I do not own Gurren Lagann, Gainax does. Kirei Bachika, ISO, and Illustrious Kazenami belong to me.
"A general, huh?" Kamina smirked. "I'd be sweating if I were you, being exposed like that and all. Can't shoot off those big guns this close!"
Thymilph chuckled ominously, looking down at Dai-Gurren from atop the Dai-Ganzan's command tower.
"Our guns may be useless," he rumbled, "but we are far from defenseless! Come at me, Gurren Lagann!"
Simon and Kamina obliged him, leaping forwards and drawing their fist back. Just before they got within swinging range of the General, Thymilph's eyes glinted with murderous amusement; a moment later Dai-Ganzan's massive right arm whipped out and smacked Gurren Lagann back down. A second slap from the left arm set them spinning. The two pilots grunted as their world spun.
Meanwhile, Thymilph descended the elevator back down to the bridge. He took his place in the command chair and regarded his foes with contempt.
"I will not tolerate your arrogance, especially not aboard my Dai-Ganzan!" he yelled. "No matter how big your mouth, it cannot compare to Dai-Ganzan!"
Unwilling to give up, Gurren Lagann jumped once again at the command centre. This time, both arms came to bear; both hands came from the side, crushing Gurren Lagann between them. It repeated this several times, and when they were done, they grabbed the red mecha by the legs. Thymilph laughed as Gurren Lagann hung between Dai-Ganzan's fingers like some sort of toy doll.
"I'll tear you apart limb from limb!" he declared. The Dai-Ganzan began to pull on the red ganman's legs. Simon and Kamina were helpless, unable to reach to try and pry off the fortress ganman's grip. Gurren Lagann's joints creaked in protest, spraying sparks as vital connections came close to snapping.
"We're coming apart!" yelled Kamina.
"Damn it!" cursed Simon. They couldn't afford to die! He waved the ganman's arms in a desperate attempt to attack the giant hands holding them. If they died, then Kirei would be left alone to defend the group. And if he fell, then…
Thymilph grinned evilly, looking forward to seeing the red ganman come apart like a rag doll. "Rip apart…"
The mecha's joints neared their breaking point…then…
Suddenly, two explosive booms rang out, followed quickly by the creak of metal forced in ways it didn't want to go. Dai-Ganzan's armored fingers twitched apart automatically, smoking badly, dropping Gurren Lagann. The red ganman landed on the deck with a crash.
"What was that?" roared Thymilph. "I want an answer now!"
"General Thymilph! New enemy units!" cried out one of the bridge crew. He mashed a couple keys, and a video feed blinked onto the screen. A blue Tank-type model and the tall, dark ganman from before stood on a nearby ridge. The latter carried a spent rocket launcher, and both weapons were smoking. As they watched, the dark ganman tossed aside its launcher and pulled a rifle form its back.
"Never thought I'd be glad to see you, metalhead!" yelled Kamina.
"Who's that?" asked Simon, squinting at the blue W-Tank.
"We're the cavalry, that's what!" replied the newcomer in a familiar voice. "We'll cover you, so get clear!"
"Dayakka?!"
"That's me!" Ritona's muscle-bound chief and leader appeared on Simon's screen, grinning while running a hand through his green hair.
Simon smiled back, hope flooding through him. The feeling only increased when a spiky yellow mech crested the ridge to stand next to the others.
"BEHOLD! KITTAN OF THE BLACK SIBLINGS HAS ARRIVED!" he announced grandly. Both pilot and mecha struck a pose. "Just in the nick of time, like always!"
"Eh…do we know you?" asked Kamina.
"You bastard! It's Kittan! Kittan!" yelled back an enraged Kittan. "There's no way you've forgotten me already!"
"Whatever," said Kamina dismissively. "More importantly, what are you doing piloting ganmen like that?"
"It's all because of you and Simon," replied Yoko, whose smiling face had appeared on both Kamina and Simon's screens.
"Hah! Of course it was us...! Wait, what did we do?"
"You stole Gurren, remember?" explained Yoko. "You proved it could happen, so now everyone's trying to copy you!"
"I ain't copying nobody!" corrected Kittan. "The Black Siblings kick ass no matter where they are, all right?"
"It's copycatting," deadpanned Kiyal.
"Typical Kittan, too pigheaded to admit it..." added Kinon.
"Hey! What happened to sibling support?"
"Everybody, huh?" said Kamina thoughtfully.
"Backup's on the way!" Yoko told them happily. "You're not alone anymore! We can do this together!"
Simon grinned in relief, while Kamina laughed out loud.
"Things are sure starting to go our way, huh?" he said confidently.
"You said it!" replied Simon. They picked Gurren Lagann up off the ground, ready to finish the battle they had begun.
"Unthinkable!" roared Thymilph. Humans piloting ganmen...the very idea set his teeth on edge and his hair on end.
He had a duty to perform, and he knew exactly what to do.
"THIEVING VERMIN! CRUSH THEM!" he roared.
The crew opened fire with gusto, channelling their leader's rage. A dozen grunt Ganmen charged out from the hangers, roaring in sympathetic fury. Leading them was Viral, yellling "Kill them all! slaughter them!"
They surrounded Gurren Lagann, ready to crush it under their sheer weight if need be. Kamina was unimpressed.
"Cannon fodder again?" he said nonchalantly. "We've taken down dozens of you guys already, what makes you think-"
He was cut off mid-brag by a shadow falling over him.
"Ow! Damn!" he yelled as Dai-Ganzan's massive fist crashed down on them. Before he could get up again, Viral and his squad had already closed in and joined in on the beat-down.
Kirei finished unloading Kiyoh with her sisters and charged forwards to join in on the fight. He jumped on to the deck, hoping to help Gurren Lagann...but he, too, was swept aside by the Fortress Dai-Gan's gigantic hands. He went skidding across the wasteland.
"YOU! HAVE! NO! CHANCE!" roared Thymilph, picking up Gurren Lagann with one gigantic hand. He tossed the red mecha, and it bounced twice before finally landing right next to the Illustrious Kazenami.
"Damn it!" grunted Kamina, struggling to get Gurren Lagann back on its feet. Beside him, Kirei was doing the same.
"Retreat, Kamina!" ordered Yoko over the comms. "You're in no condition to keep fighting!"
"Easier said than done!" groaned back Kamina.
"What are you talking about? Just run!"
"Bro, I think she has a point..." said Simon. His head was spinning from the constant tumbling, and the gauge in front of him fluctuated as Gurren Lagann struggled to continue running.
"Listen to me, Simon," growled back Kamina. "We can't run."
"But..."
"Listen to me!" He closed his eyes. "Think about it. We're in their cannon range now. If we turn around now they shoot us right in the back. And even if we make it, where do we go? If we run back to Yoko, they'll blast everyone else as well."
Simon was quiet for a moment as he digested this. Then: "So what do we do now?"
"I don't know," answered Kamina. "But whatever we do, we can't run."
Simon clutched his controls in mixed frustration and fear. They were trapped, with no escape.
He looked over at the Illustrious Kazenami, and the dark mecha looked back at him. And then...something. Supportive. Just a feeling, but...
He clicked his mind into gear. What could he do? What did he know how to do? His gaze drifted around the landscape.
Dai-Ganzan lumbered towards them, bearing down on them with implacable strength.
If only he could stop it...
"I've got an idea, bro!"
"What?" Kamina looked up at Simon. Kirei raised an eyebrow. Simon looked back at them with confidence.
"I can't explain it, but I can do it! Let me do this, bro!"
Kamina looked into Simon's eyes, and had no trouble letting go of the controls. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his seat.
"All right, Simon! It's your show now! Do what you have to!"
"Thanks, bro!" Simon pulled down his goggles. "Kirei, run that way!"
They ran.
"Shoot them down like the rats that they are!" cackled Thymilph.
Kirei ran just behind Simon, keeping pace with Gurren Lagann. They weren't supposed to be running, yet...
"What the hell are they doing?" asked Kittan. "I don't get it."
Suddenly, Simon turned around, lifted Gurren Lagann's arm, and...Kirei caught the bright flashes of miniature drills shooting out. Was Simon shooting at Dai-Gunzan? No, they fell short, or wide. He puzzled at it but could find no meaning in it.
But there was nothing he could do about it now. It was Simon's show, and he didn't dare interfere.
Then they hit a cliff, and suddenly Kirei wished he'd interfered earlier.
"They're trapped!" gasped Yoko, peering down her rifle scope. "Dammit! Those idiots!"
"They're stuck on the edge of a cliff," informed Rossiu, watching through binoculars.
"We're going to rescue them!" decided Yoko. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and marched over to Dayakkaiser. "Dayakka, gimme a ride!"
"ALL RIGHT!" said Kittan ecstatically, smashing the King Kittan's fists together. "Time for the Black Siblings to shine!"
"I would hold on a little if I were you." Leeron reached out without looking and grabbed Yoko's ponytail, stopping her in her tracks with an "Erk!" of pain. "I doubt Simon would let himself get trapped by accident..."
From Dai-Ganzan's deck, Viral glared down at his foes with a smirk of victory and a look of disdain. He laughed at them, enjoying their despair.
"You have two choices now!" he yelled down at them. "One, you can fall off that cliff and do our job for us. Two, you can stand there while we smash you to bits and throw the pieces into the abyss!" He sneered. "Any last words?"
"I choose option three," said Simon.
"What?" Viral frowned. "There was no third option, you idiot!"
"Option three!" yelled out Simon, raising his arm. "You're the ones who fall!"
At that moment the penny dropped, and all the drills Simon had fired dug themselves into the ground in an exact circle around Dai-Ganzan.
Simon grinned, Kamina nodded, Kirei was impressed, and Viral looked about himself in slowly dawning apprehension.
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU'RE PLANNING!" yelled Thymilph. "I'LL CRUSH YOU LIKE COCKROACHES!"
The Dai-Ganzan charged.
Simon brought his arm down, smacking the ground with a drill-charged punch. In tandem, so did Kirei with the dark ganmen.
There was a massive groan, and a series of sharp cracks.
The ground around Dai-Ganzan cracked and split, a series of fissures spiraling inward from the drills Simon had planted. Green light flashed from them briefly...and the earth gave way.
Dai-Ganzan plummeted into darkness.
"YOU BASTAAAAAAARDS!" yelled Viral as he fell.
Simon didn't reply, but smiled in content at a job well done. Gurren Lagann stood and lowered its arm, the drills retracting.
"Nice one, bro," congratulated Kamina, as the last of Viral's screams faded to echoes.
Kirei nodded, giving congratulations in his own way. Simon felt that supportive feeling again; he shook his head and put it down to exhaustion.
Together, the Gurren Lagann and the Illustrious Kazenami slowly walked back to their allies.
They were met by not two, but six ganmen. The four newcomers hailed them with waves. Kamina looked them over critically.
"Whaddaya think?" asked Kittan enthusiastically. "A couple of other idiots heard about some idiots stealing ganmen, and jumped on the bandwagon."
Kamina nodded in approval. He nodded again when he saw the flag with Dai-Gurren's emblem, flapping in the wind.
"I didn't know there were so many idiots in the world!" he commented.
Yoko smiled. "It's your fault, you know. We caught your bug."
An hour or two later, camp was set up, everyone was settled in, and night was falling. Gurren was seated on the ground while Leeron's gadget drones, little spider-like discs about half a foot across, skittered across its armor, patching up holes and repairing mechanisms.
"Fighting spirit repaired the armor, but as soon as Lagann disconnected it changed back...hm," he mused aloud.
Simon nodded. "I don't know why. They're just stronger when they're connected."
"Stronger together, huh? Sounds about right," said Dayakka from behind them.
"Oh, Dayakka." Leeron paused in his work, his fingers freezing mid-tap. "How are things in Ritona? If you're here, who's looking after the villagers?"
"We left them with Jiha's chief," he replied.
"He agreed to that?" said Simon, surprised.
"He said it's his duty to look after those who can't do it for themselves." Dayakka looked up at Gurren. "He also says he owes you an apology. Seems to me he's changed a lot since you left...kind of happens when you give people hope."
"And Gurren Lagann is a symbol of that hope~!" added Leeron.
"Still. We must be careful." Rossiu approached the group, his tone foreboding. "Gurren Lagann is powerful, but it is not invincible."
"Yo, Forehead!" Kamina smacked him in the head from behind. "Still talking like some kind of pessimistic know-it-all?"
"Kamina!" Kittan waved to them from the center of the camp. "Come and meet everyone!"
Chain-smoking Zorthy.
Kidd and Ailak, the Tornado Twins.
The bumbling but tough-as-nails twins Jorgun and Balinbow.
The taciturnly supportive Makken.
Small beginnings, perhaps; but it was the start of something so much greater. Having met them all, Kittan climbed up onto the Dayakkaiser.
"All right! Listen up, you bozos!" he proclaimed, waltzing out onto the mecha's cannon. "I've got an announcement!"
All eyes were already turned on him, so the theatrics weren't really necessary, but Kamina rarely did solely what was necessary.
"It's about that humongous ganman we took down today! 'Course, we all know it'll be back again eventually, 'cause beastmen are like that!"
He grinned then, mischievously. "Well, we got this far by stealing ganmen, right? Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Let's help ourselves to the big-ass ganman!"
He punched the air with his fist, and was graced with a wave of cheers.
"So that's it!" he finished. "By this time tomorrow, that big thing's going to be our new headquarters!"
More cheering.
"All right, you can all clear out now. Go get some rest for tomorrow." He hopped down off of Dayakkaiser, his cape billowing behind him. "Oh, except the old members," he added, standing. "Come with me."
Yoko quirked an eyebrow, but followed. So did the Bachika siblings, the Adai kids, Simon, Boota, Leeron, and Kirei. He led them a ways out into the woods.
"Right! Who thinks they can predict why the Great and Mighty Kamina has led you all out here?" he asked, turning around.
"To make the newbies feel unwanted?" asked Yoko dryly.
"No way! Actually, I really wanted them to sleep." He chuckled. "Can't fight without resting first, right? But before we go in tomorrow, we need to talk strategy."
"Strategy? You?" Yoko snorted. "Since when?"
"Since we need to," replied Kamina, serious for once. "You saw what happened. I may be crazy but I'm not THAT stupid."
Yoko bit down her instinctual acidic reply, genuinely impressed.
"But also, there's one other thing!" added Kamina then, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I need to give an apology!"
Yoko raised another eyebrow, and folded her arms over her chest. The Black siblings, Leeron, Rossiu, and even Simon did the same.
He took off his famous red shades and looked the silver-haired boy right in the eyes. Red met red.
"Metalhead – no. Kirei Bachika. I'm sorry for distrusting you so much over the last couple days, a'right?"
Kirei looked back, understanding in his eyes. Kamina grinned.
"Can't blame me, can you? Everything about you is suspicious. But!" He flicked his shades back on. "Today I saw you put your life on the line for us. And that's something I can respect!"
He stuck out his hand. "If you're a spy you're a damn good one, but I'd still be happy to fight alongside you. And if you aren't – and I'm pretty sure you aren't – then I'd like to call you a friend. Whaddaya say?"
Kirei smiled, and took the proffered hand. Kamina felt a feeling of understanding and reciprocation, through both the firm shake and the look in his eyes.
Yoko and the Bachika sisters smiled, relieved that the two would now be able to get along.
"One question, though," said Kamina, releasing Kirei's hand and stepping back. His face was now serious again. "Who took your voice, kid?"
Kiyoh started. "How do you know he's mute?"
"He doesn't talk, and he's got these great big scars across his neck. I mean, you really can't miss 'em." He smirked. "I may be crazy but I'm not that stupid, remember? Or blind."
"They really are kind of obvious..." remarked Simon.
"I want to hear the full story." Kamina sat on the grass, and motioned for the others to do the same. "I hear you're an amnesiac too – don't give me that look, I'm not deaf either – but I want to hear everything you can tell me."
Kirei sat cross-legged opposite Kamina, looking a bit hesitant. Kamina gave him a supportive grin.
"We're brothers of the soul now, kid!" he told Kirei. "You can trust me."
Kiyoh patted him on the shoulder, encouraging him on. Kirei nodded, accepting the invitation.
And so, with the help of his sisters, Kirei told his story.
Dai-Ganzan was a hive of frenetic activity.
Mechanics rushed around the ganman hangars, patching up those they could save, cannibalizing those they couldn't for spare parts. Medics treated the pilots injured in the battle, peacefully releasing the pain of those who wouldn't survive. Elsewhere, all available crew members hurried to get the fortress back in working order. Severed cables were soldered and wrapped; hull breaches were plugged and welded; ruined components were stripped out and replaced. Dented gun barrels were hammered back into shape, auto-loaders and rotation mechanisms were un-jammed and repaired, delicate circuitry was removed and sent down to Engineering for proper repair or replacement.
Such was there hurry that, even if they could have, nobody would have seen or noticed the chameleon beastman that leaped from the cliff-side, slipped into the fortress, and sneaked his way towards the command centre. Once there, his natural camouflage deactivated, and he positioned himself behind Thymilph's throne. He lifted his wrist and pressed a button on the device attached to it. It blipped once, before the single word "MEMEINS" appeared on its surface.
"No problems, Naj?" asked the chameleon's commander.
"Yes, sir. I'm in central command now." He reached to a pack on his waist, and withdrew a small metal sphere. It shimmered dully in the low light. "I'm about to install the device now."
"Good. Carry on. You will receive your bonus in full upon your unnoticed return."
The beastman was tempted to ask what the device was, but he wasn't being paid to ask questions. Half the reason ISO employed him was precisely because he didn't. Instead, he chirped off a quick "Yessir" and clicked off the comms unit, already dreaming of double pay and a week's paid vacation in Beauty Village.
A moment later and he left, leaving the strange device attached underneath the throne. It blinked once, a malign red.
And then it vanished.
Thanks go to Juubi-k and 1 over 0 for the editing and beta'ing.
Another month, another rewrite done.