Buffery, buffery, buffery, buffery!

Also, a reminder: C.C.'s name is pronounced Shi-Tsu. Weird, I know.

And if you can't think of the inspiration for the chapter's title, look up Syd Barrett, formerly from Pink Floyd, specifically his solo albums. Even if you don't know him, you gotta admit that it's a damn fitting title.

-}+{-

In this world, there exists both evil brought forth with good intentions, and good brought forth through evil. How are the events Lelouch precipitated to be interpreted? Is judgement inevitable, in this world?

The Geass. Those who use this inhuman power create unbearable emotional pain, and straddle the line between good and evil. However, if one of them can break free of this grey area, he will truly have gained the key to becoming the master of all.

"The form a Geass takes varies from person to person, based upon their innermost desires." C.C. explained. "In Mao's case, he can hear the thoughts of anyone within five hundred metres if he concentrates. If he wants to, he can even penetrate the unconscious mind. He's the worst possible opponent for someone like you, who fights using his mind."

"Well, I thought that there might be others apart from myself with a Geass…" Lelouch admitted. "Did he have a contract with you as well?"

"Eleven years ago." C.C. nodded.

Lelouch laughed sarcastically. "Then he's predecessor, huh?" He replied flippantly. "Well then, is this predecessor of mine an enemy?"

"Mao is after me." C.C. told him. "He may be an enemy, but I doubt he plans to outright try to kill you."

"I know that." Lelouch snapped. "If he wanted to, he could have just told the military that I was Zero. Instead, he used Shirley…"

He stopped glaring at nothing and composed himself. Anger would get him nowhere… he needed information. Answers. "What are the conditions of his power?" He asked the witch.

"Mao's Geass is powerful indeed…" C.C. admitted, not looking Lelouch in the eye. "He isn't restricted by eye contact or a number of uses like you are."

"So he has no weakness?"

"If I had to choose, I'd say it's the fact that he can't turn his power off…" C.C. told him. "He constantly hears the chatter of nearby minds, whether he likes it or not."

"Hm?" Lelouch asked. "How so?"

The train pulled into their station. "I'll tell you later." C.C. told him, standing from her seat. "I assume you want us to walk back separately like always?"

Lelouch didn't need to answer, merely getting out of his seat and joining the wave of people as they flooded the corridor of the train.

'Assuming Mao really did read my mind, then he will strike me when I'm at my weakest, like he did with Shirley.' Lelouch thought to himself, sipping his tea with Nunnally as he studied his laptop screen, showing security footage of around the school. 'In that case...'

"It's been such a long time since we've been alone together, brother." Nunnally said, pulling Lelouch out of his plans.

"We have to let Sayako have a day off, once in a while." Lelouch told her. "I'll be staying home for a while, in any case."

'That's right…' Lelouch thought. 'After the last mission, we need time to recover the damage we suffered and collect our available resources. Besides, we've made enough of an impression to last for a while. I can thank Mao for his fortunate timing if nothing else…''

"You've been out so much lately, b irother." Nunnally pointed out. "Have you been at that new Trainer Tower I heard about?"

"Not that, but similar." Lelouch lied. "I lost against my last opponent, but I think that I'll be facing him soon again."

"Eh?" Nunnally gaspedn disbelief. "Someone who can beat you?"

"It's not like I'm the best trainer in the world, Nunnally." Lelouch laughed. "There's always going to be someone better than me."

"That's not right, big brother!" Nunnally tutted. "You should be training hard for your rematch!"

"I am." Lelouch smiled. "My pokémon are ready, but I need to be ready mentally."

Nunnally giggled. "What kind of trainer could make you so nervous?" She asked. "I haven't seen you like this since big brother Schneizel beat you."

Lelouch noticed C.C. sitting in his bedroom, waving at the camera. "Excuse me." Lelouch pardoned. "I'll be right back Nunnally."

"Alright then." Nunnally smiled.

"Well?" Lelouch asked, closing the door behind him. He moved over to his desk to flick through some Black Knight reports. "Have you made any progress?"

"I could ask you the same. You're not even trying." C.C. pointed out, stroking Jiro. "I know you have to protect your sister, but you can't just sit around."

"I have the Black Knights looking for Mao." Lelouch explained, clicking his pen impatiently. "A trainer who stole our raikou is a valid threat, especially one who seems like he can read minds."

"What'll you do if he's here in the Kanto region?" C.C. asked. "You'd just be wasting your time. You should just use me as bait." She suggested. "Mao's after me. I'll—"

"Tell me." Lelouch interrupted, turning away from her. "If I continue to use the Geass, will I end up like him?"

He noted C.C.'s gasp with a click of his pen and pressed his advantage. "Or did he end up like that because he couldn't fulfil his contract with you?"

"The Geass's power grows as it is used, much like a pokémon's power grows as it battles." C.C. explained. "And like pokémon, those who can't control it are swallowed by it."

"So knowing this…" Lelouch growled, turning to confront the witch as she cuddled her jirachi. "You still offered us your contract? Both me and Mao?"

"That's right." C.C. nodded, looking into Lelouch's eyes.

"You're a bitch." Lelouch told her. "I can't understand why anyone would chase after you. Mao couldn't keep his contract so you cut him loose." C.C. pulled Jiro closer defensively as Lelouch probed her.

"Well? Am I wrong? What are the terms of this contract?" Lelouch demanded.

C.C. looked away from him.

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!!" he spat, unable to hide his rising anger any longer.

Her gaze snapped back to an enraged Lelouch. "Why didn't you kill him when you abandoned him!?" Lelouch shouted furiously. "You left him with his power and his life, and thanks to you, Shirley—"

Lelouch stopped himself, and settled for punching a shallow hole in the wall, his fist tearing through the plaster.

There was a tense silence between them, until the witch broke it with a cool voice.

"We should split up, to draw Mao off." C.C. suggested. "For tonight on, I'll stay in the building next door."

"Next door?" Lelouch asked, slumping down onto the couch and grabbing his head. "The Student Council and Literature Club are there."

"I don't care about that." C.C. announced, standing up and walking towards the door. "You take care of it."

Lelouch sighed as she opened the door. "Hold on." He told her, getting up and walking into the corridor. "Wait here for a bit. Nunnally!" He shouted. "I'm just popping out for a bit!"

"Huh?" his sister called back. "But you promised!"

"I just need to talk to Milly for a few minutes!" Lelouch told her. "I'll be right back!"

"So, yeah." Lelouch shrugged. "I'd appreciate it if you could make the club house off limits for a few days."

"Well, it's possible…" Milly admitted, before turning serious. "No-one found out you're a prince, did they?"

"That secret's safe." Lelouch lied. "Only the Ashford family knows I'm alive."

"Ashford, hey?" Milly sighed. She leaned against the wall of the clubhouse, looking somewhat dejected.

"Hm? What's happened?" he asked his old friend, curious and a bit worried.

"Lelouch, I've got another prospective suitor." She sighed. "I might not be able to wriggle out of this one…" Milly turned to him with an eager smile. "What should I do?"

"Well, I'm not sure…" Lelouch admitted, not too eager to get mixed up in her problems with suitors. No doubt she'd come up with a solution eventually, but he knew better than to get involved in her hilarious shenanigans. Still...

"CHAIRMAN!" Shirley shouted as the energy drained from Milly's face.

Aaaand there it was again. "Shirley?" Milly asked with concern and interest as she noticed Shirley's sports bag. "You're practicing again?"

"Yeah, no use moping." Shirley smiled as Lelouch looked away in shame.

Milly laughed. "I could learn a thing or two from your winning attitude." She complimented Shirley.

"What're you talking about?" Shirley protested. "You're way more— hey, you're that guy from the other day," she said, noticing Lelouch.

Lelouch forced himself to keep a neutral face and looked up at Shirley. "I didn't know you went to this school." She told him.

"What're you on?" Milly asked the ginger-haired girl with annoyance.

"We're in the same class, actually." Lelouch told Shirley, ignoring the student council president for now.

"No way!" Shirley declared, leaning forward to take a better look at his face. "Really?"

"That's enough…" Lelouch muttered as Shirley's friends from the diving club called her over.

"Coming!" Shirley waved, turning to Lelouch and Milly as she ran. "Well, whatever. See you later!"

"Yeah…" Milly managed, waiting for Shirley to get out of earshot before snapping to Lelouch. "What the hell was that?"

"We had a fight." Lelouch lied.

"So she's pretending that she doesn't know you?" Milly asked.

"Kind of." Lelouch sighed. "We decided not to drag anyone else into it and start completely fresh, as if we were strangers." Lelouch gave Milly a sad smile. "

I know it's stupid, but please could you convince the others to play along with it until she gets over it?"

"Another favour huh? Well, I don't mind." Milly sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. "Think it'll go on for long?"

"Yeah, probably." Lelouch answered truthfully.

That night, Lelouch fed Shirley's diary to his charizard.

_\_ "I'm sorry, Zero." _\_ Inoue reported. _\_ "We haven't been able to find this Mao." _\_

"I see." Lelouch nodded.

_\_ "Shall we contact our associates in Kyoto?" _\_

"No, he's definitely in the Kanto region." Lelouch sighed. "If you hear anything, tell me."

_\_ "I understand." _\_ Inoue nodded.

"Until next time then." Lelouch sighed, hanging up and walking up the darkened staircase. 'If I get within five hundred metres of him, Mao will be able to read my mind.' He thought. 'I at least know that much, but he wasn't able to predict me accurately when I was about to stab him… why..?'

He snarled at the memory. "I can land a super-effective strike, but I just need one more—"

"PP?"

Lelouch turned to see C.C. in pants, jacket and a hat walking down the other staircase. "It seems that we're thinking along the same lines." She said.

"So it would seem." Lelouch nodded, turning to face her.

"Do you think we can work together?" she asked him.

"Yes." He nodded, picking up his ringing pokénav. "Hello?"

_\_ "It's me, Lulu~!" _\_ Mao sang from the other end. _\_ "C.C.'s there too, isn't she~? I wanna talk to her alone, put her on." _\_

Lelouch put the pokénav on speaker. _\_ "I said alone, you eavesdropper~!" _\_ He giggled.

"Anything you can say to C.C. you can say to me." Lelouch announced as Mao started laughing.

_\_ "Trying to aggravate me by making me think that you and C.C. are a couple! Very good, oh very good~!" _\_ Mao giggled. _\_ "But enough of the games." _\_

Lelouch undid the hands free on his pokénav and handed it to C.C. "Call me when you're finished." He told her.

C.C. was about to give a sardonic reply, but Lelouch interrupted her snarky comment by kissing her lips, before walking away without another word.

It was hard to tell who was the most shocked, her or Mao, but either way Lelouch deserved the smirk he walked away with.

"So, what's happening honeybunch?" Lelouch asked with a smirk once C.C. gave him a look, before tossing him his pokénav.

"Rejoice, Lelouch." She said with a catlike smile. "I've decided to go back to Mao, so you won't have to put up with me for much longer."

Lelouch glared. "Are you betraying me?" He asked.

"What're you talking about?" C.C. asked, walking past him and approaching the doors of the clubhouse. "We were never friends, just collaborators."

"WAIT!" Lelouch shouted, running down the stairs.

"You're just like Mao…" C.C. chuckled, turning to face him. "What a surprise."

"You know too much about me." Lelouch told her, Geass flaring up. "I can't let you leave. Don't Go! Stay With Me, C.C.!"

She took a step towards him and Lelouch smirked, Geass dying.

"The Geass doesn't work on me." C.C. told Lelouch. "Didn't I tell you?"

Lelouch blinked, surprised, before grunting in annoyance. "Don't worry." She told him. "I won't say anything about you to anyone."

C.C. began walking away. "You can keep the Geass too." She said. "And Mao won't bother you anymore. Now all your obstacles are gone. Congratulations." She told him as she opened the front door and left. "And goodbye."

"SHITSU!!" Lelouch screamed, getting down on his knees in desperation as the door closed.

Then he heard the laughing. _\_ "Looks like she loves me more, Lulu~!" _\_

"BASTARD!!" Lelouch shouted, grabbing a flowerpot and throwing it against the wall, hanging up just as it smashed.

Then he grinned.

Mao had just confirmed his suspicions- the mind-reader had heard the exchange between Lelouch and the witch- not the thoughts running through the youth's head.

He was only taunting Lelouch because he believed he had won. That could only mean one thing.

Mao wasn't in range anymore.

Lelouch turned the pokénav around in his hand, so the camera was facing him. He imagined Mao standing before him, took a moment to visualize how the mind-reader spoke, how he had acted back at Narita and pictured what his next encounter with the man would play out as.

After fourteen seconds, he began recording a video of himself, standing before the green wall.

"So you were there." Lelouch smirked into the camera. "Somewhere stranger's voices wouldn't bother you."

He paused to give Mao chance to respond. "Your Geass only works within five hundred metres, so you can't read my mind here in the radio tower."

'Honestly, that woman.' Lelouch smirked internally. 'She just comes and goes with the wind, never even considering that I was already working on a plan.'

"Mao." Lelouch said, as if he was interrupting something. "You don't actually think that C.C. is her real name, do you?" pause for Mao's gaspage. "I know her real name." he said with a smirk, picturing the bastard's shocked face with relish.

'Now he'll ask C.C. why he doesn't know.' Lelouch calculated, counting silently. "She doesn't have to answer to you, weren't you paying attention earlier?" Lelouch snapped. "She is mine." He grinned. "C.C. is mine Mao." He repeated, imagining the look on the psycho's face, the screaming of denial, the sheer panic. "I've made her mine, even what you've never seen. All of her, Mao."

"Understand?" Lelouch continued, twisting the knife. "I've experienced what you could only dream of having. Just think about that. Me and C.C. Over and over.All. Night. Long."

"Mao." He grinned, picturing Mao smashing the screen with whatever. "You lose. In every sense of the word."

He recorded ten seconds of himself smirking for insurance, then he hit stop. "And cut." Lelouch grinned, opening the recording of the previous message.

_\_ "It's me, C.C." _\_ Mao said happily.

_\_ "Mao…" _\_ C.C. stated.

_\_ "I'll be waiting in Clovisland." _\_ Mao invited. _\_ "Come alone." _\_

_\_ "Insistent as usual." _\_ C.C. sighed.

_\_ "If you don't come, I'll just have to tell everyone who Lelouch is." _\_ Mao threatened. _\_ "And I can kill him whenever I like." _\_

Lelouch hung up, sighing. 'It's so easy to understand that warped woman's mind sometimes.' Lelouch grinned. 'Idiot.'

Clovisland. If C.C. and Mao were headed there, then Lelouch had all the time in the world.

See, C.C.'s only pokémon was Jiro, and Jiro can't use Fly, nor teleport. Even if it could, a long-range teleport only takes you to a pre-ordained place, like a train station, or a pokémon station, or a secret base if you're good.

Either way, C.C. would either be walking, since she can't use the train without a citizenship pass, or hire a taxi without money.

That gave Lelouch time to go over some documents briefly with Diethard, contact a police chief with news of a depraved, drug-addicted rapist targeting a high-school girl in Clovisland, then Geass the swat team to do his bidding.

"LIAARR!!!" Mao screamed in rage as he hacked the screen to pieces with his axe.

_\_ "You lose -^- sense of -^- word." _\_ the onscreen Lelouch spluttered before dying.

"What're you talking about?" asked the maddened Mao. "It's fine! I'll be with C.C.! I win, you bastard! She's mine! FOREVER!""

Then he noticed the thoughts.

The many thoughts.

The many angry thoughts.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!" Shouted the SWAT team as they poured into the theme park, arcanine barking and hariyama's creating a barrier with their huge, fan-like hands. "GET DOWN TO THE GROUND YOU SICK BASTARD!!"

Then the spotlight came down from the fearow above him. "PUT THE AXE AND YOUR POKÉBALLS TO THE GROUND NOW!" The police shouted. "GET DOWN TO YOUR KNEES AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!!"

Mao was disgusted with what he was hearing from inside their heads. Him? A murderer? Kidnapper? Serial rapist? Drug addict? Pimping elementary schoolgirls?

Then he saw the face of the policeman who picked up the bullet-ridden C.C. "Lelouch?" She asked him. "What're you doing here?"

"N-NO!!" Mao screeched. "YOU WERE JUST AT THE RADIO TOWER!!"

Lelouch turned to his fellow Geass user with a grin. 'Are you stupid?' He thought loudly. 'That was a recording.'

"THAT'S A LIE!!" Mao screamed. "YOU WERE JUST TALKING TO ME!!"

'Your thoughts were incredibly simple.' Lelouch smirked. 'It was like getting a snorlax to use Rest:: utterly predictable. You thought you could see my every move, but in the end your mind-reading was your undoing.'

"You were able to predict my answers?" Mao gasped, unable to comprehend it. "DON'T SCREW WITH ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!! IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER IF THE POLICE GET ME!! I'LL BE OUT IN A HEARTBEAT!!"

'Oh?' Lelouch asked in his mind. 'I don't think that the police take kindly to illegal immigrants who kidnap and pimp children for a shot of Refrain.' Lelouch grinned. 'Even without the Geass, I'm sure that they'd say that you resisted arrest anyway.'

"SHUT UP!" Mao howled. "DON'T INSULT ME!!" This guy's past the deep end… Who would care?.. People like him are why my daughter is never safe… Sick bastard… Screw taking him alive…

'C.C. told me about your Geass, how you can't turn it off, and it's dependent on your concentration.' Lelouch bragged internally.

"You used the monitor to distract me?" Mao managed, this revelation driving him slightly further around the bend. "I still have a way to beat you though!"

'Using it would be your end.' Lelouch warned.

"HOW IS IT MY END!?" Mao laughed. "LISTEN UP YOU PIGS!! THAT GUY OVER THERE IS ZE—"

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA

"Mao!" C.C. gasped as the park fell silent.

"He resisted arrest." The chief decided.

"Yes sir." The squad nodded. "Clearly about to kill the hostage if we didn't stop him."

"Hey, these are yours, right newbie?" one officer asked, handing Lelouch Mao's belt of pokéballs, raikou's fast ball among them..

"Thank you sir." Lelouch nodded, taking them gladly. "I'll take her to the hospital."

"When I contracted him, Mao was a six-year old orphan." C.C. explained as Lelouch removed the bullets from C.C. in his bathroom with a pair of tweezers. "He didn't know how to read or write, or of a parent's love, or even the difference between good or evil NGH!" She grunted in pain.

"Sorry." Lelouch apologised, dropping the metal ball into the tray.

"The power of Geass I gave Mao isolated him." C.C. continued, despite the pain. "I became his friend, his parent, his lover, and the perfect stranger, all at once." She sighed, a rare note of regret in her tone. "I was the only one who saw Mao as human. I was his whole world…"

"C.C.." Lelouch told her, washing the blood from his tools as her wounds began to close up. "I will not fall for the Geass. I will conquer this power and bend it to my will. I will change the whole world. I will grant both your wish and my own. I will fulfil the contract that he could not. So…"

"Lelouch." C.C. asked. "Are you trying to comfort me, pity me, or win me back?"

"All wrong." Lelouch decided without a moment of hesitation. "It's my offer. A contact between us, this time from me, to you"

C.C. looked at him, then smiled. "Very well." She told him with an outstretched hand. "I accept your contract."

Lelouch reached out for her hand, grasping it firmly just as his pokénav rang.

He grunted and looked at it. "No number." He asked, glancing at C.C. "This should be fun."

She smiled as he picked it up. "Yes?" He asked.

_\_ "Hello." _\_ the voice of an unfamiliar male announced. _\_ "My name is Silver Laguada. You killed my father. Prepare to die." _\_

-}+{-

NOW things get interesting. Seriously.

Also, the name Laguada has turned up already. Think about it if you can't place it.

And now, a word from my beta:

"Ohmigosh guys you won't believe whats about to happen it's awesome!!!"

Oi! Don't spoil it!