Hello! Well this is my first request so I hope that it's everything you were hoping for Koyote-chan! As a general warning you can expect to find all the things you've come to expect from in this story (language, violence, lemons) in due time. This one gets an M rating for a reason! Enjoy!

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann copyright by Gainax

Mia belongs to Koyote-chan and Baku belongs to me!


Viral looked above him to see the Gurren Lagann's form looming over him. Perhaps a battle was still going on, but he couldn't be sure. He felt delirious and cold, his body craving only sleep. The only sounds he heard were muffled noises, too quiet to accurately discern their origin. He thought briefly on these little noises, wondering if perhaps they were his comrades, or maybe his enemies, but the thought died before it could evolve further.

The young beastman's body was going numb, his mind going blank, his vision going dark. The only feeling that pierced through the descending vale of silence and darkness was that of cooling blood that was pooled beneath him. 'Mmm, I guess it's over' Viral thought peacefully, his eyes drooping from fatigue. A smile stretched across his face as he thought about of dying and how nice it might be, but a sound suddenly invaded his serenity.

"Viral, it's not time for you to go yet," a voice seemed to whisper. The voice startled him and looked around quickly to see where it had come from. The scene seemed exactly the same, as if time had frozen, but then he noticed a figure appear in front of him. It was the figure of what appeared to be a young female human with flowing brown hair, but she had two blue coyote ears. That meant that this girl was a beastman but she was more human than any beastman Viral had seen before.

"What do you mean? Since when can you decide when it's time for someone to die?" he asked in a slightly sarcastic tone. The girl cocked her head and looked at him with confusion etched over her face, but after a moment her expression softened and she giggled.

"I don't think I've ever decided when it was someone's time," she said tenderly as she appeared in Enki's cockpit and lay against Viral. "I just know that it's not yours." Viral's head was swimming. He had no idea what was happening, and began to wonder if this was a hallucination or a near death experience.

"Is this what happens when you die?" Viral asked in a hoarse voice. The girl shook her head.

"No, this is what happens just before you wake up…"

A moment later two golden eyes snapped open in a dark room. Viral scanned his surroundings and found that he was in a hospital room. Around tiny monitors blinked and whirred, keeping track of the medications being pumped into his body, and his heart rate and breathing. Occasional beeps were heard as the machines monitored the amount of blood and fluids that hung from a metal frame beside his bed, but the steady sounds were almost comforting. Viral was welcoming any noise as he lay in this sterile environment.

He pinched his eyes shut and tried to remember what had happened during the battle. He remembered the Gurren Lagann and then darkness. No, that wasn't good enough. He had to try harder. He relaxed and let his mind wander slowly backwards until something else came to him. He remembered a girl, a girl with flowing brown hair and coyote ears.

How could he have forgotten this person? She was the last person he had seen or talked to before he blacked out. But still, something just didn't make sense. Was she real or had she merely been a hallucination? The more Viral thought of the girl the more she seemed to be unreal. She couldn't have possibly been there in person because she had not been in a gunmen. Also she was far too human looking to be a true beastman, wasn't she? None of the evidence supported this girl being real. She must have been a hallucination after all.

As Viral came to his conclusion the door to the room opened with a little click. Viral turned his head and was surprised to see that it was General Thymilph who was standing in the door way. The large gorilla man obscured the light from the hallway behind him but Viral could see he was covered in bandages. Obviously the battle had taken a fierce toll on others as well.

"It seems you got a little beat up there, Viral," Thymilph chuckled as he tried to get through the small door but gave it up once he realized he was too big to fit through the opening. Viral slowly sat up taking care not to pull out any of his IVs and carefully raised his hand to salute his general.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to be of more assistance to you, Sir," he said in a very shaky voice. His throat was incredibly dry and it hurt to talk. He really wanted some water but he wasn't about to ask his general for anything. After all he had just failed at his mission.

"You'll just have to try harder next time is all," Thymilph replied. Viral nodded. "Since you're awake you mine as well get dressed and get something to eat. If you don't keep your strength up you won't be ready for the next battle," the general said as he turned and walked off. Viral looked after his general and sighed. The meeting could have gone worse, but quite honestly he didn't want to get up.

The passages of the capital were clogged with other beastmen running this way and that to get their daily tasks done. There wasn't much room to move without getting bumped by others and Viral was finding this to be quite a nuisance as he limped down one of the capital's clogged arteries. He kept his crutch as close to him as he could so he wouldn't lose it but it would still be of use to him. He was still jostled by other bodies however and every bump seemed to vibrate through his body and aggravate every wound.

It was really quite annoying that people never gave any lead way to the wounded but that's the way things always were. Viral had to admit he was guilty of this as well, but now he realized how horrible it was to be injured and pushed around. When a passage way that was far less crowded appeared to the right of him he quickly decided to take it. The passage was cold and poorly lit but at least it was far easier to move than it was in the main passage.

As he moved down the hall an occasional window shone a pale amber light onto his form. His gold eyes traced lazily between the portals looking to see what lay in the rooms beyond. Each room was large and many of them held damaged gunmen. It was clear that he had wandered into one of the many hanger passages that were weaved throughout Templin.

As he passed by one of the final windows the gunmen inside caught his eye. He stopped and realized that it was indeed his Enki with a small swarm of engineers carefully assessing and repairing its damaged form. The sight made him stop and he walked to the rail in front of the window to watch the other beastmen work. From what he could see Enki had sustained about as much damage as he himself had. Viral sighed at the depressing sight.

"Sorry about that, old friend," Viral murmured. He was about to continue his needlessly scenic route when another sight caught his eye. He had to do a double take to make sure he was truly seeing what he thought. Long brown hair, blue coyote ears, and bright silver eyes. This was the exact girl he had sworn was a hallucination caused by a near death experience, but there she was standing not twenty feet from him. Viral could only gape as he watched the girl talk casually with a sheep girl who was obviously in charge of the repairs on his gunmen. If this girl was really real he had to talk to her.

Viral turned to hobble toward the door to the hanger but was stopped by a quick tug on the shoulder. He turned to see a happy human like beastman with large ears and a bushy tail that swished in eagerness behind its owner. It was Baku who was one of Viral's best friends.

"Hey Captain, where you off to in such a rush?" the fox soldier asked with a smile.

"Well I was… I was heading for the…" Viral found himself tripping over his words far more than he would have preferred, but his nerves were still frayed from the fight.

"You were just heading off to eat? Great! So was I! We can go together!!" Baku chimed happily and he gently pulled Viral after him. Viral tried to sputter a quick response to make Baku stop, but he couldn't find the right words.

"Who's the coyote girl?" was all he could manage.

"That's Mia, but we can talk about her while we eat Captain, so let's go! I'm starving!" Baku said in a sing-song voice. Viral's eyes caught one last glimpse of Mia as he was dragged out of the hall back toward one of the main passages.

"Mia..." he breathed quietly. The vision of the girl lingered in his mind as he was lead along and as he thought he found that one glimpse of her had been enough to enchant him entirely.


AN: And finally the first chapter arrives! I hope it lives up to expectations. Let me know if anything needs to be changed around and I'll be happy to do it! Hope that everyone is looking forward to the next chapter!