Disclaimer: I don't own Gurren Lagann or Aldnoah Zero. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Episode 1: Heavens Fall
During the Apollo 17 Mission 1972 the astronauts discovered on the dark side of the moon the so called Hyper Gate, a remnant of an ancient Alien civilization. Through the Hyper Gate the humans were able to reach the next planet to Earth of the solar system, the Mars. People began investigations from Earth through the Hyper Gate as they found the ruins of the civilization that had built the Hyper Gate on Mars as well.
Within them the scientists found an ancient technology called Aldnoah. The first human that made contact with it was a scientist now known Rayregalia Vers Rayvers, who was then chosen by the Aldnoah as the rightful successor of the old civilization. Shortly after Rayregalia declared the Independence of the Mars from Earth and was crowned as the first emperor of the new founded Vers Empire. Mars was from that moment on referred as Vers by the martians or versians. The planet got colonized quickly and thanks to the aldnoah technology, their own technology evolved much faster than that on Earth, allowing the population on Mars to grow.
The creation of the Vers Empire however led on Earth to the establishment of the United Earth Government, an alliance of all nations of Earth for the case of a conflict with the Vers Empire. At first it seemed that both governments could coexist as long as they didn't messed with one another, however this false peace was shattered in the year 1999, 27 years after the colonization of the red planet.
Fall 1999, Japan
The streets of a certain japanese city were like usually filled with people, that walked to their workplaces or schools in the morning as the traffic had to stop for them, before they drove over the roads again. In this suburb at the very edge of the city the daily life of the people was still going it's normal routine here as the Vers Empire had declared war on the United Earth. Some people had panicked and already left the big cities to bring their families to saftey, while others wished to stay there. It was after all a very unusual situation for all of them.
Not bothered by all that happened around them, a group of small primary school children was walking through the streets to get to their classes in time as they chatted with one another or argued with each other. Among them was a certain boy with blue spiky hair and red eyes who looked up into the clouds with a frown. His backpack was lazily slung over one shoulder as the boy either didn't took notice of it or didn't cared about it.
"Why the hell can't the way to school be shorter when it is so boring?" He groaned as he walked down the streets, where the people head to their own destinations. He would rather stay at home, but he knew that he couldn't do that. His mother died at young age and his father had to work long to enable them to live like they did now. If he wanted to support the family as a fellow man he'd have to get a good job and for that he would have to survive school first without dying from boredom. Life wasn't really bad, though it could be better, but then again it always could be better.
"Yeah I know right?" Said a voice next to him, snapping the boy out of his thoughts. Turning his head to the scource of the noise, the bluenette saw another boy about his age with spiky blonde hair and grey eyes. His hands were in the pockets of his pants as if he tried to look arrogant or cool with a smirk on his face.
"Hey uhm...uh... what was your name again?" The bluenette said as an anger tick appeared on the blonde's forehead.
"The hell Kamina? We know each other already since the kindergarten and you still can't remember my name?!" He yelled right into Kamina's ears.
"Then you should know that I can't get your name, alright whatever-your-name-is?!" Kamina yelled back.
"IT'S KITTAN YOU DUMBASS!?"
"CALL ME THAT AGAIN?!" Both boys butted heads as sparks seemed to fly between their eyes. Neither of them took a step back or looked away as they continued to walk next to another and growled at each other.
"No need to yell guys. You might wake up the dead. Geez." A new voice said. Both boys turned around as they saw two of their friends. One was a boy with orange hair as he picked the wax out of his ears, most likely due the volume Kamina and Kittan argued with one another. The other one was a boy who seemed to be older and around Kamina's and Kittan's age. He had dark eyes and blue hair, that was a little bit longer than it usually was for boys of their age.
"You already get into trouble before we even reached the school. If that goes on you might get a lot of trouble with the teachers, because you got into a fight again." He said.
"Oh hey Kid, Iraak." Kamina greeted them as he bumped fists with them. Even the blue haired Iraak smiled slightly and bumped fist with Kamina.
"YOU REMEMBER THEM BUT NOT ME?!" Kittan said 'slightly' irritated. The Coeega brothers chuckled at this while Kamina looked confused.
"Who are you again?" He asked.
"KAMINA!" Kittan yelled as the two boys ended up arguing with each other again. The two brothers only shrugged as they were used to this kind of thing already. The four of them had grown up togehter, had went to the same kindergarten and become friends rather quickly. Kamina and Kittan maybe were rivals but they respected one another. The four of them were good friends and even Kid, who was the youngest of them, had a place among them as an equal member of their group.
Back then some Kids tried to pick on Kid for his hair color and the fact that he was mostly around his older brother gave him the title of a crybaby, but Kamina and Kittan, who knew each other at that Point already, jumped right in and beat the hell out of those bullies yelling 'Who the hell do you think we are?'. A lecture of the teacher and a treatment of some bruises later everything was already again like it was before. And so the four of them stuck together.
They continued their walk to the school just like every other day. That was until they stopped as the entire group of children had stopped in front of them. The four Boys looked confused at this.
"Are the traffic lights red or something?" Kid said as he tried to look over the heads of the other children.
"Don't remember here being any traffic lights or a road." Kamina said.
"That's because you never pay attention when we walk to school! It's a miracle that weren't run over by a car yet!" Kittan yelled as the 4 of them tried to figure out what was going on. Then the other children moved again, confusing the 4 of them even more until they saw a bald policeman with a stern looking face signaling the traffic to let the children over the road. In that Moment the Iraak noticed that all the traffic lights had suddenly been shut down. Somewhere further down the road a car had crashed into the back of another one as the Drivers were arguing who was the one to blame.
"A power cut here?" He said confused. "Seems like the city has saved money at the maintenance of the power network." He said.
"Still... it's weird for this to happen here. Especially for the traffic." Kittan said more to himself than to the others. The boys shrugged it off as they walked over the street. "We better get moving before the teacher gets mad." Kittan said.
"Did you got the one task in the homework?" Iraak asked.
"Dammit I forgot that completely!" Kamina exclaimed.
"Typical for you." Kittan said with a deadpan, making Kamina angrier.
"Shut it you idiot!" He roared.
"You want some you bozo?" Kittan yelled back as both butted heads again and growled at one another as they stormed towards the school, without breaking their intensive staring contest. Iraak and Kid could only run after them to give them at least a copy of the homework before classes would begin. They all just hoped that they would survive this school day.
A few hours later, several miles in the south of Japan's coast
A man with tanned skin, red eyes and long blonde hair looked at a piece of paper in his hands. It was a picture of his daughter and wife. Both girls had fair skin and blue hair, but while the woman's hair was completely blue, the young girl's looked a little like a cloud as it had both blue and pale blonde strands. A small smile crept on his face as he looked at the picture, despite the fact that he couldn't be with them right now.
He was on board of an air freighter in front of the japanese coast. He wore the white uniform of the United Forces of Earth Navy as he looked from the bridge at the blue ocean. The reason why his ship had been ordered to patrol in the east of the japanese islands was of course the declaration of war from the Vers Empire on Mars a couple of days ago. It was easy for him to say that the entire world was not just nervous about that. No, the United Earth was downright terrified of this idea. He couldn't blame them though. After all it would be the first time that mankind would fight on a scale of two worlds, that were connected through an alien structure on the moon. Right now, every ship available was on standby while the soldiers hoped that they would survive the upcoming storm.
"Captain Teppelin!" Came a voice behind the blonde man as he put the picture of his family away. He turned around and saw a private from the ship as he saluted. Captain Teppelin returned the gesture.
"Speak up private." He said in a stern voice, but without any hostility.
"Sir! We received a message from the headquarters. It seems like the martians have started their assault!" The private said as the entire bridge froze at this and all eyes were directed on him. A few gasps could be heard as some of the crew still couldn't believe that it was actually happening.
"Where is the attack supposed to be?" Teppelin asked. He seemed unfazed by this message.
"In the south. All ships were ordered to get combat ready now as they expect the martians to head in all directions once they started their assault." The private said. Teppelin adjusted the cap on his head as he looked at his Crew.
"Everyone on battle stations! This is no drill! I want this entire area scanned for enemy troops and get every gun ready to fire at command! Arm all positions! Check on every available man and gun that we have! We need all manpower combat ready ASAP! We follow our instructions and set course to the south." He said in a commanding tone as the crew did as ordered and an alarm blared through the ship's hull. "You did well private. Now go and prepare." Teppelin said without turning to the man, who saluted before running off. Narrowing his eyes he crossed his arms as he looked into the south. In the distance he saw other battleships heading in the same direction or turning to the south. "I have a really bad feeling about this." He thought loud.
About one hour later
Kamina almost fell asleep during the classes as his teacher just repeated the same boring topic that they had done yesterday. Iraak was more concentrated as he took notes like a computer and Kittan who sat at the row next to the windows of the room looked outside with his hand holding up his head. He noticed how suddenly the cars began to form a traffic jam and how Police cars rushed down the road. Something was wrong.
In that moment the speakers in the room went on.
"THIS IS A MESSAGE TO ALL STUDENTS. BECAUSE OF THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE CONFLICT WITH THE VERS EMPIRE, THE SCHOOL IS CANCELLED." The headmaster spoke. "PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND WALK OUTSIDE IN COMPANY WITH YOUR TUTORS TO THE YARD. I REPEAT, REMAIN CALM AND WALK IN COMPANY OF YOUR TUTOR TO THE SCHOOLYARD." The loudspeaker went off at this as all students began to pack their stuff as fast as possible. Even Kamina woke up at this and snapped out his half asleep state of mind.
"What the hell?" He asked himself as he got his backpack on the back and walked outside. On the schoolyard were multiple trucks of the army present. "What's going on?" Kamina asked Kittan.
"Looks like the army is bringing the people away from here like in those movies." He said. Immediately the boys thought about their families as each of them felt the dread that something could happen to them crawl up their spines. Kamina took that very serious as he bolted away.
"Kamina! Where are you going?" Iraak yelled after him.
"I need to get home and find my dad. Go on without me." Kamina yelled over his shoulder.
"Get back here you idiot! You'll get yourself killed!" Kittan yelled back.
"I'll be fine. Just who the hell do you think I am?" The boys heard Kamina yell as he disappeared behind a corner. One of the soldiers wanted to go after Kamina, but another man, most likely their superior given the medals and cap, stopped them.
"Don't bother that kid. Another evacuation team will pick him up. Our first priority is to get the teachers and students out of here." He said as the soldier saluted and went back to the task in front of him.
Meanwhile several miles away from the City, Tanegashima
The warship under the command of Captain Teppelin had arrived at the coast of the island of Tanegashima in the southwest of Japan. There was a confirmed enemy sighting on the island as all members of the Crew had grown annxious about the fact that they would soon be in front of their enemy. Teppelin didn't like this idea at all. No, his instincts told him to turn the ship and safe his creew from certain death, but an order was an order. He had no choice but obey. Still that didn't mean he was alright with this.
"Sir we are in position." Another Crew member informed the captain.
"All tank have been checked sir. We are ready." Another one said as no one did a move without the captain's confirmation. It was his word that would sent them to death. He knew that much too well. When this is going down, he would be the one to blame for the deaths of all these brave men and women. Taking a last deep breath Captain Teppelin nodded.
"Get the tanks on the Island! When the enemy is spotted, confirm it's location and sent the coordinates to all ships for supporting fire. Do not fire at will until I give the order to." He said as from the carrier smaller boats carried the tanks over to the island. What usually was a good strategy was in this case more or less the most simple one. They had no knowledge about what the enemy could do or what aces they had in their sleaves. Also his own ships had no far range cannons that could reach the center of the island unless they would get very close to the coast line, which meant that they would have to rely on the other ships.
Was there one enemy? 2? Maybe a battalion? No one knew how the versians did operate their troops on the field and what technology they had. Since that Rayregalia had touched that aldnoah technology, there was more or less silence between the two planets. All because one man uncovered the secret of an ancient technology and declared the independence of Mars to Earth for what seemed to be no reason at all.
He closed his eyes in thought. There was no reason to think about the how or why in this conflict. What mattered was that the versians had launched an attack, no an invasion on Earth, that would not hesitate to kill innocent bystanders and that they needed to be stopped before any more people die for nothing. He had already heard from the other battleships around the island what they had seen about destroyed towns and battleships. It all reminded him of a fight long ago, in which we had participated in a similiar role.
In this moment 5 battleships had surrounded the island and deployed their tanks to attack the enemy. The strategy was o first locate the enemy on the Island, before closing in from all other sides to prevent it to escape. It was very risky, due the platoon that would find the enemy first would have no other backup and basically would be nothing, but a target practice for the versians. Though the best way would be that they could defeat the enemy on their own through some miracle, the destruction that was already caused by the versian troops was more than enough to prove that a platoon of tanks was not enough to take them down.
After about 15 minutes all tanks had been brought to the island and now scouted the area for the enemy. It was then when suddenly the communications flared up to live.
"Sir! Confirming enemy location at- OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?!" A panicked voice screamed on the other side of the radio as a scream tore through the speakers of the ship, before the Connection was terminated.
"Soldier come in! What is going on there?" The captain tried to get through, but he was only met with the sound of a dead communication line. "Any tank that hears me, this is captain Teppelin of the UFE Navy. If you hear me, answer me!" He commanded, but he heard nothing, but a few panicked screams. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist down the table as he looked at the pillar of black smoke that ascended from the Island. In the center of the island was a faint orange glow visible. Something burned so bright that it was even visible from here as sparks rose up with the hot air only to fade away in the air.
A chill ran down all the crew members of the ship as they looked at the island. Some people cried, while others held their hand in front of their mouths, most ere silent in horror. The captain however looked with silent fury at the island. He grabbed the radio and chnaaged the frequence at this.
"Here speaks the carrier Nagisa. Is there any battleship?" Teppelin asked.
"Here ?§ the destroyer &%! Any idea2? beat These guys?" The radio signal came through the speakers. The captain turned to his crew.
"Improve the signal immediately!" He yelled at them as they worked on it. He grabbed his speaker and began to explain. "Alright destroyer, the enemy was sighted at the eastern end of the island. I need you and at best some others to fire your guns at the last location of the enemy." Teppelin said.
"What? That's insane! But then we'd hit our own troops!" The other captain yelled on the other side.
"We have lost contact with our platoons about 3 minutes ago. If you did the same earlier we have to consider that they didn't make it." Teppelin said in a cold voice. There was a 'tch' on the other end as he continued. "This enemy took out all tanks that we sent at it. If we let them escape from this island we can no longer guarantee the safety of civilians elsewhere. We have to stop them here or else the sacrifise of our friends was in vain." Teppelin said. A silence descended upon the ship as the other ship replied.
"Understood. Relocating and aiming for the eastern part of the island." The other captain said. Teppelin hated this moment. Now he could only look and wait as he couldn't help. He really wished that he-
"SIR! Enemy fighter located at 5 o'clock. It's heading towards the destroyers!" Another panicked voice tore through the bridge. In that moment Teppelin saw a black and violet streak shot across the sky. Then there was a sound of explosions in the distance.
"Load all anti-air cannons at once! Everyone on battle stations! We nred to take that fighter down." The captain said as he walked towards the exit of the bridge.
"Sir! Where are you going?!" Another private yelled making him stop. He turned around slightly, giving the men and women, who had dedicated their lifes to their country as soldiers willing to die, a look that only told them how dead serious he was.
"I'm tired of people dying in my place." He said as walked out the bridge. The privates looked shocked or confused at the man's words as they began to fulfill his last order.
Meanwhile the captain left the ship with one of the boats that had been used for the tanks with a black plane drapped over it. The man himself stood at the front with his arms crossed as his blonde hair fluttered in the wind and the boat sped with full speed towards the beach.
Meanwhile in the city
Kamina ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't care for the cars, that tried to get out of this city as he only wished to get home and tell his father to come with him. He hoped that he wasn't too late already. He ran so fast that he almost tripped a couple of times only to regain his balance quickly afterwards. He dodged other People that ran to their cars, jumped over stray cats and trashcans and climbed over small walls and fences to reach his home faster.
He knew that the soldiers had already brought the students into the trucks and left the city. All the People he saw on his way back home looked afraid and some of the children cried as they couldn't understand what was going on. Kamina didn't knew as well, but he didn't care. All he cared about was to safe the only Family he had left in this world. He already had lost his mother. He would not lose his father too!
When he arrived at his house, Kamina found the door open. Not wasting time to think about it, he rushed up the stairs and into his apartment, where found his fahter packing food and clothes into bags.
"Dad!" Kamina shouted as his father looked at him surprised.
"Kamina? What are you doing here? Were you not evacuated with the others?" His father said as he looked at his son, before returning to packing things, not waiting for his son to explain why he had run all the way back from his school here. "Kamina listen. We need to get out of the city. Take what you need and meet me in 10 minutes at the doors. Okay?" He asked.
"Got it." Kamina replied with a grin. His father ruffled his hair a little as he shot him a Kind smile.
"Good then go now." Kamina's father said as his son rushed into his room and put grabbed his spare clothes into the backpack. Normally Kamina would now have thrown his school books out, but he simply had no time for that. If he threw everything out now he might have more space, but less time. He maybe didn't knew what was going on, but he knew it was something big. The minutes rushed past the two men as they finished packing after 5 minutes and ran out the building to the streets.
"Alright Kamina. We Need to find one of those trucks- KAMINA?!" His father shouted as he was about to tell his son what they were looking for, but Kamina was already one step ahead as he ran after one of the trucks at the end of their street.
"HEY! WAIT THE HELL UP!" He shouted after them as he ran around the corner. Kamina's father ran after his son in desperation to lose his son after he had already lost his wife, not caring the slightest about Kamina's language. However as he came around the corner he saw that Kamina had made the truck driver stop.
"Kamina, you lucky bastard." Kamina's father muttered quite enough for his son to not hear it.
"Come on! We need to get out of here." The driver yelled as he let Kamina and his dad climb in before the truck drove out the city. They were already a few kilometers outside the city as Kamina dared to ask his father.
"Dad what is going on?" Kamina asked.
"I don't really know myself, but don't worry. Everything will be fine son." His father said. It was this moment that suddenly a bright light filled the truck. People cried out in fear as suddenly a massive explosion tore through the air and a shockwave rushed over the land, flipping the truck over. Kamina's vision got black at this point.
? later
The young Kamina woke up coughing as dust and ashes had filled his lungs. His eyes burnt and his ears ringed like when Kittan yelled him right in the ear only much more intense at this point. He pushed himself up with his Hands as he looked around himself. The picture that he saw made him freeze in shock.
The entire landscape had changed. Everywhere it burnt and thick black clouds of smoke climbed up into the sky. Where once the city had been Kamina saw a couple of massive craters. The sound of the flames was the only thing Kamina heard as he looked at what once had been his hometown. Everything was just...gone. The buildings, the school, the roads and cars. All wiped out within the beat of an eye.
Then realization hit him as he looked around. He had been in a truck with his father and other refugees so where were they? Looking around he quickly found the answer. The truck laid not far from him on the side as it must have been fallen down the small hill Kamina stood upon. He tried to run to the truck, hoping to find his father, but he tripped and rolled down the hill, before coming to a stop at it's foot.
"Ouch." He said to himself as the fire must have burnt the grass and soil, but not the rocks. In that moment Kamina noticed that he was bleeding from his temple, but he didn't care for the warm liquid that oozed out the wound he was only interest in the truck. There was blood in his left eye, forcing him to keep it shut. Slowly, fighting the tears in his eyes and wincing with every step he took, Kamina reached the truck only to come face to face with the dead bodies of the people he had been with. "Oh no. Papa!" He called out, but got no answer.
He tried to find the familair face of his father beneath the dead bodies of the people, but the deeper he got into the mess of bodies, the more blood was on his hands. But Kamina refused to cry and give up. His father was somewhere here among these people and alive. He had to be.
And then he found him. He was laying beneath another man's corpse as a lot of blood stained the back of his head. He must have fell down as Kamina was thrown out the truck. Collapsing on his knees Kamina looked at the dead face of his father, the only parent he had left.
"No...no please... Please wake up dad...Wake up. Wake up please..." Kamina begged and pleaded, but deep down he knew the answer already. In that Moment when his mind accepted the Situation he broke down, crying into the black sky. "FATHER!" He cried out as his voice managed to choke the words out of his throat as loud as he could. In that moment his body felt numb and his vision began to blur until everything turned black.
Later
A few hours after the explosions a camp of the evacuated civilians looked at the destruction that the fragments of the moon had caused as people tried to figure out where their friends and loved ones were and if they were evacuated as well. Among them were many injured people that had been brought for treatment into a seperate tent. Inside the tent were not only people from the camp, but also civilians that the army had found from the surrounding Areas as several evacuation troops had gone missing and communications were still down.
In this tent laid also Kittan, Iraak and Kid who had lost consciousness shortly after the explosions started. Some of the paramedics thought that it was due the stress and exhaustion. However what they couldn't know was what was going on in this moment in their heads. Then Kittan opened his eyes, but the look in his eyes was not that of a child, but a serious adult man. A look of someone who has been through hell and back. As he sat up panting and sweating heavily, he felt the backslash in form of a painful headache.
"Tch! What happened? It feels like King Kittan stepped on my head." Kittan muttered to himself as the memories washed over his mind once more. He lifted his head up as he saw Kid and Iraak laying next to him. "Hey? Hey! Wake up you bozos! Wake up!" Kittan said standing up on his wobbly legs and started shaking their shoulders to wake them.
"Wha-what? Urgh my head." Kid hissed in pain, holding his head.
"Can't you wake us a bit less loud Kittan?" Iraak asked slightly angered by the headache in his head caused by Kittan's yelling.
"No. Ugh what happened?" Kittan groaned as he stood up. He looked around and now registered that he was in the paramedic tent. Multiple people had bloody bandages on them and other wounds, that made the three boys freeze in shock. Everywhere were injured or even dead People. This scenery burnt itself into their minds. Kittan turned to his friends as the first. "Guys, we need to talk." He said. The boys looked at one another, before Kid nodded to his brother.
Just in that moment another person was brought in by two men. The three immediately recognized the blue hair of the boy that was put further away from them.
"Kamina!" Kittan said surprised as he ran over to the paramedics. It was not quite easy to navigate through a hall full with People laying around injured on wobbly legs and you try to be careful and not step on them by accident. Sometimes they had to jump over someone until they reached the bluenette. "What happened to him?" Kittan asked the paramedics. The two adults looked at the Primary School Student confused at this.
"A friend of yours?" One of them asked, earning a nod from the blonde. "He was found at a toppled over evacuation truck. He was the only survivor." One of the men said. Kittan and the other two boys looked shocked at this. "Don't worry. The docs will patch him up again. Shouldn't you rest as well?"
"Resting?" Kittan asked angry as Iraak and Kid pulled him away before he could explode at the Medics.
"We'll wait until he Wakes up. Just tell us then." Iraak said as the two brothers managed to pull Kittan out the tent. Right then Kittan broke free and shook both boys of him.
"Are you insane?! Kamina is in there and you..." He snapped until he focused on the area around the camp. Kid and Iraak followed Kittan's look as they three froze. The entire landscape was burnt black from the fires. The sky was black from thick clouds of ashes and massive craters had created large holes and lakes that were now filled with sea water from the ocean. The only light came from flashlights of military vehicles and the now shattered satelitte above the world.
The three boys couldn't tear their eyes from this nightmarish picture as it burnt itself deep into their memories, leaving it like a scar at this point. Kittan bolted off at this to the next soldiers, followed by Kid and Iraak. There was a large crowd of people around the post. Some people demanded to get a call to their loved ones and family. Others sat there and cried their eyes out. It was clear to the three boys that they couldn't call their families as the entire communication network must have collapsed.
It was in that moment that a feeling of despair wormed itself into the boys' minds and almost made them break down there as well like the other people. But in the moment it tried to overwhelm them, Kittan stomped on the ground. Kid and Iraak looked at their friend as they were shaken out their thoughts. Kitttan trembled over his entire Body as he clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His teeth grit against one another, almost breaking apart as he gazed upon the destruction with a hateful gaze.
"That is not the end." He said through gritted teeth, earning confused Looks from the other two Boys. "This is just the beginning. These martians will come back and when they do we'll Show them what happens when they take on my family." Kittan growled.
"Kittan..." Iraak said.
"Shut it!" Kittan yelled at his friend, making him flinch slightly at his tone. "They'll pay for what they did. And if I have to use every ooze of strength in my body...I'll make them pay..." Kittan turned around to face Kid and Iraak, who were surprised to see tears streaming down Kittan's eyes. Never before had the two of them seen the blonde like that. They felt bad as well, but said nothing. Kittan looked up into the sky at this to see the now shattered moon. "Kamina, you better wake up soon..." He mumbled, before he fell on his knees and continued to cry.
Hours later at Tanegashima
The pain was immensive. It clouded her mind almost completely. Her entire Body was unable to move safe for her eyes and Hands, still every movement was painful. Orlane had no idea how she survived the impact of the fragments that the collapse of the Hyper Gate had created, but she was. Though her leg seemed to have been crushed by a large plate of metal. She felt blood oozing out her crushed limb and running down from her forehead down her face, slightly dropping down her chin. It must have been some time since then as she felt how the hardened blood had formed a crust on her face as it had made a few strands of hair stick to her Skin now. Her entire Body ached in pain, but she still managed to keep her cool and breathed steadily. She looked around herself.
The handles and controls were mostly offline. The cockpit was still operational, but only that much as her Screen displayed the damages on her kataphrakt. The visual sensors of her kataphrakt Deucalion had been damaged a lot like the rest of it. It's anti gravity engines seemed to be unfunctional right now. Even if they were the holes in it's hull were too big to go back to space with it without suffucating as the air would probably be sucked right out of it into the vacuum of space once she left the atmosphere of Earth.
She chuckled humorlessly at the thought of this planet. The blue planet Earth, the birthplace of the human race. Their current emperor Gilzeria Vers had pushed the development of new ways to use the aldnoah technology forward, mainly in the weapon industry in order to gather loyal versians under his banner to attack Earth. Orlane scoofed at this. It all had been like a really bad joke for her now. Earlier she had crushed the humans with her Deucalion like it was no big deal. It had been like a child stepping on ants. Gilzeria had also pushed the propaganda forward, proclaiming that the versians were the superior race and that they should take Earth as their own birthright.
The devotion for this however came from the discontent of the people as the other branches of technology hadn't been supported as Gilzeria had only focused on the creation of new war machines. She among many others had sworn loyalty to him and had been bestowed with the power to awaken aldnoah. She had fought willingly for him and her people. She even found a lover among the others, her fiancé count Saazbaum. Together they could have taken on the UFE forces and built a new future for their people.
And where did it brought her in the end? Her body was dying. There was no need to deny it. Her breaths were shallow as she tried to move, but her body was numb from the pain that shot through her mind. With her kataphrakt damaged like this she couldn't sent a message to him. She had no idea how he was or if he survived. No, she knew that he had survived, but she probably wouldn't be as lucky. She didn't knew how many of the versians had died because of this, but it was clear to her that there was no way that the Vers Empire would no come with reinforcements to aid them. She could see the destroyed moon. The Hyper Gate had collapsed and had blown up a good portion of the moon. With their current technology they wouldn't be able to return to Vers.
It had been a quick attack and yet in some sense the Verse Empire had lost. She sighed as she closed her eyes.
*THUMP*
"H-Huh?" She looked around her monitors as she had felt the earth around her vibrate. The black smoke however still blocked her sight as she couldn't see much of what had been the battlefield she had been just hours ago.
*THUMP*
There it was again. This time it was closer and louder.
*THUMP*
Now it was even closer. For some unknown reason, Orlane was overcome by a bad feeling. The panic in the back of her head increased slightly. Whatever it was it was moving towards her. Was it friend or foe? How could something be still operational after this bombardement.
*THUMP*
Adrenaline rushed into her blood stream as she moved her hands to the handles of her cockpit. The aldnoah drive was still active, but the kataphrakt couldn't move without the anti gravity engines. Her heartrate accelerated even more at this realization. She had dominated the battlefield from above. Now she was defenseless on the ground.
'These noises...are those...footsteps?' She thought as she tried to pear through the thick smoke that covered the charred battlefield.
*THUMP*
In that moment she wished she hadn't. From the dispersing smoke a humanoid figure marched towards her with steady steps. Only that this figure was 15 meteres in height and clearly a kataphrakt that was not built by the Vers Empire. The machine moved closer with every step as it apparantly had already seen her. She could now see the strange machine in detail.
It was clearly built after the Image of a human. The kataphrakt possessed a head with a stoic face while a single black horn stuck out from the middle of the forehead. The Body was almost entirely Jet black with multiple red circles all over the Body. At the back she could see what seemed to be a tail. On the chest were two yellow headlights that give a bit of the Impression of a pair of eyes.
'A demon...' Was what Orlane thought in this moment as the unknown kataphrakt now towered over her broken one with it's arms crossed as it looked down on her. Under normal circumstances she would have spat death and venom at this insolent creature that dared to look down on her, a viscountess of the Vers Empire, however she was too weak to do such a thing. She knew it was meaningless now.
The kataphrakt then unfolded it's arms and pulled it's right arm back as if it was going to punch the Deucalion. Then however drill-shaped whips or tentacles emerged from the holes on the kataphrakts lower arm, that quickly twisted together, forming one drill, that encased the entire lower arm. As it began spinning with a whirling sound and the mecha slowly moved it towards the visual sensors of the Deucalion, Orlane lost consciousness, accepting her defeat and death wholeheartly. The last thing her mind registered was the sound of the drill drilling through the metal of the hull and cockpit with a loud screeching noise.
A few minutes later captain Teppelin was carrying an unconscious japanese tank driver, who he had found on his way through the remains of the battlefield within the body part of the Lazengann. It was no one that he knew. He just had been at the remains of a burnt out tank, still Teppelin simply wanted to save at least one person. The man's injuries were not very fatal. Some first aid was all that took the captain to safe the man from bloodloss and suffocation, however now there were other issues to take care off. He looked around as he saw once more the wreckage of his old ship as it had not sunken to the bottom of the ocean yet. He knew that the entire crew was dead now. It reminded him once more of the terror that an enemy could bestow on a weaker opponent.
And how he used to be.
He had regained his memories a long time ago and he still saw himself sometimes in his dreams confronted with the past. At first he had thought nothing of it and that it was all in the past now. That was until he found one day the Lagann. From that moment on he knew that there was more than that.
He remembered how he lead humanity against the Anti-Spiral. He remembered how they showed him the existence of the Spiral Nemesis and how his entire cause shattered. He remembered when he betrayed his own Kind, struck them down with his Lazengann and his Cathedral Terra Lazengann. He remembered how he created the beastmen and banished humanity for 1000 years beneath the surface of the planet. He remembered his death by the hands of Simon. And finally he remembered how he sacrifised himself to safe the universe and defeat the Anti-Spiral once and for all.
With that in mind he put the Lazengann back on the boat as he drove to the Northeast, where another military outpost wasn't far. He pulled out a picture of his wife and daughter once more. He didn't knew if they made it uncharted out of this mayhem, but he knew that his daughter was strong like her mother. With that he moved forward to prevent such a thing like the supression of mankind from happening once more. Because of his mistakes a lot of people had lost their lifes once more. This time he would do it better. The captain of the UFE Navy Teppelin died that day in the battle of Tanegashima, but from the ashes another person rose up.
The Vers Empire just had made itself a very powerful enemy. The former Spiral King Lordgenome.
At first there was darkness. Nothing, but nothingness. A seemingly endless void was all that he could feel. Then Kamina saw a lot of things. Things that he couldn't understand. It made no sense to him at all. Just a moment ago he had been with his father in the city, right? So how did he come here? He stood now in a vast wasteland. There was literally nothing there but rocks and sand as far as the eye could see. There was a setting sun at the horizon as it looked so big as if it could swallow the entire world. Next to him stood his father, wearing a red cape with a flaming skill, that wore sunglasses on it. Around his wrist was a golden armlet with a skull pendant. His father had a smile on his face and a Hand on Kamina's shoulder.
"This is it Kamina. This is the surface." His father told him. Kamina had more or less no control over what his body did as he looked around.
"But there is nothing here." 'He' said. For Kamina it was as if he was watching a movie from the first person point of view of his other self. His father's smile didn't falter.
"That's why I like it so much." He told him. "No walls. No ceiling. That is it what it means to be a man. To be free." He said. Kamina gave his old man a strange look. "Now Kamina. You have to choose. Do you want to come with me?" His father told him. Kamina took a step back in fright as his body shook slightly. All was so big and wide. It was so strange and alien to him.
"I see." His father's voice tore him out his thoughts. "In that case, come and find me when you are ready. I'll be waiting up here." Kamina's father said as he walked off into the distance towards the setting sun. Kamina wanted to say something. Anything that would have made him stay with him, but he couldn't. He couldn't be weak right now. He had to be strong and become a man to follow his father.
A moment later Kamina saw everything very fast. He watched himself grow up into the picture of a man. Broad shoulders, lots of muscles and a will so solid that not even the world itself could crush it. He saw himself with his blood brother Simon and how they were about to leave the prison as they were caught before the ceiling collapsed and a large white bull like robot crashed down on the ground.
He saw how he met a red-haired girl called Yoko and how the three of them (four when counting Boota as well) reached the surface. He relived every moment from then on. The Littner Village. The Gunzan and the grave of his father. At this point Kamina felt irony. Everything was so different and yet the outcome had been the same. He had lost his father once more. But time didn't stopped as Kamina's older self moved on from the pain, never stopping to move forward.
He saw how his Gurren and Simon's Lagann became for the first time Gurren Lagann against that furball Viral. How they met Kittan and his three sisters. How they met Rossiou, Gimmy and Darry. When they fought in that bathhouse. How they fought the Dai-Gunzan and suddenly got backup from Kittan, Kid, Iraak and Dayakka. The promise he made to Yoko, before he set out to fight with the rest of the Team Dai-Gurren.
And then there was the final fight against Thymilph and his giant gunman. That moment when he had to knock some sense back into Simon and that moment cost him everything. The resurface of the memory of that ape cutting him in two with that spear made Kamina gawk in pain as he felt alongside his other self the wound in his chest that split him in two.
'No. That can't be the end. I need to protect them. Just who the hell do you think I am?' Kamina thought as he struggled against the pain as he grit his teeth. HIs other self got up as well as Simon noticed him. He grabbed his gunman's shades and threw them to him as they crashed into a pair of beastmen gunmen. Lagann then jumped into the air and combined itself with Gurren once more as the damages on Gurren repaired themselves and the shades landed back on Gurren's eyes.
"We brawlers are sustained by willpower, even when mocked as reckless and crazy!" Kamina said from within Gurren.
"If there's a wall in our way, then we smash it down! If there isn't a path then we create one ourselves!" Simon added from within Lagann.
"The magma of our souls burns with a mighty flame! Super Ultra Combining Gurren Lagann!" Both of them said in unison as they truly combined in a way that only blood brothers could.
"Just who..." Simon said. "In the hell..." Kamina continued. "DO YOU THINK WE ARE!" Both then shouted as the volcano behind them seemed to erupt once more. They heard the cheers of their friends and comerades from far away.
"Take them down!" Thymilph ordered his beastmen soldiers as they jumped at Gurren Lagann.
"Out of my way!" Kamina roared as drills erupted from all over the body of Gurren Lagann as they shot out and impaled the gunmen. When they retracted the gunmen exploded in giant explosions while Gurren Lagann stood there unharmed.
"You bastard! Eat this! Condemn Glaize!" Thymilph shouted as his spear shot a beam of blue energy at Gurren Lagann.
"You cannot break this hand!" Kamina said as he blocked the attack with nothing but Gurren Lagann's hand. The beam simply scattered from it, flying harmlessly away from the red gunman.
"I-Impossible!"
"Listen Simon... Don't forget. Believe in yourself. Not in the you who believes in me. Not the me who believes in you. Believe in the you who believes in yourself." Kamina said to his brother, knowing that he wouldn't make it.
"B-Bro?" Simon asked confused.
Then Gurren Lagann's shades flew off the chest of the combined gunman, which catched them and threw them at the beastman general.
"Finishing Move!" Kamina roared. The shades split in midair in two identical ones as they continued to spin towards the gunman like bumerangs. As they crashed into the shocked beastman the arms and legs of the gunman were impaled, leaving Thymilph as a wide open target in midair, completely defenseless against their next attack. Gurren Lagann lifted it's right arm to the sky and the drills became much longer.
"GIGAAA..." The drills retracted now completely back into the gunman as one long drill, even larger than Gurren Lagann itself appeared where it's hand was.
"DRIILLL..." The drill widened, before the gunman swung the arm down and pointed the drill at Thymilph. The drill started to spin rapidly at this.
"BRREEEAAAAKKK!" Kamina roared as a beam of green energy shot out Gurren Lagann's back, rocketing it with the massive drill into Thymilph. The drill found it's target without any trouble and tore through the Byakou. Without any resistance the gunman was torn apart as a large hole appeared in it's face like chest.
Gurren Lagann stood now a bit further behind the Byakou as it retracted it's giga drill. In that moment the beastman general exploded with his gunman in a massive dome-shaped explosion as the shades flew back to Gurren Lagann and reattached themselves on it's chest.
In that moment Kamina began to lose consciouness. Before his mind faded away completely he muttered something.
"Later...buddy..." He told Simon as he fell once more into the blackness.
Kamina was now confused and shocked, but most of all he was angry. No, he was furious! What kind of impression would he be to Simon or Yoko or anyone else from the Team Dai-Gurren... okay maybe not Leeron, but anyone else if he just gave up now. He may had lost his father, he may had lost his home, but he was still a man and his fighting spirit just had been rekindled. In that moment a bright green light erupted around him like a flame as he made an important decision.
He refused to cave in now or ever again. His back would never break!
"Just who the hell do you think I am?!" He shouted as the green light consumed his vision.
Refugee camp, several hors since the collapse of the Hyper Gate
Kamina's eyes snapped open as he hunched over, coughing roughly. His throat felt like it was on fire as he coughed into a blanket that had been drapped over his body. After catching himself, he looked around himself as he tried to figure out where he was. It was not the cell that he remembered from Jiha village nor the ceiling of his apartment. He had no idea where he was. Instead he saw a large tent with many injured men, women and children. Some had bloody bandages on themselves, others laid on the ground like he had down before. He also felt that a bandage was wrapped around his head where his wound had been before. In that moment he saw something in the corner of his eye. Kittan, Kid and Iraak stood next to his bed with surprised expressions.
"Well finally awake sleeping Beauty?" Kittan asked. Kamina took the provocation head on.
"OI WHO ARE YOU CALLING SLEEPING BEAUTY HERE, YOU..." Kamina exclaimed before his eyes widened and his voice became quiter. "You...you...who are you again?" He asked as he tilted his head in confusion.
"IT'S KITTAN YOU IDIOT!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME BANANA-HEAD?"
"TAKE THAT BACK?!" And both Boys were already back at bickering.
"Okay, but seriously what happened?" Kamina asked with his arms crossed, much the other boys surprise. Never before did Kamina simply back down from such an insult. Not in the years that they had known him in kindergarten. Then the three dawned what might have happened as they saw the familiar look in his eyes and looked rather uncomfortable at this as they avoided Kamina's gaze, safe for Kittan.
"Come outside and see for yourself." Kittan said as he walked outside the tent. Kamina quickly dressed himself and followed the blonde outside with Kid and Iraak. Now Kamina saw the desolation that he had seen once more but this time at bright daylight. He couldn't believe it. Everything that he had grown up with was gone. The memories came back as he clenched his hands into fists, slightly trembling in rage. He couldn't stop looking at it, until he felt a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his mental state.
"We need to talk." Kittan said as Kamina turned to him and nodded. There was no room for an argument right now. There was only a statement and a lot of questions that Kamina wanted answers from as well.
A couple of refugees looked confused at the childen, wondering what was going on in their heads after everything that had happened only to turn to their own business. They were just children in this torn apart world. However not everyone looked at them with pity as two people followed the boys.
A few minutes later
Behind a small building that the soldiers used as their temporary base Kamina, Kittan, Kid and Iraak sat together as they discussed what to do now. The boys quickly go to the point without beating around the bush as they were all now in the same situation. after it was clear that tehy all had these 'dreams', Kittan, Iraak and Kid began to tell Kamina what had happened after his death. They told him about the 3 other generals of the Spiral King, Nia, the Spiral King's daughter who had joined them in their fight, Simon as he had grown up after he defeated Lordgenome.
Finally they came to the part where they took over the surface and the second Anti-Spiral War started. Kittan explained Kamina that his fighting spirit was basically his spiral power he had no idea of that such a thing even existed. They explained that the moon had been a massive gunman and that they fought the Anti-Spiral to get Nia back, who had turned out to be an antispiral lifeform herself. Still nothing had stopped Simon in his path, much like his blood brother had expected.
However the story came to an end as Kittan finished his story as well with the destruction of the Death Spiral Machine and his sacrifise.
"Do you think Simon and the others made it?" Kid asked.
"Dumbass! Of course they did. It's Simon we are talking about. When someone finds a way to drill through this thing, then it is him." Kamina said as he smiled slightly. "Damn I missed so much. Would have liked to meet that girl Nia. After what you said she can cook pretty well." The other three boys smiled rather awkwardly at the memory of Nia's 'food' as she and Simon called the biological weapons that she made in a kitchen. how Simon could swallow or even stomach this was a mystery to all of them.
"You'd have liked her. It wasn't boring with her to say at least." Iraak said, while Kittan and Kid nodded in agreement.
"Still, we need to do something." Kamina said with his fighting spirit flaring up again. "We have our memories back so we have to use them. If we had our gunmen with us, we could easily kick those martians back where they came from." He exclaimed earning a nod from Kittan. The Coeega brothers however didn't looked so enthusiastic.
"That's all nice and stuff, but I don't think that will help us really." Kid said. "After all we don't have our gunmen anymore nor do they exist on this world."
"I hate to admit it, but I have to agree with my brother. We might have regained our memories from what I'd call our former lifes, but without any gunmen or weapons in general we cannot defend the people around us." Iraak said. "We already got lucky that we survived, but we still don't know about our parents. I don't want to lose anyone else." Iraak said. Kamina stood up silently as he walked up to both boys and suddenly punched both of them square in the face. Kittan was very surprised by this, even more than Kid and Iraak as he jumped up. The two brothers felt their heads spinning slightly and tasting blood as blood trickled down their nostrils into their mouths. Immediately both of their heads shot up at this feeling.
"Kamina what the hell?!" Kittan exclaimed. Kamina didn't reply as he looked at both boys, who slowly got up again. They looked at Kamina with an hurt look in their eyes.
"Just what the hell is wrong with you dumbasses?!" Kamina yelled at Kid and Iraak. "You are proud members of the Team Dai-Gurren and not some tunnel dwelling cowards. You have proven that when you joined me and Simon back then. Did you stop when I died? Or perhaps when things got ugly? No you didn't. Did you just fought when you knew about this spiral power thing that made us pilot a gunman? No, you did it before you even had an idea what the hell was going on, because you trusted your fighting spirit! And that's because the Team Dai-Gurren rolls that way! And when it is true what you three told me then you have been through a lot more than me and faced something far stronger than some stuck up punks from Mars, who don't know that this planet is our home." Kamina said as he put on his trademark pose by lifting his left arm to the heavens and pointed at them as the clouds started to part, making more light shine down on the world. It was like a light of hope descended once more upon this now desolated world. The three boys couldn't help but look in awe at their leader.
"I may have lost my father a second time, but I'll never let my own nor the fighting spirit of a member of the Team Dai-Gurren being shattered like this. Just who the hell do you think I am? These martians ripped our hopes and dreams out our chests, threw them into the dirt, stomped and spit on them, but not with us. The fire in our soul still is hotter than the sun and rages like an hurricane within us. We are going to show them what happens when someone is messing with the mighty Dai-Gurren Brigarde, their families, their friends and their home. If we were able to defeat that Anti-Spiral thing, then we will be able to defeat those guys as well. I won't let these guys just destroy everything we have fought for together." Kamina said. "If I don't do that, then how the hell would I ever be able to look Simon straight in the face? How the hell could I tell Yoko that I gave up without even trying? I owed them and you all of this without even knowing it. I won't let this be taken away from us again after everything we have been through. As a man, as Simon's brother and as the founder and leader of the Team Dai-Gurren I, the mighty Kamina, refuse to give up! Now or ever!"
For a moment silence reigned the place as Kamina's words sunk into the minds of the boys. For a moment it looked like a massive explosion appeared beneath him with the symbol of the Team Dai-Gurren. They couldn't understand exactly how Kamina pulled this off, but somehow he still was the same man he had been before. Unyielding no matter how bad the situation was and still trying to be cool. Perhaps it was the reason why Kamina had this unique charisma. In any case, Kamina's burning fighting spirit rekindled the flames in the boys' hearts as well as the feeling of hope and confidence rose up in them once more. It was nostalgic for them.
"Argh!"*THUD*
In the next moment the boys heard a loud thud and two identical outcries, making them turn around and shattering the completely awesome scene.
"I told you it was a bad idea to spy on them."
"But what they said is true." Two familiar voices said as two older boys, who looked identical. Brown hair, large body height, perhaps a bit older than Kamina and Kittan, even the voices sounded identical. The only thing that was different about them were the red and blue glasses on their noses. As they stepped out behind the building's corner the boys couldn't believe it.
"Jorgun? Balinbow? Is that you?" Kittan asked. The twins grinned at this as they crossed their arms and leaned at one another.
"Do you know anyone else of the Team Dai-Gurren who can be as cool as us?" The twins asked in unison. The boys smiled at this, but Kamina grinned the most of them all as he looked at the 5 members of the Team Dai-Gurren being reunited. Call it destiny, fate or whatever, Kamina didn't care. All that he needed to know was that the Team Dai-Gurren had gotten 5 of it's members back. And given the look in their eyes, their fighting Spirit burned still as bright as on the day they had met.
"So you guys are back as well then. That's awesome!" Kamina exclaimed as he did once more his trademark pose. "Together we will show these martians what happens when they deal with the mighty Team Dai-Gurren! Just who the hell do they think we are?!" Kamina said loud with so much fighting spirit it made the others raise their fists in the air as they cheered.
"YEAH!" Kamina looked proud at his friends as he looked at the desolated landscape once more. He wondered with Yoko and Simon were on this world as well and if they were safe, but given how extremely tough both of them were he had no doubt that they survived this day.
'Yoko, I'm sorry I didn't kept my promise back then. When I see you again in this place I'll Keep it. And Simon, I know you will always find a way to drill your way through this. If those guys are right, then you got even more awesome than me. But don't worry. Your big bro Kamina won't stay behind when it comes to protect this world. When we see us again we'll have a lot to talk about. Believe in the Kamina, who believes in you and believe in the Simon, who believes in himself little bro.' He thought as he and his friends walked out from behind the building.
They all gazed at the destruction that the martians had caused and the shattered moon in the orbit of Earth. And still, despite all the loss and sorrow the Dai-Gurren Brigarde would dig through this and come back stronger than before.
This day would later be known as Heavens Fall, but for Kamina and the others it would be the day that the mighty Team Dai-Gurren reformed.
And so it begins. It is as Kamina once said, 'A true man never dies..even when he's killed.'
Thanks for reading this first chapter of another crossover idea. I hope you enjoyed it.
At this point I'd like to make an announcement. Originally I had intended to only that I'd only upload it once the short story Anti-Spiral Remnant is over.
However life isn't playing along with plans as I need to take once more a break to learn for my studies, which is why the next chapters for my stories may come out in May or June and I can now only allow myself to focus on my RL work right now. That means no more work on all my stories at all for at least a month!
Well, let's just hope I don't panic and instead of finishing the short story, start writing some crazy ideas to cross Gurren Lagann with something like for example to fuse Kamina with the Dai Gurren and put him as a male ship into the Kantai Collection world. I think those of you that want harem fanfics would enjoy that. However I never played that game, so that's not an option. (Blushes) Also I would only watch the anime again to finish it as I watched like 3 episodes of it until I noticed what that stuff is, baka!
The reason why I had this idea of crossing something as epic as Gurren Lagann with Aldnoah is simple. When I watched the whole anime of Aldnoah Zero I don't think that the ending was very satisfying in my opinion. In general, the story was not very good and in some cases I just sat there wondering how or why some things just happened as they happened. If the anime wouldn't have been that short I may wouldn't have watched it to the end.
And so from the discontent of this anime and the complete satisfaction of Gurren Lagann this was born with the goal to make a better story. The plot is still in a prototype state and I probably will put a vote or two, once I get to the point to ask for your opinion about certain elements in the plot. In the meantime, feel free to tell me your opinion.
With that I say goodbye for now and I hope I see you next time again.