Warning
As described in the title this story is more a testbed than anything. A mixture between Armored Core and the Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise; mostly the Build Fighters series (simply because the mobile suits parts may come from various timelines only to be hobbled together across as hobbled together in an Armored Core-like fashion.
That said mobile suits will run on IBO's Ahab Reactors and armored with Nanolaminate Armor, so beam weapons are useless.
Really I want to see where this goes, and if it catches your interest, feel free to voice your thoughts and send feedback to help improve this.
Note
Mobile Suit parts are going to described and set up in a sort of Armored Core fashion. By that I mean, It'll be using the model number associated with the corisponding Mobile Suit.
Example
Head / RX-78-2
R. Arm/ RX-78-2
L. Arm/ RX-78-2
Core / RX-78-2
R. Leg/ RX-78-2
L. Leg/ RX-78-2
Those that recognize the repeating model number will know this set builds the the titilar Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam.
Smoke and flame. That was all the world seemed to have become now. Nothing but smoke and flames. Trident City, a place of metal and brick, was under fire breaking down under the weight brought about by the war being swept up in. Pulling himself from the rubble, a youth barely older than 7 could only look on as they took in the city they could barely recognize. From beyond where they stood they could make out the shadows that rose up to reveal giants forged from metal and gifted with staring at the world with glowing eyes.
Mobile Weapons, to be exact they were Mobile Suits.
Something created at the peak of a technological Golden Age. Their weapons sounded like thunder echoing across the city, it was amazing his hearing hadn't cut out in order to cope with the noise that rattled his bones and threatened to shatter glass windows like a stone had been thrown at them.
The youth couldn't do anything, save watch things unfold. Watch as they pressed on, the mechanical titans fight against their own kind and, not to mention tanks and even people. Watch as they leveled the city that he called home, turning it into a scene that was comparable to Hell.
There's blood on his hands, though if he was going to be honest he wasn't too sure where his began and where another's ended. All he knows is that someone had traded their life for his, and despite their best efforts on getting him to safety, one of his hands was forced to clutch his limp arm as red started to stain his jacket sleeve.
He was lucky; mostly due to the fact that the sleeve wasn't hanging on thanks to a few lucky pieces of meat and sinew…
Maybe that was the reason he wasn't screaming his head off right now, or maybe his brain just shorted out, shutting down everything it considered unnecessary to take in everything that was going on at the moment with that one eye not blinded by blood.
Regardless, the youth - a child really could do nothing as he just stared at his home city and watched it fall apart. He could have been watching for only a few minutes or maybe he could have been watching for about an hour. Wasn't that good at telling time unfortunately.
Amidst this city falling apart though, amidst the destruction and death going on, his eyes caught sight of a single mobile suit bolting across the landscape. It wasn't anything remarkable, it wasn't unique in any way or form, and yet the way it moved, the way it charged across the cityscape was just something he couldn't turn away from for some strange reason.
The mobile suit moved left then made a sharp right, as it avoided weapon fire before returning on its own. As it continued closing the gap, the blade mounted on its right arm flipped forward before it drove the steel blade straight through the armor of its target before retching it free. The rifle in its other arm pointed out at its next target and started firing. The other Mobile Suit returned fire as they retaliated and tried moving back. The one he couldn't take his eyes off ripped the rifle from the destroyed suit and rushed forward, what sounded like thunder trailing behind it as the suit all but emptied the weapon clip before kneeing the other in the cockpit hard enough to dent it inward. It followed the strike with three shells to the cockpit before turning as it came under fire. It took several hits, but it refused to fall to the ground. It jammed one of the rifles into a suit and pulled the trigger as a shell punched out the back of the unit and slammed into the street below. It left the weapon, used that flippable blade to cut off the limbs of another before stepping on the falling torso and crushing it underfoot. That thunderous roar followed again as it darted forward, driving its blade so far into the next unit that hand it was mounted on was touching its cockpit
It moved; it kept moving, it kept getting hit, still it kept fighting. There was no graceful ballet in how it fought, it wasn't a choreographed dance in any way. It didn't fight like a rabid animal either. It was just speed and brute force.
Thunder roared over the child, sounding so loud his ears bled as he stumbled and turned away from the ever fighting mobile suit before looking back, his attention quickly turning to see a second unit landing in the street behind him and firing overhead. The other mobile suit slammed into it, tackling it to the ground before bringing its blade back and drove it down as it punched a hole through the street. It pulled its blade back, only for half of the weapon to break off and seemed to turn its attention to the youth just looking up at it. The head turned slightly, looking left - then right before extending an arm and lowering it to the child.
"Get on."
"Alex! Alex! Wake up, Haro." Laying down in bed and forced to stare skyward at the iron ceiling, a stallion by the name of Alex just took a breath as he glanced to the side, attention slowly looking to the bleached metal ball of sorts constantly bouncing at the edge of his bed. A Haro, a relic from the technological Golden Age that seemed so far away now. "Morning Alex, morning Alex." The teen just sat up, groaning as he ran a hand through his onyx black hair before rubbing his pink colored eyes
"Morning Haro."
"Good morning! Good morning! Haro." It stated, continuing to bounce before rolling off. "Time to greet the morning!"
"Do we have to?" The teen asked, watching it retreat towards the open door just as someone else was about to step in.
"Huh~ I thought I heard Haro." Standing at the door was Hikaru, a red head with velvet eyes about two years older than him. "Looks like he ended up waking your sorry ass up today." His violet eyes seemed empty, not dead or lost… just empty. He didn't smile at his counterpart, nor did he frown… instead he just stared at him with this blank, near-unreadable expression before leaning against the door. "Have a good night's sleep?"
"I guess you could say that." Alex muttered as he left his bed and just stared at the person before him and yawned. Hikaru didn't really question it, instead simply stared at him, stared at the sweat that had gathered in his brother's sleep. He had that nightmare again...no nightmare wasn't the right word. He remembered, remembered something he couldn't just forget it seemed. Everytime he seemed to try, it decided to resurface, reminding him of what was lost so many years ago. "So what's up; what's on the schedule today?"
"That's a stupid question." Was Hikaru's response as he turned away for a moment. "Last I checked it was your big day."
"It is?" Alex muttered before he started looking around his attention turning to his calendar before his eyes widened and he sat up. "Ah shit it is!" The young man shouted as he got to his feet and started looking for some spare clothes.
"How you almost forgot is beyond me." Hikaru muttered as he started walking away. "Seriously, how could you forget, today's what you've been waiting for after all." "You have a few hours though, so be sure to give your partner a check up."
323 P.D (Post Disaster) Calendar
Jupiter, Eosa
As the largest planet in the solar system, with a mass two and a half times that of all the Sol System's planets combined; the gas giant known as Jupiter has always captured the imaginations of many - especially with its massive satellites and giant red eye. It was a shame though that even after terraforming took place, the reality of the planet turned out to be far less fascinating than humanity could have hoped.
Scattered across the globe rests cities founded by the Jovian Republic, but after the Great Destruction and the Republic's partial dissolution a number of territories broke away and declared themselves as independent countries.
Eosa was one of these independent territories.
Alex took a breath as he looked at his laptop; a few short wires and plugs connecting the piece of hardware to everything that was situated around him. On his computer rested what would be a bunch of nonsense to most people - let alone the illiterate, but all of this made sense to him at least.
Course it did after all, this was his partner after all.
MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
/SIEGEBREAKER-01/
PARTS
HEAD: MMS-01
CORE: OZ-00MS
ARMS: RX-178
LEGS: AMS-123X
GENERATOR: AHAB REACTOR
MAIN BOOSTER: RX-80PR
BACK BOOSTER: -
WAIST BOOSTER: -
STABILIZERS: FA-78-3
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
PILOT ACCOMMODATIONS: PILOT ONLY
MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE: NEURAL CONNECTION
ARMOR: NANOLAMINATE ARMOR
PROPULSION
AHAB THRUSTERS
THERMAL PHASE TRANSITION THRUSTERS
EQUIPMENT
BACKPACK ARM
Alex took a minute to look over the information presented before him as he scrolled through a few things, before typing something into his laptop. "Alright partner… talk to me." He muttered as he continued messing with a few things. Adjusting the Mobile Suits OS and tuning a few more things. "Alright how's that feel?" He asked, taking a moment to grab the mobile suit's controls and made a few mostly unacknowledged movements with his mobile suit's head, arms and feet.
"How's it feeling?" Turning his head, Alex took notice of Hikaru standing on the hanger pathway that led to his Mobile Suit's cockpit. "Any issues?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that there's any issues…" Alex muttered, his attention quickly returning to his laptop as he made a face. "But the legs are still a little heavy."
"I'm not surprised." Hikaru, the one usually responsible in servicing his Mobile Suit, just stepped up to the cockpit, and leaned against the opening as glanced at his counterparts computer taking a look at the schematics being brought up for them. "Those legs are still new, you're not used to them yet. Even with your tuning, it's still gonna take you some time to adjust to them."
"I know…" Alex muttered as he got back to work.
The legs; Alex replaced his mobile suit's legs about a week ago. Had too when a pilot on the other side of a job all but totaled them. Sure he pulled through in the end, but the price of getting the parts needed to replace those legs had cost him a small fortune. Thankfully there was an alternative method which dropped the price a bit. After he shot his opponent down, and finished that job, he took their legs. Brought em back to Wyrm's Nest and had the guys refit them onto his Mobile Suit.
Could thank the "Universal Mobile Suit Frame" for that small miracle.
Sure he still had to pay for the damages he caused to the legs, but it was a lot less than he'd have to of paid for getting new legs all together or replacing what he was already working with
Not to mention the price was still nothing compared to his mobile suits general maintenance costs.
"You know…" Hikaru spoke up. "If you're still having trouble adjusting to the Mobile Suit, you can push things back a bit. You can head out when you've gotten used to the changes."
"No it's fine…" Alex muttered as he continued messing with his OS system and the controls. "The change in weight isn't that much of a problem… I can pilot like this."
"If you say so." Hikaru didn't push as he watched his counterpart get back to work. "Remember, if you lose, there's always the next arena fight…"
"I know." Alex muttered. "But if I can win this one…" Alex muttered as he stopped working for a moment. "If I can win…Zelkova will let me into Wyrm's Nest."
Wyrm's Nest.
That was the name of the mercenary unit that Hikaru was part of. The same one that saved Alex all those years ago. Seemed to be a habit of their leader, Zelkova; picking up stray kids and bringing them in. Everyone they brought in was given housing for a while and inevitably a choice; they could leave and go their own way - see where the road takes them, or they could stay. To do the latter though there were conditions; learn to survive, and get 50 wins in the Arena.
Hikaru himself had gotten his last win years ago; as for Alex he was one match away from joining those that brought him up for 10 long years.
"You've gotten better." Hikaru admitted out of nowhere. "You've become a far better pilot than you were 5 years ago." It was the truth. Alex had gotten better in those 5 years. He used to overheat his boosters nonstop and his piloting skills were terrible. Couldn't aim a rifle to save his life either. Only thing he could do was tune his Mobile Suit - and that was only because Hikaru and the others had him learn to do that first. Regardless he was an abysmal pilot back then, but he never skipped training seasons, and gradually he improved to get where he was now.
One fight away from becoming a full-fledged Mobile Suit pilot for Wyrm's Nest.
"Thanks." Alex muttered as he released a light smile. "I'm glad I'm getting better, but I'm still a long way from getting to your level." Another little truth they both knew. Hikaru was good - no he wasn't good, was great. Hikaru was a natural pilot and mechanic, the kind you come across every couple generations. There probably wasn't a Mobile Suit he couldn't pilot and bring out it's fuel potential… and his maintenance work, it could make your heart stop.
"You shouldn't compare your skills to mine." Hikaru stated with that bland tone of his. "We may both be pilots, but we're different from each other. I don't fight like you do, I don't think you do, and because of that I don't learn or "Level up" like you do." Hikaru stated as he took one last look at his counterpart's work before stepping away from the cockpit. "Don't compare your skills to mind, and don't try to go at my pace. Find your own and start from there."
"Right." Alex muttered as he looked at his computer one last time before closing the files and shutting it down. Soon as he was done he reached behind his neck, and pulled the Neural Connection cables from the interface Jack at the base of his neck.
"Are you done?"
"For now." Alex stated. "I'm gonna take a minute and get something in my stomach. After that I'll do a bit more work." Alex seemed to pause. "When's my match by the way?
"Two hours." Hikaru stated as he started walking off. "I'd recommend getting some food in your stomach before your match. You know how disorientated you get when you pilot without eating."
"Well, you're not wrong."
The Hole
The bar the man walked into wasn't exactly quiet, but things weren't necessarily noisy either. Sure there was some talking but that was really all that was going on. Most people visited The Hole more for the atmosphere instead of the grub. That wasn't to say the food was terrible or anything, but most just enjoyed sitting in and catching up.
"I'm back~" The man stated as he drew a few heads, recognizing everyone that was just relaxing as members of Wyrm's Nest.
Then again why wouldn't he recognize them; they were part of his unit after all.
"Welcome back boss." Raphael gave a lazy wave as Zelkova made his way to the bar and took a seat next to one of his companions. "How was the job?"
"Hey could have gone better, and it could have gone worse." Zelkova stated as ordered a drink and threw it back. "Oh man, that's the stuff." He looked up at the bartender and smiled. "You know just what I want."
"Course I do." Mila released this smirk. "You order the same thing every time you come in."
"Do I?" Zelkova scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, what can I say, it's a good drink."
"Anyway boss, what are you doing back so soon?" Raphael asked. "I thought you were gonna be back by tomorrow."
"Yeah well, I got lucky." Zelkova stated. "Wrapped the job up early so I could get back."
"Why?"
"You know why." Zelkova stated as he reached for a cigarette. "Today might be Alex's last fight, I can't risk missing seeing how things go."
"Course that's your reason." From another seat Daniel just made a noise as he continued using a knife to peel an apple. "You try not to miss any of your kids' first and last fight in the arena."
"I like to see where they start and see where they end up." Zelkova stated as he took a smoke. "Speaking of which, where is the kid?"
"You just missed him." Mila stated. "Headed back to finish working on his Mobile Suit." She made a noise. "He wants things to be perfect before he goes out there."
"There's no such thing as perfect." Zelkova gave a bemused smile. "Even if it was a thing, perfection is overrated." That was what he believed anyway. "So, who's he up against?" Mila didn't say anything for a moment, just pulling out a data slate and handed it to Zelkova.
BLOCK |RANK | PILOT NAME | MS NAME
B-15 | ROADS || GOLIATH
PARTS
HEAD: RMS-099BD
CORE: V08Re-0526
ARMS: STH-05
LEGS: FA-010A
MAIN BOOSTER: RGM-96X
BACK BOOSTER: -
WAIST BOOSTER: -
STABILIZERS: -
The Public Information Network wasn't allowed to tell him anything else. Sure, he knew the Mobile Suit Nanolaminate Armor and ran on an Ahab Reactor, but that was it. How well it had been tuned, what modifications and upgrades it had gone through were alien to him, same for its load obviously.
Still.
"Roads huh…" Zelkova muttered as he stared at the data slate for a moment longer before returning to his drink. "Haven't seen him since we were in between contracts years ago."
"What are your thoughts?" Daniel asked as he took a bite out of his apple. "Think Alex can beat him?"
"We'll just have to see, won't we?" Zelkova stated as he took another drink.
It might seem strange to some; but he always got the shakes before launch. Of course it seemed more than a little strange; after doing this so many times already, one would think he'd gotten over these shakes by now.
[Mobile Suit, Main System activated]
"Start retinal projection." Wyrm's Nest had this psychiatrist he used to see - used to have them monitor his brain-waves before a fight or before he was deployed somewhere for a contract. Every time they'd ask him those silly routine questions of theirs and eventually they'd tell him something along the lines of him not being afraid — they'd say those shakes were just the tremblings of an eager race horse at the starting gate. Honestly he wasn't too sure about that; after all he'd never seen a race horse in his life and he was pretty sure he hadn't been one in a previous life.
[All weapon Systems online]
Sure, he found some truth in those worlds, there was some eagerness, but more than anything he was scared out of his mind.
[Generator, radiator, FCS, All green]
Right now was no exception.
[Siegebreaker Engaging Combat Mode]
Knowing that, Alex just took a moment to breathe to calm his nerves before heading out into the Arena, a sealed dome of metal decorated with scars from countless old battles. The controls still felt a little heavy but he'd gotten somewhat used it now…. He could work with this.
Waiting for him on the opposite side of the Arena rested Goliath as Alex took a moment to look at it for a moment, checking what weapons he could make out of the suit.
Front side of the right shoulder had a Combat knife. Resting on its right side of the backpack had a buster Sword resting on a backpack arm while the left side had a missile launcher. Left arm had a shield with a gatling gun mounted under it while the right one had a mortar.
His quick check done Alex went over his own equipment on screen.
SIEGEBREAKER LOADOUT
R. ARM: 120MM LONG-RANGE RIFLE
L. ARM: 105MM ASSAULT RIFLE
R. SKIRT: ASSAULT KNIFE
L. SKIRT: COMBAT KNIFE
REAR SKIRT: -
R. SHOULDER: 220MM 5-BARREL MISSILE POD
L. SHOULDER: -
R. BACKPACK ARM: -
L. BACKPACK ARM: LARGE SWORD
Nothing he wasn't unfamiliar with in a fight.
[Let's get started!]
"Alright partner." Alex whispered as he took a breath. "Hope you're ready…"
[On your marks!]
"Alex Leongard; Siegebreaker."
[Battle; start!]
"Let's do this." Alex opened up with a volley of fire from his assault rifle before suddenly moving to the side as the Goliath raised its gatling and opened fire, a rain of bullets chasing after the mobile suit. Using his thrusters Alex managed to dodge, sliding across the arena floor as bit his lips. He hadn't adjusted to the slight change in weight yet, he was dragging his feet against the floor. He took to the air before dropping as the rain of bullets passed underneath him and backed away, firing his long-range rifle as he put some distance between him and the other machine.
The Goliath responded by bringing out the backpack arm as they fired the missile launcher before bringing it back. Alex just continued sliding along the ground as he dodged, letting them slam into the floor and detonate as he raised the rifle in his off hand before Goliath raised its shield to protect itself, letting the gatling arm take the shot as it started trudging forward before it's boosters started up and it shot across the field.
"Fast…" Alex weaved to avoid getting tackled, with the other mobile suit grinding to a stop as it raised its right arm as the mortar fired and slammed into Alex's Mobile Suit and caused it to stumble as it started sliding back. Alex noticed the same arm reaching up to grab the buster sword as it was moved forward. He moved before that massive blade came down but lost his long-range rifle as it was cut in two. He responded by firing with his assault rifle and reset his balance before using his thrusters to help him jump over another swing.
The Goliath responded by aiming its gatling up and fired, only for the Siegebreaker to dart to the side and drop out of the sky. Landing behind the mobile suit it shot forward, rifle firing in one hand as the other reached for the assault knife and detached it. The Goliath swung his gatling arm around, pointed and fired as the other mobile suit darted to the side with a few bruises on its chassis.
Siegebreaker got some much needed distance before its feet started grinding against the floor and made a small ruckus before stopping. The pilot fired with the assault rifle and Goliath responded with a mortar Siegebreaker dodged, thrusters launching it to the side before it charged forward and swung its knife.
"Too shallow…" Alex's strike may have grinded itself against the armor but that was it. The Goliath charged forward, slamming itself into the other mobile suit as it started to fall back. The buster sword was raised again as it was brought forward. Alex responded by unloading its missile launcher at near point blank-range. The missiles hit home and the explosion helped propel the Siegebreaker backwards for a bit more breathing room. "Not yet." A caution message popped up as Alex launched his suit back to avoid the gatling fire that punched through the makeship smoke screen and the Goliath stepped forward despite the new dents and tears in its armor.
"Not bad…" From behind a bulletproof viewing screen Zelkova just released a nod as he stated. "You really have improved since your first bout."
"You shouldn't be surprised." Zelkova glanced to the side to see Mila leaning back in her seat. "We did train him after all."
"You're right." Zelkova made a noise. "But remember we held back when we were training him, so it's nice to see how well he's progressed without us giving him a handicap."
The Siegebreaker slammed into the ground as it skidded back, aiming its rifle forward as it pulled the trigger before moving, to dodge a volley of gatling fire. "Not yet…" Alex returned fire again as he continued racing around the field as a hail of bullets chased after him. "I'm slowly getting better with the new legs, but…this isn't getting me anywhere…" He muttered before getting as far back as he could and put his rifle on his rear skirt. "I'm gonna have to get close if I want to do any real damage." He muttered as he grabbed the knives and held them ready. "I'm gonna hit really bad… but to be fair I was always better at close-range anyway." He muttered as he hit his thrusters and charged forward.
A volley of missiles were launched from the Goliath as the Siegebreaker continued to race forward before suddenly launching itself like a bullet, dodging the volley as it bolted past it. "You dodged with an Overboost huh…" The Goliath raised its gatling as it opened fire. Siegebreaker responded by throwing its knife forward, letting the blade dig into the gatling mounted arm as it forced the suit to re-aim its weapon.
[Head Damaged]
[Core Damaged]
[Right Arm Damaged]
"I… got you!" Using its assault knife the Siegebreaker swung at the Mobile Suit only for it to dodge to the side. "I missed?" Raising its sword it brought it down on the Mobile Suit's left side. Alex grit his teeth, pain wrecking the left side of his body as he lost his mobile suit's arm before a tear formed on part of his cockpit.
[Siegebreaker function ceased]
A message called out as Alex took a breath as his mobile suit slumped forward.
[Further combat is impossible.]
[Victor, Goliath]
[Pilot Name, Roads!]
"I had a feeling he'd lose…" Hikaru just turned away as the match concluded; a sigh leaving him as he scratched his head. "That strike though, he might have made it if he was used to the new changes he'd put on the mobile suit." He muttered. "I told him to push things back until he was ready…" He muttered before pulling out his phone. "Maybe next time I'll take my warning." He checked something on his phone. "Till then I have some work to do…"