Armored Core: Overboost Destiny
Chapter 5: Dragon Hunting
A howl, a high pitched, screeching howl of fury. Leading right into darkness, directly into chaos. This was Van's destination. Uncertainty was at its peak, anger and frustration will not make him weak. Like Van stated before, he seems to fight better when he has a lot of problems. Currently, there are too many problems to count. If only there was more time, he thought. Van's teeth hurt from biting against one another, his face was wet with tears of fright, and his muscles ached from growing tense. Valkyrie watched as a combination of tears and sweat crawled down the side of his face. Valkyrie couldn't help but do the same…
Cluse continued his reign of terror, destroying the buildings and firing on helpless people trying to escape. Muscle tracers had surrounded him, but with a few missiles from Kilos, they were turned to scrap. Cluse, sitting in his cockpit as comfortable as ever, leaning back with his feet kicked up on the controls looks over at his radar to find a single moving object flying towards him at incredible speeds. He lowered his feet, watching the red dot collide into the center of the radar. Cluse was thrown into the controls as the cockpit shook tremendously.
The Einherjar Overboosted into Kilos with a furious red illuminated aura. The ground around the Einherjar shook and crumbled under its power. Einherjar's turn boosters shot out, turning them around. Van's armored core pushed Kilos through the street, leaving trails of busted rock under Ein's feet. Soon after, Van pushed his controls forward to push Kilos into a solid wall, even after impact. The strength of the Ac toppled Kilos, whose pilot just now got back into his chair. As Van pushed Cluse further and further into the wall, the ceiling above them started to slowly crumble.
Van noticed the pursuit extensions shift and slide. Reacting, Van instantly makes Einherjar rip the extensions off of Kilos' shoulders. Letting go of his grasp on Cluse, Van allowed Kilos to gain a moment to react as well. Kilos boosted into the air, releasing its blade and descending back upon Einherjar. Einherjar turn boosted and drew its blade to Kilos' to parry. Van continued to yell and roar furiously inside Einherjar's cockpit. He grew tense and livid, invigorating Einherjar's power.
Cluse pulled away and slashed back down again trying to catch Van off guard. Van smashed his energy blade against his opponent's blade repeatedly until Kilos struggled to keep its arm forward. In a quick leaping strike, the Einherjar swiped the left arm off of Kilos. Cluse was left unarmed and out of ammo. He was helpless.
"You're done Cluse! You hear me!"
Cluse chuckled. "Yet I haven't even begun. I'll let you in on a secret like any devious villain would. Zion wasn't just making my Alliance upgraded parts. They had created a transformation mechanism. This Ac is not technically a core. It is a flawless series of perfected ideas, weapons and revolutionized technology. It is the perfect war machine. Let me demonstrate by destroying more than just this sector, but this wretched waste of space you call a city." Cluse explained, laughing maniacally.
Van gasped with the dropping of his jaw. He felt an incredible force in front of him, a force that could not be controlled. His body suddenly changed from a sweating, heavy breathing and shakiness state to a calm, collected and concentrated one. Van grew calm with the uneasiness of a newfound weakness in his own self. Valkyrie watched him, mumbling obscenities as she watched Cluse's Ac turn into a massive beast. Van was focused, ready and willing. He turned his head, looking at Valkyrie through the corner of his eye. He looked determined, and it was obvious he had something planned.
"I hate to put you at risk Val, but I can't let you out either." Van explained. Valkyrie nodded, knowing she is much safer in the cockpit. "This is my kind of fight, the odds are most definitely against me. It took both of our Ac's to defeat the prototype. Now I have to stop a giant dragon from destroying my home town."
Valkyrie sighed, lifting her hand towards his and grasping the back of it with a smile. "I trust you. I know we'll make it." Van's eyes shifted strangely, looking forward. Her touch was strange and yet, very comforting.
Van examined the mass of machinery before the Einherjar. Kilos had transformed into a dragon shaped mecha. Its head was sleek and sharp and sloped down into a point. Two glowing green eye sensors watched the Einherjar. Its back was a series of chained armor, falling like an arc and dividing into three sections. The middle, becoming the waist. The side parts sticking out the back of the dragon and spreading like wings, the chain armor dividing to make the wings resemble a series of magnificent feathers. The waist was covered in armor. The tail of the dragon was a giant fan of armor that fell from the back of its waist. It's legs were the floating legs of the Kilos set up vertically. It looked beautiful, yet its purpose is the exact opposite.
"Fulfill your destiny Raven…" Cluse said, his voice distorted as if he was injured.
"What destiny do you claim I have?" Van said with an interested tone.
"The destiny of every Raven, to be overpowered, to be victimized. You may be the most efficient out there, but you will fall just as the rest did. Just as I did. Your life ends here by the claws of the Mars dragon!" Cluse said, his voice still distorted.
"I'm not a Raven anymore Cluse, I retired." Van stated.
Valkyrie jumped out of her seat. "You'll regret what you've done in spite of yourself Cluse! You think you have an idea on what your destiny is, Van will show you your fate!"
Cluse chuckled. "I would worry about the fate looking into your faces right now!"
The dragon leapt forward, lunging its spear shaped head toward Einherjar's core. The dragon's wings closed backwards, propelling it even more than its legs had. The Einherjar turn boosted and dashed backwards, sending the dragon's spearhead into a wall. Einherjar continued to boost backwards, shooting round after round from its rifle into the white armor of Mars, the dragon. Mars slowly lifted its head out of the wall, causing a circle of debris around its head to fall out of the wall and onto the ground. It turned quickly, taking quick steps to wind its way down the corridor towards Van. The tail flapped and bent around a corner the Einherjar boosted around. The cockpit shook drastically. Van realized he was in a dead end when he backed up his Ac into a wall. He pulled the Einherjar out of it, shooting more rounds off and kneeling down. The dragon lifted its feet off the ground, pushing itself through the air towards Van.
Einherjar's grenade launcher fell against its shoulder, and with a loud thump the grenade round was shot through the street towards Mars. The grenade hit the knee of Mars' leg, causing the dragon to shake slightly yet remain aloft. Another shot rang out, colliding into the left wing of the dragon. The dragon barrel rolled into the street, close to where Einherjar was open to attack in its kneeling position. The dragon lifted itself up with its tail. It arched its neck back and a laser shot out from its eye, blowing the Einherjar's grenade launcher off its shoulder. Van roared, igniting his aura boosters and overboosting right into the dragon. The Einherjar tackled Mars' head and pushed it forward, pulling its body with it. The dragon tried to struggle away, but the power of the aura was too intense to overcome.
The Einherjar tackled the dragon onto its back, leapt backwards into the air off Mars' chest and fired a few rounds into its stomach. Van shook his controls a bit, staying aloft in the air and continuously unleashing a cloud of bullets toward the mecha. The dragon's armor started to twist and blacken under the heat of the attack. The air above Mars' structure was blurred and wavy from the heat rising from the armor. Van landed the Einherjar down slowly, floating above the ground with its boosters, shutting them off and letting the Ac land on its feet. Van watched Mars rise from the ground, leaving some sort of concrete snow angel shaped like a dragon with one wing behind.
"You're pretty good for a retired Raven, but you don't understand the potential of the aura option. Just watch!" Cluse yelled ferociously, his voice cracking in the transmission. Van grew weary, watching the dragon become illuminated by a white aura of energy bursting out of its vents. The dragon boosted into the air and unleashed a barrage of aura-infused laser missiles toward Einherjar.
"Damn!" Van said as he clutched his controls and turn boosted his Ac. The Einherjar leapt into the air and turned about, dodging a few laser missiles. Another barrage of laser missiles fired, and Van was defenseless, his turn boosters were still charging up their lost energy. One struck his arm with minor damage, another disabled his turn boosters and the others collided with Einherjar's core. Van and Valkyrie held on tight as the cockpit shook and a damage report appeared in the corner of the hub screen. Minor damage to the arm, but quite a few armor points gone from the damage to the core's outside.
Mars stayed afloat, opening its mouth to release a breath of laser shots and plasma shots. The shots spread around Einherjar's feet quickly until Van boosted into the air. The Einherjar activated its sword as it closed in on Mars. Mars noticed Einherjar's incoming and used the wing he still had left to guard itself from the oncoming attack. The Einherjar pulled its arm back as if beginning to strike, but lifted its foot instead. It landed on the wing of the dragon and boosted higher, rolling behind Mars. Van turned the Einherjar around with the only working turn booster it had and swung its blade around, chopping its blade off of its back with a wide slash. In combination, Van stabbed Einherjar's energy blade through the head of the dragon, forcing it into the ground in a bright fury of sparks and electricity. The beast's armor stretched, twisted and broke under the furious red energy slicing through its spine. A blast of smoke and dirt whirled out from their position. The area was covered in a gray cloud, lit by small bolts of electricity inside. The slight blur of the Einherjar's red aura faded away.
The smoke cleared away and the dirt still crawled along the floor. The Einherjar looked down at its victim, a giant and helpless machine with a dead pilot. Rain poured down onto the ruins of the street around their feet. Einherjar's frame was a little fragmented, and was missing some parts. Van sighed, leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes. Valkyrie had latched onto him tightly. He patted her shoulder and held his hand against her back, looking at his screen. A small window opened up labeled 'crisis report, few survivors'. He turned the Ac around, and headed back to the BOC building.
Van would later find out Lynn was nowhere to be found. Nobody even knew of her existence. She was erased, absolutely gone and washed away in a single moment. Van blamed himself. He made protected her last time and sacrificed his Ac to do so. He would not hesitate to do it again. He had so many regrets, like how he felt he should have evaded his enemy and went off to protect Lynn instead of fight. He thought of many things he should have done. One thing remained certain…she was gone. He could have seen her when she came to the hospital, but he was asleep. He could have seen her one last time. He could have saved her. He sat down in the Einherjar's cockpit and let out a long sigh. He looked to his left, looking into Valkyrie's eyes. They talked for hours, just like Van and Lynn did.
Van decided to leave the city and search for every last member of the Alliance. He was going to really end the war between the planets. He was going to eliminate the fear in everyone's heart. He felt it was his duty, and his obligation to do so. So, he left Eyelet City and headed towards Zearm Desert around the time winter came. A fierce snowstorm had hit the desert, blowing away the yellow, grainy sand into a white fluff of snow.
The constant memories of his past were in his head. The thought of Lynn's death horrified him so much. He had too much time to think. He started to send messages to Valkyrie. She had always admired his reputation in the field. So her interest pushed her into conversation.
"I've seen you defeat three Acs alone, I've seen you destroy a war machine single handedly, and I've watched you grow stronger every day. How did you become so strong?" Valkyrie asked.
Van watched his transmission box, sitting inside the Einherjar. Ein stood beside a tall ruined tower, covered in frost. Van continued to move his Ac so its joints wouldn't freeze. "Experience I guess."
"So how many missions have you had?" She asked.
"I couldn't tell you, but it's more than what you've heard I am sure." Van replied.
"What was one you have always remembered, the one you almost didn't make it out of. The one you had met your match in?" Valkyrie asked, really curious about his history as a pilot.
Van would smile…but all he did was exhale instead. "There is one I had to fight an old friend of mine…he was as tough as they come in the arena, and in any mission. One day I got an e-mail from Emeraude…"