Zero
Standing in a room looking out a window overviewing all of Nimbasa City was Lelouch. It had been clear since the day they first arrived here in Nimbasa. Lelouch wasn't sure he liked all the sun though. Slouching back in a nearby couch was CC. "So you've finally pulled it off, you have Unova."
"Not exactly." Lelouch disputed. "I have taken down the central hub of Unova and Castelia will fall soon after it, but there is still much to do before Unova is officially ours. We've merely split Unova exactly in two halves. However thanks to the efforts of the gym leaders across Unova Team Rocket's forces are separated from each other."
"You've killed two of the four Rocket Executives and splintered their forces. I'd say Unova's pretty much in your hands." CC pointed out.
"Even still, Unova is only part of the goal. I must still somehow convince the world of our point of view. Imposing it upon them by force won't work." Lelouch was lost in thought.
There was a knock at the door followed by Kallen's voice. It almost sounded foreign to him. The entire time he's known her they've been in the heat of conflict but it was nice to have a quiet moment. "Lelouch, it's Kallen, can I come in?"
"Please do." Lelouch invited her. She took the invitation and entered the room.
"That man from the Radio Tower, Diethard I think was his name; he says that he's finally arranged everything." Kallen explained. Blake followed in after Kallen.
"I've put together a group of men for your escort detail. They won't miss a thing." Blake explained.
"Very good." Lelouch said almost distantly. "Who does it consist of?"
"Zack, Senba, Tamaki, Chris, C-Sharp Kallen, Guren, Ewan, Hawkins, and myself. I would have asked Cross and Gidra to join but that sounded stupid to have our commander guarding our Leader." Blake counted. "Oh and of course I'm sure that CC will be with you."
"Not this time." Lelouch turned to face them. "I want CC to remain out of the public eye for a while. Too much publicity can be over bearing."
"Right." Blake nodded.
"Are you sure about that?" Kallen asked. "What if the Knights attack?"
"I'm sure by now Suzaku has realized that Team Plasma is no longer viewed as an enemy of the state. If I know Suzaku he won't attack unless provoked. Kyouhei owes me for saving the lives of everyone in the Radio Tower, Alder and Hilda both will follow Suzaku's lead. The only one I would be worried about is Iris, she has the kind of unbridled emotional complex which might prompt her to attack me, although I doubt that she sees us as that much of a threat." Lelouch gave a long-winded explanation to his reasoning.
"Way to take a simple question and give a complicated answer." Blake joked although no one laughed. It was so quiet Blake could have sworn he heard a kricketune chirping in the background.
"Shall we head then?" Kallen asked.
"I suppose so." Lelouch nodded he walked past the both of them and headed to the nearest elevator.
Kallen turned to Blake. "Is it just me or has Lelouch seemed kind of distant since we forced Team Rocket out of Nimbasa?"
"I dunno he's always been that way to me." Blake shrugged before following Lelouch.
They all started down to the lower levels into the garage of the Silph Co. Building. Taking one of the cars they headed down the street towards the Radio Tower. Guren and two other flying type pokémon watched from above. Kallen sat on his back to keep an eye on the rooftops specifically while the other two watched over the streets and alleyways.
Blake sat in the car with Lelouch as they drove up to the parking lot of the Radio Tower. As they got further down the street more and more people began to gather around as if trying to get a glimpse of Lelouch or anyone from Team Plasma for that matter. You wouldn't have guessed that this place was the site of a battle only a few days ago.
When they got to the Radio Tower they entered the gated parking lot for VIPs. Leaving the car Lelouch and Blake headed for the interior of the Tower. Once inside the desk clerk immediately stood up to greet them. "Oh you must be Lelouch, please enter the elevator to your right. Your meeting will be broadcast from the twelfth floor."
"Thank you." Lelouch nodded politely.
Once inside the elevator Blake started to speak. "You know it's been a long road. It's really been hard for everyone, there were times I was sure we'd all die but you got us through it all. And now we're about to become solidified with this interview. We'll become famous across Unova as heroes."
"Or infamous across time as villains." Lelouch contradicted his thought process. "Tell me Blake, if you were faced with Rosa's murderers would you hold back from avenging her?"
Blake became really still for a minute as if blindsided by the question. "No, I don't think I would hold back. I wouldn't have Zack do it for me either. I'd take him down myself whatever way I could."
"Hmm." Lelouch hummed as if thinking.
"Now our next guest will make all other previous guests we've had on the show quiver in their boots." Said the man on the set. He sat behind a long but inviting desk. His long brown hair tied into a pony tail with a few long strand of hair deviating from the rest of them and flopping forwards over his face like bangs. He wore a black suit over a red shirt. "I present to you a man who was officially declared dead for ten years after becoming a local legend in Kanto for being the youngest Champion in the league. He rose from the dead with an earthshattering performance. I'm sure you've all heard of him, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Lelouch vi Britannia the new King of Team Plasma."
The audience in front of the stage began to cheer and clap. Walking on stage from the right door was Lelouch. He walked up to the man and shook his hand politely. "Thank you, I'm Lelouch."
"I'm Diethard Ried, welcome to the show Lelouch." He invited him warmly before gesturing to a nearby arm chair. "Please, take a seat."
"Thank you." Lelouch gratefully accepted it.
"I must say Mr. Britannia, or do you prefer Lelouch?" Diethard asked.
"Lelouch will do fine thank you very much." Lelouch nodded.
"Well, I must say Lelouch, I am absolutely ecstatic to have you on the show. I have been meaning to arrange this for some time now but I've never been able to get into contact with you before. So if you wouldn't mind telling us a little bit about yourself, perhaps where you've been hiding all this time." Diethard asked.
"I was where you'd expect me to have been." Lelouch started. "You know in the ground."
The audience around the stage all started to laugh at Lelouch's crack. "For personal reasons I cannot disclose that information at that time."
"Okay that's fair, we're not exactly here because of your past now are we? Now please if you wouldn't mind telling all of those who may not be aware who are you and what are you attempting to do?" Diethard asked.
"As Diethard has so kindly pointed out to everyone, my name is Lelouch vi Britannia. I am the current head of Team Plasma and we have two goals as of current." Lelouch explained.
"And those would be?"
"First and foremost the complete liberation of all pokémon. The second is more like a stepping stone to the first and that is to remove Team Rocket from Unova and with any luck the world."
"Really? Those are some lofty goals you've got there, have you made much progress in those areas?" Diethard asked.
"I would say quite a bit. We have been very open with our standing against Team Rocket and others like them and I feel that through our action both prior and after today people will begin to respect us. I'm hoping that by removing Team Rocket from Unova we can prove our good intentions to the world and move on from there."
"Well as a kind of troubling double edge sword some people have alluded to the possibility that you don't actually want to liberate pokémon."
"Oh?" Lelouch seemed curious.
"Yes, some are under the opinion that you are simply using Team Plasma and their resources as a way to legitimize an all-out war with your father. I understand that when you were younger he wasn't particularly fond of you being an adopted child and all. I mean the last time we heard this from Team Plasma their leader wasn't so open with his real intentions."
"Allow me to put aside anyone's doubt. I have renounced my old life. Whatever troubled me before my return doesn't concern me. I have been reborn so to speak into a better man.
"I will not disclose my hiding place but I can tell you that every single day I stood there and had to rehabilitate pokémon after being treated like trash by their trainers. They had been working all day every day for the past week and most of which were pokémon they didn't even bother to befriend before forcing through grueling EV training. Other pokémon were instantly abandoned because their stat distribution wasn't in favor of their ultimate design. Too many times I was forced to care for pokémon who had only just been born and then discarded for the same reasons. Pokémon who have experienced pain, suffering, and heartless abandonment. At some point I just couldn't take it anymore which was when I joined Team Plasma."
"Quite the moving story and I do appreciate that it really does lets people know who you are underneath that mask of your."
"Mask?" Lelouch was confused.
"Yes, that calm cool exterior it almost looks like a mask the way you act." Diethard pointed out.
"I suppose so."
"Speaking of dress I notice that yours is quiet unique? Tell me is there a reason for it or do you just like cosplay?"
"I wear this to represent one of my predecessors and everything I hope to achieve. Tell me are you familiar with your history?" Lelouch asked.
"I'd like to think so."
"Well long ago a man by the name of Oda Nobunaga ruled the lands with pokémon at his side. Not a single poké-ball, yoke, or bind could be found among his army they were all there by choice. Similarly I have had everyone in Team Plasma discard their poké-balls and they now fight side by side as equals."
"But once you've achieved your goal won't you all be separated?"
"Please do not misunderstand me or Team Plasma. We strive to destroy the poké-ball and everything that it stands for but in no way do we want people and pokémon to be separated the way that N did. We believe in the strength of bonds, the strength of unity and we see the poké-ball as kind of like a crutch, one that the world had no need for. Once we get over this crutch we will finally be able to be unified.
"If a pokémon doesn't like a trainer he has the choice to leave. They will be able to choose who they go with who they will listen to. They will become free agents much the same way that we are now. I hope that through this we will all learn and grow together as a unified people and not one separated by a self-serving caste system." Lelouch explained.
"You seem very passionate about this." Diethard pointed out.
"I would like to think that what I feel on the inside is properly displayed on the outside so they can trust me and Team Plasma." Lelouch said.
"On that note I've got here a few comments that people have made at your sudden rise in the ranks." Diethard took out a stack of cards presumably with people's feeling on Lelouch. "Would you mind us filming your reaction to them?"
"Not at all."
"Excellent. Now we've received two kinds of comments half are positive and half are negative. I will read the differing opinions interchangeably so as to not misrepresent the people." Diethard explained. "This is from Arawn Astalle of Black City: Lelouch I am not a member nor have I ever been a member but I proudly support you and your cause. I wish the best of luck to you and your campaign."
"How very kind of you, Arawn. I openly accept your support and that of anyone else who will." Lelouch said.
"Alec Baldwin of Opelucid says: I like pokémon, I like people, I don't mind Team Rocket they mostly just keep to themselves anyways and never bothered me. What I do mind is nosy people forcing opinions down our throats. I can't believe that people actually follow something as completely stupid as Team Plasma." Diethard finished.
"Well I'm not here to force anything down anyone's throats. I hope by showing you an example to strive towards you will all willingly follow it." Lelouch explained.
"Todd Habercorn of Driftveil City says: You're so cool. I'm glad that there could be strong people like you to show all the bullies not to be mean."
"Todd, I'm glad you feel that way." Lelouch sort of discarded the childishness of the comment.
"Patrick Steitz of Aspertia City says: Lelouch, I'm so glad to meet you. I now have the chance to kill you…" Diethard read it as if he wasn't sure that's what was written on it. "I'm very sorry; I didn't know that we accepted death threats."
"It's alright, like you said we're trying to represent the voice of the people here." Lelouch shrugged off the comment.
"Alright now what does this next one say?" Diethard picked up another card to read it. Before he could start, though, the room filled with a troubling sound. Following a whistling and thump, the sound of choking filled the room.
Standing up Lelouch clenched his chest as if in pain. It wasn't long before everyone noticed the dagger which had found its way right through his heart and out his back. He looked shocked as a twinge of fear overcame his face.
"Lulu!" Shirley gasped standing up in front of the TV in the Pokémon Day-Care Center. The others in the room seemed shocked as well.
"Oh my." N and a throng of people overlooked a large screen on a nearby building.
"What the?" Kallen exclaimed jumping out to try and see where it had come from.
"Oh my." Diethard couldn't believe his eyes. "Quick someone call an ambulance now!"
She noticed that from the audience a man in black disappeared while pulling up a hood. Kallen immediately gave chase down the surprisingly empty hallways. It seemed that all the guards down the hallway had been knock out cold which would explain how he got in. "Guren!"
Crashing in from another room Guren landed next to Kallen and she jumped on. The two of them then flew right at the cloaked assassin.
"This is Kallen; I'm chasing the assailant down the main hallway!" Kallen shouted into her transceiver but she then noticed that their communications were being scrambled. It struck her as odd, how was he blocking them but not the transmission from the tower across the world.
The assailant was at the end of the hallway and threw down something which exploded with a huge plume of smoke obscuring her view of him. Guren landed flinging a massive gust of wind to try to remove the smoke.
When it cleared there was a hole in the window the assailant was standing next to and he was gone. Guren then flew out and Kallen observed the outside. There was no one below or above, "how could he just disappear like that? Where did he go?"
Swooping from street corner to back alleyway the assailant made his way through the shadows of the city making sure to stay completely unseen by anything and anyone. He was quick and silent until he reached a point and stopped.
"I would like to thank you for your assistance. It was just what I needed in order to kill the target." The assailant explained. "I really couldn't have done it without you."
"Don't be so modest." The voice sounded almost disappointed. "You probably would have found another way in."
"Pride is unbecoming of a ninja; I take credit where credit is due." The assailant turned to face the other man in the alleyway. "Are you sure that you don't want any piece of the bounty? I mean you did just betray your own leader."
The man walked into the light to reveal his face to the assailant. His face grim and solid as rock.
"It wasn't ever about money." Blake said. "It was about...
"Retribution."
End Book 1
Author Notes:
Good evening my wonderful readers, it has come to my attention that people are not fans of this "ending". I just want to make an official announcement explaining that this is not the ending, nor did I ever intend for it to be the ending. The thing is, is that I am leaving on a religious mission for two years and will not have access to a computer and will have no time to write.
I didn't want to leave it off at a complete and total cliffhanger because I really hate cliffhangers and I couldn't realistically see myself asking anyone to wait 2 YEARS for another chapter cause lets face two years is a long wait for anything let alone a poorly written fanfiction. When I return in two years I have the full intention to not only finish the story but also rewrite a few chapters because some simply poorly written and some of the original material I was planning on putting in was cut because of time constraints which is unfortunate. I just thought I would give you all a heads up so you know that more is coming, just not for a very long time.
In that time I plead to all of you, please point out anything you didn't like or thought could have been better even if it is small because it'll serious help me in the rewrite and for the future chapters whenever they come out.
Thank you all so very much for you time and your patients. Have a great day! =P
Original Notes:
I don't even know exactly what to say… Thank you, that works right? Thank you all readers for indulging in this strange crossover and making it all the way to the end. To the five of you who were there from the very beginning and suffer through to the end I give a special thanks. Triffle, httpKirby, XT3100 special thanks to you three; I don't think I could have finished it without you guys. I can honestly say that it wouldn't really have been the same without you. It's kind of sad to leave it off here but their nothing say right now.
Let me know what you thought of the story as a whole. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Was there something that didn't make sense? shoot me a review and I'll take it into consideration if and when I do a rewrite.