~~~**** Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. This chapter is a bit longer than the others (I think) but that's because I'm trying to pack as much into it as I can. Seeing how this is PART ONE OF THE FINALE, I couldn't help making it long. Hope no one minds. I have no idea when PART TWO will be ready, so just be patient. You could always encourage me to hurry up (hint, hint).
Also, someone was so kind as to request an epilogue, so true to my word I will include one. Thank you. Please enjoy this chapter, and I'll see ya soon. ****~~~
Chapter Twelve
Fight Forever, Never Come Unglued
"One shot."
Linus blinked, sweat like icy fingers slipping down his neck. Raising his eyes, he looked at Saburo resting next to him, hiding for the time being behind a boulder. Pale, his bold navy jacket ripped and glossy in places with blood, his visage was a perfect reflection of the battle for Paradise. For all his wounds, a light of determination shone in his eyes, lit by a fire that would not die even now. In his hand he gripped a single handgun, geometric in design much like the gun-arms the beasts had. Its straight lines were scuffed, the handle worn where Saburo held it with four fingers. The fifth finger had been crushed, and would probably never be usable again.
"What did you say?" Linus said hoarsely.
Saburo indicated the gun with a minor tilt of his wrist. "This is the last weapon I took off the Battering Ram after the crash. It's only got one shot left."
His words belied all the weariness his face would not show. His tone, though he tried his hardest to lift it, reminded Linus how limited even Saburo's human strength was.
"Where's Tomiko?"
Saburo gave no reply and that was enough. Linus slowly dropped his head onto his knees, trembling as he imagined his friend torn to death by the beast's claws. It was hardly an exaggeration. Everyone else had died that way. For a moment neither of them said anything, resolving just to breathe and wait for the grief to smash through the numbness. Linus wondered if this blow would be the last he could take. At least he hadn't been there to see her die.
"I guess Tomiko finally got what she wanted," Linus blurted without thinking.
Now Saburo's reaction was sharp, and when he faced Linus the look in his eyes was raw as an open wound. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You know what it means."
"What do you want me to say?" Saburo growled, apparently understanding. Anger flickered behind his blood-drained face, so easily roused these days. There was frustration there, grief and disappointment, tempered with deep sadness. The soreness of the subject was the reason why Linus never tried to bring it up. But by now wasn't it far too late to care? "Was it any of your business anyway?"Saburo's normally soft eyes were stormy, angry in a way that was strange for him.
"You lied to me about her," Linus went on, not backing down for the first time. "You told everyone that she was just fine, but she wasn't. I saw what she tried to do when she stole the gun from your bag. She was going to kill herself with it, and then she shot at you when you tried to stop her." Linus chewed his lip, expecting tears. He had cried over the scene before, but now he was just tired of thinking about it. "That stupid lie you made up convinced everyone else, but we all suspected something. I've seen it in your eyes this whole time!"
"Well damn it Linus!" He stood up quickly, ignoring the patch of redness he left on the ground where he had been sitting. He wavered, wincing and holding his side. Recovering his breath, he went on, suddenly softer. "Tomiko had some really bad memories, alright? That's what happens when your family is whipped out by beastmen. You say you could see in my eyes, why didn't you look at hers?"
"I did! I was waiting for you to do something to help her!" Linus stayed where he was, afraid his legs would fail if he tried to stand. "Why did you act like nothing was wrong?"
There had been dozens of times when Linus had wanted to strike Sabruo for his callousness. Tomiko had said things, done things to show how lonely she was, and all it would take was a word to help her. But Saburo never did it, at least not when Linus was watching. It was upsetting to see Saburo ignore someone in need. Linus realized that there was a darker side to his friend, an indifferent and cold side that threatened the trust they had as friends. It seemed sometimes that Linus was looking in the eyes of a stranger.
If only he had said something, Linus thought miserably. He could have saved her. What's the matter with him?
Saburo's shoulder fell back against the stone wall. He stared at Linus, thinking or warring with himself before he answered. "That's your problem, bud. You're always waiting for me."
Linus didn't understand. "Waiting? I've been trying to keep up with you from the beginning. You have these dreams, Saburo, but you're the only one with the ability to chase them. The rest of us-"
"Knock it off would you?" He sharply kicked Linus, though his expression was kinder than his foot. "You're so smart, but you still can't see how much you could make of yourself. Where's your faith, huh? When will you finally wake up and see that nobody in this whole damn world can hold you down?"
"You always say that."
"Well it's not for nothing, damn it!" Saburo almost laughed. "Why don't you listen to me sometime, kid? When you have a goal, you can't wait for other people, else it'll all fall to bits before you even get off the ground. If you saw Tomiko hurting, you should have helped her yourself, not waited 'til the end for me to do it."
Linus was out of replies, and he stared bleakly at his feet. There was no way he could say that Tomiko had made him nervous, and that was why he never talked to her. Some part of him wondered if Saburo already knew. Lately it was like they were fighting with each other, but it was never clear what exactly the fight was about.
"You know it's not over," Saburo continued. "We can still take Paradise."
"You're crazy. Everyone's dead."
"I'm not. You're not." He held up the hand gun, letting sunlight flash off the scratched metal. "And I've still got one shot left."
Pulling deeper into himself, Linus refused to acknowledge Saburo's optimism. He listened as his adopted guardian, his only friend, the idol he had always looked to, shuffled back to his side and crouched down.
"Maybe I should have done more to help Tomiko," Saburo said. "But it was like talking to a wall. You and her both. No matter what I say to lift you two idiots up, you sink back down again like you've got cinder blocks tied to your feet." He shook his shaggy head, sighing. "All I needed was more time. I never gave up on her, or on you. It was just that time got the better of us. It was too late."
Linus returned Saburo's gaze, comforted and content just to sit side by side. It made Linus ache for the old days when the two of them could stroll through town, when the only thing on either of their minds was the next prank or the next meal. Back when adventure was just a dream.
"So promise me, Linus," he went on. "No matter what happens, promise you won't let yourself become like Tomiko was. Never come unglued, fight forever if you have to, but don't let yourself go down like that."
"Everybody has to die, Saburo."
"Then make it a show stopper, right? Let this whole world know that LINUS is not through, that he's just going higher and farther than anyone else, and even the heavens will be excited for you." He shrugged. "I'd like to see that. In fact, I'll be waiting to see it, with the best seat in the house."
Linus frowned, lost once again in Saburo's lofty metaphors. "What are you saying?"
"Don't make me explain it!" he chuckled and nudged Linus sideways. "Listen, kid. If we take out that fuzz lump Nhisis, I'm betting that those beastie brothers and sisters of his will go down real fast. Come on, if we find him together I can put this last shot right where it belongs in his melted brain."
Saburo had to use the wall to stand again, and he seemed to struggle much more than last time to push himself up. The red spot on the ground was even larger than before, and it glistened like a ruby pool at his feet.
"He's close by," Saburo said. "This won't take long."
The determined assurance had returned, and for a moment Linus thought he could believe in that determination again. He forced himself to stand, quieting his shaking knees by will power alone. "Nhisis is always close, isn't he?"
"Yeah well, most of the time he's shouting his crazy-ass stories so loud that we can hear him a mile away!"
Linus grinned. Could nothing intimidate Saburo?
They began to walk into the bushes, Saburo leading with his handgun ready and Linus right behind. All around the mountain was quiet, and even the wind held back its icy breath. A silent moment passed, and then the blast of a single gunshot slashed through the calm, echoing even out on the fringed plains of ice.
Parting the ferns in his way, Linus floated The Battering Ram over the ground toward a shaded place under the thick canopy. Kamina and Yoko waited exactly where he had left them, unnoticed by anything except for a few persistent bugs.
"Simon!" Yoko cried. "Are you alright? What happened to you?"
Linus turned to Kamina, uninterested in a happy reunion. "You didn't see any beasts did you? Nothing strange happened while I was gone?"
"Well…" Kamina started.
"He fell asleep," Yoko accused sharply. "But nothing bothered us. How did you get Simon back?"
"Stole him, how else?" Linus skimmed the trees but found no sign of the beasts in the branches. He had become fairly good at seeing them, even when they hid, because their hunting patterns were always the same. It was odd that none of the monsters were around. Had they really not found this place yet?
"Linus, do you think those creatures are going to find us?" Simon asked, as if reading his friends very thoughts.
"It bothers me that they haven't already," he answered. "Why would they be avoiding this place?"
"Don't you think we should take a second to come up with a plan?" Yoko suggested. "We may not have another chance before the fighting starts."
"Alright." Linus nodded.
"This time don't keep your lousy secrets to yourself, got it?" Kamina shouted. "What exactly are we up against here? Spill your guts kid, come on!"
"We're facing a colony of powerful, demonic beasts led by a creature named Nhisis." Linus explained. "They are vulnerable in the day time because they are attracted to sunlight, and at night any bright light will confuse them. The beasts are pretty stupid, but they are extremely fast and vicious. You'll see that all of them have replaced limbs or most of their bodies with pieces of destroyed gunmen, which just makes them all the more dangerous .Nhisis is the real trouble though, because he's the leader."
"Nhisis huh?" Kamina crossed his arms and considered Linus' description. "Sounds like he'd give us a pretty good fight! Isn't he the one who kidnapped Simon?"
"Yes." Linus cast his friend an apologetic look. "I doubt that Nhisis planned to hurt Simon at all. The kidnapping was more of a ploy to draw me back to the mountain."
"What's he want you for?" Yoko wondered. "Just to kill the last survivor huh?"
Linus shook his head no. "Nhisis wants to eat me."
Everyone paused awkwardly, allowing the declaration to sit in the air between them. Kamina was the first to speak.
"Eat you? Are you serious? What kind of demented freak is this guy anyway?"
"He ate my arm," Linus reminded them. "When I was here before, all Nhisis would talk about was tormenting the innocents so that they would taste better. I think that the beasts eat each other too, and that's why they have to replace their arms and legs with gunmen parts."
Yoko cringed. "That's just disgusting! I swear that if any of those monsters tries to bite off so much as a toe I'll blast them into pieces!"
"I wouldn't worry about the beasts so much," Linus said. "The best way to win here is to go right to the source and kill Nhisis. Without him, I think the other beasts will go down easy."
"But how are we supposed to get to him?" asked Simon cautiously. "We're completely outnumbered."
Linus grinned, stepping proudly onto the deck of The Battering Ram. "Never let their numbers intimidate you, Simon. If numbers were enough to win every battle we wouldn't even need gunmen."
"But, it's-"
"Listen!" Linus jumped in, cutting even Kamina off. "Don't give these freaks the victory before we've even fought! I've been doing that ever since I ran from Paradise the first time, and look what it got me. A town full of sad people who blame me for all their sorrow, just because I let them. That's not the kind of life anybody wants to live." His grin widened, and his single hand curled into a poised fist. "And I won't live it! Never again. You guys have shown me what Saburo meant all along, that if I want something all there's left to do is go get it. Not even an army of these beasts can stop us, even if all we have is one last shot."
Looking around him, Linus saw his confident smirk stuck on Yoko and Simon's faces. He turned as Kamina suddenly burst out laughing.
"You stole the words right out of my mouth, kid," he said loudly. "That's the kind of fighting spirit we need to turn this mountain around in the name of Team Gurren! When we're through, everyone's gonna know that even the mightiest beasts in Paradise couldn't stand against us!"
Linus nodded, an electrifying tension building in his gut and flowing out to his entire body. Tapping a switch on the flight deck, two drawers slid out from the left and right flanks, displaying a collection of firearms. Four spots of the racks were empty, lost when Saburo had salvaged them a year ago. Linus reached down and took two handguns from the racks, sliding them into the waistband of his trousers. He knew that finally he was ready to face Nhisis' challenge, to rise fully out of his grief and never acknowledge it again.
Sunlight crept into the starry night, unhurriedly turning the morning shades of rose and melon. Like a milk white eye the sun lifted above the mountains, casting beams through the sparse clouds onto the plains. High atop the mountain, hulking shapes like rocks tottered onto the sun bleached rocks. Their fangs glistened as they tilted their heads up, staring at the sky until those behind pushed them father out.
All gathered together, the number of beasts blanketed the large rocky plateau, and some of them had been pushed to tables of stone below the peak. As the sun rose higher, the monsters locked their eyes on its blazing radiance and became statue-like, watching without flinching or shifting at all.
All was quiet, only the sound of the cold wind howling through the rocks could be heard. The beasts sat like a congregation, worshiping a pure light that they could see but never truly feel. Lost in blackened memoires, the monsters watched in absolute silence for nearly two hours. But then a bark went up from the horde of fur and fangs, an angry, distressed cry.
A speck had appeared on the face of the sun, a blemish on its great yellow face. With gathering speed, the dot grew, larger and larger, like a falling stone. Soon many more of the beasts were hollering their discontent that their view had been disrupted. Their collective cries became a roar of ascending rage. Meanwhile the spot became larger, intercepting the light, and then its shadow was coating the center of the group.
Seconds later, Lagann smashed drill first into the deepest mass of beasts, scattering rocks and bodies high into the air. The mecha drilled straight through the ground, escaping the retaliating claws and teeth slashing around it.
Steering from inside, Simon shouted his victory over the com-link. Instantly a screen displaying Linus' face appeared by his shoulder.
"We're not through yet!" he cheered. "Give 'em round two!"
Above ground the beasts swarmed the hole the gunmen had punched into their mountain. Clawing over each other and viciously snapping their jaws, none of them felt or heard Simon returning until Lagann burst like a rocket from under their feet. Splinters and wedges of stone exploded around him, piercing the monsters or crashing on top of them as he flew into the open air.
Half a dozen beasts leaped up after him. Gravity quickly wrapped its hands around the gunmen, and began to pull it down toward their talons and teeth.
"Linus!" Simon cried, seized by sudden fear.
As if on cue, The Battering Ram rushed from the trees below the plateau, raced up and slammed into Lagann from behind. Jolted, Simon twisted around and gripped the sides of Linus' flying mecha, and the gunmen flew them both straight into the sky.
"Now! We have to get to the peak!" Linus screamed through his mouth-piece. "Yoko! Be ready to jump!"
"I'm ready!" she returned.
Linus circled the mountain, feeling the brief strain as his gunmen compensated for Lagann's abrupt weight. Behind him he could hear the boom of the screaming beasts. So far, none had followed them.
Suddenly Linus steered back into the forest, dodging branches and trunks as best he could, even with Simon's bulk impeding his maneuverability. Not even thirty yards into the brush, he cut into a sharp turn.
"DROP, SIMON!" Linus ordered.
Obediently Simon released his grip on the Battering Ram, and plunged through the canopy. But he did not crash into the ground, for Gurren was positioned directly below him, and his drill sank into place on the large gunmen's head with a practiced flash.
"Right on target, kid," Kamina lauded. "Lagann's combining perfectly. And you were pretty stylish about it too, just the way it should be!"
Linus nodded, rolling his gunmen back around and dipping into the trees. "That first assault will draw Nhisis out. We can find him at the peak if we hurry, before he goes down to the plateau with the others."
"Aright!" Kamina hooted. "First one to find that creepy fuzball wins! Team Kamina versus Team Linus!"
"It's not a race, Kamina!" Yoko berated him.
Linus grinned bleakly. "It doesn't matter who finds him first. Just blast his drooling head off and the mountain is ours!"
Emerging from the trees, Linus swiftly guided the Battering Ram into the clearing where Gurren Lagann stood. Yoko waited on the mecha's back, her rifle ready on her shoulder. Linus swept by her and she jumped nimbly from one mecha to the other, landing cleanly on the flight deck just behind its pilot.
"Come on!" she called. "Let's go get 'em!"
Together the small brigade drove forward, gliding or stomping through the trees until the forest became only rock and snow. Almost right away the two gunmen were spotted by the beasts waiting on the rocks, and attacks came from several directions at once.
Linus and Yoko both fired their weapons, knocking the jumping beasts away with loud, blazing gunfire. Kamina shouted gleefully as the beasts jumped on him, swinging their gunmen arms or kicking with odd gunmen legs, and batted the smaller ones away like toys.
Flying high over the swarm, Yoko and Linus picked off clumps of beasts from above. As he squeezed the trigger, Linus scanned the higher rocks for Nhisis, hoping that the leader of the monsters was still up at the top of the mountain, alone and vulnerable.
Hurrying, but maintaining careful awareness, Linus bolted through the air, picking off any monster that so much as roared at him. He thought, in some idle part of his raging mind, that the battle seemed almost poetic, possibly graceful, as he dipped and swerved around the mountain. It had been an easy dicission to attack just after dawn, when all the beasts were together. Now only the most agile monsters could scramble away from the herd to attack, only to be shot down by The Battering Ram's aerial assault.
From the corner of his eye Linus saw a particularly huge beast sailing dangerously close to his gunmen. He abruptly dipped and rolled, upsetting Yoko's aim. The beast flew past them, and she reposted, and shot directly at it. For a single heartbeat as the bullet drove into the monster's chest creature, gunmen and riders all floated in breathless suspension. Linus feared a fall or crash as they rolled upside down, his long bangs drifting before his eyes and blinding him. And then the force of the shot blew the beast backward, and The Battering Ram breezed easily back over the rocks.
"Nice flying there," Yoko said.
"Nice shooting," he replied lamely, flushed and somewhat dizzy.
All of a sudden another beast rose up directly in front of the gunmen. Instinctually, Linus crushed the trigger in his fist and pounded a dozen radiating bullets into his target. They charged right through the remains of the creature, unable to turn away from it, and chunks of blood, fur and metal pelted the curved windshield.
Turning again, Linus gasped as two more beasts flew up to block his path. Surprised, he wavered and could not fire. But then the nose of Yoko's rifle swung around by his side, and four bright bullets erupted from the muzzle and tore the monsters to pieces.
"Are you alright?" she called, cold wind twisting her long hair behind her.
"Yeah, but. . ." Linus blinked, bewildered, ". . .I don't understand. How are they getting up this high?"
Then from below came the bellowing cry, "Head's up Blondie!"
Linus glanced down just in time to see Kamina grab two beasts off the rocks and toss them like toy balls up into the air, right toward The Battering Ram. Yoko insistently shot the helpless monsters as they flew up into her range, and reloaded her rifle with a grunt.
"Kamina, what do you think you're doing!" She shouted, not without humor.
"Just a game of hot potato!" he laughed. "What? Not too much for you is it?"
The beasts were smart enough to avoid Gurren Lagann's arms by now, so Kamina and Simon settled for flat out melee attacks on their numerous foes. Linus swooped down to circle around them, aiding in the extermination with blazing bullets from his own gunmen.
The team fought continuously, and mowed down dozens of beasts in a matter of moments, but somehow the creatures seemed to multiply and surround them again. Even Linus was stunned by the unexpected force of Nhisis' army.
But then, suddenly the number of beasts dwindled until less than a third of their number remained to fight. Rather than feel relief, Linus was overcome with a sense of foreboding at the change.
"Ha! Running out of bodies are you fuzballs?" Kamina shouted.
"They're retreating," said Yoko. She stuffed more bullets into her rifle as Linus drifted over the sundered battleground.
But Simon was the one to voice Linus' suspicion. "Not retreating," he whispered. "They're regrouping!"
As if his words were a signal to charge, the moment Simon spoke an enormous mass rose up over both gunmen. The sound of a hundred furious screaming beasts was the first to meet them. And then like a wave of screeching maws and gnashing fangs, the full number of beasts launched from the ground and attacked. The sheer number of them was like a solid wall falling down on the plateau.
Linus knew the attack would be devastating, but a counter attack also burst into his mind. He whipped The Battering Ram around and darted toward Gurren Lagann.
"Simon, Kamina listen!" he commanded. "Jump! As high as you can! JUMP!"
"What?" Simon cried. "Jump where?"
"JUMP NOW!"
To his relief Kamina obeyed without argument. Gurren Lagann leaped straight into the sky, higher than Linus expected any gunmen to be able to jump. He followed his friends closely, watching their assent and clutching the trigger in anticipation. Before them the beasts were still rising up, a flood of monsters charging to meet two much smaller gunmen head on. But somehow Kamina and Simon had managed to vault higher than the wave of beasts, and hovered briefly above them for a split second.
That was the moment Linus was looking for, and as the gunmen started to fall he circled his own mecha around its body, squeezing the trigger and creating a spiral of bullets around it like a tunnel. Catching on, Kamina and Simon joined the barrage by shooting small drills from their arms down at the beasts below. The monsters fell in droves, killed off before they could even reach their target.
Just as they were about to collide with the ground, Gurren Lagann shot out its leg, leading the fiery fall with a solid foot.
"Take this, FUZZ BRAINS!" Kaimia hollered. "Blazing! Spiral! Tornado! KICK!"
Gunmen met the ground, and an explosion ruptured the side of the mountain. Fire and energy blazed so bright that all sight was blinded, and the boom of the impact echoed out onto the snow all the way to the mountains miles away.
Linus was blind from light and smoke, and he decided to fly his mecha high to escape the fire. Yoko had her head ducked below the windshield, hugging her rifle as ashes and flaming lumps of rock pelted them from every side.
"Nice going Linus!" she praised him, though he could hardly hear her for the ringing in his ears. "That attack probably took out all the beasts at once!"
He was about to answer her, when out of the blackness of the smoke he saw a figure barreling toward his left side. He twisted to deflect the attack but the beast was coming too fast, and its heavy body crashed directly into him, tearing his feet from the flight deck and hurtling him into open air.
"Linus!" Yoko called. The Battering Ram continued to fly even without its pilot, and disappeared into the smog.
For a brief moment Linus tumbled swiftly down, but then he hit stone and rolled to a painful stop on a rocky ledge. Dazed, he groaned and lay still a moment, wondering what had just happened to him. He lifted his head and came face to face with a bloody pair of fangs. Pressing down on Linus' prone body was Nhisis, claws and teeth dripping spit and blood, and eyes red with fury.
"Can't rhun away this time, Linus," he hissed. "About time I ghot my meal, don't you think?"
