#jlf posts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jadelotusflower · 7 months

Text

Stargate Rewatch: 1x01 Children of the Gods

After rewatching the original film I'm kicking off with the show's pilot - I actually watched both the original version and the "final cut" because there are aspects I enjoy of both. The final cut removes a few problematic elements and adds in some new material, but also cuts a few lines I really enjoy and the original version is really where my nostalgia lies, so... as always, my feelings, they are mixed.

Cold open with some redshirts - four men and one woman, sadly representative of the gender ratio the show will have going forward.

The unlucky Smurfette is Sgt Carol Weterings, not that I think she's ever mentioned by name in the episode.

"Probably the only thing it ever did was cost money." Heh.

I will say that Teal'c turning against Apophis at the end of the episode is nicely built - starting here where he examines the gun and identifies it as technology far advanced beyond the humans they’re used to dealing with.

When your name is above the title, you get introduced with an extreme close up.

The differences between the film and the show don't really bother me - I view the show as taking place in a very similar but alternate universe to the film rather than trying to squeeze them together - so O'Neil becomes O'Neill, Sha'uri becomes Sha're, Tyler becomes Charlie, Abydos is the closest planet to Earth, not the other side of the known universe, etc etc. But I consider the events of the film to be canon to the show universe unless directly contradicted.

But otherwise the pilot tries very hard to stick as close as possible to the film, to the point that Major Samuels states that General Hammond replaced General West.

Hammond says it’s been “over a year” since the events of the film, unclear exactly how much over.

The final cut has a longer version of the dead Jaffa, revealing one of them was a woman, and with all the changes to eliminate plot holes I don't know why Brad Wright put one back in. While we do see Jaffa women in the series, Goa'uld and Jaffa society is depicted as highly patriarchal and female Jaffa soliders are rare - we never see them in Apophis's ranks. It's an odd inclusion.

"What if the aliens get it?" "Well, they could be blowing their noses right now." hee!

"THANKS SEND MORE" Remember when Daniel had allergies? Give it a few episodes and the show sure won’t!

Amanda Tapping, doing her absolute best with some terrible dialogue. Brad Wright blames the "reproductive organs" speech on Jonathan Glassner, and it is terrible and thankfully removed from the final cut version, along with some other 90's era sexism from the bros. However there is one great moment, where Kawalsky asks "Have you ever pulled out of a simulated bombing run in an F16 at eight plus Gs?" and without missing a beat, Sam deadpans: "Yes." I love Sam.

"I'll give you exactly 24 hours to either return or send a message through - no Kleenex boxes, please." Hee, Hammond isn't quite the cuddly commander we know and love yet, but he has his moments.

It's very cute that Sam has a very similar reaction to the one Daniel had in the film just before going through the gate, although his was based in the wonder of something incredible and unknown, and hers is based in the physical manifestation of knowledge - says a lot about each of them and their similarities yet different perspectives - the marrying of these two points of view is what makes them such a good duo.

Michael Shanks, doing the James Spader impression that won him the role. He was only 26!

And of course Alexis Cruz, the only holdover from the movie (other than Erick Avari, who won't appear until season 2).

The original team sure did leave a bunch of weapons with the Abydonians, didn't they? I presume they taught them how to fire the guns because there's no way Daniel could/would have. He did however teach them very good English.

"Greetings from Earth, Doctor Jackson" - very cute, it's sad that Ferretti disappears into the ether by season 2.

Not the face of a woman who is shy, but a woman who knows how to make An Entrance. She even smirks a little as she walks over.

There is however a weird little moment where Sha're is reluctant to shake Jack's hand - maybe she wasn't impressed about his little joke brushing by Daniel? Both of these beats are removed from the final cut version which is probably for the best.

It's criminal Sha're doesn't actually get to speak in this scene, and in fact how few lines she has in the episode altogether.

It's disappointing, because Sha'uri was such an integral part of the film, and yet the show tries to get rid of her as quickly as possible to get Daniel on SG-1 and give him a core drive for the next three seasons. Her abduction is the precipitating event of Daniel's ten-year character arc and defining moment of transition from film!Daniel to show!Daniel, and yet she doesn't get a character arc of her own.

However I do think Shanks and Vaitiare Hirshon sell the relationship in the few scenes they have - they're very physically connected/protective of one another, perhaps concerned that Jack's there to take Daniel back with him (which is in fact the case). And of course Sha're, annoyed at being left behind while Daniel shows the others his discovery, gives him a very proprietary kiss.

I think show!Sha're gets a bad rap, she's spunky and I love her. I just wish there was more of her.

Sam and Daniel insta-bonding - Daniel making an intuitive leap to solve the puzzle and Sam filling in the gaps with science to make it work, they really are kindred spirits.

The issue with the cartouche though is that the symbols look like hierogyphs, not star constellations/Stargate glyphs.

Back in the pyramid, there's a scene sorely missing here - imagine if rather than ogling Sha're, Ferretti had a conversation with her, giving us more of a chance to know Sha're on her own terms rather than just Daniel's wife and the object of others desire. Especially when Ferretti was on the original mission so knows she's more than a "beautiful woman" - it would also give additional weight to him remembering the gate address where she's taken later on.

Teal'c clocks Skaara's gun as the same tech he saw on Earth in breadcrumb no. 2.

"Nothing good can ever come through this gate!" "You came through it , Daniel" I mean...I realise there are a lot of problematic white savior-y aspects to the show, but idk, this scene and the Abydonians all petting Daniel to say goodbye gets me. Sean Amsing as Tobay also returns in Full Circle which is a nice callback to this scene.

The final cut removes a reaction shot from Jack which I have mixed feelings about - I get that the focus probably needs to be on Daniel at that moment, but I do think it's important for Jack to appreciate how Daniel really found a home with the Abydonians and was appreciated and loved by them, and it's nicely played by RDA.

LOL, watch out for how many times Jack pats Daniel on the shoulder. Apparently that annoyed Shanks so RDA kept doing it, but it's also a nice little setup of their relationship going forward.

There's a second shoulder pat in the hallway.

Just two dudes, drinking beer, (not) talking about their feelings.

“She was the complete opposite of everyone else, she practically fell on the floor laughing every time I tried to do some kind of chore they all took for granted.” Underrated line, because it gives important context to Daniel and Sha’re’s relationship, and perhaps more importantly, how Daniel characterises her - she is the one who keeps him grounded, who teases him, there is balance to their relationship. There’s potentially an interesting parallel there to Vala in the later seasons, although it manifests in a very different way.

“I think she forgave me for what happened to our kid, she just couldn’t forget…I’m the opposite, I can never forgive myself, but sometimes I can forget.” This is a great scene.

The Final Cut removes all the “harem scenes” and while I can see why, we do lose a bit of context to Teal'c's involvement in the process as he is the one who chooses the women from the holding cell to go into the harem, and then from the harem to be presented to Apophis.

There was a missed opportunity to actually see Sha're interact with the other prisoners - she could have had a conversation with Weterings at least, find out she was from Earth, perhaps assure her that the others would be coming to rescue them.

To the surprise of no one I’m sure, this episode does not pass the Bechdel test.

But there is a hint of solidarity among the prisoners - first in the holding cell where the others hold Skaara back, and here in the harem Sha're squeezes the hand of another woman.

Weterings is killed by the hand device which keeps the electrical current aesthetic from the movie the show will later abandon - as Teal'c looks perturbed.

Daniel back on Earth immediately getting stuck into the coffee even though no one else is drinking, lol.

"Ra played a god, the sun god, he borrowed the religion and culture of the ancient Egyptians he brought through the gate and used it to enslave them." A bit of a change from the movie here, where it was the other way around - slightly less problematic!

Everyone is in dress blues except Kawalsky who is in camo, and Daniel, who is wearing Jack's clothes.

"Colonel I'd like to remind you that rescuing Dr Jackson's wife is a secondary objective." This line was removed in the final cut and I don't know why? It adds to Samuel's bastardry.

Has everyone forgotten about Weterings?

Shoulder pat no. 3!

In the second harem scene Sha're is now sitting isolated from the other women - did she argue with them? Just trying not to be noticed? What happened offscreen?

Also what's going on in the top left corner - it looks like the healing device! Maybe Sha're did throw down with one of the others and that's why she's on her own. I have to read into things, because the show gives us so very little of Sha're and it's a real shame.

She does get a good moment fighting against the guards though - earlier she was defiant and told them she wasn't afraid of them, here she bites one of them on the arm.

I understand from a narrative perspective why Sha're is the one who gets taken over, but it really is Schrodinger’s fridging - until she’s found Sha’re is both alive and dead for the purpose of the narrative, both Daniel’s primary drive and source of inner conflict.

Christopher Judge does so much with so little. Master of the cheek twitch!

Oof, the nudity. In isolation from everything else, it doesn’t bother me - it’s intended to be horrifying, not titillating, and is effective in conveying objectification and dehumanisation by the Goa'uld.

However, it was a studio request, Wright/Glassner regretted doing it, it doesn’t fit the tone of the show going forward, but most importantly Hirshon was pressured into the full frontal when she only agreed to topless, and for that alone it should be excised.

The puppet symbiotes are so much more effective than the cgi they use later. I don’t think there’s another scene in the show that really captures the menace of the Goa’uld like this one - the symbiote (who we'll later learn is Amaunet) slithering around on Sha're's body is just so visceral and horrifying. The glowing eyes before implantation is an effective touch.

Jack sticking Daniel in it with Sam by saying Sha're was a gift could be amusing, except the conversation gets cut off before Daniel can explain. It annoys me, because Daniel not "accepting" Sha're was actually the point? It's kind of important! I assume he does tell Sam the whole story later.

"Unless we want to get ourselves a really bad reputation, I just think we should avoid shooting the first people we meet on a new planet" is a nice follow up to Daniel's sarcastic "well that would have been an excellent reason to shoot everyone" from the film. At this point, Daniel doesn't appear to be carrying a weapon other than a knife. Oh, how that will change!

The Chulak priests speak "a derivation of Arabic" and something else - the Goa'uld language is meant to be similar to Abydonian, which is based on Ancient Egyptian. Of course modern Egyptian is an Arabic dialect that came much later, but perhaps we are to assume Goa'uld - or at least the Chulak vernacular - evolved along similar lines.

Jack unable to shoot Sha're when she stands in front of Apophis is a nice movie callback.

The final cut has a good extra scene between Sam and Daniel where he is quite delusional thinking Sha're might just be drugged, and Sam tries to talk sense into him. Daniel's blind optimism against Sam's pragmatic realism will be an important aspect of their relationshio going forward.

Shoulder pat no. 4!

Teal'c P.I. sees Skaara talking to Jack and starts putting pieces together - the weapons from the opening scene, the weapons on Abydos + Jack's watch, and Daniel helpfully supplying the Earth glyph.

Alexis Cruz is committed to the film pronunciation of Sha’uri, bless him.

“But you are a great warrior, we defeated Ra together!” Skaara’s faith in Jack is so pure.

Skaara gets a shoulder pat too.

"Another fine day on planet Kawalsky" - This line was removed from the final cut! What a tragedy. I get the sense Brad Wright feels a bit cringe about the campier aspects of the show, but it's part of the charm! To be fair Ferretti was more of the wisecracker in the movie rather than Kawalsky, but I love that show Kawalsky is a little goofy.

I'm sorry, what is this silver monstrosity? I guess a sliver of credit that after the nudity not going for a sexy alien outfit, but this is a hate crime. I also have a very high tolerance, and even affection for, silly Stargate headgear, but there's camp and then there's ugly.

Peter Williams as Apophis though: 10/01, no notes.

"They're going to choose...who will be the children of the gods." I do love it when they say the title of the thing in the thing.

The subtle moment where Teal'c motions that Jack should kneel is a nice setup - Skaara being very reluctant and angry about kneeling, and being the last to do so, is nice movie continuity. Skaara really gets shortchanged by the show after this episode.

"How much would I remember if you chose me?" I wonder if Daniel ever thinks that maybe him drawing the attention of the Goa'uld contributed to Skaara getting chosen. You know, just to really lay on the angst and guilt.

So the premise is that these Apophis underlings are choosing hosts for their children who are symbiotes ready for implantation, which doesn't really fit with what we learn about Goa'uld queens/reproduction later. We also learn later that Skaara is taken as a host for Apophis's son Klorel which doesn't sqaure with these two choosing him.

Headcanon time! This is actually Zipacna who we meet later arguing for Klorel at Triad - different actor, of course, but he wears a similarly silly hat. So Amaunet now has access to all of Sha're's memories of Skaara and she and Apophis decide that he will make a good host - maybe she also likes the idea of a family resemblance between herself and Klorel (I think we can assume he is also Amaunet's son?). But Apophis doesn't want anyone to know he's choosing a host for his offspring, so sends Zipacna out to do it for him.

This makes sense of Klorel later claiming that Apophis chose his host, and also gives backstory to Zipacna showing up in Pretense. And in the scene, the Goa'uld make a very quick decision to take Skaara, while the rest get very grossly examined people before choosing.

Shoulder pat no. 5!

"I have nowhere to go." Teal'c turning on his brother Jaffa to save a roomful of people, not expecting to survive himself, really hits.

"For this, you can stay at my place." hee!

Jack not wanting to hear it when Teal'c tells him Skaara is no longer himself is a turnabout of the earlier scene with Daniel. Not so flip now it's your Emotional Support Abydonian, are you Jack?

Kawalsky getting Goa'ulded doesn't seem to hurt as much as Sha're's - because the symbiote isn't mature, or because Amaunet is particularly sadistic?

Soon to be SG-1 posing for their album cover.

It was the late 90's when tvs were tiny, so everyone had to stand uncomfortably close.

And we end with shoulder pat no. 6!

#stargate rewatch #stargate sg1 #stargate 1x01 #children of the gods #jack o'neill #daniel jackson #sam carter #teal'c #sha're #daniel x sha're #jlf posts

51 notes · View notes

naruwitch · 4 years

Text

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 23: Zero’s Return

"You've found nothing?!" Viceroy Cornelia exclaimed, slamming her hands down on her desk and staring down the officers before her. Villetta Nu, Jeremiah Gottwald, Andreas Darlton, and her personal knight, Gilbert Guilford, all stood assembled before her in her office.

"Apologies, Viceroy," Jeremiah bowed deeply, "but we've searched everywhere! We've investigated Ashford Academy from top to bottom and closely interviewed every relative of each missing student."

"We even took the time to locate Ms. Stadtfeld's biological mother, who's currently being held for twenty years in the Area's prison for Refrain use. She knew nothing," Villetta reported. She remembered when they had revealed the news to Ms. Kozuki, who, they discovered, had no idea her daughter had gone missing until they had told her. The woman had just sat there in shock for almost five minutes as they continued to question her and then just suddenly broke down in tears. She was so incoherent that they were forced to cut their time short and have Kozuki escorted back to her cell.

Cornelia li Britannia tisked in disgust. The moment that she and Euphemia had recognized Lelouch's face on the news last month, she had spent every free moment that she had to try and locate them as soon as possible. They had contacted the media outlets but had ordered them to keep quiet about the recent break in the investigation, for fear that the Elevens could somehow use this to their advantage. If they located Lelouch and Nunnally first-

Cornelia squashed that thought before it could finish.

All other military and law enforcement that weren't on duty were tasked with assisting in finding the vi Britannia siblings at any cost. She even put the Purebloods to work, and they took it up faster than a dog to a bone. A week into the investigation, Villetta and Jeremiah both brought up Ashford Academy and requested to investigate the school. Cornelia had agreed and sent them with a warrant to search it. Even she had forgotten about the Ashford's connection to Lady Marianne and understood their logic of the siblings possibly hiding there. The school principal had tried to object, but there was little he could have done with a permit directly from the Viceroy herself. Though they didn't find anything, much to their dismay, their intuition to search there convinced Cornelia to promote them to the rank of Warrant Officers. It was nowhere close to what they both held before Zero rescued Suzaku, but secretly the two saw it as a sign that the Purebloods were slowly regaining the military's trust, so they humbly took the promotions.

Cornelia wasn't short-sighted, though. She knew that seven students spontaneously going missing, one of them being Suzaku Kurugui, was also a significant issue. Therefore, she also ordered for all of the families of the students to be investigated. Though she believed it was ultimately a longshot, a couple of clues could be unraveled in this way.

"Viceroy, if may…" Darlton spoke up grimly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"This thought occurred to me a while ago, but I haven't had the chance to bring it up. But, do you believe that Zero may be responsible for these abductions?"

"What?! Zero?! To think that he would sink this deep!" Jeremiah snarled from behind.

"I appreciate the concern Darlton," Cornelia said, "but I don't believe that theory is correct."

"Why is that Viceroy?" Guilford questioned.

"Well, think about it," she continued, "if Zero was really behind these kidnappings, and discovered that one of them was a member of the royal family, one believed to have been dead for years, don't you think we would've received some sort of ransom or bargain from him by now? Prince Lelouch and, consequently, Princess Nunnally, in exchange for Area 11. If I were Zero, I'd be a fool not to use them to my advantage."

"...I see your point, Viceroy," Darlton nodded, "I apologize."

"Enough," Cornelia sighed tiredly, "Other than a report on the investigation, I do have another matter to discuss with you all. I believe we may have found where both the JLF and the Black Knights are hiding."

This immediately grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.

"Pardon my suspicions, Viceroy, but what exactly makes you think that both of these factions are hiding together?" Villetta asked, "Considering the events of the hotel-jacking incident, and I highly doubt that the JLF will be eager to utilize the Black Knights in any of their operations."

"When cowards are cornered, they hide together," Cornelia sneered, "especially with how desperate the JLF has been as of late. We've managed to track them to the Narita mountains. Once we wipe them out there, any straggling rebels will fall shortly after."

"And even if the Black Knights aren't there, the largest insurgent group in Area 11 will still be eliminated," Guliford realized.

"That is correct," Cornelia nodded, "However, should it be confirmed that the Black Knights are also there, and Zero with them, bring him to me alive. I will question him myself."

'And once Zero's taken care of, nothing will stop me from finding you and Nunnally, Lelouch. And I will. It's not like you vanished off the face of the planet.'

o~o

The first thing that the Castle spotted upon exiting the wormhole was the plain grey surface of Earth's moon. Upon applying the coordinates, Lelouch, dressed entirely in his Zero costume but currently without his mask, ordered for the Castle to not land on Earth's moon, but to hover just outside of its atmosphere (not that it had one). By hiding within the moon's shadow, not only should it conceal them from Earth below, but none of the long-range satellites should pick them up either.

On the bridge, each Paladin sat up tall behind each of their posts, screens and scans pulled up in front of them.

"Here we are," Kallen said, a slight layer of nervousness in her tone, "Alteans, welcome to Earth."

"Hmmm… quaint," Coran commented upon first glance. From above, out in space, Earth bore a very similar resemblance to Arus, though he doubted that the planet was that primitive.

"Lelouch, you know I trust you, but are you sure this is a good idea?" Rai spoke up, "I mean, Ulaz said there was a chance Zarkon was tracking us. If that's true, we basically just brought him right to our front door."

Lelouch glanced over at Rai, "I appreciate the concern Rai, and I am fully aware of how heavy of a risk this is. However, considering how close Earth is to the Galran border and the rate that the Empire is expanding, an attack on our planet is only inevitable, just as Allura informed us of our first week here. I believe it would be no more than a couple years before the Galra actually came and attacked."

"That's kind of scary when you think about it like that…" Rivalz commented with wide eyes.

"Yeah…" Shirley agreed.

"Indeed," Lelouch nodded, "Also, we've been gone for far too long. Both Voltron and Zero must prepare Earth's defenses as soon as possible."

"Makes sense," Suzaku said.

"I agree," Milly nodded, "the longer we delay this, the less time Earth has to be ready for an invasion."

"At this point, our faces have likely been leaked to the media," Lelouch noted, "Seven Ashford Academy students going missing out of the blue. I highly doubt that we haven't been on national coverage by now."

"Okay, but what's so bad about that?" Rivalz asked.

Lelouch turned to face them, a grim line on his lips, "It means that from here on out, our identities will be our most valuable possession. So we must protect them no matter what. No one on Earth must know the identities of the Paladins of Voltron… and that includes family."

This statement was, predictably, met with shouts of protest.

"Wha-wait Lelouch, are saying we can't contact our families?!" Rivalz exclaimed, horrified.

"No way! My mom and dad are probably worried, sick!" Shirley added, "And I can't even talk to them?!"

"I understand if this is hard," Lelouch said before more protests could erupt, "but think about it. If Britannia finds out who you are, that could put your family in danger as well. You should already know that the Empire will stoop to endangering its own citizens for their own goals."

This reasoning quieted the rest of the team down as they realized that Lelouch was right. After all, the Emperor had used two of his own children as bargaining tools and then threw them away after Japan was conquered. Plus, it was also likely that the only reason Shirley and Milly were spared in the hotel-jacking was due to Princess Euphemia's presence. The Viceroy wouldn't risk her sister's life but had it only been them, and they wouldn't have been surprised if they were killed as well, just to take down the JLF that overtook the building.

"Suzaku," Lelouch turned to face the Purple Paladin, "this must be the absolute case for you, especially."

"Huh? Why?" Suzaku questioned.

"Well, when you compare this situation to the one where you were falsely accused of Prince Clovis's murder, it could stand on equal footing in a legal sense. Or at least according to Britannia," Lelouch explained with a scowl, "If it's discovered that you are actively opposing them as a Paladin, they could still use you as a pariah and start grinding down on the Japanese population. I doubt the Purebloods will let such an opportunity like that slide from their grasp."

"I...I guess that makes sense," Suzaku admitted sadly.

"Anyone else have any objections?" Lelouch asked and received shakes from all of the Paladins.

"Alright then," he sighed in relief, "Our first step will be to locate where the Black Knights are."

"Assuming that there are Black Knights anymore!" Kallen spoke up gravely.

"...I trust that Ohgi didn't do anything too stupid in our absence," Lelouch said, hoping he sounded reassuring.

"Wait, Lelouch, we're getting the Black Knights first?" Rivalz asked.

"Yeah, to honest Lulu, I'd have thought you'd want to fly down and whisk Nunnally up here immediately!" Milly added.

"I'm not completely concerned with Nunnally's safety at the moment," he replied calmly and continued before anyone could protest. "When we enrolled at Ashford, I had a safe house set up far away from it for us to retreat to should our identities ever get exposed. Sayoko should have Nunnally secured there right now. I trust her with my life."

'And hopefully has that with her as well…'

o~o

"We're certain the Japan Liberation Front's headquarters are in his area," Darlton explained on board the Viceroy's transport, pointing at a map on the table before them, "we've already split four battalions into seven units and hidden them within the vicinity. We've only to wait for the Viceroy's signal, and then we'll surround them in one fell swoop and wipe them out."

"And we're confident the enemy isn't outside of the encirclement line?" Guilford questioned.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Darlton said, "as the operation begins, we'll be blocking off the surrounding highways and mountain roads as well."

"Plus, we have reserve units," Cornelia herself added from her throne in the center of the room. "If Zero or the Black Knights are actually stupid enough to show up, it'll be the end of them."

Suddenly a transmission showed on the screen of the battlefield. In full view of it was the Knight of Nine herself, Nonette Enneagram, smirking at the screen.

"You sure you won't need any help from me on my end, Nelly?" she asked playfully.

Cornelia frowned and addressed the knight strictly but still with respect, "I can handle this battle myself, Nonette, though I appreciate the concern."

Nonette laughed, "Well, just don't get a big head out there, okay Corny?"

The Princess's eyebrow twitched, but despite her irritation, she kept her composure in front of the other officers.

"I'll make a note," she said tartly before promptly ending the transmission.

Cornelia sighed and leaned back in her throne slightly, "Damn that woman."

Guilford glanced over at his Princess in surprise and glanced at Darlton. He simply gave him a look that said, 'don't ask.'

o~o

Nonette sighed dramatically from her seat in the resting Lancelot. Goodness, little Nelly was way too uptight sometimes.

Ever since Suzaku's disappearance, Nonette volunteered to be the test pilot for the Lancelot until he could be found. And she had to admit, and the Lancelot was by far the best Knightmare Frame she had ever piloted. If all continued to go well, she might just request to have a separate model made for her own personal use.

Aboard the Camelot Division transport, Lloyd, Cecile, and Princess Euphemia were also present. After Suzaku disappeared, Euphie seemed to want to stubbornly stay close to the Camelot Unit. Her sister gave little objection to this arrangement, especially during battle, as the Camelot was only called upon to attack as a last resort. If it were to be attacked, Cornelia trusted Nonette to keep Euphemia safe.

As the Princess watched the others work, she couldn't shake the strange feeling blossoming in her gut, but she couldn't understand why she felt like this.

"Here, Sub-Viceroy," Cecile said, offering Euphie a cup of tea, "this should help calm the nerves."

"Thank you," Euphie accepted with a smile.

"You know, Sub-Viceroy, I'm still wondering why exactly you're here in an irregular unit. I would've thought you'd want to stay close to your sister," Cecile said.

"Well, I wanted to get to know the people that Suzaku had been working with, that's all," Euphie explained.

"Wanting to understand your boyfriend a little better, do you?" Nonette asked mischievously as she walked over.

Euphie squeaked in embarrassment, ducking her head as her cheeks began to color crimson.

The Knight of Nine then put a gentle hand on her shoulder, causing the Princess to look up, "Don't worry. We'll find Kururgi, and your brother and sister."

'As well as you, Prince Zephyr,' she added mentally.

As Nonette continued to console Euphemia, Cecile made her way over to Lloyd to speak with him about the upcoming battle. She stopped in her tracks when she saw what the Earl was viewing on his monitor.

It was a video of that mysterious Blue Lion Knightmare that disappeared over two months ago.

"Lloyd, don't you think you're developing an obsession with that thing?" Cecile scolded and sat down beside him, "It's almost like you're not worried about Suzaku at all!"

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea," Lloyd answered, "While Ms. Enneagram is a useful devicer for the Lancelot, she's certainly no Suzaku. Plus, it's not every day that you get to see a Knightmare that can fly and then just vanish off the face of the Earth, completely without a trace."

Cecile sighed and shook her head, seeing that there was no point in arguing further. Lloyd leaned forward and clasped his hands thoughtfully.

'Now, where are you, my little blue kitty cat?'

o~o

Rai couldn't help but laugh at how easy it was to hack into Britannia's military communications network. Compared to the Galra, it was like comparing a high tech MMORPG game to Pac-Man.

What he saw, however, extinguished any other form of humor in his system.

"Everyone, listen to this!" he exclaimed, pulling the data and recordings up on the screen.

"All units are in position!"

"Understood. Provide logistical support from the G1 as planned. Be sure to command the medical unit appropriately."

Lelouch narrowed his eyes at the all too familiar voice on the other end.

"Who was that, Lelouch?" Allura asked, noticing the Black Paladin's expression.

"...That was Cornelia li Britannia," Lelouch responded, pressing some buttons on his control panel and pulling up a picture of his sister onto the main screen, "my older half-sister and the current Viceroy of Japan, or Area 11 as Britannia likes to call it. Due to her unrivaled patriotism and fierceness on the battlefield, she's earned the nickname 'the Goddess of Victory.' When it comes to strategy, however, here skills are only just above average, but she's still a hardened warrior and has never lost a single battle, hence her moniker."

Allura glared narrowly at the Viceroy's image. So this was who was suppressing these people. How disgraceful.

"Hey, uh, Lelouch?" Rivalz asked, suddenly sounding awkward, "Out of curiosity, how many siblings do you actually have?"

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle at the Blue Paladin's question, "Well, you already know that Nunnally is my only full-blooded sibling. As for half… well, considering my father has taken over a hundred consorts ("a hun-what?!" Shirley squeaked), I honestly never really took the time to count."

Coran, in particular, looked quite shocked by this revelation, "Um, if I might ask, is it standard custom on your planet to have multiple partners in marriage?"

"No!" all of the Paladins exclaimed almost as one.

"Well…" C.C. said a couple of seconds later, "Honestly, the number of wives a man can have usually depends on the region of Earth you inhabit. Some cultures do see polygamy as common practice."

"Yeah, and there are also some humans that prefer open relationships in general. It just depends on the people in that specific relationship," Milly added.

"Hmmm… fascinating," Coran hummed, twirling his mustache.

"Anyway!" Lelouch proclaimed, wanting to desperately change the topic he pulled a map onto the Castle's screen, "This is an area called the Narita Mountains. The Japan Liberation Front's headquarters are rumored to be stationed either in or close by this area. From the look and sound of things, Cornelia fully intends to wipe them in one large wave today. It looks like the Britannians have surrounded the mountains, so there will be little to no escape for the JLF at this rate. We can't allow that to happen. Should the JLF fall, one of the largest resistance groups in Japan will be destroyed."

"...So, what do we do?" Shirley asked.

"Our first objective remains the same. Locate the Black Knights. Once we do, Kallen, it will be your job to escort them to the Castle of Lions safely."

"Me?" Kallen asked.

"You shouldn't sound surprised, you're the only one for the job," Lelouch said, "The other Paladins, including myself, are Britannian, and though Suzaku is Japanese, he's made his status as an Honorary Britannian quite clear."

"Wait, why can't you just get them, Lelouch? You're technically still their leader," Rai asked.

"That may be true, but I've only known the Black Knights for a short amount of time, and I don't believe I've fully earned their trust as of yet. All I am is simply a masked figure, who mysteriously disappeared just as suddenly as he appeared."

"Wait, Lulu, the Black Knights, don't know your real identity?" Shirley asked, quite shocked.

"Well think about Shirley," C.C. said with an indifferent look, "A Britannian prince leading a rebellion comprised of people who have been oppressed by the same empire. How do you think that would go?"

"Oh, good point," Shirley admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"Speaking of identities though, Lelouch, if we're going to involve the Black Knights in this, you'll have to reveal who you are to them at least," Suzaku said, "and about your Geass. If they find out about that and what it does from a different source, I can see them drawing some pretty messed up conclusions about it."

"I intend to reveal myself and Geass in due time, but seeing Voltron is going to be overwhelming enough for the time being," Lelouch said. "Anyway, since Kallen's the one that has been in the rebel's company even longer than I have, she's the only logical pick to retrieve them. Because of that, they trust her, and they'll listen to her."

Kallen nodded with a determined look on her face, "I understand."

'Hang on, Ohgi! I'm coming!'

"Also, Rai, considering Zerith's invisibility ability, I want you to drop multiple BLIP sensors around the battlefield. We'll use those to try and locate the Black Knights, should they be in Narita. While you're doing that, we shall hold back the Britannian forces in the other Lions."

"I can do that," Rai agreed.

"Once Kallen retrieves the Black Knights and drops them off at the Castle, we'll form Voltron and decimate the rest of Cornelia's army," Lelouch finished.

"Decimate?" Shirley asked, eyes widening.

"Uh… yeah, Lelouch, I understand wanting to make a big show out of Voltron, but is it really necessary to wipe the whole army out?" Rivalz asked.

"Yeah, that's a bit overkill, isn't it?" Milly asked.

Lelouch let a small smile creep onto his face, "Hmhm, that's the idea."

Most of the Paladins, even Allura and Coran, looked at Lelouch in near shock. But the idea was to simply scare Britannia, not-

"If we show Voltron and demonstrate how it can not only rivals but surpasses Britannia, it might just be enough to get them to stand down and listen to us, which in turn will make it easier to prepare a defense against the Galra."

"And if they don't?" Rai asked.

"What do you mean 'if they don't'?" Suzaku turned to the Green Paladin.

"Er-hypothetically speaking, I mean," Rai amended.

"'Hypothetically speaking,'" Lelouch said with a hint of sarcasm, "if that turns out to be the case, then Voltron's first course of action will simply be to liberate Japan from Britannia, the hard way."

Allura and Coran, who had barely said anything throughout the entire strategy meeting, couldn't help but once again be amazed at Lelouch's genius planning. If all went according to plan, things were sure to end in Voltron's favor.

Allura made a mental note never to go head to head with Lelouch in battle if they ever, for some absurd reason, became enemies. She wouldn't stand a chance.

"Hey, hold on a second," Rivalz suddenly said, "Why are we even wasting our time here in Japan? If you want my personal opinion, I say we fly Voltron straight to Pendragon right now and knock the Emperor off his high-horse!"

"That's a terrible idea," Lelouch deadpanned immediately. "If the whole of Britannia were to fall due to such actions, all other nations, including the E.U. and the Chinese Federation, will lash out at each other and fight to try and fill the power void that Britannia will ultimately leave behind. The world would spiral into further chaos, making it that much easier for the Galra to overpower Earth's current defenses."

"Hmmm, the divided nature of your planet that you continue to describe is quite primitive. Er-no offense, of course," Coran quickly apologized, realizing that he had spoken that thought aloud.

"None taken," all of the humans, C.C. included, said in unison.

"Excuse me, Lelouch, may I make a small point," Allura spoke up.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked.

"While I understand your reasoning in your strategy, I don't believe freeing one country at a time on your planet would be very efficient," she explained. "It would simply take far too long to unite everyone in this way."

"That is true. Going around and freeing civilizations one by one would be a waste of time. However, there is a way to easily speed it up as well," Lelouch smirked.

"How so?" Allura asked, intrigued.

"I don't know if the same thing applied to Altea, but on Earth, whenever a person does something, big or small, the first thing they always expect to receive is results, be they good or bad."

Suzaku flinched slightly at this proclamation. He remembered arguing with Zero/Lelouch on this very same point months ago after he had been rescued from his execution. Even now, he still didn't totally agree with such a mindset, but he was wise enough to see that voicing it wouldn't help at the moment. So he remained silent.

"If we manage to free even one country, even if it's a small one, others not against Britannia will begin to rally behind us. We may even be able to convince some people from Britannia itself to join our cause. Although, if you want my honest opinion," Lelouch looked down for a moment, "I don't believe my father will be too cooperative in any case. He's not exactly the most open-minded individual you'll meet."

"I see," Allura realized, "it's the same strategy you implemented at the Balmera. When you revealed our victory over the astral conflux, we heard that many other rebel factions began to fight back on their own."

"Exactly. Sometimes the most effective strategies are the most overlooked, and often the simplest of actions can bring a tsunami of trouble to the enemy."

"Who said that?" Milly asked.

"I did," Lelouch chuckled before turning serious again. "One more thing. Before we begin our assault, there's something I must confirm with all of you."

All of the other Paladins looked at Lelouch, confused. What could be so important that he would bring it up now?

"I already know that you are completely on board with this Kallen, but as for the rest of you, you realize that once this begins, you'll essentially become traitors to your own country, even you Suzaku, though you're only an Honorary Britannian. I need to know now if you are fully committed to this. I don't want to sound like I doubt any of you, but as I said when this all started, I won't force you to do anything against your will. So if you don't want to take part in this, this is your chance to say so."

There was a pause among everyone. Lelouch did bring up a point. Once this was over, there would likely be no turning back.

However…

"Lulu, I may be Britannian, but I'm also a Paladin of Voltron," Shirley said first, a closed fist raised. "A person that protects those who can't protect themselves! What Britannia is doing is wrong, I understand that now. A-And, I trust you! No matter what, I'm with you!"

Milly started laughing, good-heartedly, "Wow! Nice going, Shirley! Couldn't have said it better myself!"

"Yeah!" Rivalz nodded before his eyes lit up, "Oh, that's right! We never told Lelouch about our promise!"

"Your promise?" Lelouch asked. Suzaku, C.C., Kallen, Allura, and Coran also looked curiously at the four Paladins.

"Yeah," Rai nodded, "back at that universal station, Milly, Rivalz, Shirley, and I had some time to talk about what had happened. Not only about Voltron, but also about what you told us. And we made a vow, right there in that central control station, that we would stand by you and Nunnally, Lelouch, no matter what happens! We're Defenders of the Universe, and that means we stand against all tyranny, not just the Galra!"

Lelouch gasped. He had had no knowledge of this vow ever taking place, and the fact that the four had made it touched him. He smiled graciously at them, eyes shining with tears.

"A Warrior's Bond," Coran murmured off to the side.

"Huh? A what?" Kallen asked.

"A Warrior's Bond. That's what we call such vows on Altea. The very first Paladins carried such a bond as well… for a long time," Coran said sullenly. No one needed to ask what he meant by 'for a long time.'

Lelouch then turned to the final Paladin. He could only imagine how hard this might be for Suzaku. But he would remain true to his word. He wasn't going to force Suzaku to follow him. Never.

Suzaku was currently lost within his own thoughts. During his time fighting alongside Lelouch and the other Paladins, it had given him a lot of time to think about things, particularly about Britannia itself. Suzaku wasn't a fool; he knew that Britannia was far from perfect, and could see undeniable parallels it shared with the Galra Empire. He understood that Britannia could quickly become like the Galra if nothing were done to change it, and he still hoped that an internal change was possible. However, he had also learned some valuable lessons as a Paladin, and one of them was that despite the situation, facts simply had to be acknowledged. And one indisputable fact right now was that if Earth remained as divided as it did, they wouldn't stand a chance when the Galra arrived.

Plus, despite all of Lelouch's flaws, he proved that he was a reliable and competent leader and did show that he cared for their well-being above all else. Because of this, he had chosen to take a chance and trust him, and so far, it seemed to have paid off.

So why shouldn't he trust him now?

"Lelouch, you're my friend, I'll always be here for you and Nunnally no matter what," he looked up at his friend with a smile, "I'm with you. One hundred percent."

An honest smile graced Lelouch's lips at this proclamation, "Thank you, Suzaku." With a final nod, he lifted his mask to his face, "Paladins, to your Lions!"

"Hell yeah! Time to kick Britannia's a.s.s!" Rivalz shouted with a jump, causing everyone to laugh before retreating to their Lions.

Before he descended in his elevator, Zero turned to C.C., "C.C., remain here, and expect some visitors very soon."

"I understand," C.C. smiled as she watched Zero sink below to the Black Lion's chambers, "Now… let the games begin."

o~o

"Right, commence the operation!" Cornelia shouted as her Gloucester was launched out of the G1.

Behind her, all of her subordinates launched and followed her up the mountain.

"You, the Japan Liberation Front; you who time has left behind; you who have forgotten basic human decency. You and your dream of a bygone golden age shall fall and rot to nothingness," Cornelia whispered in disgust at the JLF and their cowardly tactics.

o~o

"We're under enemy attack?!" General Katase cried out as he stepped into the war room of their base within the mountains.

"Yes sir, the Britannian forces have completely encircled the Narita Mountains. We counted over a hundred units," one of the rebels informed him.

"We're completely surrounded, and our underground reserve forces were captured all at once," another cried.

"General Katase, we've received a message from Cornelia's forces demanding our surrender," another exclaimed.

"Imbecile! If we fall here, then we've lost, and the whole resistance movement falls with us."

"But General, do we engage the enemy in battle? Or do we dig in?"

"What about Todoh? Where is he?" Katase asked.

"He's gone to Kyoto to get the custom Burais. The Four Holy Swords are traveling with him too, along with another to receive the Guren Mrk II."

"Then we're on schedule. He should be returning soon," Katase said with a small bit of relief. "Todoh will make it in time. Prepare to bring out the Burais. We'll break out of the circle on one side and evacuate. We'll show them the Japanese spirit and pride. This is our moment of truth!"

o~o

From another area of the mountain, one may even call it the rear line, several other Burai with a familiar symbol etched into them lay in wait for commands.

"Come on! Why isn't the JLF ordering us to attack already?" Tamaki whined.

"Probably because they don't trust us, and we're simply the last resort," Sugiyama said, though his voice had a trace of annoyance as well.

"Ohgi, are you sure this was a good idea?" Inoue asked their second in command.

"If you want my honest answer, no, I don't," Ohgi replied honestly, "but we couldn't just do nothing when we were informed about this. I'm sure that Zero would've done the same. He wouldn't let one of Japan's biggest resistance groups fall like this."

Despite his proclamation, Ohgi honestly wasn't too sure anymore himself. For the past two months, any attempt to contact Zero had been met with radio silence. Several newer members of the Black Knights began to believe that Zero had gone and abandoned them, but something in Ohgi's gut was telling him that that wasn't the case. This meant that Zero had either been captured or was planning something that required the other Black Knights not to know about it. Neither option sat well with him, but they were the only explanations he could think of.

There was also the fact that he had still not heard from Kallen yet either. Ever since she was officially pronounced missing, he had been using every spare moment he had trying to find some clue as to where she could have gone. It wasn't like her to simply disappear like this. The police and investigators were in a frenzy, trying to find clues. But nothing pointed to where Kallen or the other students could have gone. It's like they just vanished into thin air.

Plus, the fact that both Kallen and Zero disappeared around the same time disturbed Ohgi too. He had brought this concern up to the other Black Knights, and they thought it was strange as well, though Tamaki's comment of the two of them being somewhere 'sitting in a tree' wasn't necessary!

Despite this, when the BK received an anonymous tip about the Britannians attacking the JLF headquarters, he knew they couldn't just sit back and do nothing. He knew Zero wouldn't have anyway. So when they had contacted the JLF to inform them of the attack, they had agreed to work with them, temporarily. That had resulted in the BKs taking up this rear line by the mountain where they currently were.

From the sound of outside, the battle was beginning. It would only be a matter of time before the Britannians broke through.

Ohgi just hoped he had made the right call.

o~o

From within the Camelot Division, Nonette was explaining the battle plan to Euphemia, hoping it would put her at ease with her sister being on the front lines.

"The enemy's main base is around here," she pointed at an electronic map, similar to the one in the G1, "but it hasn't been pinpointed yet. Until a list is obtained from their collaborators, we can't burn down everything with the aerial bombing. As of right now, the enemy should be engaging the encirclement and will try to break through it. From there, we will be able to ascertain where their base is located. The main forces are divided into three fronts: the units led by General Darlton here," she pointed at the east side of the mountain, "General Alex here," she pointed to the middle, "And our little Nelly here," she pointed to the west, "As for the flanking forces…"

Suddenly, the Camelot Unit was greeted with the shock of the map's image becoming garbled.

"Enemy ECM," Nonette said with a frown. That only meant one thing. The battle had begun.

o~o

"The main enemy force should be coming out anytime now. We're switching to ECCN mode on channel Alpha four," Darlton smirked as he and his unit began to ascend the mountain, "The enemy, what are we calling them again?"

"Burais, sir."

"Right, they're rather like pseudo-Glasgows, so watch out for them."

"Yes, my Lord."

o~o

"How clever, they turned this mountain into a fortress," Cornelia commented sarcastically as Burais emerged from a hidden elevator covered by trees.

"Your Highness, please fall back."

"Guilford, please don't treat me as I'm another one of your women," Cornelia then shot forward in her Glasgow.

"It's…Cornelia!" A JLF soldier shouted.

"Don't panic! Take out the leader!" The three aimed their rifles and shot at Cornelia recklessly.

"Insolent worms!" Cornelia shouted as she evaded the bullets and swung her lance, knocking all three of them down.

She then plunged her lance into the nearest Burai, lifting it above her head and watched as it exploded. Cornelia snorted in disgust at how pathetic the pilots were performing.

Guilford fired a slash harken at a nearby turret, "Right, well, then I'll cover you from the rear."

Cornelia smirked as she glanced back at her knight before looking up at the mountain. "Well, Cornelia is here! Is there no one who can challenge me?"

o~o

"The enemy seems to be concentrated over here. This may be the target. Split up now!" Darlton commanded.

Just as the Knightmares began to do so, however, several blue lasers rained down from the sky, completely demolishing Darlton's squad.

"What?!" Darlton shouted in a mix of shock and horror.

"YAHOO!" Rivalz shouted in glee, and Polaris roared smugly with him as the Blue Lion in all of her glory landed smack in front of Darlton and his forces.

"Th-That's!" Darlton exclaimed, recognizing the Lion Knightmare from two months ago. They had never been able to relocate it after they initially spotted it. And now, here it was once again, standing between him and JLF's entrance.

Polaris let out yet another loud roaring cry, staring down at the Britannian Knightmares in front of her.

Acting instinctively, Darlton, followed by the rest of his squad, immediately open fired upon the Lion, but to their amazement, the bullets didn't even seem to dent the Lion's metal.

"Yo, dudes! Chill out!" Rivalz shouted with a smirk as he pushed his controls forward, and Polaris's mouth opened to unleash a giant blast of icy firepower.

Darlton managed to drive his Knightmare out of the way, but several others were unable to move fast enough and were soon found frozen solid, their pilots still trapped inside.

"F-Fall back!" Darlton orders, a fearful, foreign emotion in his tone. As his squadron began to retreat, he quickly pulled up his communication link with the Viceroy, "Viceroy Cornelia! Th-That Knightmare, the Lion, from two months ago. It's here!"

o~o

"WHAT?!" Cornelia exclaimed this message shocked her enough that her Knightmare staggered.

"V-Viceroy!" a soldier from another squadron cried out, "There's another one! But this one's yellow!"

"A large Red Lion Knightmare just landed by our squad, Viceroy!" Lord Kewell exclaimed, "It's wiping us out!"

"Wh-"

"Princess! Watch out!" Guilford shouted from behind. That was her only warning before a large black lion Knightmare, landed heavily right in front of her Knightmare and the rest of her platoon.

"Viceroy! Please get back!"

From inside of Zenobia, Lelouch couldn't help but smirk, "Hello Cornelia," he didn't turn on outside communications, so his sister didn't hear his greeting. He wouldn't want to spoil the surprise after all.

o~o

Back at the G1 unit and the Camelot Division, the rest of the forces were shocked to hear the reports of the Lions landing on the battlefield. From the look of things on the screen, the Knightmares were receiving little to no damage while their forces were practically getting wiped off the map.

Lloyd, in particular, was practically vibrating in his chair, eyes sparkling in excitement. This was the moment he'd been waiting for!

o~o

"Don't just stand there! Attack!" Kewell shouted and charged quite recklessly at the Red Lion.

"Okay, are you guys that stupid?!" Kallen shouted as Aka's claw slammed down on the Knightmare, and it erupted into flames below.

"Lord Kewell!" Villetta shouted in horror.

"Fight to the death!" Jeremiah shouted in rage, leveling his gun at the Lion.

The other Knightmares stayed back, trying to fire with their guns.

"We're not making even a dent on it!" Villetta shouted.

Kallen sat casually in Aka, almost with a bored expression. "I know Lelouch said to dial down on casualties, but…" her hand laid down almost lazily on the controls and slid the handle forward.

Aka's mouth clicked open, and a stream of flame shot out, surrounding the Pureblood's unit in a ring of fire.

"What?!" Jeremiah shouted, frantically looking around at the flames.

"Lord Jeremiah! We have to pull back now!" Villetta shouted.

"No! I won't be mocked like this!" he shouted stubbornly.

Villetta grunted and then shoved Jeremiah's Sutherland away from the approaching fire.

"What are you-?!"

"We need to get out here!"

Before Jeremiah could protest further, Villetta, along with the few Purebloods that were still mobile, drove off from the scene.

"Serves you Purebloods right," Kallen spat though with a smug grin on her face, "Now Ohgi, where are you at?"

o~o

Despite reports of the Lions landing around the battlefield, there was still one that had not been reported. His cloaking shield up, Rai and Zerith flew stealthily around the mountain and forest, dropping BLIP sensors every place that seemed reliable. He laughed when one of them hit the top of a Knightmare, and once it hit the ground and activated, the machines quickly made themselves scarce.

He dropped the last sensor near the top of the Narita Mountain. Considering the range that the sensors usually had, that one should pick up on every lifeform, whether human or not, in and around the mountain.

"Alright! All sensors are on the ground!" Rai reported as he finally dropped his shield and zoomed to a stop right in front of a group of Sutherlands.

o~o

"Update!" another officer shouted through the Castle's hacked link, "Another one! A green one!"

With the report that all the BLIPs had been delivered, Allura pulled up a full map of the mountain range below.

"Alright, I have the positions of all humans down below," Allura informed the Paladins.

"There is one small hiccup, though," Coran added, "Despite knowing the positions, there's no way to tell which of them are these Black Knights that you're looking for."

o~o

"We'll figure it out later. Keep us updated!" Lelouch shouted as Zen swung her tail, knocking several of the Knightmares back and into trees.

"Open fire!" Cornelia ordered from down below. Some of the Gloucesters even fired small missiles at the Black Lion, but none had any effect on it whatsoever.

"The material the Lions are made from will never cease to amaze me," Lelouch said with a grin as he reclined slightly in his pilot chair. He laughed almost sinisterly, "Not so fun being on the receiving end for once, isn't it, dear sister?"

Cornelia seemed to register that the gunfire was having no effect and changed tactics. She hefted her lance and charged straight towards the lion aiming for one of the joints.

"Princess Cornelia!" Guilford shouted in warning. Cornelia didn't see what was happening until it was too late as the Black Lion's massive paw shot upwards and slammed down on the front of her Gloucester. She was pinned down, the Black Lion's head hanging over her, like she was a mouse it was curiously inspecting.

"Princess!" Guilford gasped before stopping short to barely avoid a laser shot from the Black Lion's tail. He and the rest of the squad stopped short as the tail raised, charging to fire again.

Though the Viceroy refused to admit it aloud, she was indeed quite frightened, the bright yellow eyes of the monstrous Knightmare glaring down at her.

The Black Lions jaws suddenly snapped downwards, around her golden lance. She heard Guilford and the other soldiers shout in horror as this was happening. Her lance was ripped from her Gloucester's hands and snapped into pieces with a single flex of its jaws.

Finally, with what sounded like a disgusted snarl, the Lion released her and, with a swift turnabout, flicked its tail, slamming it into Guilford and her other subordinates. With yells, they slammed hard into the trees behind them.

She pulled on the controls but realized that Lion's claw had done more damage than she thought as she couldn't lift herself up.

"You!" she snarled as, to her fury, the Lion began to strut slowly away before it shot back up into the sky.

The Goddess of Victory roared in a fury! Not only was this her first actual defeat, but to receive such disrespect, such audacity! Whoever was inside that Knightmare, once she got her hands on them, they would wish they had never been born!

As she watched it disappear behind the trees, all she could do was scream furiously.

o~o

"What's happening?!" General Katase demanded.

"We're not sure, sir! Several highly advanced Knightmares appeared out of nowhere! From the looks of things, they're tearing the Britannian army to pieces!"

"They're holding them back?!" Katase asked.

"Yes! Nothing that's thrown at them is working!"

o~o

"Zero, five more human signatures are approaching the battlefield from the south," Allura suddenly informed him from the Castle.

"Five more? At what speed?" he asked.

"They appear to be moving at roughly the same speed as those other Knightmare machines."

"The JLF must have sent for back up," Lelouch muttered, "I don't think we need to worry about them. The JLF know we're not an enemy right now."

o~o

"All units, are you ready?" Todoh questioned seriously.

"Yes, sir!" the Four Holy Swords and their guest proclaimed.

"All right. Deploy the Guren and Custom Burais!"

"Deploying!"

The top of the trucks opened up and six Knightmare Frames, five resembling Burais, and the sixth one was a larger red Knightmare with its right arm significantly longer than its left, with a large silver contraption attached to it.

"Listen carefully, if these Lions are on our side, they should allow us time to help the General evacuate! But we must understand the situation first! Until we do, attack from all sides!" Colonel Tohdoh Kyoshiro ordered.

"YES, SIR!" the five soldiers shouted as they charged up the mountain.

Todoh, the Guren, and the Four Holy Swords were doing short work of any other Knightmares that weren't currently engaging the Lion Knightmares.

Now that he saw one of them, a large purple one, up close, Todoh almost had to pinch himself. The Britannians weren't making any headway with the Lion whatsoever. Blue lasers flew from the Lion's tail, and its claws and teeth were quickly crushing any that got too close. Although Todoh also noted that whoever was piloting this Knightmare didn't seem to be aiming to kill the Britannians, just disable the Knightmares themselves. Either way, it was confirmed to the Colonel officially of who the Lion was fighting when its tail collided with a Sutherland that nearly struck Chiba's Burai from behind.

Convinced of the Lion's allegiance, Todoh took the time to contact the headquarters immediately, "General! I apologize for the late arrival, what's happening?!" Todoh demanded.

"We're not sure ourselves, Todoh!" Katase replied, "But we're using the arrival of these Lions to evacuate the base! We need all the help we can right now!"

"I understand," the Colonel nodded, "We will assist as best as we can."

o~o

From the Camelot Division's transport, Euphemia watched the battle with fear in her eyes. She heard that the Purebloods had been forced to retreat, along with Darlton's unit. They had failed to get in contact with General Alex's platoon either, and word just arrived that backup for the JLF had arrived as well.

"Asplund, get this Knightmare ready to launch immediately!" Nonette ordered fiercely as she climbed up into the Lancelot's cockpit.

"Aha! With pleasure Miss Enneagram!" The Earl practically sang.

"Wait! Lady Enneagram! The Camelot unit hasn't been called on for assistance yet!" Cecile pointed out.

"That's not necessary! As a Knight of the Round, I'm personally ordering the launch of this unit. Upon doing so, I want all available military personnel sent my way as backup. Understood?"

"Ah! Yes, yes! Absolutely!" Lloyd was practically frothing at the mouth with exuberance, "This is the perfect chance to test my creation against these Lions!"

"Nonette-!" Euphie called out.

"Don't worry about me, Euphie," Nonette said just as the cockpit closed, "I've got this!"

o~o

"Man! I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd have this much fun smashing these Knightmares up!" Milly commented with a smirk as leaped out of the way one Gloucester's spears.

"I know, right?" Rivalz commented, "At least the smart ones know to run away from us! And to think, for a while, I actually sort of respected these guys, you know?"

"Trust me, I understand the feeling perfectly," Lelouch said a little darkly, shoving back memories that left a terrible taste in his mouth.

"Paladins," Allura's face lit up inside all of the cockpits, "There's a large number of people evacuating to the northwest of the mountain range. However, there's a small pocket of them that have yet to move from their position."

"That's got to be them!" Lelouch exclaimed, realizing that must be the Black Knight's location. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, 'The JLF is likely using them as decoys to hurry the evacuation along should the enemy break through that far. Just throwing them under the bus, it seems.'

"Kallen!" Lelouch cried, his face appearing in Aka's cockpit, "I'm sending you coordinates to the Black Knights location. Once you've confirmed it's them, you know what to do. And hurry, there's several Britannian units are heading their way!"

"Understood Zero!" Kallen nodded before she and Aka zoomed off in the direction specified.

'Hang on, guys! Just hang on!'

o~o

Shirley and Zinnia seemed to be having the easiest time with the Knightmares, both due to Zinnia's heavy armor, and the fact that Shirley was reasonably hesitant to hurt any of the soldiers. Most of the soldiers seemed to understand that they weren't going to break the armor, but that didn't mean that she didn't have to fight at all. Shots were fired from both sides, but Zinnia's laser blasts were far more effective than the bullets the Glousters and Sutherlands fired.

Shirley gasped when something suddenly hit her hard from above and behind.

"What?!" she gasped as Zinnia was knocked forward. She was able to recover quickly, and upon turning around, she came face to face with the Lancelot.

"What the heck?!" Shirley exclaimed upon spotting it.

"Shirley! Get away!" Suzaku shouted, Yoru landing deftly in front of Zinnia.

"Suzaku!" she shouted.

"Just go! I'll handle this!"

"O-Okay," she nodded before retreating off to the side.

Suzaku and Yoru turned to face the unit that he used to pilot. Suzaku admitted that he was shocked to see the Lancelot out on the battlefield, and who was testing it if it wasn't him? However, he knew he was the best person to fight it for that very reason.

Suzaku tensed when he noticed the VARIS rifle aimed to fire at him. He and Yoru quickly leaped to the side to avoid it. Though he doubted that even an advanced weapon like that could hurt Yoru, he didn't want to take too many chances.

The Lancelot sped right up to intercept him, readying its MVS sword to attack. Yoru raised her paw with a snarl to swipe at it, but the Lancelot quickly flipped over it and attempted to kick at Yoru's other leg. Just like with the other Knightmares, though, not so much as a scratch was left from the impact.

Yoru leaped backward again to try and shoot the Lancelot from long-range, only for one of the slash-harkens to pull towards it instead.

"Big mistake!" Suzaku shouted, as Yoru caught the harken in her mouth and roughly threw the Lancelot by its wire across the battlefield.

The Knightmare managed to flip and land on its feet again and readied the VARIS rifle to fire at it. This time, the VARIS did make contact with the Lion and managed to knock Yoru to the ground, Suzaku grunting from the impact. The next second, though, they were up on their feet again.

o~o

"Not even the VARIS did any damage to it?!" Cecile exclaimed in shock as she, Lloyd, and Euphemia watched on the computer.

Lloyd, however, didn't seem too bothered by this at all. He only seemed to get more excited at this new development, his eyes twinkling with thousands of stars, "Just what in the world is that Knightmare made out of?!"

o~o

"Okay, got to finish this fast," Suzaku grit his teeth. He and Yoru leaped into the sky, beginning to rain laser fire down towards the Lancelot, whose current pilot was dodging all of the attacks with ease. Despite being on the receiving end of it this time, Suzaku couldn't help but stare in awe at the Lancelot's performance.

'Not bad, Lloyd, not bad.'

o~o

Kallen's eyes lit up red with her Geass as she scanned the area furiously for the Black Knights. She had made sure to alert Lelouch about its ability before the battle began, which was why he only gave here the approximate location, knowing she could likely find them on her own from there.

"Where are-there!" She shouted, her eyes widening to see that several black Burais were cornered near one of the mountain entrances and were being overrun. The Sutherlands had just lifted their rifles to open fire.

"Oh no, you don't!" she screamed, Aka roaring in passionate rage as they shot off towards the cluster.

Before a single gun can be fired, Aka slammed down on top of the two Knightmares leading the charge at the Black Knights, effortlessly crushing them underneath. Down below, through dust and debris, Kallen spotted the distressed and panicked looks on many of the Black Knights, Ohgi included.

Just as the Britannian ground troops turned the guns in her direction, Aka roared, and Kallen sprinted out of the cockpit and leaped out her Lion's mouth with a flip, Bayard flashing to life in her hands. With a battle cry, she slashed her claws across the chest of one Britannian soldier and swiftly delivered a kick to one behind her. Spotting that some were aiming their guns at her from behind, she lifted her shield, easily taking the puny bullets that clattered off of it like tin foil. She sprinted towards the cowards that tried to shoot her and made little work of them, hitting one in the face with her shield and punching the other square in the jaw.

A single gunshot suddenly ran out, and Kallen's head jerked forward.

Only a thick silence fell as the bullet, that should've been lodged deep into her skull, slammed against Kallen's helmet, and landed with a clink on the stone floor below, crushed from its own impact.

"Impo-" the soldier never finished his sentence as a set of metal claws soon found its home right through the soldier's chest. With a cough of blood, he fell to the floor, bleeding out profusely on the ground.

One final roar from Aka, enraged that her Paladin had nearly been shot, sent the rest of the Britannian ground troops running back the way they came.

Throughout the whole thing, the Black Knights had only watched in awe and shock as, to them, a single soldier practically took out an entire platoon single-handedly.

Kallen tisked as she walked over to the now-dead Britannian and yanked her cestus from his chest. The Bayard shook back into resting position and disappeared into her suit.

With a huff, she turned and waved to the Black Knights, a cheeky grin on her face.

"Hey, Ohgi! Hey everyone! What's up?"

"Ka-Kallen?!" Ohgi stuttered as his brain was still trying to process what the hell he just saw.

"Wha-what the hell?!" Tamaki exclaimed, pointing frantically between Kallen and the Red Lion, "Kallen, what the hell's going on here?!"

"Where have you been, Kallen?" Minami asked urgently.

"What are you wearing?" Inoue questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"What is that Knightmare?" she heard Yoshida ask.

Tons of other questions were fired Kallen's way, but even though she wanted to answer them, time was of the essence right now.

"Everyone, I promise I'll explain later, but right now, you need to come with me!" she said, pointing towards Aka, who had lowered her head and opened up to let the passengers on board.

"Wha-wait, Kallen we-"

"Ohgi, do you trust me?" Kallen asked the Black Knight directly.

"What?" he asked, taken aback.

"Do you trust me?" she asked again.

"Well- yes, you know I do, Kallen," Ohgi answered.

"They trust me now, please! Help me get everyone in the Lion."

Ohgi swallowed, but nodded, ushering all the Black Knights into Aka's mouth before following shortly after.

"Uh, you sure about this, Kallen?" Tamaki asked, just outside, "This thing looks more like it-"

"GET IN THE DAMN LION, TAMAKI!" she shouted impatiently before she literally kicked his ass, where he stumbled inside, nearly landing on his face.

Once all of them had boarded, Kallen shoved her way back up to the cockpit and sat down, "Sorry for lack of seats, you'll just have to hang on!" she warned before shoving the lever down.

With a roar, Aka leaped away from the mountain and with a thrust of her engines, shot into the sky. Kallen winced as heard several of the Black Knights be thrown backward from the force. 'Yeah… lack of seats, sorry guys.'

Once they were hovering above the mountain and out of immediate danger, Kallen contacted Lelouch, his face covered by his Zero mask appeared on her screen, "I've got them Zero! Heading to the Castle now!"

"Good work!" Zero nodded, "Once they're secure, return to the battlefield immediately so we can finish this!"

"You got it!" she grinned and closed the screen. Phase one complete.

"Wait-was that Zero?" Ohgi asked, having climbed his way up to the cockpit with Tamaki.

Kallen sighed in slight irritation, "As I said, I'll explain later. Now hang on to something!"

Ohgi and Tamaki managed to brace themselves just as Kallen slammed down on Aka's rocket boosters, and the Red Lion shot at full speed into Earth's atmosphere.

"Wha-wait! Hold on, where we going?! Wha-" Tamaki was cut off as he gripped the back of Kallen's seat with one hand, and grasped the right wall with his other. In front of his and Ohgi's eyes, the clear blue sky of Japan disappeared to be replaced with millions of stars against a sheet of black.

Ohgi also looked at a loss of words as the Moon drew alarmingly closer each second. But the Lion wasn't aiming to land on the Moon. Instead, it shot around the side of it and was greeted by-

"What the hell?!" Tamaki shouted as the Castle of Lions came into full view in front of them.

Ignoring Tamaki's exclamation, Kallen guided Aka into her bay and spotted C.C. waiting for them at the end of the tunnel.

Upon coming to a stop, she turned to the two men, "Okay, this is where you get off!"

"What? But Kallen-"

"Ohgi, you said you trust me, right? So please, just bear with us a little longer, okay?" she practically begged.

"And what about you?" Tamaki asked.

"I'll be back in a bit, with Zero. Now get going. There's a friend of ours waiting down there for you; she'll take care of everything else."

Ohgi still hesitated, before finally steeling himself and pulling Tamaki out of the cockpit to join the rest of the Black Knights, who were already exiting the Lion.

The moment Tamaki and Ohgi stepped out of Aka, the Lion reared back its head and roared before spiraling around and shooting right back out into space.

"Long time, no see, Black Knights," C.C. greeted with a small smile.

"Wait, do we know you?" Sugiyama asked, all of their attention drawn from their new surroundings to the woman in front of them.

"We've never officially met," C.C. admitted with a shrug, "but I am an ally to you and Zero. Now, if you'll follow me, we are keeping the others waiting."

"Wait, others? Who?" Yoshida asked.

"What is this place?" Inoue asked.

C.C. just smiled mysteriously before swiftly walking out of the room, forcing the Black Knights to follow her. After turning down several halls and up an elevator, C.C. waved forward onto the bridge of the Castle of Lions.

Before any of the Knights could adequately take in the room, a loud, cheerful voice drew their attention, "Hello! You must be the Black Knights. Though honestly, you don't look very much like knights. Ha! You Earthlings and your fashion quirks," Coran shook his head with an amused smile.

"Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on?!" Tamaki stuttered out.

"Who are you, people?" Ohgi asked a little more politely.

Allura turned to face them from her position in the center of the room, "Welcome Black Knights, to the Castle of Lions. I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea."

It took the Knights several seconds to process just what Allura had said before Ohgi finally found his voice, "Planet…? Wait, as in aliens?"

"Well, that's generally what 'another planet' means, right?" C.C. answered with a smirk.

"Wait, you're seriously aliens?" Inoue asked, "You guys look way too human."

Coran laughed, not looking offended by the statement at all, "Well, I could say the same about you. If it weren't for the unusually shaped ears, I'd almost mistake you for Alteans!"

Several of the Black Knights unconsciously raised a hand towards their ears at that statement, shooting confused looks to one another. "What's wrong with our ears?" Minami asked quietly.

"All you must know right now is that I'm an ally of Zero, and Coran and I are here to assist with your mission to free your land from Britannia," Allura told them professionally.

"And just how the hell are you gonna do that, lady?" Tamaki demanded skeptically.

Allura's eye twitched just slightly. Kallen and Lelouch had warned her that some of the Black Knights, one with red hair, in particular, weren't the most cordial Earthlings they'd meet. This must be the one they spoke of.

Before the Princess could reply, though, C.C. beat her to the punch, "Just watch," she gestured to the large screen at the end of the room, smirking, "You're gonna love this."

o~o

Suzaku grunted again as the Lancelot jumped roughly off of Yoru's back after it failed to pierce the armor on her back.

"Okay, whoever's piloting this is really good. Probably as good as me," he reluctantly admitted as Yoru swung her tail towards the Knightmare again, missing by centimeters.

Nonette also admitted from within the Lancelot that the pilot of this Purple Lion was also excellent. She had actually had to think about several of her attacks during this battle.

"Not bad stranger," she couldn't help but grin, "not bad."

Suzaku was about to fire at the Lancelot with the tail cannon again when Zero's face appeared on his screen.

"Suzaku, Kallen just got back. Rendezvous with me and the others at the top of the mountain!"

"It's time then?" he asked, more to himself than Lelouch, "I'll see you there!"

Zero's mask inclined in response before cutting the connection.

From outside, Nonette blinked in surprise as the Purple Lion in front of her suddenly dropped its tail cannon and leaped away, flying back into the sky.

"What the-What gives?" she asked, completely confused.

o~o

By the time Kallen returned to the others, the JLF was long gone, having escaped on several trucks and were just beginning to enter the highway. Despite the fair amount of distance, though, all of the rebels could still see the seven lions starting to assemble at the top of the mountain. Todoh and the Four Holy Swords, along with the pilot for the recently re-acquired Guren, watched intently as well.

o~o

Miraculously, Guilford's Knightmare was still functional enough for the knight to get to his Princess's Gloucester and drag it back to the G1 base. He was met by Darlton and a couple of other straggling soldiers there who assisted in prying Cornelia's Knightmare open.

The Viceroy seemed mostly unhurt, but a large gash on her head was bleeding profusely and would need medical treatment. Her Gloucester, on the other hand, was utterly inoperable now. Underneath her wound, though, her eyes were shaking in rage.

For the first time in her life, someone had bested her in battle. Not only that but had utterly humiliated her in front of her own men!

o~o

Suzaku was the last to join the Paladins at the top of the mountain, overlooking the thoroughly battered battlefield down below. From off in the distance, the Paladins could see Britannian reinforcements approaching from the ground and in the air with several helicopters racing towards them, likely armed to the brim with explosives they intended to aim directly at them.

"Man! I don't think I've ever had that much fun shooting bad guys before!" Rivalz commented happily.

"I agree," Milly smirked, "Compared to a Galran fortress, I barely even broke a sweat!"

"So, is this it, Lulu?" Shirley asked, eyes still glued to the army approaching them rapidly.

Lelouch sighed almost dramatically, "I suppose there's no point in keeping them waiting," he chuckled and straightened in his chair, "Alright, Paladins! Let's show Britannia what exactly it is they're up against. Form Voltron!"

"Yeah!" they all shouted. With roars of elation, the Lions all shot up into the air; their bodies cloaked in colored light.

The Black Lion roared out as it flew forward with its arms folding backward and then into the container units on its sides. Then the Green and Red Lion flew in as they flew upward, leaving behind a trail of energy in their colors. Their legs suddenly began to fold up and were secured to the sides before they shot up towards their leader. Next up, the Yellow and Purple Lion as they flew in and began to fold up their legs to be secured, the Blue and Orange Lion doing the same just below them, connecting to each other to form two long, large legs together. The Red Lion attached itself to the right socket of the Black Lion and the Green Lion connected to the left. Once this was done, the four remaining Lions connected to the bottom devices of the Black Lion, sealing up and joining tightly together. With the body now formed, a golden crown formed upon the Black Lion's head, its maw opened up to reveal the face of Voltron himself. With a clash of his hands, the Defender of the Universe reached upward to the sky, ready for battle.

o~o

Back as the Castle, the Black Knights all watched, eyes widening impossibly at Voltron's appearance. They were blown so open that the Alteans feared their eyeballs would roll out of their skulls.

Tamaki suddenly fainted on the spot.

C.C. had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from laughing out loud at their faces. It was honestly one of the funniest things that she had seen in a long time.

"Wha… What is that?!" Ohgi asked, finally regaining his voice. The expression on his face would make you wonder if he had just seen the face of God at that very moment.

Allura simply smiled proudly, "This is Voltron."

o~o

Time seemed to stop for every Britannian troop on the ground. Even the JLF trucks screeched to a stop on the highway to look back at the robotic giant standing in the air.

"Wh-what the hell?!" Jeremiah exclaimed in shocked horror.

Villetta's voice didn't seem to work as she kept opening and closing her mouth, eyes wide and shaking.

Similar reactions came from many other soldiers within their Knightmares, some backpedaling in shock and eyes widened into softballs. Some of them even felt a wetness around their seats.

Even Nonette from the Lancelot stopped dead in her tracks at the monstrous sight before them.

o~o

From the G1 unit itself, both Guilford and Darlton practically froze in their attempts to assist Cornelia as they stared at the central console.

"What… in the world… is that…?" Guilford whispered, eyes shaking and sweat running down his face.

Darlton seemed at a loss for words himself, along with the rest of the royal guard that survived.

The Goddess of Victory herself stared at the screen, still attempting to process what exactly she was looking at.

o~o

From the JLF convoys, all of the rebels looked on, eyes wide and mouth open. Even the ever-stoic Todoh couldn't mask his surprise, his eyes widening in shock.

o~o

"Ll-Lloyd… are you seeing this?!" Cecile asked frantically next to him.

Lloyd meanwhile could only look with a dropped jaw before it turned into a massive grin with beating hearts in his eyes. He squealed so loudly it would've put the biggest boy band fangirls to shame, "This-This is-! I can't even-! OOOoooOOOoooOOHHHH! This is amazing! I never thought I'd see such a thing in my entire life!"

Euphemia watched from behind them, her eyes also wide and lip even trembling.

o~o

Meanwhile, within Voltron itself, Kallen, Rivalz, and Milly couldn't help but laugh as the army practically came to a dead stop in front of them.

"Oh, man! You think any of them wet themselves yet?!" Rivalz guffawed.

"I will pay good hard cash, just to see what the look on their faces is right now!" Milly giggled uncontrollably.

"Ha! You like a taste of your own medicine, Britannia?" Kallen grinned fiercely. She hadn't felt this good in a battle for a long time.

o~o

"Open fire… Open fire!" Cornelia suddenly howled from within the G1.

The second everyone heard her orders, all forces, Knightmares, tanks, helicopters, and jets all began shoot relentlessly at Voltron, hoping that their combined power could take the robot out.

o~o

"Rai… form shield," Lelouch ordered plainly.

The Green Paladin blinked and replied, "Uh, Lelouch, you realize this is likely not going to do anything to us, right?"

Lelouch chuckled in reply, "Perhaps, but let's just humor them for the time being."

Rai shrugged but pulled up Voltron's shield anyway, just as the first group of missiles hit the safeguard raised in front of them.

After just sitting there and taking the onslaught for about a solid minute, Shirley spoke up, "Um… Lelouch, aren't we gonna like fight back?"

"Who says we weren't?" Lelouch responded with a smirk, holding a hand to the side of his face, "Kallen!"

The Red Paladin smirked before lifting Aka's head, and the Red Lion's jaw unleashed a massive blast of lasers towards a heavily crowded area of the helicopters. All of them exploded on impact, along with any Knightmares inside of them. She then directed Aka's head downward, and with a single, slow swing, blasted at the forest below, destroying or heavily damaging several ground troops and Knightmares beneath.

"Suzaku, form sword!" Lelouch ordered.

Suzaku hesitated for a moment before he jammed his Bayard into Yoru's key slot.

As the shield slapped back onto Voltron's back, his hands clapped together and formed the trademark sword and held it before him. Then with a flash of his rocket boosters, Voltron slashed straight through the rest of the airborne troops with a single swing of the weapon. An inferno of destruction shadowed them as they flew to a stop, now shadowed by the flames.

With one final swing of his sword, Voltron's direction turned skyward and flew off into the twilight.

o~o

"They're on the way back! That's our cue, Princess!" Coran said with a grin.

Allura grinned back, and with a swipe of her hand, the holo screens shifted, and the Princess pressed a single button in the center.

o~o

Cornelia watched speechless as the whole army was almost wiped out in a single strike. How could this be?! How could the Elevens, or anyone for that matter, create a weapon such as this?! And even if they did, how did they keep it hidden for so long?!

"Princess Cornelia! We must pull back! We will be completely wiped out if we keep fighting!" Darlton begged her from the side.

Cornelia grit her teeth and growled. Even though she was angry...no not angry, she was livid at how this battle had turned about; she knew there was no other choice.

"Very well," she hissed, "Sound the retreat!"

"Right away!" another general said almost frantically as he got a hold of all remaining Knightmares on the ground. He suddenly gasped in shock.

"What is it now?!" Cornelia demanded as the screen in the front began to glitch.

"Wait-that's!" Guilford exclaimed as the image on the screen came into view.

"I am Zero!"

Everyone aboard the G1 gasped in shock. It had been months since they had seen the masked rebel's face. Some people thought that he had died as the Black Knight's activity also depleted during this time. Seeing the masked foe in front of them on-screen now made the blood freeze in many of the soldiers.

It wasn't just on the G1 unit, either. Every electronic, computer and television screen was showing the same broadcast as well. All people, Britannian and Japanese alike, stopped all previous activities to turn their attention to the screen.

"People of Japan, I have returned!" Zero spread his arms out wide, and many gasped to see the distinct change to the BK leader's outfit. Gone was the fancy purple suit and golden lining. Instead, what was underneath his cape was what appeared to be some kind of black armor, with golden lining it. One of the most distinctive features of it was a large golden 'V' on the chest plate. It didn't look like old medieval armor, though. If anything, it looked like it had been pulled from a sci-fi convention. A very professional sci-fi convention.

o~o

"Hear me, Britannia!" Zero shouted, "All you who have power, heed my words carefully! I am burdened by sorrow, war, and discrimination! Malicious deeds carried out by the strong."

"You heard me right, keep it rolling!" Diethard demanded from the news station.

"But sir-"

"I'll do it myself if you don't!" the reporter shouted impatiently.

Alarmed, but not willing to disobey, the news anchor brought up the sound as Diethard gazed onward at the masked terrorist.

o~o

"The same abhorrent interplay of tragedy and comedy. The world has not changed. The people still suffer. That is why the return of Zero was necessary!"

From the safety of her home, Nina watched on as her eyes shook in fear. It was bad enough that all of her friends from the council were still missing, and now Zero was back again? She had just begun to feel safe with terrorist activity, finally starting to die down. Now, this?

She whimpered and pulled her legs up in a hug, cringing away.

o~o

From far off, within the safety of Mount Fuji, several older men and a younger girl watched the broadcast closely. The maiden's eyes, in particular, sparkled with excitement and admiration for this great warrior.

"So long as the strong oppress the weak. My rebellion will continue to grow."

o~o

"And it begins today with the divine punishment brought by the titan known as Voltron!"

The screens suddenly changed to show the dramatic transformation of the Lions into the great robot that had decimated the Britannian forces just moments ago. Everyone across Japan gasped in horror or awe at the power the juggernaut seemed to wield with a flick of its hand.

o~o

"Viceroy, we're trying to track the signal of the video, but there seems to be no place to track it!" an informant exclaimed over the G1's intercom.

"What?! How is this possible?!" Cornelia demanded.

"We don't know. We've checked every possible location this could be coming from!"

"Well, keep looking!"

"Understood!"

"Voltron, he is known as the Defender of the Universe. He is a shield to protect the weak, and a sword to destroy all those who abuse their power!"

o~o

From the Castle of Lions, where the video was being broadcast, the Black Knights, except Tamaki, looked in awe as their leader's speech continued.

"Charles zi Britannia, I now speak directly to you! You and the rest of Britannia will lay down your weapons and surrender unconditionally to Voltron. If you do not do this, you and the rest of your empire will face total obliteration. The decision is yours."

o~o

With that final, ominous warning, the screens all throughout the Empire and Area 11 glitched back to its scheduled programming.

A young woman, a princess, bound to a wheelchair, had been able to listen to the entire broadcast. Listen because she no longer had her sight.

"What's going to happen now?" she asked in a quivering voice.

A figure that had been standing behind her came closer and gently placed a gloved hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," Schnizel el Britannia said gently to his sister, "everything's going to be okay."

Nunnally vi Britannia could only hum in agreement and trust in her older sibling. But the void in her stomach only seemed to increase more.

'Big brother…' she thought, tears gathering in her eyes, '...where are you?'

#Fanfiction #AU #Voltron #Code Geass #lelouch lamperouge #suzaku kururugi #c.c.#kallen kozuki #shirley fenette #milly ashford #rivalz cardemonde #rai (lost colors)#princess allura #coran #cornelia li britannia #britannia #knightmares #nunnally lamperouge #euphemia li britannia

1 note · View note