Hm… I haven't made people hate me lately. At least, not since Monday. Let's re-open some wounds.

WITH A DOUBLE CHAPTER!

BUT FIRST! Reviews!

Deviate Fish, I'm not sure how Arceus will come into play just ye- no, no wait I do. IT'S AWESOME!

Karasu, Mere... foot soldier?
Well, the thing with Deoxys is that it's still under development. Oh, we now exactly what we want from it, and further into the buffer, we've damned well achieved it.
The Deoxys in this one are incredibly powerful, almost as strong as the actual Deoxys- for ten minutes, tops. Then the cancer starts to take its toll, and they are as easy to kill as zombies with leprosy. Of course, Rivalz is special.
Be pleased to know that we aren't skipping Nina, either. In fact, we're developing her character almost as much as we did Rivalz. And it's Goooooood. The only character we probably won't spend much time developing is Milly. Not that I don't like her, she's a huge barrel of laughs. She's just not relevant to this plot.

As for the Fleija, you will never see it coming.

-}+{-

"Princess Euphemia, you have a guest."

The princess turned in her garden to see a familiar masked man. "Oh, White Reaper!" she greeted. "It's good to see you again!"

"And you too, Euphemia." The masked knight replied. "How are you this fine day?"

"It's always fine in here." Euphie sighed. "This artificial sunlight never rains… I wish I could be outside…"

"You know that it's dangerous for you, Princess." The knight lied. "And I'm afraid that we won't be able to see each other for some time now."

"Oh?" she asked. "Are you going on another mission?"

"Yes, your highness." The knight nodded. "To Area Eleven."

"Eleven?" she asked. "Are there still any Japanese left to kill?"

The knight scowled behind his mask. "No milady." He lied. "They are all destroyed."

She looked down in sadness. "Suzaku…" she sighed. "I miss him so…"

'I miss you too, Euphie.' The knight thought to himself. 'But… what Lelouch did to you…'

"I must be off, milady." The masked Suzaku told his princess. "Good day."

"Farewell, my good knight." Euphie sighed, managing to remain calm as he left, before bursting into tears the moment the door to the garden shut.

Suzaku allowed himself a quiet sob once he was in the corridor. "Lelouch…" he snarled, fist clenching his removed mask.

"Quite a commotion you've caused." Red smirked, clicking his fingers as the four rebel leader's were teleported into the Lamperouge household. "Brother."

"Wait, you had a brother?" Rivalz asked as Lelouch stepped forward and rammed a fist into Ashford's face. The blow smacked against his jaw and forced him to take a staggering step back.

"Yeah, I reckon I deserve that." The younger boy admitted, tugging of his hat. "I mean, even after talking with the Chinese Embassy to raise the flag I designed and letting you in on the plan, AND creating a situation where you could not only move freely with minimal surveillance, but I even managed to keep Nunnally safe AND get you your allies and memories back, I think that punch was justified. Oh, wait. No I don't."

"Guh!" Lelouch coughed, taking a sucker punch to the gut.

"Douche." Ash grunted. "Now take that mask off and get to business. Beardo, there's stuff in the fridge, bring some. Playgirl, portable healing pad in the broom closet." He clapped his hands. "Go."

They both ran to their tasks and Lelouch got to his feet. "Bastard…" he grunted, taking his mask off. "You used Geass on them, didn't you?"

"My Geass doesn't work like that." His brother replied, before turning to C.C. "You explained the Geass to those two, auntie?"

"Lelouch's, but not yours." C.C. told him, sighing and slopping onto the couch. "You can do that yourself, since not even I completely understand the nature of it."

"Alright then." Ashford said, charging up his Geass. "My Geass is the Geass of Perpetual Defiance." He told his brother in hushed tones. "It makes the universe around me submit to my innate desire to succeed, manipulating people's unconscious thoughts and actions to accommodate my whims. I can focus it on any target within one kilometre. I can't make anyone go against their nature, like your Geass can, but I can make them slip up, make mistakes. When I lost control of it, anyone I battled made stupid mistakes against me and won every single battle easily and no-one could stop me. My title as grandmaster is meaningless."

"So what is it that you want?" Lelouch asked him.

"You work better under pressure." Ash told him. "My Geass, if used against you, will make your life hell but you unstoppable. The battle we had on Aeris Palace proves it, remember? We fought to a draw- in the end, you only tripped because of my Geass. And now that you know about its power, well, I might finally lose. But crushing pops and getting Nunnally back comes first. As for now, keep my Geass hush from the others, since mine is more worrying than yours, due to its lack of limit."

"Yet, there's a lot more that my Geass can achieve." Lelouch sighed as Ash deactivated his Geass' in time for Rivalz and Kallen to come back in.

"So, basically, you don't want us to know that your eyeballs are the world's greatest good luck charm." Rivalz nodded, biting into a cookie. "Gotcha."

Ash facepalmed. "See what I mean!" he shouted. "I can't control how it works on people! It makes things go right for me in the long-run, but my Geass knows what's good for me better than I do!"

"No biggie." Kallen shrugged, before freezing up. "Wait, is your Geass just making us accept this so easily?"

"That's why I hate the world right now." Ashford sighed. "I don't know where it stops and where free-will begins."

"Let me ask you one thing before we begin then." Lelouch hunched over. "I never intended to Geass Euphie to commit genocide." That got a few raised eyebrows from Kallen and Rivalz. "My Geass just happened to become permanently active as I said-" Lelouch covered his eye just in case. "For example, I could make you kill all the Japanese." He removed his hand. "Was that a freak accident or your doing?"

"I just wanted something to go wrong." Ash replied, his cheery tone fading to one of remorse. "I never, ever wanted anything like… that to happen."

"I believe you." Lelouch nodded, before standing up and punching his little brother in the face.

"I admit that I deserve that one." Ash conceded, standing up and righting his chair. "Alright, explanation time. I got my Geass when I was eight, got dad to wipe my memories and put me in a foster home so I could work my way to the top, on condition that when I reached the Knight of Rounds, he put them back. Four years later, I'm Knight of One, I realise that my quick rise to glory was my Geass, not me, and that my mother had been dead for three and a half years and my brother and sister have been announced to be dead."

"Then, about a year ago, Zero shows up, catches my eye. I do some poking around, a little investigation work, figuring out who was behind the mask with the help of my Geass and realise just how thoroughly I got played. So, I pretty much want what you want Lellow." Ash finished. "Kill dad, destroy Britannia, get Nunnally back."

"Where is she right now?" Lelouch asked.

"Pendragon." His brother replied without hesitation. "Being used as a political hostage to restrict your movements until they either capture Auntie or can prove that your memories have returned and that you're Zero."

"I thought so…" Lelouch grunted, turning away. "How long have you been planning this revival?"

"Since I saw Kallen in Trainer Tower." Ash shrugged. "Like I said, I just kinda go with it."

"Finally, why were you unaffected by my Geass back at the festival?"

"Geass of Defiance, remember?" Ash grinned. "Like I'm ever going to be somebody's slave. I mean, if you ordered me to feed a girl a banana, Id've jumped up and said yes please." Lelouch pretended he didn't see Ash's eyes dart to Kallen.

The high-five he gave Rivalz was harder to ignore.

"Your brother's an ass…" Kallen scowled, crossing her arms protectively in front of her.

Lelouch sighed. "Alright then." He said, standing up. "I'm going to bed."

"Wait, how can you just sleep at a time like this!" Kallen shouted, standing up to confront him.

"Kallen, early this afternoon my biggest worry was how I was going to catch hell from my P.E. teacher for skiving my catch-up lessons again. Now, I'm the head of a ruined rebel organisation that's opposing the world's largest superpower. Don't expect me to have a grand plan this quickly."

Rivalz sensed an argument brewing and stepped in to intervene. "Hey, just chill everyone—"

"It'll take me at least until breakfast." Lelouch told everyone with a smirk, before heading for the stairs. "Ash had the bright idea into moving into a house a few months ago, so feel free to take one of the spare rooms."

C.C. smiled to herself, giving her jirachi a little squeeze.

There was a knock on Lelouch's door about twenty minutes later. "Yeah..?" he asked blearily, opening the door.

It was C.C. "Come with me." She ordered, dragging him along the corridor and into another bedroom. The shower was running in the en-suite, so Lelouch was forced to assume that C.C. and Kallen were sharing.

Or at least, that better be the case.

"Here." C.C. told him, handing him a small, spherical case. "This is a contact lens that will block your Geass that's unstoppable for the time being.

"If all it took was to block optical information, then a normal coloured contact lens should work." Lelouch pointed out, opening the case and looking at the purple lens on its cushion.

"Enough with your snooping." C.C. told him as Lelouch tipped it onto his finger and placed it carefully into his eyes. "As you conjecture, that's a special one. However, if your Geass becomes stronger than it is now…"

"I'll try to end this game before that happens." He replied, blinking the lens into place.

Kallen sighed, staring absently at nothing in particular as she stood in the shower, relishing the feeling of the hot water as it poured down her body. Hell, how long had it been since she was able to take a leisurely shower like this? It was almost alien to imagine how quickly things had changed…

Her thoughts drifted to back at the hotel, when she had confronted Leouch, and it began to finally sink in for her. Those days of barely surviving alongside Rivalz and the other remaining Black Knights were nearly over. They had finally succeeded in their desperate goal- why else would she be here, letting steaming water ease the aches in her shoulders when not a few hours before she was prepared to die in one last stand.

She turned off the hot water and allowed herself a smirk as she stepped out of the shower, lifting the towel in the basket to see the clothes Lelouch had left out for her.'He's really back…' she thought to herself with a smile, idly toweling herself off. Picking the clothes up to check their size, she saw the pink buneary costume underneath.

Then the thought clicked.

"C.C.!" Kallen shouted, storming into the bedroom with a towel around her torso. "Wouldn't all of this have been quicker if you had been the buneary girl… eh?"

Lelouch and C.C. were looking at her, one with surprise and another with a smirk. "Kallen, are you trying to seduce one of us like that?" C.C. asked with a smirk, causing her to run back into the bathroom with a shriek.

"That was cruel." Lelouch pointed out, rubbing his eye. "And this contact lens will take some getting used to."

"It's better than the alternative, is it not?" C.C. asked.

The next morning, as breakfast was being prepared, they turned the TV on to keep an eye out for news about Zero's return. Hopefully Brittania would have prepared a counter-statement by now, which would let Lelouch know where they stood.

Turns out they had one hell of a counter-statement.

_\_ "Can you hear me? Zero!" _\_

Lelouch turned turned up the volume with a piece of toast in his mouth. _\_ "I am Princess Cornelia Li Britannia's knight, Gilbert G.P. Guilford!" _\_

"Hey, that's Ohgi!" Kallen pointed out, turning up the volume as the camera panned over the prisoners they had on display.

_\_ "Beginning fifteen hundred hours tomorrow, we will begin the execution of these two hundred and fifty six S-class war criminals that have committed treason!" _\_

"Bastard…" Rivalz grunted, crushing the egg he was holding and frying it instantly.

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Guilford continued. _\_ "If you value the lives of your subordinates, then come out and fight me!" _\_

Lelouch smirked. "Good move, Guilford. Good move…"

"Seems kinda stupid really." Ash yawned. "I mean, we could just go in there with ho-oh, mewtwo and lugia, storm the place, and our ranks move up to two hundred and sixty one. More if you count Diethard's men in China."

"My problem isn't with the Britannian government." Lelouch said. "It's with the men who are observing me well enough to know what I discussed with my older brother over breakfast despite the lack of security cameras."

"Aaand you didn't consider that they might be watching us now?" Rivalz asked, eyes darting to the ceiling to check for cameras.

"Nah, I took care of them, at least the house party." Ash told them. "I keep insisting that I like my privacy, bring enough women over, they get the hint for a while until the next one."

"So who's left?" Lelouch asked, already used to his brother's antics. He shook his head apologetically to Kallen, who was glaring daggers at his brother.

"The school team and their back-ups around the city." Red answered. "I know that Villetta and Rolo are in on it, but other than that…"

"I expected Villetta, but Rolo's one who I didn't consider." Lelouch admitted. "He's your friend, right?"

"Got a Geass that makes people around him stop dead for a few seconds while he stabs them." Ash shuddered. "I was outside of range at the time, but he's not one you want suspicious of you."

"So, your problem is whether you go and save everyone, potentially ruining your double life as a good Britannian student, possibly putting your sister in danger, Or let them die, crush everyone's faith in Zero, and our situation doesn't change." Kallen asked. "You really shouldn't have to put that much thought into it."

"You forgot the third option." Ash reminded her. "Save everyone, restore the Black Knights, bring Zero back into the limelight, AND keep our observers under the impression that he hasn't regained his memories and has nothing to do with any of this."

"The easiest way is for me to go on a date with Shirley while either Ash or C.C. dress up as Zero and intervene." Lelouch pointed out. "But that's not what I want to achieve. Where is C.C. anyway?"

"Still in bed, asleep." Kallen sighed. "So, what're you going to do?"

DINGDONG

Ash opened up the security camera. "It's Rolo." He said. "By the looks of things, they're gonna tail you like hell until this is over."

Lelouch thought for a second then turned to his brother. "Take off your shirt." He told him, filling a large glass with water.

"Hi!" Ash shouted after running to the door, topless and wet. "Sorry, I was… in the shower."

"In your trousers?" Rolo asked.

"Eeeeyep." He nodded suspiciously. "Best way to do it."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "You've got a girl over, don't you?"

Ash stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "Two actually, and it's hard work making sure they don't find out about each other as it is. What do you want?"

Rolo glared. "How can you have women over at a time like this!"

"Easily." Red told his 'partner'. "Because the target hasn't regained his memories."

"You were separate for a time during the Trainer Tower incident." Rolo noted. "And Zero was wearing our school uniform minus blazer."

"Could easily have been an office worker minus the tie." Red countered. "Trust me, the bacon he fried this morning was crap."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anything?"

The Knight of One sighed. "Lelouch learnt to cook while taking care of his sister." He explained. "Just like everything else, his pride would only allow him to be good at it back then, and from what I understand of how he was before Zero, he was. Now that his memories were altered, his cooking sucks. If he had remembered, then I wouldn't be eating this." He explained, showing a blackened piece of bacon that Rivalz had quickly incinerated for the occasion.

Rolo sighed. "Fine, we'll give you an hour to get your lady friends out, but then we're going to be observing the target."

"Right then, cheers." Ash told him, stepping back inside the house. "Did you have to throw water over my face?"

"Hide the lack of sweat or odour." Lelouch explained. "We still have the escape tunnel?"

"Won't they have that under observation?" Kallen asked.

"Nah, it's not actually a tunnel, there's a teleport tile inside." Red explained. "Had to train an abra and a porygon-z for weeks to get it right, but now it'll take whoever steps on it to a random empty alley in the city."

"Nifty." Rivalz nodded. "What's the plan?"

Lelouch told them.

They liked it.

Shirley woke up to the sound of her pokétch buzzing. "Buh, wha-?" she asked, before reaching out her hand and grabbing it. "H-hello?"

_\_ "Hey, Shirley!" _\_

"EH!" she shouted, sitting bolt upright and wide awake. "Lulu!"

_\_ "Sorry for calling you so early, but I'm getting dragged out by Ash and Rolo, and I was wondering if you'd come with me?" _\_ Lelouch asked her. _\_ "I'm hoping we can ditch them half way through and hang out together?" _\_

"Eh!" she shouted. "Y-you mean like a date!"

_\_ "Hm? Well, yes, I suppose it would be." _\_ Lelouch replied. _\_ "I understand if you don't want to come, I just-" _\_

"N-NO!" Shirley shouted, faster than she would have liked. "No, it's fine, um, where shall I meet you?"

_\_ "Celadon department store in an hour?" _\_ Lelouch asked hopefully. _\_ "And if you can make it look like you were just passing by, I don't think they'll suspect a thing." _\_

"G-got it!" Shirley shouted. "L-later then!" she hung up, dropped the pokétch onto her bed and shoved her face into her pillow to shout giddily scream quietly.

Villetta smirked. "Does he really think that his home line isn't bugged?" she asked, relaying the message to Rolo. 'Although, if he has awakened, why use a girl he's already put under the Geass? Or even use the phone line at all?'

'His lack of suspicious behaviour is suspicious in itself, although his escapade with that girl could just be his tomfoolery for the day.'

Villetta scowled as her hand brushed the scar that damned girl gave her almost a year ago. "All units get into positions." She ordered.

"H-hey, Lulu!"

The three boys turned to see Shirley running for them. "Fancy seeing you here?" she asked.

'She's an awful liar.' The three thought in unison.

"Hey, long time no see."

Shirley dropped the bag she was carrying as she recognised the face owning the hand that just grabbed the back Lelouch's head. "R-Rivalz…"

"NOBODY MOVE!" Rivalz shouted, charging up his wrist. "Anything happens to me and handsome devil's brain turns to mush!" Lelouch had to force himself to pretend to be shocked rather than burst out laughing.

'Handsome devil?'

"I-is that…" one passer-by asked.

"R-Rivalz Bluebeard..?"

'Really?' Lelouch asked himself. 'Rivalz Bluebeard? Well, I suppose when you're a criminal almost as wanted as Zero himself, you can call yourself whatever you want. And Rivalz always did have a thing for pirates.'

"It's good to see you, my old friend." Lelouch smiled. "So why am I the hostage?"

Rivalz leaned into Lelouch's ear. "We've come for you my liege." He hissed.

"Liege?" Lelouch asked, just loud enough for Rolo to hear.

"Hold it." Ash declared as Black Knights spilled into the floor with guns and pokémon. "Can I trust that you won't harm anyone else if you take him?"

"Red!" Rolo asked.

"HEY!" Lelouch shouted. "You're just gonna let him kidnap me?"

"We gotta look at the bigger picture here." Ash sighed. "Don't worry, I'll come for you."

Lelouch groaned, eyes darting around as if thinking for a way to escape. "I'm supposed to tell you that when you're kidnapped." He sighed.

The wall was broken open by Kallen on her ho-oh. "GET HIM ON HERE!" she shouted as Rivalz began dragging his boss.

"LONG LIVE ZERO!" Rivalz shouted as the six other men ran for the wall, jumping out onto their flying types as Lelouch was forced onto ho-oh. "LONG LIVE THE BLACK-!"

"HYDRO CANNON!"

Everyone turned to see a huge blast of water smash into the phoenix, and a pikachu ride the current and strike the finishing blow with a thunderbolt aimed at ho-oh's flank.

Rivalz, Kallen and Lelouch began falling down the tower, and Lelouch summoned his crobat to fly out of there while the remaining Black Knights rushed to save their leaders.

"FORGET US!" Kallen shouted. "GET ZERO!"

Lelouch smirked at her acting as he called his brother, his crobat carrying him into the distance. "Ash, I'm fine, but I need you guys to give me supporting fire and arrest these criminals while I escape."

_\_ "Gotcha. Meet back at the school later." _\_

"Right." Lelouch nodded, hanging up with glee.

"Guess the Black Knights must have been pretty desperate after their plot yesterday failed," said Red amicably as he and Rolo walked into the command centre built under the school.

"But we're still no closer to finding C.C…." Rolo scowled. His attention was then drawn to the TV screen, which was playing a recording of the Government's latest declaration.

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Guilford shouted as eight more people were forced into the line of criminals to be executed, including Kallen and Rivalz. _\_ "We have all of your subordinates! You have twenty-four hours left to show yourself or they all die!" _\_

"Quite impressive, isn't it?" Lelouch asked Ashford and Rolo, pausing the TV as he span in his high-backed chair, stroking his sandslash. "We meet again, Rolo."

"What're—" Rolo snapped before noticing that Red had a blade to the back of Rolo's neck. "Where is everyone?"

"Apparently, the hunt for C.C. is their highest priority." Lelouch stated. "I just asked the man who tailed me back to the school to tell everyone and tell me how to get in. Of course, Geass helped matters immensely."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "So you have awoken." he stated matter-of-factly. "And Red has joined forces with you."

"Not that you're going to tell anyone." Lelouch smirked, removing the contact lens blocking his Geass. "Now, tell me-"

Suddenly, Rolo was the one holding a knife to Ash's neck. "Give yourself in or he dies." Rolo demanded.

Lelouch smirked, then laughed. "Do you honestly think I care about him!" he shouted.

"No." Rolo replied, pressing the knife harder to Red's unresisting neck. "Brotherly bonds mean nothing to me. My orders were that if Lelouch Lamperouge were to regain his memories, and becomes Zero, I am to kill him. If Ashford were to ally himself with Zero, then kill him for High Treason first."

"Seventeen." Lelouch smirked. "Eighteen. Nineteen."

"What're you doing?" Rolo asked.

"He's counting you daft idiot." Red smirked. "For the record, he's two seconds behind me, and twelve seconds behind that clock over there."

Lelouch stood up and hit a button on the control panel. _\_ "Now," _\_ the recording of Lelouch told Rolo as sandslash hopped to the ground. _\_ "Tell me-" _\_

The recording stopped, and Rolo calmly took the blade and stepped around Red, who barely managed to move his eyes.

Lelouch stopped the tape. "I just wanted to test the limits to your power. Your Geass doesn't stop time. It merely stops human's perceptions of time."

"Even if you know that, you cannot win against me." Rolo stated.

Red burst out laughing. "You are an absolute IDIOT, AREN'T YOU!" he shouted.

Rolo glared as he Red fizzled out and was replaced by his abra, who had switched places with his master using teleport. "Geass doesn't affect pokémon, does it?" Lelouch asked.

Rolo snarled, then appeared being held to the wall by a sandslash, who had leapt from the floor.

"See, you're what we trainers like to call 'Game Breaking'." Red taunted. "You've got one thing that's powerful, just one thing, and you never even consider using anything different, because you win every time you use this strategy, because it's unbeatable. You don't care about the fact that it ruins the fun, or the possibility that someone could figure a way around that, or that the only pokémon you have are the gardevoir and gallade given to you in order to give you a reason to hang out with me." He chuckled. "You never got to know them. You never earned their trust. Why should you? You're not interested in pokémon, they're just tools to be used, like you're a tool to be used by Britannia."

"You lose, Rolo." Lelouch sneered as Rolo kept stopping and unstopping time, trying to get away from the ground pokémon's grip. "Because you never thought of anyone else as anything other than a thing, you lose."

Red pointed a gun to Rolo's head and took his pokéballs. "Stop this, bitch." He jeered, as his finger was stopped four times before the trigger activated the hammer of the gun.

But Geass doesn't work on moving bullets.

BLAM

It does, however, work on the hand holding the gun and the target's face.

Red's arm jerked to the left while Rolo unconsciously jerked to the right. The bullet grazed Rolo's check as he flinched, cutting it neatly.

And Red's Geass was blazing.

'I see…' Lelouch realised. "Let him down, sandslash." Lelouch ordered, replacing his contact lens.

Rolo looked in confusion as he hit the ground. "Friends don't kill each other." Ash smirked. "So I'll give you a choice: are you our friend or our enemy?"

Rolo stood up, brushed himself down, and activated his Geass. The two other boys were frozen, and Rolo picked up the phone and hit a speed dial number. "Villetta, Le-"

He dropped the phone in pain and his Geass died as he looked behind him to see sandslash stabbing him in the kidney with its sharp claws. The wound quickly became dark and sickly, and the pokémon jerked its paw out of his back with a savage motion, tearing it even wider.

"I see." Red sighed sadly as Rolo clutched his wound as it poured blood, wincing in pain and trying to activate his Geass. "Sandslash's poison jab may not be enough to kill a person outright, but it can certainly screw your heartbeat enough to stop you from using your Geass." He lifted the gun to Rolo's face again. "Goodbye, Rolo."

BLAM

The metal slug sunk into Rolo's face and he dropped to the ground. Giving the body one last pitying look, Red picked up the phone. "Villetta?" he asked.

_\_ "Lord Red!" _\_ Villetta replied. _\_ "What's happened?" _\_

"Rolo turned rogue." He explained. "Dragged Lelouch down to the command room and tried to kill him."

_\_ "WHAT!" _\_

"He apparently convinced himself that my brother was Zero, and had Lelouch's pokémon not stalled Rolo long enough for me to put a bullet in his skull, two people would be dead right now."

_\_ "I… I see…" _\_ Villetta sighed. There was no love lost over the boy. _\_ "What of Lelouch?" _\_

Red pulled the phone away from his ear. "You alright? Brother?" he asked.

"This is a security room, right?" Lelouch asked.

Red smirked. "He's fine, though now that we've found the security room some inevitable pranks are in store… hey, Lellow…"

"I highly doubt that there are any camera's of the girl's shower areas or changing rooms." Lelouch sighed as he purged the system of the video data for the past hour.

Ash laughed. "But yeah. If you can send someone later to move the body, that'd be great." He told Villetta. "Also, we apologize, but the hard drive got broken in the cross-fire."

_\_ "That's a whole day of data lost!" _\_ Villetta groaned. _\_ "Well, at least the bait's alive and all the previous data is backed up." _\_

"Gotta go, later!" Ash told her, hanging up and shooting the computer tower. After a second of thought, he pulled open the tower fully and located the hard-drive proper, shattering it with another carefully aimed bullet. "Alright, there's the alibi sorted, no what?"

"I've got a costume to create and some pokémon to aquire," Lelouch told his brother. "I need you to help get more and train a specific pokémon for my duel tomorrow."

"Sounds fun." Red shrugged. "What've you got in mind?"

"Kallen."

The red-head woke up and turned to the man tied to the pillar next to her. "Ohgi…"

"Why did you let yourself get captured like that?" he asked.

Kallen looked around to check the security, seeing that it was minimal, and turned back to her former leader. "Because Zero's coming tomorrow."

Ohgi sighed. "He abandoned us last year." He told her. "There's no way that he's going to save us tomorrow-"

"He will." Kallen cut him off. "He's been imprisoned for the past nine months, but we've freed him."

Ohgi's eyebrow raised. "Surely they would've killed him right away?"

Kallen shook her head. "Imprisoned in the mind." She corrected. "They used some kind of mind-controlling thing to screw with his head, so he didn't know who he was."

"And now he does?" Ohgi asked.

"More than that, he has a plan." Kallen told him.

"HEY!" the guard shouted from atop his steelix. "SILENCE!"

The next day, a crowd had gathered at the Chinese Embassy in Olivine. The execution was taking place beside it as a direct challenge to Zero's new state, and hundreds of Brittanians and Elevens alike had flocked to it, to see if the masked revolutionary would show.

Some hoped to see him die by the Empire's lance, others prayed he would create another miracle. All awaited his arrival.

None were disappointed.

At half-past two, the mighty screech of Zero's lugia signaled his arrival, swooping above their heads. "MY KNIGHTS!" Zero declared. "How joyful it is to see you alive and well!"

"Z-Zero…" Ohgi asked alongside many other shocked knights.

Kallen smirked. "Told you~." She sang, watching Zero descend with glee.

"GUILFORD!" Zero roared, waving his cape wide to show his new costume.

No, a costume was the opposite of what Zero was dressed in now. A costume is what he used to wear.

Gone was the tight, purple suit under the cape. This Zero wore ceramic Black armour, similar to those favoured by Britannian knights fighting in Europe. The shoulder pads were silver and bore the sigil of the Black Knights; a pointed version of the Geass symbol with a sword through it.

The cape now was sleeveless, a more simple design with a high collar, showing the solder pads and the blood red gauntlets running up Zero's armoured arm. His boots were also red, like the Roman kings of old.

Even his mask had changed, slightly, sporting a silver Geass symbol on the jaw as opposed to the previous gold one.

The meaning for the change in design was clear.

Before, Zero existed to put on a show, to shock the world into awe and reverence.

Now, he exists to fight, to conquer,

To rule.

"I have come with the blood of many on my hands." Zero declared, showing his bloody hands to the world. "Tell me, if there was an evil in this world that justice could never remove, what would you do? Would you become evil to destroy the greater evil? Or would you abide by your ideals and allow the evil to continue?"

"Mind games and paradoxes, Zero." Guilford sighed. "I will abide by my Princess Cornelia!"

"I see. That is an honourable aspiration." Zero replied approvingly as he leapt from lugia's neck. "I heard that you wish to duel me, but first I would like to preserve my Knight's lives first, hence why I arrived now, instead of at a later, more dramatic time."

'Is he just playing this game?" Guilford snarled internally. "What do you want, Zero!"

"A promise of prizes for our duel." Zero announced, recalling his beast. "My Knights for your Princess."

Guilford gasped. "Y-you know where Princess Cornelia is!"

"Of course." Zero lied. "Should you best me in single combat, I would be delighted to take you to her myself."

"Sir, wait!" one of the Glaston Knights shouted. "It's clearly a trap! He's lying!"

"I NEVER LIE!" Zero shouted. "I withhold the truth, I tell falsehoods, I bend facts so they resemble the truth, but I, Zero, WILL NOT LIE!"

Guilford glared from atop his rhyperior. "Very well!" he declared, drawing a large spear. "One pokémon, one weapon?"

"And one life!" Zero shouted, swishing his cape and throwing a net ball into the air and catching the metapod inside it. "COME!"

Guilford didn't. "THIS IS CLEARLY A TRAP!" Guilford shouted.

"What, you too Dunsparce to fight me?" Zero taunted, daring Guilford to become another Jeremiah.

"Is he trying to kill himself!" Tamaki shouted. "ZEEROO! DON'T DO IT!"

"That genius…" Silver whispered, his eyes locked onto the metapod, before busting up laughing. "KICK HIS ASS, YOU POFFIN CASE!"

"ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!" Rivalz cheered, able to worm an arm out of his straitjacket due to having his automail confiscated.

"Are they nuts?" Ohgi asked.

"We were going against the worlds largest superpower with only a crazy man in a cape and mask to lead us." Kallen reminded him. "Of course we're insane."

Ohgi turned back to the scene as Kallen cheered. One by one, more and more of the captured Knights forgot their broken pride and their lost hope and remembered what it felt like to believe in Zero's miracles again.

"SILENCE!" one of the guards shouted.

"No, let them cheer." Guilford sneered. "Let them realise that madness is only temporary. Glory, however, Is ETERNAL!" he roared, riding his rhyperior as it charged for the puny human ahead of them.

"You shouldn't have hesitated, Guilford." Zero sneered as he stepped forward, slightly at an angle, and swung the metapod into the beast's leg.

Rhyperior stumbled, falling onto its injured knee, and Guilford almost flew off. "Wh-what!" he shouted, dropping his spear to hold on tight.

"This metapod is a lot like Japan, Guilford." Zero explained as the Britannian slowly turned around. "To you, it is weak, and it seems that all it can do is endure for a while until it is completely crushed. I, however, see something that just broke your mightiest pokémon's leg.
"As I said, Guilford." Zero sneered. "You shouldn't have given me time for it to use Harden so many times. You should have crushed me without a second's hesitation. Princess Cornelia would not have made that mistake."

Guilford snarled, then hopped off his injured pokémon's back and picked up his spear. "You tricked me." He growled.

"I must admit that I did, but not in the way that you think." Zero told him. "Because I haven't chosen a pokémon to ride."

Guilford stopped dead. "I have my weapon, but what shall I ride in this duel?"

All his men prepared to fire at Zero the second he summoned his lugia.

"I RIDE! JAPAN!" Zero shouted instead, charging and smashing the knight in his ribcage with the heavy, harder-than-iron cocoon, knocking him out and shattering his ribs.

"He… he did it…" Ohgi gasped. "He… really defeated him with a metapod…"

"Idiot." Toudou snapped. "This changes nothing. Why would they just let us go now?"

"COME FORTH!" several of the Glaston Knights called out, tossing their pokéballs into the air.

"You see?" Toudou sighed as Zero was surrounded by dragons of all shapes and sizes. "Now we all die."

"I see that you refuse to honour my victory in this duel." Zero declared, spreading his arms wide and dropping several balls onto the floor. "VERY WELL!"

Lugia, ho-oh, regirock, regice, registeel, regigigas, suicune, raikou and entei all appeared around Zero, quickly launching a storm of attacks that threw their opponents into disarray. Pressing the attacks, they began slowly advancing on the Britannian's until the legendary pokémon formed a circle that contained all of the prisoners.

Then, a dark purple bubble formed around them, and teleported everything within the sphere into the Chinese Embassy, sand and all.

"Alright, let's get to work busting these guys out!"

Many of the rescued knights looked around in confusion as to what the hell just happened as several Chinese soldiers rushed around them, breaking the locks of their cages and cutting their handcuffs loose.

"Yo, Bluebeard!" Red shouted, tossing Rivalz his robotic arm.

He caught it, twisted it around in his shoulder and plugged it into his stump. "Aaah, that always stings…" Rivalz groaned. "Thanks man!"

"Wait…" Ohgi asked as a soldier cut him loose. "What just happened?"

"I told you he'd pull through for us." Kallen told him with a smile.

Ohgi looked on in awe as Zero, the man he thought had abandoned them, walked to talk with the long-haired leader of the Chinese troops. "Y-yeah…" he gasped, looking on in awe.

-}+{-

You know, I like this chapter. I like a lot of chapters, but I like how this one ended: no real cliffhanger, and a nice place to leave it for the weekend.

So, I think it's rather clear that this has deviated. Who likes deviation?

And yes, I am aware that pokétch's don't have phones. In my world, the should, therefore they do.

Also, yes, metapod are big enough to be used as a weapon, at almost three-foot long, you can easily grip it and use it as a weapon if you can lift 21 lbs with one hand. Real men can. How about you?

Varanus: In that metapod's humble opinion? Best. Tackle. Ever. I don't think it's going to want to evolve.

Also, part of me feels pretty bad for Rolo, but what happened is fitting. In this universe, he was never really given the chance he got in canon. Ah well, that's the risk you run in these sorts of settings.

And who's to say he never had chances here either? Sure, he never had a 'brother', but he had pokémon, he had the capability of moving forward just like everyone else did. Too bad he never took the time to see that.

Hmm. So yeah. Yay deviation!

Don't be thrown off though. The Deviation gets a whole lot steeper.