Armored Core: From the Ashes

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A cooperative fanfiction, set almost immediately after the events of Armored Core for Answer. It's written by multiple fanfiction authors (Zero Reaper, Krimzon-8, xXThe perfect SoldierXx, n147258, Sakai the Demon and Precursor), each of whom has multiple characters featured.

There are many main characters, but the two major heroes are Ghost and Kruger. Immediately afterwards is Felix, with Daven, Razer and Deimos being there as well. These core characters are also the first character of their respective writer: Zero Reaper with Ghost, Krimzon-8 with Kruger, xXThe perfect SoldierXx with Felix, n147258 with Daven, Sakai the Demon with Deimos, and Precursor with Razer.

The story begins with Ghost and Holly, two members of a reformed ORCA, and their recruitment of Kruger, an instrumental member for their rise. With these three, ORCA begins to rise to the top, taking on the League who lorded over the rest of the world and trying to do their best for Earth. However, as Ghost becomes more and more ruthless and Kruger begins to question his actions, the members of ORCA are slowly turned against each other...

The main writing is done on this forum: Armored Core Post-FA Era The authors ask that you please do not post there unless you are willing to devote a great deal of time to it, as the plot is at its height.

Tropes used in Armored Core: From the Ashes include:
  • Ace Custom: Several, including Requiem, Seraphim and Death Omega, with Requiem being by far the most powerful example.
    • Actually, because of the fact that they're all customised with different parts and weapons, all the NEXTs can be considered this, with one or two exceptions (such as the identical AI-based prototypes used by Omer).
  • Ace Pilot: Kinda goes without saying.
  • Action Girl: Almost all of the female characters, though with varying levels of success. Rain is the best example.
  • Action Survivor: When a more skilled character is around, those under that skill are typically this.
  • All a Part of the Job: Several characters.
  • Alpha Couple: As of the Sahara battle, there is really only one couple that began in the RP officially that is working out. It's between the berserker Blood Knight Razer and the relatively calm Maria.
  • Alpha Strike: NEXT-on-NEXT combat requires a lot of firepower.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Everyone. Absolutely everyone.
    • But Ghost most of all. Hell, even the authors don't know whether he's good or evil yet. He seems to express a lot of both, though.
  • Always Save the Girl: Daven to Wynne, even though she was his ex at the time.
  • Always Someone Better: Averted. Ghost and Kruger are shown to be, by some margin, the most powerful human beings in all of history, who could almost be called gods because of the fact that no-one can touch them on the battlefield. This is something that Ghost does not forget.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Played straight with Ghost.
  • And Then What?: Maximillian (and later Ghost) about the League.
  • Angst? What Angst?: Happens occasionally, especially when something that should be traumatic happens to Ghost and he barely flinches.
    • Possibly justified by the fact that he's A) a cold-blooded, ruthless killer who's watched everyone he's ever known die and B) he's possibly insane.
  • Anti-Hero: Ghost.
    • Specifically, Type III at the start, moving onto Type IV and Type V pretty quickly.
    • Alternately, he could be considered a Villain Protagonist.
  • The Antichrist: Ghost is the walking, talking, apocalypse-inducing embodiement of this trope.
  • Anvilicious
  • Anyone Can Die: Has been invoked on the original characters of Armored Core: For Answer, ironically.
  • Apocalyptic Log: Done by Sebastian and Nikolus.
  • Applied Phlebotinum
  • Arch Enemy: Ghost and Kruger.
  • Armor Is Useless: Nearly every single time, though averted with tank-types.
    • And completely inverted with Fallen Angel when it had Exosteel armour; Kruger's Moonlights (which cut through solid titanium like it's paper) barely left a scratch on it.
  • Armored Coffins: Largely averted, though Vero Nork's death is this as she couldn't get out of the cockpit.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Done a lot, though can also be subverted with relative ease as well.
  • Awesome but Impractical: Do you really have to ask?
  • Awesome but Practical: Almost all the character's NEX Ts and weapons.
  • Ax Crazy: The Demon abilities often enhance this, and both Razer and Epsilon are this when enraged.
    • Ghost's abilities in particular are mentioned as bordering on uncontrollable when he's in his Demon state.
  • Backstory: Armored Core 4 and for Answer. The defunct Prequel thread also counts.
  • Badass: Every pilot, as it takes great skill for even lower-ranks.
    • Ghost seems to deliberately invoke this trope on every possible occasion with his (occasionally ridiculous) showmanship.
  • Badass Abnormal: Demons, Angels and anyone augmented.
  • Badass Family: Thermidors. Oh God the Thermidors.
    • Subverted - They're all fighting each other most of the time.
      • Although after further examination, Ghost is the one who basically wiped the Thermidor family off the face of the Earth. Maybe he's just the family's resident internal grim reaper.
      • Which is probably a good thing.
  • Badass Longcoat: Ghost is described as wearing a trench coat.
    • Well, hey, it goes with his showmanship, doesn't it?
  • Badass Normal: Any non-augmented pilot that is high-ranked, especially true with Zach who is about as normal as they come and yet one of the absolute top pilots.
  • Batman Gambit: Used by Kruger.
  • Being Personal Isn't Professional: Generally subverted towards the main characters.
  • Berserk Button: Demons. That is all.
  • The Berserker: Razer, Epsilon, Leon, any Demon.
  • Beta Couple: Daven and Wynne had problems, but got over them fairly well. The Beta Couple to these two is Zach and Menno, though Menno is dead.
    • Although that said, nobody in this fic seems to stay dead for long.
      • Very much so. Miranda Smith (aka Menno Ruh) has been confirmed to be alive. Same with Fiona Jarnefeldt.
  • BFG: Any weapon on the prototypes, any weapon designed for extreme damage.
    • Requiem. That is all.
  • BFS: Any blade that is longer than the mech using it is tall.
  • Big Bad: Ghost goes from Big Good gradually to this. Subverted, though, since he's still the protagonist.
  • Big Bulky Bomb: Thermonuclear devices. On Requiem. Necessary? Maybe not. Overkill? Yes. Fun? Yes. Completely awesome to the point where we hope they're used? Yes.
  • Big Good: Kruger, Ghost in the beginning.
  • Big No
  • Bodyguard Crush: Ghost to Holly in a way.
    • He's not formally her bodyguard, although his behaviour - and the way his Demon abilities work - tends to drift toward this.
  • Break the Cutie: Happens a lot.
  • Breather Boss: Some characters are the big enemy to take down, but are not overly difficult.
  • Broken Ace: Ghost is the literal definition of this trope. He's a master NEXT pilot, a brilliant Chessmaster, a textbook Magnificent Bastard, and has astounding physical abilities, capable of taking on armies with his bare hands. He's also a nihilistic monster, a Self-Made Orphan with a ruthless streak the size of a small continent, willing to commit omnicide to bring peace to the world. And that's just the beginning.
    • Word of God states that this is because he tried so hard to be the ultimate human being, the perfect warrior in every concievable way, that it cost him his sanity - and literally everything else in his entire life.
  • Byronic Hero: Ghost plays this trope as straight as it can be played.
  • Caped Mecha: Requiem.
    • Ten bucks says that gets Lampshaded as soon as Requiem appears.
  • Chainsaw Good: Requiem's chainsaw-staff.
    • Actually, most of Ghost's prototype NEXTs have chainsaws, they're just not as big as Requiem's.
  • Chaotic Good: Ghost in the beginning. He then goes down to Neutral Evil at best.
  • Chaotic Neutral: Razer
  • Chickification: Done to Wynne, especially after she's captured. She becomes an Action Girl again later.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Razer, though others have their moments. Subverted with some characters.
  • Colonel Kilgore: Ghost and Razer at times.
  • Colony Drop: The fall of Cradle 01.
  • Combat Aestheticist: Ghost. His excuse is 'inspiring fear into the enemy', but personally, I just think that he does it to enlarge his Ham factor.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Most of the pilots.
  • Complete Monster: Sebastian, with his experiments.
    • Ghost seems to be becoming this, at least in the eyes of some characters.
    • Not to mention Stein.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Done with some characters, biggest is Deimos.
  • Consolation Prize
  • Consummate Professional: Over half the pilots.
  • Couldn't Find a Pen: Sebastian's lab.
  • Cradling Their Kill: Ghost after he accidentally shot Holly. She got better... sort of.
  • Crapsack World: Very crapsack from rabid pollution, related to Minovsky Physics.
    • Having an Omnicidal Maniac around isn't helping, especially when he's got his own army.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Too many to list.
    • There will be a second page for this in due time.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Most Demons.
    • Ghost doesn't act like his abilities are a curse, though - on the contrary, he loves having nigh-unlimited physical power at his fingertips. This may be due to his slight A God Am I tendencies.
  • Dad the Veteran: Zach, V'Rugh, Berlioz, Joshua, Jean Pierre the Fifth, Sahdana, Takafumi, Nikola. As of confirmed living as of the Sahara, Zach is the only one alive.
  • Daddy's Little Villain: Akina Arisawa to a degree.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Ghost.
    • Although often averted by Ghost as well, normally due to him considering his defeated enemies (in some cases) to be Worthy Opponents or because they still have a part to play in his massive gambit.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Played straight by Felix. Painfully straight.
    • Not to mention Ghost; he constantly wears black and dark grey clothing, all of his mechs are painted black and blood-red, he has black hair and (under the influence of his Demon abilities) red eyes - hell, even his name screams this... but he's the hero.
      • YMMV on this trope's applicability to Ghost; he borders on Complete Monster.
  • Dark Messiah: Ghost, though the Messiah is beginning to be subverted; he seems to be turning into The Antichrist.
  • Death Faked for You: How the story even works.
  • Deconstructed Trope: Ghost is one of the most major heroes. And he's becoming a villain rather quickly.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Employed a fair amount.
    • Well, at least for most of the characters... Ghost isn't too pleased to have Wynne around, and the feeling is definitely mutual.
  • Designated Hero
  • Despair Event Horizon: Holly when Ghost seemed to die. He got better.
    • Ghost on multiple occasions. Each time, he dips deeper into insanity...
  • Doomsday Device: NEXT mechs themselves.
    • The Demons could be considered these too, in a way; there's no doubt that Ghost or Felix could take on an army single-handedly and win.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: Invoked a lot.
  • Embarrassing Tattoo: Rain.
    • Hands up if you saw that one coming. Nobody? Just what I thought.
      • That 'nobody' actually includes the head author and Rain's owner.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism:
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ghost with Holly.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Averted with Ghost, who doesn't care.
  • Everyone Is Related: The Thermidor family takes up a significant amount of characters.
  • Evil Is Cool: Ghost.
  • Evil Plan: Ghost has an especially large one.
  • Evil Twin: Ghost to Maximillian, especially later on.
    • Given that Maximillian was at least a Type III Anti-Hero himself, that's saying something.
  • Evil vs. Evil: Ghost vs. the League is this. Except Ghost tends to be the more evil of the two factions.
  • The Extremist Was Right: Name an instance where this does not occur during some battles.
  • Faking the Dead: Ghost is like a cat. Except he doesn't run out of lives.
    • Justified in that he's the most powerful Demon, and regenerative abilities with no comparison.
  • Fanon: Does it look like this is an official story put as canon by From Software?
  • Fatal Flaw: For several characters. One example is Daven's chivalry to Wynne.
    • Another is Ghost's overconfidence.
  • Fiction Is Not Fair: Ghost has done a fair amount of Karma Houdini incidents, besides Holly. Daven is another example, being very often injured or similar.
  • Flaw Exploitation: Most pilots can pick a flaw in an opponent's style, and abuse it.
  • Fountain of Expies: Several designs can be traced back to different mecha series. For example, n147258 commonly uses the looks of different Gundam mechs.
    • Ghost can variously be interpreted as either a darker Lelouch expy or a more powerful Light Yagami expy. As it turns out, the author designed him as both.
  • Four-Star Badass: Ghost. Until the Sahara, at least.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Played straight with Daven, who was just a basic mechanic before and partly duringArmored Core For Answer. He proceeded to become the third-command in ORCA, and a high-ranked pilot.
    • Interestingly inverted with Ghost, who, since he was nineteen, has been possibly the largest single force in the world, having more or less dictated the course of the Lynx War, was pulling the strings behind ORCA, and is well, until recently the commander of the world's second-largest military faction.
    • Several other pilots also qualify, such as Mariasa Isabella, Stein, and Leon as of this moment.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Felix, who personally made his NEXT and a weapon Daven was interested in. It can also be inferred with all characters, as several have to be able to maintain their machines. This is also true of Zach, who could be inferred to have been at least helping upgrade Advent Dawn.
  • Gatling Good: Daven. His original NEXT featured three out of a possible four. His next mech, Seraphim, featured one that's amazingly powerful.
  • The Generic Guy: Played mostly straight with Deimos, at least until you touch on the whole fact of his being a Demon.
  • Glass Cannon: Most light mechs that have very good armaments. The VOB SOLARWIND that Wynne uses.
    • Mecci has provided a lot of pilots for ORCA during the second 'phase' of writing. These all pilot MP NEX Ts, including Wynne due to not having the AMS for NEXT units. However, these MP NEX Ts are even a bigger playing of this trope straight, in that they're amazingly powerful as well.
  • Green Rocks: Kojima Particles.
  • There Can Only Be One: Ghost has this towards his own family. Which may actually be a good thing.
    • Not only that, be he also has it towards the most powerful NEXT pilots on Earth, based on his actions towards
  • Put on a Bus: Holly.
  • Noble Demon: Ghost plays this trope as straight as he can, right down to extremely intentionally making himself appear evil (Word of God says that there will be a reason revealed for this later on). And then there's the fact that this trope is even a pun when applied to him.
  • Necessarily Evil: Ghost is either this or a Knight Templar, depending on how you look at it.
  • Padding: If you don't like the relatively short launch sequences.
  • True Companions: Averted with Ghost's team. They're all psychopathic monsters to some degree or another, and little more than Unwitting Pawns to Ghost.
  • Zero-Approval Gambit: Ghost working on one of these is the only way the fic can possibly avoid a Downer Ending.
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