The Day a Demon Awakens (episode)

The Day a Demon Awakens is the first episode of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2.

Summary
One year after the First Black Rebellion, Lelouch Lamperouge has resumed his normal school life with no apparent memories of the year before. After skipping remedial gym class, he sets off with younger brother Rolo to gamble at Babel Tower. Led by C.C., the Order of the Black Knights launches an attack on the complex to retrieve Lelouch. C.C. reawakens his memories, and Lelouch resumes his identity as Zero, while Suzaku Kururugi declares to the Emperor that he will personally kill Zero.

Plot
The year is now 2018, just under a year after the events of the Black Rebellion. At the Tokyo Settlement, a giant orange blimp is shown flying over. A woman on the blimp speaks to a flight manager via radio, and gives him the flight path, purpose of flying (advertising), and flight duration (14 hours). However, the woman is revealed to actually be C.C., who after finishing her call smiles to herself. Behind her, Kosetsu Urabe talks with six other members of the Black Knights and several Burai, and tells them that they are all that remains of the once-mighty organization. He declares that it is too early to give into despair despite the absence of Zero, and acknowledges that they must win this fight. As he begins to appear emotional, all of the men drink from white cups, then shatter them on the ground while declaring, "Long live Japan"!

However, at that same moment, Lelouch Lamperouge is seen walking around the halls of Ashford Academy when someone calls his name. As Lelouch remarks on her persistence, the person is revealed to be Villetta Nu, who says he won't get away. At that moment, Lelouch sprints away past the other students, who cheer him on. Tired, he eventually runs into a science lab, where Villetta corners him. Lelouch questions why she would go so far just so he will make up a PE class, though Villetta says it is for all of his classes. While saying his grades are fine as they are, Lelouch pours some liquid into a Petri dish of more liquid, covering the area in harmless pink smoke and allowing him to get away. As he sprints down the stairs, Milly Ashford sees him and gives him a bag of food, which he takes; Villetta chastises the move, but she rides it off as being absent-minded. Villetta then sees Lelouch running across the sidewalk, and proceeds to jump from the building onto him. However, it is actually Rivalz Cardemonde in disguise, who muses if she is trying to kill him. Villetta then sees Lelouch speed away on Rivalz's sidecar, promising to return it. From a window, Shirley Fenette notices the commotion and wonders what is up, notably calling him "Lulu". While on the road, Lelouch is shown to be in the sidecar, with another boy driving. Lelouch muses on how the teachers will never give him a break when he is clearly bored with their lessons, and the boy, who calls Lelouch "Big Brother", says it's only because he always is skipping class. Lelouch then hands him some of Milly's bread, which nearly causes them to crash when the boy reaches down to take a bite. Lelouch then reflects on everything that happened since the Black Rebellion, but appears to have no memory of the fact that he, in fact, was Zero. Instead, he notes that things have quieted down since that day, and that he almost thought of returning to the homeland with the boy, whom he also refers to as his brother, whose name is Rolo Lamperouge. Rolo then asks if he has filled out a college/career form Villetta wanted him to sign (revealing she is a coach at Ashford), but Lelouch says he is doubtful about it because he is anxious to get out of school but also not wanting to get into the adult world. He then notes to himself that even if he graduated, there would still be people giving him orders. As they are stopped at a red light, they see a man give the order for a firing squad to gun down several people. The man declares that it is not discrimination but differentiation, and also a necessity because of the Black Knights; images are then shown of numerous Japanese people getting maltreated, showing that even after Euphemia li Britannia's massacre, no one's well-being has changed. Rolo then drives by several wanted posters, with Kaname Ohgi, Kyoshiro Tohdoh, a bruised Shinichiro Tamaki, and Nagisa Chiba listed among the captured, Diethard Ried and Rakshata Chawla listed among the wanted - and Zero among the executed. Lelouch declares Zero a fool, and that the Elevens should have just accepted their place in the world.

Meanwhile, at Britannia's Area 11 headquarters, the man from the video, who is revealed to be the new Viceroy, Calares, receives a message that delegates from the Chinese Federation are waiting for him, while Gilbert G.P. Guilford looks on. He is also notified that forces are heading towards Babel Tower, but Calares questions the necessity of this since the Black Knights could not possibly do anything. At the same time, Elevens are shown hideously working at a construction site, while a group of soldiers are shown monitoring Lelouch; they debate on whether or not they should allow Lelouch to go so far away from Ashford and whether or not a woman will show up, and it is shown that Lelouch and Rolo are heading to Babel Tower. When they get into the parking lot, Lelouch allows Rolo to come with him but notes that he will be breaking the law today; although supportive, Rolo questions why he would do this, and Lelouch says it's because he wants to face more challenging opponents, though on the elevator Lelouch thinks to himself that he only does it out of sheer boredom.

When they get inside, they come upon a casino, and at the bottom they see two Eleven brothers brutally fighting each other while Britannians laugh at the scene. Rolo asks to leave, but Lelouch says it is easy to figure out the scenario, and notes how this very scene shows how Elevens can never match the Britannians, as shown with Genbu Kururugi and Zero. Lelouch then bumps into a waitress/prostitute dressed in a revealing pink bunny suit, causing her to drop two glasses of wine onto his leg. Apologizing, the waitress gets on her knees and begins wiping the stain with a towel, calling the act inexcusable. Lelouch tries to pardon her by saying that Elevens should not have to have the Britannians constantly imposing them, but the waitress says that they can live an ordinary life if they just bow their head to Britannia, and it is revealed that the waitress is a disguised Kallen Kozuki merely quoting her old friend. Lelouch, however, does not appear to recognize her, and rubs off "her" political values. Kallen continues to try and wipe the spot, notably holding a tracking device in her hand, but a man suddenly grabs her by the hand and pulls her up, causing her to drop the device without Lelouch noticing. The man inspects the "bunny" and decides to choose her from four other bunnies despite Kallen's claims she isn't for sale; this appears to anger Lelouch, and the soldiers seem to notice the commotion. The man, who is revealed to be part of the mafia, then notes that Charles zi Britannia claims that the Elevens have no rights. Lelouch calls the man arrogant, and when the man tells him to leave "the adult world", Lelouch challenges him to chess. Rolo tries to get him to stop, and in turn the man decides to brush him off again, but Lelouch reveals that the man is The Black King, a famous illegal chess player. At the same time, C.C.'s blimp files overhead.

In a prison cell, some prison guards push a bounded Tamaki onto the ground, who curses them by saying that if Zero were there they wouldn't be doing this. Chiba, sitting around her cell, promptly tells him not to mention "the traitor's" name, and the guards continue to abuse Tamaki. In another cell, a fully recovered Ohgi says that there had to be a reason, but Chiba rebukes this. Across the hall, Tohdoh tells everyone to stop, because regardless Zero is dead; Ohgi appears shocked at this. At the same time, Lelouch defeats the Black King at his own game, to everyone's shock. The Black King proceeds to twiddle his thumbs and wonder about the game's reputation, then proceeds to claim Lelouch cheated. Lelouch promptly denies it, as does Kallen and Rolo, but the Black King tells his guards to apprehend him. Lelouch claims that he is lying, and it is shown that he is just to win the gamble by proceeding to pull out a gun as Lelouch's face is slammed into the ground. Before anything further can happen, C.C.'s blimp comes right above and shakes the foundations, distracting the Black King long enough for Kallen to promptly kick him in the face and knock out his bodyguards. The blimp proceeds to begin firing machine guns while Urabe deploys the Knightmares (including Lelouch's old Burai), while Kallen suddenly grabs Lelouch's hand and drags him away from the scene, to his horror and confusion, as Rolo follows. At the same, the soldiers watching Lelouch deploy Sutherlands.

Meanwhile, Calares meets with two delegates from the Chinese Federation, Li Xingke and Gao Hai. Hai questions why they are all armed when Zero is dead, and Calares denies it by saying Britannians always do this. Two guards then approach Xingke and ask him to hand over his sword, claiming their security is fine, but Xingke proceeds to take the sword and slice off both of their belts at lightning speed; Hai says that that was rude, but Xingke says that Chinese always do this. They all then notice the commotion at Babel Tower. At the tower, Kallen suddenly sees the illusion of a small heart-shaped locket and falls on the ground, with Rolo taking the opportunity to take Lelouch away from the scene; Kallen tries to follow, but rubble blocks her path. Kallen reports this to the blimp, prompting the other Black Knights to head in after Urabe. They defeat several helicopters while the Britannian soldiers move in, and it is noted that Calares has no idea about Zero's true whereabouts. Lelouch and Rolo come into a lobby, where Zero's old Burai appears before them and gestures for Lelouch to come with it. However, the soldiers move in and proceed to not only shoot off one of its arms but also gun down several civilians. As Lelouch and Rolo head for an exit, Kallen rendezvous with other Black Knights and activates the Guren Mk-II, now equipped with a silver prosthetic to replace the one destroyed in the Rebellion. Lelouch and Rolo head into a storage closet, where they prepare to hide and try to find a way out, although Rolo seems uneasy about it. Lelouch then notices a Black Knight shooting at Rolo, and when he pushes Rolo out of the way, a blast of debris suddenly pushes him off a rail and down a giant pit. At the same time, Shirley complains about how Lelouch is passing all of his habits to Rolo while Milly and Rivalz tease her, proving that Shirley likes Lelouch again somehow.

Lelouch falls onto a green tarp, breaking his fall. He tries to call Rolo, but gets no signal. With no other choice, he heads up a long flight of stairs, desperate to try and save his brother at the very least. As he heads up, he comes into a room littered with corpses that had just been gunned down, including the Black King, and believes the Black Knights killed them as Elevens also are dead. As he nearly gets sick, Lelouch notices one person holding a bloody photo of Zero, and questions their allegiance. Just then, he notices the same Burai from before, and is forced to stop. The pilot, however, comes out of the Burai, revealing herself as C.C. She tells him that she is there to rescue him, and mentions their contract as well as how she is the only one who knows who he truly is. Confused, Lelouch approaches C.C., but she is suddenly shot in the back and falls into Lelouch's arms. As Lelouch tries to shake her awake, he notices the same Britannian soldiers staring down on him, and watches as they set everyone's bodies on purple fire, even gunning down a woman, revealing that they killed all the people. The head soldier, a baron, tells Lelouch that he served his function well, having monitored his moves the entire day; the baron then says that they were trying to lure C.C. out of hiding the entire time. They then prepare to dispose of Lelouch by gunning him down. Lelouch begins to fall into despair, and bemoans that if he only had power, he would be able to change the world. At that moment, C.C. regains consciousness, grabs him by the head, and kisses him. This causes Lelouch to receive a Geass illusion involving Jupiter. In the illusion, C.C. reveals that Lelouch has been suffering from amnesia, causing the Geass he has to be suppressed, and tells him to remember who he truly is before activating her Code mid-illusion. Lelouch then begins to see illusions of what actually happened that previous year, and notes how phony memories were implanted into his brain, revealing that he remembers everything again, including that he is Zero. He then remembers a certain figure refusing forgiveness, because they are friends.

With all his memories in place, Lelouch and C.C. stand up, and the former questions the soldiers on whether or not power is evil, and proceeds to command all the soldiers to die with his Geass, which has reactivated, notably showing a new mental vision when it happens. All the soldiers proceed to gun each other down, and Lelouch muses on how he lost a year in his current state, but that it's the world's fault it happened, and he will now change the world. Urabe and Kallen then come in and ask for his orders. And meanwhile, in Britannia, Charles meets with the regal figure from Lelouch's past - Suzaku Kururugi, who appears to still be insane from Euphemia's death - along with two others, and listens as Suzaku declares that he, personally, will kill Zero.

Battles

 * Second Black Rebellion (Started)
 * Battle of Babel Tower (Started)

Powers or Abilities used

 * Lelouch's Geass

Quotes

 * "We're the only ones left now. This is all that remains of the Black Knights who, along with Zero, once struck terror in the heart of Britannia. Still, it's too soon to give in to despair. If operation flying swallow 4 is successful then... Forgive me. Here's to you. For victory! Long live Japan!" -Kosetsu


 * Conversation between Lelouch and Kallen
 * "But, I'm and Eleven and you're a Britannian student. This is inexcusable." -Kallen
 * "All the more reason to excuse you." -Lelouch


 * "Is this the end for me? Without even knowing why. So matter of factly? To hell with that. Power. If I only had power. Power to escape this place. Power not to lose the world." -Lelouch


 * "I see now. Persistent irritation that pricked me like thorns in my everyday life. Yes. It was all the phony memories implanted in me. But, I remember now. I am, I am, I am Zero!" -Lelouch


 * Conversation between Lelouch and unnamed soldier
 * "Before you dispose of me, I'd like you to answer a question. If being powerless is so terrible wrong then does having power make you right? Do you find vengeance evil? What's your value of friendship is it justice?" -Lelouch
 * "There's no justice or evil. The only truth that's left for you bait, is the simple reality of death." -Soldier
 * "I see. Then that reality is all that remains for you as well. I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you, all of you, die!" -Lelouch


 * "Ever since that day my heart simply couldn't accept it. This fake life I was never able to fit into. All the time that was lost. These false memories planted in me giving me a life as one of the herd. And yet, the truth continues to guide me toward itself. That's right. It wasn't me who was wrong. It was the world. The world has to change so I will change it." -Lelouch


 * "I can't forgive them. I must not forgive them. My memories are my own personal and individual reality. They are the truth and that truth defines me. Someone trampled them. I was tamed like a domestic animal and looked down upon as mere bait. The time for payback has come. Now I'll give Britannia something to remember. The true meaning of Zero's return to this world. Because I no longer have need for their deceptive rule." -Lelouch (Preview for the next episode)

Trivia

 * After Lelouch wins the chess game, a look at the board reveals that he actually doesn't have a checkmate.