You know, in the anime, this was the bit where deeper plot was hinted at.
I'm going to go further with this. Those of you who've watched Code Geass all the way to the end and have really, really explored Hoenn will crap bricks when they read this chapter.
To clarify, this is where it becomes more than Code Geass with pokémon instead of mechs. This is where this becomes Code Geass in the Pokémon world.
Now though, reviews. Deviate Fish, don't worry. Deviation starts now, hits real in R2.
Poggg, that's the Code Geass subber's fault, not mine.
Ryder, I like these little shout outs. I didn't have to do it, but it's funny even without Fairly English Story.
Naru-Chan, if you've played a game called Emerald, you will like this chapter a lot.
-}+{-
Lelouch woke up on the beach, and immediately took in his surroundings. 'Where am I?' he thought, looking at the sand underneath him, the waves on his right hand side and the sheer cliff face on his right.
'It's another island.' Lelouch realised, beginning to walk around the stone cliff in his Zero mask and cloak. 'The climate and vegetation suggest that I'm still in Hoenn, though I believe that I'm further west than Evergrande. I've no pokémon, no pokénav, and no way of contacting the outside world. Even if I did, it'd be difficult to contact Ohgi, and even if I called the army as a Britannian citizen, then I'd—'
Lelouch turned around the corner and met a dripping wet Princess Euphemia, her white dress soaked to the skin. For a moment they stared at each other, too surprised to react. Lelouch's hand twitched and he reached for the combat knife hidden at his belt. He froze, however, at her next words.
"Lelouch?" she asked.
'What!'
"It's you, isn't it Lelouch?" Euphemia asked Zero. "I haven't told anyone who you are, but please let me know before you kill me."
He hesitated, his hand hovering over his knife for a moment, before realizing…
This was no enemy. This was Euphemia. His sister.
Slowly, he raised and pressed his hand against his mask, and the plates covering the back of his head withdrew into the top. He then lifted the mask from his face and pulled the cloth covering his mouth and nose.
"Lelouch…" Euphemia repeated happily, sinking to her knees and crying freely as her half-brother looked down on her mournfully.
He took off his cloak and handed it to her. "Your clothes need to dry." He told her, turning around a corner to give her some privacy. "So, how long have you know?"
He heard her start to undress. "Since the hotel-jacking." She replied.
"I see…" Lelouch nodded. "I may have said too much then."
"I wasn't sure until just now though." Euphemia told him.
Lelouch gave an amused grunt. "I guess I underestimated you." He told her. "Why didn't you tell Cornelia though?"
"My sister wouldn't listen to anything I had to say." She told him. "Besides, I was sad just thinking about it…"
Lelouch didn't reply.
"How's… Nunnally?" Euphemia asked, trying to start up something resembling a conversation.
"She's living with me, but she still hasn't healed." Lelouch answered.
"You must hate me." Euphemia asked.
Lelouch saw some flashes of that day in his memory. "Tell me one thing." Lelouch asked, willing the images away. "Do you know anything about my mother's death?"
"I'm sorry, no." Euphemia replied sadly. "My sister seems to be looking into it though. She idolised Lady Marianne, after all."
Lelouch looked up at the wingull and pelliper flying through the sky above their heads.
"May I ask you a question in return?" Euphemia asked.
"Shoot."
"Are you Zero, or…"
Lelouch glanced around the corner to see his half-sister huddled in Zero's cape, her clothes laid out on the sand to dry.
"I'm Lelouch." He answered, turning back around to his corner. "Yeah, I'm the Lelouch you know right now, Euphie."
"L-Lelouch…" she replied, sobbing. The effect was rather ruined, however, by her stomach growling. "I'm so relieved, I'm starting to feel hungry." She admitted with embarrassment.
"You stay here then." Lelouch told her, standing up. "I'll bring something back."
A few minutes later he was atop the hill with a sharpened wooden spear and was sneaking through the long grass.
'The principle's the same as catching a pokémon really.' Lelouch told himself as he crept up on the wynaut in front of him. 'It's just that instead of catching the pokémon…'
"LOOK OUT!"
Euphemia turned to see Lelouch sliding down the rock face holding something blue and red on a wooden spear and a herd of outraged wynaut behind him.
They stopped chasing him at the cliff face, and Lelouch landed harmlessly in the sand, panting for breath.
Then Euphie saw what was impaled on Lelouch's stick.
"L-Lelouch… is that..?" she asked, looking at the pokémon's corpse.
He held it up proudly. "Dinner." He smiled.
"YOU CAN'T EAT WYNAUT!" She shouted.
Lelouch tilted his head. "Why not?" he asked, but the Princess didn't appreciate the pun.
"You need to bury it, you, you, YOU MURDERER!"
"Well, yes." Lelouch nodded with a shrug. "You kill to eat. You eat to survive. Don't you know that a hundred milktank die every time father orders a feast?" he asked the princess.
Euphie covered her mouth in shock, then stormed around her brother. "I'll go find some berries." She snapped, storming past him.
"You might want to get dressed first." Lelouch suggested, eyes averted, picking up the cloak that had slipped off her in the confusion.
Euphie looked down at her naked body, covered herself, ran to grab her clothes and rushed into the bushes, her face as pink as her hair.
Lelouch sighed and pulled out the knife he had used to carve the spear, and got to work gutting and cleaning the pokémon.
'Still so naïve… in this world our Father has created, power stands above everything else. The weak die to feed the strong. Although, even if it is naïve…' he thought grimly as he skinned the wynaut, his knife slicing through the fatty tissue binding pelt to meat, 'I can't blame her for wanting to avoid this path...'
Wynaut meat tasted surprisingly nice roasted, though Euphie didn't want any, sticking to the few fist-sized berries she'd found in the forest up the cliffs.
"The stars haven't changed." Euphie told Lelouch after they'd eaten, having let the dinner issue slide. "How nice it would be if we could look at the stars together like we used to."
"I had a brother back then." Lelouch remembered. Euphie nodded, remembering the little boy Lelouch spoke of, who had always tagged along beside him. Those days were… better.
"Won't you come back?" she asked him, her eyes growing heavy. "I know we can make it like old times, somehow…"
"It would be so nice, being able to return." Lelouch agreed as the princess fell asleep.
'Euphie. I need a reason to fight… for my continued existence…'
The next morning, Lelouch ate the remainder of the pokémon meat for breakfast and set out exploring the caves he'd discovered around the island. He was hoping to find some sort of water pokémon or such to help him and Euphemia find their way back to Area 11.
He didn't like what he found.
The caves did not seem to be occupied by any pokémon whatsoever. Instead, they were filled with massive stone tablets, with carved humps and dots running down their faces.
"Wow…" Euphie gasped in the torchlight as Lelouch ran a hand along one of the stone's surface. "These carvings must be thousands of years old…"
"So why are they in English?" Lelouch asked, almost angrily.
"Eh?" Euphie's eyebrows shot up, surprised.
"These dots…" Lelouch told her. "They're Braille, a language only created a few hundred years ago for the blind."
"You sure?" Euphie asked, running up to the plate Lelouch was reading.
"In this cave we have lived." Lelouch read. "We owe all to the pokémon. But, we sealed the pokémon away. We feared it. Those with courage, those with hope, open a door. An eternal pokémon awaits." He turned to her. "Yeah, I'm sure."
"W-what about this one?" Euphie asked, starting to get concerned.
"Our powers were hidden, sealed away by our hearts." Lelouch told her. "The Pokémon opened our eyes, granting us our power again. We sealed our eyes again, unable to control our hearts, lest they be consumed by the powers bestowed upon us."
'It sounds like the Geass…' Lelouch thought. 'If they lost control of their Geass's like Mao and hand to live blindly, then it makes sense that they'd have… to… use… Braille…'
'A colony of Geass users?' Lelouch realised, placing the torch in his mouth and patting himself down for a notebook. 'Damn!' he swore to himself when he couldn't find one.
"Lelouch..?" Euphie asked as he was overcome by a look of sheer determination, reading each plate like a possessed man.
'Everything has meaning, existence has meaning, being alive has meaning, have dreams, use power.' Lelouch read quickly, memorising the passage before moving onto the next one. 'Is the soul ruled by the heart, or can the heart rule the soul? Are our eyes a window into our madness or does madness show through our eyes?'
They were all like that. Riddles, poems, but all of them in English and hinting at the Geass and this Pokémon that rules over it.
'So pokémon created the Geass?' Lelouch calculated. 'I've thought of the Geass as a pokémon attack before, but this..?'
"What… what is…" he muttered, eyes darting to a new tablet to scan.
"Lelouch?" Euphie asked worriedly, grabbing his shoulder gently.
"STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" Lelouch shouted, pushing her back as he continued reading.
This… this was too much.
'Does C.C. know about this?' Lelouch thought desperately as he moved to the next tablet. "First comes relicanth last comes wailord WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!"
He didn't notice Euphie slink out of the cave in fear. This wasn't the brother she remembered.
The Lelouch she knew wouldn't get this obsessed over some dots in a cave.
It was raining when Lelouch left the cave "EUPHIE!" He shouted from under his mask. "EUPHIE!"
'Not good.' Lelouch snarled internally. 'I must've scared her off when I was reading those tablets…'
It was worth it. If there was a colony of people like Mao who had to keep their eyes shut just to control their powers, then that would make the Braille make much more sense.
What wasn't making any sense, however, was that the beachside cave he entered only had one exit. When Lelouch went through it to leave, it opened into the side of a steep valley.
There was brown stone behind him and grey cliff-face ahead of him. A narrow stone path led the way to another cave, but on either side there was a deep gorge. 'What the hell?' Lelouch asked himself.
He looked at the cave entrance opposite him, and the grey plaque above it.
- Press on, don't turn back – it said in Braille.
Far too high for a blind person to reach.
Lelouch grunted, stepping forward into the cave carefully.
He spotted her not far ahead, crouching behind an outcrop of rock.
"Euphie." Lelouch whispered, jogging up to her inside the cave and kneeling beside her. "Are you alright?"
She didn't respond other than to hush him, pointing over the ledge she was hiding behind.
Lelouch looked over to see several people gathered below, and took care to keep within the shadows as he removed his helmet to listen into the conversation.
"There's been several other sites like this discovered around the world." One man said. "It appears that many of the recent invasions have been aimed at these areas."
'What?' Lelouch asked as another voice, Lloyd, groaned about not being able to study the Rayquaza.
"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted from behind and Lelouch hurriedly replaced the mask and turned around to see Suzaku running towards them, Kallen trailing after him with her hands behind her back.
'What're they doing here!' Lelouch thought angrily. If he had just a few more moments to eavesdrop…
"HEY!" one man shouted. "WHO'S UP THERE!"
"MOVE!" Lelouch shouted, pushing Suzaku and Euphemia back as hellfire spewed into the hollow they were hiding in. "Let's go!"
"Hold it!" Suzaku declared, grabbing Zero by the arm before turning to Euphemia as she grabbed the wrist grabbing Lelouch. "Euphie..?"
"That's not important right now." She decided as a salamence flew into the hollow. "But right now we need to work together to survive."
Suzaku pushed past the Princess as the salamence hunkered down and charged at the group. The young knight bolted into a running leap and, with a leg wreathed in blue flames, spin-kicked the dragon in the face, breaking its jaw, knocking it back out the way it came. "Looks like it's super-effective…" Suzaku muttered as he landed perfectly, a grin tugging at his mouth despite himself, before running after the other three.
"This doesn't change anything, Zero." He growled, stepping back beside Euphie protectively.
"On the contrary, this changes everything." Lelouch sneered, scanning the walls for more signs. "Because I can navigate these tunnels, and you cannot."
"You mean the dots?" Kallen asked as Lelouch twisted around a corner and stopped dead two feet down, before hopping back three steps and spinning on the spot.
The corridor behind them got closed off by a large stone door and the wall before Zero crumbled into sand. "Like I said," Zero explained. "I understand the nature of this place."
'Truth be told, I don't have the slightest idea as to what the hell is going on.' Lelouch admitted to himself, only thinking of running right now. He spotted the next plate ahead.
–Stand on the pedestal, you who seek the scion. The guardian awaits. It bows to the king, to the master– it read.
'Pedestal? Does it mean this platform?' Lelouch thought, looking down at the stone plate they were standing on. 'It certainly doesn't look like a-'
Then the corridor suddenly became blocked on both sides, and the emblem of the Geass glowed a deep red in the ground, circling around Lelouch's feet. 'What!' he thought to himself, suddenly hit by the image of a muscular man with blue hair and a neutral face.
The floor descended, rapidly falling into the main chamber of the ruins that they were looking into below. "MAJOR KURURUGI!" one man shouted. "AND ZERO!"
"DON'T ATTACK!" another person shouted. "THEY'VE GOT THE PRINCESS! CAPTURE THEM ALIVE!"
KRAKOOM!
A shockwave of energy ripped over them, and everyone turned to see mewtwo float forward out from the twisted wreckage of one of the vans. "Lancelot!" Suzaku shouted, happy to see his pokémon. "Take out Zero!"
Mewtwo landed on the plate between the four people as soldiers surrounded them with guns. He gave a casual glance at the soldiers, and their guns immediately fell cleanly apart, their component parts separated from each other.
"L-Lancelot, what are you-?" said Suzaku, confused.
Mewtwo raised a paw towards Zero.
It dropped a Master Ball into his hands.
Lelouch looked at the object the pokémon had given him, and the Geass symbol on the platform they stood on glowed a bright blue. With a shudder, the plate rose into upwards, a square area of the roof collapsing into sand and mist as the plate ascended through it.
It stopped on the top of the island, at a clearing with several stone structures, the remains of a ceremonial site, from the looks of it. There were three paths, one leading down the mountain and two cave tunnels that lead eastwards and westwards. Zero took a step forward as he spotted more Braille, but was stopped by mewtwo placing his paw on his shoulder.
"Lancelot…" Suzaku gasped. "What's wrong?"
The psychic pokémon ignored his master, sending Kallen down the eastern tunnel with a flick of psychic energy and Zero down the west one before blocking off the paths to either.
"Return."
The mewtwo turned into energy, which rushed past Suzaku and was transported into a great ball. He spun around, and was stunned by the sight of the newcomer who had recalled Lancelot.
"Not your mewtwo mate." A teenage boy with a pikachu seated on his shoulder said amicably, his face hidden under the shadow of his cap. "Now leave."
"Y-yessir!" Suzaku saluted on sheer instinct before turning to Euphemia. "Let's go."
She nodded, taking her knight's hand as he led her away.
The boy walked past them to the junction between the two paths, grinning. "Hope you appreciate what I'm doing for you…" the boy muttered in a vaguely amused tone. He lifted his hat slightly, so a purple glow was just barely visible.
From both his eyes.
Lelouch groaned, landing in a pool of water. He removed his mask to let water pour out of it, and that's when he saw it.
It was a great beast: like a bird only not at all: like a dragon but not a dragon, its white majesty accentuated by the black areas of its flesh.
Lelouch recognized it's form from sighting and folklore reports given to him by Rakshad. There was no mistaking it- this was Ho-oh's sister, the guardian of the seas.
Lelouch stared at it in awe. "You are…"
"LUUUUGIA!" It screeched, flapping its arms wide before lowering itself to Lelouch.
As if it was kneeling.
Lelouch didn't need to be told twice. He pressed the master ball against the nape of the pokémon's neck, and it was absorbed within its walls. The ball didn't shake, locking instantly. He then sent the pokémon out, and it towered above him, its eyes filled with wisdom as it appraised its new master. Lelouch felt a tingling at the back of his skull, no doubt Lugia's power reading his emotions.
"So, you are the guardian who bows to the king?" Lelouch asked, meeting the legendary's gaze, his Geass flaring as proof. "It is true, I bear the power of the king… but I warn you- I am no guardian like you. My path is littered with death, and my oceans are drowned in blood. Still, you will fight with me?"
The silver bird dropped down and presented its back to him.
"Lugia…" Lelouch whispered, Geass dying as he climbed atop it as he donned his mask. "Very well then. Let us go greet your sister." The pokémon screeched in consensus and rose into the air, before plummeting swiftly into the water, vanishing into the dark depths.
It burst from the ocean and flew alongside Kallen's ho-oh. "HELLO THERE KALLEN!" Lelouch shouted as they flew over the open ocean.
"Thank goodness…" Kallen sighed as the two legendary guardians slowed to greet each other. "Are you alright?"
"Never better!" Lelouch announced. "But I am glad to be out of that place!"
'And now I have a lot to ask that witch about.' He added internally.
"I contacted Ohgi!" Kallen told her leader, showing him his pokénav. "I got it when Suzaku's mewtwo went berserk back in Evergrande, and everyone's fine!" She declared. "But some Japanese boats are attacking Rustboro, Dewford and Meteor Falls! The submarine is en-route to see what's going on, but we need your orders!"
"And your status?"
"I was captured by Suzaku, so he knows my identity now." She reported. "Other than that I'm fine, but… Lelouch… I was speaking to Suzaku and he… he said that he killed his father…" Kallen said, concern and uncertainty in her voice.
"I know. I found out about it myself recently." Lelouch replied, his voice carrying a hint of shame that he hoped Kallen wouldn't detect. "I tried to use it to convince him to join our side, but it turned out to be poorly informed decision. It actually explains a lot, as it seems he's had a death-wish ever since..."
'I'm sorry Suzaku.' Lelouch apologised internally. 'I never wanted to use the Geass on you.'
He shook his head. "Get on Kallen." He ordered. "We'll travel faster underwater."
-}+{-
YEAH! NOW WE'RE TALKING!