Armored Core: Lightless Memories

Chapter 1: "The start of my fury was the end of you..."

Crickets chirped outside the house in a musical rhythm. All seemed peaceful, until a ring from a computer was heard. This ring was exceptionally loud and rapid, which roused a figure out of a nearby bed.

"Ugh...who in the hell is calling at 4 in the morning?" the figure asked himself, as he sat down in front of the computer, shaking the mouse a bit to get it out of it's standby mode. The screen flickered to life, with the message "INCOMING CALL" flashing across the screen in big, fluorescent letters.

"What the...?" the pilot, seen having deep set blue eyes and black hair that fell to the base of his neck. "Dammit, Kaiser, don't you get any sleep?" he muttered to himself as he clicked the "ACCEPT" button.

"Tomiya? You awake?" Kaiser's deep set voice asked, and a small video picture of him appeared in the corner of the screen.

"Yeah...what do you want?" Tomiya asked, glaring at the video feed of Kaiser in the corner, not particularly happy with being roused from his sleep at 4 in the morning.

"I have two things to tell you." Kaiser said, giving him a slightly forlorn look. "I think I've come across a rumor about your fiancée's death..."

"Huh!? Tell me!" Tomiya almost shouted, keeping his voice in check to avoid waking his current day girlfriend, Mokohara , as he switched over to just a simple phone function.

...

Tomiya switched back to speakerphone function. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, all riled up now.
"Well...It IS only a rumor...but you should check it out." Kaiser said, simply. Kaiser was not one to beat around the bush, a straightforward man. "Oh, the second thing, Mirage has an assignment for you that they need done right away."

"Son of a bitch! Why me!?" Tomiya shouted in protest.

Kaiser couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, you ARE the A-1 Raven in the arena standings..." Kaiser murmured. "If you beat me, they'll sure as hell call on you."

"...Alright, tell 'em I'll be there shortly." Tomiya said, closing down the program. He spun on his chair and wrote a note, then picked it up and placed it on his pillow.

The note read "Sorry sweetie, I had to leave on an assignment early in the morning, I'll be back for breakfast"

Tomiya changed into a set of more presentable clothing and headed for where his AC was.

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Tomiya was set into his AC, glancing around at the HUD display. The blue armor of the Cold Dragon shining slightly in the still bright moonlight.

"We're sorry to have to drag you out here this early." A Mirage representative said through the com unit of Cold Dragon.

"Don't worry about it." Tomiya replied, trying to keep his annoyance in check.

"About your assignment...We want you to attack one of Crest's branch factories. It was being built within our territory, which we had previously agreed that it would not have been." The representative droned. "From scout reports, The branch factory is protected by a mixed force of combat MTs and Mobile MTs."

"Understood." Tomiya muttered, giving the video feed of the representative a bored glance. He didn't like it when clients droned on about the mission.

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"We're at the drop site." Kotohara, a transport chopper pilot alerted Tomiya. "Haven't seen you around here lately, Dragon Eye, somethin' up?" Kotohara asked, Tomiya (Codenamed Dragon Eye) and Kotohara had been friends since grade school, and shared a brotherly comradeship.

"I've been dwelling around in the Arena, haven't you heard?" Tomiya asked, the Arena matches were always on TV.

"...Oh! I remember! That battle between you and Ace? That was an awesome battle!" Kotohara said giddily.

"Uh...did you forget that we're at the drop site?" Tomiya reminded. "Tsk Tsk..."

"Oh, yeah...sorry." Kotohara apologized, and dropped Tomiya's AC to the drop site.

Unfortunately, one of the aforementioned MTs was struck by a falling AC, incapacitated by the force of the hit.

"...Served, buddy. Served" Tomiya muttered, dislodging his foot from the body of the machine.

Tomiya hit his boosters and moved forward, deeper into the complex.

AC Layout

Cold Dragon

Tech Base: Armored Core 3

Description: A "Heavyweight" AC. Built to be able to withstand more than most Middleweight AC designs, but able to keep up with them in speed. Equips heavy arm parts and sacrifices back attachments. Targeting window is very wide, meaning the machinegun in the right hand is very accurate.

Color

General
Base: R 0 G 0 B 140
Aid: R 0 G 0 B 0
Optional: R 0 G 0 B 200

Detail: R 200 G200 B 0
Joint: R 0 G 0 B 0

Pilot: Tomiya Ryuko

AP: 8528

Head: MHD -RE/005

Core: MCM -MX/002

Arms: CAH -22- NIX

Legs: CLM -01- EDF

Booster: MBT - NI/MARE

FCS: AOX-ANA

Generator: MGP - VE905

Radiator: RMR - ICICLE

Inside: N/A

Ext.: N/A

Back Unit R/L: N/A / N/A

Arm Unit R/L: MWG - MG/1000 / MLB-MOONLIGHT

Optional: OP-INTENSIFY

Author's Note: I have yet to play Silent line, and Nexus, so the only rules of AC construction I know are from AC3, hence the OP-INTENSIFY.

Tomiya stopped behind a stack of crates, peeking around occasionally to see what was out there. He began to sidestep, and then boosted towards the first enemy he saw, surprising it, and jamming the barrel of his MG/1000 into the cockpit window of the MT, letting off a volley of rounds, surely killing the pilot inside. Shells the size of trashcans fell onto the ground as Tomiya seeked out a new target.

Tomiya powered up his MOONLIGHT and swung it at the door to the partially built factory, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter. Tomiya slammed the fist of his AC through the now sliced door, the pieces flying forward a bit and making loud clanging noises. Tomiya looked around the rather dusty room he was in.

"This is weird...there's nothing in here..." Tomiya mumbled to himself.

A loud crash was suddenly heard behind Tomiya. Before Tomiya could react, a grenade slammed into the back of Cold Dragon, sending it flying a bit and landing face first on the floor.

"Fucker!" Tomiya shouted, getting his bearings, and got up from the ground to face his opponent.

AC Layout

Unknown

PILOT NAME: Unknown

Tech Base: Armored Core 3

Description: A heavyweight AC that is rather fast despite it's weight. Carries a Grenade Launcher to wear his enemies down then finishes them with his MOONLIGHT.

Color

General
All: R 0 G 0 B 0

Head: MHD-MM/003

Core: CCM-00-STO

Arms: CAH-22-NIX

Legs: MLH-MX/VOLAR

Booster: MBT-NI/MARE

FCS: AOX-ANA

Generator: MGP-VE905

Radiator: RMR-ICICLE

Inside: N/A

Ext: N/A

Back Unit R/L: KWM-AD-60/KWM-AD-60

Arm Unit R/L: CWGG-GR-12/MLB-MOONLIGHT

Optional: OP-INTENSIFY

"Huh...? Who the hell are you!?" Tomiya shouted at the pilot, even though the pilot had his com turned off.

The unknown pilot boosted towards Tomiya, activating his own MOONLIGHT and slashing at Cold Dragon's chest. Tomiya boosted backwards away from the unknown pilot, firing rounds from his Machinegun, striking a line from the enemy's chest down it's leg. The pilot paid no attention to the damage done to his AC as he aimed his Grenade Rifle at Cold Dragon's head, and fired. Tomiya slid across the factory floor, dodging the shot easily. Activating his MOONLIGHT and swinging the blue blade in the air, using OP-INTENSIFY's blade wave. The blue disk-like wave flew towards the unknown AC at an almost impossible speed, slicing off the arm that had the Grenade Rifle.

"Ugh...You got me." The pilot said to Tomiya, boosting backwards, out of the factory, and took to the skies.

"Oh no you don't! Get back here you son of a bitch!" Tomiya shouted, chasing after the unknown pilot and firing rounds from his machinegun at the fleeing pilot, many of them not finding their mark.

"We'll meet again..." The pilot said, before he was out of range for radio functionality, and seemed to disappear.

Tomiya sat back in the cockpit chair of Cold Dragon, holding a hand to his face for a moment before slamming his fist on the "armrest" of the chair and letting out a string of words that would make even the heartiest sailor cringe...

Tomiya could only wonder who that pilot was, and what his purpose at the factory was. No matter, his mission was complete, and he left the factory, which was bombed by Mirage Stealth Bombers, since the area was now cleared out, and safe.

The clock in the cockpit now read 6:00 AM.

"Aw shit! I've only got an hour to get back to the house so I won't miss breakfast!" Tomiya grimaced, heading back to receive his pay for the mission. "If I miss breakfast, Mokohara's going to be pissed off at me..."

As Tomiya headed back, the sun began to creep over the mountains.

Chapter 1 End...