One enemy ganmen, the one who was less distant to where Nia and the others were and had a circular head, resembling a monkey, asked, in an angry tone. "Where's our squad leader?" The two green ganmen were as intimidating as the white ganmen; they didn't seem to have any weapons, except their bare hands; however they could as mortal as well. His question would be answered when debris of the former white ganmen Nia was fighting early fell from the sky, like it were rain. Finally the upper jaw of their leader fell on the head of the more distant one, who had a triangular chin and ears, resembling a cat, sort of. "How could?" the first one cried, indignant, "You dare to destroy our squad leader? You must die!"
"Everyone, hop in Solvernia!" Yoko ordered. Nia quickly grabbed the controls, while Kamina and Yoko seat beside her, and made Solvernia jump; the monkey ganmen almost got her, punching the ground instead. Nia ran away from the two ganmen, covering the top of her ganmen, running as fast as she could.
"What the hell! They ambushed us!" Kamina yelled, outraged because the enemy didn't give them a chance to take a breath.
"Sorry," Yoko intervened, "I forgot to tell that there were three ganmen, they attacked me together, if weren't for your village I would be in serious trouble."
"How come?"
"Ok, even more serious trouble yet."
"But that means there's much more of them!"
"Exactly, the surface is crawling with them!"
"If there's more," Nia said, taken up, "They won't leave us alone!"
"The only certain rest is reserved for the dead…" Yoko said, grimly.
"Hey, hey, hey," Kamina replied, "There's no need to get dark. Nia, if you defeated that big white mug, you can take care of those two dimwits!"
"It's not producing any drills," Nia said, as her belly snored, "Bro, I'm hungry, we need to go back to the village, there's no way we can defeat them at once."
"We can't go back, and didn't you eat your meal today?"
"Filar snatched my meal…"
"What? Why you didn't you tell me and then I'd teach him a lesson."
"Sorry, Bro, I didn't want to bother you."
"Guys, look out!" Yoko screamed when the monkey-ganmen kicked Solvernia. She fell at a distance and the cover opened. Nia and Yoko stood behind, using Solvernia as a shield. Kamina, on the other hand, had other plans.
The self-proclaimed badass grabbed and unsheathed his katana, letting Nia stay with the sheath. The two ganmen looked at him, expressionless, after he called their attention, "You giant walking faces over there!" the ganmens looked at him, "You're now dealing with a true man! Having left his homeland, he never yields, never retreats…"
The ganmen weren't paying attention to him, but discussing what they would do with him "Can we kill him now?" the cat-ganmen asked, "Or do you suggest something else?"
"Um, what the manual says about the big-mouthed ones?" the monkey-ganmen asked back, scratching the back of his head.
"The manual talked about male humans, female humans, so I think he's a male, he doesn't have breasts."
"…never regrets, never retreats, and never looks back! Male tenacity is all about the nevers!"
"Did he say 'never retreats' twice?" Yoko asked, concerned with his safety and, again, with his sanity.
"Bro, what are you doing?" Nia talked under her breath.
"Well, according to the page 4, we can kill any human that goes to the surface and it leaves to the pilot whether human cubs should be killed or not." The cat-ganmen picked a book (which title was Human slaughtering for dummies) and reading glasses and read it to his fellow ganmen, pointing to the said page.
"He doesn't seem to be a cub, I mean, they're shorter. The manual has to say something else."
"The great Kamina of Team Gurren is gonna show you what happens when you mess with him!" Kamina kept talking.
"Almost nothing… Do you think if humans could be a nice food?"
"I have a friend that once made that once made barbecue of a settlement he had destroyed. He said that with the right sauces, humans can taste good, otherwise, they're pretty sour and give a sensation that you're eating dirt."
"We could find a chef for this."
"You dumbasses don't stand a chance against a true man!" Kamina called their attention, "You have been warned."
"Well, whatever, let's kill them and go back to the base." The cat-ganmen said, yawning. The monkey-ganmen shrugged and stomped Kamina. If Nia hadn't grabbed him with Solvernia, he would be stomped. Nia ran fast and Yoko shot at them, her shots slowed them down a little, while Kamina was sitting on Solvernia's palms, arms crossed and a serious expression at his face.
"Bro, you could've been killed!" Nia said, showing concern in her voice, "We must go back to the village!"
"How long are you gonna keep ruining, Nia?" Kamina asked, more seriously, while Yoko kept shooting at the ganmens, sitting behind the cockpit.
"Huh?" Solvernia started to fly away, using her thrusters, as if she were agreeing with Nia about withdrawing.
"Nia, hold still!" Yoko didn't seem bothered, she could shoot straight even with the relative loss of stability, since her sharpshooting abilities were much above the average; it helped the fact the ganmens were big and this made them an easy target. She stood up in Solvernia and shot continuously at the ganmens. The cat-ganmen received three hits, powerful enough to crave dents at his front, and fell to his backside.
"We finally made it to the surface," her big brother explained, "Jiha Village is past now, it's time for you to cast off the girl you used to be."
"But I…" the little digger girl looked down, pensive and nervous, while holding tightly the controls, "I don't know if I'm ready…"
"It's now or never, Nia." While they were talking, the monkey-ganmen used his fellow ganmen as a jump pad and almost grabbed Nia's mini-ganmen. She quickly jolted to right, rolling in the mid-air, turning upside down. While Kamina, Nia and Boota struggled to not fall, Yoko was also holding onto Solvernia with one hand, and with the other one she pressed the trigger of her rifle, hitting the ganmen in the eye, startling him for a while.
"What should I do? What should I do?" Nia nervously thought about it; listen to her and go find a way back to the village or listen to her brother and stay and fight. Her mind was in turmoil, she didn't have space to pick a choice, and her stomach snored again; at that moment, the spiral gauge started to fall and the thruster turned off.
"Nia, we're falling!" Yoko warned while Nia closed her eyes and screamed, however she had time only to think Please, Solvernia, don't let them get hurt. In the mid-air, Solvernia rolled over one more time to adjust her position and landed softly. Nia again was impressed and somewhat confused that Solvernia reacted to her thought.
"Nia, what's wrong with you?" Kamina asked.
"It's not working," she again rubbed her snoring belly, while trying to move the joysticks with her other hand, "I won't make it, please, Bro, take the controls!"
"But, Nia, remember, believe in me who believes in you!" Nia was too preoccupied, hungry and confused, to pay attention at him.
"Save the family squabbles for later!" Yoko intervened and prepared to shoot again, but she gasped when her rifle only clicked. There was no more ammo and the enemy ganmen were closing in. No matter how hard, whatever direction Nia pressed and moved the controls, Solvernia wouldn't move. Their lives weren't depending of themselves anymore, they needed a miracle.
And the miracle came.
Coming from the rocks behind them, a volley of machine gun bullet hit the monkey-ganmen. "Concentrate the firepower at one ganmen per time!" the bullets were aimed at the joints, and the ganmen tried to use his arm to shield himself, without avail; the joint were starting to yield, with smoke coming out.
"Dayakka!" Yoko smiled.
"Are they your friends?" Kamina asked.
"Yeah!" she blushed in happiness. The team had ten persons, two of them were women, and, with exception of the leader, they were all wearing blue jackets with the symbol of their village, a hollow white circle.
The ganmen kneeled as the joints gave up and then the hatch in his mouth opened. There, a strange, furred creature got out from the cockpit, in the middle of the machine gun blast, and ran to take cover, yelling, "No, my beautiful ganmen!"
"The sun is setting, time to retreat!" the cat-ganmen said, more than pleased to have an excuse to pull away.
"Show no mercy!" the leader ordered, while emptying the magazines. The cat-ganmen, which was still operational, without problems, picked the creature and ran away, as he cursed them, "You'll pay for this, humans! You will rue the day you were born! You will paaaay…" and his voice died over the horizon, while the cat-ganmen ran away.
"That's what was inside those things?" Kamina asked, seeing the fleeing ganmen.
"They're beastmen," Yoko clarified, "They're who pilot the ganmen. They show up almost every day when the sun rises and leave again when the sun sets."
"Why?"
"I have no idea," she stopped to sigh, "They just want to destroy us."
"So, you've been fighting them during all of your life?"
"That's right!" Yoko replied and walked to the ruined ganmen, "I'll explain the details later."
"Hey, are you alright?" the leader asked Kamina and Nia.
"Thanks for the save, man!" Kamina waved to them.
"No problem!" he replied, cocking his submachine gun, "My name is Dayakka. I'm the chief of Littner Village." He was a tall and muscular man, wearing a white shirt and jeans, and had a big bent nose.
"Thunder tights talked about your village," Kamina replied, jerking his thumb at Yoko, who replied with an angry 'HEY!', "Name's Kamina and this is Nia!"
"Well, I'm gonna take a look on that ganmen over there," Dayakka explained, "Then, come with us to our village, you need to rest."
"Thanks for the offer," Kamina tapped Nia's back, "Rest for a while, sis. We need to enjoy the surface." Nia just stood there, sitting on Solvernia, immobile. Why couldn't I do anything now? What's the problem with me? She stared at the spiral gauge, eyeing her reflection, thoughtful. Boota even licked her face, trying to cheer her up.
"You were awesome today, Nia!" Kamina said.
"But I don't understand…" she said, with a weak voice, "I barely understand what I did… Bro, please, would you take Solvernia? You'd be a much better fighter."
"Nah… no worries," he gently caressed her head, smiling, "Aren't you always the one who saves my ass in the end? And you did again, thanks a lot."
"Huh?" Nia turned to Kamina, surprised; she wasn't expecting her brother be so positive over her apparent failure.
"Oh, myyy!" Nia heard someone next to her. It was a strange, oiling voice. When she turned, she saw an even stranger person. Pale, green hair, wearing purple clothes, he looked like a man, but he also resembled a woman, so the little digger thought that it would better to call him 'mister', if needed. "What's this darling little fellow? He's a handsome devil, isn't he?" he mused, while examining Solvernia. He seemed kind of forward, practically hugging the mecha and, above all, campy. Nia just stared, without talking, while he looked eagerly at Solvernia and rested his chin over his hand, "I didn't mean you, hon. I mean this mecha."
"Mecha?"
"That's another term for the ganmen, more generic," he said, "This is so faaabulous! I need to take a look!"
"Save for later, Leeron," Dayakka called, "We need to take this ganmen first."
"Okey-dokey," he said, winking, "See you later, hon~!"
"Seems that they've got all kinds up here on the surface," Kamina said, a bit surprised, since it was the first time he saw someone like Leeron, but he didn't mind and decided only to contemplate the starry sky, "But the most important is that we're finally here, Nia. Look up," Nia looked to the starry sky, forgetting her doubts for doubts for a while. She again was amazed with the beautiful sight and commented, "The surface is really something else…"
"Day after day, after the lights were turned off, there was nothing but pitch black darkness," Kamina mused, "But here there's so many lights, that big, rounded one, followed by the itty bitty ones… Coming to the surface was the right call, wasn't it? Look at the beautiful sky!"
"Sure…" she said, weakly, however, even though he felt her amazement and sincerity, Nia didn't transmit security. She was still skeptical about the surface, she saw the ganmen, the surface wasn't free of dangers, but was the opportunity of seeing so beautiful sights, breathe the new, clean air of the surface worth? Was Solvernia a blessing or another burden to her arms? Kamina was again concerned with her, she still had many doubts. That's something I'll have to work out with time.
"The big one is called moon," Yoko suddenly appeared, startling them a bit, "And itty bitty ones are the stars. That's they were called long time ago."
"Moon and stars… pretty simple names, eh?" Kamina said.
"If they have simple names," Nia said, "That means they people used to look at them all the time."
"Why do you think that, hon?" Leeron asked, coming out of the blue, leaning against Solvernia while checking his pocket computer.
"Whoa!" Nia was startled with his sudden appearance, but answered nonetheless, "It's because things like water and soil are things we see every day, while thing we don't see every day have more complicated names. I chose Boota's name because it was simple and I knew I would see him every day." Boota purred to make clear he was there, standing at Nia's shoulder.
"You have an interest line of reasoning," Leeron winked. Nia's belly snored louder this time; she rubbed her belly, with a blush of embarrassment.
"Here." Yoko handed her a loaf of bread.
"What is this?"
"It's bread, you can eat it."
"Thank you, Miss Yoko." She happily accepted, eating fast because she was very hungry.
"Please, just call me Yoko, you don't need to be formal." The little digger girl then eyed Leeron typing on his machine and asked, "What is this, Mr. Leeron?" Even if he didn't introduce himself properly, Nia recalled Dayakka calling his name.
"You sure are a polite girl," Leeron happily oiled, "It's my personal computer and I see that you don't know how to read, right?"
"What does 'read' mean, Bro?" she asked, taking the last bite at her loaf of bread.
"I don't know either." Yoko just giggled.
"You aren't exactly a geek, little missy." Leeron replied, still typing at the keyboard.
"But I can read just fine as well," the sniper girl snatched his computer and showed them how 'moon' and 'star' were written.
"Sighs… It's possible that long ago, people lived on the surface," he said, sounding poetic, "Some records say so, but others don't."
"How is that possible?" Kamina asked, he was slightly interested to learn more about the surface.
"It's like how I'm both and neither a man and a woman." He replied, petting Boota's chin in a very straightforward way.
"Then who are you, anyway?" Leeron approached Kamina's face and winked, lecherously, "I'm Leeron, but you can call me Ron. Or 'Beauty Queen' if you like~."
Kamina gulped and replied incommoded, "I'd rather die!" Clearly Kamina wasn't interested in men by the way Leeron was.
"You'd never guess it, but Ron here knows just about everything," Yoko said, "He takes care of all technological stuff and repair our weapons."
"Seems that you're useful!" he said, trying to make the flamboyant engineer go away.
"I can find a use for aaanything you'd like!" he said, furrowing his eyebrows in a provocative fashion.
"There's something I'd like to do right now!" Kamina replied, putting his glasses and half unsheathing his katana, in an angry way.
"Calm down you two," Yoko intervened, sheathing back the sword, "So, Nia, there's something I need to ask you."
"Okay."
"Would you mind carrying that for me?" she asked, pointing to the scrapped gunmen they destroyed early. Nia didn't know if Solvernia could do that, since the mecha's response had ceased before. She picked her drill-key, trying to decide if she was going to try again, when Yoko leaned forward to take a look. "What do you have there? It's kinda pretty."
"This is the key of the mech." she said, glancing at her. She then glanced to the other side, seeing that Leeron didn't stop to tease Kamina, or get out from over him. Nia quivered her lips, but it was an almost imperceptible quiver. Even if it was laughable, the thought of her having a bit of jealousy of Leeron's forwardness passed by her mind. At that moment, the spiral panel and the drill-key started to glow together. Yoko, Kamina and Leeron, who finally let go from the self-declared badass, got out from Solvernia and let Nia start the machine.
"It's working!" Yoko smiled and said, "Over there, we'll tie up Solvernia to push the scraps." Nia obediently moved her mecha to the direction Yoko pointed and let Dayakka work.
"What? How did it move?" Kamina asked, lifting his glasses.
"I think she's a bit jealous of you~." Leeron said.
"She cares a lot with me," he said, and tapped his chin, "that may react to emotions..."
"And I guess you have lot of spirit, huh?" the camp engineer replied, blushing and making a flirtatious look. Kamina just took distance and waved his sword. Leeron only sighed and mused, "Ladies don't care much for a man who can't take a joke."
Few minutes later, they were going to Littner Village. Solvernia was capable of bringing the scrapped ganmen and the villagers, almost fourteen people sitting on the usable pieces of the ganmen. The strength of the mini-ganmen astounded Leeron, who was still checking the details with his computer. Dayakka explained that they needed everything they found and every single scrap of usable technology was already a valuable asset to their fight. The beastmen wouldn't give up attacking them, so they had to be prepared, always.
"Sorry for having you to do stuff for us," he said, "But your aid won't be unrewarded; we will help you with anything you ask."
"Thank you, Mr. Dayakka," Nia replied, and then pointed to a sleeping flying-raccoon and asked, "What is that?"
"That's a flying-raccoon," Yoko replied, "They usually live next to ponds. He must be lost, or something."
"Ah… What is that?" she pointed to three cactus they passed by.
"That's a cactus, it's a plant that grows here."
"Ah… What is that?" she pointed to something resembling a wolf, howling to the moon at a rock, not far away from them.
"You're such a curious girl," Yoko smiled, "It's a lizard-wolf. They can be dangerous, but it won't attack us, since we're in big numbers." The lizard-wolf looked at them and ran away.
"See, Nia," Kamina said, tapping her back, "The surface is loaded of amazing things. There is an entire new world, begging to be discovered!" Nia was above all a curious girl. It was her curiosity one of the factors that led her to support her Bro in his undertakings, besides other factors; it was her curiosity that led her to Solvernia. The surface is so full of new things, I think I may enjoy this, she thought, smiling and asked again, "What is that?"
"That's…" Yoko stopped to talk and asked, "Nia, stop for a while." She took a better look and gasped, "It's a skull."
"What the hell?" Kamina said, typically, "So that means…"
"He must have been killed by the beastmen," the sniper girl said, sorry, "This isn't uncommon. Whenever we fight them, there's always a chance someone dies…" Nia gasped, since she had never seen a skull, it was a frightening sight when she stopped to think about and felt sorry about that person.
Everyone got out and picked their shovels. They dug a proper tomb for him, covering with soil and placing a tombstone.
"That does it!" said one of the villagers, Tetsukyan, the one with an orange bandana.
"Yeah, we couldn't leave his bone lying there." Dayakka added.
Nia was still in shock and afraid; it was a bit hard yet for her to think that skull belonged to someone who was otherwise alive. Kamina patted her shoulder and said, "Nia, don't worry we won't have the same fate than that guy," and he dramatically pointed to the sky, "Our journey will continue until we pierce the heavens! We'll pass by any probations coming against us!"
Yoko just twitched her eyebrow and said, "Huh? You still didn't get how things in the surface work. This is not a playground!" Nia, on the other hand, was still thinking about his words.
Littner was a village hidden in the valley, also constructed in the rock. Arriving there, Nia took a good look at the installations. Their houses were built from the rock, just like in Jiha, but there were houses built of wood. Dayakka conducted them to the hangar, where she could park Solvernia. At the instant she entered with Solvernia and the scrapped ganmen, she instantly became the center of the attentions. The villagers swarmed to see the red and white mini-ganmen and to know the newcomers.
"Attention, residents of Littner Village!" Kamina stood on Solvernia, raising his voice, making gestures like dramatically pointing to the top, while Nia got out and stood beside her mecha, "My name is Kamina, and this is Nia," she waved, smiling weakly. Boota, who was at her right shoulder, crossed his arms, miffed that he wasn't remembered. Kamina kept his speech, "And we are in a journey, the journey of a true man to the ultimate goal!" the villagers were all paying attention to the newcomer, some women were looking pretty interested at him, although Yoko crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, muttering, "'Ere we go again…".
"We saw the dangers of the surface, the ganmens and the beastmen! But, mostly important, we saw the beauty and awesomeness of the surface! The surface is much better than living underground, where the lights are so faint compared to sun and the stars! Are we gonna give up just because some furred things don't like us?" The audience was whispering, but nonetheless interested, "If they intended to crush us with their feet, we're gonna be the spikes that hurt them! If they intended to punch us in the face, we're gonna bite their fists! If they intend again to place ceilings over us again, we're gonna smash through those ceilings and aim for the heavens!" The audience went in awe, raising their fists. Nia also smiled at him. Kamina will do it! He'll defeat the ganmen and we can live in peace! she thought, flushing.
"Wow, that guy surely can spirit up the people," Dayakka commented.
"What a half-wit," Yoko sighed, skeptical, placing her knuckles on her hips, "You didn't see him in action. He thinks he can solve his problems just by banging his head against it until it's solved!"
"So, you like him, huh?" he teased, nudging her.
"WHAT? No!" she blushed, turning as red as a transgenic tomato, "I-I'm hungry, I need some food." and she went to the cantina, dismissively turning her face away from Dayakka, who just chuckled.
Kamina jumped out of Solvernia and walked away, smiling, heads up, triumphant. Some people remained there to see the mini-ganmen; it was amazing for them that ganmen wasn't attacking them. Another group, under Leeron's leadership was moving away the parts of the scrapped ganmen. Dayakka was with Kamina and Nia, guiding them to a tour through the base; she didn't stop to ask, "what is this?", though Dayakka was happy to give her information; he was getting tired of answering her incessant question, but how could he get mad at a sweet and curious girl like her? However there was something that really had caught Nia's interest, more than anything else in the base.
"What is this, Mr. Dayakka?" she squatted, looking at the flowers of Dayakka's personal flower bed, in a tiny patch of soil where they grow up. They came in three different colors, pink, orange and purple.
"Ah, these are flowers," he said, "They are beautiful but frail plants. I grow them as a hobby, when I'm not fighting or taking care of the village."
"Flowers?" Kamina looked and didn't seem impressed, "They're colorful, nothing else."
"And the ones I have here are only a sample. In the world, there's much more types of flowers; they came in many colors and different sizes. These ones are called tulips."
"They seem to be closed," Nia said, "Let me open."
"No," Dayakka gasped, "I mean, they open themselves in the dawn, when the sun rises."
"But why?"
"I don't know pretty well, but they open during the day and close during the night. If you try to open by your own hands, the flower will die," Nia gasped, "So, it's better not to interfere."
"Flowers must bloom by themselves~." Leeron said, bringing a shirt for Nia. Since she had lost her cloak, she was shirtless, only with sarashi covering her chest and midriff, besides her digging goggles, skirt and shoes.
"Thanks, Mr. Leeron, it's pretty nice!" she said, dressing the shirt. Nia liked it; it was light-pink, with white stripes in the sleeves, which covered until half of her forearm, and red stripes in her shoulders; in the back, the symbol of Littner Village was sewn there, but she had seen before. She left her shirt opened, and thought about getting a new skirt, since her old one was dirty and she felt it didn't match pretty well.
"You're welcome, my dear, but just call me Leeron, or Ron for short~." He ended with a wink.
"Very well, Nia," Kamina said, "This was the most awesome day of our lives! Tomorrow will be even more awesome than today!"
"Really?" Nia replied.
"Sure, sis!" he caressed her head again "Tomorrow will be a new beginning, believe Nia! To believe is to begin!"
"Seems nice!" she said, giggling, accompanied by Boota saying "Buu, buuu!" he was also anxious to discover more about the surface.
In the cantina, Yoko finished her meal and decided to get some food for the two newcomers. Picking a tray with food for two people, she wandered through the area, looking for the two. When she found them, they were already sleeping, in a storage, resting their head over a canvas. Kamina was embracing Nia with one arm, while Boota was curled over her shoulder. They were sleeping deep and peacefully, and the sniper girl smiled, "No wonder they're so tired. Today's been a day full of first to them."
A.N.: I decided to emulate the style of the show, every episode having two blocks (cue eyecatch, when you finish to read), and since it was the end of their day, it seemed good for me to be the end of the chapter. But if you prefer I write entire episodes in one chapter, just tell me, but updates will take longer, relatively.
As for other things, I'm trying to put Leeron's maneirisms in written media, I'd like to know if I did right, I mean, I saw other writers putting a "~" at the end of his phrases, so I'm following this. Any other commentaries about alternate setting, characterization, English (I'm a second languager), suggestions and all other stuff, please include in the reviews.
