AN: No I have not forgotten my other stories, I'm having problems with my laptop where I have all my notes and such as well as completed chapters for the Speed Freak Series, Xanders Final Fantasy, and Summoners Chronicles held hostage on my laptop and it's being repaired. A friend has been kind enough to let me use his computer to write on for now, but without the work I've done already, I'm not planning to have wasted that time. So I am working on something else that has struck my fancy for the time being, namely due to the lack of said laptop. I went through some of my games and started up on Armored Core 2 and Another Age, well, this is the result of that
I am trying to figure out a plausible reason for Xander to have access to a core and as such I dragged in a few elements from elsewhere, such as the pendant crystal form of Escaflowne in the movie version and having the Cores be a mix of magic and technology. Eventually I plan to incorporate parts of Stargate into this if I get far enough. Built by the ancients, the Ravens are the ones with Cores and they hunt each other for parts, but there are a few people who are recovering the secrets that first built the mechanical warriors. I've also changed the way Cores are equipped, they can carry both a blade and a shield.
Also, most of this chapter alternates between two points, one a duel that will be explained better later on, and the other is the beginning.
xXx
"All they think they know of me is a lie, a carefully constructed falsehood that I use to protect them from my life. I alone know the truth of the matter, none other know it all, a few have suspicions, but none know as of yet. To them, I am the 'normal' one, the one without a path, without a gift or a curse, but it is my choice what I wish to do. Unfortunately for them, they are wrong, I do have a path to walk, one that carries a destiny. I am far from what they define as 'normal' although I am still human. It is rather pathetic that we deal with monsters daily and yet they cannot see that I am not the same as those who hide from the truth. I am no slayer or witch; I am not a watcher nor a werewolf, or even a cursed vampire. I am first and foremost what I truly am beneath the mask, I am a Raven."
-From the Journals of Alexander Lavelle Harris, Callsign Paladin
xXx
The rain was bad as the two heavily armored forms faced off, one a dark color with a white patch showing the insignia of crossed silver katana's on its shoulders. The other metal behemoth was blood red and sported the sigil of an angel carrying guns.
The dark colored one was smaller, but designed for speed and agility, it's name was Desperado, and it's pilot was a dark haired man who hovered impatiently at the controls.
His foe was known only as Ares, a formidable Raven, one of the few who could claim the title through he millennia, but so was Paladin, the pilot of Desperado.
The two were off like lightning, jets cackling with blue light as they charged through the streets, the impacts of footfalls shattering windows.
xXx
A dark haired man stood against the rising sun, his thoughts in the clouds, a new dawn and with it a new day. He stared at the shimmering crystal orb he carried, what he knew to be a Core Crystal, the thing that gave a raven his powers to fight.
His mission was simple, keep this core a secret, hide it away for the world was not ready to face it as of yet. The others were coming and he would have to fight them now. The bindings cast by the ancient technomancers coming to an end and the birth of the foretold age of strife beginning.
His mother had told him of this, of his destiny to guard the secret of the Armored Cores, and had taught him how to use them in battle, her Angel against his Desperado. His father, while not the best of fathers, was a capable technomancers, working through the secrets. His family was not something that he could say was something he enjoyed, but he knew why they were together now.
xXx
Energy blades ignited with the sizzle of vaporizing rain water and the thunder crack of their impact was heard for miles around.
People panicked and screamed, the machine menaces having appeared out of nowhere.
"You're good Ares," Xander roared, "But not good enough, the dragon is not being loosed upon this world!"
He brought the mechs knee up, slamming it into the torso of his foe with a boost assisted attack as his moonlight pressed back his foes saber.
For a moment Paladin thought that he had heard Ares scream of pain as he leaped upwards, jets carrying him skywards as arcane symbols flashed over his eyes, the fusion of magic and machinery aiding him as he switched weapons to his rifle, the dreaded Karasawa.
xXx
He thought of the looks and threats he would receive from his friends if he told them that he to had a destiny. For a moment he considered it, but his thoughts sought out the last night, they had ordered him away for his own 'protection.'
What humored him is that apart from not needing help, he only gave it willingly and without hesitation before. A brief vision of Buffy demanding that he relinquish his charge to her and give up his heritage to be 'normal' and being the end of the line.
A smirk crossed his lips as he remembered another lesson, only those with the blood in them could handle an Armored Core. Ancient blood magic hid the secrets to the use of them by others for millennia, since even before the first Slayer was called. Then the Cores were used to fight demons unlike those alive today.
The bursts of laser fire scattered against a quickly raised shield as the Desperado touched down. The exhaust of both Cores was flooding the ground level of the streets with a haze.
Ares switched to missiles, firing off a salvo the instant he got a lock, two multi-missiles bursting into eight in mid-flight.
"Damn it, so you want to play hardball," Xander muttered as he armed his countermeasures, a matching number of smaller, quicker warheads firing at the bigger missiles, "I'll play hardball right back!"
The air blossomed into fireballs that rained to earth between them, missiles meeting in the middle with the warheads. Ruined buildings caught ablaze with the cinders among the nearly destroyed downtown LA.
He groaned as the light burned his eyes, but he thumbed his energy blade back on as the form of Ares burst through the flames, saber ready to strike like an ancient samurai.
xXx
He smiled slightly as thought turned to the mayors planned ascension, he knew what it was, but didn't plan on sharing what he knew with the others. It was a Raven's destiny to fight demons, and what Wilkins was planning on becoming was the very thing that had been the trials of the ancient Ravens, the ones with the title of Ninebreaker, ones who fought against the greatest of demons and won.
He was already a knight by the old ways, but was hesitant to claim it outright, but it became his Callsign in a way, Angelus had declared rightly, he was a White Knight, but what the vampire didn't know was that it didn't stop there, he was Paladin, a Core Ace before he turned ten.
What had intrigued his family most was the uniform he had worn that Halloween had released the possession, he discovered that the man who wore it had been a Raven, one of the lost ones, and with those memories of the clan, he gained access to a second Core alongside his Desperado and the secret core named the Dragon.
In just over twenty-four hours he would, with witnesses, prove he deserved the title he desired. He would become the first Ninebreaker in two hundred and fifty generations.
xXx
Paladin twirled in midair, the laser cannon lowering before him and locking onto Ares, who backed away, shock evident in his motions.
"Playtimes officially over," he said as his thumb hit the firing stud, "Sayonara sucker!"
The blue burst was partially intercepted by his foes energy shield, but it overloaded it and burnt through the arm, dropping the damaged metal to the ground to dissolve into part shards that lay there. The beam also tore into the left leg of the machine, melting armor and exposing the inner workings, as well as dropping it to the ground.
"For the way of the Raven," he whispered by way of the ancient creed, bringing the beam saber up into position.
xXx
His mind alit upon the thoughts of his friends faces when they saw how he planned on taking down his foe. A hundred ton mechanical armor empowered by ancients spells and technology before the so called shadow men even conceived of their slayers.
Xander sighed slightly; truth became shrouded in the mists of time to make a jumble of the reality of what was. Armored Cores became giants and knights that fought it out in the distant past or even gods in their course of tales. They became myth themselves and only recently had the battles between them become something else, the ancient dueling grounds returning to light as the earth was a hard place to hide the destruction of miles around.
He stared at the core crystal of the sacred core. The one he was charged to protect at all cost unless it became the final option to save the world.
No Raven would use it unless that was the case and yet all desired it, but Xander did not wish for it, it was his duty, his mission. He would not betray his ancestors and what they had fought for.
For a brief moment he was tempted, to see this mythic Armored Core for himself. The last Core made by the ancients before the fall.
It had never been used and the wisest at the time said that it's power should only be called forth at a time of great need.
Several times people believed that the time was upon them, and many times they had failed. The powers contained by the Dragon core to strong for them to withstand.
His mind touched on the ones who tried, several had become famous for it, Merlin had died when he attempted to access it, the arcane power frying the great wizard like an egg on a stove. His namesake, Alexander the Great, had also tried and failed in the attempt. It was not worth death or insanity to just see the greatest wonder of the world.
His mind knew that eventually, the Armored Core would be revealed, he hoped not to know what could call forth enough need to call it out. He had seen enough threats to the world that terrified him, but none had required the awesome powers of the Dragon.
Then a peace settled within him, he would be ready in the morn to fight as he was destined to, either he or the mayor would die, his instincts said that it was still a tossup, and his mother would be ready to join the fight if needed. Members of three other clans would be there as well, invited under the guise of relatives to see what would happen.
A wide smile crossed Paladin's lips, he would be ready, nothing could defeat him, at least nothing had succeeded thus far, and nothing ever would. He was Paladin, he was the hope of his family, he would not let down his ancestors who died in this fight.
xXx
"Game over," he whispered as he drove the blade down, tearing through the cockpit of Ares.
An explosion surrounded him, spreading outwards all around. The remaining structures were ripped apart as if they were made of building blocks during a child's tantrum.
He had survived again to fight another day, and as he focused, the core crystal reacting and resonating for a mere moment.
Then it all began to fade around him, consuming the machine and hiding it, leaving Xander standing there holding the Core Crystal in a steady hand amidst the ruins.
His eyes meticulously scanned for fallen part shards and most importantly his foes Core Crystal. It wouldn't do to have them on the loose in this world, he would take no chances that a demon or warlock would happen to hold the keys to the ancient blood magic that bound the Raven's to their cores. Each one gaining one to start with and more as they won victories.
Xander smiled to himself, the Paladin was still undefeated, the true fighter of this time.
xXx
Raven Note
Pilot: Alexander Lavelle Harris
Callsign: Paladin
Primary Core: Desperado