A new fanfiction about changing the details of the story to make the characters better. Cheers!

As a leader many things are expected. Some known, some unknown. They are meant to rally the troops, get them going, ready for the fight. With the advent of the IS though one person could overwhelm a conventional army. A commander was no longer needed on the field. Generals the world over found themselves weak and unprepared for this new problem. To those who supported the IS and the dominance it gave women and a reason to retire the great men who bleed their way up. To the world it seemed they went quietly into the night. But they left the light one for who ever comes to resurrect their legacy.

"Our mandate was to empower men to be stronger. We're down to petty kidnapping now."

"Yeah, but this boy's sister is a symbol of their power if she loses it would be a blow to their psyche."

"How so?"

"Enough with you two I say we let him go our minutes are numbered. I say we give him a parting gift"

"You mean the pendent?"

"Yes, it the only thing we have left and we cannot allow it to be lost to time."

Many things were now going through young Ichika's mind. 'Why do they want to hurt Chifuyu? Who are they? What are they going to do to me?'

The door to the room he was locked in opened. Ichika, being tied to a chair looked at the entering man.

"Kid I am sorry to have put you through this." The man said in a kind but forlorn voice. "Here let me untie you." He loosened the ropes and Ichika wriggled free. "Our time is up you sister is most likely on her way here now to rescue you. Our organization has fallen from it core values, as bad as we are do not shun our name or equality will never come. But here take this as a token of my sorrow." The man has Ichika a blue shield pendant with an eagle on it. "This is call the Commanders tool anything machine or otherwise will responded to you our hope was to get an IS core and see it the tool works. That will never happen for us, but you with that pendent will hopefully complete our dreams."

The was an explosion outside the room filling the air with smoke, Ichika blacked out. Next thing Ichika saw was his sister over him while he was laying on a bed inside a hospital. She had been crying, but she was peacefully asleep. Sitting up he looked around and felt a weight around his neck, it was the pendent. Feeling calmer now he drifted back into a restful sleep.

It had been a few month since the incident and one of his friends, Rin, would not leave his side. The two and their other friend Dan sat in the living room of Ichika's house talking a playing games. Ran sat to the side and the two boy sat next to one another going head to head in the latest game.

"One thing I have been wondering Ichika?" Rin asked

"Yes does it have to do with you making food?" Ichika asked off handed.

Blushing she replied. "No, no, that thing around your neck, what is it? You've been wearing it seen the incident."

Wrapping up the game with a curbstomp victory for Ichika, he set his controller down and pulls the pendent off from around his neck. He looks at it with a strange nostalgia. "Funny you should say that, that is actually when I got it. I mean while I was kidnapped, I mean."

"You're kidding me, you we're kidnapped and you came out of it with a cool looking trophy, I envy you." Dan laughed.

"So does it open like a locket?" Rin asked.

"Never tried." Ichika beings to examine it and noticed a little button on the side. "This looks like its it."

Pressing the button the enter room began to glow with a blinding light. As the light returned to normal levels a holographic projection of an old man sit on a chair appeared across from them.

"I am known as the Commander. This is a holographic recording from the United Earth's General's Association. When the IS began to take over the military, the greatest military minds formed this group to prepare for our return. If this is being open that means only one thing. One of our factions have fallen. You who have opened it are now in full control of this factions assets and relations with there allies. You are now the Commander, Good Luck." The hologram faded out and the open pendent had a small holoscreen with details and information on it.

"Uh guys what just happened." Dan asked.

"I believe we just we given control of an underground group with lots of money and people backing it up." Ichika said with a befuddled sigh.

"This could prove interesting." Rin grinned.

"Rin it took you long enough." Dan looked at her as she ran up to them. "The bus will be here any minute."

"Oh lay off her, unlike you she helps at her family business." Ichika sighed.

"Sor- sorry my mother wanted me to clean the whole kitchen." Rin said gasping for breath."So Ichika where are we going?"

"Well according to the pendent there is a warehouse under our control."

"Ooo so we're like mafia types now with secret bases." Dan said eagerly.

After a long bus ride to the harbor they sunk into the warehousing complex. They followed Ichika up to a warehouse near the far edge of the complex that overlooked the sea. On the door a slot for the pendent could be seen. Placing the pendent on the slot, the door unlocked. Ichika pulled at the handle to try to open it, but to no luck.

"Here how about all three of us try?" Ichika suggested. They all grabbed the handle and pulled. A creaking metallic wine was heard as the door opened. The three when inside and closed the door behind them.

"Anyone got a light?" Dan asked as Ichika pulled out the pendent. Like before the room was filled with a bright light, but instead of a hologram the lights in the room were turned on.

"Cool!" the three gasped at what they saw the warehouse was full of weapons and vehicles, ranging from scooters and pistols to tanks and drones.

"Welcome!" A female voice said.

"Who is that?" Ichika asks.

"I am the local AI for this installation, you may call me Lucy." On a screen a female face manifested itself.

"What is this place?"

"Your new base, commander. As being the first to come to any of the offline locations you are in charge of the whole Japanese network."

"We already know that the old man told us that." Rin snapped.

"Oh uh... Well what do I say now... You know you just ruined a speech I have been working on for the past four months..." Lucy looked flustered.

"A computer with emotions?" Dan asked. "Since when did we have this kind of stuff?"

"Oh, I know I am a failed supercomputer that gained sentence with the personality of a teenaged girl!" The computer, er, Lucy began to weep.

"Ok question?" Ichika asked.

Lucy perked up immediately. "Questions! I love answering them, what is?"

"What was this weapon to end the reign of the IS I keep reading about in the pendant's codex?"

"Oh that the EX-1! It's not here though." Lucy sadly said. "The powerpack is in England, with the faction there, the chassis is in America, but the weapons were stored here."

"Can we get it all here?" Dan asked.

"No, well not easily at least." the computer replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Rin asked.

"Before the Japan faction fell after a failed mission they sent those parts out to the other surviving factions to research way of making it cheaper to build." Lucy answered.

"Ok that make sense if you have one good weapon many weaker ones could equal it." Ichika started. "It's the old struggle of quantity versus quality."

"So even if the EX-1 is weaker many of them could fight against an IS and while they only have 400ish cores to fight with we could potentially have over hundreds of thousands and anyone could use them." Dan said excitedly.

"Commander call coming in from primary headquarters in DC." Lucy announced. The screen where her face is changed into a video feed of two men in their early twenties.

"Calling the Japanese base commander we just saw that you came back online please respond." One of the men asked.

Walking up to the computer Ichika grabbed a headset that was lying around on top of it. "Lucy patch us through."

"Completed speak when ready."

"Uh hello this is the Japan Faction Commander speaking." Ichika said nervously.

"So you guys are alive! Please turn on you camera so we can speak face to face."

Ichika gave a nod to Lucy whose face is now inhabiting a monitor off to the side. "Right away sir." The camera turned on and the other's got their first look at the Japanese Commander and his friends.

"You're just kids and one of you is a little girl no less!" One of the men exclaimed.

"Hey you got a problem with me?" Rin yelled fiercely.

"No." the other man said. "Ok my name is Ryan Deimos I am the Commander of the US Faction and with me is my number two Walter Faraday."

"Well I am the new Japan Commander Ichika Orimura and these are my friends Huang Lingyin, and Dan Gotanda." Ichika replied.

"That name sounds familiar, oh well doesn't matter, ok so what can we do for you?" Ryan asked.

"We have the pendent and would like to rebuild the EX-1 and mess around with it." Dan said. "er gather intelligence on more efficient way of building them." Rin slapped Dan upside his head.

"Well even if we wanted to we can't you guys do not have enough reputation in the network for that kind of operation. Though as a gift we could send some thruster packs and a mission to get you started off."

"What kind of mission?"

"I hear Berlin is quite nice this time of year."

Any questions about what is going on please ask also any ideas please tell me as well.