Chapter 1: Coral Access
Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core or Megaman battle network. Wish I did, but I don't have the cash for it.
"Thoughts"
"Speech"
Locations and/or time
Rubicon 3, 2572, Vascular plant control centre.
"Warning! Structural integrity compromised. Coral containment breach imminent" The emergency alert system flared to life, flooding the control centre with red light, warnings blaring and staff sprinting through the halls.
Further down the atmosphere-breaching megastructure, inside its sprawling corridors and hallways, a bulky worn black, red and grey mech, an AC, is slammed through the metal walls of the plant, another AC arriving soon after, this one much sleeker and more angular, painted various shades of blue rounding the corner, sparks leaping from its feet as it skids to a halt.
"Dolmayan, what's happening?! The plant is falling apart!" Comes the frantic voice of its pilot, Flatwell, as he turns his ACs bazooka, on a smaller AC further down the corridor, the blast ripping through the machine's armour, smoke from the explosion briefly filling the corridor.
"The machine, Allmind! It seeks to release the coral! It must be stopped!" Dolmayan says, his aged voice full of desperation, as he forces his AC to stand back up, deep red flames flaring to life from its boosters as if in tune with its pilot.
"We need to get out this alive first, Dolamayan, there's more on the way," Said Flatwell, levelling his weapons at the spike-covered wheels rampaging towards them.
Top of the Vascular plant
Outside of Rubicons atmosphere, a brown and black AC bursts through the plant's upper roof, a stocky two-legged tank drone impaled on its pile bunker spike, as flames streak across its beaten and damaged armor. This was Raven, the Liberator of Rubicon.
"Raven, your AC is in no shape to continue, I'm bringing over Wyverntail" Came a voice only Raven knew, remotely flying their transport ship towards the platform.
"Where?" Says the pilot hoarsely as their AC, Emancipator, retracted the pile bunkers spike from the downed C-weapon as the transport ship approached the platform.
"I-I can't get a read on it, The coral resonance is...it's out of control! We need to-RAVEN MOVE!" Emancipators boosters flare to life with bright orange flames as the mech leaps away from a beam that destroys what was left of the drone.
Sliding to a halt and quickly engaging Emancipators boosters, Raven rapidly scans the area, trying to find the attacker-
"Hello...Freelancer" Is the last thing they hear before everything is bathed in red.
Earth, 2042, Belias City, outer suburbs
Belias city. It is a rather unassuming city that used to be a major producer of cars and other vehicles some 60 years ago until a storm left most of the factories wrecked. Nowadays it's mostly known for its Belias city engineering college. The suburbs, however, had an unusual view for anyone still awake that night, a meteor bathed in deep red flames careening through the sky above the city.
A white-haired girl, wearing black pants and a white shirt, with a red jacket on top, Kako Niwa was one such person, having just received an old telescope from her mother for her 13th birthday. Transfixed by the sight of the meteor's deep red and yellow colouration, her blue eyes followed the meteor's trajectory closely as it crashed into the mountains far away from the city.
"What the fuck? I know meteors can burn red while entering the atmosphere, but that one didn't look like it was moving particularly fast, it looked more like a ship than anything else." She thought, perplexed by the unexpected sight, her shoulder-length white hair drooping over her shoulder as she tilted her head in confusion.
"I know that look Kako, you are NOT wandering around the city alone this late." Came the stern voice of her mother, Anne-Marie Niwa Jensen, wearing her usual jeans and grey shirt, as she stepped outside. "Not to mention your father still hasn't come back yet"
"Eh?! But I wasn't-" Kako blurted out, failing to hide her shock.
"Kako, your eyes always light up like that whenever you think about doing something stupid. Especially if it involves anything from space." Anne-Marie stated with a frown as she put her black hair in a ponytail and prepared to do the dishes.
"Awwwww..." Kako sulked as she looked towards the likely crash site, although she was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.
"I'm home! Phew!" Came the winded voice of Toujou Niwa as he hung up his jacket and took a seat on a chair in the living room with a small bag in his hand.
"I'm guessing traffic was rough?" Said Anne-Marie as she closed up the dishwasher.
"Not the traffic for once, but the nutjob architects the suits hired should be fired." Said Toujou as he rubbed his face and looked outside. "Kako? I got something for you on the way back. I think you'll like it" said Toujou as he reached into the bag.
"What is it, Dad?" Said Kako as she walked into the living room to see what her dad brought.
"Here, I somehow managed to win a giveaway a colleague roped me into yesterday," said Toujou as he handed his daughter a phone-like device.
"A PET?!" Exclaimed Kako excitedly as she carefully held the device in her hands, the screen slowly coming to life, showing a red Net Navi with white accents and what looked to be hair made of red fire. "Hello? My name's Kako, what's yours?" said Kako, eagerly awaiting the Navis response.
"Hmm?" said the Navi, almost like she had just woken up. "My name? ...My name is Ayre"
Mountain tunnel, Outer Belias
"Life support system online, entering stasis mode"