#suzaku: i can demonstrate

[alicent-vi-britannia]

5 reasons why Kagino doesn't work (and 3 reasons why Kalulu does)

I was planning to prepare the small analysis of the final scene of the last episode of the first season, but, given the latest events that have occurred on my other Code Geass page, I decided to postpone it and work on a publication that I had planned for the future: explaining why Kagino is the most forced ship in Code Geass, besides Lelouch and CC in the infamous movie Lelouch of the Aberration (you will know it as Lelouch of the Resurrection). Also why Kagino is one of the worst ships in Code Geass. Please note that I use the term ship because this is a fandom pairing. Gino was never a love interest for Kallen and vice versa, according to official material (including the series).

1.It's a forced ship. This ship was invented by the Newtype magazine, which was ProCluClu, after they tried to do the same with Xingke and the ship had no support. What is the need to promote this ship? Kallen was becoming too close to Lelouch for the liking of CluClu fans, so it had to get her rival out of the way, and what better way for her heart to have an owner other than Lelouch? Actually, there could be other ways, but even the CluClu shippers saw the chemistry and sexual tension between Lelouch and Kallen. She was a threat, from their point of view. I have emphasized this because ""coincidentally"" the CluClu shippers are the only ones who pair Kallen with Gino (yes, I'm seeing that they are realizing that they are losing credibility due to their bias, so they are trying to hide what they are pretending they are Shirlulu or Kalulu shippers; they clearly don't understand what they are doing wrong, right?). The other 0.0002% are people who ship them because they believe that CluClu is canon and Kallen is alone and deserves someone to take care of her heart, but, as Miley Cyrus said in her powerful song, Kallen can buy herself flowers, ask herself to dance, telling herself things that only she understands, holding her own hand and loving herself and being happy.

Kallen is a romantic interest of Lelouch. You can see their relationship develop and take on a romantic nature as the episodes go by in R2. There is a narrative construction. Unfortunately, I won't be able to track their relationship here since that requires a separate analysis.

2. The "other reasons" that accompany this ship are superficial. The ship background that I expressed above is the real reason. There are no other compelling reasons to pair Kallen and Gino apart from the fact that they are both handsome, the same age, they exchanged a few words, and they are Knightmares pilots. Still, for CluClu shippers, those reasons are enough to prove that they are "soulmates." It's complete nonsense. You have work colleagues or study partners and your mother or your friends or your teacher or your boss aren't matching you with any of them, right? Furthermore, Suzaku also meets these requirements and no one is pairing him with Kallen (for the record, I find this ship interesting; but I don't think it works in the context of the series either).

My point is that just because two people are contemporary, attractive and (more or less) doing the same job doesn't mean that they are each other's ideal partner or that love will arise between them. Love is a spontaneous and free thing, which brings me to my next point…

3. Gino and Kallen have no romantic attraction for each other or sexual tension. The biggest "evidence" there is in favor of this ship and surely what started this nonsense was a comment Gino makes in episode 9. But, far from demonstrating a romantic interest or sexual attraction for Kallen, it shows that the fandom has problems of reading comprehension. Let's see, read the comment: "Anya: This is the ace of the Black Knights. The pilot of the Guren. Gino: Yes, the one from before. She is much prettier than the wanted poster of her. "That's my kind of woman!" What does this tell us? 1. That Gino recognizes that Kallen is pretty. 2. That the type of women Gino is attracted to are pretty. There is a big difference between "I like women like you" and "I like you." Just because you appreciate a person's beauty doesn't automatically mean that you like him, that is orthodox and childish thinking (this makes me think of men with fragile masculinity who refuse to admit that another man seems handsome to them because they think they would look like homosexuals and they have been made to believe that masculinity and homosexuality don't go together). Even more important is Kallen's reaction, when he makes the comment: she just turns away. She doesn't smile or blush. Zero interest.

This is very different from what happens between Lelouch and Kallen. She does react to Lelouch's comments, no matter how minor they may be. Like this double entender in episode 5. "Kallen: Are you talking like Zero or Lelouch right now? Lelouch: It's not like everyone knows about our relationship, right? Kallen * blushes *: Stop saying weird things like that, okay?"

Just a few days ago I read a phrase on Twitter (or X) that said that the moment preceding the kiss was even more valuable than the kiss itself. That's where you find the so-called sexual tension and Lelouch and Kallen had two moments like that. Three, if you want to tell the dialogue that preceded the kiss in episode 22. I will go into more detail about the kiss and the two almost kisses of Lelouch and Kallen the day I'm going to talk about those things from theory. In fact, I don't want to stop to examine the romantic relationship between Lelouch and Kallen like I said.

Gino and Kallen never flirted or had intimate moments. At most, they only poked each other in the last Picture Drama, but it was a display of friendly rivalry. No other thing. Pretending that that never happened, there is one moment in particular that I want us to review, as I consider it crucial to explain why this ship doesn't work:

4. Gino didn't accept Kallen because of who she is. At some point in episode 17, Gino is looking for Suzaku and went to visit Kallen in her cell believing he was there. Instead of leaving, he shows her the photo album he was originally going to show Suzaku and they start talking about him (did I tell you that it makes more sense that Gino would be more romantically interested in Suzaku than in Kallen? I'll tell you again, so). The conversation changes and Gino starts talking about Kallen.

"Gino: I understand that you are half Britannian and half Japanese, right? If you chose the name Stadtfeld instead of Kouzuki, you could have a good life, right? Even become one of the Knights of the Round if you have such ambitions. Kallen: Is this going anywhere? Gino: What I mean is, wouldn't you like to come back to us, Kallen?" What is wrong here? That Gino doesn't understand nor is interested in understanding why Kallen chose to embrace the cause of the Japanese and the Black Knights. Instead, Gino brazenly advises her to abandon everything and join them since life is much more comfortable fighting on Britannia's side (this is the kind of flippant comment that comes from the mouth of a person who is in a position of privilege, if you ask me).

Gino doesn't realize that Kallen's motivations for fighting are tied to her principles and ideals. Therefore, this is like asking Kallen to give up who she is: an ally of justice, a patriotic woman, and a defender of freedom. This reflects a clear disinterest on Gino's part and this is a problem because you can't love someone without knowing them and accepting them for who they are.

This is in stark contrast to Lelouch. While Gino asks Kallen to turn her back on her beliefs, her values, and the people she cares about (the Japanese and her family), Lelouch prefers to push Kallen away from him rather than force her to give up her principles and her life for him because, for Lelouch, Kallen's well-being and integrity are much more important than being together. This is the true definition of love.

5. Gino and Kallen don't share principles. A couple doesn't have to be two conjoined twins. They may have different tastes, ways of thinking, preferences, interests, hobbies… If they truly love each other, they will learn to adapt to each other because one doesn't really change who they are for another person. But a couple needs to have, at least, the same values, ideals and life plans (I would add, also certain beliefs). Otherwise, it will be difficult for this relationship to prosper.

Gino is a Knight of the Round and has been an active collaborator in the conquest and colonization of independent nations. He clearly agrees with Britannia's expansionist policy. He has no problem with imperialism or colonialism. Kallen, on the other hand, belongs to the largest insurgent group fighting against Britannia and fighting in the name of freedom, justice and equality. She detests colonialism and imperialism due to her own experience, so she disagrees with expansionism. These discrepancies would prevent Gino and Kallen from having anything (that is, they wouldn't even have been friends).

Only Gino showed some empathy with Kallen, when Lelouch killed the Emperor and usurped the throne, claiming that he finally understood what it feels like to have another come to take power illegitimately and arbitrarily. However, a coup d'état is not the same as colonialism and, of course, this doesn't mean that Gino will change his principles. Only he's going to have a just reason to fight (finally). It would have been better if Gino had apologized to Kallen, but that was an act that required a great deal of effort.

Lelouch, for his part, is a rebel at heart like Kallen. He may have lied about many things, but he genuinely believes in the ideals that he has preached as Zero and Kallen welcomed them as her own because they fit her values, which are no different from Lelouch's. It's not a coincidence. There is a small parallel between the dramatic situation of the Japanese and that of Lelouch and Nunnally. They were all dispossessed of what they had, including their identity, and forced to live as strangers in their land. Therefore, Lelouch and Kallen are more compatible. Even if they hadn't met in Shijunku, sooner or later their paths would cross over their hatred of Britannia, their contempt for the empire's Social Darwinist ideology, and their desire to change the world (well, this desire would germinate in Kallen once she met to Lelouch who, in turn, would obtain it as soon as he received the Geass).

The same can be said about Lelouch's other ships, by the way. Shirley wants to be a loving wife and have a happy family, CC wants to die (at the end of the series, she is focused on living every small moment of her life to the fullest just like Jamie Foxx's character in Soul) and Suzaku wants to change.the system from within. I won't enter the swampy terrain of reviewing the ideals and values of these characters. It's not my goal.

In conclusion, Gino and Kallen don't stick with glue or tape. Lelouch is emerging as a more worthy suitor, despite everything. And, therefore, Karen-chan only has eyes for him. Kalulu is better.

PS: of course, a fanfic could correct all of these things. But I don't think it even exists and I'm focusing only on the series, too.

[gutsberserkson]

What I Believe Is The Answer To Solving The Problems Of Code Geass. Spoiler Warning!

Let me first clarify that I'm not talking about personal issues that fans have with Code Geass, like the Black Knights betraying Lelouch. Those are not the problems I'm referring to. I'm referring to the problems of the world in which Code Geass takes place.

What is the answer to how broken characters like Lelouch and Suzaku are? What is the answer to healing a world constantly at war (not helped because of Britannia and its rule of Social Darwinism)? I think the answer is simple, yet so hard to truly understand.

Cheesy and corny as you might think, the answer is this: Love.

By which I mean truly unconditional love. And which characters represent this kind of love so perfectly? Those characters are Shirley Fenette and Euphemia li Britannia. Both of these girls demonstrate how incredibly loving and compassionate they are.

It is Euphemia who encourages Suzaku to keep living, because she loves him (and after her declaration, he is able to come to terms with his feelings for her and realizes he loves her too). It is Euphemia who wishes to bring Lelouch and Nunnally back together in her life with her well-intentioned Special Administrative Zone plan, which would also give Suzaku and Japan their rights back. And she's willing to give up her status as princess to do so, since she wants to be equals with Suzaku. She even manages to convince Lelouch to stand down and go along with her plan, and Lelouch admits that Euphemia is his most formidable enemy. Not Clovis, not Cornelia, not Schneizel, not V.V., not even Emperor Charles zi Britannia and Empress Marianne vi Britannia. No, this honor goes to Euphemia.

As for Shirley, it is she who comes to terms with Lelouch's secret life as Zero. It is Shirley who encourages Suzaku to forgive Lelouch for his misdeeds, just as she has forgiven him for accidentally killing her father and seeing how lonely Lelouch is. She is also lonely, as she's the only student at Ashford Academy who, thanks to Jeremiah Gottwald's Geass Canceler, has an idea of the truth going on, and immediately takes action when she knows something isn't right. The fact that, at that point in time, Nunnally is suddenly the Viceroy of Japan when she knows that simply can't be right allows her to empathize with how lonely Lelouch is in a world full of lies, and why she declares that she wants to be someone he can be honest with. This love she demonstrates shows that, if she had lived, the Zero Requiem would have been unnecessary.

And it is because of Euphemia's death that Suzaku spirals further and further into madness, not helped by the fact that Lelouch is Zero, and the fact that Lelouch is leading a rebellion against Britannia much like how his own father, Genbu, wanted to fight Britannia even when there was no hope of victory. Many of his actions against Lelouch are both to uphold his view that Britannia can be changed from within, like Euphemia was about to do had she not been accidentally subjected to Lelouch's Geass at the exact worst possible moment with the worst possible command. It is also out of spite, as he believes Lelouch is compromising any hope of peace between Japan and Britannia out of spite. Not helped by how Lelouch callously blames the deaths of the SAZ on Euphemia to rally the Black Knights in further rebellion, and by how he lies to Suzaku's face about how "horrible" Euphemia is. This foreshadows how the Zero Requiem will happen at the end, as Lelouch constantly makes himself the worst possible person for people to hate him, because, like Suzaku, he is full of self-hatred, especially after killing Euphemia to stop the massacre he unwittingly started.

As for Shirley, had she lived, there was hope for Lelouch and Suzaku to at the very least manage a bittersweet ending to their lives while keeping world peace, like they do in completing the Zero Requiem. When she dies, Lelouch loses any hope of a happy ending, and his life from Ashford Academy is permanently closed off, and his friendship with Suzaku is further strained. Her death starts a domino effect of pain and suffering for Lelouch and Suzaku, which (literally) explodes with the F.L.E.I.J.A. nuke, directly caused by Suzaku's "Live!" Geass, and indirectly caused by Lelouch placing that Geass on Suzaku in the first place.

When they both think Nunnally is caught in the explosion, only then does their relationship finally start to heal, as they come together to bring down both Emperor Charles and Schneizel to bring about the peace they want for Nunnally and the world. But any hope for Lelouch and Suzaku to have a happy ending for themselves is gone, because the girls who loved them unconditionally, Shirley and Euphemia, are gone. In completing the Zero Requiem, Euphemia's "sins" are taken away by Lelouch as he makes himself the Demon Emperor, and Suzaku runs him through as Zero. Lelouch's punishment is to die as the most hated man in human history, and Suzaku's punishment is to live while desperately craving death. Their acceptance of their fates as penance for their sins, and their sincere desires for mankind to move into the future with happiness, is made possible only by the love that Shirley and Euphemia freely give to them. That love is then passed on to Lelouch and Suzaku, who, in completing the Zero Requiem, share that boundless love for mankind to finally be free from war and move into the future with (hopefully) unending peace.

[nanakibh]

Tokimeki★Final Fantasy Madouin Perystilium Suzaku ~May the Crystal guide me to love★~

※ THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. ※

A fake project presented on the Square-Enix channel broadcast in September 2012, this is the apparent precursor of the popular fictional YA novel series "Tokimeki★Akademeia" which appears in Final Fantasy Agito. (Which began its own development in September of the same year.)

The following is a translation of the slides presenting the characters and details regarding this fake game.

If you’re a Type-0 fan, this is probably the deepest layer of the iceberg. Enjoy.

Introduction

Khalia Chival XXV, the heroine who recently enrolled, is currently the only female cadet at Akademeia. Entrusted with a "certain role", she encounters cadets with unique personalities as she goes about her everyday school life.

What kind of predicaments await in her future?! And what is the tragic destiny she's shouldering?! May the Crystal guide her through her dokidoki school life!

--

The following are plans for the game

--

◆ Khalia's Destiny

The female protagonist's true motive is revenge.

She was once told the story of the tragic death of her ancestor, Khalia Chival VIII.

She bears the sad destiny to eradicate the descendants of Class Zero in order to avenge her family.

◆ A Day's Schedule

- Wake up - Breakfast in the cafeteria - Class - Lunch break - Afternoon mission - Dinner - Bedtime

◆ Days off (Weekend) are allowed to be spent freely

- Wake up - Breakfast in the cafeteria - Free to do whatever you want - Dinner - Bedtime

◆ ATB System

In this game, the protagonist performs various actions which are all advanced via the ATB system.

- Active Time Lesson - Active Time Talk - Active Time Battle - Active Time Lecture

◆ Active Time Lesson

Active Time Lessons begin when class starts. Do your best to not be outdone by other students by making full use of your magic and abilities to solve the teacher's rapid fire questions.

◆ Active Time Talk

You can interact with NPCs during your free time. These conversations are also managed with the Active Time system.

Grasp your conversation partner's mood and favorite subjects to create an enjoyable back-and-forth to deepen your relationship.

◆ Active Time Battle

Active Time Battles are fought with ATB commands. This will be used in training exercises and other battles. With this system, you'll never lose a battle in this game. You can fight together with the boys you meet by adding them to your party. If one of your party members is knocked out, your other acquaintances will appear one after another to fight.

If you run out of boys, you should run away. You'll definitely be safe that way. This is because the rate of escape in this game is 100%.

◆ Active Time Lecture

If you don't follow school rules, you'll be reprimanded by Kurasame-sensei.

Even when you're being scolded, you can have an Active Time conversation.

- If you're discovered while trying to sneak into the boys' dorm at night, you'll be scolded by Kurasame-sensei.

- If you dress inappropriately, you'll be scolded by Kurasame-sensei.

- If you talk to Kurasame-sensei too much at school, you'll be scolded.

--

Character Introductions

--

Khalia Chival XXV Class: Zero CV: Nishi Asuka (西 明日香)

"I'm going to do my best! Because I want to see everyone in Orience smile!"

The main character. A hardworking, somewhat withdrawn girl. She infiltrates Akademeia to fulfill her mission to eliminate the bloodline of her family's sworn enemy, Class Zero. Through her encounters at the academy, she is torn between her destiny and love.

Aoi Futatsuboshi Class: Second CV: N/A

"The Crystal's guidance... That's just a load of nonsense. The Crystal won't protect you..."

A calm and serious honor student. He is a member of Class Second, known for being at the top in terms of combat strength. However, because of this, he has lost many friends and has adopted a cold attitude to hide his sadness. At first, he acts unfriendly towards the heroine, but as they grow closer, his true feelings come out.

Yotsuba Tokijiku Class: Fourth CV: N/A

"You're trying too hard on your missions. Here, I'll cast Cure for you. Let me take a look."

He gives the impression of someone who's blunt and difficult to get along with, but he's actually an extremely considerate young man. Belonging to Class Fourth which specializes in healing magic, he aims to become Agito because he wants to save everyone. He takes care of the heroine any way he can while she's still getting used to Akademeia.

Mowegi Itsukaichi Class: Fifth CV: N/A

"*yaaawn*... Huh~? Hey, have you seen a pink moogle doing a backflip around here~?"

A mysterious boy who always seems to be sleepy. He never remembers who other people are and constantly makes airheaded remarks, so he does poorly in class, but he demonstrates his genius ability in real combat. The heroine, who he met while taking a nap, is one of the few people whose face and name he can remember.

Sakurano Nanafusa Class: Seventh CV: N/A

"What's with the gloomy face? C'mon, get on my Chocobo!"

He greets the heroine, who is new to Akademeia, in a casual and friendly way. Obsessed with Chocobos, he promotes the Chocobo Research Club, also known as the "Choco Club", where he studies Chocobo physiology. He's sensitive about his height, so mentioning it is forbidden.

Note: This seems to be the same "Choco Club" Izana asks Player to join in FF Agito.

Kohaku Kokonoe Class: Ninth CV: N/A

"Were I to describe you... You are my Megalixer. You will shine radiantly in the final battle!"

A handsome young man from an esteemed family, he's expected to have a promising future as an elite...... But he's kind of overly self-conscious and has an unfortunately strange way of thinking. He has his eye on the heroine and is always exuding an absolutely bizarre energy. In actuality, he's a member of Class Ninth, which takes on Akademeia's "dirty work." His lighthearted attitude is a response to the melancholy missions he must carry out.

Mashiro Tootoichi Class: Eleventh CV: KENN

"Watch this! My Flare Bullets will hit their break sights! ...YEOWCH IT’S HOT?!"

The king of inventions who's always getting ahead of himself. As part of the research class, Class Eleventh, he spends his time working day and night to develop new weapons, though his skill isn't quite up to par yet. He even carelessly loses control of his magic and gets the heroine involved in his mess?!

Asagi Hitotose Class: Twelfth CV: Hiroki Yasumoto (安元 洋貴)

"I would appreciate it if you would refrain from talking in the Crystarium. If you are truly a cadet like me, then behave in a manner befitting of Agito."

Although he's a straight-laced person who receives excellent grades, his uncooperative personality is his downfall, earning him a place in "the oddball group", Class Twelfth. His thorny words make it easy for him to be misunderstood, but he isn't trying to be malicious. He's simply awkward. As a result, he's concerned about having no friends. He gets along with the heroine on a mission, but he just can't express himself...

---

What's in a name?

The names of these cadets seem to be referring to their class number and mantle colors.

Aoi: Blue Futatsuboshi: From "futatsu", two

Yotsuba: Four-leaf Tokijiku: (Not sure. May literally mean “time axis.”)

Moegi: Light yellowish green Itsukaichi: From "itsu", five

Sakurano: From "sakura", pink cherry blossoms Nanafusa: From "nana", seven

Kohaku: Amber Kokonoe: Ninefold

Mashiro: Pure white Tootoichi: Literally "Ten and one"

Asagi: Pale blue-green Hitotose: Literally “one year” or “some time ago"

--

To wrap it up...

--

◆ Girls-Only Gathering Transmissions

With "Girls-Only Gathering Transmissions" female players can improve their girl skills! When you have a girls-only gathering, your girl power will greatly increase instead of being depleted.

When girl power goes up... 1. If you receive a gift item from a male character who likes you, the real item will be delivered to you.

When girl power goes up even more... 2. You can purchase items from Amazon with the gil you've obtained in-game.

◆ Product Information

Compatible Hardware: Smart phones Development Engine: Luminous Studio Release Date: TBD Estimated Price: TBD

※ THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION.

Active Talk Preview Image

Event/Cutscene Preview Image

That's all! Thank you very much!

Production Department 1 Tabata Team

[kishimotomasashi]

If you actually do feel like ranting about Suzaku, I have to admit I'm curious. I've never talked to someone who had, like, burning hatred for him, so tell me about your bitterness~

Normally I would answer "this is a Naruto blog" but you know WHAT I've been dying to complain at length about him again for some time, so thank you for giving me the opportunity!

Putting this under a cut for the people who don't care so your dashes are scrollable ❤

So. Fucking Suzaku Kururugi.

For anyone who's just curious to watch me rant about something they didn't watch, Suzaku is the deuteragonist of Code Geass, rival and foil to its main character Lelouch, and a pain in my ass. He really was the main contributor to why my viewer experience of the anime was negatively impacted by being constantly annoyed whenever he opened his mouth.

So Code Geass's setting is like, the world is separated in 3 great Empires, Britannia being the most powerful (territories being all of North and South America + Japan which it has colonized), Europia (Europe + Africa) and the Chinese Federation (Asia). Australia remains mysteriously untouched but that's not important.

What is IMPORTANT is that Britannia, the most powerful empire, has conquered and colonized Japan due to its superior technology, and now Britannian colonizers have settled on the island and rebranded it to "Area 11" while the Japanese people are treated like 2nd class citizens, live in ghettos separate from the rich cities the Britannians live in, are subject to violent racism, etc etc. Oppression and colonialism.

Suzaku is Japanese (called an "Eleven" now bc of the rebranding), and he has the status of an "Honorary Britannian", which basically means a colonized person who has proved themselves worthy enough in some way to be able to join the ranks of the colonizers. So with that title, Suzaku is in the military.

With that out of the way, I air out my actual grievances, and they are that Suzaku is thee textbook definition of a bootlicker and a fucking hypocrite. And he is this way in the first few episodes in which we get to know him 😭.

His whole schtick is that he wants to "change the system from the inside" by following the law to the letter and hoping he can set an example by "being one of the good ones" and eventually people will see him and gradually come to accept others like him. Which is like, flawed enough of a plan on its own, but get this...

When he says this, it is only a day after he is literally in a military assignment that had orders to gun down a ghetto full of Japanese people. You know, his people. Whether or not he did any of the actual shooting does not matter because he is complicit in it by being in the fucking military whose job it is to enforce Britannia's colonial rule. He can stand by and watch the ethnic cleansing of his own people happen and then later claim that this is eventually all going to turn out fine and I was already ripping my hair out, lmao.

And like... he frequently demonstrates more compassion towards Britannians in positions of power who are directly responsible for his people's suffering than for his actual people??? He fiercely protects Princess Cornelia, a royal, one who ordered ANOTHER gunning down of another ghetto (also a mission he was participating in???) and who is literally like "racism is our national policy". Like what. WHAT.

And when Lelouch is trying to lead the revolution (poorly, but that's another discussion) to free the Japanese people from Britannian rule and give them back their independence, Suzaku is aaaalways talking about him doing it the "wrong way", that trying to change the system from within and following the law is the "right way", and while he rightfully criticizes Lelouch's methods for unnecessary casualties, he's never giving the same energy to the fucking military he is participating in deciding that Japanese civilians are just fine to murder whenever they please!!

In season one there's like. a brief moment where he miiiight be starting to get self-awareness but then it doesn't last long and he's back on his bullshit again.

The cherry on top for me was at the end of R1, when Lelouch accidentally uses the Geass to make Euphemia commit mini genocide, where Suzaku was significantly more concerned over Euphemia acting out of character and then getting killed than actually limiting the amount of Japanese casualties or... caring about the people dying altogether. I'm not saying he didn't care, but that CLEARLY wasn't on his priorities list, lmfao. Actually, the little actual focus on the colonized people as opposed to the colonizers in this show was a big problem in it as a whole.

Anyways if in R1 I was trying to give him a chance, trying to excuse him saying "well he's gone through his own trauma, I'm sure he'd rather avoid as much conflict with Britannia as possible", in R2, I was just fucking sick of him, because he got incredibly dislikeable.

From him selling out Lelouch to his asshole dictator of a father, to indirectly admitting in one scene that he would open fire on another mass of Japanese civilians if Lelouch wouldn't follow the law, to seeing him actually participate in colonizing other countries ALL THE WHILE he continues to preach about "peace and nonviolence"... it was too much!!! I could not take it anymore!! And he only became tolerable again by the end of the show when he is working as Lelouch's knight.

So... yeah! That is why I cannot stand him and would honestly throw rocks at him. No space I am in will ever be a Suzaku positive space.

[kurama-is-love]

hi hello hello always here to talk more kurama analysis... anyway, i think that saying he is "merciless" is entirely misinterpreting or missing the point of kurama's character arc. yes, before he was human he had cruel and merciless instincts (before the timeframe of the show). his entire thing is that because he has become human and had wonderful friends and a loving mother, he is now more compassionate and caring. he is always trying to balance out his true nature, or who he really is. (1/?)

i think that the example of ura urashima very specifically points out that he is a changed person and thought that ura urashima's intentions to reform himself were pure and he was moved in that he saw his past self in that. kurama has been so moved by unconditional love of humans that he has become a kinder and more caring person. i think that it is foolish to think this means he is like this toward everyone, though. he cares for the select people in his life and would do anything for them (2/?) 

specifically at the beginning of the show, his very first introduction, kurama is willing to allow hiei and gouki to cause trouble. he was fully okay with allowing gouki and hiei to steal the other artifacts and was only thinking of saving for his mother, willing to die for her and not worry about the repercussions of letting those two get away. of course he is able to help stop hiei later, but his original plan was to die and let hiei and gouki do whatever, as long as he could save shiori (3/?)

The entire evolution of his character goes from this point. a character willing to die for the only person who he ever felt an attachment to, his human mother, and has no concern for anyone else, but as he gains more friends, they become just as important to him, and he is able to accept that he can move on from his past to become the new person he is. the person between demon and human, the real kurama. i think that interpreting his character as being "merciless" is missing this point entirely.

sorry this went on for so many asks, i just always have a lot to say about kurama. i think his actions people were calling "merciless" were meant to demonstrate the internal struggle he has between embracing his human side and reconciling his past. he has lived for so long and was known as a cruel cold-hearted thief, but now, in this "weaker" human form, he is trying to balance his power with his desire to be a better person. i feel like you said a lot of this too but i get carried away. (END)

Hello there, it’s completely fine. I am always up to read some other analysis how other people (who actually knew the anime and knew the circumstances) view Kurama and I am really glad, that I am not the only person who thought that stating Kurama is merciless is missing the point.

I completely agree with you, Kurama was different before he met Yusuke. You can totally see it in his facial expressions. If we look at his initial appearance:

He looks totally depressed, gloomy. Like .. he doesn’t care for anything besides his mother, which was true. He was willing to give up his life to save her.

But, you can clearly see a change in him during his first mission with Yusuke and the others, how much more sincere and “good” mooded (is tht even a word? Haha, sorry. English is not my first language.), hell he even started to smile often.

A completely different person, right?

Kurama had many conflicts within him, because his demon instincts collided with his human life and I think Ura Urashima turned him “back” to his old Youko days instead of just transforming him. Because let’s recall what he said what his attack did: It turned Kurama 50 years back in time, which meant that he released his old self, how he was before he fused with Shuuichis body. But even as “Youko Kurama, the ‘cruel’ legendary thief, he was not completely merciless.

Remember that he warned Juri when he summoned his big man-eater plant? He told her: “If you want to live, don’t move.”, because the plant attacked and devoured anything that moved. He hadn’t warned her, if he didn’t cared about others right?

And he had a group back then, a group of thiefs, I think he held them dearly as his “family”, because after so many died, he prefered to work alone instead of letting anymore involve with him.

He was never completely merciless. He had the right amount of pride and honor, aknowleding a worthy opponent.

And as I stated earlier, it was totally common in Shonen anime, that the good guys killed off the bad guys.

Just look at Dragonball Z, how many antagonists died? Look at Bleach, even Sailor Moon killed off any enemy they faced (except for a view exceptions like Queen Galaxia. But basically every underling of them died).

To say Kurama would be merciless because some of his enemies died, is like saying that Yusuke and Kuwabara are merciless too, because they killed off some opponents aswell. Whats with Suzaku, Akuma and his Hades guys in the Poltergeist Movie, Sensui, Younger Toguro, Yusuke killed more enemies as Kurama did and does that mean that Yusuke is merciless? No. Because you can’t tell how a really strong fight to save the Spirit World, Human World or even Demon World can go and if you have to kill your opponent, to save millions of other lifeforms, it’s not ruthless, it’s heroic.

Kuramas personality is not easy to describe, but he is absolutely no bad guy. And he never was. He had a heart even when he was Youko. At least for those he was close. He never killed because of fun or something, because that is the true meaning of being ruthless and merciless.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 69 (Nice) Rundown

Code Geass: So this episode is kind of a ride, like fuck. We kinda yadda yadda how Lelouch fucking escaped from Nunally’s sinking airship and just have Rolo sitting over him in bed kind of conflicted that he’s still stuck on his old little sister, so therefore he programs the tvs in Lelouch’s train to blast Nunally’s appointment but it’s funny because he probably didn’t even have to do that because directly after that Lelouch runs into the station and Nunally shit is just everywhere, like I get it’s a metaphor but it’s just funny that Rolo had to plan for him to run into something Nunally-related only for him to run out of the plan and run into ten times more Nunally shit. Then we get Kaguya claiming herself, Kallen and CC as Zero’s harem directly followed by a depressed Lelouch hypnotizing a bunch of street punks to exercise, about to do drugs and asking to fuck Kallen, like this episode is fucking ridiculous and parts are hilariously contrived, thankfully Kallen slaps the shit out of him and Rolo’s like “yo bro we don’t need that bitch, come on and live it up in this ridiculously racist system and the one place where it’s slightly less racist with me” and then they go back to school and have the “Happiness is Like Glass” scene which is genuinely amazing and moving, like for all the weird zany stuff that happens in the first part of this episode, this is a little oasis of pure sincerity and quality where Lelouch makes a promise he knows he won’t be able to keep. Inspired by this amazing moment, Lelouch returns to the Black Knights with the thought of “Maybe there are other reasons to destroy an oppressive dictatorship aside from my one ridiculously crippled sister” which he probably should’ve thought of before. And then he defeats Suzaku’s navy with the power of FUCKING BUBBLES, like yeah, this episode is right back to being crazy ridiculous but Lelouch is back and wants in on Nunally’s special zones… okay, phrasing.

Inuyasha: So we open with a scene of Kagome playing cards with Miroku which is genuinely adorable if pointless, but it just makes me laugh that Miroku and Sango seem to know all the rules of the game but are still stumped when Kagome tells them they’re Playing Cards, probably a culture thing. Anyway, Inuyasha has to kill a Barrier Demon to get the power to break barriers, which is a bit of a conundrum because Barrier Demons have, you know, barriers, which Inuyasha currently cannot break. Worse still said demon is a little girl and a half-demon like Inuyasha which understandably puts him in quite a quandary. Inuyasha does his usual thing of “Let’s just go in swinging and figure out the rest later but Shiori’s grandfather deflects the admittedly cool-looking Water Wind Scar Inuyasha throws at them with Shiori’s barrier. Shiori’s mom is all “Gimme back my daughter you said you’d stop attacking us if I let you have her” and he’s all like “Well make me, I have a fucking barrier and can hold you hostage” so everyone’s generally pissed off about the situation and Shiori’s granddad with the long name sends all the bat demons to go destroy the village which makes no fucking sense because the only reason she’s still cooperating is so they won’t hurt her mom, without her she has no reason to keep doing it but I guess he’s hoping having nothing to live for will make her do what he says out of nihilism or some shit.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke gets to face off against Suzaku, the final boss of the Saint Beasts and the gang get to demonstrate the teamwork lessons from this arc by doing a reenactment of the jumping Bahamut scene from Advent Children so Yusuke can get up the tower to fight him. It’s really pretty cool how they splice in Keiko’s Day of the Dead montage with Yusuke fighting Suzaku, tying things together thematically and culiminating in Yusuke and Keiko both fucking decking their opponents. I also really like how Yusuke’s so confident Keiko won’t go down to a zombie hoard so easily, like she’s not a fighter but she’s smart and has got guts so he’s pretty sure she can last a while while he pretends to punch Suzaku with his shoes. Overall a really good start to the fight that means Yusuke still has to wiggle his way out after using his Spirit Gun already and Suzaku still has a lot of shit to pull.

Fate Zero: So Saber and Lancer do their fight and there’s a bunch of fightnobabble talk that someone who’s actually held a weapon in their life would probably enjoy but to me is just “Oooh cool jabbies, flashing lights” which is still fun. Basically everyone’s watching though, Kirei has his ninja squad on the job, Kiritsugu’s Black Ops is monitoring things and Iskander is watching from the Radical Highway Bridge from Sonic Adventure 2. Eventually Iskander is like “Well damn they might kill each other if this keeps up” and Waver’s like “yeah duh.” And Iskander shows who wears the booty shorts in this relationship by storming into the fight against Waver’s wishes cause he wants to fight everyone anyway. So yeah, giant lightning chariot in the middle of this First Boss battle.

Konosuba: Now that the party’s all formed the group settle into a daily routine of Kazuma being Megumin’s wheels for her Explosion training, Aqua being a waitress and Darkness doing… probably better not to think about what Darkness is doing. Anyway, Megumin bombs the shit out of a Dullahan’s castle and before the Dullahan can call his friend Celty to come kick her ass, Darkness gets hit with a death spell and he issues a challenge to Megumin to come to the tower of the Four Saint Beasts and (wait wrong anime again) but Aqua just breaks the curse on her own and they just don’t bother showing up. In the manga this is really funny because Aqua’s in a maid outfit from her waitress job and just does it like it’s nothing and then they show a panel later of the Dullahan waiting for them like “The fuck when are they getting here…”.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So for some reason even though we only have three of the five Sailor Guardians, Luna decides this is the time to give a recap and reintroduce our protagonists for the first part of this episode. Anyway there’s a big party to celebrate a dated princess Di reference that’s kind of in poor taste at this point and Usagi and friends get in based solely on having fancy dresses and being hot, man I had no idea getting in with rich people was that easy. Anyway, Usagi gets a new tiara because of love and shit and gets an upgraded Ancient Egyptian Laser Beam from the moon. The Four Kings show up to be all “Ha-ha! You defeated my demon but now there’s all four of us and even though we still think you have the crystal and outnumber you and there will never be a moment when you’re weaker than this we will now… LEAVE FOR NO REASON!” like the logic of people in this show oh my fucking god. But of course the dated princess reference’s treasure isn’t the crystal they’re looking for and Tuxedo Mask kisses Sailor Moon while she’s asleep which is definitely sexual assault there was no fucking consent there, I don’t care if they’re moon soul mates or whatever she barely knows who he is and wasn’t conscious. But yeah Luna calls him out on his shit and despite clearly being an ally he has to be all edgy and be like “Well maybe I’m a friend, maybe I’ an enemy, who knows~” because I think he gets his power from how mysterious he is, like he’s going to be utterly useless if anyone figures out who he is, not to mention Luna already knows his identity but for some reason doesn’t tell Usagi. Idk man I just have a hard time following the logic of this fucking show…

Durarara!!: So yeah, this is the “The Yagiri Family is fucked” episode Namie has a weird fucked up brocon yandere thing going on, Seiji’s an asshole that because of having two stalker yanderes going after him has become a fractured manchild that thinks love is everything and pretends he knows shit but knows less shit than pretty much everyone around him and has his sister do all the shit for him. But yeah, Celty sees Seiji with the girl with her head and freaks out, and Shinra A DOCTOR if you remember says “Hey maybe your head just attached itself to a corpse Parasyte style” like either he’s a terrible doctor and really thinks that or this is a smokescreen to make Celty think her head has moved on and she should too which is a fucked up level of gaslighting. But yeah, Mikado takes Head Girl, Seiji keeps stabbing people with pens for some reason, luckily it’s mostly Shizuo so it doesn’t do anything, and Izaya’s just like “oh shit, chaos, I’m down”. Basically everyone is awful in this episode except for Mikado who just wants to help and doesn’t know shit, Celty who’s doing her best, and Shizuo who’s just awesome as usual.

[akimmito]

Heroes are made by the path they choose

Previous | AO3 | Next 

________________________________________

Chapter 4

Chloe Bourgeois is not having a good day, the National Assembly has spent the whole morning discussing the mayor's ridiculous decisions regarding the orders given to the MT and, indirectly, to the heroes regarding the danger of the new villain.

She's the youngest member of the 577 deputies that make up The National Assembly of the French Parliament, having the minimum age to enter the elections and having demonstrated her worth, far from the stigma of her father as mayor, she won a position. And she has been doing everything possible for the good of France (especially Paris, with the miraculous butterfly still loose).

The arrival of the first Akuma in seven years shocked the entire country. She knows the senate must be chaos too and not to say the presidency, she can only imagine the Elisha Palace on fire with everyone screaming as they run in all directions… Or, a similar scene, many adults almost yelling in panic while pretending not to panic. It's good that the meeting is held in private.

Which brings it back to the real reason for the whole discussion, since the events with Hawkmoth, the French Government has been more involved in what happens (which should have been from the beginning being because is the capital of the country) and they have been active in trying to laws allow arrest for embezzling the use of a prodigy (leading to a long list of crimes). And when she joined, she did her magic and started talking about a way to prevent someone from using the prodigies to misuse, making the MT an organization recognized by the Government for the protection of Paris (therefore, the heroes also have that faculty to be treated as part of a whole) and of France as a whole; they have access to the government, the MT is above the police in power to enforce the law, but always maintaining its independent character (not that someone should know it and she has said nothing, all to prevent Marinette from giving an attack for that).

The entire process involved each State Institution and lasted four months; it was stressful, but two months later, everything is going smoothly and the news no longer mentions prodigies, evidence of jewel magic and any non-butterfly mentions have been removed. Additionally, anyone posting information about the prodigies will face legal charges accordingly.

The only requirement for this was to provide a list of the official members (they didn't ask for identities knowing that it's dangerous), both teams gave their members and it was recently updated with the inclusion of Thuban.

Everyone is aware of the mayor's request and she's smirking, that inept is worse than her father. Ask the MT not to investigate a dangerous criminal who in just one day of his appearance caused at least a hundred deaths with her first Akuma? That the cure of Rakkīgāru (official name since last night, after making it clear that Ladybug is not a cloak with an immovable name) brings everything to its former state does not exonerate the murder.

France designed a maximum underground security prison protected with safeguards similar to those of the MT headquarters, where the most violent criminals are sent (so that they don't become weapons of the new criminal). Unfortunately the safeguards can't be put in all of Paris or they would start to cancel each other, so they use them for the important thing. Suzaku, who is Marinette's vigilant identity, is in charge of all the processes.

But going back to the important thing, she hopes that a new law will be created or the status of the MT within France will be made public.

She, of course, understands Felix and Marinette's plan. Agreeing not to investigate is another way to investigate while relaxing from active work because they went so far to say that the patrols are canceled for the entire week and if they ask, it was the mayor. And it was the two days of silence that led the vice president of the country that morning to send a message to the MT (something funny, if they ask her, just two days and they worry) and, therefore, to find out that the mayor asked them without giving an explanation (said by Corvus, Felix was very specific with his concerns about it and that they didn't want to cause problems with the government). That generated all the meetings she knows are happening.

At lunchtime, she escapes to the MT in search of Marinette or Felix, to tell her about government disaster they caused, to discover that the demonic blonde is in Romania supervising the recording of a movie and that Marinette went to her country house. Oh well, she can tell they after the chaos comes to an end. The only thing she finds is Kagami being hugged by Luka to appease her anger, a gracefully adorable image in her eyes.

____________

Alizee @AlizeeShin_

In my opinion, the government has reacted well to the return of the butterfly. I lived in Paris nine years ago and the government then did nothing. Good for us!

Elliot Renault @Elliot_Renault

The MT has been silent since the Akuma appeared, they have not been seen on the streets or on the roofs. The Government is treating the matter as the problem that it is, since today the institutions were in full swing and surely we will soon have news about it.

Chloe B. @QueenBourgeois

I need urgent vacations, a break from all this madness would be good. I 'm sure that all of Paris has the same desire.

Michel J. Laforet @LaforetLeGrand_

Such a scandal about a man, perhaps the heroes are not so heroic. They only accumulate failures.

Chloe B. @QueenBourgeois

@LaforetLeGrand Soon, all of Paris will know that it was your father, the ridicule that she asked the MT not to investigate, today at 8:00 pm on the National Chain;) ___________________

As the French Parliament catches fire figuratively and almost literally, Marinette is engaged in her little investigative work on the Mayor of Paris and his son, especially his creepy son, still remembering that he had to deter Damian, five months ago, from assaulting his home and murdering him (using methods intended to cause the greatest physical pain as he dies) for harassing her during a party (which they went to just because Chloe took them). Damian was ready to pounce on Michel with the first sharp thing in hand when he saw him put a hand on her butt; in the end, it was Felix who sent him flying politely with an explicit threat in his words.

"Mother, you are still working..." Damian is not happy, especially when he sees the face of the man who dared to lay hands on his mother without his consent (man who should be dead). He doesn't understand why she investigates them.

"I'm just curious, Pierre Laforet doesn't seem like the type who would want to sabotage our work."

"Yeah, Michel Laforet doesn't seem like a sexual depraved either, and I'm sure he's capable of raping a poor defenseless lady." There is poison in his words, he still wants to see him writhe in agony as life slowly leaves him. No man has the right to approach his mother with such impure thoughts.

"Could be..." She replies distractedly, reading on the surface, if she want to go deeper into them, she must do it from the MT.

"Mother, let's play with the dogs. They are happy to see you, too. ”Damian tightens her shirt sleeve to get her attention, not that he enjoys acting like the ten-year-old he is, but his mother needs a break from everything that stresses her out.

"Uh, fine." She closes the laptop and agrees to go out and play with the dogs, which are huge and knock her down as soon as she goes out into the yard, as a bonus, they also do it with Damian and the two ofthem are being overwhelmed with doggy love for four adult dogs, two puppies and a black cat (which is like a miniature dog for being raised by the two German Shepherds), Dafne only watches from the bottom in disgust.

Hugo watches everything from the kitchen window, listening slightly to Marinette's laughter and Damian's humorous complaints. The employees whisper beside her about how excitable canines are with their owners.

Those little happy moments are necessary to face the difficulties that arise and enjoy them to the best of your ability.

__________

Violet @SilkenLavanda

There was an explosion in or near the Louvre... I can see the fire from here. I doubt it's an Akuma...

Paris News @ParisNewsTWT

An explosion is reported around the Louvre Museum, people are invited to keep their distance. Authorities confirm that the cause was a bomb, two fatalities and eleven wounded. More information in the 6 o'clock newsletter.

Max K. @ MaxKan_Tech

What was missing…

[softfuzzyships]

💫💫 with lio and lelouch!!!

@kittyandco OH BOY THANK U LETS GO

so for people who havent seen promare, I know my blog is a walking spoiler but I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum.

lio is the leader of mad burnish, which is a super dope biker gang that sets things on fire and have cool armor designs. and he is king and the coolest guy I've ever seen. he's a burnish, which are the people who basically control fire that can become almost anything (i.e. a bike). it's made pretty clear that the burnish are the oppressed group, despite what they might say in universe, and lio is the spearhead to fight racism. that's uh. the gist of it.

lio is set up to be the serious character, and he is, but I think he's also just. compassionate. the fact that he refuses to kill is really emphasized, which is apparently a very different viewpoint from mad burnish before lio was there? but he's merciful. all he really wants is to keep the burnish safe because he knows they're all on their own, they have to stick together to survive. and he orchestrates the whole jailbreak and runaway situation. he knows risks and he does it anyway cause he cares. he knows they won't have help from the outside so he carries around this burden. so even if he comes off a little cold or unapproachable, he really, really cares about others. even more than himself.

he doesn't get as much screentime or development as galo does but I think theres a lot more you can glean from him than just what's on the surface. he's really smart, strong, he knows how to lead and command, but he also feels really deeply. and that is demonstrated very clearly, but I think he also feels a lot of compassion for others even if he doesn't exactly show it. also he went grocery shopping and brought back mac n cheese for me

uhhhh oh boy lelouch. I'll try and keep this brief cause there's too much for me to get into. I know I'm mean to him and I make fun of him to no end, but I do find him to be a great character

the cg universe is also wack. imagine the world if america took over 80% of it. that's what it's like. which also means everyone is racist. also the monarchy is still in place instead of you know. democracy. so you can imagine the nightmare this is

and lelouch is part of the royal family, but basically he hates his dad and told him that to his face, then his dad disowned him and banished him and his sister to japan. and then suzaku beat him up on sight (keep in mind they're both like 10 at this point)

lelouch has his personal vendetta against america britannia but overtime it grows into way more than his personal stuff. and at a certain point it stops being about him, his sister, his father, and it starts being about....everything else. and lelouch is self centered, he just is, and he just. takes. he isn't afraid to take and destroy because he knows what he wants, and he can't afford to give up or stop. it weighs on him and it's clear when you see him not being zero, which is almost never, but he knows what he's doing. he's knows it's wrong but again, he can't exactly stop now that the train is going.

underlying everything is still this very basic "I want to make the world that I needed" goal. and honestly, for as selfish and backwards as he can be, he can also be very much the opposite. he isn't heartless even if he wants to be, at the end of the day he does care about other people. while this begins as a personal grudge, it ultimately becomes something in service of the world, in a weird way? because he knows it isn't just for him personally anymore. he knows that everything is bigger than him and he's also just a piece to play. and when he gives that up, I feel like that's one of the times you see him being honest. he knows he won't have anything to gain and he's okay with that, because the world spins with or without him. and I think thats....very unselfish of him.

[relationshipcrimes]

not to get into Fandom Discourse™ but imo the whole reaction to Re;surrection goes to show the most common mistake that fans make all over the place, whether or not they’re a lelouch cultist dudebro or even a more feminist, liberal fan, is the mistake of thinking that lelouch was right, when the original show goes to great lengths to demonstrate that lelouch was not right, he was just necessary. 

i see it in reddit posts that defend lelouch’s actions (especially in comparison to light yagami); i see it in fanfics that try and keep lelouch alive; i see it in Re;surrection, too. the same mistake of rosy retrospection about lelouch’s actions when he was alive, just because he went out with such an incredible bang.

yes, he got the results he was looking for; he overthrew a world empire and remade the social order of almost every country. but he killed millions of people in order to do it. there is no way that we can call his methods “correct,” and lelouch himself would not call those methods correct. they were necessary to get what lelouch wanted, but they’re not right, and lelouch wasn’t pretending that they were.

people who try and defend the fact that his results means that he was right are almost always going to have to nerf someone else’s characterization in order to reify him, because so many of the characters in the show are set up to push lelouch and expose his flaws and shortcomings. suzaku’s entire thing is railing against lelouch’s methods. cc keeps lelouch’s ego and superiority complex in check. kallen pushes him for empathy--genuine empathy, not the surface level charm he gives out so freely and often.

in a lot of ways, any subscription to “lelouch is redeemable” is going to uproot basically every other character in the story, because the vast majority of those characters do not think lelouch is right or redeemable.

and besides, any movie that tries to keep him alive, absolve him of his sins, and support his decisions was always going to be a huge departure from the original series, which was hugely dedicated to critiquing every character anyway.

[kingfubuki92]

Code Geass: Going Forward

So the Re;surrection movie has come and gone, and with it an Alternate Continuity has officially begun. With the confirmation that there will be more Code Geass works in the foreseeable future, this means there likely will be plot points from Re;surrection further address. However, with the knowledge that with this movie, Lelouch’s tale, and by proxy C.C.’s tale, is over for now, where do we go from here? Well, lets discuss where. SPOILERS for Re;surrection btw.

* A new contract: Lelouch has effectively become immortal like C.C. after being revived, and with it, as well as his way of declaring his love for her, he’s taken on a new name: L.L. And come the end of the movie, we see C.C. and L.L. offering a contract to a girl in a pile of corpses. It’s possible this girl, or another character introduced later, will become a contractor for L.L. and C.C., and they will be the new main character, following their journey as they use their Geass.

* A War of Geass: Yeah, so after Shalio died, Shamna ended up losing it and pretty much destroyed herself in C’s World, creating numerous “Geass Fragments” that descend from the sky. Said Fragments will probably hit random people and give them powerful, unstable Geass’, and it will be C.C. and L.L.’s job to track them down. The story will possibly follow one such user, or will follow the other characters like Suzaku or Kallen as they are forced once again to be involved with Geass. The “War” I mention would likely be Geass users clashing against one another or causing mayhem with their powers. While Geass’ are all Psionic Powers, they can be pretty deadly. Lelouch’s is an example on its own, but you also have Rolo’s Absolute Suspension, Marrybell’s puppeteer, Bismarck’s Future Sight, Mao’s Mind Reading, and Shin’s Peace in Death, and you see that a single Geass can be trouble.

* The Skull: Yeah, the Skull that gave Shin Hyuga Shang a Geass still hasn’t been explained, nor has the manifestation of the Collective Unconsciousness’ statement to Leila that “Humans weren’t meant to have Geass”, so its possible that will be followed up.

* Other Code Bearers: If it wasn’t obvious enough, there are still numerous Code Bearers out there, and its kinda unclear where the Codes originated from. V.V. got his from a random bearer, C.C. got here’s from the Nun, and Shamna had one herself. Lelouch technically has a Code himself as well after being revived. But there is a lot about Codes, and Geass in general, that is unknown. V.V., the Nun, and Shamna had to get their Codes from somewhere, so maybe the origins of the Codes will be explored.

* The Zero Requiem Fails: Yeah, something else made clear is that, while the intentions were noble, the Zero Requiem still created a lot of issues, namely with War Mongering countries like Zilkhstan that profitted from War. And while Suzaku taking up the mantle of Zero was his means of Atonement and a good idea on paper, he still lacks the tactical knowledge the original Zero had, and as the movie demonstrated, could easily be captured and have his identity exposed. And since Peace is an overall fragile mistress, it only takes a single spark to light the powder keg that is the world. So something will happen that causes the Zero Requiem to fail.

Whatever is to come from this, lets look forward to the future and hope that Code Geass can continue to give us a future worth looking forward too.

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 13: Return to the Balmera

After several more hours of traveling, the Balmera was at last in sight. Other than Shirley, the other Paladins took a moment to take in the view of the planet. A planet that they were told wasn't a planet at all, but a giant petrified animal, that made itself a home for other creatures as well.

"We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon," Allura announced, "Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy."

"So, what's the plan? We go in there and just—Pow, pow, pow!" Rivalz said as he imitated shooting noises with his hands in gun form, "—And free the prisoners?"

"What was that noise?" Kallen asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Laser guns!" Rivals smirked back.

"No, Rivalz, I think you mean—" Milly made sounds that sounded like a giant cannon, even making hand motions to demonstrate it locking into place, "—Pow!"

"No offense, Milly, but sounded like fireworks to me," Rivalz argued.

"Technically, they're more like—ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!" Rai said, making his own handgun and 'shooting' with it.

"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects!" Lelouch chastised with a frown.

"Yeah… besides, it's more like— blam, blam, blam!" Suzaku said, crouching down as if he were holding a sniper rifle and targeting his foe.

"Suzaku…" Lelouch groaned as the other Paladins protested in agreement that that was not what a gun sounded like.

"Paladins, focus," Allura said with a sigh.

"Besides," C.C. spoke up, "you might want to rethink that strategy. It'd be foolish to start shooting at the Galra once we enter."

"C.C.'s right," Shirley agreed, as a picture of the Balmera's heat signature appeared before them, "this Balmera thing, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good."

"Yes," Coran agreed as the screen showed the brighter colors slowly giving way to darker, colder ones, "it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its Crystals," another screen of the Balmera's current surface appeared next to it, "its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it." Another image showed two figures, Alteans they assumed, with hands outstretched and surrounded by a circle, and arrows being directed towards a large Crystal in between them.

"After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is," Shirley said with a frown. "And we're the only ones who can stop him."

"C.C. and Shirley are right, going in guns blazing is the last thing we want to do," The Black Paladin said. "Not only will it alert the enemy of our arrival sooner, but it would simply hurt the Balmera as well. What we need to do is try and draw as many troops as we can up to the surface where we can fight them in the open air."

"Wait, I know!" Rivalz exclaimed, "If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, and Voltron saves the day!"

"Okay, but will we know how many are left in the tunnels?" Kallen asked.

"We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology," Allura said. She pulled up a hologram of a small device that looked like a miniature version of the Castleship.

"Oh, B.L.I.P. Tech!" Rai said, leaning in closer. At Allura's confused stare Rai awkwardly looked at the Princess and clarified, "...It's an acronym."

"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side," Allura continued as the device flew further in front of her. The screen then spread out to show a map of intricate tunnels and vein systems that it picked up, "Then we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits."

"I can do it," Rai volunteered immediately, "I just modified Zerith with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed. Plus, I'll have Rover with me as well to help out," he smirked at the robot helper that beeped excitedly.

"Zerith?" Shirley asked, confused.

"My Lion," Rai said with a smile.

"Oh! That's pretty!" Shirley commented.

"Thanks!"

"Okay, first you know how to reprogram Galra tech, now you can make your Lion invisible? Are you sure you're not an alien, Rai?" Milly asked with a teasing grin.

Rai shrugged, "I don't know. It's like I said, these things are easy for me… maybe it's something to do with my Geass?"

Lelouch glanced at C.C., who simply shrugged. She wasn't the one who gave Rai his Geass, so she didn't know.

"That's their main power generator," Coran said, pulling up the surface again, this time with a large structure in the center. "If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."

"The three of us will stay in cloud cover and give tactical support," Allura said, pulling up a model of the Castle, some areas being pointed out next to it with Altean writing. "With the Castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's Crystal, we won't be of much help to you."

"Very well, I'll take out the power generator," Lelouch said, "Rai, get those sensors to the shafts. The rest of you will take out these big mining rigs around the area. Any objections?"

The rest of the Paladins shook their heads and agreed to the strategy.

"Yeah!" Milly jumped in the air, "Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!"

The Balmera's gravity pulled the Castleship into its atmosphere as the Paladins made their way to their respective Lions.

"You think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody?" Rivalz asked as he settled in Blue. He had yet to come up with a name for her but promised he would soon. He had already thrown a few names her way, but all had been shot down. Rivalz didn't mind too much; it was her name after all.

Kallen's face showed up on his dashboard, Aka's cockpit in the background, "It's not about the glory, Rivalz. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon."

"No, I know. I know. But still. When they—" Rivalz didn't finish his sentence as he and the Blue Lion launched off into the atmosphere with the rest of the Lions. As they descended, the pillars surrounding the power generator started firing rapidly at the Lions. One even launched an attack that looked like a flying windmill blade that they had to maneuver around to avoid.

"This is it. Get your heads in the game," Lelouch ordered. "Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface."

Rai, Rover, and Zerith promptly broke off from the rest of the group and started flying low, closer to the ground.

"Initiating cloak," the Green Paladin said, as Zerith disappeared from view. The other Lions could still pinpoint where they were, but the Galra certainly wouldn't be able to. At each mining shaft he flew over, a B.L.I.P. device was dropped in and activated at the bottom.

As the installations continued to fire at them, Suzaku expertly maneuvered the Purple Lion up and around every strike like a pro. He shot back with blasts of his own from his Lion's tail. He noticed Rivalz, and Milly quickly followed his example as they took up his flanks.

As he flew, Suzaku noticed how much easier it felt to fly his Lion, compared to even the Lancelot. It was like he and the Lion were one being instead of just pilot and machine. It was so much more than that. He could feel it.

'I need to remember to find a name for you too,' Suzaku added mentally as they shot down another tower.

Shirley, on the other hand, had gone in closer to the ground, and her Lion was simply smashing into each tower, causing them to collapse.

Lelouch grit his teeth as he examined the base. He knew shooting at full power was out of the question, but his Lion was not quite bulky enough to just smash through either, "How do I take this thing down?"

He blinked as he felt the Black Lion brush against his mind as a screen showed up in front of him, "What's that?" he asked as the Lion elaborated. It was a picture of the Lion's head, and a pair of blades that seemed to extend from its jaw, "Jaw blade?" he questioned before smirking almost evilly, pushing the thrusters down, "Okay! Let's do this!"

The Black Lion growled as the blade formed around her jaw. With the weapon in place, she and Lelouch easily sliced through the generator's foundation like a hot knife through butter. It wasn't long until nearly the entire generator was destroyed.

"All sensors delivered," Rai confirmed just as he dropped the last one.

From inside the Castle of Lions, a screen appeared, showing all of the underground tunnels of the Balmera. They'd now easily be able to track any movements and guide the Paladins through without a hitch.

The biggest cannon was still giving them trouble. Team Voltron wouldn't be able to start the rescue until it was dismantled. After a couple more blasts, Kallen and Aka managed to get in close, as the Red Lion opened its maw, and outshot a pillar of pure fire that melted right through the cannon's support beam.

"Whoa! Did you guys just see that?!" Kallen exclaimed, a giant grin on her face, "I got fire powers!"

"Hey! I want that!" Rivalz whined.

"That is so awesome, Kallen!" Milly cried, a matching grin on her face.

The praises were short-lived, though, as the cannon suddenly shuddered and wobbled. It began to tip down towards the surface. The very thing that they didn't want to happen!

"Oh, no!" Rivalz shouted.

Before it could connect, however, Shirley managed to get under it in the Orange Lion and try to push it back up, "We can't let this thing hurt the Balmera!"

"I'm coming!" Suzaku shouted as he flew overhead. His Lion opened its mouth too, but instead of anything firing out of it, it started sucking wind and debris into it. Almost like-

"A black hole!" Suzaku said as the suction began to slow the descent gradually.

"Cool, Suzaku!" Milly exclaimed.

It wasn't enough, though; the structure was still falling too fast.

"We need to try something else!" Suzaku yelled, strain in his voice.

"I think my Lion knows what to do!" Rivalz said as he and the Blue Lion flew in closer. It opened its jaws too, and while everyone expected the tower to go up in flames, a blast of crisp white ice hit it instead, freezing it entirely in place and halting the crash.

"Ha-aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!" Rivalz cheered.

"Well done, everyone!" Lelouch said, as the Lions all perched on top of the frozen cannon. However, as they looked across the Balmera's surface, they were perplexed to see that no ships were coming up to attack them.

"Something's wrong," Suzaku said, "Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface."

"He's right," Shirley said, as her face popped up on everyone's dashboards, "Last time I was here, I remember seeing a whole army of Galra down in the mines."

"We've located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface," Allura informed them from the Castle, "Someone has to take those out before they can launch."

Lelouch grit his teeth. They were being lured down. It was obviously a trap. But… "We don't have a choice," he muttered. "Alright, we'll split into three teams. Suzaku, Kallen, and Rivalz will hit the hangar. Shirley, you, Rai, and Rover head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Milly and I will track down the Galra soldiers. Any objections?"

"Nope!"

"Ten-four!"

"Nada!"

"You got it!"

"Leave it to us!"

"Let's do this!" Came the shouts as the Lions bounded off the tower and towards the tunnels.

o~o

Back at the Galran headquarters, Commander Prorok was waiting. It had been several varga since he'd contacted those bounty hunters that claimed to have the Blue Lion. They never arrived at their meeting point. This could only mean one of two things. They had either been caught by the other Paladins, or they had decided to keep the Blue Lion for themselves.

Whatever the case, it wasn't a completely lost cause. Thanks to their hailing, Prorok now knew where the Paladins were going. It was now merely a matter of when to strike them.

"Commander Prorok," Thace said, as he approached his superior, "we have word from the troops on Balmera X-95 Vox. The informants were right. Voltron is there."

"Excellent," Prorok smiled smugly, "Everything is going according to plan."

"How do you wish to proceed?" his subordinate asked, "Should we inform Emperor Zarkon?"

"Contact Subcommander Ylvik," Prorok ordered, turning to meet Thace's eye, "His fleet is awaiting my command. Tell him it's time to attack. I will update the Emperor."

o~o

The Black Lion landed with a bang at the bottom of the shaft. Fortunately, there had been no Galra fighters occupying it, so Lelouch had managed to land without too much trouble. Unfortunately, the cave tunnels were too small for the Lion to navigate due to its enormous size. But there was no need to worry as there was a way around this hiccup.

Lelouch's pilot chair slowly pulled back with him, still seated. It hit the back wall of the cockpit and then lowered into the Lion's chest. Inside was a speeder; all the Lions had one. As Lelouch's seat clicked into it, the Black Lion's chest opened and set him free. As the speeder departed, the Lion's particle barrier rose up, effectively securing it until Lelouch could return.

o~o

Inside another tunnel, Rivalz, Suzaku, and Kallen slowly crept up in their speeders to a ledge that quickly showed the hanger full of Galra fighters that Allura had mentioned earlier. They were quite surprised to see how only a few sentries were guarding them.

"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries?" Rivalz said, voicing everyone's question.

"We can take them! Let's go!" Kallen said as she pulled out her Bayard and was about to storm in before Suzaku grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Whoa, whoa! Kallen!" Suzaku hissed, "Do you not remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"

Kallen stopped struggling against Suzaku's grip, "Oh. Right," she said, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, I think going and blowing things up like psychos is the last thing we want to do right now," Rivalz agreed.

"Well, do either of you have a better idea?" Kallen snapped impatiently.

"I do actually," Rivalz said as he pointed to the other end of the gorge, "We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."

"That—!" Kallen stopped herself as she processed Rivalz's words, as Suzaku smiled in agreement, "...Actually... is a better idea."

"Come on!" Suzaku said as he started sneaking across one of the catwalks, connecting the two sides together. Kallen and Rivalz were right behind him. They were reasonably narrow, so they had to move slowly and pray that none of the sentries spotted them doing so.

o~o

In another tunnel, Shirley and Rai, with Rover hovering in Rai's speeder with him, were struggling to locate Shay and her family. Despite the Orange Paladin's previous visit, it didn't mean she was suddenly a tunnel expert.

"Allura, Coran, w-what's our location?" Shirley asked, "All these tunnels look the same. I can't remember where the prison is."

"You're on the right path," Coran assured them as he looked at their map in the Castle. "Turn right at the next tunnel. Once you get there, you'll have to disable the energy doors."

"Be careful, though," C.C. added, "it's heavily guarded."

o~o

"No, no, over here more!" Kallen whispered as Suzaku was about to cut through the control room's ceiling.

"Calm down, Kallen, I know what I'm doing," the Purple Paladin said in an exasperated tone, as he plunged his katana through and cut a circular hole through. Below them, a single sentry was operating the controls. He didn't have time to react when he looked up to see what the noise was as the ceiling hole came crashing down with Suzaku on top of it, crushing it below. Kallen and Rivalz joined him a moment later.

"Alright, you two keep an eye out for guards," Rivalz said as he approached the control panel, "I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors."

Kallen and Suzaku both moved to the side to look out the bay windows. So far, it seemed their presence had gone unnoticed. The few sentries that were down below made no move or gesture to signify that they knew the Paladins were there.

Rivalz eyes lingered over different parts of the panel. Screens were showing the status of multiple base functions, a box with a Galran symbol on it, and a few other things. There were some buttons near the bottom of the screen that Rivalz pushed in a couple of patterns, but nothing happened or worked.

"Ah!" he finally groaned in defeat, "I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish."

"Let me see," Suzaku said as he and Kallen came closer to try and help.

Just like with the Blue Paladin, they didn't understand what most of the text meant; the box near the upper center caught Suzaku's eye, though.

"Hmmm…" he hummed. He turned to the sentry that was now destroyed. He took out his Bayard again and sliced off the downed sentry's arm.

"What are you doing?" Kallen asked, confused.

"Let me try something," he said, as he placed the sentry hand over the symbol and box. It glowed red when he did it, and a buzzing sound filled the room as the hanger doors above slowly creaked shut.

"Nice thinking, Suzaku!" Rivalz cheered as Kallen nodded in agreement.

One task down, two to go.

o~o

Following Coran's directions, Shirley and Rai turned right at the next tunnel intersection. They were able to spot the prison doors about halfway down. As they approached, sentries started shooting at the two speeders, forcing them to stop. The Paladins and drone exited their rides and ducked behind the speeders for cover.

Shirley whipped out her bow and fired two consecutive shots at the robots, ultimately destroying both of them.

Despite the small victory, an uneasy feeling bubbled up in the Orange Paladin's chest.

"Shirley, that was way too easy," Rai said, voicing her exact thoughts, "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Neither do I, Rai, but Shay's still in there!" Shirley argued.

Rai sighed as the three of them approached the energy doors.

"Do your thing Rover," Rai said as the drone beeped happily and scanned the control board. The energy barrier went down immediately. No bombs went off; no army was waiting for them on the other side. Rai was right; this was too easy.

They took the chance, though, and sprinted down the tunnel. Off to the side, they thought they heard a troop of sentries approaching, but the steps quickly faded. After turning another corner, Shirley finally spotted it. It was a cell door with some familiar faces on the other side. Rai had Rover scan the console here as well, and the doors opened to reveal Shay's mother, father, grandmother, and her brother Rax… but Shay wasn't there.

The Balmerans present looked up as the door opened, surprised delight on their faces.

"Shirley, you have returned," Shay's father exclaimed as he, his wife, and his mother, stood up to greet her.

"I promised I would be back," Shirley smiled as she grasped his hand. She turned around, hand outstretched, "This is Rai. He's one of my friends I told you about."

"Nice to meet you," he greeted with a smile. Rover clicked a greeting as well, "Oh, and this is Rover. Don't worry; he's with us too."

Shirley looked around the cell but then realized something.

"Where's Shay?" she asked urgently.

"Our life may not have been perfect, but our family was whole," Rax retorted and glared at the two Paladins. "Your arrival has left us imprisoned and torn apart. As soon as your attack started, they took her away to the core of the Balmera. For all we know, she could be gone for good."

Shirley gasped at this information as Rai grimaced, "This isn't good," he muttered.

"Paladins, are you there?" Allura asked urgently, as she Coran and C.C, saw the Galra forces converging at a point, "The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center."

"They must be headed to the core of the Balmera," Shirley said, "That's where they're holding Shay."

o~o

Lelouch grit his teeth in frustration as he rode on his speeder. "They're drawing us into an ambush," he said objectively, "but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Everyone, start heading to the core. We'll need to be together to get through this firefight."

o~o

"Copy that," Kallen's voice sounded as she and her team left the control room now that the launch doors were sealed, "we're on our way!"

Behind her, Suzaku quickly slashed through the control board to prevent anyone from trying to open the doors again. As the trio ran out, and the doors closed, Rivalz fired his Bayard at the control pad, effectively locking it behind them.

o~o

Milly gasped, and her speeder screeched to a halt as it almost crashed into what she thought was a dead-end of the tunnel. After she stopped and popped out of it, she saw that there wasn't a dead-end, but that the tunnel was simply narrow enough that she couldn't bring her speeder through.

"Looks like you're in an area where the tunnels are too narrow for your speeder," Allura informed her.

"Yeah, I see that," Milly said, stepping through the small gap, "proceeding on foot."

Milly had been walking for a couple of minutes when she spotted lights that were moving ahead of her. She jumped to the side, hiding from view, "There's someone here," she whispered urgently.

"Looking into it," Allura replied.

As the shadows crept closer and closer, Milly bit her lip before she jumped out and ran, raising her kusarigama Bayard to attack.

"Milly, no! Those are Balmerans!" Allura cried out just in time. Milly stopped short and lowered her weapon. Three young Balmeran children were standing in front of her. One of them was carrying a small lamp.

Milly sighed in relief that they weren't sentries. She looked up with a smile and waved to the children.

Suddenly, the ground underneath her began to quake, and a loud, high-pitched groan echoed through the tunnel. Small rocks, dust, and debris began to fall around them.

The three children gasped and turned to run in the other direction, but one of them tripped and fell. Above them, a large slab of stone shook loose and began to fall. Acting fast, Milly sprinted to the trio, using her jetpack for more momentum, and snatched the fallen child just as the slab crashed to the ground behind them. She set the Balmeran down next to her friends, who promptly hugged her close to them. Milly turned to view the damage behind her. She was completely blocked off from her speeder.

"Don't worry," she assured the children, "everything's going to be okay."

o~o

"Everyone," Milly's voice buzzed through the comms, "be careful. The Balmera is very unstable."

Kallen, Suzaku, and Rivalz almost didn't have time to start worrying about that. When they turned a corner, they were ambushed by a small platoon of sentries that were guarding a door. Rivalz and Kallen tumbled to the left, and Suzaku took shelter to the right of a battlecruiser output of the wall. As the laser shots zoomed past them, the ground vibrated again, and the pained echoes of the Balmera could be heard from all over the tunnels.

"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something!" Kallen shouted over the noise.

"Well, we can't shoot back!" Rivalz said, "That'll just make it worse!"

They had to think of a plan, fast. The ground started shaking again as stone and rock tumbled down around them from the Balmera's pained screams.

Suzaku looked around, by the sentries and his teammates. Then he spotted a ladder behind Kallen. If the two of them climbed up to the upper level, they would have the advantage of higher ground. With Rivalz distracting them below, it would be easy!

"Kallen!" He whispered, urgently pointing behind her.

The Red Paladin shot him a confused stare before glancing behind and spotting the ladder. Making an 'o' with her mouth, she then smiled and gave a thumbs-up, realizing what the Purple Paladin had in mind.

As Suzaku scrambled to the other side with her, Rivalz leaped out and waved his hands in the air right in front of the platoon, "Na-na na-na boo-boo!"

As the sentries started firing at him again, he crouched down to the ground with his shield activated, hoping to block most of the shot from hitting the Balmera wall behind him. Some still made it to the other side, though. He gritted his teeth and endured it as Kallen and Suzaku ran across the upper level. Once they were on top of them, they leaped down and quickly finished them off with their weapons, Kallen blowing the last one up with her gauntlet.

"I love this thing!" she whispered with a smirk. She and Suzaku glanced back to check on Rivalz, who flashed them a smile and a thumbs up.

o~o

Rai and Shirley ran until they came across a closed door. According to Allura's directions, the core was on the other side. They would find Shay there.

"Okay, this should be it," Rai muttered as he directed Rover to unlock it. "Be ready, we don't know what's on the other side."

Shirley nodded and gulped, readying her bow to shoot. Despite being scared, she put on the bravest face she could as Rover beeped that he was finished.

Rai raised his hand with three fingers. Once his finger hit one, the two rushed in as the door opened, weapons drawn and prepared to fight. They came to an abrupt stop, though when no enemies came to greet them. There was only one occupant in the room, dangling in chains from the ceiling.

"Shay!" Shirley shouted in relief, "You're alive!"

The Balmera was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists and had a muzzle wrapped around her mouth. Upon spotting Shirley and Rai, she started struggling against her restraints, shaking her head furiously to try and dislodge the muzzle.

Aiming as carefully as she could, Shirley fired an arrow at the chains holding her up. As the Balmeran fell, Rai rushed to catch her from underneath. With a blast from his jetpack, Rai caught Shay bridle style, and slowly lowered them to the ground. Once there, Shirley started working trying to undue the muzzle, but it was clasped super tight. As the Orange Paladin assisted her friend, Rai looked around in disbelief. They were the only ones there. There were no guards, sentries, or even Rover's fellow droids. Nothing.

'Something's wrong,' he thought, eyes scanning around them.

"Where are the Galra?" Lelouch demanded as he ran in through another entrance, the other Paladins following from another. "If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us."

They got their answer as the doors they had moments ago run through, slammed shut and locked behind them.

"Not an ambush," Suzaku said, "more like a trap!"

"Whatever it is, keep your guard up!" Kallen shouted.

"The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera," Shay said once Shirley removed the muzzle. The other Paladins joined her at the bottom.

"What? How?!" Rivalz asked.

"I know not," Shay answered with remorse, bowing her head, "But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait."

"Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?" Rai asked incredulously.

Lelouch grit his teeth, already knowing who, but Milly beat him to the punch, "Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon!"

"It likely happened when they had the Blue Lion, to negotiate its trade," Lelouch said with a frown, "and we were foolish not to question them of such an action!" Lelouch mentally kicked himself for overlooking something so obvious.

"We need to get out here, fast!" Shirley said, looking around at the closed doors.

"Rai, can Rover hack the doors and get us out?" Suzaku asked the Green Paladin.

"If he was on the other side, he could. There are no control panels to do that here!" he answered. Rover beeped sadly, tilting downward as if ashamed.

"Wait! We have a giant Castleship hovering in the sky," Rivalz said, before contacting the said ship, "Allura, can you please come get us?"

"How do you expect her to do that, genius?" Kallen demanded.

"I don't know; maybe they got teleporters or something. Like from Star Trek." Rivalz suggested.

o~o

"We're quite occupied at the moment," Allura informed them urgently and grunted as another shot from a Galra fighter hit the ship's shields. There were over a dozen of them surrounding the Castle, "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships, and we're taking heavy fire!"

The shots were coming from every direction, giving the ship no place to maneuver. Alarms started blaring, and the screens in front of the ship's occupants turned red with warnings of malfunction.

"Princess, our particle barrier won't last much longer!" Coran informed her urgently.

"Do you have any other forms of attacking besides the Lions?" C.C. asked, holding onto one of the control tables as another blast rocked the ship.

"We do, but I'm not sure how long they'll last," Allura informed the immortal.

"It's better than nothing!" she countered as she made her way to another screen that popped up by the princess. A targeting system appeared in front, and C.C. grasped the two control sticks that appeared in front of her. She pressed down on the handles and started firing back at the fleet intensely. Despite managing to take a few ships down, more continued to pour in.

"Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!" Allura cried out.

o~o

"This is it! We're going to die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade," Rivalz lamented as he sagged down. Everyone shot him unimpressed looks.

"Everyone focus!" Lelouch ordered, "Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can!"

"Perhaps my people can help us get out," Shay suggested. She walked towards the core of the Balmera and placed a hand lightly on top of it. "This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels."

"Are you sure someone will be able to hear your... hand from all the way down here?" Kallen asked skeptically.

"The Balmera will deliver the message," Shay reassured them as she closed her eyes in concentration. Her hand started to glow, and the Balmera groaned around them. The Paladins watched mesmerized. Shay stood still, not moving a muscle from the core.

o~o

Elsewhere on the Balmera, Shay's family was making their way back to their home inside. Their faces were sad and solemn, believing that a member of their family was gone forever despite was Shirley said.

The four suddenly stopped as the Balmera groaned. Rax bent down, placing his hand on the ground.

"It's a message from Shay!" he exclaimed, shocked.

"She's alive!" her father rejoiced as his wife and mother smiled at the news.

"The Paladins of Voltron went to the core of the Balmera to save Shay... and now they are all trapped," Rax informed them, eyes narrowing.

"Then we are all doomed," his father mourned, looking down in despair.

"This is all my fault," Rax said, standing up, guilt swelling in his chest, "I conspired against them, and because of my actions, Shay was imprisoned. The orange female was right. If we ever hope to be free, we must take action."

"But how can we rise up against our Galra overlords?" his father asked.

"What choice do we have?" Rax asked, "They have stolen all of the crystals from our Balmera. Our lives are worthless to them now."

"But Balmerans have never fought." his father countered.

"You taught me that without family, we have nothing," Rax argued, a fire of rebellion blazing in his eyes. "The Galra have taken Shay. How can we do nothing while the Paladins sacrifice everything to save us? We must do our part!"

o~o

Prorok kneeled before Zarkon, smirking at the knowledge that his plan was working out. The Emperor would no doubt be pleased with him for his efforts. Within the next few varga, Voltron would be within the Galra's grasp at last.

"Lord Zarkon, I have news to report. News that will likely please you, my Emperor."

"Proceed," Zarkon commanded, no emotion on his ancient face.

"I have the Voltron Paladins trapped on a Balmera in the Javeeno star system," the commander informed him, with a proud grin. "I've ordered a fleet to capture the Lions and destroy the Altean Castle."

To Prorok's surprise, though, the Emperor was far from pleased with his report, and scowled contemptibly, "You fool! You dare make plans without informing me?"

"Forgive me, Emperor…" Prorok shrank back in fear, "...but I saw an opportunity, and I took it for the glory of the Galra Empire."

"I suspect that you are seeking your own glory, Prorok," Zarkon growled, "But you do not realize Voltron's power." He knew that there were only a few that knew Voltron's full potential. Not even the Altean Princess did, much less the new Paladins…

o~o

As the Castle continued to be fired upon, a dozen Galra fighters broke off from the formation and began to descend towards the Balmera.

"They're heading down into the tunnels!" Coran gasped, "They're going to steal the Lions!"

"Paladins, the Lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!" Allura called out desperately.

On C.C.'s targeting scanner, a small alert popped up, directing them to the cause of it in the distance.

"Something's locked onto us!" she informed them as they spotted a large Galra cruiser with an ion cannon affixed on top.

o~o

"Paladins, do you copy?" Allura asked, "There's a battlecruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."

"We're trying, Allura," Shirley replied anxiously.

"Yeah, Shay's pressing her hand against the wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people," Rivalz tried explaining, "who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'"

"Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?" Suzaku asked urgently.

As Shay began focusing harder, her family appeared behind one of the doors. They pressed their hands against the wall surface, causing it to glow blue. The wall suddenly constricted, knocking the door off its hinges.

The Paladins and Shay all jumped and turned to where the door had been initially. As the dust settled, Shay's family stood in the doorway to greet them.

"Rax!" Shay exclaimed, happily.

"We must make haste!" Rax replied urgently, "We know a shortcut through the tunnels."

"Princess, stand by," Lelouch called out to the Castle, "we're on our way up!"

o~o

Lelouch and his speeder had scrambled back to the Black Lion just in time. Two Galra ships were using tracker beams to try and drag it out.

"Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the Lions!" Allura said.

Gritting his teeth, Lelouch thrust the speeder forward. A small opening was made in the particle barrier, and the Black Paladin disappeared back inside his Lion. With a roar, the Black Lion broke free of the tractor beams and zoomed out of the Balmera tunnel.

"Paladins report! Did everyone make it to their Lions?" Lelouch asked as he hovered above the mines.

He got his answers as the six other Lions promptly burst from the tunnels and joined him on the surface in formation.

"Come on, Lelouch. Who you think you're dealing with? A bunch of amateurs—" Rivalz didn't finish his sentence as he and the Blue Lion ran headfirst into what remained of one of the Galra structures, which the other six Lions easily avoided.

"You really want me to answer that, Rivalz?" Lelouch smirked in amusement despite the situation.

"No," the Blue Paladin groaned.

The Lions quickly regrouped as the Galra fleet started firing furiously at them. The Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow Lions fired shots of their own while the Orange Lion tore through them with its armor and powerful jaws. The Purple Lion followed suit, sucking in every aircraft it could and tearing the wings off and destroying them. Finally, the mighty Black Lion sliced through several fighters with its jaw blade in effect. It was like a hot knife through butter!

The fleet was getting obliterated every second they continued to fight. Balls of fire rained down from the sky.

As another wave came flying at them, Kallen and Rivalz put their Lions attacks together to wipe them out. Kallen melting half of them as Rivalz froze the rest completely.

Shirley grabbed another fighter in the Orange Lion's maw and proceeded to ram into four more before tossing the stack away as it exploded in a fiery inferno.

From above her, though, she didn't have time to dodge as three more began firing at her.

"Shirley, watch out!" Rai cried as he and Zerith flew to cover her, the shots having little effect against the Green Lion's shield on its back.

"I'm coming!" Lelouch shouted as he and the Black Lion zoomed overhead and sliced through the three assailants. They blew up quickly.

"Phew! Thanks, boys!" Shirley said with a smile.

Milly and Suzaku charged another five Galra fighters from above. They seemed ready to dive-bomb them.

Milly thrust the control of the Yellow Lion forward, intending to take them out with one shot. To her surprise, however, when the Yellow Lion opened its mouth, it didn't shoot a blast of energy, but a tiny ball of light… which moments later expanded to illuminate the battlefield, blinding everyone but the Paladins, whose visors came down automatically to protect their vision.

"Woah!" Milly exclaimed in shocked excitement, "Did you guys just see that?!"

"Nice, Milly!" Suzaku complimented as he sucked the five fighters towards them, and chomped down on them at once. They blew up as he tossed them aside.

Despite the Paladins' growing success, the Castle was still facing a threat from the Galra warship. The ion cannon began to charge up, ready to fire.

"It's charging its ion cannon!" Coran exclaimed in fear.

"Divert all shields to the bow!" Allura ordered.

"That'll leave the rest of the ship completely vulnerable!" Coran argued.

"Leave that to me!" C.C. said, still at blaster controls.

As the shields converged in front of the ship, it met the blast of the ion cannon head-on. Allura grit her teeth as the blast pressed against the shield. It began to fizzle out, losing power fast.

"Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks, and we're finished!"

"Very well!" Lelouch shouted, "Team, let's form Voltron!"

"Yes/Yeah!" the rest of the team screamed out as the Lions roared and converged.

Within moments the giant juggernaut appeared before them and emerged from the clouds and headed straight for the Galra warship. It slammed into the bottom of the ship. As the Paladins screamed, Voltron shoved the ship upwards, diverting the cannon blast away from the Castle of Lions in the knick of time.

"Right, now is our chance, Princess!" Coran proclaimed.

"Full power on the blasters!" Allura ordered as the holographic image lined up with the target, "Lock onto target. Fire!"

At Allura's command, the Castle unleashed a sizeable blue beam of energy straight at the Galra ship. Voltron flew out of the way just as the shot hit the ship, straight through the helm. Within moments the warship exploded in a fiery inferno, taking out whatever remained of its Galra fighters with it.

"Yes!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"Whoop-whoop!"

"Nice shot, Princess!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah! The Parade's back on!"

Lelouch simply smirked victoriously from the Black Lion, watching the firework show.

The day was theirs.

o~o

"The Galra fleet and all Sentries on the Balmera have been defeated!" a communications officer reported to the throne room.

Prorok's face fell at the news. That wasn't possible. He was sure he could obtain Voltron!

"No!" the commander gasped, "How could this be? Lord Zarkon, I will do all that I can to recapture Voltron for the Galra!"

"Silence, Prorok!" Zarkon thundered, causing the commander to flinch away, "I have plans that you can not comprehend."

o~o

Voltron touched down lightly on the Balmera's surface, the Castleship preparing to settle just behind them.

"Mission accomplished!" Kallen grinned as she leaned back in Aka's pilot chair. She hadn't felt this pumped since her first official mission with Ohgi's old group before Lelouch/Zero had come in to play.

"And just in the tick of time," Allura agreed, "The Castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge."

Allura spoke too soon, though, as the Castle's proximity alarms blared to life. Something was approaching the Balmera's atmosphere. Fast.

"There's an unknown object incoming!" Coran said as a massive fireball could be seen from the ship's bridge, "It's about to crash into the Balmera!"

Lelouch silently cursed as the object crashed into the surface. As the dust cleared, a familiar-looking black coffin-like ship could be seen in the distance.

"What the heck?!" Rivalz exclaimed.

"What is that?!" Milly asked.

Additional noises of confusion could be heard from the other Paladins as well.

"...Trouble." Lelouch spat, teeth grinding in his jaw. The battle wasn't over. It had only just begun.

[plagueamon]

Code Geass MBTI Challenge Turn 9: Kyoshiro Tohdoh - ISTJ

With the exception of Anya and a few members of the Akito the Exiled cast, Kyoshiro Tohdoh is the character on our list with probably the least amount of information about his personal thoughts, views and experiences. With that in mind, I still think that the show gives us just enough of a glimpse into his personality in order to be able to type him accurately, to the point where I actually had to retype him a few times and overall was given more to think about than I originally expected. Before I start explaining this character’s functions, please keep in mind, that this post will contain heavy Code Geass spoilers, so consider yourselves warned. With that out of the way, let us analyse why Kyoshiro Tohdoh is an ISTJ.

Dominant Introverted Sensing/Si

Tohdoh’s Si is actually very comparable to Ohgi’s, because they value very similar things, but diverge in what further conclusions they do with those values based on their auxiliary and tertiary functions (this is coincidentally perhaps the best opportunity we will ever have to compare an ISFJ to an ISTJ). Much like Ohgi, Tohdoh largely bases his values around Japanese tradition, however he does not see them as something to be explored and shared with others (Ti and Fe), so mach as he uses it to dictate the rules he wants to see himself and his surrounding world world to develop in accordance with (Fi and Te). This sometimes makes him appear much more narrow-minded than he actually is, simply because he has a very specific idea of what he wants to achieve for Japan and for himself and is very determined to make it a reality. In truth he is actually very capable of applying this personal system of principles to others, which is what makes him a competent teacher and role model for Suzaku.

A common trait of dominant Si-users in fiction is that they can be both idealistic and practical in their mindset, with Si being tied to tangible evidence and facts by being a sensing function, while also being introverted and therefore highly subjective and personal to the user. Tohdoh himself embodies this balance quite well: we often see him talk in ways that are sentimental, with topics like honour and his hopes and fears for Japan’s distant future being brought up a lot, but, as Zero mentions during his prison break-in in R1, all of Tohdoh’s legendary success comes down to careful planning and intelligence work. In fact, it seems that Tohdoh himself understands this very well, as we never really see him refer to his work as “miracles” in a non-ironic manner, despite being seen as such by his followers. At his core Tohdoh still very much prefers to deal with factual details, planning out his operations and insisting on taking part in them personally, solidifying him as both a skilled and passionate tactician and leader, and, much like with Ohgi, this is the potential that Lelouch sees in him.

Auxiliary Extroverted Thinking/Te

As stated above, Tohdoh’s success as a leader mainly comes down to methodical and meticulous work combined with a fairly tactical mindset. His Te is certainly an important component of this, as we see him rely on it when he has to step out of his Si comfort zone. We see several examples of this happening when Tohdoh doesn’t see an obvious answer to a problem: his usual response is to trust in Zero’s judgement even if he has to blindly follow orders without a clear understanding of what his leader is planning. This demonstrates a healthy use of auxiliary Te, as it shows his willingness to abandon his immediate instinct to systematically observe the situation by himself (Si) when there is clearly no point in doing that, instead going with a more conventionally rational Te approach and trusting Lelouch because he has proven to be effective in the past. This is both supported and kept in check by his Fi, which gives him a degree of confidence in his judge of other people’s character as well as stops him from being a blindly devoted follower with no clear direction of his own. Compare this to Ohgi, who trusts others (Zero in this example) based on his perception of their sense of morality and trustworthiness (Fe), while his tertiary Ti balances this notion out by making him question his own judgement and thinking of the benefits of a given decision that is independent of ethical questions.

To put it in a somewhat simplified manner, Te is a form of generalist logic, developing a systematic “one size fits all” way of looking at a problem for the user, as they mature. The higher Te is in the functional stack, the more its logical system is complex and willing to account for exceptions, meaning that the kind of over-generalising behaviour that Te-users are often stereotyped for is much more commonly seen in unhealthy, immature or low (in terms of the stack) users. A much more healthy use of Te is comparatively rare in fiction or isn’t recognised nearly as often, however Tohdoh’s tactical ability and respect for authority provide good examples. Neither of the two are things he carries out blindly or out of principle, in fact he demonstrates a high degree of autonomy when deciding to trust his comrades and his superiors - instead these choices come from an understanding that this kind of trust the most reasonable course of action in most difficult situations.

As a soldier these qualities make Tohdoh outstanding.

Tertiary Introverted Feeling/Fi

Tohdoh’s Fi comes out in most of his unhealthier moments, meaning that he enters a Si-Fi loop. Whenever he finds himself in a difficult situation with no apparent solutions provided by his first two functions and nobody else to follow, Tohdoh is prone to giving up all hope and surrendering to his fate. The excuse he uses to justify this is also very evident of an unhealthy use of Fi: in his mind he chooses death to preserve his honour and deserves his fate for his personal failure. With Fi being a function that focuses on very personal values, this is an example of using it defensively instead of finding the inner strength to maintain hope and readiness for an opportunity to improve the situation. This almost causes him to reject a chance of freedom that Zero is basically handing to him in R1. It usually takes an external perspective (Te) such as Zero’s or that of his fellow Holy Swords pilots to “snap him out of” this internally focused state and show him that he can still find a reason to continue fighting without sacrificing his life and that his honour is not compromised by such a choice.

On a somewhat healthier note, Fi also puts an interesting spin on the direction of Tohdoh’s dominant function, giving him a firm belief that a person should keep true to their goals and principles no matter the cost. This is why his initial disappointment in Suzaku disappears to a large degree, when he learns that his former student’s life choices are in full accordance with the ideals he holds. While he still sees Suzaku as an enemy, Tohdoh develops a respect for his willingness to follow the path he chose despite being seen as a traitor to the Japanese by almost everyone and even encourages him to continue. While his Fi isn’t high enough in his stack to make relating to others necessarily easy, it does give him the ability to readily acknowledge that there are subjectively justifiable reasons behind everyone’s actions, no matter how different the person in question may be from himself.

Inferior Extroverted Intuition/Ne

Tohdoh does not get as much screen time or opportunities to speak as some of the other characters on our list, however because of his brutal honesty and overall being based on a fairly common fictional archetype, it isn’t very difficult to understand his fears and weaknesses as a human being. Dominant Si is a function rooted in personal experiences and principles (both moral and logical) that are very personal to the user and allow them to find a place for themselves in the world they inhabit. A common way for inferior Ne to oppose this is the fear of loss of one’s self and the personal principles that make us who we are. This makes Tohdoh reluctant to make decisions that contradicts his ideas about the kind of person he should be and the ways in which he should act. This kind of insecurity provides an understandable explanation for his Si-Fi loops: trying to avoid execution to him is similar to refusing punishment for his failure to liberate Japan, and that would go against his understanding of what he should stand for. This is why he only agrees to escape his prison when offered a chance of redemption.

On a more general scale, inferior Fi makes it hard for Tohdoh to truly understand other people’s motivations and plans when he doesn’t see the evidence leading up to them. Given that Lelouch is Ni-dominant and hence much more willing to rely on theoretical approximations and calculated risks rather than playing it safe and going with the facts, this tends to happen often and Tohdoh is often left having to trust in his leader’s competence without actually knowing what he is up to. Being mature and relatively healthy, however, Tohdoh does not tend to be bothered by this too much, recognising when his life is in capable hands instead of giving in to a fear of uncertainty, as unhealthy or immature Si-doms can often do.

However, please keep in mind that this is only my opinion on the matter and I will welcome any criticisms or alternative opinions to discuss them. If this article was interesting for you, stay prepared for next time, when I shall discuss the MBTI type of Diethard Ried.

[mononoke-no-ko]

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Side Story “BLACK ALBION”

Short story written by Koujirou (Sunrise) about Zerozaku sets in one year some time after Zero Requiem to accompany the introduction of Lancelot Albion Zero. Source: https://p-bandai.jp/tamashiiwebshouten/blackalbion/. Please inform me if you notice some mistake.

First year of Light Sum*. Some time have passed since the extraordinary hero, Zero, killed the last emperor of Holy Britannian Empire, Lelouch vi Britannia.  The world that joined hands to defeat Emperor Lelouch who took hostage of the countries' leaders in his plan to conquer the world, continue to wish for peace and choose cooperation route even after Lelouch's death. With more than 80% of the world joins United Federation of Nations in the form of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Japan and China that became the center of UFN’s formation during wartime, politics were practiced with global perspective. In addition to that, as the military power is transferred to and is operated by Black Knights as delegated by UFN, no large-scale conflict ever occurred, and the world peace was preserved.  However... "We need a machine that acts as Zero's symbol." The one who suggested that was Schneizel el Britannia who serves as the Chief of Staff in UFN Supreme Council. The words of the man who's practically the world's No. 2, were not directed toward the President Sumeragi Kaguya, but to the masked man in black clothing, Zero. "....We don't." Zero asserts. Under the mask that exposed not even one part of his real face, his expression can't be read. Zero, who's present at the UFN Supreme Council meeting as CEO of Black Knights, shook his head in disagreement towards Schneizel's proposal. "However, no matter how the world as a whole is advancing toward peace, buds of conflicts will always arise. As a precaution, as Zero who slain Emperor Lelouch, you need to demonstrate your strength." Schneizel's words are reasonable. It's also clear that his words are for the sake of keeping peace. But, that's not it. The world must be peaceful. Otherwise, what did "he" bet his life for? Of course there are small seeds of conflicts. In this world that had been in war for a long time, it's natural that flames of conflicts can't be completely erased. It's natural because this world is inhabited by people who preserved their own self. Therefore, in order to prevent the conflicts from rising, it's probably a correct thing to do to assign the power to subdue conflicts to Zero the symbol. But for Zero, for Kururugi Suzaku who has now became Zero, it's not an idea he could accept that easily. "You're wrong. If Black Knights holds too much military power it would frighten the people and give birth to new conflicts instead. To the very end, we exists to maintain world peace. To that end, we're requesting the Glinda Knights to audit Black Knights." Oldrin Zevon, the head of Glinda Knights who is present at the meeting, nods in agreement.  "...." Schneizel gives an "I give up" look. As Zero has said so, Schneizel can't go against his words.

"Welcome back, Zero." After finishing the UFN Supreme Council and returning to his room in Black Knights' headquarter, Zero was welcomed by Nunnally vi Britannia who came to meet him. "I'm back, Nunnally." Suzaku takes off his mask for the first time since awhile, and shows a smile. "Today you came to talk about the schedule for humanitarian visit to Spain next month, right?" "Yes, Suzaku-sa--, I mean, Zero, sorry I always ended up troubling you..." "Ha ha, now I'm just Suzaku, Nunnally." Among the few people who knows about Zero's identity, Nunnally especially can interact with Suzaku's true self. For Suzaku who has always carried the burden of being Zero, the time spent with Nunnally was extremely important. Nunnally who became the Honorary Consultant of World Humanitarian Organization, an auxiliary organization of UFN, visited the areas where scars of war still remained, and carried out humanitarian support activities. Suzaku as Zero has a lot of opportunity to be with Nunnally. Nunnally's coming to meet to Suzaku today too was to make arrangement for their next visit. But, with a sudden emergency call calling for Zero, that purpose was never realized. "Report from UFN Supreme Council! We’ve been informed that an armed group who declared themselves as Japan Revolutionary Army has occupied Shinagawa Seaside Airport." The smile that was on Suzaku's face till just now is gone, and his expression becomes dim. "Suzaku-san..." "It'll be okay, so don't worry. I'll be back soon." To the worried Nunnally, Suzaku shows her a smile. However, his heart is not calm. ...Zero doesn't need to have power. And yet.... Suzaku picks up his mask again and walks out from the room leaving Nunnally behind.  

In Black Knights commander office, the main monitor shows the presumed state of Shinagawa Seaside Airport that was taken with a long distance camera. Other information such as the Knighmares that are used in the armed uprising and the list of people suspected to be responsible for the incident, were displayed on the sub monitors. "How's the situation?" The one who answers Zero's brief question as he entered the room is General Commander Toudou Kyoushiro. "Not very good. Konishina, report the present status to Zero." Prompted by Toudou, Konishina Ryou, the captain of Squadron 3 that was selected for duty, reports to Zero through the submonitor. The armed group called Japan Revolutionary Army, with about 30 Knightmares from sky, land, and water, swiftly gained total control of Shinagawa Seaside Airport that was built on a reclamation area in Tokyo Bay. It's reported that about 4000 passengers and staffs were held hostage. "It happened an hour ago. They seem to target the blind spot of UFN Supreme Council." "How about the perpetrators’ identity?" "It's Major Bandou... no, it's Bandou Shin. A survivor from the former Japan Liberation Front." "!?" Toudou's words agitate Zero slightly. Bandou is Suzaku’s acquaintance who once taught him martial arts together with Toudou and the others back when he was still a kid before the war with Britannia started. "Why, Bandou-san... right when everyone is about to compromise and head towards peace..." Konishina grinds his teeth. "Konishina was a new recruit assigned to Bandou's troop back during Britannia's invasion 9 years ago," Toudou fills up Suzaku's conjecture. He understood that it's because Japan Revolutionary Army turned out to be the remnant of Japan Liberation Front, that Toudou assigned Konishina to be in charge of the matter.   "Japan Revolutionary Army led by Bandou, in regard to Zero eliminating Kusakabe Josui's group, raises a banner of rebellion. Zero, now it’s..." "I know, Toudou-san." From inside Suzaku's chest, an emotion that can't be expressed in words rises its head. However, his top priority is to secure the safety of the 4000 captured people as soon as possible. "I’d like to join UFN Supreme Council. This case will be handled by Black Knights." "I knew you would say so~" At the corner of Black Knights' headquarters hangar that's in preparation for sortie, a familiar machine was brought in by Rakshata. Lying on top of the equipment container, with the tobacco pipe in her hand, she points to Zero's line of sight. It's unthinkable that she's a person with many titles. "A black... Lancelot Albion." Zero shows a little bewilderment. "It's part of Joint Strike Armored Cavalry Program that had been worked on since the time of Emperor Lelouch's rule. Because we also needed to develop and conduct research on Knightmares made by Britannia, our Pearl Party was created." The one who answers his confusion is a dark skin woman with prosthetic legs, Neha Shankar. She's a researcher apprentice who participated in the decisive battle of Madrid in the past and is studying under Rakshata. "Based on the data left by Dr Lloyd, with little improvements, we managed to complete it. In term of performance it's equal to Guren Seiten Eight Elements." Explains Kagari Savitri who's transferred from Black Knights' engineering department to the Pearl Party. Good handiness, almost as if they had been preparing for this. Suzaku thinks that perhaps Schneizel had asked Rakshata in advance in anticipation for situations like this. Otherwise, the unit that bears the name Albion which means white, wouldn't be dyed in black. "I got it. Let me use this." He can't believe it, he never thought that he would ride this unit again now that he became Zero. "Please take good care of our cute Z-01Z0." "Zero... Zero, huh." As he hears the model number of the black Albion, Zero mutters to himself. "Understood. From here, I'll sortie with this Albion Zero!"

*the new calendar system I’m still not sure I got this right.

[mahouproject-one]

Jitter | Miyu | Trial (re: Farah, Takako, Accomplice Theory)

Miyu had no idea what was going on anymore. Just when it seemed that they had narrowed the pool down to just a couple of people, a few moments of doubt blew it all wide open once again. Now on her best behavior after her momentary lapse in judgement, she solemnly listened to the discussion unravel, struggling to find a place to jump in.

“If there were accomplices, I doubt it would be inter-clan. What would the point be of trying to help someone outside your clan if you still can’t escape together? I suppose it can also be a case of trying to protect a friend, but who in Suzaku would anyone…?”

She let her question go unfinished. Sorry, friends, she’s still just really mad about that mirror, and that stabbing, and a lot of other things.

Miyu quickly ducked down behind her pensieve and emerged with her Mary Jane shoes, balancing them on the edge of her basin. Aside from the normal dirt one would pick up simply by existing, the shoes appeared to be clear of debris. It was still kind of disgusting to put them on top of furniture like this, but hey, it was Ouryuu’s house anyway, who cares?

“They’re still 24 and a half. I’m pretty sure I avoided stepping in any of the evidence, so I’m clean. I know I still have glitter on other parts of me, but I assure you, that happened during investigation.”

And up went a pensieve memory of the kitchen. She was holding a burned scrap of dark fabric, before setting it down… and pausing, taking a look at her sparkling hands. Holding her palms outwards, she looked around the kitchen until she caught sight of several of her classmates: Joon-young, Holy, and Mitsuo. There was a brief moment where she tried to catch their attention, and then attempted to wipe her hands on the skirt of her dress. Which only succeeded in spreading the glitter around even more. Oh no.

“And for the record, the glitter wasn’t incorporated into the fabric itself.

As for my spells, I believe I proved myself sufficiently at the dance battle – my minor spell is a paint spell. I can’t demonstrate at the moment since my wand’s all out of power. Given everything I’ve seen of other people’s spells, however, I doubt that something that’s just glitter would be a major spell. In fact, now that I’ve seen a few rather…esoteric themes come up, like flowers and handcuffs, I can’t discount the theory that maybe it was Tenpō’s spell all along.”

Which would mean they spent too much time looking at things from the wrong angle. No pressure!

Miyu was so goddamn done. Please let her sleep.

[therewillbebeauty]

look what you made of me - julius & suzaku

Word Count: 2000 Major Spoilers for the “Akito the Exiled” movies May not be strictly accurate as there was no way I was watching all five Akito the Exiled movies a second time just for canonical accuracy. This is just based on what I can remember and what the Wiki can provide.

VI.

Suzaku really wishes that Julius would stop begging for water.

There’s fucking water right in front of him, for God’s sake! Well, to be fair, it’s spilled on the table, but maybe if he’d stop flailing around like a madman, like he’s lost control of his limbs, then he’d stop knocking it over all the damn time. Suzaku swears he’ll go just as mad as Julius if he has to fetch the latter another pitcher of water just to see it fall to the ground one more goddamn time—

“Suzaku,” a familiar voice croaks.

Suzaku’s frown is a permanent fixture on his face, has been ever since his audience with the Emperor. He can understand why the Emperor would be loathe to let such a valuable tool go to waste, can see why the Emperor chose to recreate his son, but he also knows that the Emperor severely underestimated how fucking annoying his son would be.

“Suzaku,” Lelouch—no, he’s Julius now—Julius groans again, like he’s dying of thirst, even though Suzaku just refilled his water pitcher five minutes ago. Honestly, if this were anyone else, Suzaku would probably feel sorry for them. Julius is pitiful, a hollow shell of a man quivering with mania as his memories war inside his mind and reduce him to a pitiful excuse for a human. But Julius is really Lelouch, even if Suzaku is the only one who knows, even if Julius himself doesn’t know, and Lelouch committed far too many atrocities for Suzaku to ever feel anything like pity for his once-friend ever again. Julius is barely a man, barely human, but Lelouch discarded his humanity long ago in favor of bloodshed and senseless violence.

“Su-suzaku,” Lelouch—Julius breathes, gritting his teeth. Suzaku casts one more gaze of disgust upon the murderer before exiting the train car, leaving Julius alone.

V.

Suzaku had begun to wonder how much of Julius really resembled Lelouch.

Since Julius spent most of his time in agony, clutching his eyepatch and muttering nonsensical gibberish, it was hard to get a grasp on his personality. It wasn’t until they arrived in St. Petersburg that Suzaku saw who Julius really was—or, rather, who Julius really believed he was. He who, just moments prior, had been clutching his left eye and groaning in agony now confidently proclaimed his military genius. And then, during their audience with the Grand Duke, he refused to kneel. Suzaku watched in horror as Julius simply smirked, and he was pretty sure they were dead right then and there.

One thing was for sure: Lelouch wasn’t normally this flippant. He was too afraid to be. If a noble looked too hard, too long at his face, he could be discovered, either as Zero or as the lost prince. Quiet superiority suited his friend more than brazen irreverence.

Julius was the opposite, flaunting his power and position with every step. It took Suzaku a while to understand, but the truth was clear: Julius was who Lelouch was meant to be. Julius was who Lelouch could have been in a different life, if he hadn’t been cast out of the imperial family and abandoned in Area Eleven. In a way, Julius and Zero were similar, as well: each favored a blatant disregard for rules, and were inclined towards showy ways of demonstrating it.

But seeing the parallels between his ex-friend and his current charge made Suzaku uncomfortable, angry, disgusted, and strangely saddened. This was the Lelouch that could have been if he hadn’t been dealt such an unfair hand.

Suzaku closed the case housing the Imperial Scepter and left the throne room of the Grand Duke.

IV.

As their stay in St. Petersburg draws on, Suzaku finds more of Lelouch in Julius.

The first night, at the dinner table, Suzaku stands at attention as Lel—Julius sits down at the head of the table. Julius begins to eat, and then looks up, confused. “Come, Suzaku,” he beckons, “And sit down with me.”

Suzaku declines, and Julius looks almost hurt for a moment before he shrugs it off. “Suit yourself, Knight of Seven.”

But that casual invitation, like it had been weird for Suzaku not to eat with Julius, stays with him for several days.

Julius also shares Lelouch’s passion for reading. The place in which they are staying has a fairly impressive library, and Julius spends every free moment of their first several days holed up in the back corner with six or seven books on strategy, war, and/or history. Oftentimes, Suzaku has to remind him to eat.

He finds Julius in the library one day around lunchtime. There is nothing unusual about today; Suzaku is carrying a silver tray, upon which has been placed a sandwich, an apple, and a glass of water by the cook. He delivers lunch to Julius in the libraries most days; his normal routine is to place the tray down beside the young lord and leave as quickly as he’d come. Today is a day like all others. He carries his usual silver tray, upon which has been placed Julius’ usual lunch. He finds Julius in his usual hiding spot; books of his usual calibre are scattered around him.

And yet, today is different. When Suzaku finds the young lord, he is asleep, curled up on the floor in the sunlight, a stack of books for his pillow.

Suzaku nearly drops his tray.

In his several days of caring for Julius, he’s never seen the other man sleep, not once. He’s seen Julius faint from exhaustion, whether from the mental war waging in his head or from lack of physical respite, but he’s never seen Julius look so … relaxed.

So relaxed, in fact, that a thin string of drool is creeping out of his mouth.

Suzaku can hardly believe that Julius can look so normal, so young, so innocent. Watching him sleep like this, one would never guess that the man upon which their gaze is focused has slaughtered millions of innocent lives.

Suzaku realizes, belatedly, that watching Julius sleep is, in fact, creepy, and places the tray beside Julius’ snoozing figure. The metal clangs softly against the floorboards; Suzaku winces. He’d hoped not to wake Julius.

Julius’ eyelashes flutter rapidly, but he does not wake. Suzaku breathes a sigh of relief, casts one last (almost fond, but he’ll never admit that, not even to himself) gaze upon the sleeping face which he recognizes so clearly and loved—loved, as in past tense—so dearly, and departs.

III.

Suzaku takes back that whole ‘innocent’ thing.

Julius has just proposed a plan which involves the loss of millions of civilians without batting an eye (and indeed, he only has one to bat).

His terrorism tactic had worked well; the EU is in a panicked state of disarray and darkness. Now is the perfect time to strike. Truly, His Majesty must be proud of his son, even begrudgingly; his military genius surpasses all other. Suzaku had even felt a grudging sense of pride for his friend.

And then Julius had to go and ruin it.

Suzaku wishes he could just let Grand Duke Velaines punch the shit out of Le—Julius, but he can’t, and he delivers a spinning kick to the perpetrator. Assaulting Sir Kingsley is tantamount to treason, after all, in the sense that Sir Kingsley is acting in persona Charles. As annoying as Julius may be, he still must be protected.

Besides, it feels wrong to have anyone but Suzaku assault Le—Julius. That’s Suzaku’s job.

II.

Chess, too, is an important parallel between Lelouch and Julius.

Suzaku should really stop being surprised at how similar the two are, given that they’re the same person. Or, technically speaking, that Julius does not really exist.

Julius seems to be becoming self-aware, seems to notice at times that he’s a construct, that he’s an imposter living in Lelouch’s body. An already delicate experiment, the slightest things, and sometimes nothing at all, can trigger a fit. Suzaku hopes that the war is finished soon enough; at this rate of deterioration, Lelouch will resurface in just a few weeks, if not sooner.

His Majesty’s greatest experiment will eventually end in failure.

The question is not, has never been whether or not Lelouch will regain his memories. The question has always been when, whether it would be before or after the conclusion of the war, whether he would lie dormant long enough for the plan to work.

Suzaku had been fairly confident, if not steadfast, in his belief that it would be enough.

It appears he was wrong.

Julius summons Grand Master Shaing for a friendly (well, not really friendly, but certainly not hostile) game of chess. He wins. Easily. He even proclaims his perpetual loyalty for the Emperor.

And then, in the subsequent seconds, everything goes to shit.

Lelouch sweeps the chess pieces, as well as his glass of wine, off of the table, staggers away from the board, collapses to the floor, clutching his face, pulling his hair, muttering to himself. Lord Shaing wears an expression of self-triumph, like his suspicions have been confirmed, and then everything really goes to shit.

Lord Shaing knows that Julius is Zero.

He knows that he’s been brainwashed, been repurposed for the Britannian military.

Which means that not only does he know Zero’s identity, but he also knows about Geass.

Suzaku knows what he must do.

He must eliminate Lord Shaing.

He fails. Terribly.

But, hey, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who killed Shaing, just that Shaing was, in fact, killed. Which he was.

Suzaku breathes a sigh of relief, which instantly proves to be a mistake because oh shit.

Julius is dead.

And Lelouch has taken back his rightful place.

I.

They’re in jail.

The fool who put Suzaku and Jul—no, he’s Lelouch now—in the same cell is going to be fired, because Suzaku is this fucking close to killing his ex-friend right here and now.

And then Lelouch has the audacity to ask for water.

Suzaku gets up very slowly, and makes his way to the water pitcher. He pours a glass and hands it to Lelouch, who accepts it gratefully, with a smile on his face.

The sight of that smile makes Suzaku snap. He grips Lelouch’s throat, pressing his thumbs into the latter’s esophagus, intent on killing him then and there.

But Lelouch has to take even that from him, of course he does, just like he’s taken everything else from Suzaku, because then he asks for Suzaku to kill him. The look in his eye (the other one is still covered by an eyepatch, though it’s plain this time, in contrast to the tacky thing he’d worn earlier) is that of a broken man with no reason left to live.

It infuriates Suzaku enough to let the traitor live after all. Lelouch should suffer for what he’s done. He deserves pain.

But Suzaku won’t just let Lelouch sleep on the metal bench without a pillow. He’s not a monster, after all.

Which is why when Lord Kimmel comes, he finds Lelouch asleep on Suzaku’s shoulder.

Lelouch stirs gently, and when he wakes there’s a look of confusion on his face, like he’s not sure why he’s in a cell. Like he can’t remember all the sins he’s committed.

Suzaku hopes that he never forgets those sins. But now is not the time for vengeance. Now is the time for another audience with Emperor Charles.

Suzaku hopes that whatever plan His Majesty has concocted this time is successful. He hates Lelouch, he really does, but a part of him still hates to see him suffer under the overwhelming power of Geass. He hopes that His Majesty is strong enough to bury Lelouch vi Britannia forever this time.

(It’s strange, he muses later. He misses his friend, misses the simple days before Lelouch lied to him, betrayed him, but he wants Lelouch erased. He hates Lelouch for using his Geass power, and yet hopes that the Emperor can use his Geass power.

Suzaku’s mind drifts to Lloyd. He’d said that contradiction would get Suzaku killed one day.

Suzaku hopes that he’s right.)

0.

For a second time, Suzaku pins a bound Lelouch to the floor, covers his left eye, drags him upwards by his hair.

For a second time, Suzaku listens in horror as Lelouch’s screams of agony fill the throne room.

[plagueamon]

Code Geass MBTI Challenge Turn 7: Kallen Kōzuki - ESFP

The last member of the Ashford Academy group and the first member of the Black Knights that we are analysing, Kallen Kōzuki plays quite an important role in the story of Code Geass: being the simple fighter for her fellow people’s rights surrounded by scheming masterminds and twisted murderers, she represents, to a degree, the perspective of the audience when looking at the thoughts and actions of the rest of the colourful CG cast. She is also the first of several Se-doms, that we are going to take a look at (turns out Code Geass has quite a few of those, which really just goes to show how some types are more common than others). Before I start explaining this character’s functions, please keep in mind, that this post will contain heavy Code Geass spoilers, so consider yourself warned. With that out of the way, let us analyse why Kallen Kōzuki is an ESFP.

Dominant Extroverted Sensing/Se

From early on in the series Kallen’s Se is quite apparent in terms of how she acts and thinks: she is very much practical and action-oriented and prefers to focus on issues in her immediate sphere of influence. This ability to quickly assess her surroundings and think on her feet is what makes her such a good soldier and pilot despite being a rather young member of the Black Knights. This is especially visible when Zero first contacts the resistance group: even though nothing is known about him, Kallen is one of the first to trust him, not because she necessarily sees him as trustworthy, but because she has a very good understanding of the situation she and her friends are in and therefore knows that listening to Zero’s advice may be their best chance to survive. However, Kallen’s improvisational combat skills are only the stereotyped tip of the iceberg that dominant Se actually is, so let us deconstruct some misconceptions.

In the MBTI community it is often assumed that types like INFPs, ENFJs and especially INFJs are by default “good at reading people”. The truth, of course, is quite different from that as well as much more complicated. While dominant Ni can provide a good understanding of other people’s thoughts by the means of reflection, Fe can have a good understanding of people’s social behaviour and Fi tends to be good at relating to people on a personal level, the process that we tend to imply under “reading people” is actually much more likely to be an attribute of dominant Se (especially with auxiliary Fi), and Kallen actually demonstrates that ability a lot. We see that from all the Black Knights she really is the only one to see subtle changes and details in Lelouch’s behaviour (both as himself and as Zero) and that is how she chooses to assess his and other people’s personalities and trustworthiness. To Kallen it’s not only important what people say, but also how they say it, to feel the meaning behind their words and see evidence to their claims. This is why it’s hard for her to believe that Lelouch had been using the Black Knights when he claims to have done so - it does not at all align with the person she has known him to be.

Another aspect of Kallen’s Se, mostly seen in her in relation to Lelouch and Gino, is that for her trust is gained through shared and proven experiences (Se as a whole primarily deals in experiences). It is why she starts off questioning Lelouch’s motives, but after having fought battles side by side with him, she trusts him in a way that could be considered more personal than that of a soldier - he has proven himself to her. Gino’s example is different, but also an interesting one: the two start off as enemies, and while Kallen at first sees him as nothing but an arrogant murderer, after he sees the consequences of Lelouch’s and Suzaku’s actions and is forced to reevaluate his own morality, she starts to actually understand and trust him, as she knows that his inner conflict and change for the better is genuine.

Auxiliary Introverted Feeling/Fi

I talked a lot about how Kallen gains trust in other people when talking about her Se. Her Fi, however, is why trust matters so much to her to begin with. She will follow a competent leader that shows results, sure, but at the end of the day she will not feel safe as a follower until she knows that the one she is following can be personally trusted. And while she tends to see the Britannian nation as a whole as her enemy, we can still see that her anger and desire for revenge come from a much more personal place than a simple ethical argument. As was pointed out several times, Kallen would have had no difficulty just sticking to her Britannian roots, but she chooses to side with Japan specifically because Britannians are the people who killed her friends and especially her brother and who oppress those who don’t have the strength to resist them.

Compared to Fe, Fi concerns itself a lot more with how people should treat each other regardless of universal rule systems, meaning the part of morality that is unconditional and does not need to be agreed upon. This of course makes it a lot more personal to its user, as it is highly based on personal experiences and the conclusions drawn from them. This is exactly what makes Kallen’s shared Se experiences with people so essential to her, why her perception of them changes so much over time. However, unlike with an ISFP, it’s Kallen’s Fi that assists her Se and not the other way around. Being an auxiliary function, her Fi is what helps her find alternatives to solutions that aren’t quite straightforward to her, to stop and reflect when she can’t just trust her eyes. Because Kallen has quite a developed auxiliary function, she uses it in a healthy way, which makes her a good judge of character a lot of the time, knowing when others act in ways that don’t align with their usual judgement and being able to hold on to her sense of morality and faith in her friends at the most dire of moments. It is exactly this ability, that helps her get Lelouch back from his episode of desperation when Nunnally is revealed to be the new viceroy and what helps her understand Lelouch’s motivations after Zero Requiem has occurred.

Another interesting example to note here is the way in which Lelouch deceives Kallen that he isn’t Zero when they first start working together: he tricks both her Se and then her Fi by first using a fake phone call (providing factual evidence for Se) and later making a remark about how it’s more beneficial for the Japanese to obey Britannian rule (this solidifies the lie, as it completely contrasts with Kallen’s Fi perception of the kind of morally just leader that Zero is to her).

Tertiary Extroverted Thinking/Te

We actually see quite a bit of Kallen’s Te during the series, but it could be suggested that this frequent use of her tertiary is caused by her having to participate in a civil war - not the best place to make good decisions for your personal health and development. Te is essentially what Kallen resorts to when she gets angry, using it defensively: she doesn’t care about what her enemies reasons and motivations for fighting are if they chose the wrong side, instead oversimplifying and seeing most Britannians as simply evil (at least the Britannian military and ruling class). This is mostly to cover for the pain caused by the loss of her friends and brother, using those events to justify her anger. A very similar situation can be seen in regard to Kallen’s mother (more about her in the inferior section), whom Kallen resents and jumps to conclusions about because she is unable to understand her self-sacrificing behaviour. Both situations are eventually solved with a healthy use of Kallen’s Fi, as she allows herself to take time and understand others’ personal motivations instead of judging them just based on what she sees on the outside (Se-Te loop): first with her mother as she realises that she is solely motivated by her daughter’s well-being and later with Gino, when she sees and accepts the human side of some Britannian soldiers like himself.

On a smaller scale Te can help Kallen be a competent pilot and soldier, helping her understand Lelouch’s tactics to a degree, which solidifies her confidence in him, as well as being well disciplined and generally obedient in regards to orders for the sake of being a part of an organised military force. However, as shown with Lelouch’s deception example above, it is when Kallen is forced to rely on her Te that she is the easiest to trick and manipulate.

Inferior Introverted Intuition/Ni

Kallen is a firm believer in actions speaking louder than words and certainly louder than reasons. For her no motivation or well developed theoretical argument, personal or otherwise, can justify doing something amoral or hurting people she cares about. This kind of mentality can at times cause her to misjudge people, whose motivations and personal beliefs aren’t obvious to her or are too well hidden for her to pick up on. Not being able to understand what someone is about causes a lot of fear and frustration in her, the best examples of that being her mother, Suzaku and Lelouch (repeatedly). The first causes her constant frustration and regret, because Kallen is unable to understand that her mother subjects herself to humiliation for her child’s sake, instead being confused and agitated by her “useless” behaviour until she actually overhears her mother talk under the effect of Refrain. Suzaku angers Kallen immensely, because to her he is constantly betraying his people and committing crimes agains them. The evidence speaks for itself to her and she once again completely misses his intentions.

Lelouch’s case is a bit more subtle, and seen especially well at the end of R1 and start of R2: we see that Kallen’s idea of Zero didn’t match the person he turned out to be, which she takes quite personally, as the realisation effectively betrays her expectations and the image of the fair leader she had in mind. When she says that she will “follow Zero, but not Lelouch”, she really means it, because her Se experiences with those two “different” people provide very conflicting evidence (made only worse by the fact that she was lied to by the person she trusted the most). This kind of naivety about the uncertain can be common amongst some developing or unhealthy Se-doms, but in the case of Kallen she manages to overcome it multiple times, seeing and accepting that there can be more to a person than their behaviour suggests.

However, please keep in mind that this is only my opinion on the matter and I will welcome any criticisms or alternative opinions to discuss them. If this article was interesting for you, stay prepared for next time, when I shall discuss the MBTI type of Kaname Ohgi.