl in my head, I wanted it to be a fun time for me as well. Upon hearing this, Yui reddened from embarrassment before I realized she HAD been thinking of doing just that. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Though I think we're going to be getting along great if you and I were actually thinking the same thing!"

Yui calmed down, mostly after running a few checks to make sure I was telling the truth. Tabane, however, was still upset despite calming down quite a bit after the hug I gave her and a few laughs at Yui's reaction to my teasing. It took her a while before she had completely calmed down.

"Well, now that THAT'S over, I think its time you left James. Not that im kicking you out, but we don't want people missing you." Tabane said. "Plus I was going to call your government and you probably shouldn't be here for that."

"True enough. So where's my ride?" I asked. "Probably wouldn't be a good idea to show off my IS by landing in the center of the academy, plus they would probably wonder where I got a new core and IS from. Id rather wait until you get the SGC thing sorted out and sent a message to Chifuyu before showing it off anyway."

"True enough. The helicopter that brought you here is waiting just outside." She said as we started to walk out. The helicopter had already started its engines and its rotors were spinning. How I had managed not to hear that worried me slightly, but this was Tabane's place after all. "Well, take care now. No more getting into fights that break your IS core! And remember to eat your vegetables!" Tabane said before I boarded the helicopter. Yui had chosen to cancel her appearance for now and was sitting quietly in my head. I sat down near the exit and waved goodbye to Tabane. She eagerly waved back until the door ramp closed. The helicopter then took off and started heading back to the IS academy. Already, I knew there were going to be big changes that had probably taken place in my short absence.

AFTER THE HELICOPTER RIDE

I walked the halls of the academy, not particularly going anywhere. It was getting close to mid-day and Yui had materialized as soon as we got off the helicopter and had asked for a tour, so I guess that's what I was doing, but really I was just wandering around. Yui would occasionally ask a question and I would mentally reply, though I accidentally spoke out loud once and caused a couple of girls to look at me like I was crazy.

'Hey J, what's that?' Yui asked. She had started calling me J for some reason, and I didn't mind it as long as it didn't spread. I walked over to a bulletin board and grabbed the flyer that Yui had pointed at.

"Semi-annual IS battle royal tournament. All pilots are welcome to join. Those with personal IS units will be in their own bracket so don't be afraid to sign up." I read out loud. "Well, at least their considerate to put the people without personal IS units in a separate bracket. It would be pointless otherwise since they would have more experience and would win regardless."

'You should join! It's scheduled for Monday and Tabane should tell the school about giving you an IS and Core by tonight at the latest.' Yui said. 'It would be a great way to get use to piloting the Mark II and gain some much needed combat practice with it.'

"Hmm. Maybe I will join." I said, making sure to sound like I was merely contemplating joining instead of talking to someone who wasn't but was there.

"Excuse me, can I see that?" a girl's voice said from beside me. Turning, I saw a girl with long, red hair dressed in the schools guy uniform. Odd, considering there were only two guys at the school, but not my place to judge.

"Sure. Thinking of joining up?" I asked, handing her the flyer.

"Yup. My aunt just got done repairing a prototype IS and said that I get to use it since I don't have my own unit. I probably won't get far, considering I have no experience with piloting besides the entrance test." She said. "You look kinda familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Not sure. I did become famous for being the second male IS pilot, but you look familiar as well. Probably did somewhere. Names James Reverend by the way." I said. 'Yui, can you really access my memories?'

'Yes, but I can't search for specific things. Its only when you're asleep that I can influence your mind to bring up memories as dreams.' Yui said sheepishly.

'So you saw it then? My nightmare last night?' I asked, somewhat nervous.

'No, I have to be "awake" so to speak when I do it. I was "asleep" last night so I didn't see anything.' She answered.

'Alright. Tonight, try and find this girl in my memories.' I thought.

"My names Casandra. Casandra Fraiser. I just transferred in today from America actually." She said. Why did that name sound so familiar though?

"Ahh. Good to have a fellow American here. It's good to know I'm not really alone in that regard. I'm sure there are other girls here from America, but I haven't met them yet." I said. "If you want, I can show you some pointers sometime on using your IS in combat."

'Yui, pull up the schedule for the training grounds please.' I thought

'On it. It looks like their open tomorrow actually.' Yui replied.

'Thanks.' I said.

"The training grounds are open tomorrow I think. We could have a sparring match if you want." I said to Cassandra. The conversation in my head taking less than a second.

"Really? That would be great!" she said, smiling brightly. "I'll see you there then! Oh, what time?"

'What times are available Yui?'

'The earliest is at 9:00 Am and it's free after that.'

'I wonder who's using it that early… all well.'

"How about 9:00 in the morning? That way we can shower after and have the rest of the day to go our separate ways." I asked.

"Sounds good! See you then!" she said and ran off. She was a bit strange, but it didn't really matter. I just wanted to remember who she was. It's not every day when you meet someone familiar and they think you're familiar as well.

'Well then, shall we go sign up?' I asked Yui

'Yup! Let's go J!' she replied happily.

'My word. I swear if some guys come in with nuralizers and I start thinking I'm some harem king, please kill me.' I thought.

'Why?' Yui asked.

'Movie reference. Look up MIB. You'll understand then.' I replied. A few minutes later, as I started looking for the place to sign up, Yui started laughing when she finally understood what I meant by the movie reference. She then went on to say that it's unlikely that an agency like that existed, which I countered with the SGC, and then switched to talk about the differences and similarities between me and agent J.

Eventually I found where to sign up. Apparently was the one who was handling the registrations for the tournament, and she was surprised when I signed up for not just the tournament, seeing as I just about got out of the infirmary, but the personal IS portion as well. I had Yui contact Tabane about the IS thing, and she said she had told Ms. Orimura about it, so I recited what she said to Ms. Orimura to Ms. Yamada. Didn't want our stories to not match up. That would raise numerous red flags and attention that I didn't want.

After that, I went to my room and grabbed the briefcase that was my IS. Apparently, it also doubled as an actual suitcase should it be opened and could change color and appearance as well, but only as a suitcase. With that in mind, I had Yui change its appearance to that of an actual leather briefcase so that people wouldn't be suspicious until it was too late and headed for the training grounds. There was a time slot open in a couple of minutes with a group of Personal IS users and I wanted to get use to the feel of the Mark II.

Upon reaching the training grounds, I discovered that it was actually Ichika, Cecilia, Rin, and Houki all training. Upon seeing me, they all decided to take a break and came down.

"Hey James. What brings you here?" Ichika said, giving me a fist bump. "And good to see you too Robert." I turned around to see Robert walking up behind me, now upset that he couldn't get the drop on me.

"Damn it Ichika, you just had to ruin it. This was probably the one time that I could have actually gotten the drop on James."

"Keep telling yourself that." I said, giving him a wink.

"Hey wait," Rin said. I really need to talk to her more, seeing as she was Ichika's childhood friend as well as Houki, and I and she got along great… most of the time. The rest of the time she was trying to kill me with her wooden sword that she could pull out of nowhere. "Didn't you lose your left eye after you woke up?"

"Yeah, I did. This a prototype prosthetic eye that lets me see." I said as the eye changed from its normal look to a metallic form. It hadn't done that before. I'll ask Yui about it later. "It can also do a couple other things like act as a computer, so I can type and send things in the air. It's like air typing in a way."

"That sounds rather useful. Is there a way to get that without losing an eye?" Cecilia asked.

"To my knowledge, no. I have a contact lense on my right eye that helps balance the view of it, but I think I need the actual eye to be able to process all of the information." I replied. Cecilia got a bit upset at that, but didn't look too down. No one wanted to actually lose an eye after all.

"I still think I had the drop on you." Robert complained.

"Not really. Yui told me you were there." I said before realizing exactly what I had said.

"Who?" everyone asked in unison.

"Yui, you might as well introduce yourself." I said, letting out a sigh. "Patch into the comm systems and talk to them directly if you would be so kind."

"Sure thing James!" came Yui's voice from the groups IS's and Roberts radio. "Though if you put on your IS, there's a holo-projector that could actually show me in your gauntlet."

"Oh, well I'll get suited up. In the meantime, talk to them a bit. Their all really nice, I promise."

"Sure thing J." Yui said. Everyone was utterly confused until Yui started talking to each of them individually, at the same time no less. Robert was the first to catch on that Yui was an AI, but everyone else was either too busy being confused, or watching me get into my IS.

I had walked out onto the field and threw my briefcase, it changing back into its silver/mirror color. I stepped down on it and the cylindrical tubes popped up and I put the armor on. At this point, everyone was staring at me in awe due to the way I was putting on the IS. Finally, the only thing left to deploy was the helmet, which quickly encased my head but left the front mask off so I could talk to everyone.

"Dude, where the hell did you get that!" Robert yelled, already freaking out at how awesome the whole process was. Even the girls were impressed at what they had just seen.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Well, Ichika and Houki might, but the rest of you, probably not." I said, making a mental to tell them what had ACTUALLY happened, and to tell Ms. Orimura as well. Yui also wrote the note down and saved it for later. Such a handy little girl she was. "Anyway, if you haven't guessed already, Yui is an AI. More specifically, she's the personality of the IS core I have." I said as I turned over my hand and activated the holo-projector. A second later, Yui was standing on my hand.

Cue girls going Awe

"AWE!" There we go. "SHE'S ADORABLE!" oh, didn't expect that part.

"Thank you…" she said, somewhat shyly through my suits speakers.

"She's a little shy, but once she gets to know you she'll be fine. Won't stop talking to me now." I teased, getting the reaction I wanted out of her. She puffed out her cheeks and her face got a light shade of red.

"I don't talk that much!" Yui said, clearly embarrassed. "I'm just curious is all!" she turned away from me and crossed her arms, pouting as she did so. Needless to say, the girls were all going crazy over how adorable she looked, even when pouting.

"How did you get her?" Houki asked.

"What can she do?" Cecilia asked.

"Why does she look like that?" Rin asked. "Not that she looks bad, I just want to know why you chose that appearance."

"Why do you have an AI like that at all?" Robert and Ichika both asked.

"Please stop the questions all at once. I need time to answer." I said. "Houki, Robert and Ichika, I can't really answer those questions yet. Ask me later, and I might be able to. Cecilia, I'll let her answer that question." As I said that, Yui started to answer via Cecilia's communication channel. "Rin, I didn't chose her appearance. When I met her she looked like this, so I didn't question it. I don't know if she can even change appearances or not.

"I can!" Yui said excitedly after finishing explaining to Cecilia. "Move your hand so that it's facing away from you."

"Alright." I said and did as she asked. Her hologram stayed the same size for a minute before she floated away from my hand and her appearance started to change. Instead of being a little pixie, her clothing changed to a pink sweater and a white skirt, and her features becoming more human like. She still looked like a young girl, but a human girl.

"OHHH SHES SO CUTE!" Cecilia said, having to visibly hold herself back from cuddling with the hologram.

"Just a size and clothing change? Not complaining, but it's just anti-climactic after how eager you sounded." Rin commented. "Still, you do look adorable."

"Yes, I've grown attached to this sort of appearance and don't really have the data to create a different appearance. Still, this body is technically older than my smaller pixie form. Tabane, my creator, rather liked the pixie form I came up with after I chose this little girl form during my struggle to achieve true consciousness."

"I'm interested in that, but right now I'm more interested in James armor. It's an IS right?" Robert asked. "I'm simply more familiar with the concept of an IS than an AI, so no offence intended.

"None taken. I've read a couple files on you and I'm glad you're one of James' friends. I'll give you the technical specifications later, so for now how about a demonstration, if J is willing to try." Yui said, looking at me. "He and I both haven't had much time with the unit and haven't even gone through a test flight."

"Well then how about we fight?" Cecilia asked. "We didn't get to hold our duel if I remember correctly, so this could settle it once and for all."

"You're on." I said, talking on the deadly serious tone that I had used to train them with the exception of Rin and Robert. The front visor dropped down for added affect and Yui's hologram dissolved before I lowered my arm. Cecilia grinned quite confidently and flew off to one end of the training grounds. I calmly walked over to my starting area, Yui scrambling inside of the HUD, adjusting it for combat.

Apparently the suit was being powered by an actual miniature arc reactor, meaning I had a little under 700 shield points. 666 to be exact. Not the most comforting number, but I guess it made sense, seeing as the only reason I got the suit was from nearly dying.

'A reminder of what could have happened I guess. Unless she had a reason for doing it?' I thought to myself, keeping it from Yui just to test myself from keeping her from hearing my thoughts. 'Alright Yui, let's do this.'

'Want a challenge?' Yui asked.

'No, not on a trial run. Maybe after I get use to the suit, or tomorrow during the training with Cassandra.' I told her.

'Awww no fun.' She said, pouting a bit. 'Well, at least your reasoning is sound. Alright, tomorrow then. Give her hell J!'

"Are you ready for a truly royal thrashing?" Cecilia taunted.

"Please, if Ichika could beat you without any combat experience, then this should be easy for a trained soldier/movie nut. Still gota see the recordings of that match, so I am also at a disadvantage at knowing what your unit is good at." I taunted back. "And I'll still win."

"Humph! Don't get to cocky!" Cecilia said. I had to restrain myself from laughing at that statement.

'Ohhhhh that's rich coming from her!' I thought.

'Why?' Yui asked.

'I'll tell you tonight. Or show you with my memories. Basically she was a stuck up bitch when I first met her.' I replied. Before Yui could comment, the buzzer went off signaling the start of the match. Cecilia immediately flew up, putting distance between us and taking out a rifle.

'Sniper huh? Alright. Let's close the gap then.' I thought.

I activated the thrusters on my unit and shot forward, going faster than expected and ending up hitting the shield dome of the stadium. I also lost a shield point in doing so. Not the best start id say. Cecilia's image appeared on the HUD as she opened a channel to me.

"What was that?" she teased.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I meant to do this!" I said as I sped towards her and landed a punch strait to her shields, sending her flying to the ground. Before she could get up, I started firing my repulsor gauntlets at her, though they didn't have the rapid fire I was hoping they would. Instead, I alternated between firing with my left and right hands to keep as much fire on her as possible. Suddenly, a barrage of blue laser bolts shot up from the dust cloud that I was firing at. I took a hit from not expecting that and killed the thrusters, dropping to the ground and executing a roll to kill off most of my momentum.

After skidding to a halt, I dodged left to avoid another barrage of lasers. The dust around Cecilia had dissipated, revealing her and four little drones hovering around her. As she fired at me again, so did the drones. Well, at least that solved where the extra fire was coming from. I started locking onto the bits as well as Cecilia with the Multi-Threat Removal System, henceforth known as MTRS because thinking that every time would be a MAJOR pain. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good lock on because I had to keep dodging her laser fire.

'J, first shift is available now.' Yui said as I dodged another barrage of lasers, this time getting hit by one of them and having my shields knocked down to 600 exactly. Those things packed a punch to them.

'First shift? You mean we've been using the default settings?' I asked, firing a few repulsor blasts at Cecilia, who didn't dodge for some reason.

'Well, this is our first fight together and I couldn't get any combat data from the Rouge since its Core was broken. So yeah, running on default settings. Though were ready to go to custom settings now that I've gathered enough data. Just say the word and we'll be safe for a couple seconds while we change.' Yui explained.

'Why does this feel like Déjà vu for some reason?'

'Because according to the recording I have of Ichika's battle, he had the same thing happen to him.'

'Well then let's not copy him. We'll shift after the battle instead. Is there any way you can lock on to those drones faster with the MTRS?'

'The what?' Yui asked.

'The MTRS. Multi-Target Removal System. It's an acronym.' I explained.

'OH! And yeah, I've been waiting for you to ask me to help out.'

'…'

'…'

"YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME TO ASK?" I shouted, completely ignoring the barrage of lasers that passed all around me. Apparently Cecilia wasn't expecting me to stop and instead fired at where I was going to be.

'Ok, no need to shout! I was busy collecting data so we could go to first shift!'

'Still could have told me sooner.' I said, getting a lock on all the drones and Cecilia. 'Though it doesn't matter now. Next time though, please help in any way you can.'

'Got it J!'

'Thanks. Now let's end this. I'm sick of dodging.' I said as the MTRS popped up from my shoulder and fired several rounds at the four drones and at Cecilia's shields. More specifically, right at her face. Combined with the shock of losing her drones, and being shot at in the face, she stumbled back in surprise.

"Alright, lets end this!" I yelled to Cecilia, who quickly composed herself and fired at me to the left, thinking I was going to dodge that way. Instead, I stood still as power began to divert itself to the chest piece.

'Please don't say that.' Yui begged, reading my thoughts

'Oh, I'm saying it!' I said, refusing to not say it.

"IM FIRIN ME LAZER! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!" I yelled as I fired the Unibeam strait at Cecilia, who couldn't have dodged even if she had time to react. The beam rapidly started to drain her shields, until there was an audible pop and the active shield came up. Upon her shields being removed, I immediately stopped the Unibeam so her IS wouldn't take any damage.

The whole training ground was dead silent from the shock of the attack I had just used. Cecilia was sitting on the ground, completely stunned at losing again. I walked over to her and offered my hand to help her up. She blushed slightly and took my hand, and I pulled her up with ease.

"That… That attack…" Cecilia stammered.

"THAT WAS AWSOME DUDE!" Ichika and Robert both shouted as the group from the stands ran over. Before they got close, however, a bright light surrounded me and blinded everyone for a couple seconds. As it slowly faded, everyone looked in awe of how my armor now looked.

Apparently Tabane decided to go with the actual briefcase armor as the look for the custom settings. I didn't mind the look, but I just felt like I was ripping off Marvel. The red and silver-gold paintjob just feeling a little too cheesy for me, but I could live with it. And apparently so could everyone else.

"Did you just now change from default to custom settings?" Robert asked, admiring the armor as he got closer, along with the rest of the group. Cecilia was shocked, and more importantly embarrassed, by the idea of being beaten by a default setting unit. AGAIN.

"Yeah. I was going to change mid fight if I needed to, but since Ichika apparently did that during his match I didn't want to copy him. Yui, does this mean we get any new toys to play with?" I asked.

"Sadly, no. And since we don't know what second and third shift look like, I can't answer any questions about that either." She replied, her voice somewhat sad.

"It's fine. We'll figure that out when we get there." I said, trying to cheer her up. "Besides, I have a feeling out… "Generous benefactor" will be providing us with more than a few upgrades before the tournament."

"Our generous benefact-OHHHHHH. Riiight! Yeah, knowing them, were going to have plenty of upgrades soon enough." Yui said, catching on to what I was trying to say. Didn't want everyone to know about Tabane giving me an IS just yet. Especially Houki, which would be disastrous if she found out. Everyone else was absolutely clueless as to what I was talking about, besides Robert who looked like he had a hunch as to what had happened.

"Well good for you two." Ichika's friend, why can't I remember her name… oh right, Rin said. Her stomach growled, along with Ichika's and Robert's. "I vote we call it a day and get some food."

"I second that vote!" Robert said, holding his stomach. "I haven't eaten all day, so I'm starving."

"I don't think there's a burger king around here anywhere, so to the cafeteria it is." I said, nudging Robert playfully. He landed on the ground before I realized I still had my IS on. "Whoops! My bad! I'll get out of this now." I apologized before the suit de-materialized around me and returned to the briefcase form.

'Yui, why did it just do that? I thought I had to take it off manually.' I asked.

'Oh, you have the option to do that still, but I figured that this way was much quicker. Knowing you, I'm guessing you're going to prefer the manual way on and off for dramatic effect.' Yui answered, a small grin appearing on her face as she tried to show off how well she knew me already, despite us spending only a day together.

'Well, you got the first part right, and the reasoning to boot. But for taking this thing off, ill happily go with the de-materialized method. It's a lot quicker and more efficient.'

'Darn. Well two out of three isn't so bad.' Yui said, somewhat disappointed at first, but regaining her normal happy-go-lucky attitude.

"Hey, the fact you got two out of three after less than a full day of knowing me is a really good start." I said, making sure Yui stayed happy. It wasn't until I noticed that everyone was staring at me that I realized I said that out loud. "What? I'm still getting use to talking to the voice in my head!"

"RIIIGHT…" Robert said with a smirk on his face. "Next thing you know, the same voice will tell you to kill everyone, or try to take over the world, or both! We don't know what she'll tell you to do!"

"Just so you know, I have coding to prevent me from thinking that, regardless of how much I want to." Yui said, appearing in front of Robert with a smile.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Yeah that's not creepy at all." Houki and Cecilia said together.

"I'm kidding! Why would I kill the first friends I've ever made?" Yui pouted. "Besides, I can't make J do anything, I have no ways of controlling him or altering things about him unless he gives me undeniable proof that he is allowing it."

"Which won't happen!" I quickly said. "No offence, but unless I'm on the verge of death, again, then I won't be giving you that permission."

"No! My plans for world domination!" Yui yelled sarcastically, causing Robert and I to laugh. Ichika found it slightly funny, but shut up when Houki and Rin glared at him. Cecilia looked visibly disturbed, but just kept walking instead of saying something.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly. Yui and the girls eventually got along better, which took some effort from Yui seeing as they were all really creeped out by the discussion earlier about world domination. After a couple hours of hanging out with them, I said goodbye and headed to my room to catch up on homework from when I missed class. When I got there, however, I was very surprised to see Robert waiting for me.

"We need to talk." Was all he said.

ALRIGHTY GUYS THAT'S CHAPTER 4!

James: Wow, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I know! Even im surprised by it. But it still feels off to me.

James: probably because you planned for more but didn't want to put out such a big chapter.

True, very true. I did intend for this to cover a lot more, but then it would have been too long. All well. MOVING ON, I decided to simply mention the new character in this chapter and get to her next time, so im not TECHNICALLY going against what is said at the beginning.

James: I don't think they really care… I know I don't.

Well, I think that covers just about everything! Oh yeah, I didn't intend for James to end up with Iron Man armor, I was just watching a Iron Man movie marathon and thought, hey, that would make a great armor for James! If you all don't think I should go with that, please let me know. Ill be more than happy to go with what I originally thought up for James instead. UNTIL NEXT TIME!

James: TAKE ME WITH YOU!

THAT'S IT! BACK TO THE PIT WITH YOU!

James: (Muffled screams of agony and terror)