Hello once again readers! Have you missed me? Because I certainly haven't. Seriously, my aim with this nerf gun is freakin' impeccable. How many dudes can hit themselves in the face with a gun pointing the right direction, eh?
What? You don't believe me?
Good! You're smarter than most of my friends.
At any rate, time for the disclaimer! Lelouch, if you please?
Lelouch: And just why do I have to do your job, again?
Demon: Because I'm incompetent, duh.
Lelouch:*Blinks* Well I wasn't going to say it aloud. Anyway, Demon of Zero doesn't own Code Geass no matter how much he wants it.
Demon: And believe me I do. Just think of all the wonderful things I could accomplish!
Lelouch:*Shudders* I don't even want to think about that.
Milly: I do!
Lelouch: What is SHE doing here!? And why is she in her cat outfit?
Milly and Demon:*Shrug* Fanservice?
Lelouch: Even you wouldn't just bring in a random catgirl for no reason, Demon. Seriously, what's the occasion?
Demon: Er... well, see, I got a kitten recently (blame any spelling mistakes on the kitten by the way :D) and when I told C.C. about it...
Lelouch: Ah... mrggrhehhrrh!*A hand covers Lelouch's mouth with a rag, and he falls unconscious.*
C.C.: He did say I'd get you back.
Demon:*Shivers* On with the story!
Ashford Academy was a chaotic place to be on most days. Between the ridiculous events planned by the Student Council President and the extremely large variety of clubs, hilarity and hijinks were commonplace. A normal day could consist of anything from the Equestrian Club riding about the campus on horseback to the rugby team playing in the middle of the school to the Council attempting to make the world's largest pizza for the umpteenth time. In short, a normal day at Ashford was far from normal by the standards of most people.
However, today was not a normal day of chaos on the campus of Ashford Academy. Today, the chaos was notably less innocent and much more harmful.
The how and the why were unimportant. All that mattered was the who. Or, rather, the what.
Digimon. A small army of green skinned digital monsters had suddenly appeared on campus with nothing but violence on their minds, whatever may be left of them that is. They had started off simple, just bashing eachother around and ignoring their surroundings for the time being. However, it was only a matter of time before they broke off from their mindless combat and turned their attention to the school full of defenseless humans just ripe for the smashing.
The students and teachers had all migrated to the windows to get a better view of the situation, and many of the more level headed were clamoring to have the academy evacuated. However, the chances of a mass evacuation drawing the attention of the horde was too high for them to risk it. It was safer simply to stay indoors and hope for the best. Even setting off an alarm could draw the attention of the creatures towards the building.
It had seemed bleak, until a spark of hope was ignited. Anya Alstreim had released her own Digimon to combat the invaders.
The Knights of the Round were celebrities, and thus their Digimon were just as well known as they were. Who cared if one Knight had a tricked out Gloucester, or a prototype KMF that hadn't been released to the public yet? Digimon were more unique and interesting than Knightmare frames. They were living, breathing creatures with their own sentience. Or, rather, some of them were. Those who were kept by knights like Luciano Bradley were robbed of their free will and personalities, made into nothing more than weapons.
So when the students and teachers saw the form of Sealsdramon entering the battle, relief bloomed in their chests. Surely a Knight of the Round would be able to defeat even these odds? Rounds were known for their power and skill, each one was worth a small army. So, surely, the situation was well under control and there was nothing to worry about.
But then worry blossomed once more, as Sealsdramon seemed to get overwhelmed. How could this be? Weren't the Knights supposed to be strong enough to handle these things?
Those who knew more about Digimon as a whole and not just in passing from their research on the Knights of the Round knew from the start that a single champion, no matter how powerful, could be outmatched against a horde of numerous rookies on top of ten other champions. Perhaps if the single champion in question had more destructive area techniques, the odds could be evened... at the cost of horrendous collateral damage.
Despite the ferocious fight put up by Sealsdramon, it was obvious that he alone would not be enough to defeat these brutes.
This left one Suzaku Kururugi staring out at the battle with his teeth grit. "I can't just sit here and watch this..." He muttered, fists clenching together tightly. "I need to help."
A pat on his back distracted him for a moment. Shirley, the girl he had met only a period ago, was just staring at him sadly. "We all feel helpless watching this, but there's nothing we can do. None of use can fight these things." Simply looking at her, one could tell her worry. Suzaku knew just why she was so nervous.
Two of her friends, Rivalz and Nina, were not in any class at the moment. Rivalz always skipped gym, and all his friends knew it. Nina had free periods and all her friends knew it. Suzaku had been informed of both of these things by Shirley, who was terrified because she had no idea where they were at the moment. Unknown to Suzaku, she was also concerned over the location of Lelouch, who had been missing since last period when he had ran out of class. Suzaku himself was less worried since Anya had followed after Lelouch, so he should be safe.
Suzaku grit his teeth harder, making a decision. He couldn't sit by idly and allow this to go on! He had the means to help and he was going to do it! Wasn't this what he became a soldier for, to help people? To make the world a better place? Enough sitting around!
His knapsack seemed to heat up in response to his feelings, something only he and Shirley picked up on. "I'm going to help." He decided aloud, shocking the orangette.
"W-what! There's nothing you can do to those things!" She shouted, green eyes wide. Her shout drew the attention of all her classmates, and the teacher. But could anyone really blame her? Her new friend had just announced that he was going to go out and fight the digimon attacking, and defeating, one of the Knights of the Round. What did he expect to do, go out and fight them with his bare hands? "They'll kill you!"
Suzaku sighed. "I had wanted to keep you a secret a bit longer, Coronamon. There goes that idea, huh?" A guilty smile found it's way to his lips. "I can't keep secrets very well, it seems." First he'd ended up exposing Lelouch to his sister, and now this? Really, he just was not very good at this.
The ties atop the knapsack loosened as something burst out, a flash of light accompanying it. "Thou hath the most terrible luck, Suzaku." Coronamon noted, standing proudly atop Suzaku's desk with his arms crossed. "Shall we be off?" If an outsider were to see Coronamon right then, it wouldn't be hard to tell he was quite pleased with the awed expressions from the students.
"Yeah, let's go."
And with that, Suzaku Kururugi opened a window and leaped out.
From the second story.
Coronamon followed him with a laugh and a cry of "TALLY-HO!"
A student raised his hand, hesitantly. Despite the oddity of the situation, the teacher called on him in a rather bemused fashion. "What the fuck just happened?" The student asked in confusion, as though he hadn't just dropped the f-bomb in the middle of class and this had been a perfectly normal day/
Rather than scolding the student for his language, the teacher replied in kind. "I have no fucking idea, but damn was that shit cool." The tone he used was much the same as a man who was giving a lecture on their subject of choice.
He was one of the student's favorites.
Shirley had remained quiet after her initial outburst had drawn attention to Suzaku, though not for the reasons one may expect. Unlike every other student in the class, who had been staring at Suzaku, Shirley had seen something even more shocking than an Honorary Brittanian with a digimon.
Yet another digital monster had dropped from the rooftop, transforming from a jellyfish into a giant chrysalis during it's fall. And it had begun fighting the green hordes alongside the metal dragon.
Just what in the world was going on today?
Despite his rather hasty exit of the class, Suzaku was stopped dead in his tracks by the arrival of the blue chrysalis. He mostly ignored the sudden landing of Coronamon, despite the prideful creature landing on his shoulders, in favor of gaping at the second Digimon to enter the battle.
Coronamon had also stopped to stare at the creature, his eyes wide in shock. "Kurisarimon? A rare sight indeed! The Empire had driven off many an attacking Infermon, I had thought the species long since extinct!" Though he couldn't help but feel he'd run across an Infermon at some point, recently... but that was silly.
In reality, the empire HAD driven off the Infermon. It was just that they had driven them from their own land. Apollomon had joined the empire not too long after this had occurred. He had only seen the swarms of Infermon attacking what had, to him, been Empire territory. The original invasion of the Infermon's land had been to hunt them to extinction.
Because of the whispers of an Armageddemon among them. A digimon capable of fighting toe to toe with the Demon Lord Digimon, the Sovereign, and potentially the Celestial Lord himself.
Of course, the rumored digimon was just that. A rumor. Armageddemon had not been present during the attack on the Infermon's lands, and because of this they were quickly wiped out by the overwhelming force the Empire had brought to bear against them. Any attacks on the newly claimed Empire territory in vengeance were put down swiftly. Numerous Keramon, Kurisarimon, Tsumemon, and Kuramon were put down in the ensuing conflict alongside the Infermon and Diaboramon who made up their main fighting force. Since then, there had been not a single trace of a Diaboramon in the digital world.
As much as he sympathized with the attackers, now, there was no regret. Apollomon had chosen his side, and he would stick with his decision.
The last time an Infermon had been spotted by the Empire was over a hundred years ago, when a lone Infermon had assaulted the territory.
Unlike those before it, this Infermon had come remarkably close to defeating the defending Magna Angemon squad. A single Infermon had demolished five of the Ultimate level Angel digimon before it was finally put down, leaving only one Magna Angemon undeleted.
Apollomon himself had been the one to put it down, having rushed to the area after hearing of a powerful opponent assaulting it alone. Unfortunately for him, his foe had been tired out by the defenders and was far too weakened to provide even a meager challenge. It had been with a tangible disappointment that Apollomon had deleted the Infermon.
He had even, briefly, considering allowing the digimon to live and escape so it could grow stronger and give him a challenge. But his loyalty to the Empire had won out in the end.
"Perhaps this time..." He shivered in excitement. This Kurisarimon seemed to be linked to a human, since it had allied itself with the Knight's digital partner. Could this one eventually grow to match that Infermon so long ago? Perhaps even becoming a Diaboramon? The thought kindled a fire within him. Even so...
It didn't matter at the moment. "I shall lend them my aid, Suzaku." Coronamon announced, leaping off of his partner's shoulder and high into the air.
Coronamon was infinitely glad that he could still reach Champion level with ease. If his power level had dropped so much that he couldn't retake even his Champion form then he may have gotten himself deleted out of principle.
An explosion of fire later, Firamon roared triumphantly at the horde of brutes before him. "Thou shalt feel the wrath of my flames!" The lion shouted, launching a Fira Bomb at the remaining Ogremon.
Kurisarimon was rather pissed. He was having a moderately pleasant day, despite Lelouch running like a madman and jostling him around during his nap, and now these green skinned mooks were ruining it. "Six ugly ass ogres on the field, six ugly ass ogres!" He sang, sending another Snipe Sting at one. It was batted away by the club, however this left it's guard open and Kurisarimon's golden spike soon pierced through it's chest in a ferocious display of speed and power. "Take one down~!" The digimon continued with a maniacal cackle, before yanking the dispersing Ogre with his tendril and slamming it into another. "Toss it around~!" The Ogremon impaled on his spike disappeared in a burst of data.
"Only five ugly ass ogres left now!" Kurisarimon punctuated the end of his manic tirade with a loud, maniacal laugh.
Sealsdramon actually looked over at his newfound ally with a disturbed stare. "You're not stable, are you?" He asked rhetorically, fending off an Ogremon's club while simultaneously driving another knife into it's gut, sending the champion level digimon back while it clutched at the new wound on it's stomach.
"Thou shalt feel the wrath of my flames! FIRA BOMB!" And with that, a large fireball impacted the center of the Ogremon's loose "formation", sending them into a disorientated stumble in random directions. One had been deleted on the spot, the one who had been injured by Sealsdramon a few moments before.
Kurisarimon nearly choked. "The hell is HE doing here!?" He shouted at the top of his lungs in surprise. He was past shocked at this point, now he was around the level of flabbergasted. How did he and Lelouch constantly draw this kind of thing to themselves? Back in the Digital World his luck with random encounters had been terrible, and now he was finding that his partner had the same kind of atrocious luck in that subject.
Were things like that able to add to one another? Dear God he hoped not, otherwise they'd have Seraphimon breathing down their necks at this rate.
Sealsdramon turned to regard him, using the distraction provided by the newcomer as an opportunity to do so. "You've met him?"
"Met him? I had to fight him!" Kurisarimon quickly shut up, realizing he may have let something vital slip. Thankfully, Firamon was out of earshot of the hushed conversation. "Either way, there are only four left and three of us. Odds are far in our favor at this point. Your partner knows who I'm with, but no one else needs to. I'm pulling out now." Before he got drug into even more ridiculous shit.
Sealsdramon seemed skeptical. "How do you intend to fall back at the moment? If you don't want to be seen, that is."
If Kurisarimon could smirk, he would have. "Easily."
And then he shot his tendrils into the ground like slash harkens, retracted them quickly, and launched himself into the middle of the Ogremon who had just regrouped. His arrival threw up massive amounts of dust, left a crater in the ground, and once again disorientated the Ogremon who had just righted themselves from the last attack.
In the ensuing confusion, no one noticed a small blue hand skittering into the foliage, or into a nearby grate that would lead to Ashford's underground tunnels/drainage system.
Lelouch wasn't the only clever one out of them.
Speaking of Lelouch, he was currently looking down at the battlefield with a furrowed brow. Unlike his digital partner, Lelouch had spotted the human figure leaping from the second story window.
Suzaku had apparently partnered up with the Firamon they had battled briefly. This was not good.
Cornelia had a digimon, an Agumon. Rather than the typical digivolution line followed by Agumon, this one became a Geo Greymon. It had yet to reach ultimate level, but information on Rize Greymon had been given to the press from the mouth of the digimon himself. In short, he didn't want to deal with a leaner and faster version of Metal Greymon at any point in time. Dealing with a faster Greymon would be annoying enough.
In addition to that, he had learned of Anya's arrival. That was a monkey wrench in his plans if one ever existed. Now he would have to take her into account along with Cornelia.
And even worse? Now it seemed Suzaku had made friends with a digimon who was clearly powerful, in addition to his status as the pilot of that ridiculously powerful Knightmare that had gone toe to toe with him as a champion.
That was a total of four major threats that had to be taken into account for any of his plans from now on. The odds had been slightly even when it was just Cornelia and him with Digimon, but now that she had two more on her side...
Needless to say, Lelouch had a hard road ahead of him if he wanted to free Japan and topple Britannia.
But he would not be swayed by something as simple as this. No, Lelouch vi Britannia was not going to be cowed into submission now that he had finally begun to work against the nation he despised. Nothing would stop him from reaching his goal and creating a gentler world for his sister and those like her.
Lelouch sighed, drawing Anya's attention. "Something wrong?" The girl asked, turning to glance at him now that the battle had practically ended.
"I'm just relieved that Kurisarimon could disengage from the fight without being too apparent. I don't want him to be traced back to me." He replied, lightly pinching the bridge of his nose. "Too much attention on me could get us discovered by Britannia and that is the last thing I want happening."
"... I shouldn't go see Nunna tonight, then, should I? The police will be launching an investigation..." Not like it'd do them much good, but protocol was protocol. Her being a Knight of the Round basically meant that the entire investigation would revolve around her, since she was the only Britannian soldier on record who had access to a Digimon.
Though from the looks of it, that would change soon. Suzaku Kururugi apparently befriended a digimon. "I've never seen a digimon like that before." She noted, offhandedly.
"It's called Firamon, and it's a part of the Apollomon line. Apollomon itself is a Mega Level and part of the 13 Olympian digimon." Lelouch offered. Seeing her questioning gaze, he elaborated on his knowledge. "Keramon told me this. Seems he was well informed during his stay in the Digital World." Lelouch frowned and continued speaking. "There is supposedly only one being of the Apollomon line left. If Keramon is correct, then that Firamon was once a mega level on the same level as Bismark's Omnimon." Lelouch nearly grimaced, remembering the sheer level of power possessed by that particular digimon.
Omnimon was essentially the combined power of two high tier Mega level digimon, Wargreymon and Metal Garurumon. As such, it had the kind of power that would match that description.
Which was why it was so hard to believe that something like that Firamon had once matched it in power. Anya blinked. "You're serious?" She asked. Omnimon was a combination of two Mega levels. A single digimon's mega level could match that?
"Yes." According to Keramon, the various high leveled digimon allied with the three factions were some of the strongest in existence. Bismark Waldsteen's partners could become Omnimon, which was currently the strongest known Digimon in the Human World. Even so, it could be fended off by the Black Metal Garurumon which protected China from Britannia's wrath. Defeated? Certainly not. But it could be held off for a time.
And for whatever reason, Charles zi Britannia had yet to turn his full attention to either the Federation or the EU. As it was, the Britannian forces were scattered in seemingly random parts of the world. The forces actually invading or fighting for Britannia weren't their full force, and even still they were pushing their opposition back slowly.
However, if his partner was to be believed, there were Digimon who made Omnimon look weak in comparison. Apollomon was not one of them, though it was possible he was stronger than Omnimon. Not to the degree that the Demon Lord Digimon or the Sovereign would be.
Anya shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me, I guess." And it really didn't. The chances of her working directly with Kururugi were slim to none, and she wasn't interested in him either way.
Her interest was reserved for two people at the moment; Nunnally and Lelouch. The two people who she could actually remember. The thought brought a small downward twitch to her lips for a brief moment.
During her stay in Area Eleven, it was extremely likely she would have one of her blackouts. And she would forget Gino.
Normally this wasn't a problem. She would just go talk with him again after realizing they were supposed to be friends, and that would be that. This time she couldn't do that.
Anya had never realized just how much having Gino around had mattered to her, until she was faced with the realization that she wouldn't be able to meet with him after losing her memories. They were usually dispatched together.
She could call him, of course, but the boisterous knight had a terrible habit of leaving his phone either off or in his room. So the chances of actually being able to get a hold of him were rather slim.
What would she do when she forgot Gino and couldn't talk to him afterwards?
... She would have to make a large, unmissable note somewhere in her phone reminding her that Gino was her best friend.
How pathetic was that?
Lelouch had picked up on her discomfort, despite the lack of emotion she showed. He didn't quite understand why, but reading Anya just seemed natural to him. Sure, he was good at reading people's emotions more often than not, but there were various methods and cues that people gave off in certain situations. Some of it was instinct or intuition, but mostly he could read people based on minute details others tended to miss. For Anya, it was different. It was mostly intuition, as though he could just tell immediately what was going on in her head.
He didn't understand it, frankly. She hadn't been in his life for seven years, and when she came back it was as an entirely different person with only a few parts of her old self shining through. "Something on your mind?" Lelouch asked curiously, shrugging at her questioning gaze.
"I'm worried I'll forget Gino and never get back into contact with him, since I can't go find him after my memories black out." Despite the dull response, he was certain this was genuinely worrying to the girl.
Lelouch smiled reassuringly towards her. "From my knowledge of the Knight of Three, I doubt he'd let you pull away from him like that. If you don't get in touch with him, he'll probably contact you somehow." While he was trying to reassure her, it was probably true. Gino Weinberg was supposed to be a man who valued his friends, which was why his digital partner Hyokomon wasn't subjected to the same treatment as the digimon of Dorothea Ernst, Monica Kruzewski, and Luciano Bradley.
Anya realized that Lelouch had a valid point. Gino wouldn't just ignore it if she stopped talking to him. He'd worm his way back into her life the way he had the first time.
It was about this time that Anya realized she had been worried over something enough that Lelouch could pick up on it. And his assurance had noticeably relieved her.
For a normal person, this wouldn't be a big deal. Even for your average person with chronic memory loss, reassurance and worry were common enough.
Anya was not normal in the slightest. She did not feel emotions on an average basis. Hers didn't work properly. This was one of the few things in her life that remained constant to her. Even after her memories left her, her emotional deficiency remained apparent.
It was unlike her to worry about remembering Gino.
It was unlike her to be relieved about something.
It was unlike her to be readable by those around her.
So why was this happening? What was it about being around Lelouch that messed with her emotions like this? How could his presence loosen the restraint placed on her emotions? Would it be the same for Nunnally? Just looking at the picture on her phone had made her happy, enough that she could actually recognize the emotion, but actually being near him was something else entirely.
Further thoughts on the matter were interrupted as Sealsdramon landed onto the rooftop with a light thump, quickly degenerating back into Commandramon.
While the threat had been dealt with for the moment, he would be remaining in Rookie form for the rest of the day as a precaution. He actually preferred his rookie form to Missimon, despite losing his ability to fly. It probably had something to do with the assault rifle currently slung on his back.
What could he say? The thing packed one helluva punch for a rookie's weapon, enough to put down a Knightmare if he hit it right, and he had become something of a gun nut during his tenure as a Britannian digimon.
"All enemies terminated. Kurisarimon disengaged earlier into the battle, leaving Firamon and myself to clean up the remaining hostiles. Firamon has degenerated back into rookie form as well, while Kurisarimon is unaccounted for. Damage to property is minimal save the crater caused by Kurisarimon's final attack and the scorch mark from Firamon's first strike. Enemies seemed to be unorganized and mostly mindless, it's unlikely this was premeditated. If I was to guess, the Goburimon and Ogremon were fighting one another in the Digital World and stumbled into a tear between the dimensions. The disorientating effect from the transition likely clouded their minds enough that they began considering anything with green their ally once I arrived, immediately shifting their focus." The digimon saluted towards Anya after finishing his report, which he had done in seemingly one breath, with his tail swishing behind him excitedly. Commandramon liked giving reports, it gave him a reason to talk.
He really liked to talk, but most of what he said wasn't really taken into account by anyone other than Anya.
The deadpan stare from Anya was nothing new, although the purple eyed guy giving him that same look was something entirely foreign to him.
"Is he always like this?" Lelouch asked, briefly looking over the battlefield. Commandramon was correct, the damage to the courtyard was minimal at worst. Surprising considering the size of the attack, but he was thankful Ashford wouldn't have to rebuild anything important.
Rivalz had managed to get over his shock at seeing a real live Tentomon, a cobalt blue one at that, and was now observing the digimon giving it's foe the shock treatment.
To be honest, it wasn't a fight. Goburimon would rush in, club held high, and Tentomon would just shock the hell out of it. The bug seemed to be getting a kick out of this, considering he was using just enough power to daze and injure the goblin but not enough to delete it outright.
Great. He had a homicidal goblin and a sadistic bug to deal with. Oh joy.
Thankfully, the insectoid sadist was on his side. Looking over at the not-fight again, he could say quite assuredly that he was happy with that.
Goburimon himself was getting even more angry than he had been. Difficult, considering that he was practically a manifestation of malice and rage to begin with. The green skinned digimon snarled viciously, slamming it's club into a wall with enough force to bust directly through it and into one of the rooms.
Tentomon was not impressed. "Super Shocker." He said in a bored tone, looking over the frying goblin with more than a little distaste. "This is rather boring. I'll end it now." The insect decided, upping the voltage slightly. He continued steadily increasing the power of his attack while watching the downed goblin as it rolled around on the ground. The snarling and flailing of the green skinned digimon increased as more and more electricity was forced into his body.
Goburimon let out a terribly loud wail, the bright glow overtaking him being drowned by the flashing of the high voltage dancing across his skin. "ROOOOOOOOAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGG!"
Tentomon didn't seem to notice his captive had begun to digivolve until his body began to expand rapidly. Of course, by that point it was a bit too late to do much seeing as how the blue bug had been pegged by a bone-white club twice his size, sending him careening into the wall with a loud crash.
An annoyed buzzing came from the battered digimon as he looked over his newly digivolved foe. "How fortunate for him." He noted, seemingly calm despite the severity of the situation.
Rivalz was less so. The tides of this battle had just shifted insurmountably into the favor of the newly digivolved Ogremon, who's various electrical burns had healed during the process. He had thought himself dead when facing a rookie digimon, but now it was a champion. He had never been so afraid in his entire life.
The green skinned monster shook his arms out, moving experimentally. The smoldering rage once held in it's eyes had dulled as Ogremon regained his senses, the malicious haze covering his mind now gone. Unfortunately, this left something arguably worse.
Ogremon were not stupid. They weren't smart, but they were far from incompetent. Their intellect manifested itself in the cruel plans and dirty tactics they employed in battle. As a result, they were dangerous.
While a rampaging berserker of an Ogremon was dangerous, a clear minded and sadistic Ogremon was much more terrifying.
Unfortunately for Rivalz, he was dealing with the latter and he knew it. He could see in the monster's eyes that it had shifted from white-hot rage to a cold, tempered fury that could be directed like any other weapon.
And this one was aimed at the digimon who had been tormenting him prior to his evolution, along with the human it had protected.
Which was exactly what Tentomon had planned from the start.
"Rivalz." Tentomon spoke suddenly, cutting into the jumbled thoughts of his partner before continuing in a firm voice. "You don't want to die here, do you? If not, then grasp onto that desire to live and don't let it go. Hold on to it tightly and use that will as a weapon to defend yourself."
This was the moment of truth. Tentomon had planned this event out from the moment he grew aware of the situation. Shocking the Goburimon the way he had served two purposes. Firstly, it would cause large amounts of pain to it. Secondly, Tentomon was boosting the Goburimon's latent power by transferring his own into the green digimon. It was an extremely tiring process for him, and extremely painful for Goburimon. The end result, however, was that the extra burst of power in addition to the pain would force Goburimon into digivolving.
It was a simple plan with a lot of risk, but in the end it was the best way to truly test the boys resolve. A life or death situation always made for a fine trial by fire, this was no different. Either Rivalz would be able to reach deep within himself and channel his will to live through the Digivice, thus instigating a digivolution of their own, or he would die trying and Tentomon would go with him.
Nothing less would suffice, because Tentomon knew that this world would be rocked to it's foundations soon.
But the cobalt insect was certain this boy could manage it. There was something special about him, he could tell. Behind the lazy eyes of Rivalz Cardemonde was something powerful.
And he would bring that power forth or die trying.
Rivalz, however, was still in the middle of a mental break down. He didn't want to die here. He had so much to look forward to in life, he couldn't just let it all go to waste. He had a job, he had schooling, he had friends.
He had friends.
That thought was like a knife piercing through the jumbled mess that his mind currently was. He did have friends, didn't he?
Shirley, Nina, Nunnally.
Lelouch.
Milly.
There was no way he was going to die and leave them behind. He couldn't. If he died, who would play driver for Lelouch? Who would complain constantly about what little work the Council actually had to do? Who would make funny noises to accompany Milly's comments on Shirley's breasts? Who would get liquid of questionable nature spilled on their newest inductee? Who would attempt to flirt with Milly but be shot down by his own clumsy nature when it came to dealing with the opposite sex?
Who would do any of the things that Rivalz Cardemonde was loved for doing?
No one. And that was simply unacceptable.
The device that had found it's way to his hand earlier picked up on this, and seemingly hummed in approval as a bright light engulfed it. The light then grew to engulf Rivalz, expanding even further to cover Tentomon as well.
Were he capable of it, Tentomon would grin.
Mission accomplished. Digivolution. Perhaps they would be able to weather the coming storm after all.
As this was going on, another unlikely candidate was looking over the scene before her with tangible shock.
Not ten minutes ago she had been writing an essay on the first Bio-Emergence of Digimon in the Human World, and now she was watching two real live Digimon brawling in front of her.
It was a very jarring experience, especially considering the fact that she had expected to die after the appearance of the first digimon. It was only the arrival of a second Digimon that had saved her, much like the arrival of Greymon that night nearly a decade ago had saved Nerima from a rampaging Parrotmon.
Dokunemon was only slightly less confused with the entire situation. One moment he had been seated high in a tree, watching cautiously as two warring factions of Ogremon and Goburimon duked it out and fully prepared to make a break for it should the fighting reveal his hiding place.
The next? He had been tumbled and tossed through time and space and was now in a building with a Goburimon and a green haired human who the Goburimon was about to turn into paste.
While he hadn't intended to just let the oaf have his way with the fragile looking human, something else had urged him on all of a sudden to protect this girl with all he had.
As the Digivice formed in the hands of the girl, information seemed to find it's way into Dokunemon's mind. Digidestined, digivices, linked, partners, digivolution, all of it rushed into the insect's mind.
One word stuck out above the others.
Digivolution.
Before his random uprooting and deposit in the human world, Dokunemon was in a rather tough spot. He was as strong as he could possibly be as a rookie but he could not reach champion level. Every time he seemed so close to reaching his goal, he would fall short and he never knew why it had been. But it seemed that with this human as his partner, he could borrow some of her power to unlock his own.
Considering he had been trying and failing to become a Kuwagamon for years, this information almost made him dance and laugh aloud.
While it meant he was going to be stuck with this human for quite some time, possibly until one or both of them perished, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Dokunemon was not meant to be a solitary digimon, but certain events had forced him into it.
Namely, the invasion of his hive's territory by the Celestial Empire.
The large colony of insect digimon was located just outside of formally recognized Sovereign territory, and thus it was neutral ground in the grand scheme of things. It had not remained so.
The Celestial Empire had sent troops to capture any area they could take in order to expand. The forest housing his colony had been one such conquest. After narrowly escaping deletion at the hands of the army of Knightmon, due mostly to the sacrifice of the champion level digimon and elder Okuwamon, he had found himself escaping into the territory of the Seven Demon Lord Digimon. While he had intended to hide out in Sovereign territory, he had been forced to flee in a different direction.
It hadn't been too long ago that he had arrived, alone, in the unfamiliar land, but he had already grown lonely. Having grown among an entire community of various bug digimon, Dokunemon was not keen on the idea of remaining alone for the rest of his life.
Though judging by the amount of conflict his "safe-haven" was immersed in, that may not have been too long had he remained in the digital world.
At any rate, Dokunemon had several reasons to protect this human. From his own sense of morals to his own benefits, it all pointed towards keeping this girl safe from harm and befriending her. And as powerful as he was for being a rookie, protecting his new partner from a slobbering maniac like this Goburimon would be a simple matter.
And then Goburimon started to glow white, a clear sign of digivolution. Dokunemon was torn between being pissed and being scared. He had been trying for years to reach Champion level, and this random Goburimon managed it just in time to save his sorry ass?
"Oh hell no! Insect Horde!" Dokunemon shouted, summoning up a swarm of bees that rushed towards the glowing Goburimon at high speeds, quickly swarming around him and stabbing their stingers into his flesh. Unfortunately, the attack was not nearly impactful enough to interrupt the process. That only left one option, and it was one he was dreading.
Dokunemon did NOT want to get into a melee with a Goburimon, much less one that was in the middle of digivolving into a champion. Yet it seemed to be his only choice at the moment.
"Worm Venom!" He shouted, lunging forward and stabbing his own stinger into the Goburimon's chest.
A tense moment passed, and relief filled Dokunemon and Nina seeing that the glow had receded. It was short lived, however, as the white glow came back stronger than ever a moment later and a bone white club smashed the worm digimon into the wall beside Nina.
The two looked on in fear as Ogremon was revealed in all his brutal glory. Unlike the Goburimon who had been clouded by irrational rage, this Ogremon was fueled by a cruel hatred of the two before him. They were his enemies and his enemies were to be crushed. Might was right, and he was the mightiest of them all! The power flowing through his veins was delectable. He would crush these pathetic ants and move on to the other creatures he could smell milling about this place. He wondered, idly, if he could absorb any humans he deleted and increase his power.
It was certainly worth trying, and he had a perfect test subject right here.
"Shit..." Dokunemon was not terrified. He was afraid, yes, but he was mostly angry. He should have just deleted the bastard right from the start when he had the element of surprise. Instead he had used Poison Powder to force it back and make an entrance.
Damn his sense of dramatic.
He didn't want to die here. The elder Okuwamon had bought the lives of the younglings with his own, and now his sacrifice would be in vain? If only he could digivolve. Dokunemon knew he was close, the power built up within his small body was almost unbearable. But he couldn't push past the threshold from rookie to champion.
Nina's thoughts followed a similar trail. She didn't want to die here, her father couldn't take losing both his daughter and his wife. Her friends would take her death hard, she knew. They had worried so much over her little fainting spell, how would they feel knowing she would never wake back up? And so many things would be left undone.
What about the project she had spent so much time and effort working on? All those sleepless nights peering over every little detail that could possibly effect the outcome, wasted? She had spent years attempting to find a way to use Uranium-235 as an alternate fuel source, and she was so close to a breakthrough. She knew she was close, it was only a matter of time before all of her efforts had finally payed off.
She couldn't leave it unfinished, who would continue her research if she died?
Who would help Lelouch hold the Student Council together? Without her around to help him deal with the paperwork that Milly seemed to pile on him, he may honestly burn himself out under the weight of it.
Milly would be crushed. The two of them had been friends since their families came to Area Eleven, long before she had been Madame President. The only member of the council that Milly had known longer was Lelouch, who had been a childhood friend back from the homeland.
Nina had so much to live for, but the green skinned monster in front of her couldn't care less. To Ogremon she was nothing more than a bug that needed to be squashed.
"Hey!" The green wormlike creature called to her suddenly. "You don't want to die, right?" It asked, voice leading her to believe it was a male. The digimon was struggling to remain upright after the vicious attack from Ogremon, but his voice remained firm.
"O-of course not!" She replied instantly. Wasn't that obvious?
"Then show me how strongly you want to live! You're the only one who can get us out of this alive!" He shouted.
Nina's eyes went wide. "W-what? What c-can I do i-in this s-situation!" She replied.
"The Digivice!" He gestured his head towards the small device in her hand. "It reacts to your emotions! If your will to live is strong enough it could save us."
The bespectacled girl looked at the unassuming piece of metal in her hands. A digivice? It had simply appeared out of thin air, and it certainly didn't look like any digivice she'd ever seen. But, she had no real choice in the matter.
Her hands clenched over the device, as she desperately dredged up the emotions she had been feeling. Without any real idea what to do, Nina tried to "force" her will into the digivice. Just as Ogremon finally decided to charge them, Nina suddenly felt herself calm immensely.
It was as though some all powerful being had told her she was going to be fine. All of her fear dispersed suddenly, replaced by confidence. The digivice glowed brightly, the light expanding outwards in a large sphere that consumed the girl and her partner.
Ogremon swung his club forward, heedless of the light show. It couldn't hurt him now that he was overflowing with power! Nothing could!
A red claw shot out from the blinding light, quickly proving that theory wrong. The club was snapped in two as three talons clenched on it tightly. The light died down and a pair of giant mandibles launched forward to snap the Ogremon in two like his club before him.
The champion level digimon reacted quickly, jumping backwards with the lower half of his broken club clenched tightly in his fist. While the smashing capabilities of his weapon were removed, it was still useful to him since the fracture had left a sharp edge. All he needed to do was find a weak point on his new foe.
Said foe quickly swung it's arm into the other digimon as soon as it landed, sending the ogre flying out of the building through the window. It followed, attempting to keep collateral damage caused by it's massive size to a minimum. The giant red beetle was only partially successful in this endeavor, bursting out of the building it had been contained in.
Ogremon righted himself from the fall, looking over the large beetle who had tossed him around like a rag-doll.
It stood on two legs, knees bent and hunched over ever so slightly. It was mainly red, with dark bluish grey portions on it's legs and abdomen. The creature had four arms, and unlike many insect digimon who's extra limbs were arranged vertically, these were horizontal placed. Pale green flesh surrounded it's mouth, which was filled with sharp teeth. Large, powerful mandibles jutted from the sides of it's maw, ready to crush anything foolish enough to get between them. It had no discernible eyes, though it seemed unhindered by this fact.
And then it roared, drawing even more attention to itself. The roar was loud, carrying further than even the crash and shake of it's exit from the building, which had destroyed most of said building's wall.
That was unfortunate, the beetle had been trying so hard to keep collateral damage low. Even so, what's done is done, and so the creature focused on the significantly smaller Ogremon with a snarl.
"You've caused enough problems." The voice that came from the large red digimon could be described as two voices merged together seamlessly. One was notably female, compared to the more masculine tone of another. The effect it produced was rather intimidating, as if the physical form itself wasn't enough. A sigh drifted from the creature's maw, sounding awed and somewhat fulfilled. "So this is the power of Kuwagamon? I like it..."
Kuwagamon hunched over further, so that all four limbs could easily be used in battle alongside the powerful scissors. "You wanted to prey on the defenseless, but now I'm here to stand against you. Are you still confident?" It was strange how the champion spoke, and not just the voice itself. Kuwagamon were not known for being quiet, and yet this one was speaking at a much lower decibel than normal.
One notable factor about this peculiar brand of Digivolution is that the personalities of the human and digimon are bleeding off onto one another in order to further sync their thoughts and actions. As such, the normal quiet and shy personality of Nina was being bolstered by the determined and slightly angry personality of Dokunemon, but at the same time it was still present. This presented the quiet, yet determined and confident, personality that Kuwagamon was showing off.
Ogremon lunged forward, employing the tried and true method of zigg-zagging towards a larger opponent in order to make it harder for them to get a hit on you. He was far from slow, and he was light on his feet. Combined with the raw power Ogremon held in his body, along with the improved senses from his digivolution, most normal opponents would be easily defeated.
Unfortunately for him, Kuwagamon was no ordinary opponent.
While large, it was by no means slow. And so when Ogremon got too close, it was greeted by Kuwagamon's two right talons. The powerful claws closed on the Ogremon's arms, lifting him up as high above the ground as the bug's limbs would allow. "You zigged when you should have zagged." Kuwagamon noted humorously, before slamming the green digimon down brutally, hard enough to leave a large crater in the earth.
Dust flew from the newly made crater, obscuring the vision of anyone who may have been watching at that moment. After a few moments, the dust settled and revealed that neither Ogremon nor the Kuwagamon were anywhere in sight.
In a manner reminiscent of a rag-doll, another Ogremon was launched forcefully out of the boy's dormitory.
A second later, it was followed by a larger creature. Who's exit had caused quite a bit of damage to the building, but it couldn't be helped. Having been in a hallway during it's digivolution, the giant blue insect was not exactly given much choice in the matter. Thankfully he had been in a hall near the side of the building and not the center.
While Ogremon was small enough, if only just, to fit in the hallway, this new digimon was not. Not even close.
"I'm... a Kabuterimon?" It asked aloud, seemingly confused. There had been two, a Tentomon and a Rivalz, but now there was only Kabuterimon. What had happened? They had merged to create a champion?
Neither had expected this, and so both were shocked.
So was Ogremon, for that matter, but his shock was both literal and painful. He had been hurled outside via a large ball of lightning, and the after effects of so many volts of electricity coursing through him were quite jarring to his senses.
After getting over the initial shock, Kabuterimon decided on the best course of action.
Kabuterimon was a large blue insect digimon. He was taller than Knightmare Frames, vibrantly colored, and his appearance had to be a surprise to anyone who was looking on. A creature his size, showing up in the middle of a school like Ashford? No way he'd go unnoticed on a normal day.
However, this particular Kabuterimon was observant. He saw the pock marks on the ground in the courtyard, saw the damaged wall of the schools recreation building, and noticed the lack of any students anywhere- except a duo standing on one of the building's roofs. Come to think of it, wasn't that Lelouch's favorite hideaway?- and he quickly determined it was best to finish off the Ogremon fast and try to remain anonymous.
After all, having a digital partner was a big deal in this day and age. There had been a few cases of a digimon breaching and befriending a human, only to later be discovered and forcefully removed and placed under military control. Kabuterimon would be certain to prevent that.
Defeating Ogremon was not terribly difficult at all. He had been forced into digivolution by Tentomon, and so he was not nearly as strong as he should be. More like a high-level rookie than a champion.
And so when Ogremon charged at Kabuterimon with his club held high, the insect digimon simply reached down and grabbed the relatively slow moving digimon mid-stride.
With a quick motion, Kabuterimon tossed the Ogremon just over his head. Another quick motion and the green skinned monster was impaled on his horn, before dispersing in a cloud of pixels.
That left Kabuterimon with only one problem. How was he to escape unnoticed?
Spying the various pock marks in the ground, he decided on the easiest way. Four large claws began smashing into the ground fast enough to throw up a smokescreen of dirt and grass, obscuring visions of the champion level completely.
And for the third time that day, the old "throw up a smokescreen and escape" plan proved itself effective, because when it cleared there was no sign of Kabuterimon.
It really was an effective tactic.
The aftereffects of the Mass Breach, as the student body had begun to call it, were a mixed set of problems for the student council. Lelouch himself was looking over various papers related to the repairs and landscaping necessary to get Ashford back in mint condition. This was the major concern since it directly inhibited the students and staff, as well as making the school look less prestigious which was simply intolerable. The quicker they fixed up the school the less they'd need to worry about it effecting their enrollment.
Some problems, like the repair of the two damaged buildings, were easily fixed with time and money. These were two things that Ashford had in spades, partially due to the less than legal exploits of a certain Vice President. After all, Ashford was his home and he owed Reuben a lot. There was no way he'd keep all of the money he gained to himself.
However, the problems began to spawn because of these two buildings being out of commission. The first and most obvious was the fact that the boys dorm was in shambles. This presented numerous problems for the school. It needed to be fixed ASAP. Classes had been postponed until the building was livable again, hopefully it wouldn't take too long.
Next up would be the problem stemming from the significantly less damaged but still busted up Rec building. Many clubs had their operations based out of that building, and it was also where the majority of the schools computers were. Of course, the damage to the building meant that a great deal of inspection was in order to make sure all the electrical cords and various other devices were in working condition and not a safety hazard. That would take time and money, even more than the dorm because of the fact that all manner of equipment for various clubs were in the building and would also need inspection to prove they were safe to use.
The landscaping was a simple matter, thankfully the various craters had missed any pipes or underground chords, and so it could be put on the back burner.
These specific issues were things that mattered most for Ashford's wellbeing, but they were not at the top of the list for Lelouch Lamperouge despite the fact that he was basically overseeing them by himself.
No, Lelouch was far more concerned about other things. Such as the sudden arrival of so many digimon on his home turf.
It was very disconcerting, and Lelouch couldn't help but remember Keramon's words from before.
The Digivice drew digimon to it. Was it his fault that Ashford had been the location of the largest bio-emergence in recorded history? Maybe so. But what could he do to prevent it? He couldn't just toss the digivice away. It was far too important for that.
He would be throwing away one of the strongest weapons he had. Lelouch would have considered it if his enemy didn't already have access to more digimon than him, he really would have, but as it was Infermon was one of his largest advantages. Geass was powerful, amazingly so, but it wouldn't always be able to save him.
And worse, he didn't truly know Geass. It was a power he knew almost nothing about, despite his research into his own capabilities. C.C. had even admitted that there were other Geass users, and each of them were different. So he really didn't know anything about his power at all.
In addition to that Lelouch had come to realize after watching Lindsay, the girl he had Geassed to mark on the wall every day, that his power could have terrible consequences if he wasn't careful. What would have happened if he didn't specify that she only needed to mark the wall until it was full or destroyed? Would she have just continued marking until there was literally no space left? Would she have marked over previous marks?
Could he find a way to remove a Geass command from someone? What if he accidentally slipped and said something unintentional? If he couldn't fix that kind of mistake, it could be devestating.
It could wait, though. It would have to wait. That wasn't something he could just go off and do. It would take time and research, as well as an intimate knowledge on the powers of Geass. And that would mean gaining the full cooperation of C.C., which was not going to be a simple matter.
No, now he would have to worry about other things. Euphy came to mind once more.
With the reports of the bio-emergence, there was no way she would put off her visit for much longer. And due to all the confusion from yesterday he had actually forgotten to tell Nunnally about the entire situation with Euphemia. Or Anya. Or Suzaku.
Anya had settled in well enough considering her position as Knight of Six. No one bothered her due to her status, but no one attempted to befriend her due to her personality. He had talked with her, briefly, about Nunnally and assured her that she could visit them the very next day. He wanted to give the whole situation time to calm down before reuniting the two of them.
Finally, there was Suzaku. Nunnally had probably heard that he had enrolled in the Academy, considering he was the talk of the school, but said boy was not settling in nearly as well as Anya.
He was an Eleven in a Britannian private school and it showed. The only people who actually interacted with him at all were Rivalz, Shirley, and, much to his surprise, Nina.
Shirley had, after hugging the three student council members that had been unaccounted for, explained how the three of them had spoken with Suzaku before they had gone missing. She had then proceeded to tell them about how the brunette and a digimon had literally jumped out of the second story classroom and landed perfectly fine.
Lelouch would need to do something to further integrate Suzaku into the student body. He couldn't stand seeing his one time best friend in such a situation. But classes were out and would be for about a week, according to the reports he was looking over. So it would have to wait.
And as if all of this wasn't enough, Lelouch was also pondering the arrival of the two insect digimon the day before. Kabuterimon and Kuwagamon.
Both of them had appeared from buildings on campus, thus causing much of the headache the council was experiencing. What was more interesting was the way they had both disappeared.
They hadn't destabilized and returned to the digital world, they had both intentionally covered themselves in a dust screen, much like Kurisarimon, and then vanished. That meant that two more powerful digimon had entered the Human world, but neither of them had been spotted since.
More often than not, Digimon did not degenerate of their own volition. A champion would not intentionally give up all of that power unless they had a guarantee they could reattain it later on. The fact that both champion level digimon had vanished without a trace pointed to them both being tied to a human in some way. The best way to determine who these humans were would be to look at anyone who was unaccounted for during the time they appeared.
Nina and Rivalz were both prime suspects in that regard. According to Rivalz, he had been skipping gym class in one of the restrooms in the main building. It wouldn't be the first time he had done it, so it was believable. Nina had apparently been in the council room working on her project. Also a believable story, if not for the fact that Lelouch could tell she was lying.
When Nina lied, and she didn't do it often, she either fiddled with her skirt or played with her braids. Considering these were both things she did on a regular basis, most people wouldn't think too heavily on it. But when Nina lied, she would immediately begin to do either of these things seemingly at random. While it wasn't overly obvious, he was observant enough to notice. Milly picked up on it as well, though that was more due to the fact that Milly had only known Lelouch longer than Nina.
So now Lelouch would be keeping an eye on Nina, discreetly of course, until he could prove one way or another her involvement in the incident.
... Maybe Rivalz, too. His answer hadn't seemed fake, but the bluenette was very good at veiling his lies. It came with the territory of gambling with Lelouch, being a bartender, and skipping class frequently.
His eyes skimmed over to the two in question for a moment, one diligently working and another slowly wading through the swamp known as paperwork. But just as soon as his gaze had landed on them it was gone, focused back onto the veritable mountain of paperwork before him.
The other members of the council could only look on as Lelouch practically shouldered most of the workload they had been assigned while seemingly off in his own world. Even Kallen was impressed that he could easily manage all of that without any apparent effort.
Everyone else had been given various other assignments to handle, from dealing with complaints of clubs due to the sudden halt of all school and club activities to ordering new computers for the rec building to balancing the budget after the cost for repairs were taken into account. Lelouch, on the other hand, had literally everything else piled on top of him.
More amazing would be the fact that he finished almost at the same time as everyone else.
"Alright everyone!" Milly announced, looking over her subjects. All of them, barring Lelouch and Nina, seemed to be quite exhausted from the work they had spent hours doing. "We're done for the day. Go ahead and do whatever it is you do when you're not here!"
Lelouch was the first to stand, rolling his eyes. "Gee, thanks Madame President." He snarked. "And here I thought you actually cared what we did without you around."
"I do. But the hidden cameras generally take care of that."
The black haired boy froze at the tone she had used. She was joking, right? Surely she wouldn't have hidden cameras around the school? While it wouldn't be too much of a concern to most students, seeing as there were already security cameras around the Academy, it was to Lelouch.
He had gone through a lot of trouble to ensure that he could take full control of Ashford's security system should the need arise, security cameras included. If Milly ACTUALLY had her own cameras installed throughout the school it could be disastrous. What if she decided to check and see if something on her cameras matched the security cams, and found some sort of tampering?
... It was a stretch, he'd admit, but damnit paranoia had saved lives before!
"You're not serious, are you?" Shirley asked, hands already covering her bust. Seemed she had different ideas on just what Milly could do with her own hidden cameras.
Milly grinned at the action. "Oh, is someone afraid of little old me spying on them during their personal time? Or... should I say Lulu time?" The way she emphasized those words made it pretty obvious what she meant.
Oh. There was also the potential for her to have placed cameras in places where security cameras wouldn't be, wasn't there? That certainly helped his paranoia.
Shirley's face lit up fifty shades of red as she stuttered out her protests to that idea.
The Lulu in question decided it was best to leave before anything else had a chance to go wrong.
A panting Lelouch was currently bemoaning his bad luck as he chased after a grey cat. Why did everything go wrong around him?
First the massive Bio Emergence, then the news of Suzaku's digimon, then the destruction of two buildings which heralded the arrival of two more champions to the scene, followed by the paperwork to deal with said buildings, which was followed by the awkwardness of Milly implying Shirley masturbated while thinking of him.
And all of that led up to some stupid cat stealing his Zero mask. He may have asked what else could possibly go wrong if he didn't have first hand experience with that particular phrase.
Thankfully the campus was practically deserted and what few people remained were too busy doing other things to notice a lone cat wearing the mask of a wanted terrorist.
He had JUST gotten around to telling Nunnally about all the ridiculous meetings he'd been getting in to with ghosts of their past, when a cat had sauntered by with his mask on it's head. His reaction would probably have freaked out his little sister, he'd have to apologize later.
A sudden tone coming from various speakers around the school caused dread to well up in Lelouch's chest as he continued to give chase to the feline. "Hello students of Ashford! It's your Student Council President, Milly Ashford, here!"
'No...' He thought to himself. 'No no no.' Please let this be about something else. Please don't let this be about the cat.
His heart began racing even faster as he struggled to catch up to the mangy animal, before it suddenly darted inside an open doorway. He followed frantically, trying to keep the little monster in his sights.
"Since we're all so high strung after the events from yesterday, I've got something to cheer you all up! Or those of you who're still here at the moment." The speaker continued on much to Lelouch's horror. "It's come to my attention that a certain Vice Council president has lost something to a cat, which is currently roaming around campus! First one to catch it and bring me what it's carrying gets a kiss from any student council member of their choice!"
Lelouch tripped. The cat continued running.
The entire school seemed to suddenly come alive as the remaining students, mostly girls who lived on campus or those who were in clubs that required constant upkeep, swarmed to locate the cat-burglar.
"I didn't even SAY it this time!" He muttered under his breath, his annoyance tangible. Why must everything go wrong? Can he not have a simple, boring, all according to plan kind of day?
Apparently not, because now every person on the campus, and thankfully there were so few, would be searching for a cat wearing his mask. His Zero mask.
Lelouch promptly got back up and took off in the direction he had last seen the feline, moving far faster than anyone thought he could.
The announcement that catching the cat would result in kissing a member of the student council had caused a whole myriad of different reactions.
Most of the girls on campus at the time had a fire in their eyes as they began to hunt down the only thing standing between them and a kiss with the Vice President and Ashford Academy's resident heartthrob.
Boys on campus at the time immediately split into three groups; those who wanted to kiss Kallen, those who wanted to kiss Milly, and those who wanted a kiss with Shirley. A few here and there intended to use their free kiss on the wallflower of the council, but they were a minority that was drowned out by the majority.
And actual members of the council were either elated, scared shitless, horrified at the thought of losing their first kiss to a random stranger, or walking away from the student council room with a bottle of water.
We'll focus on the last one, who was entirely unconcerned with the entire affair.
That would, of course, be Nina.
The green haired girl sighed at the antics of her oldest friend, knowing that this would likely throw Lelouch into fits. Poor boy.
It didn't matter too much to her. Nina didn't particularly want to kiss any members of the council... no, it was more like she was too shy to do it. She actually wouldn't mind a kiss with Lelouch, Shirley, Kallen, or Milly. She quickly shook her head before her mind went into the gutter again. Nina had been doing that far more often than she would like, usually with either Milly or Lelouch as the stars of her fantasies.
And if she didn't catch the feline, quite likely considering she wasn't trying at all to do so, then she didn't have anything to really worry about. The chances of a boy who wanted to kiss her over the likes of Milly, Shirley, and Kallen were slim to none. She was just the wallflower, none of the student body really cared about her save the Council and Nunnally.
She wasn't concerned about that, either. She had friends, very good friends for that matter, so why would she care if the nameless masses adored her like Lelouch or Milly?
Her train of though was broken by a soft paw lightly patting her leg, which caused her to look down in confusion.
Nina's confusion quickly turned to shock and horror as she saw just what was staring back at her. The grey cat looked up at her, mewling plaintively and wearing the mask of Area Eleven's most wanted terrorist.
The bespectacled girl quickly covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. Why did this cat have Zero's mask? Wasn't it supposed to be carrying something belonging to the vice... presi... dent...
"No..." She practically whimpered, kneeling down as though she was in a trance. With gentle hands she removed the mask from the cat, who stared up at her while mewing happily at her for removing the annoying obstruction from it's head. "H-he can't... th-there has t-to be s-some r-reason..." Nina felt like she was going to throw up. This wasn't some half-assed replica mask made on a whim. This was real. It was too well made to be anything but the genuine article.
Lelouch Lamperouge, the Vice President of the Student Council, resident heartthrob of Ashford Academy, doting older brother to Nunnally, and object of her very slight crush was the masked terrorist Zero.
Zero, who had killed a member of Britannian Royalty, was going to her school.
And he was one of her closest friends.
Nina's hands roamed over the mask on their own, the absurdity of the situation lost on them. One hand pressed a small button, shocking the girl as the mask collapsed in on itself until it was practically flat. It had flattened itself enough that she could easily slip it into her schoolbag...
The sound of rapidly falling footsteps brought Nina back to reality, just in time for her to stuff the mask into her bag without being noticed by the person running by.
He was a blond haired boy with brown eyes, and if Nina recalled correctly he was with the gardening club. He hardly seemed to notice her as he ran off after the cat he had startled into running.
And so Nina was left alone in the hallway, almost ready to cry.
How could this have happened? How could Lelouch have been Zero?
An hour later, Nina was seated on her bed with Zero's mask tucked away beneath it, far out of sight and hidden under one of her casual shirts.
"What do I do?" She asked, hands on her head and eyes tearing up. "How am I supposed to react to this? Lelouch is a terrorist." Actually saying it out loud made the situation all the more real to her.
Zero acted nothing like Lelouch. Lelouch was kind, if slightly aloof, whereas Zero was... was...
What was Zero actually like, for that matter? From the brief appearance he made during the rescue of Suzaku Kururugi, Zero hadn't shown himself to be overly malicious. Brilliant, yes, perhaps arrogant, but not malicious. He had killed Clovis, but the prince had ordered a massacre. If Zero hadn't killed him then... if Lelouch hadn't killed Clovis, he would have been killed in the chaos.
No one really knew Zero, but Nina did know Lelouch. After thinking about it for a few moments, Nina realized that Lelouch wouldn't just sit by and watch people dying around him. He wasn't that kind of person.
The more Nina really thought about it, the more obvious it became that Lelouch as Zero made sense. But it still didn't help her at all, knowing this. If anything it just made the whole situation worse.
"Er... maybe you should talk to him?" A small voice suggested. The voice in question belonged to a small green flower bud with several small thorns on it's body, and a leaflike tail. Currently, the small creature's face was scrunched up in confusion. He had no idea who these people, Lelouch and Zero, were supposed to be. It had only been a day and he was pretty much restricted to this room.
It was fortunate Nina was one of the few people with no roommates, otherwise all the secrets she was hiding in this one place would be much harder to keep. "I d-don't know if I w-want to speak w-with L-Lelouch..." Nina admitted shakily, releasing a sigh. "I j-just learned h-he's a t-terrorist. H-he's killed people, Budmon. W-what if h-he t-tries t-to k-k-kill me for f-finding out?" That thought terrified her. Lelouch was one of her very few friends, and he was closer to her than Rivalz and Shirley because they often had to pull late-nighters to keep the school from going to the dogs. He ranked just under Milly in her heart, with Rivalz, Shirley, and Nunnally following directly after.
What if all of that was just a facade for him? Lelouch was immensely skilled at hiding his emotions. How realistic of a concern was it, the idea that he could simply have pretended to care for them all?
"I'll come with you, then. If he pulls anything then I'll cover him head-to-toe in a swarm of angry bees." The in-training digimon replied easily. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, so it's perfectly alright. Just talk with your friend, you'll be safe." It really was just that simple to him.
Nina frowned deeply, sniffling. "I-I don't... I w-wish I h-hadn't found t-the mask." She muttered. "I w-want to g-go back t-to being ignorant... I r-really just want to pretend e-everything's the s-same as it w-was." Hearing that Budmon was willing to kill Lelouch to protect her didn't really have the calming effect he had intended. If anything it just made her realize how messed up the situation really was, since she didn't want to hurt Lelouch at all despite his being Zero. After all, Nina held Lelouch far closer to her heart than Clovis had ever been.
Nina cried for a long time, that night. She didn't know what to do.
Why did she have to find that stupid mask? Why couldn't it have been someone else?
And why did that last thought make her feel so uncomfortable?
After a moment, Nina realized that she didn't want that mask to be found by anyone else because they might reveal Lelouch as Zero.
Anyone else may have immediately rushed to the authorities, but she wouldn't.
For once in her life, Nina Einstein didn't want a terrorist to be apprehended.
It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad.
We'll leave it off here. Much like my previous attempt at this fic, I've let Nina in on the identity of our masked madman before she has any real reason to resent him. What effects could this have later on down the line, or even in the immediate future?
Wouldn't you like to know? :3