Code Geass: Lelouch of the Digidestined

by Demon of Zero

Digimon were created as an artificial life, their original purpose lost to humanity with the death of their creators. And so the world gave them a purpose, horrible though it may be. Those that emerged in the human world were captured and enslaved, used as soldiers and weapons. And despite these changes, still some things remain the same. Zero will rise and the world will change.

4. Chapter 4

I may have accidentally mislead people in saying that Anya's digimon was a dragonoid. In actuality, it's a cyborg digimon, but it's a "Dramon". I should have said that earlier, but meh. Sorry for that little misunderstanding.

Demon: I am NOT a crook! Nor do I own Code Geass. They took the paper from me while I was busy pondering.

C.C.: And I took-*She's cut off by a gunshot, falling to the ground.*

Lelouch: A bullet to the head. I'm glad she's immortal, otherwise I would feel bad for that.

Demon: You know she's going to get you back for that, right?

Lelouch: Worth. It.

Demon: I guess.

Anya: Just start the story.

Demon: Fine! God, you're so pu...shy...

Anya: *Currently inside of the Mordred* Just start the story.

Demon: MEEP!

---

Anya Alstreim stared down at the uniform sitting on her bed. It was a pink uniform that was usually meant for the middle school division of Ashford Academy, but exceptions had been made in her case as it would be more trouble to have a high-school uniform made to her size.

Apparently someone in the homeland had decided that she had taken a long enough break from her academics, and figured that her new position in Area Eleven would be a prime chance to catch up on things.

She didn't really see why it mattered, it wasn't like she would remember anything she was taught.

But Anya didn't remember many things. Or anything, really. For a time she would remember the things that happened, somewhat vaguely at times, but one day she would wake up and it would all be gone again.

Few things remained untouched by her lapses in memory, and academic subjects weren't one of those things. Knightmare piloting was, though. That and her name.

According to her diary, she had remembered for an entire three months straight before it all vanished. And then the process would begin once more, with her instinctively checking her phone and reading through the entire thing, entry by entry, to see what she had missed. It never made her remember, but it was supposed to be comforting.

Anya didn't feel comfortable when she looked through that phone and remembered nothing.

But she always did it, and once she had she knew why. Because of that picture.

The picture that showed a young Lelouch vi Britannia holding a rose and smiling at her. The picture she could remember taking. Everything that she had done at the Aries Villa while in the company of Lelouch, Nunnally, or Lady Marianne came flooding back to her with great clarity after she saw that picture.

And it made her happy, but at the same time it made her sad.

Emotions, like memories, were not familiar to Anya. She knew she had them, but they were... dulled. It was hard to tell just which emotion she was feeling more often than not. She rarely smiled, and when she did it was forced.

Usually done to appease Gino, if the pictures headings were any indicator. Generally they were titled "So Gino Will Stop Bothering Me", or something along those lines.

Apparently, Gino was her only real friend.

Well, her only human friend. She always had her constant companion to greet her, every morning. He knew there was always a chance that she would wake up and not remember who he was, and he didn't mind it. He always reminded her to look through her phone and relearn as much as she could.

But he could never tell her what happened when she blacked out and wound up in odd places. He said that every time he tried to follow her during her blackouts, she would always absorb him back into the digivice she carried at her waist, before leaving it in her room. Over time, he had realized the futility in following her. Somehow, no matter what he did, she could tell he was following her.

When she blacked out, she always came back to her room eventually and woke the next day with no memories. With him trapped in the digivice, he couldn't always be there to explain who she was or suggest looking through her phone. It had happened once, and she had been so utterly confused and, according to her partner, scared.

It was better for both of them if he didn't follow her.

Anya looked towards the small form of her companion, Missimon, as he hovered his missile-like body over the bed curiously. "Why are they making you go to school?" He asked. He was well aware that most anything that they taught her would be forgotten within the next few weeks or months. It was why her education was so rushed in the first place; more often than not, her education consisted of cram sessions followed by a myriad of tests and string-pulling in order to have her officially improve in grade level.

"I don't know." Anya admitted in her usual monotone. She lifted her phone, snapping a picture of the uniform. "Recorded."

"It's just odd." The little missile continued, unhindered by the lackluster response. "I thought when we were shipped off to Area Eleven we'd be sent off to terrorist hideouts to blow'm up, not sent to this Ashford Academy place. It just... doesn't really make sense." His small arms, connected to his main body by metallic cables, were waving about lazily as he floated.

She shrugged lackadaisically. "Does it matter?" The girl asked. "We have to go. And today is our first day." She at least remembered that, considering she had been reminded of it this morning by Missimon. Even though her "memory wipes" happened after her blackout incidents, she still found herself extremely forgetful in general.

"Maybe you'll make another friend or two." Suggested the missile digimon, hopefully.

"Maybe." Anya replied dully. Did it matter? She would just forget them and eventually move on. It was doubtful anyone she met at this school would remain a constant in her life like Gino, Hyokomon, and Missimon.

A few minutes later, the Knight of Six was dressed in a school uniform and looking herself over in her mirror. She aimed her phone at the mirror and a click could be heard. "Recorded." At least they had given her the pink uniform. Anya wanted nothing to do with the yellow high school girl's uniform, the green and yellow didn't appeal to her at all. The skirt was also really short.

"It's kinda creepy when you do that." Missimon noted offhandedly. He was used to it by now, but still.

Anya shrugged again. "Whatever."

If Missimon's eyes were capable of it, they would be rolling.

"Let's go." Anya said, walking out of her room in the Viceroy's Palace, which had been taken over by Cornelia the morning she arrived. Judging by the large amount of frantic running, the iron fist of the Witch of Britannia had fallen. Hard. Anya didn't really care, though. Whatever these people did wasn't really her concern, outside of Cornelia herself.

The life of Anya Alstreim, sixth knight in the illustrious Knights of the Round, could typically be summed up in a few sentences. 'Higher ups ordered this, go fight this, blow this up, do this, in the name of the Emperor.' It was immensely simple and really the only reason Anya actually bothered with it was because she had nothing else to do.

Well. That and Gino. If it wasn't for her friendship with Gino, the possibility of leaving Britannia to just do something else existed. But doing so meant she wouldn't be able to interact freely with her only human friend, and that was just far too important to give up for no real reason. Anya wasn't patriotic or even slightly loyal to Britannia- she just had no better options.

Missimon followed behind the girl, occupying his time by performing barrel rolls. If one listened closely, they could hear him humming something. "Do, do, do a barrel roll!" He cheerfully mumbled, continuing to perform said maneuver.

Anya ignored the spectacle her partner was creating, continuing her walk. She couldn't use her knightmare for traveling purposes, apparently, and she hadn't thought of how she was going to arrange transportation. She could always take a cab, but...

"Missimon." She said, slowing to a stop after getting the attention of her partner. "Want to go for a run?" Why take a cab when she had a perfectly good mode of transportation right here?

The in-training understood exactly what she meant. "You sure? Won't people freak out?" He was rather skeptical, however. Turning into a giant metal dinosaur in the middle of the settlement and traversing at high speed by rooftop was just asking for a crisis. Either people would freak because the Knight of Six had mobilized, or people would freak because giant metal dinosaur.

"Probably." She shrugged again. "Does it matter?"

Missimon blinked as he actually considered it. "You know, you have a point. You're the knight of six. We can pretty much do anything." He forgot that sometimes. Even if they did accidentally send the whole area into defcon three or whatever, they wouldn't even get a slap on the wrist or a "don't do that." They were practically untouchable.

Anya held up her digivice, a simple rectangular device with a darkened screen and a couple of buttons. Her's was a combination of dark grey and pink. "Digivolution." She mumbled aloud, as her partner began to glow.

The girl couldn't explain why, but there was just something liberating about that word. Emotions weren't her forte, but if she had to associate one to that word it would be freedom. It was like whatever was dulling her emotions paused for a brief moment every time she used the power in this Digivice. For the briefest moment, all of her awe and pride in the spectacle that was digivolution slipped through the dullness, before fading just as quickly.

"Missimon, digivolve to..." A dinosaur colored with a digital camo pattern in varying shades of dark blues, whites, and grays appeared. It was garbed in a typical kevlar vest, which had two hoses of some sort connecting it to a common soldier's hat on it's head. Amber eyes stared out from behind the mask that covered it's face, leaving the reptilian maw free of any clothing. On it's back was a pack filled to bursting with various implements of destruction, and perhaps the most interesting part of the digimon was that it was wielding an assault rifle, which was quickly slung over it's back.

"Commandramon, digivolve to..." And just as soon as he had become rookie, he digivolved further. While Commandramon was wearing body armor, this new digimon was covered from head to toe in light, but sturdy, metal combat armor. It was approximately three times the height of Anya, and the backpack and rifle had disappeared to be replaced by a single combat knife in the right hand of the digimon, which was quickly sheathed in an arm holster to match the second knife. It's tail remained, though now it looked mechanical rather than even slightly organic. It's head had also become less organic, covered entirely by metal. Covering, or perhaps in place of, it's eyes were two circular lenses, one red and one a glassy blue. A small fin poked out from the top of it's head.

"Sealsdramon." The champion level stated, kneeling down to pick up Anya, gently, in his arms. "Hold on, Anya." He suggested, reeling back to prepare.

The girl did so without visible emotion, knowing exactly what was to come.

Soundlessly, Sealsdramon sprinted off at break-neck speeds, leaping onto buildings in order to avoid traffic. They were moving so fast that the people going about their daily lives hardly noticed the grayish blue blur streaking about on the rooftops. Looks like they wouldn't be causing any major crisis, the only people who had seen Sealsdramon had also seen him digivolve from a tiny missile-like creature and could easily piece things together.

That was good, Anya supposed. "This is fun." She muttered to herself, though the wind generated from the speed they were moving drowned it out to her own ears.

"Glad you're enjoying it." Sealsdramon had picked up on the sound, somehow. And for some odd reason his voice wasn't affected at all by the wind.

Either way, Anya was glad she was enjoying this too. It was rare that she felt such strong emotion that she could actually tell what it was, generally limited to the viewing of her favorite picture or activating the digivolution.

She almost smiled.

---

Suzaku chuckled nervously, eyeing the black and gold uniform before him with obvious discomfort. It wasn't the uniform so much as what it symbolized.

It would be the first time Suzaku went to school, and it would be in a Britannian private school. There was only one person who could pull enough strings to get him in no questions asked, and also had motivation to do so.

Princess Euphemia seemed to think he needed to finish his schooling, despite the fact that he was already enlisted in the Britannian Military. It was a nice thought, he supposed, but in practice it was something he was dreading.

He had always been home schooled, taught by a tutor. For a single year, he had one "classmate" in Lelouch. But even then it was debatable whether or not he was a classmate since they had separate tutors. His father hadn't separated them because of their race or anything like that, he had done it because Lelouch was simply too far ahead of Suzaku for the boy to catch up. After a while it was also shown that Lelouch was outpacing the tutor, and the man had informed Genbu that his services were being wasted as the boy was learning almost entirely on his own.

And so within a few weeks that tutor had left, and Lelouch kept up his studies entirely on his own. And he still outpaced Suzaku by years.

Ashford Academy wouldn't be like that. Not only would there be a single teacher and many students, but they would all be Britannian. And he would be an Eleven. That was just asking for trouble, and if anyone other than Princess Euphemia decided to send him there he would have figured it was some cruel way to torture him.

But it had been the doing of Princess Euphemia, who was a beacon of kindness and caring. So for whatever reason she had done it, it wasn't malicious.

Hopefully his classmates, boy was that word foreign to him, would be as accepting of him as she was. He doubted it, but the thought was comforting.

"Art thou certain this is necessary?" Asked Coronamon, seated on his bed beside the uniform, looking it over with curiosity. "Doth thou not have other duties to attend?" Surely he had something better to do than going to school. He was a soldier for goodness sake. While education was important, there weren't many things you could learn in a class room that would help in a fight.

The digimon had adapted easily enough to being a rookie. While losing the power he had as a mega had been a terrible blow to his pride, he simply accepted that it meant he would have to build himself back up, even better than before. And while he continued to get stronger, he would accompany this particular human who had gained his respect.

This Suzaku Kururugi was a powerful combatant, a person kind enough to allow him to regain his honor through battle after battle, and a person decent enough not to mock him for losing a vast majority of their spars. Yes, he daresay he liked this human. Certainly better company than some he had called comrade.

So, with that in mind, he had decided this human would be his comrade. And since he had been bested in combat numerous times by this remarkable human, Coronamon had gone so far as to accept him as his superior.

Suzaku had insisted they were both equals however, though that succeeded only in furthering Coronamon's respect for him. To be powerful, kind, and still humble? Truly this human must have been a rarity, as Coronamon had hardly ran across all of these traits in any single digimon in his time with the Empire. Even he himself couldn't boast all three of those traits- his arrogance in the might of his Mega form had dulled his combat ability significantly.

However, due to the arrangements the two of them were now being shanghaied into, Coronamon would have to swallow his pride and degenerate again into Sunmon, the most useless form of his entire line. It didn't sit well with him, but he would deal with it in order to continue to accompany his human.

Heh. His human. The thought actually broke the digimon into a small series of chuckles, drawing Suzaku's attention.

"Something the matter, Coronamon?" He asked. Did he put part of the uniform on wrong?

"T'is nothing, Suzaku. Merely a thought crossing my mind, bringing forth a degree of merriment." The digimon replied to his human with a smile.

"Oh. Alright." The boy shrugged, looking himself over. He had finished changing into the uniform, and while it was comfortable he still felt some of his nervousness. "Well." He started, opening a knapsack similar to the one he had while escorting Euphemia. "Sorry, but if you want to come with me you're going to have to hide. Lloyd has yet to assign you as a part of Camelot, so I'm not supposed to have you at all."

Apparently in addition to being one of the foremost experts on Knightmare technology, Lloyd was also one of the very few legitimate scientific experts on Digital Monster Studies. As such, he could easily integrate Coronamon into their unit rather than having Coronamon sent off elsewhere. Having the support of the Second Prince certainly helped matters like that.

Coronamon growled. "I agreed to ally myself to you, Suzaku Kururugi. No other hath earned my respect or trust. I shan't call someone unworthy my comrade." With that, he degenerated into Sunmon.

This form was quite simple in design- a small, orange, spherical body with some spikes protruding in a circle around the side and bottom in a shape similar to a star. Rather than a spike at the top, however, there was a small flame.

"Uh." Suzaku blinked.

"Yes?"

"How are you supposed to hide out in my bag if you're head is on fire?"

Sunmon blinked. "... I doth not know." There had never been any time in his life where he'd needed to not be on fire in some fashion or another.

"Shit."

"Verily."

---

Thankfully, Sunmon had eventually figured out how to put out the fire on his head. He had then blushed brightly, and quickly leaped into the knapsack. When Suzaku called him out on his peculiar behavior, the reply had surprised and amused him.

"I doth feel nude without my fire." Had been the embarrassed reply of the in-training digimon.

Suzaku couldn't stop his laughing, which had garnered him some odd looks as he walked down the streets of the Tokyo Settlement. Thankfully, his apartment, shabby and run-down though it may be, was close enough to Ashford Academy that he could walk there with no issue. While he usually resided in the barracks, his new position under Lloyd and the suspicion that had been placed on him due to Clovis' murder made it better if he returned to his apartment for the time being. Emotions still ran high after that spectacle, and no one needed a constant reminder of Zero's debut walking around the military base.

His apartment was closer, though, so that was nice.

Sure, he could always call a cab, but there was no guarantee that they would actually bother to pick up an Honorary Britannian. So, in the end, it was faster to just walk. Suzaku didn't mind, it simply meant more exercise for him.

Though the first time he had hailed a cab, only to be promptly kicked out due to his ethnicity, had stung a bit. He got over it, though.

Just one more thing he would need to change.

Change... His thoughts drifted back to Zero. He frowned. 'There hasn't been any word of him acting again. Where will he strike?' Suzaku was worried about Zero, because a man who could do things like what he had done was a dangerous foe. He would need to be taken care of quickly, before he became a serious problem.

With two men, Zero had faced down eight Sutherlands. And he had won without firing a single shot. Either he was a genius or he had the devils luck. Possibly both. And on top of that, Suzaku was fairly certain that the digimon from Shinjuku was connected in some way with him.

And right now they had no idea where he was. Not even a trace of him.

That was bad. So he worried. Zero may not have killed anyone on that bridge, but who's to say he won't kill anyone the next time he shows? If what happened on the bridge wasn't just a fluke, then Zero may have the power to oppose Britannia.

But that wouldn't change anything. He would just be imposing himself over the people as opposed to Britannia. Suzaku preferred the logic of a system to the emotions of an individual.

When emotions ran high, disaster was sure to follow. He knew that lesson well.

A single person should not let their emotions dictate how other people lived.

He had done that once before. His emotions had screamed at him to stop the pointless fighting, and he did. A ten year old boy had made a decision that changed the course of history for Japan.

Kururugi Suzaku had slain his own father. Not a day went by that the guilt didn't gnaw at him. He had taken Japan's choice away, he had taken his father's life. Now he would repent by changing the system the right way. This way, he would change the system and make it better.

Now, as the pilot of the Lancelot, he was well on his way. Suzaku knew how important Knightmare Frames were to Britannia, and he knew that Lloyd's Lancelot was currently the top dog. In that machine, injured and hazy as he was, he'd managed to evenly fight a digimon of Champion level at least. There were no other Knightmare Frames capable of replicating such a feat single handedly.

With Lancelot, Suzaku could rise through the ranks. All it would take is gaining a reputation for himself, and the opportunity would come soon. The new Viceroy was Cornelia li Britannia, who had just established Area 18. She would be going after terrorists left and right. And she was especially gunning for Zero, who had taken the life of her brother, Prince Clovis.

All it would take is for Suzaku to make himself invaluable to the Britannian Military, and his name would game recognition and respect. With that, more of his people would step up and make a name for themselves and encourage others still. A domino effect that would eventually lead to equality.

It was not a goal that he would see completed in his life time, this much he knew. But he would be able to rest easy after seeing his plans come to fruition.

One day, this world would be a better place for everyone.

---

She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, looking around wearily. After a moment, her stomach growled and she groaned. She heard a voice, and turned in the direction of it's owner. "Oh, you're awake!"

"Huh?" She muttered, looking over her surrounding. Tatami flooring, sliding paper doors, and what seemed to be a garden outside. Lunamon was quite certain she was not in the digital world anymore. Her stomach growled again, and she clutched her belly in pain. Being an organic digimon was a pain sometime. Things like needing to eat were so bothersome.

"Here." The rookie digimon looked up from her suffering to see a tray of rice-balls. "Go ahead, eat up."

She did just that, with no regard for her manners until about the fourth rice ball. "A-ah. Thank you for your kindness." Lunamon muttered, embarrassed by her behavior.

Her benefactor gave her a brilliant smile. "It's no problem. I couldn't just let you go hungry, you know."

Lunamon flinched. "Not everyone has such trouble." She replied bitterly, recalling various digimon stumbling into the territory of the Seven after having been starved out of their land by the Empire. She couldn't remember how many villages they had ousted that way. It was cruel, though perhaps less so than outright destroying the villagers...

"Well, they should." The girl, a young human with long black hair and emerald eyes, responded. "Are you feeling better now?" She asked.

"Yes, thanks to you." Lunamon answered. "May I have ask your name?"

"Sumeragi Kaguya." She replied. "And yours?"

"For now, you can call me Lunamon." She wasn't certain how long it would take to regain her full strength, but she was certain that it wouldn't be any time soon. For the moment, Lunamon could tell her Ultimate and Mega forms were beyond reach. Lekismon, however, was still within her grasp. That was some small consolation at least.

Kaguya nodded. "You've still got a whole tray left, feel free to keep eating. You can't be full just yet." She said in a knowing tone, as the small creature had been visibly restraining herself from taking more.

The rookie blushed, embarrassed that the girl had seen through her so easily. "I couldn't..." She didn't want to impose herself onto the girl too much.

Lunamon noticed her savior's eyes roll, and the small smirk that came to her lips. "It's no burden to me if you eat your fill. So go ahead, it's fine." As if a plate of onigiri would really be a problem.

It wasn't often that Lunamon saw such kindness, so she was understandably wary. While the Seven had been a better alternative to the Empire, in her opinion, it was still a very dog-eat-dog kingdom. The strong ruled over that kingdom and could do what they pleased, until someone stronger took their place. The ruling system was basically small territories ruled by either a single strong digimon or a group of strong digimon, who did what they pleased so long as they didn't offend an even stronger digimon.

Some of those territories had been ruled over by kind leaders who treated their followers fairly and protected them, others were ruled by fear of what would happen if they didn't listen or tried to escape.

Her territory had been fairly large, and she had been fair.

Many of the Demon Lords ruled over their territories relatively fairly, as well, though. Despite most of them seemingly embodying one of the seven deadly sins, they were not necessarily evil. She recalled her surprise at the fact that Beelzemon, the Demon Lord of Gluttony, hadn't been terribly abusive of his domain. In truth, he was one of the most moderate.

Unfortunately, she was not surprised that the Demon Lord of Greed had been using his subjects to further his material wealth. It was rather obvious that this would be the case, but she had hoped for better. Still, despite seeing them as possessions, or rather because of this, Barbamon would tear apart anything that tried to harm them. And truthfully, they were not too badly mistreated by their leader.

Leviamon ruled as fairly as could be expected by the Demon Lord of Envy, considering that there really was nothing for him to envy from his subjects. They were weaker than him, they stayed far away from him unless called for, and he fought ferociously to protect them because they were his subjects, and his responsibility. Despite being associated with envy, Leviamon was also quite moderate in his rule.

Lucemon was prideful and it showed in how he ruled. His subjects were the best, and so they were treated like the best. Until they fell out of his favor, but even then they would simply fade into obscurity in his realm until they regained their worth. Lucemon's pride was also what made him one the most ferocious against attackers, because any attack on his subjects was a direct insult to him. And Lucemon did not take insults well.

Lilithmon and Belphemon shared their territory, and as such it was the largest of them. The ruling was mostly left to Lilithmon, because Belphemon, being the Demon Lord of Sloth, preferred to sleep. However, whenever threats to the territory arrived Belphemon was simply transported to their location, and Lilithmon would wake him up. Chaos would ensue, the threat would be dealt with, and Belphemon would go back to sleep. It was probably the "best" of the territories to live in simply because Lilithmon was not overly spiteful to her subjects, it had two Demon Lord Digimon on hand to protect it at a moment's notice, and because it was the largest of the realms and thus not overly crowded.

The worst to live in, without question, would be the realm of Daemon. It was the smallest territory, and it's ruler was the most violent of the Demon Lords. He wasn't the lord of Wrath for no reason. His territory was a desolate wasteland and the few that were brave or foolish enough to make their homes in it could be destroyed at any moment by their leader simply because he was bored and angry.

He was the exception to the whole "not being evil despite embodying sin." statement made earlier. Daemon was quite literally an embodiment of wrath.

And this is why Daemon was given the eastern border as his territory, because there was never a shortage of Empire digimon for him to demolish. He didn't protect his territory so much as destroy everything that the other six told him he could. Wrathful or not, he had yet to turn his attentions to the numerous other territories on the other side of his simply because it would bring the combined fury of several Demon Lords down on his head, as well as the Dark Masters, the various powerful territory owners of Mega level or higher, and just about everyone else in the Demon Lord Territories capable of standing up against a Demon Lord.

Daemon was violent and cruel, not stupid.

During her mental monologue, Lunamon had unconsciously cleared the tray of onigiri.

"I knew you would be hungry." Kaguya said, a smug smile on her face.

Lunamon blushed. "I was lost in thought..."

"Oh? About what?" Her benefactor asked.

And that led to a lecture about the politics of the digital world, which Kaguya paid a great deal of attention to. Not only was it new to her, it was all very interesting to hear about.

---

Mornings for Lelouch were a simple affair at one point. Now it was more complicated.

It really shouldn't be, yet it was. The main reason for this would be the fact that C.C. and he were sharing a bed due to circumstances out of his control, of course circumstance means immortal witches in this case, and C.C. moved in her sleep.

She also enjoyed cuddling things as she slept, which is why we find our protagonist staring at the ceiling with a dull look on his face, unable to move without disturbing C.C. and debating whether or not getting up was really worth the effort. He was quite comfortable.

But he had skipped the day prior, to go gambling again with Rivalz. He still needed hobbies, after all. And Rivalz had been quite adamant that they weren't hanging out enough anymore, so he decided to indulge the bluenette and go gambling with him. He had even arranged a meeting with a new noble, one who hadn't been demolished by the Black Prince.

That had been an offer Lelouch simply could not pass up. The looks on the faces of nobles as he decimated them for the first time was always priceless.

This brings us back to the problem at hand. Lelouch knew he should get up, but in doing so he would A, wake up C.C., and B, remove himself from the comfort of his bed in which a beautiful woman was pressing herself tightly to his side.

Decisions, decisions. Eventually, he sighed, hands moving to delicately remove the witch's limbs from his own. He was trying not to wake her, but...

"I prefer to be woken with a kiss." She muttered, having been roused by his movement. "Though, if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind one now." C.C. flirted shamelessly.

Lelouch rose a brow. "Do you expect me to decline?" He asked skeptically.

"Considering you're still talki-mph." She was cut off by his lips covering hers, briefly.

"It's more fun to do it like that." The boy noted. There were some very nice things about having C.C. around, such as being able to do things like that without fear of the way others would react.

If he just kissed Shirley or one of his many fangirls, the entire school would be in an uproar over it. Popularity was such a bother.

On top of that, there was no real commitment to be made here. She was his accomplice, not his girlfriend. There were no obligations he had to keep up with, unlike an actual boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Lelouch was about to take on an empire that controlled a third of the world and fielded multiple Ultimate level digimon, boasting the most powerful single digimon combatant as well. All of that on top of the astounding military might they fielded excluding digital monsters.

An actual committed relationship was simply not in the cards for him, considering how limited his options would be as far as "women okay with you trying to destroy a world superpower." Seriously, that was not something any regular civilian girl would approve of for a whole myriad of different reasons.

C.C. gave him a deadpan look, not impressed with his approach. "You need more practice." She noted blandly. "It can wait, though." C.C. would certainly be willing to let him get in that practice, however. She'd been bored for years since Marianne's body had been killed, but the woman's son was proving to be very amusing.

Lelouch rolled out of bed, stretching and yawning as he did so. "Today ought to be fun. The Principle mentioned new students were to be arriving today, but I didn't bother to see who. I'll probably never interact with them beyond Milly bugging the council into throwing them a welcoming party." Which would be a pain in the ass, but it wasn't something terribly difficult. He was just annoyed that Milly insisted upon throwing a party for any reason she could think of.

"You have welcoming parties for every new student you get?" C.C. asked, disbelieving. Celebrating over something as meaningless as that? Who in the world ran this school for this kind of thing to happen constantly?

... oh, right. Reuben Ashford did. Nevermind, then.

"Yes, blame Milly. Ashford Academy has about four minor events every two months or so, and a major one every four. It's rather hectic for those with the misfortune of planning them." Lelouch replied. "Of course, by "those who plan them", I mean myself. Milly tells me what she wants, I tell Rivalz and Shirley what needs to get done, and Nina just sits back and watches it all go on with that bemused little smile of hers." How she never got too deeply ingrained into Milly's schemes, Lelouch would never know. He was quite envious of that.

Lelouch quickly went about the usual morning rituals of brushing his teeth, washing his face, and combing his hair. It never took long, he worked fast. Soon he was standing before the mirror giving himself a final check to make sure everything was in order.

"You know, Lelouch, being immortal gets boring sometimes." C.C. called, drawing his attention. She gave him a small smirk. "I need to do things to keep myself entertained. Who knows, if I get too bored I may just go wandering about the campus dressed in your casual clothes..." It wasn't a threat. It was just an observation. Who knew what would happen when the immortal witch got bored and needed to play?

He sighed, glancing at her as he made his way to the door. "What do you want?" Probably his credit card so she could order a pizza. This woman was an absolute glutton as he'd learned. Where she put it all he had no idea, as her marvelous figure didn't seem to suffer for all of the pizza she devoured.

"As an immortal, variety is the spice of life you know? Anything different than what I've experienced is entertaining to me simply because I haven't done it before, haven't seen it before, or so on. It's why I was so interested when Digimon arrived in our world, because they were new and exciting. They still are, to a degree." Really, an entirely new branch of sentient life, with the power to topple armies in minutes. C.C. was unsure if that would ever get old. The existence of those creatures had really put a bit of spark back into her life, for now.

Lelouch's eyebrow raised. "Are you going somewhere with this, witch?" He asked impatiently, not wanting to play these games with her.

Her smirk turned... devious. "If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that humans are all a little bit different from one another. But just observing humans gets boring after a while..." Sometimes, you had to get a bit closer to really know someone.

He was beginning to get really impatient. At this rate he was going to end up late to first period. Which didn't really mean much to him, but still. It was the principle of the matter.

Lelouch made a hand gesture that was frequently associated with 'get on with it.'

"Lelouch, how would you feel about having sex with me sometime?" Or a lot closer, C.C. corrected her previous thought.

---

After blushing and stammering incoherently for a few moments, he finally got some control of himself and walked out of the room after she began laughing at him. Tsumemon, who was still inside of the bag he carried, was also snickering. He was well aware of what sex was, and even more aware of the fact that Lelouch had just been turned into a stammering mess for a few moments, which was always a hilarious sight.

The boy was so used to being in control of a situation that his reaction when you yanked the carpet out from under him was priceless.

This time he had simply flipped the board. "Blasted witch..." He muttered. He knew she was a blatant flirt, he accepted and enjoyed it to a degree. But that was just not something you could just ask out of the blue.

And then she had started laughing. If that wasn't a blow to his pride, nothing would be. He quickly walked into the kitchen, grabbing two slices of toast Sayoko had left for him, and made his way to first period. He was going to be so late...

But did he care? Not really. He could just bullshit some excuse about important paperwork and get away with it. Wouldn't be the first time, after all.

Nothing in particular was occupying his thoughts at the moment. Cornelia's recent campaign against terrorists had popped up a few times, but he couldn't do much about that. She wasn't making her moves obvious enough for him to safely contact the rebels she was targeting. He had thought of Euphie, too. When did she intend to have her little visit? Lelouch just hoped she remembered to call the old man before actually dropping by.

He shuddered to think of the amount of things that could go wrong if Euphemia visited unannounced. Especially if she had been serious about that kiss.

Lelouch could imagine how well Shirley would react to that. And while Nunnally had become far less hyperactive due to the incident that had bound her to a wheelchair, he still knew that she had potential for mischief. Euphemia always had brought out that particular side of Nunnally, more often than not due to their arguments on who would eventually wed him.

A cold shiver ran through him as he suddenly wondered if the two of them would begin that particular game anew. When they had been little it was cute for his little sisters to want to marry him, but now... he was pretty sure it wouldn't be quite as cute. More terrifying than anything. Though, with Euphie it wouldn't be too... odd. They only shared their father's blood, after all, and the adults had been considering marrying them to one another from what he heard back when he lived in Britannia. As far as royalty went, relationships had all kinds of strange quirks.

He had also yet to tell Nunnally about the entire situation. That could wait until tonight.

Then there was also Kallen to deal with. She had been eyeing him oddly for the past few days and he was quite sure he didn't like it. Whatever she wanted from him, he would have to be careful in dealing with her. Which would be no fun whatsoever.

Unless it managed to turn out like their last meeting. He could deal with that.

The last few minutes of his walk were occupied by thoughts of a gorgeous red-head straddling him covered by nothing but water. If Lelouch were capable of it, he would be wearing a dopey grin that many would agree to be better suited for Rivalz's face. Seeing as how he had more dignity then that, however, Lelouch was restrained to a wide smirk as he finally reached the door.

He quickly wiped the smile off his face, replacing it with a sheepish expression, as the door opened. "Sorry I'm late, there were some important documents I had to look over..."

The moment he walked in, Lelouch noticed the tense atmosphere in the room. Another moment later he found the cause, and he couldn't help the slight intake of air after seeing just who was in his class.

Why the hell was Suzaku at Ashford? Euphie, he realized quickly. Yes, that would be like her.

So with that explained, he was now left with asking himself one question.

Why the fuck was the Knight of Six sitting in his chair, in his classroom, in his school. Looking right at him with recognition and unadulterated joy lighting up behind her ruby eyes. "Oh no, I can't believe I forgot that!" He heard himself say, turning to leave the classroom. "There's another whole stack of papers to deal with. Sorry sir, but this is important!" It was a good thing he was not only the Vice President of the Student Council, but also a straight A student. Otherwise teachers may not be so willing to believe his bullshitting so easily.

And then where would he be?

Well, probably not hiding in the boys room nearest to the class he had just left, running through every possible scenario he could conjure to figure out why Anya Alstreim was in Ashford Academy, dressed in the middle school uniform for that matter, and even moreso in his class. Had Milly seriously not warned him that she was one of the new students? Surely someone had to have known it, and they would have told either Milly or Reuben. Milly knew Anya for goodness sake, and knew full well how close the two of them had been back at the Aries Villa. And yet he had been completely blindsided. Moreso, why was she a student here, if that was the case? Why was she even in Japan, for that matter?

He sighed, splashing his face with cold water for a few moments. "Could this get any worse?" He muttered in disbelief. His luck was just plain awful. He knew this, but it really needed to be repeated just to let the severity of his awful luck sink in. Perhaps his choice of words was poor, however.

"Murphy's Law." A small voice replied helpfully. The small voice, however, was not the one he was used to.

Lelouch looked up, and into the mirror to see who was behind him. What he saw gave him a scare.

It was a missile. It's body, rather, was a missile. It's head was a metal rendition of a dragon, and two small hands were linked to the main body by metal cables. The digimon was just floating in the air behind him, lazily almost.

"Shit. You're Anya Alstreim's digimon, aren't you?" The exiled prince asked, even though he knew already. He had to stall, and possibly find some way to escape.

"Yep. Also, her digivice has a tracker in it to locate me, and in this case you. She'll probably be here any minute." Missimon informed him.

"Any particular reason you decided to follow me?" Lelouch asked, playing dumb.

The digimon seemed to shrug. "You look a lot like someone in one of Anya's pictures. One of her favorite pictures, by the way." A picture of someone who was supposed to be dead.

Lelouch frowned thoughtfully. "I think I would remember having a picture taken by the Knight of Six." He noted, knowing exactly which picture was being referred to. It was one of the few pictures taken of him as a child, and he had only agreed to pose for the picture because it was Anya asking.

The digimon laughed. "It's funny you mention remembering things. How much do you know of Anya, anyhow?" The information that Anya didn't have the best memory in the world was very public. However, the full extent was kept under wraps. Missimon decided to test how far the public knowledge went, just for the hell of it.

"Youngest ever to join the Knights of the Round, suffers chronic memory loss, not very emotive. Not much to tell there." He replied, eyeing the door subtly. As of now, he was faced with an In-Training digimon. However, it was one of the fastest In-Training digimon and noted to be quicker than most rookies and some champions. He couldn't make it to the door before Missimon did, however if he timed it right he could throw the digimon out of the way with the door. It would buy him a bit more time at least.

Missimon didn't even move to stop him from bolting for the door, and the digimon would be smiling if his face was capable of that movement. Really, it was hard to express emotions with metal features.

Lelouch didn't stop to wonder why the digimon hadn't moved to stop him, throwing the door open and preparing to make a break for it and come up with a plan.

Any thoughts he had on the matter were stopped as he saw who had been standing in front of the door, just far away enough that it wouldn't slam in her face. Red eyes peered dully into his own violet, and a single word slipped from the lips of the young girl before him.

"Lelouch."

And then the unthinkable happened.

Anya Alstreim smiled.

---

A man with turquoise hair was seated in a cell, restrained by a straight jacket and gazing at the floor with a pair of orange eyes. 'I can't believe it. Not two weeks ago I was refusing to believe Bartley's claims of memory loss, and now it's happened to me too. Who the hell is the Zero character?' He continued his pondering, a grimace coming over his features as he remembered just what he was being called these days.

Orange. Orange Boy. The Knight of Orange. Lord of the Oranges. He'd heard all of the petty nicknames and idiotic monikers, spoken in hushed whispers as he passed or yelled in his face directly by those who felt like taking matters into their own hands.

'Did Zero have to choose, uhhhg, Orange as the name for that conspiracy theory he started?' Jeremiah would have almost been okay with his situation if it weren't for being associated any deeper with that accursed word. Orange.

He knew how bad it looked that he had noticeably flinched when the word came up, but he couldn't help it. Of all the times for that word to come up, it just had to be on national television? Whoever Zero was, Jeremiah was certain that the man had made up a bogus conspiracy and named it Orange just to fuck with him. Pull the carpet out from beneath him, as it were. How he had known to do so was something of a mystery, as his distaste for the fruit wasn't the most public knowledge. It wasn't a secret, but it wasn't something he openly announced.

It reminded him of the time Prince Lelouch had purchased those orange chess pieces for him to play.

That had been the one day he had wished he could decline to play a game of chess with his Lady's child.

Thoughts of the old days swiftly went downward as he recalled how he had failed his duty twice.

Firstly he had abandoned his post as, even under orders, he felt it was nothing less than desertion. And that had allowed Lady Marianne to be gunned down alongside her youngest child.

And then he had, rather than begging to accompany the young prince and princess to Japan, simply wallowed in his guilt and allowed them to be taken from their home without a single familiar face.

Even worse, he hadn't been able to locate the bodies. He truly was a failure, despite the vaunted title of Margrave, or the fact that he was designated as Acting Consul should the Viceroy be incapacitated or killed, or that he was the leader of the Purist faction. Despite all that he had become, his failures still haunted him.

After dressing himself down for what had to be the hundred thousandth time after the death of Lady Marianne, Jeremiah's thoughts drifted once more to his current predicament.

Just in time, it would seem, as he had a visitor. He looked up, spotting a bespectacled man with dark hair. Gilbert G.P. Guilford. The Spearhead of the Empire.

"Sir Guilford, I don't suppose you've finally realized I'm innocent?" He asked rhetorically.

Judging by the glare he received in response, no, he was not deemed innocent. Go figure.

However, the thoughts of the dark haired knight were more complicated than simply "innocent" or "guilty". 'This man claims to have no memory of the incident. Considering Bartley had the same excuse and it didn't fare well, he knows that it won't save him. And yet he clings to it. Perhaps My Lady was correct.'

He spoke, tone harsh and accusatory. "You still hold on to the pathetic excuse, Gottwald? Hmph. You've been demoted three ranks, it's back to Pilot for you." Guilford smiled cruelly as he offered an alternative. "Or you could go start an Orange farm."

Jeremiah grit his teeth.

If he ever got the chance, Jeremiah was going to punch Zero in the face. And then kill him.

But he was definitely going to punch him in the face.

---

'My past seems to be hunting me down left and right these last few days.' Lelouch noted, looking over at the pink haired girl standing beside him on the rooftop. They had relocated their meeting to the roof after Lelouch realized that the bell would ring in a few minutes, a testament to just how late he had been due to his misgivings over getting out of bed.

Had he expected this today, he would have stayed in the clutches of the immortal witch inhabiting his bed.

But that was then and this was now, and now he had a fifteen year old girl who could easily ruin his life to deal with. "So. You've been well, Anya?" He asked, as though he hadn't blatantly attempted to run from the classroom upon seeing her and Suzaku within it.

"As well as I could." She replied lackadaisically. A brief pause "... And you?" Anya asked, almost hesitantly.

Lelouch smiled gently at her. "I'm well." Aside from the entire incident involving Shinjuku where he'd nearly died. That was far too close for comfort.

"What about Nunna?" She inquired.

"She's happy here." He responded, a curious look on his face. "Speaking of here, why are you here?" He began blatantly fishing for information.

"Don't know." Came her reply, shooting down that train of thought unintentionally.

Lelouch blanched. "Y-you can't be serious." He stuttered. What did she mean "I don't know"? How could she not know why she was here? That was, quite possibly, the most basic question he could have asked her.

"I am." Came the monotone response.

"You really have no idea as to why you're here? None?" That was unbelievable. She had to be messing with him.

... Oh, right. Anya. So she was serious, then.

"I don't know. Are you not happy to see me?" Despite the monotone, Lelouch could actually detect the slightest trace of hurt in her voice, and it made him cringe internally.

He sighed. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you, Anya. But you're the Knight of Six and Nunnally and I don't want to go back to the homeland. It's a conflict of interest." As much as he would like to have a happy reunion with the girl who had practically become another little sister to him, circumstance made it difficult.

Anya's response, however, proved that she didn't give a damn about circumstances. "Then I won't tell anyone." It was extremely blunt and simple. Truly, it was an answer worthy of the Knight of Six.

Lelouch's eyes widened. "Anya..." He mumbled in surprise. Didn't she realize that hiding information like this would be treason?

If he had ever been found hiding with the Ashfords, they could come up with some excuse as to why they had hidden the siblings. They had the resources to falsify an entire conspiracy against the vi Britannia line, which would be adequate reason to hide the two of them.

Anya had no connections or resources of the more clandestine nature, to his knowledge. If she kept his existence secret from Britannia, it was tantamount to treason. He was unsure as to whether or not her title as Knight of Six made her valuable enough that she could avoid a death sentence.

While hiding the existence of two royal siblings may not seem like so harsh a crime, it was a matter of loyalty to be called in question. If Anya didn't report him being alive, what else could she have hidden? She would become a security breach if anyone found out.

It was different with Euphemia. She was an Imperial Princess. Nothing short of openly challenging the Emperor's rule could get her executed formally.

"Aren't you supposed to do things like this for the people you love?" Anya asked, head tilted to the side questioningly.

Hearing that, from her of all people, it was enough to make him chuckle, and to bring a smile to his lips. Seven years apart and one of the first things she says is that she loved them enough to commit treason by keeping their secret. "Yes, I suppose you're right." He had honestly missed her over these years. She had quickly become one of his favorite people back during his childhood, right up there with Euphemia and Nunnally.

"I can't remember things." She spoke, suddenly, startling Lelouch a bit. "Every so often, my memories just disappear. All of them. I wake up not knowing who I am, what I've done. I have to look through my phone just to see if who's life I'm living." She paused, looking down sullenly. "My emotions don't work right, either. They're dulled." Even now, her voice was a dull monotone, proving her point. "I don't understand normal emotions all the time. They're just too unfamiliar to me. I don't get sad. I don't get angry. I can't be happy. Not like normal people do."

Her gaze went to her hand, where her phone was grasped firmly. "This phone has my life on it. It's not an exaggeration. If I woke up without it, I would be lost. How pathetic is that?" Despite the harsh words, the usual lackluster look and dull tone were in her voice. "But, Lelouch, there are three people who I remember. Even when my memories all disappear, these three people always come back to me. And until recently, I had thought all of them were dead."

"Mother, Nunnally, and I." Lelouch guessed, finally seeing where her sudden speech was going. Somehow, she was able to remember them, even if everything else went blank? That was unusual. Immensely so. It just didn't seem like a natural occurrence, and knowing what he did now about just what kind of bizarre powers actually existed... well, it gave him suspicions.

Her lips turned upwards, and for a moment it looked like the world would be graced by another smile from her, before it returned to the usual bored look. "Yes. And when I think of you, my feelings work a little better. Right now, with you right in front of me..." This was probably the most Anya Alstreim had ever said, consecutively. It was also probably the most emotional she had ever been. She gave Lelouch an indecisive look for a moment, before making her decision.

Quickly, she reached forward and wrapped her arms around Lelouch's chest, holding him tightly. "I don't think I've hugged someone since we lived together at the Aries Villa, Lelouch." Anya pointed out, head pressed against his chest to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

Seven years. She'd thought he was gone for seven years now, but here he was. Alive and well, gently wrapping his arms around her as she let seven years worth of emotion pour out. She'd missed him so much. Each and every time she had looked through her phone to find that picture and refresh her memory, she had first been hit with the euphoria of actually remembering, along with all the positive feelings she held for the one posing... only for it all to come crashing down as the memory of his passing finally came.

"Then it's been too long." He replied gently, one hand rubbing her back as he noticed small sobs coming from her. Anya Alstreim? Crying? There goes several years worth of media depicting her as emotionless.

Lelouch was feeling rather emotional himself, as he held the girl who had practically became another younger sister to him. It had been too long since he had seen her, and being able to hold her like this when he had never expected to see her again... it was a happy reunion after all, circumstances be damned. The smile on his lips grew warmer still as he held her, and for once Lelouch couldn't find it in him to call this incident a product of his luck going bad.

"Yes, it has." Anya muttered, still hiding her face in his chest.

It didn't look like she would be letting go any time soon, but Lelouch didn't mind terribly. Really, though, this would have been an odd sight for anyone who happened to stumble upon them.

And indeed they were an odd pair, a castaway prince and an amnesiac knight.

---

Suzaku was having a hard time believing the events of today were real. First, he had been enrolled into Ashford Academy. It was a Britannian private school, and his enrollment was already a major exception to the rules. Secondly, he had found out that another student had been enrolled on that same day, and this one was the Knight of Six, Anya Alstreim. The girl also had a digimon with her, and no one even bothered to question whether or not she could have the creature with her. After all, she was Knight of Six. The Knights of the Round were practically above the law.

So, he was going to a Britannian private school with a high ranking member of the military, who also had a digimon. Not too unbelievable, his was currently napping happily in his knapsack, after all.

But then, yet another bomb was dropped on his head. Lelouch also went to Ashford Academy. Suzaku had slapped himself when he realized this. Of course he went to Ashford Academy, the Ashfords were old family friends of his. Where else would he have been hiding for seven years? He felt like an idiot. That would also explain just why Euphemia had made him go to Ashford, of all places, and why the uniform had looked so familiar.

And his friend had walked into the classroom, spotted two members of the military, and promptly hauled ass out of there. Smart decision, that, but the pink haired girl had excused herself and sent that Digimon, Missimon as the creature had introduced himself, to follow his oldest friend. And it was fast.

So now he was staring at the clock, and worrying over what was happening to Lelouch.

The last five minutes of class were usually spent socializing among friends, since the teachers usually finished their lessons before the bell. However, Suzaku was all alone in the class. It painted a rather depressing picture for any onlookers.

And it turns out that there was an onlooker. Said onlooker couldn't stand to see the new guy isolated and gloomy, and decided to do something about it. And so, she promptly walked over to his desk and greeted him cheerfully.

"Hello, my name is Shirley Fenette. How are you settling in?" She asked, green eyes twinkling jovially and lips tilted into a dazzling smile.

Suzaku blinked. "Uhm." He muttered, seemingly in shock. "I'm Suzaku Kururugi. I'm settling in fine, thanks." The boy looked around slightly, as though expecting someone to jump out and declare him the victim of some cruel joke. It wouldn't be the first time he had been tricked like that. Pretend to treat the new guy nicely, and then make it clear what you really thought of them.

Another person walked up, a cheerful exasperation about him that painted him out as a rather laid back fellow. "Geez, Shirley. Give the poor guy some room, he just got here." The blue haired boy extended his hand. "Name's Rivalz Cardemonde. Nice to meet'cha."

However, with Rivalz and Shirley greeting the stunned Honorary Britannian, this left the third member of their group staring indecisively at her two friends and the new student.

Nina's mind was running a mile a minute. She knew Shirley, the girl wouldn't just say hello and then go on with her life as though it hadn't happened. More likely then not, she would attempt to befriend Suzaku and try to get everyone else in the council to do the same. Rivalz figured this out as well, which was why he had gone over when he did.

This left Nina in a precarious position. Nina did not hate Suzaku Kururugi. She was scared of him. He was an Eleven, in the military, and he had been accused of murdering Prince Clovis. While he had been acquitted of the deed due to Zero's confession, they had still suspected him which meant they had to have some reason to do so.

Or maybe they didn't, she realized after thinking over what Zero had said, and all the things she had learned from Lelouch. Framing Suzaku Kururugi, the son of Japan's late Prime Minister, would launch a whole new wave of anti-Eleven sentiment. And Jeremiah Gottwald was the leader of the Purists, a group founding almost solely on that sentiment. Thinking on it, Nina could see why they had decided to frame Kururugi. It was the perfect move for them to make in the political world.

Of course, it back-fired horrendously after Zero made fools of them. It was scary just how well that incident had gone for the masked terrorist.

Despite her musings and subsequent realization that the boy sitting before her friends was probably completely innocent of the crime, she still couldn't get over the other two things that guided her inherent fear of him.

After her mother had been killed simply because she was on a Britannian Military base, Nina had begun to dislike the military. Not to the point where she had lost faith in their effectiveness, she just wasn't fond of them. They hadn't killed her mother, but it was because her mother had dealings with them that she had been on the base during the first strike of the JLF. She didn't want to involve herself in the military lest she suffer the same fate. Adding that sentiment with what Lelouch had told her, about all of the people the military had willingly slaughtered, and how they would have killed him too... really, how in the world could Nina possibly trust the military at this point? She wanted nothing to do with them.

And then came the fact that he was an Eleven, like those who had caused the death of her mother. Which was something her father had never managed to get over.

The day Layla Einstein was killed was the day her family broke apart. Nina's father, Jonathan Einstein, had buried himself deeper into his work to drown his sorrows. This left very little time for his ten year old daughter who had also been grieving the loss of her mother. It had been a selfish and weak decision on the part of her father, rather than staying strong for his only child he had turned into a recluse and left her to fend for herself. Thankfully by that point Nina had learned how to cook, otherwise both she and her father would have starved. The man couldn't cook to save his life, and fast food places were still rare in the settlement due to it's instability and how recently it was established.

Nina was still quite bitter about that, despite it being behind her.

Before she could come to a decision on whether or not to greet Suzaku with her friends, the bell rang and it was taken out of her hands.

Not in the way one would expect, however. "Nina, come walk with us!" Shirley called, arm latching around Nina's own and dragging her off to the two boys standing by the door.

"A-ah..." She attempted to remain calm, despite having been forced into meeting the person who compounded all of her phobias. It was working, if only just. She greeted him nervously, eyes locked on the floor. "I'm Nina."

"It's nice to meet you." Said Suzaku, a small smile on his lips that went unseen by the girl.

Well, he certainly didn't seem like a bad sort of person... yet.

Unknowingly, her next thoughts mirrored those of the boy before her.

'Maybe this won't be so bad after all.'

---

Back on the rooftop, Anya had calmed down quite a bit from her previous emotional state. Rather than desperately holding Lelouch as if he would disappear the moment she let go, now she was content to simply lean against his side, one of his arms over her shoulder.

However, despite the rather peaceful atmosphere between them, Lelouch couldn't help but feel something was off. Unknown to him, his partner was feeling the same thing from his hiding place within the duffle bag slung over Lelouch's shoulder, held opposite of the girl pressed into his side.

It wasn't until he noticed the first sign of fog that Lelouch realized a Digital Field was coming. Right in the middle of Ashford Academy. He felt his blood run cold as the fog continued to spread, covering almost all of the academy in a matter of seconds. Memories of a news report months ago suddenly hit him.

One of the many malls of the settlement had become the site of a massacre as several Vilemon were released within it, via an abnormally large Digital Field.

What would happen if a field even larger than that opened up in the middle of Ashford Academy? It looked like they were about to find out.

Needless to say, Lelouch was not looking forward to it.

From the mist, figures began to appear. The sheer number of them was staggering. Then the mist began to clear ever so slightly from the frantic movements of the figures, revealing more of them to Lelouch and Anya from their rooftop vantage point.

"Hmmm..." Anya hummed, reaching for her digivice. "There are a lot of them." She pointed out dully as she, rather reluctantly, pushed away from the gentle embrace of the prince.

"Yeah." Lelouch agreed in a daze, looking over the veritable army of figures frantically moving about in the fog.

"I think I need to digivolve for this." Missimon noted, the first thing he had said throughout the entire reunion.

"Uh huh." Anya replied, pressing a button on the digivice. "Digivolution." She intoned, holding the device out towards him.

"Missimon digivolve to..." Commandramon appeared in a flash of light, before he began to digivolve once more. "Commandramon digivolve to..."

And then Sealsdramon stood tall and proud on a rooftop of Ashford Academy, before drawing a pair of combat knives and leaping down into the fog. His landing seemed to be the signal for the fog to recede even more, revealing the monsters hiding within.

There had to be at least fifty Goburimon all flailing about and flinging their clubs into one another. Even worse, was the fact that there were ten Ogremon with them. Before the descent of Sealsdramon, they seemed to just be concerned with one another, bashing and clubbing to their hearts content.

But then they all focused on the new threat, and charged at him like maniacs. Lelouch's eyes went wide as he saw them beginning to attack Sealsdramon at once, slowly wearing down the champion with overwhelming numerical force. And that was just the Goburimon. The Ogremon were sitting back, watching the champion dealing with the hordes of goblin digimon.

Two of the ogres seemed to grin deviously, before rushing towards Sealsdramon with a pair of loud war cries. While the cyborg was fighting valiantly, even having deleted several of the Goburimon, he was now faced with a horde of rookies and two more champions. Had it only been the rookies, Sealsdramon would have eventually deleted all of them without much issue. But with the Ogremon in the mix, it was another story entirely.

The green skinned champions found an opening, slamming their bone clubs into the chest of Sealsdramon as he made to block another set of club strikes from a pair of Goburimon. The cyborg was sent flying, flipping head over heels before righting himself in mid-air. He rushed forward at such speeds that he seemed invisible, before driving his knife into the back of one Ogremon. It was deleted in an explosion of data, rejuvenating Anya's partner slightly.

Back with Anya and Lelouch, they were looking on nervously. Well, Lelouch was looking on nervously. Anya was simply staring dully as usual, though if one looked closely they could see the slightest downward tilt to her lips as she watched her digimon struggle. "The ADTF won't be able to deal with these." She noted. And she was right. The ADTF (Anti Digimon Task Force) was simply another branch of the military, provided with weapons similar to an anti-terrorist task force. The branch in Area 11 was equipped with three Sutherlands, various other weapons and ordinance for infantry, and knowledge of every digimon that had been reported to breach to date. They had also, recently, been given a sort of EMP technology that proved effective against mechanical digimon. However it was useless on organics, such as the Goburimon.

Three Sutherlands would have some trouble dealing with a pair of Ogremon, let alone nine and a horde of Goburimon. Sealsdramon, a powerful champion level digimon, was having trouble dealing with the horde of Goburimon himself simply because of their sheer number and his lack of large area attacks. They wouldn't be getting any help here.

Students had gathered at the windows, watching the digimon battling it out in a mixture of shock and fear. Teachers and other staff had been quick to usher students into the buildings, locking them up and praying that none of the Goburimon, or even worse an Ogremon, decided to go on a rampage inside. The damage could be devastating, and the potential for injury even higher.

However, none of the windows had a decent position to see Lelouch and Anya on the roof, which was one of the black haired boy's favorite reasons for hiding out up there.

'Sealsdramon is being beaten back.' He thought frantically. 'Infermon would be able to help, but Anya is still right there... It would be too convenient if I was gone the moment a new digimon appeared.' Lelouch glanced to her again, noticing a flinch as the girl witnessed her digimon taking another brutal shot to the stomach.

Lelouch could tell, easily, that watching Sealsdramon being beaten would be tearing her up inside. As she began chewing nervously on her lower lip, he knew what he had to do.

He sighed, decision made. "Keramon." He announced firmly, drawing the attention of both Anya and his partner. "Go lend Sealsdramon a hand." He unzipped the duffel bag, and immediately a small blue creature leaped out and onto the railing of the rooftop.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Tsumemon asked, though it was a little late to be questioning whether or not revealing him to Anya was wise.

"It's not. Not at all." Lelouch admitted. "But I can't just watch as Anya's partner is brutalized. Digivolve to Kurisarimon and lend him a hand." Tsumemon could tell from his tone that it almost physically pained him to reveal his partner like this. It was one of the most tactically unsound decisions he had made in a long time.

But for her, this girl he had spent some of his fondest days with, how could he stand by and make the conscious decision not to help her?

Much like Nunnally or Euphemia, Lelouch would do just about anything for Anya's sake.

"Lelouch... you have a digimon?" Anya asked, surprise barely audible in her voice. She watched as the digimon leaped off the railing and into the fray, becoming a rookie level on his way down.

"Yes, it's another secret of mine I'd like you to keep." He replied, a sheepish expression on his face.

There was one trick he would keep up his sleeve, of course. After he finished testing Geass, he moved on to testing the capabilities of his digital companion.

While he couldn't digivolve to Infermon alone, Keramon was fully capable of becoming a Kurisarimon. It was bizarre, but the two of them had theorized that adding Lelouch's "data", so to speak, unlocked the bizarre Champion level Infermon.

"Digivolution." Lelouch announced, holding his digivice before his left eye in a dramatic fashion. He really couldn't help it, he was always theatrical. Something about the gestures simply felt right.

Down below them, a flash of violet light announced the arrival of a chrysalis like digimon with six waving tendrils, tipped with golden blades. It seemed to float slightly off the ground, tendrils lashing out with a purple glow and cutting apart several of the Goburimon at one time. The arrival of Kurisarimon had drawn the attention of the Ogremon, and they split up to attack both of their enemies in tandem with the remaining Goburimon.

"Data Crusher!" Kurisarimon shouted, all six tentacles glowing purple as they speared themselves into several Goburimon, deleting them instantly and absorbing their data.

Another of the goblins lunged at Kurisarimon while the tentacles were still extended, hoping to land a shot on the digimon. It's club hit it's mark, however...

"Bahahaha! That tickles!" And then six spines pierced the Goburimon at once, before forcefully ripping it apart and deleting it, the particles flowing into Kurisarimon as he absorbed it.

The next attacker was one of the eight remaining Ogremon, another having been killed moments earlier by Sealsdramon. Kurisarimon blocked the incoming club with one of the bladed ends of his tentacles, aiming to stab Ogremon with the remaining five. However, the green skinned champion leaped back in time to avoid the seeking blades, slamming his club down on one and bending it slightly through the force.

"OW! MOTHERFUCKER!" Kurisarimon yelped, retracting the damaged blade quickly and holding it close to his shell. It had basically felt like having your finger smashed between a hammer and an anvil. Except this hammer was being wielded by a giant green bipedal with more muscle than mind. "I'm gonna fucking kill you! Snipe Sting!"

The spine at the base of the chrysalis glowed briefly, before firing at the Ogremon at high speed. Ogremon, having been caught by surprise, was unable to block the shot and took a hit in it's throat. It pierced through, leaving a gaping hole in the chest of the creature. From the hole, particles began flying off as it disintegrated from the inside out.

With the arrival of a second champion, Sealsdramon had been able to wreak havoc on his newly distracted foes. The cyborg digimon was not an army killer, subterfuge and misdirection were more his forte. However this new one was heavily armored, caused large amounts of chaos in the area surrounding it, and had a very abrasive personality. It was perfect for taking attention off of him, which allowed him a great deal of freedom to deal with his foes.

The champion felt it was wise to remove the Goburimon from the equation before they decided to run off or attack the civilians.

And so while Kurisarimon was busy handling seven Ogremon, Sealsdramon was slaughtering the Goburimon. He felt sort of bad about leaving the other champion to deal with seven green skinned brawlers, but civilian safety came first.

Sealsdramon hesitated for a moment, after seeing Kurisarimon take a brutal club strike that sent him flying, before performing a hasty scan of the battlefield and spotting no more hostile Rookie levels.

His primary goal was complete, freeing him up to finally help his apparent ally out of the situation they both found themselves aught in. The cyborg digimon appeared behind one Ogremon like a ghost, combat knife shoved deep into the back of it's head. The Ogremon was destroyed in an explosion of data, which Sealsdramon absorbed quickly.

Had Sealsdramon not been in such a hurry to save his new found ally, he may have spotted the two Goburimon who had escaped the battle.

---

Rivalz had never cared much for his gym class. They never did anything but run, or occasionally play dodgeball, after their warmup excercises. Not much else really went on, it was such a boring class.

So he would have to change, get sweaty after running around the gym for an hour, and then change back into his Ashford uniform and continue his day after having run around the gym for an hour.

Was it really any surprise that he decided to skip gym? Lelouch had the right idea there.

This is why we find Rivalz Cardemonde in the boys dormitory, in his room, and on his bed. He was fiddling with a small blue card, tilting it under the lights as though doing so would reveal some mysterious secret to him.

The blue haired boy sighed, memories of his family drifting before his eyes. But that was before his dad had been killed in some sort of lab accident. After that, his family been strained. His mother had estranged herself from the rest of his family, leaving only Rivalz and his grandparents to take care of him. Luckily, they were still well off in the monetary department. Which was why Rivalz had been enrolled into the top private school in Area Eleven, had his ol' reliable motorcycle, and was living a decent life. Hell, he even had a job as a bartender at a great restaurant. So that was nice.

But the old wounds had never quite healed. Losing his father had been bad enough, but for his mother to just up and leave not even a month later? It hurt. Was he really so unimportant to the woman that she would leave?

Apparently so.

It was depressing, especially since there was a time when they had all gone to the park, or an icecream parlor, or the mall, or anywhere. And they had been so happy. His father always had that large grin on his face, the kind of grin that made it hard to believe he was a scientist. His mother had smiled in a much smaller, gentler way. She had always been there for him, even when his father had been off on business.

He never could understand why she would leave when he needed the love of his mother most. But she had. Rivalz didn't have it in him to be angry with her, even if he would be justified. No, rather than anger, he simply felt bitter.

Nothing to be done about it, though. He didn't even know where his mother was right now.

Rivalz sighed and placed the card back into his pocket. "Dad, Mom, I miss you." He missed those old days, when his family wasn't broken up.

But even if they had left him, Rivalz still had his closest friends to turn to. More often then not it was Lelouch who he vented to about his troubles, the violet eyed teen always listened to him. Rivalz had always hoped that one day Lelouch would come to him one day and talk about what had him down, just so he would feel a bit less like a whiner.

But Lelouch never had. It wasn't that the boy didn't have problems to talk about, it was that he kept to himself on everything. Rivalz had never pried into his life and he never would, unless he saw no other choice but to let Lelouch ruin himself in grief.

On those days where Lelouch woke up and could do little more than glower and growl at those who were around him, Rivalz had always just let him know he would listen if his best bud had anything to say. The brief flicker of gratitude he would spot in those violet eyes always assured him that the gesture was appreciated.

Without a doubt, Lelouch was the person Rivalz trusted more than anyone else. He was his best friend.

His contemplating was interrupted by a loud crash, prompting the teen to poke his head into the hallway to see what had caused the racket. He blinked disbelievingly upon spotting the culprit.

"What the hell is a Goburimon doing here?" Rivalz exclaimed, drawing the rampaging monster's attention. "Uh oh, shit!" The teen yelped, taking off down the hallway in an effort to escape the violent creature.

However, the Goburimon was fast despite it's stocky build and short legs. It soon got close enough to the fleeing teenager to lob something at him. Luckily for the digimon, he had retrieved a painting from the walls some time back and had no qualms with sending it crashing painfully into the back of his prey.

"Ahh!" Rivalz shouted, feeling the wood of the picture frame crash into his back, just between his shoulder blades. It send him to the ground in a heap, groaning piteously. He looked up to see the green skinned rookie skulking up to him triumphantly. The digimon looked smug, even as he slowly raised the club that had been drug along the floor behind him.

The teen sighed, in no position or condition to move. This was it. He teared up. "Damn it! I don't want to die here to some stupid Goburimon! Why the hell does this have to happen to me?" He was set up to lead a happy, quaint life. Educated at the best school, already working part-time at a classy restaurant as a bartender, surrounded by great friends. Rivalz was going to make something of himself!

Goburimon was only interested in making a puddle of crushed bone and blood out of the teenager before him.

It sickened Rivalz. This thing had nothing on it's mind but to destroy everything it could, alive or not. It had been traipsing about the boys dormitory and would never have noticed him had Rivalz not looked to see what caused the commotion in the hallway. Just a few moments ago, he had been safe and sound, lying on his bed and thinking once more on the card that had apparently been sent posthumously by his father.

The heavy club fell with the force of a wrecking ball, seeking to splatter Rivalz across the hallway.

If this was unstoppable force, Rivalz could really use an immovable object right now. Even if it didn't save him, at least he would have the answer to an age old question before he died.

Rivalz didn't have an immovable object. But Goburimon's club was hardly an unstoppable force, as proven when the card shot out of the teen's uniform and took the hit, not budging an inch under the pressure the goblin exerted.

Before the very wide eyes of Rivalz, the card seemed to split apart. It formed two orbs of light, one about the size of Rivalz torso, and the other being small enough to fit in his hand.

The small light shot out and settled in his left hand, while the other light took on a shape. It became clearer as the light receded, revealing two appendages holding the club in place. They were strong looking limbs tipped with a large spike each, and led to the body of the new being. Beneath these larger limbs, a pair of smaller, more human like, arms rested.

A shell on it's back had split down the center to allow the insectoid wings to buzz frantically, in order to hold the new digimon aloft. Two large, neon green, compound eyes stared ahead at the Goburimon fearlessly.

"Super Shocker." It's voice droned out dully, even as electricity gathered near it's wings. Without another sound or motion, the electric discharge slammed forcefully into the face of the enemy digimon, sending it careening backwards with a frantic shout of pain.

From all the evidence provided, this new digimon seemed to be a Tentomon. But there was one thing wrong with that observation.

Since when did Tentomon have a dark blue carapace? "Are you alright?" The digimon asked, with it's eyes stilled locked on the cautious Goburimon.

Rivalz nodded slowly, trying to find his voice. "Y-yeah." He managed, still staring in shock. "You saved me."

"Good." Tentomon replied. "I will protect you with my life."

---

The sound of steady typing is the only thing one would hear if they were to enter the computer lab at the moment. Nina sighed contentedly, enjoying the peaceful quiet broken up by her fingers tapping at the keys of the computer.

She wasn't working on her main project at the moment. Right now, Nina was writing an essay for her history class. The assignment had been to choose a moment in time when the world had changed greatly based on a single decision or event.

Nina had chosen the first Bio-Emergence, which had introduced Digimon to the world as a whole.

No one knew the entire story of what happened, but everyone knew the outcome. Like a natural disaster, news of the event spread around the world quickly.

Digimon's first appearance on Earth was in Japan. And it was not a quiet event. Suddenly, out of thin air, an enormous green avian monster appeared in the middle of the road. The creature had been half the size of the nearby buildings, strong enough to destroy them with only a swipe of it's claws, and had some sort of power over electricity.

It had seemed like the green digimon would simply go on a rampage, since no one had any chance to react to it's sudden presence. And really, how were the Japanese going to respond to something straight out of one of their popular monster movies appearing in the middle of Nerima?

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily depending on how you saw it, the decision was taken out of their hands.

Speculation began at this point, but it was based off of key facts.

Firstly, another digimon appeared. It was as large as the first, reptilian, and orange with blue stripes. It looked much like a dinosaur, appearing hunched much like a raptor.

Secondly, the two digimon battled one another. It was a fierce battle, and the conclusion of it seemingly destroyed both of the digimon.

These two facts were the only solid things for speculation to be based on. Some believed that the Greymon, as they now called the reptile digimon, had been the first digimon to arrive in the Human World. They went further to say that it had bonded with a human, and digivolved to Greymon in defense of that human in order to defeat the rampaging Parrotmon.

Others suggested that they had been battling in the Digital World, and one simply stumbled into the human world slightly before the other. Once both arrived, their feud continued.

Long before the reports of Digimon became common, Japan had blown the attack off as a terrorist attack. And, certainly, the Hikarigaoka area attested to that. The entire place was in shambles. It was only after more reports of similar events began arising that Japan had released the truth of what happened that night.

Nations began working to defend themselves from the threat caused by the digital world and it's inhabitants. One nation, however, did something more than attempt to protect itself.

Britannia saw potential in Digimon. And so they sought to gain the power of Digital Monsters for their own.

It only took them two years, a testament to the genius of Britannian scientists, to create a device. Digivices, as Earl Lloyd Asplund had named them, had the ability to restrain the artificial intelligence within the Digimon, bending their will to that of their Tamer. Complete and utter dominance of even the most dangerous digimon could be established.

And Britannia made use of it's weapons and their versatility, and their power.

Much like they had with the Knightmare frame, the EU and China quickly attempted to recreate the Digivice. While China had nothing solid that was publicly known, aside from a fully willing combatant with the ability to reach Mega level, the EU had created a digivice that worked just as well as that of Britannia's had when it was first introduced.

However, by the time the EU had made the rudimentary digivices, Britannia's had been changed and outfitted in many different ways. They had been far superior.

Nina frowned, noticing that she had gotten far off topic on her report. She deleted the most irrelevant information, quickly skimming through the assignment once more. She nodded slightly, satisfied with the essay for the moment. It would be finished later, but for now she was going to relax and enjoy the rest of her free period.

Genius that she was, Nina had already completed the courses for several classes during her Freshman and Sophmore years. This year, as a Junior, she began to see the results of that hard work paying off in the form of free periods. And more free time now meant that she could continue to work on her projects, or do other things.

Right now was definitely among the category of "other things". Her mind was drifting back to more personal matters.

What she was facing now was a very simple question; did other girls arouse her?

Embarrassing though it may be for her, Nina was starting to notice how attractive her classmates were. She had always known they were pretty, and she had secretly been jealous of them for it for a while, but she had never thought too deeply on it.

But in the last few months, she had started to really look at them. Shirley and Milly, to be specific. And then there was the dream she had last night.

It had been a normal enough dream to start out with. Just another one of Madame President's events, and like usual she had been... not so much left out, as not pulled in. She wasn't much for planning events and such, nor was she the most fit person around.

Still probably better off than Lelouch, a devious voice whispered in her mind. And from what they had seen of Lelouch, he really was not meant for anything physical.

So the girl had been exempt from Milly's various schemes and plots for the events.

This time had been different. While the event, some festival or something that played no major part in the dream, had gone on outside, Nina was simply looking over something on the computer as usual.

And then Milly had sauntered into the council room, lying her chin atop Nina's head as arms snaked their way around her collar.

Without going too deeply into detail, the situation had degenerated from that into Nina half-heartedly protesting as Milly stripped her, ran her soft hands across her skin, and eventually began to take it even further...

As soon as she had thought the situation couldn't have gotten any more embarrassing for her, it had done so in a very unexpected way.

Lelouch had walked into the room, holding a clipboard and with a pencil held behind his ear as usual. His eyes had at first been hidden by the clipboard, it lowered slowly and his eyes went comically wide.

He had simply stared, face lighting up in a brilliant display of red, before Milly asked the question that had shocked Nina to the point she woke up.

"Say, Lelouch, wanna join?"

Those four words had snapped Nina out of her slumber quicker than an earthquake or a fire alarm ever could.

What was worse was that she had to change her sheets immediately.

"Oooooh!" Nina groaned, holding her head between her hands. This was so confusing! She could deal with being attracted to women, there was nothing wrong with that. But fantasizing about two of her closest friends, at the same time? That was a bit too much for her. Nina still had to look those two in the eye, and it was going to be much harder now that she had actually thought about them in a lewd manner.

And then there was Shirley and Rivalz. One of them was attracted to Lelouch, and the other to Milly. If Nina actually acted on her feelings for either of the two floating around her head, whatever they may be, she would put strain on the friendship of the few people she could even call friends.

Nina didn't even know if Milly was actually bisexual. People assumed she was, but the girl had never actually confirmed or denied it. So there was still a chance that, even if Nina did act on these sudden feelings and said something to Milly, the blonde would just reject her, possibly putting strain on their own friendship.

That was simply out of the question. She would not destroy her relationship with her closest friend over some feelings she couldn't even rightly identify. It had been one dream, after all. Everyone had wet dreams, maybe Milly being featured in hers was simply a coincidence.

Sufficiently pleased with her conclusion on that problem, Nina turned to the other facet of that dream.

Namely, Lelouch.

While the dream had cut off before the boy had joined in, the fact that he arrived in the first place was jarring enough to make Nina actually stop and think on her feelings about the black haired youth. If that hadn't been enough, the passing thought that came next most certainly was.

Because Nina had actually wanted the dream to go on.

While she had never pursued relationships, either not having time or not being in a proper state of mind for one, Nina had given some thought to the topic. She was a thinker, and the matter had come up once or twice. Which had led to a few conclusions about what she desired in a partner.

First and foremost would be their personality. She didn't want to be involved with some types of people in the slightest, and other types of people she greatly enjoyed being around.

Looks also came into the equation, because, let's face it, it really did matter. While beauty on the inside was a wonderful concept, most people cared about how their potential lovers looked. It was just a fact of life.

And then came intellect. If Nina couldn't hold a conversation with her potential partner, then they were not a potential partner at all. She didn't care if they were smarter than her or not, just so long as she could actually talk to them about her various projects and research and not get a blank stare. They didn't even have to understand them fully, she just wanted to be able to talk about the things that interested her.

Of course this meant Rivalz was out. He was a good friend, but Nina had tried to explain the very basics of the basics of one of her simpler theories to him and received a slack jawed and wide eyed look that left her realizing that Rivalz was simply not a man of science. He wasn't stupid, of course, but he wasn't exactly smart. He was a doer, not a thinker.

And while Nina would admit Rivalz was attractive, he wasn't her type.

But what was her type? What did Nina Einstein find attractive in a boy? Or a girl, for that matter?

She decided to start with what she would want in a girl, because it was a bigger mystery to her at the moment.

After a brief musing, Nina had concluded that Milly's being in the dream had probably been more due to the girl being Nina's oldest friend. Simply because of all the qualities and things that Nina liked about various girls she had seen on campus. Or in the locker rooms. Or the bath...

The bespectacled girl shook her head quickly, ridding herself of such thoughts. Put simply, Nina had come to terms with the fact that she found other women attractive and wouldn't mind having a relationship with them. However, no particular girl stood out to her aside from Milly, who did because she had known her longest, and Shirley, who she had the most contact with aside from Milly.

With that decided, Nina then moved on to boys. What features did she find attractive for men?

It was mostly the same, Nina noted. A good personality, smart, and decent looking.

Looking through a sort of mental list, candidate after candidate was crossed off after careful consideration of just what Nina liked or did not like about them.

In the end, she was left with one name on that mental list, and the result made her groan again.

Brilliant, she had a crush on the vice president.

The teen didn't have time to bemoan her bad luck, before another stroke of it came crashing down. Along with the door to the computer lab.

She shrieked in terror, partially because of the fact that a metal rimmed wooden door had just been broken off of it's slider and sent into the room, and partly because of what stood behind the door.

It was a grinning monstrosity known as a Goburimon, one of the more frequent bio-emergent digimon.

Why was it here? Why hadn't an alarm rang? Well, the school didn't have a "Digimon Drill" or any associated procedures, so if there was one then she supposed people may be too panicked to have put any consideration into what to do.

But it was only one digimon (or so she thought), so shouldn't they have just done what they normally do for their lockdown drills? Or even evacuated the school? At the very least she should have had some warning of the rampaging beast before her.

Unfortunately, Nina was very much trapped at the moment. The only door was blocked by Goburimon, and they were on the third floor. The windows weren't an option for the girl either.

Apparently, the digimon realized this too. It began cackling cruelly, slowly walking towards her with it's club drawn back. In a display of strength, the Goburimon slammed it's club into a computer faster than Nina could blink. The machine was demolished, shattering into pieces. The message was clear. Don't try to run past unless you want to die sooner.

Much like many victims of sudden assault, Nina couldn't believe just how quickly the situation had changed. Mere moments ago she had been pondering over whether or not she was bisexual. Now she was staring at what promised to be her executioner. How had things changed so quickly?

Realization set in and tears began to fall freely from the girl's face as she backed as far as she could into a corner of the room, falling to her knees. Was this how it was going to end? Killed here by some crazed lunatic of a goblin, just because she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Just like her mother. She was going to die as a victim of circumstance just as her mother had so many years before. Fate's sense of humor was cruel.

'I don't want to die. I don't want to leave my friends.' And Nina felt anger in the pit of her stomach, boiling up into her chest. Anger at the people who took her mother, anger at the monster in front of her for trying to kill her, and anger at herself for being unable to do anything. And so she yelled at the monster, the only thing nearby to vent her emotions on.

"You! You're just some mindless beast coming into our world to destroy things! Why!? What purpose does it serve? Do you even have a reason!?" She screamed, actually halting the creature for a moment. "You burst in here now you're trying to kill me! What did I ever do to you!? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?" Nina hated being angry. Anger made people do stupid things, such as provoking their attackers by yelling at them. And Nina hated anger in general. It rarely brought any good to anyone, and in the rare occasions it did it was tempered by some other emotion. Pure anger helped no one.

Goburimon was currently an embodiment of anger. It was all the creature knew at the moment. Before his trip to the human world, Goburimon had been fighting in a savage battle with another clan of Goburimon and their own Ogremon leaders. He fought them with purpose, to dominate them and expand the territory of his clan. Perhaps not the noblest purpose, and even then he had been sadistically cruel and violent, but still. He once had purpose.

Now he was simply furious. Everything had to die. Everything must be destroyed. He wasn't seeing red, he was hardly seeing at all. Right now, Goburimon did not have a purpose. He was an engine of destruction. It was an unsightly existence.

But even so, Goburimon did not care. Even his former self wouldn't have minded killing this human, after all humans were nothing to his kind, but now he just wanted to destroy.

The club was lifted into the air, and Nina's bout of anger had subsided enough for depression to take back over. "Goodbye." She whispered, hands clenched before her and tears streaming down her cheeks. This was the end for her, it seemed.

But things are not always as they seem.

The club was halted by the sudden appearance of a ball of light, which split and began taking form. A small sphere of the light inserted itself between Nina's clasped hands, as the other fell to the ground as a caterpillar of some sort.

It was a green creature with lightning patterns running up it's body and a purple beak, with serrated edges that fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It had no eyes, and yet... the two lightning bolt marks on it's head seemed to be glaring at the Goburimon, somehow. It's beak opened wide, and a purple miasma burst forth from it.

"Poison Powder!" The little caterpillar shouted, bathing the Goburimon in a poisonous substance that began to burn at it's skin painfully, also messing with it's sense of balance.

"W-what are you..?" Nina asked, puffy red eyes staring at her savior.

"Dokunemon. Don't worry, I won't let him hurt you."

---

And that's a chap.

I'm a bad person for leaving it off here, but it's either this or go on for a bit, and... well, frankly I don't want to. I like this as the ending, though I'm sure the readers won't be too happy for it.

Bah. Not too much to say here.

Hm... so, lemme ask you all a question. Say I give Mao a Digimon. What do you think would fit him? I have an idea, but I wanna hear what you all have to say. So, review pl0x.

They make me happy.

EDIT: It's been edited, and I forgot to cover the fact that Kurisarimon used a non-canon attack. Expect these things to happen every once in a while. Another few examples appear during on of Sealsdramon's fights later on, those who've read to that point will likely know what it is.