NA: Sort of got this idea from the crossover Infinite Ark, which is a Brink/Infinite Stratos crossover, I liked the idea where Chifuyu fails to rescue Ichika when he was kidnapped and grows up elsewhere. Well here is my version to that but this time it is Armored Core.

For the sake of balancing, I am downsizing the armored core to five metres like in Verdict Day, but they will still have the same versatility that we all love and adore.

If you guys are wondering, Ichika will be piloting the 03-AALIYAH Supplice from Armored Core 4's Intro, the one armed with a 051ANNR Rifle, 04-MARVE machine gun, and the massive gun OGOTO on the back as well as missile launchers.

A neat thing this will also take place during Verdict Day, so it will be interesting as mercenaries are prominent during that day and age. While the bulky Armored Cores of V and VD are there, so will be the NEXT designs.

Chapter 1: Armored Core

Kidnapped, that's the situation little 8 year old Ichika Orimura was in, kidnapped by shady people who did not want his sister to win the Mondo Grosso for the second time in a row. Inside his mind he was weak, for allowing himself to get into this situation. He wished he was stronger, to him he was nothing but a burden to his dear older sister Chifuyu. Men in masks and pistols were inside the warehouse where he was held, all of them staying silent, waiting for the message they were waiting to receive, that Chifuyu Orimura had forfeited her final match.

And to the little boy's dismay they received confirmation that Chifuyu had forfeited, but something else as well. His sister was coming for him guns blazing. Thanks to the idiocy of the kidnappers, they held Ichika inside a warehouse filled with experimental devices owned by an IS researcher as one of them tried to light a cigarette. An explosion rocked the warehouse, and before the boy knew it all he saw was white, a blinding white light.

Outside Chifuyu was shaking in fear and horror at what she had just witnessed, she did not know what was in that warehouse.

"No…" the dark haired woman whispered as her eyes went wide in horror, "No, no, no, NO! ICHIKAAAAA!" she flew straight into the burning warehouse where her brother was supposed to be held, but she found nothing, no body, no evidence, nothing. Just a pile of burning wrecks. "ICHIKA!" she called out once more, hoping to get a response, "ICHIKA!" tears flowed freely from her face as she frantically searched for her little brother, the only family she had left. "PLEASE, ANSWER ME ICHIKA! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"ICHIKAAAAAAA!"

~oOo~

Where was he? This was not the warehouse, nor was this Japan. So where was he? "Hey kind, you alright?" he hear a voice, the voice of a man. He opened his eyes to see a man wearing some kind of military outfit, but showed no signs of which country he was from. "Hey guys!" the man turned to his compatriots to motion them to come over, "I found a kid, and he's hurt real bad!"

"Where am I?" he opened his eyes and asked the man in Japanese.

"What was that kid? I can't understand you."

"Where am I?"

"Dangit." The man cursed as he slowly lifted the boy up, "I think he's speaking in Japanese. Someone get a medic over here!"

All Ichika saw next before he passed out once more were large towering machines that looked nothing like an IS.

~oOo~

He woke up once more with bandages on his chest and over his left eye, he noticed that he was inside some kind of aircraft as he felt the entire room tilt. He grunted and saw a woman wearing a similar outfit, "Oh you're awake, thank goodness."

"Where am I?" he asked her as he finally noticed this woman was speaking to him in Japanese as well.

"You're in a Stork right now, we're bringing you back to our base of operations where you can get properly treated, and get that eye of yours replaced, you lost it when we found you."

"Where's my sister?"

"I'm sorry." The woman looked remorseful when she shook her head, "We only found you."

"Oh." He did not know whether to cry or get angry, he was too tired to do so.

"I'm Milla, what's yours?"

"Ichika… Ichika Orimura."

~oOo~

Seven years later

Now at the age of fifteen, he had decided to tag along with the Ravens, the people that rescued him many years ago. He overlooked the burning city where he had just finished his contract. The life of a mercenary had its perks but also had its downsides, many of them were ostracized as they refused to pick sides in this chaotic war. Ichika knew that this was not the Earth he was born in, he didn't know how he ended up here, but he promised himself he would find a way back. During his seven years here, he met a wonderful girl his age by the name of Fiona Jarnefeldt, a girl of german descent with bright chocolate hair and beautiful blue eyes. She had become his mission operator over a year ago when he had decided to do mercenary work as well.

The machine he was sitting on was an Armored Core by Rayleonard Industries, the 03-AALIYAH Supplice, armed with an 051ANNR high powered rifle, 04-MARVE, 051ANAM missile launcher on both shoulders, and the ever famous OGOTO shoulder mounted cannon that can tear through any armor. Standing at over 5 metres tall, it was at least 2-3 metres taller than an IS, depending on its design.

During his first year as a mercenary, he had grown closer to Fiona, more than just a simple partner, more than a friend. And in that year they had already consummated their feelings for each other, and now he had decided to take responsibility as they had another mouth to feed. The life of a mercenary is both easy and hard, money is easy to come by but the way to earn the money was through dangerous jobs, but at least he was good at it. The life of a mercenary was the only life he knew how to live, hell he didn't even get to go high school.

Anyone who did not know personally simply knew him as The Raven, a mercenary who had suddenly gained fame by doing the most dangerous of missions that held the highest rewards. Some say he has a deathwish, others say he was greedy, but everyone knew he was not someone to be trifled with. He climbed back into the cockpit of his AC and immediately a screen popped up to see a beautiful girl with shoulder length chocolate hair, "Hey."

"Hey to you too." Ichika replied with a warm smile on his face.

"Are you done with that contract?"

"Yeah, I'm just about to head home."

"Alright we'll see you there." The brunette said and she then revealed a small bundle in her arms that had the same black hair and dark-brown eyes as Ichika, "Say hi to papa."

This little baby was Chifuyu Orimura, named after Ichika's older sister who coincidentally looks very much like her in appearance. The few months old baby simply gave out a small laugh while trying to reach for the screen.

Ichika just chuckled and waved back, "I'll see then, love you."

"Love you too."

While they acted very much like a married couple, they barely had the time to actually make the marriage official as the world was still at war, three factions fighting over the newly uncovered lands as the radiation slowly dissipated, revealing ruins and massive towers that contained ancient technology. The Verdict War, that's what everyone called it.

~oOo~

Ichika flew his AC into a secluded area of the world only to find that his home was now on fire, someone had just attacked this place, where his family was in. "No…" he whispered in horror, "Fiona!"

The AC landed right by the small home and immediately its pilot jumped down onto the ground, there he saw his wife barely conscious holding a crying Chifuyu in her arms. "Fiona!" the young man rushed to her aid and immediately took his daughter in his arms.

"Ichika…" the girl coughed out some blood as she handed the baby to him, "They found us… they were looking… for you."

"Shh… you're going to be okay." Ichika tried to pick her up but was immediately stopped by her.

"Take care of Chifuyu, promise me you will."

"I'm not leaving you."

"You have to…" she said as more blood escaped her mouth, Ichika looked down to reveal a piece of shrapnel embedded on her stomach, "Take care of our baby."

"Fiona…?" he shook her as her hand went limp, "Fiona, come on… we have to go… please…"

"…I love you…"

"Please don't…" he pleaded as her eyes became heavy, "don't close your eyes! FIONAAAAAA!"

~oOo~

Half a year later

Somewhere in Anatolia

Ichika happily watched his daughter now one year old play with her stuffed toys while he watched the news on the television, many of the news showcased his exploits but of course none of them would say that as a mercenary doing good work was bad for the public, he didn't care. As long as it put food on his daughter's table, he didn't care who took the credit, all that mattered was the amount of money he was paid.

It had been a year now since his previous home was attacked, it had been a year since he watched his wife die in his arms with a crying Chifuyu. He had not forgotten what had happened, and he had vowed to avenge her death, they were going all going to pay, whoever they were. Since then he had returned to The Ravens for help after they heard what happened.

Right now he was contracted to work for Anatolia's extremely small military that barely had an ACs and mostly had small arms and armored vehicles. Ichika was now sixteen, while many of Anatolia's generals worried that he was quite young for an AC pilot, they never doubted his skills as one. Many of them deeply saddened by the battle hardened eyes he bore, the same eyes that held anger for the death of his beloved Fiona.

He went into high alert as he heard the sirens going off.

[ALERT! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! ALL AC PILOTS PROCEED TO YOUR UNITS!]

He quickly took his daughter with him as he could not risk leaving her here, all the babysitters were back in the small capital which was at least a dozen miles away. He knew it was a bad idea to bring a baby inside an AC but the sudden surprise attack didn't leave him many options.

And he had no doubt these could be the same people that killed Fiona a year ago.

Carefully he placed the baby carrier behind his seat where it safely fastened Chifuyu, the cockpit of an AC was designed to protect whoever was inside it after all. But he had to be extremely careful. The AALIYAH Supplice glided its way out of the hangar and immediately spotted Muscle Tracers, chicken legged walkers with small armaments meant for infantry support. He pressed a few buttons on his controls and the computer immediately spoke up.

[Activating Primal Armor]

Raising his 051ANNR Rifle and 04-MARVE machine gun, he laid it onto his enemies, ripping the Muscle Tracers to shreds while the Primal Armor deployed an energy bubble that deflected their attacks.

[Enemy AC detected]

He took a glance back to see his daughter happily enjoying herself by the sudden movements of his AC, making him smile, happy to know his daughter was okay and then manoeuvred his way through the buildings, using them as cover as the large armored AC holding a machine gun and a shield tried to take him out. Skimming through the ground, he fired his rifle, but all those rounds were blocked by the extremely thick shield. As he got closer, about to use his MARVE as a blade, the enemy AC immediately deployed something from its back, blinding the two units in a white light. The two five metre tall machines and a few Muscle Tracers then disappeared from the face of the Earth.

~oOo~

Chifuyu Orimura

IS Academy Instructor

It had been eight years since her baby brother disappeared, she had refused to admit he had died. There was no evidence nor did they recover a body. From then on she had resorted to private investigators but nothing came up solid, but that did not stop her. She had searched and searched and searched, but there was no sign of Ichika.

"Orimura-sensei!" a student barged into her room looking frantic.

"What is it, can't you see I'm busy?"

"You have to see this!" the girl panicked.

That was when she felt an explosion out into the distance.

~oOo~

[Play: Star Driver OST – Monochrome]

Skimming over the blue ocean, a five metre tall black machine with sharp features, holding two massive guns as it fired missiles onto its many enemies on the beach. Chifuyu could not believe her eyes, this black machine moved like an IS, but there was no indication of production for machines like this, and yet here they were, battling out in a deathmatch that would only leave a single victor. The way the black machine soured into the air, the way it moved, the way it used it's left gun like a sword, it reminded her of someone, it reminded her of herself.

The black machine then glided over the ground as if it was skating using its thrusters, firing its large rifle with precision. The chicken legged walkers dropped lifelessly dropped onto the ground, there were no indication of pilots leaving them as each round pierced the chests. The last one remaining was the large one, roughly the same height as the black machine but was bulkier in size and carried a shield and a machine gun.

The black machine manoeuvred its way around it, seeing as it was much more agile than the other. Spinning around and using its left weapon like a blade, piercing through the larger machine's chest. Chifuyu widened her eyes in shock as she saw blood coming out of the chest of the larger machine, that just proved there was a pilot in there. The single red eye of the black machine then turned to her, for once in her life since Ichika was kidnapped she did not know what to do. But then something unsuspecting happened, the black machine simply approached her with the girls hiding behind her and knelt down.

The five metre tall machine opened its chest to reveal something she had never expected to see…

"Ichika?"

"Yo… Chifuyu-nee."

Chifuyu's students then saw something unexpected, they saw their teacher, who was strong and unflinching to break out into tears and ran up to the black machine, "ICHIKA!"

NA: I really wish they made an Armored Core anime, then my life would be complete. By the way would this count as a cliff hanger, if not then oh well.

CIAO!