Phase XV: Picking the chess pieces.
(42nd training field)
Lelouch was on a hill with his laptop on his lap, next to him was Suzaku who was cleaning his knight insignia, Lelouch was currently viewing various hand to hand combat footage from training reels, martial arts movies and various karate and sword tournaments, the reason he was viewing them was to memorize all of the known attacks and counters for them, Lelouch knew that if he would lead from the front sooner or later he would get into close quarters combat, he did not have the stamina for a long fight, but he realized that there was a way to even that out.
He knew that there are two kinds of fighters, a warrior and a master, a warrior was someone who was young, strong, fast and trained in combat, he could fight long and hard, a master was a warrior who had fought hundreds of battles and used thousands of moves, he did not have the stamina and strength of a warrior, he had such a great amount of knowledge of moves and combat experience that he could defeat or possibly even kill a warrior with only one attack or defense, making him a much more deadly opponent.
That was what Lelouch was doing viewing the combat footage; he was memorizing how to see an attacks weak point and hit it before the attack hits you, in essence what took decades of training, practice and meditation Lelouch was achieving it in a matter of hours.
"Alright let's test it!" Lelouch said as he got up on his feet towards Suzaku.
"Are you sure about this Lelouch?" Suzaku asked concerned for his friend.
"Positive! I have to know just how am I going to fare in close Quarter combat, once we are in battle, now I want you to attack me with all your might, if you hold out, we are not friends anymore!" Lelouch answered Suzaku's question with a firm voice.
Suzaku was taken aback by Lelouch response, and hesitantly he got into fighting stance and threw a punch at Lelouch face, only for it to be deflected by Lelouch left arm.
Suzaku was shocked at this and threw a second punch; Lelouch deflected it with his right arm, took a step forward, crouched down, united both his palms in a prayer movement, and with the force of his whole body elbowed Suzaku in the abdomen.
Suzaku jerked back from the pain, took a few steps back, hugged his abdomen with his arms and starred at Lelouch in disbelief.
"Is this really the same Lelouch who fainted during the hundred mile dash?" Suzaku said in his mind in disbelief, Lelouch was himself staring at his hands equally as amazed at his own proficiency.
He then gestured towards Suzaku to attack him again, Suzaku did this, only this time he attacked without holding back, and Launched with gull force a sweeping kick to Lelouch head, only for it to be countered by an elbow block straight in the foot's bone, and once again Suzaku jerked back in pain, and this is how it went for a few minutes.
Suzaku would attack, and Lelouch with an encyclopediatic knowledge of counter attacks would divert the blow or block it, while at the same time attack Suzaku where he was the most vulnerable of all, to Suzaku it was like punching water, the usual opponents Suzaku faced were like solid matter which once you hit it, it would bounce back and hit you back, water on the other hand didn't take the full blunt of the blow, it softened it, trapped it for a moment and used the full force of your attack to counter it at the same time, the only other person who Suzaku recalled was able to do this was Todoh who trained him, after a few more minutes Lelouch fell to the ground in exhaustion and their 'fight' stopped.
"Hah…..hah…..how much time was I able to last hah…hah" Lelouch asked between breaths of air.
"I'd say about fifteen minutes, after that you collapse from exhaustion hah…..hah…" Suzaku replied also gasping, but it was not from exhaustion, for he wasn't even sweating, it was from pain, Lelouch had managed to fight like a master of aikido, the only reason he hadn't finish Suzaku off was the fact that Lelouch only used a block and a counter attack, if he would have attacked a second time he would have no doubt delivered Suzaku a finishing blow.
"How much did you hold back….hah….ha?" Lelouch asked as he got back on his feet.
"Hold back? Are you crazy, I hit you with everything I had and you still pushed me back and hit me where it hurts, if this was a knightmare duel, I'm sure I would have been forced to eject by now!" Suzaku retorted out loud.
"Really?" Lelouch asked a little amazed.
"Really! If you only had some muscle you'd be Arthur reborn!" Suzaku replied with a chuckle.
Just then the sound of horses running was heard and Lelouch saw two riders approaching.
"Hello my pretty boys, Virginia has arrived!" one of the riders said his voice filled with happiness and laughter and both riders dismounted.
"Well I'll be dammed! George Patton and Omar Bradley!" Lelouch said out loud happy to see his old classmates from West Point.
George was wearing an old world war II helmet on his head and had a grave voice, Bradley had a pair of glasses on and both were with short brown hair.
"General! Major!" George said and saluted both of them and shook both of their hands , the same thing was done by Omar.
"It's good to see you again Lord Patton and Bradley" Suzaku replied after returning the salute and handshake.
"I told you to drop the formalities at West Point Suzaku!" Bradley replied.
"Well what are the two of you doing here anyway?" Lelouch asked curious.
"It is my understanding that you are in need of officers for your new corps?" George asked a wide grin on his face.
Lelouch nodded in reply.
"Well! First Lieutenants Patton and Bradley reporting for duty!" George replied and both men saluted.
"But why would you want to serve under me?" Lelouch replied.
"Oh come on Lelouch it would be just like West Point again, the four of us tearing it up like old times!" Bradley replied.
"Also our fathers got us cushy desk jobs, their afraid of us getting killed so they arranged that any commander we try to apply for a field commission turns us down, and we became soldiers so we could lead men, not push papers" George replied.
Lelouch himself knew the feeling of an over protective family member, that combined with the fact that he knew both men and worked with them at West Point made them ideal candidates for his army.
"Well the 761st knightmare battalion requires a major and a captain…but I have to warn you that it's composed entirely out of numbers….."Lelouch replied and waited for their reaction.
"Well that doesn't bother me! As long as I get to command knightmares I am good to go, what abut you Omar?" George replied his face with a wide grin.
"Doesn't bother me at all !" Bradley replied with a smile.
"Well then welcome aboard Major Patton and Captain Bradley!" Lelouch said with a smile and saluted, Suzaku did the same thing.
"Well then I think this calls for a toast!" George said and pulled out two big bottles of Coca Cola, he believed a soldier should never touch alcohol, he then put both bottle caps on his eyes, closed them, contracted his eye cavity muscles, twisted the bottles and unscrewed them.
"Cheers!" Suzaku said as he took a sip of Cola and the others did in kind.
Lelouch, Suzaku and Bradley were not fazed by this, George had done that stunt before, and one thing was certain about him, he was the tough as nails screwball cavalry commander that the 761st would need if they were going to make a name for themselves.
(Six houses meeting room)
Todoh and Ohgi were presenting their plans for the Slayers to the six houses of Kyoto or rather Ohgi was presenting Todoh's plans.
"So what is your strategy for the future?" Taizo Kirihara asked curiously, a sentiment which was shared by the other families.
"There are three courses which we could follow" Todoh replied and he began his presentation.
"The first course of action would be to start the revolution now, but I am afraid that the only thing we would be capable of doing is conquer Tokyo or Honshu at the most and maybe manage to hold it for a month or two before the reserves stationed in Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido would overwhelm us"
"The second course of action would be to trigger massive riots all over the country, that would prevent the Brittannian army from concentrating and we could destroy them before they could concentrate their forces."
"The third and final course of action would be to wait until the E.U or China intervene and then we strike" Todoh said towards the family members.
"In your opinion what would be the best course of action?" Sumeragi Kaguya asked curious.
"The second course would be, since the only faction who has a reason to intervene is China it is likely that Sawasaki and Kusakabe will invade soon, and speaking frankly I do not wish to join them" Todoh replied.
"Do you thing triggering a nationwide anti-government riot is feasible?" Hidenobu Kubouin said.
"I doubt it, the reason anti brittannian sentiment was so strong was that most of the population lived in ghettos' and slums, but now you can't even call them ghettos since Zero's Phoenix fund has by now finish 30% of their rebuilding and Princess Euphemia's actions have shown the people that even a number can live and even rise through the ranks of Brittannia if he is loyal and hard working, by estimate I would say it would take decades before anti-brittannian sentiment would be high enough for a nationwide riot" Todoh replied.
"Would working with Sawasaki really be that bad?" Tatsunori Osakabe asked.
"I can speak for the common people and I can say that they fear the Chinese as much as they fear the Brittannian's even more possibly, also Sawasaki was called the 'Nippon Nazi' by the people before the invasion so I doubt he would have much support among the populace" Ohgi replied.
"So what would be our best course of action?" Taizo Kirihara asked.
"Currently all we can do is built up out strength and transform the resistance movements from small armies working together into a unified fighting force" Todoh replied.
"And after that what do you suggest we do?" Tousai Munakata asked.
"We do the following if Sawasaki invades this is his most likely route of invasion" Todoh said and pointed towards a map which appeared on a plasma screen.
"He will most likely land in Kyushu in the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures, he will then advance his army towards the northern beaches of Oita and Fukuoka, and he will then fortify the beaches. Wait for the eventual Brittannian landing and try to crush them on the beaches, when the Brittannian's invade the Kyushu beaches, then is the time to strike!" Todoh said and the map changed to show only Honshu.
"The Brittannian's will leave only a minimal force in Honshu and when they land on the beaches we will take Kyoto, Mount Fuji, Tokyo and southern coast of Honshu, therefore trapping the Brittannians on the sea between us and Sawasaki" .he paused to let this sink in.
"If we do this right the Brittannians will lose, we will then be able to proclaim and independent Japan in Honshu and since we would have only minimal casualty's from this plan we would have enough strength to resist the eventual Brittannian counter attack." Todoh finished his sentence.
"Wouldn't Sawasaki then invade Honshu, under the pretext of aiding in the revolution?" Taizo Kirihara asked.
"No. his forces would be too weakened from the Conquest of Kyushu to take on our own forces, also by announcing the independence of Japan from Tokyo or Mount Fuji would seem more credible than announcing it from Fukuoka city or as such" Todoh replied.
"The plan you put forth is nothing short of excellent Colonel…but I fear we are forgetting one factor" Kaguya said which confused those present.
"What factor is that Lady Kaguya?" Ohgi asked curiously.
"Lelouch !" she replied and the whole room started muttering.
"His 42nd corps is stationed there in Shinjuku, I suspect he has predicted the danger of an invasion of Kyushu and with him leading those present there, there is a change he could defeat the Chinese invasion" Kaguya worryingly replied.
Ohgi and Todoh realized that she wasn't exaggerating, Ohgi had bore the brunt of Zero's tactical and combat prowess when he ambushed them at Narita and defeated Kallen's Guren without a sweat, and Todoh had experienced just how capable Lelouch had chosen his subordinates in the town of Narita, and now with 50.000 men at his disposal he truly was a force to bee reckon with.
"Since Shinjuku you have been following his exploits, I have to ask this Kaguya you either have developed an obsession for him or an infatuation for him, who one is it?" Taizo asked out loud.
"It is not obsession to keep an eye on the enemy's generals who are capable, and is it wrong for a woman to admire a man of strength and power?" Kaguya replied.
Her answer was typical of a veteran politician to a common man it was difficult to comprehend it's meaning, nut to those present with the exception of Ohgi its meaning was clear.
Kaguya kept an eye on Lelouch since he was a capable general, this was understood by Todoh, but since she was also a woman it was within every woman's nature to admire a man of power and strength such as Lelouch, Kirihara did not approve of it, but neither could she blame her for that, why at one point he and Genbu Kururugi planned to have Lelouch and Kaguya marry, and he knew what influence a man of power could have over the hearts of women, since he himself was once young.
"I approve of Todoh's plan" Hidenobu Kubouin said breaking the silence and the rest of the room agreed.
"In the end no amount of planning can make everything go according to plan, all we can do is our best, and what happens depends on the heavens" Kaguya replied and everyone in the room agreed.
(Lelouch office 42nd mobile command center)
Lelouch was conversing with Nunnally and Euphemia over the phone and he was happy to hear their voices.
"So George and Omar are going to be Black knight! That's wonderful brother, now your friends from West Point are at your side!" Nunnally replied happily since she knew them and could sleep sound at night knowing her brother would be safe.
"Also the refrain victims are starting to recover nicely, why just yesterday Kallen's mother was shoving signs of recovery!" Euphie said over the phone.
At this statement Lelouch jumped up from his seat in surprise.
"Did you just say Kallen's mother?"Lelouch asked his sisters.
"Y….yes!" Euphie replied a bit startled.
"That means that Kallen's mother is Japanese?" Lelouch asked very curious.
"Yes! And Kallen's been visiting her as often as she could" Euphie replied.
"Euphie, Nunnally I have to go now, but I will talk to you again" Lelouch replied and hanged up the phone.
His mind started to process the information, Kallen's mother was Japanese and a refrain victim, giving her ample reasons to hate the Empire, that combined with the fact that she was for long periods of time away from school and she was red headed made her a prime suspect for the true identity of 'Lady Devil'.
"Could she have been so close to me all this time and I not notice it?" Lelouch asked himself, but his train of thoughts was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Come in" he said and once more jumped up from his seat upon seeing who was at the door.
"Brother Odysseus!" Lelouch said startled
"Hello Lelouch, I would like to talk to you" Odysseus said to him with a smile
(Outside the city of Tokyo, a travelers stop)
Jeremiah and Sayoko were returning to Tokyo from a session of shopping from the market of a nearby village, ever since that incident with the dumbbells Jeremiah had been accompanying Sayoko to assist her with the shopping, the reason they went outside of Tokyo is that the vegetables from the village markets where grown in back yards and were much tastier than those grown in industrial farms which were sold in supermarkets.
"I greatly appreciate your help these past few days Lord Jeremiah " Sayoko said.
"Doetashemashite." Jeremiah replied.
(No problem)
"Ah! That's correct I see those lessons I've been giving you are paying off!" Sayoko replied with a smile.
"Well I'm happy to oblige!" Jeremiah replied also with a smile.
"Well if you'll excuse me I have to visit the ladies room" Sayoko said and went to the bathroom.
A group of men who were also their saw that Sayoko went to the bathroom and followed her, Jeremiah noticed this and followed suit concerned for Sayoko.
At the entrance of the girls bathroom Sayoko noticed she was followed and she stopped and turned around.
"Do you gentleman have an issue with me?" she asked playfully.
"Well well well ! , so little miss whore to a brittannian actually is courteous enough to talk to us lowly numbers!" One of the men said to Sayoko.
"Look at her how she was smiling with that Brittannian swine, women like you should be hanged for that!" another said.
"Now now guys, maybe we are being too harsh on her….maybe she just needs a real Japanese man to remind her how good we are!" Another one of the men said mockingly at which the other laughed wholeheartedly, he then approached Sayoko and with his right arm he tried to caress her cheek only for Sayoko to catch his arm, twist it, dislodge his shoulder and with her remaining free arm she punched him in the face breaking his nose and making him fall back on the ground in front of her.
The others were startled by this; they did not think such a delicate looking woman had so much strength, the same thing could be said for Jeremiah who was lurking around the corner; he saw that the men were going to assault her and went to lend a helping hand, but now he wasn't sure which side to help.
"You whore!" a second man lunged at her, he tried to punch her in the face but Sayoko caught his arm, twisted it behind his back, dislodged his shoulder and hit him with a karate chop at the back of his neck so hard that he fainted.
At this sight the remaining group of men immediately ran away shouting curses and swears the idiotic pair which attacked Sayoko quickly followed suit and ran away, Jeremiah quickly returned to where they were seated and pretended that he was waiting for Sayoko.
She appeared a few moments after.
"Sorry it took so long, I had some stains to remove from my dress" she replied innocently with a smile.
"Probably blood stains" Jeremiah said to himself and they then entered Jeremiah car and he began to drive them back to Tokyo.
"She looks like a butterfly but she stings like a bee! I think I'm in love!"Jeremiah said to himself, and after they arrived back at Ashford he started talking.
"I am afraid I won't be able to accompany you anymore" Jeremiah said
"Why is that?" Sayoko said her voice filled with a mixture of shock and disappointment.
"The Prince has ordered me back to Kyushu, I have a feeling the 42nd going to see combat soon, we'll probably be shift to Asia Minor to help Lady Cornelia with the Eastern Federation and the E.U." Jeremiah replied a tone of sadness in his voice.
"When will you be back?" she asked concerned and saddened.
"I don't know, maybe I won't come back at all" Jeremiah answered.
At this Sayoko leaned forward gave him a peck on the cheek "For good luck" she said and then exited the car and carried the groceries to the kitchen.
Jeremiah remained there frozen in shock, he covered the place where Sayoko had kissed him with his arm, he had been with dozens of women, and he was quite experienced in matters of kissing and sex.
"This has been the first time since my first girlfriend that I blush from a peck on the cheek! Maybe I really am in love" he said to himself and continued to remain so frozen for who knows how much time, until he remembered he had to ne in Kyushu and started driving towards the army's airfield.
(Lelouch office, mobile command center)
"Well brother what is it you want to talk to me about?" Lelouch asked curious.
"We'll I heard that you have a shortage of officers in your artillery core, is that correct?" Odysseus asked with a smile.
"That's correct, so what of it?" Lelouch asked again.
At this Odysseus got up saluted and said.
"Captain Odysseus di Brittannia request permission to join your command general"
Lelouch was once again shocked this day.
"Why would you want to serve under me? With your rank you could take command of a whole army or even a whole front!" Lelouch replied.
"Because I…I can't lead an army…like you I am a West Pointer, and after graduation I was assigned to command an artillery battery during the Invasion of Japan, not to brag but I did a good job" he paused and then sat down, the weight of what he was about to confess was bearing down on him.
"After that my duty as first prince forced me to leave the army and enter politics, and quite frankly I am no good at it, anything I done up until now has either been a failure or mediocre at best…..i simply don't have what it takes as a politician, also as time went by I noticed that there was no code of friendship or honor within politics like there was in the army….no 'you watch my back, I watch yours'….and when I heard that you needed artillery officers I…I (he paused closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath to calm himself) I remembered what it felt like back then, when I actually did something I was good at,…..I realized that back then when I commanded that battery was the one period in my life when I was the happiest…and I thought I could returned to it.
Odysseus then looked at Lelouch straight in the eyes, a desperate look was present in them and with a tone which revolved around the words begging and pleading said.
"Please Lelouch, you're the only one who has a lack of artillery commanders at the moment, you don't have to make me a general or something, you don't even have to give me a battery, if you give me one cannon to command I will be satisfied"
Lelouch saw the mixture of emotions he was going through and knew that Odysseus knew that he was in a place where he was considered useless, a simple sore thump sticking out, he himself had felt like that many times before, he continued to remain silent for a while until Odysseus broke the silence.
"I see…..I am sorry to have interrupted you" Odysseus then walked towards the door only to be stopped by Lelouch words , who said:
"If I would give you a commission in my army, you would be taking orders from me and my lieutenants, would that bother you?"
Odysseus stopped turned around and with a warm smile said"
"Not at all! Actually I'm the type of soldier who receives orders not gives them, I actually prefer not having the burden of command"
"I have an opening for a Colonel who is to be my chief of artillery, would that suffice?"
At this statement Odysseus with a broad smile he said.
"Suffice! That's more than I could ever hope for! Thank you Lelouch, I mean thank you sir, I won't let you down General!" he then saluted and left to see his artillery pieces.
Lelouch himself was still processing what had just happened, he now had Patton, Odysseus and Omar in his army.
"There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear" he said to himself, he then remembered that he had suspicions about Kallen and left to board the fastest flight back to Tokyo to confirm his suspicions.
(Governor's palace, military research facility)
Lloyd and Cecile were going over the data they gathered from doing a radiation sweep at Ashford Academy as Prince Lelouch requested; the radiation wave they picked up was like nothing they have ever seen before.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" Cecile asked concerned.
"No! And I know every elements radiation emission like a priest knows the bible, I have to say at the moment we have sailed of the map and into the blank spots!" Lloyd replied and it wasn't that much of an exaggeration.
"Prince Lelouch after being informed of the radiation wave immediately ordered me to build him a machine which could cancel its effects like the positive side of a magnet cancels it's negative side, for whatever reason I don't know, but he said to put all other projects on hold including that knightmare he commissioned" Lloyd said towards Cecile.
While Lloyd had completed the guns and sword and he created the six Lancelots that Lelouch had commissioned, the only part of the Knightmare he finished was its frame, when building a custom knightmare; you take a Ganymede frame and upgrade it, he had finished it's body, but the custom features he had to make from scratch and that was the reason he told Zero it would take months to complete.
"What could possibly be so great that it would frighten the 'Iron Prince' so much?"Cecile asked she herself a little scared.
"Who knows? All I know is that if it's big enough to scare him, then I'd better make that counter device as soon as possible" Lloyd said and began designing the device.
"You said that we are sailing into the unknown, when the sailors of old would do they would either discover great riches or great horrors…what do you think we will discover?" Cecile asked concerned.
"I don't know…" Lloyd said at for one of the rarest times in his life he didn't make any silly joke or act childish, he knew that ahead they'd be monsters.
(Stadfelt manner)
It was now late in the evening and the sun was setting
Kallen was now lying on her bed, she was absolutely exhausted from her double life as Kallen Stadfelt and Kouzuki Kallen, she was about ready to go to sleep when a knock was heard at her room's door.
" Kallen a young gentleman wishes to see you, a Duke Lamperouge if I heard correctly" her stepmother said to her.'
"Lelouch? What's he doing here" Kallen said to herself and quickly ran out the door towards the entrance.
Once she got there she without knowing it tidied herself up and opened the door.
"Hey Lelouch! What's with you at this hour" Kallen asked a bit nervous.
"Well there's a new restaurant opening and I have been invited to it, would you like to accompany me?" he asked with his usual smile which made girls weak at the knees.
Kallen was tired and mentally said to herself to refuse, but for some reason the (his good looks, and smile being among them) decided to give the following answer.
"Sure, let's go" Kallen said and they walked towards Lelouch's car.
As they started towards the restaurant, Lelouch noticed that there was a full moon above the night sky, with no clouds present it gave the night an eerie pale atmosphere.
"Guess it's time to dance with the devil in the pale moon light" he said to himself and continued to drive towards the restaurant
Authors note
Read and review, let me know if I should continue or if I just jumped the shark