Listen up, you bozos! It's time for us to embark on another epic adventure of mass proportions! This time, we're setting course for a post-apocalyptic wasteland to go to war with suppressive forces of man and beast alike! It is a place full of excitement! A place for manly souls!... What does a woman know about manly souls?

Just who the hell do you think I am!?

The reputation of my work echoes far and wide! When they talk about the bitch who bastardizes your favourite fandoms with the appearance of a, generally, spunky blue-eyed babe, they're talkin' about me! The infamous Neirah!

So, without further ado, I'd like to invite you to cast off the super-fan you once were and consider something new. Now watch as I twist up a classic coming-of-age tale until it's turned into a sappy romantic comedy! But hey, if that's what you're into, give it a try!

You just might like it…

This is the story of a woman trying to find her place in a man's world. Left to bloom in the shadows of circumstance, this battle-hardened flower finds herself on the front lines of the war raging between beast and man. The allies she has chosen to align herself with are most unexpected to all.

Still, her unsteady footsteps keep her trudging forth into uncharted territory until she encounters a man fated to defy logic and alter destiny. Little did she know at the time that their meeting would change more than just her life from that moment on.

What is it that separates man from machine?

Could the answer really be so simple?

This is her story.

Flash Forward

Prologue

When I was little, my mother warned me that I wouldn't be able to save everyone. And she asked me; if you had the power to save just one, how would you choose? When all hands reached for yours and begged salvation, how would you live with letting them fall as you took that single hand between yours?

All I could think about was that she was warning me that some hands would not be right to take. She had implied that there was a chance that I could save the wrong person. After thinking about her words carefully, I replied with; I would take the hand of someone who deserves to live.

Her quiet smile didn't comfort me.

"There's no need."

Neirah had jerked her attention back to where Yoko had been clutching her folded fist to her breast with a forlorn look on her face. "What...? Don't tell me she's given up!"

Yoko had turned to face her with an even expression. "Not quite," she rumbled ardently. "You see, some crazy-ass moron loaded them onto his gunmen and intends to go out the only way he knows how."

Now I understand what she was trying to tell me.

"He what!?"

You were right, Mom. I couldn't save everyone who didn't deserve to die, but my failure showed me a truth so bright it blinded me.

"Tsaizuko was made for one thing."

Neirah's face had twisted in wrathful agony as she'd turned and faced the kneeling mecha who had betrayed her in the fight to protect her team. The thought of it had made her stomach churn, but she couldn't be afraid, and she didn't hesitate.

Her wrath had only amplified the moment that Leyte had taken a stance in front of her to try and block her means of escape. "I'm not going to let you do that!" she assured the woman sternly. "Tsaizuko would be crushed in seconds! Its armour isn't strong enough!"

"All I need is seconds!" Neirah refuted energetically. "Get out of my way, Leyte!"

"This is exactly what he was trying to prevent!" she argued passionately. "This isn't what he would want, and you know it!" Leyte had flinched in terror as Neirah swiftly ducked around her point-guard stance, lunging towards her Tsaizuko with due haste.

"I don't care what he wants," she reminded them fervently under her breath. "I've always been selfish."

The truth is; that nobody really deserves to die. Yesterday's foe can become tomorrow's friend. Those who once suffered can find peace again. The truth that you never told me was that the reason we can't save every life is that most of us are afraid that we'll choose the wrong hand and be pulled into the abyss.

"Fine! Be that way!" Leyte thundered impatiently as she tossed out her hand. "But I'm not launching Tsaizuko to its death! Not when-" Leyte's wild gaze had rocketed to where Yoko had stood behind her, the balled fist holding Kittan's pending gift slamming into the button commencing Tsaizuko's launch. "Yoko! What are you doing?!"

"Making the impossible possible," she proclaimed smugly. "Because that's the way Team Gurren rolls."

The ones who don't exhibit that fear… well, they're the ones we call heroes.

Cybela had flinched in sheer mortification to the sight of another energy reading flashing onto her monitor. "I'm picking up another signal!"

"What!?" Dayakka demanded. "Another enemy?!"

Cybela had turned her frantic gaze to face him with wild eyes. "No! It's Tsaizuko!"

I'm not a hero, Mom, but I can save one. And if this is the only one,

"Idiotidiotidiotidiotidiot, Kittan you JERK!"

I'm glad that, this time, the hero doesn't have to die.