Okay, this time, we change the opening theme for reals. Which is kinda interesting because this is the chapter where we start to diverge.
Also, I really like the second Code Geass opening theme, but I cannot stand the singer in the verse. Does anyone know where I can download the instrumental / karaoke version? Thanks.
-}+{-
Every action taken has a corresponding consequence.
There is no exception to this rule, even for one with a power as great as Lelouch's. Though he possesses the power of total control, the ability to make any human do his bidding, he cannot escape this unchangeable truth.
Lelouch works to avenge his mother, and to create a world in which his sister Nunnally might live in peace, but the world and those around him are forced to live with his actions, and base their own actions on the consequences.
If the result of his efforts are to change the world, then who should bear the blame, and who should be punished?
The train back to the school was silent and awkward. It was almost empty, so both Lelouch and Shirley got seats.
"Lulu… I'm sorry."
"Eh?" Lelouch turned to Shirley, confused.
"That wasn't fair." She apologised, her voice bordering on hysterical. "That really, wasn't fair, was it? I just didn't know what else to do… so, just forget it. Sorry to bother you…" She lied, clenching her fists on her knees and looking down at her feet. "I was wrong to do that." She added, turning her head to smile at him. "Okay? Kissing you really didn't mean anything, yeah?"
Lelouch put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "I'm sorry…" He told her. "I'm so, so sorry…"
"Does it bother you that you involved your friend's father?" C.C. asked Lelouch as she cuddled her new manaphy doll, Jiro floating around her, dancing for attention.
"Eh?" Lelouch was pulled from his thoughts, staring blankly at her as his pokénav buzzed, waiting to be answered.
"I thought you told Giovanni that he was flaccid, and that you would walk down the path of carnage." C.C. reminded him as whoever was calling Lelouch stopped trying.
"Shut up." Lelouch turned away from her, returning his stare at the now silent pokénav.
"You're the flaccid one." C.C. continued, ignoring Lelouch's demand. "Did you think this was a game? You've killed many before, both with your hands and your words, and your pokémon aren't guiltless either."
"Shut up." Lelouch repeated, his voice turning into a snarl.
"They too, had families, and lovers, and friends." C.C. explained. "Are you trying to tell me that you didn't understand what you were doing? Were you really so unprepared?" She smirked.
"SHUT UP!" he barked. "I'M COMPLETELY PREPARED!! Since the beginning, since the moment I killed Clovis!"
"Then why are you so hesitant now?" C.C. asked. "Or have your feelings softened your resolve?" She leered. "She forced herself on you, with that kiss."
Lelouch span around to glare at C.C., cuddling her new toy with a smirk as Jiro waved its arms in the background. "In the end, no matter how much self-righteous drivel you spout, you're just a big mouthed, fat headed virgin newbie, aren't you?"
Lelouch grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her onto the bed. He loomed over her, his mouth curled into a furious snarl, but couldn't find a single word to refute the witch. "You no longer have the right to hesitate or turn back." C.C. said, letting her doll slide to the floor and dropping the smirk. "I'm necessary for your continued survival, am I not?"
C.C.'s eyebrows tightened. "Don't disappoint me."
Lelouch's face contorted with rage, then he pushed C.C. aside and stormed off into the bathroom as Jiro incinerated C.C.'s manaphy doll, then snuggled up into her chest.
Hot water really helps people think.
Lelouch thought about a lot of things in the shower. The things he'd done, the things he'd suffered, the things people had said to him…
The things he was yet to do.
He turned off the water and grabbed his pokénav and dialled a number. "Ohgi." He said into it. "It's Zero."
Lelouch mulled the information he'd been given in his mind.
Giovanni's fleeing the country with several other Team Rocket leaders, since their cover is pretty much blown, and they're confident that they can leave Japan in the capable hands of the Black Knights, but Diethard, the Britannian reporter who wanted to join the Black Knights, claimed that Cornelia had recently trained several aquatic pokémon to intercept their escape and destroy Team Rocket once and for all.
"Toudou got separated from the other Holy Blades after Narita, and there isn't a chance of him reaching Team Rocket in time to help their escape." Zero told the Black Knights. "Team Rocket has no serious military force to back them up, and their only defence is threatening to have their pokémon self-destruct and ignite the hoard of moonstone they're carrying on their ship."
"So we should help them escape before we fight Cornelia!" Ohgi reasoned.
"Ohgi." Zero stated. "Who are we?"
"T-The Order of the Black Knights…" Ohgi said.
"Then we have only one goal." Zero declared. "Destroy Cornelia and absorb Team Rocket's remaining forces! This day! Tonight! We regain what we lost in Narita!!"
"Can we win?" Ohgi asked nervously.
"A foolish question."
Ohgi smiled confidently. "Got it."
Zero turned to the rest of his men. "Prepare for the operation!" He ordered, turning from the stage. "You all have your orders."
"Uh, Zero!" Kallen shouted,
"I have something to do." Lelouch told her. "If you want to talk, it'll have to be later."
Lelouch stripped out of his mask, cape and snag arm and looked down at the flak armour he'd taken to wearing.
He wasn't wearing fancy clothes for impact anymore.
These were the clothes of a soldier.
"Relicanth." Lelouch sent out, grabbing his rucksack and diving into the water and grabbing onto the stone fish. "Dive."
A bubble of air formed around his head and the stone fish went under the water, and began carrying Lelouch to the boat.
He had a bomb to set.
Later, the door to the warehouse where Lelouch was drying in opened. "Who is it?" He asked in a deep voice.
"E-Excuse me!" Kallen shouted.
"Are you having second thoughts?" Lelouch asked her.
Kallen hesitated, but stepped inside. "I've fought this far for justice," She told him, closing the door behind her. "Because I believed it to be the right thing to do. That's why I've killed so many people, but…" She stepped forward. "Is what we're doing really going to change the world!?"
"It can." Lelouch told her. "No, it must."
"But-!"
"Will there be sacrifice?" Lelouch asked her. "Yes, and not just soldiers, but innocent bystanders too, just like Shirley's father." Lelouch looked down at the floor. "Even so, despite that… no, because of that, I cannot stop." He glanced at Zero's mask. "Even if I have to cheat or hurt others, I must persevere. To that end…" He picked up his mask and held it in both hands. "I will become carnage incarnate. I must spill more blood, so the blood already spilt will not be in vain."
"But nobody's forcing you to stay." Lelouch told her. "Kallen, if you wish to turn back and leave before we enter hell, now is the time."
Kallen was shocked, but nodded and smiled. "I'll march by your side through the gates, Lelouch." She told him.
Lelouch smiled. "Thank you, Kallen."
_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Ohgi shouted over the radio. _\_ "It's begun! Shall we proceed with the plan?" _\_
Lelouch quickly grabbed the radio. "No." He replied, plugging the radio to his ear as he started dressing. "We can't."
"Eh?" Kallen asked as Lelouch stood up and continued.
"Cornelia made her move sooner that I expected." He explained. "If we go now, none of us will get out alive."
"A-are you serious!?" Kallen shouted as Lelouch hung up to put the mask on.
"Trust me Kallen." He told her as he slid on his snag arm and buckled his cape. "Tonight, we enter hell."
He swished his cape as he walked past her, and she turned to follow him. Kallen had made her decision. But still…
She wished she didn't see the detonation trigger in his hand.
_\_ "The Britannian's have boarded Team Rocket's ship!" _\_ Minami reported desperately a few minutes later.
"I see." Zero commented, watching the chaos.
'There is only one way out, correct?' He thought. 'They won't risk igniting the moonstone.
_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Ohgi shouted. _\_ "WE'VE GOT TO-!" _\_
"I know." Lelouch said. "Move out."
He pressed the trigger.
Magikarp are useless.
They are quite possibly one of the most pathetic creatures on the planet.
They would have died out long ago if it wasn't for two things:
One, they evolve into mighty gyarados, and two, before they evolve; they lay hundreds of eggs on anything and everything in the water.
Such as ships.
When Lelouch hit the trigger, a surge of energy tapped into the ship's cargo of moonstone, unleashing a powerful wave of energy that, while having a very short range, forced the millions of useless magikarp eggs on the ship's hull to hatch as fully-formed gyarados.
And these gyarados, confused at their sudden existence and the lack of space, quickly became what gyarados are famous for being.
Destructive.
The water under the ship grew dark and surged upwards, before bursting into a pillar of light that reached the clouds as a thousand Hyper Beams cut straight upwards through the ship's hull as if it was paper.
Rockets and Brittanians alike were swallowed up by the deathly light which illuminated the entire bay. All eyes were on that pillar of light as it waned, splitting up into hundreds of lesser beams that came crashing down on the Brittanians, consuming and annihilating the forces assembled in the water.
The last stand of Giovanni Laguada and the terrible Team Rocket would forever be burned into Brittanian memory.
The worst part?
It almost looked like a freak accident.
Almost.
"DAMMIT!" Lelouch shouted. "They used it…"
_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Ohgi shouted. _\_ "What's going on!?" _\_
"They used the moonstone to force the magikarp eggs to hatch into gyarados!" Lelouch shouted, leaving out the minor detail of him being the one to do it. "Sacrificing themselves and taking out as many Britannian's as possible!"
_\_ "Why the hell would they do that!?" _\_ Ohgi shouted.
"Their damned pride!!" Lelouch lied. "Everyone! The rampaging gyarados are attacking all the Britannian units in the water! Take advantage of the confusion and take out the Britannians on the land and capture Cornelia! RESTORE TEAM ROCKET'S HONOUR!!"
He hung up and laughed. This was almost too easy.
Zero had timed it perfectly. As the worst of the Hyper Beams faded when the sea serpents were forced to recharge their energy, the Black Knights made their move, riding the wake of the tide straight towards the stunned Brittanian army. A wave of gyarados surged over the horde, the trainers riding them and catching several red gyarados along the way. "GO!" Zero shouted. "Take them out BEFORE they send out their pokémon!"
The docks of the Britannian soldiers were obliterated by a wave of Hyper Beams and Dragon Rage. The damage was immense, and those that survived the initial attack were devoured by the rampaging sea-serpents.
"GURREN!" Zero shouted, leaping from his gyarados and onto his crobat. "WITH ME!"
"YESSIR!" Kallen replied, riding her scizor into the Britannian soldiers after her leader, slicing through them as Zero flew over head, spreading a haze and confusing the enemy pokémon as he passed. It was too easy- they tore right through the Brittanian's fractured defense.
Zero leapt from his crobat and dropped two pokeballs, landing before Cornelia, who was staring at him with shock, disbelief and hatred dancing in her expression. "DO YOU THINK I'D LET YOU MOCK ME AGAIN?!!" Cornelia shouted, unleashing her tyranitar. The colossal pokemon stampeded for Zero, but was blasted down by an Aura Sphere courtesy of Lelouch's lucario.
Cornelia gritted her teeth and recalled her tyranitar. "I'M NOT DONE YET!" She shouted, throwing a luxury ball into the air. "GO! HEATRAN!!"
Zero's lucario barely dodged out of the way as a massive pokémon emerged from the ball and slammed into the ground below. It glared at Zero's pokémon as it opened it's maw and growled like a volcano preparing to erupt.
"Lucario, keep your distance and use Aura Sphere again!" Zero ordered. Lucario wheeled around and began to gather energy, but suddenly Cornelia's legendary pokémon erupted into flames that poured from its back and maw into the battlefield. Lucario was overrun by the white-hot flames and collapsed, spasming in pain.
"The hell!?" Zero shouted, before recalling his pokémon before it could be fried to a crisp. Sending out a gyarados to unleash a Hydro Pump on the legendary pokémon, he turned his head to shout an order. "Q-1! Keep Gurren away from the flames and wait for an opening! I'll finish this one off."
"Don't be so arrogant! Heatran, launch a Stone Edge!" ordered Cornelia.
"Dodge into the air and counter with Hydro Pump!"
Zero's gyarados rose swiftly into the air as missiles of sharpened rock were launched around it by the heatran. The serpent roared and shot a blast of high pressure water in retaliation, hitting the legendary head on and chilling it to it's iron bones. "It's over." Zero said, satisfied.
"You think you can trump heatran with a little water!?" snarled Cornelia as the legendary pokémon quickly began to heat up.
"I think you should pay more attention to what is happening below rather than above, actually." retorted Zero. The ground below heatran collapsed as sandslash emerged from its covert Dig attack and was recalled by Zero. The impact from the fall cracked heatran's stone shell, and before it's magma could heal the damage it was blasted by another torrent of water from the enraged gyarados above.
"Q-1, now!" shouted Zero. It wasn't necessary, as the instant heatran had collapsed into the pit, Kallen's Gurren had tackled Cornelia and trapped her down. The Vicerine screamed in pain as the wound on her back re-opened. Zero smirked. It had gone better than he could have possibly hoped.
Then he saw her.
'SHIRLEY!?'
"ZERO!!"
Zero got tackled by Suzaku as Lancelot grabbed Lelouch's gyarados by the throat and tail, tearing it in half in a burst of blood. It thrashed about violently in it's dying moments, but Lancelot merely tossed it aside like trash.
"What you're doing won't change a thing!" Suzaku shouted from behind his mask as he wrestled Zero to the ground. "You think the end justifies the means, so YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW INNOCENT BYSTANDERS FEEL!!"
"You again!?" Zero shouted, smashing his elbow into the gap in Suzaku's armour, cracking his neck and rolling out of his grip, getting to his feet and drawing a sword and his sandslash, sending it out.
"Using live people as bait…" Suzaku growled, sending his altaria out as Kallen's ho-oh took on mewtwo. "You're just a murderer… DRACO METEOR!!"
Fireballs fell from the sky, smashing into the ground as Lelouch dodged around them, his sandslash burrowing into the ground as he sent out a weavile. "Naive idiot! Why are you always GETTING IN MY WAY!?" Zero roared as weavile launched into an Ice Punch at the flying dragon-bird. However, one of the stray meteors collided with it and sent the ice pokémon sprawling back to earth.
"Why do you insist on spilling the BLOOD OF INNOCENTS!?" Suzaku shouted as altaria recharged, then performed a Dragon Dance. "What happened to them…"
"If it wasn't for you…" Zero growled, charging with his blade as Suzaku fell into the shallow pit made by sandslash.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!" Suzaku roared as altaria swooped down and picked Zero up by the shoulders and threw him into the air. Out of the corner of his eye he saw ho-oh veer towards him, only to be cut off by Lancelot.
Lelouch was barely able to return his pokémon to their pokéballs before he smashed into the ground, hard, dislocating his right shoulder and smashing his snag arm.
'Dammit…' He managed to think before passing out. 'How… did I survive that…'
"I'll kill you…" said a familiar voice, sad and full of hatred.
'Shirley..?
"To avenge my dad… I'll kill you…"
Then the world turned black.
-}+{-
Know what I love about buffers? Cliff-hangers like this are twice as evil, because I have the next chapter ready to load, but I won't because I'm evil.
Then again, we all know that Lelouch isn't gonna die here. That'd ruin the story.
Though, I am DAMNED proud of the magikarp bomb. Who's the man?
Also, tell me if any lines are repeated or anything, because copying from the betary does not like me.