Senki Zessho Symphogear: A Cybernetic Touch

~A tale of the valkyries and the beasts that follow them…~

Chapter 3: Maiden of the Speed -A Cheetah can't be a mother, can it?-

WARNING: I own none of these characters sides from my OC(s). All rights go to their respective owners and properties.

This is nothing more than, well a fanfic, a story made up by a fan for entertainment and knowledge.

Everything in this fic is not canon and is only meant to give the audience a new idea of the works of each of the franchises in this story.

So please support me, my work and have some fun. Now enjoy the story. ^w^

"So, this is the fabled Kamen Rider…" Horobi noted as he stared down Ichigata.

"Zero-One? Hibiki? Take Tsubasa and Balto as far away as you can. I'll be the one finishing this fight." Ichigata requested.

"But what about you?" Hibiki pleaded with him, "We can't leave you alone to fight this!"

"Don't worry about me. As a man? I can handle this." He declared with a thumbs up.

With a heavy heart, she and Zero-One grabbed the prone bodies of their comrades and fled the battlefield. "You guys leave too… I want him for myself." Horobi ordered the others.

"Don't go breaking down on us…" Chris told him before leaving as well, leaving Horobi to stand alone against Ichigata.

"Now that the children are safe…" he noted before glaring at the scorpion Rider, "Be gone vile scourge, you have no place in this world!"

"Heh, I could say the same for you…" Horobi agreed before taking out a briefcase and transforming it into a bow.

[Attache Case opens to release the never-missing bow and arrow]

ARROWRISE!

"Enough talk, have at you!" Ichigata roared before leaping forward.

The grasshopper Rider then threw out a punch that quickly forced the scorpion Rider to block with his bow. After pushing him off, Horobi quickly fired off several shots at him that Ichigata quickly dodged.

The greenish-blue hopper rider's body glowed as he soon began to zoom and race around Horobi, punching and kicking him at blinding speeds, something that the scorpion rider didn't counter as he blocked. Soon the data of the AI Rider began to calculate before he swung the bladed side of his weapon, striking Ichigata.

"Data Receival, complete. Sorry, but this time, your speed won't matter." Horobi said.

"Seems this is going to be much tougher than I thought…" Ichigata huffed in annoyance, "I guess I'll just have to adapt and overcome!"

(Insert Op Song - Heroes - Ryota Fujimaki - Zero and Geed Chronicles)

The song starts with an instrumental, as various multicolored ones and zeros begin to rain down from the sky before transforming into a stampede of multicolored robotic animals, all led by a yellow robotic grasshopper, running through a hexagonal tunnel of sound. Once the grasshopper leaped through an orange ring of sound, it soon transformed into the series title

[Hikari no naka de, Yami ga umarete, Ookiku hakari wo, Kuzushiteshimau toki]

It soon jumps to Cody watching the clouds go by. As he gets up, he is greeted by Hibiki and Miku, who are happily waiting for him. However when he walks towards them, they are spied on by Yua, who is recording data for Gai.

[Yamiyo ni sakebi, Chi wo hau monotachi, Machi wa kirisakare, Kizuna wa tatareru]

As it soon shifts, we enter a firing range at night, where Balto is practicing his aim. As he takes off the protective gear, he turns to see Tsubasa and as the two walk by each other, the ghost of Kanade appears between them as they share a glance of animosity and regret between them.

[Zero ni naru kakugo wa aru ka, Shimei wo eranda senshitachi]

It shifts once more first to Genjuro looking through a window as he stares at various screens about Gungnir, Ame-no-Habakiri, as well as data on Shooting Wolf, before transitioning into Gai watching the data for Rising Hopper with a wicked grin. Finally, it jumps to Fine, who is preparing three figures, later shown to be Chris, Horobi, Jin, and Raiden for battle.

[Sakete wa toorenu tatakai e, Hikari wo obite, Mae e mae e mae e..]

As the four rush into battle, they are confronted by an army of Noise and Magia walking towards them. With each of them ready for battle, the girls begin to sing their song while the boys activated their Progrise Keys. Once they did so, a bright light began to shine onto them as they were transformed.

[Susume bokura no hero... Asahi ni inori akatsuki ni chikau. Heiwa no kane wo... Narase hero...]

Cody, now as Zero-One Rising Hopper charges into battle, punching and cutting down any monster in his way, as Hibiki runs in behind, mowing down more enemies before the two stop, looking at the three members of in their Rider forms along with Chris in the Nehushtan Armor, before the two turn to one another, holding hands as they stand their ground, ready to take them on. As they charge in, their other allies of Tsubasa, Vulcan, and those who follow him join their lead.

[Bokura wa anata kara, Hontou no yuki o shiru]

As they fight the monsters, images of new forms are shown behind Cody, namely the Biting Shark, Flaming Tiger, and Freezing Bear form. Afterwards, the same happens to Balto, revealing the Gatling Hedgehog, Punching Kong, and Trapping Spider forms. Once they stand together, a projection of the Breaking Mammoth and Charging Elasmoth mechas appear in their place.

[Tataeyo our hero, Tataeyo our hero~]

The two Riders charge alongside Hibiki and Tsubasa, their bodies beginning to shine as they leap into battle and create an explosion of light. Once the light fades, it soon shows a young Cody meeting Hibiki as their teenage selves appeared in their shadows.

Meanwhile, as Horobi and Ichigata continued to clash, Zero-One and Hibiki were able to reach Balto's car, where they loaded up the critically injured duo near the back. However, before Hibiki could talk to him, Cody was already leaving the scene.

"Cody, wait!" Hibiki called to him, trying to stop the young teen from fleeing again.

"I can't stay here for long, Hibiki…" He responded, still in his rider armor, but still limping from the fight.

"But you're injured!" she pointed out.

"I'll be fine… Besides… I can't endanger you too.." The yellow grasshopper responded softly, "Anyways, I set the machine to return you and your friends back to your home-base. All you have to do is press the button on the steering wheel" he instructed her.

"Please… don't go…" She pleaded with him, with sad, tearful eyes.

However Cody said nothing before leaping away, leaving Hibiki to care for her teammates alone.

'I promise… I won't give up on you, Cody…' Hibiki said with determination.

She then slid into the driver's seat and pressed the button, lowering the doors of the vehicle before the auto-pilot took over and began driving back to Lydian.

XXX

Meanwhile...

Ichigata and Horbi continued to clash, each strike sparking off with blinding speeds as the racing hopper was still on the offensive against the scorpion, both unable to give an inch.

"I grow tired of this…" he growled before activating his finisher once again.

STING DYSTOPIA!

Knowing this could do some major damage to his body, Ichigata neglected but had no choice other than to counter as he gripped his lever and forced it closed and reopened it again, much like his opponent.

ROCKING SPARK!

"Rider Jump!" he declared before leaping into the air.

Horobi simply stood still as the stinger on his forearm extended and wrapped around his leg, as he never looked away from the heroic rider before he came flying down with a punch.

"Rider Punch!" Ichigata shouted.

With a huff, Horobi counted the fist with a kick, as the stinger connected with the punch, as shockwaves and surges of energy broke from it, only to end with an explosion, pushing the two riders away from each other.

"So this is the power of the legendary 'Kamen Rider'? Impressive. Sadly, our time ends here." Horobi informed, as he powered down and began to walk away.

As Horobi disappeared, Ichigata took a moment to stare at where the scorpion Rider once stood before leaving as well.

"Ugh… man.. I'm getting old for this stuff…" He sighed, as he too changed back to normal as he turned around and noticed he not only was all alone… but no ride to get back to base. "Welp, haven't had a good jog in awhile."

The red-haired man said before he began to literally jog back to home-base with no problem.

XXX

At ZAIA...

"Cody!" Yua cried out as she saw Izu bring in a very injured Cody.

"Hey….. seems we have some new problems other than me?" He joked, trying to chuckle but grunting in pain in response. "Ow… it hurts to laugh…"

Soon both Yua and Izu worked to help bandage up Cody, while at the same time learning about what he found.

"I see… so this Metsubojinrai was behind the rogue Humagears…" Yua noted

"Yeah… but I don't know who exactly they are, where they came from, or who even made them…" He nodded in response, "And knowing Gai? He won't accept that…"

"I think so…" she agreed before shaking off her doubt, "Even still, you should have been more careful when encountering them. You could have died!" she scolded the boy in a manner that almost resembled that of an older sibling.

"Aren't I technically already dead?" He pointed out, earning a harsh, yet soft slap on the head. "Ow! I was only joking!" he said as he tried to defend himself.

Yua sighed heavily, "Still… you almost gave me a heart attack…"

"From my scan, he would not be able to actively be in the field for at least a few weeks." Izu informed the two.

"Good, I don't want him to come back to us in a bodybag…" Yua agreed before shaking her head.

"Ugh, I'm fine. I'm just banged up." Cody sighed, only to flinch in pain before groaning, "S-See? Just banged up."

"No if's and's or but's. You're staying." Yua said, before she took the driver from him, "And I know as long as you don't have this, you won't do anything reckless."

"Fine…" Cody noted before lying down on his bed, but not before noticing a letter on his desk. "Say, what's that?" he asked her.

"Why don't you open it and see?" Yua smirked softly.

The young blonde did so, as his eyes scanned the writing inside before his eyes softly widened.

"I'm… being accepted into Lydian?" He got out, looking at her, "But.. how? I thought Gai wouldn't let me even be seen outside?"

"You're using an alias of course…" she noted as she gave him his ID.

"Huh… Koji Amamiya…" he noted as he looked at the fake photo of him with black hair and a pair of grey-frame glasses.

"While Gai did have a room prepped for you, he will allow it just so he can get more data from you." She sighed, "That was his agreeance to it." However before Cody could say a word, Yua quickly said, "However… I do not want to hear any funny business when you come back from school. If that happens, we're pulling you out immediately, got it?"

"I won't be joking around…" He admitted, with a serious tone, "This will be the best chance I get to truly reunite with Hibiki and Miku… I don't want to screw that up."

"Indeed, I can see why you're so determined to see your sister and your girlfriend…" Yua sighed before smiling

"S-She's not my girlfriend!" He cried out with a heavy blush.

"Your face says otherwise~" she gleefully pointed out with a smile.

"That doesn't mean anything…" He grumbled from the teasing.

It seemed like things were mostly back to normal. As Yua said goodnight to the boy, she could not help but remember the first time she met him almost two years ago.

—

XXX

FLASHBACK

As Yua was called into ZAIA that day, she wasn't expecting to see not only the appropriated Humagear that was received when ZAIA bought out Hiden so long ago, but seeing the gynoid counselling a young boy who was curled up on the couch.

"Sir? What is this?" Yua questioned the CEO.

"This… is Cody Aldrich" Gai told her as he walked into the room holding a clipboard, "We found him after the explosion occurred at the stadium earlier today."

"He's a survivor from the attack? Why do we have him then? Shouldn't he be with anyone else who survived?"

She was soon given the clipboard which had some of Cody's information, including who his biological father was… and beyond.

"This is…." Yua got out as she looked at the boy then to Gai, "But… I thought Hiden didn't have any children?"

"That's what I thought after I bought the company" he noted, "That is until I started digging a little further and found this placed on my desk…" He soon grumbled something about the Starks before turning to Yua, "For now, let's at least approach him with a bit of kindness. If his father is who we think he is, then we just found the key to unlocking Zea's true potential…"

The doors opened as the two adults walked in, causing Izu to back up as Cody simply looked at them with cold, dead eyes.

"Who are you?" he blankly asked.

"My name is Gai Amatsu, CEO of ZAIA Japan" the man introduced himself, "I am very sorry for your loss Mr. Aldrich"

"L-Loss?" He questioned.

"Yes… you were the only one who survived that ordeal." he lied to the boy.

This of course, took Yua aback, as she knew there were more survivors.

"Wha… this can't be happening…" Cody muttered as he took a seat to hear what they had to say.

"It's true… We were there to try to deal with the threat, but by the time we got there, we only found you. I'm sorry, young man…" Gai responded, though a soft smirk behind his fake smile.

Cody's eyes began to water as he began to cry and vent those feelings. But as he does, Izu flinched as her eyes lit up as a screen appeared and began to reveal a locked area, "DNA Code: Hiden, received. Unlocking Zero-One Vault in response to emotions and threat of Ark" the assistant Humagear responded.

"I see…" Gai muttered as he looked at the screen with intent.

Soon, Cody turned towards Yua, who was looking at him with concern. And out of the blue, the young boy hugged her as he began to cry into her arms, something that surprised her as she didn't want that, yet she couldn't say no as she patted his head while comforting the grieving young boy.

"There there…" she reassured him, "It'll be alright…"

After a while, the boy let go of the woman as he realized what he shouldn't have done. "I'm sorry about that…" he apologized, "I should have realized that you might not have wanted to be hugged so suddenly…"

"It's okay… you needed that." She smiled, reassuring him as she patted his head, "Just be strong ok? You just unlocked something very important."

"You sure?" he asked her, confused by what she meant.

"Of course. For now, think of me like your sister." She said with a soft smile.

"O-okay…" the boy sighed as Gai walked up to him and began discussing things with him, allowing Yua some time for herself to collect her thoughts.

XXX

Since then, she slowly started to get attached to the young boy, as he reminded her of her young brother who died in a Noise attack long ago. She at first only did so because of the job, but lately, she's started to care about him more, realizing that even if they're not bound by blood, they do see one another as family.

She then walked towards her room where she had a photo of herself when she was younger and a young boy with wild black hair hanging out in the park.

"You know Fuwa, If you were still around, I think you and Cody could have been the best of friends…" she said to the photo, as if she was talking to the boy in the photo.

"Seems you are still having your head in the clouds." Gai said, as he was in the hallway, arms crossed.

"Oh, sir!" she quickly gasped, straightening herself back up, "I didn't know you were there!"

"I was expecting you to be ready to send the brat to Lydian. Yet here you are reminiscing about old times" he grumbled.

"I already gave him the letter sir" she informed him.

Gai soon nodded his approval," Very well.. Did you inform him of his mission to deal with a few Humagear that was discovered?" The CEO inquired further

"Indeed, but it seems like he encountered something else…" she told him.

"And that would be…?" He questioned, expecting a report from her.

A few minutes later, he was informed about the encounter with Metsubojinrai and the other Riders.

"Hmm… Metsubojinrai… So it seems she's started her quest." Gai muttered to himself. "Cancel the trip to Lydian. He needs to deal with them right now."

"It seems so, but that's not all.." she notes, "We found where the Ark could possibly be…"

"Explain, now…" Gai stated firmly before showing some data that Zero-One was able to get out of Balto's Progrise Keys.

"From what I could gather, none of Vulcan's Keys are registered anywhere in Zea's database. On top of Rocking Hopper having the same wavelength as these Keys…" she noted.

"So either they made it themselves… or The Ark made it for them. Interesting…" Gai noted. "Then after we deal with Metsubojinrai, we can focus on Section 2. Send the brat out at once." He ordered, ready to walk away to his office.

"Right away sir!" she said as Gai left the hallway. But after he does, she looks back at the photo of Fuwa before looking away, 'Am… I'm doing what's right for him…?' She pondered in her thoughts.

XXX

Back in Section Two, Hibiki was running alongside several doctors trying to keep Tsubasa and Balto alive.

The young girl's thoughts racing around, only to soon flinch as she felt a cold touch to her cheek, causing her to freak out for a second, only to see the professor there with something to drink.

"Something to calm your nerves." Ryoko offered.

"T-Thank you…" she said, taking the drink.

"Don't try to worry. While this has been the most injured they've ever been in. They'll pull through. Those two's wills are strong." Ryoko reassured her.

"I hope so…" she muttered before taking a sip, "You know, I wonder what Tsubasa wanted to talk to me about before Metsubojinrai attacked us?"

"Well, once she's awake and better, you can ask her then." Ryoko smiled, "Now… tell me about this boy that makes your vitals sky rocket?" She teased the young girl.

"E-Eh?!" she gasped, "Wh-what do you mean by that? You mean the evil Riders?"

"I mean this 'Cody'? If I recall from the audio logs?" she smirked, "Everytime you speak his name, I notice a spike in your vitals. So tell me about him. I love to hear about young love."

Immediately Hibiki dropped her teacup to try and cover her face. "It's not like that!" she cried out.

"Then tell me what you like about the boy? There must be something that's causing you to have these spikes?" She asked, trying to be more casual with the questions.

"It's just… I thought he had died for the longest time. So when I saw him, it felt like the weight I had became lighter…" she explained.

"Oh? 'Lighter', huh?" Ryoko giggled, "Well, just make sure you know what you're doing. I remember my first time in love too."

"Y-You were in love, Ryoko?" Hibiki turned to her before timidly asking, "I.. would like to know more."

The request was a bit surprising to Ryoko as she looked like she was about to answer but stopped. She only smiled, "I'll tell you when you're older. These tales are more… 'mature' than you think." She stated. "Just make sure that you don't wait to tell him. You may never know when you could lose him again." Ryoko said to the young girl as she stood up and walked away, leaving the girl there to stew in her thoughts.

"What should I do…?" she asked herself before turning towards the door, where doctors were able to stabilize the duo before they flatlined?

XXX

Within ZAIA….

Yua watched from afar as Cody slept, the young boy exhausted and healing from the fight from before as Izu informed her that if he did anything strenuous could cause problems in the future. She was even wondering if Gai cared about his health over his desire to use Ark and Zea?

Nevertheless, she soon sighed as she began to look towards her own Progrise Key, an orange key that had a cheetah imprinted into it with the words Rushing Cheetah.

"Is there something wrong, Yua-san?" Izu asked her as the Humagear had taken notice of the woman gazing at her Progrise Key.

"I'm… worried…" She responded, "I'm worried that Gai might be pushing Cody too far. I'm planning on testing one of the RaidRisers that's currently in development to see if I could at least lessen his burden along with gatherin more solid combat data…"

"Cody-sama did mention that once. That Gai could be caring more about the data than him… and you." Izu stated, earning a shocked look from Yua. "He said that he worries that Gai is wanting for him to die, so the DNA Lock on Zea would need a new ID to access it and thinks he's using you to do that."

"I sometimes wonder that myself…" she admitted, "Even still, I can imagine that having two Operators on the field would greatly decrease encounters to end like the one with Metsubojinrai."

"In any case, I shall watch over Cody-sama for now…" Izu informed her

"Thank you Izu. I need to go into town anyways for some personal supplies in the morning." Yua thanked her.

"Please sleep well, Yua-sama." Izu bowed to her.

—

The next day, Yua was walking around town to grab some breakfast for the bedridden Cody.

She figured a nice breakfast upon waking up would do him some good as she made her way to town. The young woman found a nice store as she began to look through the stock and find what she needed.

After paying for the food, she soon walked out only to find a pair of siblings walking to school, an older brother with white hair and a younger sister with longer red hair.

"Pietro… I want that!" The young girl whined, wanting a certain toy that was on the shelf, bugging her brother to buy it for her.

"Come on Wanda, you know we don't have time to buy something today. We have school to attend to after all…" the boy told her as he pulled her away.

"But I really want it! It's so cute and reminds me of our dog…" The girl known as 'Wanda' pleaded.

"Fine.. I promise we'll buy that after classes, does that sound okay to you?" the boy said after giving in.

"Yay! Thank you, Pietro!" She beamed happily, hugging him.

"No problem, now come on, we don't want to be late" he said before the two walked off.

Yua smiled softly from the conversation. It was cute, and reminded her so much of her and Fuwa when they were both younger. Remembering how he'd find a toy and pleaded to her to get it, and usually she gives in.

All of a sudden however, there was a siren blaring in the distance as Section 2 soldiers rushed in attacking what seemed to be another Magia, this one being a large Magia with large claw-like boots and a yellow bird-like head.

"Looks like a Terrorbird-type Magia…" she realized as the battle waged on.

"Pietro!" Wanda called out, as it seemed that a few Magia sneaked in the back as one was ready to cut down the small boy.

"Look out!" she shouted before running towards the boy and pushing him away. She then maneuvered her body away from the machine's blade, preventing it from cutting her up but causing her coat to have a few slashes.

"Are you two okay?" she asked them.

"Y-yeah, you saved us…" Pietro said as he looked at the soldiers trying to fight the Trilobite Magia in the area.

"Come on, let's get you two to the shelter." Yua offered, as the two kids held her hands as she began to lead them to the safety of the shelter.

Meanwhile, one of the Section 2 soldiers took out a blue ShotRiser not unlike Balto's. "Alright, time to see if this thing works!" he shouted as he raised up a Progrise Key, one with a pale yellow print and a jackal imprinted on it. However before he could press the button, a Noise appeared and attacked him, turning the man into dust.

"Oh my gosh, they killed Kenny!" another one of the soldiers gasped, "You bastards!"

The Magia responded as it began to attack the soldiers, leaving Yua and the kids alone for a mere moment as the young woman looked at the ShotRiser before she picked it up.

She soon had a memory flash before her, one that had haunted the woman her whole life...

XXX

Flashback

"Fuwa!" Yua cried out, as she was under some rubble as the young boy seemed to be drawing the attention to the Noise that were causing the accident.

Fuwa was trying his best to run as fast before he was able to reunite with his sister.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" she said as she hugged him tight.

"Sis… I… I need you to be strong, okay?" He said to her, his voice sounding weak.

"Wha…" she wondered before she took a look at Fuwa… who was slowly turning to ash.

"I… I know you can… do good. Just promise me… you won't give into this harsh world… okay?" He requested with a smile as tears ran down his face, "I… love you… Yua…." He said, before the young boy soon became ash in her arms, leaving no trace of the young boy.

Heartbroken, Yua fell to her knees as she tried to call for her brother's name.

XXX

"Don't give into the harsh world…" Yua repeated those words, tears down her face as she gripped the ShotRiser tightly. "I promise Fuwa… I will do that." She said, before taking out her Progrise Key as she pressed it.

DASH!

After spinning it around in her hand for a moment, she then placed it into the ShotRiser.

AUTHORISE!

KAMEN RIDER. KAMEN RIDER. KAMEN RIDER.

She then took the belt that Kenny had left behind as she wrapped it around her waist, locking it in. She soon placed the Riser back onto the slit of the belt as she gripped the trigger.

"Henshin." she called out, before pulling the trigger.

SHOTRISE!

She then took a running start for the Terrorbird Magia while the bullet ricocheted off of it and formed into her Rider armor.

RUSHING CHEETAH!

[Try to outrun this demon to get left in the dust]

The armor, while mostly white much like Vulcan, also had an orangish coloring to the other side, similar to Vulcan. But the theme this time was more feline as it had resemblance to a Cheetah, than a Wolf.

Thinking fast, Yua landed a powerful kick that sent the Magia flying before beginning to pant from the new rush that came from the change.

"Woah… that onee-chan became so cool!" Wanda called out with glee.

"I need you two to find a place to hide for now. I'll be dealing with these Magia." She ordered the two kids, as they nod and do so.

"Alright, no more running…" she told herself, "This time, I'll make sure that no one else will have to suffer from your kind ever again!"

She soon began to speed through several of the Magia that were attacking the area, taking them down with either a few well-placed kicks, or some blasts from her ShotRiser.

The speedster was able to slowly start getting the hang of this power, realizing when using its ability in full use, it allows her to slightly slow down her perspective to fight and defend against the oncoming attacks.

However while she was able to zip around the battlefield easily, she was more susceptible to damage and could only speed up in short bursts, much like a real cheetah could only run for a short amount of time.

She soon stopped as she saw the bird Magia that was causing this problem. It turned to her as he launched several shards of feathers at her, making her dodge as she noticed they were sharp like blades and shooting out like bullets.

"kIll hUmAN…" It announced, showing how corrupted it became.

As she glared at the machine, she soon engaged it in combat, landing several blows on it while deflecting it's feathers with a few shots from her blaster.

The Magia seemed to react as it launched its feathers once more, it rushed after them and upon getting close, clawing at her as sparks casted from the strike. It seemed to have been learning from her and evolving from its combat. That meant it was dangerous and needed to be stopped soon.

Thinking fast, Yua decided to try something risky and activated the finisher.

DASH!

After baiting the bird into getting it's head stuck in a nearby tree, she soon dashed around said tree while firing off several blasts into it.

ラ

ッ

シ

ン

グ

ブ

ス

ラ

ス

ト

The rain of blasts soone combined into a ball of energy as it gathered around the Magia, only for it to detonate and explode, sending the powerful blast and energy at the Magia, as it was soon destroyed.

R

U

S

H

I

N

G BLAST!

"Mission complete…" she stated before dis-engaging her transformation.

Soon the sirens of Section Two begin to get closer to the scene, meaning she had to leave. Though as she does, the two kids wave to her happily, making her wave back with a smile.

XXX

After she got back to ZAIA, she soon looked at the ShotRiser she had in her hands along with the groceries and the wig and glasses that were surprisingly still intact despite all that happened.

"What is my life…" she sighed, "I go to get breakfast for Cody, and I come back as a Progrise Operator, or I guess the media's term for them, Kamen Riders..."

"Something that shocked me as well, Miss Yaiba." Gai said, entering her view.

"Mr. Amatsu!"

"Didn't expect you to have the potential either…" He noted as he looked at the devices in her hands, "But, guess that just means I did well by investing in you." She soon sighed as he walked up and picked up the disguise. "I assume this is what Cody will be using to infiltrate Lydian?" he asked her.

"Yes sir." She nodded.

"Very well… Just make sure he's ready to fight. I would rather have this 'Mestubojinrai' out of commision soon." He said, showing he was truly willing to sacrifice the young boy.

He soon walked away while Yua just stared at him, feeling a pit in her stomach from hearing that.

XXX

Later that day, Hibiki was walking to class, still concerned about Tsubasa and Balto's health. That was when she accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh.. sorry about that.." The person responded, as it sounded like a boy.

"T-That's fine, I wasn't really looking…" she said before looking towards the boy, "Umm, who are you?" she asked.

"I'm uh… Koji." He introduced, fixing his glasses as it seemed they were slightly loose on his head, causing them to slightly drop down on his face. "I just transferred here…"

"Oh, I didn't know there would be some new transfer students!" she gasped before she thought to herself, 'Then again, my mind wasn't really on new classmates at the time…'

"I-It kinda was thrown upon me out of nowhere too." He chuckled softly.

"You want me to show you around?" she asked him, "I know that I'm new here myself, but I think I know where most of the places are…"

"I'd like that, thank you." He smiled softly.

As the two walked away, Yua hid in the shadows, recording the interaction from afar. "Infiltration successful" she noted, "It seems that we can confirm that at least one of the armored girls studies in this school. Though there is no sign of the sword maiden or Vulcan…"

[Then that would mean they are still out of commision.] Gai's voice rang from her earpiece, [For now, keep observing the two, I can imagine that if Cody can get close to her, then we'll be able to get close to the Ark's location.]

"Do we really need to have him risk his safety to find it? I'm sure there's a data lock that could give us-"

[It's the only lead we have Yaiba, it's not like your newly obtained ShotRiser is giving us anything other than it's statistics…] Gai begrudgingly admitted.

"R-Right Sir.. Please forgive me." She apologized.

[That's fine, it's not like we could do anything about this…] he sighed, [Just be ready if the sword maiden or either Operator from Section 2 catches onto you…]

"And… that would be…?"

[Eliminate them.]

Yua flinched at that. While she had no quarrel with the idol, the other boy was too young to be killed for it, same with the girl. She could only trust Cody and hope it would never come to that.

XXX

Author's Note:

HackerEX: Yo! HackerEX and Striberx here! Looks like we finished this chapter in the nick of time because Zero-One's back on the air with proper episodes this time around!

Striberx: Yup! Meaning not only giving us more info for this story, but also a small surge of creativity to write.

HackerEX: Eyup, starting with this chapter debuting Yua's Rider form

Striberx: Along with more for Yua in this story. As we hinted at early on, with the previous chapters. She is looking over Cody and both are having a slight brother-sister dynamic, so we wanted to focus a bit more on that, of course we still saved a few things for later, but the main one for her to finally take action is now done.

HackerEX: It also allows us to avoid the problem that Zero-One fell with in putting too much story focus on Vulcan. I mean don't get me wrong, we still have some stuff for Balto, but I do not want him to overshadow Cody or even Yua and Gai.

Striberx: Right, we need to stretch things out for our characters here to make them feel like they do fit within Symphogear.

HackerEX: On that note, you've noticed that some of these chapters have been using OC Magias based on other extinct animals, like the infamous Phorusrhacids, aka the Terror Bird

Striberx: Right. While we know of them having some keys, we felt like that Metsubojinrai needed more than the ones established, thus giving us more time to add chapters but also give them more than simply monster of the week stuff too.

HackerEX: It also allows us to add in some extinct animals that we felt like could have made for some cool Magia designs, like I already have ideas for Magias based on a few other creatures like the Smilodon or Giant Ground Sloth.

Striberx: Of course, the obvious things being the dinos, we're unsure to add just yet, cause they could be used in the Zero-One movie.

HackerEX: That also doesn't mean that the Raiders are going to get ignored either, there will be Raiders later on in the story, probably around either G or GX, but for now, we wanted to try and fill out the Magia roster with a few more animals before bringing them in.

Striberx: And we'll even have new chap ideas to not only pan things out to get out characters developed more, but also so we don't speed along with Symphogear. Gotta add things to make this idea work after all.

HackerEX: Pretty much so, I mean I know that the past two chapters had us speeding through several episodes at once, but we'll be adding in ideas from multiple episodes together to try and make a narrative that's both familiar to Symphogear fans and at the same time allows the Zero-One OCs to get their chance to shine.

Striberx: Right. And now that we got Cody in Lydian, we can slow down a bit and work on our chemistry and development for those we need to.

HackerEX: Yup, and one more thing. I know that we've added a ton of Marvel references like mentioning the Starks or referencing the Maximiov twins, but I'm honestly might be against adding in full-on Marvel heroes into this since they could easily break the story.

Striberx: Yeah. References and just the names are fine. But we're not making this a triple crossover. Those can be quite hard to keep track of. So don't worry on thinking that Spidey or the Hulk will appear.

HackerEX: Yeah, it's best to keep these as fun nods to Marvel and not have someone like Iron Man show up here, even though he might be the only Marvel hero who could theoretically appear without breaking the story… until you remember what crazy stuff Tony can do. I mean, anyone remember Endgame?

Striberx: Yeah. And also to talk about one last thing cause I know a few have already… The reason why I have Hibiki as the ship… Now, don't get me wrong at all. I have no problem with how Symphogear went, I liked it actually. I only do ships on characters that I really like, or ones I think would fit with the story. So don't think that this is just me "hating on gays" cause thats not it.

HackerEX: It's also the reason why I'm on the fence for shipping Rex Gallus or Balto with some people due to this, along with some other factors that are a bit personal. Though while Rex Gallus is a definite NO on shipping, I'm still in an open mind for Balto.

Striberx: Either way, whatever you think is the reason for our shipping decisions? Isn't the case. Now that's done with, we hope you enjoy the chapter and story for now. ^^

HackerEX: Be sure to tell us what you think about this chapter via a review along with the usual fave and follow. Until then, we're logging out! See ya!

Striberx: Dm's are fine too. And remember to at least be understanding and not some dick about it. Until then, later minna.