100 REVIEWS! WHOOO!
And now for an epic battle. Hooray!
BUt first, Poggg, Kanon volunteered. Kanon is also a homosexual in the canon. We assume as has a thing for Schneizel.
Karasu, In this chapter, you learn why I don't do that. And for Shen Hu's replacement, you are wrong with all your guesses.
-}+{-
Among the three superpowers that control this world, two of them, the Holy Empire of Britannia and the Chinese Union, intended to merge through a marriage of convenience.
Facing the greatest threat to the United States of Japan, Zero took action, abducting the symbol of the Chinese Union, the child empress, Tianzi.
However… will dreams blaze the trail of fate? Shall willpower over come all?
Although it is said that the ephemeral flower always dances in the wind…
The pillar of flames was brilliant, impressive, and terrifying, a grand column that came from the ho-oh above, incinerating anything in its path.
Except, of course, for the cyclone that rose from under the ground to protect Zero and the Empress.
The ground under their feet fell as a circle around them was cut into and through the stone, separating the circular metre they were standing on from the rest of the stone floor.
Alakazam slowed their descent before they crashed into Lugia's mouth, and they hopped onto the bird's belly next to Princess Kaguya and Silver as he directed lugia to fly through the church's wine cellar, letting the pillar of Sacred Fire breach the underground chamber.
"We'll be out of the Forbidden City soon, Tianzi." Kaguya told the bride as the three of them moved to lugia's back and Zero gave Kallen the order to stop the flames and retreat, and then ordered lugia to use dig for their escape.
Brittania had never seen it coming, seeing as how a swift beast of the sky like lugia shouldn't be able to use Dig.
That was never a problem for Zero, however. Lugia was smart. Zero just instructed it to be… creative.
"Is… this the outside world?" Tianzi asked once she had calmed down, looking at the tunnel being forged around them by lugia's drill-like winds.
"Most of it is prettier than this…" Kaguya laughed. "I'm sorry we had to grant your wish in such a violent manner…"
"You remember?" Tianzi asked her in surprise.
"Tianzi, it will take some time to reach Zero City." Zero interrupted. "May I discuss a matter with you while we travel?"
"Huh?" Tianzi asked, turning to Kaguya for confirmation, who nodded. "Um… okay..?"
"Our country, the United States of Japan, is just one part of a much greater union of states in my conception." Zero told the empress. "The United States Alliance. For this to succeed, I need your assistance."
"We've already spoken with India about this." Kaguya added. "Burma and Mongolia will take action as well."
"The United States Alliance will become a new axis of power to conquer Britannia." Zero explained.
"But, my country is a federal system already—"
"Every system has a life expectancy." Zero interrupted her. "For their own safety, the Eunuch Generals intended to whore you to Britannia. That is not something that you should have to forgive."
"Um… I'm not sure about such complex talk…" Tianzi mumbled.
"Empress Tianzi?" Kaguya asked her as Zero shifted over to sit closer to the front with Silver.
"Um… yes?" the young empress replied.
"Li Xingke. Is he a man that you have exchanged vows for the future with?" the young princess asked.
"Eh? Ah, no… he's just someone I made a promise with, long ago…" Tianzi replied.
"As a fiancée?" Kaguya pressed on.
"Ah, that… I wanted to go outside, six years ago…"
"That long ago?" Kaguya gasped, getting excited. "He must be your destined one!"
"Y-you think so?"
"Yeah!" Kaguya nodded. "It's so romantic!"
"Twisted, I call it." Silver muttered under his breath. "We're getting close to the ocean." Silver announced more clearly. "There'll be a split second as we switch from using Dig to Dive. You won't have to hold your breath but you Will. Get. Wet."
Silver turned to face the front and smirked. 'I always wanted to say that. Shame it had to be to a couple of kids and a dude...'
Kallen gracefully descended from her ho-oh and landed by the docks in Zero city. "Where's Zero?" she asked Blue.
"Silver just called ahead, said he'll arrive in a minute, but he wants towels."
"Eh?" Kallen asked. "I thought that if lugia dug through the stone and reached the ocean, water would start to pour into the tunnel, so lugia could use dive without any of its riders getting wet?"
"Silver acts cool all the time, but he's surprisingly playful." Blue winked. "If you know what I mean."
Kallen grimaced. "I thought you two were siblings?"
"What? NO!" Blue shouted, covering her ears and groaning. "Aaah, brain bleach now!"
"Sorry, it's just…" Kallen stumbled.
"They go way back." Morty explained, dumping a sports bag onto the concrete and handing the two girls and umbrella each. "Here." He said, unfurling his own and holding it above his head.
"Uh, why?" Kallen asked as Blue did as she was told. "Kyogre's not scheduled to rain to-"
"LUUUUUUGH!" the beast sang as it burst from the water, water cascading from its wings and body as it glided over the docks beautifully.
Kallen got soaked to the skin.
"Towel?" Morty offered.
"Do you really think its okay to let Kaguya carry out the negotiations?" C.C. asked Lelouch in his office as he wiped the condensation from the inside of his mask.
"She's apparently not the type who will be convinced through logic." He sighed.
"Not your type?" C.C. teased.
"It's hard to analyse her." Lelouch admitted, pulling his hand out and peering inside the helmet. "I'd complain about this helmet not being waterproof, but that would also require it being airtight."
"That would be problematic." C.C. shrugged.
"Hey, Lulu!" Rivalz shouted, bursting into the room. "Chinese army have reached the coastline!"
"Ah, forget it!" Lelouch snapped, tossing the cloudy helmet across the room and picking up the case for the Zero armour. "I'll grab a spare along the way."
"SOLARBEAM!"
Orange energy burst through the rock face of the floating island, creating a large tunnel which sealed itself as the blast crossed the ocean and obliterated the massive quaqsire carrying the Chinese mobile base.
The metal structure above it fell to the ground, sinking diagonally into the earth.
Zero arrived just in time to see Flannery give him a large thumbs up. "The Groudon attack system is running great Lord Zero!" she declared. "Next time they attack, Misty's having a go with Kyogre."
"Wow…" Tamaki gaped. "DID YOU SEE THAT! DID! YOU! FREAKING! SEE! THAT!"
"Reduced a carrier pokémon to ash in a single attack…" Rivalz managed. "Sorry Kallen, but ho-oh's got nothing on groudon."
"Heh, we'll see," said Kallen with a confident smirk, though her eyes were still glued to the screen showing the mobile base topple into the earth.
"May I remind you that we are currently now at war with both Britannia and the Chinese Union." Zero told everyone. "The S.S. Rayquaza is coming to provide back-up, so everyone, BATTLE STATIONS!"
"Hey, can't we relax?" Tamaki asked, rubbing the force field. "They can't get us inside this baby."
"Special attacks can't get us Tamaki." Zero corrected. "Cannon fire and physical strength means nothing, and if they get to use Brick Break on the wall, we're wide open and can't even submerge until we restore it."
"…Ah." Rivalz realised. "How long would that take?"
"Too long, so we're not risking it. YOU ALL KNOW YOUR PART OF THE PLAN!" Zero declared. "TO YOUR POSITIONS!"
"Are you sure we can trust him~?" Zao Hai asked Gai Lou as they walked through the prisons.
"He's stupid enough to do anything for that girl~." Lou replied. "Besides, he's the only one who can control that monster~."
Hai sighed as they rounded the corner and opened the trap door leading to the prison cell below. "Xingke~!" Lou called. "We're compassionate enough to allow you a chance to redeem your sins against China and the Empress~!"
"They got away with her, then used an extremely powerful solarbeam to incinerate the quagsire below us, and now you want me to take Sun Wu Kong to retrieve her." Xingke chuckled. "You truly are spineless cowards…"
"SILENCE INFIDEL~!" Hai screeched. "GET HIM OUT OF THERE AND BEAT SOME RESPECT INTO THIS INSUBORDINATE TRAITOR~!"
Three guards helped the tied-up Xingke out of his cell, then were beaten down in quick succession.
"If you want me to help you, it's better to make haste than have me beaten first." Xingke told the Eunuch's, using the knife he'd just stolen to cut the ropes tying his arms behind his back. "Now." He stated, dropping the blade into the seam of the metal tiles. "Where is that insane pokémon?"
"How is Prince Odysseus?" Lloyd asked Schneizel atop the S.S. Rayquaza.
"He's resting now." The Second Prince replied.
"My floatation armour is on its way from the Britannian embassy." Suzaku explained. "Once it gets here, I'll go and retrieve the Empress."
"No!" Brandon shouted. "Any further action on our part will require the request of the Chinese Union."
"I understand, but…"
"No." Lucy interrupted Suzaku. "You are young… impudent."
"Impudent!" Suzaku shouted.
"It's good that you value life, but not all life is yours to save." Lucy titled her head back to look at the White Reaper. "Remember that."
"Things are moving more smoothly than planned." Zero told C.C. as they walked through a floating city preparing for battle. "It's all thanks to Xingke and his allies. That man is very talented."
"So, how did you know they were planning a coup?" she asked, stroking Jiro as Lelouch opened the door to the tower containing his office.
"Because I was planning the same thing." He explained, not noticing Kallen looking at them with something akin to jealousy. "I was initially going to have Kallen and Toudou attack the church as I took Tianzi into a van and we escaped by road, but someone had already set trainers along the routes I had planned for an ambush."
"I see… so from the rebel soldiers there…" C.C. commented as the lift door opened and they stepped inside. "Did you use a truth serum or something?"
Lelouch took off his mask and grinned through his double Geass. "I call it Geass." He smirked. She smiled slyly in response.
"What's our status?" Zero asked as he entered the command centre.
"We're getting reinforcements delivered." Ohgi reported. "Should be here within the next thirty minutes."
"Plenty of time." Zero nodded with a smile.
"We're under attack!" Kris reported from the computer screen. "It's taken out all the Surfing units in between us and the coastline!"
"ALL UNITS, HALT AND MOVE BACK!" Ohgi shouted.
'Strange…' Lelouch thought. 'Any enemy forces of that level shouldn't be ready for at least another hour… was someone able to read my move..?'
"We've got a visual!" Dawn shouted, bringing it up on the screen.
There was only one pokémon attacking them.
It was a slaking. Only, it wasn't.
Slaking's don't have white fur.
Their thick arms don't curve around, as if they don't have bones.
They don't have two large, thick black claws protruding from their knuckles.
They don't have a red mane running down their head and back, like a Mohawk.
They certainly don't run on water.
Rakshad sat up. "No way…"
"What is that?" Zero demanded to know. "Is that a slaking or a vigoroth?"
"Vigorking, Sun Wu Kong…" Xingke marvelled as he rode the pokémon's back as it sprinted across the waves. "It's not even using Surf… those Eunuch's have created a monster…"
"My team and I researched partial evolution amongst other things back in India." Rakshad explained as everyone watched the monitor in shock as the pokémon obliterated any and every trainer in its path. "We abandoned it because there wasn't any tactical advantage in pokémon who stopped just before reaching their final stage, but this…"
"This can't simply be a slaking without the Truant ability." Zero stated.
"A well-trained slaking has stats equal to the likes of kyogre, groudon, regigigas, just falling short of the likes of lugia, ho-oh, rayquaza and second generation mewtwo, like the Lancelot." Red explained with frustration. "Completely outstripping dragonite, tyranitar, even the legendary dogs can't compare in sheer all-round brilliance. The only reason it's not the most powerful pokémon available for mass-use is because of its sheer laziness, even without its ability."
"Instead, this one traded slaking's ability and attitude for vigoroth's aggression and Vital Spirit ability." Rakshad finished, her eyebrows knotting together in worry.
_\_ "Can you hear me, Zero?" _\_ Xingke shouted over an open channel. _\_ "I will not let you pass! Return the Empress now! I will spare you your life if you do." _\_
"ALL UNITS!" Zero shouted into the microphone connected to the city's announcement speakers. "GET TO THE FRONT LINE AND LAUNCH EVERY RANGED ATTACK YOU'VE GOT! DO NOT LET THAT THING REACH THE ISLAND!"
"You think it has Brick Break?" Ohgi asked.
"I know it has Brick Break; it's what I would have done." Zero growled.
_\_ "XINGKE!" _\_ Kallen shouted from atop her ho-oh, flying out into the ocean and filling it black fire.
"KALLEN! FALL BACK!" Lelouch ordered as he watched helplessly as the white sloth leapt into the air and launched a stream of rocks into the fire and flying type, the double elemental advantage quadrupling the attack's strength. The rocks shot right through the black flames and crashed into the phoenix' wings, no doubt breaking them and sending ho-oh flying back helplessly into the city. "DAMMIT! Why is that in enemy hands!"
"It suggests that India isn't completely unified in our cause." Red explained as the ho-oh glowed with fire as it used Recover in mid-air. Despite the dire situation, Lelouch smirked, knowing Kallen had managed to calm it down as the phoenix righted itself and launched another wave of black flames, forcing Xingke to start playing evasive.
"Maharaja, that old geezer…" Rakshad sighed. "Though it was a completely wild and untameable pokémon. No-on could control it."
"Someone's clearly controlling it now!" Ohgi shouted.
"Apparently." Red sighed. "Now, we can easily take it down using Vengeance, but that would leave us with no electrical power and no force fields for the entirety of the fight."
"Why not use lugia then?" Kris asked. "Surely if ho-oh and that thing joined forces—"
"Vigorking is too fast." Zero told them, deducing the most logical name for their new opponent. "Even Vengeance would have its work cut out trying to hit it."
Vigorking was then forced back into the ocean by a wave of homing stars from ho-oh's wings. 'Swift… I forgot about that…'
Red's Geass flared. "Get ho-oh back here and spread everyone out in the streets, NOW!"
Lelouch glanced at his brother, recognising the Geass. "Do it." Zero declared, just as ho-oh was hit by another blast of rocks, fainting it.
Kallen recalled her ho-oh and sent out her kingler, landing on it as it hit the water. "After it!" she ordered, watching helplessly as Xingke's vigoroth charged at Zero city.
"All units, fall back from the coast line." Zero ordered. "Prepare to drop the barrier in three."
"EH?" everyone in the room shouted. "You're insane!"
"Two." Zero continued.
"G-got it!" Dawn shouted in panic as she began to relay the orders to Vengeance.
"One… now."
Vigorking's arm sailed through the non-existent barricade, rolling onto the docks. "RESTORE IT!"
Since they dropped the barricade willingly, it was able to be restored within seconds. While this didn't trap Xingke and his Vigorking, it stopped him from trying to break the barricade.
Or it was supposed to.
"Dammit!" Zero shouted as the protective bubble turned yellow, cracked and fell into intangible shards. "GET IT BACK ONLINE!" he ordered. "Red, get down there. I'll co-ordinate a guerrilla attack on our invader."
"Gotcha." Red nodded, leaping straight out of the window onto his charizard.
"Come on…" Xingke growled, readying his sword and grapple spear as he rode on the beast's back. "Where is their army hiding…"
Vigorking began to jump wildly as attacks rushed around from all sides, their sources hidden behind the concrete and steel of the city. "I see…" the warrior growled as vigorking launched a focus blast to knock his enemies back. "Cowards…"
CLINK
He looked down to see a heavy ball bounce off vigorking's foot and shoot twelve feet straight into the air, before opening up to release a falling snorlax right above their heads.
Vigorking's arm shot up to catch it as Xingke's spike burst through its skull, killing it before vigorking hurled it into a building. "DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME ZERO!" he shouted, swinging his sword around as Rivalz burst from a window, arm ready to nuke a face.
The blade hit the titanium arm, and Rivalz caught it, launching heavy radiation into it as he twisted to boot Xingke in the face.
Xingke dropped his sword and caught Rivalz's ankle as he fell. "Where is she?" he demanded.
Rivalz smirked, despite being dangled helplessly by the ankle by an enemy. "Behind you." He grinned as the Gurren rushed down the street with a hammer arm attack aimed for Xingke.
Xingke dropped Rivalz and blocked as vigorking leapt back and spewed fire from its belly at them. Rivalz rolled to his feet and spread his metal palm out to block the flames with his nuclear hand, protecting both him, Kallen and the Gurren as registeel charged the vigorking from behind with a Superpower.
Vigorking jumped over the pokémon to dodge the attack, landing at a crossroads to spew fire as Rivalz's regirock and Asahina's regice charged it from both sides with the same move. Xingke dodged back again and the pokémon took heavy damage, creating an explosion that hid registeel as it Locked Onto the Vigorking and launched a Zap Cannon, which ignored the Vigorking's dodging movements until it was close enough to turn at a right angle and hit its shoulder.
Vigorking fell to one knee, paralysed, as Chiba's suicune tore in and launched a hydro pump at it, knocking Xingke from its back and smashing the pokémon to the ground.
Toudou's regigigas then leapt from a rooftop and slammed the vigorking deeper into the ground, creating a wide crater and trappings its body under Zangetsu's massive grip as Red jumped from his charizard, stamping on Xingke's throat. "Yield." He ordered, Geass blazing the warrior into submission.
"Shields are back online!" Dawn announced excitedly. "Just in time too, the Chinese army are attacking!"
Zero collapsed into a chair and sighed. "Recall the vigorking, chain the ball up, and dump it into a safe." he ordered. "Red is to place the prisoner with the empress. All those who did not take part in that battle are to return into their positions while regirock, regice, registeel, ho-oh and suicune are taken to the pokémon centre immediately."
"Lord Zero." Diethard asked. "Wouldn't it be advisable for Red to return to the front lines and have a less capable trainer escort the prisoner?"
"Xingke's capture required the combined efforts of several trainers, including Kallen, Gold, Rivalz, Asahina, Chiba and Toudou, with one casualty." Zero replied. "I'm not taking any chances with him."
"Then… why not have him executed?" Diethard asked.
"Have you forgotten that we are allies of justice?" Zero snapped while Lelouch thought of the hundred and one ways he could use a geassed Xingke. "We do not KILL prisoners of war."
"Gold, Rivalz and Asahina have healed the regi's." May reported. "Toudou's warming up Zangetsu, and ho-oh's ready for battle."
"Alright then." Zero nodded. "Silver, take entei and lead our men on the starboard wall. Red, once Xingke is secure, take raikou and lead the portside defences. Toudou, get to the front of the city and lead the attack on the invading army." He ordered.
"We'll show them the difference between strategy and power."
"We're still on standby." Suzaku told Milly as she sat in the lounge of the S.S. Rayquaza.
"I see…" she replied, glancing at Lucy who was typing into her S-book computer.
"We're still getting confirmation about your contact with Ashford though." Suzaku sighed, sitting down next to the council president.
"I see, well, nothing we can do about that." Milly replied cheerfully. "I bet Shirley's stressing out about having to do all the work herself."
"Lelouch did pick an unfortunate time to go travelling with Ashford." Suzaku replied, keeping up the lie that was 'Lelouch is not Zero'.
"The Chinese Army has much more soldiers and pokémon than we do, but we have better trainers and stronger pokémon!" Zero announced. "We also have the advantage of the terrain, and without Sun Wu Kong to break through, or Xingke leading their armies, China has no choice but to use Blitzkrieg tactics until they either break our barrier or we fail to hold the line!"
"However, if the situation looks too bleak for them, they will ask Britannia for assistance, and then this battle will be a much more difficult one! Therefore, you should let the weaker soldiers past the first defence so the second line can capture them. This will trick those Eunuch's into believing that they have a hope of victory for much longer, delaying their request to Britannia for assistance. This way, we fight two battles, one after the other instead of a double battle without a partner!"
Lelouch smirked behind the mask. As long as the Chinese Eunuchs tried to impress Britannia until they made the mistake Lelouch would force them to make, his victory was assured.
'Li Xingke.' He thought to himself. 'I only won here because those Eunuchs are fools.Had you not come to me so we could take you down first, perhaps you might have lead your men to put me in check. You have resolve of Red, strategic intelligence on par to mine, and heroism on par with Suzaku. Truly, the lake spirits have blessed you thrice.'
Unfortunately, celebi has cursed Xingke.
For all the gifts that uxie, mespirit and azelf had bestowed upon the warrior, he had not the time to use them.
"Alright Xingke boy, here you go." Red chuckled as he dumped the warrior in the secured apartment with Empress Tianzi and Lady Kaguya.
"Xingke!" Tianzi shouted, running up to him and untying him as Red closed the door.
"Empress!" the warrior shouted. "Are you alright!"
"Never mind, you're hurt!" Tianzi protested, but the warrior wouldn't let her touch his wounds.
"I'm fine." He insisted, coughing up blood unrelated to the beating he'd just received, and turning to lady Kaguya. "So… you're his prisoner too…"
"No!" Kaguya shouted as Tianzi rammed her face into Xingke's chest, crying. "I'm spending time with my friend while my husband fights the bad men who were going to hurt her!"
Xingke looked at them in confusion as he tried to comprehend this thought.
"Here they come." Toudou growled, looking over the ocean at the approaching soldiers, then looking at the men and women on either side of them.
He was part of a line that included his loyal companions, Chiba and Asahina. Both Urabe and Senba had fallen in battle, and Rivalz and this boy Gold had taken their places in the Heavenly Blades.
"Remember the plan." He reminded everyone, before raising his voice to a war cry. "GIVE THEM NOTHING!" he roared, exactly as Zero had ordered him to. "BUT FROM THEM! TAKE! EVERYTHING!"
The trainers to each side roared in determination, and Toudou was concerned that they may forget the strategy and lose themselves in the battle, something that would cost them dearly.
He need not have worried, however.
Everyone by his side knew exactly what their part was.
Silver looked along his line of men and women. Blue, Kallen, Morty, Flannery all of them he could rely on.
Tamaki was there too.
"COME ON THEN!" he shouted, watching the few soldiers try to Surf round the island to attack from the sides. "COME HAVE SOME IF YOU THINK YOU'RE 'ARD ENOUGH!"
Silver sighed. 'Why do I have to make the big war speech?'
"FOR FREEDOM!" Silver roared as his entei, Kerberos, stood on its hind legs to lift him higher. "FOR JUSTICE! FOR ZERO!"
A huge plume of lava burst from the stone beneath him into the ocean, which burnt seven soldiers before cooling into stone.
"ZERO!"
Red stood on the edge of the island. Winona, Erika, Misty, Koga…
This could be fun.
He sent out his pokémon. "Let them know that one does not simply walk into Zero City." He declared menacingly. "Let them pay with the blood and bodies of their brethren, like we paid Britannia with the lives of our brethren."
"Because one does not simply walk into Zero City." He concluded, activating his Geass. "One climbs over piles of bodies to get there."
Zao Hai chuckled over his monitor. "Prepare men to attack from the behind~!" he shouted. "We'll have them completely surrounded~!"
"There's a storm rushing around the city my lord!" one of the men shouted. "We cannot go around, but they can't escape either!"
"Hm~." Gai Lao muttered. "Well, that'll be fine then~. Have them attack~."
Chang sat on his sharpedo nervously, rifle on his back and spear in his hands as he awaited his general's order to attack.
"CHARGE!" his leader shouted, and the soldiers behind him pressed their pokémon forward through the waves towards Zero City.
Chang gulped, then kicked his sharpedo to send him through the water. He saw those ahead of him get ripped to pieces by gunfire, burnt by flames, launched into the water by energy blasts, or caught in the all-devouring orange beam that blasted from the island edge.
He clenched his teeth as he reached land, leaping off his pokémon and charging with his spear, ready to be killed like his fellow soldiers.
He shut his eyes tight as the fear took hold, ready to meet his end.
It didn't come.
He got through the wall of pokémon and trainers that had killed every single other man in his team so far.
He almost laughed in relief.
But Chang was crushed under registeel's foot as it stepped back.
Lung and the few members of his squad that managed to break through the line raced as quickly as they could from the Black Knight soldiers who were even now wiping out any reinforcements that might try to support him.
Fourtune had favored them, however, as the six men raced down a narrow street, a weak point in Zero City's design, no doubt.
After all, there was only one man defending it, and he didn't even seem all together as he grinned lopsidedly at Lung and the rest of the furiously roaring Chinese soldiers.
"Boo," the lone man said.
Suddenly Lung's fellow soldiers collapsed, gagging in horror as they clawed at their own thoughts. Lung looked at them fearfully, then back at the man, who had disappeared, only his voice remaining. "You okay, pal?" the voice said, echoing around him, "You don't look so good…"
Lung looked down at his hands to see horrible welts and burns begin to spread across his skin, and his scream was cut short by his own hands wrapping themselves around his own throat, crushing his windpipe.
Morty looked down at the soldiers convulsing in fear as his gengar and haunter roamed over their unconscious bodies, devouring their last traces of life.
"Nightmare…" Morty muttered. "Pretty scary…"
Yes, any soldier who tried to approach Zero City from its shore met certain death, but the Chinese Union were not so easily fooled into believing it was impregnable.
That was why Huang and the rest of his Dive division had plunged beneath the waves on their quagmire, their seaking and their quilfish, in order to sneak behind enemy lines and under the storm to ambush Zero City.
Dive warfare is not favoured by the Chinese Union, due to the communication limitations underwater. Haung could hear orders given to him by his superiors thanks to his radio headset, but he couldn't directly communicate with any of the men he was leading.
Which was why it was such a shock when he glanced over his shoulders to see them all dead.
Volkner rushed down on Huang, the lanturn he was riding sparking with the remnants of the thunderbolt it had pumped into the Chinese soldiers before they could even register they were under attack.
Volkner's lanturn gave Huang a taste of the attack, but his trusty quagmire twisted around, absorbing the blow without harm. Huang grinned, smirking at Volkner, but the man just smirked back.
A shadow fell over Huang and he turned, fearful. A mighty serpent descended down, water rushing into its gills as it's maw filled with light and steam. The gyarados' trainer, Misty, gave an order Huang couldn't hear, and the serpent spewed flames onto the soldier and his quagmire.
Fire shouldn't burn underwater. People could argue that it wasn't fire, that it was actually gyarados' dragon rage.
But Huang burned all the same.
Shirley put down the phone after Milly had called her. "Thank goodness…" she sighed, collapsing into a chair before standing up again. "Right, the P/A system!" she shouted, running over the microphone unit by Milly's desk and pushing the switch. "Fellow students! Breaking News!" she declared. "President Milly's safety in the Chinese Union has been confirmed!"
She heard the cheers and took a breath. "The Knight of Five, Suzaku was able to escape from the scene of the coup d'état safely! She's sorry that there won't be souvenirs, but she wants to announce that we're going to be hosting an Oriental theme party when she gets back! There'll be Chinese food, cheongsams and Kung Fu acrobats for everybody!"
She cut the mic as she heard the faraway cheers around the school, then sighed. "Honestly… where's Lulu when you need him?"
He was in the command room, leading an army.
Britannia were still on standby, as predicted, and those Eunuch fools just kept sending more and more men to be cut down, simply because every one hundred and eight minutes, Zero ordered the Black Knights to allow the Chinese army to penetrate another layer of their defences.
Why one hundred and eight?
It's a difficult unit to count in. Had he ordered his men to let them further in every hour and a half or two hours, then the interval would be figured out almost instantly.
So five hours and twenty minutes later, one in every forty Chinese soldier made it past the third line of defence-
Only to be cut down by those at the back.
Schneizel put down the phone. "The Bahamut is on its way." He told those in the command room of the S.S. Rayquaza. "They won't be long."
"Are you sure we'll need their assistance?" Nina asked. "It's been five and a half hours already and the Chinese are winning."
"Nina…" Schneizel chuckled. "You are brilliant in a lab, but your intelligence does not carry over to the battlefield."
"Eh?" she asked as Lloyd brought up four clips of the battle radar onto the screen.
"The Black Knights have been intentionally letting Chinese soldiers break further into their city every hour and three-quarters, give or take five minutes." Lloyd explained. "As Britannians, we are not allowed to take part in this battle unless someone asks for our assistance."
"But, if the Chinese think that they're winning…" Nina gasped in realisation.
"It's a brilliant deception by a strategic genius." Wallace nodded. "Of course, it all falls apart once we send this information to the Chinese Union."
A flicker of annoyance flashed across Schneizel otherwise tranquil face.
'So why is he letting us?' Schneizel pondered. 'All he's achieving is wasting Chinese Soldiers and tiring his own men…'
Lelouch smirked behind the mask. 'This is going almost far too well.' He thought. 'I might even get to use my initial plan.'
"Open up a secure channel to the Chinese Embassy." He ordered.
"Understood." Diethard reported, typing buttons.
"LORD ZERO!" Dawn shouted. "The S.S. Rayquaza is moving to attack!"
"What?" he asked, turning to the main monitor as the green serpent began to fly towards them. "So they figured it out…" Zero nodded. "PURGE THE CITY!" He ordered over the Black Knights transmission. "PREPARE FOR DIVE!"
"Finally." Silver grunted, twisting around and stabbing into the back of a Chinese solider. "KILL EM ALL!"
Every single Black Knight on the island quadrupled in efficiency instantly, and within seconds they were sinking under the waves, with only one living enemy soldier left on the island.
Although, Zero did not expect Xingke to remain an enemy for long.
"Wh-what is that~?" Gai Lao squealed. "T-they really were playing with us all along~!"
Zao Hai snarled. "Get more men~!" he shouted. "Go after them~!"
"S-sir!" one soldier saluted. "We've only get twenty-four marine units left!"
"WHAT~!" Gai Lao shouted. "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE~!"
"S-sir." The soldier bowed. "We've been fighting for five and a half hours… and every solder we sent out was killed…"
Hai's snarl grew angrier. "This is that damned Xingke's fault…~" he growled. "That damned fool RUINED this army~!"
Xingke stood up as the room shook. "What's happening!" he shouted.
"It's fine." Kaguya told him. "We're just diving. The city can go underwater you know."
"Eh?" Tianzi gasped. "Don't you get wet?"
"The shield keeps all the water out." Kaguya replied with a giggle. "It's so pretty…"
The door opened. "Xingke." Zero said, walking into the room.
"Bastard…" the soldier growled. "You want me to fight using her highness as a hostage!"
"Empress Tianzi is free to leave whenever she will." Zero explained. "For her own safety, however, I would advise against it."
"The water, right?" Xingke nodded. "Silver."
"Eh?" Kaguya asked as Silver removed his mask with a smirk. "But, where's Zero?"
"Right now?" Silver asked, an innocent look on his face.
A white spear burst from the ocean, spiralling into the sky before spreading its wings and roaring.
Lugia stood before the S.S. Rayquaza in all its majesty, and Zero stepped onto the beast's neck. "SCHNEIZEL!" he shouted. "So you too joined this battle."
The only response was of Rayquaza roaring, ready to launch a hyper beam. "Very well." Zero declared, sliding down the bird's neck and charging.
Lugia swooped cleanly around the hyperbeam, spinning through the mass of missiles launched from the steel structure around the serpent.
Within seconds, lugia was right in front of rayquaza and held its arm out as it continued to fly. It crashed into the fortress and, holding it in place with a wave of a well applied Psychic attack, began pushing the green dragon out of its metal structure with Strength.
The rayquaza screamed as the sheer forces twisted the restraints and the steel bound to its body broke, fragments splintering into the air as the beast forced the dragon backwards. With a screech and a shove of psychic power, lugia clamped down on rayquaza with it's jaw and ripped it bodily from the aerial base, the dragon shrieking in pain and shock all the while.
The S.S. Rayquaza, without its pokémon, began to fall, when the stabilising wings began to glow with gold energy, and its descent slowed. 'So they developed Lancelot's flight armour for a Sky Ship.' Lelouch thought. 'Doesn't seem to do more than act as a parachute, so that's fine. All within my calculations.'
"ZERO!"
The armoured man turned to see the Knights of the Round, Lucy, Suzaku and Brandon, soaring towards him on an articuno, zapdos and a moltres respectively. "Three knights for me?" Zero asked as Lucy hopped from her bird onto rayquaza, clearly more comfortable on its serpentine back. "I'm honoured."
"He's not the real Zero." Suzaku explained. "There's no way that he would risk his own life while the rest of his men get away."
"If a trainer doesn't lead the battle, how can he expect his pokémon to follow?" Zero asked. "I'm sure that your fellow Knights can appreciate that, even if you do not, White Reaper Suzaku Kururugi."
Suzaku snarled, gripping his Master Ball.
Behind the mask, Lelouch smirked, checking the time.
'Twenty-four minutes left…' he thought to himself.
-}+{-
Twenty four minutes left until what? UNTIL WHAT!
Ah well. You'll find out tomorrow.
Wait, this is a Friday's episode… whoops?
Also, just a reminder, starting next week I'm switching to a M/W/F format, so no chapters on Tuesday and Thursday.
