Infinite Stratos: Digital Prototype (I don't own Infinite Stratos)
Get Ready/ Your Name Is...
Previously…
After the adjustments were finished, Houki, Ichika and I were on our way to meet Silvario. Tabane had been escorted off the island personally by Orimura, who made sure she was gone before actually cracking a smile at our antics the whole day.
"Look out Silvario, here we come!"
"Look out Silvario, here we come!" Gospel and I said as we flew onwards to meet this fake.
"Alright, let's go over the plan again." I said over the channel linking Houki, Ichika and I together so that we could talk to each other. I moved alongside Houki in her Akatsubaki with Gospel. "What's the first part of the plan?" I asked, quizzing them on what they remembered. "Ichika and I will engage the target while you and Gospel watch it and gather what data you two can on the capabilities of the IS. If Ichika isn't able to disable or destroy the Silvario, Gospel is to engage while I get Ichika out of the area to keep him from sustaining any injury or extra IS damage. " I nodded my head in affirmation at Houki, having described the plan perfectly. "Good job, Houki. Well done. Anything to add to that, Ichika?" I asked, allowing Ichika a chance to say something. "No, Houki covered it quite well. I have nothing to add to her answer." He said, looking at me as he replied. I nodded, "Alright then." I checked the satellite feed being sent to my HUD from back at the hotel. "Alright, get ready everybody. We're coming up on our intercept point and we're right on time." I said, clearing my head of any distractions. The two of them gave different affirmations before focusing on the fight ahead. "Ichika, don't activate your one-off till you have an easy opening. We can't afford to waste any energy out here." I told the other male, who nodded in understanding. I nodded back and gained altitude for a better view, activating Gospel's sensors and advanced optics which allowed me better sight and faster data gathering than on my own. "Ready G? We're about to see which of these angels will be falling from the sky today." I asked, feeling her determination and anxious energy, wanting to engage the Silvario instead of hanging back and waiting. "We need to see what this IS is capable of before we engage it, G. You know that as well as I do. Besides, I'm expecting to get at least a little action in before this day is through." I said, attempting to placate the energetic IS. "I know that, but I still wish we were engaging first." She said, mentally jumping up and down in my head. I grinned, then checked the feed again, "Get ready. Target will be in our area of operation in 3, 2, 1, now!" I said, using Gospel's advanced scanners to pinpoint Silvario, then sent the location and live feed from my HUD to the other two. Houki adjusted Akatsubaki so that they'd intercept the IS in the middle of our AO (Area of Operation). "Heads up, the Silvario is moving at supersonic speeds. You'll have one chance to at least get its attention if not disable it before we lose our window." I said, moving my eyes between the different screens on my HUD, checking their time to intercept and watched as they closed with the Silvario. "Time to intercept, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now!" I said, watching as the Akatsubaki seemed to collide with the Silvario, but at the last second, darted beneath it as Ichika activated his one-off and swung at the IS. What none of us expected was for the Silvario to stop its forward motion seconds before Ichika's attack would have made contact with its torso. "Target has stopped. Engage! Engage! Engage!" I called out over the channel and heard Ichika say something that I lost over the sound of Silvario turning to face the duo and unleashing its arsenal at them. Houki began evasive maneuvers while Ichika blocked or deflected what she couldn't miss. "Nice moves." I complimented as I turned my focus back to the Silvario. "G, scan that knockoff. Let's see what this thing can do!" I said, glaring at the Silvario. It paid Gospel and I no mind as it continued firing at the fleeing duo. "My scanners can't break through, it's blocking my scans somehow." I heard Gospel say in my head, "Proto, your scanners are designed for this. Can you do it?" I asked, connecting to Prototype. He gave me a mental nod, then patched into Gospel's scanners and replaced them with his own. "Compare gathered specs and data to Gospel's own for comparison. I want to know what they did different with this one." I ordered, using Gospel's winged weaponry and intercepting some shots that were to impact Akatsubaki. "Thanks for that , there wasn't anything we could do about those." Houki said, breathing hard as she sent her IS into another spin as she gained altitude.
I watched as Silvario filled the air between it and the duo with fire. I brought Gospel's full arsenal online and released my own salvo, intercepting a good percentage of the shots. Then I caught sight of Ichika's Byakushiki as it dropped towards the Silvario from above, sword pointed downward as Ichika dropped quickly towards Silvario. I heard him let out a cry as he plummeted closer to the IS. Silvario looked at Ichika as he yelled, focusing fully on him. I took advantage of its distraction to land a few hits on its back and wings, damaging the armor and weapons located there. As it was recovering, Ichika reached a apparently predetermined distance and reactivated his one off, swinging his sword at Silvario again. Silvario caught on and evaded his attack, gaining altitude swiftly and firing again, the bolts speeding towards Ichika as he looked around for the IS. I used my weaponry again to intercept shots again before Akatsubaki collided with Byakushiki, knocking both of them out of harm's way. But it also dropped their shields lower. "Hows your energy, Ichika?" I called, focused on Silvario as it seemed to ready another attack. "I've lost half of my shields, mostly from taking hits neither of us could deal with." He replied, grasping Akatsubaki's armor, ready to go again. "Alright, let me know when you lose three-quarters and we're pulling out." I ordered as the duo took off again, rocketing towards the waiting Silvario. I readied a salvo for intercepting Silvario's attack. "What have you two got?" I asked the two IS who were murmuring in the back of my mind about something. They stopped and gave me a look before continuing to whisper and gesture as they discussed. I sighed and caught sight of Silvario going into a spin, releasing its prepared salvo. I wondered on the reason for the spin, releasing my own salvo to intercept the shots in front of Akatsubaki and Byakushiki. They sped up, closing the distance as Ichika readied yet another strike. I prepped and fired a salvo at Silvario, using it's spin technique from earlier and watching as the salvo spread out before seeking its pre-programmed target. "Good to know." I thought as I stored the information in my growing data collection and rising to the same height as the others. "Pull them back, Zeke. NOW!" I heard my IS say before Silvario dropped below Houki and Ichika and fired close range. Ichika forcefully spun them, placing himself between the rounds and Houki. Quick thinking, man. But you just sacrificed yourself and this whole operation. I thought, signalling a struggling Houki to get Ichika and head back, to which she nodded and did as I requested, grabbing the unconscious Ichika and starting the flight back. I turned from the duo as they left the AO and focused on Silvario. "What was that, guys? And what do you have, since we're about to be engaged." I said as Silvario swung into a dive, headed towards us. "Alright, from what we can tell. Silvario is basically the same as we are. It's just got a slightly more powerful core and lighter weight armor, while somehow not sacrificing any loss in armor durability or firepower." I heard Prototype say, Gospel agreeing with him as she stepped forward. "Also, after gaining access to the main programming of the IS. We found that Silvario is programmed with a number of attacks that it can use, but only those that are programmed. It's not a thinking A.I. It's just following how it was programmed when attacking or being attacked. Also, dodge left." I heard, doing as told and just barely escaping a barrage from Silvario. "The Silvario isn't equipped with any hand-to-hand equipment either. So fist fighting if you get in close." Prototype added as I released a withering amount of fire in all directions, forcing the Silvario to retreat. "Any idea why it went rogue?" I asked, not bothering to ask mentally anymore. "None so far. We're still working on that." Gospel said as they returned to sifting through what was apparently Silvario's data. "Keep on it, I'll keep it busy." I said, boosting upwards into the sky.
"Gospel, can you relinquish all IS control to me so you can focus on the data while I handle Silvario?" I asked, spinning as more shots flew around me, missing by inches. Gospel nodded and I gained control of the rest of the Silver Gospel's frame. "Where are Ichika and Houki now? Are they safe?" I asked, turning and returning fire at Silvario as it chased after me. "Ichika is safe Houki and Akatsubaki however, are returning to the AO to re-engage." Gospel informed me. I growled and opened two channels, one to Houki, the other to Orimura. "Instructor, Mission Failure. Ichika and Houki have fallen back and I am covering their retreat. However, after making sure Ichika was safe, Akatsubaki has returned to the AO and seems to be trying to re-engage the target. What are your orders?" I asked, firing at Silvario again, making it keep its distance and keep it from getting a full lock on me. "Intercept Akatsubaki and return to base." I nodded at her image in acknowledgement before firing one final salvo at Silvario and speeding off towards Houki. I now connected to the Akatsubaki's channel, "Houki, I've been ordered to retreat. Fall back now!" "No, I can do this! Akatsubaki can do this!" Houki retorted. I was about to reply when I caught sight of Akatsubaki as it roared past me. I turned to grab her and saw a ship on the water. I tried to figure out who it was when Silvario fired, forcing my attention away. I moved between Silvario and the apparent poaching vessel, trying to catch what rounds would undoubtedly destroy the boat. "What are you doing?" Houki yelled, noticing I was on the defensive. "There's a boat below us. It's an illegal vessel, most likely poachers." I said, intercepting a couple more rounds before a group of them blew past me. "So what? They're criminals, let them.." "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Houki Shinonono! Don't you dare." I said, fixing her with a glare. She thought better of trying to say anything and I covered her as Silvario took advantage of her inactivity and fired a full salvo. I barely stayed conscious until the salvo finished and I grabbed Akatsubaki and took off out of the AO, putting as much distance between us and Silvario as quickly as possible. We landed on the island and I fell to my knees as the injuries and damage to Gospel caught up to me and I fell unconscious as Gospel went into standby.
(In My Head) *unconscious*
"Dammit Houki! Why did you do that?" I yelled as I paced back and forth in the mental office. Proto and Gospel were sitting at two desks. There were folders and papers strewn about the office as they shuffled through and organized the data that we had been able to collect. I continued pacing till something caught my eye and I focused on an empty weapon rack mounted on the wall above Gospel's head. I remembered something and turned to see another weapon rack above Proto's head. Unlike the one above Gospel, this rack had rifles, SMG's, knives, swords, etc. "Are these the weapons we are able to use when we're fighting, Proto?" I asked, recognising a few of the weapons. He nodded, "Yes, they are. This is where the weapons go till we need them. See how some of them are locked or seemed less clear than others?" He said, pointing to those that were like he had described, mainly the swords and a few of the guns. I nodded, "Those are ones that I have the data for, but can't access for some reason." He said, shrugging. I looked at each of the weapons, "Most of the weapons that you can't access are ones that I'm not completely comfortable with or won't use. Like these swords," I said, gesturing to said swords, "I've never used anything like them before, so I'm not comfortable with using them. Some of these guns are the same, but this here." I said, hands resting on a cloth covered weapon, even though it was easy to discern what it was under it. "This shoulder mounted sniper rifle was stored within your original data. Its purpose was Anti-IS in nature and being a kid whose only friends were IS. I wasn't comfortable using something that could kill them, so I locked it away in your programming. I swore to never use it as long as I piloted an IS," I said, pulling the cloth away from the weapon which signalled to Proto's core programming that it was usable and available for manufacture onto the IS. He put a hand to his chin in thought as the weapon's specs were downloaded into him now that the restrictions had been lifted. "I see what you mean by it being designed as an 'Anti-IS' weapon." He said. A screen popped up, showing the specs for the weapon. "How do you know that?" Gospel asked, looking over our shoulders at the screen. "It seems like a normal weapon to me," She said, looking between the two of us. "This weapon's data was given to us by the U.S Government right after second-gen IS began production and you were announced to the world." Proto said, checking the receiving date on the data. I nodded, "I uploaded it to Prototype so that I could check it's specs and get him started on production of it, then I noticed this." I said, pointing to the name and description provided for me. It read:
Name: "Angel of Death"
Description: This weapon is to be used in any Anti-IS situations that could arise. We are equipping this weapon to IS: DIGITAL PROTOTYPE and its pilot Private Altec, for use against IS: SILVER GOSPEL in the event that the IS goes rogue and is uncontrollable by normal means.
Gospel's hands covered her mouth as I read the description of the weapon. I lowered my head in shame, having read the whole thing by memory. "As soon as I read that, I halted Prototype's production sequence and sent the data as far into his system as I could before locking it away from my use. If you remember, when we were going to take our first test flight and we were describing specs for each of you. A lot of people were afraid of what you could do, Gospel. They saw you as a weapon. And there's only one thing to do when you find a weapon that seems unbeatable." I said, pausing. "You make a weapon designed to fight that weapon." I finished. Gospel looked at the weapon, afraid. I sighed, "There's nothing that I've ever been able to do to remove this data. It coded into Prototype after I uploaded it. I tried to get it removed by professionals, but to do so would most likely damage Prototype himself in the process." I informed, not seeing Prototype move towards the weapon and pick it up. I heard the rifle move and turned to see Prototype in his IS form pick up the rifle, pause for a second, then bring the rifle down on his raising knee. The rifle shattered, dissipating as the data became corrupted and I looked to see most of the weapons I had come to love using with Prototype became corrupted as well and dissipate as well. Soon the rack was empty of any weapons, except for the pistols I always used, the swords that were still blurry, and one new weapon. I walked over to the rack again and tapped the weapon, prompting a window to open up. The wording was instead coding, so I let Prototype handle it as I walked over and tried to comfort Gospel, who was shaking on the floor. "Hey, it's alright. It's gone now. Proto destroyed it. You're okay, you're safe." I said, kneeling next to her and hugging her to me. Sfe fisted her hands in my t-shirt and cried. She cried because the people she had vowed to protect, no matter the cost, had turned their backs on her and had tried to give her friends a way to kill her. "Those bastards." I heard from behind me. I turned and Gospel stopped crying, confused. "Who are you talking about, Prototype?" Gospel asked, catching Proto's attention and getting him to notice that we were looking at him. "Those pricks, the ones who sit on a hill and decide that, instead of thinking this issue through more, we'll just give the only other American IS pilot a weapon that can destroy the most powerful IS known to existence after forcing him to work with her for a year, during which the trio formed a bond. And I thought that they didn't take that into consideration, but they did. The weapon can't be destroyed. I tried, as you saw, Zeke. It just transfers the damage over to other things in the IS's storage. If nothing is in its storage, it attacks the IS directly. When I attempted to destroy it, it took whatever damage I would have done and moved it onto the other weapons in my storage and replaced them with a different version of it." He said, waving a hand at the new gun in his storage. "So, it just transformed after destroying all our hard work?" I asked him. Proto just nodded. I grimaced at the pained look that came to Proto's face when he looked at Gospel, who had began to panic. "So, it'll never go away unless Prototype is destroyed himself, right?" She asked, drawing two nods from us. "I might have something then, let me think on it for a second." Gospel said, waving the two of us away. We looked at each other and shrugged, turning back to the 'Death' gun. "Can you switch it between handheld and shoulder-mounted?" I asked, Proto accessed the weapon, nodding after a slight pause. "Well, I have to admit. They were resourceful about this. Doesn't mean I hate it any less," I said, folding my arms across my chest. Proto mimicked me and nodded, "The people who created this are currently working on 'Capitol Hill,' as you'd put it." Proto said, tracing the programmers down. I nodded, then looked at him, "Why'd you bring that up?" "Well, when this is all over. Maybe we can get this removed by those who made it and be rid of it for good." Proto offered, shrugging. I could tell this wasn't the first thing to come to his mind and I turned to face him, "Okay, now what's the real reason you did it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, at first. I wanted to kill them for doing this, but I thought about it, and this isn't their fault. They were just doing their job, they didn't know what it would cause when they did it." Proto finished, and I uncrossed my arms and hugged him. "Thank God! I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought about that as a possibility." We all had a laugh at that, Gospel not completely with it. "I've got it! It just might work." She said, figuring out whatever she needed to before waving us over. "I remembered about one of the programs I was fitted with when I was possibly going to be out of the protection of a base's computers and firewalls. They fitted me with a program that would activate if I was ever affected by a virus. This 'antivirus' has a copy of my programming and it'd run along my systems, checking for changes to the program or system. I might be able to transfer it to Prototype's systems. However, there is also the possibility of it not accepting the change in programming and basically destroying any programming in Prototype's system and rewriting it with my own." She said, laying out her plan on the table. I looked at Prototype, "It's up to you. I could always lock down the coding again and we could try and get them to remove the coding themselves back in the States, which may or may not work." I said, giving another option. "This is up to you, man. It's your life on the line." I said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. He sighed, then said… "Let's go with…"
(Back in the real world, takes place after the girls left to take down Silvario)
"Oh yay! Ichika's waking up. A girl said, noticing Ichika's accelerated breathing and bodily movements. Ichika sat up, seemingly unharmed from before as he stood up and took off out of the door. He called his IS and took off, headed for the girls. They were so worried about Ichia that they forgot all about me and didn't notice as I snuck out of the building and made my way towards the beach. "Are you sure about this, Gospel? What if something goes wrong?" I asked as I slid down a dune and came to a halt at the water's edge. "I'm positive. This has to work." She said, activating her active standby mode, coming to a crouch on the beach as Prototype appeared a little ways away, also in his active standby crouch. I followed Gospel's instructions and removed a small piece of machinery from her form and connected it to Prototype's main CPU, activating the machine and letting it do its work. His frame trembled and shook. His hands clenched and twitched, but he didn't move from his place. Then, just as sudden as it started, the movements stopped and Prototype went still. I disconnected the machine and replaced it within Gospel's frame. She double checked that everything was working properly before deactivating her active standby and returning to her bracelet form. I turned to look at Prototype when a searing pain went through my body. I cried out and fell to my knees, hearing Prototype's scream as whatever had happened attacked him. Gospel tried to get him under control, but was only able to block off the channel between him and me. "What was that?" I asked, tears spilling down my face. Gospel did a quick scan, "The machine had said that it had accepted the change in programming when I basically transplanted a piece of his coding into it, minus the weapons code. It should have noticed that there was a difference between and went after the code that didn't fit. From what I can tell, the machine attacked his main programming instead of the code. It's quite literally, killing him from the inside." She said, tears falling down her face as she tried to hold back her sobs. I traced from where the pain had originated and realized that it came from my back, my left shoulder blade. "Is there anything w-w-we can-n-n do?" I stuttered out, tears filling my eyes as I tried to take this in. I felt Gospel shake her head sadly, crying herself. "Tell him this for me, if you can. Please." I requested, to which Gospel nodded. "Tell him that. I'll miss him, and I hope that he's not angry, with me, you, or anyone else. And not to be angry with himself either. We all knew the risks, but we still took the chance. Tell him I loved him, and that I'll miss my big brother. Please tell him that." I cited, falling onto my hands and knees as the pain in my heart grew. Gospel nodded solemnly before walking onto the other side of her block. I tried to hold it in, but the tears had already fallen. I tossed myself back and cried out my anguish to anyone able to hear my screams as I wept for my fallen brother. I heard something and looked to see Prototype's frame slowly fade from its white and green to a dull gray. His frame dropped its customizations and slowly but surely, disappeared from my sight. Everything disappeared, except for his core. It dropped into my waiting hand and I watched as the color faded from it and the surface cracked, signifying that the core had deactivated for good. I ran back to the building, grabbing an empty sack and wrapping his core in it. I was able to get into Char and I's room and hide it in my suitcase. Then, I walked back to the base hut, hearing Orimura and Yamada talking inside. I raised my hand to knock, but something stopped me. I lowered my hand and turned away from the hut. "I'm ready for some payback, what about you?" I asked, setting my gaze to the moon in the sky. I received a nod and together, Gospel and I took to the skies, ready. "Round 2, you fake bastard." I growled out. A deeper growl emanated from the white form surrounding me. We tore through the night sky, breaking the sound barrier as we rushed to aid our friends. "No one else dies tonight, except that fake IS." I vowed, echoed by my partner. I caught sight of blue flashes and explosions ahead of us, and I angled us towards the fight. "Ready the guns! We're going to give her hell! Or take her with us." I said, feeling the power flow as all the guns at our disposal primed themselves and prepped for fire. "Time to face the music,"
"We can't handle much more of this!" Ichika said, holding his shield in front of him as Silvario fired again. The girls either piled behind his weakening shield or evaded in the open air. "Yeah, but what can we do? It's too strong for all of us. We need to get out of here, now!" "Then go!" I said through the channel. I dive bombed from the heavens, raining fire and hatred down on Silvario. The silver IS brought it's wings up, having reached its Secondary Shift. The rounds impacted the impromptu shield, exploding on contact or breaching and exploding against its torso. The Silvario rushed away with me hot on its tails, firing non-stop at its retreating form. "Watch the wings! The Wings!" I heard Gospel warn just as the Silvario spun and came to a abrupt stop, trying to capture us in its wings for some kind of attack. I spun and broke free before it could take hold and its wings closed on empty air. It turned to take chase before a slug impacted its back. I trailed the shot and saw Laura, having landed and braced for heavy fire. "Char, provide backup to Laura. Protect her from any stray fire or intentional bombardment. Cecilia, keep your distance and focus fire on the wings. Houki, provide support where needed. Ichika, nice upgrade. You're with me." I ordered, pressing Silvario. "Don't give it any room to breathe. Keep this thing on the defensive and watch out for its wings!" I called, hearing Cecilia comment, "Yeah, those things hurt!" I returned my full focus to the silver IS as we battered each other with fire. I noticed Ichika racing up behind it, Don't yell, please don't yell! I pleaded, firing selectively and keeping its focus on me. Then I heard Ichika yell and mentally face palmed as Silvario reacted, turning and facing Ichika. I took advantage of its lack of attention on me and rushed it, using Gospel's speed to close the distance and wrap my around her torso, trapping its arms to its torso. It reacted to the new threat, trying to shake me off as Ichika grew closer. "Do it, Ichika! Don't worry about me!" I called, gripping more forcefully and firing at its wings to keep them busy. "Laura, focus fire on the wings with Cecilia! Don't let her use them!" I said, upping my rate of fire, battering the blue wings with heavy fire. Laura switched targets and began firing, joined by Cecilia. "Can Gospel take the hits?" I heard someone ask. "Just keep firing, I'll disengage when I need to." I replied, watching Ichika get close. I waited till the last second, then released Silvario and boosted upwards, kicking out to disorient it when my kick landed against the IS head. I then pushed off the silver IS, pushing it towards Ichika as he yelled again and this time landed the final hit that we needed. I gave a sigh of relief, glad this whole ordeal was finally over. "Great job everybody! Now let's get home!" I called out, waving for them to follow me as I started back. "One problem done, one to go!" Gospel and I said as we made sure everyone was safe before taking off, headed for the horizon.
"I've got a little surprise to give everyone back home in the U.S" I said. A grim expression on my face as we flew over the Pacific. "I've got a small surprise for you too, Zeke." Gospel said. She highlighted a place we could land and recharge and I did just that, landing at a recently abandoned IS facility that used to be run by the U.S before the whole Silvario Gospel incident. We took shelter in the abandoned base. I located the charging equipment for IS and hooked Gospel up. She took control as I stepped out and started to glow. I shielded my eyes when it got too bright and heard what sounded like a snapping sound before the glowing stopped. I uncovered my eyes and blinked away the after images and my jaw dropped when I looked at Gospel. "You, you made Second Shift! That's awesome! Wait, what are you called now?" I asked, confused. She gave a small giggle before saying, "I'm now named Green Gospel." She said. I nodded and walked around her new form. "What changed?" I asked, curious. "Oh, just some hand-to-hand weapons added and some new gear that you might recognise." She informed me. I looked again, noticing that her sensors had changed along with her frame size. She got bigger, but stayed the slim figure she always had. Her bulky armor had resized to fit her frame, no longer boxy and cumbersome. "The sensors look like, his." I said, getting a little choked up. "And these, too." She said, bringing out two very similar pistols in her hands. "With a little something extra added." She said, flipping the pistols over in her hands and exposing some writing. 'These are for you, little brother. Use them well. Make good choices and we'll see each other again, someday.' I lost it after that, crying my heart out as I re-read my brothers final words to me on his parting gift. "Wait, why Green Gospel?" I asked, noticing a complete lack of green anywhere. "My new wings." She said, standing up and calling her final piece to her armor. Her feather like angel wings. They were still metal, unlike Silvario's Second Shift's wings. "And your specs? Did they change?" I asked, admiring the wings. "Just a little more speed and mobility, as well as an actual one-off ability." "And? What is is ?" I asked, almost jumping in place. "Marksmanship Enhancer. It boost my targeting computer without affecting any of my other systems. I'm almost guaranteed to not miss when this is active, no matter what." She said, a small smile on her face. I beamed, "You did it, Gospel. You broke every expectation of the entire base where we were stationed." I said.
"No, not just me, Zeke. We all did, the three of us did things no one can." With that, she went back to her bracelet while her IS form charged. "Well, might as well make ourselves at home then." I said, rubbing my hands together as I looked around before walking out of the hangar and took a self-guided tour of the base. "We'll need to contact the school. Let everyone know we're okay and will return for the second year on time." I said, opening the communications office and sending a quick message to the Academy. I received a reply almost immediately, thanking me for getting in touch with them and that they'd be expecting me next year. I sent any necessary information without revealing my true location and thanked them again. I was about to close the station down when I caught a message I hadn't seen before from Char. I opened it, reading it; "Hey Z, Just letting you know that I'd be around the school this summer and was hoping to see you outside of school once and awhile. I miss you already. I hope you're alright. You know you can tell me anything. Love, Char." I wrote my reply, "Hey Char, I'll try and get back to the school before the school year starts. I miss you too. I'm doing alright and I know that I can talk to you. We both know that. I'll be in touch. Love, Z." I smiled and closed the terminal. I then went to the mess hall, checking what we had in stock. "Pretty well stocked for an abandoned base." I muttered. I closed the mess hall, walking out before noticing that Gospel's bracelet wasn't on my wrist. I looked all around, then noticed a strange feeling on my back. I walked into the infirmary to see a tattoo. And not just any tattoo, but one with Gospel, posed in the center of my back. Her stance wide and proud, not a care in the world. I continued checking out the tattoo, finding Char and I sitting beneath Gospel's feet, looking at each other lovingly. I was almost done with my tattoo when I caught sight of… Prototype. He was sitting on a hill, watching as Gospel stood above Char and I. He seemed, relaxed for once. So peaceful. I gave a sad smile at the mirror and shrugged my shirt back on. "Thank you, Gospel."
And that ends Season 1 of Infinite Stratos. I'll begin writing the next season soon, but I need to get my plot straight as well as my characters. See you guys soon, PEACE!
R.I.P Digital Prototype