10th August, 2010 a.t.b, the day that the world superpower of Britannia invaded the island nation of Japan. Stripping the country of its name, history and dignity renaming it and its people Eleven. This was done with the Knightmare Frame technology, essentially a mech that outpaced any and all attempts former Japan to fight back. Nothing less than a slaughter.
Fast forward 7 years and the people of former Japan now live ghettos, the remains and remnants of the once glorious cities of Japan. In the same breathe many Britannians now live and occupy the colony of Area Eleven, thus there was a segregation of "Elevens".
As many would imagine, the "Elevens" are more than discontent and even 7 years later they still haven't given on the thought of freedom. Making Area Eleven the most violent of all colonies by Britannia, due to the amount of Terrorists within it.
And currently it seems the so called terrorists of Area Eleven have stolen poison gas, probably panning to use it as a bargaining chip. Soon after, Clovis the Third Prince of the Britannian Empire and the Viceroy of Area Eleven is now making an announcement as a response.
He drones on about how the acts of the terrorist "tears apart his heart" and many other rabble about justice and peace.
"How quaint." A mocking tone voices. "A moment of silence, huh. It seems out Prince and Viceroy is quite the speech maker. Don't you think Hifumi?" A teenager, 17 years of ages, asks the brown haired beauty next to him.
Hifumi Togo, an eleven as it were, merely nodded her head as she looks through the files in her hand. "Sir, I believe we should talk about your current plans." She says with a seriousness in her tone. Fitting for the position of secretary that the boy next to her has given her.
"Come now, Hifumi, you can call me Ren. Nobody will know about this after all." The raven haired boy tells her, the response being silence, which makes him shake his head in mirth. "To answer your question, I believe our 'company rival' would be quite anxious to get his 'toy' back and will be using all his 'staff' to get it back."
"Will we be sending out our products then, sir?" Hifumi questions, to which Ren nods. "I see, I shall send a message to prepare for our arrival then." She pulls out her phone and began typing away instructions for certain 'stakeholders' within his 'business'.
Soon the car they were in stopped and the driver stepped around to open his door. "Thank you, Iwai." Ren told the stubbles man, who nods and goes back into the car to drive it, after Hifumi comes out.
As he walks through the doors of his destination, the attendants greets him, "Welcome back Mr Altham." He greets them back as he walks to the reception of Altham Corporations, a sudden superpower in the industry. To which Ren owns and is responsible for.
"Hifumi, you can go to your office, I'll be attending to the Project." The gray eyed entrepreneur tells before walking towards the research and development department of his business. More specifically the R&D department sector that is only accessible by a few.
Once inside, one can find various trinkets and half done technologies found around the room. However this is of no interest of Ren. Instead he moves to keypad of door to another room and enters the passcode, not for the door, but for the secret passage on the other side of the room.
He walks through it and the passage closes behind him. He presses a button by the side and Ren begins to feel the forces that indicate he is descending.
Waiting for few more seconds the dark haired boy arrives and is greeted by the sight of a Knightmare Frame. His Knightmare Frame, custom built with various unseen function, Arsene.
Ren looks over the predominantly red and black paint of the mech and he couldn't help but smile. "I've been waiting a long time for this." He touches the leg of the machine admiring it. "Now to get to work."
He quickly jumps into the cockpit of the mech as various screens and interfaces comes to life around him. "Hello, hello? Oracle do you hear me?" He speaks as he activate the intercom of the machine.
"Loud and clear, Joker." Answers a chirpy girl's voice.
"Mona, you here too?" He asks looking at the interface to his right.
"Of course I am, Joker!" Answers a boyish voice, the artificial intelligence created by Oracle.
A massive grin spreads upon the face of Ren, or Joker in this case. "Well then, begin system scan and we will deploy in T-10 seconds after."
"Okay," Answers Mona as he begins looking through Arsene's systems. "Core Luminous: Activated
Yggdrasil Drive: Active and Operational
Energy Filler: 100%
Factsphere Sensors: Online
Cloak System: Online
Absorb Luminous: Operational
Land Propulsion System: Operational
Eiha Systems: Operational
Slash Harkens: Operational
All Systems are running at optimum efficiency."
"Alright," Oracle speaks up, "Then Arsene will launch in T minus 10..."
Joker breathes out as he tightens his grip on the joysticks of the mech. Looking forward into the tunnel made for Arsene.
8...
7...
6...
"Let's do this." He mutters to himself preparing the wheels of the mech.
3...
2...
1...
"Showtime!" Joker exclaims, the landspinners of the mech screeches, propelling itself forward like a bullet, reaching blistering speeds as the machine drives towards the Shinjuku Ghetto.
LINEBREAK
Lelouch Lamperouge smiles in the Sutherland Knightmare he is currently operating, looking over the battlefield that he has joined, helping the terrorist defeat the Britannian military commander by Clovis la Britannia.
It can be barely called a challenge for the high school student. The tactics employed by the viceroy were mediocre and was easily susceptible to the guerrilla run and gun tactics he is using now. It is his victory by a land slide.
"Hey! Something strange just happened, some of the military Sutherlands just shut down!"
Lelouch blinks in confusion, "Report P-3, what exactly did you see?" He asks looking at the map in which they should be located.
"Well we about to fire at them, but hey suddenly just shut down without us doing anything!" P-3 replies.
A system malfunction? No it can't be. The military Knightmare are looked after 24/7 it's very unlikely that they will malfunction at any point in time. "Did you see anything in your factsphere interfaces?"
"No, we did-" The person answers, but was suddenly cut short. Lelouch looks at the map again and he sees that the team he sent in that area has been lost. Not only that it seems that enemy Sutherlands has also been attacked.
"So, a third party huh?" The black haired boy concludes. "Is he against us, or is he against Clovis? No. He has to be against Clovis, he doesn't know that there are Sutherlands operated by the Elevens. P-4, P-5, P-7 move away from area E5 right now. There is a third party targeting Britannian Knightmares and you might be caught in the crossfires."
"That would be a pretty good idea."
Lelouch's eyes widen as a heavily modulated voice came from the system. Is that the third party that joined the fight? Lelouch wonders as the voice once again speaks up.
"Sorry about before, no hard feelings I hope. I didn't know that there were Japanese operated Sutherlands."
Japanese and not Elevens, interesting. "So I assume that you aren't against us then."
"If you're not killing innocents? No. And I would like it, if you could send me the locations of the Japanese occupied Sutherlands. After all I can't indiscriminately destroy Sutherlands anymore."
A trap? No, why would they, it would be better for them to not speak up and carry on destroying knightmares, if they were really after them. After all it's not like Lelouch can really stop them, they seem to be completely invisible, even to factspheres. However...
"Now, why would I do that? You could be an enemy for all I know." Lelouch questions hoping to pull out more information from the mystery person.
"Our goals align and we can achieve it quicker if I can work properly. Of course I can still do it, it just won't be nice for you. And lastly you know I'm not."
They're smart. If nothing else, they seem to be able to reach the conclusion as Lelouch did and they were right. He smirks as he placed a second queen chess piece next to the first one. "Very well, I'm sending it to you now."
"Umm, is it really okay to send it to him?" Asks one of the Elevens P-1 if Lelouch remembered correctly.
"Yes, it will be very beneficial to us." The student replies as he sit back on the seat. With this addition his victory is basically assured.
Things just became a lot less boring.
LINEBREAK
Things just became a lot more interesting for Joker. After a few minutes he has already taken down a multitude of Sutherlands, reaching the dozens. Combining the cloaking system, that can render him invisible even to the factspheres, and the Absorb Luminous that can steal power from the enemies Core Luminous, he basically couldn't be stopped.
Then came the interesting part, Oracle noticed that some of the Sutherlands were operated by Japanese, which can only be assumed to be the resistance fighters. This made it a bit difficult since he can't destroy Sutherlands without a care anymore.
Thankfully, Oracle (bless her soul) was able to hack into the resistance communication and thus case the most surprising part. The voice that was heard sounded a lot like Joker's own voice. In fact it probably sounded the same. Oracle and Mona were beyond shocked, flabbergasted would be a nice would for it.
"Umm, Joker, do you have a brother or something?" Oracle asks still quite stirred up by the man that sounds like her leader.
"Yeah, do you have some family you didn't tell us about?" Mona expands on the question, probably very curious to find the answer.
"No, not as far I know." Joker replies, disappointing the other two (complaining that there wasn't a long lost brother cliche), although...Joker himself already knows who the person with the same voice as him is.
More than likely the man is his counterpart in this universe. After Joker's name isn't Ren Altham. It's Ren Amamiya and in his universe, there was no Britannia in 2017. Well not one like the one in this universe.
"This is Group B, enemy sighted!" The intercom interjects in an urgent voice that is different from how they talked before. They're scared? Why? They are winning right now, unless... "Everyone's escaped, but four machines were destroyed in an instant. By one knightmare! I think it's a new model I never seen it befo-" It cuts off.
"That's ominous." Comments Oracle.
"Yea, I should look into it." Says Joker as he moves his knightmare to where Group B should be. Telling everyone to retreat from that area. When he arrived, he saw a white knightmare plowing a thought a couple of Sutherlands with the same speed, if not greater than his own Arsene.
"I can't identify any other weapons besides the slash harkens on his shoulders and arms." Mona informs Joker with a bit of worry in his voice. After all, this Knightmare is defeating Sutherlands with the bare minimum armaments and facing greater numbers, so the greatest reason it is winning is the fact that it is a much superior model.
After finishing the last Sutherlands the white knightmare began to move, Joker quickly following. "I have the element of surprise right now, he hasn't notice me due to the cloaking system, but..." The invisibility will only last another 80 seconds. Due to the fact that in order to avoid thermal imaging it blocks the heat from being radiated. However there is a risk of overheating, so there is a time limit.
So, with the element of surprise, "I'll finish it in one go!" Joker exclaims as he activate the Eiha Blasters on Arsene's arms. A mass of energy starts to form a red glow emanating from it. Of course the pilot of the white knightmare notices, but by the time he did it was already to late. Joker fires the blast and it struck its target true and a billow of smoke arose from the impact.
Joker can hear the machine groan from the cloaking system subsiding, the time limit running out. The Arsene is revealed in its glory, with Oracle remarking that it was a bit anticlimactic.
However, as Joker was about to turn around, a slash harken suddenly came out of the smoke forcing him to dodge to his left. Then the slash harken abruptly changed directions and allowing it to come straight at Arsene, penetrating the armour,
"Shit! The slash harkens can change direction?" The better question is how did the knightmare survive, but Joker has no time to wonder as a sudden kick from the opposing knightmare sent Arsene flying in the opposite direction.
Quickly, he brought Arsene upright and fired a slash harken into the ground to cause smoke screen and immediately activated the cloaking system. Joker reversed the machine to gain some space firing a slash harken at the opposing knightmare.
However it simply dodged and weaved around the armaments.
"The fuck is with this agility?!" Oracle shouts in dismay as the other knight made quickly covers the ground between them and gave a swift left hook towards Arsene, the slash harken grazing the surface of the red and black metal.
Again Joker creates more space to avoid any more devastating blows. "Damnit, it looks as if we are at disadvantage when it comes to attacking from a distance." Mona observes with an annoyed tone.
It was true, the slash harken aren't agile enough to hit him and the Eiha didn't seem to work. The worse thing is that their own slash harkens won't be concealed once leaving the main body and neither will the Eiha. They can use the Absorb Luminous, but it might just be as ineffective as Eiha.
The nail in the coffin is that the other knightmare is moving around to make catching it off guard, it also serves as a way to outlast our time limit, their betting on it and it seems they might win.
Joker narrows his eyes as he thinks of his next plan and of course he has one. "Mona, no matter what, don't switch off the cloaking system."
"Do you have plan?" He asks.
Joker nods as he activated the slash harkens firing one at the knightmare, whom easily dodges as they also fire their own, Arsene barely dodging two. Then joker fired the second harken, forcing the white knightmare in the air. Immediately, the Eiha was charged and fired.
If all goes well, the blast will hit, since there is now way for it to dodge in midair. However, like before the Eiha has no effect, but this time Joker knows why.
"Shield, that thing has a shield!?" Oracle exclaims as the white knightmare activates as a translucent green shield that blacks the Eiha blast. So that's how, Joker thinks as he once again created space between him and his opponent.
"Mona, remember what I said."
"Wait what are you doing?!" Mona shouts as Joker drives straight towards the opponent with as much momentum and speed that he can gather and fired a slash harken, whilst pushing the knightmare. Due to the close distance, the weapon was able to land hit and disable one of the shouder harkens of the opponent.
Knowing the position of Arsene, the opposing knightmare activated its green shield as Joker uses the Absorb Luminous, both systems clash creating a colourful spark as the Absorb Luminous took in as much energy as it can from the shield.
Unable to move away from its opponent, the white knightmare uses its harkens to attack the still invisible Arsene. One of them was caught and broken, whilst the other damages the mech.
"Joker, what are you doing?" Shouts Mona bringing up on screen, the damages on Arsene. "If you keep going on like this Arsene will overheat."
"Just keep going, put as much power into the LPS and Absorb Luminous."
"But-"
"DO IT!"
As much power was put into the Absorb Luminous as possible as the other knightmare continued firing its slash harkens.
"Joker, the system won't last much longer!" Oracle warns as the screens of the machine starts flashing red.
"It will last!."
"Joker you have 5.7% until system failure!" Mona warns the boy.
Joker in response pushed the machine even harder.
"4.1%"
"3.4%"
"1.9%"
"0.8%"
"0.3%!"
Eventually, something had to give and it was the shield of the knightmare that did, shattering into pieces as it couldn't take any longer. Using this opportunity Joker activate the Eiha Blasters and fire it at the other knightmare.
A solid hit. Destroying the front armour of the knightmare revealing parts of its cockpit and finally putting the damn machine out of commission.
Inside the cockpit of Arsene was silent. The only noise heard was the heavy panting of Joker, before he started laughing. He laughed and laughed, like a madman. It was maniacal, especially considering the situation.
"I swear you are insane, sometimes." Oracle says as Joker's laughs slowly die down.
"Come on, let's go before more soldiers come, our 'friend' should take care of the rest."
"Why do you say that?"
"He spread the military apart for a reason."
And Joker wasn't wrong. When the soldiers of Britannia were about to slaughter thousands of lives to bring "justice to the terrorist", Prince Clovis called it off before they can do anything. Whilst some would say Clovis did it out of good will, it isn't likely.
LINEBREAK
This is stupid! Is the fought of one Kallen Stadtfeld, a half Britannian and daughter to a wealthy family. She is also an ace pilot, capable of manoeuvring a knightmare with ease and a freedom fighter for the liberation of Japan. And unfortunately for her she is also a student of Ashford Academy.
Here to maintain her disguise as a sickly and quiet girl, with fairly good grades. This is also to lay low, whilst the Shinjuku incident blows.
Talking of which, she wonders who the person on the radio was. The one that helped secure a victory for Japan, something that wasn't even thought possible by a majority of the resistance.
Yet, this one man came into the picture and everything changed. They had a fighting chance.
If only she wasn't stuck here, she would be trying to find this man, even if unsheathe only knew a voice. Then she heard the teacher speak.
"Alright class, we will now be welcoming a new student to our school. I hope you treat him well." The teacher explains before inviting in the new student. A teenager with frizzy and messy black and gray eyes, over them we're a pair of glasses. He is also quite pale and it can be said that he has a pretty face as well.
However after a look, Kallen mostly ignored him. Until she heard his voice.
"Hello, my name is Ren Altham. I hope you take care of me."
Kallen's eyes widen. That voice, it sounded like the one on the radio. Practically a match. But it couldn't be, could it?
Coincidences like this doesn't happen, right?