"What?"
"You heard me right, I am asking for your help. You are the Hero of the One Year War and the White Devil himself. Only few could match your strength and intellect in both in and out of combat. I could definitely use your talents."
If Amuro is not being choked right now, he would be confused as hell. Who is this guy and how does he know his past? Was he part of his past? Did they meet in passing?
What does he mean by a broken timeline?!
"Amuro!" Without looking back, Amuro caught the Heat Blade flying through the air before activating it. In a flash of hot red, the enemy unit lost one of its arms as Amuro freed himself. Not too soon after he was released, two Bit Funnels slammed into the enemy's massive frame, pushing them back away from Amuro before disengaging back to its owners.
"Are you alright, Amuro-kun." Kanzashi asked concern as she checked on him while he coughs for air.
"I'm fine." Amuro assured her, not taking his sights off the machine. Turns out, the enemy was nothing but a drone when he cut off its arm.
No blood but wires and steel.
"Kanzashi, how much energy do you have left?" Amuro asked her.
"...1 minute left." The Sarashiki girl replied with a wince. She had overestimated how taxing it is to fire and block multiple shots with her incomplete Bit Funnels.
"That's more than enough." Amuro replied, standing tall and pulling the Heat Blade to his side.
1 minute to secure the kill.
"Block any incoming attacks, I'll rush him. His now off balance with the loss of limb and a new blindspot to exploit. Think you can do that?"
"I definitely can." Kanzashi nodded in understanding.
They have to take it down here or less let it run a mock.
As the enemy unit finally stood up, taking its time with one arm, Amuro moved in with two Bit Funnels trailing behind him. Seeing the incoming attack, the unit swung its broadsword predictably. Almost immediately, it was blocked by the Bit Funnels following Amuro but the force and sharp edge of the attack destroyed the Bit Funnel.
Kanzashi will remember that.
Even so, it gave Amuro just enough time to duck and stab straight towards the enemy unit's chest. Surely the main transmitter or AI black box is located there.
Definitely so as almost immediately, the unit reacted by leaping itself off the sky to avoid the attack.
A big mistake that Amuro was expecting.
The Gundam Uchigane's leg thrusters form around Amuro's legs as he summons them, igniting almost immediately to the call of their pilot. Before the enemy knew it, Amuro was upon them.
The Heat Blade swung downwards, cutting the unit from head to groin in half.
And then the leg thrusters puttered out and broke apart in Amuro's mid-flight.
"Damn it!"
"Amuro-kun!"
-------------------------
In the arena, the fight continued on.
The trio is currently in trouble against the remaining two units.
Lingyin and Ichika are having too much trouble due to Ichika's inexperience and constant aggression focused on him by the enemy unit. Concerned and very much distracted, Lingyin can do nothing but react and defend the boy as best as she can.
Meanwhile, Cecilia's trapped in a game of cat and mouse where both sides can shoot at each other. Despite only having two Bazookas as its main range weapon, the enemy unit is keeping up with her with constant fire and pressure to get in melee range. As it turns out, it was fast.
Faster than the Blue Tears.
Not to mention, its barrier is impossible to penetrate. She unloaded everything to it to no avail. Its red barrier simply ate everything she threw at it. At the moment, she's all out of missiles, leaving her with nothing but her rifle and her sidearms.
Deploying her drones would be effective but with the opponents speed and constant bombardment, she would be just wasting them by sending them to their destruction.
She has to play this one smart.
Suddenly, the intruder speeds up. Cecilia yelped when she found herself face to face with the enemy unit, its massive buster blade raised to cleave her in half. With her barrier being in the yellow from last time, it will surely break through.
Without any time to think and space to move, Cecilia pulled an Amuro.
With gritted teeth, she slammed her Blue Tears into the enemy, dragging them along with her flight. This interrupted the most likely fatal swing, allowing Cecilia enough freedom to attack.
She then pulled out her new sidearm, courtesy of Amuro and Kanzashi.
A pair of submachine guns.
Shoving the barrels into the enemy's torso, Cecilia pulled the trigger and let it loose. The intruder shuddered as over a hundred rounds penetrated into its mainframe before its systems failed from the critical damage of its interiors. By the time Cecilia's guns start clicking empty, the enemy unit slumped over her Blue Tears before falling to the ground with a massive thud.
Unresponsive.
Suddenly, an explosion took her attention.
It came from Ichika's direction.
------------------------------------------
Earlier...
The fight against the unknown IS is not going well for Ichika despite Rin's help. The enemy is just so persistent on focusing on him even with Rin's multiple interference. The girl is simply batted aside or foiled by Ichika's inexperience as the enemy chases after him.
No matter what they did, it kept close to Ichika.
Ichika found it frustrating. Not because of the opponent but due to his helplessness. No matter what he does, he keeps messing it up. He tried going offensive against it only to be caught and almost got whisked away if not for Rin's interference. If he tries to lure it to Rin, it will just focus on him and ignore Rin as much as possible to capture him.
For some reason, it's hellbent on capturing him.
"Ichika! Move!" Ichika's thoughts were cut off by Rin's warning. Dodging out of the way on pure instincts (he probably has PTSD everytime Rin and Houki shouts at him) out of the way from Rin's Ryuhou.
The shot hit the same red barrier as always.
"Damn, how much energy does this bastard have!" Rin howled in frustration, clashing with the enemy to stop it's charge to Ichika. Her Dao meet its Buster blade, sparks flying off as both weapon's edges met.
She's been hitting the same red barrier for how long yet it still remains strong. A normal IS can only take up to five direct hits from her Ryuhou before breaking its barrier.
This one took more than ten and still no sign of energy depletion.
It's starting to frustrate her, not to mention it's apparent interest for Ichika. She doesn't know why or what but she has a bad feeling about it.
"Rin!" Ichika appeared behind the enemy unit, slashing downwards to its back.
Only to be caught.
Both IS pilots gasped as Ichika found his attack halted, a crushing grip on his forearm stopping his attack. Before Rin can move to free him, she finds herself catching the boy after being thrown like a ragdoll, sending the two tumbling in the air.
"Goddamn it, Ichika!" Rin cursed, reorienting their flight and separating herself immediately to him.
"Sorry." The boy immediately apologized, shaking his wrist. He winced at the pain flaring up, bruised most likely.
"Honestly, you-" Whatever words Rin was about to lash out to the boy was cut off by sudden appearance of the enemy IS behind her in a wisp of red particles.
'Too fast!' Rin tried to turn, to block whatever attack it would throw at her.
Only to be hit with a backhand, shattering her barrier and sending the girl spiraling towards the stands in a mighty crash.
"Ri-Gak!" A clawed hand cutoff Ichika's cry, wrapping itself around his throat, leaving him gasping for air.
"Orimura Ichika, I'm sorry for this." Before he knew it, something sharp plunged into his stomach.
It was a syringe. Blood started pouring into it as the unit extracted his blood.
Suddenly, its red barrier reappeared as Cecilia made herself known. Dual wielding her machine guns, she tried overwhelming its barrier as much as she could so she could slip in a fatal shot.
It was ineffective.
"I'm tired of this." It said before its back began to erupt.
A massive pulse of red particles enveloped the area.
Ichika screamed as his IS sensors went haywire, overloading his senses before crashing. He can also hear Cecilia screaming in pain before she resumes her attack.
That's when the enemy's head vulcans hit her shoulder, blood spraying out.
Ichika's eyes widened in shock and horror as Cecilia fell out of the sky. To see a senior, someone he actually respects out of skill and character to fall down was horrifying. Cecilia was strong and she just fell with one shot.
"Finally." The syringe was suddenly ripped out of his stomach, making him grunt in pain. Ichika gave it a hateful glare.
He hates them.
He wants to crush them.
He will kill them!
Suddenly, the arena erupted in bright light.
At a hidden underground base, a certain rabbit smirks.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, a certain man narrowed his eyes at the event unfolding in front of him.
-----------------------------------
Ignoring the light show above, Amuro focused on the important things.
Like saving their class representative before she crashes into a pile of broken limbs. Rin, who's being attended by Kanzashi right now, has non-fatal injuries thankfully except for a broken arm and a few bones. She's lucky her body is small, much more compact that her IS natural armor absorbed most of the impact.
Still, she wouldn't be walking for a few weeks.
But Cecilia has it worse. He doesn't know how but that red pulse somehow shutted down all nearby IS sensors and barriers by the looks of it. So imagine Cecilia's shock must be when she got tagged.
Running across the stands, he watches the girl falling closer to the ground. Her body is currently in shock after taking a direct hit, with no time to reorient and her barriers down, this fall will be fatal for her.
Amuro cursed, summoning the Gundam Uchigane full form minus the legs. It's backpack igniting to launch its pilot towards the falling girl.
"Gotcha." His aim proved true, catching the girl midair. With a little control he had, they tumbled into the air before crashing into the ground awkwardly.
"Cecilia." Amuro called out to her as he lay down the girl. She is awake but in shock, breathing heavily as she clutches the cauterized wound. Amuro winced, it will surely scar.
Ripping off his sleeve, he wraps it around the wound to avoid further aggravation and infection. It's already cauterized so it's safe until help comes.
"Cecilia."
"...Amuro." She finally responded before grimacing in pain.
"... It hurts." She said in pain, voice so small he barely heard her.
"I know, I know." He offered her a hand for comfort. Cecilia's armored hand immediately clamps around it with crushing force. Thank the stars for wearing the Uchigane's armored gloves or his hand will be crushed.
"Help on the way. Just stay awake and don't move." He comforted me before he had to go. Ichika still needs help.
But as he tried to go, Cecilia's hand didn't let go.
"... Don't leave." She started hyperventilating, sweating profusely and grimacing as she tried to stop him.
Amuro winced. Cecilia's faculties aren't there right now due to shock. Too used to IS duels where IS barriers absorb every single damage except for blunt force, this is probably the first serious blow she took since stepping into an IS.
She's definitely in shock with her body and mind not able to adjust to the new sensation.
Amuro sighs, he has no choice.
"Alright, I'll stay. Just stay awake and look at me."
Cecilia nodded in response, body sagging in relief to relax in order to lessen her pain. Meanwhile, Amuro kept her company. Kneeling at her side as holding her hand like a knight in shining armor. The thought itself would make her blush if her shoulder wasn't in so much pain. The smell of blood and burnt flesh is prevalent, making her want to puke but she can't. She still has an image to protect and puking it in front of one of the few people she respects would ruin that image.
As they wait, Cecilia can't help but stare at Amuro.
When did he look so old?
--------------------------------------
Power.
That's what Ichika felt as he kicked the enemy away from him. Power rolled in every vein in his body, coursing through each part to empower him.
To embolden to fight back.
He felt like he could do anything.
And so he did.
In a burst of speed, he rockets towards the one who hurt his friends, his blade singing into the air. With all his strength, he swung down.
Steel meets steel, sparks flew as Ichika's blade slowly cut through the Buster blade of his foe after defending with it, blocking the attack.
Meanwhile, the pilot of the intruder narrowed their eyes as a sneer appeared in their face. They recognize this IS. The white and angelic theme, the energy blade it's wielding and the signals it's emitting.
They can't mistake it for another.
"Trans-Am."
Before Ichika knew it, he found himself embedded in the arena walls. He gasped and choked as a clawed hand constricted his throat, pinning him down to the wall.
His barrier was already shattered.
"The audacity of that human. To think she would be this bold, let alone give it to someone like you. Truly, you humans always find ways to surprise and insult me."
Ichika doesn't know what they're talking about but all he knows is that he has to fight. He continues to struggle, hitting the armored limb pinning him down with zero results. To his foe, it's almost amusing.
Out of nowhere, its red barrier made an appearance again to block a shot heading straight to the back of its head.
"Let him go." Ms. Maya growled with unadulterated fury after watching the damn thing brutalize her students. Clad in her Raphael Revive and wielding a custom sniper rifle, she floats in the air menacingly with the fury of a scorned woman.
Her students always forget that she was once a strong duelist, a candidate herself for Japan but never got past it. Still her skills and experience is acknowledged by Veteran IS pilots and Chifuyu herself.
As for why she was late to rescue her dear students?
Because it happened again
A localized White Knight Incident.
IS academy is an island separate from the mainland, defended and patrolled by various Japanese destroyers and IS carriers for attacks in case someone would try. Even then, the island itself has multiple automated gun placements to defend it from any intruders.
Until now.
Before they even knew, all ships on the island lost their sensors and radars, turning them all blind. The Island's denses are also not exempted to this blackout.
The three intruders came into the island without any resistance to its defenders.
What's more worrying is that the entire school system was also hacked. Classrooms, labs, garages and many other facilities were locked down by the schools emergency defenses. Their own security methods were used to lock them inside their own school.
Both her and Chifuyu tried their best to bypass the security hack with no progress. The hacker/s were too deep in the system and with communications being compromised as well, they can't get a word out for a manual shutdown.
By then, three of her precious students were down with various injuries.
Ms. Yamada had enough and took the field herself.
"Unhand him now!" She demands to the unknown IS.
But instead of listening to the teacher, the intruder turns towards the pinned pilot.
"I'll give you this one warning if you know what's good for you, boy."
"Don't trust the rabbit."
With that, it pulled and carelessly tossed the broken boy to the side like a used toy. Immediately, Maya began firing at the target but its red barrier simply absorbed each shot. Before she could take it down, it had already left the academy's airspace towards the sea.
Leaving behind a disappointed teacher and her poor students.
Today wasn't a good day.
Chapter End
------------------------------------
Future chapter spoiler:
Unknown Pacific island
01500
Transmission commencing....
Communications Established.
???: Mission successful, we're inbound back to base. Data packet acquired and sent to base. All copies are deleted.
???: Hmm, that's not the mission parameters, Captain. Do tell why you diverge from your mission parameters? The Americans wouldn't like this.
???: Better this than let it spread across the world. Open the data packet.
???: .....
???: See something interesting.
???: American satellite took these photos before it was shot down into German territory?
???: That's the gist.
???: I can see why the Americans will want it. I'm deleting the data. Send the rest back to the Americans.
???: Will do, Sir..... What about your mission, Sir? Heard from the boys it went well but I also heard that the plan is changing.
???: Not the word I would use. Certain developments occurred through the mission. Our plan has to change to adapt to this development.
???: The Rabbit has made its move.
???: Shit. Years of idle movement and now she's active.
???: Yes and it will probably get worse here. I'll have to accelerate your crew's pilot training at this point.
???: Great, more work.
???: Although...
???: Why do I don't like that tone?
???: ... Have you considered sending Laura to a school?
???: That's a bad idea.