Here is the final chapter of R1, and it is a double whammy again, since this was a double episode in the original anime. And you know what else? This is the longest chapter I have ever done for any fanfiction ever.
WakingWorldDreamWorld, I'm glad I got a reaction.
Karasu, you have to admit that, considering Britannia's 'Survival Of The Fittest' policy, the sparta gag was actually fitting.
Poggg, he's still Japanese. He wasn't excluded in the original, so he won't be excluded here. Also, concerning Red, you are way, waaaaay off. But you're right about him not being a Code, or about Lelouch having previously Geassed him. All will be revealed in due time.
And yes, you shall declare me a Magnificent Bastard.
-}+{-
Lelouch predicted that the battle would take place in Saffron city.
However, he was also aware that he could be wrong, so he developed multiple plans for attacking all of Kanto and Johto's major cities.
He did agree, however, that the plan he had decided on for Saffron city was a particularly devastating one.
Saffron city had a crossroad tunnel built underneath it, a way for people from the neighbouring cities to get through without compromising Saffron's security.
It was a simple matter for Lelouch to Geass the guards as he planted glalie and electrodes along the subterranean corridors at strategic positions, then slowly flood it.
It the three minutes to midnight, the glalie began to freeze and thaw the water, the expanded ice cracking the walls and roofs repeatedly, weakening the structure beneath the tower massively as more water was pumped in. each time the water froze, the more the tunnels were damaged.
And at midnight, the trained electrode exploded.
All but one.
A cross-shaped scar tore through the city, the ground rising up into the sky.
The Silph Co. head office was the most impressive. It rose in the sky like a beacon, before shattering and imploding under its own weight, yet still being carried up.
The entire city was forced up into the air. The magnet train was torn from its tracks and obliterated by the force of the explosion.
That forced a surge of electromagnetic energy right back to the power plant restored specifically to power it, which caused the plant to overload, forcing the entire Kanto region onto their personal home-use back-up generators.
The shrapnel, broken steel, stone, soldiers and pokémon were carried high into the air.
Where the last electrode exploded.
The last electrode was the biggest, strongest, and most destructive one of all.
It was the one Mao intended to use as a bomb to kill Nunnally and Lelouch.
Suzaku himself had captured it and given it to Lelouch as a gift.
Lelouch had put it to sleep and placed it in the centre of the crossroads, right underneath the heart of Saffron City.
Now, it rose up with the shrapnel, and once they all reached the height of the blast…
It exploded.
The blast sent all the shrapnel flying in all directions.
Many would say that it was a miracle that no civilians were harmed, but Lelouch had carefully calculated this.
All the shrapnel fell in a perfect ring, forming a perimeter around Celadon, Cerulean, Vermillion and Lavender.
Cycling road was obliterated, Mt. Moon was buried under landslides, Rock Tunnel collapsed, Silence Bridge was torn apart, and the Vermillion docks were completely cut off from the ocean.
None of the four cities around Saffron were harmed.
In fact, since all the civilians were evacuated from Saffron city before hand, the only civilian casualty from the explosions was the old man living on Cerulean Cape, and those closest to the generator in the power plant.
The soldiers in Saffron, however, were no so fortunate.
Those inside the city walls were obliterated. They would never even find their bodies.
The ones outside the city walls, the bravest ones who volunteered to fight the Black Knights first to stop them from entering the city…
Many of them survived.
The irony was, the more prepared they were to die in battle; the less likely they were to be killed from the blast.
However, all of them were blasted from their feet, thrown into the air and landing into the dirt.
All of them deafened by the explosion.
'If I cannot become a Messiah, then I shall become a demon.' Lelouch thought to himself, laughing at the chaos and destruction his plan had brought about.
Cornelia had quickly recovered and began ordering a swift retreat to the Celadon Mansion, the great palace built within the city that ruled all of Area Eleven.
But none of her brave men could hear her orders. They were injured, confused, deafened and isolated from any help.
The only ones who retreated were the ones too terrified to give a raticate's ass about honour.
"This is fine." Lelouch told C.C. "All that's left to do is broadcast a video of the falling government, as well as the independence announcement to the entire world. Even if he doesn't want to, that guy will appear." Lelouch smirked, talking about his father the Emperor. "If I can speak one-to-one with that bastard of Britannia… all the cards fall into my hands."
Lelouch looked down as Toudou led the charge to obliterate the remains of Cornelia's army as they ineptly retreated to Celadon Mansion.
"Zero squadron and the special squadron are to enter Cerulean City and take control of Ashford Academy." Zero declared into his pokénav. "Turn one of the buildings into a command post. Ohgi, you go there and take command."
No reply.
"Ohgi!" Lelouch repeated.
_\_ "Ah sorry." _\_ the man apologised. _\_ "Understood, Zero." _\_
'Honestly… keep your head in this one Ohgi.' Lelouch sighed internally.
Suzaku strode into the lab aboard the S.S. Rayquaza, master ball in hand, power in his stride and murder in his eyes.
"You want to go to Saffron, right?" Lloyd asked, sitting atop the soldier's flight armour. "But, congratulations~!" he shouted, holding up the activation key for it. "This detail is from the research unit. Everything that needs to be done is done. The head also did not give any orders to launch. So, to launch is to disobey orders."
"Suzaku, I understand your feelings!" Cecile told him as he marched towards the scientist.
"No~!" Lloyd sang playfully, holding the key out of Suzaku's reach.
Suzaku grabbed the Count's bicep and punched him in the cheek so hard that a pink shockwave spiralled down his arm.
"Saffron is where Zero is." Suzaku stated angrily, holding up the key. "I must kill Zero with my own hands! Do not stop me…" he growled, placing the Euphemia Badge onto the breast of his uniform. "THIS IS MY DUTY! AS EUPHIE'S KNIGHT!"
Inside the master ball in his hand, mewtwo glowed a menacing red.
Toudou and his team pursued the retreating soldiers as Cornelia screamed into her communicator for reinforcements, still too deaf to hear the reply.
Because of this, she didn't know what kind of reinforcements were coming, how long they'd be, or how many there were.
She was shouting for an army of several thousand.
If she could hear that the reinforcements were a force of only three trainers, she would have calmed down, turned around, and continued to hold the line, confident in her victory.
But because she couldn't hear, she didn't know, so she didn't.
The Knights were coming.
And not the Glaston Knights who had shown up to help the remains of Cornelia's army retreat.
The Knights of Five, Nine and One were coming to win the fight.
A funnel of air cut though the night sky, hungry for the Brittanian aerial troops rushing to defend Saffron. The pidgeot, crobat and fearow had no hope of escaping and were sucked together with their riders into the tornado that swept over them, leaving not a feather behind.
"Silver." Lelouch said into his communicator as lugia stopped its aeroblast. "All the remaining aerial units have been obliterated. Give G1 to Kageyori and move onto your designated area."
_\_ "Gotcha." _\_
"Yoshida. Prepare the storm."
_\_ "Understood." _\_
"Kamaki, Rakkshel?"
_\_ "On the move." _\_
"Kallen will become backup."
_\_ "Hai!" _\_
"Toudou. If the target appears…"
_\_ "Yes." _\_
"Alright, Ohgi, what's the name of the unifier?"
_\_ "Ah, um, Shinazaki Sayako." _\_
'My maid!' Lelouch realised in surprised. 'Should've paid closer attention to her.'
"Britannia is preparing only to defend the government." C.C. told Lelouch, multitasking between flying lugia and keeping an eye of the flow of the battle while he strategised.
"They are awaiting reinforcements while minimising losses." Zero replied. "So that's what they do in the end..?"
"GET DOWN AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!" Tamaki shouted as he stormed into the Student Council office, waving his rifle at Shirley, Milly and Nunnally while his nidoking waved its tail menacingly, more soldiers rushing into the office. "This school is now under the command of the Order of the Black Knights!"
"Put your gun down." A masked and hooded Rivalz ordered in a gruff voice as Zero walked in with a masked Kallen.
"This school shall be used by the Order of the Black Knight." Zero announced. "We shall run it as our command centre."
"We cannot say no, can we?" Milly asked angrily, standing protectively in front of the other two girls. Behind her, Shirley stared in disbelief at Zero, gripping Nunnally's hand tightly.
"I can guarantee the safety of all of you." The masked terrorist told the girls. His gaze under the mask drifted to his sister, her head arched so she could catch every word said. Her face was filled with worry and concern, but little actual fear, and she placed a hand on top of Shirley's as silent support. Lelouch felt oddly proud of the sight of her showing such strength.
'Nunnally...' Lelouch thought silently. 'While this battle wages, the Black Knights shall defend this place. But…'
"How can we trust you?" Milly asked, bringing his attention back to current matters. "You're at war with our Britannia, aren't you?"
"Chairman, please." Rivalz pleaded in his normal voice, lowering his hood and removing his mask. "We'll guard this place with our lives."
"R-Rivalz…" Shirley gasped as Kallen removed her own mask. "A-and Kallen too?"
"Please everyone." Kallen pleaded. "Just do as he says."
"I see…" Milly snarled. "So that's how it is… Rivalz!" she shouted in disbelief. "You- ar- what the hell!"
"We promise to protect all of the students in this school, not just the student council." Rivalz told her professionally. "We wouldn't be very good allies of justice if we let school children under our care get involved with our battles."
"Hey, what did you do to me?" Shirley asked, standing up to face them. "The reason why I'm so scared… it's because of all of you, right? What did you do to me…?" Shirley turned away from them, hands in her face. "How cruel are you… how cruel…"
"ZERO!" Ohgi shouted, running into the room before anyone could work out what was going on with Shirley. "Lancelot is—"
"He finally came!" Zero declared with joy.
Suzaku and Lancelot flew towards the oncoming gunfire and pokémon attacks. "OUTTA MAY WAAAAYY!" he roared, slicing people in two with a sword of blue flames in his hands.
He slashed through the magnezone cannon, he cut down the armoured salamence, he decapitated the people firing bullets at him with a shockwave of blue fire.
He was moving with such speed and fury; mewtwo barely had to do anything other than keep up.
"Where is Zero..?" Suzaku asked with rage. "I WANT ZEEROO!"
"The Geass?" Suzaku had asked Cyrus some time earlier, back on the S.S. Rayquaza.
"Yes." The man nodded. "It's a supernatural ability that Zero has, based on the human usage of the pokémon attack, Hidden Power. It is a power of the mind, warping people's decisions and making them act out the user's ideal vision of the world."
"No way…." Suzaku gasped. "That's… that's impossible."
"Impossible? Not in the least. Consider what you have experienced.Why did Euphemia suddenly change?" Cyrus continued. "And you, who is so loyal to orders, and was always hoping to die in battle to atone for the murder of your father, do what you did in Evergrande?"
"Then… that means…" Suzaku gasped. "The power to control other's and make them lose their memories… it all makes sense…"
"That is right." Cyrus stated. "It is because of Zero abusing this power that this whole rebellion took place, why your beloved Euphemia slaughtered all those people, why you can never be with her again."
Suzaku snarled, then stormed out of the room.
Cyrus allowed himself a little smile.
Normally, emotions are useless things, and he had long thrown them away.
But this time, it was appropriate.
"ZEEROO!" Suzaku screamed in rage, surging across the ruins of Saffron City in search of the one he must kill.
The mewtwo behind him, however, felt that rage pour into him from his link with Suzaku. He felt himself reminded of his old fury.
He hated it.
He hated what it was doing to his human.
In fact, if it wasn't for the Geass Lelouch had placed on Suzaku, the soldier would have been incinerated by the wall of black and gold flame created by ho-oh. As it was, he veered out of the wave of fire instinctively when he felt Lancelot's warning in the back of his mind. "SUZAKU!" Kallen shouted from atop the phoenix.
"KALLEN!" Suzaku roared, flames bursting around him like a cloak.
"We finally meet in battle." Kallen sneered. "I'm sorry, but you must die here."
"YOU IDIOT!" Suzaku shouted. "YOU AND JAPAN HAVE BEEN LIED TO BY ZERO!"
"Those words really piss me off…" Kallen snarled. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!"
"AND YOU DO? THEN TELL ME!" Suzaku roared in reply, leaping into the air towards her with a Dragon Rush, a maniacal grin on his face. "WHERE IS ZERO RIGHT NOW!"
Ho-oh used Protect, creating a green barrier to block Suzaku's attack and flapped back to get some distance between them, then launched a blast of Sacred Fire at him, which was deflected by Lancelot stepping in front of his human and using Reflect. The flames crashed against the invisible barrier and spilled back at Kallen, whose phoenix spread its wings to re-absorb the attack. Before they could counter, however, Lancelot burst through the weakened blaze, charging at the bird.
"Now, tell me!" Suzaku shouted, recklessly charging alongside Lancelot with sword in hand, cloaked again in his own blue flames. "WHERE IS ZERO!"
Ho-oh dodged Suzaku's rushed attack, only to get hit by the mewtwo's Shadow Ball. "I'M NOT TELLING!" Kallen shouted as she righted her ho-oh, getting it back into a decent flight pattern. "YOU TRAITOR!"
"Then…" Suzaku growled, looking down on Kallen with contempt and rage as he raised his burning sword above his head. "Let's end it HERE!" With a burst of fire swelling around him like a battle aura, he shot towards Kallen and her ho-oh in a furious dive-bomb attack.
"DON'T THINK YOU'RE SO COOL BECAUSE THERE'S TWO OF YOU!" she shouted, leaping from ho-oh and onto her Gurren, which clamped onto a vertical surface amongst the debris as ho-oh dodged the attack. Cursing, Suzaku slowed his descent just before he collided into the ground, and twisted around just in time to take an X-scissor to the chest. Before he collapsed, however, Gurren surged forward and clamped down hard on his shoulders, pinning him in place at the red-head's mercy. "I got you…" Kallen grinned, pulling out her knife and stabbing at her enemy.
Suzaku blocked his face instinctively, the knife stabbing through the bone in his arm as Lancelot threw ho-oh to the ground. Kallen instinctively turned to look at her phoenix, and Suzaku took the opportunity before him. Twisting his arm, he placed his uninjured hand to the scizor's chest and let it surge with flames, launching a fireball at point-blank range.
Suzaku took some minor damage but the payoff was worth the effort. Releasing him immediately, the bug and steel type screamed as it lurched back, throwing its master into the concrete behind it violently before curling up on itself and passing out from the damage.
"Now, tell me." Suzaku demanded, pulling the knife from his forearm without even flinching and approaching her menacingly. "Where is Zero?"
Kallen grunted and forced herself up. "I hate men who keep pestering me." She snapped.
"Is that so?" Suzaku asked, towering over her and flipping the knife in his hand into a reverse grip. "Then…"
He knelt down and stabbed her in the thigh.
She screamed.
"Now." Suzaku snarled, twisting the knife to increase her pain. "Tell me."
"N-not a chance…" she grunted, left eye closed in pain.
Suzaku sighed, and pulled the knife out.
Then stabbed her other thigh.
"AAARRGGHHH!"
"TELL ME!" Suzaku screamed.
"STOP THIS!"
They both turned to see the masked man approach them atop his lugia.
"Kururugi Suzaku. I expected better from you." Zero growled. "It seems I was naïve. In order to put an end to this, let us fight, one on one with our pokémon."
"Just as I want it to." Suzaku growled with an insane sneer, leaving the knife in Kallen's leg as he stood up and floated into the air beside his mewtwo.
Once she reached the Celadon Mansion, Cornelia immediately had a medic look at her ears, as well as the broken eardrums of her men.
The damage was severe, but it was nothing Brittanian medical science couldn't find at least a temporary fix for. After ten minutes of surgery and the dispensation of some hearing aids, she was once more fit for battle.
She once more repeated her order to retreat and regroup, then got to work organising her forces to form a defensive perimeter around the mansion.
"Zero won't bother attacking civilians when we are here." She told her men. "We just need to hold out until the reinforcements arrive." She turned to her new aide. "When the hell will they get here?"
"Um, the navy will be here in twelve hours ma'am, but the advance support will arrive in thirty-minutes."
"How many units in this support?" Cornelia snarled angrily
"T-three ma'am." The nervous aide confessed.
"Only three units!" Cornelia shouted, making the aide flinch. "That's nowhere near enough!"
"N-no ma'am…" the aide corrected fearfully. "T-three men ma'am…"
Cornelia's eyes widened with shock, then they turned into a grin as she realised what she had just got. "Thank you, Schneizel." She announced to the room. "You've given me more than what I need to destroy this rebellion once and for all!"
She turned to the line of officers. "Leak this information to the Black Knights." She ordered. "Once it's leaked, defend the government perimeter along with Guilford."
"P-Princess Cornelia!"
"It's preparation for the dance." The princess told her men with a sly grin.
"ZEROOOOOOOOO!" the maddened Jeremiah screamed, his left eye shaking madly as thunder sparked across his green iris. When news of Zero's attack had been reported on the screens, the man flew into an insatiable rage as he tried to claw his way out of the containment facility.
_\_ "ROOOoooTOOOoooM!" _\_ screeched the speakers of the scientists computers, ghostly shapes flitting around the screens in lieu of the diagnostic readings.
"Can you not calm him down!" Blaine shouted at one of the junior scientists.
"His resistance is too strong!" the junior replied as thunder pulsed around the orange spikes coming from Jeremiah's shoulders and the base of his spine.
"Give him a tranquiliser!" another shouted as another scientist rushed forward with the syringe.
"AWAY FROM ME, KNAVE!" Jeremiah snarled, batting the scientist aside with a fist cracking with electricity. "You're trying to hold me back? Stop me from fulfilling MY LOYALTY? I MUST! FIND! ZEROOOOOOO!"
"There's some flying pokémon headed for the government!"
"How many!" Ohgi shouted.
"Just three sir!" the man reported. "A pidgeot, a skarmory, and charizard, sir!"
"Then they shouldn't have too much effect on the situation now, should they?" Ohgi asked, looking at the computer screen. "Cerulean is under our control, Silver's taken Lavender, Kaguya's group is taking Vermillion, and Saffron is in ruins." He reported. "The Britannian army's gathered in Celadon, cycling road is broken, so once Toudou's team circles around and takes Viridian, we can attack from all sides."
"This is for Yoshida…" Ohgi sighed.
"Vice-commander, we've captured this suspicious person."
"If it's a student, then release him." Ohgi decided. "We've no reason to hold him."
"No sir, we captured her sneaking through the school's back entrance."
Ohgi turned around and got hit by the bombshell that was his girlfriend glaring at him with a look he had never seen on her face before.
"I… no… she's… a contact. I'll hear her report in private…" he stammered, quickly grabbing her wrist and dragging her from the room.
"Is Nina still in her lab?" Milly asked, glancing at the computer desk where the quiet girl usually sat.
"Yeah, but on top of that, we've got all this…" Shirley added, glaring at Rivalz. "How could you do this?" she asked.
"Because I agree with what he's doing." Rivalz told her. "Just because I'm not Japanese doesn't mean I can't see that the whole system we have is crooked. Besides, I owe him one." He looked at his titanium right arm. "It wasn't as if I was going to get Automail on the NHS…"
"So it was a bribe?" Milly asked, part of her angry, part of her simply curious.
"No, I just trust him." Rivalz explained, meeting her glare with an even look.
"YOU FILTH!" a familiar voice screamed from outside.
Shirley, Milly and Rivalz rushed to the window to see Zero atop his lugia, the bird's massive paw-like wing ready to smash the student council room as Suzaku and Lancelot watched in disgust. "You'd descend to taking hostages…" Suzaku snarled. "What kind of one-on-one battle is this!"
"You were the one who rejected my offer of becoming my comrade." Zero told him. "Regret about your senseless, beautiful school life."
"Don't worry." Rivalz told the girls "It's a bluff." 'It has to be…' he added to himself, glancing at Nunnally.
Suzaku roared in anger, descending into the forest with mewtwo, dodging the hydro-pump from lugia and rushing through the trees and towards the school.
Right into the wobbuffet ring.
Lelouch felt a familiar visceral pleasure in seeing his plan be executed so perfectly as Suzaku and his mewtwo crashed hard into the dirt, pinned down by an immovable, invisible force.
"ZERO!" Suzaku screamed in hate, unable to move otherwise. "RIGHT UNTIL THE VERY END, YOU ARE A LIAR! A TRAITOR!"
"Have you learned nothing from our battles?" Zero asked. "I make the ultimate use of the terrain when I fight. You were the one who rushed into a trap I set." Lugia then ascended into the sky and turned away. "Goodbye, Kururugi Suzaku…"
"BASTAAARRDD!" Suzaku's voice howled after him.
He reached Celadon city within minutes, to see Britannia holding the line against the swarming army.
"As expected, their defence is strong." Lelouch commented proudly.
"Is this the time to act all cool and stuff?" C.C. asked him. "It's all over if you blow them up."
Lelouch smirked. "LUGIA!" he shouted. "AEROBLAST!"
The great bird of the storm belched a compressed tornado that arched across the skies of Saffron, sweeping up anything and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught within the reaches of the wind. Not satisfied with then number it had destroyed, lugia pressed on with the attack and rotated on the spot, obliterating anything in the sky that got sucked into its wrath.
When it as done, the skies were clean- all of Britannia's aerial support was eliminated. "Toudou." Zero said into his pokénav. "I will attack from the roof. Keep up the good work."
_\_ "Isn't that rather reckless, sir?" _\_
"I will be careful." Lelouch told him with a smirk, landing on the roof of the palace fortress as he hung up. For a moment he was struck by a sense of déjà-vu as he scanned the palace garden they found themselves in. "How similar…" he commented absently.
"It is just like the Aeris palace, isn't it?" C.C. asked.
"How do you know of that place?" Lelouch snapped.
"I will tell you, someday." C.C. sighed. "When the time is right."
Lelouch decided to drop the matter for now and disembark from the lugia.
"Whoa, she's a beaut, isn't she?"
Lelouch span on the spot to see Red stroking lugia's neck. "A gift from me to you." He smiled, giving the beast a loving pat on the shoulder before turning to Zero.
"I like what you've done so far, it's pretty damned impressive." Red told Zero with a smile. "But man, if Cornelia knew that the one she was fighting was her very own brother-"
Lelouch shut him up by punching him in the face.
Red staggered a bit, but recovered as his pikachu jumped onto his shoulder. "Not bad, not bad!" he laughed, seeming more surprised than anything else. "But you really ought to know, Iron Count Steven and Factory Head Noland are down there kicking your men's asses."
Lelouch glared under the names of the Knights of Five and Nine. "I'm surprised to see the Emperor care enough about this to send even One Knight of the Round, let alone three." Lelouch told him, circling around the garden.
"Oh, I called them over." Red shrugged, circling himself. "I happened to be in the area, saw this coming, so I thought I'd invite a couple of mates."
"How do you know C.C.?" Lelouch asked him.
"I haven't seen her since I left home eight years ago, but she came over all the time." He shrugged. "She's practically my Auntie."
Lelouch glanced at C.C., who was only looking away in disinterest as Jiro flew over to her from wherever it came from.
"Eyes on your opponent." Red told Zero, who looked to see a charging eevee turn into a flareon as it leapt for him.
Lelouch back-handed it, sending out his sandslash as the flareon hopped back to Red and turned into a vaporeon, which launched a torrent of water in return. 'What the…' he asked himself, but glared. 'I see. So he can control how it evolves and back again.' He thought 'Could his Geass's power…'
He thought up of sixteen potential powers in an instant, and discarded about eight of them for not holding weight.
Red then grinned and pulled out a thunderstone. "The Vermillion stones." He explained. "Unlike the other evolutionary stones, these ones can be used over and over again. Vee was modified by Team Rocket to have unstable DNA, so she often degenerates back to an eevee a few minutes after evolving. You won't figure out my Geass from that." He grinned.
Lelouch snarled. "LUGIA!" he shouted. "PSYCHIC!"
Lugia screeched and blasted Red with a shockwave of psychic energy so dense it was almost visible, a glowing pink wave of super-normal force.
"Vee! Faint Attack!" ordered Red. His eevee leapt straight into the wave of energy and morphed, its fur becoming dark as it evolved into an umbreon. The shockwave burst like a soap-bubble on contact with the now Dark-type pokemon, who vanished into the night without a trace.
"Lugia! Behind you!" Lelouch yelled in warning, not quick enough to prevent a deep gouge from the umbreon that carved itself into Lugia's neck. The bird of storms screeched in pain, and batted the umbreon off before it could do any real damage.
"Before it recovers! Hit it with Hydro Pump!" Lelouch ordered.
"Circle around it with Quick Attack." Red said, grinning.
The umbreon ran like a phantom underneath lugia, staying too close to it for the legendary guardian to get a good strike on it with the jet of water blasting from it's maw. Water began to pool around their ankles, and Red swore as he noticed what was happening.
'So, realised it now?' Lelouch thought with a smirk. 'Even if Hydro Pump doesn't get a direct hit, the rising water level will slow your pokémon down long enough for lugia to…'
"Now! SURF!"
Lugia reared back and clapped its wings together in a mighty wing-beat, creating a gale that sent the pooled water surging forward as a solid wave, sweeping Vee up helplessly in the attack.
Or so he thought. A vaporeon burst from the wave, no worse for wear. "How did it evolve? You didn't have a chance to use a stone!" Lelouch shoutedin disbelief as the vaporeon rushed back to Red's side, degenerating back into an eevee.
Red grinned and shrugged. "Hey, the stones are only manual controls to the evolutions. That right there was pure instinct," he said, brushing his eevee's head. "Oh, and by the by?" The eevee morphed into a jolteon and began to flex its muscles, building up a static charge. "Thanks for getting your pokémon to stand in a pool of water for me. Vee, Pika! THUNDER!"
Lugia sensed its master's panic for it and tried to rise, but no matter how fast the bird of storms was, it was no match for the speed of the twin bolts of lightning that crashed down from the sky onto it. It screeched and convulsed in pain, unable to fly or escape the electricity thanks to the water pooling around it's feet.
"Lugia, focus! We've planned for this!" Lelouch barked. Lugia cast a pained look at its trainer and sighed, following his orders and using Calm Mind to push past the pain. With an ear-splitting screech, it managed to take to the air, hovering momentarily over the battlefield. Lelouch braced himself and gave the command. "NOW! EARTHQUAKE!"
Lugia slammed into the garden with such force Lelouch was shocked the building didn't crumble completely. As it was, the garden was completely destroyed, the shockwaves shattering earth and concrete alike. Red swore and his pikachu leapt back onto his shoulder, tripping but otherwise remaining relatively safe. His jolteon, however, was not so lucky, being smashed into the earth by the shockwave.
Red recalled it and clapped his hands. "Nice move! Let's see you do it again!" His pikachu darted forward and spilt into several identical pokémon as it used Double Team. Lelouch's sandslash, however, rose to confront it, covering for the sea guardian.
"Lugia, ignore his pokémon- attack Red directly! Psychic!" barked Lelouch.
The blast of pink energy obliterated the floor a foot away from Red. "Missed!" he laughed. "Man, that was unlucky."
"AGAIN!"
Red idly stepped to the side and blast missed again, destroying some more flooring. "You know, that girl did a serious number on this place. I should really move before the ground under my feet breaks." Red pointed out, stepping forward as the slates where he was standing collapsed once his foot left the ground.
'Is his Geass the ability not to get hit by other abilities?' Lelouch wondered, drawing his sword and charging.
Lelouch tripped on a piece of rubble and fell over, sword clattering uselessly to his side. "Fail!" Red laughed, towering over the masked terrorist.
He stopped when he felt the cold metal against his throat. "Don't." C.C. ordered Red, Lelouch's blade to the Grandmaster's jugular. "I need him alive."
"Chigusa." Ohgi told his girlfriend once they were alone. "What're you doing here on the battlefield?" he sighed, walking towards her. "I'll find a safe place for you, come with me for now-" he asked, reaching out for her, but she stepped away from him angrily.
"I'm sorry I've hidden it from you." He told her. "But, I'm doing this for peace! As long as Zero releases Japan from Britannia… we can be together!"
"Don't say something so disgusting." The woman snapped, twisting around and taking his pistol, trapping him in a perfect gearbox as she put the gun to his kidney.
"How could I make wondrous love to an Eleven like you…" she wondered aloud with hate. She laughed bitterly. "My name is Villetta Nu, Britannia's knight!"
Ohgi stepped out of the hold and turned around as she shot him once in the stomach, stepping back as he fell to his knees.
"I-I see…" Ohgi gasped. "Chigusa… your memories have returned..?"
He fell to the ground under her steely glare.
Hearing the gunshot, several Black Knight members rushed to check on Ohgi. When they found their base commander curled on the ground, many of the younger members began to panic.
Rivalz stepped out of the council room to see what the hell was going on, which was when Nunnally made her move.
"Now's our chance." The wheelchair-bound blind girl hissed. "You two go and save Suzaku."
Milly and Shirley gasped and looked at her, then set their gazes and nodded.
"Dammit, where is she!" Shigeno growled, walking with his nidoking.
"Down here in the basement is the perfect place to hide…" Kurosaki sighed, standing behind his machamp.
"Zero…" Nina whispered, staggering towards the two men in hate as a mass of tentacles followed her out of the gloom. "Where is Zero..? Princess Euphemia's will… must be carried out…"
Nunnally heard the footsteps in the empty student council room, and felt an unpleasant wave of familiarity fall over her. "Is that… no, you're not C.C.…"
"Correct." Cyrus told her. "Nunnally. I have come to fetch you."
Lelouch cleared a path for himself as he devastated the soldiers blocking his path with the mewtwo he'd taken from Red. Why it was being so obedient to him, Lelouch neither knew nor cared. All that mattered was this final step.
He made sure that Cornelia was the only one alive before removing his mask.
"I see…" she managed. "You are the true face of Zero… the hatred that you have for Britannia…" she gasped as Lelouch covered his right eye. "Dalton's theory was correct…"
Lelouch just towered over her. "Y-you're doing this for Nunnally?" she gasped, gripping her wound as blood seeped from her chest.
"Yes." Lelouch replied. "I wish to destroy the current world, and build a new one."
"You're killing because of that pitiful excuse?" she choked. "You killed Clovis… drove Euphie insane…"
"And you." Lelouch added. "You clearly long for my mother, Marianne the Flash."
She forced herself into a sitting position with a bitter laugh. "It's clear that it's useless to continue this conversation." She told him.
"You're right." He agreed, removing the hand covering his eye. "Then, answer these question from Lelouch Vi Britannia!"
"Sure." Cornelia replied obediently.
"Are you the one who killed my mother?"
"No."
"Then who did?" Lelouch asked.
"I don't know."
Lelouch gasped. "You were the one in charge of security at the time, right?" Lelouch asked.
"Yes."
"So why did you let the security leave!"
"I was ordered to."
"BY WHO!" Lelouch bellowed.
"By Empress Marianne"
"By Mother!" Lelouch gasped. "No way… then… that means… mother knew that there would be an attack on that day… no way… then she would have let us escape! WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY!" he screamed. "WHO! WHO KILLED MY MOTHER!"
Cornelia opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to answer.
"You don't know either..?" Lelouch snarled. "Then, who knows the truth!" he demanded. "You investigated the events of that day, right?"
"The orders came from the emperor." Cornelia told him obediently. "Schneizel removed the remains."
"Remains… of mother!" Lelouch snapped. "Then, that coffin…"
The wall was smashed open by a swing from a silver tail, and Lelouch saw his lugia, recovered from it's battle, beckon him. "HURRY!" C.C. shouted from atop the great beast. "GET ON!"
"I know." Lelouch grunted, walking towards her. "The other two knights are bound to figure—"
"No! That's not it!" C.C. shouted desperately. "Your sister's been kidnapped!"
Lelouch glared. "I don't have time for your jokes." He told her, beginning to replace his mask. "I will now use Cornelia as a hostage to—"
"I KNOW!" C.C. shouted. "Isn't that your reason for living! They're headed for Mirage Island RIGHT NOW!"
Lelouch clipped on the mask "Mirage Island?" he asked, realising that C.C. was being serious.
Then Lugia was smashed out the way by a huge orange and green orb of energy.
"OUL HEIL BRRRITTAAAINNNNYAAAAHHH!" screamed the man inside as the energy dissipated and he landed in the smashed corridor. "Hey, aren't you… Zero!" a mechanical Jeremiah with great spikes pointing out of his shoulders shouted. "I AM SO LUCKY! Foreordination! Frustration!"
"Aren't you Dunsparce?" Zero asked, jumping out of a window onto his lugia.
"Dun-pleeEEAASSSEEE!" he shouted, clapping his hands together before turning serious. "Can you die?"
'He's insane…' Lelouch realised as Lugia flapped away. "Let's deal with this quickly and leave." He told C.C.
Jeremiah swan-dived from the tower, curled into a spinning ball and created the orb again and flew into the lugia. "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" he shouted.
"GET LOST!" Lelouch shouted, returning the mewtwo into a great ball.
"ZEROOOOOOOOOO!"
Red sat atop a rock on the roof as the replica of the Aeris palace burned. Vee dozed beside him, having gone straight to sleep once Red had treated it with a Full Restore.
The capped teenager smiled. "This is gonna get all kinds of fun, right pika?" he asked.
"Chuu!" the yellow rodent replied happily as Red tossed him a pokéblock.
"He better look after that mewtwo though." He glared. "But if Auntie's still with him and he's trained lugia, then he must be somewhat competent, right?"
"Pika?" it asked, tilting its head as it nibbled the red cube.
Red sighed. "Yeah, I'll make sure to get him back tomorrow." He said, rubbing the pikachu on the head. "Trust me on this."
"How agile." C.C. commented as Jeremiah dodged another one of lugia's attacks while Lelouch called Ohgi. "Ohgi, it's me."
_\_ "Zero!" _\_ Minami shouted. _\_ "Thank goodness…" _\_
"What's with Ohgi?" Lelouch asked.
_\_ "He's been shot." _\_ Minami reported. _\_ "We're treating him now. We're doing our best, but he's yet to regain conciousness." _\_
"You'll have to do then." Zero told him. "Listen to me. Among the hostages in the student council room was a girl in a wheelchair. Where is she?"
_\_ "What?" _\_ Minami shouted. _\_ "Compared to that, Ohgi's—" _\_
"THAT GIRL IS MORE IMPORTANT!" Lelouch shouted. "She's Nunnally Vi Britannia, and we need her alive!"
Minami understood what he thought Zero meant. _\_ "Seriously! Shit… they've escaped…" _\_
"WHAT!"
_\_ "A-after Ohgi was shot, it just didn't seem as important anymore…" _\_
Lelouch gripped his forehead, but his mask was in the way. "I understand, it's my fault for not filling you in on the plan. Where's Rivalz?"
_\_ "He's looking for them, but no luck." _\_
"Right. Give Ohgi my best." He hung up and called Milly as C.C. steered lugia away from Jeremiah's next attack. A bolt of lighting arced for them, but lugia cartwheeled away gracefully, holding Lelouch and C.C. firmly on it's back with it's psychic power. At this point, Lelouch was so desperate for news he didn't even notice that he was upside-down. "Milly, where's Nunnally?"
_\_ "She's alone in the clubhouse. Sorry, but we really can't—" _\_ Lelouch didn't even bother to hear the rest as he hung up, and began calling Nunnally.
His pokénav cut into static. _\_ "ROOooTOOooM!" _\_
Lelouch snarled and hung up. "It seems Dunsparce here is starting to block the airwaves. What the hell is he?"
Lugia dodged another Shadow Ball, diving for the possessed soldier. "We don't have time to screw around here. We need to hurry up, get Nunnally back and FINISH THIS WAR!" Lelouch spat as lugia used Future Sight, trying to spot a moment in time where Jeremiah would be vulnerable. "How did you even know this had happened?" Lelouch demanded, glaring at the witch from beneath his mask.
"Lelouch." C.C. told him, dodging past Jeremiah again. "I am your accomplice. I am your friend."
"How can I even trust you?" Lelouch snarled. "You're just a bitch who's not even willing to explain her bullshit!"
"If you die, I'm screwed." C.C. pointed out as lugia unleashed an ancient-power on the screaming Jeremiah. "This is true."
"All this time, you're just talking about yourself." Lelouch groaned as Jeremiah hurtled past, a ghostly aura in his wake. "Squadron three, the target is headed for your location. Lock onto him and attack him together!"
As the crazed soldier passed over them, the squadron burst forward and unleashed a barrage of mixed elemental attacks from their pokémon.
Jeremiah's psycho ball of fun just dodged all of their attacks easily. "ZEEROOOOOOO!" he shouted, launching a spear of electric energy at him. "YOU GOLDEEEEEEEEEN!"
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR SHIT!" Zero shouted, his mount launching an ancient-power at him to intercept the lightning. "C.C.! Head for twelve-street!"
"You always give orders…" she sighed, pulling on the lugia's neck to steer him.
Jiro the jirachi tried to help. It consisted of him clapping his hands animatedly to calm everyone down. Needless to say, he failed comically.
"YOU WON'T CATCH ME!" Jeremiah shouted, dodging the lugia's Aeroblast. "NOT ME! JEREMIAH ROTOM DE GOTTSWALD!"
"Wrong, Dunsparce!" Zero shouted as the tower behind Jeremiah collapsed. "I've already got you." 'Break, you has-been.' He added internally as the concrete crushed the rotom-infused madman.
'No I can look for Nunnally…' Lelouch thought, seeing the battle take place back at Celadon Mansion. 'Damn, those two knights are holding the entire army back…'
"We'll take one of them down before we go after Nunnally." Lelouch decided. "GO!"
Milly and Shirley creeped behind the Black Knight soldiers guarding Suzaku, trying to figure out a plan to help him escape. Before they could do anything, howver, Rivalz emerged from the shadows and grabbed their wrists.
"Are you two crazy?" he hissed. "If I hadn't been the one to spot you, the other Knights might have shot you or something!" Several other Black Knight noticed the commotion and moved to back Rivalz up.
"Rivalz… please, we have to-" began Milly, but was interrupted by a voice from above.
_\_ "GOODMOOORNING SUUUZAKU!" _\_ Lloyd's voice boomed through the night sky.
The trapped soldier, the Black Knights and the re-captured Shirley and Milly looked up in the sky to see the S.S. Rayquaza hovering over the Ashford Academy, ready to kick some ass.
The green dragon carrying the floating fortress roared as the teams of soldiers leapt from its docks, taking out the rebel soldiers with surgeon-like efficiency.
"Get some cover!" Rivalz shouted at the girls, calling out his garchomp to defend them.
Rakshad recalled her beloved wobbuffet and retreated alongside the spooked Black Knights. "Suzaku!" Cecile shouted atop her gallade. "Go to Celadon mansion, Cornelia's calling for you. We'll take it from here."
He looked at her in shock, then nodded. "Thank you, Cecile." He nodded, turning to Lancelot.
He turned to let Suzaku climb on. Now that the human had calmed down, he deserved a favour.
"Thank you, Lancelot." Suzaku told his pokémon, holding on tight. "I owe you one."
The mewtwo turned to the boy with a look that said damn right you do kid, before taking off into the night sky.
"There sure are a lot of these bastards, aren't they?" Steven Stone asked his fellow knight.
Noland merely glanced at him, before getting back to work typing on his S-pad, remotely controlling thirty pokémon at once, something no-one else in the world was capable of doing with even one pokémon.
Of course, since Noland had his head in the game, he was able to dodge the powerful Aeroblast that Steven did not. He swore, looking up into the sky to see Zero, standing atop the legendary beast that just killed his fellow knight.
"I trust you can take care of the other one, Toudou?" Zero asked. "Silver is on his way to give his support, and I'll return as soon as I can."
_\_ "Alright, just do what you need to get done and get back here as soon as you can!" _\_ Toudou shouted, leading the way with his regigigas.
"Of course." Lelouch told him. "I need to cut off communications with you, but you have my confidence."
_\_ "Right." _\_ Toudou nodded, forcing the surviving Knight of the Round back into the mansion as Zero hung up.
Jeremiah floated through the fallen tower, then rematerialised and fell to the ground, brushing himself off absently before looking up and seeing lugia fly south.
"The battle, is going against us." Cornelia told Suzaku. "We're going to retreat to the Indigo Plateau..."
"Y-you can't be serious!" Suzaku shouted.
"Don't worry." Cornelia smirked. "My brother's army will arrive in the morning, and then we'll crush this insurrection once and for all."
She grabbed his shoulder. "Mirage Island." Cornelia gasped. "That's where Zero is going. And…" she shook her head. "No, I can't remember…"
"Geass…" Suzaku whispered.
"You're Euphie's Knight, right?" she asked him, tearing a badge from her robe. "I know you can't see her again, but please, clear her name. then…"
Cornelia pressed the badge onto Suzaku's uniform, next to Euphie's. "I'll accept you as my own knight." She gasped, making a sword out of a finger and tapping him on each shoulder. "It's a simple ceremony, but it'll have to do… but now, you are a true knight. None can tell you otherwise, not even his Majesty." She glared. "GO!" she ordered. "Kill Zero so he cannot lead his men against us tomorrow!"
"YES!" Suzaku nodded. "YOUR HIGHNESS!"
"FOR ZERO!" Silver shouted, pointing his spear high while riding his entei, leading the charge from Lavender town to support their fellow Black Knights. "Group four! Tend to the injured! Everyone else, FIGHT!"
"Hey, Kallen!" Inoue shouted, rushing in with her blissey. "Are you alright! Softboiled!"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" Kallen gasped as the blissey began closing her wounds and restoring the lost blood. "H-how's the battle..?"
"We're winning." Inoue stated as she sent out two chansey to heal the Gurren and ho-oh. "Zero's had to leave for a few hours to deal with some urgent business, which would screw us over if Silver and Toudou weren't here for us."
"I see…" Kallen sighed. "So, where's he going?"
"We don't know." Inoue said, glancing up. "But we're gonna need you to follow him and help him do his business and get back here?"
"What makes you think I can follow him?" Kallen asked, sitting up. "And why would he need my help!"
Inoue pointed upwards, where Kallen saw the Lancelot flying in a burst of green energy. "Go." Inoue said, stepping back and helping Kallen to her feet. "Help Zero."
Kallen nodded, returned her scizor and jumped onto ho-oh's back, flying after Suzaku.
With the Brittanian reinforces storming around them, Rivalz could only spare a glance to make sure Milly and Shirley made it to the evacuation mantine. Catching Milly's eyes for a moment, he gave a sad smile as a goodbye before returning to the raging fight around him.
It was one of the most brutal battles of the night. The troops of the S.S. Rayquaza were fighting tooth and nail to fight out the Black Knights, who were defending their possession of Cerulean City while all the students evacuated onto the aerial fortress.
It only stopped when all the pokémon fell to their knees and started cowering.
Even rayquaza roared and wriggled, trying to get out of its bonds.
"Easy, easy…" Lloyd comforted, calming the dragon down while glaring at the camera's showing the lack of action below. 'What the heck is going on down there?'
Then it burst from the floor.
A mass of red and green tentacles, oozing sheer malevolence and power. The mangled remains of a nidoking and machamp were strewn around the soldiers, coating them with a spray of gore.
"NOT GOOD!" Lloyd screamed, activating the speakers. "EVERYONE! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THAT THING NOW! BLACK KNIGHTS, YOU GUYS RUN TOO!"
'Something that made Lloyd serious?' Rakshad realised, almost pissing herself as she realised just how dangerous this monster could be to sober up the Earl of Pudding. "EVERYONE! GET THE HELL BACK!" she ordered.
No-one needed to be told twice. When the thing's face appeared, it was a blue mask of hate, scrutinizing every human and pokémon in the area, as if judging who among them was worthy to be killed quickly, and who to kill painfully. If from the ripples and shivers of the tentacles was any clue, it saw each and every last creature there suited only for death.
Lloyd took a deep, tense breath. "Nina… you actually created it?" he asked the bespectacled girl riding the eldritch abomination. "You managed to develop that DNA strain in that meteor…?"
"There's insufficient tests…" she admitted, stroking a green tentacle, which squirmed it's way up her arm, holding her tight. "I don't know how long deoxys can kill for before it dies… but…"
"KILL!" Milly shouted, not daring take a step in sheer fear. "What're you talking about, Nina!"
"If it is as her hypothesis predicted…" Lloyd gulped. "That thing can slaughter every single living thing in the city before it'd dry up."
"Nina…" Rivalz breathed, watching in revulsion as the grotesque mass' head began to nuzzle and nip at its creator, relishing the taste of her crumbling sanity. "What the hell did you…"
"Where is Zero?" Nina asked, a tentacle slithering up her thigh. "Tell me..! Princess Euphemia's revenge!" The abomination shivered and enveloped the girl into its mass of tentacles, basking in Nina's insane rage. "HER WILL! I WILL CARRY IT OUT!"
Deoxys burst into the air and shot its tentacles forward, launching a hundred psychic shockwaves and sharpened limbs at once at the S.S. Rayquaza. The dragon twisted to protect the mobile base and was blasted back a mile across the landscape. "TELL ME!" Nina screamed as deoxys landed on the school roof. "WHERE IS ZERO!"
Once they were in the sea, Lelouch removed his helmet and moved down lugia's back to think. 'If Nunnally is gone… then what will be the reason for all the fighting I've done until now?' he asked himself. 'Why did I fight this lonely war? I was even prepared to sacrifice Euphie…'
"We've found Mirage Island." C.C. told him.
"I'll take her back." Lelouch declared. "No matter who took her, I'll save Nunnally!"
Lugia burst from the water and shot across the island, landing respectfully at the mouth of the cave. "So, this is the place?" Lelouch asked C.C. "Does this island have anything to do with you?"
"I don't know anything about this place." C.C. replied honestly.
"So are you saying that there are other places like this?" Lelouch asked, before shaking his head. "Was the one who kidnapped Nunnally a Geass user?"
"I don't know." C.C. replied. "I'm serious." She added, seeing Lelouch's glare.
"I believe you." Lelouch told her. "At least I know our partnership in crime is continuing."
"Thank you." C.C. replied with a shrewd yet grateful look on her face.
She gasped and twisted around as lugia screamed, blue energy washing over them. "I see, this is a…" she started, before gasping again.
"What!" Lelouch shouted.
~ "A trap against invaders" ~ said C.C.'s voice inside Lelouch's mind as the images flashed past his inner eye. ~ "The ones who trigger it- Gah!" ~
They were dragged through a stream of memories, and Lelouch saw a vision of ancient tanks rolling across muddy fields. 'What is this?' he asked as a girl ran across his field of vision. 'A long time ago- C.C.! No…' he gasped as C.C. jumped into a trench. 'But…'
"Ver sint sie!" a German soldier shouted. C.C. raised her hands submissively, but it was ignored as the soldier fired his rifle, the bullet plunging into C.C.'s brain.
He heard her scream in the back of his mind as he saw memories of her past lives, of her house being stoned, of the persecution she suffered,
How she was burnt at the stake…
'Stop it…'Lelouch begged, feeling the phantom pain of his partner as he saw C.C. die a thousand deaths.
Pierced by soldier's spears…
Devoured by a feral victreebel…
Beheaded by the guillotine…
Crushed and skewered by an iron maiden…
Torn apart by ursaring…
More horrors and torment than anyone could experience in a lifetime, but the most painful image was in the quiet church where C.C. lay, naked and sobbing, though he didn't know why.
He couldn't take any more. He couldn't watch one more moment of his witch in pain. "STOP IIIITT!"
Suddenly, there was release, and Lelouch found himself stripped down to his very soul in an empty world of white with her. "C.C. … these are your…"
"All that's left are memories of a witch." She explained sadly. "I didn't even know that I wasn't a human. The people who loved me, the people who hated me, they all disappeared with the passage of time. In the endless and forever time… I… Alone…"
"You are not alone." Lelouch told her, his Geass flaring a bright red, the only colour in this world of black and white. She gasped in surprise, staring into his eyes. "You and I are partners." He reminded her, insisted to her, the memories of their time together flashing around them, filling the empty world with life. "If you are a witch, then I shall become your warlock."
C.C. laughed bitterly. "You always know what to say." She told him happily as the world faded out.
"C.C., are you okay?" Lelouch asked her once they returned to reality, both underneath lugia's stomach.
"Who the hell do you think I am?" she muttered.
Lugia's back took the blast of energy from above and Lelouch reached for his helmet and ran out from under Lugia. "ZEEROOO!" Jeremiah shouted. "The time to regret is NAAOOO!"
"YOU ANNOYING IDIOT!" Zero shouted, not bothering to hide his face.
"Oh, so that's what you look like!" Jeremiah laughed, firing a flash-cannon at them.
C.C. pushed Lelouch to the ground, pushing them both out of the way but burning her back in the process. "LUGIA!" Lelouch shouted from under the witch. "AEROBLAST THE OCEAN!"
The beast complied, and a huge blast of mist created a perfect cover. "Go save Nunnally." C.C. told him, the wound on her back already healing. "I'll hold him off… no… I have a pretty bad feeling…"
"Hm?"
"You must win Lelouch." C.C. told him, getting up from him. "Conquer your past."
Lelouch reached up and kissed her, which she deepened without a moment's hesitation. "Don't die." He told her, breaking the kiss.
She smiled. "Who the hell do you think I am?" she asked playfully as Jeremiah burst from the ocean.
"DON'T TAKE ME LIGHTLY!" the madman shouted as C.C. sprinted onto the glowing lugia's back and launched into a Sky Attack, forcing the crazed noble into ocean. Lugia snatched the rotom-infused Jeremiah and dove deep beneath the waves, C.C. not even sparing a glance back at Lelouch. She didn't need to.
Lelouch smiled and ran placed the mask of Zero atop his face and ran into the chamber.
'The trap at the entrance was only to buy some time.' Lelouch thought. 'Was I the target? Or was it C.C.…?'
He stepped towards the dotted door. 'Whatever it is, I need to confirm that Nunnally is safe—'
A fresh hole appeared in the door, and Lelouch heard footsteps behind him.
"Turn around." Suzaku ordered. "Slowly."
'Oh for crying out loud, now!' Lelouch thought angrily.
"Didn't you hear me?" Suzaku asked, pointing his gun at Zero. "I'm telling you to turn around, slowly."
"Euphemia happily massacred defenceless Japanese!" Zero declared, turning around. "Yet, for that woman, you—"
"Geass sure is a convenient power." Suzaku stated, walking forward with his gun. "You hide in the dark, and give the responsibility to others. Arrogant and sly, that is who you truly are. Kallen!"
Lelouch flinched as he heard the girl gasp in fright. He glanced in the direction of the sound but couldn't make out where she was in the gloom. "Do you not want to know Zero's true identity?" Suzaku asked.
"She already knows." Zero told him. "As would you if you joined with me when I invited you."
Suzaku snarled. "What did you just say?"
"I said that there is no reason for there to be secrets among friends." Zero announced, reaching up and removing his mask. "Suzaku."
Suzaku stared in shock as Lelouch discarded the useless mask, then took a deep breath and tossed his gun aside. "I cannot believe this." He stated.
"What, that I'm Zero?" Lelouch asked. "Leader of the Order of the Black Knights? The one who always told you that one day I would declare war on the Holy Britannian Empire? The man about to conquer the world? How did you not figure this out already?"
"You're right; I should have arrested you earlier." Suzaku sighed.
"Oh, so you did work it out?" Lelouch asked.
"I didn't want to believe it at first." Suzaku replied. "So I kept myself in denial, because I wanted to believe in you. But… you kept lying, to me and Euphie." He glared. "Even to Nunnally you lied."
"Yes. I lied to protect her." Lelouch told him. " But now, Nunnally has been captured. Suzaku, can we fight later? For Nunnally, can we fight later? Together, there is nothing we can't do."
"Don't be so naïve." Suzaku told him, drawing a sword. "Before all this happened, you should have joined with Euphie!" he shouted, and the sword burst into blue flames. "If you had worked together with Euphie, then the world…"
"Now who's the naïve one? That's in the past." Lelouch snarled. "I cannot change what has happened! IT'S OVER! Didn't you kill your father too? Suzaku, you can regret it all you want later, but right now…"
"NO!" Suzaku shouted, getting ready to run Lelouch through with his burning blade. "You betrayed the world at the very very last minute… WELL NOW THE WORLD'S BETRAYING YOU!" he shouted. "YOUR WISH WILL NEVER COME TRUE!"
"IDIOT!" Lelouch shouted, unleashing Red's mewtwo from its great ball. "The world will not spin if you rely on glorious thinking!"
Suzaku threw a master ball into the air and Lancelot charged from it, the two pokémon colliding in the air.
"Suzaku, I want to make a deal." Lelouch stated as the two pokémon's energies sparked across the room. "The person who told you about the Geass has taken Nunnally and is hiding her behind this door." He explained.
"These things of the future are of no concern of yours!" Suzaku shouted, his Geass forbidding him from crossing the event horizon of chaos energy that was between him and Lelouch. "THE FACT THAT YOU EXIST IS AN ERROR! YOU! ARE NOT! FIT! TO EXIST! IN THIS! WORLD!"
Lelouch drew his sword and charged. "SUZAKU!" he screamed.
"LELOUCH!" Suzaku shouted, ignoring his Geass and rushing into hell itself to kill his closest friend.
Humans… exist to chase after happiness.
A man of Britannia, what Lelouch was looking for, is just a bit of that happiness.
It's not something special.
The root of his actions, as a person, are those very, very tiny wishes that are obvious to anyone.
These dreams, these words, who can renounce them?
Who has that right?
But, however, no matter who it is, no matter what the wish is, one cannot bind others and the world to himself.
One can only determine one's own fate.
If one allows the thoughts of others to go beyond that of the world, his existence is merely one which is drifting by the waves.
Crimes and Punishment.
Fate and Judgement.
The thing blocking Lelouch is the past which he created.
It is the hatred between people.
Even then, he should be grateful now.
Yes… at least… it is a fact that humans exist to pursue happiness.
All those tiny wishes. Concealing those tiny yearnings.
They are born from despair.
"I'm not the one at fault… THE WORLD IS!"
Yeah. I'll probably do R2 at some point. That point may even be tomorrow morning, on schedule as usual. You know, if I blow enough minds.
Varanus: Wow, what a rush. So hands up, who expected the electrode bomb? Or that Jeremiah's cyborg body is possessed by a rotom, even if it was practically spelled out yesterday? Or, hell, Deoxys? Remember, at Suzaku's knighthood party back in chapter 16? And Nina was on the computer? Who saw this coming?
I think we're both pretty proud of Deoxys.
From what I've written for R2 so far, I'm willing to go all out and declare Deoxys my finest achievement in writing yet. Then again, with all the awesome that happened in this chapter, I'm worried you guys will forget about the Saffron Bomb. You know, the epic trap that put the magikarp bomb to shame?
Well, phew, that was a biggie. Hope you enjoyed it, as always, review, see you in R2.
Just a warning, though, Deoxys in this story lives for one thing and one thing only. To scare the living daylights out of you. In R2, I take that job very, very seriously.