Chapter 2: Upgrade
"You love shopping don't you, huh Jean?" I said as the both of us were strolling thru an AC part warehouse "Yesh" she said with a cheery tone, "I just love shopping, even if its just giant weapons of mass destruction", she was eyeing out all of the newer parts, never giving a second glance at older models "I bet you do" I replied, " so what kind of AC do you think I should use? I've been wanting to try out a middle weight AC, and with my credit so far I think I could buy a new AC" "And if you had protected the power plant you woulda have more to spend" "Hey that electric tower fell on its own, I had nothing to do with it" I said trying to look innocent "Oh please your lucky you didn't have a grenade launcher on your AC or else Shoji corporation woulda blamed it on you" she turned around. "I'm gonna look for more parts ok? Try to pick out something nice to give yourself a good impression to the audience, your Arena battle is only 3 weeks away" and with that she bounded down the warehouse like a kid in a candy store. "Jean Jean Jean" as I shook my head, I remember when I first met her, she was 20 then, when I took my Raven's test. My job was to protect civilians from a terrorist attack from a group called the "Indies" they migrated to earth after they disbanded on Mars but only reassembled as a shadow of its former glory. I had to fend off 12 MTs and with only the standard AC, I wasn't allowed to use any other ACs so it was hell for me. A Giant energy suck and only equipped with a handgun and small missiles I'm surprised I lasted so long. Jean was in her car driving to work (as a waitress) when she got involved. Her car was under attack and I only did what was natural, I protected it and destroyed the MT that was causing her trouble. After that she fell in love with everything Armored Core related which made her boyfriend really sad. 3 months after becoming a raven I wasn't getting much work, mainly because I didn't have an Advisor to set up missions for me. Then I got a request if she could become my partner, it seems I sparked her love of ACs. She took training school and passed 5 months before anyone else, she seemed to have a knack for it, and we've been close friends since.
As I was "recalling" I walked into a wall, thus getting me to stop daydreaming. Somehow I ended up in another AC Parts warehouse.a much dustier more disarrayed warehouse. It was full of obsolete parts, many of which I already own or have on my current AC. As I was trying to find my way out something caught my attention. It was a Kawasawa that musta been over 10 years. I recalled a match between a Raven with a Kawasawa. I had won but the win cost me greatly, after only 7 shots of a Kawasawa my AP was already in the red. It had cost the other Raven even more, the Kawasawa the pilot used was unstable and in turn blew up taking the AC along with it. Ever since then I've had this fear of the weapon, my AC originally had a Kawasawa when my father piloted it but I put it away in cold storage fearing the power of it, besides it could never compete with the newer Kawasawa from both the Global and Nerves nests. But before I could find a way out another weapon beckoned me.
"So how do you like it?" Jean was ecstatic, she was practically glowing when she assembled the new machine. The sound of gears and metal scraping almost over powered her voice. We had just gotten back from the warehouse and began assembling the mammoth puzzle in the AC garage. "Huh?" I shouted, "What kind of parts are they?" I was perplexed I haven't seen some of these parts before, and a few came out of really old boxes "Oh, I had a few contacts that had some extra parts" she said as she looked up into the AC's head "how much did you spend?" I asked, the noise had subsided "look isnt it beautiful" she replied and began chewing on a pen, I didn't think she wanted me to know how much all of it cost.and I didn't want to know after seeing an expensive head piece being lifted out of a gigantic box "But I haven't seen these before" I was motioning to the right arm weapon and back units "Let me see the part list Jean" I didn't think she heard me so I took hold of the clipboard she was holding, the pen connected to it was still in her mouth "ZWG-MG/ENE, energy machine gun???" I was dumbfounded she had gotten hold of Martian parts "Look there's more" she said with a big smile on her face, I read the Part List
Head: CHD-02-TIE Core: ZCL-XA/2
"21 optional slots?!?!?!" I was in awe, so this is how far Zio got "Don't get your hopes up, we need to configure this to use earth optional parts so its probably gonna hold 16 slots max" she was still looking at her work of art all the while chewing the pen
Arms: ZAN-616/AUR
Legs: MLM-MM/ORDER
Booster: DCL-32/7 FCS: DOX-ALM Generator: CGP-ROZ Radiator: RMR-ICICLE Inside: none Extension: KEBT-TB-UNS Back R: VWR-L15 Back L: ZWM-GT/00 Arm R: ZWG-MG/ENE Arm L: D-LSB/BITE
I was impressed, not only did Jean get new state of the art parts, she also found rare prototype parts as well, I thought the D-LSB/BITE was only a rumor, the creators of the MOONLIGHT made this prototype but it had a habit of tearing the AC's arm off when ever it was used, it was deemed unstable and only a few units were released. I'm glad I brought her shopping with me. "Hey Chris, (she's the only one who calls me by my real name) did you find anything that you could add?" "Only for my dad's AC" I responded, my old man never named that AC and neither did I "What? stop wasting money on that piece of junk, you have this beauty to reek havoc now" I have a feeling she cant wait to see me try this AC out "Hey it's the last thing I'll ever buy for it ok?" thinking about it I wanted this one to have a name, unlike my dad's, "what can we name it? "flower of doom" she giggled "nahhh how about, the thing that rose up from the swamp" saying it in a creepy voice "hmm we gotta give it a cool name" she finally took her eyes off it "ok, let me think." "come on I want you to test it right now" she was ready for some carnage already "hmmm let me see" my mind was a blank "how about something disturbing like death by monkeys?" "what? hell no, I might as well name it fruit squishier while your at it" "well then come up with a name, want to see destruction" "ok ok." I thought back into my mind and it hit me, "Adrenaline." "Adrenaline.? Why that?" she asked "because that's what keeps me going, its all for the rush" I said and sounded philosophical " ok if you say so, Adrenaline it is, lets take her for a sp-" at that moment her mouth was filled with blue ink, she began blushing "yes lets" as I tried to hold back a laugh
"Chris you were made for that AC" Jean was glad her AC design worked even thought she just bought parts that looked cool and flashy, if they worked then all the better. "You modified the left arm to handle the strain caused by the blade right?" I asked her ready to test it out "uh huh, it should handle the stress by it now" "glad to hear that" and with it I practically incinerated the training MTs, it didn't just slash thru them, it melted all surrounding areas as well causing enough heat damage to put even the ICICLE in output down mode, it came at a cost though it dealt 700 damage worth of AP and caused my heat bar to raise 150 degrees I have to be careful when using this weapon. I particularly liked the energy machine gun, with the energy optionals equipped it fires faster than any other solid shelled machine gun, it might even be faster then the FINGER arm weapon if I can get more energy optionals from Mars. "we have 1 last day before your arena debut, remember you need to go all out, no mercy now!!!" she just bought a new dress for this occasion and wanted to go out with style.
I colored this AC dark blue with red mixed in, the red ment the blood flowing thru my body during a battle and the Blue represented my calm laid back nature, Jean didn't like it but she gave in and let me use it. I was all set for my Arena debut, I had only participated in 28 missions total and failed only 3 of them, I had only challenged 7 ACs during my missions, including Xerox, this was gonna be a hard fought.
"You love shopping don't you, huh Jean?" I said as the both of us were strolling thru an AC part warehouse "Yesh" she said with a cheery tone, "I just love shopping, even if its just giant weapons of mass destruction", she was eyeing out all of the newer parts, never giving a second glance at older models "I bet you do" I replied, " so what kind of AC do you think I should use? I've been wanting to try out a middle weight AC, and with my credit so far I think I could buy a new AC" "And if you had protected the power plant you woulda have more to spend" "Hey that electric tower fell on its own, I had nothing to do with it" I said trying to look innocent "Oh please your lucky you didn't have a grenade launcher on your AC or else Shoji corporation woulda blamed it on you" she turned around. "I'm gonna look for more parts ok? Try to pick out something nice to give yourself a good impression to the audience, your Arena battle is only 3 weeks away" and with that she bounded down the warehouse like a kid in a candy store. "Jean Jean Jean" as I shook my head, I remember when I first met her, she was 20 then, when I took my Raven's test. My job was to protect civilians from a terrorist attack from a group called the "Indies" they migrated to earth after they disbanded on Mars but only reassembled as a shadow of its former glory. I had to fend off 12 MTs and with only the standard AC, I wasn't allowed to use any other ACs so it was hell for me. A Giant energy suck and only equipped with a handgun and small missiles I'm surprised I lasted so long. Jean was in her car driving to work (as a waitress) when she got involved. Her car was under attack and I only did what was natural, I protected it and destroyed the MT that was causing her trouble. After that she fell in love with everything Armored Core related which made her boyfriend really sad. 3 months after becoming a raven I wasn't getting much work, mainly because I didn't have an Advisor to set up missions for me. Then I got a request if she could become my partner, it seems I sparked her love of ACs. She took training school and passed 5 months before anyone else, she seemed to have a knack for it, and we've been close friends since.
As I was "recalling" I walked into a wall, thus getting me to stop daydreaming. Somehow I ended up in another AC Parts warehouse.a much dustier more disarrayed warehouse. It was full of obsolete parts, many of which I already own or have on my current AC. As I was trying to find my way out something caught my attention. It was a Kawasawa that musta been over 10 years. I recalled a match between a Raven with a Kawasawa. I had won but the win cost me greatly, after only 7 shots of a Kawasawa my AP was already in the red. It had cost the other Raven even more, the Kawasawa the pilot used was unstable and in turn blew up taking the AC along with it. Ever since then I've had this fear of the weapon, my AC originally had a Kawasawa when my father piloted it but I put it away in cold storage fearing the power of it, besides it could never compete with the newer Kawasawa from both the Global and Nerves nests. But before I could find a way out another weapon beckoned me.
"So how do you like it?" Jean was ecstatic, she was practically glowing when she assembled the new machine. The sound of gears and metal scraping almost over powered her voice. We had just gotten back from the warehouse and began assembling the mammoth puzzle in the AC garage. "Huh?" I shouted, "What kind of parts are they?" I was perplexed I haven't seen some of these parts before, and a few came out of really old boxes "Oh, I had a few contacts that had some extra parts" she said as she looked up into the AC's head "how much did you spend?" I asked, the noise had subsided "look isnt it beautiful" she replied and began chewing on a pen, I didn't think she wanted me to know how much all of it cost.and I didn't want to know after seeing an expensive head piece being lifted out of a gigantic box "But I haven't seen these before" I was motioning to the right arm weapon and back units "Let me see the part list Jean" I didn't think she heard me so I took hold of the clipboard she was holding, the pen connected to it was still in her mouth "ZWG-MG/ENE, energy machine gun???" I was dumbfounded she had gotten hold of Martian parts "Look there's more" she said with a big smile on her face, I read the Part List
Head: CHD-02-TIE Core: ZCL-XA/2
"21 optional slots?!?!?!" I was in awe, so this is how far Zio got "Don't get your hopes up, we need to configure this to use earth optional parts so its probably gonna hold 16 slots max" she was still looking at her work of art all the while chewing the pen
Arms: ZAN-616/AUR
Legs: MLM-MM/ORDER
Booster: DCL-32/7 FCS: DOX-ALM Generator: CGP-ROZ Radiator: RMR-ICICLE Inside: none Extension: KEBT-TB-UNS Back R: VWR-L15 Back L: ZWM-GT/00 Arm R: ZWG-MG/ENE Arm L: D-LSB/BITE
I was impressed, not only did Jean get new state of the art parts, she also found rare prototype parts as well, I thought the D-LSB/BITE was only a rumor, the creators of the MOONLIGHT made this prototype but it had a habit of tearing the AC's arm off when ever it was used, it was deemed unstable and only a few units were released. I'm glad I brought her shopping with me. "Hey Chris, (she's the only one who calls me by my real name) did you find anything that you could add?" "Only for my dad's AC" I responded, my old man never named that AC and neither did I "What? stop wasting money on that piece of junk, you have this beauty to reek havoc now" I have a feeling she cant wait to see me try this AC out "Hey it's the last thing I'll ever buy for it ok?" thinking about it I wanted this one to have a name, unlike my dad's, "what can we name it? "flower of doom" she giggled "nahhh how about, the thing that rose up from the swamp" saying it in a creepy voice "hmm we gotta give it a cool name" she finally took her eyes off it "ok, let me think." "come on I want you to test it right now" she was ready for some carnage already "hmmm let me see" my mind was a blank "how about something disturbing like death by monkeys?" "what? hell no, I might as well name it fruit squishier while your at it" "well then come up with a name, want to see destruction" "ok ok." I thought back into my mind and it hit me, "Adrenaline." "Adrenaline.? Why that?" she asked "because that's what keeps me going, its all for the rush" I said and sounded philosophical " ok if you say so, Adrenaline it is, lets take her for a sp-" at that moment her mouth was filled with blue ink, she began blushing "yes lets" as I tried to hold back a laugh
"Chris you were made for that AC" Jean was glad her AC design worked even thought she just bought parts that looked cool and flashy, if they worked then all the better. "You modified the left arm to handle the strain caused by the blade right?" I asked her ready to test it out "uh huh, it should handle the stress by it now" "glad to hear that" and with it I practically incinerated the training MTs, it didn't just slash thru them, it melted all surrounding areas as well causing enough heat damage to put even the ICICLE in output down mode, it came at a cost though it dealt 700 damage worth of AP and caused my heat bar to raise 150 degrees I have to be careful when using this weapon. I particularly liked the energy machine gun, with the energy optionals equipped it fires faster than any other solid shelled machine gun, it might even be faster then the FINGER arm weapon if I can get more energy optionals from Mars. "we have 1 last day before your arena debut, remember you need to go all out, no mercy now!!!" she just bought a new dress for this occasion and wanted to go out with style.
I colored this AC dark blue with red mixed in, the red ment the blood flowing thru my body during a battle and the Blue represented my calm laid back nature, Jean didn't like it but she gave in and let me use it. I was all set for my Arena debut, I had only participated in 28 missions total and failed only 3 of them, I had only challenged 7 ACs during my missions, including Xerox, this was gonna be a hard fought.