Scene 3B : Secret Weapon / The Accidental Host
- Kamagawa High School -
Breaktime...
"Hey Kogure, did you hear?" Nakajima, One of Kogure's classmates, opens up a topic about a popular rumor that has been the talk around the school campus.
"Huh...? About what?" Eating his sandwich he unfaithfully listens at his grinning classmate who enthusiastically tells the details of the said rumor.
"That the Scarlet Crimson is hiding somewhere in this city..." Nakajima then continued with a whisper, "And rumor has it that she's disguising herself as
a beautiful bystander."
"The Scarlet Crimson, huh?" Kogure pondered, "Who's that?"
"Didn't you know? She's the infamous thief who breaks into the Chevalier's main base and stole some secret weapon from their safe house a few days ago." Nakajima explicitly detailed her 'features' to Kogure, "The only thing they knew about her is that she's in her twenties, having long wavy deep red hair, and had a pair of oddly colored eyes."
"Oddly colored..?" Kogure asks out of curiosity while he continues to munch on his sandwich.
Nakajima then raises his left index finger straight up and faces Kogure with a ghastly look. "They say her eyes had some mysterious effect to anyone who does an eye contact with her. Her hair color is also one of the most distinguishable traits that she had so they named her Scarlet Crimson. I bet she's a hottie with a supermodel booty, if you know what I mean." Answering Kogure's question followed by a creepy grin and awkward movement of his eyebrows.
"A beautiful notorious thief, huh? So, what did she stole?" Kogure asks while sipping up his orange juice, seemingly unaffected by his friend's story.
"That is also a mystery too. Chevalier never revealed what kind of weapon was stolen from them. Some say its Chevalier's ultimate trump card against the NOVAs and their biggest rival, the UN and their IS machines." Nakajima picks up Kogure's chips and munches on it, despite his friend's protest.
"Hmmm..." Kogure grumbled, "Everyone's making a racket of it just because of that?"
"Seriously, What's with you? You always acted like you're not interested what's happening around you." Nakajima asks with raised eyebrow, "It's like you weren't even aware of your surroundings. You're not even batting an eye on that new smoking hot Math teacher who started yesterday."
"Well, it's not much of a big deal, right?" Kogure finishes his sandwich in a single gulp and said, "I often see that new teacher going into the convenience store where I got my part-time job."
"WHAT!?" Nakajima squealed out of disbelief, "And you kept this a secret to your best friend!? How could you!"
"You're exaggerating too much." Kogure dismisses Nakajima's reaction with an exasperated face, "And pipe down that voice of yours, will you?"
"Man, I don't get you at all." Nakajima frowned, "You should be more active in your youth, just like me. The most valuable time of a person's life is his
teenage days, you know." He then points his thumb to himself, "If you do that, you can be as cool as I am. Well, at least you can share the spotlight with me." His smile then flashes brightly like a polished car paint job accompanying it with a wink.
"Seriously? I don't expect you of all people would be saying that to me." Kogure then rolled his eyes lazily at Nakajima, "You're the most unpopular guy here in this school, you know."
"Wh-Whaa!?" Nakajima lets out another exaggerated shriek that echoes throughout the entire Kamagawa campus, "T-THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"
- Shintoshi City, Outskirts -
Nighttime...
"Aah~ Another wasted day..." Sighing in an exhausted tone, Kogure was walking on his way home after his part-time job, tired and bored of his daily dose of School-work-home routine. "I wonder if Hazel or Sayaka-chan's already at my house..." He thought this night will be the same as any other night until...
"Clang...! Swoosh...!"
During his usual nighttime walk on the empty streets he heard weak sounds coming from the outer rim of the city, somewhere near the pier. From what he can tell he concluded it was the sound of metallic objects being pitted against each other.
"Hmmm.. What was that?" He thought to himself, while looking at the wall of buildings that blocks the port side. While not really an adventurer who will jump into any kind of situation just for fun, there are times that his curiosity gets the better of him. And this is one of those instances that tickles his
curiosity.
Kogure unwittingly gets drawn into the noises of clashing metal and sounds of gunfire that was coming from the docking port. He then finds a small pathway Leading up to the Shintoshi docking port. Making his way into the narrow pathways he follows the faint sounds that enchants him to find the origin of these noises.
"What's happening there?"
As he comes closer to the pier the louder the sounds of the grinding metallic sounds. Peeking through the corner of a warehouse he saw an ongoing battle between heavily armored machines that are piloted by half-naked women, which Kogure immediately recognizes.
"I-IS units!?"
He then noticed that three IS machines were facing a single IS unit,which is slightly bulkier and larger than the three. He can tell that their opponent is
somewhat once their ally, due to similar machine design and same logos on their left shoulder armor. The largest one is colored red and black, with golden parts in the joints section. She's armed with a beam rifle that resembles a modified AK-47, a shield that covers the entire length of her left arm and a pair of large combat knives attached on her hips.
On the other hand her enemies are all in green and black hue, but each having different configurations. One of them is armed a pair of medium-sized heat blades, one on each hand and two large anti-vehicle heavy swords stored on its back. Another is equipped with two missile packs strapped both on its shoulder armors, carrying a Sub machine-gun on its right hand while a large bazooka on the left. She also carries a large beam cannon on its backpack folded between its thrusters. The last one is more of a defensive type, equipped with a pair of grappling wires on its hips and two knuckle shields designed to deflect projectiles and ramming enemies.
"What are you doing, Captain!? Why are you attacking us!?" Elena, pilot of the sword type Maverick, is trying to reason out with their rogue leader who
suddenly launches a surprise attack on the three of them.
"Elena, don't you guys realize what you're trying to do!? The largest Maverick unit spoke, "If we actually succeeded in destroying the Chevalier and U.N. at the cost of our own lives, then who's going to protect humanity from the threat of the NOVAs!?"
"Both Chevalier and U.N. are now nothing more than just puppets of selfish individuals who mocked and trample our own pride and noble cause as soldiers!" retorted Josephine, pilot of the Artillery type Maverick. "With our own strength we will crush these oppressive authorities and we will remake the world's government in our own image, for the benefit of the people!"
"And do you really think that wasting more lives just for that would be good idea!?" The rogue IS Captain then clenches her fists, "Isn't it about time we realize that this isn't about ideals, it's all about doing greater good for the sake of humanity!?"
"What are you saying, captain!?" Anise, the defensive type's pilot cried out. "We shouldn't be fighting like this! Please come back to our side!"
"Please Captain, stop this! Didn't you join us to take revenge to Chevalier for what they did to you and your family!?" Elena protested.
"It's true, I cannot forgive the Chevalier for taking away my family from me..." Their traitorous leader spoke in a stern voice, "but I don't want to endanger humanity's future just for my selfish reasons!"
"Captain..."
The three IS pilots then glanced at each other before returning their focus on their turncoat leader.
"...I guess you have shown your true color, huh?" Elena then brandishes her two heat blades and points her weapon at her former leader, "In that case, prepare to die!"
And after that, the red and black themed Maverick sighed, "Well, guess we're done in negotiations, are we?"
The 3 mechanized female warriors then simultaneously launches an attack against their own leader whom they managed to corner in a wall of massive shipping containers, boosting up their own thrusters. Josephine takes a distance and fires a volley of missiles and bullets at their rogue comrade, but she easily evades the bullets and shoots the missiles down, attacking head-on the long-range style IS with a large heat knife. However, she is quickly intercepted by Anise, ambushing her from the side and punching her relentlessly.
The Commander type Maverick manages to block it by concentrating most of her AB into her left hand guard, then fires a flash bang hidden in her shield that temporarily blinds the Anise, which she uses the opportunity to counter punch the defensive type IS, slamming her to Josephine's IS and knocking down the two units.
"This is the end!" The rogue captain was about to deliver the fatal blow to her former comrades, only to be slashed from behind by the swift Elena using her pair of heat swords. The IS leader almost loses her balance from the surprise attack, but she was able regain her composure and catches off-guard the sword type by firing a hidden beam gun on her skirt armor, temporarily knocking her down for a while.
"Heh, looks like I do have talent for piloting this machine..." The IS leader said to herself, "...But I guess you three weren't that incompetent as I
thought, right?" She then looks at her three former subordinates, who are already standing up on their feet.
Meanwhile, Kogure's amazed seeing the battle up close as he peeps from the corner of the warehouse.
"What are they doing, ganging up against their own leader..." talking to himself Kogure continues to watch as the red leader IS was being continuously beaten and battered by the three IS units. "I better call the police..." He then pulls out his cellphone from his pocket and makes a call to the Shintoshi Police Station and reporting everything about the situation while he still watches the IS pilots duking it out.
"Kuhhhaack!"
No sooner the battle ends with the red IS leader being thrown towards a pile of trash, just inches away from where Kogure was hiding. After Kogure finishes his emergency call he quickly runs toward the defeated IS unit.
"Hey, are you alright!? Hey!" Kogure attempts to wake her up by shaking her body, but to no avail. He attempts to tap her helmet repeatedly but the IS pilot doesn't give any response. "They really got her good."
Afterwards her helmet that covers her face then slowly chips away, revealing her white left cheek to Kogure. Tempted to look at her face Kogure dares to remove her helmet with extreme caution, sliding it slowly to prevent it from further chipping away. What he didn't expect to see is...
"R-Red-haired!? "Then that means you're-" Kogure remembers what Nakajima told him. A woman in her early twenties who had deep red hair. But that's not the only thing Kogure was stunned to see...
"Khhh...huh?" Slowly regaining consciousness the IS pilot leader then looked at the boy with a surprised look, wondering who or why he is staring at him. Kogure's suspicion confirms it; mystic eyes, one is colored light green while the other is dark purple hue. Kogure is also shocked to see that the Scarlet Crimson resembles the very person he treasured the most.
"N-No way..." Kogure shakily mumbled, "Ne...Nee-san!?"
"H-Huh!?" Dumbfounded after the boy called her his sister, the rogue IS pilot silently stared at the boy. Snapping out of her trance she shouts at him with, "G-Get the hell out of here-Khh!" The IS pilot cringes as her wounds give her a stinging sensation.
"E-Eeeh!?" Kogure quickly backed away a little after the IS pilot ordered him with a sharp voice. He then thought to himself, "I can't leave her like this,
can I?" Seeing her in pain makes Kogure hesitant to follow her instruction so he instead tries to help her get away from the wreckage of her machine. "H-Hold on, let me help you.."
"J-Just what are you doing!? Didn't I told you to run away!?" The IS pilot pushes him away while she's still struggling to move her damaged machine.
Despite that she shrugs him off Kogure still insists on giving her a helping hand. "I said leave me already!"
"No!" Kogure protested, "I-I can't leave you like this!"
She then thought, "What's this kid's problem?" Seeing that he can't convince the boy with words she does something that Kogure never expected, "Ah, I see. Then..." the Scarlet Crimson then slowly points her gun at him, "If you don't want to listen to me, then...I'll shoot you."
"Ah..." Kogure was frozen in spot after the IS pilot threaten him with a gun pointed at his chest, until...
*BLAAM!*
A single bullet then get past above them, missing the two by just centimeters away. The three other IS pilots are now already closing in towards them.
"Tch, they recover pretty quickly..." The Scarlet Crimson is now randomly flipping every single switches on her unit desperate to activate her IS boosters
that was badly damaged from her previous battle. "C'mon, move it already!"
"This is bad, I've got to help her!" Kogure wanted to help her but he's still held at gunpoint by the Scarlet Crimson.
"D-Didn't you hear!? I said run away already!" The Scarlet Crimson yelled at Kogure, trying to persuade the boy to run away from her position.
"It's over now, Captain." Deploying her beam cannon Josephine began charging her weapon while steadily aiming at her former superior.
"Wait! I have a civilian with me!" The Scarlet Crimson cried out to the three pleading not to involve Kogure.
"It's too late for that now!" Ignoring her protest the artillery type Maverick then unleashes a huge beam blast at the two, engulfing them with a concentrated dark red light.
"Huh!?" Still in a daze Kogure could only look as he was seemingly swallowed by the huge red light coming towards him. Until...
"Look out!" He heard a voice just before his vision completely blacked out from the blast.
Kogure's thoughts have gone blank during the blast until he passes out. When he woke up he finds himself in the bosom of the Scarlet Crimson that had held him for a while.
"Aahh.." Still couldn't comprehend what had just happened Kogure remained motionless from his position, until he saw the woman who saved her was bathing in her own blood.
In a desperate last-minute decision, the Scarlet Crimson uses up all the energy reserves of her machine to increase her IS Absolute Barrier level just enough to withstand the blunt of the impact for a few seconds. Jumping into the boy as fast as she could she grabs him and curls herself up to protect herself and the boy, shielding both of them from the blast but sacrificing her machine in the process.
"Khh, aahh..." Still writhing in pain the Scarlet Crimson tries to stand up but she had difficulty breathing and her knees are shaking like that of a child
trying to walk for the first time.
"Hey, are you alright?" Kogure, already aware of his surroundings realizes that the Scarlet Crimson protected him from the blast and is already bleeding to death.
"Ughh..." While coughing up an ounce of blood she then thought, "Heh, Even if I became an enemy of humanity I still feel responsible for this boy's safety." With her machine still intact but no longer operational she realized, "Ah, I see...The euthanating device is broken..." She then looked at the boy whom she saved earlier and said, "R...un..away...now...Don't waste...my efforts, okay?" before she finally loses consciousness.
"Hey! come on now! You're still alive, right!?" Kogure repeatedly agitates the Scarlet Crimson's face to wake her up, but to no avail. While desperately
trying to help the Scarlet Crimson a strange shiny object fell from her chest. Curious he then picks up the hexagonal metallic chip she dropped.
Despite being the size of a coin, it's quite heavy for its size, it's like carrying one and a half liter of water. It heavily resembles the stigmatas implanted to Pandoras, but it had digitally embedded electronic circuits all over its surface. He then crawls out of the Scarlet Crimson's grasp only to be confronted by the three IS pilots.
"What the hell is this...?" Kogure pondered, while examining the metallic chip up close. What he fails to notice is that the three IS pilots were now closing in towards him.
Elena then yelled at the boy, "You! Hand that over!" She demanded, pointing at the very thing Kogure was holding.
"Huh? this?" He innocently asks, raising the chip up in the air. However, he notices something strange on the metallic chip itself. He felt something like a
pulse coming from the device.
"Hm? What in the...?" When Kogure look at his hand holding the device, he realizes his hand is getting warmer by the minute. The pulsating sensation becomes stronger, and getting a bit painful for him. Kogure then finds himself in a trance when he stares at the stigmata-like object as it glows in an eerie bluish-black light. And in a moment...
"WhoaH! Whooaaahh!"
Detecting New User...
Resetting past Biometrics data...
Adjusting synchronization based on Ereinbar levels...
Creating neuro-link emulator to nerve and brain tissue..
Restoring time/space axis control unit...
Setup Complete!
"AAAAaaaaahhhhh!" Feeling intense pain Kogure looks in horror as the metallic chip digs into his left hand, his skin absorbing the metallic chip and
embedding itself into his palm.
"Ugghh, Aaahhh! What the hell... What the heck is this!?" Crying out of pain Kogure is desperately rolling on the ground trying to soothe out the burning sensation on his left hand.
"Tch, it already fuses with him, huh?" Josephine then readies her weapons and steadily aims at Kogure. "Even if you're a civilian, we won't let you get away with our secret weapon!"
"Huh!? H-Hey, wait!" Kogure panicked as solid projectiles began flying towards him. Having nowhere to hide or escape he raises his hand out of instinct.
before the bullets could even reach him all of a sudden they stopped within a meter radius away from him, surprising the IS pilots and himself. They then notice a faint blue light that surrounds Kogure, which is also outlined by a honeycomb like bright white lines.
"Tha-That's-!" Elena couldn't believe what she saw, but Anise confirms the ability the boy displayed.
"Freezing..."
Waving his left hand down he then unknowingly commands the bullets and missiles surrounding at him turns around and aims at the three, and then one by one the bullets and missiles charges towards the three IS pilots catching them by surprise. They managed to evade all of the SMG rounds, but each of them had been directly hit or grazed by the missiles that he sends back towards them. Decided to attack at point-blank Elena and Anise dashes forward and attempts to hit him with their melee weapons, only to be stopped midway by the freezing field and ends up being blown away with an invisible energy blast exerted by the field barrier itself.
"How did that boy..." Amazed at the same time frightened the moment she saw the freezing field's abilities, Josephine is out of words to describe her reaction from what she saw.
"Wh-What the heck did I do!?" Still disoriented Kogure still can't comprehend what was happening around him and remained standing in front of the three. He then looked at his left hand and said, "Aahh...what was that, just now?"
"So physical bullets won't affect him, huh?" Running out of options the artillery type finally deploys her beam cannon, "Then...how about this!"
"Aah! Wait! Wait!" Seeing Josephine is now recharging her ace weapon he attempts to run away, only to trip himself on a small rock slamming his body
on the ground. "Khh, Dammit!" He blurted out.
Before he realized it the huge blast of energy had already hurling towards him. He then closes his eyes bracing for impact and waited for his death. That however was falsified when the beam races through him it just bounces off or gone sideways after it made contact from Kogure's freezing barrier.
"H-He deflected the beams!?" Incredulously seeing it with her own eyes the artillery type was stunned to see that the blast didn't even affect the barrier, not even harming Kogure.
"Whoah..." Opening his eyes Kogure's mesmerized that he is still alive even after he supposed to be vaporized by the Gerobi type beam. Thoroughly checking his body whether any of his limbs had blown away or melted from the attack.
"Hmm, looks like nothing's missing." He commented to himself.
"Dammit, looks like it's not going to be easy taking him down." The artillery type murmured, already trembling in fear as none of their weapons were effective against his freezing field.
In the middle of his crisis the stigmata-like object then glows more intense than before, seemingly resonating to what's left in the Scarlet Crimson's IS and equipment. Suddenly the wreckage of the battle damaged commander-type Maverick IS suddenly activated by itself, ejected its unconscious pilot, and slowly crawls toward Kogure.
"Eh!? What the!?" Kogure's terrified to see that the IS unit is moving without its pilot, and its drawing closer towards him.
"Wh-What's going on!?" The three IS pilots were also in a state of shock, as they've never seen an IS that moves without its own pilot.
The battered Maverick IS then suddenly jumps toward Kogure, touching the chest console with his left hand. He unwittingly opens the cockpit of the custom-made Maverick, its manipulator arms grabbing his torso and forces him into the controls of the machine. Now trapped inside the IS, several information began flooding Kogure's vision, much to his confusion. What's worse is he began having the urge to fight using it, confusing him even more. Kogure begans to move the damaged IS and begins to effectively maneuvering it like he was a professional IS pilot.
"That boy...He managed to remotely control that damaged Maverick!? Wait, how is it even possible he can pilot it!?" Elena readies her weapon in a defensive stance.
"Must be that Stigmata in his hand had grant him that ability." Anise concluded, preparing herself for another attack.
Activating Infinite Stratos Combat Emulator, overwriting previous pilot's registered ID...
"W-What in the...? What was that, just now...?" Kogure thought to himself, terrified that he is hearing voices in his head. It didn't even help him that he
becomes quickly accustomed to the machine that he was forced to pilot.
"Khh...Die! Die already!" The artillery type unleashes another barrage of bullets this time she uses all of her weapons to shoot down Kogure. However, despite the violent barrage of bullets Kogure managed to break though using his new-found ability to create a barrier of freezing, and jumps forward to the three IS pilots.
"AAAAAaaaHHhhhhh! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!" Kogure cries out, as he directed his reckless rush attack against Elena.
"F-Fine! I'll take you on!" Elena cries out, then fires up her thrusters and charges towards Kogure.
Before she even can swing down her heat blade Kogure speeds up and tackles Elena down on the ground. He then grabs the anti-vehicle sword from her back by grappling and rolling himself along with Elena on the ground until he positions himself behind her. While heavily damaged and had no longer access to any of its weapons the Commander type Maverick proved more than capable to grapple with Elena's Maverick.
"This is mine now!" Kogure shouted, as he forcefully pulls out the large sword from her backpack unit and practically equips it. After a few minutes both Kogure and Elena are up on their feet facing each other.
Overriding weapon code restriction, loading previous combat data...
"Khh! Damn you!" Elena's surprised that not only he manages to steal her weapon, but capable of wielding it without any difficulties. Recovering from her previous knock down she then charges toward Kogure and tries to disarm him by slashing his wrists, but with his free hand he grabs her heat blade, lifts it up and throws it backwards along with her whole IS unit, catching Elena off guard.
"Eih, Don't underestimate me!" Elena then maneuvers her machine in the air and draws her other anti-vehicle sword. However it was too late for her to realize that she made a grave mistake.
"Take this!" Using the opportunity to strike Elena while she was still in the air and her abdominal area is wide open for an attack, Kogure swings his newly acquired weapon up in a full 180 degree angle against Elena, cutting through her AB and fatally wounding her abdomen.
"Kuhhaaack! Ugh..." Slamming hard on the ground, Elena curls up while writhing in pain until she passes out.
"Khh, You'll pay for that!" With his back facing her, Anise attempts a sneak punch attack on Kogure. But in the last second Kogure kicks away Anise's weapon down, at the same time counterattacks by punching her away from him. She then fires her grappling wires at his sword to pull it away from him, but the commander type IS proved more powerful than her unit, pulling Anise towards him instead. At that moment Kogure jumps forward and swings his sword at full force against her to deliver a fatal blow. Anise then places her knuckle shields in front of her to block his attack, but the force of the sword's impact made her efforts in vain, as the sword slashes through her shields and cuts through her flesh.
"Dammit... Dammit!" Was Anise's last words before Kogure cuts her clean on the stomach, killing her in the process.
"Huff... Huff... Did I... Did I just-!?" By the moment Kogure got up, he glances at his left side only to see a muzzle pointing at his face.
"That's as far as you can go." Right after defeating Anise, Josephine quickly closes in to Kogure and was already aiming at his head point-blank past his freezing barrier. "Now if you will obediently come along with me I can guarantee your-huh?"
Suddenly Kogure grabs Josephine's SMG with his free hand and crushes it with little effort, much to her horror. She attempts to fire her bazooka at him but it ends up sliced in half by his sword. She then decides to jump away from him, but finds herself planted down on the ground and could not move an inch.
"I... I can't move!?" Josephine's terrified to realize that she cannot move her body due to being trapped by Kogure's freezing field. In a last desperate move she deploys her beam cannon and aims at his chest, "At this distance, I won't going to-Ghaack!"
"Die!" In a quick stab of his sword Kogure punctures Josephine's chest armor all the way through her back, destroying her beam cannon and cancelling her attack.
Coughing up blood and losing balance, "What the hell... What the hell is this!?" was the last thoughts of Josephine before she loses consciousness and falls down on solid ground.
Terminating emulation, reverting to Standby Mode...
"Finally... It's finished... Kuuuhh...Uugghh..." Already at his limit Kogure slowly closes his eyes and quietly fainted after he finally defeated his last opponent, with the voices in his head had already subsided. The red and black colored IS then shuts down, while his machine still stood firmly in place. He was then ejected by the IS machine itself, letting himself fall on the ground.
"Hmmm...huh?" Finally awake, the Scarlet Crimson slowly stands up and observes her surroundings, looking at the carnage. "What happened here...?" She's horrified to see the scene where the three IS units were heavily damaged and their pilots are brutally killed.
Catching her attention was the unconscious boy who had his hand glowing in a dark bluish light. "I see, I was too late..." The Scarlet Crimson grumbled to herself as she closes her eyes , "It already found its new host..."
The Scarlet Crimson then cautiously walks toward the boy, and checks his pulse rate. Confirming that he's alive she then lifts him up and carries him on her shoulder, like how a construction worker carries a sandbag on his shoulder.
She then whispers to the boy saying, "But don't worry, I'll make sure you're not going to suffer the same fate as him..." she left the pier taking Kogure with him and vanishes into the night...
Part 2 of 2 end