Progrising Beyond Stratos

Chapter 9 - Flying Through the History

Zero One and Kotona are now flying above the park, bracing themselves for the inevitable fight with the horde of rogue ISes.

"Are you ready?!" Kotona asks, which Zero One gave a thumbs up in return. "Then let's go!" Kotona then reveals the machine gun barrel underneath her hands, and fires a spray of bullets towards the incoming ISes. The bullets manages to damage the ISes, even taking down one or two per spray, but it's not enough to stop them.

Meanwhile, Zero One flies around the ISes and kicks the pilots, forcing them to lower themselves as the Rider continues kicking one after another. He then sees Kotona getting swarmed, thus he pushes the Progrise Key to initiate its finisher.

[フライングインパクト]

"Miss Kotona!" Zero One yelled, as the Falcon Breast radiates pink energy around him as the Wing Fairlencers on his shoulders speeds him up, covering himself with the energy as he crashes through the ISes without stopping, and then circles around her to get rid of the IS that surrounded her.

"Flying Impact!"

As the ISes fall, Zero One quickly flies towards Kotona, who is recovering from the assault from before.

"Thank you. I was worried that they'll start breaking the force field." She thanked him.

"You're welcome. Now let's keep going." He then replied, which Kotona nods and the two continue their way deeper into the park. As they continued fending off the ISes, they managed to reach the amphitheater, where the main perpetrator is standing there, waiting for him.

"Hmph. You're here." The woman said, looking at them without any hostilities. This makes them wary as the nearby rogue ISes didn't even try to get close to her. However, Zero One stepped forward as he tries to do the same, stopping Kotona from questioning them instead.

"I just want to ask... why?" He said, "You and Metsuboujinrai caused terrors for everyone. They even killed people. So why? Why would you do this?"

The woman sees the naïve from within Zero One, which in turn she walks towards him, before stopping in front of him.

"Do you know about Hiden Intelligence?" Her question shocked him, thinking that this woman knows about the company that created the gear. Regardless, he nods.

"Then you should know about the Humagear Project." She then said. Zero One knows it very well, with Izu being the only Humagear left in this world that he know, while Kotona wondered what it was as it's news to her. "The Project was meant to be a stepping stone for us humans in advancements of technology. It was supposed to be revolutionary for everyone. An android that help humans, regardless of gender, in their daily lives..."

"But then, greed and jealousy came." She closed her eyes, as memories of her past replayed within her mind. A scene where she standing in front of the burning lab with two other girls by her side. "The government of Japan thought that androids with humanlike AI pose danger to society, thus they ordered the IS Soldiers to destroy everything related to it. His works, his future magnum opus, gone just like that..."

Zero One remembered the documentary that featured the former Director of Hiden Intelligence, as well as Izu's explanation of this world. If anything, he felt sympathy for her, but if only the circumstances were different...

"And now, ISes growing more and more advanced. They shift the social hierarchy for the worse. You think that I enjoy the shift of power? You think that the imprisonment of my grandfather and all of the ones I called family worth it?!" Her breath goes heavy, with memories of the event replaying in her mind. However, before she can break herself, she was patted by Jin from behind, surprising Zero One.