Lulu's Bizarre Rebellion

by Ezit Meti

Lelouch Lamperouge was a boy with an ambition; To one day bring down the corrupt nation of Britannia and create a peaceful world for his sister. However, a single arrow gifted him a power that will help him reach his ambition. Stands... Ripple... A feud between two bloodlines that transcends time... And that's only the beginning of this bizarre rebellion!

65. Enter the Arena

Code Geass belongs to Sunrise, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure belongs to Hirohiko Araki.

Chapter 63: Enter the Arena

====Diethard====

Diethard Reid had a hobby: Magic. Illusions. They fascinated him almost as much as the development of history, the idea that you could do something small and simple slightly hidden out of sight and then pull off something that looked like a miracle. Though do try not to misunderstand his interest: He was not so much interested in performing the illusions as he was in determining how they were performed.

Call him a professional critic of misdirection. He saw it in his line of work as well. Politicians trying to hide a scandal by creating noise elsewhere, so it could go by unnoticed. With practise he had become quite good at noticing misdirection.

"The hell are we doing in here?" Tamaki asked, impatient as ever. "We should be out there helping out!"

"We're helping out perfectly well in here," Diethard admonished. The hotheaded Eleven turned up his nose, having no counterargument. Oh, but he despaired: Such a man receiving the wonderful gift that was Stand? Such a powerful one as well, if only the right mind were applied to using it. Still, if his suspicions were correct they would not have to wait long in this corridor before -

The sound of quick, yet quiet footsteps came around the corner rushing directly towards them. He nodded to Tamaki, who grunted back. Acknowledging that Diethard had been correct, albeit a reluctant acknowledgment. They waited quietly for the footsteps to pass by, allowing the person to travel halfway down the corridor. Then they struck, or to put it another way: Satisfaction struck.

Diethard drew his gun and stepped out of their hiding place, taking aim across the hallway. A stout Chinese man was in about the middle, some thirty feet away. He'd been in a hurry, but stopped on noticing his situation, carefully turning around to look at them with his hands in front of himself.

"Going somewhere?" Diethard asked, giving the intruder his best grin. "This way is the cells, what reason could you have for coming out this way?"

The man looked around the room at the walls, the ceiling and the floor. A veritable maze of intersecting dotted lines covered them all. This would be where he was supposed to say 'one wrong step would be your doom,' but in actuality there was no such thing as a right step to begin with.

"I was checking that the prisoner was secure," the man lied. Smoothly. So smoothly that Diethard almost didn't notice. He blinked and looked again at the intruder. "He might have escaped in the confusion. I thought it best to make sure he was still there."

"Tamaki, I'd like your opinion on something," Diethard said. "Tell me about our guest over there."

"Huh?" Tamaki grunted. "Uh. A bit overweight. Got a formal way of talking? I dunno!"

"You see, this is the difference between the professional's gaze and the amateur's," Diethard said, making damned certain his gun was trained on its target. With this pistol he was an excellent shot. He'd have to be. That stance... could it be? "Then let me give you a lesson, Tamaki. Why did he say that he's here?"

"Uh... He's here to check Lelouch didn't escape."

"Correct," Diethard said. "And what did he find upon arriving?"

"A hallway covered in dotted lines," Tamaki answered. A correct answer, but an incomplete one. So Diethard filled him in.

"Or to put it another way; A security measure so tight that you couldn't cross it even if you were invisible," Diethard shrugged. "One step, and the walls floor and ceiling will fold around you, too quickly and from too many angles for any human to dodge. Yet he's still standing there."

"You do have a gun pointed at him," Tamaki grunted.

"Where are his hands?"

"... Resting in his lap. Hey! That is kinda weird now you point it out! Normally you'd stick 'em up if you were worried about a gun!"

Through all of this Diethard had been watching this 'man' and his reactions to these observations. He'd been taking a lot of deep breaths. Not the same kind that the Ripple masters used, but more like he was trying to psyche himself up for something.

"It's you, isn't it?" Diethard asked. "Well, well. Fancy meeting you in a place like this. Although it's funny. I never would have pegged you for working with the Britannians. A coordinated attack alongside Cornelia? Where's your sense of Japanese pride?"

"Huh?" Tamaki grunted. "He's Japanese?"

"No," Diethard corrected. "She's Japanese. Aren't you? I don't know what game you're trying to play, but even you won't be able to escape. It's completely –"

Then she was right in front of him. Diethard's face fell, and he stumbled back. A twisted expression crept onto his face, a perfect blend of amusement and horror as she took the gun easily out of his grip and tossed it aside. "Impossible!" he finished, and behind her the floors walls and ceiling all folded over in ways that should have crushed or trapped her.

"How the hell did they –" Tamaki began to yell, right before she hit him in the back of the neck. Tamaki dropped like a rock, and before Diethard could adjust his aim something invisible grabbed his wrist and wrenched the gun from his arm.

"A Stand?" Diethard realised, but he hadn't the chance to do much with this information before being struck in the guts by a taser. He dropped like a rock, his body twitching helplessly.

With expected professional detachment she had them bound, blindfolded and even went for earmuffs just to block out sound. They were in no position to fight back. That's the terrifying thing about tasers. The shock interferes with muscle responses and nerve impulses. It leaves you worse than helpless, your own body might flail about in ways that cause you physical harm.

Despite that it was still nothing to the shock Diethard had felt on seeing her escape that trap. It would have been one thing if she had only escaped it, but that wasn't the issue. The problem was the way things had folded didn't make any sense. It was as if the folding along the walls, ceiling and floor had all been triggered simultaneously!

====Kallen====

Kallen was really not in the mood for this right now. Don't misunderstand, she was typically up for a good fight against Britannian military anytime and anywhere, but right now she was trying to deal with other things that didn't involve intense Knightmare battles.

Even so: The Guren launched into the air above the Forbidden Vermillion city where Kallen could take a good hard look at what was going on. Seven enemy Knightmares. Flying a little out to the east of the city, each one moving fluidly with purpose. While she flew the Guren closer Kallen watched them carefully to get a handle on the situation.

Credit where it's due they were skilled pilots. Avoiding artillery fire from the Gun Ru on the ground, or outright blocking it with tough looking shields. But the two biggest threats were the two that weren't Gloucesters. The four armed Pellinore, wielding an axe in each hand that it used to fire out electrified slash harkens. Then there was Bors, with its sonic lance and enhanced factsphere.

"Well aren't you some blasts from the past," Kallen muttered to herself. "Well, on the bright side I'll get my hands on Cornelia. That should help work off a bit of tension."

She could see Shen Hu was off towards Guilford, which suited her fine. "Mind his axes," Kallen said. In response, nothing but static. "Huh?" she flipped through the comms channels. It was the same on each of them. Great, some kind of interference. Just what they needed. This is Cornelia's doing, no question. That Knightmare of hers was a pain in the neck to deal with.

Kallen had fought both Bors and Pellinore before and she felt confident in her ability to take on either of them. Even so, her instincts were telling her that both of those Knightmares - probably the Gloucesters as well - had got some major upgrades since she'd last fought them. It wasn't something she could put into words exactly, more like a bad feeling about the fight ahead. She kind of wished she could give Xingke some advice.

It would be nice to pay him back for advising her on alternative ways she could use her Stand. Not that she saw any need to do anything like that for this fight.

"Well well, fancy meeting you here!" Kallen yelled, rushing in to meet Cornelia head on. She thrust the radiant wave arm forward and fired a long range beam directly at the Princess. No need to mess around when she could finish this quickly!

"It's been a while Miss Stadtfeld!" Cornelia replied. Huh! Seems as though their external speakers were working fine. Bors thrust its lance out to meet the incoming beam. There was a sound like a shrill whistle - and then the radiant blast scattered. "As impetuous and hotheaded as ever."

Right. That's why this Knightmare was so damned troublesome. Its advanced factsphere probably calculated the frequency that would disrupt the beam. Although... If she was using the lance to fight, then didn't that mean something else was causing the interference? Never mind! Cornelia was the one in charge here, so taking her down was the most effective tactic.

"I think you'll find I'm not the same as I was before."

While her intention was to finish the fight in a single blow, Kallen was too experienced to be absolutely certain her attack would have worked the way she wanted. In truth her secondary goal had been to close the gap between the two of them, and do it quickly. The Guren fought much better close range and that factsphere gave her way too many advantages.

As expected Bors reacted quickly to her fast approach, raising its shield to push her back. Kallen gripped that shield with the Guren's off hand, but she'd already done what she intended to do by coming this close. Before Cornelia could push her away she sent Jumpin' Jack Flash inside the Knightmare itself. Time to take out the trash.

Jumpin' Jack Flash penetrated the cockpit easily enough and soon found Cornelia sitting there, apparently oblivious to the Stand's presence. There was a faintly arrogant expression on her face as if she wasn't feeling any pressure at all. Well, that was about to change when her face met these blinding fists -

At the last possible moment something metal protruded from Cornelia's face. A sturdy hunk of metal that took the same shape as the flesh it was coming out from, but extending out about two inches in front of her. Kallen pulled the punch, but only barely. This could only mean that Cornelia had an unknown Stand!

"You're not the same? As you can see neither am I," Cornelia said, turning to look directly at the Stand still hovering in her cockpit. Taking a closer look, Kallen could hardly believe it. The metal flowed out of and then back into her body without seeming to cause any damage to her skin! "I'll give you credit. Forcing me to reveal that so quickly shows your Britannian blood is strong enough to overcome your Eleven weakness."

"Keep talking big," Kallen yelled. Now she was really going to get it! "It'll feel that much worse when you fall."

Cornelia grinned. A manic gleam in her eye. Her hand reached out towards Jumpin' Jack Flash's arm, and those metallic things started coming out of it. Ah! That was bad! Kallen's instincts were screaming at her not to let Cornelia grab anything with her hand!

The Guren was roughly pushed away, which was honestly fine with Kallen. An enemy Stand with an unknown ability? It felt as if, any attempt to punch Cornelia directly would probably be blocked by this power. But that wasn't the extent of the Stand's power, was it? It probably did something else as well! In which case, it might be better to switch from aiming for the pilot to aiming for the Knightmare.

Kallen flew around Bors quickly and then loomed in hard to strike inside of Cornelia's blind spot - then for the second time this battle reflexively pulled back at the last possible moment. For a moment there time seemed to stand still. Eh? What was that all of a sudden? Kallen was struck by this overwhelming instinct all of a sudden. It had said to her, deep in her soul, that 'something terrible would happen if she hit Cornelia'.

Was this an effect of Cornelia's Stand at work? Whatever it was, Kallen's heart was pounding like a hard drumbeat. She could hear the blood pumping through her veins, and the echoes of that warning lingered in her mind. Don't hit Cornelia. Whatever happens, she must not strike Cornelia!

"Something wrong, Miss Stadtfeld?" Cornelia asked. "From what I've heard it's not like you to pull your punches."

Bors pulled away, much as Kallen expected it would. Trying to create some distance so Kallen couldn't keep in the fight? Hmph! Whatever the hell this problem was, Kallen had already worked out a way around it.

Slash harkens came right in for her as she flew in hot pursuit. They were easily deflected with her own, and then retracted by Bors. She couldn't hit Cornelia. For some reason that she didn't quite grasp that would be a very, very bad idea. Her instincts were extremely insistent on this point. But she'd learned one thing from Stand battles already.

Sometimes you don't need to hit your opponent to win.

Kallen got the Guren right in Bors' face and stuck out its radiant wave arm. "No escape this time, your highness," she mocked.

"Is this the part where you use your wide band attack?" Cornelia asked. What was this? She was opening her cockpit? Cornelia raised her hands above her head, and to Kallen's utter confusion she put them together creating as high and wide an arch as possible underneath her arms. Those metal plates came out all around her arms, her head, her shoulders and even her hair. But there was something else there as well.

A lever. There was a lever coming out of the side of her right arm. This whole thing reminded Kallen of a vise, but twisted and bent out of shape.

"Crush 'Em!"

The metal plates suddenly expanded, slamming together and filling the gap between Cornelia's arms. What happened next was hard to explain. It was a terrible sucking effect. Air seemed to be drawn in directly towards Cornelia, a sudden intense sucking gale. Not much, but enough to pull the Guren in much closer than Kallen had intended.

The radiant wave arm hit Bors's shield arm. Hard enough to make it drop the shield.

Blast it, that feeling was back! The hairs on the back of Kallen's neck were standing on end. It had been only a glancing blow, but somehow she knew that was going to be enough. She was a tough girl, and by this point nothing should phase her, yet even now she was being overwhelmed with a keen sense of dread -

"Oooooaaaaa... You hit heeeeer!"

That moaning sound... What was that?! Kallen turned to look, and the sense of dread intensified, reaching still new heights. It was a small pale skinned figure which would have been almost cute if not for the exposed bone and muscle on its face and arms. It was diving towards Kallen with hands reaching out to her, and its mouth wide open. She knew what this was. She'd thought that the sense of dread was to do with Cornelia's new Stand but that wasn't it at all! This was much worse, so much worse than she could have ever imagined.

"Children of the Night!" Kallen screamed. It had been forever since she'd seen that Stand! She'd first encountered it when it had possessed Tamaki, transforming him into Frankenstein's Monster. That's how the Stand worked: It was an automatic type Stand, that would 'haunt' a person or location until someone 'broke the rule' set upon it by the Stand's Master. That person would then be possessed by the Stand, then compelled to walk towards the Stand Master, attacking and destroying anyone or anything that tried to stop them!

None of which answered the all important question: Why was a Stand that belonged to a group of criminals like Stand Out working alongside Cornelia?!

She pulled the Guren into reverse. She had to get away from that thing! No chance was she getting possessed like a chump! But the child sped up. She sent out Jumpin' Jack Flash to ensnare it within its coil arms. Keep it away! Maybe if she crushed it, she could keep herself safe?

"Nice try, Miss Stadtfeld. But you'll never be more than second best."

Bors fired a pair of slash harkens directly at her. As if Kallen was going to let them hit! Dividing her attention was a pain, but what kind of Knightmare ace couldn't deal with a little multitasking?

She could dodge those harken just fine without taking her attention away from that Stand. If she could contain it, maybe destroy it, then she could return her attention to Cornelia and finish her off with ease! She'd already seen the limit of what Bors was capable of so this fight was in the bag.

Or it would have been. If there weren't sonic emitters attached to the slash harkens that were now on either side of the Guren.

A sudden piercing noise filled the Guren's cockpit, and a second after that Kallen had to clutch the side of her head as a searing headache ripped clear through her.

"Damn dirty trick!" she yelled at Cornelia. But she could easily imagine the Princess smiling smugly in her cockpit. They both knew that the damage was already done. That attack wasn't meant to inflict serious damage on Kallen. Not directly.

It was meant to take away her attention. The child slipped by Jumpin' Jack Flash and flew into Kallen's chest before she could recover.

The Guren landed hard on the ground. A moment later its cockpit popped open, and Kallen Kozuki stumbled out. To anyone watching at a distance, they could hear that she was saying something, but not what that something was. The noise of battle was drowning them out. It was as though she'd been left disoriented, uncertain of her position or her surroundings.

But then they would get a better look at her. They would see that her eyes were sunken, that her normally healthy skin tone was paler, almost grey and lifeless. They would see the colour in her eyes had faded, making them seem entirely milky white. They would see that she was not stumbling, but rather shambling to the west towards the city, and they would hear her repeating a word over and over again.

"Braaaaaains!"

====Lelouch====

Lelouch was the kind of person for whom analysis came as second nature. He was always thinking, always plotting and planning and analysing and scheming and, from his comfortable and cozy position within this underground cell, he had all the time he needed to do exactly that without having to worry about anything.

Believe it or not but he would much rather be worrying about his survival than stuck down here, but that was rather beside the point.

"Let me see as well," C.C. requested. Not entirely unreasonable, so he made the shadows in the ceiling invisible to her as well. "I'm only seeing seven Knightmares. Surely that shouldn't be a problem for them?"

"Formation informs the flow of a battle at least as much as the numbers on both sides," Lelouch said, studying the ongoing events outside to the very best of his ability. Unfortunately there were some things he couldn't quite make out. Buildings and walls he couldn't turn invisible because they were too brightly lit. Fast flowing action that even he couldn't digest in time. "Based on what I'm seeing, their formation isn't an attack formation. It's more... defensive. As if they're slowly retreating."

Or drawing the defensive force away from the city. Furthermore, judging from the movements of their defensive force so far there must be some sort of communication issue. This lack of cohesion couldn't only be caused by the sudden appearance of the enemy. Considering Bors is present, that seemed to be the likeliest culprit.

"Even so, they'll be picked off one by one," Lelouch observed. "It's a matter of time, no matter what strategy they take. They will have to fully disengage, surrender, or be ground down by the superior numbers."

"What about reinforcements?"

He'd dismissed that idea out of hand without considering it. Why attack with anything less than their full complement? Then again, how did they get here to begin with? Was their method of arrival limited in how many it could send at a time?

"This is just like the attack on the Palace," C.C. suddenly said. "Enemy Knightmares appear out of nowhere. No advance warning, they completely bypass all early detection measures, suddenly appearing right on top of their destination."

"Which leads to two possibilities, neither one of them good," Lelouch gravely intoned. "Either Britannia has worked out how to duplicate a similar effect, or –"

"Or JOJO is involved," C.C. finished. She cocked her head a little. "I have it on good authority that this was not sanctioned by Britannia." That earned his attention and a quirked eyebrow. "Their plan for rescuing you involved sending me in as your lawyer."

"Plans change," Lelouch said. "I wouldn't put it past the Emperor to have you sent in as a distraction –" Lelouch trailed off and frowned, thoughts churning over in his head. Aha...? Could that be their goal? He continued automatically while the majority of his mind was actually devoted to calculating probabilities. "- While their real rescue plan worked from behind the scenes."

"I very much doubt that," C.C. replied. She seemed rather certain of herself there.

"Well, the alternative is that they have suborned Cornelia as well!" Lelouch observed. He found that thought pretty terrifying as well. Bringing Cornelia to heel? Making her betray the Empire? That couldn't be easy. In fact, short of outright brainwashing her there was only one possible thing that could have made her turn against the Empire. One weak point and one alone: Euphemia. Who was back in Area Eleven being protected by Suzaku. Which meant she'd probably suffered the same fate as Nunnally! What the hell had he done to them?

This question brought forth several others all at once. None of which were providing answers to him easily. Possibility, probability, that's all he could play with. Around and around his mind went. Every time he thought he had a path that might lead to common sense, he found it blocked off by a little nitpick that undid the entire knot.

'The truth is, I'm distracting myself from this helpless feeling,' his inner watcher warned. 'I am trying to solve a puzzle by peering at it through a telescope. Because it is better than sitting here and stewing, trapped away from the rest of the world while the people you care about risk their lives. For your sake. For your manipulations and machinations. Better to distract yourself with a problem to solve than let the guilt build and build with no outlet.'

It was to his great relief that the door out of the prison area opened wide. Standing demurely and smiling in the doorway was a familiar Japanese woman, clasping her hands in front of herself and seeming resplendent and pristine in her maid's uniform, replete with the little hat that she always seemed to wear wherever she went.

"Good evening Master Lelouch. Miss C.C." Sayoko said while gently adjusting the strap for the backpack she was wearing. "Please come with me. We must hurry. Your sister is in terrible danger."

====Ohgi====

It's amazing how people don't pay attention to things up until they don't work properly. You grab a door handle and you open up the door, you don't pay it any attention until the door jams. It was the same thing with most technology. Use it without noticing up until it inconveniences you. To whit:

"Why are our channels down?" he asked into the microphone in front of him, feeling panic rising up in his voice. It was frustrating. He could see the action on his monitors fine, and internal communications was all working as it should be. But for whatever reason their contact with the Knightmares was completely dead.

"That would be Bors at work," Rakshata answered. "She's causing some sort of sonic interference. We're working on a way to break through, but she's changing the frequency."

Before all of this had started Ohgi had no real military experience. Everything he'd learned, he'd learned as a rebel. The first lesson Naoto had taught him was that chaos and confusion on the battlefield tended to help those with the smaller force, and it was obvious that someone with as much experience as Cornelia would understand full well the benefits of asymmetric warfare. They couldn't communicate, couldn't coordinate. All they could do was rely on overwhelming the attackers before they did too much damage.

But then Ohgi saw with his own eyes how prepared Cornelia was for this battle.

His attention had been on Shen Hu, charging in to strike at Guilford with his swords drawn. Shen Hu's blades versus Pellinore's axes. Guilford fired the heads of two axes directly at Xingke, who was able to expertly parry them and continue pushing through.

What followed was an astonishing display of skill between two enemies, exchanging, dodging and blocking blows too fast for Ohgi to keep track of. It almost felt like a competitive athletic contest rather than a fight to the death, as though both of them were trying to prove their superiority over the other.

"Got him!" Ohgi grunted in sympathetic triumph when Xingke was able to push through Guilford's guard, smacking into him with the hilt of his sword and following through with a crushing kick. That wouldn't end the fight, but it did leave a significant dent in one of Pellinore's arms. It was probably not going to be much use from now on, which would also deliver a psychological blow on Cornelia's knight.

Apparently he was more right than he knew. Because Guilford completely turned away from the fight. Not as a mark of disrespect, nor as part of some strategy. As though Xingke was an opponent he had just now defeated. That was the impression Ohgi had: That Guilford had won the fight even though he'd been the one who had been struck. So why -

Then without warning Shen Hu dropped to a nearby rooftop. The Knightmare opened up, and a terrible sight befell Ohgi's eyes. It was a terrible thing he was seeing. A pale hand gripped the side of the Knightmare with a light touch, but still the metal bent. Xingke's head appeared, but the Chinese man had an inhuman grin upon it. His eyes were wild and untamed, yet were also dancing with malicious and wicked intelligence. He licked his lips, revealing pronounced canines that were long, far too long! On top of that his clothes had changed as well! Xingke didn't normally wear long flowing capes, nor did he have any preference towards tuxedos blacker than the night's sky. This transformation - this change!

As if his horror was not yet enough the interference blocking him from communicating with everyone else suddenly stopped, and the first thing he heard was a familiar and dreadful sound.

"Wrrrryyyyyyyy!"

"Ch-Ch-Children of the Night?!" Ohgi gasped with fright. That Stand? The one that had possessed Tamaki, turning him into Frankenstein's Monster!? What was it doing here? Cornelia was working with that lunatic Stand user?!

"To the defenders of this city, take this as your warning!" Cornelia's voice blared out across the city. "Attack us at your peril. How sure can you be that your leaders can save you? How sure can you be that they'll do anything other than kill you to save themselves?"

And then, silence resumed. Seven Knightmares. Exactly the same as that Stand! It must be set to possess anyone that lands a blow against them, and from the direction Xingke was walking it seemed as though they were heading West. Towards Euro-Britannia! Which meant they would be going through the city. Which meant - He felt sick. Kallen had been possessed by the Zombie!

"Interference, Children of the Night rampaging through the city... It's a perfect storm," Ohgi realised. "Like this, nobody will want to risk attacking them in case they become a monster too. Which means they'll be free to do whatever the hell they want and we can't even organise effectively to stop them."

In short, a multi-pronged psychological attack. A puzzle with only one solution. But even if he was physically capable of giving that order, could he bring himself to do it? People aren't pieces in a game to throw away when you don't need them anymore. No matter what, he couldn't see people that way!

"Black Knights! Our enemy seeks to use our fear against us!"

That voice snapped him out of his despair and dragged his attention to a nearby rooftop. It was Zero! Triumphantly standing there, with her Stand holding a megaphone in front of her mask and her arms crossed in front of her.

"But I say this!" Zero continued, suddenly pointing up to the sky. He could swear that he could see the intensity shooting off her shoulders into the very heavens themselves. "If something stands within our way, then we must knock it down with our fists!"

She grabbed the megaphone while Schizoid Man brought out a bazooka and took aim, directly towards an enemy Gloucester and then pulled the trigger without hesitation. What was she doing? If that hit, then - Then she'd be! "Even if that something is our own fear, we must knock it aside!"

"We have nothing to fear from these Children of the N- Nnng! Nnnng!"

Ohgi felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He could barely stand to look, and yet at the same time he couldn't look away. Zero dropped to her knees clutching at the sides of her mask. It began to crack, and hair sprouted out. An elongated snout broke through the front of the mask. Her gloves were ripped to shreds by razor sharp claws, so sharp that Ohgi felt as though he'd been cut by only looking at them from a distance.

"Ah- ah- awwooooooo!"

All that was left of the masked vigilante was an upright beast howling at the moon. Ohgi sunk into his chair. He hadn't even noticed himself standing up. They'd lost Zero, they'd lost Kallen, they'd lost Xingke. This was the power of Children of the Night.

"Got it!" Rakshata suddenly said. "We're now broadcasting a signal of our own. This should cancel out the interference and let us communicate."

"Alright!" Kaguya said. "Now we can finally organise our counter-attack. Where do we start?"

Ohgi grimly lifted his hand and struck the button. He'd already realised what had to be done. "Zeta Squad. Epsilon Squad. Mauve Squad. Pegasus Squad. Please launch a coordinated attack on the invaders. Hold nothing back."

"Wh-what? What the hell?!"

"You're sending us in? What for?!"

"Not a chance! You saw what happened to them!"

"Yes. I saw," Ohgi quietly said. People weren't pieces to be thrown away. "But Zero was right. If we don't do something, if someone doesn't attack first then nobody will be able to keep us safe. Once all seven monsters have been used to possess someone, the rest of us can attack with impunity."

"Screw you! I'm not getting possessed by no monster!"

"Didn't you hear Zero?" Ohgi asked, staring blankly at the wall ahead of him. People weren't pieces to be thrown away. "You already have been. By the monster called 'fear'. Like all monsters it has a weakness. A vulnerability that we can exploit. Just like vampires are weak to sunlight and werewolves are weak to silver, so too does fear have a weapon."

People weren't pieces to be thrown away. Dammit! They weren't pieces in some stupid game!

"A weapon called 'trust'! Zero trusted that we would save her! Don't betray that trust now. Please, I promise. We'll find a way to free you without killing you. I promise."

To his surprise the teams moved in for the attack. Next: "Four Holy Swords. It's good to see you here."

"You did the right thing," Tohdoh told him. "In order to lead, sometimes a leader must make a tough choice. Try not to let it burden you."

"We'll move in once the monsters have all shown up," Senba promised. "In the meantime, you should have other teams minding the monsters."

"Evacuate the path ahead of them," Chiba advised. "That should take care of it."

"Not a fan of fighting dirty like this," Urabe said. "You overcome your own fear as well, got it?"

Right! Despite the tears in his eyes, Ohgi couldn't help but smile at an errant thought. Zero... It wasn't only your Stand that made you what you were. You were more than some superpower or a mask.

People weren't pieces in a game to be discarded. He wouldn't throw lives away for nothing. But this wasn't nothing! Zero was putting her trust in them, right? Well then. He'd be damned if they let that trust down now! They were going to win this game and get their people back!

====Lelouch====

"I was fortunate enough to escape JOJO's henchmen," Sayoko said as they hurried through the hallways. "But it was a close thing. After that, I learned that Britannia was taking a slower route towards your rescue and decided to see if there was anything I could do. I arrived here undercover a week ago to see if I could find a hole in the security we could exploit to escape."

"How fortunate that Cornelia showed up when she did," Lelouch observed.

"Her attack does seem a most suitable distraction," Sayoko admitted. She looked at him as though expecting him to say something else, but Lelouch stayed silent. C.C. on the other hand did not afford them that luxury.

"I take it you have a plan to get us to Europe?" the immortal asked, a little impatiently. "I have no doubt that you can get us out of this city, but after that it will be a lot harder."

"I have contacts who will assist us without asking questions," Sayoko said. "Anything else should wait until we're well away from the battlezone. We can't afford to get distra–"

"To the defenders of this city, take this as your warning!" Cornelia's voice blared out across the city. "Attack us at your peril. How sure can you be that your leaders can save you? How sure can you be that they'll do anything other than kill you to save themselves?"

What was she talking about? Lelouch couldn't help himself. He looked out across the city - and saw a sight that chilled his blood.

"K-Kallen," he gasped. Shambling through the city, her body was bloated and - a zombie? Had she been killed after they'd been talking just now and then revived as the undead?!

He was pulled along by C.C. There was no time to worry about this. Sayoko was right: He had to get to Europe. He had to think about Nunnally -

"Black Knights! Our enemy seeks to use our fear against us!" that was... Shirley? Speaking through a megaphone on a rooftop! "But I say this: If something stands within our way, then we must knock it down with our fists!" She brought out a bazooka and took aim, directly towards an enemy Gloucester and then pulled the trigger without hesitation. What the hell was going on?! "Even if that something is our own fear, we must knock it aside! We have nothing to fear from these Children of the N- Nnng! Nnnng! Ah- ah- awwooooooo!"

He'd seen it. He'd seen it with his own two eyes. He'd recognise that anywhere. In his memories. In his nightmares. It was that Stand?! It was here, in the Forbidden Vermillion City?

"I… Must… Feed," Lelouch snarled, and his finger pressed against Nunnally's throat. "I… Must feed… And return to moth-"

He pulled out of C.C.'s grip and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Master Lelouch, we have to hurry!" Sayoko insisted.

"Quite so, Miss Sayoko," Lelouch nodded. He didn't break his stride, and there was a fire burning in his eyes that would frighten even Lelouch himself. "But not to leave this city. Rather, we shall save it."

"Oh?" C.C. asked, quickly catching up with him and falling into step. "And here was me thinking your priority was your sister."

"It is," Lelouch replied. "Which is why I'll need you both to do something for me."

====Tohdoh====

The nature of war had changed dramatically since Kyoshiro Tohdoh had first joined the Japanese military lo those many years ago. The introduction and evolution of Knightmares, which had seemed an insurmountable wall - until the discovery of the supernatural revealed an even steeper obstacle to climb. Both introduced new factors to consider, new costs to be weighed and new strategies to consider.

Despite that the fundamentals still had not changed. Know how to prioritise your resources. Make your opponent squander theirs. These were facts that would remain the same for any officer in any period of history.

"Senba, Chiba I want you and your teams to organise evacuations of the city," Tohdoh ordered. "Make sure nobody is in the direct path those monsters are taking. Urabe, our teams will take on the Knightmares attacking the city."

"Understood!" all three of them said at once. They all sent their Knightmares about their task, Senba and Chiba flying into the city. Tohdoh put them to the back of his mind for the time being. So long as they kept the fighting away from the city their tasks would not intersect with one another. He and Urabe had a team of five with them, with other reserves hanging back in case they were needed.

"You think they have any other tricks up their sleeves?" Urabe asked.

"I'd be shocked if they didn't," Tohdoh answered. In fact, that was the primary reason he had requested the bulk of their force hang back for now and assist in containing Children of the Night. Between him and Urabe they should be able to force Cornelia to reveal more of the cards she must be hiding up her sleeves.

His eye was initially on Cornelia herself, but his path was quickly blocked by her Knight. An electrified harken cable flew directly into his path, forcing Tohdoh to dodge around it.

"Kyoshiro Tohdoh, I have been looking forward to crossing paths with you again," Guilford said, pulling the axe harken back in and bringing Pellinore closer. One arm had been disabled by Xingke previously, so this Knightmare was already not operating at full capacity. "I hear tell that you have acquired a Stand. Let me see how you fight with it."

"I fight honourably," Tohdoh said, attaching a 'heavy' ofuda onto the head of his own harken and firing it out at Pellinore while flying up. "Unlike those who need to take hostages to make their enemy unwilling to fight back!"

The harken missed as Pellinore dodged around - but it served its real purpose in dragging Tohdoh down like an anchor, allowing him to more quickly reach his enemy's position. As expected, Guilford was ready for his arrival, swinging precisely with those axe heads, forcing Tohdoh to block with both his sword and Beast of Burden alike.

And in the process, allowing him to tag Pellinore's arm.

"Hypocrisy does not suit you well," Guilford said, suddenly pushing away and firing a regular slash harken at point blank range. "Remind me again which organisation took Ashford Academy's students hostage - twice in the same week?"

Touche. Tohdoh knocked the harken aside and rushed back in to resume the battle at a more comfortable close range. Looking around, he could see that Urabe had been drawn into a confrontation with Cornelia while their respective teams were pushing the other five Knightmares into a corner.

"You're surrounded," Tohdoh warned. "If you surrender, you will be treated fairly!"

"Which implies that if we don't surrender, we'll be treated unfairly."

Hrmph! This Knightmare was a little faster than he remembered. Being able to parry all of his attacks like this. It was a mark of skill, the sort you couldn't teach and that practise wouldn't bring to bloom. Cornelia had chosen her Knight frighteningly well. Even if he was more interested in obstinate contrarianism than more direct psychological strikes.

Which suited Tohdoh fine. Now he could focus on the fight rather than sparring with words.

The Brake sword came crashing down upon crossed axe heads, while Beast of Burden kept Pellinore's last arm from swinging into a vulnerable spot. It was clear, they were about the same level of skill. But Beast of Burden would give him the clear edge in this fight.

That much was clear. It was obvious at a glance. And yet neither Guilford nor the others showed any signs of surrendering. Which meant they still had a card to play. Something that they had not yet revealed. A Stand power, or perhaps -

For a moment there was silence. Eerie silence like this was one thing that never belonged on any battlefield. The only sound that could be heard was the crackling noise of electric axes versus superheated sword pressing into one another. Then, out of nowhere, Guilford gave an answer. It was one word. Only one word. A senseless word that had no place within this context, and yet there it was. A word that would send a strange feeling of dread down even Tohdoh's stoic spine.

"Crush."

"What?" Tohdoh grunted. "What does that –"

Suddenly Pellinore dropped- and Tohdoh took a shot directly to the face from a slash harken. One of the Gloucesters had fired it at Guilford's back, Pellinore's dodge had been delivered with perfect precision. As though Guilford had known it was coming without needing to be told.

"Crush!" the Gloucester's pilot said. There was mania in the word. As in, if it were a movie you would see someone say it when their own mother's blood was dripping from their lips. That kind of mania. Insanity beyond reason. Insanity to the point you couldn't even be called a wild beast.

"Wh-What the hell is this?!" Urabe yelled. Tohdoh risked a look, though he knew he really should have been more concerned with the damage his own Knightmare had taken. What he saw was... concerning, to say the least.

It was coordination. Perfect coordination, utterly flawless and utterly ruthless. While Urabe had been fighting Cornelia alone, that fight had been drawn into the battle between the two Gloucesters and Urabe's team of five. What should have been a total slaughter, what should have ended quickly had been completely turned on its head through sheer, brutal coordination.

"Crush! Crush! Crush! Crush! Crush!"

They were all chanting it. All seven of them. The same word over and over and over. It was unsettling. The monsters were in the city, right? Which meant, what was left up here in the air... How had Lelouch put it at that that time?

"Crush! Crush! Crush! Crush!"

Monsters are scary. Humans are worse. Only now did Tohdoh truly understand what that meant.

But he was not a man to be brought to his knees by something like this. Tohdoh brought his Knightmare around to rejoin the fight - and found two sword wielding Gloucesters descending on him. In spite of the damage he'd taken, he was able to block and parry both of their sword strikes effectively enough. Although it was extremely unnerving how in sync their attacks were. A lesser swordsman would have been dropped already.

"Crush! Crush! Crush!"

"We need the reserve team in here! Now!" Tohdoh ordered. Even with Beast of Burden, he wasn't able to get an attack in on these two! They were pushing him back through sheer coordinated bloody minded relentlessness.

Urabe's question seemed even more pertinent by the instant. What the hell kind of trump card was this supposed to be?!

"Crush... crush... Crush...!"

Suddenly all seven Knightmares drew back, and Tohdoh was almost relieved to see them do that. Were they regrouping? Whatever this was they couldn't afford to underestimate them. Not anymore. First Children of the Night and then this? What was next?

The answer was, chaff by all appearances. Which meant - "They're retreating! After them!"

Sure enough, there they went disappearing into the mist of aluminium. Although he had to say, this wasn't an especially effective tactic when he could easily fly up and get a better view above the chaff. Urabe was taking a more straightforward approach, heading underneath it but the result was the same.

"Tohdoh! That's not chaff!" Urabe suddenly warned. "I got a good look, and it's more like shrunken –"

Then the chaff ignited, and all Tohdoh could see was white. His eyes overloaded with a brilliant dazzle that let him dizzy and disoriented. Funny, he'd experienced this before but there was no ringing in his ears this time. Which enabled him to hear the last two words of Urabe's sentence with perfect clarity:

"Flashbang grenades."

"Shrunken... Flashbang grenades?" Tohdoh grunted. He rubbed instinctively at his eyes, then pounded the console in front of himself. "They split our attention between the city and themselves, then drew out as much of our main force as they could so they could blind us all at once."

Brilliant. He'd never seen such a small force inflict this much psychological damage before. Since he couldn't hear anything it seemed obvious that they'd already retreated rather than pressing their attack. Which meant they'd almost certainly got what they wanted in the first place.

Which was almost certainly Lelouch. Could they have extracted him already without them noticing? That didn't seem possible, but with the abilities they'd shown so far it was impossible to discount completely.

"When our vision clears, we give chase!" Tohdoh yelled, kicking himself for not seeing through this. But how could he have predicted a strategy like this? Because the fundamentals of war hadn't changed. Right? You draw the tiger to the mountain, because that is where you're likely to win. "Whatever their objective was, we can't let them escape."

But the weird thing was... somehow Tohdoh felt as though they were still being played for fools. Had Cornelia come up with this plan? Did she have this kind of experience in asymmetric warfare? Or had someone else come up with this plan, and she had executed it?

Whatever the case may be Tohdoh was sure of one thing. War might not have changed its basics and fundamentals, but it had still changed.

====Xingke====

He was a creature of the night. The darkness all around him, the shadows in every corner, not a one of them was a shade of the wicked power he could summon with but a thought. His strength lay him at a level high above any mortal man, his thirst was unquenchable, his wickedness without end!

And his mother was far off to the west.

Xingke lumbered through the entrance to the park within the Forbidden Vermillion City with his head held high and a hiss escaping his lips. He had grabbed hold of his cape, lifting it up and draping it over his own mouth to hide his fangs. Peering over his arm with bloodshot eyes that almost seemed to be daring anyone to come and stand in his way.

Not that anything seemed to. The areas of the city he had been travelling through so far were suspiciously quiet. He grinned and cackled a little to himself. Of course it was. Those in charge had the good sense to evacuate out of his path. Allowing him to proceed towards mother unabated, even though the journey would take quite a long time.

The park itself was, of course, truly intended to show off for visitors from other nations. An opulent stroll designed solely to show off the wealth, power and influence of the Chinese Federation. A jewel within the city that was the beating heart of their nation.

Kuku! Those High Eunuchs were slimy and insidious worms. But see the benches and tables set out for guests to sit at? They were cast with ivory and gold. See species of trees not normally on the same continent as one another, together in one place. And in the middle, a grand fountain shaped like an elephant rearing on its hind legs. In a word: Spectacular!

... That is, to a regular human being. To a vampire like him, such constructs were fleeting vanities of humanity. True beauty could only be found in the darkness, in the eternal power of the unliving.

Clack

Hrm? What was that? Xingke tucked his head. Was someone there, by that ornate fountain in the middle of the park? He peered around a tree and, sure enough there was. One sole figure. A young boy sitting at a table with his back turned to Xingke. On the table was a chess board. The boy reached over and picked up a black Pawn, then moved it forward a space and spun the board around, then he captured that Pawn with a white Bishop and spun the board back.

"I'm not here to stop you," Lelouch said. He continued playing. Not interfering. Not in his way. Not a threat. "It is not my intention to impede your journey."

"A wise move, boy!" Xingke hissed. "I would have torn you limb from limb if you had tried to play hero."

"I'm certainly no hero," the boy said, moving his black Knight to put the white King in check, turning the board and deftly moving the King out of harm's way. "Remember, I was once possessed by the same Stand. I know that frightening power too well to pick a fight with you."

Ahahaha, so it seems as though even this cocky Britannian Prince knew his place! So be it. Xingke saw no need to waste his time on such a brat. He tucked his head beneath the cloak and began to stalk around the fountain, continuing on his unstoppable path towards his mother. Ignore the Prince and let him play his silly game.

"Heh... Each chess piece is extremely powerful, but also restricted in its own way," Lelouch said, apparently to himself. He spun the board and made another move, leaving another clack as he placed another piece on its new square. "That's what makes chess so interesting. If you understand those limitations, you can force your opponent to make moves they might not otherwise make. Why... It almost reminds me of an automatic Stand."

"Braaaaaains..."

"Oooooaaaaaah!"

"Urrrrrrrghhhhh!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

Xingke stopped a moment to look around himself. He recognised those sounds. Well, of course he would. What kind of big brother would he be if he did not recognise the cries of his little siblings? Zombie, Mummy, Ghost and Skeleton! They were closing in around the park - though their trajectory was a little off. Mother was west, but they were closing in on the park from all manner of angles. Why was this?

As if in answer, a green haired girl carrying a sniper's rifle sat opposite Lelouch at the table.

"There. That should be all of them you asked for," she said, oblivious to his siblings coming in, closer and closer, inch by inch. "It wasn't easy making non lethal blows with this, by the way. I'll have to insist on a steep payment fee."

She looked at Xingke with absolute disgust, but made no aggressive gestures. If anything, the boy offered her a drink and they cooly began to play chess. As though they weren't surrounded by monsters seeking to rend the flesh from their bones.

"Tell me, C.C. Have I ever explained my philosophy in playing chess?"

"I don't believe you have."

Not a threat. He could continue moving. The girl had not interfered with his journey either, therefore he could safely ignore her as well. Up until the moment she did try something foolish, and then he would join his brothers and sisters in their reverie.

"It's simple," Lelouch continued, picking up the Black King and lifting it far above his head "I draw attention to the King and leave them apparently open. This provides my opponent with a sufficient distraction that they do not see my true attack coming... Until it's already –"

Movement caught the corner of Xingke's eye. Another threat? He turned to look. It was fast. And being pursued at great speed! The first movement was a human woman. Japanese, but very quick and nimble. She landed on the fountain and then leaped off almost immediately.

Lelouch crashed the piece onto the board, and in that same instant the beastly form of Werewolf crashed through the fountain sending water flying everywhere. The beast let out a mighty howl at the moon, baring its razor sharp fangs and claws.

"- Far, far too late to stop it," Lelouch finished, tightly gripping the King, still pressing it into the board.

"Really now, do you have to be so theatrical about this?" C.C. shrugged.

"Chess pieces," Lelouch said, ignoring her outright. "That's all you are. Chess pieces, moving automatically with only a semblance of intelligence. Automatically attacking anyone or anything that gets in your way. A piece may not move into a space occupied by one of its own side. A Queen can be blocked by a Pawn of her own side. So it is here, as well."

The Werewolf leaped down, stalking towards Sayoko - and suddenly Mummy's bandages lashed out, wrapping around its arms, legs and waist. Why did it attack? Because when Werewolf had broken the fountain it had accidentally knocked part of it into Mummy!

"Awwooooo! Hsk!" Werewolf grunted. The beast tried to turn around to slice at the bandages with its claws or bite them with its fangs. To little avail. Mummy was remarkably strong, and its bandages ridiculously tough.

"Braaaaains!" Zombie moaned. It was trying and failing to grab Skeleton. Ah! That green haired Ripple Master had stood from the table and circled around them to lead them into one another's path!

"Like pieces led around the board," Lelouch said. "Hehehe... hahahaha! You're supposed to be a troublesome Stand? When you're this far outside your master's control, a supposedly powerful Stand like this is predictably useless useless useless useless useless!"

A thin layer of water quickly spread out along the courtyard - and did not drain away. Xingke squinted at the drains. They were all blocked off by formerly invisible garbage. Quite deliberately from the looks of things. A cruel grin fell upon his face, and Xingke let out an ominous hiss. He tried to take a step, but found his foot completely stuck in place.

Xingke recognised this plan. The mortal being that was Xingke had seen him do something similar to combat the undead nation: The Master of Ripple he had brought alongside him was channelling her Ripple into the surface of the water, using it to keep them all held in place.

"Kukuku! I see how it is! Wrrrryyyy!" Xingke said, turning from his path towards mother as much as he could and reaching towards his prey with arms outstretched, making his cape seem as though it was a bat spreading its wings wide open. "This is all a trap meant to ensnare us like flies on flypaper! But in inviting our attention, you have only served to invite your doom!"

"My doom?" Lelouch asked. "Remind me, Xingke... Remind me, mockery of a Vampire. When you say that one of us has invited our doom, please do remind me."

And then Lelouch turned his head, peering over his shoulder in such a way that almost his entire face was cast in shadow. All that Xingke could see was his eye, and within that eye was an expression of truly, absolute wicked intent. It was so intense that even he was frozen in place for a moment, unable to fully comprehend the depths of fury contained within.

"Which one of us tried to make the other drink their little sister's blood?"

So that was why he was making them fight each other? Tsk! No matter! Keeping him trapped in place like this meant nothing to a being as powerful as a Vampire!

"You shouldn't have lied when you said you wouldn't stop us!" Xingke hissed.

The Vampire used his remarkable control over his own body to force the liquid in his eyes to rapidly experience ridiculous amounts of pressure, causing their heat to increase to burning heights. The pressure was then shifted so that this superheated liquid would fire out like a laser beam, one from each eye.

"Space ripper stingy eyes!" A Vampire's ultimate method of attack aimed squarely for that witch's throat!

A throat which suddenly had an empty glass being held in front of it.

The fluid jets struck the now Ripple infused glass and seemed to bounce clean off. Xingke had expected it to rebound directly back at him the instant he saw it - until he realised it was being held at an angle. Tracing the beam, predicting its path he saw that it was set to go straight through Ghost. That wasn't too bad. An attack like this wouldn't hurt him in the least! The liquids passed through the apparition, freezing in the same way that all liquids do on contact with that intangible form.

"Bwaaaaaoooooo!" moaned the last of his siblings to arrive, as stuck in the water as the rest of them. Frankenstein! To Xingke's growing horror his electricity generating little brother was standing, trapped right in the path of the now frozen fluid jets.

"You misunderstood me. I said I wouldn't stop you." Lelouch said, lifting his feet from the ground. The other two women climbed on top of a seat as well. "I am humiliating you."

"F-Frankenstein, wait!" Vampire pleaded. Too late! He'd already been struck by the frozen attack and had turned around with the electricity sparking even wider and more menacingly. It let out a roar that seemed to shake the very earth. "Don't do this! Don't attack your big brother!"

When he'd lifted his feet Lelouch had been holding a Black King in his hand. On hearing those words from Vampire's lips, his grip caused the piece to snap.

Electricity struck Vampire before he could do anything else. Then, it went into the ground, into the water, into each of the other monsters. The shock sent them screaming in pain and confusion - and then one by one the Stand spirits possessing them all popped out of their heads and flew off, crying and protesting.

"Waaaah! Frankenstein, I'm telling! Waaaaah!" Vampire cried. Free from the Stand's influence, Xingke crumbled to a heap on the ground and the sight of him falling seemed to satisfy Frankenstein that his obstacle was no more.

=====Lelouch====

Well. That was about as satisfying as beating a computer in a game of chess: Not even slightly. It lacked the soul, it lacked the finesse. For a moment there, the Vampire's expression had shown what had seemed to be genuine panic - but no. He knew better than to believe in that. It was an automatic response intended to reflect the monster's personality type. Like a Pawn moving forward along the same flank, it could do nothing else but ape a convincing response.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sayoko approach Shirley's body. C.C. harshly turned his head away.

"No peeking," the immortal admonished. Right, of course. That transformation had torn her clothes apart. Right now Shirley was naked over there. It probably wouldn't be appropriate for him to look over there right now. Right? "Hrm? You brought a Zero mask with you?"

"A precautionary measure," Sayoko said. "It might have been useful if we needed a distraction, but I suspect you'd rather she keep her identity quiet for now Master Lelouch."

"As thoughtful as ever Miss Sayoko," Lelouch said, casually leaning back against a telephone pole next to him. Although she would have to use Schizoid Man to get herself a change of clothes, at the very least her identity would be kept safe. It might also be a good idea for him not to be in the vicinity of this park when she did awake. There was no telling what that strange Stand might do!

Changing the topic of his thoughts to a more productive direction, Lelouch had an important question to ask the maid; "I trust this does not interfere with your plan for my escape? I would like to hear more about it - In a few minutes when we have some more peace."

Right on cue, the Knightmares arrive with their spotlights lighting up the courtyard, leaving no chance for him to hide. Too many for Sayoko to take down, so when he notices her pat her concealed pouch of shuriken Lelouch slightly shakes his head. No need for that. She'd already taken big enough risks today as it was.

"I hope you've had your fun, your highness," said the voice of Ryoga Senba, booming from the lead Knightmare. "I suggest you come quietly back to your cell. We'll be sure to make note of tonight's events for your eventual trial."

"Eventual," Lelouch noted, idly bouncing the broken black King in the palm of his hand. "While my sister is out there under JOJO's thumb? Mister Senba, I now understand: Remaining in this city is impossible. I shall be taking my leave shortly."

"Really now, make up your mind..." C.C. groused.

"We shall deal with JOJO in our own way," Senba said. "In the meantime, it would be better for you to cooperate with us. Every escape route is cut off."

"You deduced my plan and allowed Children of the Night to approach the park," Lelouch continued. "That is why you allowed it to proceed uncontested. It would be an easy chance to recapture me and deal with them at the same time with minimal risk to your own personnel. But there was a second reason for my plan."

Lelouch stopped bouncing the king in his hand and looked over his shoulder. To where Frankenstein was still standing, lumbering around the park while ignoring everyone else, even the team who was moving in to surround him with lighters and cloth wrapped around a stick.

Well, of course his own electricity attack wouldn't have shocked the Stand out of him. Lelouch tossed the chess piece across the courtyard, hitting the side of Frankenstein's head and earning the Stand's immediate ire.

"Bwaaaaaaaooooo!" it yelled, lifting out its hands and taking aim at Lelouch. It drained the power out of the air around them - including from the spotlights - and shot out an arc of electricity that only succeeded in hitting the telephone pole next to where Lelouch was standing.

"Get those lights back on!" Senba yelled. "Light the torches! Don't give him a chance to get away!"

A little too late for that. Lelouch immediately turned the three of them invisible in the new darkened park. A mad dash was not his style but under the circumstances what else was there to do? They rushed through the undergrowth towards the nearest exit of the park, the sounds of a frustrated search party hot on their heels.

"Spread out! Use any light source that you can, we can't let him get away now."

Certainly. You couldn't let him escape. Much the same as he couldn't let you catch him. Rushing through the darkened park reminded him almost immediately of his encounter with Kirihara. An unfortunate comparison. It made him wary of the plants all around him, drove his instinct to stay on the path when all that would do was make it easier for them to track him down. The grass was dry. He would leave no footprints. He had no need to fear of the plants all around him.

What he had to fear instead were the soldiers behind him, and the flicker of a flashlight he could see by the entrance. Flicking his eyes over to Sayoko, he silently gave his consent for her to act. And she did so right away. It was eerie. For years this maid had dutifully served he and his sister. Never in that time would he have dreamed she was capable of such amazing feats - at least until she applied to become the head of palace security after he became Viceroy. She had seemed so demure, the living embodiment of a maid.

Seeing her practically teleport right next to the guards by the exit and silently knocking them out cold made Lelouch keenly aware that the Ashford family had chosen this woman very very carefully. Whatever they paid her, it couldn't have been enough.

In any event: They were out of the park but far from out of the woods. There was still a battle raging on just outside the city and a search team now dedicated to tracking him down.

"So? What next?" C.C. asked. The immortal witch gave him a flat look, then without warning poked her pinky painfully into his ribs. "Hearing you breathe like that is giving me a headache," she said. "Either do it properly or not at all."

"Sh-Shut up, witch!" Lelouch grunted. He nodded towards an alley. "In here for now, at the very least we need to plan our next move properly."

When she retracted her hand his breathing did feel a bit more natural. It was as though his lungs were more efficient than normal, capable of more naturally drawing in and processing air. Alas, he could already tell that he lacked the physical acumen to maintain this manner of breathing. How had she once put it? 'Not appropriate for Ripple training'. Yes, he could understand that perfectly well. In spite of that he did not particularly enjoy lingering too long on his vulnerabilities. Nor did he intend to give C.C. further opportunities to mock his lack of stamina. Not when there were more important issues to consider.

For example: "So, how do you intend for us to escape?" Lelouch asked. In response, Sayoko slung her backpack off her back, holding it out in front of herself wide open so he and C.C. could peek inside. There were clothes, and masks, and what looked like identification lying within.

Or to be more precise: Black Knight uniforms and UFN identification. Possibly forged, possibly real. The standard was so high that even using Painted Black, he couldn't quite tell. A faint smile of understanding crept onto Lelouch's face. Yes, that should work. It would at least get them away from the city. Although...

"There's no time to waste," Lelouch said. He grabbed hold of a mask, noted the voice changer equipped around the mouth. Stunningly lifelike and a perfect fit. "Change quickly and give Sayoko your clothes."

"A young man instructing two women to quickly take off their clothes in a dark alley," C.C. noted. "I suppose you could only hold off for so long –"

He interrupted her by flicking her on the nose, much akin to a misbehaving pet. "Take one thing in your unending life seriously. We do not have time to banter."

"And why is that?"

"Because," Sayoko interjected. "We shall shortly be joining the search party for Master Lelouch. It would seem quite suspicious if we were late."

====Tianzi===

At long last she was allowed to see the outside world. From the Ikaruga's bridge, she could see the world around them in all its splendour and glory. No more High Eunuchs telling her she couldn't go out. No more being trapped in the Forbidden Vermillion City when she could so easily go almost anywhere she wanted on a whim.

Instead she was trapped by something else: The crushing need to feel 'useful'. Standing here among the working bridge crew, she was surrounded by so many useful and strong people. There was Rakshata, an engineering whiz. Mister Reid, a really smart sounding Britannian who scared her a little bit. Then there was Zero, the enigmatic masked Stand user who had rescued her. And of course, Li Xingke.

They weren't talking much right now. Everyone seemed so serious. Utterly focused on their tasks. It made Tianzi feel a little out of place, but... She had insisted on coming. To be honest the only unique quality she had going for her was Lava Lamp, and even that was a terrible thing. In truth she was only here because she had insisted upon it, but now? Now that she was on board the Ikaruga, the child Empress wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself.

All she could do was make sure she was in contact with the floor at all times. Which meant foregoing those comfortable looking chairs so that she could sit on the floor. At first it was a lot harder than she was used to, but to her surprise it became comfortable after a while.

The door to the bridge slid open, and Lady Kaguya joined the crew. "It seems as though Zero's assessment was correct," she said. The mood on the bridge shifted a touch, suddenly seeming more serious. "Although this does raise some serious questions about how Cornelia arrived at the Vermillion City in the first place."

"Maybe it only worked one way?" Rakshata suggested. "Or maybe something had changed during the battle so they couldn't use it again?"

"It's also possible that they did not want to reveal the method in the first place," Diethard said. "That might explain why they sought to create a lot of distance between us and them."

"Then they should be gone already," Zero observed. "It makes no sense. The longer they stay within our land, the greater the risk that we shall catch up with them."

"Their attack was planned superbly," Xingke solemnly said. "The same can be said for their retreat. It is obvious there's an intention behind it and..." he trailed off and looked down at Tianzi. "Your Majesty. I think this would be a good opportunity for you to learn about organising and commanding a military event. In your position as Empress you will have to make decisions based on information made available to you."

"Um... To be honest, I'm not too sure of some of the things you're talking about," Tianzi said. "It feels as though I missed out on a few things..."

"Of course, your Majesty," Zero said. Her Stand reached over and patted her on the head. It felt nice. "You were not present for some of our previous discussion. Very well! I have heard Ohgi comment that he learned the most about a subject when he tried to teach it to others. Perhaps offering an explanation to her will provide us with a fresh perspective?"

Oh? That made the child Empress perk up right away. It wasn't much, but she could be useful like that! So... what should she ask first?

"Xingke, what did you mean about their retreat?" she asked. Well, of course the thing he was talking about would come to mind first. "The way you were talking made it seem as though it must have been planned, right?"

"That's a question that sounds simple, but is pretty complicated to explain in full," Xingke said. "To start with, it's important that you understand something important about Knightmares." He knelt down next to her and furrowed his brow. "Empress. You have no difficulty in walking and running. These are extremely easy things for you to do." Right. Of course they were. "How long can you walk for? An hour? Two hours? A day? What would happen if you tried to do this?"

"My legs would start to hurt, and I'd ask for someone to carry me?" she offered.

"It's the same with Knightmares," Xingke said. "They can travel distances at a fast pace, but they're not built for extremely long range travel. Not in the same way that Ikaruga is. They would run out of energy a long, long time before they reached our borders."

Ah. That made sense, in a way. "Then how do they get around, if they get tired so easily?"

"They ask someone to carry them. Does that make sense?"

It did, in a way. If they needed to get somewhere, they were carried by a bigger vehicle like the Ikaruga. Or something else meant to 'travel long distances'. Although, there was another issue that was bugging her.

"I heard that she showed up out of nowhere," Tianzi wondered aloud. "Couldn't she go back the same way?"

"We were just discussing that very topic," Diethard said. "The trouble is that they arrived with next to no warning at all. On the other hand, our systems were initially able to track their retreat - until they dropped out of sight several hours ago."

"What's really strange is the direction they were travelling," Rakshata picked it up. "One would think they'd head for the nearest border, but that's not the way they seemed to be going at all."

"Which implied a rendezvous," Zero said. "And your Majesty, before you ask who they were meeting with we have already received evidence to that effect. Mister Reid, I trust you have the video to hand?"

Apparently he did. The scary Britannian pulled some weird looking flat device out of his pocket and held it up to show her. Oh! It was some kind of monitor? To be honest, Tianzi wasn't sure about this. The High Eunuchs never let her near computers.

"This video was sent in by a civilian," Diethard said as the video started to play. "Apparently what he was seeing had startled him so much that he automatically began to film it."

What did the monitor show? The Knightmares flying in and landing in a nearby field. They each quickly folded into a seated position and rolled inside a rather large grey truck that was waiting on a dirt road near the field. When they were all done, all packed and on board, the truck immediately turned around and sped off as quickly as it could.

"Oh," Tianzi gasped. "So that's who carried them?"

"Thanks to Zero, we were able to pick up a few details from the video as well," Rakshata chuckled. "That Stand of hers has pretty good eyesight. It was able to notice a few interesting clues about that truck."

"First of all!" Zero dramatically held up a single finger. Behind her, Schizoid Man was fistpumping the air."The only other tracks on the dirt road came in the same direction as the truck left in. This makes it likely it was returning to wherever it came from in the first place."

"Secondly!" Now she was holding up two fingers, while Schizoid Man flexed its biceps. "The truck's wheels had a certain device attached to them! To keep it simple, I'll tell you that it's a device used to assist heavy vehicles that are going to travel across extremely difficult terrain. Such as mud, ice or thick vegetation."

"Thirdly!" And now three fingers while Schizoid Man... was doing some weird dance that Tianzi had never seen before. "There were specks of sand clinging to the lower portions of the truck. Not dirt, for the texture didn't match! This was clearly fine sand! From these points we can conclude: The truck had travelled to a desert, and there was a high chance that it would return the same route!"

"Based on this information, we've been able to plot a likely course," Kaguya said. "On top of that, there have been sightings of such a truck in that general direction."

"Unfortunately, the truck has quite the lead on us," Xingke said. "It will take a little while for us to catch up with it, even if we know where it's going. It's also avoiding places where we normally have a strong military presence which is making it difficult to catch up with."

Alright. That all made sense. Tianzi furrowed her brow and tried to concentrate on the situation. She could see what Xingke meant. This was a complicated planned retreat. Which meant they were going somewhere with a clear purpose behind it. Which made it all the more important they catch up right away!

"While we're out here, the others are all searching and repairing the city. Right?" the child Empress asked. This was something she already knew of course. But still! "So doesn't that mean Lelouch is probably with Cornelia? Then, what are we going to do when we catch up to them? I don't want things to get violent, but... But!"

"But they're not likely to come in quietly," Xingke said. "Considering what they've done so far, they almost certainly have more nasty tricks up their sleeve. A cornered rat fights more viciously."

"Your Majesty, please consider how we must approach," Zero asked, giving a flourish and a bow. "Our enemy is cunning and ruthless. How would you have us proceed?"

Eh?! She - she was being asked right now how they should approach? That seemed too sudden. They must have more information, right? How could anyone decide something based on this little information?

Turning to look at all of their faces, one after the other, Tianzi struggled to find the words. They must be hiding something from her. Right? Surely they weren't asking her to make such a big decision based on so little! People could get hurt if she said the wrong thing.

But then the lesson slowly dawned on her. It's the same as a child realising that their parents do not know how to answer all the mysteries of the universe. There are times when even the wisest leader must make an important decision when the facts are not all in front of them. It was a startling epiphany for the child Empress.

"I guess... we should send in someone to look up ahead?" she suggested. "No, that would give them time to pull their sneaky tricks! Ah, let me do that over!"

"That's okay!" Kaguya interrupted. "That was a good idea. They probably already know they might be followed, so if they have a trick it's already going to be set up in advance. Right? So it's better if we make sure to know what sort of trick it is before we fall into it."

Oh! She hadn't thought of it like that. This was tricky. It was plain to see that she needed a lot of practise. Lots of it! Now that things were changing and she was allowed to see the world it would be such a dreadful waste if she didn't improve as well.

Although, one thing must be noted: At this very moment the Black Knights were completely falling into the most insidious trap Cornelia had set during her attack. By the end of the day the Black Knights would rue falling into it so obviously... And yet by the end of the year every single person aware of this trap and its consequences would be eternally grateful that they had.

For this trap was the nail upon which the future of the world hung its heavy weight.

====Lelouch=====

It was quite the nostalgic experience, not being recognised. Refreshing like a gentle cooling rain at the end of an especially warm day. Walking among ordinary people without being treated with automatic respect or derision due to a reputation preceding you. What was more, thanks to the Ikaruga he was being taken out of the city in style. Sure, there was that touch of apprehension that someone might say something at any time that trips you up. Or one of the others. But Lelouch was a practised liar, C.C. a skilled manipulator with centuries of experience and Sayoko was a highly skilled ninja. The likelihood of any of them being tripped up was, at best, minimal.

Still, it was probably best practice to minimise interaction with the other workers except where absolutely necessary.

"I take it you do have a plan?"

Out of the corner of his eye Lelouch eyed the disguised C.C. warily. It would have been better if the two of them didn't interact much at all. Even here, down in the bowels of the mighty Ikaruga, someone might have seen something strange in their interaction. Might have become suspicious about their conversation. Or might even be listening in from a place even he could not see.

"A plan?" he answered in a jovial tone. "Yeah, who doesn't have a plan in this day and age? When this whole mess is over with, I plan to open up a dairy farm."

While he was making those kinds of asinine utterances, Lelouch was making use of a skill he hadn't had to use for a little while now: Shadow writing for secret communications.

'Of course I have a plan,' he wrote. 'Do you honestly believe I would have come here if I hadn't thought of one?'

"That sounds good, but I'm worried about what's happening in Europe," C.C. said. Better. Her meaning was getting across without being obvious to anyone eavesdropping.

"Oh, you mean that vampire?" Lelouch shrugged. "I'm sure he's nothing to worry about. Zero will sort him out in no time."

'Let me me worry about JOJO. My heart races at the thought of meeting an unliving legend in the flesh. What I did to Children of the Night will pale in comparison to the anguish I repay to him for whatever he has done to my sister.'

"I don't think he'll go down that easily," C.C. warned. Was that a pained expression on her face? An act, or genuine concern for a former ally... or even a current one in Lelouch himself? "I wouldn't want to have to fight him. Nor should anyone."

"All hands, report to your stations! All pilots, to your Knightmares! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill! Instructions are incoming presently."

As if she had been there all along, Sayoko slid into place right next to the two of them. With a curt nod she led the way down to the Knightmare hangars. Lelouch took a chance here and wrote her a silent message using the shadows on the walls they passed by:

'Are your contacts ready?'

"Ready for pickup," Sayoko muttered under her breath. "Nothing to be concerned with."

All still according to plan, then? Fine by him. Even if he wasn't fully aware of the plan, he could take a good guess at where she'd been during their trip. Lelouch felt the instinct to tuck his head down, but instead made sure to stand up straight. There were times when the best way to not be seen was to not try not to be seen. At this crucial time the best thing for him to do was to keep his cool and not make any suspicious movements.

"Beware the Thought Elevators," C.C. suddenly whispered in his ear. "I think that is Cornelia's goal. Don't get too close if you can help it."

Thought Elevator? Well, it seemed as though he had quite a lot to think about, didn't he? For the time being there wasn't much else for it. He, Sayoko, C.C. and a whole bunch of unwitting Black Knights climbed into their respective Knightmares - a mixture of Burai and a newer model of Knightmare that Lelouch wasn't quite so familiar with. Sleeker design, silver colour with a green tinge. It almost reminded him of the Gekka. Alas he would have to wait for another time to do a proper study of this 'Akatsuki', as it seemed the key Sayoko had given him was for one of the Burai.

Once everyone was settled, the briefing began. The monitor within the Knightmares showed an external shot, presumably directly in front of Ikaruga. Interesting. It looked like a ruin in the middle of the desert, but...

There were clear signs of a battle here. Recently. There were pieces of Knightmares - Britannian models - scattered among the sand. There were also holes in the sand that revealed more of the ruins underneath. There were also places where the sand had been scorched black.

"As you can plainly see, a battle has happened here. Our initial estimate, within the last two days."

This is where Cornelia's transport had come? Had they been ambushed by whoever had been staying - Wait. Her team had been composed of Gloucesters. No Sutherlands. So why was that Sutherland debris lying in the sand! Was this... A Britannian base? Within the Chinese Federation? How was that even possible?

"Knightmares, we don't know what has happened here. We're sending you in to scout the area. Please be careful, and don't take any unnecessary risks."

"Understood!" Lelouch answered. New questions filled his mind. It seemed as though the more he learned the more he yearned to know more still. He drove his Burai out over the sand, joining the team by the entrance. If this were an ordinary circumstance he would send in Painted Black to scout in advance. Not this time. This time he had to do things properly. Each Knightmare had a specific task in securing the potentially hostile area, and for now he was no different.

Some went to study the destroyed Knightmares. Others went to the entrance. A few flight enabled Knightmares flew over the holes to take a peek inside. Lelouch went over to wait by the entrance with four others. They all had their factspheres out, and filed into the building one at a time in even intervals, carefully sweeping the hall up ahead before fanning out. Watching each other's backs while studying the room.

And what Lelouch saw... Reminded him of Kamine Island. Instantly. It was the same kind of carvings on the wall. People twisted into impossible shapes carved into the walls and the ceiling, but especially the pillars all around them. But there were things here that were not present in Kamine: Computers. Endless rows of - mostly broken - computers, laptops, mainframes and other machines he did not recognise. Some of them were even equipped with facstpheres that were blatantly aimed directly at the carvings.

"This is... a laboratory?" Lelouch wondered aloud. As if in response his internal communicator crackled into life.

"Please Master. Follow me, and don't slow down for anything."

Hrm? What did Sayoko mean by that? Well, he didn't have to wait long to find out. The other Knightmares with them suddenly shut down. They stopped moving, and their limbs dropped until they were left hanging. Deactivated?

"Huh? The hell is this?! A- A computer virus?!"

Just as he thought! Sayoko was preparing a distraction for them to flee! Lelouch pushed his Burai forward while Sayoko's led the way deeper and deeper into the building. The facility was massive. No question of it. As he had said before this all had the feeling of a recently abandoned laboratory. A feeling that was not helped in the least by the blood on the floor.

"Here we are," Sayoko said, hopping out of her Knightmare. She stopped at some sort of console that stood in front of a giant familiar looking stone door and began typing away at it. "Once I activate this, we'll be able to get to Europe right away."

"I see," Lelouch said. "So that's how Cornelia escaped. Thank you Sayoko, that's everything I wanted. Please take your hands away from the console."

She looked back over her shoulder to see him standing a good twenty feet back, his Burai's gun trained on her. To her credit she didn't flinch at all. No real surprise at his action. The mark of a true professional, someone who has probably had a gun trained on them for most of her life. How admirable.

"Please Master Lelouch. We do not have time for bad jokes," Sayoko said.

"Bad jokes?" Lelouch replied. "You mean, like pretending you aren't working for JOJO? Dear me, Sayoko. You must think me a total fool."

"Since when did you figure it out?"

Immediately. Escaping JOJO without also rescuing Nunnally? That seemed unlikely, but not enough to trigger his suspicions. Cornelia's inexplicable strategy in attacking the city? Then retreating for no obvious reason? That was when he was approximately 90% certain, but there was still some wiggle room. Still a touch of doubt.

A doubt that was utterly erased when he realised this final step of Sayoko's plan.

To recap: Cornelia attacked the city, allowing Sayoko to rescue Lelouch. In turn, this caused the Black Knights to form a pursuit party, which Sayoko was already prepared to join with disguises and forged passes.

Meanwhile, this facility had already been captured in advance by Cornelia's allies. They used this device being accessed by Sayoko to somehow bring in transportation that would pick them up and bring them back here.

Meanwhile the Black Knights then happened to find evidence that led them to this facility, too late to find Cornelia, and Sayoko just so happens to know how to operate this machine that will magically (likely literally) teleport him to a place outside of the Black Knight's reach.

In case you missed it: Sayoko's plan was entirely predicated on the nature of Cornelia's attack and retreat. The timing, the location she was heading. None of this would be possible if these things didn't match up entirely. Only a complete imbecile would be in Lelouch's place and fall for this hook line and sinker.

Having said that he saw no reason to give her the satisfaction of an explanation. Not when he had questions of his own that needed to be answered.

"How is my sister?"

"Anxious to see you. Please, Master Lelouch. Come with me - "

Then she moved. It was actually quite frightening. Sayoko leaped into the air like a bird taking flight. It was as natural to her as breathing, no perhaps even more than that. It was like blinking. She didn't think, she did. With a jump like this she would cross the path in between them in no time at all.

That is, if she didn't leap directly into the stalactite he had turned invisible. To her credit, Sayoko reacted to the sudden collision quite well, quickly correcting herself and kicking off it to the ground moments before he blasted it to smithereens. Maybe now she'd take the point: He'd already turned several bits of debris invisible on the floor as well. Running around quickly wouldn't get her anywhere against him!

"I'm sure that she is," Lelouch said. "And I am anxious to see her as well. Though not so much that I'll venture so willingly into the lion's den. I'll meet JOJO on my terms. Not his!"

Sayoko closed her eyes. "The Black Knights will be here soon. They will recapture you."

"And I will have given them an enemy agent ripe for interrogation," Lelouch replied. "Thank you, Sayoko. Through you I will regain a measure of trust from them. Why, they might even allow me to visit Europe to help save my sister. How very kind of you to volunteer."

"You can't trust them," Sayoko warned. "You should not trust the Black Knights."

"As if I could trust you, when you lied to me so blatantly?" Lelouch said. "You said you'd take me to see my sister, when the truth is you wanted to bring me to JOJO. So? What is it? What did he say? What did he do to make you obey him so thoroughly?"

There was a silent moment. Well, not entirely silent. It seemed as though they had little time left. In the distance he could hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps cautiously moving through the otherwise empty building. It wouldn't take them long to find Lelouch and Sayoko waiting here for them.

"Master JOJO gave me –" Sayoko vanished. Then the next two words were said directly into his factsphere. There was no warning. There were no footsteps. There was no dramatic leap. It was simply, there one moment and elsewhere the next. "The World."

Suddenly, the front of the Burai buckled and tore. It happened so quickly that Lelouch couldn't even use Painted Black quickly enough to see! One moment he was safely inside of a Knightmare, the next - A Stand! She must have used a Stand to do that!

Which meant he had only one possible course of action. Lelouch drew his gun - and aimed it squarely at his own head.

"Don't try anything!" Lelouch yelled. That seemed to get someone's attention out there. Good! They must have overcome the computer virus and started searching the building again! "With this calibre even my brain would be completely destroyed. Can JOJO revive someone from even that extent as a zombie?"

This was far from the best course of action available to him, but all he had to do was stall for time anyway. Shooting at Sayoko even at this close range when she had an unknown Stand simply would not work. It probably wouldn't work even if she didn't have a Stand. Her reaction time was leagues above his!

On the other hand... seeing him threaten to paint the inside of this Knightmare with his own grey matter would certainly give her pause. There were probably a few ways she could resolve this before he pulled the trigger, but that wasn't what mattered here! What mattered was that he stalled her out long enough to ensure his victory. It was inevitable. Time was on his side!

Then something appeared right in front of him. Of course, Lelouch knew what it was right away. It was a ghostly muscular man hovering in the air, clad in bright yellow. He seemed to be wearing some form of diver's equipment as there were oxygen tanks on his back. Its face was mostly covered in some strange headpiece that covered its head down to its nose. The top of this strange mask was also steeply slanted from about the forehead to a point behind the back of its head. The back of both its hands had what looked like clocks engraved upon them, and at the end of its chin there was... A star?

This was a Stand. And it had seized the gun out of Lelouch's grip so quickly that he could barely even acknowledge it had happened. If not for the fact he could see it in this mystery Stand's grip, he wouldn't even have believed it had happened at all.

"Th-This is your Stand?"

"Technically, it's not my Stand," Sayoko said. Lelouch felt something prick his neck. A tranquiliser! His knees gave out almost right away and darkness began to tint around the edges of his vision. "Shush now, Master Lelouch. Please rest. When you awaken you will see your sister again. I promise."

[To Be Continued |\|]

Stand Stats

Crush 'Em

User: Cornelia

Destructive Power: A

Speed: C

Range: E

Durability: A

Precision: C

Learning Potential: C

Abilities

Shrinking: By enclosing an item with parts of her own body, Cornelia may shrink anything contained within. Cornelia may choose what is affected within this area at her own discretion. When this effect is to be used a lever will appear. If it is stopped from turning, the effect is stopped.

Vacuum: Even the air may be shrunk by this Stand. The affected area becomes a vacuum that sucks in nearby items, potentially shrinking them as well if they fall within the affected area.

Form Fitting Armour: The Stand takes the form of metal plates protruding from the user's body. These can normally only extend to two inches out from the user's skin. Will increase in size only when being used to 'shrink'.