Infinite Stratos Character Creation and Fanfiction Discussion

[demino_hellsin]

I just felt it lame for her to just have one style... and the only move we've been shown is her unique kessagiri. Which is a basic slash truth be told. At least in theory.

Basically she's the static powerhouse in canon. what I wanted was to make her more... dynamic.

[ZeroXSEED]

Like I said it doesn't have to be better or worse, it's up to you, and when in doubt, ask MOAR.

Here's my viewpoint: she's not static, none a bit. However she develop her style so one sword can be used on everything, the dynamic came from how she analyze her opponent's weakness then adapt her combat style to match it. For the sake of honor, she ditched practicality and convenience.

[demino_hellsin]

My interpretation has chifuyu learning more and more about how others fight as she continues her IS battles. She always fights with her own traditional style at first, but when pushed will adapt even foreign styles like sword and shield, or if required will take up a handheld rifle or some other ranged equalizer.

She'd have experiences of losing battle despite being the best and she starts to have this view of herself where she is, "An IS pilot first, and a swordswoman second.". Again, maybe like your reference to musashi miyamoto. But she still strives to win with purely kendo as much as possible.

[DarkJak2050]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

See jak? I told you people ignore me

Although it doesn't really occur as much for you; you get some feedback as well and everyone else is more engaged when they talk with you.

Originally Posted by StratoSpear

Maybe a clash of interests, I 'unno. Anyways, about the scene I said I'm going to post:

Spoiler for About guys:

The day enters evening. Classes have ended for the day and the Academy students make their way back to their respective dormitories. Now dressed in her pajamas, Tsurugi wanders around her bed brushing her hand along the bed’s edge where she’s promptly reminded of her own bedroom back in her house. It didn’t take long for her to get used to the classy environment of the Academy’s dormitory despite the jarring difference it has compared to her own.

“Feels homey for you?”

Kirin exits the shower room with her body wrapped in towel, pulling out a separating panel between the two beds as she goes about changing into her sleeping attire.

“From where I come from, not quite, but it is a nice change from the norm.” Tsurugi replies as she sits on the bed, feeling the cushion gently supporting her weight just right. It feels as though nothing else could have been better than it.

“Good to hear that. This is going to be your second home for the next three years so don’t hesitate if you need to add up some homey touches, maybe pictures, or something that pleases the eyes, those kinda stuffs.”

“I-I don’t know about that… I might get too attached to the room if I do that. Another day, maybe.”

“Heh… Don’t worry about it.” pushing the panel back into the wall, Kirin shows herself in her own personal pajamas: a violet see-through dress with only her breasts completely covered and a pair of silk shorts which projects the curves of her waist. Tsurugi immediately becomes flustered upon sight of the attire.

“K-Kirin!”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Y-You… You’re sleeping in that?”

“Yeah, it gives the ideal ventilation so I’m quite comfortable with it. Why…?”

“Well… You know… You’re showing quite a lot of yourself there.”

“…It’s an all-girls school, not like I have anyone to show myself to anyways. Sure we have that Orimura guy but he keeps getting hounded by those Class One girls so we’re pretty much protected if he tries to pull a stun. That and the door’s locked, double protection!” Kirin passes the remark in a nonchalant manner that made her roommate even more anxious, not because of the risk of privacy but rather for the only male IS pilot in the school.

“Poor guy.”

“Have you ever talked with a guy before, Tsurugi?”

The question was abrupt but she knows where she’s coming from with it.

“I do have a boyf— a dear friend whom I cherish a lot so… Yes.”

Kirin remained silent, slowly sitting on her own bed facing away from Tsurugi, leaving her puzzled.

“Is that so…” she answers but in a soft voice, as though the answer posed a great level of significance to her “Care to share with me? If you don’t mind that is.”

Tsurugi is uncertain but the tone in which her roommate spoke in her request seemed genuine. Her worries gradually fade away and she lies on her bed, running through memories of her with Inami.

“He’s my childhood friend. His name is Inami Arisawa.”

“Arisawa… He’s a local too, I suppose?”

“That’s right. We were neighbors during our childhood days, went to the same kindergarten. Back then I was quite a softie so he’s always the one at my side whenever I’m in trouble… Not a single day passed without both of us spending our time playing with each other.”

“That close, huh?”

“Yeah… It was all cheerful until he… lost both his parents to a tragic accident. We were both only six at that time.”

“What happened…?”

“I… I can’t say. It’ll be rude to him… You’ll have to ask him personally for this one, though I don’t think he would appreciate it either.”

“Still, you sure know a lot about him.” Kirin remarks again yet remained attentive to her story as she too lies down on her bed “After that…?”

“I begged my family to bring him in. After how much he has taken care of me, I could not bear to see him living by himself in an orphanage. From then on, we’ve been living under the same roof, sharing a sibling-like relationship which I dearly cherish, until today.”

“Sounds a lot like those platonic-turned-romantic mangas I tend to read. But still, don’t you feel anxious at least? A non-blood-related male of the same age in the same household… It’s like any moment he could just—”

“H-He’s not that kind of person, Kirin.”

“…I would’ve guessed. From your tone I could tell that you’re being honest with your story…”

“That’s how it is.” Tsurugi turns her head to Kirin who still has her back turned towards her “What about you, Kirin?”

The question is inevitable, yet Kirin’s thoughts remained scrambled. All her thoughts of the opposite gender are completely mixed though some lean more to the negative side.

“I… I don’t really have any bright encounters with males.”

“Why’s that?”

“There was once… before summer. I was asking around for directions to get around. The people are polite, quite mannered unlike back home where the men simply despised me because I was from a high-class family. They judged me before they even know me.”

“…”

“It didn’t end there though. I thought men over here are different… but they were worse.”

“…Why?”

“I just wanted to find my way around, see the country side with my own eyes. Instead, I found myself directed into somewhere else, somewhere completely remote… and those… those monsters…” her voice turned to sobs, prompting Tsurugi to immediately get off her bed and sit next to Kirin, who’s body is curled up as she tries to hide her face while Tsurugi places a hand on top of her head.

“Kirin…”

“It was horrible…! They were about to do something terrible to me… until…” her sobs fade, replaced with a gentle voice “…he saved me.”

“He…?”

“…Unknown One. He saved me, Tsurugi.”

The sudden idea that Inami actually saved someone instantaneously sparked a great deal of curiosity for Tsurugi and she grows eager to find out more.

“How did he save you?”

“I didn’t know it was him at first. All I remember is that there was an explosion which rocked the city I was in… The quake knocked us off balance but I managed to get back up and ran away as far as I could. It wasn’t until a couple of days later where I overheard Murakumo-sensei talking with the other instructors about Unknown One fighting against a drone at the city I was in.” Kirin’s tone grows calm as she brushes away her fringe off her eyes “That’s when I knew the explosion was from the drone when Unknown One destroyed it.”

“Thank goodness…”

“Indeed.” the Swedish student turns her head to Tsurugi sitting on her bed next to her. “If I could… I would like to know who he is. I want to show him my gratitude proper.”

I kind of felt like that it's somewhat similar to what you originally written. I remember that the original had Inami save her from a rogue IS drone and this time it was from an assault. I might be wrong though.

Anyway, that scene I mentioned a few pages ago...

It's related to the last 2 I posted a while ago.

Autumn

Solo Training

And here it is.

Spoiler for Infirmary:

It didn’t take long to get Hot Shot to the Academy’s infirmary. Ichika had carried Hot Shot and the nurse on the night shift has a bed ready as they arrive; thanks to Tatenashi informing her ahead of time.

“Lay him here.”

The nurse instructed Ichika to lay him on the bed she readied as she prepared an I.V.

As Ichika set Hot Shot on the bed, the nurse set his arms apart before she began to take the upper portion of his under skins off.

*Tink* *Tink*

As the nurse set his arms apart, small metal pieces hooked on a small chain fell out of his left hand and to the infirmary floor.

Ichika, Tatenashi, Utsuho and Kaoruko stood right by Hot Shot’s bedside as the nurse began to get his under skins off.

“Uwah!”

““Ha!””

“!...”

After the nurse removed his under skins, Ichika jumped a bit while Utsuho and Kaoruko covered their mouths out of shock.

Tatenashi’s eyes slightly widen as all four of them got a good look at all of the burn marks and scars that covered the vast majority of his front body and some portions of his arms.

“Whoa!...”

The nurse caught note of this as well, but she grabbed the I.V. she prepared earlier and continued her work.

“Please, sit down.”

Ichika, Tatenashi, Utsuho and Kaoruko sat on the bed next to Hot Shot’s as the nurse began to work.

*Ta-ka*

The door to the infirmary had opened and five girls walked in, trying to catch their breath before finding Ichika sitting on one of the beds.

The girls are Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte and Laura.

All of them were relieved to see that Ichika’s okay, but then turned their attention to other occupied bed the nurse is next to.

“Ichika, is that?...”

“Mmm…”

Ichika nodded to Houki as she asked while he watches the nurse doing her work. Then Cecilia asked him.

“Exactly what happened to him?”

“He passed out while he was training.”

“And is that why you have to leave dinner early?”

Rin has a sharp look on Ichika like she begins to have suspicious thoughts on his relationship with Hot Shot.

“Rin-chan… It’s not like that…”

“Then what is it?-! Isn’t a bride supposed to tell their lover what they’re going to do?”

Laura wasn’t happy about this either.

“!...”

The nurse stopped and looked back at the group behind her, with the I.V. needle in hand.

“Can you please be quite down?”

She has a creepy look in her closed eyes and smirk to match with it, which sent a small chill down everyone’s spine except for Tatenashi and Utsuho.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Thank you.”

The nurse turned back and injected the I.V. needle into Hot Shot’s arm.

A few minutes went by and the nurse had completed her check up on Hot Shot.

Noticing this Ichika raised the question.

“How is he?”

“He’s dehydrated and over exhausted. This I.V. will do for his body fluids. Other than that, he just needs some rest.”

The nursed covered Hot Shot with a blanket, but kept his arm that has the I.V. injected out.

“Fu…”

Ichika sighed in relief upon hearing it and the nurse adjusted the air-conditioning in the room before leaving.

“Hmm?”

As the nurse left, Ichika spotted some metal pieces on the floor next to Hot Shot’s bed.

Ichika picked them as Hot Shot continued to sleep and took a good look at them as he got back to the girls.

The two small metal pieces attached to a small chain, and both of them are in the shape of a shield, with a thunderbolt in front going across at a downward angle from the top left to the bottom right with a skull in the middle of it and set at the opposite angle to the thunderbolt and a streamer at the bottom of the shield.

The streamer on both pieces has a name engraved on them.

[Derrick Garcia]

Utsuho’s the first to notice the metal pieces in Ichika’s hand before she asked.

“What are those, Ichika-kun?”

As Utsuho asked, the other girls began to surround Ichika to have a look.

“I don’t know, but they look military or something…”

Ichika’s guess wasn’t really off as Laura looked at them and gave a response.

“I think those are something like Dog tags.”

“Dog tags? Doesn’t the military use that as a form of I.D.?”

Charlotte asked before she looked at Hot Shot as he sleeps.

“Yes, but I haven’t seen ones like these before…”

What they’re looking at right now are actually iTags; Thundercrash’s Dog tags.

Those iTags are not Hot Shot’s; they’re his older brother’s, Derrick Garcia.

Ichika flipped over both tags to have a better look at them and saw more engraving on the back. Both of them have engravings telling the blood type, nationality and ethnicity.

“Hmm?”

What Ichika, and the girls, noticed almost immediately is one of the tags have something the other doesn’t. One of the tags has an etching that was made by hand, using a knife.

The etching has a short message indicating a specific date and Ichika read it out loud.

“Never forget Nov. 18, 2020…”

As soon as Ichika finished reading the etching out loud, they all began to wonder what that date has to do with Hot Shot.

Any given thoughts on this?

[StratoSpear]

Originally Posted by ZeroXSEED

No offense, but I did not recognize the shield.

Then again I'm not familiar with anything newer than Gundam 00....

In that case you would recognise Kyrios's shield, which also turns into a pincer claw and has a plasma blade between them.

[ZeroXSEED]

Hmm, if it was me, I'll have the ironic karma of the would-be-rapist injured, coincidentally shielded her from drone explosion

(Yeah, I have a VERY SPECIAL place in my heart for a sexual offender)

Kyrios? Oookay now I remember that... then again I gushed more about it's flight mode

@ Jak
I swear god you're the most authentic fanfic writer EVER, that scene matched Izuru, or at least, BT Translation of it, very well. One can duplicate it word to word, but matching the style is different kettle of fish.

[demino_hellsin]

In any competition based story. How important is it for the protagonist to incur losses?

[ZeroXSEED]

Usually yeah

There are many reason why a protagonist MUST lose once a while, especially in shonen fighting. Character development, plot etc.

There are exception to this, where the invincibility of the protagonist is tied to plot AND moving the plot, Medaka Box, Star Driver, Golgo 13 etc. It's really a gamble, Sturgeon's law is in full effect.

[demino_hellsin]

I see... Then I'm going to have to be really careful.

Can you give me your opinion on Chifuyu using different stances? Stratos, strigon, jak and any of the registered visitors too. Blitz kind of disapproved and I can actually see where he's coming from. Is it that uncalled for when Chifuyu learns to use a sword and shield? Does it feel like knowing how to switch between two handed to dual wielding seem practical? Or am I more stroking my own ego? Ugh @_@.

EDIT: oddly enough I wanted Chifuyu to use the libing metal sword, Seizan as her preferred blade. It's more or less the same as any Uchigane sword but it can regenerate and grow stronger when broken. But it rarely breaks anyway

[ZeroXSEED]

Once again, I'm not disapproving it.

Here's my advice: do NOT change her principle, regardless of equipment change. It does sound hypocritical considering what I do in case of Ichika and Madoka, so it's okay to disregard this is you still want to.

Here's more clue to support your idea:

We don't see any problem for her of using ranged weapon in the case of white knight, yet >50% of the missile is taken down using her sword rather than more practical approach with particle cannon. ICBM is 5000+ km/h at it's peak, so even with I.S., it's a dumb move, when she couldn't get them all, she use the cannon to swipe the rest.

Chifuyu is not against using any other equipment, it's just that her preference is trusty two handed sword style.

[StratoSpear]

I'd look to Zero from Megaman X. Granted, he uses a laser sword that can be manipulated in various ways but even so... you'd realise that each sword mode is utilized in its own unique way.

[DarkJak2050]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

I see... Then I'm going to have to be really careful.

Can you give me your opinion on Chifuyu using different stances? Stratos, strigon, jak and any of the registered visitors too. Blitz kind of disapproved and I can actually see where he's coming from. Is it that uncalled for when Chifuyu learns to use a sword and shield? Does it feel like knowing how to switch between two handed to dual wielding seem practical? Or am I more stroking my own ego? Ugh @_@.

EDIT: oddly enough I wanted Chifuyu to use the libing metal sword, Seizan as her preferred blade. It's more or less the same as any Uchigane sword but it can regenerate and grow stronger when broken. But it rarely breaks anyway

To be honest, I don't really know what to say because we rarely see Chifuyu have a small tussle with someone; as in, actually fighting someone. Let alone, piloting an IS.

The closest I've seen is her using a Katana from an Uchigane to stop Laura...

With her bare hands...

Originally Posted by ZeroXSEED

I swear god you're the most authentic fanfic writer EVER, that scene matched Izuru, or at least, BT Translation of it, very well. One can duplicate it word to word, but matching the style is different kettle of fish.

Is there anything else wrong with it though? Mainly, are the characters being themselves? Particularly Tatenashi?

And does it needs to be extended? Cause I feel that it does, but I don't really know how to extend it...

Little help?

[demino_hellsin]

Superhuman!

Thanks jak... For some reason what you said just reminded me why I wrote cake eater.

[ZeroXSEED]

Originally Posted by DarkJak2050

Is there anything else wrong with it though? Mainly, are the characters being themselves? Particularly Tatenashi?

And does it needs to be extended? Cause I feel that it does, but I don't really know how to extend it...

Little help?

Nope, not a bit.

As for the extended scene, I guess you could go with them regain consciousness and having a pep talk with CCs.

[StratoSpear]

If there is a way, how would one sense life inside something/someone?

I remembered Jak mentioning about Inami seemingly emotionally-driven when going up against drones, which is kinda true seeing as he sees them as mere robots.

Then again, I want to develop on that part of him too, a way make him realize that just because something does not appear human does not mean that they do not have the consciousness of one.

There's already a character set to talk this sense into him but its the eventual battle that will flesh out this part that I'm trying to figure out.

[Strigon 13]

@ strato

Psychic powers maybe? Or maybe using the IS for too much time gave him a sort of awareness of his surroundings (a sixth sense of some sorts)

[ZeroXSEED]

If you have sentient computer handy, it will help

No matter how advanced, a nonsentient-AI controlled robots behave differently than the one with sentient AI or pilot. However, the difference is sometimes so sligth that it might not be even there for most people, especially if said nonsentient AI is put on the same kind of advanced computer, or the pilto is purposefully brainwashed person.

Ichika managed to deduce that Golem are without pilot after synching with ByakuShiki circuit and analyze the golem's movement in both technical and practical aspect. Rin and Shenlong are too busy to notice, somehow.

[DarkJak2050]

Originally Posted by StratoSpear

If there is a way, how would one sense life inside something/someone?

I remembered Jak mentioning about Inami seemingly emotionally-driven when going up against drones, which is kinda true seeing as he sees them as mere robots.

Then again, I want to develop on that part of him too, a way make him realize that just because something does not appear human does not mean that they do not have the consciousness of one.

There's already a character set to talk this sense into him but its the eventual battle that will flesh out this part that I'm trying to figure out.

Yeah, I remember mentioning that. Have you read that scene I posted?

Edit:

Zero, about what you said on that pep talk to extend the scene... Not what I'm going after...

And as for telling if there's a human piloting something that doesn't appear human, I think it's more of humanly action. Or better yet, what Zero said about the A.I.

[ZeroXSEED]

This

Oh, and Jak, it's just an Idea, I can't read mind you know

[StratoSpear]

Originally Posted by DarkJak2050

Yeah, I remember mentioning that. Have you read that scene I posted?

Just the Infirmary one. Can't say much aside from what Zero and Demi posted but I still want to contribute this:

It does set things up for an eventual revelation. Though I do have a feeling that the CCs would be left hanging with just the date at the end without ever knowing its relation to Hot Shot.

@Strigon

He doesn't get to pilot an IS, unfortunately.

@Zero

He has an AI program on board the Minerva, only not a sentient one. Then again, he would've seen a lot of battles with non-sentient AI drones that he would be able to notice anything off if he goes up against a sentient AI.

Still, the battle actually brings both parties to realize who/what they're actually fighting against. If there's a cul-- inspiration for this supposed scene, it would be this.(from Ep 3 of Gundam UC, in case anyone's spoiler-wary)

Oh wow... How am I supposed to read that graph?