1300 Hours, July 14th, 17 A. E.

Azura, Ruins of Ginza, COG Controlled Territory

Reconstruction Of Settlements, Five Months After The Locust War.

It was a warm day in Azura. COG Soldiers and Engineering Crews were working around the clock to ensure that settlements around Sera were being Rebuilt: the ruins they were in were called the Ginza District. The Engineering Teams were tasked with rebuilding the destroyed structures, roads, and Utility Lines to ensure that they were ready for civilian use, while the COG Soldiers were tasked with ensuring their security. One such soldier was sitting one a broken wall. This was Akihisa Yoshii, or Akihisa Carmine as he was originally called.

You see, Akihisa is the youngest brother of the Carmine family, with his elder brothers making up the rest of the children of the Carmine Family. His family had started up a life insurance company before Emergence day had happened, and when it did happen, he was separated from them. He was soon adopted by the Yoshii family at the tender age of three years old and grew up not knowing what became of his brothers. However, that didn't mean he was ignorant to the war that was going on, which they thought he was, and was placed in school. While he was an Idiot from time to time. . . . okay, maybe all the time, but he had the biggest heart out of everyone in his classes. He had tried making friends with so many of his classmates, but it came up short with them just flat out refusing and calling him an idiot. . . . talk about ouch. They, metaphorically speaking, kicked him while he was down with that low blow. . . . no wait, they literally did that as well because of how different he looked from everyone else. That being said, he only had about five friends in middle school: Kouta, Hideyoshi, Yuuko, somewhat of a friend in Yuuji, and Minami.

When he entered Fumiziki Academy High School, he had a good deal of bad luck with everything that was going on; from being put into class F to being used as a human shield, pincushion, test dummy and so many more things related to being beaten up. Not to mention he was sexually harassed by his adopted sister, and nearly beaten to the point of death. Although, his luck turned around a bit as he still had his two childhood friends with him in the same class. During the Summoner Test war between Class A and Class F, he was able to save one of his childhood friends, Yuuko Kinoshita who was Hideyoshi's twin sister, from falling into a large hole in the roof caused by his own Avatar. While he may have done a good deed, it didn't save them from losing the war with Class A. When they got back to their classroom, most of the class blamed Akihisa completely for the loss, even though he wasn't even responsible for the plan failing. Almost everyone in the class was too stubborn to admit when they were wrong, choosing to use Akihisa as their scapegoat whenever something went wrong for the class. At least Kouta and Hideyoshi could admit to their mistakes whenever they screwed something up. However, what the class did was unacceptable as they pinned the blame on him as they were too stubborn to admit they were failures. The two of them were too stunned to even get a sentence out before Akihisa left the classroom, in his hopes that somebody would speak up for him. When the two found him, they immediately apologized for not speaking up for him. He understood their shock, but with what was going on, he didn't know if he could stick around the school for much longer. He told them that if he was going to find himself, he needed to do it where he felt accepted for who he was. The two could understand this; he wasn't wrong about that, many the students who weren't his childhood friend or just didn't take the time to get to know him didn't accept him for who he is. The three had sat on the roof one last time, reminiscing all the good times they had growing up together, all the jokes they had told each other, even the running gag they made where they pretended Hideyoshi was a girl when the two knew he was a guy; it was funny seeing how the others reacted with them thinking he was a she. Before he left to pack his things, he gave the both of them one last bro-hug before heading off. Sometime around midnight was when he left, only taking what he bought with his own money; his laptop and his games. The dirty books he had, he gave those to Kouta for more ideas on what pictures to take, and he left Hideyoshi with some actual dudes clothing as a farewell gift to the two. The gift he got for Yuuko was some yaoi manga since she was into that, for some reason, he left Aiko with some tips on how to win Kouta's heart, without Kouta knowing, and he left Kubo with a few reference books on how to act like a cool guy. . . . He honestly needed these since he didn't know how to be cool to begin with. He also left them with a chibi-plushie of himself so that they wouldn't forget about him. How he got these skills was due to him growing up on the street for three months. He first learned to sow, then he used old fabric to make quilts that he either used himself or sold, than he used the money to buy food, and used the food he bought to cook his own meals; growing up street smart had its' perks as he learned survival as a three year old, before being adopted that is.

When he was leaving the city, his first stop was to the others houses where dropped off their gifts. He then went to the bus station and bought a ticket to the nearest city that had a COG Recruiting center, which was a night trip as it would take eight hours to get there, and finally heading to the recruiting center itself; he joined on with the platoon heading for the frontlines as this may have been his only chance to find his brother again. He ended up in Third Recon, led by Yōji Itami, a Second Lieutenant. During his time in the Third Recon Team, he was given the callsign of Avenger 13 and the nickname Lucky, as he was the thirteenth member to join Third Recon and the nickname was ironic as thirteen was usually bad luck. It was after his training that he had found out who he was, and who his family truly was. He wasn't Akihisa Yoshii, the ultimate idiot, not in the slightest.

He was the youngest brother of the Carmine Family, he was Akihisa Carmine. He was Avenger 13, Youngest Member of Third Recon, and a proud COG Soldier. His combat gear was the standard issue COG Standard Issue Armor that covered every inch of his skin with either cloth or armored plating. He wore a standard issue helmet and boots as he preferred to let no skin show when someone and/or something could attack.

When Clayton had come to see him after he joined Recon Three, the two spent a lot of time catching up. Although, Clayton did almost break Akihisa's back after shouting 'Hug me, brother!'. . . . That was funny. This brings us to now.

As he sat on the wall, overlooking a few of the Engineers, he was close enough to see a flash of light appear out of nowhere and disappear as quickly as it arrived. When he turned to the source of the light, he was shocked to see something akin to that of an Ancient Roman Gate. Him and a few other COGs went to check it out, and as soon as they got a closer look, the doors began to open. They had gotten behind cover at least six hundred and fifty meters from the building, lancers aimed at the door, and looked over it to see what was coming out of it. To their surprise, the enemy were humans that looked like they were from Ancient Rome. Their were some non-humans in the mix, though, and that was all kinds of weird as they weren't Locust. The Engineering Teams were given the order to fall back while the COGs held back whoever these guys were. Each one of them was behind the cover of collapsed walls or laying prone, waiting for someone and/or something amongst the unknown group to make a move.

This came when the Commanding Officer, it what looked like the Commanding Officer of the group, raised a sword to the sky and gave a call to the soldiers, soon followed by a few human soldiers and non-human soldiers raising swords, daggers, and spears to the sky. The cavalry charged, the foot soldiers rushed forward, and the unknown creatures amongst them rushed.

"Open fire!"

When the COGs heard this, all hell broke loose as Lancer rounds, Gnasher Slugs, Longshot rounds, and Snub Pistol shots went flying into the enemy lines. Round after Round, Wave after Wave, Corpse after Bloddy-Corpse, the enemy continued their full frontal assault. A few were within melee range as they went to cut a few down, or so they thought. As one charged towards Akihisa, he took the chance to rev up his Lancer's Chainsaw and charge himself. While Akihisa may not have been the most physically fit, he had the strength of an average COG Soldier with his lean build.

When the sword and Lancer saw met, sparks flew as the Lancer was cutting through the sword. When it broke about ten seconds later, much to the 'Roman's' surprise, they were immediately cut down as the chainsaw cut through them and their armor like a hot knife through butter. As he pulled back to cover, an arrow had grazed his helmet, barely leaving a scratch on it.

"Jeez, who the hell are these guys?! Have they been living under rocks for a the last century or two, or are they from somewhere that's not as advanced as us?!" He shouted as another arrow whizzed by his head.

"Don't know, but whoever they are, they must be crazy brave or crazy stupid to think that they can get anywhere with these tactics."

"The Locust our up more of a fight then these guys, this is just sad!"

"Too true!"

The two shared a laugh as they continued shooting. This wasn't the first time they had to kill a fellow human being, and it wouldn't be the last. Just as things were looking up for them, they were given the order to pull back to the secondary defense point. When did they have a secondary defense point? They chose not to argue as they pulled back to where they were directed. The enemy had thought that they had them on the run, so they chose to pursue.

The Sedaran Empire had sent its army through the gate in hopes of land, trinkets, and slaves; what they got was an unknown group that took everything they knew about warfare and broke it. Their weapons could hit them both at range and in melee. None of their soldiers fell while their brothers in arms looked like that had been torn up by mages. Were these unknown enemies all mages, and if so, who even had the time to train this many? They had lost so many forces in the initial assault on the enemy front line, if you could even call the COGs defensive position a frontline, that they had lost a good couple thousand soldiers to the fires of the enemy. They could only see metal upon them and they looked as if they were unblinking golems. Once they had begun to fall back, they thought that they were begin to win and charged after them. What came next would not only shatter their moral, but leave them in shambles.

Line Break

As soon as the COGs had gotten to the fallback point, they immediately aimed back down their sights at the enemies that were charging the makeshift trench line made entirely out of old highway barriers and sandbags. As the enemies drew closer to their position, the words 'OPEN FIRE!' were shouted out as a loud battlecry was heard, and dozens of soldiers appeared from behind the sand bags and barriers, guns drawn and all trained on them. The Imperial Soldiers didn't have time to react as bullets zipped through the air and laid them to waste; those that did survive were in a full scale retreat as enemies had flanked them in Armedilo APCs, COG Tanks, King Ravens, and Soldiers in overwatch positions. Almost all of their army was either injured, dead, or on the run to get back across the gate. Those that had made it to the gate had informed their commrads to retreat, with enemies hot on their heels. The remaining soldiers that could made a full blown retreat into the gate.

This was a major victory for the COGs, but it wouldn't be the last time they fought this enemy. They soon set up defensive positions around the gate, with actual defenses this time. The groups that weren't on defense were either getting their gear together, or preparing vehicular for movement across the gate and into the unknown. Delta would be joining them as this was an area under their jurisdiction at the time of the attack. As the teams were getting prepared, Akihisa could only stare at the gate with a look of anticipation under his helmet. What lies beyond there could be the chance to finally find what he was meant to do. All the COGs needed was the go ahead from their superiors, and they could move through. Only time would tell how long they had to wait.

Five Weeks Later. . . .

It had been five weeks since the attack on the Ginza District, and there were a great deal of things that happened during that time. First, Itami was promoted to First Lieutenant for helping rally the defenders and organizing their positions. Akihisa was promoted to Private First Class as he was there during the initial attack. They were both given medals of honor, as well as those who stood in defense of the district, when the enemy tried their damned hardest to get past. They had also begun training for going to the 'special region', as it was now called, and be ready to fight whoever ordered that attack. It was at that time that they met their squad-mate, and fellow otaku, Sargent Takeo Kurata, Avenger 7. When the day finally came for the to travel to the other side of the gate, hundreds of COG Soldiers, a few dozen Armadillo APCs, and about a dozen COG Tanks, all waited patiently as they were facing a makeshift stage; it was really just the trailer of a trailer truck that had a King Raven on it. Several trailer trucks had either supplies for setting up a FOB or fully equipped King Ravens on the back. Right now, though, they were all listening to the speech being given by Lieutenant General Kōichirō Hazama as he stood there, explaining to them as to why they are doing this.

"As you all are aware, this 'gate', as our scientists are calling it, opened up here in Ginza, and with it came an army of tens of thousands of soldiers. They attacked us in an unprovoked skirmish for seemingly no reason, but from what we have gathered from our POWs, they were here for one thing; to conquer the lands on the other side. This will not be left unpunished as those that were responsible for sending this army will face the consequences of what they have done here today, and if not for the security personnel that were stationed here with them, many would have surely been either killed or enslaved. It is thanks to them that they may see their friends and families again, and now we must fight these invaders once more, to show our enemy that they have provoked the wrong army, the wrong people, and the wrong nation. They believe they can just walk in here, thinking they own the place, and take what they want without suffering the consequences?! Well, they're damn wrong and we're gonna show them why! COGs, are you ready to delve into the depths of hell and back to protect your home?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Are you ready to fight to the last Raven, to the last man, to the last bullet, to the last minute?!"

"YES SIR!"

"Who are we?!"

"WE'RE COGS!"

"Are you gonna let them get away with this?!"

"HELL NO!!"

"Are you gonna show them why you don't mess with the COGs best?!"

"HELL YES!!"

"Then stand up, brothers and sisters in arms! Stand up and fight for the people you've protected for years, for the lands we call home, for the families you wish to see once more. Brothers and Sister in arms, are you ready to take the first steps into the breach and the lands that await us?"

"Yes sir!"

"Then move out, today is the day in which we make our stand against the unknown once more."

As the trucks began to move, so too did the Tanks and Armadillos. The crews that were driving the Tanks, Trucks, and Armadillos could see strange lights in the tunnel. As they traveled, they could see a light at the end of the tunnel; they were nearing the other side. As soon as they reached it, they saw something beyond their wildest dreams. Green Grass, Trees that didn't look like they were recently destroyed by the ash and dust of war, and a night sky so clear that the stars shined like the sun itself. As the COGs unloaded from the Armadillo Transports, some took off their helmets to see it more clearly. To think that they would see the sky so clearly after Emergence day, it made it worth fight the war.

On the distant horizon, however, they could see the torch lights of the enemy army. The soon began to prepare for combat against the unknown once more, making field positions and defensive lines in the hill they were upon. This was going to be one hell of a night. For now, though, they needed to prepare for the worst.