Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Armored Core games, but I can keep praying now can't I? I also don't own Sophie, Kal, Eddy or Dylan, they all belong to FIAOblivion. This chapter was done with his full support and blessings. Thanks for helping me with all those typos buddy

If you want to use Kal, Eddy, Sophie or Dylan, ask him, not me. (Well, you COULD ask me to ask him for you, but I would just get really mad at you and either be too "busy" to fufill your request for a while or just outright ignore it. )

However, Lysander, Kenja and Faye are MINE! ALL MINE!!! Laughs like a maniac

Anyways, let's get on with the show shall we?

Lysander stared at the phone for a moment, then punched in a series of numbers. He waited paitently as the phone rang... and rang... and rang... I know you're there... pick up the phone.

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Eddy was sound asleep when the phone started ringing. He jumped up, yelling "I didn't do it!!" Reflexivley before crashing to the floor, his legs tangled up in the blankets. He then groaned and rolled over "Oh... just the phone."

Grinning sheepishly and looking around to make sure that nobody saw him, he quickly untangled his legs from the blankets and walked over to the phone, slapping a button on it and blurting out. "Watd' you want?" Still half-asleep.

"Eddy? Is that you?"

"We don't want any!" Eddy slapped another button, cutting off the phone connection. Only then did he recognize the voice. The formerly-sleeping man redialed the number that had been calling him.

"Hello?"

"OK Sand man, what'd you need? It better be good, 'cause I was dreaming that I was stranded on an island full of hot women."

There was a pause, then a sigh from the other end of the phone. "Well, you know, there's nothing to do around here, and the girls are getting restless again, so I was thinking that maybe we could get together tonight. You know, go to a bar and shoot some pool or something."

"A date?! How lovely!" Eddy answered sarcastically, yet excited. He paused, then continued. "Meh, might as well. The only exciting thing here is when Kal and Sophie start bitching at each other."

"Well, I was thinking that Kal and Dylan could come too, and we could let the girls have some time to themselves."

"Right... I'll tell them you called, at 4 in the morning, to ask that. And set up cameras everywhere. This time we might get lucky when the girls are together." Eddy mumbled back, still half-asleep.

"Huh? It's 4 in the morning?!" There was a short pause. "Oh shit!! Ohmygodimsosorry!"

"Either my hearing's going out, or you just said a whole sentence in one word."

There was a laugh from the phone. "You never change, do you Eddy?"

"I wouldn't know. Have I changed?"

A louder laugh answered him. "Not a bit Eddy, not a bit. So, we may as well wrap this up so you can get back to your island. Are we on for tonight or what?"

"As far as I know. I'm going back to bed." Eddy pressed the 'talk' button again, and the phone was disconnected.

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Lysander set down the phone and stared at it for a few seconds, then sighed. "Nope, you haven't changed at all Eddy." Pausing for a few seconds, he continued after looking at the clock. "Wow, I didn't realize it was that time already, guess I'd better be going to bed too."

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The next morning, Kal walked up to the bathroom door, yawned, and yanked it open, stepping in and closing the door after him.

Eddy was down in the docking bay of the Vergos, working on his AC, Gothic Flame. He looked up with curiosity as he heard 3 loud slaps in rapid succession, then the yells of a man falling down the stairs. Disentangling himself from the computer board, he walked over to the stairwell, only to find Kal sprawled out on his back with three angry red marks on his face. "Damn man, what happened to you?"

Kal looked back at him with a goofy grin. "I walked in on Sophie... but boy was it worth it."

Eddy's face twisted into a thoughtful look, sending a shiver down Kal's spine. "Oh hey, Sand man called earlier." Kal abruptly relaxed, and Eddy continued without noticing. "He asked if the three of us wanted to meet up."

"Sandy? I haven't heard from that bastard in years. Is he on parole?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but he did call at four in the morning."

Kal thought for a moment, then frowned. "That's even worse."

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In the cafeteria, the other pilot that Lysander had mentioned, Dylan Lancing, was currently getting something to eat. He grabbed a tray, took it to the food dispenser and pressed down a white lever, staring in disgust at the paste that oozed from the nozzle. Sophie, who is standing in line behind him, follows suit. They both find a table and sit down from each other, then start to eat. Dylan took a bite of the paste, grimaced, then grinned and clapped his hands together in a sarcastic, yet childish manner.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know this flavor!! It's butt ointment!!"

Sophie, wearing a similar look of distaste, sighed. "Sure smells like it." She took a small bite of it, then spat it out violently. Pushing aside her tray and vigorously rubbing her tongue off, she spat; "Oh my god! It is butt ointment!"

Dylan gave her a strange look. "What?"

"Who the hell changed it?!"

"Eddy."

Sophie shot a death glare towards the docking bay. "Well, that figures."

Dylan, still wearing the same strange look, got up and walked over to the food dispenser, popped open the lid, and stared at the white can of paste inside. He turned it around a bit and started to read the label. "Says, 'Nachos, tacos and rice--'"

"Oi!" Sophie yelled in mid sentence, cutting him off. "That's bullshit!"

Dylan rolled his eyes and closed the machine. "No. It's butt ointment. Yesterday was bullshit."

Sophie groaned and covered her eyes with her hand. "That's it. I'm changing these things from now on. You chose dog piss, Kal chose bullshit, and Eddy chose butt ointment." The woman sighed and let her head droop so it was resting in her arms. How the hell did I end up here?

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An hour later, the three men were going about their buisness, which is to say absolutley nothing at all. Except for lounging around and talking about "guy stuff." Sophie, having absolutley no desire to even be in the next room, had "generously" volunteered to wait for Lysander.

An orange haired man wearing heavy combat armor walked up the Vergos. He looked down at a card in his hand, then looked at the ship, then at Sophie. He then looked back at the card, then at the ship, then back at Sophie, who watched him with a strange look. He looked at the card once again, then walked up to her slowly.

"Hi... I don't believe we've ever met. This IS Eddy's ship right?"

Sophie looked at him strangely."No. It's mine and some other guy's. But there is an Eddy on board." She paused, then shot him a suspicious look Is this another guy that Eddy owes money to? "Why do you ask?" Realization suddenly dawned on her. "Oh, wait... you're Lysander right?"

Lysander grinned. "Yep, that would be me."

Sophie walked up to him and started looking him up and down. "Ahh, I remember you. You got alot skinner since last time I saw you, and you've dyed your hair too. But why orange?." She paused, then went on. "I always considered you a dumb blonde, along with that black-haired idiot Eddy."

Lysander gave her the strangest look she'd ever gotten. "I'm sorry..." he spoke slowly and apoligetically. "I don't remember you... have we met?"

"Of course... back in school. Sophie Bridgett, remember?" Sophie returned the strange look in ernest, then gave him a stranger look when his eyes nearly popped out of his head and his jaw dropped open.

"S-Sophie?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Ho-lee shyeeeet... Damn, I didn't even recognize you!"

"How could you? Kal did when we met. After I finished medical school and he completed his training as an MT pilot. Come on, I don't look THAT different from when I was in high school with you guys."

"Yes you do. Back then you had braces, those huge nerdy glasses, and buck teeth. Not only that, but you always had those horrible looking pigtails."

Sophie glared at him from half-closed eyes. "Are you finished yet?"

"Oh yeah, and you were overweight too."

"Well..." Sophie began, somewhat offended. "I grew out my hair when I moved out of my house because my Dad, the only one I was allowed to live with, didn't want me going around with anything else. I guess he thought I was going to be a prostitute. I got my braces off a month after we graduated from high school. I finally got the laser surgery for my eyes after High School as well. My so called 'buck teeth' was only a gap between my front teeth. And when I went to college I did a lot of lifting with heavy parts, so that trimmed me down and pretty much made me as I am now, and I didn't eat as much. Well, now that I think about it, I have changed a lot. As Kal said, I went from 'being the worst looker to being hotter than a jalapeño."

Lysander looked dazed for a second, then quickly shook himself out of it. "You can say that again."

Sophie gave him one of her death glares, then started yelling at him "And you haven't changed one bit you asshole!" She stalked over to an intercom and brtually smashed in the button. "Hey." She snarled into the spearker. "Your friend is here? How about you go greet him?!" With the bearing of an offended cat, she stalked away, leaving a very stunned Lysander in her wake.

"Well... damn... I didn't mean to be rude." A hand on his shoulder startled him out of his daze, and he turned around to find Faye and Kenja behind him, both looking concerned.

Kenja spoke first. "Hey, are you alright? We heard some screaming so we decided to check it out."

"Yeah... I'm fine Kenja... I think an old acquaintance has a stick up her ass... that's all."

Faye sniffed loudly. "She probably remembered a perverse trick you pulled on her."

"I... I did not!" Lysander blushed furiously, and Faye traded a knowing look with Kenja.

"Alright sandy boy, what'd you do the poor girl?"

Lysander seemed to shrink under Faye's accusing glare. "I... I just teased her a few times... that's all, I swear!"

"That was it?" Unbeknownst to the three, Kal had since been listening in on them from the decks above, and he stood there, his best 'yeah right' look upon his face. "You tormented that poor girl up until our junior year! I still remember when you dumped the sour milk that the school had gotten rid of all over her, then there was that time you threw up on her on purpose, then the time you hid her pants after phys ed with the help of another girl." Kal shook his head. "Face it sandy, you were a mean little boy."

Lysander grinned weakly. "Kal... Hey... I didn't see you there..." He turned back to Kenja and Faye, only to meet twin glares promising him a fate far worse than anything the corporations held in store for him. Lysander could only stand there, a deer in the proverbial headlights. "Oh jeebus..."

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"Tsk tsk tsk..." Kal scolded Lysander as the orange-haired raven held a pack of ice to his face. The only reply from the other man was to groan weakly. Dylan and Eddy leaned against the wall, shit-eaten grins spread across their faces.

"Oh man. I forgot they could hit that hard."

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Kenja and Faye sat across from each other, sulking. They both liked Lysander, but niether of them could believe that their Lysander used to be so mean.

A few minutes later, Kal walked into the room, followed by Dylan, Eddy and Lysander. Lysander stopped, and the other 3 looked back at him.

"I've forgotten my manners." Despite the fact that his cheeks were angry red and swollen, Lysander grinned and continued. "Kal, Dylan, Eddy, meet Faye and Kenja. They're my... er... comrades." This comment earned him a murderous glare from Faye.

"Hi. I'm Kal Rozor." Kal grinned and offered Faye his hand, secretly looking the redhead up and down, or so he thought. Faye took his hand slowly, and enveloped it in a crushing grip, giving him a disdainful look when he yelped and quicky pulled his hand away.

Eddy, deciding that he'd rather not take his chances with Faye, slipped up beside Kenja. "Hey there. My name's Eddy, what's up?" Kenja squealed and jumped forward as he fondled her behind, then turned around, smiled at him, and walked back beside him. A few seconds later, it was Eddy's turn to squeal as Kenja gave him a vicious pinch on the butt.

Dylan, who had been watching the entire proceedings, looked nervously from Faye, to Kenja, then back to Faye. After a few seconds of panicked thinking, he quickly decided what he'd do. "Hi." he grinned. "My name's Dylan. Nice to meet you two." He quickly mumbled something about having to go to the bathroom and swiftly ducked out of the doorway, drawing bemused looks from Lysander and the two women, but glares from Kal and Eddy.

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"So," Eddy was the first to speak as the gang headed towards a bar. "Did you plant those cameras or what?"

His only response was a glare from Lysander. "I'm not a pervert like you. Besides, I have no idea where the hell those three are going to go, and quite frankly, I don't give a damn."

"Why wouldn't you give a damn?" Eddy replied through his laughter. "As far as we know, they could be bi."

Lysander stared at him blankly.

"So." Eddy continued, undeterred. "Where shall we go?"

"A strip club?" Dylan suggested casually.

"No." Kal and Lysander's simultaneous replies cut him off, leaving both him and Eddy with a stunned look.

"Let's just go to a bar." Kal suggested, his tone implying that it was more than a suggestion. "We should catch up."

"Why? This IS a bar, with women in it!" Eddy exclaimed, disappointed.

"Well," Lysander began, with a flat voice. "I'd be all for it, but you three would be so busy drooling over the women that we wouldn't get the chance to talk or anything."

"Three? C'mon, I'm not THAT obsessed." Kal insisted.

Lysander had a brief flashback of Kal snitching on all the wrongs he had done to Sophie. "Yeah, I'd say you're obsessed with something... or someone else."

"What?" Kal asked, confused. What the heck is he talking about?

Lysander sighed. "Nevermind, let's just go to the damn bar already."

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"Hey, remember that time you stole all her clothes after Gym? And you got on my case just for stealing her pants!" Lysander laughed and glared at Kal simultaneously, causing Kal to laugh as well. Eddy and Dylan both took a sip of their beers, chuckling all the while.

"Yeah, well you still dumped that sour milk on her."

"Oh come on, that wasn't my idea." Lysander's boots suddenly became very interesting.

"It basically was, Eddy was only joking."

"Whaaat?! YOU BASTARD!!!!" Lysander reached over and started to playfully strangle Eddy, who pulled his arms away and went back to drinking his beer. Lysander slammed his hand down on the table, causing the others to look up. "Let's talk about something other than how much fun we had torturing poor Sophie. Remember that time we flooded Mr. Corlborwitz's apartment?"

"As much as I regret doing that, yeah, I do remember. But we had to clean it up afterwards, which took weeks. Plus we had to pay for all the damages." Eddy spoke, sounding anything but cheerful.

"Hey, that bastard deserved it. He gave us homework assignments that he knew we'd never complete and failed us all for it anyways." Dylan put in his two cents, going back to his beer shortly afterwards.

Suddenly Kal burst out in a fit of hysterical laughter, drawing odd looks from the other three Ravens. He covered his face in his arms as he kept laughing, having trouble breathing because he was laughing so hard. Finally he's able to get himself under control. "I... rem-" Another burst of laughter interrupted him. "I remember when Dylan and Sandy put that stink bomb in Sophie's locker... but when she went there, it didn't go off. Sandy put it in the wrong locker and that one giant jock guy went there and PHOOM!"

Kal finally got a grip on himself as he straightened up, tears running down his eyes. "Oh god, that was hilarious! Then he goes off crying 'cause he smelt like sweaty socks! I don't know what you guys put in there, but man that reeked!"

Dylan and Lysander grinned at each other, and they both started to speak at the same time "Well... we'd tell you, but..." They looked at each other again, paused, and spoke in unison "It's better that you don't know."

"Tell me. I always wanted to know... I just never thought to ask Dylan." Kal replied, still chuckling.

"Yeah, c'mon, tell us man." Eddy pleaded after taking a swig from his beers

"Welll...." Dylan's resolve started to crumble.

"Wait." Kal pushed his beer aside, the taste of it suddenly becoming unpleasant. "Hold that thought." He suddenly stood up, walked over to the bar, and ordered a bottle of wine. The other three ravens watched Kal as he conversed with the female bartender, taking a lot longer than it would normally take to order a bottle of wine. He finally came back, looking sore. "Ok Dylan, now tell me, what was in that thing?"

Dylan looked at Kal strangely. "Alright... I'll tell you, but don't spread this around too much ok?" he leaned over and started whispering stuff into Kal's ear, Eddy listening in eagerly.

Kal's eyes were as wide as saucers by the time Dylan finished, and Eddy had a dreamy look on his face. Eddy was the first to speak. "Oh man, where did you guys get that stuff?"

"That's for us to know and you to find out... if you can." Lysander replied with a grin.

"Man," Kal spoke up, recovering from the shock of hearing about the ingredients of the incredibly potent stink bomb. "That is EVIL!" He paused, then sighed. "But you know... with it all, there IS one thing I'm not proud of... the time I made her cry."

"Yeah man." Eddy spoke in a disapproving voice. "That wasn't funny at all, that was just mean."

"She made me mad..." Kal spoke quietly, not really wanting to remember what he did on that day so many years ago, although he knew that he would have to tell Lysander and Dylan, since they weren't there when it happened.

"What'd you do Kal?" Dylan asked curiously.

"Do I have to tell you guys?" Kal responded dully, wishing he never brought it up in the first place.

"Yeah, you do. Me and Sand man here are curious." Dylan's response left Kal cringing inwardly.

Well, may as well get this over with. "Fine. Well, we got picked to be partners for this project in our science class, and she went off to do things, and so did I. Later, she started yelling at me because I did some things wrong, well, a lot of things wrong actually. She started yelling at me... and I went off. I said 'jesus christ you stupid hiefer! Shut the hell up and let me figure this shit out you fat, ugly cow!', and she ran off crying." He paused, then ran a hand through his hair and sighed, slumping back in his seat. "I got three days of detention, suspended for two days, AND I had to write an apology to her." He paused again, then continued. "I probably would have hit her if Eddy hadn't pinned me down. Guess he's seen me angry too many times and knew what to do."

"You got that right... I saw you knock out that guy who bullied you in freshman year... and he was four years older than you." Eddy replied, dead serious.

"You said that to her, and she still works with you?" Dylan asked rather incredulously, still stunned by this event that he never knew of.

"With me?"

"I mean partner on the Vergos, I mean, hell, almost nobody would forgive someone for saying something like that." Dylan replied to Kal's question.

"He's right you know, if I said something like that to Faye, she'd be out of my life for good, if I even still had a life by the time she was done with me." Lysander chipped in.

"I know." Kal responded gloomily. "And I dont think that apology letter I wrote helped things either." He shook himself off and brightened up. "Now, tell me Sandy, where'd you meet those two girls?"

"Well..." Lysander leaned back and took a long draught from the beer. "That's kind of a long story..."

Author Notes: Before you people kill me for leaving you on a cliffhanger, yes, I WILL Get back to the story of how Kenja and Faye ended up living with Lysander, but I wanted to introduce all the other major characters first.

And yes, you'll get more mech-bashing action. These first chapters are mainly for introduction

To the Readers:

To bloodykitsune: Incredible words of wisdom my friend. I, as a person, have tried to understand girls many times, coming away sorely disappointed. Thank you very much for your compliments on Chapter 1. I just hope this one is as good! Chapter 3 is already at least 80 done, and I hope to get through at least half of chapter 4 by tomorrow. Have no fear. I will do my absolute best to update faster than the other authors in this section.