"Speech"

"Flashback Speech"

/Speech over communication tech/

Disclaimer: All properties are owned by Izuru Yumizuru and Sunrise respectively.

Infinite Stratos: The Iron-Blooded Devil

Chapter 1: The Return Home Part 1

My name is Houki Shinonono and I'm a student at the IS academy.

My life was pretty normal at first, my family lived in a shrine where I studied Kendo alongside my oldest friend, Ichika. We sparred so many times and he beat me every single time. It was a week before the national Kendo tournament, many called us shoo-ins for the top spot. I had made a promise to Ichika that if I won, we would become boyfriend and girlfriend. I was so nervous on the day of the finals and yet I was determined to take the top spot but then my life was changed forever because of my own sister.

She unveiled to the world her greatest creation: the Infinite Stratos.

Over 2000 missiles from around the world were launched by some unknown hacker, all of which were aimed at Japan. A single Infinite Stratos unit shot them all down, showcasing to the world the power of the IS; before disappearing without a trace. The government, fearful of that it could be used as a weapon and our family being used as leverage; pulled me out of the tournament and I lost by default. Before they drove us away to some safe house, I saw Ichika running after us… that was the last time I saw him.

For more than a year, we kept moving from place to place. I lost track of how many different schools I went to and all the news talked about was the IS. The Alaska Treaty was passed in wake of the "White Knight" incident as they call it, but it quickly became a popular sport with a yearly tournament called the Mondo Grosso. I had heard Chifuyu, Ichika's older sister participated and became the first champion or "Brunhilde;" no surprise there. And it's also because of the IS that there was massive shift in society. For reasons even my sister didn't know why, only females could pilot them; this caused women to be favored more and lately, it seems to have gone to their heads. I remember one time that some girls were picking on a boy minding his own business, part of me wanted to go over and help but at this point it had become so commonplace that I… I still regret not doing what I should've. I still wonder if that was some kind of test from above and I had failed; if it was then the punishment for failing was severe because the next day, just after the second Mondo Grosso finals, I was told Ichika was kidnapped and killed when Chifuyu went to go rescue him.

When I saw Chifuyu at Ichika's funeral, her eyes just seemed empty. I remember going up to her, begging that this was some cruel joke and Ichika was okay.

"Chifuyu, where's Ichika? This is some kind of joke, right? Right?!" I cried.

But she said nothing, she didn't react to anything that people said or questions asked; it was like she was dead to the world. I don't know how many nights I cried myself to sleep, it probably wasn't near as the ones Chifuyu most likely did. After it was over, I went over to see Chifuyu again but found my sister there with her.

"Chi-chan… I-"I heard Tabane try to say.

"Don't." Chifuyu cut her off. "This…all of it was because of the IS. Because of you!"

"But Chi-chan, I didn't-"

"If you EVER show your face around me again…I'll kill you!"

I was told that he was kidnapped as ransom for Chifuyu to drop out of the tournament; in way, it all led back to the IS. I began to hate the people who took him, hate the IS for making the world the way it is now and hate my sister for creating it in the first place and ruining my life. Time passed on, I still kept up my Kendo training, if only as some way to keep Ichika alive to me. I kept that hate for years, not realizing what it was doing to me until last year's Kendo tournament. During the final match, I kept thinking back to Tabane and the IS; fueling my rage that I beat my opponent rather fiercely. When I saw that single tear fall, I saw what I had become. I wasn't practicing swordsmanship, I was just beating up my opponents to vent my anger; I know that Ichika wouldn't have wanted that. No matter how much I wanted to, it wouldn't bring him back. When it became time to pick a high school to attend, many suggested I attend the IS Academy. I was against it at first but relented and agreed, perhaps as some way to reconcile with Tabane; to try to understand why the world was so enamored with her creation.

When I discovered that Chifuyu was going to be my homeroom teacher, I thought maybe I'd have someone to talk to whenever I felt down again.

"Chifuyu?" I began.

"That's Ms. Orimura. What do you want, Shinonono?" she asked rather harsh.

"I just… wanted to ask how you been?"

"My private life is none of your concern, now get to your next class, I'm busy!"

But those thoughts were dashed when she acted like the teacher from hell. Her eyes were still as empty as that day and would probably be that way until the end. She seemed so full of anger and pain, I guess she never got over Ichika's death either; I couldn't blame her. I think she even became an alcoholic to numb the pain, I could smell it on her breath sometimes when she was yelling at us in class.

She had become the same as I did.

The class I was put in certainly had its fair share of colorful people. The first was that blonde girl from England, Cecilia; that girl's got a mouth and ego on her. Next came a girl from France not two days ago, Charlotte, she was a bit more approachable than the other blonde. And just recently, Laura, who seemed to know Chifuyu in some way. I had heard that Class 2 also had a transfer from China, but I didn't catch the name. Academy life carried on in relative peace and quiet, it was almost kind of boring.

It was when that mystery IS attacked the school during the interclass tournament that something happened. After it had been disabled, it was taken away to be analyzed by Chifuyu and the teachers. I saw her again later that night but she looked beyond furious and I knew that there was only a few things that could make her that angry. And considering an IS was involved, I had a good hunch it was my sister that caused this. Chifuyu was absent the next morning, she had called in and said she had a personal issue to resolve; I figured she was chewing out Tabane for what she did. She returned the following day, however, something was different. Her eyes seemed softer, a little brighter; like someone had relit the fire in her. She was still hard on us but unlike before, she seemed more alive than she had been in years. I don't think I was the only one to notice, several students gossiped about her sudden change but they were too intimidated by her to ask.

I was getting curious as well; after about a week or two of wondering… and working up the nerve….I asked. What she had to say only made things more confusing.

"The unmanned IS was sent by Tabane. In her own words, she said that 'since I don't accept her calls or write back anymore, how else was she gonna get my attention?"

"What did she want?"

She hesitated a bit, almost like she was debating with herself about telling me. She looked back at me with a small, soft smile; something I hadn't seen in the longest time.

"Let's just say that a new student will be transferring in within a month."

That certainly wasn't cryptic. What does a student have to do with her sudden change? It wasn't until later that I found out that someone overheard us. The news spread around school quickly. No one was quite sure what kind of student could cause such a shift in her; not even Laura Bodewig, the representative contender from Germany. For weeks, all anyone could talk about was the mystery student and the upcoming school tournament.

I was in the quad when I heard someone say that three representative contenders were fighting in arena 4. When I got there, Laura Bodewig was taking on Cecilia Alcott and that girl from class 2; Lingyin Huang, I think her name was. Despite it being two against one, Laura was clearly dominating; thanks in no small part to her unveiled AIC. She had just knocked the both of them down; Huang was just about to fire her shock cannon before Bodewig destroyed it with her own cannon. However, this gave Alcott an opening as she fired her missiles point blank at her. They managed to back away but when the smoke cleared, Laura looked unscathed. I was drawn away from the fight below a large group of people entering the arena; they seemed to be carrying broadcasting equipment.

Reporters? What are they doing here?

"Excuse me, can I help you?"

"We received a call that a new student would arriving today and the identity of this girl is gonna rock the world."

Why would a transfer student be such big news? The lead reporter approached me with a microphone, almost jabbing me in the face with it.

"Perhaps you can tell us something about this new student?"

"I don't know anything about her, no one does."

"I'm afraid she's right, even we don't know anything," a man's voice interjected.

It was Mr. Kutsuwagi, our official Principal as his wife is believed to be the one outside the academy walls. Several more people followed close behind, and now the whole faculty was here, too? This was starting to sound like something Tabane had a hand in, but what was it and why?

The sound of a crash pulled me back to the fight, Laura had wrapped her wires around their necks; trying to choke them. She then went on to pummel them mercilessly. If she keeps going, the IS's shield energy won't last at this rate. Even worse, if the damage doesn't stop, the mandatory unlock activates and it could kill them in this state. Bodewig kept up her assault, breaking off parts of there IS armor. The more I watched, the more it felt like looking in a mirror. Several students were yelling at her to stop but she simply laughed and kept going. Then Charlotte came barreling I guns blazing but Laura just activated her AIC and stopped the bullets and returned fire; knocking her down. It was clear that Bodewig was out of control.

"Have some of the faculty get in there and stop that girl before she seriously hurts them!" I heard Mr. Kutsuwagi order.

"That won't be necessary."

Chifuyu walked out calmly before she set down some kind of radio on the short wall and watched the beat down below.

"Ms. Orimura, shouldn't someone stop her?" I asked, things were starting to get dangerous down there.

"Don't worry, the new transfer student offered to break this up."

"Does that mean she's finally arrived?" the newscaster asked her, holding a mic close to her.

She said nothing to that. I got closer and whispered: "Is you-know-who responsible for this?"

"The fight, no; everything else, yes. I asked and she said it was not part of her 'big surprise' but she's rolling with it."

I could believe that. If there was one thing I knew my sister was terrible at, it was lying; withhold information but not lie.

"Ms. Orimura, we have to stop this now before Ms. Bodewig-" he stopped suddenly.

That's when I heard it, a distinct whistling sound and it was coming from above. The gathered students, teachers, news crew, even Laura stopped her assault as she and everyone else around looked up to see an approaching craft heading for the academy.

"Here he comes now."

Yeah, and I was at least gonna see what made this student so special that – hold on!

"Did you just say 'he?" I asked her. Everyone else snapped back to her, wondering if they heard her right.

She said nothing, only kept her eyes to the sky. The radio crackled before it picked up two people talking to each other.

/We're coming up on the Academy, are you sure you wanna do this?/

One I instantly recognized as my sister.

/Yeah, it's fine/

The other, a boy, sounded familiar but I couldn't place where. A white object then dropped out of the craft as my sister spoke again.

/If you say so; good luck!/

The craft flew away, leaving its payload to fall towards us. As the object got closer, its features became more apparent; a humanoid shape with a long object in its hand. No doubt an IS. But from the conversation I heard not minutes ago, the only ones on that shuttle were my sister and the strange familiar boy; Tabane was obviously not in it and the boy couldn't be in the IS, it doesn't work for males.

So then who was in the machine?

Suddenly, it open fired at the arena floor.

(End POV)

*Insert Gundam IBO OST opening 3: Rage of Dust by SPYAIR*

Multiple shots hit the ground, kicking up dust. The white IS continued its speedy descent.

"Inertia control and thrusters, full throttle!"

The white machine kicked in its systems and slowed its fall almost instantly. It was still going fast enough to kick up a cloud of dust as it hit the ground. Laura shielded herself from the dust and debris kicked up by the machine's landing. When the shockwave settled, she caught a glimpse of a silhouette in the dust cloud.

"Who dares to challenge me and my Schwarzer Re-"

She was cut off by a powerful blow. The Absolute Defense System still protected her from anything life-threatening but the strike was still strong enough to knock the wind out of her and send her flying back several feet; releasing her grip on Cecilia and Rin and allowing Charlotte to pull them to safety. It also cleared the dust away to reveal the new arrival.

Its body was predominately white with a pair of flaps on the shoulder guards and top areas on either side of the torso painted blue. The sole part of its feet and its rather prominent chin were a red color while the two sets of claws on the feet, the fingers, the vents on its chest, the fin object on its back and the crest, which was shaped like two sets of horns, were gold. Its arms were rather long but the rest of the body was far more proportionate and slimmer compared to other IS; its left hand grasped the weapon that sent Laura flying: a sword mace. Its head shifted a little as its green eyes lit up brightly.

Laura growled as she pulled herself up; furious as this interloper's gall.

"Verdammt, what is that thing? Who the hell are you?!"

"My name is…"

The voice was distinctly masculine, something that shocked the silver-haired German, her opponents and everyone within earshot of the mech.

"…Ichika Orimura, and this is my IS: Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex!"

Chifuyu smiled as she picked up the radio's microphone.

"Ichika… welcome to the Academy."

The Barbatos' head glanced in her direction.

/Good to be here./

Houki gasped, a hand covered her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes.

/Chifuyu, is that Houki next to you?/

"I-Ichika?"