Chapter Seven: Lancelot K-Z 2.0
The White Knight arrived at the busy Britannian Military base. It was bustling with hurried and hectic commotion. Knightmare frames crossed Suzaku's path, which produced a strong vibration through the ground enough to replicate a small earthquake.
Numerous transporting trucks and missile equipped tanks entered and exited the motorized entrance as armed forces took rounds around the perimeter.
He checked in with a scruffily looking man at the front security gate. The rough looking comrade had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He scowled at first glance at the boy.
Suzaku displayed his Honorary badge to him with a vacant face.
The guard made a petulant expression and smacked a button that when activated, granted access passed the front gate.
As Suzaku left the station, he heard a loud mumble coming from the guard,
"Fuckin' rotten eleven." the man racially slurred. It was clearly intended for Suzaku.
But after a deep inhale through his nostrils, Suzaku decided to overlook the rude remark and hiked on across the base to a distant building.
He entered a code onto a keypad and waited for admission. The doors in front of him promptly descended away from each other.
"Suzaku Kururugi reporting." He stated formally.
"Goooood morning Suzaku," Greeted Lloyd cheerfully, who was standing right in front of the entrance. "I've been antsily anticipating your arrival." He continued in an exaggerated pitch.
"Now, come, come! We have no time for idle chit-chat!" Lloyd said impatiently as he hastily pushed at boys back, leading him to the Knightmare hangar.
They walked side by side at a quick pace, their path leading up to the white Lancelot.
"I introduce to you, the new and improved Lancelot K-Z 2.0!" Lloyd announced as he idoled over his machinery with a proud glint in his eyes.
"Wait until you see all of the improvements. You'll be unstoppable in this my boy!" Lloyd spoke with delight.
Suzaku contributed a little smirk and continued to walk to the Knightmare that was straight onwards from their path.
As they got to a close distance, Lloyd stopped in movement and tucked his hands into his pocket. "Tell me how well it runs." he instructed the boy, who persistently walked toward the unit.
"Oh, don't forget this now." He grabbed Suzaku's attention; he whirled around to face him.
Lloyd pulled the Lancelot's golden key from his pocket and pitched it into the air.
With fast reflex, Suzaku latched onto the key and turned his attention back to the Lancelot.
He stepped up a dozen or so stairs onto a podium where he unlatched the back of the Knightmare. He vigorously vaulted in. The captain's chair pulled him up into the cockpit. Vociferously, the door latch closed automatically behind him securely.
In the dimness of the Knightmare's interior, Suzaku inserted the key. All system lights ignited, blinked, and made bleeping and buzzing sounds. He could feel the reverberation in his chair from the mechanisms warming up.
Suzaku reached for the speaker button and turned it on. "So how would you like me to test this out for you?" He asked Lloyd, who was actually turned away now and heading back to his lab.
The engineer gestured his hand up in a waving motion as he continued to walk the opposite direction. "Just exit the hangar, you'll see."
Suzaku's eyebrow rose as he continued to stare at Lloyd, who had already reached half way passed the Knightmare storage unit. I'll see? What is that supposed to mean?
Suzaku's baffled appearance faded and returned to his previous serious expression as he turned his attention to the control panels and clutches.
One massive step at a time, he headed toward the exit.
He marched out onto the training arena, which appeared to not have a soul in sight.
"I'll see what?" Suzaku questioned to himself as he peered around the empty court.
Suddenly, his cockpit shuddered and wobbled off balance from a forceful impact.
"Ah-! What the hell?"
There was a sudden flash of a hazy and rapid instant attack. Unprepared for a sudden battle, it was clear Suzaku was tackled blindspottedly.
He quickly regained control of his Knightmare and faced the direction of the collision.
Suzaku's eyes popped open as he viewed over the opponent.
"Huh? But it's just a generic looking Sutherland." Suzaku said out loud to himself, bewilderment in his tone. "How did it enforce such a powerful assault on me?"
"Ahaha!" A cackled laugh frequented through the Lancelot's speakers.
The Sutherland spun on its heeled wheels and stroke a sturdy stance. "Suzaku Kururugi. How nice it is to see you."
Suzaku grappled his hands on his control clutch in resentment as he recognized the voice. "Jeremiah Gottwald." He addressed.
The Sutherland pilot reclined back comfortable in his cockpit. Showing no signs of distress. "I see your shiny new toy got an upgrade, eleven."
"Yes. That's right. A shame I have to waste it on something as pitiful as a Sutherland." Suzaku cornered his lips playfully.
"Ahah!" Jeremiah laughed obnoxiously as he darted toward the Lancelot.
"You better remove your cockiness, soldier. It might come back -" he crashed onward into Suzaku, "- to bite you!" he finished.
The Lancelot tried to counter attack, but Jeremiah quickly dodged it.
"It's… It's fast…!" Suzaku's tone indicated disbelief. "But how? My Lancelot has higher specs than a Sutherland!"
"Ha. You got that right – it is fast. You see, you're not the only one that got a nice upgrade from Lloyd." Jeremiah dodged toward him again, but Suzaku quickly avoided the attack by sidestepping.
"Think I would fall for that again?" the Lancelot's shoulder shields slammed into the Sutherland, managing to rock it in place. "Don't insult my abilities with such juvenile moves." From the sound of his voice, Suzaku was getting pumped.
He raced his White Knight in a looped path, gaining speed as he encircled around the Sutherland.
Jeremiah quickly chased after him, a strong smile on his face; his eyes filled with determination.
"Oh by the way. I saw you on the news last night. Awh. You poor baby, you got kidnaped by the big bad Black Knights. Did they leave you with some boo-boos?" The Sutherland pilot taunted.
That bastard had to bring that up. My mind was finally distracted from it.
Suzaku erased unpleasant thoughts from his head and kept concentration on the battle. He snarled as he sprinted toward him at full potency and knock against him at maximum high speed.
"Ouch. That hurt." Jeremiah said in a childlike nature as he escaped from Suzaku to the other side of the field.
The Sutherland pilot tried to further provoke the Honorary soldier,
"I find it hilarious how you keep disgracing your own name to the people of Britannia. Now you're showing you're either as weak as a feeble kitten for getting kidnaped or you're a trader working with them - I've made many observations to back up that claim."
He continued, "Oh, and don't forget the first time you shun your own name by suspicions of killing Clovis - which I still feel you had something apart of. How convenient that a faceless man that's impossible to identify - thusly not apprehendable - took the blame for the murder you committed and rescued you from execution. That plan worked out nice, hm? Now you're both freed animals from the pound."
Jeremiah trampled in front of Suzaku as he revealed his weapon of choice: The Advanced Revolutionary Blade, type 00-6.
In a blurred motion he whacked him with it. "This is why elevens don't belong in this military! They're dirty betrayers!"
Suzaku recoiled from the strong impact and durably kept his control on his gearshifts. I've never seen a weapon like that before...!
Once again, Jeremiah went in for the same attack, butSuzaku blocked the second assault.
When will he learn he can't use the same moves on me twice in a row?
Now they were crushing up against each other, neither of them backing down or releasing the close-range combat.
Suzaku was feeling rage build up from Jeremiah's insults, but then released his tension as he replied to him, "Hah. You should talk about being a trader. As I recall you're the one that allowed – no, helped the Black Knights and myself escape. Isn't that correct, Orange-kun? If anyone if working with them, it's you."
Jeremiah gritted his teeth in anger. "How dare you! That no good Zero had to drug me with the gasses! That was the only explanation since I don't recall a morsel of it. But I bet you already knew that, since you were in on it."
Suzaku went over his explanation. "But no one else was affected? Besides, I was found not guilty and you know this."
Suzaku squinted his eyes and clenched his teeth as he pushed the Sutherland off him with solid force.
After leaping far back, he then rushed in a diagonal path as he sprayed the Sutherland with a rain of ammunition from his Impaling Cannon.
Suzaku went on with his argument, "You know damn well that I had nothing to do with Clovis' murder! You're the one that established the suspicions on me only so you could finally rid Honorary Britannian's from the military. I know all about you being in The Purist Faction. You thought of it as a perfect opportunity to further disgrace the Japanese population and prove we aren't fit to be a part of the Britannian army! You framed me for your own benefit. You're the reason Japanese are opposed of their rights!"
Jeremiah laughed obnoxiously "Oh how cute. You referred to your people as 'Japanese'."
"Argh!" Suzaku spat out a wail and charged for him. He soared airborne and released his electrical charged cables. They latched onto the Sutherland, but Jeremiah swiftly ripped them off his unit.
"It seems as though things are getting mighty heated out there." said Lloyd as he attentively examined a monitor releasing a live feed of the battle, safely from his laboratory of course.
"Uh-huh…" Cecile nodded uneasily, worry emitting from her face as she positioned the tip of her fingers over her mouth in an anxious manner.
Lloyd cornered his eyes at Cecile humbly with a hint of a smirk, then turned his gaze back at the screen.
Jeremiah leaped backward on his Knightmare and landed a robust pose. "Enough talk. Let's see what you really got!"
From inside the Lancelot, Lloyd's face popped up into the center monitor. Suzaku observed the quirky man tapping on the camera lens to get Suzaku's attention.
"Yes. What is it?" Suzaku impatiently asked, for he tried not to take his concentrate off the battle.
Lloyd's smile reached ear to ear, "I think it's about time you really do show him exactly 'what you got'."
"Huh?" Suzaku's eyes flicked on him once more, he awaited the engineer to continue.
"Suzaku, do me a biiiig favor and press that shiny new blue button overhead to your left."
Looking upward, Suzaku located the button but then quickly turned his caution back at the duel.
Lloyd sent his live video feed to Jeremiah as well, "Oh and orange boy, you might want to hit that ejection button now." Lloyd tantalized him.
"Like hell I will!" The Sutherland pilot exclaimed.
"Fine, suit yourself. But be prepared to get a tiny bit of radiation injected into your body. Now hit it, Suzaku!"
"Wait! But…!" Suzaku gave a cut off interjection to the monitor.
"Now! That's an order Suzaku. He wont die…"
Hesitantly, Suzaku smacked the button as he tightly sealed his eyes shut.
What he had just released was the new Fallout Impale Shell: a 'shield' of radiation that coats the opponents unit and sends charges of toxins through the Knightmare frames mechanical systems; making the components within the machineries corrupted after roughly a minute. It also causes the pilot inside to suffer temporary radioactive effects - if they do not extend their stay inside longer than five minutes that is. If not, it results in permanent side effects, or death.
There was a beaming yellow glow around the Sutherland in a shape of a dome; Suzaku's eyes bulged at the scene. He coughed out, the air smelled of harsh chemicals. He speedily closed up all vents in his unit.
"Well, maybe wont die wasn't the right choice of wording…" Lloyd innocently spoke.
"Wha-What!" Suzaku shouted to the screen. "How do I withdraw the attack then?"
Lloyd rubbed the end of his chin, his face looking thoughtfully engaged. "Oh, I haven't actually worked that out yet. But lets hope he's not too arrogant to use the ejection button because if he doesn't within-" Lloyd held his wrist up and viewed his watch "-the next twenty seconds, he wont have the option to since his unit will no longer work. He will be imprisoned within the toxic Knightmare."
"You have to be kidding me! Didn't you think this out before hand?" Suzaku screamed at the absentminded engineer. But before he became fully panicked, he witnessed the Sutherland cockpit retreat from the unit.
The Lancelot pilot breathed a sigh of relief and rested back in his chair. His heart was still racing rapidly; he tried his best to decrease the stress.
In the distance, he saw Jeremiah exit the extracted unit. He wobbled in place; trying desperately to keep on his feet, but in a solid motion he tumbled to the ground.
"Jeremiah!" Suzaku shouted as he switched his Knightmare latch open.
"Don't stress yourself, Suzaku." Lloyd halted him in action. "We have a medical staff coming to his aid. He'll be fine… Just fine. He may heavily hallucinate for a several hours, but he'll be back to normal soon," Lloyd spoke a final word in a murmur, "Unfortunately…"
Suzaku watched a team rush toward him and placed him on a stretcher. Worried suddenly filled him up.
I didn't know it would actually harm him. Damn you, Lloyd.
"You did wonderful Suzaku." The engineer's voice was filled with glee. "It was a pleasure to see you test the improved beautiful beast. That will be all for today, soldier. You may now return to your educational duties."
I hope you enjoyed the read, thank you very much for checking out this chapter. Please review and give back some feedback. I would greatly appreciate it. Stay tuned for more!
-A
