A.N.: And we're back! Besides the help from 1 over 0 and Toenn Gunn as the last chapter's note says, this chapter also had the help of HVK. I hope you enjoy.

The residents of Adai never had the opportunity to know how explosives like dynamite work or even exist. The thing about dynamite is, it's explosive. Explosions don't generally tend to mix well with fleshy human bodies. If the bundle of dynamite had landed on top of the group of humans (as it was going to, based on its trajectory) there wouldn't have been enough of them left to fill a paper bag.

Thus, they were extremely fortunate that Yoko had gotten into the habit of never, ever leaving her rifle behind. In a split second Yoko had thrown off the ridiculous white habit, revealing her gun (and confusing several people who desperately tried to figure out how she had hidden it when it was longer than she was tall). Before the one second mark was reached, she had already aimed and pulled the trigger, detonating the bundle of dynamite high in the air where it wouldn't cause any damage.

"Thanks, Yoko," Nia sighed in a mixture of relief and shock.

"Yeah," Kamina said, putting on his cape. "Hold them off for now until we get Gurren Solvernia going."

"Don't worry," the sniper replied, readying for the next attack.

"The Face Gods are punishing us because we've angered their messengers!" one villager yelled. Instead of running away to shelter (as would be logical) the villager knelt before Leeron and Yoko, praying for forgiveness. Luckily for them, Yoko's defense had managed to minimize the amount of debris falling on them. All the same, their stupidity caused her frustration to hit a snapping point.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "It's raining explosives down here! Get out!"

"But the Face Gods are angry!" another villager replied.

Yoko growled; she hated to work with people who didn't know how to receive orders, especially in emergency situations. She suppressed her frustration as she noticed more explosives tumbling down from above. She quickly concentrated herself, aiming to conserve ammo in case the beastmen had more explosives than she expected. A quick press of the trigger sent a slug flying with a blue flash from her rifle. It impacted with an explosive, sending a wave of heat and light through the cavern, but thankfully avoiding heavy damage. She tilted her rifle to her left to bring down another explosive, then panned her aim to the left to bag yet another. Their luck had continued to hold, as there weren't many targets and they weren't hard to hit, but if the beastmen decided to throw more explosives, things could get ugly. Yoko considered all of this as she continued intercepting the explosives, and hoped that Kamina could get Gurren Solvernia up and running before that happened.

Meanwhile, Kamina and Nia were preparing to do just that. "Time to combine, blood sister!" called Kamina as he slid into Gurren's cockpit.

"Right!" replied Nia readily.

Kamina in Gurren picked up Nia in Solvernia and threw her high in the air. She flipped twice in the air, the legs and arms of the shorter mecha retracting to be replaced by a massive drill. The drill went through Gurren's top, almost hitting Kamina, who thought that their transformation sequence was only made more awesome by the fact that he risked his life to do it. Lines of energy ran down the sides of Gurren's cockpit, and the mecha began to change. The limbs exploded as they grew, their shape and proportion changing to better resemble a human. As it grew, Solvernia's mouth opened and roared green energy. Finally, the ringed helmet flipped out of nowhere and sealed itself on Solvernia's head, blinking with green energy.

"GURREN SOLVERNIA!" they both screamed, striking a heroic pose in order to fit with the awesomeness of the moment. Boota made his own contribution by squealing "Buu byuuuuuuuh!"

"Yoko, darling, I've got some news for you," said Leeron, his gaze fixed to his computer. "It appears that the beastmen are preparing to throw more explosives.

"Look!" a villager yelled, pointing at Gurren Solvernia.

"The face god united with the other face god!"

"What could this mean?"

"Stay away!" Yoko ordered, waving her hand for them to back off. "And shut up!"

"Perhaps you should use their language, dear," Leeron suggested.

Yoko sighed and shook her head, but raised her voice all the same. "All right, as messengers of the Face Gods, we order you to get cover!"

"But I was thinking: if you're really messengers, then why don't you stop them?" the villager who spoke first asked. Yoko just growled and palmed her forehead, starting to lose her patience. "Where is their leader? Rossiu, do something!"

The forehead boy was just staring, unsure of what to do; for the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do. This was an entirely new situation for him; he had seen hard situations before but nothing that could destroy the village.

"Rossiu! I said to do something!" Yoko yelled again at him. He managed to snap out of it only to cry, "Yoko, above you!" She looked up and gasped when she saw that four explosives were almost upon her. She had lost her concentration and now the explosives were about to hit her; she didn't have time to lift her rifle and aim. Her face contorted in hopelessness, but the shadow of Gurren Solvernia's arm covered her, taking the full brunt of the explosions without any visible sign of effort.

"We're even now, clumsy girl!" Kamina said cheerfully. Yoko just sighed and smiled in relief.

"Okay, Rossiu, get them to the inner chambers. I'll cover you."

"Right!" he said. He turned and gestured towards the exit. "Go to the inner caverns! This has been decreed by the Face Gods." With much reluctance the villagers obeyed, slowly walking out of the chamber.

"Bro, how are we going to climb it?" Nia asked.

"There's always a way!" he said, clutching the controls, "Even if we're going to climb with our bare fingers until they're bruised and bloody!" At that moment, the fingers of the combined mecha turned into drills; both pilots stared for a moment at this unexpected ability of their mecha until Kamina grinned and bellowed, "That's the spirit!" Then, with a hot-blooded scream from Kamina and a surprised yelp from Nia, Gurren Solvernia jumped at the walls and tore its way up, its drill fingers boring nearly down to the knuckle into the rock and circumventing the need for handholds. More explosives rained down, but Yoko sniped every single one, while Nia and Kamina climbed up, advancing and leaving little finger-tracks behind them.

"Look, boss!" the pilot of a silver shark-shaped enemy ganman cried from beside Jank's ganman and another ganman that closely resembled a large cat; he had noticed Gurren Solvernia climbing the walls of the village in their direction. "The prize is coming right at us!"

"Excellent, Tonk!" Jank said from his ganman, rubbing his whiskers, cheerfully toying with a bundle of dynamite. "You and Yonk throw explosives at them! They're defenseless!" They were, of course, unaware that the camera of one of Leeron's spider pods saw all this.

"Kamina, the baddies are going for you! Look out!" Leeron announced through the communicator.

"Heh," he said with a smirk, amused. "Alright, Nia, let's jump!" Flexing its legs, the mecha jumped to the left, avoiding the explosives launched at it.

"Woah!" Nia yelped in surprise. "They're throwing those things at us now!"

"Hello-o," Leeron's voice came from the communicator again, "Just to let you know, Yoko's out of ammo. Sorry, but you're on your own now."

"That won't be a problem!" Kamina replied, tuning his controls, the spiral gauge growing. "We just need to go faster!" With that, Gurren Solvernia began advancing even quicker, so quickly that they were nearly running vertically along the wall, the drills against the wall becoming nearly cacophonic.

"Sir, they're getting closer!" Yonk pointed at them.

"So?" he said, unconcerned. "Just blow them up even more." More explosives were thrown; their impact was felt even inside the mecha and slowed its ascent, but Gurren Solvernia's force field proved strong enough to resist and stopped them from falling over.

"Sir, they're closing in!" Tonk cried, starting to panic as the red mecha got almost fifty meters from them, the awful noise of metal clashing against the wall ratcheting up so loud it hurt.

"That just means that they're easier to hit now!" Jank replied, exasperated.

"I can see you, fuzzballs!" Kamina taunted. At that moment, the ground under them started to crack, growing dangerously large, the floor beginning to give out under them. The cracks became a jagged gap; Jank noticed and jumped out, but the floor finally gave way completely, causing Tonk and Yonk and the remaining explosives to fall onto and around Gurren Solvernia, bringing Kamina and Nia back down to the village in the hardest way possible. They screamed as they fell back through all 400 meters only to crash into the same pond they had fallen into the first time. The explosives hit Tonk's ganman, blowing it apart with a loud explosion, making water splash all over the place, entombing its remains at the bottom of the pond. Gurren Solvernia was a little luckier, falling upside-down and landing on its head, while Yonk was fortunate enough to land on his mech's knees.

"Why, again?" Kamina moaned, seeing things upside down. To make things worse, the mecha had fallen into a softer patch of land, getting stuck.

"You killed Tonk," Yonk cried. "Now I will kill you!"

"What? How did he fall on his legs?" Yoko wondered, incredulous.

"Cats always fall on their feet!" he said, with an annoying guffaw, scoffing at the vulnerable humans. With that, he drew a knife from a pocket at the side of its belly and walked over to the immobilized red mecha. "Piece of cake…"

"Oh, no!" Yoko said, gritting her teeth. "If I had only I had more ammo...!" She glanced and saw that Rossiu was running to the direction of the village's ganman. She shouted "Rossiu! It's too dangerous!" but the boy ignored her. She then realized that he was trying to get to the ganman to pilot it. She tried to warn him, "Rossiu, you don't know what you're doing!" Leeron just placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's no use. He's following his heart." Yoko just sighed.

Before Rossiu had even stepped into the water, he felt it moving. Ripples began spreading out across the water from the base of the large ganman. As Rossiu watched, the ganman rose up, water crashing around it. It opened its mouth and announced in a bellowing voice, "This village is the place of my final rest and you will not perturb the people I swore to protect! This is I, Agogo!"

"Huh? This voice…" the forehead boy muttered to himself. "Father Magin?" Even if the speakers of the ganman distorted it, Rossiu could recognize the voice pattern of his old man.

Inside the cockpit, Father Magin was holding tightly to the joysticks of the mecha. He could feel the spirit flowing to the controls. With one primal scream, he pushed Agogo's controls forward, launching the mecha against Yonk. The enemy ganman turned to see what was happening behind him and saw Agogo crashing against him.

"Argh!" Yonk screamed, faltering to the left a bit, but he didn't let his ganman fall. Agogo kept his attack, punching the foe with an uppercut with his right hand and then a jab with his left. Yonk stepped back and tried to swing his knife upwards, only denting Agogo's right arm. Father Magin responded with another left jab. In the priest's advantage, the beastman's confusion and surprise prevented it from attacking accurately, and its swings hit mostly empty air. The priest of the village then grabbed his foe's arm and swung it in the direction of the opening, making it slide over the water. The ancient ganman pushed, trying to topple its enemy into empty space, but the beastman struck furtively with its knife. Agogo stopped, but not before the knife dented its forehead.

"Stupid human, do you think that this old thing can really defeat me?" Yonk taunted, opening a hatch in both cheeks, revealing a pair of gatling guns. The barrels revolved and started to hail bullets right at Agogo.

"I will not allow this!" Father Magin uttered, clenching his teeth as the mecha was pelted by the chair-sized bullets. Some kind of progress bar popped up in the screen; as the bullets kept hitting Agogo, the progress bar filled quickly. It blinked when it was complete; instinctively, Father Magin gripped the control with all the forces his hands could allow and cried, "AGOGO!" The eyes of the mecha glowed as if they accumulated energy, and the lines in its forehead glowed purple. "CELESTIAL JUSTICE!" The glow increased even more, as Yonk noticed something wrong, and, inside the cabin, Father Magin's eyes seemed to glow together with Agogo's. "BEEEAAAM!" And a yellow beam of energy was fired from its eyes, hitting Yonk, who barely had time to scream; the enemy ganman was hurled by the energy beam, right to the opening, which led to an endless abyss. From that day on, no one ever heard of Yonk again.

After he finished the attack, Father Magin guided Agogo to its place of its rest, sitting it down back in front of the hole that it had blocked for years. He then exited the mecha, panting and clutching his arm. The first thing he saw was Rossiu's shocked expression. He was preparing himself to explain what was happening when Agogo lurched, inclining to the right, making some rocks fall from the wall. Father Magin's eyes widened and he felt that he was going to fall into the abyss. At that moment, a helping hand came to his rescue; Gurren Solvernia's hand, still covered in mud. The red mecha grabbed him before he could lurch more. Nia sighed in relief, but Kamina didn't share her feelings.

Gurren's hatch opened and the Great Kamina glared out, arms crossed and a scowl at his face. "I do not like you, grandpa square-face," he said, with an angry tone. "Why are you holding back so much of your spirit? If you-"

"I did not understand what I was doing," he replied, cutting him out, still panting a bit. "It was like a trance; I simply let myself follow this feeling."

"What a nice story…" Kamina replied, sarcastic.

"Please, you had enough time at our village," he begged. "Do not disturb our village any further. I must ask for you to leave us."

"You're just wasting your potential!" Kamina tried to reprimand him; he had seen what that man could do and he knew a fighting spirit when he saw one. For him, a spirit hindered was something unacceptable.

"Bro, that's their final decision," Nia said, letting her hands loosen from the controls. "Don't start a fight, please. I care about you."

Feeling that the battle to defeat the enemies was easier than the battle to change the mind of the people, Kamina sighed, accepting Father Magin's request, not without a last complainy. "I don't get it… I don't get just one damn bit…"

On the surface, Jank was truly scared; his ganman was shaking and he was biting his nails in its cabin because there was no response from Tonk and Yonk. "They're gone… What do I tell Commander Cinoshisa now?" And he darted off, returning to the base, fearing that he would be next.

After they had finished, Rossiu took Father Magin to another chamber to put some bandages on him. Illuminated by two candles, Rossiu wrapped a bandage around Father Magin's arm. The elder man was visibly tired, while Rossiu was unsettled. Timidly yet resolute, he decided to say something.

"The ganmen are not gods…"

"No, Rossiu," the elder man replied. "The ganmen are not gods. The man with blue hair did not lie to us."

"You knew it all the time…" He kept wrapping the bandage.

"Yes, I knew…" He looked down, feeling a bitter taste in his tongue; while he talked, Rossiu picked up a rusty scissor and cut the bandage, "Only two people in the village knew of it. Me and your mother."

Rossiu cringed, feeling the bile coming up to his throat, his hands tightening on the scissors he was holding. He asked, "What did my mother know?"

"Rossiu, there is something I must tell you: I was not born in this village. I came from a village very different from this; we had resources enough to sustain our population. Even so, I wanted more," he continued, his eyes lost in nostalgia and shame. "I was convinced that there was a surface, but nobody believed on me. I was no different from that youngster, wanting to inspire my fellows, trying to find ways to reach for the heavens. What is his name, Kamenah?"

"It's Kamina, father."

"Yes, Kamina. However, one day, my wish came true when a blonde woman appeared in my village. She was pretty and had a smooth voice, like a celestial messenger. She told us that there was a surface, where the sun shone, where we could run until we got tired, a paradise waiting for us. The first thing my fellow villagers did after we stepped on the surface was to apologize to me." He stopped to sigh, a triumphant sigh that had the same effect as a victory chuckle. "For the first time, I was right."

"But how did she enter in your village?" the forehead boy asked. "Was she my mother?"

"No, she was not," he replied. "The woman just appeared there, I do not know how. But that did not matter: she told us that the surface was just the first step towards something else. And then she left. From that day on, we built our homes in the middle of a valley."

"What is a valley?"

"I do not know how to explain, Rossiu."

"Sorry."

"That is fine. We lived happily for two months, I believe, and then they appeared: giant beasts with enormous guns came to our village one day and started to attack. The village could not fight back, so they ran, only to be found by another, bigger beast, bigger than the others, corralling the survivors. I saw all of them dying. I, the once courageous and proud man that was ready to take on the heavens if necessary, just hid myself and waited for the carnage to end." Rossiu was visibly shaken; Father Magin's tone of voice was disturbingly dark.

"I saw that there were no survivors, and at that moment I realized what the woman had meant. She had meant that the surface was just the first step towards death. I wandered for a few days in the wasteland, until I stepped on Adai. The first thing I saw when I descended the ventilation tubes and arrived there was a woman, holding a small child with a big forehead." He chuckled at Rossiu...

"Who are you?" the woman asked, fearful and almost crying. She was wearing a dirt gray robe, covering all her body except for her head and hands. She had black eyes and long black hair, but her most distinctive characteristic was the very developed forehead, which was shared by her little child, enveloped in a gray blanket.

"My name is Magin," the man replied, a younger version of Father Magin, without the lines of age. "What's your problem? Are you alright?"

"Nothing is alright…" she turned away from him. "My name is Hobelis, but that doesn't make a difference. I'm just waiting here to die with my children," she stopped to snivel, which hurt Magin's heart, "But I don't want to die…"

"I gave her some food and she explained what happened in her village: people were destroying themselves because the food had run out again. If you think things are bad today, you should have seen those days. They were just under forty total, but it was only half of what their population had been only a couple of months ago. The bodies had accumulated to the point that it was impossible to give them all a proper burial. You father had died only a few days before I arrived." He gulped; to think about all those people dead was disturbing.

"Rossiu, I saw everything in the village, but when I pointed to the ganman, she said that it was their protector god. I explained to her that they were no gods, but demons, as those surface dwellers may attest to you. She did not believe me at first, but she accepted eventually, though not without argument. After that I devised a plan: while they were sleeping I would enter in the ganman and appear to everyone as an envoy of the Celestial Lands. It worked perfectly, and I was appointed as the new chief of the village."

"My mother was part of the scheme."

"Indeed. Hobelis was crucial because she announced that I was the envoy that would bring a new era to Adai. And my first decision was to establish the limit of fifty people. The village's resources cannot sustain more than that. In the beginning, it was hard to accept, but time helped us to get used to it. We can not let our feelings dictate what we do; if we succumb to them, our village will be destroyed. Even if I lose my soul, I will not lose this village."

"So, if everything was a lie...then what about Gimmy and Darry? Were they chosen by the gods...or by you?"

"They are orphans. There would be few who truly grieve for them."

"Then, what about her? Why did she have to go?" the boy asked, tension visible and audible in his eyes and voice.

"Do you wish to know the truth?" Father Magin asked, looking Rossiu right in the eyes. He nodded, his mouth shut tight in anticipation of the truth...

In a chamber, Father Magin and Hobelis were discussing. The population had again surpassed the mark of fifty persons, with the birth of their new villager, a boy named Oje. Today was to be the final day for someone in the village.

"We're out of options," she said, walking in circles. "There's nobody for us to choose. No ruffians, no elderly, no sick and dying, no ruffians or rebels."

"We must choose quickly," Father Magin replied. "The ceremony must not be delayed any further."

After an eerie silence, Hobelis finally spoke.

"It's decided. I will go!"

"What?" Father Magin's eyes opened wide. "But why? You're important here!"

"The point of the ceremony is that anyone can be chosen. Even you," she explained, pointing for emphasis. "If someone important is chosen, it will vanquish the doubts of anyone."

"There must be a way to avoid this." Father Magin clenched his fists, looking hopeless.

"There is not. I helped to create this; I should've been the first to volunteer to take the toll. No matter what awful things I did, I will not be a hypocrite!" Father Magin looked at her, almost crying. "Don't!" she snapped, forcing her tears back, "You still have to look out for Rossiu!"

"But he is so attached to you."

"He will understand when he becomes older. He has no option but to keep moving forward..."

Rossiu couldn't believe in Father Magin's words; his mother chose to go to allow the harsh tradition to continue. He put his hands to his head and looked down, eyes wide open, knees trembling, still digesting what he just heard, a very stodgy information.

"This is the truth, Rossiu." Father Magin looked down. "And the truth is that we must follow the rite to keep the village alive, or else…" Father Magin didn't finish the sentence. A gust of wind extinguished the flames of the candles. Darkness fell; but darkness was nothing new for Rossiu.

"Here, take it," an old woman said to Gimmy and Darry, before they entered the Door to the Quintessence. She handed a purse to Darry. Another was helping to place a bag at Gimmy's back.

"Don't eat everything at once," someone else counseled them. "Eat only when needed, little by little." The supplies could last for five days, if they ate sparsely.

"Thanks!" The twins replied. Many villagers were gathered around them, wishing them good luck and trying to comfort them. It looked like they were much more preoccupied with them than with themselves, though the twins were very happy to be chosen.

In the moments after the battle, when one villager asked about the ceremony, Father Magin said that they were special, in a different way than those who were chosen before them. Kamina just groaned, sick of that kind of talk, and told Nia to move Gurren Solvernia up. After having given their farewells, the four, five counting Boota, entered the mecha. Yoko chose to go with Nia in Solvernia, leaving Kamina with Leeron, pretty much entirely on purpose (in case it wasn't obvious, Kamina was not comfortable with Leeron). Gurren Solvernia climbed up the wall of the cavern using its drill fingers, even as Kamina yelped every time Leeron prodded him awkwardly kind-of-somewhat on purpose. Once they hit the surface, they would go around to where the Door to the Quintessence exited and pick up Gimmy and Darry.

Next to the pond, Rossiu had requested a word with Father Magin; when he saw his disciple wearing a bag, he knew what he had in mind.

"I see that you have made your decision."

"Yes, Father Magin."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, this is my decision. I will go with Gimmy and Darry," the boy explained, a small smile appearing on his face. "The goal of our guests is to make the surface a better place to live. If they do, we won't need to live by painful laws anymore."

"I wish you success where I failed," the elder man sighed, closing his eyes in resignation. "And I will prepare our village for that day."

"Thank you for believing in us. Besides..." Rossiu continued smiling. "Won't it be easier for you if no one else knew the truth?"

"You do have Hobelis' blood in your veins," he said. He held out a hand, in which was held a book. "As a last wish, please: would you take our holy scriptures with you?"

He looked uninterested, but replied politely. "Thank you Father, but I no longer believe." His expression then turned embarrassed. "And I cannot read. I never learned how."

"Oh, is that all?" Father Magin replied, amused. "You do not need to worry, Rossiu." And he gave a big smile, showing all his teeth, laughing at the irony. "I cannot read either!"

Rossiu's ears could barely believe what he had just heard, but it made sense. Nobody had ever questioned Father Magin's authority, and when he read the book at ceremonies, Rossiu had always assumed that he was reading, and hoped that someday he would learn as well. But all the time he had been making things up, which explained some of the inconsistencies in the rites. Rossiu smirked, an ironic smirk.

"I know it is only dead weight for now, but I would like you to take with you," asked the priest.

"In that case, I accept." He took the book and stuffed it in his bag, "Now, Gimmy and Darry are waiting for me."

"One more thing, Rossiu," called Father Magin, his expression turning serious.

"Yes, father." Knowing this expression and tone of voice, Rossiu paid attention.

"Be careful with the messenger of death. When the newcomers arrived at our village, I suspected them to be messengers of death, but I saw that they were no threat because of one characteristic."

"What is it, father?" he asked, taking heed.

"The messenger of death never opposed anyone. She did not know how to say 'no' to any request, she never talked about 'wrong', something that young man knows very well. She always had that smooth talk, easy rewards at virtually no cost, which caused the downfall of my first home."

"I will take care." he assured him at last.

After giving him a farewell hug, Rossiu joined Gimmy and Darry and entered the door. After a last look, where he could see Father Magin smiling at them, the door to Adai was closed. Then, Rossiu walked forward; every step he advanced, his heart seemed to race a little more; he could feel a different breeze and the light increasing its splendor.

"Hey, Darry, the first one to climb the stairs wins!" Gimmy challenged his sister.

But before they could sprint, Rossiu called to them. "No, Gimmy, we must go together."

Gimmy seemed a bit disappointed, but didn't mind. He waited along with them.

And, when they finally reached the end of the stairs, they had to cover their eyes for a while until their vision adjusted. The unreachable blue sky with its fluffy clouds, the blazing sun in the middle of the sky, the endless horizon of land, the wind seemingly soaring a melody...it was hard to describe their first exposure to the surface. They barely knew how to react, although, given the intensity of their emotions, any reaction would have been an understatement.

Team Gurren was also waiting for their new members; Gurren Solvernia stood stately, with Nia, Kamina, Yoko, Leeron and Boota beside it.

"What?" Kamina uttered, distraught. "Nobody told me that Forehead Boy could go with us! It's not part of the deal!"

"Don't be so grouchy," Yoko replied, glancing at him.

"There's still time to throw him in the pit, back to his village!" he complained, flipping his cape.

"Hey Mr. Great Kamina, there is an insect on your face!" Darry said, pointing to his v-shaped glasses. They still thought that 'Great' was part of his name.

"It's huge!" Gimmy added.

"It's not an insect! It's the manliest of all glasses in the world!" he cried, fuming. "But you little kids would never understand!"

"You meanie!" Gimmy said and Darry agreed, adding her own, "Yeah, you meanie!" to the dialogue.

"You little kids, wait 'till I get you!" He tried to grab them, but Yoko (completely innocently) placed her foot in front of him, making him trip. Gimmy then stole Kamina's glasses and put them on his own face. "Look, I'm the Great Kamina!" he yelled, and ran away, laughing along with Darry. Kamina got up and tried to catch him, grumbling, "Nobody messes with the Great Kamina! NOBODY!"

Nia, on the other hand, thought it to be amusing and approached the forehead boy, holding both hands and making a quick bow. "Rossiu, welcome to Team Gurren."

"Thank you, Nia," he replied, also smiling. "I hope to be useful."

"Kamina and I will build a home the surface, for everyone!" she said brightly. "A future where Ucom's children will be able to live happily!" Rossiu smiled at her cheerfulness, the kind of cheerfulness that only pure and optimist people had.

"One friend taught me how to be friends with other person," she said, grabbing his hand, taking his pinkie and intertwining with her own pinkie. "See, if you do this we can be friends now!"

"Friends…" he smiled, blushing in happiness, feeling the bright future that lay ahead of him in his journey with Team Gurren.

Jank was, once again, in the control room. As he kneeled in respect to the Commander Cinoshisa, fear wrapped its cold fingers around his heart. He gritted his teeth, sweating though he was not hot. The Commander was a demanding person, generous when it came to materials like explosives, but interested in nothing but results.

"Two ganmen lost," the Commander's robotic voice sounded through the room. "A cargo of explosives wasted and a handful of humans running amok in the surface. How will I account for this in my report? Failure, uttermost unacceptable failure."

"I apologize, my commander."

"I did not allow you to speak!" The robot voice became louder, the only way to express emotions that mask allowed. "This does not help my plans to become a general. Are you aware of what I do to those who do not help me achieve my goals?" A cylinder came out of the armor, from the region where supposedly the right side of the trunk was. Jank didn't see, as his eyes were still firmly fixed to the ground, but he did hear the pop as a bullet was fired from the cylinder; before that, the Commander's eyes glowed red. It was the last thing he ever heard.

...Or it would have been, if it had actually been aimed at him.

"And let that be a warning," Commander Cinoshisa intoned as shards of glass fell from the window that had been shattered in place of Jank's skull. "You will be demoted. Now fix that window!"

"Y-yes, sir!" He ran to the depot to comply with his orders, as fast as he could.

Cinoshisa's eyes glowed again as the communicator in the helmet activated. "Attention, Jigitalis, your request to return to piloting duty has hereby been granted. Daorek is now yours to command."

On the other side of the line, the beastman known as Jigitalis turned his communicator, which resemble a cellphone, off. He was a portly leonine beastman, with a big mane and a big x-shaped scar. His eyes were green and he had a metallic chain he used as a belt.

"Chidori, my request was accepted," he said, smirking. "After such a long wait, I will be once again permitted to pilot a ganman."

"Good," said a feline beastwoman, wearing a pink cap, a mustard shirt, jean mini-shorts, brown boots and cat gloves. She seemed more preoccupied with playing a videogame, not even turning her head to reply.

"Chidori, leave that thing alone. You've been at it for ten hours. How can that thing work for so long?"

"It just needed new batteries, father." The object in her hand bore the label "Game Boy". She had found it in the excavation site, where they had been investigating ruins that had apparently been destroyed several millennia ago. A quick clean and a pair of new batteries had been all that was needed to get the thing up and running again. "Besides, this game gave me a new idea of how to defeat the humans."

"How could that be?"

"See," Jigitalis looked at the screen, "this circle-thing that I control, must eat all the pellets and run away from the monsters." She turned and showed it to her father. "If the monsters get the circle-thing, I lose. But if I eat the big pellet," she said as the circle-thing ate the bigger pellet, turning the monsters a dark gray, "I can eat the monsters back."

"And what does this mean?"

"The humans are the same thing. This Gurren Solvernia is their big pellet, so what do we do? Simply remove the big pellet and then they won't be able to fight back anymore."

"I liked your plan, Chidori." He smirked.

"That shouldn't be hard to do," she said, not looking away from the videogame. "Where are we going next?"

"We will go to Gorodo Village before facing the humans again. Our agent has informed us that they have a new shipment of gold for us."

"Right." At that moment, the vessel started to tremble. "I guess we're moving," she commented, and returned to her game

Smoke billowed out from the furnace. The massive purple legs started to walk and the black and purple drill-shaped prow advanced. The giant ganman was operational. In the bridge, Cinoshisa initialized the systems of the vessel.

"Soon, Gurren Solvernia shall meet its match against my Yamikaze!"

A.N.: And we're done with Adai! Hobelis is based on Thomas Hobbes, since Rossiu is based on Jean-Jacques Rosseau, and it reflects her philosophy and also I think that gives some backstory on how Rossiu became what he is, in my opinion. And yes, Chidori is playing a Game Boy. Why? Well, it's a Game Boy, those things are tough.