Hello everyone, I'm back! Srry, I had hoped to get this out sometime last week, but I just couldn't finish this in time. However it is done now. This ch has many battles and I must say i think it is one of my best. Oh by the way this is...... My first 10k ch! so all of you who wanted a longer ch, you just got it! I hope you all enjoy, and as always, I do not own Code Geass, I just own my plot and made up characters. Now lets get to those reviewers! (I have to warn you, there are a lot of them, Yeah!)
ShinobiGama- about the paring, something like that is really what probably is going to happen because Lelouch seems to care for both in the series and I want to stay true to that. and thanks for the encouragement.
(dont have a name for this guy) - Yes I know that they do get their memory back once the mission is complete, however there mission is not complete. They are to obey Lelouch in everything, but a Geassed commander is just about useless. Basically the geass is still in the back of their minds and can be reawakened at a word from lelouch, which is why he had to tell them they could have their free will back
recordman- lol thanks for that, I know I make a lot of mistakes, I try to fix everything before I post but a lot gets through.
jayley- lol yeah lelouch really did think he would die, which must of freaked him out once learning he was alive.
Pinfeathers- lol yeah, I didn't make the connection until after I posted it XD
Bloody Waterfalls- will try to, and you dont have to worry, he definitely will.
TsubasaSyaoforever- I'll try to keep that in mind, and will try to add some more description to it. Though i did complete in making it longer :)
A Midsummer Night's Dream- lol you got me haha just a mistype I suppose
Akira Stridder- Which one do you mean?
blackdeathmessenger- lol actually I only picked it because it sounded like a good name and was familiar for some reason. It wasn't until after your post that I made the connection. Guess I picked a good name for a Captain huh? lol
bob115- well you are about to find out :)
Osito13- thanks and I hope its as cool as you imagined. Also if you want to you should write a Code fanfic. Though I have to warn you, it gets to be a pain if you get writers block to get back started. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Southern Himalayan Mts., Chinese Flagship Empress Tianzi.
"Master Xing-ke! the Indians are breaking through! We can't hold them back much longer, need immediate back up! Please respond!"
"We are hear General, what is your status? Which area is the break located in?" said Grand General
"Everywhere! The entire Himalayan line is faultering. All of my reserves are in and those blasted Indians still keep coming! I have lost contact with three of my seven Colonels, and two of my other ones have been cut off and surrounded. To make matters worse the air fleet that you have overhead has been kept in check by the Indians fleet. I haven't got any support from them. Sir The Himalayas will soon fall unless I get some back up real soon. I- Booooom............" (communication screen rocks and debris falls from the ceiling, General falls from sight.)
"General Liang! Are you still there General!? Please respond!"
"Cough cough cough, Yes sir I am still hear," said the General as he climbed to his feet, "Just had a close call thats all. That blasted Indian artillery has my base camps number. I'm moving my command team back sir. What are your orders sir? I suggest you get me some help if you don't want me to pull out of the mountains."
"You'll get your help General. Try to reconnect with your men. I will be there shortly."
" Wait! you can't be ser- Boooooom..................."(screen goes blank)
"Sir the line just died. They either hit his compound or his tower, either way it can't be good." said the communications officer. As he turned around he saw Xingke walking to the elavator shaft, "Sir what are you doing?"
"Order all tigers to make ready for battle and prepare Shen Hu. I will take the field myself." As the command crew started to protest Xingke simply said, "Captain, you have your orders, don't let me down." With that he pressed the down button and the elevator doors closed and took him to the knighmare launch bay.
As he landed in the launch bay, Xingke saw in front of him, his elite troops, all wearing the uniforms of the Tiger Squadron, orange with black stripes. This was his unit, each man had been handpicked for their superior skill and cleverness in a Knightmare Frame. Not only were these twenty men standing in front of him the elite of his forces, each one was completely loyal to him. Most had been with him since his attempted coup against the eunuchs. Some were even farther back. They all were ready to give their lives for Xingke. It was his personal squad, taking the field whenever he did to ensure his safety and wreak as much havoc on the enemy as possible He smiled at them and said, "My friends, it is time, mount your Tigers!"
"Sir!!" they all shouted, and ran to their Tiger frames. The Tigers were superior frames to the Akatsuki or Gan-Ru, the two main units of the chinese Knightmare corps. They had orange and black armor with a tiger face on their chests and their faces had a feral look. They were based on the Shen Hu in structure yet did not posess the raw power, being without the Baryon heavy cannon and replacing it with two smaller cannons in the eyes of the tiger head on the chest. Also, a loose energy shield could be activated around the body. They all had float drives like the Shen Hu. Xingke's lieutenants had two dual machine guns based on their shoulders. They all carried Shen Hu's short swords for hand to hand combat. The Shen Hu, the Divine Tiger, was the pack leader, the Alpha Male, where he led they would follow. Now once again, the Tigers were called upon to defend China. Only this time, it was a lot closer to home.
" Tigers! General Liang is in danger of being routed. Most of the reserves have been sent into the air to hold back the Indian fleet. We therefore will go to assist him. Should we fail, the Indian army will have forced us out of the mountains, and the next step they take will be on Imperial lands. We will not let that happen! I refuse to allow them to step foot on this land we call home. Now my friends are you with me!"
"Chen zun zhi! (I will follow your commands)"
"Very well. We launch! and remember we fight for our friends, our loved ones, and for our Empress!"
"Hurrah!" With that shout Shen Hu launched from the carrier bay, followed by his four lieutenants and the the rest of the pack. Once outside they turned south to the mountains. It took them ten minutes to arrive but when they did they saw the battle was in full swing.
Above the battle for the skies was fierce, yet the Chinese forces were still holding their own, it is the ground that needs his attention. They flew right into the mountains and immediately saw that the Chinese ground forces were outmatched and outnumbered. It was time to change that. "Zhou Bei, take your men and support the extreme left. Cao Quan, take yours and support the extreme right. Sun Yun, Guan Liao, you two are with me, in the middle. Everyone activate battle tactic, Tiger Roar!"
"Understood! Chen zun zhi!" The units moved to their positions and struck out at the enemy formations. All units began the Tiger Roar, the eyes of the tigers began to glow red as they turned on their mini particle cannons and began strafing the enemy forces from the air. The enemy was taken completely by surprise and many of the chinese gave shouts of joy upon seeing the Tigers. One commander rallied his men, saying, "Look my brothers! The Tigers have come to save us! We must show them that we didn't need their protection! Forward, and attack with all the force of a tsunami!" With that the Chinese forces fought back with renewed vigor.
Xingke activated the Baryon heavy cannon and blew away the Indian forces in the middle. The majority of the Indian ground troops began to break ranks and run once they saw the power of the Baryon. A brave squad broke rank and went to fight the Shen Hu, yet they were no match for him. He activated his electric darts and fired them at the oncoming Akatsuki Jikinsanshiyo, hitting it and impaling the commander. Xingke then swung the commander into one of his troops, destroying them both, while at the same time he launched his other dart into another Akatsuki, and sent a burst of energy into it's system, destroying it. By this time the final two members of this squad were upon Xingke, who flew up to gain distance and drew his sword.
The two Akatsuki came upon him, one from the front and one from the back. Xingke smiled and shouted, "Now Shen Hu! Let us show them our true power!" With that he rushed the one in front of him, and as he did so, the second Akatsuki charged in trying hit him from behind. Then the Shen Hu flew straight up into the air, did a flip, and before the Akatsukis could react, one was dismembered and the other got shot by a dart.
As the electricity pumped into the Akatsuki Xingke could not help but think that this is to easy. The Indian forces had routed almost immediately after the Tigers arrival, and even though they had devastated the front-line forces, it should not of been nearly enough to rout the entire Indian army.... A trap! "All units fall back! Its a trap!" The Tigers obeyed instantly and shot back towards the Chinese lines. However the rest of the army was not as fast, and all of a sudden fifteen Knightmare frames appeared in the area, launching radiation blasts and destroying many of the Chinese forces. Xingke got word from his wing commanders that there was another ten on each flank. They were grey, with two machine guns on their shoulders and radiation surge cannons in the hands. At the torso area, three of them had two blades, while the rest had Guren's knife. They all had propulsion systems and where hovering at the same level as the Tigers.
'So... Rakshata has been busy after all... I wonder how strong these are...' thought Xingke. "All remaining units, regroup at our defensive lines. We will push on once we have regrouped and reformed our formations. Tigers I am counting on you to hold them off. Together, we will show them that we are superior to anything they can muster!"
"Yes sir! We will show them our might!" said the tigers
Suddenly, the lead Knightmare of the Indian forces spoke, "So you are Xingke, former Commander in Chief of the Black Knights, current Commander of the Chinese military forces, and Captain of the Tiger squadron. It is a pleasure to meet you at last. I am Mohandas Katoch, Captain of the Indian special forces unit. It's a pity that we must face each other here, from what I've heard you are a good man, and a fine leader. Unfortunately, you have taken to the field and so I can't let you live."
With That the fifteen grey knightmares came at Xingke and his ten Tigers. "All Tigers, stay in groups and fight off the incoming frames, don't get separated, we don't know the power of these frames or their pilots."
"Yes sir!" With that the Tigers broke into two groups of five, and moved to do battle with these new frames. Three of these new frames went after the Shen Hu. Xinge and his Tigers were outnumbered, yet they were the best that the Chinese army had, and there weren't anymore units who could be called for reinforcements, thus they would stand their ground and fight. Shen Hu flew at his opponents, launching his darts at the two on the end. They both dodged and launched radiation blasts at Shen Hu. The third, Mohandas Katoch's Knightmare, drew his dual swords, and charged right at Shen Hu. Shen Hu pulled back his darts dodged the radiation blasts and drew his sword, just in time to block the first swing of Katoch's Knightmare. The Shen Hu launched his dart and used it as a shield against the second strike. The Shen Hu flew away to gain altitude and launched the Baryon Cannon. The three Indian frames launched their radiation blasts together, and the combined force began to push back the Baryon Cannon's beam.
Xingke could not believe it, these three were more powerful than even the Shen Hu! Rakshata had really done her homework, and now it looked like she had surpassed even her most temperamental creation, the Shen Hu.... 'No! I will not lose!' thought Xingke. Xingke flipped a switch to his right and then put in the password for the Shen Hu's operational system. 'Even if it cost me my life, I will defeat them,' he thought. He raised the power level of the Shen Hu from 40% to 50%! Immediately he felt the added strain on his body, and knew that he must finish this quickly.
He locked down the controls and flew out of the way of the radiation blasts, and then launched the Baryon Cannon again. This time the three could only hold there own against the Baryon Cannon, and finally the beams exploded. From the smoke came the Shen Hu, Flying faster than ever before, and once again he drew his short sword and came upon them. The first did not even have time to react as it was cut down. The second raised its knife in an effort to defend, but Xingke launched his darts instead, impaling the arm of the knightmare to its side and allowing for it to be easily dispatched. As the Shen Hu turned around to face the last one, he saw that Katoch was already upon him and only barely got his sword raised in time to fight him back.
Katoch shouted, "I will avenge my men Xingke! You surprised us with your speed but I will stop you now!" With that his swords came down upon Shen Hu and though Xingke was able to deflect he was beginning to feel a pain in his stomach. 'Not now!' he thought, 'Not when I am so close!' He broke away and launched both of the darts at Katoch. Katoch grapped both of them and shouted, "I have you now!" He activated his radiation waves on both of his arms while Xingke activated his electricity on Shen Hu. Xingke then shouted, "Your mine!" and rushed him with his short sword. Katoch had no where to go! If he stopped the radiation wave, then the electricity would get him, if he didn't stop then he would be cut down.
Yet right when it appeared that all hope was lost for Katoch, one of his men flew up, sliced the darts, and deflected Shen Hu's sword! Shen Hu was then surrounded by five of the Indian special forces Knightmare frames. Xingke blasted up to gain some room an then noticed on his screen that only 3 of his ten Tigers were alive and there were still eight Indian models! "You've lost Xingke! China falls today!" shouted Katoch and he with his four units came charging at the Shen Hu!
Xingke shouted, "I will not lose!" and activated the Baryon Cannon one last time. He also opened the operational system and raised the power level to 70%! The Baryon Cannon came down upon the five Knightmares like a raging fire coming to consume them. They all activated their Radiation blasts with both hands and shot it towards the Shen Hu. As the blasts connected, it was as if the entire area shook with the impact. It took everything Xingke had to keep his attack up, and finally it was to much. Xingke began coughing tremendously, and as blood splattered in his cockpit his knightmare moved, just a little bit. Yet it was enough, the ten blasts of radiation waves broke through his Baryon Cannons beam, and hit him. He was lucky that most of the energy had been used up battling his beam for supremacy, but his system was still fried.
The radiation waves had wracked his body horribly and he was nearing unconsciousness. The Shen Hu's systems began to fail and he began to plummet to the earth. As he fell, Xingke began to remember things, he remembered the end of Brittanian rule and the death of Lelouch vi Brittania. He remembered the beginning of the breakup of the United Federation of States, how the nations could not resolve basic trade and territorial disputes, and how nations began leaving almost immediately. He also remembered young Empress Tianzi. He remembered the few good days, those days where the Empress would come and meet with him and they could both get away from the paper work and advisors constantly needling at them.
He smiled and thought, 'Especially for her, with all of her advisors trying to convince her to take a consort from one of the leading families, or those who wanted her to marry one of the Mongolian or Korean princes. Ha, She is stronger than she believes, I would of went mad,' he thought. He also remembered those times when he had been able to sneak her out of the Forbidden City, and showed her the world. Though she was Empress now instead of just a puppet, her advisors always had large escorts for her wherever she went. He took her out into the world and showed her the nation that she called home and the people who called her Empress. Before those trips the only place she had ever seen outside her royal carriage were the Forbidden Cities in Louyang and Bejing. She was always so happy when he took her to new places.
Suddenly, Xingke's eyes snapped open, as he remembered his final memory with the empress. He was kneeling in the Imperial Throne room, and she had just announced his appointment as the Grand General of the Chinese forces. He had accepted and as he made to rise she whispered in his ear, "Come back to me Li, don't leave me alone." What had been his response? "I promise my lady, I will return to you," was what it was.
With that, a new found resolve engulfed him, and with only 50 feet before crashing on to the mountain, Xingke restarted his system. He activated his float drive and flipped Shen Hu over and landed on the mountain. He checked his systems and saw that he was operating at under 10% power and that all of his weapons were shut down, with the exception of his sword. He finally decided on a course of action, "To all field commanders, retreat. I repeat, retreat, fall back to defensive line delta omega." With that he launched himself out of the mountains. Yet he wasn't out of the fire yet.
"Where you going Xingke?" Asked a mocking Katoch. He was right on Shen Hu's tale! Even worse, Xingke had to be very carful how fast he reacted and what maneuvers to pull as he knew the next time his constitution failed he would go unconscious. Suddenly, he began coughing again, and he could not help but think, 'Could this truly be the end?' Yet right when it looked like Katoch would catch him he heard, "You got lucky Xingke! I'm low on energy. Thank what ever gods you hold dear, because they have given you an extra day. Next time we meet will be your last!"
With that Xingke let out a sigh, and returned to his Flagship. When he finally landed he saw that the fight had not gone well for his Tigers. of the twenty that he had at the start only seven were left. Of that, only two arrived unscathed. Only one of his lieutenants, Lt. Cao Quan remained.
"Sir, it was horrible! They outmaneuvered all of us. We only took out two on our side, and lost three, including Lt. Zhou Bei! Only Liu Ce and me were able to make it back."
"We fared a little better," said Cao Quan, coming to meet his captain and old friend, " we killed five of the ten we faced and only lost two, but we received a lot of support from the ground forces. They had held their positions in the beginning so they had not been hit as bad by the ambush as other units."
Looking at his men, and the deep sadness in all of their eyes, only hardened Xingke's resolve, and though he could feel the sickness coming upon him, he vowed to stay strong in front of his men, "My friends, we all lost men today. Only Zhang Shao, and Mao Wei survived the fight in the center with me. We killed seven of them, yet that is no victory. There is no telling how many of them are out there, and we are all that is left of the Tigers. Now my friends, we must prepare for the worst, They will surely come at us again, this time we must be ready. File your reports and get some sleep while you still can. Something tells me we will be needed really soon..."
With that the Tigers dispersed, and Xingke went to his room. Once arriving in the privacy of his room, he ran to his bathroom and began coughing terribly. He knew each battle cost him a little more time, and every little stress he put on his body only amplified the sickness, yet he could not abandon his men, his friends, his nation, or his Empress for his own sake. No he would rather die than let something happen to any of them. Yet, he prayed to his ancestors, "Please, I need more time." As if denying his request, another shutter wracked his body, and he began coughing up blood once again, and fell to floor as his knees gave way under his increasing stress level. He laid there, on the floor, completely exhausted, so much so that he could not even move. As the coughs subsided he slowly and quietly begged his ancestors, and any gods that would listen, "Please, just... just a l-l-little more time......." With that he fell into the merciful blackness of unconsciousness.
Hennigsdorf, Germany
"Knights five, and seven, take the right flank. Knights three, and six, take the left. Knights four and eight will command the center. Knights two and ten, take a regiment and flank them from the right. Do not let them break thorugh! I, Knight of One, Prince Wilhelm XII, will take overall control of this battle. Hear we stop the Danes advance!"
"Sir!" shouted all of the Knights.
The Danes had betrayed the western alliance, and now were less than a mile from Berlin. The Fortress of Hennigsdorf, is one of a group of fortress, surrounding the city of Berlin. Thus anyone attempting to take Berlin would first have to break through this fortress line. Henningdorf happened to be the first to make contact with the enemy. Wilhelm knew he needed to do some serious damage now, while all the Knights were together, because once the main force of the Danes arrived they would split and attack Schonwalde, and Hohen Neuendorf, and Falkensee. No, they had to stop them here! If they could just inflict some serious damage here, then the Danes would be forced to leave and regroup, which would give the Germans time to counter-attack.
"Conrad, leave your unit under command of Captain Bismark and strike the enemy from above. They have no arial units deployed thus we will have a huge advantage in this fight. We must make use of it.
"Yes sir!" With that, Conrad took off and blasted into the sky. Conrad laughed upon feeling the thrill of flying, his old Custom Panzer-Hummel having been land based. He then saw that he could see the entire battlefield from here and that he had a perfect vantage point from which to destroy the Danish forces. 'Thank you Brittania for having such disloyal scientists! The WEU would never of advanced as quickly without those blueprints that were sold to us,' thought Conrad.
He pulled out his Imperial Rifle (based on the VARIS Rifle) and fired destroying an entire column of Danish ground forces. Conrad could not believe how much more advanced this frame was compared to his old. Not only could it fly, but it had energy weapons, and even could engage in hand to hand combat! This truly showed how far behind the EU had been compared to Brittania. Now though, it worked to their advantage, as only Germany and France had gained the data as of yet. Meaning the Danes were far behind!
Conrad put up his Rifle and pulled out his energy sword. Now he would see how it felt to fight hand to hand. With that he swooped down upon the enemy forces. He was to fast for their Panzer-Hummels to shoot! He lashed out at them and struck down ten units in his first flight before ascending back into the air. The Danes didn't stand a chance! There was no need to call the French for help with the Danes only having Panzer-Hummels vs these new Kaiser class frames!
"Conrad! Don't get overconfident! We don't have the time to make you a new one if you total it. We have been given a great gift and opportunity with these frames. Don't get them destroyed by showing off."
"Understood sir! Will get back to business, sir." With that he disengaged his sword and put it up. Once again he pulled out his Rifle and let the Danes have it. He was easily destroying large amounts of the enemies and they could not even reach him at this height. "It appears that we got worried over nothing," said Conrad, "the Knights could of handled this army by ourselves."
"Conrad watch out!" shouted the Knight of One.
Just in time Conrad was able to dodge an Akatsuki's blade as it came down at him. "Wo! that was close. That will teach me to start acting cocky."
"It had better Conrad... It appears that the Poles sent some support to the Danes, and to think I was just starting to think that this fight was over."
Fifteen Akatsukis had arrived in support of the Danes, all equipped with air glide wings. What really scared Conrad however was what was behind them.... A UFN Aerial Carrier! It was about half the size of the Ikaruga, yet it was still the largest aircraft the German army had ever seen. Even when fighting Brittania they never faced an aircraft like this.
Conrad snapped out of his awe filled trance in time to dodge the Akatsuki's sword once again. Conrad flew away, put up his rifle, and drew his sword. By this time 4 other Akatsuki's had arrived and began attacking Conrad and his Knightmare. Conrad used the superior speed and maneuverability of his Knightmare to get out of the way and then came back around and struck at them. At first Conrad could just barely hold his own against the pilots, even with his Knightmare's advantage compared to theirs, but it did not take long for him to become proficient at hand-hand combat and once that happened he was defeating them with ease.
"Take this!" he shouted as he slashed through an Akatsuki. 'Only two more to go,' he thought. Just then he was suddenly surrounded by the other ten Akatsukis. 'Great...,' he thought, 'I was just starting to get good at this and now I'm surrounded. Oh well, I'll just let them have it!' Conrad shot towards one of them and as he did so he saw those behind, above and below charge at him, while the one in front of him raised its sword for defense. Instead of engaging that one, Conrad turned, launched his Slash Harkons at one, and then threw it into two more. He then flew through the whole created by these three's destruction. After he escaped he saw that the Knights with the exception of the Knight of One had taken to the air and were battling the Carrier and its units that continuously flew or jumped off. The ground units immediately began attacking the fortifications at Henningsdorf, while the arial units engaged the Knights. The Knight of One had taken to the field and was battling the ground forces along with the Panzer-Hummels of the German army.
"So I guess I'm on my own for now," said Conrad as the nine remaining Akatsukis came at him. Conrad flew out to meet them, and launched both of his Slash Harkons at the two leading Akatsukis, and pulled them towards him. When they got back to him he slashed them with his sword, retracted the Slash Harkons and engaged the next group of Akatsukis. He slashed through the first one and then deflected a slash from the next, and slid down the sword and flipped his sword over to cleave through another Akatsuki, and then stabbed the original one while still facing the other four. The four remaining Akatsukis took up a square formation around Conrad. They all charged at the same time.
Conrad smiled and simply said, "When will they learn, doing the same old tactics will not work," He launched his Slash Harkens at the two on the sides, then spun his arms and crashed them into the other two. "And that takes care of that." said Conrad. He was about to engage the Danish forces when he heard over the radio, "We need help here!"
The Polish carrier had deployed all of its units and most had been destroyed yet the ships defenses were still fierce and it was being used as a base for damaged and endangered Knightmare frames to land and escape their pursuers. With the Knights being the only flying units in the German Army they were taking a beating from these guns.
"Conrad, Benjamin, take down that ship! Polish troops have landed at other fortresses, Knights three and five, go and assist Fortress Hohen Neuendorf, Knights four and six, go to Fortress Panketal, and Knights eight, and ten, go to Fortress Ahrensfelde. I will hold the line here at Hennigsdorf." With that the Knights split up to hold the line in other areas.
The Polish carrier began following after the departing Knights, Conrad pulled out his rifle and said, "No you don't! Your mine!" He took two shots at the ship's bridge, and flew towards the carrier. The Knight of two and seven both struck the ship hard, sending a constant barrage at the carrier. While Conrad fired off bursts with his Imperial Rifle, Benjamin fired his Vernichtung Cannon. The Ship began to turn around to face this threat, yet it was to slow to get a lock on the two Knightmare frames. Twenty-seven Knightmare frames launched from the carrier, most heavily damaged. They were easy prey for the two Knights of Berlin, yet they did their job. As they distracted the Knights, the carrier ship started heading east, back to Poland.
Conrad started to chase it when he heard over the communicator, "Stop Conrad! Let them run. We've already notified the Knights at the other fortresses, and our army in Poland to shoot it down if possible. You need to come in and recharge. Your down to 10% energy wise, and we need you to get back here anyway, the Danes are still coming and are pressing Prince Wilhelm hard."
Conrad stopped his Knightmare, looked at his power supply, saw that command was right and just glared at the Polish carrier running away. They had damaged it a lot, and had destroyed most of the Knightmares on board, yet this wasn't a victory over the Poles. This was barely a victory over the Danes. Though none of the Knights had fallen, the fortresses were all damaged and would have to be repaired now with the threat of polish arial forces to deal with. Conrad doubted they would get the go ahead to counter-attack the Danes with this new information. Conrad took one final shot at the carrier, watched it hit but do minimal damage, then started back to Berlin to be recharged.
Suddenly, descending from the clouds over Berlin appeared a full sized UFN carrier ship! Conrad could not believe it, the little carrier had been a distraction, a way to weaken the German Forces. Now the main battle would start, and Conrad had almost no power left! He punched his engines to the max, trying to reach the nearest base to get recharged. He landed at Hennigsdorf and jumped out and shouted to the ground crew, "Get me up to 50% power and rearm my machine gun turrets! On second thought, don't worry about the machine gun, just get me enough power to fight." As he jumped down, he watched as the carrier dropped off many Knightmares, both Arial and land based, around Berlin, and as its gun began pounding the shield that had rose around the capitol. The cities defense systems activated as well, as auto-turrets began firing and Knightmare frames launched.
The carrier fired its large cannon, and began pounding the city. It was only a matter of time before it fell. Prince Wilhelm and any other Knights with energy left had already gone to defend the city. The vast majority however needed to recharge, which left them forced to watch as their beloved city was shot to pieces.
Suddenly to the west, their was a glint of light off of something in the sky. Then suddenly their engines were fired and they arrived over Berlin. It was a group of twenty-five Knightmare Frames, white and gold frames, with a sword on their back and Angelic energy wings. The frames took up positions behind and below the carrier, and then ten of the units arms changed. The hands were pulled back into the arms, the sides of the arms then lifted up and reorganized themselves in the shape of cannons. From these cannons, shot out a bluish white light straight at the carrier. The carrier was completely destroyed by the blast, and after the ship exploded, the other fifteen units flew after all of the Knightmare frames that had escaped.
Suddenly their was a message over the radio. Conrad ran up to his Knightmare and listened in. He heard, "I am Captain Jean-Luc Bruel of his majesty, the King of France's Elite Knightmare Corp. We have come to pay a debt that we owed to our dear friends the Germans, and to destroy the traitors to the EU. All German units should stand down until this is cleared so as to not get in our way. Thank you and peace to you brothers."
Conrad could not believe his eyes and ears! First the sheer power of these French units was amazing! They blew away an entire carrier, shield and all, in ten seconds! Then they effectively destroyed the remaining enemy forces! The Poles had been destroyed and the Danes were routed!
What Conrad could not believe even more though, was the arrogance and audacity of the French forces to their allies. Whether intentionally or not he had insulted German honor to the very highest level! Telling the German forces to lay low in their own capitol! This kind of talk was unheard of amongst supposed friends and allies. 'I only hope that this doesn't form a schism in the alliance,' thought Conrad as he watched the last of the Polish forces break and run under the French assault.
Imperial Palace, New Pendragon
".... furthermore I plan on sending diplomatic missions to these nations in the hope of gaining peace for this world." said Empress Nunnally. She had been giving a speech in the throne room of the Imperial Palace to many governors and elected officials of the empire, outlining her plan to bring forth world peace. Many news media members were present, video taping, taking pictures, and asking questions. The Audience gave her a round of applause before she continued, " These diplomates that will be sent will have the job to bring an end to these conflicts and hopefully will allow for the reformation of the UFN. Should this happen I-"
BANG! A gunshot went off and the crowd broke into a stampede for the doors. Zero ran in front of Nunnally and the guards surrounded her. Up on the balcony was a dead man, with a knife through his heart and his rifle, which looked a lot like a camera, had fallen to the ground. Sayoko was on the opposite side of the balcony and jumped down. Upon landing she said, "My apologizes majesty for not stopping him from firing, but he was a sneaky one and I only realized that it was a gun a few seconds ago as he loaded it. He must of been a professional, because he only put in one shot which gave me almost no time to stop him... I am sorry my lady, I failed in preventing him from disturbing your meeting."
"Not at all Sayoko, you saved the Empress's life," said Zero, "none of us even saw him, it was a good thing you were there. You did an excellent job."
"Yes you did Sayoko, I thank you from the bottom of my heart," said Nunnally.
"Thank you your majesty. It is always a pleasure to serve you." said Sayoko.
Suddenly over the projector, loud speakers, an TV stations, came a voice, and a face appeared on the screen. "My friends, implement plan Snake Bite." said the figure on the screen.
"What could that mean," asked Sayoko. Suddenly Sayoko threw her throwing knives at two of the guards, killing them both with knives through the neck!
Zero raised his gun at Sayoko and said, "What is the meaning of this!"
"You fool! They were going to kill her! Watch out!" the last part Sayoko shouted as the main door was blasted down, and machine gun fir ripped through the room. Schneizel and Zero moved behind a pillar and Sayoko, jumped on top of Nunally, flipping over her wheelchair which was effective cover, and took the shots. Zero pulled out a pistol and began firing at the troops who began to stream into the hall, while Schneizel began calling for support. Of the loyal guards that were left, one had been shot dead as soon as the door broke down, while the other two were behind a pillar firing their automatic weapons.
Sayoko held Nunnally tight as bullets flew through the air at them. Nunnally meanwhile could not believe this. She recognized the voice over the projector as that of General Hollister, yet how could Hollister have come up with so much support, while fighting the rebels?
The voice came back over the radio and this time Hollister's face could be seen clearly over the projector and TV screens, "My friends, fellow Britannians, my brothers, I call on all of you to bring power back to Britannia! Tear down this weak administration under Empress Nunnally, and restore the Empire to its rightful place as the super power of the world! The world is at war, they are split everywhere! Now is the time to take back what is ours! My brothers, surely you must see that we have been stifled by this Empress? We have not been allowed to reach our full potential! We must strive to do so my friends, and the only way to do that, is to recapture the spirit of the Empire! All Hail Britannia! All Hail Britannia! All Hail Britannia!"
As the General continued his speech and shouts of all hail britannia, the remaining areas of the empire fell into civil war. The fight was between those who supported the Empress, and those who wanted to see her deposed. Yet back in the Imperial Palace Nunnally was still under fire. Zero and the guards had killed many of the traitorous troops, yet more kept storming in. The guards were running out of ammo, and so was Zero. However, for some reason the troops stopped pouring in and actually retreated. Zero heard the sounds of gunfire from the hallway. Schneizel exclaimed, "General Hector has arrived. He pledges his unending support for the Empress and has vowed to keep her save. "
Suddenly the door to the side of the room opened up and a man said, "Quickly Empress, we haven't much time." Schneizel ran up to the man, and clasping his hand said, "You are quite the sight for sore eyes my friend, I thought for sure we were dead, until I was able to reach you over the radio."
"Ha well just remember that I won't always be around to save you Schneizel." The man in question was General Hector, an older general who had led Britannian forces in both the first and second Pacific Wars. He had been one of Schneizel's military instructors when both had been younger, and had advised him often in the war with the EU. Though he looked younger than the sixty years that he was, you could tell by looking into his blue eyes and scarred face that age had taken a toll on this old warrior. His brown hair was starting to show spots of grey, and his days of piloting Knightmare frames and taking to the field himself were over. Yet he was still a valuable commander and he was widely respected throughout the military high command.
"Oh well, enough time wasted where is the Empress? We need to get her out of the city now. Hollister has convinced at least half of the army to join him, if not more, and he will gain support from many of the disgraced nobles, hurry now we must go." That last being directed at Zero, Sayoko, and Nunnally who had just been set up in her wheelchair.
Zero began pushing it and as she went by Nunnally said, "Thank you General for your loyalty."
"Not at all your highness, it is the least I can do for an Empress who finally let me rest, even if it was only for a year." said a smiling Hector. Together the small party ran down the hallway, and into the courtyard, where a Logres class Battleship was hovering above them. "Now quickly your Highness get inside the shuttle." Once inside, the shuttle took off and landed in the docking bay of the King Arthur. The General walked outside, pushed a button on the wall and said, "We are in Erik, call back the boys and get us out of here."
"Sir, yes sir!" said the bridge officer and issued the orders to the bridge staff.
"Where are we going General?" asked Zero.
"To my base of operations at Portland. Once their we can find out how many of the troops have stayed loyal to you and if we can fight them."
"And what if we can't?" asked Nunnally.
"Then I would suggest going into exile my lady. Indefinitely." said the General as he walked out of the hanger bay.
Paris, France
Prime Minister Michel Chaban walked into the Parliament building, with a regal stride, as he approached King Louis Napoleon. No one else would ever of shown this much disrespect to king and country by walking in late, unannounced and without at least introducing oneself. The room got deathly quite, so much so that you could hear every step that the Prime Minister took on his way to the center of the assembly. As he stepped into the center of the Parliament building, all eyes were upon him, most glaring at this man who acted like he was above the King and Parliament, yet others stared at wonder at this man who had so much confidence that he would do something like this, if anyone else did this they would be expelled from Parliament.
The Prime Minister walked directly into the center of the room, where a large circle was placed in front of the king. This place was for the speeches and discussions that were given in Parliament so often. The Prime Minister kneeled in the center of the circle, bowed his head for a second, then raised it and looking at the king said, "My apologizes, for being late."
As if those five words had opened the flood gates, the gathered assembly exploded with shouts and discussions. The Prime Minister and the king were the only ones who didn't say anything, and they stared at each other as if to see who would break eye contact first. Though only twenty-five, and being king for less than two years, he had quickly learned that even though it seemed like no one was watching, in reality everyone of the senators were paying attention to this silent duel. Should he lose, the Prime Minister would gain support from many in the parliament, who would see him as weak. He would not lose, under any circumstances. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Prime Minister looked away, and the king, smiling rose and said, "Quite!"in a commanding voice.
With that, all conversation in the room stopped. The king then said, "Michel, you are here before us today to answer some questions concerning the Knightmare Frame, Archangel prototype. We have received reports that twenty-five were sent to assist the Germans, and that is fine and good, but another fifteen have been reported on the Italian front and another thirty on the African continent. So we must ask, how many of these 'prototypes' did you make?"
"Well if you must know, I created two prototypes. The rest are the perfected model." stated the Prime Minister.
A gasp of shock echoed through the parliament building. They had never agreed to putting money and time into the mass production of these models. They had yet to even see one in action or the details of its construction. He had gone around everyone's back, even the king, which you could tell by the surprise on the kigns face, as he said, "You mass-produced them without permission?! That is a series breach of protocol Michel, a series offense in a time of war."
"Perhaps but in war some things must be down in secret." stated the Prime Minister. He seemed to have an air of confidence surrounding him, as if anything he did was destined to succeed.
This air of confidence seemed to assure the king and he nodded and said, "Very well, I can accept that, but how many of these have you created?"
"Enough, I created enough for their purpose." said the Prime Minister.
"What is their pur-" started the king, yet all of a sudden the Parliament building was rocked by gunfire! "What is going on here!" shouted the king. From out side came a voice from a Knightmare, it said, " Your time has come Napoleon. The end of your dynasty is here!"
The Prime Minister pulled out his gun, and pointed it at the king and the entire senate held their breath. In ran the four guards from the outside. The King sat there for a second in astonishment, then smiling said, "You will not get away with it Michel. the guards are already here, if you shoot me you forfeit your own life. Put the gun down."
"Perhaps, or perhaps they are with me." said the Prime Minister. He snapped his fingers, and the guards began firing at the senators in the room. The senators stampeded to the doors, which they found were locked, and so great was the hurry to get out, that they could not bust it down, instead running into each other as they tried to find cover from the hail of bullets being rained down upon them.
The King watched in horror, but then his mind was snatched back to his own situation, when he heard his traitorous Prime Minister speak, "Oh and by the way, my name isn't Michel. It's Alfred, Lord Alfred." With that he pulled the trigger twice. The kick tried to stand to get out of the way, yet the first bullet hit him square in the chest, while the second went right through his neck. The king fell back into his chair, gasping for breath. Alfred walked up to him and looked at the king and smiled at him saying, "It is not such a bad fate as all that, you do not live long enough to see your family die, your nation fall, your family suffer. No it is much better this way I think. Oh and about those Knightmares, don't worry, I will take care of them. They will regret the day they betrayed you, this I promise you."
The king looked at Alfred confused at why he would say that, but then Alfred put the gun to his head. He tried to grab it away with his right hand, while his left hand still held his throat. Alfred in turn just grabbed the hand and once again smiled at the king, and said, "Don't worry, its all taken care of. You can rest in peace, knowing that your family, friends, and people will soon be joining you in the afterlife." With that he pulled the trigger and killed the king. Alfred turned and saw that two of the four guards he had bribed had been killed by the stampeding senators, but they had done their job, all of the senators, and representatives were dead. The other two looked at him awaiting orders.
Alfred walked up to them and said, "Good job, you both did excellent work." As they opened their mouth to say thank you, He roundhouse kicked the first one, then on his turn shot the other one, in between the eyes. He walked over to the one he had kicked who was starting to get up. Alfred kicked him back down, and put his foot on his throat.
The guard pushed up on the foot to try to get some oxygen and said, "Wh-why!"
Alfred pushed down harder and said, "Why what? Why did I attack you or why did I leave you alive? To the first one it is because I hate the French, I hate them with every fiber of my body. To the second, it is because I wanted somebody to gloat to."
"B-b-but you are French," said the guard.
"Ha, no I am not, I am Britannian!" With that Alfreds eyes glowed red, his hair changed from blond to black and his face and body changed. "Hahaha do you see me know?"
"Who-- What are you!" shouted the guard.
"Who am I? What Am I? Ha, I am a Britannian! That in itself makes me superior to you. Yet I am also of Nobel Blood, making you thrice the bug under my shoe, and I've finally decided to crush you." with that he shot the guard in the head. After that, Alfred walked to the large double doors that he had only came from a few minutes ago. He pressed a radio transmitter on his collar and said, "Captain, eliminate the pests."
Over the radio he heard, "Understood sir!" and the sound of Knightmare Frames launching off. As he reached the double doors he heard the sound of explosions in the city streets outside. He pushed open the door and saw the last of the Panzer-Hummels destroyed. Down came his creations, the Archangels. They landed on one knee in front of him, twenty in all. Behind them was the wreckage of fifty Panzer-Hummels. The leader of the group then said, "What are your commands Lord Alfred?" Alfred smiled and laughed hysterically.
Two hours later
"My people! Today you saw something terrible. Colonel Petain, commander of the Paris guards, betrayed us. His forces stormed the Parliament building killing the vast majority of the Parliament. I, as King Louis Napoleon of France, wish to personally thank Captain Alexandre Briand for his timely rescue without which, myself, Prime Minister Michel, and those few representatives who made it, would not have survived. As such, I will be promoting Captain Briand to the rank of Colonel at a ceremony tomorrow. Also I will be presenting him with the Legion d' Honneur at the rank of Officer. Once again, I assure you my people I am well and we will move past this. We have a war to fight my brothers and as always France will prevail! I ask that the Grand Armee continue its quest of peace in Europe, and that It continue with its excellent show of valor and discipline in the face of such untrustworthy enemies. It is a testament to our forces that the enemy would try to invoke a coup right at the time when our friends need us the most! This shows their fear of us, and my people, we will make them fear us even more after this dishonorable attack. Thank you my people."
As the cameras turned off and King Napoleon walked out of the room he began to laugh hysterically and his body began to change. Once again, he was Lord Alfred of Britannia.
Mt. Asahidake, Hokkaido, Japan.
"What do you mean I have to act like an advisor!" exclaimed a furious Lelouch.
"I mean just like I said, you can not be giving orders to me in front of my commanders. Phrase your orders as suggestions." stated Tohdoh.
"That will take to long. Just give me command on the suggestion of the Britannian army."
"Hahaha even the new Britannian army wouldn't put a nineteen year old in charge of an attack of this magnitude. We have four armies here, plus the Elite Strike Force. My commanders would never accept it."
"Then just let me Geass them, they will forget they ever saw me."
"I'd prefer if you didn't. Besides that wouldn't help, as the majority of the soldiers are made up of former Black Knights, meaning they would recognize your voice and command patterns." Seeing that Lelouch was going to protest more he said, "And the Elite Strike Force is led by... Gino Weinberg"
"Your serious?....Why in the world did you pick him! He is a Knight of Rounds! " asked an astonished Lelouch, "When you had Kallen right their, a national hero who can stand up to any Knight of Rounds member, why would you pick Gino?"
"I offered it to Kallen first, she refused. She told me she didn't want to fight anymore. So mighty leader, who would you of suggested? Chiba? She is the only remaining member of the Four Holy Swords, yet she was pregnant at the time of the reformation of the Japanese army. Tamaki? We all know he would make a terrible captain, let alone the captain of the Elite Strike Force. The majority of my soldiers are all average at best, I couldn't put them in charge of a company, let alone an elite force. Gino offered and I took him up on it."
"Yet can we trust him? He is a Knight of Britannia?"
"I could ask you the same question, how can we, the Japanese trust a Britannian prince, scratch that, the former Emperor of Britannia." stated Tohdoh
"Tohdoh, we've been through that remember? You were the one that convinced Ohgi to trust me."
"That is my point Lelouch, if we are to trust you, shouldn't you have a little faith in Gino? He has cut his ties to Britannia, much as you have. Though I must say he would not be to happy to see you, he has been a loyal Japanese soldier. Which brings us back to the original argument, you can not have direct command of the units." said Tohdoh.
".... Very well, but I want command of Kallen's unit.
"Kallen doesn't have a unit Lelouch, we aren't a terrorist group anymore. We can't just put anyone on the battlefield."
"And since when was I just anybody? asked Kallen as she walked in with her piloting suit on.
"Kallen, you know what I meant. You are not a part of the army, thus I can not allow you to take the field."
"Oh really?" said a threatening Kallen, daring Tohdoh to say that again
"Yes really." said Tohdoh, holding his ground against the fire burning in Kallen's blue eyes.
Lelouch suddenly came up and said, "Ok break it up you two. I have a solution to all of our problems. Tohdoh, you sill want to be in command of your troops, understandable. Kallen you want to be able to fight, also understandable. And me, I thought the whole reason I came here for was to lead. However we can't always get what you want, so here is what we can do. Tohdoh, you will have command over the army with me as your "advisor", Kallen will stay back and be the ace in the hole, much like Suzaku was the many times we fought Britannia together, and I will have personal command of her unit activities. Everyone gets a little bit of what they want, Tohdoh you get your army, Kallen you get to fight, and I get to lead. And before either of you object, I must remind you that we don't have time to argue. General Oda has begun moving his men into position Tohdoh, so shouldn't we be getting on the Edo?"
"Very well, I suppose that will work," said Tohdoh. The three went into Tohdoh's transport, and ten minutes later had landed on the Edo, the Flagship of Japanese forces.
Upon arriving, Lelouch threw Tohdoh an earpiece, and said "This is how we will stay in touch. I need to talk to Kallen about 'That'."
"Oh ok," said a smiling Tohdoh, " Hanger bay four." turning to look at Kallen he said, "We've got a surprise for you Kallen."
Kallen stood their confused by the smiles the two commanders were giving her, and as Tohdoh turned around and walked out one set of doors Lelouch took her hand and went out another. Kallen had no idea what this could be but obviously it must be something they thought she would like. Then she remembered what Lelouch had said, 'That'. He had put such an emphasis on that one word. What could he have meant by That? Her mind wandered, thinking what 'That' could be, she came up with quite a few possibilities, and as they walked into the darkened hanger bay a few other possibilities came to her that made her blush, "Lelouch what is thi-"
"Just wait, you'll see in a second," he said, interrupting her. Suddenly he flipped the lights and there..............................
Was the Guren! Completely rebuilt and ready to fly. Kallen stared in awe at her Knightmare, she had thought to never see Guren again. She could barely believe her eyes! She turned to Lelouch and asked, "Is this for real?"
Lelouch smiled at her, nodded and said, "So i guess you like your surprise?" For an answer she hugged Lelouch and said "Thank you!" she let go and ran over to the Guren. She pulled out the key she always cared with her, looked down at Lelouch for confirmation, who nodded, and she opened the hatch. She opened it and got in to check the controls.
Lelouch said, "Next time you see Tohdoh and Ohgi you should thank them. They got it rebuilt for you in the hope that one day you would come back to the Black Knights."
"I certainly will thank them. So when do I fly?" she asked after checking her systems, and jumping down to be with Lelouch.
"Not for a while yet, Tohdoh may have this under control but I doubt it. These terrorist are clever and obviously have the backing of someone with money. I don't think even Gino will be able to-,"
"Wait what does Gino have to do with this?" Kallen asked.
"What, did you miss that entire discussion me and Tohdoh had?" asked an amazed Lelouch.
"I guess so," said Kallen
"Well I guess you should probably know, Gino is the head of Tohdoh's Elite Strike Force."
"What! Your serious?" asked an incredulous Kallen
"Yep I was the same way when I found out." said Lelouch.
As Lelouch began explaining how that happened, Tohdoh had finally made it to the bridge. He sat in his command chair, and thought for a second, 'Yes Lelouch, you are beginning to see what you have cost me, General Katase, Kusakabe, Kosetsu, Ryoga, and even Shogo. That is only those that I was close to. That does not count for all those you killed at the Special Administrative Region. I will serve you Lelouch, as long as you continue to fight for Japan,' His thoughts became increasingly darker, and his face turned into a scowl, 'but you have cost me much and should you use us again as pawns, than so help me by all that is holy, Geass or no Geass I will kill you Lelouch, I will."
Well, thats that. I hope you all enjoyed this ch. I had wanted to add the battle of Mt. Asahidake to this ch, but like I said above I was already over 10k words. Besides it gives you all something to look forward to. Also for you CC and Jerimiah fans, I will let you know that they are safe and will be reappearing in the story shortly. I meant to have a part in here about them but as stated many times before I already had plenty to post.
Anyway, Hope you all enjoyed and will review. Remember, Questions, comments, and constructive criticism are always welcome. And as always, Review! See you next time!