Sorry I haven't updated for so long. This past month and a half has been HELL. Why? I'm tired of repeating everything that's happened, to friends, to teachers, to coworkers, to my principal, to my managers, to the police...so I'll make a quick and shortened list.

~somebody I love gets a stroke

~my asshole dad bans my sister from ever coming to this house again because she took me to the hospice and we come home an hour late (9:00 p.m.)

~my asshole dad kicks me out

~I stay at friend's house- she has four cats and I'm mildly allergic to them, wake up with two on me...that went over well...not

~that somebody passes away

~exam week and I have no texts or notes to study from

~got really sick...like I can't breathe or eat

~failure at exams

~failure at Calc

~failure at life

~police force me to go home

~shitty weather w/ few snow days

~annoying and nosy teachers and coworkers

~ongoing Cold War and sense of fail, fail, and more fail

~computer froze right when I had half of this done making me lose all of my work because I'm an idiot who doesn't save periodically

~run away again

~forced to go home again

~asshole calls the police on me

~lots of nice little threats and yelling going on

~fun fun fun! :(

So yeah, it's been really hard writing or even getting on the computer everyday because of my emotional roller coaster. How have you guys been?

Complaining aside, my sister (yes the one who discovered the one-shots) is getting a kitten (OMG OMG OMG!) who I get to name. Yes, I know I'm allergic to cats, but I love them. So any cute suggestions (and this will not be a democracy- Sierra gets full veto power)? My sister's rules: no common cat names (Teddy, Snowbell, Boots, Mitzi, etc), no Asian names (Chibi, Tama, Saito, etc), no Pokemon names (Mew, Pikachu, Persian), no human names (James, Alex, Sarah, Katie, etc), nothing too weird or obscene (Fuggus Duggus, Queen Pumpernickel, Aslfkjaoirhb, Pussy Face, etc), and it must be short enough so we can call the kitty without wasting too much breath. Impossible? Only slightly.

There's a lot to cover later so I'll let you all get started reading. Enjoy!

Narita Mountains...

Lelouch smirked from within his Burai. The Black Knights were shocked and scared, just as he foresaw. Tamaki had tried to rebel, just as he foresaw. But everybody had realized that without him, they would be nothing, just as he foresaw. Cornelia was moving in a classic swarm movement, just as he foresaw.

Everything is going according to plan.

Everything except C.C.'s interference of course. But then that was to be expected. Lelouch looked at his screen. Everything seemed to be ready. The senior members of the BK were all in Burais, except Inoue who would provide logistical support. The Britannians were surrounding the mountain on the left side, while the incompetent JLF were being KOed, one by one. Cornelia's force was located a few kilometers away from where he predicted the landslide would flow. effectively cutting her off. A news report had aired several hours ago about the evacuation of Narita and other surrounding villages. And the forces led by Gino and Anya would be the ones wiped out when the landslide occurred. With that, he could live more securely with Nunnally, even if it was just a little while longer.

Lelouch shook his head, as though shooing away all feelings of smugness and superiority. Lives were at stake. He wanted a quick and clean battle, ending with Cornelia as his guest. Then he could question her about Marianne...

"Alright, all preparations are ready. Black Knights, prepare to move out! We, the Black Knights, will launch a surprise attack on the Britannians from the mountain summit. On my orders, charge down to point three! The operation's objective is the capture of Cornelia, Second Princess of the Empire! Our breakthrough route will be opened by the Guren Mark II!"

Lelouch switched over to private channeling.

"Kallen, use penetrating electrode number three. Settle things with one blow, got it?"

"Yes sir." Kallen extended the Guren's arm as though her own. She grabbed the electrode. "Output confirmed. Radiant wave surger, maintaining level status."

The redhead took a deep breath before flipping over the button that would start this battle. "Induction!"

Ten seconds pass. Nobody moved or dared to breathe. The mountain was unnaturally silent.

"It worked!" Kallen cried out joyously as the mountain began to quake and tremor. She had placed the electrode right before a natural slide in the mountain, causing the shattering earth to slide down towards the Britannian units. Zero was right; they could create this necessary miracle, as long as they had him.

. . . . . .

Meanwhile, not too far away, two strangely colored Knightmares screeched to a halt before the a strange sight.

"Lord Jeremiah, look at that!" Villetta pointed at the rather obvious landslide right before them. "Do you think it was Zero...I mean Lelouch?"

Jeremiah's eyes widened, not in surprise or fear, but rather admiration and delight. "Yes! Princess Cornelia would never had done such a thing; the Knight of Three and Six are both within the parameters of that path. And those monkeys calling themselves the 'JLF' wouldn't have the technology! Lelouch! He's a worthy opponent!"

"Should we proceed as planned?" Villetta asked, turning her Andraste towards Jeremiah's Siegfried.

"No. Zero seems to have obtained some interesting toys. We need- I need to take him alive. It would not do to have him die in an accident and our previous plan of pincering him seems ridiculous now that we're actually on the field. This is not a war, Villetta; there are only two of us." Jeremiah mused, thinking quickly.

Villetta furrowed her brows. "But My Lord, you were so keen on this attack! How is it not a war? We either emerge victorious with Zero in hand, or we die in defeat! Are you having second thoughts?"

Jeremiah glared at the screen. "Do not assume me a coward, Villetta! Had we the manpower, I would storm this battlefield for Zero. But with only two of us, albeit with very nice Knightmares, we must resort to craftier tactics. Our objective is to capture Zero alive, for questioning. Beating the Black Knights or protecting the Britannian army holds no meaning. And V.V. has yet to prove to us his worthiness. We will do our service to the Britannian Royal Family by capturing Zero to keep the Viceroy safe and then avenging Prince Clovis' death! Now listen to me, when Zero gets to..."

. . . . . .

"Climb to higher ground!" Darlton, Gino, and Alex ordered their troops. Anya had been lucky and quickly jumped to higher ground before the landslide reached her. However, her troops were all lost without her guiding them. Most had been hit and buried immediately when the landslide hit.

Andreas Darlton quickly scanned for his Princess. Thankfully Cornelia was well away from this landslide...although the JLF might try to start other attacks.

"Darlton, Alex, Gino, Anya, can you hear me?" It was Cornelia.

"Yes, Viceroy!"

"As third Princess of the Empire and Viceroy of Area 11, I command you all to break free of the landslide and regroup! We will not fall!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Gino gritted his teeth. He had made promises, to make amends to Monica; to help Euphie reunite with her brother, Lelouch; to cure Anya of her own amnesia; to himself about making Britannia a better place for all, Numbers or not. He couldn't die here! He would surely rot in Hell for that! Boulders were rolling in his Gloucester, knocking him about, not allowing him to move. Sand, dirt, dust and grit had flown everywhere, blocking his sight. The only thing keeping him from being crushed and buried alive like many of his troops, along with Darlton and Alex, was the two Slash Harkens sunk deeply into a nearby cliff. If that crumbled, he would die.

"ALEX!"

Gino couldn't see due to the debris but he already knew why Darlton had screamed. Alex was gone.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" The blond Knight of the Round slammed his fists against the controls. He couldn't maneuver out of this- he couldn't even move- and sooner or later, the two wires anchoring him to life would break and he would follow Alex to the next world. And if he ejected, chances were his ejection pod would land into the landslide as well, and he would still say good-bye to this world.

Clang!

"Lazy Gino. Playing around. We have work to do." Anya chided in her monotone, although Gino could have sworn there was a tiny bit of amusement in her tone. The debris around his vision sensors cleared up a bit and he saw her Knightmare. Her Gloucester was clinging onto the top of a cliff, while her two slash harkens had grabbed onto the top of his Knightmare.

"Easier said than done! I can't move anything, Anya! I'm stuck!" Gino yelled, knowing his face was completely pale and a bead of sweat rolled off his forehead.

"Eject."

"What?"

"Eject."

"You're barely hanging onto that cliff, Anya. If I do that, we'll both go down!"

"Eject. I am down here because of you. Eject or I'll go back up."

Gino grunted and pulled the ejection lever in response. Barely twenty minutes into the fray and he was already defeated.

. . . . . .

A very bored Suzaku tensed, in the seat of his Lancelot above Lloyd and Cecile. He caught a glimpse of the two talking and gesturing passionately at something going on on the battlefield.

"Is something going on?" Suzaku shouted down.

Lloyd gave him his classic cheery smile. "Yup. But it's nothing we need to worry about."

Suzaku wasn't so sure. He had noticed the glare Cecile gave her superior.

. . . . . .

They were not in a good position. She, the leader, was isolated with only Guilford and their units nearby. Most of Narita was destroyed, although the G1, and more importantly, Euphie, had thankfully been out of the landslide's range. Alex was down, Gino was compromised, and Anya, Carius, and Darlton were cut off from her.

"New enemy force confirmed moving in from the summit. Carius unit is moving in to engage them."

Princess Cornelia harrumphed. "Hoping to take advantage of the confusion are they?"

"Emergency communication from the Carius unit!"

"What is it?"

"It's not the Japanese Liberation Front! They think..they think it's the Black Knights!"

"What?" Cornelia gritted her teeth. First the landslide, now this.

. . . . . .

Lelouch's mouth was curved into a very twisted smile. His eyes had gained a slightly predatory and smug glint. The unmasked marauder surveyed the destruction he had caused on the screen of his Burai. "Hmmm...it's even more destructive than I anticipated. We did succeed in isolating Cornelia's unit but perhaps I could've been a bit more precise. Good thing I had Euphemia evacuate the surrounding areas."

"Zero, Kallen's group is engaging with the Britannians! Shall we begin moving as well?" Sugiyama's voice broke through Lelouch's reverie.

"Yes! Cornelia only has limited reinforcements headed her way! Just break through them!" Zero ordered as his Burai whirred into action, speeding towards incoming Britannian units.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The torrent of bullets being fired from his unit immediately caused the Britannian units in front of them to eject.

"These Burais are amazing!"

"We can do it! We can make this miracle come true!"

"Yeah! We have Zero on our side!"

Lelouch smirked. Those newbies got excited too quickly. Though the Britannians were scattered, Cornelia isolated, and three of the seven leaders had been taken out, the Black Knights had used their element of surprise. The rest would depend on his intelligence and Kallen's ability. Not to mention how much interference the JLF would pose.

"Zero, it's me." Kallen appeared, using the private channels. "This Guren's amazing! We've taken out Carius' unit over here in no time at all!"

"Good work. But our hardest and most important phase has yet to come." Lelouch informed the ecstatic redhead. "All conditions have been cleared. All forces are in position. All that's left to do is the check the opposition. Head to your designated area, Kallen! The rest of the forces here will take care of the rabble."

. . . . . .

"What do our losses look like?"

"I only read 20% of our forces, sir!"

"Twenty percent? Our command structure can't hold up like this!"

"Lloyd, what is going on?" Suzaku demanded, for a second time, from his seat up in the Lancelot. The incoming feed between General Darlton and a civil servant didn't sound like good news.

Lloyd was still smiling and rubbing his chin. Although Suzaku couldn't see it from his position, Lloyd was still studying the heat readings from the landslide. These readings couldn't be natural! "Hmm...yes...quite unnatural..."

"Unnatural?"

"It's unconfirmed, but there are reports of the Black Knights appearing." Lloyd sounded like Christmas was coming a second time. He didn't notice Suzaku breathing "Zero". "Well congratulations. We may get our chance!"

Cecile glared daggers at her superior. "That's unlikely."

"Eh? Why is that?" Lloyd wondered.

Cecile smiled sweetly. "Shall I tell you why, sir?"

Lloyd made a face. "No. Spare me please."

"It's because I'm partially under Lady Nonette's jurisdiction, right?" Suzaku said, woefully, "Since she gave me a pardon, under our laws, I am to be one of her subordinates. But since Prince Schneizel never gave me up, and he is Lady Nonette's superior, I am now shared. Although the Viceroy is technically the Knight of Nine's superior right now, she isn't Prince Schneizel superior, so she can't command us. And since Lady Nonette has told us not to partake in this unless absolutely necessary, since it would be embarrassing for her to have her own subordinates do the job while she lies in bed, and I'm an Honorary Britannian, I most likely won't get a chance."

Lloyd blinked. "For a pilot, you think too much-ow oW OW!"

Suzaku smiled slightly as Cecile grabbed Lloyd's ear and twisted it. Suddenly the doors to the room swung open. A tall blond man walked through, an angry expression on his face. It was Gino.

"My Lord!" Suzaku immediately stood up in deference, causing him to lose balance and topple onto the hard floor beneath him.

"Lord Weinberg, what brings you here?" Lloyd asked casually as Cecile smiled behind him.

"That Knightmare, the Lancelot. Lend it to me!" Gino pointed at the rather obvious white and only Knightmare before them. "I need to go help the Viceroy on the battlefield!"

Lloyd, Cecile, and Suzaku all looked shocked. "M-my Lancelot?" Lloyd said looking at Gino as one would a crazy man with a gun. "My Lord, there are plenty of Sutherlands you could take from some of the leftover units or I think there was a Gloucester left-"

"There isn't!" Gino growled. "Now I need to borrow the Lancelot! Warrant Officer Kururugi, the key if you please?"

Lloyd stood up. "Now wait a moment, my dear Knight of Three! This unit is property of Second Prince-"

"I know, I know!" Gino snarled, completely out of character. A mad glint lit up in his normally sparkling and happy blue eyes. "But the Viceroy is isolated out there, Alex and Carius have been wiped out, Darlton and Anya are cut off from her, and I'm sitting here, twiddling my thumbs!"

"Doesn't the Viceroy have Lord Guilford by her side?" Cecile cut in, worried. This was a complete 180 from the normal Gino.

"Yes! But in case you guys have been too busy flirting right there to notice, the JLF aren't the only ones we're fighting! The Black Knights have appeared as well!" Gino nearly screamed. "I took a dangerously beaten Sutherland here so I could rejoin the fight and help our Viceroy! Who's going to take the blame when the Viceroy is killed or even worse, taken captive? Are you going to hide behind Prince Schneizel and adamantly insist that you couldn't have helped out in this crisis with the first Generation Seven Knightmare in existence because you didn't have permission? Do you think anybody will buy that?"

"And the Knight of Three isn't going to be a bad pilot either, Lloyd." Cecile whispered into her superior's ear. "We could really get some recognition for this, and even better more funds!"

At the f-word, Lloyd perked up. True, he was entrusting his baby with a stranger, but he WAS an elite knight chosen by the Emperor himself, and they really need more money to begin adding more functions to the Lancelot.

Lloyd sighed. "Very well. You can borrow it, but you MUST return it! And I don't want to see it totaled! Or even a dent! Or a scratc-"

Cecile clamped her hand over Lloyd's mouth before the Knight could take offense. Meanwhile, Suzaku smiled ruefully as he handed the key to Gino. "The code is G9f34Kr09. Please take good care of it or Lloyd will have a breakdown."

"Of course." Gino solemnly went into the Generation Seven Knightmare and awaited launch-off. Several tense minutes later...

"Four...three...two...one...LAUNCH!"

Sky-rocketing into the air, Gino smiled as the familiar sensation of adrenaline coursing through his body shot up. Then, making sure the communications line wasn't open, he burst out laughing. Anya had been right. Playing the anger card had really bewildered the A.S.E.E.C. and saved him a lot of conning and cajoling.

Meanwhile, back in the lab...

Suzaku furrowed his brow as Lloyd looked on proudly at the launching of his baby. "Did anybody give Lord Weinberg a manual?"

. . . . . .

"Am I clear? If this landslide was man-made, I think we can take Cornelia from behind. Capture Cornelia!" Kyoshiro Tohdoh ordered from within his Burai. "Right now, we'll pay them back for what happened seven years ago!"

"Yes sir! By the honor of the Four Holy Swords!"

The five generals of the JLF leaped into action. Cornelia's force was right ahead of them. Asahina jumped up and slashed into a nearby Sutherland, cutting through it so quickly, the pilot had no time to eject.

"Protect Her Highness!" Guilford screamed as he moved to engage this new threat.

"What? The JLF?" Cornelia was shocked. Had they made some sort of collaboration with Zero after Kawaguchi? Why did the JLF have customized Knightmares? And how could she have forgotten about them as soon as Zero appeared?

"Encircle and slash formation!" Tohdoh ordered, as he cut down another unit.

"Highness, leave them to us! Please withdraw for now!" Guilford yelled as his lance struck the enemy's sword so hard that spark flew.

"Very well." Cornelia consented, realizing that the battle would be lost should she be captured or even if she did take out the JLF, there was still the ever-cunning and slippery Zero to deal with. She did not want to face him weak and weary in soul and Knightmare. "I have an idea of how to turn this around, Guilford. Once you fend them off, meet me at Point 9!"

"Nine?" Guilford was startled for a moment before glancing at their battle grid. "I understand."

"CORNELIA!" Chiba and Urabe both charged the fleeing princess. Unwilling to let their goal get away, Chiba threw her sword at the horned Gloucester before her. Cornelia's lance knocked it aside, and she fired a torrent of bullets before running off, determined to score a victory here no matter the cost.

. . . . . .

"Zero. Cornelia and Guilford are under attack from behind!" Inoue radioed in.

Lelouch and his unit were forced to take cover behind several large boulders as Anya's units were shooting from the forest. Although they couldn't move nobody had been hurt yet. However, things were looking grim. Kallen, their ace, was waiting at Point Nine, while Cornelia was taking her sweet time getting there, and her Royal Guard was still with her.*

"What? Which team made the move?" he demanded angrily. The fools would ruin the plan if they broke formation now.

"It's not our people! It looks like the JLF!"

Did one of them figure out what I'm after? Lelouch wondered. Clever. Then they'll hold off the Royal Guard for us.

. . . . . .

"Dammit, you're good." Tohdoh commented as he and the Britannian officer clashed for about the sixtieth time.

The Britannian (Guilford) responded by throwing a chaos mine at his adversary.

"Scatter!" Tohdoh ordered, despite knowing that the Four behind him weren't children and knew what they were doing.

"Colonel! What about Cornelia?" Senba radioed in.

"If Zero's the man I think he is, he'll take care of her. All we can do is trust in him." Tohdoh replied, backing up for yet another clash.

Meanwhile Guilford grew bewildered as the Knight of Six was approaching them. "What? Zero's fallen back?"

"Yes. We're en route to give you support." "Anya" said, leading Gino's unit as hers was wiped out in the landslide and Gino had to return to base. Marianne giggled silently. It had been a while since she had seen such good action, and her little Lelouch was doing so well. Of course he would never defeat his own mother.

"Zero comes first! Give me his location!"

"Yes sir!" Marianne responded. She pulled a map of Lelouch's path. "This is Zero's projected course!"

Guilford's eyes widened in fear. Oh hell! The Black Knights are headed where she intended to lead the JLF!

"PRINCESS CORNELIA!"

. . . . . .

The Viceroy stood in the path facing a strange red Knightmare. "I hear you, Guilford."

*Lelouch isn't exactly up-to-date.

Enjoy the mucho action and setting up? Don't miss the next chapter which is LOADED with goodies! And review please!

So lots of things to cover. If you don't care about this story or my other works, you should probably stop reading now.

First, the next one-shot. For anybody who doesn't know what I'm talking about, sorry, find somebody who does. In the last one-shot I discussed the possibility of a Gino-shot. I still like that idea. But for those of you who don't like Gino, of course you wouldn't. Therefore I offer the possibilities of a Morrigan x C.C. x medieval lords shot (a reference to Dragon Age: Origins, and to C.C.'s past) or an Orange-kun one-shot. But I PREFER the Gino-shot. Remember, the speed of my updating these one-shots depends on how much I like them. The last one took forever cuz I hated that one. :(

Next, the next omake. I had a very cute and funny idea submitted to me with Mao that I might do. But any funny suggestions or crack-shots or hilarious scenes that you thought of while watching canon are welcome. I really did enjoy writing that last omake.

And now, the bummer. I haven't been on in forever. I don't feel like going through my inbox cuz I'm lazy. If I made some sort of promise or you had a great suggestion/correction, please try to remind me. Sorry. I only recall the Mao idea and that I have a new "beta" reader. (Congrats Seth Sandwhisper)

Anyways, the poll this week is about the Mao arc. Overall, I really enjoyed what Sunrise did in that arc so I don't wanna skip it. But Shirley's dad lives, so the one who's gonna get fucked over is Nina. Well, that depends on you guys. Two geniuses suggested this to me, and I couldn't make a decision so it's a poll.

My first reaction?

Hell no! Gawd I hate Nina! Why should I have to write about her more?

When I really thought about it?

Ew...Nina...how do people as narrow-minded and obsessive as her live? And what is the meaning of life? And how come Sebastian from Kuroshitsuji isn't my butler? And what is REALLY in chicken nuggets?

When I finally decided to get serious?

Ok...it's not a bad idea. Let's have everybody else DISS-cuss this idea. xD Lolzies.

So be sure to Review, remind, suggest, and vote. Or I'll send the Cookie Monster your way. And you will have no more cookies the rest of your miserable, miserable life.

And for those of you who have followed me here to the end, kudos to you, and you get this awesome piece of info that will rock your world. Double update! So that means we'll have another chapter next week, as long as nothing happens at my house. xD