Chapter 11: Comeback, Nunnally Wants to What Now?
"Gino, order all troops to the Shinjuku Ghetto, at this rate, we can't save both Ghetto's, but we can at least hold him off at one."
It took a moment, but Gino finally responded, "Alright," and the radio connection cut off, Suzaku could only hope he was making the right choice.
"As for us," Zero said. "We are going to split up and warn the others to avoid the electric zappers then help them out."
"Got it," The other three agreed and they all scattered.
Zero went for the closest group and destroyed the last Crawler the 3 left were fighting by slashing it in half. "If they bring out a gun and fire what looks like electricity, dodge it, don't block it, now spread out and tell the others."
Kallen went for a group of two left, against two Crawlers, then grabbed one with her energy pulsar arm, destroying it, and leaving an opening on the second, which one of the others struck down. She told them about the electric guns then they scattered.
Xingke and Cornelia did the same with other groups, and not only would they be able to lower the risk of someone getting hit by this energy zapper, it looked like having the Knightmares scatter was confusing the Crawlers, not having expected such a drastic change in their strategy. What's more, Gino's troops arrived, which gave them better than good chances of winning. The comeback was starting.
It only took a few minutes in fact, for Infinite's troops to realize they could no longer win without regrouping first, so one of them sounded a retreat, and the KnightCrawlers fled the Ghetto. Zero and Gino landed their Knightmares and climbed out of their cockpits to report.
"Should we head back to the Saitama Ghetto Zero?" Gino asked.
"No, it's possible those KnightCrawlers are heading there now." Zero replied.
"If we do, we might just be back at square one, it's a better idea to just cut our losses with saving Shinjuku. What's more, were Infinite and the other reverse KnightCrawlers at Saitama?" Zero still wondered why he had seen none.
"No, when I saw they weren't here either, I was really shocked, Why didn't they show up to battle?" Gino answered, this was what Zero was afraid of.
"It's to show us the true difference in our capabilities and power. The KnightCrawlers we faced are as good as any ninth generation Knightmare, and they have plenty of them to spare, which makes the Anti-KnightCrawlers even stronger than that, pretty much a tenth generation. We can barely handle a few hundred of those KnightCrawlers, if Infinite and the other ones showed, up, we wouldn't stand a chance." Zero told him. "This isn't an average war, it's literally become a battle of upgrades."
"It's just who can make more, and how fast can they be made." Gino finished the thought.
"Zero," Anya said as she landed her Knightmare and climbed out of her cockpit. "I just received a radio transmission from Lloyd and Rakshata, They say it concerns Nunnally Vi Britannia." She told him.
"Involving her, very well, let's go back." Zero told them.
"What about the other troops?" Gino asked.
"We'll leave them here for the day, Infinite's troops may come back." Zero answered.
The troops from Shinjuku returned and reported to Infinite. "That's alright, I suspected we would only take one of the Ghetto's in the raid." Infinite told the man who made the report. "Everything is going as planned, everything will work out. You are dismissed." Infinite told the man as he got up and left.
"I must say Lelouch, every battle you go through, the more I question if your plan is really going to work." C.C. commented.
"It will work out, every battle I win merely brings me one step closer to my goal. I need to drive Suzaku to the limit, otherwise my plan falls apart."
"Do you really believe it is possible for him to destroy your code?" Jeremiah asked.
"Yes, and once I die, once and for all, the Geass legacy will finally seize to exist."
Zero, Cornelia and the others arrived back at the Knightmare hanger, then approached Lloyd and Rakshata. "What was it you wanted to talk about, something concerning Nunnally?" Zero asked, but he didn't like the expressions on their faces.
"Well," Rakshata began. "It's best for her to tell you herself." Nunnally then came up in her wheelchair from behind the two.
Zero didn't like this at all, Lloyd's and Rakshata's disturbed faces told him it was bad business. But when he combined that with the look on Nunnally's face, one of determination, all he could think of was the worst case scenario.
"I want to join the fight against Infinite." She told them, not beating around the bush at all, completely shocking everyone.
"You want to what?" Both Zero and Cornelia blurted out at the same time as a response, but all Nunnally did was make her face look even more determined.
"I want to fight, I don't care about the dangers, It concerns my nation too. Besides, my sister is also fighting, I can't just sit by and watch you all get hurt."
"But Nunnally," Cornelia started, but actually didn't have anything to fallow up with.
"I understand you don't want me in harms way big sister, but it's not like I don't feel any different about you." Nunnally said, making Cornelia completely speechless.
It was possible Nunnally was more determined to participate because she knew it was Lelouch on the other side. As a matter of fact it was almost certain it did. Zero straitened himself, and everyone's eyes turned to him.
"You know what this means right?" It was Suzaku asking the question, not Zero, and Nunnally could tell.
"Absolutely," She replied, not wavering once in her words or expression. If she could say so with such air-tight certainty, he wasn't going to give any objections, but the final decision still truly remained to Cornelia, whom all eyes now fell on.
This really was a shock to Cornelia, probably more to her than anyone else in the room, no one had expected Nunnally to pilot a Knightmare. To be honest it didn't seem to fit her character. but in the same line of thinking as Zero, she understood that if she was this determined, there was no real reason in saying no. She straitened herself, and unable to drop her grim expression about the matter, slowly nodded her head in a final agreement, she only hoped she wouldn't grow to regret it.
"Lloyd, Rakshata, get started immediately!" Zero ordered.
"One step ahead of you there Zero." Rakshata said, as she and Lloyd had actually foreseen this and started on Nunnally's personal Knightmare beforehand.
"Good, Infinite will be in for a surprise next time." Although everyone else thought so too, none of them actually understood why he would be. Suzaku was really talking about Lelouch, who would never risk getting Nunnally hurt.
"I promise," Nunnally started. "I won't let you down."