KisaragiKei: Thanks for your opinion. I personally felt conflicted about Human Plus/OP-INTENSIFY. Something kinda made me felt like I was cheating, even against other Plus Ravens.
Insert obligatory OST thing... Armored Core 3 OST- Artificial Sky III
'The name of that AC... Vulcansaber... right, that's the Rank 4 of that other Arena... the Arena with the stigma against aiming for the core, or so I've heard.'
A red bipedal AC then blew past NR, equipped with a very powerful laser rifle, laser blade and a medium-missile launcher, and also started raining down hellfire on the Irregular, who swerved his AC side-to-side to avoid some beams. NR had no ammo, and was practically useless in a fight. Fist fighting with ACs was considered impractical.
"To think, just one Irregular did so much. Then again, they were hardly a challenge." The pilot of Vulcansaber voiced. NR couldn't help but feel somewhat offended.
Vulcansaber then swiped at the Irregular with a blade, doing considerable damage. NR, still waiting for an opportunity to do some good, began acting as a decoy, however without boosters, he would get hit a lot. Good thing the Irregular had no more guns, huh?
The Irregular hovered to the flaming carcass of a higher-end MT, blue lasers impacting and exploding on him. The Irregular then tore the rifle out of the hands of the dead MT, and started firing towards the air at Vulcansaber. More blows were traded, then the Vulcansaber landed, and boosted around the Irregular to gain a lock with its missiles. It launched two medium-missiles as the Irregular tried to boost away, only to find that one of the boosters were disabled by... that huntsman he backhanded earlier.
'Come to think of it, how the hell is someone able to do that?' He thought. The missiles blew up his AC's left arm, turning it into a mangled mess of metal. He repeated the process of dodging shots while shooting at NR. That was his last target. Vulcansaber wasn't accounted for during the briefing, so he could escape once NR was eliminated.
Rifle rounds pummeled against NR's AC, the bullets almost tearing the metal apart. He was almost completely immobilized, the rounds doing a number on the already weak legs. His AP was one shot away from going to zero, and when that happened, the AC would blow up rather violently. A fate that NR would prefer not to meet.
"Ravens, we're falling back, we've lost too many of our men!" The commander of the OAE infantry told them. The soldiers on the ground did just that, and retreated back to a safer position deeper in the region. "The damn thing just kept crushing us under whatever force that keeps it afloat. You guys, in the ACs, we have a trap set up down south, follow us." Vernhunt slowly hobbled away in the no-longer combat capable Great Den.
The Irregular went in for another attack run, the finishing move to kill the Raven. He raised his rifle, aimed for the core, and-
"Did you think that I would just let you go?"
A laser beam blew the rifle away, making for a rather anti-climactic event, and the Irregular followed the red AC deeper into the region, away from NR. The good thing was, that he was still alive. Granted, his core received quite the beating, but it was holding... mostly.
The bad thing was that the Irregular was probably still hunting him. He had to get going. He also needed a gun... maybe the machine gun that those Crest MTs used would be usable? They used a trigger mechanism activated by manually pulling the trigger with something like a finger. His AC would be able to fire the gun, just without the lock-on from the FCS.
End your music that you probably didn't play
Somewhere else on the battlefield, an MT with legs that looked akin to roadkill, split its chest apart. The only MT pilot to survive the carnage then emerged from the chest, and dropped down onto the ground. He was bleeding profusely from his hips, his suit was getting quite stained. He barely survived the Irregular ramming into him, the dislodged a lot of the chassis. Then the missiles from the AC Great Den jammed some metal into his kidneys. Maybe even in his lungs.
He was now stuck with the native soldiers. They seemed quite strong, but nothing could stop a good AC pilot. He couldn't blame them for being practically useless... but a whole army being thwarted by one Irregular? An infantry battalion, an elite team of MTs, multiple Ravens, airships and what looked like superhuman fighters were so easily defeated. The Irregular didn't focus on the Atlas soldiers though, so it was safe to assume the main target was the OAE troops. The rest weren't a priority, thankfully.
There was still a problem though.
He was now at the mercy of the natives of this world, and he sure as hell wasn't going to continue chasing that AC. Two near death experiences with both the Irregular and Great Den was enough.
Speaking of near death experiences, he was pretty sure that he wasn't going to stay conscious much longer.
And he didn't. He fell with a muffled "thud", and darkness engulfed his vision.
Atlas
Hospital Trauma Center
5:00PM
"Emissaries were sent to make contact with the inhabitants of the new region, which oddly enough has been dubbed the 'Nexus Region' by a large number of citizens for an unknown reason. The emissaries then met with the representative of an organization called the 'OAE'. The OAE emissaries notably included an infantry platoon, and a large amount of mecha that varied in body styles and weaponry."
The TV went on showing images captured from an aerial view. They consisted of a very basic, blue reverse-joint-legged mecha with a bullet shaped torso and a gun mounted on top, and a much bulkier red bipedal with boxy legs and torso, a rectangular head and actual arms, the right arm held a comparably small gun.
"There were notable exceptions, such as these three that the OAE soldiers referred to as an 'AC'." Then it displayed a sleek, white and black 'AC', a bulkier and seemingly less advanced, white and orange 'AC', another streamlined red 'AC' and a much heavier looking white and yellow AC. The less advanced AC also held the same exact appearance as the one that ended up victorious in the Arena, minus the rifle.
"The diplomatic meeting was going rather well, reports say, until another mecha, which seemed to hover above the ground, attacked, mainly targeting the OAE soldiers. The attacker destroyed all of the OAE's mechanized assets, causing numerous casualties. There was only one survivor recovered by Atlas forces, the rest either died or retreated further into the region. There were very few casualties on Atlas' side, two huntsmen were nearly killed but are now fine, and a very small number of Atlas androids and soldiers were killed."
"It is important to note, that this region was supposedly in a truce prior to the attack, and that the attacker left after destroying all of the OAE's forces, rather than Atlas forces. Is this new region ripe with civil war? And what of the survivors of the attack that were recovered? Hopefully, these questions will be answered soon. In other news, terrorist activity has declined drastically after the 'Nexus Region's arrival, however Grimm activity has increased significantly-" The reporter went on.
A middle-aged man with silver hair and brown eyes, and wearing a black suit and vest listened to the news. He was sitting in the waiting room, biding his time to have a talk with the survivors. It was troubling, to say the least. Such an organized and powerful force thwarted by one man. Was this to be expected from this new region?
"Ozpin, sir, we've been sent a dossier by some group called 'Raven's Ark'. It's about the combatants who survived, including the one we recovered. Do you want a copy sir?" One of the hospital staff asked him. Ozpin was quite an influential figure in Remnant, being the headmaster of the most prestigious academy and all.
"Yes, I would appreciate that." The staff member gave him a folder and left before Ozpin could say anything else. He opened the folder and read the contents aloud.
"This dossier contains non-confidential data on Ravens, pilots and maintenance staff of the aforementioned pilots. Their status is monitored at all times, and appropriate changes will be made after any development that affects the data."
Alias: NR
Occupation: Raven
AC: Galvanize
Arena: RA Arena
Rank: 30 (RA Arena ranking system is based on a points system. Points are gained by doing missions.)
Sex: NO DATA, most likely male.
Age: NO DATA
Nationality: NO DATA
Appearance: NO DATA
Personality: Never talks. Doesn't show an atom of skin at any time.
Notable Feats: Has defeated Birth Bomb. Is partially responsible for region teleportation, defended Navis facility that were conducting experiments relevant to the event.
Bounty: None.
Status: Alive, located at Tekistan.
My notes: A newcomer to the Ark, I don't actually know much about him. Most data was redacted. He tries his best with what little he has. Everyone refers to him as just 'Raven' oddly enough. I think it may be just to aggravate him.
Alias: Kikka
Occupation: Raven
AC: Vulcansaber
Arena: Tekistan Arena
Rank: 4 (Tekistan Arena uses the traditional ranking system.)
Sex: F
Age: 17
Nationality: NO DATA
Appearance: Thin body, black hair. (Three sizes have been requested to be kept confidential by subject.)
Personality: Determined. Sensitive about certain topics. (Ravens don't spend much time with RA staff, so personalities aren't always accurate.)
Notable Feats: Is Rank 4. (Couldn't find anything else in recent activity.)
Bounty: None.
Status: Alive, located at Tekistan.
My notes: She's the daughter of a deceased legendary Raven, who went under the Alias Salamander, was raised by Ravens of the Flight Nest team, and is good friends with the Raven Störche. I'd say that's a battle ready pilot.
Alias: Vernhunt
Occupation: Raven
AC: Great Den
Arena: RA Arena
Rank: 18
Sex: M
Age: NO DATA
Nationality: American
Appearance: (Requested to be kept confidential by subject.)
Personality: Rather friendly.
Notable Feats: Is Rank 18. (Couldn't find anything else in recent activity.)
Bounty: None.
Status: Alive, located at Raven's Ark HQ.
My notes: He's good friends with Trasher, and carries this sort of commanding air, or so I've heard.
Then there was the survivor that they recovered.
Alias: Catalyst
Occupation: Mercenary MT Pilot
MT: Unnamed Upgraded CR-MT85M
Sex: M
Age: 32
Nationality: NO DATA
Appearance: Black hair in a buzz cut, brown eyes, pale skin color, small amount of muscle mass on arms.
Personality: Shows a dislike for romanticizing. Usually doesn't lie. Tends to be impatient.
Notable Feats: Survived in an MT for 11 years, served in the Silent Line campaign.
Status: Injured, located at foreign hospital.
"Sir, the patient is waking up." A nurse told Ozpin. These pilots were an interesting set of individuals.
The minute Catalyst woke up he received an eyeful of light, completely blinding him. The pain in his hip had been dulled too, probably due to anesthetics. His eyes adapted to the light slowly, and he was met with the sight of being in a hospital bed with medical personnel around him, and a man in a nice suit standing away from him.
"Where am I?" Catalyst asked, his voice barely wavering.
"You are in a hospital." Ozpin answered. After what seemed to be a minute, the pilot spoke again.
"Can I leave?"
"You haven't fully recovered yet, so no. You should be able to leave within a few days, however you'll have to be back for examinations to make sure nothing is infected." A nurse replied. Ozpin then began asking some questions.
"May I ask what exactly do you remember prior to ending up here?"
"Well," Catalyst recollected. "I was assigned to guard a diplomatic meeting, everything was fine, then something happened."
"You were attacked."
"Yeah, that."
"Do you know who attacked you?"
"No, not at all. But I have my suspicions. It was an Irregular, so it probably wasn't hired by any of the corporations. Maybe it was just getting off on shooting some guys. I don't know."
"And what exactly are these corporations?"
"...you're not one of our guys, are you?"
"No. I don't mean any harm though, I simply wish to learn more about your region."
"Well. I guess... huh. I'll start with the corporations. The major ones are Mirage, the largest corporation that used to be a industrial machine manufacturer, Crest, a Bio-engineering firm turned to the second largest corporation and became Mirage's rival, and Kisaragi, a technological innovator that makes some weird shit like bio-weapons. There's also Navis, the guys who everyone is blaming for getting us into this mess. They discovered a new resource, multiple actually. The only one that they've disclosed is series of crystals or gems that come in multiple colors and do strange crap."
"I believe that the resource you are talking about is Dust."
"I'm going to assume that Dust refers to the name of the crystals rather than the other kind of dust." Ozpin nodded to confirm this assumption. Catalyst then went on about the war called 'The Great Destruction', Layered which was an underground society made by the survivors, the birth and demise of The Controller, or 'Dove', the Silent Line campaign and IBIS.
"All in all, we haven't learned a thing from war, and we always get our asses saved by a mute merc that would kill his friends if they were hired against each other. So, how about your world?" Ozpin waited a while before answering. This was a lot to take in. An almost endless war that would always be rekindled after a truce. The corporations would pool in all their resources to defeat a greater threat, and then return to fighting each other once the threat was removed.
"The world of Remnant was and still is, though to a lesser extent, filled with conflict such as the Great War. The main problems nowadays are the creatures of Grimm, soulless beings that are hellbent on driving us into extinction, and the White Fang, a terrorist group that fights to gain equal rights for Faunus, however they use very extreme methods in order to gain these rights. I personally have no problem with the Faunus, but I won't deny that they are being discriminated against."
"The Faunus?"
"A species similar to humans, but with animal traits."
"That brings me to another question, I may be delusional due to the amount of metal replacing my blood, but I could have sworn I saw a guy jump ten meters in the air and shoot the Irregular with a revolver. Then he got shot."
"He was a huntsmen, an elite trained to combat the Grimm and other threats to the peace of our world. He is fine now."
"Hold up, you're saying that he survived getting crushed by a bullet his size and went at the velocity of a jet fighter?" Catalyst voiced his confusion. Ozpin then went on to explain that the huntsmen had an unlocked Aura, the manifestation of his soul that all living beings had, excluding Grimm. He went on about semblances as well, only adding on to the amount of questions that Catalyst had. Mainly, 'How the hell is that even possible?'.
Ozpin finished up his explanation.
"Okay, I'm very confused but I'm sure I'll get it over time. On a new topic now though... I want to know if anyone else made it alive?"
"Only three pilots survived. I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's alright. Didn't know most of them. The rest however... I'll miss them." Catalyst sighed. "Let me guess, the survivors were Ravens? I'm surprised they're even still alive. Vernhunt got screwed over, NR was dead from the beginning and that other Raven with the red AC seemed lightly equipped. That Irregular... he's more than an ace. How did anyone live through that?"
Leave your opinions about this in a review please. I don't just want it. I need it. I want to improve, so there is less cringe for you.