I'm Done Running!

[Episode 10 – Chapter 17 & 18]


Neirah had watched from amongst the crowds of Team Dai-Gurren members as tension brewed high to the sight of Princess Nia in their midst. The beautiful young lady had successfully managed to drive Adiane back, for the meantime, but something hadn't set well within Neirah's aching breast. She couldn't understand why a princess of the capital would be wandering out and about in a deserted wasteland. From what she'd known of the capital, that would be the last thing she'd expect.

"This doesn't sit well with me," she muttered vacantly. "She may have been kidnapped, in which case, we've been framed. If we thought we were an enemy to the capital before, I'd hate to see what the Spiral King is going to do when he finds out she's been here all along."

"Man, this is unbelievable," Zorthy growled impatiently. "He brought the daughter of the guy we're fightin' on board."

"Should we hold her?" Dayakka openly inquired.

His sudden darkening of demeanour had caused Neirah to swing her nervous gaze to meet where she'd never seen the gentle man look so displeased. "And risk him finding her here?"

"Well we can't just let her go," Iraak suggested. "She could go back and reveal our location to the enemy."

Neirah's expression had dimmed with irritation. "Really? Look at her," she reasoned. "It's a miracle that she made it this far on her own."

Dayakka had turned to face the pair grimly. "That's if she was alone."

All three had returned their attention to the woman keenly. "A good point," Iraak murmured uneasily.

Zorthy had turned to direct his rough request towards their newly elected leader. "So what's the plan, Kittan?"

"The plan!" Jorgun demanded.

Balinbow had been swift to agree. "Tell us the plan!"

Kittan had straightened and glowered at the fair girl's back with great mistrust. "Whatever the case, we interrogate her in the morning," Kittan announced sternly. "I'm gonna put the screws to that little girl and make her spill everythin' she knows."

Neirah's brow had knotted intensely with the need to interfere but when she'd opened her mouth and reached out towards their brash new leader on his hasty retreat, Iraak had raised his arm to take her hands and gently lower hers. She'd turned her bemused gaze to where he'd slowly shaken his head.

She'd sighed softly in defeat and retracted her arm, her vacant gaze staring into the floor at her feet. "This isn't right... She wouldn't have driven Adiane away if she was an enemy," she murmured softly. "I swore not to hesitate when something felt wrong... This feels wrong..."

"Don't sweat the details," Iraak assured her quietly as their companions had started to depart. "That's the boss' order so we're obliged to follow it without complaint."

Her intensely uncomfortable gaze had sharpened impatiently. "That doesn't make it sound any better..."

"You and her aren't the same," Zorthy assured her gruffly. "Sure you were one of the capital's soldiers, but you weren't the princess of the place tryin' to destroy all us humans. You were just tryin' to get by, and when you realised that that was a load of crap, you turned tail. If this chick did the same, we wouldn't be at war. That's the power of bein' royalty."

"You've already earned your place here," Dayakka assured her kindly after settling his hand gently on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Nobody is throwing you into the fire."

Neirah had watched as the last of them had taken off out of the room and gone to contemplate the weight of their tiniest new disturbance. She'd simply turned her gaze to where Nia had been left to wonder why her father's forces were disturbing her new friends. 'What does this mean for us?'


Neirah had groaned as she'd watched Kittan conduct his best attempt at an interrogation against their newest arrival but she had to admit that the regrettable truth was that she'd never seen anything more pathetic in her entire life. "This is painful," she murmured bleakly. "We're not going to get anywhere this way."

"I don't know whether I should call her fearless or him just... really stupid," Leyte murmured grimly.

"Oh please, as if that's up for debate," Neirah mumbled softly. "All we're actually managing to learn here is that this woman is kind, sweet and innocent; a picture-perfect princess."

"Okay," Iraak humbly agreed. "Then what's a picture-perfect princess doing out here in the first place? Not that I'm complaining."

"You will be if she brings the capital down on our heads," Zorthy growled. "What about you, assassin? Do you know anything about 'er that we don't?"

Neirah hadn't taken her eyes off the spectacle as she slowly shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Everything I've been told is standing right in front of us to confirm the tales. I'd overheard a lot of stories from the beastmen down in Tetsai but I've never actually met the girl. The commander spoke of her often but nothing I've ever heard could make me mistrust the woman now that all the rumours have been proven true."

"Really?" Kidd instigated curiously. "You didn't even trust us when you started comin' around but she's okay?"

"That's not strange," Iraak defended her swiftly. "Compared to the vision over there, we're a bunch of barbaric warmongers."

Neirah had closed her eyes and dropped her small smile. "Precisely." She'd raised her thoughtful pout, tipping one finger to her pursed lips. "Besides, Kittan kind of looks like a villain, certainly compared to his opponent, so seeing him standing against the princess has my brain all jumbled." She'd cut her narrowed gaze Zorthy's way. "And now that I think of it, so do you."

"Piss off," Zorthy snarled. "Y'know where I come from, chick's dig a bad boy."

"Well then it sounds like you'd have better luck where you came from," she assured him coldly.

"Man, no fair," Kidd grumbled. "How come I can't trust her like you can? Just seein' her floatin' around here is freakin' me out."

Neirah had turned her gravely impatient gaze his way. "Yet you'd pull three consecutive all-nighters with a trained assassin."

He'd turned his bashfully embarrassed gaze away from her passionate glower. "Well, y'know, kick logic out and all that jazz."

"Well, no problem," Kittan concluded coolly. "I'm the leader here so it's only natural!"

Kidd had flinched the moment Neirah had balled her fist at her side and let out a low growl. "Uh... Nei?"

"I'm going to maim him..."

"Whoa, that's the most riled up I think I've seen you since you got here," Zorthy muttered nervously. "What hit the switch?"

"It's probably because Tsaizuko's finally back online," Leyte sniggered softly. "She's been gettin' all spunky recently just thinkin' about steppin' back into the ring."

Neirah had diverted her flushed expression to the floor before turning and rushing past them. "Okay, you boys take over. I'm going to meditate."

"Wait, Neirah!" Iraak's exasperated sigh had grown bleak with discouragement. "There she goes. At least she's not hiding from us anymore."

"No, just hiding from the need to clock our new leader," Zorthy added sardonically. "I'm sleepin' with one eye open tonight."

"That was the most instant regret I've ever seen," Dayakka rumbled upon joining them. "I bet she's really kicking herself for helping to promote Kittan into power."

"Why do you say that?" Iraak questioned humbly.

"Yeah, you just got here," Kidd agreed.

"Kittan, you selfish, arrogant, egotistical, self-centred prick!"

Dayakka had turned over his shoulder to where Neirah's furious roar had been cutting down the emptying halls with the dismissal of their meeting. "Any other stupid questions you wanna ask me?"

"She's really working her vocabulary on that one," Leyte murmured dismally. "I've never heard so many different ways to say the exact same thing."

"Maybe he should sleep with one eye open," Zorthy crooned. "If the rumours are true, I'd say tonight he's gonna wanna."

"What rumours?"

Iraak had given his brother a reassuring pat. "Don't worry about it, Kidd."


Neirah had walked out onto the sunny deck of Dai-Gurren and looked up into the vast sky above her head, not a cloud obstructing her perfect view of the blazing sun above her. "That's better," she murmured gently to herself. She'd closed her eyes and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh air before exhaling it deeply. "Maybe Leeron's right. Spending all this time with these people is changing me. I almost lost my cool there for a moment." Luckily, she hadn't seen Kittan all morning, which had meant he was still alive. Something deep inside her had been compelling her to look out for the frail creature and the thought of any of her friends hindering that desire had made her blood run hot.

She'd sighed and opened her eyes again. "You're forgiven, for now," she cautioned sternly. Suddenly, her breath had caught and her heart had filled with guilt to think that she might have been overheard. She'd noticed that Yoko's hair had been beating behind her like a warning flag at the bow of their battleship. She had been sitting on the deck with her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared solitarily out towards the approaching horizon. Even from a great distance away, Neirah could feel the woman's heart aching.

Every now and then, she could still see them; a tear in the eyes of a woman who she had used to think was made of steel. She could see the longing and heartache resting in her face even when she'd smiled, which had been becoming a less common occurrence by the day. What had frustrated her most was that she couldn't help her. She'd sat idly by in the shadows watching, silently admiring the woman from a distance. The problem was that she'd known that they could help each other, but since the day she'd showed up, Yoko had wanted less than nothing to do with her.

Perhaps it had been because Tsaizuko had been back in operation that her confidence had returned; that she had been feeling braver than usual that day as their lonely battleship thundered monotonously over the land. With a little spring in her step and life in her eyes, she had looked less like the military enemy that had threatened the man held close to Yoko's heart a little over a week prior. She'd tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ears to keep the wind from carrying them before slowly approaching the ship's bow.

Not only had the tension become tangible between the two women when Neirah had taken a seat next to the melancholy redhead's side, but Yoko's body had visibly tightened. The brunette to invite herself alongside the fiery gunslinger hadn't said a word or even attempted eye contact, but Yoko couldn't help but resent her presence. The silence had dragged on as she'd tried to come up with the words to tell the bodacious assassin that her presence wasn't welcome, but after thinking about it hard enough, she'd figured the intelligent creature to join her had already known that.

After the clock had nearly counted five silent minutes, Yoko had impatiently climbed to her feet without speaking a word to the sword master.

"You know, it's funny."

Her sultry, womanly voice had grated on Yoko's every nerve the moment she'd spoken. There had been nothing even close to funny happening nearby for a week and it had taken everything the young woman had to keep from reminding her of that.

"I only knew him for a day, yet I feel like we were long lost friends."

Yoko's breathing had stalled in her chest as she'd paused and turned to face where the other woman hadn't moved from the spot she'd claimed next to Yoko's side moments prior.

"None of the stories I'd heard in my village could have prepared me for the moment when we'd met. Just like nothing could prepare me for the crushing weight on my chest that's been there since the day we parted ways. I couldn't imagine what it might be like for someone who had known him for longer."

Yoko's fist had tightened at her side, her teeth gritted in agony as she'd tried not to shed tears in the woman's presence. She didn't want to show the assassin an ounce of weakness to use against her. A part of her had been livid that Neirah would even dare to speak of him after admitting that she had been the assailant set out to end his life. Another part of her was jealous that she had harboured any fond memories of the man at all. The final part of her had felt the warmth, a reassuring touch beckoning her to give the woman a chance.

"I wish that I could cry," Neirah admitted bashfully. "That I could back up empty words with the empathetic sight of sharing the tears that I feel in my soul. Maybe then my feelings would seem more genuine... if they were coming from a human and not..." She'd sighed bleakly to consider herself another machine on Tetsai's assembly line. "A part of me just wishes I had carried on with my mission."

Yoko's calm exterior had shattered in a fit of hysteric fury. "You what!?"

Neirah hadn't adjusted anything about her position as she'd continued to stare out over the bright horizon before them. "If I had of found him and confronted him according to plan, I wouldn't be here feeling this ache in my chest..." She'd finally lowered her gaze, the weight starting to lessen just to speak of her mysterious ailment. "He would have ended me like the rest of the beastman rabble to oppose him. And I wouldn't... I wouldn't feel like I betrayed the only kindness that had ever truly been shown to me."

Yoko had watched Neirah's expression soften, watched it contort in silent repentance.

Neirah's tone had lowered bleakly and had filled with a genuine discouragement that she hadn't expressed to anyone else until that day. Like a dam of emotion bursting in her chest, she'd let it all come thundering out the moment Yoko had lingered long enough to be swept away by the waves of guilt emanating from their host. "If I had only had Tsaizuko that day... If I had been able to fight... I could have stopped Thymilph before he... I..." She'd felt an uncomfortable gathering of sentiment as her signature cool had started to boil for a second time that same day. "I knew the dangers lurking beneath Dai-Gunzan's deck but all the knowledge in the world couldn't save him!"

She'd lowered her voice, startling herself with how naturally her emotions were rolling out in a wave of repressed guilt by Yoko's side. The two had sat in silence for a long moment that had allowed Neirah to restrain her outburst. "I'm sorry," she murmured quietly. "I came here to offer comfort, but the truth that I haven't told anyone here is that... I have none to give." She'd let her weak and monotonous gaze roll over the sights of their terrain reflecting the sunlight that she'd recently come to learn. "I've been sitting here with the pain of this regret since the day it happened and... I felt the need to share it... with you." She'd finally turned and faced where Yoko hadn't taken her damp gaze from the woman's anxious figure. "I can only hope that maybe, you might take some consolation in knowing that the pain of my failures is tearing me apart."

Yoko had sniffed back her tears defiantly, trying desperately to keep her voice from cracking behind her tensed jaw. "Just what... makes you think that anyone's pain would comfort me?"

Neirah had diverted her attention again to avoid the sight of her causing the woman more pain. "Hope," she admitted quietly. "The light of a hope that filled me the moment I met you people." She'd laid her hands back behind her outstretched body, opening herself to their tense conversation. "The night we went to retrieve Tsaizuko, I learned about the power of true friendship."

Yoko had snorted derisively towards the woman's fumbling sentiment. "You mean to tell me you and Kamina-"

"It had nothing to do with me." Neirah had bravely allowed her expression to relax and display a fond smile. "I was just a bystander to something I've never known." She rolled her head to the side, resting her temple against her shoulder as she looked back towards where Yoko had lingered on her feet nearby, unable to approach or retreat. "It was what had allowed me to hope that someday... you and I might be friends..."

Neirah had quietly ended her sentiment and returned to diverting her gaze. She'd left the choice in Yoko's hands, she could walk away and ignore that Neirah had ever broken the ice, or she could pressure her to carry on. She'd lingered patiently for a long time on the silent deck before the warmth of that hope Kamina had helped to inspire filled her aching chest.

"What on earth makes you think that we could ever be friends?"

Neirah had closed her eyes as she'd felt Yoko drop down next her against the deck. She hadn't minded the hostility; in fact, it wouldn't have made her feel comfortable to be welcomed with open arms. "Because I always thought that a friend was someone who offered solidarity; someone who would always agree with you and comfort you when you were sad. But that night, I learned that real friendship means kicking back. Real friendship is being honest with each other, even if it's a hard truth to swallow." Her smile had broadened reminiscing the way Kamina and Kittan had bickered, but when push had come to shove the night the three of them had been attacked, they'd had each other's back when it had mattered.

"From what I can tell, real friendship isn't about liking the same things or patting someone on the back. Sometimes, you can't tell them that everything will be okay because there is no way that you could know that, and the honesty it takes to be a true friend wouldn't fill someone with false hope. It's about striving to make that other person proud of the person you are. A friend is someone... who makes you better than you were yesterday."

Neirah's expression had started to waver sadly when she'd considered the effect that Kamina's death had had on her fellow teammates. "And a true friend... will continue to inspire this... even after they're gone. You push forward to honour their memory, to remind them that you're still here making them proud. Even if you're filled with regret, with sadness, you're alive and breathing because... that is what a true friend... would want from you." Neirah had turned to connect her gaze with Yoko's, watching large tears bubble from her amber eyes.

"That's the kind of friendship I want," she whispered meekly. "One that inspires me to be better than I was yesterday. One that he promised me I'd find in you. In honour of what he taught me that day, I will strive to make him proud by living and breathing and pushing forward without fear because I believe that he knew the moment he'd accepted me that my heart had needed to feel the light of this hope. And nothing would make me happier than sharing it with you."

Neirah's smiling expression had humbled tenderly when Yoko had buried her face in her arms as they clutched her knees, her muffled voice making it hard for Neirah to understand her words. "I miss him so much," she whimpered desperately. "That jerk... I don't want him to inspire me from a distance. I want him right here with me so I can punch him in his big stupid face and tell him... and tell him..."

"Thank you." Neirah hadn't bothered looking back at Yoko as her bemused expression had revealed to face her. "That's what I would tell him." She'd turned her glassy gaze to Yoko's and gave the girl a playful wink. "And thank you for getting him far enough that he could save just one more lost cause with that big stupid face of his."

"Neirah..."

"Like anything else, the only way this will get any easier is if we get stronger," she reasoned quietly. She'd slowly climbed up onto her feet with a gentle sigh and offered the woman her hand. "I'd like to help you do that if you'd let me."

"I can't disagree with a single thing you said," Yoko conceded softly. She'd accepted the woman's hand and allowed aid in getting her to her feet. "But this is going to take a bit of getting used to."

"I understand," Neirah calmly agreed. "I wasn't expecting to be braiding flowers into your hair and swapping gossip over pink pillows, or anything like that."

It had almost surprised Neirah when Yoko had turned to face her with a smile stifling laughter. "Come to think of it, I don't actually know how to braid."

Neirah's cheeks had flushed and her gaze had softened with admiration. She'd never felt such a huge wave of relief crashing into her and it had hurt so badly that she'd thought she might actually shed her first tears. "Well, at least you aren't afraid of showers." But she didn't.

"Don't you mean screaming water?"

The two had stared at each other soundly for a long moment before they'd burst into laughter. "That's the closest I've come to drawing my sword for a while now," Neirah murmured cheekily. "That's good. A true friend wouldn't soon let that particular defeat be forgotten."

Yoko had twisted her gin up slyly and tapered her sardonic gaze. "That's cute. You actually think that your sword would stand a chance against my rifle."

"Rifles require ammunition to fire," Neirah instigated shrewdly. "All my katana needs is fighting spirit."

With the busty brunette's comment striking a chord deep within Yoko's breast, the woman's expression had softened humbly on approach and she'd reached up to clasp the strap between her breasts that held her rifle between her shoulders. "You know... I didn't mean to shoot at you back then... The day Kittan decided to pilot Gurren." She'd diverted her modest gaze and tried not to let on that she had flushed so deeply in colour. "But when he interfered, he knocked my hand into the trigger. I was so mad at him that day..." She'd slowly turned her attention back to the woman solemnly. "I just... wanted you to know that..."

Neirah's expression had become just as earnest as she'd mirrored Yoko's actions and clutched her sword's strap. "The past is the past," she assured her kindly. "We can only grow stronger from it."

"Let's..."

The men on deck had watched the two women share an earnest chuckle to themselves at the front of Dai-Gurren's deck. They'd huddled as closely as they could behind one of the turrets sitting on their monstrous battleships' front in an attempt to hear what had been unexpectedly transpiring between the two fated rivals.

"Well, I'll be," Zorthy crooned in intrigue. "There's a sight I never thought I'd see."

"But a welcome one," Iraak crooned eagerly. "Those two belong on the same page, if you know what I mean."

Kittan had smirked confidently from alongside his fellow peeping companions, giving his jaw a thoughtful rub. "Kicking logic out and doing the impossible... that's the way team Dai-Gurren rolls."

"Well, this certainly was unexpected," Leeron added blissfully. "But I'm glad those two are getting along. There aren't enough of us in this fight to let our forces be divided."

Kittan had whirled to face their unexpected addition with a guilty look of denial on his face. "Wait!? Leeron? Just when did you get here?!"

"Oh? You boys were crowded around and eavesdropping like a bunch of sneaky little pranksters and you didn't think I would notice?" he crooned impishly. "I just came out here to warn you of the real important message to be learned about the combining of our beautiful battle maidens."

Kittan had flinched as Leeron began to trace eager circles around his chest with a single finger. "Oh yeah... n' what's that?"

Their party had flinched in sheer mortification when they'd heard the lethal clicking of Yoko racking her weapon no more than a foot away from their distracted gathering. "Oh, I don't know," she started sinisterly. "Maybe that two seriously pissed off heads are better than one?"

The entire crowd had shivered to the opposing side at the sound of Neirah closely unsheathing her sword. "Or maybe that escape is futile when presented with a short ranged force to thin your numbers and a long-range one to pick off any who scatter to the winds."

"Something along those lines," Leeron teased. "Don't be too hard on them, ladies! We'll need at least a couple left alive to pilot gunmen should we fall under attack."

"No promises," Yoko belted over the blasting of her rifle.

Neirah had added her defence over the pained howls of their crew members. "Oops, my finger slipped."

"We got trouble!" Tetsukan raised in alarm. "A wall of water is coming this way!"

Neirah and Yoko had raised their alert gazes to where the loudspeakers had blared the unexpected announcement and Neirah's vexed gaze had risen to their control tower for answers. "Did he just say-?"

"Hey, Neirah," Yoko chided. When Neirah had whirled to face the redhead's easy beckoning, she'd done so to the sight of her shouldering the smoking barrel of her firearm. "Let's hope it's not screaming, huh?"

Neirah had twisted her sadistic grin into a knot as she'd turned and cracked her brow against Yoko's. "Come again?"

"I said, let's hope this water isn't screaming," she'd instigated confidently. "Then we'd surely be down one more pilot, after all."

"Well, that was short-lived," Leeron teased impishly.

The entire crowd had shrieked in alarm as the waves of Adiane's approach had overwhelmed their deck and submerged them all for the briefest of moments. Through a fit of hacking and wheezing for reclaimed air, Neirah had climbed back to her feet and glowered at the enemy general to posture in their midst. "She has a bad habit of showing up when she's not wanted..."

"Idiot!" Kittan argued frantically. "She ain't ever wanted here!"

"Then what Neirah said isn't wrong," Yoko added curtly.

"Go back to hatin' each other, damn you! I ain't gonna survive if this means you two teamin' up against me all the time!"

The crowd had gathered around where Simon and Nia had been lingering on the other side of the deck, all of which had turned their incredulous gazes towards the lone gunmen on board.

"I've returned! Just as I promised I would, stinking humans..." Adiane growled. "First of all, would you please let me see our dear Princess Nia? I need to know she's safe. I would like to thank her for being kind to me."

Neirah had taken a step forward, her already drawn sword clenched tightly in her wringing grasp. "I don't think so..." she growled lowly.

"She's got nerve! Comin' here alone like that!" Kittan thundered impatiently. "I'm gonna deck 'er!"

"Moron, that's about as stupid as Nei thinkin' she stands a chance against her with a sword and a prayer," Zorthy sneered.

Kittan and Neirah had whirled around to face the audacious man with matching expressions ignited with irrational fury. "What'd you say?!"

"Don't forget, Dai-Gurren isn't fully operational yet," Leeron warned them softly. "And now all of our pilots are standing out here rather than in the hangar preparing to do combat. We're going to need a distraction if we're going to survive a full frontal assault."

"Good point," Kittan hastily agreed. "Okay let's hand over the girl."

"What!?" Simon bleated desperately in unison with a bewildered Neirah.

"No!" Simon demanded meekly. "There's gotta be another-"

"What'd you say!?" Kittan roared. "You gotta problem with the decisions made by yer mighty leader!? Huh!? Do ya? Do ya!?"

"I'm not sure why, but something tells me that that'd be risky..." Simon defended sheepishly.

"Don't give me that half-assed crap! Come out and-" Kittan's furious banter had been cut short by the sight of Neirah's sword locked between his eyes for the first time in a while. "Awe, crap! Not this again!"

"The girl stays," Neirah overruled strictly. "Consider this a mutiny."

"Bring it on, sweetheart!" he bit back arrogantly. "I'll take you on any day!"

Adiane had sat sniggering in her cockpit to herself as she'd watched the spectacle unfold. "Wow, if I just sit here long enough they might just all kill each other anyway. What fun would that be?"

Nia had turned around to face the boisterous crowd with a passionate look of determination on her face. "It's fine. I will go to her," she announced certainly.

Neirah's vibrant gaze had weakened when she and Kittan had turned to where she'd solved their spat. "B-but Princess..." She'd nearly choked when Kittan had knocked her sword away and dragged everyone's attention into a clumsy huddle.

"She says she's okay with it," Kittan defended. "So let's just turn her over and be done with it!"

Simon groaned softly. "Yeah, but..."

"Fine, but she has three minutes," Neirah snapped edgily. "That's all it's going to take me to reach Tsaizuko and then, we'll be having ourselves a mecha fish fry."

Kittan had recoiled nervously. "The hell's gotten into you lately..?"

"Back off!"

"Whoa, geez, was it somethin' I said?"

"Don't worry guys," Yoko assured them sternly as all eyes had gathered on her. "I have a feeling that Nia here might actually be able to avoid a battle."

Kittan had turned back to face Neirah and shook his fist. "Seriously though?! I thought you said yer sword was mine and you'd follow me and crap! What's with the attitude?!"

"It's none of your business."

"I'm the leader! Everythin's my business!"

"Miss Yoko, thank you for allowing me to do this," Nia sang eagerly.

Yoko had turned from where she had been ready to bash Neirah and Kittan's heads together. "Don't get the wrong idea. This doesn't mean that I trust you. I'm gonna have this rifle trained on your back the entire time." She'd whirled to face the girl sternly. "If I see any funny business I won't hesitate!"

Nia had stood her ground calmly for a silent moment before nodding her head. "Right." With her decision accepted by their team, Nia had approached Sayrune at the foot of Dai-Gurren's deck, giving the others the opportunity to scatter to their positions.

"I'm glad you're safe, Princess Nia," Adiane crooned in a sweet and sultry tone.

"Tell me, Adiane!" Nia proclaimed confidently. "Are you and the others fighting the humans on the surface and trying to make them suffer?"

Sayrune had crouched, allowing Adiane to open her cockpit and kneel for the honourable princess at her feet. "It's as you say, Princess. Our duty is to seek out every last human on the surface and to slaughter everyone."

"And tell me; was it my father who told you to carry out these actions?"

"Yes."

"And upon receiving these orders from my father, you harboured no doubts about them?"

"Did I doubt them? Never," she announced without hesitation. "Humans are as lowly as worms; maybe even lowlier. Their pitiful deaths are beneath our notice."

From the control tower, Kittan had been wringing his folded arms. "As lowly as worms?"

"I cannot believe this!" Nia denied. "I want to discuss this with my father! Adiane the Elegant, in the name of the Spiral King, I order you to take me to him!"

Suddenly, Adiane's expression had morphed into a disgusted grimace. "You really piss me off!" she snarled venomously. "If you want to go, take your own sorry ass!"

The confidence had begun to seep from the young woman's expression with hesitancy. "What did you say...?"

"Has it not sunk in yet!? You, little darling, aren't a princess anymore. The Spiral King has abandoned you!"

Neirah's grip on Tsaizuko's controls had grown so fierce that she'd feared her white knuckles would burst through her tanned skin under the pressure. "I knew something wasn't right..."

"I don't know what you did but he said that I should kill you with the rest of the worms."

Nia's heartbroken gaze had stared back at the riled beastwoman vacantly, her resolve noticeably shaken. "He abandoned me... Kill me? He said you should kill me?" She'd shaken her head with her denial of the woman's harsh sentiment. "You're lying! It can't be! My honourable father would never do such a thing!"

"Oh, he wouldn't?" Adiane sneered. "Well, you just think whatever you want. Either way, I'm sending you off to the next world, missy!"

"So does this mean... you hate me too, Adiane?!"

"Hate you? I really couldn't care less about you," she admitted casually. "I was told to kill you so that's precisely what I'm going to do. Whether or not I hate you is irrelevant."

Kidd had flinched to the sound of Tsaizuko's sword crashing into the hangar floor and splintering the sheet metal with its impatience. He'd flashed onto Tsaizuko's display so that he could lock his worrisome gaze on its riled pilot. He'd never seen her pant such ruggedly furious breaths. "Whoa, take it easy, Nei," he gently cautioned. "If we roll in now, Nia could end up hurt."

"Say it..." Neirah snarled bitterly. "Say it so I have a reason to destroy her..."

Nia's tone had escalated in utter bemusement. "So you're saying that you are willing to kill me simply because you were ordered to do so!?"

"Of course I am, what of it?!" Adiane barked eagerly.

"If my father ordered you to take your own life, would you do that too!?" Nia had watched the stalling mecha optimistically in hopes that Adiane would come to see the wrong in her ways. "You've got this all wrong, Adiane! These people are decent and good and they have done nothing wrong! Their only wish is to live on the surface in peace! It cannot be right to kill them for no reason!"

"These people killed Thymilph!"

"They did...?"

"That should be reason enough to end their lives!"

"No! No, you're wrong! That isn't right! They themselves have lost a man they call 'Bro'. This loss has left them sorely wounded!"

Kittan had thundered down the hall and through the hanger until he had been seizing the attention of his awaiting party members. "That bitch," he snarled fiercely. "I hated her before but now she's really pissed me off!"

"So we're movin' out?" Zorthy snapped eagerly. "'Cause all this waitin' around is makin' me crazy."

"Yeah, and Nei too," Kidd whimpered shrilly to the sight of the mess Neirah's sword had made with its pressure.

Kittan had slowly raised his gaze from King Kittan's controls and looked out to where Neirah had been seething vehemence before them, Tsaizuko's luminescent amber gaze piercing their hardened resolves.

"She's me," Neirah snarled fervently. "That is exactly what I used to be before I met you..."

Kittan had recoiled apprehensively in his seat. "Hey, don't say that... You-"

"I'm sorry," she murmured intensely. "Kittan..."

"You okay?" Kidd whimpered in concern.

"I should have stopped long before it had ever come to my sword against your throat but it didn't. I was so lost, running from everything that I had ever thought I'd known..." Tsaizuko had hummed to life as it clamped its hand on its blade to withdraw it from the hangar floor. "But that ends here!" Kidd had flinched within his gunmen as Tsaizuko had thrust its sword past his front in order to point it towards their exit. "Everything I was ends today with that gunmen on our deck!"

Outside, Nia had still confidently battled Adiane's ideals in humanity's defence. "Yes, that is what happens when someone dies. People suffer... And here you are saying that two grieving parties should hurt each other? Don't you think there might be something wrong with that!?"

"No, I don't because there isn't!" Adiane spat venomously. "You really know how to piss people off! Now I understand why the Spiral King was so eager to get rid of you!"

Kittan had snickered softly to himself before appearing on Neirah's revived display. "So that's what's been stuck in yer craw lately, huh? Don't sweat it. The shadows of the past are in the past... or, somethin' like that, anyway." He'd smiled back at her confidently. "I know you've been waitin' for this for a while, so I won't get in your way. Put on yer war paint, girlie, and give 'em hell out there." He'd never seen such a twisted and malicious grin curl to one side on her usually mild expression and outside he'd seen Tsaizuko's eyes flash with purpose to the surge of life possessing it.

She'd raised her dipped fingers to her nose, smoothing two dark lines over the bridge of it in preparation to ignite. "Let's ride... Tsaizuko..."

On deck, Nia had pointed up at Sayrune wrathfully. "Now I see! You are a pissing off person!"

"Hey! Be quiet!" Adiane barked. "That's my line, missy!"

Shortly after, Simon had sprinted across the deck as quickly as his feet could carry him but he hadn't seemed to be getting any closer to the woman he'd been desperate to save. "Nia!"

The delicate flower had turned to face where she'd seen Simon coming for her with everything he'd had and the sight had given her the courage to stand bravely before the witch bent on taking her life. "Simon!"

"Nia!"

Adiane's expression had grown pale with hesitancy when she'd turned to see the young boy on deck being followed by a herd of stampeding gunmen eager to clobber her for her ignorance. "Where did all these gunmen come from!? These filthy humans, they've stolen that many?!"

"This Spiral King threw out his own daughter?!" Kittan recapped wrathfully. "That's one thing I won't stand for!"

Their entire cluster was eager to agree with him. "We won't stand for it!"

In a split moment of panic, Adiane had commanded her mecha to make the attempt on Nia's life, driving its bladed tail towards the ensnared girl. Nearby, Yoko had taken notice of this and proceeded to fire a bullet capable of sending the weapon off its trajectory. "Go for it guys!" she commanded.

The herd had barrelled into the woman's Sayrune and flopped the entirety of their force onto the dusty tundra beneath Dai-Gurren, leaving Nia to sail through the air where Dayakkaiser could catch her. "It's okay, you're safe now," he assured her kindly.

Sayrune had been quick to shake off the resistance and reform into its humanoid figure. "Stinking humans!" Since her plasma whips had been damaged by Neirah's throwing dart, she'd withdrawn a manual wire one from her hip instead, using it to latch onto the nearest gunmen in her line of sight.

Zorthy had turned and flinched in a moment of panic when he'd lost mobility in his mecha. "That's not good!"

"You pathetic little worms!" Adiane raged. "Tremble before the might of my Sayrune!"

"Zorthy!" Kittan barked anxiously.

Adiane had stilled to the sight of a shadow ripping across the land in the broad daylight and moments after she had, her whip had been severed, freeing Sawzorthn to scramble away. "What?! What the hell was that!?"

From over her shoulder, Neirah had launched from above and stormed the alarmed woman's gunmen with both hands wrapped around the hilt of her mecha's mighty katana. "That was you touching something that doesn't belong to you!" she sneered. "I'm taking it back!"

Zorthy had launched his wicked grin towards where he'd admired the assassin's reliability. "I owe ya one, Neirah!"

"Man, she's crazy fast!" Kidd murmured in amazement. "I can hardly keep my eyes on her!"

"And you would try too," Iraak teased spiritedly.

"You-!" Adiane snarled. "But I thought Viral destroyed that gunmen with his own hands!"

Neirah's cerulean gaze had flashed menacingly as Tsaizuko's sword had narrowly missed the scrambling Sayrune. "I spent my entire life designing this gunmen," she commanded. "Only a fool would believe that I'd give up on it after all we've been through!"

Sayrune had leapt to the side in order to dodge where Tsaizuko had caught it off guard but the act had put it on the run. Adiane's gaze had been nervous when she'd watched the mecha sink into the earth with the force that could have potentially cleaved her gunmen in two. "Keep spouting your nonsense! I know all your little tricks, Shadow Hunter!" She'd ripped another whip from her side before lashing it out in Neirah's direction. "If you think that toy can defeat my Sayrune, you are sadly mistaken!"

Neirah had lurched backwards to retract her sword and when she had, the metal had started to morph and twist until the interlocking blades had formed her own whip. The two ladies had stood off and cracked the weapons at their sides. "It would be easy to know the tricks of a machine, wouldn't it?" Neirah growled. "But humans change day-by-day."

Adiane's jaw had cracked shut as she'd whirled to face their forming resistance. "Come on you third-rate gunmen, come at me! Everybody at once so that I can tear each one of you apart!"

"That sounds like an invitation, doesn't it, boys?" Kittan snarled vindictively.

"She asking for it!" Jorgun thundered. "We show her!"

"Let's crush her!" Balinbow agreed.

"You bitch!" King Kittan had powered forward on the charge with a determined battle cry. "Keep your paws off our princess!"

Neirah had snapped her whip into Sayrune's, tying up her wrath's extension so that Kittan could make the attempted strike without the worry of being bound. "Take her out!"

This had aggravated Adiane and caused her more powerful gunmen to rip her arm back and take the lightly formed Tsaizuko up into the air. "You miserable little brat! Don't think I've forgotten about you!"

Kidd's gaze had flashed nervously to the sight of Adiane tossing his comrade. "Neirah!" Tsaizuko had been moments from landing on the ground with a fierce crash when Kidknuckle had dashed to the side and caught the falling mass. "Don't worry, I got ya!"

"Nice catch," she purred gratefully. She'd turned to watch as Adiane had swatted off Moshogun and crunched down on top of Twinboekun's head, her wicked grin twisting. "But how's your throwing arm?"

"Pathetic! Is this all you've got!? I can't believe that this is the same pack of wretched worms that stripped Thymilph of his life!"

"Take this!" Zorthy shouted zealously as he crashed into her lean leg. He'd driven Sawzorthn's arm into the appendage, delighted to hear a satisfying snap.

"Don't worry," Kittan agreed. "You'll be seein' yer buddy real soon."

Adiane's panicked expression had snapped back to attention just in time to catch King Kittan's assault and toss him to the side. "You think so?!"

Tsaizuko, moving at breakneck speeds, had crashed into the unsuspecting Sayrune, toppling them both into the dusty tundra. "I know so!" Neirah scorned. She had been moments from standing and drawing her sword when something other than her had cast a shadow over their battleground. "Eep- What-?!"

"Neirah! Get out of the way!" Kiyal had shouted from the turret located beneath Dai-Gurren.

Tsaizuko had swiftly walked back over its hands, just in time for Dai-Gurren to strike the wounded Adiane with its giant foot.

"Keep clear!" Kittan ordered their team sternly.

Jorgun's voice was the first one to rise in triumph. "We got 'er!"

"Yeah, we got 'er!" Balinbow reiterated.

"Now squash her!" Kittan commanded.

"Well we'd like to, believe me," Leeron defended. "But we can't exactly see where we're aiming!"

"Number three bridge!" Tetsukan proclaimed.

"You got her!" Kiyal announced zealously. "You got her, hurry!"

Kiyoh had been close to her sister's side trying to guide their battleships movements. "That's it! That's the way!"

"Look out up ahead!" Kinon warned them frantically. "Something's coming!" She'd shrieked when something had stunted their progress, making the entire ship quake.

"What was that!?" Leeron whined anxiously. He'd tried to connect the two wires between his hands in hopes that he could get their battleship back in motion. "What just happened!?"

Neirah had whirled to face where Viral's modified mecha had been blocking their Dai-Gurren from crushing Adiane flat and her gaze had grown fierce again. "Of course you'd come for her," she snarled. She'd claimed her whip at her side and let the blades twist until her katana had returned. "Like I said, this ends here..."

"Hey, look out!" Kittan had announced his warning eagerly to the sight of Enkidu throwing Dai-Gurren off its balance and to the ground. "Crap! Don't let them get away!"

Viral had turned his heated gaze to where Gurren had been glaring back at him from a safe distance, his blood starting to boil. "You..." he snarled. "We're retreating for now, but I'll be back to finish this once and for all!"

"What does he mean by that?" Rossiu whimpered hesitantly.

"You're not going anywhere!" Neirah wailed during her charge.

"Neirah!" Enkidu had stood its ground in Sayrune's defence, stopping Neirah's slash with both sets of hands on either side of her katana. "Impossible! Tsaizuko should be ancient history!"

Her wild gaze had flashed with venomous fury as she'd glowered through the mecha containing her old commander. "I warned you the last time we'd met that you'd made an enemy of humanity and now is the time to see who will prevail!"

Viral's gaze had tapered wrathfully as she'd postured with a spirit he'd never seen in her before. "This isn't like you," he chastised. "You'd always kept a great amount of respect for those above your station." Enkidu had drawn up his leg and kicked out at her. "And when they told you to stand down you did!"

Tsaizuko had leapt back to avoid its enemy's strike before launching golden darts towards him from its calves. "The scared girl you'd elevated from Tetsai Village is gone," she warned him fiercely. "I won't back down in this fight! I'm done running!"

"Viral!" Adiane barked edgily.

His breathing had caught for his outrage as he'd been reminded of his intentions but before their enemies could regroup, he'd started to laugh. It had been low at first, uncontainable with the knowledge of his recent success festering inside him, but soon, he had been thundering sinister laughter loud enough for all of them to hear. "This isn't over..." he growled through his devious grin. "Mark my words, Shadow Hunter... You will meet an end just like your fathers..."

Kittan had cut his livid glower towards where Viral had spouted his grim warning, his protective instincts making his muscles tense with his need to choke the life out of the riled beastman. "What'd you just say?" he raged wrathfully.

Enkidu had raised his arm high above his head. "We will return and put an end to this feeble rebellion soon so say your prayers, you filthy humans!"

"Hey! Get back here and say that-" King Kittan had paused the moment his line of sight had filled with a purple haze and by the time he'd charged through it to the other side, they were gone. "They're gone..." he announced curiously. "They bugged out!"

Neirah could hear all of her companions cheering at her back for the victory but she couldn't celebrate. Everything inside her had been resisting the need to chase after them, knowing full well that if she did, she would catch them. But that was where it had gotten hazy. Tsaizuko hadn't been meant to withstand enemy gunmen. It had been meant to hunt. Reminding herself of what Kittan had said, she'd quietly conceded defeat and returned to their headquarters.

"I bet it feels good bein' back in the big seat."

Neirah had turned to where Kittan had flashed in on Tsaizuko's display, her melancholy expression softening with fondness.

"But I gotta admit, s'feelin' pretty empty over here."

She'd flashed him a sardonic grin in response. "What? Miss me already?"

"And what if I did?"

Neirah's expression had bled dry of humour as she stared back at his calm and confident expression. "Well... I don't-"

Noticing her growing discomfort, he'd surrendered his forward approach. "I'm just playin' with ya," he teased. "So? It's movin' pretty good after that beating it took, huh? You didn't even get a little rusty all that time it took to put it back together again."

Neirah had groaned dismally. "If two gunmen walked away from this fight, I'm rusty," she argued impatiently.

"We'll get 'em next time," he assured her kindly.

"Kittan?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry I put up so much resistance earlier," she murmured tenderly. "I've had a lot on my mind..."

"Oh?"

She'd turned away from his broadcast on her display and looked out into the tundra. "My village, Tetsai... It's close."

"What?! It is?"

She'd bowed her head in a gentle nod. "About half a day to the east. It just... has me thinking..."

"You wanna go?"

She'd turned and faced him again with a bewildered look in her eyes. "What?"

He'd set back and smiled at her with gentle encouragement. "I mean, I am the leader so if I say to go east, we go east! Simple as that."

She'd bowed her head and thought about his offer for a quiet moment. "It would be next to impossible to reach," she assured him solemnly. "The village is heavily armed. Not to mention, the human hunters will be residing there at all times of the day and night. I'm actually surprised that we haven't run into their interference again, being this close."

"So what?" he encouraged passionately. "That just means there're more asses to kick! Come on! What d'ya say? Let's stop by for old time's sake."

Neirah had smiled as Tsaizuko had taken King Kittan's side at the foot of Dai-Gurren beneath the sight of another brilliant sunset. "Well, if my commander orders me east, east I go."

"Yeah! Now that's more like it!" he cheered with a soft flush in his fond expression. "Now, just so we're clear about the whole, 'do what commander says'-"

Tsaizuko had turned and watched as King Kittan had been laid flat on its back by the impact of one of Yoko's rifle shots. "Live comms, moron!" she sneered. "Stop flirting and get your butt back to base!"

"Ow! Yoko, you little-" He'd shrieked as she'd pelted him twice more.

"Pervert! Leave her alone!"

Neirah had snickered from her cabin as she'd brought Yoko's battle-ready figure up on her screen. "You're an amazing shot, Yoko," she crooned fondly.

"Hey! Don't encourage her!" Kittan ordered. "This is insubordination!"

"I got your back, Nei!" Yoko crooned while offering her a thumbs-up.

Neirah had adjusted her grin more mischievously as she'd watched King Kittan stagger to its feet. "You'll have to teach me sometime."

"Ah, so the old dog wants to learn a new trick, huh?"

"Actually, I'm younger than you are."

"Eh?!"

"Say what!?" Kittan blared in shock. "That- but that means you're like-!? But... that's impossible!"

Neirah's dry remark hadn't grown anymore lively. "Just kidding." She'd slowly raised her gaze to where Kittan had been seriously wracked with nervous thought. "I'm actually the oldest one here."

He'd blinked back at her apprehensively. "Just... how old are you...?"

Yoko had smiled softly and listened to the two banter, warmth in her heart that she'd missed feeling. "Yeah, I'll teach you sometime," she agreed tenderly. "Because a friend is someone who makes you better than you were yesterday, right?"

Neirah had smiled and closed her eyes, bowing her head in fond acknowledgement. "That's exactly right."