A/N: Special thanks to Jameyofthemegacosmos, Icysnowsage, Darklord331, Silkdreamweaver (chief beta reader and editor) and our Gundam consultant and designer Redrat8. Greatkingrat88, and Seerking have also contributed to the development of this story. I had begun in-between projects since early last year.

This was also the last chapter F-14 Tomcat Lover help collaborate with me on, working with Silkdreamweaver and I to enhance the mock battle in this one, before he can altering some of my story's chapters without my permission or even asking me, finding out only when I was reviewing them a week before posting them. Thus resulting in his removal as a beta for the story.

Now before the chapter itself, the reviews I couldn't PM to.

Samurai seven1: I have no idea what Bang Bravern, but the omake idea itself does sound amusing through.

Samurai seven2: That is the general idea for Lelouch to be more competent and creative pilot who uses his known skills with tactics to be more creative in battle, and having his own squad, who will be founding members of the Black Knights, will give him much needed versatility and the means to put such tactics to use, not just for himself, but without a squad he can do much more too. And that is true about Bradley, but you'll see that will gradually no longer be an issue.

Guest: Hands down I agree Yui and Lelouch have the best chemistry and will be the best couple in this story, even with Lelouch's other polygamous relationships Yui will be his first and the top/alpha wife. Unfortunately for Shirley she wouldn't have much of a shot with Lelouch here, which I feel bad about given how often her character gets the short end of the stick, Yui aside the competition for Lelouch is pretty steep. I am deliberating on rebooting the demon and his knights, only because I felt the pacing was messed up as I was speeding through events too quickly, which I intend to fix. Same with my MGE/CG story sometime in the future.

samurai seven3: Easier said than done, it would be easier for Lelouch to just imprison him or convince to his side, which I know the latter might be difficult, but I will only say Suzaku even in the Lancelot, may not be much of a threat as Yui is being set up as a "anti-Suzaku" XD. Why would Lelouch need to pinch Milly's cheeks, I understand the intent to humble them, but that one I don't get, it would be easier for Yui to handle Milly if she can, because if Lelouch pinched Milly's cheeks she would find someway to turn it around on him.

Jay: Yes it did.

Chapter 8

Coupling Matchup

The following afternoon, Lelouch was dressed in his new pilot suit, with proper colors while in the cockpit of a Minamoto unit. Next to him were four more Minamoto mobile suits piloted by Haruko, Haruka, Yuzuka, Tsukiko and one other trainee that was assigned to them for this exercise. They were currently in a large training arena that was once a city, but had declined to unsustainable levels. The population was relocated and it was ordered to be converted into a military installation for large scale urban warfare training for new recruits.

With the loss of much of the training facilities in the south, it had a vital role to maintain the quality of TSF pilots.

Today, it would see use by an entirely new machine, the Mobile Suit or MS for short. A machine far removed in terms of technology, but not concept from the Tactical Surface Fighter. For today, most of the weapons used by the Minamoto had been swapped out for the day's exercise. Those new weapons are a training sword and a rifle that fires specialized paint bullets that can disable any TSF they hit.

It had been decided that Lelouch would be leading one team against another until one team was left. However, he was told their final score would be depending on their overall performance, including leadership, tactics, and teamwork. They would also receive a personal score that would be the sundry of all other elements such as reaction time, accuracy, shots fired, and in the case of the training blades, strikes and parries among other criteria.

Still, they were really throwing him into the deep end from the start. From what Lelouch had seen of his opponent and the team he will be up against, it was going to be difficult to say the least. Fortunately, not impossible, but it was still not an even fight at best.

They are stacking quite the odds against me, Lelouch thought as a grin appeared on his face.

Because the rest of their opponents was everyone else in their cadet unit, led by Mariko Amemiya a recent veteran of the Defense of Kyoto who was being considered to be given a Minamoto for her exceptional performance during the battle. It was also due being a hereditary vassal and whose family has the same rank as Yui's family the Takamura. In addition to that, she has more practical experience, having served on the frontline in the south of Japan, being a very rare type of Eishi at this point, someone who survived the entire invasion from its beginning to this point in time.

Which included taking command of disorganized troops and holding her position until it was no longer tenable and retreating in very good order despite being under such pressure from the BETA.

But that all aside, Lelouch had looked over her personnel packet until he had to return it, but the information had been enough. The young woman is naturally skilled, talented and intelligent. Coupled with being more trained up and experienced, she is even more gifted than Yui to have graduated two years early and in the top five percent of her class. That is in stark contrast to Yui who is considered a near borderline prodigy and was still scheduled to graduate in another year or two.

Mariko Amemiya is a talented individual. Lelouch frowns in thought as he noticed that Mariko Amemiya was to be assigned to White Fang Squadron, the same squadron led by Yui's cousin no less and that Yui had been slated to join it as well, which is telling of the level of talent needed to be part of the White Fangs.

"Uh, can we do this? We are literally going against everybody else!?" Yuzuka inquired.

"They seem to think so," the newest member of their group replied neutrally.

Inside the cockpit of the sixth Minamoto was a young woman, a year older than Lelouch with short unkempt blonde hair, red eyes with a willowy athletic frame.

The addition of yet another young woman had made Lelouch frown. While he was not against women on the battlefield, his mother had been an Ordained Knight of the Round Table, he still had to wonder where all of the young men were?

As far as he knew, he was the only male in his entire class, including the instructors. He had asked Claude about that and she had said she had nothing to do with it, but refused to elaborate further. He felt he should avoid asking what might be a sensitive topic, for now at least, of his instructors and fellow trainees.

"Asagi, I think that's the sole reason." Haruka believed there was another motive behind this setup.

"Really? You sound as if our drill instructor is out to get Lelouch," Asagi Minori suggested.

"It certainly feels that way. Especially since who's leading the other side is a veteran Royal Guard pilot from Kyoto," Haruko remarked, sharing Haruka's suspicions.

"And many others from south of Kyoto too," Yuzuka pointed out.

"Lelouch?" Tsukiko inquired, noticing Lelouch's machine was picking up a wrecked TFS target dummy.

It was the remains of a decommissioned Gekishin frame. Lelouch had noticed about less than a dozen were left in the city to rot, after being used in whatever tests and training scenarios they were involved in.

And with a growing smirk, he realized there might be a few more he hadn't seen yet and because of how long they had been left out that they were now just background scenery…

"The enemy group hasn't been deployed yet?" Lelouch asked, as an idea came to mind.

"We have twenty minutes left until they do. Why?" Tsukiko asked.

"I have an idea actually," Lelouch replied.

Yui, Izumi, Kazusa, Aki and Shimako arrived at an observation room in order to watch the upcoming mock battle between Lelouch's team and the rest of the cadets from his training group. They were not alone, as others had come to watch. Marimo was likely in the command center to monitor the entire battle with Michiru and Yui's honorary uncle, Colonel Eiji Iwaya. Aside from other notable members of the base's personnel, like engineers and officers, Yui spotted other members of their unit.

"So it's seven against thirteen?" Sayuri asked, sitting with her friends on a bench before one of the monitors, providing live feed from cameras scattered around the training arena.

"Fourteen. You forgot Lieutenant Amemiya Mariko is leading them," Kasumi corrected, raising her right index finger.

"That seems to be unfair, even if Lelouch is experienced," Ayame remarked, seemingly doubtful Lelouch could win.

"She is right. Fourteen against seven, led by an experienced Royal Guard pilot with one year over us and considerably more combat experience, seems too much," Aki complained, after overhearing the conversation.

"Apparently given Lelouch's own experience, adding the Lieutenant to the mix was supposed to make it more of a fair fight," Kazusa said, folding her arms, but Aki couldn't tell if she was against it, approved of it, or both.

As if, Aki thought to herself, knowing full well about the more experienced Royal Guard as she had made a bit of a name for herself with an early graduation.

Aki had always been quicker with her body than her mind. Strength and getting stronger has always been her thing, but that didn't mean she was just all muscles. She could smell the Court Politics from here. Probably more than a few very prideful idiots, the same kind that had nearly lost Kyoto if not for Lelouch."Still seems like a bit much," Shimako said, concerned for Lelouch's odds of victory.

"We handled the BETA. Fighting against staggering numbers is something Lelouch should be used to," Izumi pointed out.

"True, but you know that is not what I mean," Shimako said as a counter argument. "Those cadets with him, have no experience against such odds. He'll have to lead them and keep them from panicking."

"I suppose that's true, but," Izumi began, before Yui interrupted them.

"He'll win," Yui said, confident, surprising her friends.

"Really, against those odds?!" Aki asked, but she is clearly more heated having figured it out.

"I've spent more than a few months with him, training and undergoing simulated battles. It won't be easy, but I would question the idea that he would go down easily against such odds," Yui pointed out, her confidence absolute.

Kazusa watched Yui and knew her confidence wouldn't be shaken in Lelouch, which Kazusa knew if Yui was that confident in Lelouch then maybe he could pull off a stunning victory. It was a question of how he would accomplish it, so Kazusa would watch the mock battle with anticipation, wondering how it will play out.

So Aki figured it out. Kazusa had figured it out quickly enough and Yui most definitely had. Which begs the question of why she is so confident?

The line-up was more or less even, but there was a fair bit more experience in the larger team. So, there had to be something about Lelouch that would trump that. Perhaps that which involved that strange, and wasn't that an understatement, woman Claude.

On one side of the testing arena, a yellow painted Minamoto, symbolic of the household she belonged to, piloted by Lieutenant Amemiya Mariko, a young woman of fifteen with long brown hair, purple eyes, wearing the gold and black pilot suit owed to her by her family's status, who steeled herself for battle. She took point leading the cadets behind her into the arena. Each of them using Minamoto units, painted accordingly to each of their status.

"Stay close and keep to our plan. The other team is hiding in the ruins and no doubt taking up ambush positions," Mariko warned, being careful to keep a firm hand on the inexperienced pilots under her command.

"Yes ma'am!" The other cadets replied in unison.

This machine is certainly much more responsive than my Zuikaku was, Mariko thought, interested in putting her new Minamoto through its paces. Still for a mock battle fourteen against seven seems a bit much? But the Lady Shogun still needs to cement her place and her authority. There are those who are still harboring both rebellion against her and still believe they were right when their actions had caused disasters from the Peninsula of Korea to the very heart of Kyoto.

Amemiya Mariko knew she was among those selected to pilot a Minamoto thanks to her performance during the Defense of Kyoto, but at the same time, she is also aware that while the mock battle set up involving her opponent, an American or British male eishi named Lelouch Lamperouge, provided an opportunity to get some live training with the machine in a mock battle, she was also still being evaluated for her actions prior to Kyoto. So, here she was and not only was she being viewed, but so too would the new Shogun as with her arrival on the base Major Jinguuji had 'asked' her to lead the opposing team of cadets against Lelouch Lamperouge, the man who piloted the Izanami and was instrumental to holding off the BETA advance alongside Yui Takamura.

And who had commanded the battle quite thoroughly wherever he went.

I am curious to meet him, but either they are overestimating his abilities or maybe they are that confident he can face such odds and still win? Mariko thought having her own doubts, and yet the results spoke confidently in his favor and that worried her as didn't quite like the idea of taking on a complete unknown.

But she knew one thing. The Northrock-Grunnan YF-22 Raptor was being constructed with advanced Anti-TSF combat capabilities. There is a good chance that this Lelouch Lamperouge was schooled in Anti-TSF combat tactics and strategies.

Normal tactics will not work here, Mariko thought as she recalled her own Anti-TSF training, as befitting a vassal of her station from birth to grave to be an instrument of the will and authority of the Shogunate. Including taking human life if need be.

So, she would simply have to switch gears, as much as she didn't agree, but she knew that it was inevitable that one day she would take a human life and therefore, it was time to put her training to fight other humans to the test.

Especially if I must some day down the road take a life of a human. For such is the duty of I will be called upon to fulfill.

But for now, she would need to test the waters of her opponent. And hope he didn't take her team apart too fast for her to do anything.

"Pair off into your assigned teams as planned with two pairs to sweep forward while the rest will divide into pairs and we'll assume the Wedge Two formation. Remember, the enemy team is out there hiding and their leader is someone to be wary of, so take heed and caution," Mariko said as she issued directions from her machine. "Don't be rash and charge ahead recklessly, the enemy will try to lure you into an ambush. If you spot the enemy, report, but don't chase them. We'll assume the defensive formations and be mindful of flanking maneuvers."

"Understood," the cadets replied as they broke up from their current column formation to assume Wedge Two while four others sped off to be the vanguard and try to locate their opponents first.

With the formation complete and the vanguard deployed, Mariko and her group advanced into the ruined city, mindful of any signs of the enemy.

It was eerie and quiet as they advanced. Mariko slightly unnerved at the sight of old Type-77s repurposed as drone targets laying wrecked and burned out on the old streets and against buildings. The memories of Kyoto and before coming back as well as the distant pleas and screams. She took a breath and recentered herself as she led her squadron forward.

Suddenly the cadets in the vanguard were under attack as paintballs took down an unsuspecting cadet in an ambush. The barrage as sudden as it began, ended almost immediately the attackers hastily retreated, flying between buildings to use them as cover against the retaliation the remaining three began. But it was pointless as the attack was quick and the ambush team had retreated just as quickly. The main formation catching up with the remaining cadets and firing as well, but the fleeing attackers just narrowly escaped.

"Only two of them," Mariko said, seeing the tactic for what it is.

Classic hit and run style. Still used, a preferred tactic actually, by Humanity to engage the BETA all across the battlefronts. All Mariko could do was shake her head and change up her formation.

But before Mariko could give orders, another cadet under her command was suddenly sniped when she carelessly stepped into an open area of the ruined city to improve her visibility of the surrounding area.

"Everyone avoid any open areas, we have an enemy sniper!" Mariko commanded. "They are trying to bait us. Stay behind cover and maintain formation."

The shocked cadets acknowledged. They all had been sniped repeatedly before in training. Yet, they all still made rookie mistakes. It was one thing on the ground with two eyes and ears, it was another thing with the advanced sensors of a TSF, or in this case, a mobile suit to remember that basic fundamental.

It's an obvious bait attempt, if only two of them attacked us. The rest must be lying in wait while the sniper covers them from the far end of the ruins, Mariko thought, deducing the enemy's tactics.

But something didn't sit right with her, it was too aggressive.

Mariko brought her weapon and fired a long burst off to her side. It was essentially a blind fire attack. A good way to waste ammo or scare your opponent off if they were being aggressive.

Spinning her Minamoto, she fired in the direction they had come with her rifle raised in elevation. The sniper shot that would have gotten one of the cadets in the back, splashed harmlessly against the building she was next to instead.

The resulting gunbattle forced the opposing team to actually stick it out and fight back. But it was clear that her opponents' commander had no desire for that kind of battle. His team retreated, though a couple had lost weapons. One a sword and another a rifle. Two had some damage as well.

In exchange, two of her own were damaged and Mariko could see a few lost weapons, a mix of swords and guns. Minor nuisance as they could retrieve the weapons from the 'downed' Minamotos and continue on. Their opponents were not so lucky.

"Tighten formations into Sierra Seven and advance carefully, avoid any open spaces so the enemy sniper can't target you."

"But they'll shoot at us still," one cadet said.

"No, with the buildings between us and them they have only a few lines of sight they can utilize without moving, otherwise they risk exposing their position. In fact, the sniper has likely already relocated," Mariko replied. "They'll probably try to force us out of cover and into the open. There are even fewer locations a sniper can viably use here. Once we get near their team's main position they will be forced to either engage us in close combat or abandon their comrades."

"Understood."

Meanwhile, Lelouch was finishing thinking over what went wrong.

His conclusion?

Mariko was better than he had reason to suspect.

Oh he had suspected quite a bit. Her record all but guaranteed it. But she had reflexes that were much higher and she had clearly shown deduction and spatial awareness skills far above others.

With some more experience and a few more years on her, she could easily try out for the Knights of the Rounds and have a good enough chance to make it in dang near flawlessly. Lelouch thought, knowing how much skill and talent were needed to replicate what Mariko had done.

Lelouch only shrugged as he clicked his tongue. His team had lost two weapons, which they could replace. Two of his team members had mild damage ratings. But Lelouch had a moderate damage rating from a lucky hit that had cut across his torso by sheer dumb luck.

Nothing that would hinder him right now, but it indicates what subsystems were offline and how much damage his armor took. To be frank, he was now a little tender.

He'll need to review the recordings later to see what exactly happened. But it was clear it was dumb luck as it passed through the windows of three buildings to get him. If he hadn't nearly tripped while relocating, he would have been hit right in a fatal spot instead.

Pleasant thought that.

In the meantime…

"Let's go with Plan Two-B now," he told the others.

"Seriously?" Haruka deadpanned.

"Plan Two-B?" Haruko gave him a flat look.

"That's your name for it?!" Tsukiko smacked her face.

The others remained silent, but were giving Lelouch a look like he did something stupid.

"Hey! You come up with plan names on the spot and get back to me!" Lelouch replied heatedly and defensively.

Despite their issue with the name of the plan, the six girls moved out and prepared for the next round of combat.

In her own 'home' theater, Claude smirks as she sees Lelouch snap back about his calling his plan Plan Two-B.

Normally far more composed than that, Lelouch would never snap back over such a thing. Perhaps growl about carrying out the plan, but never snap back. In any of the realities.

Growing time boy-o. Claude thought as she continued to enjoy her soda, popcorn, and candy. Hmm… Maybe give him a trip to the ladies' shower later? Nah… Probably too early. Plus, he needs to develop a bit more and not just physically.

"There!" A cadet shouted before firing their weapon, but his target had been an old decommissioned TSF propped up against a ruined building with some debris that made it look like it was armed with an assault cannon.

So it begins. Mariko thought as she saw the converted Type-77 standing there.

Its makeshift 'weapon' had been blown free of its hands and the unit itself now sagged against the building, still upright, almost actually standing on its own. The beaten up machine should have been salvaged for recycling, but it had been left to rot. More evidence of the generally poor nature of the previous Shogun's leadership and yet a boon for her opponent.

Clever, but something I would do if I have time. Mariko knew that not many would think that and she doubted she would actually do so as well, unless given both time and a reason. She already suspects that this Lelouch had seen a few left to rot and had realized he had been given a tool to win his battle with her.

Clever boy.

One of the cadets, the one right next to her in fact, was suddenly hit with a spray of paintballs through what had been an office building long since gutted of windows and much of its interior walls. That left an open space to fire through the actual building itself.

Two cadets reacted quickly, using bounding techniques to get around and fire on yet another Type-77, this time armed with one of the assault cannons used by the other team.

"They can't be far!" One of the two cadets kept her guard up and kicked another Type-77 over, only for there to be an assault cannon rigged to the disabled machine and hidden by it, causing her to be shot up with paintballs at point blank range.

"The hells?!" her wingman responded as she spun only to be surprised and overwhelmed by two enemies with their training halberds, "I'm down!" she managed before her machines shut down.

Mariko and the others rounded the corner, spreading out and keeping watch on all vectors, but the pair escaped, even stealing the weapons of their opponents.

Mariko walked over to the rigged TSF as it lay on its side, like a fallen person and she shook off the feeling the sight brought. She now knew why, prior to the BETA, Human military commanders hated the idea of piloted machines with Human form. When viewed from this angle, they looked like someone who died.

Especially with the pitted, penetrated armor with burn marks and shattered components laid out. The fluids of it would have dried out long ago. She had a feeling her cadet had accidentally kicked the Gekishin right back into the same spot it fell a while back, if the ground discoloration was anything to go by, which only added to the illusion of a long dead soldier left to rot in the open.

"That TSF, like the others we've seen, was likely used for weapon testing after its retirement from service and was just left to rot after the research teams were done with them all. The opposing team has seen fit to start using them to confuse us and tempt us into making mistakes. Check your targets with care when you engage and be mindful of more traps in the future. Be calm and collected and watch your assigned sectors with calm, especially when bounding through open areas and where there are buildings taller than we can hide behind. Alright?"

"Yes milady!" the cadets responded.

"Alright, as they say, on the bounce!" Mariko ordered.

As if to taunt her words, bursts of gunfire came from ahead and forced their units behind buildings.

"Contact!"

"I see four units to the front."

"Teams 3 and 4, stick to cover with Team 3 providing overwatch and Team 4 providing suppressive support, all others alternate advancement," Mariko ordered. "Team 7 change direction and move and flank them on the left, draw their fire so the other can move then alternate, but keep your eyes open. They'll catch on real quick."

"Understood!"

Due to the size of her unit, they had to move at a slow pace to allow rear units to catch up and avoid stretching out their line and leaving themselves vulnerable to any surprise pincer maneuvers or ambushes. Mariko felt that Lelouch's best chance would be to engage her units in as close to single-combat engagements as possible. That way they couldn't be suppressed or pinned by supporting fire. Unfortunately for him, she had no intention of breaking up her unit to enable him to do just that. While there is power in numbers after all, that was akin to saying close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades as the Americans like to put it.

Get too drawn out and separated, Lelouch and his team would have numbers. Defeat the enemy in detail. A classic Napoleonic strategy coined by the namesake of that warring period himself.

The tactic worked and two enemy units fled with varying levels of damage. But again, two of the enemies turned out to be more Gekishins propped up. Worse yet, some idiots forgot to collect their weapons when they were expended in tests. Both still had their assault cannons and one even had an unspent and very live 120mm round jammed in its tube.

Mariko took a few minutes to rip control over the lack of weapons and ammo sweeps. The UXO in the barrel could have gone off at any time Lelouch's team was manhandling the TSF and its weapon.

But now Mariko knew she faced another issue. She had noted that a live magazine had been removed and dumped somewhere because the assault cannon had been reloaded with a training magazine. Which told her point blank that training magazines and weapons were also likely laying around the cityscape. That meant that unlike her team, Lelouch and his team now had more ammunition and weapons to use.

Even if the Minamoto's couldn't use the weapons, Lelouch could now prop up disabled Gekishins and set them to fire on her or her cadets. They could also be used to set up traps. There were no rules governing how they defeated one another. Only stipulations on safety and the prevention of live ammunition.

Something Mariko proves when she picked up and threw a piece of debris down one street and set off a makeshift mine loaded with a technicolor of paint, likely made from several rounds of 120mm paint rounds banded together and set together.

Which caused Mariko to frown as she didn't think anyone on the other team should have that knowledge or level of technical skill. The improvised mine was no simple creation. Which made her further dread taking this time on after five of her cadets already.

Then so be it. We will play defensive and lure our opponents out instead. Mariko declared mentally and the results were obvious to Lelouch, who honestly hadn't expected to get so many so fast.

But the following five hours of what many expected to be an hour long skirmish at best had staff and personnel watching on the edge of their seats.

Mariko took a page from Lelouch's book and used a few discarded weapons and TSFs that Lelouch hadn't noticed or had time to work with against him. In that way, her team got its first 'kill' in, Haurka who was surprised by a simple trip wire attached to a long abandoned assault cannon. The assault cannon took out her head, left arm, and 'tore up' her Minamoto's torso, even separating the left leg from the main body in the simulated kill.

Tsukiko barely faired better in the same trap, losing her Minamoto's head and thus her main sensors. Lelouch pulled her back and employed three decoys that had no effect, but it allowed him to relocate and get a better view of the fighting.

Lelouch rightly figured, unless he stood so blatantly where he could be detected by sensors so easily, he could stand on top of buildings a bit further away and observe the maneuvers of both sides, correcting his own team's movements, while helping with sniper fire on occasion.

After all, Mariko would believe him down with the rest of his team or in the back somewhere. Not in a place where she could potentially shoot him down. If she were to detect him.

And that difference in elevation. That extra risk taken. Provided the payoffs that Lelouch wanted and needed. The ability to better control his team and observe his opponent's maneuvering.

It took Mariko over an hour to figure that out. Lelouch had spoiled one too many of her ambushes. The young woman realized that Lelouch was high up. That would explain the last second evasions. Because if it was being relayed, even through a connection through data sharing, there would be lag.

So, Mariko looked up and scanned, spotting not only Lelouch, but his sniper as well. Mariko risked the fight in front of her, to remove the enemy observation and sniper, and hopefully end this fight.

Lelouch managed to evade. Yuzuka did her best, but her teammates had been pushed back long enough and she was caught in a crossfire of every member as she sailed behind the building that eventually blocked further view of her machine.

Lelouch pulled his team back. Outnumbered so badly had its negative effects. Still, Asagi managed to close with and take out another cadet. She would have gotten two if Mariko and three others had chased her back at the last second with a hail of fire.

Two cadets made the mistake of chasing Asagi to a bend. Both stopped short of existing into what had been a park. But both forgot about the TSFs laying at their feet and what they could have been armed with. As such, Tsukiko detonates the remote training mines taking both out as they had bunched up and 'damaging' a third cadet's machine that barely withdraws back before Asagi can take her out.

After that, set piece fighting essentially settled in with the odd pop shot at one another.

That is, until Mariko accidentally walked her team into Lelouch's biggest trap and the one he had been, throughout the day, trying to lure her into as he had observed enough to know that Mariko was definitely Rounds' material and therefore, she was likely to take out his entire team, even if he got her entire squadron in exchange, if he didn't get her into one place with limited options.

In the control center for the entire exercise, operators had been going frantically over the data. The researchers working on the Minamoto's hadn't expected the results they were getting. Something they were overjoyed about, though they agreed with Mariko about the discarded machines, weapons, and ammunition, both live and training, that needed to be swept. The Minamoto is good, but a 120mm at point blank range would still cause damage to the machines and possibly injure or even kill the pilot.

The officer in command had been saying the same things for a while now. So now there will, undoubtedly, be a clean up effort.

Meanwhile, in a hidden room, Koubuin Yuuhi sat in a position of servitude as the Emperor and Empress of Japan both observed the training bout become a skirmish before them. The Shogun did not show any of the unearned arrogance of her predecessor and was fully aware that two of her best were pitted against one another.

The Emperor of Japan leaned over to his wife and the Empress nodded at her husband's whispered words before signaling for Yuuhi to actually sit at her side.

The young Shogun of Japan obeyed and sat as instructed.

"Our Lord Husband and ourselves are very impressed," the Empress removed something from within the folds of royal kimono gown and held it before Yuuhi who brought her hands up reverently to receive it, "Take this and know that you have our complete faith and support, Daishogun Yuuhi-dono, to command and lead as you see fit. Our trust is such."

Taking the symbol of not only the Empress, but the Emperor himself, Yuuhi realized the power she had been given. She wasn't just the Shogun, she was Daishogun. Her forehead touched the floorboards in recognition of her gratitude.

None could stand against her now.

And if she could not save her world, she could save the people and place them on a new world. That she promised. For no one remembered the dead. Only the living remembered and therefore, to keep the memory alive, her people would survive.

"Now, be sure to keep a close eye on your sister," the Empress added, "After all, family is important."

"It is," Yuuhi found her voice and the Empress placed a hand on Yuuhi's hands with a warm, matronly smile.

"So the final fight has begun," the Emperor did not want to interrupt, but he knew both should watch the fight that will come, "A prince from another world? We daresay that this Claude was right to pick him. He embodies principle as expected and the Takamura have another potential heir, so their daughter will do well at his side and bring honor to both our Empire and her family. Arrange a blue stripe for the Takamura, they will need it and give the head of Takatsukasa a purple stripe as well. That should solidify the young woman's position and reveal my ire for what has happened to our Empire."

"It will be done, Our Emperor," an attendant responded at once, knowing that the Emperor will only make ceremonial moves, but they were moves with influence.

The Daishogun will wear the crest of the Imperial House itself and the addition of the colored stripes will mark the Takamura Family and Takatsukasa Kyoko into positions of ascension.

If anything were to happen to the Imperial House, Koubuin Yuuhi would become the next Empress, Takatsukasa Kyoko the next Shogun, and the Takamura would in turn become a Regent House, either through absorbing or taking over the Takatsukasa Clan as a whole.

All is now set and the attendants are relieved now that there is an established line and unquestionable authority.

After managing to advance deeper into the city the suppressing fire stopped.

A head count revealed that Mariko's squadron still outnumbered Lelouch's team. But from fourteen who had sortied, including herself, she was down to six. They had halved Lelouch's numbers in exchange, a trap neutralizing one, their sniper having been literally shot down, and they had caught and overrun one more in melee, which is how she was down to six after another cadet was terminated in melee.

There was suddenly a brief and fleeting few moments of silence. Which stretched on and on as they advanced. There was no one shooting at them. Something that surprises Mariko and her cadets as well as adding confusion before the enemy team unloaded their entire mags down the streets in a maelstrom of bullets. It was an unimaginable barrage of training rounds that locked Mariko's remaining squad in place.

"There's no way we can advance under this gunfire!" One cadet states before his Minamoto's head is 'destroyed' and he ducks down deeper into cover while offering short blind fire in return.

Mariko knew right away the intense fire was all of the abandoned TSFs, weapons, and ammunition left in the cityscape. She had investigated one decoy earlier after noticing it was firing, but no rounds left its weapon. It had been filled with blank rounds, little more than noisemakers with flashes of light.

No doubt for every flash they could see, a few were nothing more than noise and light for a similar number that were sending paint their way.

And Lelouch likely had rigged the weapons to fire at different times to sustain their limited magazines.

"I'm hit!" one cadet shouted as her Minamoto 'lost' a leg to a 120mm training round.

A few moments later, she was taken out a tight grouping of fire.

"Movement!" Another cadet fired her weapon where she saw an opponent disappear around a corner.

Mariko went quiet as her gut told her something was off. Despite being down three of his TSFs, Lelouch was being suddenly very aggressive against her team that still held the advantage of numbers and had restocked their ammo from discard weapons, no doubt like Lelouch and his team had been doing. Even with the heavy suppressive fire Lelouch's team and decoys were laying down, if her team rushed them, while they may lose 2-3 units in the process, which would be the most 'damaged' of their units, they would wipe out his entire team and her remaining numbers would still be more than enough to handle Lelouch when he was alone.

That wasn't even taking into account that they could wait until they've burned through their ammunition. They were playing too aggressively, almost pointlessly. Which didn't add up. As she ran through potential traps, her eyes settled on one of the decommissioned TSFs. Suddenly it clicked for her. She opened her mouth to warn her team, but never got the chance.

"Ahhh!"

Her teammates were caught completely off guard as two enemy TSF units burst out from behind decommissioned units and opened fire. The units charged through her team, guns firing as they went. In mere seconds her unit was down another three units thus making the fight a fair one of three on three.

"Damn you!"

"Wait!" Mariko warned, but it was too late. The cadet wanted to fire after the fleeing units and the moment her TSF stepped into the open it was met with a barrage of gunfire that repainted the front of the mech. It toppled over from the force as it shut down, registering the enemy's "kill".

Mariko bit back a curse. She pulled on the last cadet not to be shot down and the two fled around around a corner as the fire began to slacken as the neglected weapons either burned out, malfunctioned, or simply ran out of ammo. Through it all, she had to admit to Lelouch Lamperouge's skill and leadership.

And dare I say, with no pun intended, his daring. Mariko was impressed and while not an impossible feat, far from it really, it was impressive enough that she knew who she wanted to fight in a war beside.

Lelouch had been one of the two who had charged right through her remaining cadets. He was identifiable by the clearly near kill shot streaked across his torso. She had noticed it early and realized that Minamoto was the leader. They had been so close earlier and she had to conclude that it was pure dumb luck that they could have closed this training match out earlier in the day.

Especially with how it has been turning out.

They had gone from a clear numerical superiority with slightly above 2-to-1 to now being on par. Lelouch's team was reduced to three active units. One of which was significantly 'damaged' and therefore not of much use other than a distraction or if they got careless. As such, it was still possible for them to win. Especially as Mariko thought about it, her unit was completely undamaged and her wingman was only lightly damaged. Both of the opposing units that could still fight normally were damaged. The odds were still in their favor in a way. There was still a shot at victory for them.

"Contact! Left side!"

It was the damaged enemy unit trying to avoid being seen.

But it had run right across their path. Its main sensors were disabled and the secondary sensors in the torso had been 'damaged' in the mock battle. As such, the eishi inside had accidentally run right by them without knowing it.

But also likely moving to get behind its own allies!

"Turn hard and cross the path it took and then follow me!" Mariko ordered and her last cadet followed her without question.

The pair crossed the path Tsukiko had taken and then Mariko rounded a corner, then another, and another, until, as she predicted based on the layout of the streets from what she recalled of the map, they had reached a unique junction area with several distinct buildings it, that she again saw the damaged unit and knew they were now in position for a final ambush.

Lelouch for his part had frowned as they had lost contact with Mariko. Then he saw the unique junction as well.

"Crap! They're behind us!" he informed Asagi.

"Tsukiko is in trouble!" the young woman responded.

"Double time!" Lelouch shouted as he contacted Tsukiko and rerouted her to a new location to keep her safe from the ambush that was about to occur.

Mariko felt the abrupt turn around more than saw it when she collided with the enemy they had been tracking.

"Milady!" the cadet shouted as Mariko bounced down the street, her thrusters coming online as she was shaken and gripped her controls too tightly, sending her further down the street by accident.

The cadet didn't have time to worry. Because as soon as she started moving, a stream of gunfire just barely missed her. She snapped around and opened up, striking her attacker's weapon and taking it out and forcing them to hop to the side to avoid being taken out.

A large '01' on the shoulder armor with a streak across the torso told her who she was looking at.

"The enemy commander!" She raised her weapon to fire, but suddenly her Minamoto staggered forward as all systems shut down except for life support and the monitors letting her know she'd been terminated.

Tsukiko staggered her machine back to its feet. The impact had really shaken her hard. Now she knew how beans in a can felt all over again.

Stepping forward, she looked at her handiwork. It was just pure luck that when she collided with the building, she had landed with her back against it. As such, her remaining 'active' sensors had told her of what was happening and she immediately reacted. The last of her rounds had painted a nice portrait on the last enemy's back.

"Tsukiko, evade!" Lelouch shouts and the young woman blinks before she feels like beans in a can again and she realizes that the other enemy hadn't been taken out when they collided.

Mariko turned to Lelouch. Her assault cannon had slid off somewhere, but her training halberd remained in hand. So, without waiting for Lelouch to get his out, she shot down the street to engage him.

And he was still in shock by her return as he fumbled for his weapon, but still was able to draw it fast enough to avoid being knocked out and to parry her attack successfully.

Though he was unstable and she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity.

She had to win. They had reached this point. All of her cadets had been taken out. She owed it to them. Especially her last cadet who could have done the rare feat of winning the fight for their squadron. Rare for cadets to win under these conditions against those just better than them.

Lelouch met her next attack with more confidence. In moments they were trading blows, but he was still shaky. Likely trying to get himself reoriented as she was striking hard and fast, giving him little option but to parry her at this point.

"I don't think so!" It was the last enemy subordinate!

And this one laid down a full barrage from her weapon before she ran out of ammo. Then she drew her training halberd with skill worthy of a Japanese eishi. Both training weapons collided and Mariko was on the defensive.

"You're not getting Lelouch!" the other young woman shouts as the two fight it out.

Both are highly aggressive. Both uncompromising. But Mariko was just that more skillful and better taught.

In a series of rapid exchanges that normal TSF eishi could only dream of, both collided their weapons fast and hard. The response times of the Minamotos were simply so much better. The technology in their limbs and bodies allowed them to react much more critically. In many ways, they were extensions of the pilots.

Armored samurai rather than pilots in machines.

But still, the human fluidity and grace was still not there. There was still some fixation in their movements. Limitations they couldn't overcome.

And Asagi forgot that for the briefest of moments and was overextended.

"Not so fast!" Lelouch was there, his training halberd, blocking Mariko as he pushed back and managed to parry her attack away from Asagi. "If a king does not lead, he will not be followed!"

And leading into the attack, Lelouch did. His great weakness was melee combat. He was a gunfighter not a swordsman. He knew he would never have his mother's gift. He always knew he would not be the Son of the Flash.

But that didn't stop him from fighting in close. In melee form. And…

"Those are Yui's moves!" Shimako declared, recognizing Lelouch's fighting form and movements for what they are.

"When did you teach him your exact style?" Aki inquires, looking surprised.

Surprised by Lelouch's movements, Yui can only say one thing.

"I didn't."

Mariko was surprised. She had once had the honor of taking on Takamura Masatada in a training match. So she knew the Takamura stances well enough.

Sword styles ebbed and flowed with fluidity as they were taught as no two people fought the same. But there were nuances that always remained. Such as stances and preference in movement.

And Mariko could instantly tell she was fighting the Takamura Family's style. It was derived from the techniques of the Nara Prefecture, the former Yamato Province. Given that the Takamura were of the Takatsukasa House, once part of the Fujiwara Clan, it came as no surprise they would have their own techniques and stances.

But while Lelouch had incredible and indelible control, what he lacked was both experience and skill to precisely unite the styles as finely as Takamura Masatada had done.

So she timed his moves and then, at the precise moment, jumped back and set her alarms off about a threat to her flank.

"What?!" she looked over to see a down enemy unit. "The sniper! She wasn't terminated, only downed!?"

The Minamoto was 'damaged' with an arm and leg crippled or outright destroyed. Its back was resting against a building with a sturdy outcropping to help prop it up. More than that, the remaining arm used the remaining leg to stabilize the weapon in hand.

Aimed right at her and with no way to escape as she was boxed in by buildings on two sides, the sniper, and the pair she had just withdrawn from.

And the Minamoto's one weak point was that it lacked a TSF's raw thrust ability to power jump thanks to the turbofan afterburners not found on the Mobile Suit.

And despite that and that she had lost, Mariko couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face.

Well played, Lelouch.

The rifle cracked and her machine rocked back from the hit into the building behind her. Her screen went black as it flashed a red termination notification. A moment later the siren went off, announcing the end of the match. Mariko chuckled. She was impressed and could admit that she was starting to see what the higher ups saw in Lelouch.

Yui wasn't surprised by the result itself, but rather how it came to be. Shimako, Aki, Izumi and Kazusa were stunned. Not only did Lelouch win against such odds, but he transformed what should have been a short skirmish into an hours long battle with a shocking and completely unexpected conclusion right at the end.

"Holy shit," Aki said, breaking the stunned silence. "That has to be the most epic training bout I've ever seen! It was like a real battle between them."

"I knew he would win, I just didn't know how," Yui said, very impressed by Lelouch's leadership as he exceeded her expectations. Though she is still surprised by his use of her family's swordsmanship. Which she suspected, and rightly so she expects, that he got the knowledge from her during their training period together.

"Using the abandoned decommission units as decoys and to hide his teammates was clever," Kazusa complimented. "As well as scavenging for resources to use as well. To say nothing of how he could quickly back pedal if something didn't go right and turn it into an advantage."

"Indeed, I don't think anyone would've expected it," Shimako remarked, she understood why Lelouch's tactical talents were held in such high esteem by Yui. "And despite being in a position to fight and defeat the opposing commander, who was more skilled than he and his last wingman, using the ruse that he was down to two active Minamotos instead of three."

"This will cause a stir for sure," Izumi said, quietly applauding Lelouch's performance and how he led his team. "The numbers are something that can be overcome. The use of tactics and tricks to win is all but promised to be part of war. But that both commanders had dragged out an hour's long skirmish into a nearly six hour battle using differing methods to oppose and counter one another in so many ways, that I expect that the highlights will be entered into future training education."

"You know, could we maybe ask if we could transfer to whatever unit Lelouch commands?" Sayuri commented, to the surprise of her friends.

"Huh, but you know no one will allow that?!" Ayame pointed out.

"True," Sayuri acknowledged. "But if we had to serve under a commander, who would you want? The guy who can take on and lead under difficult odds or someone else? I mean we wouldn't be here if not for him and Lieutenant Takamura."

"She does have a point," Kasumi said, nodding her head, arms folded.

"Maybe, but you two know it doesn't work like that." Ayame added.

Unknown to Ayame, she and her friends were being considered for the unique squadron built around Lelouch and Yui. More than that, their spots were all but guaranteed due to the restraints the Japanese face. Plus, their level of skill with their machines were an indicator they would remain as part of the larger unit if they continued to apply themselves and no one better was found and even then, there was always a chance it would be expanded.

If there was anyone more shocked at how the mock battle ended, it was Marimo and Michiru who, while not necessarily expecting Lelouch to lose, didn't expect him to so deftly maneuver and successfully mask his final move the way he did. However, Marimo's reaction wasn't for the reason some were thinking, and Michiru suspected the real reason.

"He may not be the most physically capable, but he makes up for it in intellect doesn't he?"

"Yes he certainly does," Marimo acknowledged, surprised by the result. "However, his skill and talent in tactics is unparalleled compared to every other student I've taught. That's why I had to modify the mock battle like this, hoping it would make it difficult for him."

"You suspected he would win, even against these odds?" Michiru, said clearly surprised.

"No, but I knew it would be possible. Did you even see the tactics he proposed and those he offered as a response to some of the situations we put forth to the cadets to solve?" Marimo said, having figured out early on that Lelouch was tactically brilliant, she had planned the mock battle in such a way to truly challenge him, and perhaps form a stronger bond with his team, all of whom Marimo chose by observing Lelouch's interaction with his fellow cadets.

"I don't think anyone could've expected him to achieve victory like this," Michiru said. "While no flawless victory, given their rarity, an hour long skirmish has become a six hour battle and then, when clearly outmatched and likely to lose, he reveals that you should never count your teammates out until the very end."

Marimo nodded to Michiru's words. At the same time, she regrets not making it harder now. While difficult, she could have adjusted the difficulty a little more. The cadets needed to learn. Truthfully, it was more pure luck because so much had been left to waste away in the training city. Something that would be changed going forward.

"It isn't just that, but because he was smart enough to recognize cadets and our pilots being too accustomed to fighting against the BETA, that he would have been able to exploit any other commander and group of cadets. It is true that during training they engage in mock battles to build teamwork and train them to fight together as a group, but they never were truly prepared to fight human opponents," Marimo said, seemingly applauding Lelouch on finding and exploiting the weaknesses of his foes.

"Only I saw that before it could happen and therefore arranged a suitable leader and team to be assembled to take him on," Marimo continued before she sighed, "Unfortunately, a number of the cadets still made simple mistakes that are fatal against Human enemies, but we also have cadets here with high learning curves and that's what I choose. More than that, they would be able to directly follow their commander without her having to hold their hands in battle. As we saw, they learned fast, Lady Mariko is a skillful leader and no doubt she proved herself this day despite her defeat. Her opponent was just better and he still found one weakness in her that she couldn't have anticipated so easily and that is when she switched from using her range weapon to her melee weapon, she lost her awareness and forgot that Humans can coordinate and set far more intricate traps."

"Even so I worry about the reactions from some people, with a foreigner defeating a member of the Royal Guard houses," Michiru said, expressing concern.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, but all Lelouch needs is competent people under his command and he could be capable of almost anything with the right resources behind him," Marimo added, folding her arms. "Besides I have it on good authority that they will be too busy cutting their stomachs open or retiring to quiet lives in Hokkaido for the duration of their lives."

While a bit of a gross overstatement, Marimo wasn't lying.

Several members of the previous Shogunate had been retired. With bullets through the head by tan-clad Imperial Guardsmen. Direct servants of the Imperial House. Others, wearing their own colors, were from Ninja clans that made deaths look natural.

The rest, wisely, went into retirement of their own accord. Especially as they saw the Imperial Seal with their new Daishogun.

They had lost.

Yuuhi had won.

But for every victory, there is also a defeat.

In this case, the US Government had formally notified her that they had to withdraw their forces. The situation in the Mediterranean was deteriorating faster than could be shored up. The Seventh Fleet would stay a little longer as arrangements were made to get the Third Fleet back out to sea, but the Seventh would be withdrawn as the Fifth Fleet would be taking over security of the Atlantic while the rest of the US Navy would be trying to save the Mediterranean and all of Africa.

It had not been an easy choice. For dilemmas, unlike problems, have no solutions, only choices and neither will be good.

But she had at least two weeks, maybe a month, before the USA would withdraw its forces. So, she had time to stabilize Japan's frontlines and rebuild some of its forces. She had already ordered a priority plan to begin replacing their aging TSFs as quickly as possible. Which she had a spot of good news about, as the US Forces-Japan had to withdraw completely in such a short timeline, they would be leaving behind large amounts of equipment, vehicles, supplies, and TSFs.

Already their first company to use American TSFs. Such as the F-14 Tomcats and the F-18 Hornets being left behind. Both of which would give the Japanese badly needed Phoenix Missile capabilities.

However, little did they know, Daishogun already had something in mind to keep the USA in Japan to uphold their treaty obligations.

A short time later, once their machines had returned to the hanger, Lelouch disembarked from the unit he had been using before running into Yuzuka.

"You were brilliant, we actually won!" Yuzuka shouted as she threw herself at Lelouch to hug him tightly, still on the high of elation about both getting the drop on and taking out an elite like Mariko Ameriya .

"Yes, but you each deserve credit for fulfilling your roles in each plan perfectly," Lelouch complimented, just stroking her back after catching himself to ensure they both didn't fall on the gantry.

His experience with the wild creature known as Milly Ashford, did have uses after all.

"Thanks," Yuzuka said smiling, although a part of her was even more joyous over their victory since she got to take down a member of the Royal Guard, so much so, that she leaned up and gave Lelouch a brief peck on the cheek before she blushed and looked away, but Lelouch only shifted his grip to let her know he was honored and she returned to smiling at him.

"And there he is," Tsukiko said, approaching Lelouch and Yuzuka followed by the other members of Lelouch's team.

The pair separated as Tsukiko took her turn to surprise Lelouch with a hug, "Thank you for the victory and for trusting me despite everything."

"Of course," he patted her on the back as he returned the embrace.

"The most devious son of a bitch ever you took on double the enemy led by a member of the Royal Guard," Asagi complimented, taking her turn to embrace Lelouch once he and Tsukiko separated, "It feels so good to have won," she quietly whispers and Lelouch gently holds her head to let her know he had faith in her the whole time and that he was glad to deliver.

"Yes I think without your strategy the battle could've ended differently," Haruko said, joining the other members of Team Lelouch to praise their leader and get her embrace in as well. "Your leadership was quite impressive and your faith in us, thank you so much."

Like Yuzaka she pecked him on the cheek, showing how grateful she was for the victory. Lelouch, like he did with Yuzaka, tightened his grip enough as he patted her back to let her know he was honored. And that he was pleased to deliver results.

"Thank you, I appreciate the compliments, but don't forget your efforts in executing my various plans were invaluable," Lelouch said, although he didn't mind the praise he knew it was best to compliment those working with him as a good leader should and he knew he had a good team and good teams won and celebrated together as a team.

Which came as no surprise when Haruka also stepped forward and embraced him, "But we had you to lead us and you never set yourself apart from us, my lord king who I will follow," she teases at the end, but with yet another peck on the cheek and Lelouch can only blush.

"You heard that, right?" Lelouch chuckles with Haruka still in his arms, "But I meant it too. A leader needs to learn to take great risks in order to gain the trust of those who will follow them. Not too many unnecessary risks, that's just arrogance, but the risks that are needed to be taken. The moments that decide a good leader from a bad leader. We're victorious! So let's celebrate our hero of the moment and our win as a team!" Lelouch declares to his team who joyously raise their fists in the air as they cheer and dance a little.

Without warning, Yuzuka leapt onto Lelouch's shoulders getting an impromptu piggyback ride. Lelouch staggered forward, struggling to maintain balance. But left wide open as it were, Asagi and Tsukiko suddenly leaned in and kissed him on the cheeks as well, laughing at his situation.

"Are you Lelouch Lamperouge?" a new voice suddenly cuts through the merrymaking of the six pilots.

All eyes turned and saw Mariko approaching Lelouch, wearing a yellow coat over her fortified suit. Behind her, with coats over their own fortified suits, are the thirteen cadets defeated in the exercise. Each looking a little dour at losing, but standing at attention and keeping themselves in check.

Oh great, here is some elite snob and sore loser to ruin the moment, Yuzuka thought upset at Mariko's arrival even as Lelouch put her down and moved to stand before the Royal Guard.

"That would be me," Lelouch replied, although he noted internally it should've been easy to find him since he was the only male in the group, but she was likely being polite.

Some were expecting Mariko to verbally berate Lelouch for his foreigner status or not fighting honorably, or at least Yuzuka was. To, essentially, 'defend the honor' of the Regent Houses and their subordinate branches. That he should have known to yield to the betters. However, to the surprise of most, Mariko instead smiled and offered her compliments.

"Your leadership and tactics were brilliant, I can see why you have been hailed for your accomplishments during the Defense of Kyoto," Mariko said, offering her hand to Lelouch.

Lelouch wasn't too surprised by it, having dealt with the Britannian nobility enough to instantly sense and see the difference in Mariko from those over bloated on their 'status', but nevertheless he accepted her hand and the praise.

"You didn't do too bad yourself, uh…" Lelouch knew who she is and what her combat record was, but he wanted his team to hear her name and to put a face to it, so they would learn to trust her in the future.

"Oh right, I apologize I should've introduced myself, I am Lieutenant Amemiya Mariko, I was leading the cadets against you in the battle," Mariko said, introducing herself, but also realizing what Lelouch was up to and was pleasantly surprised by his actions to bridge the gap between herself and his own team.

"A pleasure," Lelouch replied and it was true, as she reminded him of Marrybell and Nonette, two people he did truly miss as he knew Marrybell had suffered his own fate, only far worse, and Nonette simply could not speak back being a Knight of the Rounds and Marika felt as a balance between the two before him now that he had met her.

"If you don't mind me asking, were you a veteran of the recent battles?" Haruko inquired politely as she hadn't failed to notice how Marika had reacted and even planned her own ambushes while figuring out some of Lelouch's tricks as the battle went on.

"Yes," Mariko nodded as she shifted, showing how uneasy she felt fighting the BETA, as any veteran did because of how brutal to savage the fighting could get, "I was also a commander of forces, in a manner of speaking, in a number of the battles I was involved in from the Battle for Kyushu through the Defense of Kyoto."

Lelouch nodded to the others to show he knew ahead of time and that she was on the level.

"Her leadership was called into question due to her junior status and insubordination to the previous Shogun's directives, but she won battles and preserved troops so they were trapped in a quandary only solved when the Lady Koubuin took leadership herself to turn things around following the demise of her predecessor during the invasion."

"How old are you?" Asagi frowned, "You look no older than us and yet you did all of that?"

"I am only a year older than most of you and I graduated last year," Mariko answered Asagi's question, "I was fast tracked due to my grades and standing within the class as a result. That is not including the need for skilled bodies for the defense down south, which sadly, was still incomplete and ill-prepared when the BETA landed and we were struggling like everyone else."

"She was accelerated through as a genius eishi and graduated early," Lelouoch supplied as well, "After that, she was under extensive work ups and training with other fast tracked cadets to form the backbone of new units for the invasion. But few of the units were prepared or ready and like all other units, they suffered heavy losses. Only thanks to Claude's involvement did the evacuation of civilians go better than what could have been expected, but even then, Lady Koubuin was limited in what she could do at the time until it became clear for the change of leadership and Marika happened to be one of those reasons due to her leadership and foresight that led many Japanese soldiers and civilians to safety."

"You praise me too much," Marika modestly replied to Lelouoch's statement, though, it was actually somewhat accurate as there was more to everything that happened.

"I see, so you are experienced, at least more than Lieutenant Takamura and her squad were," Asagi continued the conversation while Haruka remained quiet.

"Sadly they were fast-tracked and technically considered graduated early to help provide extra soldiers for the battles fought during the invasion itself, so while preventable, due to the constraints that developed it couldn't be helped," Mariko pointed out before glancing at the Minamoto. "On that subject I must say the new machines are truly amazing. I hope they can produce more, especially their weapons and get them to our soldiers in the field as soon as possible."

"Yes they could indeed, it's just a matter of producing them fast enough and getting people trained enough to be familiar with them, and comfortable using them in a fight. I don't doubt people will need time to adjust to using them," Lelouch noted.

"I agree with you," Mariko said.

"Provided they aren't reserved for those brats of the nobility," Yuzuka remarked quietly, causing Haruka to gently nudge her shoulder to keep quiet about that, lest she get in trouble for disrespecting a member of the Royal Guard.

"In that we are agreed," Marika responded to what Yuzuka said, even if it was technically out of turn, "But I was informed by a member of my Regent House that a number of units are making conversions to American TSFs that are being donated for our use. A mix of F-14 Tomcats and F-18 Hornets that come equipped and supplied with the AIM-64 Phoenix Missile, so now we will have a way to finally counterbalance the BETAs' numbers into something we can fight."

Marika stopped for a moment, to let Yuzuka or one of the others to speak, but none did.

"If you have distaste for the Royal Guard, I daresay it is well founded," Marika didn't take her eyes off the new machine before her, noting the number '01' on the shoulder and the streak of paint across the torso, signifying it was Lelouch's mount, "We have far too many obsolete machines in our inventory and our supply organization is a mess as a result. While we will be adding new machines, we are retiring others at long last. Hopefully this will save lives and allow us to reclaim what is ours."

Yuzuka stayed quiet, but she rolled her eyes in protest for what she considered patronizing words.

I wonder how she feels about getting her butt handed to her by a former prince? Yuzuka thought, relishing in the victory over a member of the Imperial Household.

Lelouch might've been a prince, knowing his secret allowed her some knowledge to have well-placed faith in him, but the keyword was still a former prince. As far as Yuzuka was concerned Lelouch was no different from her and everyone else, even if he was made an honorary member of the Royal Guard, but Lelouch's rank wasn't anything special other than being a mere formality.

For what he pulled off he deserved more than just the lowest rank of the Royal Guard, maybe he should be in charge of his own battalion or something, Yuzuka mused.

She was wary and distrustful of the Royal Guard and their family, breed out of the fact that whenever new weapons and machines were produced they were given to them than the regular military who were on the frontlines, usually dying by the hundreds while the fudai households and those above them were given priority when it came to new weapons and machines while rarely taking the field and gaining the experience needed for such machines.

Everyone else will likely be stuck piloting chunky machines like the Gekishin for months before they even see any new machines or weapons, Yuzuka thought, folding her arms in quiet anger at the thought, before Lelouch turned and stepped over to her and gently unfolded her arms and held her hands, looking her in the eye and letting her know what she was thinking, surprising her and she blushed and looked away, feeling ashamed to challenge Mariko while Lelouch had just led them to victory.

"Once more," Marika spoke again as she turned and stepped over to Lelouch and Yuzuka and holding out her hand, "Well fought match. I hope for a rematch in the future, because I know I will learn well."

Lelouch took the hand, only to be pulled in close much to his surprise.

"Thank you and good luck," Marika whispered into Lelouch's ear before giving him a quick peck, "Please save as many as you can," she whispered once more before she turned and walked away, followed by her surprised cadets and leaving a stunned team behind her.

Unknown to the group, watching from the sidelines in a sense, was Yui, who was suddenly concerned about Lelouch. She had been worried about a potential conflict between Lelouch and Mariko, but it seemed thankfully her worries about a potential disagreement over Lelouch winning was for nought.

Yet why do I feel so uneasy, Yui wondered.

"Geez I guess Lelouch is getting a lot of attention isn't he?" Aki said, sneaking up behind Yui and making the girl jump in fright.

"Please don't do that," Yui said sternly, slightly annoyed by Aki approaching her from behind, likely trying to spook her. "Besides, given his victory I have no doubt he is being well praised like he should be for such an accomplishment."

"Right, but you aren't worried one of those girls might make a move on him. At the rate he's going he might end up as some kind of war hero," Aki said, studying Yui's face. "Hey Yui, you aren't jealous or something are you?"

"Me, jealous of his accomplishments?"

Aki shook her head, "I am not talking about his accomplishments or the fame he has been gaining, but about the man himself. I mean thanks to our casualties in the war against the BETA, most TSF pilots are mostly women, especially after the invasion did a huge number on our military. He'll be partially and/or almost completely, if not completely, surrounded by women all the time at this point, are you not worried someone will claim him as a lover?"

"Why are you asking me such a question?!" Yui shouted flustered bright red and fidgeting.

"I don't know," Aki said with a smile, eyeing Yui suspiciously. "You seem to be watching Lelouch, you are quite confident in him, not to mention…"

Aki's smile widened into a knowing smile of the cat that got the cream.

"You are blushing, care to explain that?" Aki teased her longtime friend.

"Huh?!" Yui brought her hands up to her face, a look of surprise and shock as her blushing face became more flustered.

Yui hadn't realize it, but her cheeks had turned red watching Lelouch and then darkened when Aki had surprised her which had gotten only worse with the other girl's teasing.

"That is me just feeling," Yui said, quickly coming up with an explanation. "Just feeling embarrassed because you asked me something out of the blue. We just met not too long ago, we're friends, nothing more."

"Uh huh," Aki said, eyeing Yui even more suspiciously. "But you spent over three months with him alone didn't you?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything." Yui declared, not quite forgetting how safe and warm she felt in Lelouch's arms when the nightmares struck and he would sleep next to her until she could sleep without the fear.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, or if you are serious you won't mind if I try to win him over," Aki said, trying to probe and provoke a reaction from Yui.

"Stop joking around Aki," Izumi said, thankfully to Yui's relief, intervening. "He doesn't seem like the kind of guy where simple flirting is going to work on him."

"Oh come on Izumi, don't tell me you aren't curious too?" Aki said, grumbling that her fun had been ruined.

"No, that should be between Lelouch and Yui, his love life let alone Yui's love life shouldn't be our business to poke our noses in," Izumi said sagely.

"Thanks for the intervention," Yui said to Izumi.

"Not at all, after all a person's feelings especially in matters of love should never be taken lightly," Izumi said, giving Aki an intimidating look causing Aki to back down.

"But you're still just as curious and interested as Aki and Yui," Kazusa shot down Izumi being uninterested, "Though, the reasons differ," Kazusa revealed that she wasn't blind to her teammates around her either, "But at this point, we're all interested and curious for our own reasons."

Following an exhausting afternoon of being asked questions and showered with praise and actually enjoying a party to celebrate the victory of the day, Lelouch returned to his room. Once he was done cleaning up and changing out of his uniform, Lelouch laid down to go to sleep, expecting to wake up in his bed at Ashford Academy.

However, instead he found himself rolling off what should've been his bed, Lelouch realized he was on the floor of his room in Ashford Academy.

"What the hell?!"

Getting up Lelouch realized he been asleep on his couch, his room had one by the window which he would sometimes lay on it reading books. Trying to understand why he was left on the sofa of his room, Lelouch looked to his bed discovering it was occupied with the head of the person covered up, but the layout of the person told him something he couldn't believe.

Awoken by Lelouch's startled cry, Yui removed the blanket that had been covering her. A blanket by the feel of the material she had never known no less. It was also the wrong color, which given she was sleeping on base, was of the standard military variety green, tan, and gray.

Yui looked around the room and quickly realized she wasn't in her room in the base or even on base at all, before her eyes found Lelouch who looked at her in disbelief. Both were shocked, yet thankfully both were dressed in proper sleepwear, but instead of reacting in anger or embarrassment to the other's presence in Lelouch's room they both realized who was responsible for this.

"Claude," Yui and Lelouch said together, as the two seethed in anger.

"I guess this means you'll be spending the day with me I suppose," Lelouch said, politely averting his eyes from Yui.

"Yes, and it wasn't something I asked for you."

"I didn't think so, since you would've told me in advance," Lelouch said, knowing Yui would've had the decency to have told him in advance.

"Yes, but I am curious about what your Earth is like."

A/N: That is it for the chapter with Lelouch winning his first mock battle by leading his own squad to victory, not only making what should've been a short mock battle last for hours while picking off Mariko's cadet squamates one by one, but winning in the end. I had my worries with the new direction with the battle we went following my original effort since my goal was to show off Lelouch's ability as a commander and tactician which are his strongest suits, and it would be a crime of me not to do that here. Of all of the chapters done and beta-worked in advance this was among those heavily edited and parts of it rewritten quite a bit. So I hope you guys enjoyed the mock battle.

But during that mock battle we got a hint of what has been happening behind the scenes with Yuuhi going from a figurehead Shogun to a much more powerful figure in Japan if her awarding of the new title isn't anything to imply.

I do admit I was hesitant to go with the Daishogun title as an indicator in her rising position in Japan, and the boons it gives it, since it wasn't an official position, but it does fit with the official position she gains in the coming chapters. But if people don't think it can work, or what not then I can easily remove it.

Worrying Yui however, is that Lelouch is getting more attention from the opposite sex, which as Aki pointed out isn't helped by the fact that the majority of men since the BETA conflict began, especially for front-line nations, have been killed. Meaning Lelouch's squad being all female shouldn't be a surprise since the vast majority of TSF pilots are women with exceptions in the US TSF forces. So Yui is going to need to start worrying if her "not-my-boyfriend" could be stolen by someone if she doesn't stay vigilant XD.

Now Yui will be spending a day in Code Geass Earth, so expect Nunnally, Sayoko and even a certain Student Council President to appear, oh yes her coming was inevitable XD.

Also I put up a new poll on my profile page, and unlike my previous polls, this one is to decide Ichika Orimura's fate, since there has been some debate over Infinite Stratos's involvement in the story with some wanting to see the world destroyed, but that would violate my no bashing of series rule. But among the smaller details I am ironing out is Ichika's fate, some have asked I allow him to leave with Lelouch to get the heck away from his harem, however as noted by those against that idea he has nothing of value to justify that. It doesn't bother me either way, but I do feel Lelouch having a few guys with him around his age would be good to balance out the number of women he'll be surrounded by, especially in later chapters where I do find a few guys to add to his growing squad in chapter sixteen.

Just as a reminder through Lelouch's harem/polygamous relationships has a set limit of nine, with Yui Takamura, Shimako Kai, and Stella Stella Bremer locked in to be paired with Lelouch in the future. Kazusa's post in it is being reviewed by me and Silkdreamweaver, and we'll be going through the other characters, the next time when we can talk more in-depth since we're focusing on which candidates have the best synergy with one another, not just Lelouch, as a key factor to decide if they are in or out.

And I am abandoning the use of polls for any further pairings debates due to a lack of feedback and not enough people voting for a definite result to help quell debates among me and the betas to find the best candidates that can fit with Lelouch, Yui, Shimako and Stella.

As I've said before I could easily just build Lelouch's harem/polygamous relationships with Muv Luv characters alone, but that would be unfair for folks from Code Geass and other series, like Gundam who don't really have any characters who be open to a harem/polygamous relationship outside of a very small few. But worry not it will still happen and I got my default picks to fallback on, but I am just treating this extremely seriously in my planning to pick the candidates who wouldn't just fit Lelouch, but can work well off of one another to benefit the story as a whole.

Ok now that will be the last time I will speak of Lelouch's relationships for a long while since nothing will happen until Yui and Lelouch end up a couple first and foremost, but I felt people should be made aware why I abandoned the use of polls, and if people want to pitch who should be paired up with Lelouch after Yui, Shimako and Stella they should keep what I mentioned in mind, so don't tell me who you want to see paired with Lelouch, I must know why so I and the betas can be convinced of it, as final decisions falls to me after debate with them.

Now in response to Azai Jin's review, aside from specs for another machine, here are some current mobile suits and Gundams that can be used to visualize what the Gundams Lelouch, Yui and others are using. To help until I can find someone who can commission art of the Gundams, which will I will likely wait on until the story is further along in chapters to justify spending that kind of money, because I doubt it will be cheap and my spending is rather limited for the time being so I hope you guys understand.

Lelouch's Izanami Gundam: It uses the Unicorn Gundam as a base line machine, then combine it with the Wing Zero Rebellion's colors and chest gem, and a fusion of the Unicorn Gundam's head. Its wings are from the Freedom Gundam, just replace the plasma cannons with the variable beam rifles, and add the hip mounted rail cannons on its hips, then add a mega-particle cannon on its lower stomach.

Yui's Izanagi Gundam: Due to using the same psycho-frame system/technology as the Unicorn Gundam, it uses this as the main body, but it uses the colors and general design of the TSF Type-00F Takemikazuchi. It uses weapons from the Red Astray Frame, while its back unit, using the same kind of wings as the Freedom Gundam, its back unit has arms for both holding its weapons and can use said arms in battle.

Shimako's Sadamitsu Gundam: Like Lelouch and Yui's Gundam it uses the Unicorn Gundam as a base since the psycho-frame technology it uses better compliments the Coupling System. However it has a chest design similar to the Forbidden Gundam and a plasma cannon built into its chest, while its back unit has three shields attached to arms, akin to the Forbidden Gundam, but without the backpack unit flipping over the Gundam's head, with the shields being equipped with railguns. It also carries its hand-held weapons on its waist, its Butterfly Buster B, weapons used by the XM-X0 Crossbone Gundam X-0, its coloring it primarily black and white with some pink lining.

Izumi's Tsuna Gundam: Uses the Unicorn Gundam as a baseline body, but it combines elements from the GNW-002 Gundam Throne Zwei, such as its skirt armor to hold its GN fangs and its GN Buster Sword, and including a similar holding rack for its GN rocket scythe while its GN pistols are mounted on its hips in special holders. It's coloring is mostly black with white and red lining.

Kazusa's Suetake Gundam: Baseline Unicorn Gundam body like the rest, but uses the wings of light from the LM314V21 Victory 2 Gundam, being part of its Minovsky Drive System, but it has special arm-like wings attached which help manipulate the "exhaust" of the wings because they can double as enormous beam sabers or a massive beam shield for it and others. It also keeps two rail cannons mounted on its back that can be used in siege mode when flipped over its shoulders. Its Knuckle Guard/Claw is based off of the ASW-G-35 Gundam Marchosias and it has hip mounted weapons like beam rifles and blades stored on them. Its primary color is black and white with blue lining.

Aki's Kintoki Gundam: It has the Unicorn Gundam as its baseline, but its fused with the ARX-014 Silver Bullet, using many of the same remote weapons, but more powerful and advanced, such as its arms having a built in beam shield, beam saber and beam guns. This applies to its forearms/hands that can detach from the machine, and the wired controlled disc units. It has four beam vulcans mounted on its chest, two near the head and the two below it, lower on the chest. But this Gundam uses the wings of the Freedom Gundam, which uses the same plasma cannons and its hip mounted rail cannons including using the High Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) Mode too. But its handheld weapon, the Multi-purpose Assault Weapon "Kujaku" comes from the XM-X0 Crossbone Gundam X-0, a literal Swiss Army knife of mobile weapons.

The Minamoto units, are based off of the Type-94 Shiranui for a baseline machine with elements of the ARX-014 Silver Bullet which uses its Quasi-Psycommu System in place of the one used by the Gundam as an attempt to create a mass production friendly means of integrating the Couple System, an attempt that would ultimately prove unsuccessful, so future models beyond the limited production models would exclude the Coupling System. Limited production models would mount a beam shield as well, but future mass production models remove this due to how draining it is on energy reserves. They do use Trans-Phase Armor and the Solar Rechargeable Energy Conductors allowing it to passively recharge itself in sunlight, and even without it could continue operating for a week. A system used by the GX-9900 Gundam X, but not needing a solar power base on the moon. It also has the same sub-arms as traditional TSFs, which can be used to store weapons and use them too. Its colors are based off of the Imperial Army colors seen on the Type-97 Fubuki.

And this week's specs for Izumi's Gundam, the Tsuna.

Model number: TMP-03X

Code name: Tsuna

Unit type: Prototype Psycho-Frame Advanced Assault Mobile Suit

Pilot: Izumi Noto

Manufacturer: Unknown

Operator: Order of the Black Knights, Empire of Japan ("sponsors" of the Black Knights)

First deployment: August 30th 2016 A.T.B

Accommodation: pilot only, in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso

Dimensions: head height 18.4 meters

Weight: 58.5 metric tons

Powerplant: GN Drive

Armor: E-Carbon

Equipment/Features:

Coupling System

Sensor Range: 23,700

Intention Automatic System

Twin Drive System

GN Field

Bit Control System

Trans-Am System (LOCKED)

Fixed Armaments:

2 X GN Vulcans

2 X GN Beam Saber, mounted in the shoulder armor for quick access.

1 X GN Buster Sword: A huge handheld sword with the traits of both a physical sword and beam sword. High density GN Particles are stored in the center of the GN Buster Sword, and they are released the moment the weapon is swung. It is stored under the right forearm when not in use, and slides down into the hand during combat, with the reverse occurring after use. It can function as a firearm by transforming into 'Rifle Mode'. in Rifle Mode, the GN Buster Sword remains mounted under the forearm, with a grip popping up from its back for use by the right hand, and the weapon's blade separates into upper and lower sections, revealing the barrel and muzzle of the built-in beam gun. The GN Buster Sword can also be used for defense and was shown deflecting beam shot from GN-0000 00 Gundam's GN Sword II.

1 X GN Beam Rocket Scythe: One of two Main handheld weapon of the Tsuna, it is a long staff that forms a GN Beam Scythe Blade at the end on one side with a rocket booster on the other to give it more speed and impact and can tear through anything and can be retracted to be stored away more easily.

10 X GN Fangs

2 X GN Beam Pistols: Mounted on the waist for quick deployment and ranged attack in Urban Settings.

Technical and Historical notes:

Following the successful battle where Lelouch Lamperouge and Yui Takamura were successful at holding the line at Kyoto against the unrelenting BETA, four new Gundam machines using a mix of technology from different Earths were designed and constructed with resources provided by Claude Triello while construction and design of the machines was carried out by Cumpa Rusita.