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.

19. Tag Team Tournament Part 1

Before we get started, I wanted to make a brief announcement. On average, I take about two months to upload a new chapter. Between work, life, and finding motivation to write, it gets pretty difficult to fill out pages with over 10k words to make a chapter. So, for a while, I'm going to be moving towards shorter chapters with a more frequent update schedule, around 5k per chapter. This should keep things interesting more often and reduce the dry spells between chapters. Hopefully his works out for everyone to get more Change My Mind out as a faster pace.

Welcome to chapter 19. Let the IS Battles begin!

The day of the school wide tournament had finally arrived.

The stands of the arena were almost filled to the brim with people eager to see a day full of IS battles. If you were in the stands, you were most likely in one of two groups. A student of ISA looking for enjoyment from all the battles. Or a high ranking official from another country whose task was to judge the skills of pilots from their area. Also, to scout out future pilots if anyone stood out from the competition. Regardless of their reason for being here, everyone was present to witness grand IS battles that only IS Academy could offer.

Jayden and Houki were among neither of those groups. As participants competing in the school wide tournament, they were in one of the locker rooms which had been converted into a waiting area for students competing.

Jayden and Houki had been lucky enough to snag sets on the few remaining chairs while others stood or settled for the floor.

"You nervous?" Houki asked.

Jayden shook his head, an obvious lie.

"Get your act together. You can't fall apart before we've even started."

"I can't help it. This is a way bigger crowd then I've ever fought for. I knew there'd be a lot of people… but it's way different seeing it in person." Aren't you nervous?"

"I'm used to it." After competing in many Kendo tournaments, Houki had learned how to settle in nerves in places like this. "Just imagine the audience as nothing more than a background. Focus on our opponents and you'll forget all about the people watching."

If that sounded cold, that's because it was. But at least it sounded like good advice.

"Square up. If you don't, I'm gonna start regretting not getting a random partner."

"And risk getting someone worse than me?" Jayden countered. "Or worse, you get someone like Bodewig as a partner?"

Jayden pointed over to the corner of the locker room where Bodewig leaned against the wall, her eye closed. Patiently waiting for the tournament to start all by her lonesome. After her vicious battle against three representative cadets, it became an unspoken rule to stay far away from the German IS pilot.

Houki shuddered at the idea of having to team up with someone who'd hurt her friends. While she was powerful, Houki couldn't bring her to team up with her after what she'd done. She didn't want to imagine the misfortune of being teamed up with Laura. That'd be as unlucky as having to fight someone like Ichika and Charles in the first round.

"Maybe you have a point."

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna get stage fright." At least Jayden hoped so. "After all, I have to get that meeting with your sister."

"You haven't forgotten that I'll only make that happen if we place first, have you?"

Before Jayden could answer back the screens on the TV's changed to a woman at a deck. The desk of the headmistress of IS Academy, Nadeshiko Kutsuwagi. Dressed in a business casual suit with her hair neat and proper, she looked into straight ahead into the camera.

"Greetings everyone. I'm the principal of this academy, Nadeshiko Kutsuwagi. On behalf of all of IS Academy today, I welcome you all to today's event. Here at IS Academy, our goal is to teach young minds how to properly use the Infinite Stratos for sport. Whether that be in piloting, engineering, or design; we strive to give students the knowledge they need to make it in this world." Nadeshiko took a short pause with a small smile. "Some of you are here today to scout out future talent to pilot IS machines or maybe even become cadets of a county. Today we're allowing students to showcase what they've learned on the piloting side of the Infinite Stratos. The theme of this tournament is all-access. Any student in any grade may enter with a personal or school-issued IS unit."

The screen cutaway to show IS battles between students from previous years, a highlight reel to showcase some of the best moments as the principal resumed talking.

"Normally students would compete against each other one versus one with the winner advancing until we had a champion. However, this year we've a much larger number of students enter then normal. To accommodate the total number of students, we've turned this year's school-wide tournament into a team battle, with each team consisting of two members. Anyone who entered without a teammate will be randomly assigned one. To also accommodate the number of students competing, we will be splitting groups into separate blocks with the winner of each block advancing to the final rounds tomorrow."

The principal had to pause to take a breath before resuming.

"In addition, to keep the tournament progressing at a steady pace, there will be additional rules. Matches will have a time limit of 10 minutes. If a winner hasn't been decided by then, the winning team will be whichever team has the highest combined shield energy total. If one team member doesn't arrive to the battle by the time the match begins, the remaining team member will have to fight on their own. Should both team members fail to show up, they will be declared as forfeiting the match."

She had to pause yet again to catch her breath.

"If you wish for a recap of the tournament rules, please visit our website at IS Academy's homepage or check the back of a tournament sign-up sheet. In a few moments the brackets will be posted to show the matchups for students. I wish every student who's competing good luck and may the best team win."

Nadeshiko paused, holding her pose for another ten seconds. "Are we done? Good." She leaned back into her chair as far as she could, kicking her feet up onto the desk for maximum comfort. "Is it just me or are these speeches getting longer every time? I just hate giving these stupid long addresses. It's the same shtick every time. Give a greeting, explain why we're here, add some positive encouragement, blah blah blah, throw in an ad-lib, and then you mix it up for a speech that everyone eats up and applauds for. Can't they just cut out the unnecessary parts and skip what everyone wants to hear? I mean, I know I'm the principal of this place, but I don't have to give my blessing to everything you know?" Once she finished her rant, Nadeshiko leaned back into her chair, leaving it balancing on its hind legs. Despite her comfort she could swear something felt off as she stared directly into the camera. "The camera's finished broadcasting, right?"

"Is the red light still blinking?" An off-screen voice asked.

"Yes?"

"Then were still live!"

"What!" Nadeshiko kicked back in panic, killing off what little balance she had. Thankfully the hard floor was there to break her fall. "Cut the feed! CUT THE FEED!"

Before there was time to question what everyone just watched, the screens changed over to the pairings for the first day. Those who were competed scanned the screens eager to find their names on the list. And for those who entered solo, find out who would be their battle partner. Jayden and Houki didn't have to search for long to find their names.

"We're in block A. And the first match of the day." Houki noted.

As Jayden scanned over all the people in block A, he smiled.

"Great news Houki! It looks like our team is the only one that has a personal IS unit in our block." As Jayden pointed out, none of their friends or anyone they knew was in the same block as them. Just names of people he knew who didn't have an IS unit or names he'd never heard names. Names like Anna Tobarki, Felicia Bahmut, Tatenashi Sarashiki, and Mythra Garcia. Luck was on his side for once.

"Good. We'll need every advantage we can get. You ready Jayden?"

"Almost."

"Almost?" Houki looked at Jayden and found out that his hands were empty. Or rather, his fingers. "Your rings gone. Where's your IS"

"It's with Gelimer."

"You mean you don't, have it?"

"Don't worry, Gelimer said he wanna to finish up the upgrades for my IS unit. He told me when my first match would start, he'd meet me at my team's hangar. He'll be there soon."

/-/

He'll be there soon.

That's what Jayden had said fifteen minutes ago and Gelimer still wasn't here. Jayden's eyes were locked on the door in the hangar as he paced back and forth. Gelimer had to walk through it sooner or later. Right?

In the center of the hangar, Houki was slipping her limbs inside the Uchigane. Number three was assigned to her for the tournament use. Once she activated the machine, she had to wait a bit for the IS to connect with her. Being a student without a personal IS unit, this was just another docking process waiting to be completed.

"How much more time do you need?" Houki asked.

"I don't need time. I need my IS!"

If Gelimer was trying to keep him in suspense by making a last-minute appearance than he was doing a magnificent job.

Houki's Uchigane hummed to life as all the last connection finished putting her in sync with the IS. Students in a standard unit were allowed to pick between either a sword or a gun to use for the tournament. Naturally she picked the blade. She wasn't looking to happy to see Jayden still not ready. "You know if you're late, I'll have to fight alone, right?"

That didn't take any stress off of Jayden who was beginning to pace in a circle Another minute passed with no sign of the Academy's only male teacher.

It was time to start considering other options. "Can't you just use a training IS for this round?" Houki asked.

"I still can't even activate a training unit. Edel Gleam is the only one that responds to me. It's either that or bust."

Houki took note of the clock. It'd be even worse if neither of them showed up to the fight. "Please don't be late." She said nothing more as she flew out the hangar into the arena.

In another three minutes the battle would start. With or without him. After what felt like an eternity (100 seconds), Jayden could hear fast-paed footsteps sprinting down the hall that grew louder and louder. The appeared in the doorway, looking like he'd just ran a marathon to get here.

"Gelimer, what happened? You never take this long." This was the first time Jayden had ever seen Gelimer come so close to dropping the ball.

He held up a finger, trying to gather enough air to form words. "I thought… I had more… time this morning." Gelimer managed to speak in-between pants." I… didn't think you'd be the… very first match of… the day!"

"Don't you always have things ready ahead of schedule? What happened?"

Good question. What did happen? Gelimer momentarily recalled everything starting with his 'date' with a Maya Yamada. First there was the meeting in the park. Followed by a movie, and then an early dinner to wrap things up. At least that's what should've happened. The two were having such a good time they chose to extend their date doing whatever they could find in the city. A walk in the park, ice cream, even visiting a bar. By the time he got back to the Academy today had turned into tomorrow.

With it being so late, Gelimer figured he could finish the updates to the IS with time to spare. After all, it wasn't like Jayden would have the first match of the day.

Ah! So that's what happened!

"I um… Had very important IS related work to be done. But that's not important! Edel Gleam is ready to go with its updates and upgrades. Do you want the long version or the short version?"

The boy had one eye on Gelimer and the other on the clock. "Short version please."

"I've rearranged the armor of your IS to give a minor decrease to its aero-dynamics for increased speed when diving and accelerating. I've also given you your first additional weapon that's currently stored in your first equalizer slot. On a side note, there's another one I'm developing but it currently isn't ready yet. Anyway, back to the new additional to your arsenal. It's a firearm capable of piercing…"

Gelimer just kept rambling on and on. It was so long with words and terms that Jayden didn't completely understand. If this was the short version, Jayden would hate to hear the long one. Now the man was starting to sound like one of those adults from an old timey Peanut cartoon. Jayden's attention was moving from Gelimer back to the clock where the minute hand had finished another rotation. One more and it'd be battle time.

"No time!" He snatched the ring and deployed his IS faster than he ever had. "ThanksGelimergottagofightbye!"

Ignoring Gelimer's protests, he rushed to the IS arena grounds, landing down next to Houki.

"All combatants have now arrived. The match will begin momentarily." The announcer declared over the speakers.

Houki breathed a sigh of relief. "Please don't scare me like that again."

"Sorry. But at least I'm here now." Jayden looked ahead to the two girls in Uchigane training units standing across from him. He didn't recognize them, so they must've been second or third years. There was still a bit of time to kill before they started hitting each other so may as well get to know them. "Hi there?"

With the 360-degree view of the IS, he could see Houki giving him the stink eye.

"What?" Sure, those girls were their enemies but not… their enemies. One of the girls ahead of them folded her arms chuckled. "Geez Houki, I thought you were only this serious in Kendo. Didn't think it stretched to the Infinite Stratos."

Jayden turned to his partner. "You know her Houki? She knows you." Before she could reply, Houki got beaten to the punch.

"Houki and I are in the kendo club together. We spar here and there, but she always wins." The girl said. "My name's Noelle." Noelle gestured over to her partner. "And this is Keqing. We're looking forward to fighting you."

"A pleasure to meet you." Keqing spoke as she bowed.

Houki rolled her eyes while her partner performed small talk with their opponents. It wasn't long until a countdown appeared on the arena's monitor. "Good luck." Jayden wished to them.

"Same to you." Noelle leaned over to her partner's ear. "Still wanna go with your plan?"

Keqing nodded with a giggle, putting a smile on both their faces.

5

"Hey Houki. I don't suppose you have a plan for the battle?" Jayden asked.

4

"I do."

3

"Awesome! What is it?"

2

"We fight…

1.

And we win!"

0

The moment the match started, Houki rocketed off toward the enemy. Her words were less of a plan and more of a declaration, but the determination was there. She headed straight for Keqing, aiming to strike first. Just as she was getting into melee range, Noelle moved in front of her partner to cross her blade with Houki's.

"Move aside! You're not the one I wanna fight." Houki put up a fury of attacks with each one blocked by Noelle's sword.

"Too bad. You're fighting me now. Think of it like another Kendo match between you and me."

While Houki clashed with Noelle, that left Jayden to take on Keqing. His opponent was on the offensive currently aiming to strike. Her sword lunged forward just inches away from striking Jayden's shield before coming to a complete stop.

"What's the matter? Afraid to hit me?"

"Actually yes." She admitted. "I've seen your battles Jayden, and that shield is your specialty. I know it needs to absorb attack to build up power. But no attacks means no power." The blade swing again and once more, stopped before contacting the shield.

So this was the price of fame and recognition. This girl had done her homework on him. The fact that someone had taken the time to research him was both flattering and somewhat creepy. Luckily Jayden had a back up plan. Whenever his defending shield failed him, it was time for its secondary mode. Smashing board!

Jayden struck his smashing board into the stomach of Keqing's IS. The energy barrier of the IS shone to life as Jayden shoved his smashing board into it. With no power behind it didn't do much, but damage was damage. Another swing of his smashing board collided with nothing as his opponent leapt back.

"Hey! Get back here!" Noelle disengaged, prompting Jayden to give chase.

As the battle progressed the two verses two would be better described as two one versus ones. Houki and Noelle clashed sword against sword which almost resembled the bare basics of a kendo match. On the other side of the arena, Jayden and Keqing continued their battle of cat and mouse.

For minutes the match progressed on like this with the crowd focused on the more action-oriented battle of Houki and Noelle.

"Gah!" Keqing yelped as Houki landed another clean hit just as she'd done again and again. Even with some of the of the strikes Noelle managed to sneak in, it was clear Houki had an overwhelming advantage in this face off.

Houki halted her assault, taking the time to catch her breath.

"Just surrender Noelle. You haven't beaten me before and you won't today." Houki said.

"Nah, If I'm going down. I'll go down swinging." Noelle dug her leg into the ground. Motioning for Houki to come get her. She was happy to oblige.

"So be it."

Houki flew straight ahead, with the intent to end this in one more swing. Her opponent stood her ground,

Noelle kicked up her leg. Her leg along with a cloud of dirt was kicked up right in Houki's face. On instinct Houki's eyes shut tight from the dirt while moving her arms up to block her face. Her vision was blocked, this was what Keqing was waiting for. With no idea of what was going on in that brief moment, Houki's grip on her weapon loosened.

In that moment, Noelle struck Houki's sword hand, smacking Houki's weapon out of her hands. Once that was done, she shoved Houki into the ground. Once the dust was gone Houki reopened her eyes. The first thing she did was scan the ground for her sword, but no matter where she looked she couldn't find it.

"Looking for this?"

There was Houki's sword. In Noelle's hand. The entire crowd roared up in volume after her maneuver.

"My weapon! Give that back!" Houki demanded.

Noelle simply stuck out her tongue.

"I didn't know you were fond of dirty tricks Noelle."

"Dirty, cheap, or tacky. Call it whatever you want, makes no difference to me. Don't get the wrong idea Houki, I do respect your skill and think of you as a friend. But I know there's no way I can beat you a sword fight. I'm just doing what it takes you win. You understand right?" Noelle didn't wait for a response as she put both swords to work immediately.

Having nothing to defend herself, Houki did the only thing she could think of it. As much as she hated to, she had to flee.

"Jayden! I need help!" Houki called out.

The boy ducked under another swing of Keqing's blade when he heard Houki's distress. He looked over to his partner who was flying in the opposite direction of her opponent. That's when he noticed two things wrong with that picture. First, Houki was empty handed. Second, her opponent had two swords. One more than she should've had.

"What the heck happened Houki?"

"She stole my weapon!"

"Well get it back!"

Houki rolled her eyes as though saying "Gee. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Just hang on, I'll-" A jump kick from Keqing rudely cut Jayden off.

"Going somewhere?" Keqing giggled.

As Jayden picked himself up, Keqing remained in front of his path. When Jayden moved left, so did she. When he moved right so did, she. Across the arena, Noelle was doing the same to make sure Houki couldn't meet up with her partner.

"Get out of my way." Jayden demanded.

"What are you in a rush for? We're still in the middle of our fight. So, let's take our time, shall we?"

"You planned this!" This was how they planned to win. Take Houki's weapon, beat Houki, and turn the fight into a two versus one. No wonder why Keqing had led him so far away. If things kept going like this, their tournament experience would be over as fast as it started. No way that could happen.

The main goal right now was getting to Houki to help her. And until Keqing was dealt with, there'd be no way that was happening. He needed to beat Keqing and fast! He could wear down Keqing with his shield, but that was taking way too long. Looks like it was time for the debut of Jayden's new weapon

In a brief flash, Jayden's shield vanished and, in its place, appeared… a thing. Something new was now in Jayden's hands. He just wasn't sure what.

"Wh-what the heck is that?" Keqing asked.

That should've been Jayden's line. It was a long pole like device. Thinner at the bottom half with more machinery and metal on the upper half. The back of it was also had a coating that Jayden guessed was a handle to hold. At the very least he could make out some kind of button

What did Gelimer say this thing was? The man had explained it a short while ago, but his talk was so boring that it hadn't stuck. Jayden definitely heard the word 'fire' though… That was it! This thing must've been some kind of flamethrower! And that button spewed the flames! Quick! What was a good fire-related one liner?

"Time to turn up the heat!"

He'd think of something cooler later.

Jayden aimed his weapon straight at Keqing and pushed the button. The top part of his weapon unfolded itself into more metal rods extending outwards from the device. Once it finished what Jayden guessed was some kind of energy or forcefield thingy connected itself from one metal pole to the other. Now that it looked like this, Jayden finally realized what kind of weapon he was holding.

An umbrella.

"…"

"…"

Keqing brought her hands over her mouth. Trying (and failing) to hold back her laughter. It didn't last for long though as the floodgates burst open.

No no no no no! Gelimer please do not give me another useless weapon!

Jayden's arms shook as he button mashed like no tomorrow, praying whatever this this was called that it'd transform into some usable. No matter what, it changed from a folded umbrella into an unfolded umbrella and vice-versa.

First a shield and now an umbrella.

Jayden screamed Gelimer's name at the top of his lungs.

/-/

Gelimer stuck his pinky into his ear. For a moment, he swore he heard someone shouting his name. Probably one of his devoted students praising his work. There'd be time to relish in his own glory later. For now, he was on the clock. Back inside the command room of the arena, all his usual co-workers were there. Including…

"Mr. Brighton!"

Maya froze in front of Gelimer, with the man mirroring her movement. Eventually Maya managed to break through the ice.

"Is everything okay? You left in an awful hurry."

"Uhh… Yeah! I just uh… Had to deliver something to Jayden. You know how students are. Forgetting things and what not." He somehow managed to get an awkward laugh past his throat. The awkwardness should've been gone after all the fun they had yesterday, but here it was again. Rearing its ugly head.

"Oh… I see. I just wanted to thank you for yesterday. I had a really good time."

"Me to… I had fun."

"If you two are done standing around, return to your posts." Ms. Orimura ordered. The two teachers obeyed with Maya at the command terminal and Gelimer watching the current fight on screen.

"All right Jayden, show me what you can do." The last time Gelimer had fully watched one of Jayden's battles, his IS unit was still in its default form. This was a great opportunity to see how much he'd improved since them. What was even better was that apparently Houki Shinonono was in this match. Jayden's victory and Houki's defeat. Now there was twice as much to look forward to

And yet as the match continued on, Gelimer noticed something… odd. Whenever Jayden would've had a chance to strike Houki, a feat now doable with the weapon provided, he didn't take it. Another questionable tactic was that Jayden seemed only interested in attacking the other girls. One of them should've been his partner, so what was with the friendly fire?

"You okay Gelimer?" To Olivia, it looked like Gelimer was trying to solve the secrets of the universe rather than watch an IS match.

"I'm fine, but the status board seems to have an error." Gelimer pointed out. "Jayden's name is next to Houki's."

"Yeah. So?"

"Isn't that a technical error. Opposing teams don't have their names that close."

"That's true. But teammates do."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said teammates have their names next to each other on screen."

Gelimer picked his ear with his pinky. His hearing was really off today. "I don't think I heard that right."

"Their names are next to one another's because they're on the same side."

"Okay. I understand your words. But it's like you're saying them in an order that doesn't make sense."

The denial was strong with this guy. She got down on her knees, like how an adult would tell something important to a child. "Gelimer. Listen closely. Jayden and Houki are on the same team. As in they're fighting together. Like partners. Companions. Collaborators. Do you understand?

Gelimer didn't move. Like his mind was in the process of rebooting.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Gelimer roared, slamming his hands on the table and rising to his feet.

The act went unnoticed by no one in the room.

"Is everything okay Mr. Brighton?" Chifuyu asked.

"Shinonono! Sylvan!" The man's mind was entering a fritz. On the inside a bunch of mini Gelimer's were screaming and panicking from the world-ending news. Only one Gelimer had the bravery and courage to ignore his fight-or-flight instincts and type a response. "Team?"

"Yes. Shinonono and Sylvan are on the came team."

"That has to be a joke! Say psyche. Say it right now!"

Chifuyu said no such thing.

He stared back the screen, mouth hanging down. It was true. Jayden had Houki Shinonono as his partner. If yesterday was a dream, today must've been a nightmare. Why the hell had Jayden willingly accepted that sister of a fraud? He swore Jayden had like, six friends who had a personal IS unit. What were they all too good for him?

The kid had every tool imaginable to use to hammer in the nail, and he ended up picking the peanut-butter sandwich to get the job done.

It was a complete betrayal of his trust. Jayden may as well have twisted a knife into his back, invested all his savings in cryptocurrency, and danced the macarena over his corpse.

"Mr. Brighton. I'm going to ask you stop acting so childish." They say teachers shouldn't play favorites with their students, but there was nothing about the opposite. As known by many of the staff in this school, Gelimer possessed an extreme dislike for Tabane Shinonono. Is wasn't known exactly why but that hatred seemed to have extended to even the IS inventor's sister.

"This is fine… I mean sure Jayden is gonna be dragged down by his dead weight of a partner. But I'm sure Jayden can do it." Gelimer was trying his hardest to convince himself.

Maybe things could get better.

He looked back at the screen and… Jayden was using his new weapon as a club while Houki had lost her own weapon. Oh god even Houki's sword had the common sense to join the winning team.

"Idiot…" Ms. Orimura wasn't in the mood to deal with craziness form her colleagues. She had to keep her energy up if and when something serious went wrong. "Ms. Sedgewick, please make sure Mr. Brighton doesn't do anything too rash."

"Yes ma'am."

"Jayden… chose Houki… As his partner?"

Gelimer liked to believe he was a reasonable and intelligent man. Sure, there were a few times his decisions we're questionable but for the most part he believed he always acted rationally. That's why he knew in his heart what had to be done. There was no other option.

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked.

Instead of watching the fight, Gelimer was writing on that paper like his life depended on it. "Listing candidates to replace Jayden as the pilot of Edel Gleam."

"Don't you think you should wait till the battle is over before you do… that?"

"Believe me Ms. Sedgewick, the battle was over the moment Jayden chose to team up with Shinonono." He continued trying to think of any more names to add to the list. From his memories Gelimer considered Jayden's roommate. What was her name again? Honey? Honey's name was added to the list. More names would added as the IS battle pressed on.

/-/

Jayden was no stranger to fighting with things that had no business being used to attack other. Shields were used for defense and Jayden had gotten pretty good at using it for offense if he said so himself. Who knows, maybe even an umbrella could be an effective weapon? One minute of using it and Jayden had an answer.

It wasn't.

"Jayden!" Houki yelled. "I can't dodge forever. Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" Jayden swung his umbrella but didn't expect his opponent to power through the attack. Her fist sent Jayden staggering back till he dug his umbrella into the ground.

Keqing attempted to look serious which lasted all of three seconds until her eyes came across that umbrella. "I'm sorry… I'm trying to take you seriously… but it's just that umbrella. You look so ridiculous!"

He didn't just look that way, he felt it to. Smacking Keqing's energy shield with this umbrella thingy wasn't doing nearly as much damage as he hoped it would. He tried using it like staff to parry against Keqing's sword and strike her with it. And maybe it could've won out thanks to its slightly longer ranger if not for that needed to get to Houki soon.

He was getting nowhere fast. Jayden recalled his weapon into his storage. Gelimer's brilliant weapon was the opposite of what a weapon should be. Thankfully he had his other two trustworthy weapons to use.

Why did that number sound wrong?

There should've been two weapons in Jayden's inventory. Shield? Check. Umbrella? Sadly, a check. Mysterious third item? Check? He looked again and confirmed there was yet another item in his expansion slots.

There was no time to look into it. Jayden prayed for something that'd help as he summoned whatever it was.

A sword materialized in his hands.

Jayden blinked and looked the weapon over. It was an actual sword! And not just some household prop converted into one! Finally! A real weapon! It took Gelimer three tries, but he'd finally done it. Now he could actually fight!

Keqing realized fun time was over when she saw the actual blade in Jayden's hand. He ran forward, throwing all his weight into his first ever slash. Jayden and Keqing's swords squealed as they grinded against each other. He gritted his teeth pulling back to try again only to once again meet Keqing's sword instead of her shield energy.

"GAHH! DANG IT!"

Jayden swung like a mad man, slashing in every direction he could just to get something to connect. No matter how many times he slashed the air, his sword always stopped at Keqing's blade.

Every swing of Jayden's sword only managed to strike nothing but Keqing's sword. She stood her ground to keep Jayden in place. And if he did try to get past her, she struck to remind him to stay where he was.

"Why. Can't. I. Hit. You?"

Jayde panted with each blow. All that swinging and he was still right where he started.

"You've got no idea how to use that thing do you?" Keqing tripped him up after his latest swing and miss. "I don't know much about swords, but from the looks of it, neither do you. You're way too obvious and you take way too long to reset so I've got plenty of time to dodge. Heck! You're holding that thing like baseball bat!"

Jayden adjusted his hold on the weapon.

"How about you go back to the shield? At least that was somewhat of a challenge to hit you."

Reluctantly he had to admit she was right. Apparently, there was much more to just swinging than meets the eye. Jayden had no idea how to properly use a sword. But then again… there was someone who did.

Jayden oved to get some distance from Keqing. He threw back his arm with sword in hand, raising up one leg. Like an athlete playing an American pastime sport he got into position. Keqing halted her advance, recognizing the pitching position her opponent was making.

"Y-You can't be serious. Are you really that stupid?"

"TAKE THIS!" With all his might, Jayden leaned forward to throw his weapon. Spinning like a sharp wheel moving through the air in a collision course at Keqing. It was flashy, over dramatic, and obvious as heck.

Keqing stepped to the left.

The sword flew right past her.

"Oh my god… You actually are!" Keqing spared no energy trying to hold back her laughter. "Okay, be honest. What anime did you get that move from? I mean come on. We're you even trying to hit me?"

"Nope." Jayden answered. "I wasn't aiming for you."

"Huh?"

She turned back to where the sword was going. Actually, the better phrasing was, whom it was going towards. Noelle's eyes widened as much as they were able to.

"No…"

"HOUKI! HEADS UP!"

Noelle jumped forward, stretching both swords upwards. Aiming to finish Houki's shield energy with one last attack.

Houke briefly glanced in Jayden's direction. Time seemed to practically slow down as she noticed what was coming her way and what she had to do.

CLANG

Noelle's swords stuck metal. Not the IS energy shield like she'd been expecting. Holding back her swords was the same sword Jayden had moments ago.

Keqing turned to Jayden.

"You!"

"Me?"

"You weren't trying to hit me. You wanted to arm your partner!"

"Yup!"

Now that Houki was armed, she was ready to deliver some payback to. Houki overpowered Noelle, pushing back against her two swords to send the girl staggering backward. Without stopping Houki went in for a rush of attacks. All Noelle could do was manage to bring out a sword to at least.

Swish!

The first sword was knocked out of Noelle's hands.

Swish!

The second followed suit.

"IT'S OVER!"

Houki aimed dead center for Noelle's face. Pressing off against the ground, she jumped forward striking her mark. Noelle's IS powered down and stood their lifeless leaving the pilot inside complaining. One down, one to go.

Keqing swallowed. "Noelle…"

Even outnumbered, she didn't look like she was going to go down without a fight. The smile and laughter she wore before had been replaced with concern.

"Don't think you've won just cause-!"

Before she could finish, Keqing found herself locked tight in a bear hug courtesy of a male pilot. If this wasn't an IS battle, she figured she may have enjoyed the advance from one of the three boys in this school. No matter how much she shook, Jayden refused to let go, keeping her in place.

"What are you? Let me go!"

"Get her Houki!" Jayden assumed Houki could finish her off much faster than he would. If that was the case, then he'd lend two helping hands.

Houki seized her opportunity, rushing straight into their remaining opponent to put an end to this battle.

"HI-YAH!"

"Oh sh-"

One slash from Houki and a purplish wave of energy emerged. All three pilots shared a look of surprise from the energy-like projectile that originated from the sword.

The energy wave carried Keqing and Jayden with enough force to slam them into the arena's walls. Keqing screamed as the wave continued to assault her shield energy, and with Jayden still holding her down there nothing she could do. The numbers totaling her remaining shield energy continued to plummet from triple digits to double and then single. They both fell to the ground once the attack fully ended. Just as they landed, the arena's alarms blared out signaling the match was over.

"The match is now over. The winners are the team of Houki Shinonono and Jayden Sylvan."

Houki stared at the sword in her hands, finding it hard to believe she was the one produced that strange attack.

Jayden shook off some sweat from his forehead, his heart was still beating as though the battle was still on. He checked his shield energy and while it wasn't at zero, it was definitely in the red after that attack. It was almost scary what Gelimer could produce when he got serious.

"Jayden! Are you there? Listen up!"

Speak of the devil.

"Gelimer? Hey did you see me out there? Was I great or what?"

"Yes yes, you did well. Even with her as a partner I'm surprised. You've really improved Jayden. Anyway, I have a question for you. WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT SWORD!?" There was a hint of worry in Gelimer's voice.

"Huh? It was my in my IS. Is there a problem."

"That weapon wasn't ready for testing. I may have been in a rush and accidently set it to your IS unit. Word of advice, never rush or you'll do sloppy work."

"Is… That all you wanted to tell me?"

"No. Listen up Jayden. I don't fully know what that sword I made can do or if it'll work properly. I don't want you or whomever you face getting hurt."

"But that's what I'm supposed to do to win."

"I'm talking about actual pain Jayden. Even I didn't know that sword can make an energy wave like that. And honestly, I'm a little worried what else it can do. Please, don't use the sword anymore. I don't know what'll happen if you do. I can't change your weapon inventory without disqualifying you so I'm forbidding from using that weapon for the rest of the tournament."

"But-"

"That's enough Mr. Brighton." This time the voice sounded like Chifuyu. The rest of the conservation sounded like some protests before Jayden's radio went dead silent.

"Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it." Houki said. "Is everything okay?" Houki handed Jayden back the sword which he stared at for a moment before returning it to his IS's inventory.

"Y-Yeah. It's fine. Anyway, we did it! We won our first match. High five!"

Jayden's smile wavered as Houki flew back to the hangar and leaving him hanging. Things had been rough, and it was only the first battle of the day. Hopefully the rest of the battles today wouldn't be as chaotic or close as this one.

/-/

Lasers shot across the arena sky without pause, burning into the ground and shield energy of IS units. The one responsible? Cecilia Alcott, representative cadet of England. Once the first barrage was fired, she spilt her drones into two groups with each one firing in succession at her opponents.

The two IS pilots in standard Uchigane's had split up and retaliated with their guns to return fire. Little by little both students we're pushed back to have enough space to dodge. One had to use her arms in an attempt to shield herself only for another laser shot to strike her leg courtesy of Cecilia. As they kept losing ground, it was only a matter of time before their backs were against the wall.

"So far so good." Cecilia said as she pulled the trigger once more, striking their other opponent dead center.

As lasers and bullets soared across the arena the cadet representative of China, Lingyin Huang continued doing what she'd done since the battle started.

Remaining in front of Cecilia, doing practically nothing.

Any bullets that came Cecilia's way had to get past Rin who was using her Scimitar's to block. Even if it meant taking damage to her shield energy, Rin remained preventing any attacks from reaching Cecilia. She felt fine doing this… for the first thirty seconds. It'd been minutes into the battle and now Rin was feeling stupid just floating there.

Rin glanced back towards Cecilia. The Blond Brit looked so busy in focus, shooting hit after hit with her sniper rifle all while controlling her drones to fire barrage after barrage. And here she was. Floating in mid-air like a glorified flying statue.

Throughout the entire battle, Rin had remained a small distance ahead of Cecilia. Occasionally she would fire her impact cannons at the enemy. But given the charge up time and far distance they had to travel; those were easily avoided unlike Cecilia's lasers.

"We're doing good. All thanks to you, keep it up Rin."

Rin couldn't tell if Cecilia was being serious or sarcastic.

As the battle continued practically without her, Rin thought back to the conservation that sparked this questionable plan.

"Rin we need to talk."

Rin pulled an ear bud out from her ear, pop tunes blasting at full volume out of it. She was busy reattaching the armored plating of Shenlong back to its arm. Thanks to a certain one-eyed pilot, both hers and Cecilia's IS units had received major damage to the point where serious repairs had to be made. Given they only had one weekend to get their machines in fighting condition, it was a race against the clock to get them in working condition. They'd even slept over in the maintenance department just to have more time.

"Can this wait Cecilia?" Rin glanced back at what she'd been working on.

"No. It can't."

Rin huffed, getting up to look her partner in the eyes. She wiped some sweat off her forehead before speaking. "What's up?"

"We need to take a moment and discuss our plans and strategies for this Monday."

"Plan? We don't need a plan. We're strong enough together to take down anyone we face."

"Even Laura Bodewig?" Cecilia asked, motioning over the now half-wrecked pile of metal known as Shenlong. Just mentioning her name was a sore spot for both of them.

"That was just bad luck. The next time I see that smug German…" Rin crushed the earbud in her hand, imaging that was Laura Bodewig's face she was squeezing the life out of.

Just bad luck. That's what Cecilia wanted to believe at first. That her and Rin's losses were due to nothing more than a series of misfortunes that otherwise would've resulted in their victory. And yet, the more Cecilia replayed those battles in her head, the more she couldn't deny the losses were due to her own actions. Multiple times she and Rin had teamed up, and multiple times they'd lost battles they should've won.

An old saying came to Cecilia's mind that her head maid had taught her. Once was coincidence. Twice was happenstance. Thrice was a pattern.

Cecilia refused to let this become a pattern.

"I'm serious Rin. Both you and I are powerful IS pilots. In theory we should be an unstoppable team with your IS covering melee and mine on ranged. And yet when we join forces, the sum of our power is less than our combined talents. If we don't remedy this, there's no chance we'll win once we face a skilled team."

"Maybe you feel that way, but I don't. Whatever happens I'll pick up your slack and win. Just focus on doing your best and I'll do mine."

Perhaps a different kind of approach would make Rin reconsider. "So that's it? You're okay with losing in front of every student in the school?"

Now that got Rin thinking. It looked like she was on the verge of changing her mind. She just needed a little push. And Cecilia had a good shove in mind.

"And you're okay with some random girl taking Ichika-san on a date to a five-star restaurant?"

That definitely sent some warning alarms ringing in her friend's head. She'd been away from Ichika for years, and she refused to fall any further behind anyone. Rin folded her arms under her non-existent bust. "All right. All right. So what do we do?"

Cecilia got straight to business. "Like I mentioned, our main issue is our coordination. My Blue Tears focuses on shooting from afar while your Shenlong is at its best up close. Our styles are opposites of each other which leaves us fighting as two people rather than one team."

Rin nodded along, everything Cecilia said made sense so far. The saying, "Opposites attract" came to her mind.

"We need to coordinate and learn to fight without getting in each other's way. But since we need to repair our IS units, we don't have time for that. So, I've devised a plan to make sure don't accidently commit friendly fire." Cecilia said.

"All right, lay it on me"

"I'll use my long-range sniping capabilities to attack from afar, along with my drones to attack from all sides. With two enemies I can position them so if one pilot moves out of the way, the other will than be in the line of fire."

"Okay…" Lingyin followed along. "And what do I do?"

"Your role is to protect me at all costs, keeping our enemies away from me and taking any long-range attacks coming my way. Deter any enemy from approaching me specifically. With your protection as my bodyguard, I can attack without worry."

Rin stared at her partner.

"That's it!? Your big plan boils down to, you shoot them, and I become your damage shield."

"Not damage shield. Bodyguard."

Rin came up with a better word. "Meatshield."

Cecilia sighed. "Call it what you like, but I'm serious about this plan."

"Then why don't we just attack together? Why do I have to be your bullet shield?"

Cecilia met the question with a raised finger. "First, we've done that every time we've teamed up and it always ended in our loss. We keep ending up in each other's way. We have to try something different." She then lifted another finger. "Second, this plan is simple enough to execute without much practice. Something we'll lack since we'll be busy getting our IS units in working condition. Look Rin, I know the plan doesn't sound so good when I say it out loud, but I know if I can focus solely on attacking while you keep me safe, I can handle any threat that comes our way."

Rin still didn't seem convinced.

"I'm just asking to try it. If it doesn't work, we'll go back to fighting separately and rely on our skill."

Rin grumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" Cecilia asked.

"I said fine. But I doubt I'll like it."

And thus, a strategy was born where Cecilia would focus all her attention on her shooting and drones at her enemies. Leaving her safety and protection all upon her partner Rin.

Rin wanted to get up close and personal. Just swing her scimitars away and smash the away the shield energy of those girls. But true to her word, she stayed back to guard Cecilia.

The two girls in training units were flying whatever direction didn't have a laser in it. Closer and closer they flew, with their attention so focused on dodging they didn't see what was coming until it was too late. It reminded Rin of the same unfortunate accident they had against a certain green-haired teacher.

The grin on a Cecilia's face widened. The match was now over. Without relent she shot everything she had at the two girls who were tangled together. There was nothing they could do against the endless barrage of lasers.

Every laser hit its mark, leaving Cecilia's enemies to fall onto the ground. By the time her drones were finished, there wasn't a drop of shield energy for her opponents to spare.

"The battle has been decided" The speakers announced. "The winners are Lingyin Huang and Cecilia Alcott."

Cecilia waved to the crowd basking in their cheers and applause. The battle had gone exactly as she'd envisioned. Her drones and starlight rifle once again saw her through.

Rin also took to the cheers but wasn't sharing the enthusiasm her partner had. This was a battle that would've been won. Plan or no plan. Heck Rin could've been tagged out for a brick wall, and the result would be the same. She wasn't part of a team; she was just an accessory for Cecilia. This was going to be all she did for the whole tournament.

Rin forced a smile on her face for the audience

This was going to suck.

/-/

Yua cursed and ducked under her opponent's blade, trying to aim her gun for a counterattack, only to have her arm grabbed and raised to a useless direction. She stared at the girl she was fighting, another student she didn't know or recognize. Her staring however was cut short by a fist to her shield energy, followed by a kick sending Yua on her butt. The girl then proceeded to kick Yua while she was down.

Down on the ground with an IS kicking away at her shield energy. This was pretty much how Yua envisioned her battles going. IS battles were never her forte and she would've never entered an event like this, but she was pretty sure anyone who entered this thing got some form of extra credit. At least that was her maybe-tutor Ms. Sedgewick had told her.

"You just gonna lie there and take this?" Her opponent taunted, continuing to beat away Yua's shield energy with her foot.

Honestly that sounded pretty good to Yua.

The woman lifted up her leg. Just before another heavy stomp could be dealt, another IS emerged coming in full force with a flying kick to send Yua's opponent away. Now in front of Yua was the reason she even made it this far in the first place.

"Are you all right my nightlight?" A girl with whiteish hair and a twinkle in her eye offered her a hand up.

"I'm fine." Yua refused the hand, getting back up on her own. She looked in up at the girl, getting lost in those caramel colored eyed until she detoured away. "And quit it with the pet names."

"Eh? But it suits you so well. Like a glimmering light in the dark."

Yua groaned. Lady luck had decided the Netherland Representative cadet would be her partner. It was thanks to Rolan… whatever her last name was that they'd been able to win their previous battles. Her luck had turned for the better having been randomly assigned a representative cadet as her partner.

Now if only she wasn't trying to hit on her with those sexy pick-up lines or that tantalizing face… Yua slapped herself in the face, unintentionally reducing her already low shield energy.

"Ghh-Yah!"

Their second opponent was coming straight at them. Yua moved to the safety behind Rolan.

Steel met steel as Rolan used her rapier to block opponent #2. Rolan took the offense weaving in stab after stab with her rapier. Whenever danger looked to be coming her way, Rolan effortlessly managed to dodge by shifting her upper body. And once her opponent over extended, Rolan sliced away at the IS's shield energy. Attack, step, evade, counter. Attack, step, evade, counter. Attack, step, evade, counter.

In battle, you always had to keep moving. There'd be time to rest once the fight was over. That's what Rolan believed as she kept herself on the move to make sure her opponents had to work for any hits on her.

Whether you said Rolan was dancing or fighting, you'd be right. How she moved resembled one dancing to the beat of a tune. Light on her feet, Rolan moved around her opponent.

Show off Yua rolled her eyes as she open fired on the other opponent Rolan kicked away.

Rolan's rapier slashed four times, prompting her opponent to desperately block. Despite being in the middle of combat, Rolan had that grin on her face all the while. All the attention on her, the thrill of battle, and getting to be with all these cute girls. She was in her element. While her enemy swung to slash at her leg, Rolan backstepped managing to flip her hair in the process. The mere magnificence of her act drew her opponents gaze straight to the top of her head.

Her good looks weren't just for show. When needed, Rolan had a way of charming her opponents to make some errors happen. Much like a magician, she could keep anyone's eyes wherever she wanted them to be. Now that her opponent's eyes were looking up, tripped up her enemy to send her face-planting on the floor.

Rolan blew a kiss to the girl just before she resumed her career as a magician. For her next trick, she'd make this girl's shield energy disappear. One deep stab of her rapier and the trick was complete. She didn't forget to bow to the audience before taking off for the other one. "Sit tight Nightlight. I'll handle this one."

Yua forced a grin on her face as Rolan soared over to the remaining opponent. Some girls like having nicknames but she wasn't one of those girls. No matter however charming or kinda-cute that nickname was Yua wouldn't… did she just think charming? "No! Bad Yua. Don't go for another pretty face."

Sweat begun to run down Yua's body. Memories from long ago resurfaced flooded Yua's mind. In each one a certain boy was there. As they played back Yua's breathing begun to quicken. In some instances, the boys face were swapped out with Rolan's for but a brief moment like a light flickering.

She gripped her head in trying to ease a sudden appearance of pain. Yua panted and looked ahead to where Rolan was conducting combat.

Rolan's battle had taken her to the edge of the arena grounds, quite literally leaving her opponent with her back against the wall. Her IS was light on her feet as she struck downward with her rapier before having to sidestep her opponent's counter.

"RARAGHHH!"

The next thing Rolan knew, she was shoved aside from behind. Staggering for a moment to stay upright.

"Yua?" Rolan's eyes glanced at her partner charging into the fight. She knew Yua's weapon for the tournament was a gun, so she questioned why her partner had forgone distance. And the gun.

Yua slammed her opponent into the wall. A fist rose and stuck the IS. Followed by another fist. Yua's fists cluttered on the energy shield as though trying to rip a hole right threw the IS unit she was wailing on. The girl rose her sword to try to get Yua off of her but her arm was caught in Yua's hand to keep it right where it was. Meanwhile she continued to deal repeated blows with her free arm.

From the sidelines Rolan just stood there and watched. There was plenty of opportunity to jump in and assist. But given how things were going, she decided to leave it to her partner. Up till now Rolan had done all the fighting between them while her partner… existed. Not that she minded playing a knight in shining armor.

"You go girl! Knock her out!" Rolan cheered.

Yua said nothing as she continued to pummel the IS pilot below her. With one more fist, Yua punched out the last of the enemy's shield energy.

"The match is now concluded. The winners are Rorentsuine Fillney and Yua Tani.

Like waking up from a dream, Yua's eyes blinked until she could keep them open fully.

"My, I never knew you were that ferocious. Where did all the power behind those punches come from?"

"Huh?" Yua blinked, taking in her surroundings. Her opponent laid defeated below her. The audience was cheering for both of them. The last thing Yua recalled was watching Rolan fight against the opponent now on the ground. Whatever happened between then and now was a blank. I did this? "Uh.. Yeah. I just felt like ending this already." Yua winced. She could feel some pain like there was a mini monkey banging cymbals in her brain.

"You okay?"

"Yeah… Just a minor headache. I'll be fine."

/-/

"Can you believe we made it this far?"

Jayden tried to take some deep breathes to try to quell his excitement. Here he was with Houki Shinonono in the arena for the final time today. They had to fight three more pairs of opponents to get here. In each battle, his team had managed to scrape a win by the skin of his teeth. With Houki's relentless offense and Jayden's over-cautious defense, the two had become a formidable pair.

They managed to make to the finals of their block. One more victory was all they needed to make it to the top eight tomorrow.

"I almost can't believe we made it this far. Thought for sure we'd be out a long time ago." Jayden said. "Let's win this Houki!" Jayden had nerves at first, but now he was getting kind of pumped. All those victories gave him a much-needed confidence boost. Houki however didn't look be sharing the same enthusiasm though. "Houki?"

Houki had been staring at the ground ever since they got here.

"Are you nervous? Remember that whole 'ignore the audience' trick? Come on! Let's hear some enthusiasm!"

"We're going to lose badly."

"That's… the opposite of what I wanted to hear. Is something wrong?"

She turned to face him. For the first time today, there was a look of dread on Houki's face. "Are you aware of who we're fighting against?"

Jayden tried to recall the names, but his brain couldn't pull up the information.

"Tatenashi Sarashiki and Utsuho Nohotoke." Houki told him.

"Wait a minute. Isn't that…"

"So you do know-"

"Honne's sister! You know my roommate? She's her older sister. Apparently, she's on the student council but she seems nice. Oh man, if she's like her sister than she must be a strong pilot."

"That's not who I meant." Houki shook her heard though all of Jayden's rambling. "I meant the one named Tatenashi Sarashiki. Do you know who she is?"

Jayden though hard trying to recall if he'd ever heard a name like that before today. All he came up with was a blank mind and a shrug.

"Tatenashi is a second-year student who possesses a personal IS unit."

Jayden's face begun to mirror Houki's. They were up against a personal IS user for their last match. If this is what it felt like to face a boss at the end of a dungeon, Jayden really wished he remembered to save. A big reason for their victories till now was due to the face that Jayden had the experience and power that came with a personal unit while others didn't. Now it would be an even match.

"As the representative contender of Russia, student's have said her skill and strength is unmatched throughout the school." Houki explained.

"Well that's rea-"Hold on for one sixtieth of a minute. What did Houki just say? "You mean representative cadet. Right?" Jayden's felt a chill run through his body while waiting for Houki to correct herself. She didn't. "Y-You're kidding right. That has to be a joke."

"You know I don't tell jokes."

If representative cadets were the elite of IS pilots, then representative contenders were the elite of the elite. And this Tatenashi girl was one of those super elite.

"How!? How is that even possible?" The girl would've been about Houki's age. This girl he was going to fight was the best IS pilot in all of Russia. And if she supposedly was a representative contender, why was she even in a school to learn how to pilot an IS? She should've been a teacher, or anything that would've stop her from being Jayden's opponent.

"Well… maybe Russia's IS pilots are so bad that a high schooler is the best they got?" Jayden's joke failed to lighted the mood.

He could feel his legs shake. No matter what he tried, they wouldn't stop. Where the heck did all that confidence from earlier go? Come back confidence. Jayden needs you.

Houki tightened her grip on her weapon. She'd spared her partner tales of the supposed super woman she'd heard from the rumor mill of students. Stories of how Tatenashi had defeated ten students at once in an IS battle. How Tatenashi had managed to become student council president as only a second-year student or had never gotten anything less than an A on tests. And those were the ones that were the most believable compared to everything else she'd heard. Houki silently prayed that those rumors were just rumors.

They continued to wait as neither of their opponents had arrived yet. Minutes after minute passed which turned into seconds counting down. Jayden and Houki remained standing like statues, waiting for their opponents to arrive.

"This Tatenashi person… if she's really as strong as you say she is. What should we do?" Jayden asked. Even if their opponent was a representative contender, they had to try something.

"I don't know." Houki said. "But we have to try something. Do you still have that sword you used in the first round?"

"I'm forbidding from using that weapon for the rest of the tournament."

Gelimer's warning echoed in Jayden's mind. "Uhh… I can't. It's on the fritz and I'm unable to deploy it."

"Drat. Maybe if we can use your shield to get enough energy and take out Tatenashi in one strike."

"You mean what we've done all day?"

Houki scoffed. "If it lets us win, then we'll do it a thousand times."

"Okay. Then that's-"

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Both of them froze. They'd talked so much that they didn't realize the match had started. As they scrambled into their best attempt at a battle formation, they realized something was amiss.

They were the only two people in the arena grounds.

"By failure to arrive for the match on time, the team of Tatenashi Sarashiki and Utsuho Nohotoke have forfeited the match. Therefore, the winners of this match and advancing to the finals are the team of Houki Shinonono and Jayden Sylvan."

Jayden and Houki shared the same jaw-dropping look, each one waiting for the other to snap them out of this too good to be true fantasy. It was Jayden who was the first to break the ice.

"I-I-I knew it! There's no way some girl like that existed!" Jayden started with a small chuckle that evolved into full on laughter. "The strongest pilot of Russia being a teenage girl? Hah! In a fanfic maybe. I bet our opponents realized who they were up against and quit to save us the trouble."

Houki wanted to disagree, but she didn't really have a better way to explain how or why their opponents just forfeited the fight like that. Regardless, a win was a win even if it wasn't really earned. Houki just smiled knowing how close she was to winning the entire tournament. So happy that she either ignored or didn't hear Jayden's request to high-five.

It took a moment but eventually the arena became filled with an awkward yet congratulating clap for the victor's act of showing up to the arena. With all their battles done for the day, the duo departed the arena and towards the stands to watch the rest of the IS battles unfold.

The battles are beginning with the first tournament arc. And it won't be ending early unlike the canon. Since Ichika and Laura weren't paired up to fight right at the start, there will be plenty of IS battles for you to enjoy.

I'm hoping my fight scenes are up to par, as I always felt I was at my worse when writing up battles. Let me know your thoughts on the fight scenes in reviews, I wanna try to give you all the action you wanna see.

With this new shorter chapter structure, I hope I can bring out content faster for you all to enjoy.

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

Reviewing Reviewers

B123: No final pairings have been set in stone, heck I'm still not sure whether to go harem in the end or put who and who together. The chapter had a lot going on with Jayden and Houki trying to from some connection of a team, Gelimer's questionable date, and Natasha Fair's return. There are a lot of stories to tell and I wanna share them all. Thanks for your continued reviews, they help me going to write on.

Kannoo: Happy you enjoyed it. From one fanfic writer to another it means a lot.

Ironbird53: The archtype girls will be making an appearance, though some will be coming sooner than others. As for following the Archtype Breaker story line, i'm leaning towards trying to decide how to incorporate it. As for Gelimer… well… Yeah even I'm not sure yet.

RandomAss: Like you said, there's more to Rolan than she appears on the surface. As she came from the former IS mobile, I wanted to keep her character well… in character. Of course, to not be one note, I had to make some alterations here and there, but I still wanted to keep her recognizable. Making a character who has the charm to get 99 girlfriends does provide some challenge. As for the 99 girls, more will be revealed so keep reading.

Guest: Your long review and insight into the current state of things was very well written. I wanted to have a lot of development in my story, not just for my OCs but also the rest of the IS cast. The characters don't usually get shone in the best light so I wanted to remedy that in my IS fic. In way, this fic is like my love letter to the series. I've also taken a look at the shows you mentioned, we watched my Bride is a Mermaid back in anime club in college. Look forward to what comes next from Change my Mind.

Omake

"And that's the end of the battle." Maya announced over the broadcast system. "We'll now be taking a short intermission for the students to get ready for the battles ahead."

Maya leaned back in her chair, making all those announcements was thirsty work. But now she had some time to relax with a nice long sip of coffee.

"HIYA!"

It took everything Maya had not to spit out the hot beverage.

"M-Ms. Kutsuwagi!"

"Greetings Ms. Yamada. Looks like you're doing well." The principal of IS academy said. "I just came by to see how everything's going." Nadeshiko's eyes darted around the room nervously. "Say… you wouldn't happen to know where Ms. Orimura is do you?"

"I think she's off on her break."

"Perfect." Nadeshiko's grin widened. She took the seat from Ms. Yamada and inserted a USB she had. "It's your time to shine my little Ad."

"Ad?" Maya didn't recall anyone mention those until now. "We're showing ads. What kind of ad?" Then she came up with a better question. "Why do we even have ads?"

"Are you aware of how much it costs to run and maintain a school like? Every day we burn enough money to make millionaires spit out their hot coffee. I know we're funded by the government but even that is a finite amount. In fact, let me break it down for you." The principal took out a piece of paper from her pocket. "This is a list of all the financial gains we've gotten for the month."

"This paper is blank."

"Yup!" The loading bar on the screen just reached 100% Nadeshiko squealed and pulled Maya close. "It' starting! It's starting!"

The black screen suddenly flickered to life, revealing what looked like the kitchen in a first-year academy dorm room. Lingyin Huang was in the room, along with Cecilia Alcott standing next to her.

Both of them looked… pretty stiff.

"Hi, my name is Lingyin, but you can call me Rin. And I'm with my good friend Cecilia." Rin spoke with words that felt embarrassed and monotone. She looked embarrassed just being on camera.

"HI RIN!" Cecilia almost shouted.

"As IS pilots, we're don't have much time to clean dirty messes with weak regular cleaning products. So, there's only one cleaner we use to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Right Cecilia?"

"Yes Rin." Cecilia forced that smile to remain on her face. "I use Impact Cannon!" She held up a bottle of what Maya guessed was some sort of detergent. "I use it on everything I own to clean up any mess. It gets rid of dirt, sand… stains… oh my goodness, what on Earth is 'grime'? That sounds dis-

"Cecilia!" Rin whispered and jabbed her elbow into her friend.

"Ah! I mean I would totally use it on grime. If I actually did any cleaning. I'd probably just do what everyone else does and have my maids clean for me." Cecilia endured another elbow jab but kept that smile plastered on her face.

Cecilia turned and smiled at Rin who in turn smiled back.

"And now for a demonstration." With a bright flash, Rin fully deployed Shenlong. "This stuff is so versatile; it can be used with any cleaning product. Even an IS. Observe!" Rin gestured to the dirty table next to her friend. She inserted the cleaning detergent into her cannons before charging them up.

"What are you… Rin no!" Cecilia dove for cover behind the bed just before the blast emerged. The force of the cannon blew everything in its path apart. When Cecilia peeked her head out to check, the table had been blown to pieces by the IS's shockwave cannon. "Wow… the dirt is all gone. I mean… so is the table and everything else, but the dirt was definitely among the things obliterated."

"That's right! And Impact Cannon can even clean up more than stains. Got stains on your clothes? Puke on your floor? Rampaging unmanned IS units? Dense friends who don't understand your feelings? All it takes is one blast of Impact Cannon to fix it all."

"Oh my, that sounds quite helpful indeed." That last example sounded really good to the British cadet.

Rin grinned and folded her arms. "With this much power at your disposal, tough jobs are now a cinch. Remember, cleaning's a breeze when you've got Impact Cannon!"

She aimed her IS's cannons at the camera. As they charged up power, screams could be heard from behind the camera.

"Just one shot." Rin gave a thumbs up. "And the dirt's no more!"

One blast of the cannon and the screen cut to black.

"So? Whatcha think? Was it great or what!?" The principal's eyes shined brilliantly at Maya. Those hopeful eyes shone so bright that it was almost blinding the poor teaching assistant.

Maya let out a nervous chuckle. How did she say something positive without being a liar? "It had… explosive personality."

"I know right! And if you loved that, just wait till I air the rest of these bad boys. Let me know when Ms. Orimura's not here. See ya!"

Maya wanted to object, but the school principal just looked so happy. She couldn't bring herself to ruin that bright smile on her face. Oh well. At least this idea of hers was helping… Sorta. Maybe this was fine. It was just commercials. What's the worst that could happen?

There's always time for an Advertisement in between matches. And speaking of Ads, I'm looking for help planning future Omake commercials for the near future chapters. If you have an idea or parody let me know by review or DM. Maybe your idea could make it into a future Omake!