Last Time: Zora and Ichika challenge British representative, Ceceilia Alcott

This Time: The fight is on!

(Opening Theme: Back - On)

https://youtu.be/4FwfrXDAFyA

XXXXXXXXXXX

Three hours later...

"Ahh, man. What a day..." Zora groaned as he leaned back in his seat. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment or two when he hear Ichika call out to him.

"Hey Zora, I'm inviting Houki and the others over to lunch at the cafeteria. Wanna come along?"

"Sure thing Ichika, I could go for some grumb right about now," said Zora with a smile as he got up and walked up to them.

"You see? Even Zora wants to come along with us," said Ichika to Houki who simply turned away from him.

"I'm fine as it is," said Houki.

"Come on, don't say that. Let's go!" Ichika grabbed her hand and got her to stand up much to Houki's annoyance.

"Hey, I said I'm not going!"

"What, you don't want to walk? Want me to carry you?" he said teasingly.

However this led to Houki being embarrassed as she tried to escape by twisting her arm before slamming her shoulder into Ichika which sent him falling to the floor much to everyone's shock even Houki herself.

Zora immediately rushed to Ichika's side "Whoa Ichika, are you good?"

Ichika groaned a bit before getting back to his feet and shaking the dust off his uniform "Yeah. I'm okay, though I gotta say that you got stronger Houki."

Houki turned away with a huff "Or maybe you got weaker, that was something I learned from kendo."

"Erm maybe we'll pass on the lunch invite," said Nohotoke with her friends nodding in agreement.

'Now I get want Ichika was aiming for when he invited me and the others,' thought Zora, then he spoke up "It's alright, how about next time?"

At the girls' excited nod, he turned back to Ichika and Houki.

"It's not my fault," said Houki.

"Even so, I was trying to get you to eat with us. You didn't have to be so adamant about not going," said Ichika.

"I just want to be alone, I don't need any company,"

"Ah, you don't really mean that Houki-Poki. I mean, look at me. I've been a rebel since day one, and that hasn't stop me from befriending people." Zora said,

"Lucky you..." Houki said with a twinge off annoyance. That's when she noticed Ichika looking at her intensely. "What? Got something else you wanna say?"

"Just shut up and come on."

This time he didn't bother waiting for objections. He just grabbed Houki's wrist and started walking out the classroom, with Zora close behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Houki, can I get your help in teaching me how to pilot the IS? I would've asked Zora but he's inexperienced just like me." The boy pleaded with both his hands clasped together.

"Don't put me on your level. I've got plenty of experience, I'll have you know" Zora remarked mentally as he ate his food. 

"It your own fault of getting involved in both of their quarrel. Sensei should've just let Ukashi-san and her duke it out themselves, not dragged you into this mess." Houki remarked dryly.

"For the love of everything pure, just call me Zora!" The orange-haired said, exasperated. "Geez you've know us long enough to know that. We're not strangers!"

"I..." Before she could finish her sentence, the trio were accosted by another student. Her red ribbon indicated her as a third-year student.

"Hey, aren't you two the boys who challenged the UK's representative contender? I heard that you need help learning the basics, and I can help."

Ichika turned relieved, "Of course, I.." But Houki interjected before he could finish.

"He'll be taking lessons from me. So your help is not needed." Houki stated gruffly, her face showing irritation.

Zora and Ichika's head whipped around so fast, they might've gotten whiplash. "What?"

"But you're a first year, aren't you? I am a third year, so technically I would be better suited for the job." The senior quipped, subtly tugging on her ribbon.

"And I'm Tabane Shinonono's younger sister." Houki retorted, her response sent the senior reeling back.

Undeterred, the senior turned towards Zora. "What about you? Since no one offered, I can tutor you. Just say the word." She told the orangette, her hand rubbing Zora's chin.

"Well, I had a very qualified tutor, he taught me some decent things. But, I really do appreciate" Zora told her..

"But how am I supposed to know how well he's taught you? Trust me, I am better qualified for this." The senior persisted, leaning forward. Zora grabbed her hand to pull her closer and whispered in her ear.

"Have you ever met the White Gale?" Zora retorted, in a smooth tone of voice

Upon seating back, he was greeted by the sight of a shocked girl, who then crashed to the ground, unconscious. Ichika and Houki both reacted with alarm.

"Ooops, I guess I shouldn't say that! Can we get a medic?" Zora called out.

"Zora, what did you just do!?" Ichika was shocked. Just what did he do to cause the poor girl to faint?

"What? I just pointed out something that she got wrong, and I guess she can't take the pressure and fainted. It's not my fault I swear." Zora raised both his hands in front of him. "Shame, she was hot, too."

"Ichika." Houki recovered quickly, and got the attention of the bluenette. "Both of you meet me at the dojo at 4pm, after school. Understood?"

"But, Houki-" He was cut off with a glare by said girl.

"Dojo, Ichika. You hear me?" The girl ground out. Ichika reluctantly complied.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The sounds of wood clanging against each other can be heard in the wooden-laid hall as both teenagers in Kendo armor clashed against each other, with one currently on the losing end. Their opponent surged forward with a flourish, knocking their shinai away before coming down with a vertical slash.

"Men!" Houki shouted, as the weary and beaten Ichika sunk down on the mat. The girl glared at the boy angrily.

"What's wrong with you Ichika!? How did you let your skills degrade to such a level!?" Houki fumed. "What club activities did you do in middle school!?"

"The go-home club, perfect attendance 3 years straight!" Ichika replied, oblivious of the effect of his words to the increasingly angry girl.

"This is unacceptable. You will have to be retrained! From today onwards, 2 hours of physical training after school!" The girl barked out.

"But how does this had to do with IS training? You've said that we'll train with the IS but we've done nothing but Kendo for the past hour." Ichika complained.

"And I say that this goes beyond the IS!" She bellowed. "You're going to train your body before you're training for IS piloting. Do you understand me!?"

"Alright, miss Houki." Ichika sighed.

"Oh no, it looks like he couldn't quite stick the landing there, folks! The judges are really gonna ream him for that one!" Zora laughed at the scene.

"Zora, you're not helping!"

"Never said I was. I was mocking. There's a difference."

The swordswoman turned towards Zora. "And you, put on your armor and get over here."

"Sure," Zora complied, as he walked into the sparring ring, sans armor.

"I said put on your armor. You'll need it in order to spar." Houki reminded him.

"Nah, I'll be fighting without it. Those things simply slowed me down, so I'll do without it. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Zora responded.

"Fine, have it your way." The swordswoman assumed a ready stance. She would show him the errors of his ways.

"Ready? GO!" Ichika prompted. Both combatants rushed towards each other, thus beginning the match.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later...

"I still can't believe how'd you win that." Ichika voiced his opinions.

"Hey, she wanted smoke and I delivered it. I didn't expect I would hit that hard, nor she would knock her head that badly in that helmet." Zora ground out, heaving from exhaustion from the spar.

And from carrying an unconscious Houki on his back, as both boys currently were heading for the infirmary.

"Still, I'm amazed. Houki is a National Kendo Champion, and you went in bare handed and knocked her out with a blow. And that footwork, man she was pissed that she couldn't hit you." Ichika was in awe.

"Well, who would stay around waiting to get hit with a sword? And besides, I did told her it was a no-holds barred fight and she could do whatever. Her rigid mindset is what caused her loss." Zora defended himself. "Besides, I'm a believer of equality. Male, female, email, bird, dog, etc. These hands are rated E+ for everyone."

Both boys went silent after that, and eventually they arrived at the infirmary where they deposited the unconscious girl. Thankfully the nurses told that Houki was simply unconscious and had no serious injury, something that made both boys relieved. They both returned to their rooms and called it a night.

As the day of the match arrived, Excitement can be felt throughout the IS academy. Everyone, from student to teachers can be heard discussing about the duel in excitement as it's the first time they have seen a duel between a male IS user and a female IS user.

Currently, in the 3rd arena dressing room, Zora and Ichika were putting on our IS pilot suit, Ichika' suit consisted of a dark blue tank top and tight-fitting Bermuda shorts, whereas mine was the same one that I worn when I arrived in this world, a orange and white bodysuit with black lining, accompanied by a belt with a holster and an emergency kit. Once we finished dressing up, Ichika commented about the other boy's pilot suit.

(Ignore the helmet)

"Heh, your pilot suit is a full bodysuit huh? Does it feel hot in that?"

"Not really if you get used to it, and once we equipped our ISes, they will provide us with heat conditioning anyway. But, what the hell are you wearing?"

"Ehh, I don't know, this was provided by the school though, well, at least it is quite easy to move in this thing."

"By the way, how's your training with Houki?"

"Well...Houki did drill me with extensive kendo training, however, that's the only thing that she did..."

"Wait, what?"

"...She forgot to teach me about IS operations..."

'Then what was the damn point?' Zora thought to himself, when a voice suddenly ran through the speaker.

"Orimura, Orimura, Orimura." Maya hastily called Ichika's name, "It's here. Your personal IS has just arrived."

"Alright, I better get going then," Ichika said, as he looked over at his friend.

"Sure thing. I'll see you on the battlefield," Zora told him before the other boy soon left.

Soon, he heard another voice on the speaker. "Zora Ukashi, report to the east hangar. Your Is has arrived." Said Arthias.

A smirk then grew on Zora's face at the announcment, without much thinking, he quickly sprinted towards the hangar.

XXXXXXXXXXX

When he got to the arena's hangar, Arthias was already waiting for him at the launching bay while Maya and Chifuyu were in the observation room on the 2nd floor.

"You finally showed up," The older man spoke, upon seeing his cousin coming into sight.

"Ukashi, hurry up and get ready. You can only use the arena for a limited time, so make it count."

As Chifuyu finished speaking, the cargo door behind Arthias started to open, letting out a heavy and blunt opening sound. Once it was fully opened, it was something to behold. The IS looked extremely humanoid. The color was mostly golden with a tad mixture of black and red. The whole head and legs are mostly covered in white while the torso is a mixture of red and black. The mask resemebled a knight a V shaped in front of the headband that is connected to the body at the back. Lastly, a gold and black scabbard can be seen on the left side of the waist. Regardless to say, Zora quite astonished at the sight.

"Ukashi, that's your personal IS, the Solar Akatsuki!" Maya happily exclaimed.

"You like it?" Arthias asked with a grin, looking at his cousin.

"This is mine?" Zora asked, flabbergasted as he walked up to it.

"Sure is." Arthias chuckled and gestured to it. "Go wild, little buddy."

This boggled Zora's mind to the extreme. To think that in a few minutes he would be piloting that thing. The only words he could really use to describe it were 'strikingly beautiful'.

The orange-haired boy stepped forward and laid a hand on the left leg. Closing his eyes, he waited for a few seconds for the instant connection. It didn't come, but he could feel something...

"Something wrong, Zor?" Arthias asked, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"...no... It's like I can feel myself through its skin... Like we're the same person."

"Show that you entrust your life to it," Arthias said.

Being prompted, Zora flipped into the air and landed inside the armor. In a moment, he was fully clad in the armor of the Solar Akatsuki. The golden armor being bolted on and wrapped around his body frame, piece by piece; going up until the head armor was fitted onto his head and the face mask flipped down; and ending with the V-fin and jewel piece with the jolly roger symbol etched on, materializing over his forehead. 

{System Start!}

Data flooded his mind as the Akatsuki started to initialize. The world as he perceived it seemed to expand. Colours became more vivid, and everything seemed to move a bit slower as his reflexes became heightened. It felt like he was a totally different person.

"The amount of time we have to use the arena is limited," Arthias said, "So you'll have to learn to make it yours during the match itself."

"Make it mine, huh?" Zora asked.

"Remember the lesson about the shared dialogue between you and the IS?"  

"Oh, that."

A screen appeared in front of Zora and another IS appeared on it. Blue Tears, as can be seen by the name was blue in color. Despite its name, it's very well-armed to hit enemies from range.

Equipped with a high powered beam rifle, four attack drones and two target seeking missiles, it can easily pin down and take down the enemy from range before the enemy can close in for the kill whether it's an IS that uses mid-range weapons or worse, CQC weapon

"Miss Alcott's IS is called Blue Tears. It's a long-range-assault type IS," Yamada explained.

"Blue Tears, eh?" Zora snorted. "Doesn't sound so tough."

"Equipped on every IS is a feature called Absolute Defence. It's designed to protect the pilot no matter the attack. However, such a deployment would severely deplete your shield energy! Do you get it?"

"Simply enough concept."

Another screen popped up showing a slivery grey IS can be seen standing in its own glory. It looks like a knight in sliver armor causing Zora to whistled.

"This is Orimura's personal IS." announced Maya enthusiastically. "The Byakushiki."

"I see..."

"So, Ukashi," Chifuyu said, "Are you feeling up to this?"

"Well, I look like a pimped out, pilot-wearing Iron Patriot, but other than that, yeah! I want smoke!"

The instructor chuckled good-naturedly. "We'll see."

Arthias merely smirked at the teen. "Give 'em hell."

"Thanks," Zora turned to the entrance of the arena "Let's fly!" the pad shot forward and he was lauched into the arena.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The spectator benches were filled by the girls who were curious about the battle that decides the class representative of class 1-1, and more specifically, the battle between male and female pilots. Some of them were chattering about who would win while waiting for the match to get started, some of them just sat and patiently waited, and some were doing various things with their phones.

https://youtu.be/NrqOf-RNhfk

Soon they heard the sound of the pad before a golden blur shot into the arena like a bullet then soared in the air. It was revealed to be Zora as he hovered over the ground and looked at the other two combatants, prepared for battle. "Yo."

 "Hey Zora, nice looking IS!" Ichika grinned, giving Zora a thumbs up.

"Thanks, you too" Zora said with a mock salute.

"So you didn't run away," said Cecilia with a haughty expression.

The mask lifted itself to reveal Zora's face as he snorted at her "Please, like I'm the type to run from a fight."

"Oh really? I was intending to give you a chance,"

"What you mean by that?"

"It's quite obvious that I'll be the victor of this match, so if you apologize now then I'll forgive you for the insult,"

"I got a better idea..." Zora spoke as a Beam Rilfe appeared in his right hand. "How about both of you run your pockets!" After that he fired a beam of red energy towards Ichika, sending the boy veering off.

Cecilia recovered from her shock and glared at the boy. "How uncivilized! To fire at an opponent without giving any fair chances, take this!" She fired a shot at the orangette, but only to find her shot deflected by a large golden shield on his left arm. How did he materialize it that fast!?

"Ello, govna!" Zora mocked before he proceeded to fire again at the blonde, who barely evaded the crossfire and put some distance between them.

"You dare mock me!?" Ceceilia growled. "I shall show you your place!"

"Mind sharing  few crumpets too?" Zora teased as he looked over his weapons. "Alright, let's see what else this baby's got." He reached out his right hand as Hyakurai disappeared in a flash of light, then he reached for the scabbard on his left waist, drew a sword from it. It's blade was royal blue and a feet long with a small guard under it and was mounted on a five feet long black shaft. Its name, Ultima, stood on it in blue. The reason that the blade blood red is, is because its blade is made of a highly condensed energy beam, the same concept as that of a light saber. 

"A lightsaber? Oh, that is hardcore!" He spun it around in right left hand, threw it in the air and caught it. He looked over Ceceilia and smirked.

"The Force is with me!"

 He then flew towards the blonde and did a diagonal slash. When she evaded the blade, He changed the course and cut her in her left side. He used the built up momentum to spin around, let the saber slip out of his hand , grabbed at the end of its shaft, and barely missed her with his stab. She put some distance between them. He grabbed the saber and threw it at her like a boomerang. It missed her by a foot and she started laughing.

"That was a nice but wasted attempt." She stated in her princess pose.

"Got ya." Zora said softly as he shot at her with my rifle. He hit her a few times before she got out of the cross fire and started to return the fire.

"Now, let's dance. Dance to the waltz that Cecilia Alcott and Blue Tears are playing!" Cecilia yelled.

"In case, doll your self up, Princess!" Zora yelled back as he started dodging again. "Because I'm about to take you to a ballroom blitz!"

"Don't forget about me!" Ichika yelled, as he charged straight at Cecilia, sword raised upright over his right shoulder. He came down with a slash, which successfully connected and threw the Brit tumbling away.

"Not bad Ich, not bad for a first timer." Zora complimented.

"I figured you need the help; besides I got my own score to settle with her." Ichika replied, hefting his sword on his shoulder. "But don't forget, we still have to decide who's the best."

"Hey! Don't you two forget about me!" Cecilia shouted a fair distance beside them, "Since it seems that you two commoners decided to gang up on a lady, I would show you no mercy! Now, witness Blue Tears' incredible power!" A few flying bits detached from the skirt armor and flew towards the boys, lasers firing at the duo.

"That's new!" Zora hastily raised his shield, safely protecting himself while he fired back with Hyakurai, easily destroying 2 before he had to reload. Ichika on the other hand struggled to slice even one, the small drones dancing around the boy like pesky flies.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"This is incredible! Both Orimura and Ukashi are doing so well for their first time!" Maya said in surprise.

"This may be Orimura's first time, but for Zora, this has been quite normal for him." Arthias chimed in as he walked into view.

"Eh? Ukashi has piloted before?" Maya asked, looking towards the man.

"Not just piloted. I trained him myself, even sparred with him many times." Arthias chimed in.

Maya's eyes bugged opened. Arthias was known as the White Gale throughout the world. To know that the orange-haired boy had been personally tutored by one of the greatest IS pilot really made her wonder what the boy had to went through.

Houki couldn't believe it. Here the White Gale told her that someone sparred with him regularly in an IS, and was personally trained by him. If anyone told her that, she would've called them crazy, but hearing straight from the source, made her wonder were they really cousins.

"No need to think nonsense, Yamada. It was necessary for him, and besides he could withstand a lot more punishment than you can think of." Arthias muttered out, which caused the woman to fluster.

"Still, it is impressive. Both boys are working quite well together against Alcott, scarily so. Alcott may have a hard time winning this." Maya noted.

"As expected, when one of the boys got into trouble, the other would rush to their aid. Zora's a wild card, but he's not completely reckless." Chifuyu glanced at the screen. "But Ichika may be a different story."

"Huh? What do you mean, Ms. Orimura?" Houki turned towards the woman.

"Ichika's getting careless. See his left hand? He always clenches it when he's about to do something stupid. Zora's kept that part of him in check at times, but this time I doubt it." Chifuyu explained.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back in the Arena

Zora turned towards Cecilia, to find her standing still in mid- air. Sensing an opportunity, He swapped weapons and fired a round at the Brit. The round connected, sending the brit down to earth. The remaining bits stopped firing at Ichika, as if puppets got their strings cut, they then flew back towards the Brit, and safely ensconced within their original place.

'I see, so she has to stay still in order to focus on using those drones.' Zora noted. A point which Ichika noted also.

"Hey Zora, do you notice that those drones stopping after you've shot Cecilia?"

"I noticed."

"So, that meant that she can only focused on one thing at a time. You keep watch over her, I'll get close and attack her. If she uses the drones, shoot her. I'll take care of those drones." Ichika surmised. He rushed towards the Briton who was hovering low to the ground.

"No wait, Ichika!" Zora called, but was too late when he saw what transpired.

"So sorry! But Blue Tears has more than 4 bits!" Instantly 2 missile pods appeared and launched 2 missiles at the approaching blunette, who was too late to dodge and takes both directly. Zora winced at Ichika's fate.

"Now for you, you dog!" Cecilia rounded at the airborne boy and fired a cluster of missiles. The homing projectiles streaked through the air like sharks, eagerly closing in on their prey.

The missiles continued to streak towards the blonde. Cecilia smirked. Served him right for trying to stand up against her! He didn't know his place and he will reap what he has sown. Once she's done with him, then she will defeat the other Orimura boy and claim her rightful place as Class Representative. The blonde smirked upon the thought of lording over the two pathetic boys.

But surprisingly, something happened that made the Briton go slack-jawed in surprise.

The missiles closed in towards Zora, but instead on impacting directly on him as it should, the missiles merely bounced off the Akatsuki's chest, flew in different and detonating behind him safely. 

"Holy crap, what the hell was that!?" Zora cried out in awe.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"What happened?" Houki asked in atonishment. 

"Those missiles just bounced off his armor...?" Maya muttered in shock.

"Correct," Arthias replied, folding his arm with a small smirk. "The Akatsuki's most remarkable feature is its gold-colored armor, known as the Yata-no-Kagami. It's armor is actually a mirror surface armor capable of deflecting and even reflecting beam fire with help from the Akatsuki's sensors, making it virtually impervious to beam shots."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Zora blinked as he heard this information...before a wide smile grew on his face. "So, basically...I'm freakin' untouchable to lasers and long range!? Hahaha! How do you like that, Govna'!? You weapon can't do shit to me!"

 That comment served to shook her out of her shock. It was evident that the Ukashi boy was now making fun of her. The thought made Cecilia madder; she would humiliate that boy and make him her slave. "I'm a representative of England, an A class IS user and you want me to surrender to a hot-shot American? Never!"

But that was interrupted by a bright light that stunned both combatants. Zora glanced towards the source, to find Ichika's IS transformed, its grey color replaced with white, outlined with gold.

"No way! Your Unit undergo First Shift!? That means, you've been fighting me with default settings?!" Cecilia yelled out in shock.

"Lucky bastard..." Zora sighed in relief.

"I don't know what that means, but it feels like this machine is finally mine." Ichika noted, as he glanced up towards Cecilia and Zora. "This time, I'll protect my family! I'll protect my sister's and my friends's honor!" He assumed a ready stance, his sword unfolding to reveal a blade made of pure energy.

"Ich, I am super-jazzed about you defending the red/white/blue and this emotional breakthrough you're apparently having, but do you think we could put in on pause for, I dunno, two minutes?!"  Zora told him.

"W-What are you saying? You two are annoying! Begone!" Cecilia launched a barrage of missiles straight at the two boys.

The missiles flew towards Zora, detonating harmlessly on his armor. That didn't mean he was standing still, as he fired Sky Stirke at the oncoming missiles, taking out a few that flew directly at him and returning fire at Cecilia. Ichika on the other hand dodged the missiles with newfound speed, easily shaking off the homing projectiles and rushed towards Cecilia.

'So Akatsuki can deflect/refect missles and lasers, huh? But is there a limit to it?' Zora's mind caught up with the new developments of his IS, as he watched Ichika effortlessly dealt with the remaining two bits that Cecilia had sent out in desperate attempt to stop his charge. She tried to keep the charging boy at bay with her rifle, but that was easily prevented by Zora's marksmanship. The boy's blade swung towards the blonde, but then the announcement rang out.

"Ichika Orimura has been eliminated from the match. The match would continue between Cecilia Alcott and Zora Ukashi."

Ichika looked confused, not understanding what just happened as his sword extinguished itself and turned back into a plain sword.

"Orimura, get back down here! Or do I need to get out and drag you myself!?" Chifuyu's voice blared out the arena loudspeakers, which broke the boy out of his stupor.

Ichika hastily retreated from the arena, leaving the other two combatants to regard each other with ill-concealed hostility.

"So, it seems that it's just between us now, American" Cecilia noted haughtily.

"Yea, and for yet this long you barely scratched me. The best you did was to surprise me." Zora taunted her, showing a savage grin.

"You've had help by ganging up with your friend! Now with him gone, I'll show you just how far apart we are in terms of skill!" The girl responded.

The beam rifle came up, only for the Brit to found out that she was unable to lock-on to the American. In frustration she fired wildly at the boy, hoping to overwhelm him in sheer volume of fire. Zora rushed towards her, shield and shotgun in hand as he deflected the beams while rapidly closing the distance.

In panic, Cecilia tried to bash her rifle at the boy, only to be countered by a steel wall. The boy swung his shield against her, which disoriented her. "Shoryuken!" Taking the opportunity, he swung an uppercut at her, sending the rifle flying off her hands and up high into the air. He kicked her away forcefully, while materializing Hyakurai in his hand.

And proceeded to fire at the airborne rifle, the shot shattering Cecilia's signature weapon into a hail of broken metal and synthetic materials.

"My rifle!" Cecilia gasped in shock. He materialized Ultima and incapacitated Cecilia, by slashing at her wings and her legs, destroying the parts that kept her airborne.

Cecilia screamed as the feeling of weightlessness came over her. She plummeted straight into the middle of the IS arena, sending out a large cloud of dust as she crashed. Zora flew down and landed a fair distance away from the cloud, and waited.

As the dust settled, the damage inflicted upon the Briton can be clearly seen, and it was grim. Her IS had been severely damaged by the fall and the attacks from both boys. Her wings were gone and various areas showed dented armor plates, the pilot herself was in no better shape as she struggled to stand up herself.

'How...How could this happen?' Cecilia thought until a voice snapped her out of he shock.

"Are you done daydreaming or still thinking of killing me?" asked Zora. It was this that makes Cecilia take notice her current situation. Zora was hovering above her with his Ultima beam saber was placed a few centimeters above her chest slightly above her IS shield.

Cecilia looked at the boy with defiance and some measure of fear/awe. The boy stood tall, unscathed by all the carnage, not even a scratch on his IS. As he stood above, his IS's blue eyes gleamed a might cyan color.

This situation lasted a few seconds until a voice announced throughout the arena.

'Cecilia Alcott has been eliminated. The winner of the match is Zora Ukashi!' The loudspeaker announced. The crowd that went silent at Zora's display suddenly broke out in cheer, applause and cheering filled the arena at the match they just witnessed.

Zora gazed around the arena and waved happily and the crowd. After a few seconds, he looked down at the downed blonde.

"You need help getting up?" asked Zora causing Cecilia to blinked and saw him standing next to her with his hand outstretch. "Still prideful being help in standing up or you need a minute?" asked Zora with his hand still outstretching.

Cecilia looks at him deciding if he is really playing with her or being serious. Deciding it's the latter, she accept the gestured and was pulled up.

"Looks like I lost. Huh?" said Cecilia.

"There's first time for everything even losing." Zora replied, looking at her.

"I'm humbly apologize about what I said last time. I believe that we started on the wrong foot so can we start again as friends?" asked Cecilia while stretching out her hand for a handshake.

Zora looked at her hand, then flashed a toothy grin. "Hehe, fine by me" He said, shaking her hand.

(Ending Theme - Fly Away)

https://youtu.be/l0W8aAoVjME

XXXXXXXXXXX

Annnnd done, the fighting scene really took some time. But I hoped you guys liked it. Let me you know your thoughts by leaving a review or PM me

See ya in the next chapter!