Change my Mind

by Xenowishes

A young boy discovers he can activate the IS. This should be a dream come true until he realizes how insane these death machines are. Forget being a pilot, he just wants to live in peace. Now his government is forcing him to attend IS Academy. With rogue IS units, mad scientists, and terrorists targeting the Academy, the boys have one job. Stay alive.

11. The Class League Match Part 3

The conclusion to the arc is upon us. Thank you all for sticking with the story so far and I hope you continue reading as I update. I hope you've all bee enjoying the summer time!

This marks my longest chapter yet, fitting for the end of an arc.

Enjoy Chapter 11.

An American child and a British teenage sniper were leading a killer machine away from their home to protect everyone they knew and loved.

What sounded like the plot of a B-list movie was currently ensuing.

Jayden's shield came up to block the black IS's fist, from punching his lights out. Only for the ensuing force to still send him flying across the water until he could stabilize himself. Cecilia used the opportunity to rain suppressive fire with her bits from above to giving Jayden extra time to recuperate and continue running.

The IS countered with two energy blasts from its hands, forcing Cecilia to scatter her bits to evade.

"Can't you fly any faster?" Cecilia yelled.

"I would if I could. This is as fast as my IS can go!" Jayden yelled back. Only to yelp as another pink laser flew past him, hitting the water causing it to erupt.

Even with Cecilia provided covering fire to slow down that IS, Jayden was barley keeping a fair distance ahead of it. Jayden's IS was still in default mode, and its current base speed wasn't worth bragging about.

"Just keep moving. I'll focus on keeping you safe." Cecilia fired another at the IS.

The stragety of leading the IS away from the academy seemed to be working as the IS staff gave updates on how the shield energy levels were beginning to drop. If this plan continued the machinery could return to normal and help could be sent while evacuating the island.

Above the ocean Cecilia continued to take aim with her starlight rifle, delivering another barrage of hits onto the IS. However, like before the black IS didn't seem phased by her attack, continuing its focus on Jayden.

"Look out!"

Jayden gritted his teeth as barely got his shield up in time to block, but it being so powerful the blast blew him back. While his shield helped, the resulting impact was too large and powerful to fully block, and his shield energy suffered for it.

"Jayden! Are you all right?"

"Peachy…" Sweat ran down his face his IS showed his remaining shield energy was just barley above 80. One more attack like that would be curtains for him. "Nova Union can't take much more of this."

"I'm aware of that." Cecilia's eye twitched. Their plan was beginning to unravel. Jayden's shield energy was dangerously low, and they were barely halfway to the rendezvous with mainland reinforcements. Before she could contemplate what to do next, her radar gave her an update on the units in the vicinity. "Jayden, another unit's approaching!"

"What!" A quick glance at his radar confirmed Cecilia's statement. Another unit flying a fair distance behind the black IS was heading towards them. "Is it one of those reinforcement girls?"

"It shouldn't be. We're nowhere near our target location."

"So it's not on our side?"

"I can't say. The energy reading from that IS is one I've never seen before."

Using 360-degree vision and enhanced zoom, they were able to view the incoming IS. This one was colored orange angular armor. On its knees, the armor seemed more spherical in design at the joints. Armor on the arms seemed standard with light armor bracers. The only concern was that they couldn't see If there was a person piloting the IS from their angle.

"Whoever you are in the orange IS unit, identify yourself now." Cecilia demanded.

…

…

…

No answer.

Both pilots felt a sense of dread in the air.

Jayden was trying his best not to completely lose it. One enemy IS was bad yet manageable. But two would be more than they could handle.

Cecilia once again was forced to use the bits of Blue to slow down their enemy's advance. Only this time the black IS powered through her barrage, smacking one of the bits down into the explosion with a boom. It than flew up till it was parallel across form Jayden as it extended its arm, preparing a final blast to knock Jayden out of the sky.

Jayden squeaked as he held out his last defense, praying for a miracle.

Just as it was about to fire, some sort of green arrow projectile made of energy launched from the orange IS that was now holding a bow. The arrow managed to knock the IS's aim off course causing its attack to miss Jayden.

The IS than recalled its weapon and sped up till it a good thirty feet above. Once in position it dove down in what looked to be a kicking stance. As it got on top of the black IS, the orange IS twisted its body to perform a spin kick, sending the black IS into the water with a large splash.

Both teens were stunned by the act this newcomer had performed. With that out of the way forn the orange IS unit approached them. Cecilia positioned herself in front of Jayden, ready to shoot with her starlight rifle if necessary. Thankfully to both teens relief they could now see there was a human piloting this IS.

She looked to be a teenage girl, about Cecilia's age with slightly tanned skin. Her bob-style haircut was a darkish green color and her violet colored eyes were shifting about, unable to meet their gazes. Not to mention she looked… way too familiar. Heck she looked a lot like Vishnu.

Jayden blinked. There was no way. The stress must be making his eyes play tricks on him.

"Alcott. Sylvan. Why have you stopped, what the hell is going on? And who is that with you?" Chifuyu spoke through the broadcast. "And you, the one who just met up with Alcott and Sylvan, identify yourself."

The girl stammered about, talking so quietly that not even a microphone would make her audiable.

"Talk so I can hear you!" Chifuyu demanded.

That didn't help her at all.

"V-Vishnu?" Jayden asked.

The fact she looked his way when he asked her name and managed a small wave she confirmed the girl in the orange IS unit was indeed the same shy girl he could barely hold a conservation with. Jayden's jaw would've dropped to the depths of the ocean if it was long enough.

"Ms. Orimura. This is Vishnu. She's a student at our school, same year as me." .

Cecilia's eyes widened, hearing that name jogged her memory. "Ma'am. He's correct. With us is Vishnu Isa Galaxy, representative cadet of Thailand and the personal pilot of the IS Durga Singh."

Representative cadet! Personal pilot! Jayden's draw dropped even further thanks to the bomb Cecilia dropped.

"That's your personal IS unit!?"

"Yes. This is my IS. Durga Singh." Vishnu poked her fingers together, her gaze downward toward the sea.

There was so much Jayden wanted to ask but, Chifuyu interrupted them to get things back on track. "Galaxy, how were you able to get out from the arena? All the students in there are still trapped inside."

"Arena? I-I was never in the arena." Vishnu answered. "I watched the tournament from outside. Then I saw the IS invade and I went into hiding."

Jayden remembered that she mentioned she'd be watching the tournament in the courtyard to avoid interacting with anyone.

"I watched everything when Jayden and Ms. Alcott flew away. I also eavesdropped on your conservation earlier. Please don't be mad."

"That's fine. Saves us the trouble of explaining whats going on. All of you, keep leading the IS towards the rendezvous point. Galaxy, you're to aid Alcott in keeping the IS away from Sylvan. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am" The three students answered in unison.

Perfect timing as the black IS menacingly arose from the ocean depths The IS was a robot, and thus incapable of showing emotion. Still. Everyone would agree that the black IS's mood seemed to be livid.

The three pilots booked it.

The plan hadn't changed, The IS was still chasing Jayden so they flew away from the Academy with the IS following. The only difference now was they had two representative cadets to slow down their enemy. Cecilia and Vishnu fired their weapons from afar to keep the IS from getting too close.

Vishnu sighed in relief as her arrow barely hit its mark.

Key word being barely.

"We're about halfway to the rendezvous." Cecilia reported. Once they got there, they could leave this metal menace to the authorities.

"Holy cow, we may actually pull this off!" Jayden said.

Vishnu exhaled as she hadn't messed up yet.

"Everyone better be cheering our names when we get back."

"E-everyone!" Vishnu tried very hard not to think about the many people now counting on her to help make sure this plan went off. And they'd all be thinking about every move she made and her performance. Her mind than wondered if there were even doing it now.

"Do you think they're watching?" Vishnu's hand started to shake, even with the additional movement her energy arrow managed to graze the side of the black IS.

"Huh?"

"Do you think…. anyone is watching us do this."

"I doubt they'll have visual since we're this far out." Cecilia said.

Vishnu sighed in relief.

"But they may be able to broadcast audio if they wanted to." Cecilia guessed.

Vishnu's breathing rate sped up. Her hand slipped and the arrow flew out, missing the IS by about six feet. Luckily Cecilia was able to have her drones make up for it.

"Don't worry Vishnu. No matters who's watching, you'll do great!" Jayden reassured.

To anyone that would be a sign of reassurance, but to Vishnu it wasn't. If he was counting on her that meant it was all on her to do well. If something went wrong, he would blame her. Anyone that went wrong now would be due to her poor performance. She began to sweat as her free hand clutched her chest to try to stabilize herself.

With both girls holding their fire, the IS saw another opportunity to charge an attack. It held out its hands as it's palms glowed a bright pink, indicating dual lasers were about to fire.

"Galaxy, you knock the right hand off course. I'll get the left." Cecilia ordered,

Vishnu's vision felt blurry, like the whole world was shaking.

"Hurry!"

Cecilia's laser shot hit the fight hand to knock its shot off course.

In a panic, Vishnu fired an arrow only for it to fly straight past the left hand.

Thankfully Jayden managed to swiftly lean to the right to avoid the hazardous laser.

"I'm okay!" Jayden called out!

A sigh of relief left Cecilia's lips while Vishnu…

I almost doomed everyone….

Vishnu's breathing was turning into hyperventilating. Everyone was counting on her. And if she messed up, her failure would lead to so many deaths. Her mind continued to delve deeper into the what-ifs on her poor performance. Every end conclusion was the plan failing and the academy destroyed.

All because she was here.

"I've made a huge mistake!" Immediately the Taiwan representative broke away from their rag tag formation,

"Ms. Galaxy, what are you doing!?" Cecilia yelled. She didn't know what to make of this erratic behavior nor where it came from. Only it couldn't have picked a worse time to rear its ugly head.

"I… I DON'T KNOW!" Vishnu hugged her body as she shut her eyes tight. This was important, so why was she doing this when needed most? "I shouldn't be here, I'm just a big mistake!" She just wanted everything to stop. To go find a place to hide and curl into a ball and cry. Out of panic, she fired another energy arrow, almost hitting Jayden.

"Vishnu? Calm down Vishnu, it'll be okay." Jayden tried to reassure her.

"No, it isn't!"

"Ms. Galaxy, you have to pull yourself togeth- GAHH!"

Taking advantage of the confusion, the enemy IS had gotten into melee range with Cecilia and smacked her out of the way. One obstacle was down, now it aimed for the second. The black IS aimed its beam arm at Vishnu. The pink glow started to accumulate.

"Vishnu look out!"

Vishnu was too distraught to even hear his voice. The IS unleashed its destructive energy beam.

"MOVE!"

It felt like time had been slowed to a crawl. Vishnu was lost in herself believing she didn't deserve to be here in the first place. Then she felt herself be pushed ahead, following by feeling a massive beam of energy behind where she just was. Only it sounded like the beam had made contact something.

When Vishnu opened her eyes, her hyperventilating ceased and she couldn't muster the will to breathe. Even with the 360-degree view granted by the Infinite Startos, Vishnu didn't believe what she saw till she looked with her own eyes. Jayden's IS looked to be burned to a crisp as it continued to fall and fall.

Despite her calls for him to respond, he never did.

Water erupted as Jayden crashed into the ocean.

/-/

Back at the academy, the staff was monitoring the situation while trying to somehow shut down the energy barriers. There were no video cameras far enough from the academy to view what was going on, so the staff resorted to radar to keep tabs on what was happening with the students. On the main monitor, there were four dots representing each IS unit.

"Ms. Orimura! The radar! Something happened." Maya brought everyone's attention to the radar. Earlier it had shown four IS units on screen, now there were only three dots.

Chifuyu turned on the intercom for communications to get an update. "Sylvan, report whats going on."

The only answer Chifuyu got was static

"Galaxy, report!"

It sounded like she was hyperventilating. Unfortunately breathing rapidly didn't count as an answer.

"Alcott. Report now. Please!" There was a hint of desperation in her voice.

"I'm here Ma'am." Cecilia spoke, prompting some sighs of relief from the staff.

"What's the status of the situation?"

"Jayden… was shot down into the ocean. Vishnu also appears to be shaken from what happened."

The room was silent.

Than the silence was immedicably broken by the only man in the room slamming his fists on the controls.

"I knew this would happen. Everyone here knew this was dangerous, but you still let them go." Gelimer would kicked the chair over if it hadn't been bolted down to the floor. There was an aching feeling in his foot, but he was too angry to care.

All the other staff members in the room were silent as they watched the only male staff member in the academy call out the legendary brunhilde.

"Mr. Brighton. This is not the time for this." Chifuyu warned.

"Oh, I disagree. Now that one of our students is dead, I think it's the perfect time to point out the IS sized elephant in the room! You made unwilling children fight this battle."

Despite the accusation, Chifuyu made no change in her tone or emotion. "You didn't seem to have any complaints when Orimura or Huang were fighting."

"Because they wanted to do that." Gelimer wasn't criticizing her on having children battle, but rather the fact they were forced to fight that IS. "Those two knew the risks when they charged at that IS. But Jayden's different. He's not like the others. I've seen him pilot my IS for monthes." It was one thing to send a child into a battle, but another to send out someone who obviously didn't want to fight.

"Sylvan is a pilot and student of this school. As a personal IS unit, he will be called to put himself in harm's way should trouble come. Anyone with a personal unti would be asked the same if needed."

"I don't disagree with you on that. But he's also a child. Heck, all the IS pilots that fought that IS are children! You made children fight that thing!"

"In case you've forgotten, all out guards and IS units are locked in sealed hangars. Would you rather we do nothing while waiting for help?"

Gelimer couldn't think of a response.

"Sylvan chose to carry this out by his own will." She turned back to the screen, seeming finished with this conservation.

This time, Gelimer did have a response. "That's bull! I know Jayden and he wouldn't do anything like this. But he did, and only because you pressured him into doing so." Gelimer's fingers clenched into a fist that began to shake. You didn't give him a choice. You gave an ultimatum." Gelimer cleared his throat. "Sylvan. Lead this IS away or everyone's going to die." He said in his best Chifuyu impersonation.

Chifuyu slammed her fist on the wall to cease him from talking. "Enough. One more word about this and we'll be discussing your termination when this is over."

Gelimer bit his tongue to hold himself back. His heart telling him to speak his mind, but his brain told him to stop. His fingers curled up into a fist and looking just about ready to use it.

"STOP IT!"

Maya threw herself in-between Chifuyu and Gelimer. Things were already bad, and she didn't want them to get any worse than they already were. "Please don't do this. If you start fighting now, than all of us lose." Tears were starting to run down her cheeks.

Seeing Maya like this, both adults felt their anger begin to subside.

"We'll shelve this conversation for later." Chifuyu walked back to her station. "Right now, we have to consider what our next move will be."

The intercom hummed to life again. "Ma'am we have Jayden with us." Cecilia said. "What shall we do with him."

"Leave the corpse where it is." Chifuyu forced herself to say.

"Corpse?"

Cecilia paused.

"Ma'am. Jayden Sylvan isn't dead. You were aware of that right?" Cecilia felt the need to ask.

No one in the control room said a word. Thanks to Cecilia's poor wording and Gelimer's outburst, everyone had just assumed the worst.

"Next time, lead with that information Alcott." Chifuyu demanded.

Gelimer pushed Chifuyu aside to speak into the intercom. "You're positive about that Ms. Alcott? Let me speak to him."

"We've checked that he still has a pulse, although he's currently unconscious and his IS is out of shield energy. He appears fine otherwise though. "

Gelimer felt a huge burden fall off him. Chifuyu shoved Gelimer back to speak.

"What about the IS?"

"It's flying back to the academy, what would you have us do?"

If that IS got back to the academy, they'd be back to square one. Scratch that. Less than square one as the mainland reinforcements were now traveling in the opposite direction of the IS. So, them getting here would take even longer.

"Leave Sylvan where he is, we'll get someone to pick him up later. You and Galaxy need to keep that IS away from the island as long as you can. We'll let the mainland forces know to turn around and head back to the island." Chifuyu gave them a moment to process her orders. "And both of you. Please be safe."

"Understood." Both pilots ended the channel and resumed their duties.

Chifuyu stepped away, ushering everyone to get back to work.

"We'll resolve this discussion later." Chifuyu told Gelimer.

"That would be best."

Maya Yamada rose her hand, urging Chifuyu to come over. "Ma'am, we were able to make a minor breakthrough in the energy systems. We've regained partial control, and can terminate one of the energy shields?"

"Only one system?"

"Afraid so. Once we do so, the program will have to restart itself. Also, I should point out the other energy barriers will take in excess energy faster if we do this. What would you have us do?"

Chifuyu considered the possibilities. Whichever energy shield they terminated would allow whoever was inside to get out, either to help or evacuate. That also meant the other shields would take in energy quicker and lead to an explosion. Still, getting rid of one energy barrier was better than none. That left one question though, which energy shield did they temporary disable?

The shields to the outer arena where Huang and her brother were? The inner arena where the students were trapped, or the hangars where the staff were locked. Or would it be better to leave them as they were.

"Disable the inner arena barrier, that'll let the students escape." Chifuyu decided. As teachers, their highest priority were the students.

Gelimer coughed loudly into his arm. Then again. And again. And again.

"Is there something you'd like to point out Mr. Brighton?" Chifuyu glared.

"None of us here want to lose anybody. If we want to survive, we must deal with our energy overload crisis and the IS that's causing this. I'm not certain about this, but I think there's a way we can do both at once."

Chifuyu folded her arms. "If you have an idea, I'm willing to listen."

"I'll tell you, but I'm going to feel like the world's biggest hyprocrite." Gelimer admitted. Sometimes it was a curse to be so intelligent and beautiful. "You can't hold it against me though."

"Just spit it out already."

"Disable the arena's outer shield energy." Gelimer said.

Both Chifuyu and Maya seemed puzzled.

Maya felt the need to bring up the crucial flaw. "But the only people there are Ms. Huang and Mr. Orimura. Their IS units are too low on shield energy to fight."

"I'm aware of that. But we don't need them for fighting. The key for this problem is your brother Ms. Orimura. With his IS, we can buy solve our overloading problem."

Chifuyu's eyes widened as she picked up on what Gelimer was putting down. It sounded like it would work in theory and if it did, it would be the miracle they needed to save everyone.

"Do it Maya." Chifuyu ordered.

"But why-"

"JUST DO IT!"

The green haired teaching aide flinched and then quickly obeyed.

Gelimer ran towards the hangars while Chifuyu shouted out new orders for the staff. Now, they could be the ones taking action.

/-/

"Where the heck am I?"

Jayden had no idea where he was or what he was doing here. He was pretty sure he was out in the middle of the ocean last time he checked. And this place wasn't an ocean.

It looked like an outer forest clearing. Large trees seemed to cover the outer edges of the place, essentially locking him in what looked like a circular prison. A huge lake was also in front of him, seeming to stretch on beyond the horizon. The only place of interest Jayden could see was an old log cabin near the edge of the lake.

The grass gave way beneath him as he walked towards the unfamiliar cabin. It seemed to have been there for quite some time with the scratches and chipping on it. Jayden was able to make out a human shape sitting near the edge.

"Hey!" Jayden called out. Whoever that was didn't respond. Maybe they couldn't hear him?

The floorboard below creaked as he stepped up the stairs. The wood of the cabin looked old but well-polished and the wooden railings were missing a few pieces. Other than that, it looked like a well-made structure.

On closer inspection, the person looked to be a girl, probably in her late teens. She wore a familiar looking lab coat that covered her body while a nice-looking sun straw hat sat on her head to partially cover her long white hair.

"Hey!" Jayden walked across the deck over to her. "Hi there. Think you can tell me where I am?"

The girl reeled in her line, inspecting the empty hook before giving it another cast back into the lake.

"Uh? Hello?"

She scratched an itch on her nose.

"HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

The girl gripped her rod even tighter.

Wait a minute. Waking up after a fatal attack. In an unknown location. And no seemed to hear or respond to you. Jayden's eyes widened. This could only mean one thing…

"Oh god! I'm dead!" Jayden gripped his face in realization. Now it all made sense. He'd gotten killed fighting that IS and now he was sent to another world. Was this supposed to be heaven, he thought it was supposed to be more angelic like!

So many things he wanted to do! Go to outer space, kiss a girl, get married, break a world record. Jayden crouched into a ball; he was on the verge of killing over. Was it possible to die again if you were already dead.

"Ugh. You're not dead you idiot." The girl through her . "Though you may as well be."

That snapped Jayden out of his mental dilemma. "Wait! So, you can hear me."

"Unfortunately." She said in annoyance.

Well at least he wasn't dead. One question down, a few more to go.

"So why am I here and where exactly is here?" Jayden asked.

"Think back to what you did, and it should be obvious." The girl answered.

Jayden recalled everything he could from today. Starting with the invading IS and ending with himself pushing Vishnu out of harms way and putting himself into it. Jayden clapped his hands in realization.

"I'm dreaming! I got knocked out from that IS's attack and I'm currently unconscious, dreaming up this entire place." Jayden deduced, seeming quite smug for figuring it out. He never imagined lucid dreaming would make things seem this realistic.

The girl rolled her eyes and reached back for her fishing rod. "Sure, let's go with that."

Jayden sighed in relief, taking a seat in one of the wooden chairs. "At least everyone should be okay."

"What makes you say that?"

"Now that I'm out of the picture, that IS will the academy alone." Jayden concluded. With no more male pilots to fight, it wouldn't have reason to stick around. He closed his eyes and leaned back to get comfy.

"Wrong."

"Come again?"

She turned to face him, revealing herself to have what looked like lab goggles around her neck. "Just because that IS unit took you out doesn't mean it's going to stop. I looked through the IS core network to look at its programming. From what I saw, it's searching for male opponents to gather data on their battle style and IS units."

That would explain why it prioritized fighting Ichika and Jayden over everyone else so far.

"The IS is currently on route back to the Academy. Presumably to look for more males to get data on."

"What about Cecilia and Vishnu?"

"After making sure you were alive, they placed you on nearby rocks so you didn't drown, the pilots of Blue Tears and Durga Singh than pursued the IS."

If that IS got back to the Academy, it would cause all the energy barriers to overload again. Sure, Vishnu and Cecilia were amazing pilots, but all of them had struggled against that monster. Plus something was wrong with Vishnu.

"You so called 'sacrifice' only made things worse. Had you let the pilot of Durga Smith get shot down, you could've continued to lead the IS away from the island. But instead you chose to be a big hero and save her. Your so-called bravery was nothing more than stupidity." Finished with her explanation, the girl resumed fishing.

For a short while, Jayden couldn't do anything but stare with his mouth agape. All he wanted to do was try to save everyone. To be brave like his fellow peers had been doing. Did that mentality end up ruining up everything? Sure, this was just his imagination talking, but why did it feel so real?

"I… I… didn't realize…"

"Of course, you didn't. You didn't think it through and ended up making it worse." The girl commented.

"Then I have to go help them! "

"Irrelevant. With your strength, whether you assist or not won't make a difference."

"You don't know anything about me." Jayden defended.

"I know you much more than you think I do. Are you aware of all the settings in your IS, how to perform aerial maneuvers at high speed when you have less than seconds to think? And don't get me started on your lack of weaponry." The girl gave glared at Jayden as though she were looking right through him. "So, I'll say it again. Whether you go or not doesn't make a difference."

Jayden was silent. He wanted to argue that she was wrong, but that was hard to do when your opponent was correct. Still he knew everyone was probably doing all they could to fight that IS. Like Cecilia, even though her attacks weren't effective, she still fought to protect others. Heck Houki had come to give her support even without an IS unit.

"I'm going back out there, even if all I do is make things a little easier for everyone. It's still something..."

She slammed her fist on the deck. "Did you not hear me? With your level of strength, you won't make a difference." Was the boy deaf? "Do you think you can contribute as much as your fellow pilots can!?"

"No."

The girl paused, not expecting that answer.

"I get it. I'm not as strong as everyone else. Ichika. Lingyin. Vishnu… Cecilia." That last name sounded a bit harder to say. "They're the ones with incredible machines who can do amazing things. Shoot from insanely long distances, fire invisible blasts, an insanely powerful sword, and knew what other abilities Jayden would see with future IS units. Meanwhile all he could do was hold out a shield and try to block damage. Heck, I'm literally a meat shield for the others."

The girl folded her arms. This seemed like a mix of half brave and half stupid.

"You are aware your safety is not guaranteed if you go fight that IS unit."

"Trust me, I know I'm probably almost certainly definitely going to die, but I'd be okay with that if everyone else gets to live..." This time Jayden answered with no hesitation.

For a moment, Jayden reminded the girl of her partner. That defiantly sounded like something he'd say.

"I see…" The girl cupped her chin in thought. "Do you really wish to help even at the cost of your health?"

This time Jayden did hesitate.

Many people would say they'd die for something, but how many would stick to those words when action needed to be taken? With his legs trembling and taking a large gulp Jayden gave his answer.

"Yes."

The girl sighed. For just a moment, she thought he looked like someone else. "If you're that serious on trying again, you should at least have a fighting chance. No choice then, I'll give you more power."

"What? You can do that? How?"

"I have neither the time nor crayons to explain it you."

"Okay okay… geez. What do I have to do?"

She let go of her fishing rod, letting it dematerialize into what seemed like shards of light before walking up to Jayden.

"It's not what you have to do. It's what 'I' have to do."

She reluctantly placed her hand on his chest. Jayden could feel some sort of warm sensation enter his body as it spread around him. He wasn't sure what was going on, but something was happening.

"You may feel slightly warm and sleepy, but that's natural." A white aura passed from hand onto Jayden's chest that began to swirl around his body. Slowly at first them increasing in size and speed. He wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but Jayden could feel his eyes getting heavier

"I'm going to be frank with you. I hate you. Your weak, stupid, a coward, and overall, the worse pilot I've ever seen. Maybe there's a reason my partner is letting you use me, but if there is then I don't see it."

"I see you're still trying to kill my confidence." Jayden whined.

After what he'd put her through, she felt it was only fair to even things out. Every time Jayden looked bad, he made her look bad as well. Although, his idiotic charm was amusing at times

"Then again… since you're committed to doing this, I suppose I should coward off the list.

"Nah, keep it on there. I want to do this, and I'm terrified of that IS." The fact his knees were shaking was proof.

"So why do it?"

"I hate myself for making me go fight that thing, but I'd hate myself even more if I just did nothing while everyone risked their lives. If everyone can be happy, then I'll be happy."

The girl sighed. She couldn't turn back now.

"I've been holding off on giving you more power because I don't recognize you as my partner. And I still don't. But I don't want the other male pilot to get hurt."

"You mean Ichika?"

The girl paused for a few moments. "Yes… Anyway, you'd better take the IS unit down so it can find peace and save your friends."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure everyone ends up okay. Thanks for doing this… Huh. I never asked for you name." Jayden felt a bit embarrassed for not asking a simple question up until now. Probably should've been higher on the list compared to 'where am I?' and 'Am I dead?'

"You already know my name." The girl answered. And while he was here, she needed to make one more thing with him clear. "And you better start using my real name. if you call me Nova Union one more time, I'm dropping you in the middle of the ocean."

That was the last thing Jayden heard before his eyes got too heavy as his consciousness slipped.

/-/

Things seemed to be at their worst. Still that didn't stop the situation from spiraling even further downwards.

Cecilia fired as rapidly as her starlight rifle allowed at the returning IS. By her side was Vishnu who added her energy arrows to the assault. Though most of her shots were missing their mark and pierced into the ocean below. Despite their efforts, the black IS continued to power through their long-range shots.

It was like a juggernaut; nothing was stopping it.

As seen by Ichika's and Rin's battle, the best way to fight this IS was with physical force. Something Cecilia regretted to admit she lacked. Blue Tears was most effective at long range to snipe opponents from afar while keeping them at a distance with her bit drones.

Vishnu's IS, Durga Singh, used a bow and arrows as its primary weapon while appearing to be made for close range combat as she showed earlier. Though ever since Jayden was taken out, she had only been attacking from afar with energy arrows.

"Ms. Galaxy, your IS Durga Singh has close range combat capabilities. Can you engage it to buy us a little more time? I'll give you covering fire."

Vishnu didn't respond. Ever since Jayden was hit by the laser, she hadn't said a word.

"Alcott. Report in. What's your status?" Ms. Orimura was on the broadcast communication line, though now she was sounding more tense than before.

"We're continuing to try to hold off the IS, but we'll be back qt the Academy soon."

"What about Ms. Galaxy? What's her condition?" Chifuyu asked.

Cecilia glanced over at her partner. If she had to use a word to describe how Vishnu looked, she'd pick broken. From what Cecilia could tell, Vishnu's eyes looked lifeless and her body was moving was the bare minimum amount of energy. "She's not doing well."

"Do whatever you can to stall that IS. Reinforcements are on the way from the meeting point." Chifuyu ordered.

"Roger!"

That was easier said than done.

The main weapon of Blue Tears were the drones, the laser rifle was an equalizer. An additional tool to assist her in combat. And yet neither of these were doing much good.

A laser beam shot out from the IS's right palm, hitting Cecilia's sixth drone. She cursed as she watched what was left of the drone as it fell onto the docks. That was the last of her drones, reducing her primary weapon to nothing but scrap metal.

Now desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Ms. Galaxy, I'm going to engage in close combat. I want you to cover me."

That finally prompted a response from the broken girl. "W-what!?"

The gun in Cecilia's hand turned into light particles, and then she deployed a new close-range weapon. However, the glow in her hand couldn't shape itself as it floated around in the air despite Cecilia's concentration.

"Damn it! Interceptor!"

The light formed into a small combat knife, Cecilia's second equalizer. She reluctantly had to shout out her weapons name in order to summon it. For a representative candidate like Cecilia to deploy her weapon through the name calling method, she felt humiliated.

The knife looked to be nothing more than an ordinary combat knife. While she never used this weapon in combat as she preferred to always keep herself at a distance, it was her best option now.

"I'm going in. Cover me!"

Gripping her combat knife, Cecilia charged into close range. Dodging a laser in the process she braced herself, getting ready to attack. Once in position she slashed across the IS's chest piece. Attempting the attack again, she winded up for another slash only for the IS to grab her hand. Completely engulfing Blue Tear's hand in its own.

Despite her resistance Cecilia she couldn't pull herself free. The black IS threw Cecilia down to the mainland below, making Blue Tears slam onto the gravel and bounced across it a few feet. When she got her bearings back, Cecilia could see the IS's palm glowing pink and pointed right at her.

"Cecilia!" Vishnu cried out.

The blond pilot held up her arms to try to defend against this onslaught. Closing her eyes so she wouldn't see it coming.

She could feel the impact of the blast but not the blast itself.

"Hanging in there, Cecilia?"

Cecilia's eyes opened when she heard the familiar and irritating voice.

"J-Jayden! You're here!?"

Sure, enough the pilot in the IS unit in front of her was Jayden. The boy she swore she left out in the ocean was now here and appeared to have protected her from that last blast.

Not only was he still standing but his IS was looking quite different.

Once a dull green, now it was a much shiner pallet of green, similar to the color of an emerald with splashes of silver being used as a highlight. There seemed to be more armor on the IS, especially around the legs and arms, reminding Cecilia of a knight in shining armor. Lastly the buckler shield seemed a bit larger and rounder in size, similar to a heater shield used by knights in medieval times.

Having an IS undergo such changes in a short amount of time, there was only one explanation. A first shift.

"Jayden is that really you!?" Vishnu didn't believe what her eyes showed. "I'm so sorry for what I did! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Vishnu, now isn't really the time for this."

Vishnu reluctantly nodded, though the look on her face made Jayden feel guilty.

The comm lines came to life, and this time it was Gelimer on the line. "Jayden! How did you regain consciousness?" Gelimer asked.

"No idea." Jayden shrugged. "I just woke up and my IS looked different, than I. We need to kill this thing and do it fast." Jayden gripped his glowing shield, looking at the IS which was currently floating mid-air. As though waiting for him to make a move. "So, what are we supposed to do? Try leading it away again? It still seems focused on me."

"Considering how well the last run away went, you may be better off just stalling it until reinforcements arrive." Gelimer suggested.

Stalling sounded like a good idea, but the black IS seemed disagree, preferring to fight now. Tired of waiting, the black IS barreled forward like the juggernaut it was at Jayden.

The IS pulled its arm back, looking to swing with a fist. Out of fear, Jayden slammed his shield to match the IS's blow. On when the two loads of metal collided did Jayden's shield glow white and expelled a large amount of energy, forcing the IS to stagger back as it tried to keep its balance.

Jayden's blow had sent the IS staggering back. Jayden looked just as surprised as everyone else.

"How did you do that?" Cecilia asked.

Jayden looked at his now non-glowing shield and nodded in understanding. "I have no idea."

Whatever it was, it had managed to inflect damage onto the IS. "Are you able to do that again?"

"Pretty sure I can." Now that he had a way to fight back, Jayden was feeling much more confident. 'Back me up Cecilia."

"Are you sure you can handle it in close combat?" Cecilia asked. "Do you even know the capabilities of your IS unit now?"

Jayden made an uncertain noise from his mouth. He'd skimmed the specs of his IS unit on the way back to the academy, so he wasn't completely blind. Still he knew less about his upgraded IS than he probably should've have. Jayden flew on to battle that thing mano a mano.

"Don't just rush it you idiot!" Cecilia warned!

Jayden rushed on ahead, only focusing on the black IS unit. He ducked out of the way as the IS swung at him.

Jayden struck the unit with his shield using all the strength he had, only for it to seemingly bounce off the heavily armored unit. Grabbing the waist of Jayden's IS unit, it tossed him away. Sending Jayden into a nearby tree bring down said tree along with him.

"Are you all right?" Cecilia provided covering fire to all Jayden to escape.

"I'm okay…" He glanced over at his shield for a second. What the heck had happened? The first time he struck that IS, he sent it back. Now he did next to nothing. Was this some sort of bug with his new IS?

Even with three against one, the IS was still winning. None of them were really surprised by this. Cecilia provided long range fire as her starlight rifle was the only weapon remaining. Vishnu despite her close-range capabilities still refused to use the and stuck to her bow and arrows to attack. So, the task of melee damage fell to Jayden who still wasn't completely sure how this new shield worked.

The only advantage they did have by outnumber the IS was that if one of them got cornered or was in trouble, the other two could come to his/her aid. Even so, the battle wasn't going well.

"Arghh!" Vishnu was slapped away and forced to the ground. Forcing Jayden to rush in and draw its attention. Trying his best to fight by striking with his shield as Cecilia snuck in shots at its back while it fought with Jayden.

"We're not getting anywhere." Cecilia yelled. Taking a shot at its leg.

"The IS smacked Jayden away, sending him somersaulting through the air until he managed to stabilize himself before he hit a building.

Vishnu looked over to make sure he was okay, though a glimmer on him drew her eyes.

"Jayden! Your shield is glowing again!" Vishnu pointed out. The center emblem on Jayden's shield was glowing like when Jayden attacked it the first time.

He examined his shield. All he'd done since the last time he hit it was fight and block whatever that IS threw at him. All those lasers, smacks, and punches to his shield. The gears turned in Jayden's head.

"I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I think this shield here absorbs energy or force or something when it takes attacks, then I can hit back with all the energy I've stored up."

It sounded simple on execution. Block attacks, than strike back with all the force you stored up. He wasn't sure how it worked, but it did it like he thought it did than it could be a very powerful weapon.

Boom

An explosion an occurred at the back of the IS cut Cecilia off, which was followed by a few more. In the distance was Rin in her Shenlong unit, armed with her scimitars, and she looked like she wanted some payback.

"Lingyin!" Jayden had never been so happy to see her.

"Are you guys all okay?" A male voice asked.

"Ichika!"

Everyone got excited hearing his voice. The excitement vanished just as fast as it came when they realized he was nowhere nearby. It must have come from the communication lines.

"Ichika Orimura is here with me in the IS hangars." Gelimer explained. "Right he'll be of more use here than out in the field. Right now, our biggest problem is that the IS you're all fighting is amping up the energy output in the academy's energy shields as well as scrambling their controls. If nothing is done, they'll burst with energy and injure anyone in the vicinity."

"So how do we stop this? By draining the energy as fast as it's created. Thankfully Ichika's IS has just what we need to make this possible.

In laymen terms, Ichika was using his Reirayku Byakuya as a sort of energy drainer. The large energy needed to power the barrier void attack helped take away power from the over surging energy barriers. With this, none of the energy barriers were in danger of exploding.

"Gelimer, you're a mad genius." Jayden cheered.

"Tell me something I don't know. We should be able to keep the energy surge in check. But you all need to do something about the IS. Lingyin volunteered to help, despite my protests." Gelimer muttered that last part.

The pilots looked to each other for any possible ideas. The plan of 'hit it till it dies' wasn't sounding so appetizing anymore.

"Jayden, that shield of yours is able to absorb force and energy, than use it to power itself for a devastating attack. Is that correct?" Cecilia asked.

Jayden looked at his IS's shield. "I mean, I'm not exactly sure how it works, but… from what I've seen I guess that sums it up."

"Then by that logic, my starlight rifle and Ms. Galaxy's arrows should be able to be absorbed by your shield."

Jayden's eyes lit up, catching onto what Cecilia meant. "I don't see why not."

"So, we build up enough energy…"

"And with enough power, Jayden can smash that black monster in one shot." Rin finished.

"Ms. Galaxy, I know you've been performing odd lately, but can we count on you to help energize Jayden's shield?" Cecilia asked.

Vishnu took a deep breath. "Yes. I can do that much."

"All right, than you guys attack that shield to build its power. I'll buy you guys as much time as I can." Rin said. The three other pilots nodded.

Rin's impact cannons lit up and fired.

She blasted the IS right in the chest.

When the smoke cleared, The IS was still there. Now its attention was drawn to Rin.

"I'll stall it for as long as I can. You guys do what you need to." Rin flew ahead, firing her impact cannons while summoning her scimitars for battle. Meanwhile Jayden, Cecilia, and Vishnu gained some distance to conduct their plan.

Jayden held up his shield, bracing holding it up as the other girls took aim with their gun and bow. For the most part it was like target practice, and both Vishnu and Cecilia amazing at it. After a short while, Jayden's shield had an illuminous glow in the center of it. He swore he could almost feel the power it now had just holding it.

"Think this will be enough?" Jayden asked

Rin was sent crashing into the ground and breaking a few inches feet of concrete for good measure. Her IS was now out of shield energy, taking Rin out of the fight. The black IS looked a little worse for wear but otherwise seemed to have enough gas left in the tank to continue fighting. Whatever he gathered would have to do.

The plan was simple, Vishnu and Cecilia would provide covering fire and Jayden would fly in to attack it. With enough luck, this just might work.

As Jayden flew towards it, the IS took aim with its laser palms. It's arms were pointing not at Jayden but at the ground below, specifically where a certain someone with no shield energy was.

"Oh crap! Lingyin!"

Jayden immediately changed course, positioning himself in-between Rin and the IS with his shield up just as the IS fired. This time, the IS fired a continuous beam Jayden used everything he had to push back against the laser blast.

As he held back the blast, Cecilia flew over behind him. Kneeling, she picked up Rin and carried her away from the blast zone just in case.

While it did keep Rin safe, Jayden's position wasn't any better. He couldn't move without risking the last of his shield energy being blasted. He grit his teeth as he continued to hold his ground.

His shield began crackling as sparks began to fly out of the shield. While this shield could absorb energy and force of impacts, he figured there had to be a limit on it,

"I'm pinned. I need help!"

Jayden yelled his need for aid, but it didn't seem like anyone would be able to heed it.

Both Cecilia and Rin's shield energy were too low to try without a risk of real harm.

"ANYONE! PLEASE!"

He screamed as he could feel the intensity of the blast in front of him, all the while his shield continued to absorb the force of the blast. He felt like his arms were going to fall off as the IS continued outputting its dual pink laser. Plus any second now his shield was going to overload.

Past the bright lights from the lasers, he could spot an orange IS circling around the black IS. In their current position Jayden couldn't move but neither could that invading monster.

She took a vantage point directly above. Delivering another perfectly exactly drop kick she sent the IS downward, though it still managed to stay afloat. Its arms were held out to halt its descent. More importantly, Vishnu's attack caused the IS to cancel its pink laser attack.

"Vishnu?"

"DO IT NOW!" Vishnu shouted before getting flying away.

"R-Right!"

Jayden flew up till he was directly above the IS. When in position, he used everything he had to fly himself downwards, prepping his shielded arm for the attack. The sound of metal hitting energy echoed out as his shield contacted the IS's energy shield. Using all his strength he smashed his shield into the center point of the IS's back.

The energy felt much more intense than before. Probably from all the power built up from all the energy absorbed by friends and foes. The light from Jayden's shield reached its breaking point as it expanded all the force it had built up over the past few minutes. Screaming with ferocity as all his remaining adrenalin kicked in when he brought the IS and himself to the ground, making an IS sized crater.

No one spoke or moved as they waited for the dust to settle.

Down in the crater Jayden opened his eyes.

Confused, disbelieving, and just plain shocked he really did that, he'd have forgotten to breathe if his body didn't' remind him. Looking over the IS laid beneath him, Jayden watched it for any signs of life.

The black IS laid motionless

"It's down for good!" Jayden cheered. "It's dead! It's really dead!"

Rin and Cecilia high fived while Vishnu had both her arms raised in victory.

"You're completely sure it's unable to continue operating?" Gelimer asked.

Jayden leaned in for a closer look.

"I think so. It's not moving or glowing anymore… Yeah it's defin- Wait! Somethings blinking and I hear beeping. Now the beeping is getting faster and louder."

"Beeping fas- JAYDEN GET OUT OF THERE!"

"Wha-"

An explosion engulfed the IS, Jayden, and the surrounding area.

/-/

Sometime later

Jayden groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He rubbed his aching head he felt like he could taste purple.

Hayden managed to sit himself up right, and man did everything hurt. Like somehow every part of his body got punched, burned, twisted, and punched again all at the same time.

"You're awake. That was quicker than I expected." A familiar voice asked. Sitting in the corner of the room reading a book was Gelimer. He folded a corner of a page to mark his progress. That's when Jayden realized he himself was in a bed and the room around looked like a nursing area with the white walls, white roof, and medical supplies nearby.

"G-Gelimer? Where am I?"

"Easy there, you don't wanna move much after what you went through."

"Where are we?" Jayden asked again "And why do I smell burnt toast?"

"We're in the infirmary. Well you are, I'm just here to visit. As for the toast, I'd say that's the painkillers you're on. "

Gelimer took a seat across from the bed Jayden was laying in.

"Tell me Jayden. What's the last thing you remember?"

The boy dug through his memory to recall what had happened. "Lets see…. I was fighting that mysterious IS with Cecilia, Rin, and Vishnu, smacked it with my shield really hard, and then everything went boom." Jayden tried to emphasize by expanding his arms but stopped when it became too painful to move them.

Yeah that sounded about right. Gelimer moved his chair next to Jayden's bed to fill him in on what happened after.

"When you took out the IS's shield energy, some self-destruct protocol was activated. With you low shield energy that the IS's explosion broke through your barrier and triggered your absolute defense system. Although it seems the blast was strong enough to partially break through. Not enough to gravely injure you but you probably feel like you got roasted over an open flame."

That answered why Jayden's skin was looking a little pinkish.

"Moving on, once the IS was taken down, the energy barriers became stabilized, and we were able to regain control of the systems. The students and staff members that were locked in were about to be evacuated."

"What about the damage that IS caused? To the academy."

The man waved his hand in a so-so manner. "Not as much as you'd think. There wasn't any major property destruction, just a few chipped buildings and some holes that need filling. Nothing that can't be repaired. What's more amazing is that no one got hurt… Scratch that. One person got hurt."

That shocked Jayden into sitting up, his features wincing. "What! Who!?"

Gelimer pointed a finger at the one student who had gotten hurt.

"Oh right…"

"All in all, I think we ended this in one of the best outcomes possible. Everything should be back to normal in a few days. And your body will be fine, just stay in the nursery for the weekend and you'll be right as rain."

Jayden sighed in relief. Gelimer's answers made him feel a lot better.

All in all, things had ended pretty well for the academy. There were no serious injuries and any damage that was done was in the process of being fix.

"So, how'd you finally do it?" Gelimer asked.

Jayden seemed puzzled. "Do what?"

"Your IS. You finally managed to have it undergo a first shift." Gelimer said excitedly, "How does it feel?"

"Good, I guess. I'm relieved it happened just in time to help give that IS a beating."

Gelimer expected more excitement but chalked it up to Jayden being exhausted from the battle. "Back to my question, what did you do to make it transform?"

Jayden opened his mouth to speak but then realized that he wasn't completely sure what he did. When his mind tried to piece together how he got his IS to undergo a first shift, everything went hazy. "I think there was a lake, a log cabin, and I think you were there. Then when I woke up my IS was different."

Gelimer blinked, unsure of what to make of his answer. "I'll just assume you started hallucinating when that IS shot you down, and your IS evolved to save you."

Jayden shrugged.

"I'm surprised it took you so long to accomplish this. But better late than never I suppose. Looks like you and your IS are finally partners."

Jayden didn't know why but he felt that wasn't the case. Once again, he just shrugged.

"Figured you be more excited. Must the painkillers. By the way, I need the IS back. I want to look through its data now that it underwent a first shift. There may be some features you don't know about. Plus, I'm dying to see what my baby has in store." Gelimer's fingers twitched, itching to learn all he could about the first shift IS.

Jayden removed his ring, holding it out for him to take. "Here's Edel Gleam."

Just as he was about to take the ring, he paused. What did Jayden just call it?

"What did you just call the IS?"

"Edel Gleam." Jayden answered.

Gelimer took the IS, blinking at it and then returning his gaze to Jayden. It was the first time he'd heard him call Edel Gleam by its real name, and not that stupid Nova Union name. He'd only been in this school for a month, but Gelimer had to admit, Jayden seemed a lot more grown up now. "When'd you start growing up?"

Gelimer glanced up at the clock, he'd spent enough time here. Besides there was work to be done now. Pocketing the ring, he got out of his chair to leave.

"Wait where are you going? I still have more questions. How was that IS able to operate without a pilot? Why was it so interested in me and Ichika? Is it because we're guys who can pilot the Infinite Stratos, and if so, why can we pilot these machines when other guys can't?" There were so many questions on the boy's mind, and he couldn't even fathom an answer for most of them.

"As much as I'd love to continue this chat, I have work to get done." The male teacher made his way to the door. "Besides, I think someone else wants to speak with you." Gelimer motioned over to the door where Vishnu Isa Galaxy was poking her head out to watch . Upon realizing she'd been discovered; she pulled her head back as a squeak escaped her lips.

She waited until she could no longer see the man before entering the room. Slowly making her way inside, until she got near Jayden's bed side. Her head was hung low and didn't show any signs of rising.

Jayden scratched the side of his head. Since Vishnu wasn't saying anything he decided to. "How are you-"

"I'M SO SORRY!"

Vishnu shouted at the top of her lungs, to make sure he heard her. She dropped to her hands and knees as she repeated those words like a broken record player. After what seemed like a minute of apologies, she looked up at his face with tears trailing down from her violet eyes.

"Um… there, there, Vishnu. Everything's okay." Jayden said unsure of himself. He had no experience when it came to comforting girls. Talking to them was one thing but comforting was on a level foreign to him.

"No, it isn't!" Vishnu cried. "I'm a Representative Cadet. I'm supposed to be the one doing the hard stuff and doing things right! And you're the one who got hurt protecting me." She sounded full of guilt. It was evident in her voice.

As the RC of Thailand, she was supposed to be one of the best her country had to offer for piloting their latest in IS technology. Given her performance today against that IS, she felt she didn't deserve that title. Especially seeing how admirably her fellow Representative Cadets had performed.

"I'm sure you would've done the same for me Vishnu."

"I don't think I could…"

"So…. You're a representative cadet huh? Never knew that about you."

"You never asked…" Vishnu's finger fidgeted with her uniform's sleeve.

He mentally noted the next time he'd meet a girl; he'd ask if she was an RC.

"And I don't really consider myself as a representative cadet." Vishnu added.

"But you have your own IS. That orange unit with the bow and the really strong kicks. You called it Durga Smith right?"

"Durga Singh" Vishnu corrected.

"But Cecilia seemed to know a lot about you, and she called you a Representative Cadet."

"Officially I am one. The Thailand government declared me as their RC. But I never felt so undeserving until today. I made so many blunders and mistakes that I almost got people killed. Everything was almost ruined because of me." Her eyes finally met his. "So, I've decided I'm not going to let anyone else suffer for my mistakes."

"That's great!" Jayden said.

"That's why I'm going to resign from being a representative cadet."

Jayden stared at her. "What do you mean resign? You can't just give up being an RC. Can you?" No seriously, he wasn't sure if they could legally resign from the position.

"This Is for the best. You wouldn't understand…"

"Then tell me about it so I can." He couldn't fathom why someone would want to give up being an RC.

Vishnu seemed hesitant as her legs brushed together nervously.

"Erm I mean, if you'd rather not talk about it, that's okay, too…"

She shook her green haired head. "No… After what I did… it's only fair you hear how I got to this position in the first place." Vishnu changed her position to now sitting on the floor. "you may want to grab a seat, it's kind of a long story."

Jayden resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead getting comfy in his bed.

"I never did tell you much about myself, did I?"

"Not really." Jayden remembered the times they hung out on the school rooftops. "I did most of the talking and you did the listening."

Vishnu figured it would be best to start from the beginning. "My parents passed away when I little. Around my fifth birthday."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that." Jayden felt the urge to pat her back out of sympathy.

Vishnu continued on. "I was sent to live with my grandmother. Her name is Kamon, and she treated me like I was her own child. We'd play cards, go to the park, and do lots of fun things together. I would even do yoga with her every morning and evening. She also introduced me to the sport of archery, she told me my mother was an amazing trick shot."

"So that's where you got your passion for yoga and archery."

Vishnu nodded. She remembered seeing her grandma hit so many bullseyes. As a young girl she'd clap her hands when grandma Hamon hit the target dead center with an arrow.

"We didn't have a lot of money, but we were happy." She remembered some of her happier memories when she was younger before continuing. "In my school days I didn't have a lot of friends. I was too afraid of what people would think of me. I decided it would be easier to keep to myself than risk people not liking me. So, I would always keep to myself reading books. People ended up thinking of me as the bookworm cause of that. That all changed during our IS synch rates exam in middle school."

Around the end of the first year in middle school, first year female students would have their IS synchronization rates tested for compatibility. This was done to scout out potential future pilots.

"It was discovered that my synchronization for the IS was extremely high. My ranking was declared to be an A."

Jayden's eyebrows rose. Being born with an IS synch rating of A was rare. People weren't sure how you could be born with a higher compatibility rating that others. All that was known was the IS responded better to certain people.

"I got a lot more attention from everyone, people wanted to be friends with the girl who had hag IS compatibility, which only made my anxiety worsen. Sometime later it was announced that my country would be unveiling its latest modified IS unit. And I was one of the candidates in the running to be the Representative cadet."

"You volunteered to be a pilot?"

"More like they chose me to be a pilot. I never wanted to do it in the first place."

"If you didn't want to do it, why didn't you just decline?" Jayden asked.

Vishnu mumbled something soft enough that it couldn't be heard.

"What was that? You mumble a lot."

She mumbled again, albeit a bit louder.

"Still can't hear you."

"MONEY!" Vishnu practically shouted, then immediately turned away. She felt pathetic just admitting it out loud.

"Money?"

"My grandma worked to pay for our home and to raise me. She worked long hours at convenience stores to make sure I had everything I needed. I wanted to relieve her of some of the stress. I competed for the position to get the paycheck so grandma Hamon wouldn't have to work anymore."

He hadn't expected that from Vishnu. Forcing herself to do that for the woman who raised her was quite admirable. "So ,how'd you end up being the pilot over the other candidates?"

"Imagine my surprise when they told us that Durga Singh's main weapons were its close-range kicks and a bow and energy arrows. I felt like the IS had been made me." Vishnu recalled her time in the selection program. "Everyone else was more experienced in firearms, but I was the only one to have experience with a bow before."

"You got the IS because you were best suited to its unique attributes?"

"That's not how I see it." Vishnu slumped. "I was chosen cause no one else knew how to use the weaponry. Bow and arrows are a lot different from firing guns. If that IS had any other main weapon instead of a bow, I wouldn't be here. I only ended up as the RC though dumb luck."

Luck was a fickle thing, Jayden would know. The fact he could use an IS was due to a stroke of luck at the American IS research facility. And the killer IS was a mad stroke of bad luck.

"In the end, I was picked to be Durga Singh's pilot and thus, became Thailand's representative cadet. So, I had to attend IS Academy to show off Thailand's latest IS. That's how I ended up here."

Vishnu's life wasn't as simple as he'd thought it be. Losing her parents at a young age and forcing herself to be an RC to help her family.

"But wait, if you resign from being the RC. You won't get paid anymore. Don't you still need the money?" Jayden pointed out.

"I'll figure something out… maybe a part time job." A soft sigh slipped through her lips. "I never was good at being a pilot anyway."

"But you're a great pilot!"

"You don't have to lie for my sake." She rested her hands in her lap. "I froze in the middle of combat, and I missed so many shots today."

Jayden couldn't deny that. "You did make a lot of mistakes, but you also did some really neat things. Like when you arrived to help me and Cecilia, you were so cool. I couldn't take my eyes off you. The way you kicked that IS down to the water, that was epic! I swear, I'd have been blasted out of the sky if you didn't show up."

Vishnu shifted nervously. "I guess I did do those things…"

"And at the end, when you charged that IS to stop its lasers, you gave me just the opening I needed to nail that IS.I swear, when you aren't panicking you can do some really awesome things."

"Why not try to get past your anxiety." Jayden asked.

"It's not that simple. Anxiety isn't an issue that can be solved in an instant like changing a lightbulb. I've dealt with social anxiety all my life, and I've tried to work on it. But every I try, it doesn't work.

"Maybe I can help you?"

"No offense Jayden, I know you mean well but I don't think you know anything about dealing with anxiety." Vishnu deadpanned.

She had a good point. He jack about social anxiety. At least Jayden was smart enough to know he was too dumb to help.

"Well It doesn't have to be me. There's got to be someone who can help you in the school. I swear there's a person who you talk with to help sort out your problems."

"A counselor?" Vishnu guessed

"Yeah! I think the school has one of those. Have you tried her?"

Vishnu shook her head. "I've been… unable to bring myself there. Whenever I get close, I start thinking of talking to people and having to meet someone new. Than it spirals out of control and I end up running away. It happens with everyone."

"But you don't run away from me."

"We've hung out for so long that I've kind of become use to you.

"See! It is possible! You just have to do the same with the counselor. Then she can help you learn to overcome your anxiety. Than you can be an amazing IS pilot."

Vishnu didn't speak for a few moments, considering the idea. Working to learn to control her anxiety. Vishnu had attempted this in the past multiple times, but it always ended with the same results. A few steps forward, than eventually a few steps back to where she began. That was always when she tried on her own.

Maybe with help, she'd get a different result…

"Do you think I can do it?"

"Of course! If it's you, I know you can do it.

Despite the encouragement, Vishnu still felt unsure. Memories of failed pasted attempts came back to her, and even potential futures of her screwing up again and again. She gave no response.

"I'm not sure…"

"What if I go with you?"

"What?" Vishnu seemed confused.

"You seem a lot better with me. I mean you didn't immediately run away when Honne and her friends came to the roof when I was there. if I go with you, maybe you won't run away?" Jayden guessed.

He wanted to see her do this. The first person besides her grandmother that wanted to see her win. All that was left was for Vishnu to accept.

Vishnu shuffled about nervously. "You'd really do that for me?"

"Yeah."

"You promise you'll come with me?" She said softly.

"Once I'm better, we'll go right away!"

"You-"

"Vishnu. I promise I'll help you. And I'll say it as many times as needed."

The girl could feel her cheeks heat up. It was the first time someone had given her that level of verbal encouragement since her grandmother. She was touched. Now her violet eyes were meeting his brown ones. "T-Thank you..."

"You're welcome." Jayden offered his hand. "Now come on, you don't belong on the floor."

After a few seconds of hesitation, Vishnu locked her hand with Jayden's. It was the first time she'd ever held hands with a boy before. And it felt nice. Being taller and older, her hand was a bit bigger but something about his hand felt… nice. It was warmer than she'd expected. Even the texture of his skin was smooth. All of this was making her feel something.

If she had to describe the sensation she felt, it'd be…

"Vishnu?"

No. it didn't feel like herself. More like…

"Hey Vishnu? Everything okay." Jayden asked.

She snapped out of her thoughts, realizing she'd still been holding his hand all this time. Her face went completely red. Her legs moved her away till her back hit the wall all the while burying her hands in her face. Not to mention her body felt like it was getting hotter.

Jayden blinked several times. "So, when I get better we'll check out that school therapist?"

Vishnu managed a nod with her face still in her hers. Than she bolted out of the room as fast as they could carry her.

"I'll see you later Vishnu?" Jayden called out. Despite the awkward good-bye, he was pretty sure Vishnu and himself were closer now.

/-/

The sun was halfway set over the IS academy, bathing it in an orange glow as the ocean glistened thanks to the sun's rays. It was the kind of sight you'd see on a postcard to send to someone. The beautiful scenery marked a happy ending to what had occurred today, which some saw it to be fitting.

From the rooftops of the main building, Rin watched as the sun started to disappear ever so slowly over the horizon. After sighing and letting a sigh out of her body, she refocused on the sunset in front of her. This morning she wanted nothing more than to smash her old friend's face into the ground but now she wasn't so sure. Seeing Ichika risk his life to save everyone had reminded her why she liked him in the first place.

Now she wasn't sure what she wanted to do.

"Rin?" A familiar voice said her name.

Rin snapped awake hearing her name called. At the entrance of the rooftops was the guy she'd swore to destroy this morning.

"Ichika! How'd you find me?"

"You always go to the nearest rooftop to sulk when you're feeling down or upset. Like when you failed a test or got picked on at school, you'd always go to the rooftops so no one would see you cry." Ichika went over, taking in a view of the sunset next to Rin. For a while neither one was sure what to say next.

Eventually Ichika tried to break the ice. "I heard Jayden may be awake. We should visit him later."

"Sure…" Rin didn't even look in his direction.

"Oh, I heard the match didn't count." Ichika pointed out.

Now that got her attention. "Well what did you expect after everything that happened.?"

Because of the IS attack, all the tournaments that had planned to be held today were cancelled. Much to the dismay of the students.

"Well have they scheduled a rematch yet? We still have a score to settle."

Rin shook her head. "Forget the battle, it doesn't matter anymore. I was just upset at the time. It's okay now. And I'm sorry for if I hurt you. You don't have to apologize for what happened back in your room."

Ichika was taken aback by Rin's words. It was rare to see Rin apologize for something she did. She was the stubborn type who never said sorry until the end.

"No, I should be sorry. For everything I said and did, I shouldn't have done that. But there's something I still don't get. About over a year ago, didn't you ask me that if your cooking got better that I would eat your sweet and sour pork every day?

Rin recalled that was something along the lines of what she'd said long ago. "I did. What about it?"

"What did you mean by that? The part where you said you'd cook for me every day. Can you tell me what it means?"

"It meant…" Rin paused with her mouth open. Only now did she realize the hole she dug herself into. What reason would a woman have for cooking for a man every day? She'd do it if she was his wife! But she couldn't say that. Telling Ichika what the promise truly meant was practically a love confession! Even someone as dense as Ichika would realize it. Rin began to sweat; her heart wasn't ready for this. "Err…. Ummm…

"Was there something else to it?" Ichika asked.

"N-No! It's not about something else!" Rin hurried to think of a lie. "It's about…. You know… Ah! Like when you cook for someone every day. Your cooking improves."

"So, it was about being a better cook?"

Rin clapped her hands together. "Y-yeah! That's totally it. And that's all there is to it."

"I see. I thought it would be complicated, but I guess I was over thinking everything." Ichika rubbed the side of his head in embarrassment.

"Y-yeah, that's right! You were definitely overthinking it!" Rin laughed nervously while looking away to not show her blushing face.

With the whole issue resolved, Ichika felt a lot better. It was a huge load off of Ichika's mind to make up with Rin. Now they could hang out and be friends like they use to. And speaking of things they use to do…

"Rin, you're back in Japan, then did your family come back to? And if so, are they gonna open their store again? I loved your father's cooking; it was really great."

Ichika almost drooled remembering her family's restaurant. He'd gone their so many times when he was a kid to eat when Chifuyu was busy with work. Not to mention Mr. Huang was one hell of a cook.

"Well you see… we're no longer in business." She sounded sad.

Ichika blinked. The Huang family was out of business? How was that possible? Every time he went to eat there, the place was so lively and the food was to die for. Not to mention Rin and her parents were happy to see him when he came to eat. Which he did often when Chifuyu was working late at night. Still, he couldn't imagine a place as good as that going under.

She turned her gaze back to the glistening ocean. "I never did tell you why I went back to China did I?"

"No, you didn't. You left in the middle of summer after the second year of middle of school. It's like one day your family just packed up and left. I didn't even get a chance to say good-bye."

"That's also my fault. I didn't want you to be sad so I kept it secret. I was too afraid that you'd be mad to even try contacting you. I'm sorry." Rin looked down at the ground below as she continued. "The thing is, my parents got a divorce. That's why I returned to China and our family restaurant closed down."

"I… I didn't know that."

"Basically, my mom got custody of me and she wanted to return to China. So, I had no choice but to go with her." As women were dominant in society, in cases of children custody most courts usually ruled in favor of the mother. In fact, it wouldn't be uncommon for a woman to come out ahead over a man in civil cases. "In China during IS testing it was discovered I had a high compatibility rating with the Infinite Stratos. With that and my uncle's military connections, I was able to become China's cadet representative in a year's time."

"What about your dad?"

Rin turned away from him, feeling some pain in her heart. "I haven't seen him in a year. I'm sure he's still okay though." She turned her head back to him, forcing herself to put on a smile.

"Rin…" Ichika had never realized how complicated some families could be.

Life wasn't ever simple. And that went double for family.

Rin's family had fallen apart. Ichika didn't know why, but he felt like there was more to the story. There may have been more going on with her family, but Rin didn't look like she wanted to talk about it anymore. The Rin Ichika knew always had a smile on her face, and he wanted to put that smile back on it. A real smile.

"Hey, Rin. When are we going out again?" Ichika asked.

Rin's cheeks began to turn red. "Wha? You mean… like a da-"

"I'll get Gotanda over. He'll be stoked to see you again. It'll be just like old times having the gang back together. Oh, and his sister! You remember Ran right? Did you keep in touch with any friends from middle school? We can make it a big reunion."

Rin didn't answer. Instead she walked straight to Ichika. Before the guy could ask what was up, she rose her foot up and slammed it down on Ichika's foot.

Hard

"argghhhh!"

Rin walked away as Ichika hopped on one leg to clutch his now aching foot.

"I'll pass." Rin was about to leave but stopped at the door. "But seriously though, I'm really glad I get to see you again Ichika."

"Y-Yeah… Same here." The boy worked through the pain to smile.

Rin gave a cheerful smile. There was she'd been missing, the kind of smile Ichika loved to see her wear.

Ichika rubbed his aching foot as he watched Rin leave. Their reunion had a rocky start, but it seems like everything had smoothed out in the end. Now everything between him and Rin had been resolved. Ichika felt a lot better.

Everything was good.

Except for his foot. He needed to go find an ice pack.

/-/

And thus, the Rin arc comes to close. I feel pretty satisfied with how things turn out. It felt faithful to the canon while adding in new things to keep it interesting. And we got our first archtype breaker girl to make their debut. Overall, I feel pretty good writing this.

Let me know what you though of this arc in the reviews.

Special thanks to Ironbird53 for looking over this for grammar and spelling.

Keep your sense of wonder and I'll see you next time.

Omake

Students watched as their club president took to the front of classroom to begin the meeting.

"Everyone, thank you all for coming. I know today was a rough day with that rampaging IS. But I'm happy to see we were able to continue our club despite the long absence." Alpha Male Club president Marissa Hollybell addressed her devoted club members. Despite today's rough events she felt determined to have things proceed as normal. "And I'm so happy to see so many new and returning faces."

Marissa gazed out to one face in the far back.

"Especially you Rinko. You made so many contributions in the last meeting. So, what are you doing in the back? Come on down where you belong. Front and center!" Girls applauded Rinko as they stepped aside to make a path.

With everyone now watching, Rinko reluctantly made her way to the front. "Yeah I'm…er…" She tried to think of something to say. Rinko didn't want to sound mean but she didn't want to lie either. "I'm…. here..."

"And we're all glad you could attend. Our club wouldn't be the same without you."

"I'm sure it wouldn't be." While everyone's attention was on her, she felt the need to bring up one important detail. "Also, While I have everyone's attention, I feel I'm responsible for the well-being and safety of everyone here. If left unchecked, you guys become a danger to others and yourselves." Rinko delicately put it. She was sure everyone would be trying to bash each other's brains out at some point if she didn't step in.

Whenever Rinko had tried to report this club to a teacher, they always laughed it off. Saying there was no way a bunch of high school girls would get together just to talk about which guy is better than the other. Oh, how wrong they were. So, someone had to make sure the club didn't come to blows, and fate decided that someone would be Rinko.

Plus, she was still searching for the knitting club, and she was sure this was supposed to be the right place.

"Uh-huh. That's nice." Marissa ignored her warning, putting aside the club's itinerary.

"Everyone. I hear by call tonight's Alpha Male Club to order. When we last left off, we were unable to draw a conclusion of who was the stronger man at our school. Now that they've had more time to show off, we can see who has the upper hand."

Rinko sucked in a breath through her teeth. The madness officially began now.

"First, we consider their strengths, and today both guys proved they have what it takes to hold their own in a life or death battle, and they even secured the final hit against that invading IS unit. Before and after that IS went through a transformation. Not many guys can do that."

Not many guys could pilot an IS either. Rinko wanted to point out but kept her mouth shut.

"And I'd like to congratulate Jayden for finally managing to get his IS into a first shift." Marissa acknowledged. "Now the next time he and Ichika fight, it'll be much more interesting."

One girl rose her hand prompting Marissa to allow her to speak. "But isn't Ichika more powerful with his IS? I heard it can take down anyone in one attack?"

The club president nodded her head, hearing out her thoughts. "While that is true, you have to take in mind Jayden's shield is an incredible defensive tool. That shield absorbed so many attacks and never broke. Were not sure what would happen is Ichika's sword met Jayden's shield in battle."

Come to think of it, this was quite similar to an age-old question. What happens when an unstoppable force (Ichika) met an impenetrable object (Jayden)? Maybe that question would be answered if they did combat.

"Why don't we move onto another category?" Marissa suggested. "Lets talk about the women they've managed to attract."

Girls in the audience squealed. This was the moment they'd been waiting for. After all, love lives made for great gossip.

Rinko's head slumped onto her hand. According to Marissa's standards the alpha male also had to be able to seduce woman as easily as they could breathe.

"Now we're to go over the latest women our male pilots have been able to attract with their manly charms. And yawl thankful for what I'm about to tell you, it took a lot of time and effort to get this information."

"Hold on." Rinko groaned. "Marissa. Please don't tell me you stalked both boys to peek on their personal lives."

"Don't be silly Rinko, I'd never do that."

That was a relief.

"I have people to do it for me."

"Dang it Marissa."

Marissa clapped her hands twice. As if on cue, two girls emerged from out the classroom's closet. It was the same girls from last time who were once again dressed like ninjas with outfits you'd find at a Halloween costume store. The only way to tell them apart was that one was wearing an orange scarf and the other had a pink scarf.

"Greetings fellow club members, my name is Kat." The orange scarfed ninja greeted.

"And my you may call me Anna." The pink scarfed ninja gave a polite bow. "We surveyed the guys whenever we could Ms. Hollybell."

"Our reports and photos are in these folders." Kat handed over their findings to the club president.

"Let's check our first girl. And isn't this a surprise, it's Cecilia Alcott from class 1-1. Not only is she's England's cadet representative, but she's also the heir to hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Alcott fortune. Though it seems the only thing she's spending is time with Ichika."

"But didn't Cecilia hate him?" One girl from the crowd called out.

"Yeah, she's the whole reason class 1-1 had that class representative tournament."

"Based on what I'm reading, it's defiantly possible that Cecilia seems to have fallen for Ichika. Not sure how but he managed to win her over. Looks like the millionaire has her eyes on the potential alpha male."

Rinko tilted her head. Didn't she say Cecilia was worth just hundreds of thousands?

"Also, the report mentions something about Cecilia's drill like hair curls spinning rapidly, what's the deal with that?" Marissa questioned.

"I have reason to believe that when Ms. Alcott's mood is pure anger and fury, the drills of her hair will spin rapidly. Truly, a horrifying sight. Kat explained.

Marissa simply shrugged her shoulders. If they reported it, it must've been true.

"Well seems like Ichika managed to buy the heart of the British billionaire." Marissa put up the photo of the blond whose wealth was ever-increasing on the Ichika section of the board. She then opened the next folder which held a picture of Vishnu.

"The girl we kept tabs on was Vishnu Isa Galaxy from class 1-3." Kat pointed Marissa over to the second folder. "We couldn't find out much about her, other than her being Thailand's representative cadet. Kat looked over to her fellow companion. "We're you able to find anything about her Anna?"

The pink scarfed ninja shook her head. "When I tried to talk to her, she would always speak too quietly. Whenever I tried pressing for more info, she'd end up running away while yelling 'I'm sorry!". After eight tries I called it quits."

"You get an A for effort Anna, but it can't be helped. Just wish we had more to go on though."

"But I did get one juicy piece of gossip! I witnessed Jayden and Vishnu…." She paused for overly dramatic effect. "Holding hands!"

Around the room girls gasped at the sheer audacity of what they'd done.

"Holding hands!"

"No way!"

"That's so indecent!"

"How lewd!"

One girl in the back had fainted from just hearing the indecent act.

"Oh my!" Marissa slightly pulled out her shirt collar as she fanned herself with the folder to keep cool. Holding hands! That was like the eighth lewdest thing a person could do! She'd underestimated Jayden, a mistake she wouldn't make twice. "Never realized Jayden was such a Casanova. Don't underestimate a potential alpha male ladies."

The picture of Vishnu was added under Jayden's side. The score count now even at 2 – 2. Marissa opened the final folder.

"Says here the last girl is Lingyin Huang. The representative cadet of China. She's said to be another of Ichika's childhood friend." Marissa summarized.

"Based on what Anna and I witnessed she's quite spunky and energetic, though quick to anger. Not to mention she boasts that her sweet and sour pork is the best. Although we're not sure if she has the ability to cook anything other than sweet and sour pork."

Marissa put a hand on her chin, appearing to be in deep thought. As good as a great dish could be, if you had it every day, you'd be bound to get sick of it sooner or later.

"So, in short She's Ichika's childhood friend who said to have a crush on him, is prone to bursts of anger, had to move away due to circumstances beyond her control, and is now trying to win over her longtime crush." Kat summarized.

Rinko tilted her head. Did Kat just describe Houki Shinonono or Lingyin Huang?

"Seems like destiny saw it fit to reunite these childhood friends. Good luck Ms. Huang." Marissa put the picture on the Ichika side, underneath the Houki and Cecilia photos. Now the number of girls favored Ichika 3-2.

"Wait a second, isn't it weird that all these girls are representative cadets of countries?" Rinko pointed out. Oh god. She just realized she herself was getting into the discussion. Bad Rinko. Bad!

"Now that you mention it, every girl we went over today is an RC for a country. Looks like powerful women are attracted to the alpha male." Marissa concluded. "But currently Ichika has more girls going for him. But Jayden is no slouch, hard to come to a decision at this point."

"But Ichika has more girls going for him. So he's got to be better!"

"That's only because he knew some of them before coming here. He had a head start while Jayden had to start from scratch. That shows Jayden is better."

Now the audience was getting in on the decision making.

"Jayden's shield looks so cool. And a good offense is a good defense!"

"Who cares about shields, swords are where it's at. Who needs defense when you've got an unstoppable offense!"

"Well taller guys are better!"

"No! Shorter guys are!"

"Guys maybe we should calm down… before you do something, you'll all regret?" Rinko pleaded.

Her plight fell on deaf ears as girls were staring each other down. These battle-hungry females were tense, waiting for someone to make the first move. Rinko's nerves shook, this was exactly what she'd feared. The girls were riled up and moments away from duking it out to determine which man was the alpha male.

Only this time Rinko wasn't sure she could stop the fighting. Fidgeting with her long black hair, she tried to think of a solution. These monsters weren't listening to her, heck the only girl they'd hear out now was…

Rinko's palm slammed into her face. Of course, it had to be her.

"Marissa! You have to stop this. We can't let them fight each other."

"Yeah…. I agree."

"Don't you care ab…. Wait what?"

"We've learned a lot about both guys, but still not enough. I know it sounds crazy but if we wait just a little bit longer, I swear we're going to see some amazing things."

Marissa folded her arms under her bust. For the sake of finding the true alpha male, the final battle couldn't begin just yet. Marissa signaled Kat and Anna to come over, and she whispered some instructions for them. Both ninjas saluted and ran into the closet in the back of the room.

The other club members looked to had divided themselves into what they referred to as 'sword supporters' and 'shield supporters'.

"Jayden!"

"Ichika!"

"Jayden!"

"Ichika!"

Both sides gathered their hastily made and weapons as they lined up among their fellow sword/shield supporters.

"Everyone! Your attention please!" Marissa called out, prompting both sides to pay attention.

Rinko was biting her fingernails. This was it, the fate of these girls laid in Marissa's words… Oh god, they were all screwed!

"I love your enthusiasm and determination to aid me in figuring out who's the true alpha male. But you guys can't fight. Not like this. Not without being dressed for combat!"

What?

"Introducing, The first line of Alpha Male style accessories!"

Marissa directed their attention to the back of the room where Kat and Anna had miraculously constructed two identical market booths filled with items and apparel that seemed centered around the themes of Jayden and Ichika.

Rinko's eye twitched. She slapped herself across the face. She did not wake up.

"Pick up an expertly made sword pin or shield pin to proudly show off who you're rooting for. But if novelty pins aren't your thing, try one of our IS Male pilot sweat bands. Featuring the colors of your favored guy. White and Blue for Orimura. Green and Silver for Sylvan."

Marissa stood on top of the desk, continuing to show off her material goods that were available for purchase.

"And todays special item are our patented Ichika and Jayden dolls!" She held up a decently made doll of Jayden and Ichika, one in each hand. "Supplies' limited, first come first serve. One per customer."

Girls stormed ahead to be first in line to purchase Alpha Male club products. No longer were they interested in fighting to answer a stupid question. Now they fought to get a better spot in line.

Rinko managed to push and shove her way through the crowd to speak with the saleswoman in charge. "Marissa what the heck do you think you're doing?"

"Stopping them from fighting by performing a sale pitch." Marissa simply answered. "And a dang good one if I do say so myself. Must have gotten it from my dad."

While Marissa patted herself on the back, Rinko was giving her the stink eye.

"What? It's just a little business."

"No. You're scamming innocent people into buying cheaply made merchandise to turn them all against each other to answer a pointless question.'"

"Okay. One. It's not pointless. Two. These products are well made and tested to appeal to their intended audience. And Three. You make what I'm doing sound awful."

"That's because it is awful!" Rinko argued.

Marissa waved her hand to try to settle Rinko down. "Look, these people want to answer the question of whose the strongest man on the island. And I'm trying to sell them cheap go-… I mean high quality merchandise to get them in the mood. Two wrongs make a right… right?"

"That's not how the saying goes at all!"

"Look, I know I'm in a somewhat moral grey area but look on the bright side." Marissa wrapped arm around Rinko's shoulder. "With everyone so busy buying, they won't have time to fight each other. Look at them, comparing their purchased goods and getting along like the friends they are. Isn't this a happy ending?"

She did have a point. At least now the girls seemed more interested in showing off their new apparel and props than they did a few minutes ago.

"Feels more bittersweet to me." Rinko grumbled. "And you only fixed a problem that you caused in the first place. Don't pat yourself on the back."

"Lighten up Rinko. Let's just enjoy the moment."

Rinko let out a sigh. This seemed more like the lesser of two evils, but the girls didn't seem to mind spending money on something they loved. If everyone was happy, than Rinko supposed this was an acceptable end to the club meeting.

"Hey everyone! You can remove the dolls clothes!" One girl figured out.

Rinko sent an angry glare Marissa's way. Said girl turned her head away while innocently whistling.

The battle to determine the alpha male rages on.

Make sure to attend the next meeting fellow club members. Also visit their school to get all your alpha male merchandise needs. Limited time sale of Alpha Male dolls, buy 2 and get 1 free.