Chapter 21: Waves of Sorrow [Earth]

[Kylern]

-Kylern-

"I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve..." Kylern felt confident and sure that he had this match in the bag. He just needed to be more aggressive... He needed to push harder and he could indeed win this battle.

The Tetra was soon flanked as Kylern launched the still fully workable scissor and launched it out and behind the Tetra. It was pointed up at an angle towards the rear booster units and fired. Ahead the Belphagor locked up against the smaller beam saber with his own hyper one. He intentionally took a few shots from the machine-gun just so he could do this... The left arm Strike Claw reached out to grab the enemy unit around the left shoulder so that he could crush the guy with everything he had. The Belphagor even went as far as to unleash the last six of his heat wires around the Tetra to prevent it from running.

The use of so many weapons at once was causing serious strain on the pilot. A small stream of blood started to run from his nose and he would soon be losing feeling throughout his body. Every nerve inside his system was beginning to burn out from the energy stolen from Kayla and once it was completely gone his battle here would end. But he wanted to decisively win this match before he lost consciencness. This was his chance to show everyone his power...

[Nero]

-Burai Team 2-

By some off miracle, the Burai were able to dodge the attack as they were forced to draw their assault rifles, and chase after it. quickly, the group were firing off a sustained barrage followed by the grenades from each weapon.

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

Gai, just as he had done with Wan's, warded off the blow by raising a mental barrier. This Pilot used the same tactics but he had nowhere near the same raw mental power as Wan.

"I think you would know better than I where he's at. After all, you seem to like copying him."

Gai had closed and from the same barrels that fired the Split Beams two beam sabers appeared. Gai Slashed with the left then Stabbed with right.

Tallis Stenner

"Thank you again lady Kayla. Wan and I can never repay your kindness."

She Exited the Cattleya and, in a similar manner as boarding, she used a lift to reach the ground. She noted vaguely familiar face, with which she could not asssociate a name, but dismissed it. Right now she wanted to find Wan to let him know she was Ok.

[Nero]

-Kizu-

"There's... something I need to tell you... it's about Wan." Kizu said to get her attention.

-Shadow-

"Grr... You killed him... you destroyed someone very precious to me... and i'll make you PAY!!!" He quickly dodged the stab and slash, then retaliated by raising his rifle and firing it at near point blank.

-Zero-

In his final moments, Zero turned his gaze towards the Highwind, and noticed something was amiss...

'Midrenn's not... out there defending the Highwind... June must be in danger...'

As such, he voiced a last request to Zaine... "Please... save June..." With that, Zero forced the Shinkirou off the blade, and let it fall into the ocean where it exploded.

[Omega]

-Zaine-

"June?" He said in confusion, but watched as Zero pushed himself free of the blade, and fell to his death.

He seemed a good deal confused... but turned his gaze upwards towards the Unicorn and the Strike Noir... "Maybe they can give me some answers." The Exia began to move towards them as Zaine opened a channel.

"I get the feeling you guys held back some info before... Care to fill in some blanks?"

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

Shadow might find himself utterly shocked when Gai continued his attack. In a simple maneuver Gai 'fell' backwards as the blades on his feet flipped into place. The shot passed over him as the blades arced upwards aiming to smash the Tieren from below. The attack wasn't designed to kill but rather knock his foe off balance for a powerful follow-up

"I won't apologize; and neither would Wan."

Tallis Stenner

Tallis had intended to walk right by the man she didn't know, until, he mentioned Wan. His tone bespoke seriousness and she stopped dead. Nervously she spoke up.

"Wh-what is it?"

She suddenly sounded timid and faint..

[Nero]

-Kizu-

"Wan's... gone... he died at the hands of Sume Gai... He died believing you were never going to wake up." His tone held a strange softness, almost as though Kizu was worried of how she'd take it.

At the entrance to the hangar, a researcher stood, looking around for someone...

-Shadow-

"GAAAHH!" It threw him off balance because his rage prevented him from seeing the blow coming. It damaged his arms, forcing him to back off a bit.

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

Tallis' world seemed to crumble around her. It was a terrible, yet somehow familiar, feeling.

"N-no, It can't be... W-wan."

Tallis stumbled back falling onto a crate behind her. She lowered her head; terror and uncertainty consuming her as tear's fell to the pavement between her legs. She'd lost her parents, then her brother and now The person who'd saved her from her own despair.

"Wan... why..."

Sume Gai

The Tesla Drive released a burst of power sending the Armorlion skywards at high speed. then the Armorlion stopped for but a moment as it redirected it's thrust, sending it 'feet' first at the Tieren. Along the way the Armorlion began to spin as it's Tesla Drive was pushed to the limit and a blue Break Field encompassed the unit. Gai Was Diving right at the stunned Tieren.

"SONIIIC~~~ BLAAADE~~ KIIIIIIIIICK~~"

[Nero]

-Kizu-

He felt pretty bad because of her reaction... "I'm sorry... maybe I shouldn't have told you..."

The researcher's gaze fell on the Cattleya, since he figured that was where she was.

-Shadow-

Shadow almost evaded the attack, but couldn't completely as it easily removed the lower half of the Tieren. "DAMN YOU!!!" He said as the machine fell towards the ocean, but the boosters saved him. Shadow quickly turned, and high-tailed it back to Hawaii.

[Strike Zero]

- Strike -

Strike's eyes narrowed as the Burais approached. Knightmare Frames were fast indeed. Regular attacks would do nothing to deter them.

It was time to try something different.

He traded his beam rifle from the Delta's right hand to its left and used his now-free hand to grasp the Gundam's golden shield and wrench it free from its left arm. He then proceed to hurl the implement down towards the Burai team. After a brief second, he himself entered into a dive and chased after it.

The shield spun wildly as it fell and was struck as the Burai squadron opened fire. Knocked every which way from the impact of the enemy's grenades, it successfully managed to deflect the Burai's attack until Strike re-closed the distance between them before being knocked far off out of the way. Once in range, Strike flipped once and used the Gundam's tremendous downward speed and momentum to deliver a vicious one-foot downward stop atop one of the Burai's heads. Then he fired the Delta's thrusters and switched hands again, returning the beam rifle to his right, and fired, spinning and sending a bolt of beam energy at each of the other Burais as he fell down and through their formation towards the ground.

As he landed, Strike drew a saber with shield-less left arm and warmed the thrusters once more, gazing up at his opponents, waiting to gauge their remaining numbers and reactions.

Preparing to finish these poor, hapless fools for good.

"Fandom bastards..." Strike snorted.


- Kayla -

Wan Fey Lo is dead?

Kayla found the news interesting. The other rival of Sume Gai had finally bitten the dust after all, hm?

Perfect. It would mean less competition when she was to face him in the future.

As she observed the weeping form of Tallis, her gaze caught onto the form of the young man who had delivered the news... and she felt a wisp of recognition at the sight of his face, though she hadn't the faintest idea why -- she was quite certain she had never seen him on the base before. But, the thought was quickly pushed out of her mind. If it was truly important, then she would have undoubtedly remembered more clearly.

"Today is just full of unsightly recognitions, isn't it...?" she murmured to herself.

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

She gave no direct response to Kizu. The only signs of life was her quivering and the tears that continued to fall, one by one.

Sume Gai
((a bit of time 'warping' here but it'll make things easier.))

"who was that guy?"

Gai had no time to dwell on his self-imposed question as he scanned the field just in time to see Zero fall with little fanfare from the end of Zaine's blade. Even though Gai was aware that it had been, in a way, Zero's choice, he couldn't help but feel some sadness at the event.

'you chose this path Zero, and you walked it to the very end. At the very least, I can respect that... even if I can't forgive you.'

Gai also heard Zero's last request and like Zaine was curious about it's meaning. He listened in even s he scanned about for his next foe.

[Nero]

(Okay... the Delta is superior to Burai, I admit defeat)
-Burai Team 2-

Strike's attack easily anhilated the Burai squadron.

-NPC-

The researcher began walking towards the Cattleya, intending to speak with Kayla on the matter of Kizu. "Kayla Ryder? If you're not too busy, i'd like a word with you." He asked as he neared the Cattleya.

-Kizu-

Kizu walked over to Tallis and gently rested a hand atop hers, before doing something unexpected. He leaned in before whispering something.

"Come on... i'll fix you something to eat... probably haven't had anything decent for a while, huh?"

he just hoped Tallis didn't mistake the offer for Kizu hitting on her.

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

Tallis remained unresponsive even when Kizu laid his hand on hers. In response to his offer Tallis only shook her head but even that movement was barely perceptible. Even though she was hungry, she felt no desire to eat or drink anything.

Alex Bloke

Alex had not been ordered to launch. For the time being the units already fighting seemed to have the battle under control. Yet for some reason, Alex 'longed' to go out there. Or at least it's the closest approximation of desire that a CX would feel outside of battle.

Yet what really puzzled him was why. Alex didn't 'desire' to kill; he didn't even 'want' to fight. It simply didn't compute to him.

[Cybaster]

()_&*#^(@%!$@....)

-Kalen-

Kylern's victory was virtually flawless; Caught in a complete web of attacks, there was nothing for the Gerbera Tetra to do but virtually disintegrate under the barrage of all the Belphagor's weapons; As Kalen was slammed to and fro within the cockpit, the escape pod shot out of the Gerbera Tetra in time before the entire unit exploded brilliantly, falling and plummeting towards and into the water.

Kalen, fortunately, was unconscious by then, and did not witness Zero's final moments --- which would've finished him off right there and then.

June, however...saw everything vividly.

-June and Midrenn-

For June Uzuki, words could not describe what just happened --- she could only stare in a mute silence as she stood near the edge of the hanger deck, looking at where Zero and Zaine last fought, hoping for some miracle --- any miracle --- that would bring Lelouch back to her. June shook her head, tears starting to flow down her cheeks; Maybe Morpheus decided to intervene at the last second, maybe Kalen, maybe Zaine decided to be merciful. Something. Anything, June pleaded mentally, staring. Anything, please bring him back...

But there was no response, save for a nearby mechanic trying to call her back to consciousness; There was no last minute communication from Zero telling her that she was alive. There was no fairytale.

Lelouch Lamperouge was gone.

And June could think of nothing at the sight --- she could not do anything, except curse herself, nor say anything. She could not even react when Midrenn Saphotte, of all people, walked up from behind her, nodding as the above mechanic turned around to see what he wanted, and waved the others away from him.

"Miss Uzuki."

That call tore through June's consciousness, and she turned around to see Midrenn, and the dullness in his eyes. Midrenn sneered --- his gambit to save Lelouch Lamperouge had failed even before it began, and he would not admit defeat. If he could not save Lelouch, he would save June from the stagnant entity now called the Black Knights.

The Divine Crusaders --- and Garmin Aelfhere --- will be made to pay in turn.

"Miss Uzuki," Midrenn said coldly, and his voice caused even June to shudder at the malice now in it. "If you don't want his Excellency's baby to die, listen to me very carefully..."

[Strike Zero]

(Oh. Well, okay then.)

- Strike -

Strike watched his opponents vanish into plumes of fire with little reaction. He glanced around, searching for any other attackers. He found none. The battle was all but theirs.

With that, Strike turned and hightailed it back to the base.

He didn't feel any better than when he'd started.


- Kayla -

Kayla cocked an eyebrow and glanced down at the approaching man. From the looks of it he was a scientist, though he didn't appear to be anything special.

"And whom, may I ask, wishes to address me?"

[Nero]

-Researcher-

The man spoke up then. "I do, concerning a request from Zero of the Black Knights."

"It involves the young man over there, Kizu Kamiya... I'm under orders from Lord Zero to tell you that you have full Jurisdiction over him, and that he will be needed to preserve her false memories... and that if she should recover her true memories, Kizu is to kill her." He held up a disk explaining everything on it, including that Kizu was actually a clone of a DC pilot.

-Kizu-

"...If you change your mind, let me know, okay?" He walked back over to the Astraea after finishing his statement. "Oh... By the way, I'm Kizu Kamiya."

[Kylern]

-Kylern-

The victory wasn't flawless... the Belphagor was missing a strike claw, an atomic scissor, and was popped full of holes and dents from the countless bullet shots. The pilot was also at his ends and it was obvious as the gundam started to dropped back down to Earth. His eyes were closed and his breathing short after his over-exhaustion.

The Belphagor went into emergency autopilot and threw its thrusters on the last few moments to soften the landing. But obviously he hit the ground hard and tumbled forward before collapsing on the beach. Inside the cockpit its pilot was unconsciousness and hanging forward in the restraints. Sitting on his shoulder was a ferret resting against his neck keeping the pilot company while drops of blood dropped onto the console.

-Nowe-

The GN-XIII was put up and Nowe was hanging out in the rec center stretching.

-Natalia-

She watched as the Fandom troops were in retreat and laughed. "Stupid Black Knights never learn! Run on home you fools!" She laughed as she turned the Guarlion around and headed back to base feeling rather good about all that.

[Strike Zero]

- Kayla -

The young woman remained silent for several seconds before plucking the disk out of the man's hand.

"Very well. I understand."

She took a moment to spare another glance down at the young man who was just now leaving Tallis' side before retreating back inside the Cattleya. She was certain that she would find the contents of the disk most interesting -- things around the island were starting to become as such already.

[Cybaster]

(Anybody left on the Highwind had better gotten the heck outta there.)

-Midrenn-

And at that, as the fire from the Guarlions and Lions finally began overwhelming the Highwind, the Advanced Hazel suddenly shot out of the Highwind's hanger, spun once, and hovered in mid-air, gazing passively at the remaining battle; Within the cockpit, with June Uzuki herself sitting next to the cockpit seat, Midrenn sighed and shook his head. Aelfhere had never planned to commit to the battle at all, and it seemed the worst-case scenario was going to occur --- Aelfhere knew who Lelouch was.

And he would never let the Black Knights leave Aidoneus Island alive.

"Black Knights!" Midrenn exclaimed, opening a channel for all who were left. Behind him, as the Highwind was being put onto autopilot for a final ramming run on Aidoneus, the remaining crew were making their own evacuation. "Do not waste your lives --- there is nothing left for you to die here meaninglessly! Retreat by any means possible and bide your time; One day, we shall return to take our vengeance!"

[Strike Zero]

- Ocean's Claw -
- Mess Hall -

The scene that was the mess hall of the Ocean's Claw was quite unlike anything anyone, even the most experienced members of the crew, had ever seen before. Everybody -- that is, everybody who wasn't required to be on active duty -- had gathered into the moderately-sized space in order to gawk and stare in amazement and wonder at what Eliste had brought back from the bottom of the sea. Such a thing would happen occasionally on deck when a rare piece of salvage of scrap was found, but never before in the mess hall and certainly the object of their fascination had never been a petite, oddly-dressed girl. Yet here they were, regarding ALICE as though she was an alien from outer space. Which, for all they knew, she could in fact very well be; she had certainly done well to give the impression that she wasn't completely normal at any rate.

For the time being, they had ushered her inside where they could sit and hope to make some sort of sense out of all this. So far, they hadn't had much luck. Really, nobody had been quite sure what to say. For the most part, their little interview with their mysterious hitch-rider had consisted mostly of them staring at her while she stared blankly back at them.

"Erm... so..." Jacob said, scratching his head, attempting to muster up his thoughts. Eliste, at his side, sighed. Already she could tell this wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Why don't you tell us who you are again?" Jacob started.

"I am an Artificial Lifeshape Independent Composition Existence, also known as ALICE," the turquoise-haired girl replied quietly and curtly.

"Right, right, we got that part," Jacob said, waving his hand. He scratched his head again. "What I mean is... exactly what are you? Are you, like, an android or something? Because you don't seem entirely... well, human."

ALICE nodded, affirming Jacob's suspicion.

"As you presume, I am not 'human'. I am an autonomous remote spectral-interface pseudo-biological terminal unit designed for the direct interface with a category-XR artificial temporal distortion enhancement rectifier. More specifically, my primary role and function is to overseeing the amplification, polarization and mono-axial direction of a quantum-lateral alter-initial flux ion-matrix composition energy emission reaction so as to ensure that the proper temporal-atomic remote-sector quantum structure vectorization of said reaction is accurately executed via the appropriate meta-transducting synthetically-induced anstentan-category conducting resonance leyline while also possessing sufficient levels of temporal-induced proto-introspectral meizosonic quantities of spectrally-established linear fields of modified applied phlebotnium that will cascade the core dominice sub-ether resonance inter-energy network to achieve a proper level-intensity Meda-Tiesen effect that successfully presents with a--"

"Y-you know what?" Jacob interrupted abruptly. "Forget I asked, okay? Yeesh."

"As you wish."

ALICE suddenly stood from where she sat and took a step forward, causing everybody to instinctively jerk a few inches back.

"I must request that we stop wasting time," she said, a hint of urgency coloring her tone. "You must transport me to Abol hal Quadesh at once."

This proclamation was met with a length of dead silence, one that lasted for several seconds until Jacob spoke up once again.

"Transport you to Abol ha... what now?"

It was here that the ship's captain, Cloris, an aging man with a short, bristling grey beard took the opportunity to speak, having sat back in favor of observing the proceedings up until this point.

"Pardon me, young lady," he said, "but this is not a ferry boat. We can take you to the South American coastline, but I'm afraid you'll have to barter your own passage to wherever it is you need to go."

"Please," she asserted, more earnestly this time. "I urge you to reconsider. The moment of the activation is drawing near. It is of the utmost importance that I be present for the arrival of the temporal resonation carriers -- I must arrive on time."

Nobody in the room knew quite what to make of that.

"Listen here... the Captain's right," Jacob said, getting to his feet. "I'm sure you getting to meet these resonator-whatevers is important an all, but we've got things to do too, you know? Getting back to port and cashing in happens to rank at the top. So, sorry, but no can do little lady."

ALICE simply stared at Jacob, then lowered her gaze to the floor. If he didn't know any better, Jacob would have thought she seemed a little dejected. Even so, he started to feel kind of bad.

"Um, look..." he said, hand moving to the back of his head. "Like the Captain said, we can take you as far as the South American coast. In the mean time... why don't we get you something to eat? Are you hungry?"

ALICE looked up.

"I mean... you do eat, don't you?"

"Affirmative," ALICE replied with a nod. "In order for my bodily systems to function at optimum efficiency, quantities of caloric energy must be ingested regularly at intervals of zero-six-point-five standard Earth hours. It is possible to function at significantly lower energy reserve levels -- however, physical performance and processing capability also suffers drastically as a result, and minimal power operation can only be sustained for a period of approximately seven days before total emergency shutdown must commence to avoid sustaining permanent damage to bodily systems."

"So, basically breakfast lunch and dinner, right?" Slowly, Jacob shook his head. "Man… a robot that runs on food. Never thought I’d ever see such a thing..."

"As previously stated, I am not a 'robot' but rather an autonomous remote spectral-interface pseudo-biological terminal unit designed for--"

"Alright, alright, we got it! Any more techno-babble stuff and my brain'll explode! Eliste," he said, suddenly rounding on the young girl, "why don't you go get our little cyber-lady something to eat?"

"Oh!" Eliste exclaimed. "Sure."

She stood and gestured that ALICE follow her. "This way."

Once the two of them were safely out of earshot in the ship's pantry, Eliste turned and smiled apologetically at ALICE.

"You've really gotta excuse them. They don't get outta the old crate very much, you know?"

ALICE looked back up at Eliste, but said nothing in reply.

"Now let's see..." the blonde-haired girl continued, looking over the multitude of cabinets and refrigerators that surrounded them. "What can we get you…? Oh, I know!

Eliste climbed a step stool up towards the highest cabinet and retrieved from inside it a round pastry sealed in plastic wrap. She returned down and presented it to ALICE. "Here... why don"t you have this to start?"

ALICE accepted the pastry and held it up to her face, turning it around an over in order to examine it. Then she looked back up at Eliste. "What is it?"

"It's a blueberry muffin," Eliste replied, beaming. "My mom bakes them and packs them for us to eat. We're only supposed to break them out for special occasions, but... really, we've never had anything quite as special as this. You arriving here and all."

ALICE looked back down at the muffin, then gingerly began removing the plastic that surrounded it. Once it was completely exposed, she brought it up to her mouth, took a bite and began chewing.

She abruptly froze in mid-chew, and her eyes winded just slightly. Eliste noticed and tilted her head to the left.

"Well? How is it?"

ALICE didn't reply right away, but instead took a few more chews before doing so.

"It is... different."

She swallowed, then looked at the muffin again.

"I've... never had foodstuff such as this before."

Eliste was surprised. "Really? Never? Well, there's definitely more where that came from. I'll get you some other stuff too. It's not quite as tasty, but it's still good!"

She returned to the cabinets and began retrieving various ingrideints with which to make a ham sandwhich. ALICE, meanwhile, continued to gaze with a certain kind of fascination at the bitten pastry she held in her tiny hands.

"Blueberry... muffin..."