Infinite Stratos: The Apprentice

Chapter 1

=======================================================

[June 20th, 2033. 4:32 p.m.]

[P.O.V. - Narrator] 

Two figures sat on a couch in the middle of a cosy looking living room. Personal nicknacks and photos littered the walls, the area was relatively untidy. Overall the place was that of a normal living area for a small family, however the inhabitants were strikingly different from "normal". Of the figures, the one who would be considered the most "normal", was a girl of 10 years old with raven black hair and deep brown-red eyes that held unearthly beauty. The boy to the left of her, who had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, differed far more from "normal". He held the same color hair, though his was unnatural and seemed to absorb all other colors around it. The boy's left eye was the same deep reddish-brown, and showed a wise soul with a thirst for knowledge. In contrast, the boys' right eye was an extremely advanced mechanical replacement, it had the fire of a warrior inside of it. An eyepatch was flipped up above the mechanical eye showing that the boy likely hid the eye from public, but felt comfortable enough to have it revealed in his home.

The petite girl was Madoka Orimura, a mischievous girl with a knack for getting into trouble, sometimes too much and her brother would have to bail her out. The very fact of her last name meant that she already had a defined future (at least in the eyes of the world). Since she was the only sister of the world champion Chifuyu Orimura, she had ridiculous expectations laid on her from the moment Chifuyu won the first Mongo Grosso (a championship between only the best I.S. pilots in the world). Madoka was expected to grow to be an IS pilot on par with her elder sister, something she thought would never happen no matter how hard she tried.

The boy to her left was her brother, Ichika Orimura. He always watched her back and would get her out of the trouble she constantly found herself in. Ichika was a prodigy, a genius among geniuses who, given a few years, would be able to give his one (and only) friend, Tabane Shinonono, a run for her money. As if being able to walk alongside the inventor of the Infinite Stratos as her apprentice wasn't enough, he had already collected many achievements for himself. He was easily the most knowledgeable person in the world on the IS, besides Tabane herself. Tabane needed Ichika just as much as he needed her. Considering she was always making decisions without the slightest concern for consequences, he was constantly finding himself the one making additions and adjustments to her inventions so they wouldn't hurt the people they were designed to help. The Infinite Stratos had been the ultimate weapon, but without young Ichikas' ideas such as an Inertia Canceler (to protect the pilot from the excessive amounts of G-Forces), or the Absolute Barrier (to prevent the pilot from being harmed by the military grade weaponry the IS would be fighting against even if its' armor broke), the IS would've only been a glorified death trap.

The young boy knew that Madoka would almost certainly become an IS pilot, considering his elder sister was the "Brunhilde". Unfortunately, he also knew that he would never become one, as only females could pilot an IS. Not even he nor Tabane knew why only females could use the invention. Knowing this, he refused to be a weight that would drag his familys' stength down, so he had dedicated all of his time to mastering several fighting styles which included mainly hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship. His sword fighting skills were exceptional, as was most of what the boy did due to his extrordinary intelligence.

He had a nigh perfect memory, but with the mechanical eye, he had a literal photographic memory. The mechanical eye was originally a replacement built by Tabane when he lost his organic eye around 5 years ago. He... tried not to dwell on how he had lost his eye.

He wore an eyepatch for many reasons. Firstly because the mechanical eye was extremely advanced, and the government might give him trouble if they knew he had access to such technology. Secondly, the mechanical eye tended to freak people out. However, most importantly, he kept it as a reminder of losing his eye. A reminder of how powerless he felt when it was slowly cut out of his face.