Chapter 2: What Comes After

PLEASE NOTE: I've deleted chapter 1, Hope Rings Eternal, because upon rereading it it didn't work as well as I'd like. I'll take a look at it, and if I can fix it, I'll repost it. Please don't hold your breath, though.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and its characters belong to Studio GAINAX. Thanks for letting me play with your toys, guys.

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Spoilers to Episode 16

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" –orka. Tayorka. Hey, dumbass, wake up!"

There was a titanic clang, and a red starburst of pain flashed across Tayorka's vision as his head collided with the metal headrest of his Ganmen's cockpit. Rubbing the tender spot with one hairy hand, he turned to focus on the green-edged pane Rava's disapproving face leered out of. "What are you doing, smashing around my Ganmen like that?" he growled.

"It's nearly dawn, and you're asleep in your cockpit, you fat slug," his wingman replied sharply, wickedly curved beak giving each word a clipped cadence. "Get your shit in gear. It's time to go, and like hell I'm going to babysit you if you're not ready to fight."

"Watch your tone, private," Tayorka barked. "I'm still your commanding officer."

The loud burst of laughter from the inter-Ganmen comm link made Tayorka grit his teeth, simian incisors grinding against each other. Rava made an elaborate show of wiping away a tear. "Commanding officer? That's rich, corporal Tayorka," he chuckled, emphasis giving the rank a cruel twist. "Get. Your shit. In gear. I won't say it again." Faint tremors shook up through Tayorka's spine as Rava piloted his stolen nikao out of the cave that served as base. Perhaps they were seismic; the ten-meter tall mech was heavy enough for that. But more likely not.

Rava smirked as best he could, watching his superior officer seethe with impotent rage in his tiny training ichikao. It was far below what a corporal deserved, but then again… the best toys went to the guys with initiative, eh? He rubbed the sleek black metal of the Ravan's cockpit with an appreciative hand. Initiative, indeed.

After the collapse of Teppelin, there had been nothing but chaos in the Human Extermination Army. With all four of the Generals dead – hell, with the Helix King himself dead – the chain of command had snapped at the very top, and the chandelier was falling with what looked like Very Terminal Velocity. So, yes, Rava had bailed. Cytomander, who nominally controlled his former squad, had been a moron anyway.

Not that Tayorka was any better. Being a subordinate of Thymilph's, who had never really encouraged free thought, didn't tend to do much for one's planning abilities.

All Tayorka mostly did was talk. In fact, he rarely stopped bitching, even when they'd robbed and killed that bunch of humans a few weeks ago.

Unlike the new guy. The new guy hardly said anything at all.

"Hey, whatsyerdamnname," the avian Beastman called through the nikao's external speakers as he approached the most recent addition to the team. "Wakey wakey." The third member of the roving bandits piloted a medium-level ichikao of decent quality, a powerful little machine to be sure – but no match for the Ravan, and that made Rava the leader. He snorted. Moving blindingly fast for a ten-meter tall Ganmen, the streamlined nikao pivoted to deliver a roundhouse kick to the smaller Ganmen.

Equally fast, thick metal fingers clamped around Ravan's ankle, stopping the attack dead. A green pane flashed into life on Rava's windshield.

"I'm awake," the grey ichikao's pilot said shortly. With a huff, Rava yanked his ankle free and nodded gruffly. "You ready to go then, jackass?"

"Yes." Rava nodded again and hailed Tayorka's – hell, his Ganmen didn't even have a name. What a pathetic excuse for a Beastman. "Hear that, Tayorka? New guy's already ready to go. Got all your ammo loaded? Of course you don't. Don't you dare bitch at me, I don't want to hear it." Rava closed the pane, cutting Tayorka off in mid-sentence, and leaned back against the plush headrest. He chuckled and turned back to New Guy, who had watched the exchange impassively. "Damnit, I gotta say, I think something's wrong with that guy. Maybe he was at the Dai-Ganzan when the humans took it, eh? And in all the fighting, he got his ass mixed up with his head. Certainly looks like it to me." He laughed again, shaking his head.

"Ah, geez. Maybe it's just that he used to be, oh no, a corporal, thanksverymuch. Fat bastard never fought a day in his life, like as not. As far as I'm concerned, the farther you get up the ladder the closer you get to –" he paused mid-sentence and turned to squint at the rookie. "Hey, you weren't brass, were you? I'd hate to piss you off. And then have to kill you."

The pilot of the grey ichikao turned his Ganmen to face the matte-black colossus. There was a moment of tense silence as the pilots eyed each other, hands never quite near weapons – but never exactly far away, either. The silence stretched; soon, someone would blur into action, moving with deadly purpose to –

"Hey! Are we going or not?" Tayorka demanded, the squat skull Ganmen stumping between his teammates'. Like that, the air of death dissipated; each pilot relaxed from a battle stance they hadn't consciously taken.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut the hell up, Tayorka. You're about one bad day from looking enough like a human for me," Rava muttered, then raised his voice. "Alright. Simple job: jump down the hole, step on humans, grab shit, run. Got it, Tayorka? Even you can fall down a hole, though I wonder if even this one's big enough for your fat ass."

"Adai Village, right?" Tayorka grunted. "Good. Been wanting to clear them out for a long time."

"Like hell you even knew about it," Rava sneered. "New Guy, take point. Damn, what's your name again, New Guy? Livver?"

"Close enough," replied Viral, former Eastern Branch Commander of the Human Extermination Army. "Close enough."