Phase XI: Narita III: Victory and defeat.
(Lelouch position)
Lelouch charged at Kallen and threw up an object and shouted:
"Here's a chaos grenade for you Lay Devil!"
Kallen immediately moved to the right to avoid it, but as she looked at the object thrown she realized it wasn't a chaos grenade, it was Lelouch's rifle! Then her alarm went off and she looked down to the right and saw a chaos grenade there, "He used his rifle as a distraction, and then rolled the grenade on the ground to my right!" she said to herself mentally. She immediately pointed her right arm towards the grenade and activated it, blocking its fire. She then turned her head back towards Lelouch and realized that he had fired his slash harkens at her, she parried them with her knife and left hand, but Lelouch kept charging and then she realized that with the grenade and the harkens he had rendered her two arms useless, she fired her own single harken embedded in her right chest plate, which severed Lelouch right arm and he rammed into Kallen giving her a punch with his left arm.
Kallen's immediate reflex after getting hit was to let herself be pushed by the force of the blow backwards and she attempted to do a black flip, but Lelouch caught her leg with his remaining left arm, he then performed a few 360 degrees torso spins and hurled Kallen like a rock is propelled from a slingshot, Kallen instinctively rolled in mid air, and prepared to land on her feet, but as she was a meter away from the ground Lelouch just then caught the rifle he had previously thrown into the air and fired the anti tank round in his rifle hitting Kallen right in her right arm and making her crash on the ground and roll several hundred meters backwards until she fall off a into a small ravine.
Luckily for Kallen Oughi was also there.
"Hey are you alright?" he asked her.
"Yeah I'm fine!" she responded.
He then looked at the Guren and saw that the left arm was broken.
"Looks like where going to have to fix that right arm of yours" he told Kallen
Just then Oughi looked up and saw a knightmare coming along, it was a Sutherland which was missing its right arm and it pointed it at Kallen and Oughi.
"I could kill the both of you from where I stand now, but the both of you are now a defeated foe and the code of the black knights forbids me from killing you, Are you injured Lady Devil? I hope I wasn't too rough with you" Lelouch told them with an eerie and grim tone in his voice which was both sinister and playful at the same time, a strange and rare combination which few could manage.
At this statement Kallen fury and hatred for Lelouch vi Brittannia only grew.
"TO HELL WITH YOU AND YOU'RE SO CALLED CHIVALRY! JUST KILL US AND BE DONE WITH IT!" she angrily shouted at Lelouch.
Just then Oughi received the retreat signal from headquarters.
"Kallen, we have orders to withdraw!" Oughi told her which was overheard by Lelouch since Oughi used his speakers.
"Oughi we can't withdraw! He'll just shoot us in the back the moment we begin to move!" she told him.
"I will not do such a thing! Lelouch vi Brittannia gives you his word!" he replied.
"Why would you not kill us? Now when you have the perfect chance?" Kallen replied and braced herself for Lelouch to start firing.
"Look around you Lady Devil!
Hasn't there been enough blood for one day?" he said which caught both Kallen and Oughi off guard.
Lelouch then lowered his rifle and said:
"Go now, retreat regroup, heal your wounds today and tomorrow we will fight again"
He then turned around and left.
Kallen and Oughi where unsettled by this and didn't know how to react, but a moment latter the signal for retreat beeped again and having nothing else better to do decided to obey.
As they walked away Kallen replayed what had happened just now in her head, she had managed to hold her own against that monstrous white head, but when facing Prince Lelouch she had the advantage in weaponry, surprise and experience, and yet she still lost!
It would have taken a miracle against those odds for he to win and he had done just that!
"Zero just made a small miracle! Maybe he truly is a dragon "she said to herself as she and Oughi continued towards the rendezvous point.
(Darlton's position)
"How much of our forces are operational?" he asked his subordinates.
"Sensors indicate only 20%!" one of his officers informed him
"20%! The chain of command couldn't have survived that!" he said in shock.
The JLF guns which where deep inside the rock had started firing again.
"Dam it! At a time like this!" he angrily said and started firing back towards the guns.
"All units fall back! We must rendezvous with the Commander and General Lelouch immediately" he ordered.
"But sir the enemy is right in front of us! And if we fall back now the damage to our unit will be…"
"YOU IDIOT! IT WILL ALL BE OVER IF WE LOOSE EITHER THE PRINCE OR PRINCESS! "Darlton said as he was worried about his Commander and both his students
As the shelling of their position continued, Darlton ordered his forces to it the dirt and return fire and under no circumstance charge
They were being fired upon from all direction, he cursed under his breath, the units that where flanking his formation where mostly tank shooting from afar, they were out of the way of the mudslide also the artillery on the surrounding mountains was still hammering them.
This was not what the Sutherlands were built for, they were built for speed and maneuverability, in a battle the ideal way to use them was to charge at the enemy and kill him in hand to hand combat, they were not made for a long distance skirmish.
He wanted to break through quickly, but the rain and the mudslide had turned the dry and rocky base surface of the mountain into a river of mud and water which greatly limited their speed.
If he ordered his men to charge and break through, they wouldn't be able to make it to the enemy quick enough to kill them and would be cut to pieces before they would even get close enough for a good glance at the enemy.
He wanted to run and save Princess Cornelia and Prince Lelouch, he was also greatly worried about Suzaku since he too was a student of his, but he knew that the only way to break through was through winning the skirmish, if he charged he would die and he couldn't help anyone if he died.
"Dam it! To suffer the full force of that mudslide and then be attacked while our formation is broken, at this rate we won't be able to reach Princess Cornelia, Lelouch or Suzaku!" Darlton said to himself, he then noticed that two of the men with him where from Lelouch command and since Lelouch and Suzaku was with them when the mudslide started it meant that there was a good change that they were alive and that gave him some measure of hope.
(Mobile command base)
"Lady Euphemia, please use this G1 mobile base to rescue Princess Cornelia" one of the officers said.
"We can't! The Viceroy gave strict orders not to move, also this field base is a field hospital or the wounded, if we move now, we let them be defenseless " she said as tears started forming in her eyes from being unable to do anything to remedy the situation.
Just then the face of Suzaku came on the monitor, and in his impatience he forgot to put his mask on before activating the transmission.
"Sub-Viceroy this is the Lancelot, my field radar has been damaged and I can't find any allied units, please direct me to where General Lelouch and the Viceroy is" Suzaku said.
"You…. Who do you think you are!" one of the officers said.
"And what could an eleven possibly do!" another one said.
"Please princess, I can save them, just tell me where they are, Please!" Suzaku replied and then said something in a low voice which the people on the other side if the screen could not hear.
But to Euphemia it was clear what he said "Please Euphie!" that made her tears stop and she regained her composure.
"Very well! Captain Kururugi the Viceroy is 100 meters to west of your position Lelouch is 900 to your North east, help them now" she said with her best commanding tone she could muster.
"Yes Sir!" Suzaku replied and immediately took off in Cornelia direction since she was the closest.
(Guilford position)
Guilford had managed to pry himself from the mud, he didn't see any other members of the royal guard around him, he noticed that his right was missing; he must have lost it in the mudslide.
He looked at his radar map and saw that Cornelia was being attacked.
He immediately rode to her position at full speed.
"Princess please hand on! I will be there shortly" Guilford said and hurried as fast as he could to Cornelia's position.
Cornelia by now was at her limit she had lost both her arms trying to hold her ground against the Four Holy Swords and her energy filler was by now almost completely depleted.
"I did not expect her to be able to hold her own against us for so long" Senba said.
"As expected of 'The Witch of Brittannia', but now you lose and you're our prisoner!" Chiba said pointing her sword towards Cornelia.
"Guilford…My knight Guilford" Cornelia said over the radio.
"I Hope you and Darlton will help and protect both Euphie and Lelouch…..I will not give up! I will fight to the bitter end as a Brittanian princess should" she said towards her knight.
At this message Guilford was in a deep state of panic, after all those battle they fought together, after all those years of camaraderie, they're leader who had lead them to victory after victory had just declared that she would die in battle.
"P…..Princess CORNELIA !" Guilford cried out in horror.
"HE! If you want to die so badly, than I will be happy to fulfill your wish!" Chiba said and she raised her sword and closed in on Cornelia to deal the death blow.
Just then Suzaku saw what was going to happen and threw his M.A.S.E.R sword into the air making fly towards Chiba severing her sword arm from the elbow up.
"What the!" Urabe said and he saw the Lancelot charge on the field, he tried to slash it with his sword But Suzaku caught Urabe's by the arm as he tried to slash him and gave him a sweeping kick which made the veteran soldier fall to the ground, but he quickly rolled backwards and got back on his feet and in fighting stance.
Cornelia sensing opportunity fired her two slash harkens at the Asahina and Senba making them both dodge and jump backwards several feet.
Suzaku now placed himself between The Four Holy Swords and Cornelia.
"The Lancelot? But you we're supposed to be with Lelouch?" Cornelia said slightly confused.
"But that means you're safe" Guilford said
"He and I became separated during the mudslide, I have his coordinates, but you where closer so logically I came to help you first your highness!" Suzaku
The Four Holy Swords prepared to do battle with the Lancelot when all of sudden the signal for retreat and they quickly complied.
Cornelia knightmare suddenly collapsed to its knees.
Suzaku asked "Viceroy are you alright?".
"It's just that my energy filler is empty, you go and help my brother, I will be alright" Cornelia responded.
Suzaku complied and raced off towards Lelouch's coordinates.
(Narita town)
Jeremiah and Todoh clashed weapons so hard the impacts sounded like gunshots, Jeremiah's Tonfas all had slice marks on them, and Todoh could feel that his chain blade had dulled its edges from the numerous clashes with Jeremiah.
They were both out of breath by now, since both we're attacking with all of their power, because both wanted to end this quickly so as to return to their commanders, that is why both were exhausted after only a few clash of blades.
Jeremiah had his tonfas in a cross formation and was blocking Todoh's katana, Todoh who was holding his blade with both hands and pushing against Jeremiah with all his might grabbed Jeremiah's arm put a leg on Jeremiah's torso and rolled on his back thereby throwing Jeremiah behind him.
Todoh then got up and charged at him with full speed Jeremiah quickly got on his feet and prepared for the attack.
Todoh unleashed his famed triple blade thrust against him.
Jeremiah blocked the left blow with his left tonfa and did the same with the right tonfa on his right side, when the center blow came he bent backwards rolled his body the right and caught Todoh's thrust arm between his Sutherlands body and his left arm, he then spun to the right and tried to elbow Todoh in the face, but the samurai blocked it with his right arm.
They were now at a standstill.
"Nobody had evaded my triple thrust before!" Todoh said towards Jeremiah.
"You aren't so bad yourself…For a terrorist" Jeremiah said and then bend down, grabbed Todoh foot with his right hand making the samurai's Burai fall on his backside, but it didn't crush his cockpit.
Jeremiah then turned around and tried to strike Todoh Burai head with his Tonfa, but Todoh deflected it with his again with his right arm, he then trusted his whole body to the right which made both knightmares roll for a few moments and that made them separate and made a distance of at least 75 meters between them.
Todoh was now with his back towards the town clock tower.
Jeremiah charged at Todoh again, but Todoh pushed his sword into the concrete and the chain minced it crating a cloud of dust, Jeremiah stopped and braced himself for a counter attack, but when the dust cleared Todoh had vanished.
Jeremiah wanted to find Todoh and finish their duel, but then he remembered that his prince was missing and he looked at the field map once more, and he was not seeing his position.
He panicked for and the dreadful though now hit him, Prince Lelouch could now be dead, he had failed his duty a second time.
But before he could fall into self-hate for failing his task as a knight, a message was heard over the comm.
"This is Chief of Staff Cornelia, all forces maintain fighting order and gradually fall back, to those among us who are black knights my brother Prince Lelouch is safe, all units regroup at the Command center.
Felling relieved his prince was alive he immediately raced towards the command center.
Todoh from his hidden position on the Clock tower watched him leave, he had never before faced such an opponent before, and he doubted he could have won against him if the duel had continued.
"You've made a good choice for a knight Lelouch." He said, after that he called General Katase.
"Todoh! Thank the heavens you're alive!" Katase replied happily upon seeing Todoh's face.
"General Katase this has become a battle of attrition I suggest you give the retreat order, with the terrain ruined by the mudslide and the heavy rain will be able to slip past them, but if we stay we could be annihilated" Todoh told his commander.
"Understood! Meet us at rendezvous point 17" Katase said and Todoh started towards point 17.
(Lelouch position)
10 minutes had passed since he left Kallen and Oughi's position and his energy filler was almost completely used up, so he stopped and decided to wait for friendly forces.
He could not believe that he was still alive.
The reason he had one Kallen might seem like he was an expert knightmare pilot, but in fact Lelouch was an average one at that, the reason he won was because he moved his knightmare against the Guren like he moved chest pieces on a board, and he was a damn good chest player!
It was fortunate that he managed to disable the Guren, if he hadn't he would have ran off as fast as he could, but he was certain she would have probably caught up to him and killed him.
Lelouch was trained along with Suzaku in knightmare combat by Darlton along with Suzaku, and just like they're games from childhood sometimes he would win and sometimes he would lose.
If the area of combat had terrain and the match didn't drag on to long he usually won, but when Suzaku managed to block initial Lelouch moves or the area of combat was a flat field he would lose.
The irony was that he hated knightmare pilot training, but now he was grateful for Darlton putting him through all that hardship.
Although Lelouch could have probably continued to outthink her, and he could have hold his own for a while against the Guren, he could not have won.
One reason was that knightmare combat was like a basic brawl between two opponents and he did not have the stamina for a prolonged fight, he would win any match which didn't last more than a few blows, but if it dragged more than a minute or two he would loose from exhaustion.
He exhaled a breath of exhaustion and took a sip from a bottle of water from within his cockpit.
"I got out of the fryer!" he said to himself as he took a sip of water and he thought that the worst part was over.
Just then a storm of bullet came from his left side, disabling his knightmare and forcing it to collapse; the bullets also damaged the ejection mechanism so the cockpit remained attached to the body.
Lelouch put on his helmet exited the knightmare and saw and enemy Burai, he recognized a big S on its chest, meaning it was with the "Slayer Squadron" with whom he fought against at the peak.
"Back into the frying pan!" he mused angrily to himself.
"HEH HEH! The Iron Prince has been defeated by me, the GREAT Shinichirō Tamaki!" Tamaki said laughing.
Lelouch got out of his cockpit, with his mask and cape on and looked at the knightmare and from what he could hear it had one heck of a stupid pilot.
"You're my prisoner now!" Tamaki said and pointed his knightmare's rifle towards Lelouch.
Lelouch was now more scared than he had ever been in his life.
He was now in a no way out situation, and in that king off situation he did what any desperate man would, he would fight to the last breath, so her pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Tamaki's Burai.
"What the?" Tamaki asked confused.
"A BLACK KNIGHT DIES, BUT HE DOES NOT SURRENDER! IF YOU THINK YOUCAN CLAIM MY HEAD, THEN DO IT!" Lelouch said with a thunderous voice.
"WHAT! You're crazy man! In case you haven't noticed I'M THE ONE HOLDING A BIGER GUN! THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL YOU COULD EVER WIN AGAINT THIS"
"Then come get me" Lelouch replied to Tamaki's above mentioned statement.
"What! ...Well I'd never! ….." Tamaki said in shock to this lunatic who tried to fight a knightmare with a handgun!
Just then a rocket hit Tamaki's Burai forcing the cockpit to eject.
"DAMIIIIIIITTTT!" Tamaki said as the cockpit flew away.
Lelouch looked to where the missile came from and there she saw C.C with the rocket launcher she had left her with.
"You just can't keep out of trouble can you boy?" she said in a mocking tone and for once Lelouch wasn't angry at that remark and he chuckled slightly himself at it.
Just then Tamaki's knightmare which somehow had managed to withstand the impact and remain on its feet collapsed forward, it hit the ground so hard that the machinegun in its hand started firing because of the force of the impact, Lelouch quickly ducked, but C.C wasn't fast enough and she was hit.
"C.C !" he said and he rushed to her side.
10 minutes later
Lelouch had taken C.C into a nearby cave to get her out of the storm, he had finished cleaning and dressing the wound, when all of a sudden he heard C.C mutter something, he moved his head closer and he heard her say a name.
He said that name out loud.
"Finally…Finally someone calls me by my name!" C.C said in her sleep.
A few minutes later she awoken and saw that she was naked and covered with Lelouch's cloak.
"I cleaned and dressed the wound," he replied to a now conscious C.C
"You didn't have to, it would have healed by itself" she replied.
"Guess so, you real are something" he then said her name to which C.C was shocked that he knew it.
"Did I say something wrong?" he inquired curious
"Say it again…. Only this time soft and gentle, like a lover would say it" she replied
"As you wish…." He then said her name again.
"How was that?" he asked.
"Horrible, you spook it without strength or passion " she replied.
"Heh ! You really are a had woman to please!" he said with a chuckle.
"Of course I am C.C after all!" she replied with a smile.
Just then the Lancelot appeared in front of the cave and Suzaku jumped out of it.
"Lelouch are you alright?" he said and stopped at the sight of C.C
"Lelouch what's your mistress doing here?" Suzaku asked curious.
"SHE IS NOT MY!..."Lelouch wanted to continue but it was a long day and he was too tired to say have the usual argument about his relationship to C.C, and so he just paused mid sentence and exhaled a breath of exhaustion.
"She is my accomplice and she just decided to tag along, that's all, now putting that aside, why don't you give me a working radio so I can contact Cornelia" he said towards Suzaku.
Suzaku accepted that explanation, for in the weeks that he got to know C.C he found out that if she wanted to do something, she would do it, and Lelouch was powerless to stop her and so without a protest or doubt he handed Lelouch his radio.
"Cornelia can you read me? This is Lelouch?" he said into the radio.
"Lelouch! Thank God you're alright!" she replied.
"It's good to hear you too sister, I'd recommend you to order a tactical withdraw, the situation now is unsalvageable" Lelouch said.
"That's what I was thinking; you and Suzaku regroup at the Command center as soon as possible,"
"Understood! Well be there as quickly as possible" he said and deactivated the radio.
He then turned towards C.C and told her:
"I think it's better if you stay here for a while, I don't think I can explain to Cornelia your presence here" at which she gave a nod of approval.
"Also C.C I don't know why snow is white, but I will find out" he said towards her.
(Meanwhile at Darlton's position )
"General Darlton the enemy is falling back, should we pursue?" one of his officer asked.
"Negative! I just received orders that all units are to withdraw towards the Command Center" and they all complied.
(JLF rendezvous point)
The Slayers where welcomed with cheers from the other JLF members, all of them had somehow managed to survive, but Oughi Looking at the JLF realized from the size of the people assembled that out of the 7.000 men who were with them at the battle only half remained.
"The Brittanians are too bogged down by from the mudslide and the weather, so they can pursue us!" Tamaki said triumphantly.
"Yeah! All we have to do now is wait for Colonel Todoh and General Katase so they can lead us to our new base" Oughi replied with a smile, for despite the great loses they had somehow carried the day.
"By the way where's Kallen?" Tamaki asked.
"She said she was going to take the civilian route back to Tokyo, since she has to be home by tomorrow to avoid suspicion" Oughi responded.
Little did they know Kallen had something else in mind.
Meanwhile
(Cornelia's Mobile Command center meeting room)
Cornelia, Euphemia, and Lelouch where all gathered there to discuss what to do next, they had sent the officers to bed since they all fought hard and needed rest.
"Considering the current circumstances I think it's best if we say the landslide was a natural disaster and not the product of a rebel weapon" Cornelia said
"I agree, also I think we should issue a national morning in all of Japan for those who died this day both Brittannian and Japanese" Lelouch replied.
"That sounds like a good idea" Euphemia said and she liked it, because it was only proper to honor the dead.
"Why should we do something like that?" Cornelia asked curious.
"Besides it being the right thing to do, it's also a good public relations move and will show the world we aren't the blood thirsty savages that the world thinks we are." Lelouch replied.
Cornelia after hearing that response decided to approve of it, she didn't have Lelouch political mind, so she herself would have never thought of such a move.
The three then walked down the corridor, and after Euphemia went to bed Lelouch decide to ask a question which had been on his mind since arriving at the command center.
"Sister you've been in the military more than me so tells me this:
Did we win or did we lose today?" he asked.
Cornelia just stood there in silence for a moment, then turned her head towards Lelouch and said:
"I don't know" and then left for bed as well.
Lelouch also started walking to his quarters and when he got there he saw Suzaku leaning against the door.
"What's the matter?" Lelouch asked after seeing a worried look on Suzaku's face.
"I'd thought….I thought I should be the one to tell you" he said a tone of sadness in his voice.
"Tell me what?" Lelouch asked.
"The evacuation zone was divided into five areas, the first four are ok,…but the fifth one was in the way of the mudslide….." Suzaku told him.
At this information Lelouch eyes went wide in shock, and he had to lean against the wall to prevent himself from falling down, Suzaku helped him to regain his balance.
"Yes…..thank you for informing me Suzaku and now you should get some sleep, tomorrow we have a lot of work to do…."Lelouch replied with a voice which was devoid of vigor.
"Lelouch… you had no way of knowing the mudslide could happen if you hadn't evacuated those people all of them would have died….. You saved a lot of lives….as much as any person could have saved!" Suzaku told his friend hoping that would help.
"Thank you for the information Suzaku and now please go to bed, like I said we have a big day tomorrow" Lelouch replied and entered his quarters, Suzaku stayed there for a few minutes and then went to bed himself, but he was still worried for his friend.
After Suzaku left Kallen appeared in front of Lelouch door.
It was easy for her to sneak in there since most of the men were either collapsed from exhaustion, wounded or the unfortunate ones dead from the battle, there was simply no one left with enough stamina to guard and those who were posted fell asleep from exhaustion.
"Zero! It ends tonight! Tonight I will slay the Niddhog she said to herself and pulled out her switchblade wallet.
Authors notes:
Read and review, let me know if I should continue.