Chapter 2

I.S. academy, outdoors.

Ichika's class started out today.

"Today we'll be beginning basics I.S. piloting. Fairs, Alcott show us a demonstration." Chifuyu said.

"Hai" both of them said. Ichika was surrounded in a black light. When the light subsided Ichika reappeared in [B.L.A.Z.E.] Cecilia call forth her [Blue Tears].

"Good now fly." Chifuyu commanded and the two shot up into the air.

They were now flying in the air. Ichika could tell that Cecilia machine was having trouble.

"Cecilia is your I.S. operating correctly?"

"It's fine." She said.

"Fairs, Alcott perform a power dive then come to a complete stop." Chifuyu said over the radio.

"Roger, well then if you'll excuse me, ladies first." Cecilia began her nose dive, but something went wrong. "Oh crap!" Cecilia began to panic as she started to spin out of control.

Ichika now launched himself to help Cecilia. As she was about to hit the ground Ichika caught her. He was holding her in the princess cradle.

"That was close wasn't it Cecilia?" Cecilia didn't answer. She was as red as a tomato now.

"Cecilia?"

"Seth-san thank you, could you please put me down?" Cecilia said while blushing up a storm.

"Ah sorry." Ichika said as he put her down. The rest of the girls in the class seemed annoyed.

"Alcott what happened to your I.S.?" Chifuyu said.

"Well um?" Cecilia had no clue on why her machine went haywire.

"Here I think I can find out." Ichika swiped his hand across his visor.

'Beginning diagnosis scan.' A voice said. 'Diagnosis scan complete. Several errors have been found.'

"It just as I thought, In our fight her thrusters were damage. I think I could fixes it." Ichika said which surprised everyone.

"So can it still move?" Chifuyu asked.

"It can, but combat is out of the question. Cecilia could I take responsibility for this?"

"Eh? Responsibility?" Cecilia allowed her mind to wonder. Her imagination went wild when he said 'let me take responsibility'

"Of course." She goofily said as her mind was in lala land.

"Great I'll meet you after school in [Blue Tears]'s hangar." Ichika now began to follow the directions that Chifuyu gave.

A couple of hours later

Currently Cecilia was in the hangar where [Blue Tears] was stored in. She had put on a very beautiful and frilly white dress. She was humming a happy tune while she waited for Ichika. She heard the door opening and she saw Ichika walk in.

"Sorry we're you waiting for a long time." Ichika asked as he arrive two minutes late.

"No I just got here myself." She lied. The truth was that she had spend a few hours getting ready and she arrived 45 minutes earlier then the schedule time.

"Well lets get started." Ichika had brought out a toolbox and deployed his bits.

Ichika began to work on [Blue Tears]. Cecilia was shocked at how fast Ichika was working on her machine. It was as if he already knew it.

"Seth where did you learn to fix an I.S.?"

"My onee-chan when I first joined the BSAA told me if you're going to play rough with your toys you better know how to fix them." Ichika bits were now shooting little sparks in areas he order so he could fix the frame of [Blue Tears].

"Seth I've been wonder just what did a person like yourself do in the BSAA. I know it's an anti-terrorist organization, but who do they fight?"

"We fight mostly terrorist obviously, but in the last two years more and more terrorist have obtained I.S. units." Cecilia looked stunned.

"I thought the Alaska treaty forbids the use of I.S. in war."

"Tell that to the terrorist...and there. It's done." Ichika called off his bits and started putting his tools away.

"I just need to do one thing." Ichika pulled out a keyboard and plugged it into [Blue Tears]. He started typing away. After three minutes of non-stop typing, Ichika stopped.

"Here try it out." Ichika told Cecilia to step into her machine.

Cecilia activated her I.S. and launched into an arena. Ichika equipped his I.S. and joined her.

"How is it?" Ichika asked.

"It so much easier to fly this, Seth what did you do." Cecilia could move faster and do turns faster than before.

"I just improve the O.S. here try your bits." Cecilia took Ichika advice and started using her bits. She was surprised that she no longer need to focus as hard to use them. She didn't really need to think at all to use them.

"Wow! this is amazing. Thank you Seth."

"Don't mention it." Ichika saw that it was getting late. He said that they should head back.

A Few Days Later.

It was now a few minutes before homeroom began. There were several girls around Ichika. They began talking about an upcoming event.

"Hey, the class interclass tournament is going to start in a few days." A girl said.

"Tournament?" Ichika had no idea what they were talking about.

"Seth-kun you're going to be put in a tournament. I hope you win." A girl said.

"Did you hear that class two representative change to a transfer student." A girl said.

"A transfer student at this time?" This was very unusual. Ichika had a bad feeling about this.

"Yeah she from China I heard." One of the girls said.

"She must of transferred to the I.S. academy to study my techniques." Cecilia said with a lot of pride in her voice. Everyone ignored her.

"I'm curious about this student." Ichika was actually a little worried about anything that had to do with China. After the I.S. had came out China and America became rivals. Very bitter rivals.

"Of course he's going to win. I mean classes 1 and 4 are the only ones that have personal I.S. users."

"That information is outdated." A voice said getting everyone's attention. They turned their heads to the door. They saw a girl who had green eyes, brown hair and her hairstyle consisted of two ponytails. "The class representative of class two has her own personal I.S. so c winning isn't gonna be as easy as before."

When Ichika saw this girl he began to have a massive headache. 'Ichika thank you, thank you.' A weeping girl's voice rung in his head. He began to grab his head in pain.

"Seth are you alright?!" Houki saw that he was in massive pain. Ichika began to reach for his pills. Once he took one his pain disappeared.

"Sorry for making you worry. I'm fine." Ichika tried to not worry them, but they were now very worried.

"What happen to him?" The girl said.

"Sorry I get really bad headache. I don't know why, but they have got worse recently. Anyway you were speaking." Ichika tried to get the topic changed.

"As I was say I'm the representative of class two, Fan Rin." Rin said.

"I see so we'll be fighting in the tournament." Ichika tried to end the conversation.

"Ichika stop this act I know it's you." Rin's tone of voice suddenly changed.

"What?"

"Ichika where did you go after that night. I mean you disappear for a while then you come as the only male that can use an I.S." Rin got closer to Ichika.

"Look you're mistaking me for someone else." Ichika was hoping that Rin would stop asking him questions. Rin wasn't about to give up. Before Rin could say anything she was hit in the back of the head.

"Ow! who th- Chifuyu-san!" Rin now realised it was Chifuyu who was behind her.

"It's Orimura-sensei, now go to class. Homeroom is about to start." Rin knew better than to try to pick a with the former Brunhilde.

"Don't run away after this Ichika." Ichika knew it would be hard to get Rin to stop pestering him.

Lunch Time.

"Like I said why the hell are you lying to me." Rin was sitting next to Ichika. Ichika was trying to convince her that he was Seth.

"I said my name it Seth Fairs, not Ichika. I just happen to look like him." Ichika began to eat his food and tried to ignore Rin, but this was proving to be tough.

During the lunch hour Rin kept on pestering Ichika.

Afternoon Arena 4.

Seth asked both Houki and Cecilia to train with him, of course he forgot to mention to them that the other was coming.

"Seth what is the meaning of this?" The two girls said at the same time. They both looked very annoyed.

"I asked both of you to help me train." Ichika said.

"But why!?" They both yelled at Ichika.

"Well Cecilia is good at long-range fighting and Houki is good at close-quarters. Plus the more the merrier " Ichika knew that he needed help in his swordsmanship and Houki always was talking about how important kendo was to her.

"Well I guess that true but?" Cecilia said.

"But what?"

"How is Houki gonna train you if she doesn't have a personal I.S." just as Cecilia said that, a staff member came in a [Uchigane].

"Here Shinonono-san is the training unit you asked for, don't break it." The staff member left the [Uchigane] started to leave the arena.

"Well there you have it Cecilia." Houki said as she started to enter the [Uchigane].

"The Uchigane, Japan's mass production model. I didn't think you would get permission so easily." Cecilia said as one would have to schedule weeks in advance to train with one of the school's I.S.

"Let's get started shall we." Ichika said as he called forth [B.L.A.Z.E.]. Cecilia called out her [Blue Tears].

"Here what we're gonna do. I will fight Houki on the ground while Cecilia you provide sniper fire for Houki. I want both of you to come at me seriously." Ichika said.

Cecilia moved away from the two so she can get in a good spot.

"Ready yourself Seth." Houki said was she equipped the katana that the [Uchigane] came with.

Ichika created two energy blades from his wrist, but he took off the blades ability to penetrate the I.S. ultimate defense. The blades changed from red to blue in color.

Houki saw that Seth was ready. She began her attack. Houki charged at Ichika. She slashed her sword with both her hands.

Ichika crossed blocked her attack with one of his blades. With his free hand Ichika jabbed Houki. The blade was inches from making contact with Houki's I.S. when a blue energy blast came and forced Ichika to move.

"Thanks." Houki said over the com link.

"Don't mention it." Cecilia now began shooting a barrage of sniper shots at Ichika. Ichika was avoiding the shots with ease, but the shots were a lot more accurate than before.

Cecilia now began to use her bits to attack Ichika. She was able to shoot her [Blue Pierce] while using her bits.

Houki saw that Ichika was too busy dealing with Cecilia sniper fire. She started to close in to land an attack. As Houki got close, she was surprise that Ichika was able to land an attack on her and she sender her flying back.

Ichika was starting to get sick of all of Cecilia attacks. Ichika summoned his miniguns on his arms. Cecilia only couldn't see Ichika do to dust being blasted up into the air. She started hearing the sound of something spinning up, before a volley of blue energy bullets and missiles explode out of the dust.

"Crap." Cecilia panic as the she tried to avoid the attack, but even with her improve specs she couldn't avoid all the attack.

Cecilia was hit by several bullets and the missiles even though they missed, they caused her sensors to go on the fritz. She read her remaining energy points and was shocked that she only had 458 points left.

"That attack was too powerful." Cecilia made a note to not get hit by that. She was too lost in her thought to notice that Ichika had closed the distance between him and her. He was right in front of her with his pistols in his hands, which were aimed at her.

"Sorry." Ichika said as he made the pistols enter full auto mode and destroyed the remaining energy points that Cecilia had. Cecilia I.S. shutdown and she began to fall. Ichika caught her and quickly put her on the ground.

Ichika now put away his pistols and pulled out his blades again. Houki machine was currently at 672 points of energy. She saw Cecilia get defeated and knew that Ichika was coming for her. Ichika landed in front of her.

Houki entered a fighting stance with her blade in her hands. Ichika entered his fighting stance. The two looked in each others eyes. The wind died down it and when it picked up again the two launched themselves at each other.

As the two's blades clashed something was made clear. Houki was better with a sword. The way she fought was more refined and more elegant, but that didn't mean she was winning. Ichika skills with his blades were not graceful. Instead they were wild and rapid. His swordsmanship was sloppy, but his speed was unmatchable. What he lacked in form he made up with in pure speed and power.

The two had clashed their blades for several minutes, but when Ichika crossed his blades to block an attack from Houki, he used his blades as a pair of scissors and cut Houki's katana in half.

"I've lost." Houki said as her weapon was now broken.

"Seth-san, you don't hold back at all do you?" Cecilia had gotten out of her I.S. and walked near Ichika.

"Sorry." Ichika said. Truth be told he had held back a lot, but he didn't want to make the girls sad.

"Anyway that was a great match, Seth your swordsmanship is sloppy, but your brute force is what makes up for it." Houki said as she got out of her I.S.

"Ah I wish I could join the kendo club." Ichika wanted to learn a more proper fighting style, but because he was a male he couldn't join a club.

"If you want Seth I could train you after school everyday before we do our I.S. training?" Houki said.

"Really? Thanks." Ichika said. Houki seemed to have smiled a little. Over the past few weeks the two seemed to have become friends. Houki couldn't get past the fact of how much Seth looked like Ichika. She was certain it was him, but that the same time Seth had a different aura to him. Whenever Houki got near Seth she felt a strange feeling. It wasn't strange in a bad way.

"Shinonono-san that no fair." Cecilia said.

"What do you mean?" Ichika asked. Cecilia face grew a shade of red.

"I-I-I-Its nothing." Cecilia was stuttering as she spoke. Ichika saw that she was red.

"Hey you feeling alright?" Ichika put his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. Cecilia began to blush even more.

"You don't seem to have a fever." Ichika said as he removed his hand from her forehead.

Ichika was starting to get cold so he started to leave for the locker room.

Locker Room,

Ichika was sitting on a bench resting. He had forgotten to bring a water bottle to his locker.

"Great." He said as now began to remove his I.S. training suit. After he changed he left the locker room and was confronted by a certain brown hair girl.

"Here we go again." "Yes?" Ichika said.

"Sorry about the way I acted earlier." Rin said which surprised him.

"I see, I forgive you." Ichika now began to leave.

"Wait." Rin said. Ichika stopped moving. "I want to make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"In our match in the upcoming tournament the loser will have to do what the winner says." Ichika thought for a few seconds.

"That sounds reasonable, very well I accept." Ichika said. For some reason Rin had a very happy look on her face.

"Great can't wait to kick your ass." Rin said happy as she left.

"She's a feisty one." Ichika was now starting to think that he somehow knew her from before, but he quickly brushed off this feeling and now headed back to his room. As he headed bad he was scolded by Chifuyu for breaking the [Uchigane]'s training katana.

A Few days Later.

"So we're having our match in the first round. Good." Ichika said as saw how the tournament was going to play out. Ichika began to head to the hangar.

He was now in the hangar and was waiting to launch. In the observation room Maya, Chifuyu, Houki, and Cecilia were watching Ichika. As Maya saw Ichika activate his I.S. she sent him some data on Rin's I.S.

"[ShenLong] so that's the Chinese 3rd generation I.S." The file only said that it was a close quarters type the rest he would have to figure out in the battle.

"Seth you are clear to launch." Maya said over the m-com.

"I'm taking off." Ichika said as he now entered the arena.

Arena Two.

Both Ichika and Rin were now in front of each other. They were waiting for the buzzer to ring.

"This is your last chance Ichika. Just tell the truth and I won't hurt you." Rin said to him.

"My name is Seth Fairs." Ichika said.

"I'm won't hold back now." The buzzer rang and the two began their fight.

Rin brought out her [Souten Gagetsu] and Ichika brought out his energy blades. Rin and Ichika blades kepted clashing as the flew through the air. Rin joined her [Souten Gagetsu] together to make a double-sided blade. The blades were on both ends and the hilts were between them.

It was obvious that Rin was well-trained to use this weapon as it she was able to force Ichika to block her attacks. The attack was so strong that Ichika in this form had to block with both of his blades.

Ichika moved away to put some distance between him and Rin. As Ichika moved to a good distance, he pulled out his SMG's and aimed them at Rin. Rin for some reason had a proud look on her face, which puzzled Ichika. He soon found out why Rin was smiling.

*DOMP!*

"WAH!" Ichika said as he was hit by some unknown force. It came as a real surprise and Ichika almost blacked out.

"What the hell was that?!" Ichika thought in his mind as he gain his composure.

"What was that...?" Houki, who's watching the live broadcast from the arena, muttered. Maya answered her.

"'Impact cannons'. These compress the nearby air into a cannon barrel, and the resulting shockwave will fire it out like a cannon."

"They're 3rd generation weapons like Blue Tears." Cecilia said. However, Houki isn't listening, as on the screen, It was painful for her to see some who looked like Ichika to get hurt.

"Seth."

Ichika was now avoiding a volley of shot from Rin's [Ryuhou]. "You sure can dodge really well, even though the specialty of the 'Dragon's Roar' is that both the barrel and bullet are invisible to the naked eye." Rin said then Ichika came up with an idea.

Ichika had switched to Thermal vision and could see the shots, but they moved really fast. Ichika now started to form a blue sphere in his hands. People in the arena started wondering what this blue sphere was.

"Do either of you girls know what that sphere is?" Chifuyu said as she was really curious about this sphere. Both of the girls said this was the first time Seth had used this.

Ichika quickly aimed the blue sphere at Rin. What happened next shocked anyone that was watching. A blue energy blast was unleashed from the sphere. Rin saw this attack and tried to move out of the way, but she her left [Ryuhou] cannon took a direct hit. It exploded and she was sent hurtling towards the ground.

Rin was able to regain her footing, but she was shocked at her remaining shield points.

"It drained over 500 points." Rin, before she was hit had 640 points of energy, but now she had only had 133 points left. Her I.S. had received level C damage.

"I'm gonna finish this." Ichika said gaining everyone's attention. Ichika now charged with his blades in his hands at Rin who was on the ground. Rin put her arms up as she knew her machine wasn't able to move in time. As Ichika got closer, he put away his blades and picked up Rin which shocked everyone. They soon learned why he did.

A pink energy beam came down from the sky breaking the arena's defensive barrier. Something entered the arena. The arena began to lock down.

"What going on?" Houki said in the observation room.

"This match is suspended, Fairs, Rin both of you return to the hangar." Chifuyu said over the radio.

Ichika saw with his thermal vision some sort of heat source in the smoke. He changed his vision from heat to X-ray. His eyes widen in shock when he saw what was in the smoke.

"Seth what the hell are you doing!? Get into a hangar right now!" Chifuyu yelled over the Radio. As she said that a pink energy beam popped out of the smoke. Ichika created a barrier to protect both him and Rin. They soon saw the source of the beam.

"Sorry I can't follow that order Orimura-sensei. Rin I need you head back now."

"Are you serious! How could I let you fight this on your own?" Rin said to Ichika.

"Rin, your I.S. is low on energy and damaged. If you continue to fight your I.S. core may receive permanent damage." Ichika was telling the truth. He saw a worried look on her face. "I will protect you Rin, but I need you to trust me." Rin started to blush at his words.

"What are you saying? Just put me down." Rin yelled as she struggled in his arms. The black unknown I.S. shot another energy beam at them. Ichika created a barrier again and let go of Rin.

"Stay here!" Ichika said as he now fought with the Unknown I.S. Rin decided to trust him and listened to what he said.

Ichika now began his assault. He equipped his miniguns and began unloading every last bullet he had. The black I.S. was able to avoid most of the bullets, but it did end up losing one of it's thrusters. Ichika saw that this attacks were not as effective as he thought they would be. Ichika started to contact the BSAA. Immediately a person answered him.

"Seth is there a problem?" A person with brown hair said. He looked at least in his mid-twenties.

"Piers I need level two clearance." Ichika said making the others wonder what he was talking about.

"Why? Seth you should have enough fire power as it is right now." Piers Nivans thought that Ichika was just losing a match. Piers had been the one who taught Ichika what it truly meant to be a BSAA member. He knew of Ichika's very competitive nature.

"There's an Unmanned I.S. attacking the school. I need to finish him off quickly!" Ichika began to fire a volley of bullets and missiles at the I.S., but it was intercepting all the missiles with its lazers and it was unfazed by the bullets.

"Seth what do you mean unmanned?" Maya asked.

"I'm sending you my video feed now." It showed the whole area in black except where the enemy I.S. was standing. They could see the inside of it. There were no bones just cogs moving. Of course this was very shocking to everyone, but they would deal with it later.

"I see, very well I'm removing some of the limiters." Piers began to type something into his computer.

'Limiters Removed.' a voice said. A smile appeared on Ichika's face.

"Elemental Shift!" Ichika yelled as his I.S. was covered in a light. His armored changed from black to light blue. His wings changed into a more angelic look. (He looks a mixture of Black Ace and Ice Pegasus mode except he doesn't have warrock on his hand.)

The unmanned I.S. now began to launch another barrage of laser. Ichika now launch several more missiles at the unmanned I.S. and several of them hit. The unmanned machine's legs were now frozen to the ground.

"What did Seth just do?" Chifuyu asked Piers.

"It's a program on his I.S. Elemental Shift. [B.L.A.Z.E.] is able to use special weaponry with these transformations. Right now Seth's entered Ice Shift." Piers didn't say anything after that. The group now watched Ichika's fight with the unmanned I.S.

Ichika was right in front of the unmanned I.S. that was currently stuck, because of the ice. He brought out his blades which were now red. He cut off one of the unmanned I.S.'s arms clean off. Red oil that strangely looked like blood was gushing out.

The unmanned I.S. tried to punch Ichika with his free arm, but Ichika caught its fist. As Ichika held the unmanned I.S.'s fist, Ice began to form on it. The unmanned unit pulled away as fast as it could leaving it wide open.

Ichika saw his chance and slashed his blade on the waist of the unmanned unit. The unmanned machine was cut clean in half. The top half fell to the ground, while the bottom stayed in the ice.

"That takes care of that." Ichika said as he undid the transformation, but as he did a message appeared on his screen.

'Warning enemy I.S. has locked on.' Ichika eyes open wide.

"Seth it's still moving!" Chifuyu said over the radio. Ichika saw a pink light forming. He knew that he could probably finish the I.S. before it shot. He brought out his two blades and launched himself at the machine. His red wings had pushed him as fast as they could. He made it right before the unmanned I.S. could fire it attack. Ichika breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the unmanned I.S. grabbed Ichika with the stub of its arms.

"I.S. core to self destruct in 60 seconds." Everyone's heart skipped a beat. Two years ago the world learned of what happens when an I.S. core explodes during the German incident. A quarter of the academy would disappear and this place would become a second Chernobyl.

"Piers!" Ichika yelled.

'Level 5 approved.' Ichika launched himself while the unmanned I.S. was on him. He freed one of his hands and cut open a hole in the arena's barrier. He dragged the unmanned I.S. over the ocean which was a decent distance from both the city and I.S. academy.

"20 seconds till explosion." The machine said. Ichika was able to shake off the unmanned I.S. and it began to fall. Ichika started to create a black sphere in his hands. As Ichika threw the black sphere it began to grow. It started to create a vacuum sucking up the unmanned I.S. The intense pressure crushed the unmanned I.S. and the explosion was stopped.

Ichika reached the arena he was greeted by many people cheering at his successes and also he was scolded by his friends. Ichika couldn't hear any of it. The voices were all muffled and his vision began to fade. [B.L.A.Z.E.] soon deactivated and Ichika fell limp on the floor.

"Seth!" Houki was the closest one to him and saw a large blue mark on Ichika chest that run down to his stomach.

"Get a medic here Asap!" Chifuyu saw the mark as well and wasted no time in getting Ichika proper treatment.

Several Hours Later.

Rin was sitting in Ichika hospital room. She had heard some bad news earlier from Chifuyu.

"Rin, after reading Seth's I.S. battle records. We learned that it was the [Shenlong]'s Ryuhou that injured him."

"What? But the I.S.'s ultimate protection should have saved him."

"It didn't read your attack as dangerous, so the barrier didn't kick in. I have one last thing to tell you, stop calling him Ichika. My brother is dead Rin. It's painful enough when I have to see his face everyday." Chifuyu changed her tone from authoritative to a more of a requesting tone.

Rin now came back to reality. "Way to go Rin, you've hurt some complete stranger." Rin would give Ichika an apology.

Meanwhile Ichika was having a dream. Well it was more like he was remembering a memory.

"Hey you promise if I get better at cooking you'll let me make your meals everyday." a small girl said.

"Of course." The boy said and the girl started to smile.

"If you forget, I'll hurt you." The girl said as the memory ended.

Ichika started to open his eyes. Rin moved closer to him.

"Rin you didn't get hurt did you?" Ichika said which caused Rin to start laughing.

"Baka I'm not the one in the hospital bed, I'm I."

"True."

"Anyway I wanted to apologize for the way I acted towards you Seth." Rin said.

"There's nothing for you be apolo- wait did you just call me Seth?" Ichika couldn't believe what he heard.

"Of course that's your name isn't it."

"I guess I'm just not use to. Man I'm hungry." Ichika started to get up and remove the bandages.

"Wait you need to keep those bandages on for at least three weeks." Rin tried to stop Ichika from removing the bandages. As the two of them struggled they ended up on the floor with Rin on top of Ichika. Rin looked down and saw that Ichika's wound had already healed.

"No way." Rin said as she touched Ichika's abs to see if they hurt when they were touched. They didn't.

"I told you I'm fine." Ichika said. Just as the two were about to get off each other the door open and Cecilia and Houki entered. Ichika and Rin began to blush.

"Seth What are you doing?" They both had a demonic aura around them.

"Wait it's not how it looks. I swear." Ichika tried to reason with the girls, but now Ichika would have a reason to be in the hospital.