Gainax owns Gurren-Lagann. Please take time to thank them for creating such an amazing series.
At first there was nothing: nothing but darkness, and silence.
It wasn't exactly bad. In fact, it was comforting, in its own way. There was nothing to fear, in the darkness. There was nothing to fear, in the silence. There was neither cold nor heat, neither pain nor pleasure. There was nothing but existence, and the lack thereof.
But the darkness could not hold her forever. She clung to the darkness, wanting to remain in its embrace forever and always, but the darkness thrust her away. She spun up and up, spinning, before finally surfacing with a gasp: a swimmer inhaling air that she had forgotten existed.
Then the pain hit and she cursed the darkness for forsaking her. She wanted to curl up in a ball and hold herself tight, but that would increase the pain, she knew that. Instead she bit her lip until it bled, fighting back the pain that threatened to put her into a place where there was neither darkness nor light.
And then, when she felt that she could bear it, she opened her eyes.
Bad idea. The light crashed in and bounced around the inside of her head with total disregard for her well-being. She shut her eyes tight again, cursing the light, and the darkness swelled up slightly to comfort her. But she knew that she couldn't stay. She had to reach the light. It was the only way.
So, steeling herself against the pain, she opened her eyes again.
She could see little through the blur of tears. There was a light, far off in the distance, and greyness around it. That was all she could see for the moment. But it was enough.
"You're awake? Lord, you're awake!"
The voice floated in from somewhere to her right. She stiffened at the voice, for it was a voice she knew. Though she couldn't place a face to the voice, the voice's existence told her something important.
"...I'm not dead, then, am I?" moaned Yoko Littner painfully.
"Conscious! Good grief, you gave me a scare. I wasn't expecting you to get up so soon. No, you're not dead, thank goodness."
Yoko closed her eyes again, taking comfort in the lack of sight.
"I should be dead," she muttered.
"Well, you're not, and it's no small miracle either."
"I wish I were dead."
There was silence for a moment. Then a kind of squeaking, as of wheels spinning. When Yoko next opened her eyes, a kind, furry face swam into view.
"I won't have any talk like that," ordered Kuroko. "Not from any apprentice of mine."
She wheeled away again on her spinning chair. Yoko turned her head, painfully, to watch her go. The Beastwoman came to a stop in front of a series of screens and began clicking and typing.
"...So tell me doc," asked Yoko after a moment. "How bad am I?"
The clicking and typing stopped for a moment, and Kuroko looked pensive.
"Well...you're pretty much intact. I mean, I had to replace some stuff, of course. But hey, as long as you're alive, right!"
"...You're joking."
"Of course I am. What, you think I'm that bad of a doctor?"
"Good. Because otherwise, I would have had to kill you."
Kuroko laughed.
"...So how long have I been out?" asked the redheaded human after a short pause.
"Not too long," replied the catwoman. "Not even a day, I think. Even given the methods I was forced to use, it's still pretty amazing."
"What methods?"
"Umm..." grunted Kuroko. "Give me a second to put this into layman's terms..."
She scratched her head for a while, and then answered.
"So, Spiral Energy fixes basically anything, right? So I hooked you up to a spare Spiral Amplifier I had lying around, and presto!"
"Spiral...Energy?" came the confused response.
Kuroko's jaw dropped.
"Your leader runs around committing miracles with a Core Unit and you don't even know about Spiral Power?"
"Um...what's that?"
"The green stuff?"
"You mean the fighting spirit?"
Kuroko groaned. "Great. Now I've got to explain that, too."
She wheeled herself back over and positioned herself in a spot Yoko couldn't see, behind her head. Suddenly the redhead felt herself moving, and her view of the world blurred drunkenly. Then she was looking up at the array of screens.
"This...is what we call DNA," informed Kuroko's voice. Yoko heard a click, and the screens went blank. A strange helix formation appeared. "All animals have DNA. DNA is like a program for your body. From the moment you're born, your DNA decides how fast you grow, your hair colour, the size of your nose, and all sorts of other things. You get your DNA from your parents, and it's a mix of both. Each generation has different DNA, causing gradual change over time. This is what we call evolution."
"Okay..." murmured Yoko, not quite understanding completely but getting the gist of it.
"Spiral Energy is the force that drives evolution itself. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, the two are linked. Individuals can learn to harness their Spiral Energy, often with the help of tools. Spiral Energy itself defies the laws of physics, so the applications are obviously endless, even outside of battle."
"So Simon's drills-"
"Are a manifestation of his Spiral Power, yes."
"You said he had a...Core Unit?"
There was another click, and an image of Lagann popped up.
"That's what it's called. The Core Unit is an ancient piece of technology, designed to take full advantage of Spiral Energy. While Spiral Energy had previously been used mostly as a battery, like in the Ganmen-"
"I thought they ran on electricity."
"For Beastmen, yes, because they can't generate Spiral Energy. Hush, I'll explain that later. Anyway, the Core Unit was developed in order to properly harness Spiral Power's reality-altering abilities. It's sort of like an amplifier, or a focus for the user's energy. The pilot of a Core Unit can easily perform feats of Spiral Power far surpassing what he might do alone."
"So that's why..."
"Now you make the connection. Your leader is powerful, that's for sure, but the Core Unit pushes him far beyond his ordinary limits."
"An amplifier...you said you hooked me up to an amplifier?"
"Yup." Yoko felt a hand clasp her right arm and lift it into view. She stared at it in confusion. Some form of green, glowing device was embedded into the back of her hand and wound its way up her arm. There was also a tube embedded in her wrist.
"The tube is actually an IV drip. I had to hook you up because I didn't expect you to wake up for a week of two," explained Kuroko. "You're lucky I had one of these lying around, along with the knowledge needed to graft one onto a human. Otherwise, you would have been dead now."
Yoko continued staring at it. It pulsed warmly in response.
"Yeah, sure, it was no problem," said the catwoman sarcastically. "No need to thank me. It's easy enough to create an object that's perfectly fractal to one hundredth of a micrometer."
"Fractal?"
"A pattern that repeats itself on all levels of magnification." Kuroko brought up an image of a spiral. "See how the spiral repeats itself as it gets smaller? That's part of the theory behind Spiral amplification. Your leader has some kind of golden drill, right? That's likely the heart of the Core Unit. It's supposed to be perfectly fractal down to whole levels that don't even exist on this plane of reality. That's what lets him harness such huge amounts of energy. You have no idea how long it took me to replicate the effect, and even then I could only get amplification rates of several hundred times."
Yoko didn't even nod, as that would have hurt too much. She grunted, however, to signify her partial understanding.
"So that's Spiral Energy in a nutshell," finished Kuroko, pushing Yoko's bed back into the corner. "Right now, that same power is healing up every broken part of your body. As you can see, it's quite useful."
"Is that what they used...the Knights?"
"Of course," answered Kuroko, looking off to the left as if to check that nobody else was there. "They're using amplifiers of my own design, similar to the one on your arm."
"Last question?"
"What?"
"Why the arm?"
Kuroko chuckled.
"Because your breasts were too large for me to stick it in your chest."
They laughed. Yoko laughed too, even though it hurt and her ribs burned with pain. Then, suddenly, she was crying.
"He's so powerful," she sobbed. "I couldn't do a thing to him. He didn't even have an amplifier, he wasn't in a Ganman, but I could tell he could bring down the entire room if he wanted to. I was so scared. He scared me!"
Kuroko reached out and stroked her hair. "Hush now, child. Don't cry. None of it was your fault."
"But I had an opportunity to kill him, to get revenge for the others, and I couldn't do it! I could have ended the war, but I was too weak! And now they're all dead for nothing! The twins and Simon, they're dead, and I don't even know who else, and now Ribo will win. Kuroko, what is there left to hope for?"
Kuroko continued stroking Yoko's head, silently reassuring. Eventually her sobs died down to sniffles, and her breathing slowed to a regular pace. Her eyes closed, and she looked on the verge of falling asleep.
"You poor girl..." murmured Kuroko. "You're trying so hard to be strong. All alone, and trying to take the weight of an entire race. I am so, so sorry."
She then leaned down and whispered in her ear.
"But I'll tell you this one thing. Your friends are very much alive."
She then sat up and gave a hard stare to her array of screens, where several warning messages blipped urgently.
A whining beep, and the doors slid open. A tall, lithe figure and a squat, round one jumped out and brandished drills and swords threateningly.
Nothing greeted them. No enemies jumped out to attack them. There were no cries of alarm, no gunfire, no blaring alarms. Nothing.
They both relaxed, and the taller one turned to her companion.
"Welcome to Level 6," declared Aumuna grandly, gesturing with her arm.
Ahead of them sprawled a massive complex of machinery. In the centre of the chamber loomed a gigantic, bulging structure of metal frames and piping. From it, more piping spidered out across the floor, leading to giant cylindrical structures. Everywhere there was the roar of great turbines, and the hissing of steam. It was also hot, almost hotter than the previous level, and the air was thick with humidity.
"What is all of this?" asked Simon, yelling over the noise.
"The great geothermal generators!" yelled back Aumuna. "This bad boy powers the entire complex, and more besides! It uses magma to heat water into steam, which turns giant turbines!"
"So it makes electricity from lava?"
"In simple terms, yes!"
Aumuna strutted forwards, slipping her swords back into her sheathes. Simon followed, his drills disappearing. They wandered around the great and mysterious complex of pipes and parts, encountering nobody.
"Now this is strange!" yelled Aumuna. "You'd think they'd have sent some guards, at least! Now why wouldn't they-?"
She was cut off by a shout. Whirling around, she spotted a gazelle Beastman in a dull green uniform gaping at them from atop a pile of scrap metal.
"Holy crap, it's...no! You can't be! No!" He squealed in terror, turned, leapt down from the pile of parts, and dashed out of sight. Aumuna watched him go curiously.
"Funny man. Looked familiar..."
Then she placed it, and her fist came down into her open palm in a gesture of understanding.
"Of course!" she said. "That was...But then that means..."
"What?" asked Simon.
The Beastwoman turned to him and smiled a happy grin.
"It means I have friends on this level! Simon, you're about to meet the former soldiers of the Eastern Army - in other words, my troops!"
As if in response, there was sudden movement, all around them. There was a hiss, and the steam rose up in thick clouds, turning their surroundings into a white blur. Shadows slid through the opaqueness, surrounding them. Simon and Aumuna instinctively placed themselves back-to-back against the shadows. The steam rolled around them, making it impossible to count the spectres surrounding them.
"WHO IS IT THAT STEPS ONTO OUR LAND UNBIDDEN?" roared a voice out of the whiteness. It was deep and intimidating, threatening untold wrath should their answer be insufficient.
Aumuna just leaned back and laughed.
"Damn, Muris, I knew you were a drama queen, but I never guessed you were this dramatic!"
"Shut the hell up!" replied the voice angrily. "You're on my turf now, and you'll give me some respect!"
"Respect? I'm your commanding officer and your babysitter besides! Now get rid of this damn steam, it's starting to piss me off!"
There was a large, resentful sigh. Simon heard a roaring noise, and several large, powerful fans sucked out the steam.
Surrounding the Beastwoman and the boy were several dozen Beastmen, mostly grazing mammals like deer or oxen. Among them were scattered several simian types, and a handful of others, mostly canine or feline in appearance. They all wore bland, grey uniforms with serial numbers printed on the arms. Many of them were carrying wrenches or hammers of various sizes, and some of the larger ones shouldered large sections of piping.
There was a clanking sound, and both Aumuna and Simon turned to the source of the noise. Stepping across the machine parts towards them was a diminutive Beastman, wearing a hooded robe over his uniform. From the shadows of the hood glared two bright yellow eyes.
"You actually managed to keep that old thing?" snickered Aumuna. "How many guards did you have to blow so they'd let you keep it?"
"Shut the hell up, dammit!" roared the Beastman, throwing back his hood to reveal his mousy face. "You might have gotten away with that sort of thing before, but now, I'm in charge!"
"You're not serious?" scoffed Aumuna sceptically. "Muris? You all honestly chose Muris as your leader?"
"It is Muris' action that let us live," hissed a wolf-Beastman. "Without Muris, we would be dead!"
"Indeed," said Muris himself. "You led us to death. I led us out of it.
"You ungrateful bastard. Anyway, is this all that's left? Pathetic."
"We are approximately twice this number. We're lucky."
"Wait, I'm confused..." mumbled Simon.
All eyes in the immediate area turned towards him.
"How rude. I almost forgot, I was so wrapped up in dealing with this little bitch. What's your name, human?"
"I'm no bitch..." muttered Aumuna.
"I'm Simon. It's nice to meet you, uh...Muris?"
"Yes, that is my name," returned Muris calmly. "It's been many, many years since I have seen a human. It is a pleasure."
"Well, at least you haven't redeveloped the kill-all-humans mentality," snapped Aumuna. "But it's just occurred to me that you bastards shouldn't be alive, without access to regeneration."
"We get access," rumbled a rhino-Beastman. "Muris gets access for us."
"We work hard, we live," explained Muris coldly. "That's how it is."
"Wait, so you guys became the Spiral King's slave boys? Now that's just disappointing. All of you, I give you my mark of disapproval." She lifted her arms high in the air, stuck out her middle fingers, and spun around once.
"Classy as always, I see," said Muris with frosty disapproval. "If you're done, I need to know why you're here. You're supposed to be at the very bottom, cooling your heels for eternity."
"Isn't it obvious?" proclaimed Aumuna, turning so all could hear her. "My burning passion is far too hot for this place! I'm here to bust the hell out of here and teach those bastards topside a lesson! Now who's with me?" She pumped her fist into the air.
Silence fell like a rock. Aumuna slowly lowered her arm slowly, as a frown crept across her face.
"All right, then I order you!" she yelled. "You are all still my subordinates. I order you to come with me!"
The silence fell again like a dead weight. The humid air seemed to press closer, making both Aumuna and Simon sweat even harder.
"They aren't your servants anymore," declaimed Muris. He spat to the side. "You nearly killed all of us. You can't just appear out of nowhere and expect us to follow you."
"Ungrateful assholes..." growled Aumuna. "I suppose you'll call the guards now."
"No," Muris replied, turning to leave. "There are no guards on this level, as I have managed to assure us all a level of independence. In addition, none of us will hinder you. Anyone is free to join you, but don't expect to get many takers. So long as you do not harm any of us, you are free to come and go as you please. However..."
Here he turned again and gave Aumuna a hard glare.
"Should any of us be harmed, whether directly or indirectly, by your actions, you will find no safe haven anywhere in this complex."
He then strode off into the maze of machinery, soon disappearing from sight.
"...Well...that went well," sighed Aumuna tiredly. "Come on, kid, let's skedaddle."
"Skedaddle?" asked Simon
"Leave. Let's leave."
"Now just a minute," called a deep voice from behind them. "I'd like to have a word with you, General."
Aumuna turned and smiled warmly.
"Good to know someone still respects that title."
A massive, reptilian Beastman strode towards them, a truly enormous piece of lead piping resting on his shoulder. He approached the duo and bowed courteously.
"I do not know if you recall my name or face, Madame, but I am Ramchak, and I am at your service."
"Good old Ramchak!" exclaimed Aumuna, practically beaming in her happiness. "Polite to a fault, but loyal to the same."
"Pardon me, but I cannot guarantee the truth of that latter statement," said Ramchak humbly. "To survive, Madame, I had to make certain compromises...although, I assure you, my thoughts were always on your eventual rescue."
"Don't sweat it, big guy," reassured the Beastwoman, reaching up to pat the crocodile-Beastman on the cheek. "You were a little late, though. I've already been rescued, by my little friend here."
Ramchak leaned down to examine Simon closely. The boy shrunk in his seat, intimidated by the looming reptilian giant.
"Quite interesting," rumbled the Beastman pensively. "A human piloting a Ganman. And an unknown, miniature type at that. I am intrigued."
"I don't know but I'm sure it's a long story and we just don't have time," shot Aumuna quickly, stalling the tide of questions that were coming. "Are there any weapons here?"
"None to speak of, sadly," said Ramchak apologetically. "However, I shall make do with this." He lifted his pipe, and let it drop back onto his shoulder. It landed with a thud.
"Good for you. Now, are there any others you think would join me?"
Ramchak nodded, then pulled a strange device out of his pocket. He pressed a button on it.
"A simple pager," he explained. "I'm sure they've heard news of this encounter. They will be along shortly."
True to Ramchak's words, almost immediately another reptilian Beastman appeared. His face was more human than most, though his skin was scaled. Spines ran down his back, and his body was covered in a skin-tight dark jumpsuit.
"They never caught me," his hoarse voice rustled. "Just decided to tag along, is all."
"Vilse, you damn sneak," chuckled Aumuna. "Now why didn't you rescue me earlier?"
"Couldn't get in. Too much security, even for me. Also, had to take care of Lakram."
"I need...I need them..." whispered a pained voice. From around a corner lurched a despondent figure, clad in only a loincloth. As he got closer, Simon saw that he was covered in scales and had a mouth that gaped open. He was thin to the point of emaciation, and walked like a man half-dead.
He fell to the ground in front of Aumuna and stretched his pleading hands towards her.
"Need them...Need boomies..."
"You buffoon, you've been mixing your own explosives for over thirty years now," scolded Ramchak. "Surely you can wait another several minutes."
"Can't..." wheezed the aquatic Beastman. "Not powerful enough..."
"Pathetic as always," grunted Aumuna, kicking the prone Beastman punitively. "You'll just have to wait until we need something really big blown up."
The fish-Beastman rose to his feet, glared at her sulkily, and slinked off while muttering sourly.
"Make sure he doesn't wander too far," ordered Aumuna. Vilse nodded and vanished into thin air.
"How does he do that?" wondered Simon.
"Camouflage," said Aumuna brusquely. "Now, you might want to consider ducking."
Simon knew better than to question the lioness. He ducked just as a sharp piece of metal whizzed over his head.
"Dammit, Aumuna, you made me miss!" roared a voice, bouncing around the maze of metal.
"You're a pretty pathetic sniper if you have to yell profanities every time you miss!" yelled back Aumuna.
"I do just fine because I don't miss that often!" replied the voice reprehensively.
There was a whistling sound, and another Beastman fell down from one of the metallic structures. He landed on one knee, the pipes underneath him clanging in protest. He stood and smiled a jackal's grin.
"Hey, babe," he sneered. "Miss this dog?"
"I'd hardly miss such a mangy half-breed," sniffed the Beastwoman. "But I guess it's nice to see you."
"Cold as ice, just as always! I don't know why I even bother!" His eye turned, and he regarded Simon analytically. "Now who's this brat?"
"He rescued me," said Aumuna coldly. "Something you never bothered with."
"Well, then I must congratulate him!" The jackal-Beastman smiled toothily and leaned forward, his hand extended. Simon took it cautiously, and the Beastman shook it up and down heartily. Then, suddenly, he leaned in closely and whispered in his ear.
"Thank you so much for bringing this naggy feline slave driver back to us."
"Said feline has very good hearing." Suddenly the jackal-Beastman was pulled back forcefully. He howled with laughter as Aumuna glared at him.
"Ignore Sekiga," snapped the lioness. "He's the dumbest of the bunch."
"Sure, ma'am, but it's not my brain you're interested in, is it?"
"No, it's your shooting skills." Aumuna let him go, reached into her belt, and pulled out a pistol. "What can you do with this?" She tossed it to him.
Sekiga took the pistol, checked it thoroughly, and sighted down the barrel at some unseen target.
"Not the classiest thing," he grunted, "but she'll do in a pinch."
He pulled the trigger, and a sharp bang echoed out into the maze of pipes.
"The hell, Sekiga?" roared Ramchak. "Now Muris'll think we're attacking him!"
"Don't piss your pants," said the jackal. "I only shot some guard that was standing there looking at something with his binoculars. Serves the bastard right; I think it's the same guy who locked me in the cells the other day."
"Oh! Half-breed!" said Simon with sudden understanding. "I bet you have a hawk's eyes or something like that!"
Sekiga turned, slowly, and fixed the human boy with an amazingly potent deathglare.
"It's kind of a sore point with him..." muttered Ramchak regretfully.
"Well, God knows they work," interjected Aumuna. "But, thanks to the tiny size of his brain, we now have to run for our lives again. Move your asses, soldiers!"
Far, far away, the binoculars held in a guard's hand shattered. He fell to the ground, bleeding from his left eye.
Even further away, Yoko twitched in her sleep. She muttered something incomprehensible, of which the only audible word was "show-off".
Their run took them around and through the alleys of steel and iron. Sekiga regularly scaled small towers to check for pursuit.
"They're getting pretty close," he reported one time as he dropped down from above.
"Well, figures," muttered Aumuna. "Let's get as far as we can before getting into a fight."
They continued on, pushing to cover as much distance as possible. Eventually a massive steel door loomed into sight, and they pushed even more, with the hope of outrunning their pursuers.
Then a squad of armed guards marched around a corner ahead and aimed their rifles at the fleeing prisoners.
"Ramchak!" called out Aumuna. The massive crocodile grunted in response, and with a bestial roar he swung his pipe. A gust of wind rushed out as he effortlessly smacked the majority of the guards hard enough to send them flying across the ground. Sekiga took quick aim and picked off the rest.
"Good to know you haven't gotten rusty," complimented Aumuna as she snatched up another rifle. She picked up a second and tossed it at Sekiga. "Take this. You deserve it."
"A machine gun? You insult me," whined Sekiga.
"Do I look like I have a high-performance rifle on me?"
Sekiga sniffed unappreciatively, but took the rifle all the same. They continued towards the door. They quickly arrived at its base...with no way to get through.
"Damn! Cockblocked," moaned Sekiga.
"For that sort of language, you get to stand guard at the top of that tower and pop the heads of anyone that comes to close."
"You've used worse," he muttered before slinking off.
"Asshole," murmured Aumuna. Then she called out, "Vilse!"
"Here," came the voice out of nowhere before the chameleon reappeared. "I have brought Lakram."
The fish-Beastman trudged out of the shadows, now clothed in nondescript prisoner's garb.
"Got anything to blow through this?" asked Aumuna.
"No, of course not!" replied Lakram. "Well...actually, maybe. But it's my deathbomb!"
"I'll kill you if you don't use it!"
"Neverrrrr, I won't use it!"
While they bickered, Simon sighed and summoned a drill. He pointed it, and it speared through the wall effortlessly. He then summoned another and, using both together, he easily enlarged the hole so even Ramchak could make it through.
Aumuna stared at the neat hole, stunned. She recovered quickly, though, and ordered everyone through. Sekiga appeared and loped after them.
Behind the door were a small, rectangular chamber, and a door for an elevator.
"Let's go, everyone!" ordered Aumuna. "No sense waiting for them to shut down the elevators on us!"
They filed in, one by one. Lakram went last, and as he went in he dropped something behind him. The doors snapped closed.
"Lakram, what was that?" asked Aumuna sternly.
"Nothing, ma'am," said Lakram innocently. The elevator began to rise.
...And, as it did, a massive quake rumbled through the earth.
"Oh, that one felt goooooooood," moaned Lakram, shivering. His eyes rolled back into his head.
Everyone else studiously ignored him.
"Over halfway there," thought Simon hopefully.
"It's full speed ahead from here on out!" announced Aumuna. "Best be ready, because there ain't no gettin' off o' this train we on! No breaks, no stops, no rests!"
She looked up with a grin.
"Next stop: the surface!"
If y'all are liking this. You may like Words or the fics by 1 over 0 as well.
Also, the side story, Nucleotide: Shades of Gray is out. It chronicles the adventures of Rossiu, Kinon, and of Mito Khan's, like how this story chronicles Simon, Yoko, and Ribo.
Gainax owns Gurren Lagann, all OCs and Centrallio belong to me and 1 over 0.