Infinite Stratos: Enigma Chapter: 8

Dustan leered at the larger Frame before him, "How is it possible that you are here Axe?" He asked the pilot who just laughed at him.

"What's the matter Dustan? So surprised to see me?" Axe said making Dustan scowl at the tone of his voice.

"You know what I mean Axe! Now tell me before I kill you!" He shouted out only as he did, Dustan dodged a rouge attack that came from his side from a very angry Chifuyu.

"Dustan just what is going on here? Who are they and where did they come from! Explain yourself now!" She shouted at him as she heard the hysterical laugh coming from what she thought was a larger IS, 'Is that a man?' She thought when her thoughts were answered for her.

"What's this Dustan? Taking orders from a woman now?" Axe said confirming Chifuyu's suspension about it being a male pilot, and making Dustan fume at where he was taking this, "And here I thought the only woman you took orders from was Viola?"

Without a moment's hesitation Dustan lifted his right fist pulling it back as energy formed a cone of energy over his fist before he threw a punch at the Frame only as he did, the energy surrounding his fist created a vacuum of wind that went barreling towards the frame crashing against its larger body but did little to nothing as it stood was slightly knocked back.

"That tickles Dustan." Axe said making the teen growl as he whipped out his blade and was about to charge towards him but he was stopped by Chifuyu who appeared before him, blocking his path once more.

She looked over at Dustan giving him a stern look before turning to the larger IS before her, "Listen here, I don't know who or why you are fighting Dustan but I am ordering you to stand down right this moment. If you don't comply then I will be forced to make you." She said with much confidence in herself.

Axe laughed again, "Feisty one aren't you? Well as much as I would love take that pride of yours and crush it, I came here for him." He said pointing on his larger arms towards Dustan in Jehuty, "Besides if you want to try and stop me then my friends here will keep you company!" He shouted as the six Raptors that were slightly larger then the one Dustan had destroyed moments prior, took off flying towards Chifuyu who let out a groan as she readied her blade.

Dustan charged in to help fight them because he noticed they had a commander flying in the group of Raptors but he was cut when a large energy blast came barreling past him stopping him in his tracks.

"Ah ah ah Dustan. You have bigger problems on your hands!" Axe yelled out as the arms of his Frame broke apart before rising over head as energy formed at the tips of its arms before a volley of beams that soared above them both before they shattered into small balls of energy that fell right above Dustan who was forced to dodge the attack as they rained down around him.

'That was one of Tyrants moves, but it looks like the Raptors weren't the only things that got upgrades.' Dustan thought as he was forced to maneuver through the wave of energy but he was clipped over his right shoulder which staggered him enough that another beam hit him over his head knocking him back once more into the fray until he managed to raise his arm producing a shield that took the brunt of the attack it only took so much enough before it started cracking under the heavy onslaught.

The shield shattered as one of the beams hit his left arm but the onslaught ended before anymore damaged could be done.

"Shields down 30% Left Arm Critical Damage. Headgear Damaged, removing until repaired. Weapons unit offline. Minor damage to lower body and chest."

"Damn, just what did they do to make the Frames this much stronger?" Dustan wondered as he assessed the damaged done to him as Jehuty had sparks appearing over parts of its Frame. Over its left arm, the lights were a dark red and the helmet part of his Frame broke into bits of particles showing Dustan's who was sweating slightly underneath it.

"What's the matter Dustan?" Axe said taunting him as he saw the look on Dustan's face, "When did you become so weak?" He said making Dustan grit his teeth.

"Shut up! I could easily defeat you." He said as his eyes glazed over at Chifuyu who was holding her own against the Frames.

Axe took notice of where Dustan was looking, "I see." He said making Dustan looked back to him. "They don't know about you do they Dustan?" Axe asked only to see a reaction out of him, "Well this changes everything!"

With Chifuyu, she was fighting against what she assumed were Six Female Pilots using the same type of unknown IS's to fight her. (A/n: The raptors that are with Tyrant have a more IS like body frame, meaning their stick like frame is now covered.)

Since Dustan had confronted the larger IS, she had been trying to talk with the others trying to get them to stand down but they refused to listen or even respond to her.

But she did admit that they were very skilled. They moved together, never wasting a single movement or hesitating to attack her using their numbers against her. But every time they did, she noticed that one would stay back some.

'That one much be the one in charge, if I could just get to her then I could take them down one by one.' She thought as they swarmed her again, not giving her the time or space to recover.

But she wasn't known as one of the best IS pilots for nothing.

She waited, buying her time until she saw her opening and took it. Once the IS's charged to attack her, she blasted her thrusters which produced a small boom as she faded out of place dodging the attack that was targeted at her and appearing behind the IS that was apart from the rest.

Using the brief window of opportunity, she raised her sword slashing against the back of the IS's body but something else happened.

She assumed the IS's Absolute Shield would protect the pilot from harm but that wasn't the case here. When her sword cut the back of the IS, it cut start through the armor.

"What?" Chifuyu gasped as she watched her sword cut clean through the Frames back armor, "Oh no!" She suddenly realized what she had done looked inside of the IS to see if the pilot was harmed but inside of seeing a pilot, she only saw wires but other than that it was hollow inside.

"What?" She said to herself confused as to what she just saw, but her confusion was quickly interrupted as she ducked under a strike from the very IS she had attacked forcing her to back off but giving her time to think.

"Just what are they? No pilots inside, it's unheard of. IS's need a pilot to move." She said to herself as she watched the IS turn around to face her.

She watched as the others flew next to the one she had attacked forming a barrier around it as this strange light formed between them. She had noticed that before, but it was faint, and hard for her to see unlike this time.

"No pilot," She said again and again before she had a thought, "They move as one, and only attack together. Could that mean that they are all…" She looked at the other IS's closely watching their movements as they floated together and she saw they had no human like movements which made her think, "If they don't have a pilot then that means," She was cut off as they charged her, and she raised her sword in one and forming a Shotgun in the other.

As the first IS came barreling at her, she blocked the two blades it produced and quickly moving her other hand to just under her sword and facing the IS's waist as she had a moment of hesitation before she pulled the trigger and the shotgun let loose a buck shot that struck the IS in its waist, and creating a sizable hole showing its hollow insides.

"Just as I thought, no pilot inside which means the rest of you are the same." She said giving a little laugh, "Which means I don't have to hold back anymore." Collecting herself, she was about to be swarmed once more, only this time she kicked off the IS she had damaged flying back in time to dodge the collective attack of the rest before she turned her sights on the lone one behind them.

Pushing her thrusters to the max, she went barreling towards it firing off a few rounds to which the IS dodged but she only grinned as it retreated from her attacks but she stopped suddenly before her speed increased tenfold as her thrusters burned red creating a smoke trail as she phased out of place once again before appearing behind the IS only as she did, its body slowly slide sideways before complete falling apart.

"Not so tough." She said turning to the others which were flying apart from each other compared to how they were just a moment ago, "Looks like that did, now to finish off the res-!"

Chifuyu was cut off as this large shockwave knocked out of the sky. She caught a glimpse of a large beam shooting past her destroyed the rest of the IS's that where in its path. She was lucky enough to be further away from the beam but she still struggled to regain her placing before managing to stop herself in time to look at the source of the shockwave that took nearly half of her shield energy down.

"Dustan?" She whispered as she looked at her student, only something was off. His IS was damaged, he no longer has his helmet and his armor was pulsing red. And she could clearly make out the expression on his face from where she was.

And what she saw as pure anger.

-Minutes Prior

"Come on Dustan you're going to have to do better than that!" Axe shouted as he sent a volley of energy beams towards Dustan who fly between them and closing in on Tyrant as he raised his sword but was stopped when he saw Tyrant lifting both its arms sideways before it became spinning wilding in circles before it came flying towards Dustan who had little time to raise his shields to block the oncoming attack as it crashed into him knocking him off balance as he was sent flying back.

Dustan regain his composer as he saw Tyrant coming back around for another pass only this time he took off right towards Tyrant, but before he collided with it, he opened his thrusters flipping his body upwards dodging the oncoming attack and giving him a clear view of Tyrants exposed head as he raised his right arm forming a ball of energy before he shouted as three more energy balls formed next to the first as he threw his arm forward and they went flying towards Tyrant who had little choice but to take the attack as they all hit their mark.

But Dustan didn't stop there, he pulled his arm back once again as he flew downwards, waving his hand out as beams shot out from around him and homed right at where Tyrant was. He did this several times before he stopped when he was leveled with Tyrant once more.

"Not back Dustan, if I had to say you did some serious damage to Tryannt with that last one." Axe said as Dustan could make some cracks over the shell that covered the top of the Frame, "But those weak attacks won't be enough to defeat me!"

Dustan readied himself as he saw Tyrant raise both its arms in front of itself as this large barrel appeared between them as energy began to swell up.

"Warning! Warning! Charged Particle Cannon detected! Suggest evasive actions! Repeat Evasive Actions recommended!"

Dustan heard Ada say as he watched the cannon being charged.

"Need to do something fast." He said to himself, "Ada, are any weapons online yet?" He asked his AI that responded.

"Negative, only functioning program…" A window appeared before Dustan as his saw what was working.

"That will have to do for now." He said with a slight grin as he began to run different strategizes to he could use as he fired off his homing beams at the Frame in hopes of stalling it but it did little to the larger Frame.

"Is this all that you can amount to Dustan?" Axe said to the teen who didn't stop his assault as he fired off charged energy beams at Tyrant, "You've grown weak in your time here Dustan." He said making Dustan angry, "Weak just like your father, he gave up in the end. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." He said making Dustan stop entirely as his eyes were wide and his body trembling with rage.

"Weak just like your father." The words repeated in his head as he snapped and went flying towards the Frame as he unleashed his own onslaught of attacks that slammed into the Frames body, the beams burning into its armor but only did so much as he stopped and raised his hands over his hands over his Frame gathering all the energy he could as a ball formed only it grew and grew until it became twice his size as he threw his arms forward and the massive ball of energy went flying towards Tyrant hitting its mark and creating a huge smoke screen over the large Frame.

Dustan stopped panting as he glared at the spot where the Frame was only to scowl when he heard, "To bad, I was told to bring you back alive but I don't think we need the shell of something dead. So do me a favor and DIE!" Axe shouted as the energy suddenly stopped gathering before a single ball of light appeared in the area between his arms before it suddenly formed a huge beam that sent a powerful shockwave out, the recoil pushed Tyrant back but the beam went sailing through the air at Dustan who regained his senses and quickly got out of the path of the beam, but he didn't get away that easily. As the beam flew past him, he noticed Jehuty's armor breaking apart from the force of the beam, and despite not being touched by it, he was heavily damaged.

"Warning! Warning! Damage to body Critical! Damages exceeding over 85%. Systems stall." He heard Ada tell him as he recovered only to see Jehuty's armor severely damaged and his energy levels dangerously low as Ada was forced to expend most of it to protect Dustan.

"Damn it!" He cursed as he saw Tyrant lower its arms.

"You survived huh? You were always the toughest out of all of us. Only makes sense that you it would take more than that to kill you." Axe said making Dustan anger, "Maybe I was wrong? You didn't die as easily as your father did-!" He was cut off as an energy beam struck the Frames head staggering him for a moment.

"Shut up…" Dustan said lowly, "I don't care how much shit you talk about me," He said as Jehuty suddenly began to glow in a low hue as he flicked his right arm out revealing his sword as his body suddenly disappeared.

"What!" Axe shouted as he turned his Frame around looking for Dustan who appeared behind him, striking out against the back of the larger Frame only as he dealt the last hit, his blade began to glow brighter as it sparked with energy before he struck Tyrant cutting into its armor and sending it flying forward only he didn't stop there.

His Frame phased out of place once more and he appeared in the path of Tyrant stopping the Frame with a single hand as he dug his clawed hand into its armor holding it in place as he started to spin round and round before releasing it back towards the way it came from.

Only he was already there waiting for him.

He raised his bladed arm as it began to glow brighter than before as Tyrant came sailing towards him. In that spilt moment as Tyrant flew past him, Dustan swung slashing straight throw the Frames armor cutting the lower half of its body off as the half that was cut off exploded.

"Don't ever speak of my father, the dead don't get a say in things Axe." Dustan said turning around to see the smoke clearing and seeing Tyrant floating there with its lower half missing.

"Heheheheheheh….HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! There's the Dustan I know! That cold tone, the merciless attacks! That the real Dustan Egret!" Axe cheered as Dustan closed his eyes as he felt this familiar feeling rush over him, "You can feel it can't you Dustan. You know what comes next don't you." He said only this time, the tone of his voice was different. It was more rational.

Dustan did nothing but nod his head as he fly towards the Frame that could do nothing as its body falling apart, with sparks shooting off the broken parts and the only weapons it had were cut off leaving it defenseless.

Dustan stopped an arms lengths away from Axe as he placed his hand over Tyrants chest plate, "Ada, begin Drain Program. Take everything." He said as a Jehuty's arm began to glow as blue energy began to stream out of Tyrants Frame.

"There will be more." Axe said getting Dustan attention, "More will come, stronger than even me." He said making Dustan lower his head.

"I know." He said in a calm tone, "How is it you are here Axe?" Dustan asked.

Axe just chuckled, "Why should I tell you? You'll know when you read the data l-l-l-later on." He said, his voice breaking off, repeating what he was saying for a second.

"I would rather hear it from you Axe." He told the Frame, "What's left of you that is."

"Heh, you always were straightforward Dustan." Axe gave a sigh, "Since my time is almost up I guess I'll indulge you. He did the same thing he did to one of us. That should be enough of a hint for you." He said laughing a bit, "I guess my time is up. Do me a favor thou…"

Dustan opened his opened his eyes, dropping his hand and released his blade once more before he pulled it back and stabbed it right into chest plate cutting through the weakened armor as the blade cut deeper into Tyrants body.

"Ah!" Axe gasped out as light from the Frame began to weaken, "A final warning Dustan, don't hold back like you did here. If you do, everyone here will die just like before… Don't make the same mistake twi..ce…" He finished saying as the light disappeared and the Frame's weight gave way as it started to fall to the ocean below.

Dustan said nothing as he raised his hand forming one last ball of energy before he sent it flying towards Tyrants remains destroying what was left of it as the explosion consumed it.

Dustan closed his eyes as he heard Axe's last words to him.

'Don't make the same mistake twi..ce'

"I won't Axe." He said to himself as he opened his eyes to Chifuyu who was floating before him.

She said nothing as she looked right at him, "You heard all of that didn't you?" He asked he saw her nod to him, "And I'm guessing you still want an explanation?" Once more she nodded.

"I'll tell you, but firs-!" Dustan stopped midsentence as his chest tightened up and he felt as if all the air inside of his lungs were sucked out of him.

Chifuyu who was watching noticed that he stopped and saw the expression on his face, beads of sweat started pouring down as he placed a hand over his chest.

"Dustan? Dustan what's wrong?" She said as his IS suddenly released and he was left floating there for a moment before he began to plummet towards the ocean.

Cursing her luck, Chifuyu shot down flying up to his body before taking hold of him, cradling him in her IS's arms before coming to a halt.

She took notice of the painful look on his face and how he was clenching his chest while his body was moving around in her arms.

"Dustan! Tell me what's wrong!" She shouted as she held her student hoping he would tell her what was happening but he was only able to give short gasps or groans as he shut his eyes.

It was then that a window appeared before her with a familiar face, "Chi-Chan! I saw that-! Dai-Chan! Oh no! He's having another attack! Quick Chi-Chan look in his pockets! There should be a small container with pills inside of it, take one and give it to Dustan!" Tabane shouted to Chifuyu who quickly descended down to a small island below as she released her IS and placed Dustan on the ground as he was thrashing about.

She did as she was told and searched his pockets and found the container she was told of and opened it up and found it missing nearly half of the pills inside were missing already but as she was inspecting them, he hand was grabbed suddenly by Dustan looked as if he was struggling to just to move, but it didn't stop him from ripping the pills from her hold before grabbing a pill from inside and popping it into his mouth swallowing it as he fell back against the ground still clenching his chest as the effects of the pills began to work.

Chifuyu could only watch as he slowly lost consciousness and she was left alone to ponder on what just happened.

"Good, it seems like we made it just in time. That was a close one, poor Dai-Chan, but at least he's fine now. He just needs to rest." Tabane said appearing in her own window before Chifuyu who looked at her.

"Tabane care to explain how is it you know Dustan and how those IS's from before are involved in all this?" She asked as her long time childhood friend just grinned at her.

"I don't know Chi-Chan." She said, "I promised Dai-Chan that I wouldn't tell anyone about him or his past. It's not really my place to say." She told Chifuyu who just pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a groan.

"Tabane, I think with everything that just happened I am entitled to know just what is going on here. Besides from all the energy that Dustan and that other IS used I'm sure most of the world knows about it."

That's when she saw a grin appear on Tabane's face, "That's why I blocked out everything that was happening within a 10 mile radius of where you guys are! No one even knows that you both are there!" She cheered at her own handy work but it was quickly taken from her as Chifuyu glared at her.

"That's not something you should feel proud of Tabane. But that aside, I want to know what you know about him." She said pushing again for information on the mystery that was Dustan Egret.

Tabane placed a finger to her chin and opted a thinking pose, "I guess I could tell you what I know about all this, but if you want to know anything about Dai-Chan's past you'll need to ask him." She said as Chifuyu nodded to this.

"So what do you want to know first?" Tabane asked Chifuyu who looked down at Dustan who was breathing normally now but he was still sweating.

"How did you meet him?"

A smile appeared on Tabane's face as the memory flashed before her eyes, "Well you see it started around a year ago…"

-TBC

Ahah! A cliffhanger! I'm so evil, but there it is folks, the next chapter! Apologizes for the mistakes or grammar. I wrote this at 3 in the morning fueled only by Cheetos and Mountain Dew. But it is done, and the Next Chapter will be coming soon. This time I promise since I really want show what in store for Dustan and the rest of the group! So 3ndless out!