Aaaaand time skip for the yay!
Also, Patch, I hear your request, I'm developing a plot for the chapter, so far it'll be hilarious, expect the next ITY some time next week.
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_\_ "It seems that they're finally going to begin the demolition of the ruined Kawaguchi Lake Hotel Convention Centre." _\_ The anchorman on the TV reported. _\_ "It's almost been two weeks since Zero and the Black Knights made their declaration, no-ones yet found any definite evidence, have they?" _\_
_\_ "Haven't they narrowed down their escape route?" _\_ His co-anchor asked.
_\_ "After releasing the hostages, he went via car from the coast to the magnet train." _\_ the first anchor answered as Lelouch turned off the TV.
"Hm?" C.C. asked, biting into her pizza. "I was watching that."
"I'm tired." Lelouch sighed, slumping onto the bed ignoring the green-haired witch who was lounging on the bed beside him, wearing nothing but one of his shirts, again, and getting pizza crust crumbs all over his sheets, again. "Every night I haven't been out on a mission with the Black Knights I've been trying to tame that damned raikou…"
"Legendary pokémon are notoriously difficult to master, aren't they?" C.C. smirked, teasing her jirachi with a pizza crust..
"I don't now how Suzaku does it, but now I can appreciate why they can't just replace him." He yawned, closing his eyes and getting some rest.
"Hey, Lulu!" Rivalz shouted, kicking the door down. "We've been looking for yo-whoa!"
He stared slack jawed at pointed at C.C. in horror as Lelouch groaned, waking up. "Isn't that rather rude?" C.C. asked the speechless teen absently, biting into another pizza slice.
Then Lelouch realised how much crap he was in, and leapt from the bed, slowly pushing Rivalz out. "Don't leave this room." Lelouch warned C.C., who waved him off and turned the TV back on.
"Who the hell was that!?" Rivalz shouted as Lelouch covered his friend's mouth to silence him.
"A lodger who's freeloading here." Lelouch hissed. "Nunnally and Sayako don't know about her, and neither does Milly, Shirley, Suzaku, Nina or Kallen." He glared into Rivalz eyes. "I'd appreciate it if it stays that way, understand?"
Rivalz nodded, and Lelouch let him go. "So, she your girlfriend?" Rivalz asked. "I'm just wondering because you two were in bed together and it didn't look like she was wearing pants or even-"
Lelouch shot daggers out of his eyes. "Right, gotcha, don't talk about it." Rivalz said desperately, zipping his mouth shut. "Also Milly's coming to kidnap you for the cat party we didn't get to do earlier."
Lelouch nodded. "Go back in there and get my costume from the corner wardrobe." He ordered. "Don't talk to the girl or pay any attention to anything she says, I'll go give myself up."
"Good man." Rivalz nodded, entering into Lelouch's room as the dark haired man jogged down the corridor.
Suddenly, a Japanese schoolboy jumped on top of him.
"GOTCHA!" Suzaku shouted, tackling him to the ground.
"Hey, what!?" Lelouch shouted as he was picked up and carried down the corridor. "Suzaku, what the hell!?"
"Sorry Lelouch." Suzaku smirked, enjoying every second of this mayhem. "Council president's orders were very specific and very fun."
And that's how Lelouch got tied to a chair as Milly painted black lines on his face and Shirley tied two yellow scrunches' into his hair as Kallen walked into the student council room.
"Meow-ning." Milly greeted in her delcatty costume.
"G-Good morning…" Kallen managed, barely. "What is this?"
"Huh? Didn't we tell you?" Rivalz asked, already dressed in his granbull costume. "It's a welcoming party for Arthur."
"You guys sure are taking it easy…" She marvelled, taking in Suzaku's espeon costume and Shirley's vulpix costume. Nina was at the computer, as usual, dressed as a skitty.
Milly giggled. "We should take it easy while we have the chance." She told her.
"We've got yours ready." Shirley told Kallen, walking over to her after handing the face-paint to Suzaku so he could take over painting Lelouch while Rivalz kept his cords tight. "It's my apology for acting weird earlier, so which one do you want? Glameow? Flareon?"
"Eh?" Kallen asked. "I-"
"Kallen doesn't need one." Lelouch smirked. "She's already as catty as they come, RUN FOR IT RIVALZ!" He shouted, running out of the chair and falling over as he realised that his hands were tied behind it.
"Why don't you try going on TV?" Kallen sneered as Suzaku lifted Lelouch up. "You'd make a great stand-up comic."
"Speaking of TV, what do you think, Ms. TV star?" Rivalz asked Shirley.
"Ah, so you're asking her." Suzaku noted.
"Don't joke about it!" Shirley shouted. "I had a horrible time after it! People chasing me at all hours day and night, pestering me with questions! Even in the bath!"
"We haven't been able to leave school for the past week…" Milly nodded.
"But why haven't we been able to leave either?" Rivalz asked her. "Some of us have jobs you know."
"That's what friends are for, right?" Milly asked him. "We ask not the same day of birth but that we die together." She quoted from The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms.
Rivalz smirked. "Is that a marriage proposal?" He asked.
Milly turned around and stroked the air with her paw playfully. "It means that you and me-ow will die at the same time." She flirted.
"That's horrible," Rivalz groaned, "Right Suzaku-huh?"
Suzaku was on the verge of tears. "I'm so glad…" He sniffed. "I'm so glad we can all get together again…" He rubbed his face with his paw.
Lelouch smiled, and Rivalz vaulted over him. "Come on," He told Suzaku, grabbing him. "You're supposed to laugh at times like- whoa!" He shouted as both he and Suzaku fell over.
Just as Zero had promised, the world had changed since the Black Knights had made their appearance.
They had become allies of the weak, and punished terrorists whose attacks harmed civilians.
Oppressive military forces, profit-seeking organisations, criminal organisations, all those who the law couldn't punish, they did.
In an instant, they became heroes. Their supporters increased, and they were capturing pokémon again.
Of course, none of this was public.
Because… their leader, Zero, had killed Prince Clovis.
There were those, even amongst the Black Knights, who wanted to know Zero's identity, but they felt that if they ever did know before he was ready, then he would disappear.
They would not be able to continue without him.
"So, how are things with that girl of yours?" Rivalz asked with a lecherous grin as he was working on his bike.
Lelouch glared at him, expressing a hearty 'dude, not funny' with his eyes. "Believe me, it's not like that at all."
Rivalz' expression sobered up and he returned his focus to his bike. "Whatever. I'm just wondering, since you haven't been hanging out with us much lately." Rivalz told Lelouch, before glancing up at his golduck. "Easy, don't try to get too much power in one go!" He told his pokémon. "Just focus on controlling it for now."
"You think so?" Lelouch asked as the golduck continued practicing its new attack.
"I know so." Rivalz told him.
Then came the awkward silence.
"She has a great ass though, doesn't she RUN FOR IT GOLDUCK!!" Rivalz screamed, sprinting towards the forest as Lelouch sighed and entered the student council room.
"Don't cry over something like that." Lelouch told Suzaku that afternoon as they built a pen for Arthur. "It's embarrassing."
"I call it honest-NGH!" Suzaku winced as his meowth shows off its Bite attack.
"Well, it's a good thing that everyone was saved." Lelouch sighed. "You've gotta give thanks to them Black Knights."
Suzaku put his meowth down. "If they want to catch criminals, they should join the police force." He said. "Why don't they?"
"They probably thought they couldn't if they did." Lelouch shrugged. "The police are rather useless."
"Even if they are," Suzaku told Lelouch with a glare. "They should still join and try to change it from the inside!"
"They'll have a lot of constraints put on them during the process of changing it." Lelouch pointed out.
"You can't say that until you've tried to change it!" Suzaku countered. "If they don't do that, then everything they've done so far is just self-righteous!"
"Self-righteous?" Lelouch asked.
"What is this 'evil' that they speak of?" Suzaku asked rhetorically. "We don't even know what they're basing it on! It's a one-way street of self-satisfaction!"
Lelouch would have made a counter-argument there and then, but Shirley chose that moment to walk in. "Just you two?" She asked, seating her schoolbag onto the table.
"Well, I have to get back to the army." Suzaku said, getting to his feet. "See you Shirley." He said with a wink, leaving the two alone.
"Later then!" Shirley waved, before turning to Lelouch, who sighed and continued piecing the pen together in silence.
"Hey, LULU!" Shirley shouted accidentally, before stopping and lowering her voice. "Uh, If you've got time, sometime, would you-"
"He said he was going back to the army, didn't he?" Lelouch grunted, standing up and admiring his handiwork.
"Eh?" Shirley asked.
"'Go back.'" Lelouch quoted. "Does that mean that the army is the place where he belongs?"
He walked towards the door. "I'll see you later Shirley." He told her. "I'm sorry I haven't been around as much, but I've got a lot on my mind."
"Huh?" She asked as he left. "Oh, okay…"
"Kneel down and apologise!"
"That's what you Elevens are good for, right!?"
Kallen, walking downtown distractedly, was pulled from her thoughts as she noticed a group of biker punks kicking a defenseless Japanese man curled up on the ground.
"Elevens…" Kallen whispered to herself, walking towards the scene only to be blocked off by a stern-faced Lelouch.
"There are five of them." he told her. "They have Pokémon. Even if you do to, you don't stand a chance."
"It doesn't matter." Kallen told him. "I can't leave him."
"Take a good look at the Eleven they're beating up." Lelouch told her. She turned to look at the man, and the Lava Cookie logo on his apron. "What do you think would happen if you helped him and won?" Lelouch asked, directing her gaze towards the shopkeepers cart. "He wouldn't be able to do business here tomorrow. He chose to be a Britannian slave." he explained as the man curled up into a ball on the ground as the men stomped on his back. "That's what it means to work in the settlement."
"But-"
"Got a problem?" the largest Cue ball asked, leading his biker buddies to Lelouch and Kallen. "Feel sorry for the Eleven?"
"No, he wants to join us." one of his buddies said with a swagger.
"No thanks." Lelouch smiled as the men stood in front of him. "You guys shouldn't pick on Elevens anymore though."
"Tch, why would we do that?" one guy asked.
"Beating up someone who won't fight back, where's the fun?" the big Cue ball shrugged.
"Let's go to the game corner." one biker suggested. "I heard of a way to use golems to fix the slots."
"Dude, really?" one of his mates exclaimed, following the group towards their bikes.
"They give up easily." Lelouch noted as Kallen looked at him in amazement, before running over to the beaten shop keeper.
"Are you okay?" She asked him, helping him up.
The man forced himself to look up, and gasped. "G-good afternoon!" He exclaimed. "May I interest you in a Lava Cookie?"
Kallen backed off in disbelief as the Elevener looked at Lelouch. "Is that your boyfriend?" He asked. "Would you like one also? I've got Soda Pops and Lemonades too!"
"Two cookies and two lemonades please." Lelouch ordered as Kallen looked at the shopkeeper in horror.
"Thank you very much sir!" He said, jumping to his feet and bowing deeply, quickly limping towards his cart and rummaging through the trays.
Lelouch helped Kallen to her feet and paid for the food. "Thank you very much." Lelouch said, bowing towards the man, but giving him plenty of room to bow deeper, then turned to Kallen and gave her half of the food. "You could say that Area 11 is better off than when it was Japan." He told her, leading her away as he bit into his cookie. "Becoming a colony of Britannia has stabilised its economic and military situations greatly. You can even gain rights as a citizen." Psht. "Go to a government office and fill out a form, and you can become an honorary Britannian." He took a swig of his lemonade. "The only problem is pride. Well, I can understand the people who want to live that way too."
"And?" Kallen asked. "I see that you understand all that, but what do you think, Lelouch Lamperouge? What do you want to do?"
"Nothing really." Lelouch admitted, sitting down on a bench.
"It seems you're pretty smart, but you're wasting it." Kallen commented, sitting beside him. "Shirley was complaining about it earlier. 'Lulu's so smart, but he just doesn't put any effort into his schoolwork!'"
"That's why I don't do anything." Lelouch lied. "That Eleven back there understood that as well. He could live better off if he bowed before the Britannians."
Kallen stood to her feet and slapped Lelouch across the face. "Do you think that's cool!?" She snarled, slipping into Kallen Kozuki. "To act all detached and impartial like that!?" She drew herself to her full height. "I was a fool to expect anything from you." She said. "I thought you were a better man than that."
Lelouch rubbed his face with a smirk as Kallen stormed off, and counted to thirty before getting up and returning to the shop keeper. "Oh, can I help you sir?" He asked.
"No, but I can help you." Lelouch told him. "Keep off the drugs and hand me the Refrain."
"Yes sir!" The Elevener nodded, opening a drawer and handing Lelouch a box of canisters and a loader. "May I ask you to dispose of these for me?"
"Gladly." Lelouch smiled, shoving the drugs into the rucksack he'd brought for that very purpose as he headed off towards the Black Knight's mobile base.
There was a receipt. 'We now have a destination for tonight's mission.'
The plan was simple: Go in, take out the smugglers, destroy the Refrain, get out, have some celebratory drinks back in the van.
The police weren't meant to be waiting in ambush for them.
There wasn't meant to be a drug party going on in the back of the warehouse.
Ohgi's blastoise wasn't meant to take a bullet to the head.
Kallen's mother wasn't supposed to jump in the way of the Fire Blast headed for Kallen's vileplume.
She wasn't supposed to die.
Lives shouldn't have been lost that night.
The mission was a success only in that they fulfilled their objectives.
In every other sense of the world, it was a failure.
"Lying tears hurt others." C.C. noted afterwards. "Lying smiles only hurt oneself."
" Are you alright?" Zero asked Kallen, who was curled up into a ball upstairs, on the drive back.
"…No…"
Kallen looked up slightly, but her eyes were unfocused, unable to comprehend what had happened.
Zero sat down next to her, and for a long while was silent. "Nothing I say or do can make what has happened right again..." he said finally. "When a loved one dies… it can seem like there is no path forwards, no matter how hard you look."
Kallen nodded distractedly, as if she only half understood his words in her grief. Zero paused, lifting his hand to look at the miniaturized pokéball within.
"I can't say this path we walk will not lead to future tragedies." Zero admitted. "All I know is that I have chosen the path I must walk. It is the only one I know that will not make the blood spilled so far be in vain. You, too, must choose your path. If that path is alongside the Black Knights, I will walk beside you proudly. But if your path leads elsewhere, I will understand your choice. Regardless…" He tapped the pokéball and it enlarged into a green, camoflagued Safari Ball.
Zero sat down next to her. "I want to give this to you, to help you no matter what path you choose." He told her, handing her a Safari Ball.
Kallen took it tentatively, sending out the pokémon within.
"SCYTHA!" the insect pokémon shouted. The scyther met Kallen's teary eyes and understood that it had a new master. Slowly, it began glowing white and changing shape, it's blades receding and becoming stouter, it's carapace becoming tougher than steel. The glow faded but the shiny luster remained on the pokemon. "SCIZOR!" it cried, the sound echoing though it's entire red metallic frame.
"Take good care of him." Zero asked her. "Would you like to name him?"
Kallen thought for a second before stretching out a hand and touching her new pokémon on the cheek. "Gurren." She said. "I'll name you Gurren."
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So, yeah. Like where this is going? Don't like? Tell me what you think in the reviews! I'm not getting enough of those for the rate I'm pumping these out. I'm starting to create a buffer for crying out loud! I NEVER HAVE A BUFFER!