Hey, everyone. I'm back to finally give you this update that has been setting me back for a while now. A lot has been going on, but it has helped me plan for my next updates and how this story will go. And big congrats to the big first season of Ahsoka!
I also have big announcements at the end of this chapter, but not before I set a big scene that will lead to the next chapter!
Stage 24
A Friend in Need
"We will open Art Week with the dedication of the Clovis Memorial Museum of Art," the art director of the newly built museum declared as he walked with Princess Euphemia through the hall.
The art director was a middle-aged man with mustache and balding hazel hair, kept elegantly with a pair of glasses and purple suit, with gold linings. He led the way very prestigiously for Euphemia as they walked through the recently made, yet extravagant building. Of course, there was a section that housed the most of Prince Clovis' gallery and some of his drawings, much of the building housed new art that had been gathered by other artists throughout the area.
"It is our honor that you, Princess Euphemia, will select the first-place winner from one of these fine submitted works."
Euphemia stopped to take a look at one that caught her interest.
The Village.
"Oh, this one looks nice," She noted at the description of a rural area. Two village homes in a green forested area, with green apple trees, colorful garden bushes in front, and a forest-covered mountain in the back. There was the light of a sunrise that shined on the environment.
"I particularly like this painting," Euphemia turned to the director, who thought otherwise.
"It's regrettable through investigation that the artist is revealed to be one-quarter of an Eleven."
…
"Is that all that matters?" she asked, her tone becoming irritated.
"I beg your pardon, Princess?" The director raised an eyebrow at her tone.
"Is the matter of the artist's relation that should prove the worth of the painting, and not by the work that is displayed before people's eyes? I mean…" She looked back at the painting. "Surely… since it is already here… there is a reason to see it's design…"
The director was taken almost aback by that. "I… well, you see, Princess… we thought it would… make a delicate balance with the public audience."
"And if not?" Euphemia questioned, causing the director to stiffen. "Surely pieces like this should be appreciated. I'm sure my brother would agree."
"?!" the director was further caught off guard by that. "Uh… Princess, you're not seriously considering choosing that for first place?" the director uttered, looking disturbed.
"Well, perhaps…" Euphemia said, "Unless there are other pieces in the gallery, I have not seen yet that may interest me."
"Oh, but there is!" the director immediately brightened as he continued to bring the princess further away. "I haven't yet brought you to see the biggest one yet…"
Euphemia raised her eyebrow, curiosity developing as to what the director hoped to show her.
"Here it is," The director gestured at a grander and bigger frame at the center of the wall.
Euphemia gasped at the description of it.
It was a painting of her father, the Emperor. Garbed in his complete royal attire and raising his fist triumphantly in the air.
But he was not alone.
Next to him… was Lord Vader.
…
Euphemia blinked twice and made a double take to make sure she was not imagining it.
The dark lord was indeed present in the painting the art director was gesturing with attention towards.
The man was freshly painted in shades of black. His mask and body captured best to some extent by the artist. And he was lifting his crimson laser sword in the air right next to Charles' fist.
The painting's display was an exact description of what occurred at Clovis' memorial services, not so long ago.
"This design was done by the son of Marquis Nicol. I have not seen our beloved emperor, your father, in such regal colors on paint, Princess. Though, the inclusion of man in so much black oil paint is such a contrast, I initially thought it divided the grandness of the painting, but the Marquis' son insisted that this was his intent.
"The Emperor's announcement on the day of Prince Clovis's funeral was indeed a shocking day, and he said that with this painting commemorating the event was a historic one. That with the alliance of a new empire, that the Holy Empire has entered a new age. It was then I truly understood not only the message of this painting but also thought of it. Just think of how this painting could become a monument to not only a new point in Britannian History… but also that of the world as well."
Euphemia digested the director's words while staring back at the painting of both her father and Lord Vader.
"Ugh…" Luke sighed as he rubbed his stomach before sitting down on a stone. "Man…"
"What is it?" Lelouch asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat next to him. "Don't tell me your stomach hasn't recovered after that dinner?"
"Recovered? I'm feeling stuffed," Luke rubbed his stomach. "I can't remember… ever having to eat that much food. And… so much of it to go around."
"Hmph…" Lelouch shook his head. "I should have expected as much… from the appetite of a rebel."
"Well, I do appreciate Lady Kaguya's hospitality very much," Luke said.
"I'm sure she would appreciate it if you repaid her by making it official in accepting her proposal."
"You're not serious," Luke shook his head.
"Heh, maybe. I could see the prospect of you being her Lord Husband better than Suzaku would have."
"Suzaku?" Luke said, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well…" Lelouch looked to the side, starting to reminisce. "You are not the first possible choice to be wedded Lady Kaguya's groom-to-be. In fact, it was what Suzaku was arranged to be when he succeeded his father."
"Wait… Lelouch, are you saying…?" Luke sat up straight. "You're saying that… Suzaku and Kaguya… were arranged to be married?"
"For the prospects of the Kururugi Family… during the time of Japan… it was an ideal match between two of the most influential families in the country. Added to that, they're both cousins."
"What?!" Luke exclaimed. "But how can they… if they are already…?"
"Believe me…" Lelouch waved it off. "Suzaku wasn't thrilled by it either. I could tell that every time Kaguya tried to play with us, Suzaku would brush her off like he would for any annoying toddler."
"I see…"
"Hmph…" Lelouch shrugged. "It wasn't much he could do… and he was bound… to his father's wishes…"
…
…
…
Luke grimaced when Lelouch realized who he had mentioned… and somehow a familiar tension that had been brewing before had returned.
…
…
"You're still taking in what… Lord Kirihara said." Luke spoke up, looking at the frown Lelouch formed on his face.
…
"It's not that I don't… or can't deny it…" Lelouch said. "When I heard Suzaku… starting to panic… and admit when Mao… it was when I started realizing it. Kirihara only set the nail on the coffin."
…
…
(Guts Theme – Berserk 1997 OST)
...
"I don't know what to think of it. But I saw the look Suzaku had when Mao threw it in his face," Lelouch scowled. "I didn't know what to say to him right after. But... just... with that secret out. I want him to know that... even so..."
…
"You want to help him." Luke stated.
Lelouch glanced at Luke. "What makes you think I do?"
"Because he's your friend," Luke said. "You proved that… that day. That night. That night we saved Suzaku from the Purebloods. You were willing to put your life on the line… to save him."
…
"I thought it was right to do so… in order to return the favor," Lelouch said.
"You mean that day in Shinjuku?" Luke recalled. "The day we met. The day we found C.C. And Suzaku… when he refused to shoot us."
Lelouch nodded.
"I don't know," Luke said, looking up. "I don't think I would call that a favor."
…
"I could tell… by the way he looked back us. When he looked at you. It was… it was the look of a friend… who cared about you. Over his own well-being."
"And that is one of the things that really gets on my nerves," Lelouch sighed. "For as long as I have known him… Suzaku has always… put others before himself. Willing to do the hard work… not because… he would gain anything out of it… but because… he didn't have any reason to."
"It took me a while to understand him… and it wasn't pleasant at first…"
(X)
"Just a few more steps, Nunnally," the nine-year old boy said as he heaved his sister on his back while climbing up the long white stairs leading to the shrine. "And now…"
The boy finally reached the top… where Prime Minister was waiting for them. Hiding behind his leg was a raven-haired girl, the same age as Nunnally. An old man stood looking stoic with his gnarled cane. And the last one… was the Prime Minister's son… who stared at the boy and his sister with a scowl.
…
"Ah!" Lelouch fell to the ground, with a bruise forming on his cheek.
"How you like that, you stupid Brit?!" Suzaku towered over him with a raised fist. "Don't you ever insult us Japanese!"
"Please, stop!" The two boys paused, hearing the cries of the girl in the wheelchair. "Stop fighting!"
…
"Why won't you eat the food we sent you? Is it because it's too low for your tastes, huh?"
"Like I would ever feed Nunnally anything that comes from your father."
"Hey! Take that back, he would never!"
…
"Hey, what's wrong, are you not going to fight?"
"Yeah, you're supposed to be a Prince, right? Well, has does it feel now? To be like dirt?!"
"Haha!"
"Hey, knock it off!" Suzaku yelled as he smacked his wooden sword against the first boy's head, before he swung at the others, causing them to back away from the crouching Lelouch.
"Why are you guys just standing there?" Suzaku exclaimed at the two tall men standing meters away. "You're supposed to be guarding him, and you're standing doing…"
"They're not bodyguards."
"Huh?"
"They're just sent to watch me. To make sure… I don't run away."
"What?" Suzaku asked, now appalled.
…
"Suzaku, wait! Wait up!" Lelouch cried out as he trailed after Suzaku and Nunnally holding the umbrellas. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why?" Suzaku said, while giving the blind girl a piggy-back ride on his back. "I don't need a reason to save who I want to save! Or do what I want to do!"
Lelouch sighed, as he closed his eyes.
"You know… you speak so much of Suzaku… yet I haven't much… met him… properly."
"Why is that?" Lelouch glanced. "You met that night…"
"Well, only when after when we swooped him off that center stage," Luke shrugged. "And we only exchanged a few words… and how he was set… on how the system… can be fixed."
Lelouch grimaced at that.
"But during this time… hearing from Kallen… with how he risked his life to save both Threepio and your sister… and what kind of friend he is to you…"
"What do you think of Suzaku?" Lelouch asked, now curious of Skywalker's view of him.
Luke was silent, before he glanced back at Lelouch with a smile. "I think your friend has a good heart. Even with what Mao said… or what Kirihara confirmed to us… that doesn't make him a cruel person. I like to help him… just as I know you want to help him, Lelouch."
…
Lelouch was almost surprised by Luke's response, before he looked away, almost ashamed.
"All this time… I never realized the pain he had been carrying all those years. All the years he had been bottling it up." He glanced at Luke. "You're right about one thing… I don't intend for him to continue going through that any longer."
"So, what do you hope to do?" Luke asked.
…
Silence.
…
"Wait… Lelouch… you're not thinking… of using your..."
"I have considered it. More than once. But no. I won't use it on him. I will never use it on Suzaku." Lelouch made a fist. "As easy as it would be to have just forget… no…"
"Then what is the alternative to Geass?"
"Something that I should have done the night we rescued him…" Lelouch said, his violet eyes resolute. "To tell him…"
Lamperouge Residence
"Miss Nunnally?" Threepio asked. "Did I say something wrong with the reading?"
"Oh, no, Threepio," Nunnally smiled. "You were wonderful."
"Oh… why… thank you." The droid was surprised by that.
Nunnally giggled. "You know… usually Big Brother would read to me on most nights. I can't read a book for pleasure so easily, unless it is translated into braille. But it always sounds so nice when someone is reading one of my favorites before bed. Since Lelouch gets busy with his own classes nowadays, and while Sayoko is kind to step in, she has a lot of work to attend to around the house. I feel a bit selfish in asking this much of them from time to time…"
"Miss Nunnally it is a pleasure to do this for you since you are unable to." Threepio said. "As a protocol droid, I am inclined to assist in the best I can. Though, I am quite curious about this braille language you speak of… that allows you read without reading it. I think it could prove beneficial in my duty to translate alien languages for communications."
"Oh… oh, that's right," Nunnally said. "Threepio, is it really true… what you said… about knowing… thousands of languages?"
"Accurately, I am fluent in 6,131,721 different forms of communication." Threepio clarified, that caused Nunnally to look baffled.
"Also, I have taken to knowing the languages that are unknown to me on this planet. Surprisingly, your planet's most common form of language is Basic… which is also the common language used in the galaxy I hail from. However, the characters of your Basic is different from ours. It is why I took to help my couriers to translate some of the text found here. For a brief time, I was in the middle of helping Master Luke to translate some of the text he had borrowed from Master…"
"Master Luke?" Nunnally asked. "Who is that?"
…
…
"What? Oh?" Threepio said, the protocol droid realizing what he just blurted out. "I mean…"
"You said Master? Master Luke?" Nunnally asked. "Is… was that the name… of your… previous owner?"
"My previous… oh…?" Threepio paused briefly. "Oh, yes! Yes. Master Luke, sir! Yes, my master indeed."
"Oh, so… was he the one you were separated from?"
"Oh, well… I… in some way of looking at it… quite so." Threepio turned his head.
"Oh…" Nunnally shifted. "I see…"
"Miss Nunnally?"
"Um… Threepio?"
"Yes."
"Do you… miss your master?"
"Miss him? Oh, well, I… sometimes… I am fond of him. He is a good friend."
"Oh…" Nunnally looked afraid to ask. "Do you… wish to see him again."
"Oh, well, I don't see the immediate for it, Miss Nunnally," Threepio said. "I'm sure he knows… that I am in safe hands. And I do know… that he has been quite busy on a lot of things. No doubt he and his friends are already on their next adventure."
"Adventure?" Nunnally giggled. "Is he an explorer?"
"Well, actually…" Threepio pondered. "In some way he is… he and I have traveling back and forth throughout the galaxy. Though, I should say… most times have been dreadful. It is all thanks to Master Luke that I am saved from some horrid fate."
Nunnally giggled again. "He sounds like a very good master. He even sounds very kind if he is willing to protect you from harm."
…
"Threepio?"
"Yes, Miss Nunnally?"
"Can you tell me about him? About your master?"
"About… Master Luke?"
"Yes," the girl nodded, shifting her pillow and blanket around her. "I like to know more about him."
"Oh… well… Miss Nunnally…" Threepio rummaged a gold finger to his golden head. "I don't know how… or where to start."
"Hmm?"
"I am professional in reading aloud written text, but I don't think myself highly to be much of storyteller from memory."
"That's alright. I think you would do well. I like to know more about him."
"Are you sure?" Threepio asked, seeing Nunnally resting content in her bed, waiting. "Oh, well… I suppose… well, I do hope to do the best I can… my data memory may be a bit fuzzy… what am I talking about… I'm sure I can recount back to three years. Miss Nunnally… I afraid it may be a long story."
"Then perhaps I have much to look forward to," the girl smiled.
…
"Oh, very well, then…" Threepio began. "Where to begin? Well, what led to my meeting Master Luke is quite the strange one. It began when the captain I was assigned to… my astromech companion and I… were being deployed to Scarif..."
"So… what do you think of our new guests?"
"Pretty much what I had expected," Oz said as he sat at his desk, with his phone to his ear. "They seem sincere enough. Her especially."
"Her?"
"The Princess," Oz stated. "The one with the rebels. I know. Turns out there are some in the universe who are not the kind trying to hunt us down and nail our innards to the public."
"I don't appreciate sarcasm, Oz."
"Of course…" the blonde man shrugged. "Well, it seems we may be on our way to a professional understanding. Now it just depends on if she and her… merry band can live up to our expectations."
"Her little band… is part of something far greater. They are the spotlight the world is now focused on. All leading back to Area 11."
"May not just be Area 11… not much long."
"Of course. Make sure you treat them well, and make sure they are returned safely to Area 11. I'll contact for further details later."
"Right, you still have your own business in securing our next assets."
"That's right. I'll notify after this new development."
"You better… like you always do."
With that, the call ended.
Oz set his feet up on his desk, before turning on the lamp. The dim light illuminated the open file of cases he had been going through.
The first noir-colored picture being that of Leia Organa. Next to her picture were other persons of interest to Peace Mark's grand scheme.
"Forgive my leave of absence, I had to make a call to my associate." The masked man said as he re-entered the room and sat across an older man.
"Understandable," the older man replied, with a strong-foreign accent different than the other man's. "With your position… you are a busy man."
"To many they don't think so much… but to the very few I can attest…"
"Shall we go over the arrangements for our plan. I am eager to get in contact with your associates."
"The order will be glad to welcome you… General Smilas."
Lamperouge Residence
Lelouch creaked the door open a bit to catch a small form that was laying tucked in bed in dark bedroom.
"Before she left, Miss Sayoko made sure she was tucked in quite nicely and had her took her medicine for the night. Oh, I may have had the liberty of reading one of her books to her, if you don't mind, Master Lelouch." Threepio said. "I don't mind at all, and since she is unable to read them herself…"
"Threepio…" the droid paused, before Lelouch turned to him… with a smile. "That sounds wonderful. I'm glad."
"Oh, my sir. It's a pleasure." Threepio beamed. "Oh, and uh… another thing…" The droid shifted… a bit nervously. "I may have… well, she asked me when I said Master… the thing is Master Lelouch, I may have told her a bit about…"
Threepio realized Lelouch didn't care to listen, as he had entered his sister's room and closed the door.
"Oh, dear…" Threepio sighed. "How would Master Lelouch react… when I tell him that I had been Miss Nunnally of how Artoo and I met Master Luke…?"
Lelouch quietly stepped into his sister's room, with only the small lamp on. Nunnally was already fast asleep. His smile turned to a frown.
"With the way things have been going lately. The time taken with my persona as Zero: leader, rebel, and wanted criminal. I have been away from Nunnally more so lately… and I don't doubt it's going to wane due to how things are going now. If it keeps up… I won't be able to be to stay with her." He frowned even more. "I won't be there to protect her always."
He gripped his fingers into fists.
"Yesterday… with what happened with Mao drove that point forward. As I devote my time as Zero and to the Rebel Alliance… it leaves a void in my priority towards Nunnally. I can't be there to be sure Nunnally is guarded and protected 24/7.
"If only… If only there was someone who can guard her with their life… and I can be assured that she will be safe as I continue my crusade.
"Sayoko? She is a reliable person and great with attending Nunnally and most of her needs. But sadly… I need someone is stronger and capable of defending my little sister…"
"Threepio-no… not. I get he is earnest with… duties, and even if he has started to become attached to my sister… not that I mind having someone to keep her from being alone… even if it is a robot… he is not… well… the ideal type of bodyguard. Perhaps a butler type… but not the other. That ordeal with Mao didn't help either."
Lelouch's mind raced the many possible faces that he had grown accustomed to in the past months. Faces of allies he had made as Zero.
One of them… being one he had just recently conversed a while ago. One man he had grown to…
"No…" He shook his head. "Anyone of them… will leave Nunnally confused. She… she doesn't know any of it. Not of my part in the Rebellion or my alter-ego. The truth would be too much for her to bear all at once. Not only that I have been lying… which is something I had promised… she would also know about…"
The face of Clovis' frightened face appeared.
Lelouch frowned.
"Besides… I know she would feel uncomfortable in the care of people she doesn't even know. There's Kallen… but she still much a stranger to Nunnally. Threepio may be one of them… but that is because Nunnally doesn't know where he came from. I need someone that not only I can trust… but someone Nunnally will trust as well. I don't doubt it. But perhaps…"
Lelouch glanced at a picture frame next to Nunnally's bed. The frame was that of her in the wheelchair, surrounded by both her big brother… and the friend they had reunited after many years. The three faced the camera with cheerful smiles, even Arthur was curled on top of the girl's lap.
…
"Yes… Suzaku is not only just a friend… he is something more than that. And how much he means to Nunnally…"
Lelouch pictured a memory of two boys hanging around the young blind girl in a wheelchair. Even when they were cooped in the empty shed… they found ways to make it lively. To make the young girl laugh and merry.
"I don't doubt it. Soon… when I'll be able to finally bring Suzaku on to the board… this is something I know he won't hesitate in accepting. Not only will Nunnally be protected… by someone she knows and cares for…" the exiled prince started to smile "…but she will also give that a person a reason to live."
The night drawn on.
The quiet dark settling in.
Then came the sound of bamboo clicking back…
As water flowed down and back the bamboo contraption.
The songs of crickets were not even present in Kirihara's Garden. The old man was kneeling outside on the fine wooden porch. He could overlook his gardens and stone dragons being illuminated by the moonlight of the late night. The stars hovering far above.
Yet, it could only do much to ease the old man.
He sighed regretfully.
"Lelouch… if only I could tell you the truth… the real truth of what had transpired on that fateful day."
He clutched his cane with his wrinkled hands.
"If you knew the truth of why young Suzaku committed such a deed… I wonder…"
"The bounty hunters have already engaged the Black Knights at the prison complex."
"Good," Vader said, as he sat in the seat and turned on the monitor. "Now it is high time for my turn."
"Lord Vader, please, wait!"
"Your new Knightmare may be suitable if not still incomplete for melee, but the hybrid system has only just been installed onto the frame. We haven't tested it yet!"
…
…
"Tonight, is a good night." Vader said, as he pushed in a black keychain into the monitor.
…
…
(Full Frontal – Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OST)
…
SYSTEMS ONLINE.
Vader typed rapidly on a keyboard as the monitor brought up different webs before the insignia of the Galactic Empire appeared at the center of the golden bird of Britannia.
WELCOME SUPREME COMMANDER LORD VADER.
The dark Knightmare Frame shifted as its systems came online.
SAKURADITE AT SIXTEEN PERCENT.
DARK TROOPER PROGRAM BEING INITIATED.
YGRSSILL CORE RUNNING MAXIMMUM.
The engine behind its back roared.
The hangar doors before split apart, and the knightmare to open its landspinners.
Outside of the hangar, a glowing road no different than that of an air vehicle was highlighted for the KMF. At the end was a ramp that leaned upwards to the night sky.
The wires and sakuradite input tubes disconnected from the dark frame's body before it shifted and made a prepared position to dash out.
"Now…"
…
…
…
…
"LAUNCH!"
…
Then came the sound of screeching landspinners.
The knightmare dashed out with increasing speed out of the hangar and into the open. Vader had several meters left before coming upon the ramp to build upon his momentum.
The ramp was the steppingstone for the process…
The knightmare frame zoomed upon the foot of the ramp…
When the modified F.L.O.A.T. system upon its back… turned on…
Driving off the end of the ramp…
…
…
…
Darth Vader's knightmare blasted into the sky of the Tokyo Settlement.
…
F.L.O.A.T. - T.I.E. HYBRID SYSTEM STABILIZED.
…
…
Success.
…
Vader shifted back in his seat and brought the motion controls to steady his new Knightmare's flight. A new set of monitor screens turned on, that were connected to the now online F.L.O.A.T. system. The monitor system has been modified to be like that of Vader's TIE Advanced system.
The dark lord glanced at the circular radar to his right, displaying a silhouette of the area. A spotlight pointing to the direction of the prison complex.
…
Vader shifted the controls… boosted.
The dark knightmare soared through the air. It started hovering over the open river; its feet almost close, it caused soaring ripples to form in its trail.
Before long, Vader pulled the Knightmare to ascend.
…
Several minutes passed, and Vader finally reached his destination.
He shifted to maximum velocity, to swerve the dark Knightmare into the air, before the prison complex where Tohdoh was being held. He stabilized the KMF to hover over the ongoing scene.
A battlefield taking place behind the walls of the spacious prison yard. The map of it being divided by one side occupied by the rebels.
Sutherlands and AT-ST's were lying in pieces or burning carcasses.
…
Vader made the alarm… to make his presence known.
Immediately, all rebels, hunters, and troopers paused… to behold the sight of Vader… hovering in the air above them.
Within that pause… Vader could sense the aura radiating from the sight.
Those of shock. Anger. And Fear.
Yes, fear was the catalyst… to ruin.
"Now…"
Soon, the dark knightmare equipped from its holster a grey-colored launcher. He typed the keyboard to send the command for violet lights to turn on from within the weapon and he aimed it towards the center of the where the Black Knights were gathered.
Before he pulled the trigger, the dark lord smiled from behind his mask.
"Now then…"
He pulled the trigger… and then came chaos.
This is where fun can truly begin.
(X)
THERE.
This really took a while to get out. And there was a lot of revision and change of plan with how this chapter would be. Scenes that I had planned to include were cut and would be revised for later. That and along with the other stories I have planned and being in the latter half of the new semester.
But also, I am planning to do an OVA spin-off of Code Jedi.
It means another update story that will focus on stories and scenes that couldn't make it to the main series and will be canon to this AU.
There will also be a massive revision of the early chapters of the fic in the future. That means not just editing typos… but changing how scenes played out and adding new types of developments to fit in the tone I want for this story.
The first to start it off will be a massive rewrite of Stage 12: Pride and Vengeance, which is the chapter focusing on the first battle with Cornelia and Saitama Ghetto. I will update it as the first part of the Code Jedi OVA, and the end result will have a lot of changes from the earlier version. I have been working on it already and hope to get it out sometime soon.
But first, we finally get straight into the next arc that I have been waiting for a long time, as shown with a sneak peek on what is about to go down next chapter. The Black Knights of the Rebellion are back in action now.
Many new familiar faces from a galaxy far away will arrive… along with a new revelation the Millennium Falcon crew will not be ready for!
Meanwhile…
"Dah!"
"Charles, look where you're going with those wires! We don't want either another twisted ankle… or anything less that will disrupt this broadcast!"
"Right!" Charles grumbled. "Man… Diethard had to not be here at a time like this."
"Still going on live… we go to you now, Clark," Jen the newswoman sitting at the center of the studio announced, while to her left was a screen broadcasting live footage from…
"What was announced to be the scheduled execution of long-time terrorist, Kyoshiro Tohdoh, of the now defunct Japan Liberation Front, has now turned into a chaotic skirmish between the authorities and the rebel-branded organization known as the 'Black Knights.' Ernie how are things looking over there now?"
"It's a total warzone, Clark! No, scratch that! It is a full-blown brawl of the likes I have never seen before in my life! The rebel knightmares were able to cut down the military's Sutherlands like bread! Even the heavy-armed walkers have been taken down a notched. Now I am seeing people. People… well… I can't even described them accurately…"
"Who are these 'people' you can't describe?"
"I don't know… but good news is… they are helping the military repel against the Black Knights! There a few of them… but they are unbelievable. Some of them are only shooting at the Knightmares on foot! Some of them are firing from the walls. I see one of them… he's flying!"
"Flying?! Who's flying? Peter Pan?!"
"Of course, not… looks more like… the Rocketeer himself come to life! And he… or she… they are flying past the enemy. A special force I have not seen before!
"Oh, wait… oh my gosh… I can't believe it… there's another one… that's a big guy… he's riding on some sort of motorbike… and he just… what the…?"
"Ernie! What is it you see?!"
"I now got a visual on the white knightmare frame, Clark! The same one that operated at the Lake Kawaguchi incident. My goodness, it's fast. But wait… it's going toe-to-toe… with another… it's going up against another knightmare… one of the rebel's… and it looks just the same as it!"
"Ernie, Ernie, who is piloting the white knightmare? Who is it?"
"I CAN'T SEE THROUGH METAL, CLARK!"
To be continued...