Get hype!

Cannonball Fast is underway!

"GO!"

That was the only word they needed to hear. The hums, thrums and purrs of engines quickly turned to deafening roars. The starting line once filled now left only with the gusts of afterburners and slightly singed earth.

The racers were neck and neck. Huang Ling Yin's heavy Shenlong leading the pack by a small margin on some odd chance. Right behind was Cecilia Alcott in her Strike Gunner packet Blue Tears. The ones behind her were Charlotte, Laura, Houki and Ichika with Laura somehow keeping a noselength lead over them. It was cathartic, the speed so overwhelming that if the IS' didn't have shields, all of them would be suffering friction burn from the wind. Subsonic or no, the speeds were just too breakneck. Not only that, each racer was trying their best to outmaneuver the rest without moving too far away. Ichika, who was the most inexperienced in IS, losing out to even Houki, learned the hard way why everyone didn't dare to move too far away.

To put it simply, he couldn't break away. He had supreme confidence he could make a clean break from the pack if only he had the space but the others were really sticking it to him. No matter if he nudged left or nudged right, he would touch elbows with either Houki or Charlotte. It was nightmarish in a claustrophobic way. Add that to the highspeed induced adrenaline and Ichika found himself thinking pretty irrationally.

"A chance. Just one. That's all I need!"

BANG!

The ground just beside Houki exploded right as she passed. It dealt no damage and shrapnel was negligible to her shield, but the blast nearly threw her off balance. Judging from the angle of the explosion, the shot came from the front.

"Haha! How do you like that? My Shenlong impact engine pulse!"

Ichika stared hard at the violet unit before him. The HUD of his own Infinite Stratos, Byakushiki already preoccupied with feeding precision data on his surroundings that his eyes couldn't quite follow was quick to scan the current bulky Shenlong.

"So that's why it's so fast.", Ichika barely breathed out. The past weeks, Rin had been busy working on her IS in preparation for Cannonball Fast, as per the Chinese government's instructions. But when he or any of the other girls asked about it, she just said that it was a secret. She trained on her own and compulsary class practices were done with her usual settings. Even before the race, she made sure to keep her IS secret. Now though, it was all out in the open.

The current Shenlong was set with eight impact cannons, Twice the number of even the Avalanche packet used during the Gospel incident. The bulk was shocking at first sight and it would make anyone wonder if it was race worthy at all. But closer analysis would prover naysayers wrong. That thing was made to blast through the competition, whether by speed or just plain brute force. The great mass could be used to build momentum and anchor the unit during tight turns. Rounded armor ensured that impact would be elastic resulting in minimal momentum loss in case of collisions. What's more the eight impact cannons which were initially considered a liability in this competition where you can't directly attack your opponent suddenly became a strength. The principle of the impact cannon was to compress bullet of air and fire them at the opponent. But now, that compression was focused as a stream, and that stream of compressed air made for some very powerful boosters, all eight of them. About for of them had swivel joints meaning they could face other directions for instantaneous direction shifts. The greatest advantage to them was that they had not lost their capacity as weapons at all if that potshot at Houki was any indication.

BANG!

Ichika had to swerve away from that one, as did Charlotte. Byakushiki was doing calculations in his peripheral vision.

"ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS ATTACK: POWER: 35%, ACCURACY: 98.63%"

Ichika grit his teeth, that one wasn't a fluke or a dodge on their part. Rin was aiming precisely with a weapon that had such poor accuracy. It was like sniping with a shotgun. This wasn't just equipment. Rin is good.

"You seem to be really full of yourself aren't you?", Cecilia's high-pitched voice pierced hotly through the whistling wind.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three shots in succession were shot, and three shots in succession were dodged. Lingyin didn't look back, but this was less a case of need to keep her eyes on the road and more of using the extended spherical vision afforded by the IS' augmentation of her senses.

"Grr... You're so annoying!", Lingyin screamed before turning the four pivoting impact cannons against Cecilia.

"Hey, no attacking other racers!", Ichika tried to warn the chinese girl of her impending disqualification. But that fell on deaf ears as the weapons fired.

B-BA-BA-BANG!

The shots exploded one after another, like fireworks that could not wait for the other to finish before going off themselves. Ichika had been expecting the horns to blare, some official looking IS to come pouring out of the sidelines. Something! Since Rin had outright fired at another racer despite a rule of no attacks to be fired directly at each other. But nothing, there was none of that whatsoever.

A screen popped up in Ichika's hood and he saw it. The official spherical 3D imaging jumbotron they used to track the racers. All of their shield points were there. Completely untouched, including Cecilia's. Another screen opened and Ichika saw the crater Rin opened up. The center of it all had no damage.

"Hahaha! See that? That's how you sharp shoot. That'll learn ya!", Rin cackled at her somewhat underhanded victory as she was now leading by a lot.

"You're the one whose head is getting big."

tink...

"Eh?"

The tiny sound resonated in the Chinese representative's ears. It was the sound metal made when it hit other metal in a prominent way. And then she flipped, literally. "Gaaaah!", she screamed while rolling comically over the road, her rounded armor affording her some very nice velocity despite the negative acceleration she was getting. Before she completely fell though, Rin saw the cause of her downfall. "A-A bit!?".

Yes, it was a bit. Or should one call it a BT?

"Ohohoho", the haughty ojou-sama laugh Ichika could only associate with one person echoed on the field. "You underestimate me LingYin-san. My dazzling self could never have been caught in such a childish trap!".

Ichika, Laura, Charlotte and Houki all looked towards the source of the direction.

"Geh!", was their collective reaction.

Despite the sparkly aura of opulence lent by the full ojou-sama mode, the image was horribly marred by the fact Cecilia was utterly covered in dirt and dust.

"She's not dazzling at all!", they chorused in their hearts.

Rin returned to a vertical base, now at the back of the pack as her stumble had afforded the others to pass her by in their avoidance of joining her heap.

"But how?", she demanded. "I know the specs of the Strike Gunner packet like the back of my hand! All the BT bits are supposed to be sealed so how did you launch them?".

Cecilia grinned, "You mean these bits?". She flew over Rin's head, showing off the telltale BT bits that formed a skirt around Cecilia's waste. All six of them were in place, not one was unattached. But what caught the people's attention was the thing on Cecilia's back. Or rather, that thing flying a little above Cecilia's back.

"Ohohoho! This is no longer just the Strike Gunner packet. This is the Strike Gunner Double BT special!"

The object over Cecilia looked like a mass of wing binders. The Byakushiki gave it a quick scan again and Ichika's face paled at seeing the truth behind it. "That's-"

He never got to finish before the ojou-sama started up again, "That's right! This is a dedicated mass of remote bits to be used separately from the original six bits that make up the boosters of my Strike Gunner. What's more!". The mass of bits disassembled and Cecilia stretched out her arms and legs. The bits converged on her. "These extra bits can also combine with me to give extra boosters. Ohohohoho! I see you are stunned by the elegance of this system!".

Ichika wordlessly watched the now faster British candidate take the lead after that dramatic display of power-ups. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his neck as he swallowed the forming lump in his throat.

How? How can I tell her that the power-up looks so forced!

"She's pulling away!", Laura cried out in front of Ichika.

After that astute observation, whatever semblance of keeping the pack to box each other in was gone. The girls went all out.

Laura's Schwarzer Regen still had the railgun on, but it had Ichika wondering since the start of the race. Wasn't the railgun aligned with Laura's right shoulder? Why was it directly behind her now? The answer came ridiculously shortly after. The railgun began to position itself, lifting the barrel. When it stopped, Ichika came face to face with a large bore barrel of a metal tube that could launch slugs at a speed over three times the speed of sound. He nearly wet himself, nearly.

The railgun hummed while Laura raised her hands forward as well. After that, she inexplicably started accelerating.

"What?", Ichika exclaimed in surprise. "How is she doing that?".

Again, Byakushiki's analysis came to enlighten him. The railgun on the back was continuously running a unique magnetic current that was causing oscillations. These oscillations were producing motions and based on the laws of physics in one way or another, these vibrations produce a reactionary force that allows for use as an engine. But the acceleration such a thing could produce on earth was negligible at best. The key to this system was the AIC. That's right, the reason why Laura had raised her hands was to open up her AIC and put the field on herself. It seemed the AIC had been retuned to not only stop all motion, but to also manipulate the forces that could and would apply to whatever was in the field. In short, Laura was making it so that the only force affecting her IS was the oscillations from her railgun!

What an incredibly complicated trick! Wait... If no other forces apply doesn't that mean she can't move inside that thing? How will she turn!?

Ichika was mulling this over when from right beside him another voice spoke up. "Well then. I suppose I have to get going as well."

"Char! Don't tell me you have some crazy power-up technique too!"

Charlotte's angelic smile never dropped as she said, "Ofcourse not.". Her eyes were dead set on the two girls leading them. One, seeing as Laura had just slammed herself into a wall. "There is absolutely nothing ridiculous about the true form of my current Rafael.".

Ichika's eyes turned into dots at that proclamation.

Right before his eyes, the Rafael began to fall apart, rather it was shifting on its own accord. "I-Is this fold-out armor? Have they adapted that technology already? This is-"

The Rafael finished its transformation, leaving Charlotte oddly without armor. The IS' back unit had moved lower, the hyper sensor was gone and so was the French girl's hair tie it seemed. Her braid was now loosely whipping against the wind while the gauntlets were nowhere in sight as well.

"Once in the past there was a lady named Godiva. The king then was a tyrant, and as a request to end his tyranny, lady Godiva had promised to ride naked through town. The horse she chose was extremely fast and she rode so quickly that none caught a glimpse of her naked beauty. Right now the Rafael's equipment was made to resemble. Behold! Rafael's packet Godiva's Steed!"

Charlotte proudly showed off the orange unit's new configuration. Indeed, Charlotte's upper body which lack IS armoring did make her seem naked in a way. Her hypersensor had somehow become a floating ring wrapped around her waist. The gauntlets held together the skirt armor and boosters which were once on the back but could no longer fit. The rear boosters crowded over her butt in a way that resembled a skirt. There were even more boosters but they had attached to her legs. Overall she looked like-

Kyri●s!? Isn't this copyright infringement!? And I'm pretty sure Godiva's story didn't go like that, nor was she French!

"Ichika."

"Hiii!", the sudden call reminded the young man that he was not alone. Looking back, he was sharply reminded that his childhood friend number 1 was still with him. After all, they were in the same boat that neither of their units could be modified.

The stoic girl stared at him for a few seconds before giving a snort crossed between a sigh and with held laughter. This somehow irritated Ichika a lot. "Later.", was all Houki said before Akatsubaki shot forward at an amazing speed. This left Ichika in shock.

"We... we were supposed to be on the same boat.", he cried out in dejected shock.

He had clearly forgotten that Akatsubaki had full fold-out armor. She could shift between setting mid-operation from defensive, to offensive, to evasive, to energy saving any time she wanted. This whole time during the race, she had been holding on to her energy saving mode. This was now speed settings.

There was no longer any holding back, everyone of-

"THE REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATES MAKE THEIR MOVE!", the exuberant announcer girl cried atop her levitating podium. "Just out of the third corner and everyone's GAN GAN going for the gold! OVERWHELMING POWER AND SPEED! TRULY! LIKE A CANNOOOOOONBAAAAAALL!"

SCHWAAAA!

The crowd roars in response to her rousing calls. All but one. Ran's eyes aren't resting on the imaging sphere, they are piercing it to one corner of the picture. "Ichika.", she says this quietly as she squeezes her hands. The raucous cheers of the crowd around her indicate that they have no idea what she's so worried about, neither do they pay heed to the girl herself. But someone does notice her. "Hya!", she squeaks in surprise.

The touch of soft skin on her own surprises her, but does not repulse. Ran feels like she could actually sink into the warm feeling wrapping around her. She looks to her left and finds warm pools of caramel sparkling with amusement. "What's the matter?", Squall asks the younger female.

Ran feels unsure, she looks down before turning to her companion again, "Ichika isn't doing so well.".

Squall looks over at the screen, it's easy to distinguish the white unit despite the small coverage it was getting. Before it were the enlarged images of the girls charging forward or blasting each other away from the lead spot. "Mmm, he appears to be struggling.", the blonde woman speaks lightly. The smile on her face easy and happy.

Annoyance breaches the younger girl's heart at seeing how her companion was taking delight in Ichika's hardship, but she felt like she didn't have the right to condemn the blonde for it. "He's in last place. I just hope he can somehow catch up.".

"Oh he will.", Squall's smile grew bigger. "By the fifth turn he'll have surpassed them all.".

Ran stared at the prediction with wondering eyes.

Back in the control room, Yamada Maya was staring at the multiple screens that showed the conditions of the racers as well as multiple windows of the CCTV system of the track. She was quite frantic as she pressed buttons, typed keys and overall just keep up with all the crazy happening outside.

Behind, Orimura Chifuyu was quite passive. Her eyes were hardened and staring intently at a particular window showing up on the monitor.

"O-Orimura-senpai. Ichika-kun is-"

"That idiot will be fine.", she speaks curtly. "Just continue gathering that data. We have to provide special classes to the representative cadets after all."

"Y-Yes."

Maya closed her mouth and continued her work. Even though the conversation was short, she could tell that her senior instructor was worried. She was still an older sister after all, but at the same time she was a teacher. She had to be impartial despite wanting to cheer her own sibling on. This cold shoulder treatment must be the only way she could manage both feelings at once. Maya herself realized that she should follow this example.

But despite what Maya thought, Chifuyu's mind was far from spinning such ideas. She was still staring at the screen but it wasn't at Ichika, she was sure he was capable of overcoming this situation. In the vast azure shown on the monitor she could feel it. Something was there, something was about to appear. But she had no idea what it was. The vague sense that allowed her to survive the most dangerous of situations was telling her something big was happening. But that something was not registering itself as either benevolent nor malignant. Whatever it was, she could not call off the event for a baseless feeling even she herself was unsure of. So she kept watch, resolving that she would directly intervene herself if whatever it was proved to be a threat.

Ichika is in a pinch!

The mysterious Squall predicts the turn about!

What is causing the mysterious unease of the great Brunhilde?

DANGER! Kita?