I do not own Gurren Lagann. GAINAX does. Collaborated with 1 over 0. Any OCs I create belong to me.

Dai-Gurren, over the South Seas.

It is sometimes said that you can tell a lot about a man from the way he fights. In theory, when faced with a life-or-death situation, the brain becomes hard-wired to the body, and every motion, every twitch, is a reflection of one's personality.

If this theory is true, then Aumuna Syndras was loud, brash, arrogant, overconfident, more than a little flirtatious, and above all had a penchant for being drunk and disorderly.

Though not a complete summary of her psyche, this is nevertheless all completely true.

"C'mon, you big pussies!" she yelled as she judo-flipped Kidd across the mess hall. "You call this brawling? Sekiga fights better than you, for God's sake!"

The above-mentioned jackal-Beastman sighed and popped open another bottle of liquor. He'd hardly finished draining it before it was grabbed out of his hand and used to bludgeon the drunken catwoman across the back of the head. This only managed to earn the attacker, in this case Zorthy, a fist to the face. He fell backwards out of his wheelchair.

Sekiga sighed again. Beside him, Simon watched in a kind of terrified awe, sometimes tilting left or right to avoid flying cutlery, plates, and other miscellaneous debris.

In theory, they had invited Sekiga and Aumuna into Dai-Gurren's mess hall to give them a kind of welcoming banquet, over the course of which they would be accepted into the team. In practice, the other pilots had taken the opportunity to start hazing Sekiga. It had started with a drinking contest (which Sekiga had refused to participate in, but which Aumuna had won by default when she managed to down the Old Man's "special blend") then turned into an interrogation (wherein a very drunk Kittan had harassed Sekiga verbally) and from there developed into a full-on brawl (started when an even drunker Aumuna had taken offense to Kittan's harassment of her subordinate and decided to intervene via boot to the head).

Five minutes later, Aumuna was holding her own against the entirety of the Brigade. Some would say she was even winning.

"How does she…?" began Simon.

"I don't even know," replied Sekiga.

Kiyoh and Kiyal yelled and launched a tag-team attack in defense of their brother's honour. The purple-haired Bachika jumped up and came diving down from above, while her blonde sister went low to the ground and aimed for the catwoman's legs.

Aumuna grabbed Kiyal and flipped her upside-down, but was bowled over by Kiyoh's attack. They all went down in a group, and there were several minutes of frantic scuffling. Then Kiyal went flying right into a roasted grape-hippo, and Kiyoh went rolling under a table. Aumuna stood up again, and re-adjusted her new, tight-fitting red top.

"I think it's the alcohol," commented Sekiga morosely. "It's not that she doesn't feel pain. It's that when she's drunk, she goes looking for it."

"You sayin' Imma maso-whatever?" yelled Aumuna, tilting drunkenly to the left and avoiding a thrown plate in the process.

"I didn't say you were looking for pain for yourself!"

"S'okay then!" She whirled around and tossed a piece of fruit back at the pilot who had thrown the plate. Said fruit happened to be a large and very ripe melon, and Iraak went down, head covered in orange melon pulp.

"How did anyone manage to capture and imprison her?" wondered the digger.

"Very painfully," answered the sniper Beastman. "And with more than good deal of luck."

Kiyoh had recovered, and from somewhere she'd produced a rolling pin. By general consensus all edged weapons were banned, but anything blunt and presumably non-lethal was still fair game. She charged, yelling at the top of her lungs, and smashed Aumuna in the ribs from behind.

The catwoman replied by smacking the blonde woman in the face with her tail, turning around, grabbing her by the waist, and hoisting her above her head. Kiyoh went straight into a large bowl of punch.

"That was such good punch too," mourned Sekiga. "What a waste."

Kiyal got up and pounced on Aumuna like a cat. They tussled for a while, clawing at each other viciously. Finally, the catwoman was able to get both feet under her aggressor and sent her flying back into the grapehippo. Somehow, at some point her top had come off, and when she stood back up she was bare for the world to see.

"I don't get it," mused the jackal-Beastman, while Simon shut his eyes tightly and turned around in embarrassment. "That always happens at some point. It doesn't matter who she picks a fight with, she always ends up topless."

Kittan had finally come back to his senses from the previous boot to the head. Upon seeing both his sisters lying among articles of food, he immediately shouted an incomprehensible war cry and charged. To his credit, he only stumbled slightly when he realized that his opponent was a half-naked catwoman.

Aumuna dodged his opening punch and responded with one of her own, which hit him squarely between the eyes. Any lesser man would have been knocked cold. Kittan, however, didn't even budge. He grabbed her fist, pulled, and sent his knuckles straight into her face.

Her head was whipped to her left until the bones in her neck brought it to a screeching halt. She froze briefly, and for an instant all fell silent. Then she brought her head back around, and gave Kittan a fanged smile, blood leaking from a crack in her lip.

"You're a cute one, you know that?" she said silkily as the cracked lip healed over. "What's your name again?"

"I'm Kittan 'Kicks Goddamn Ass' Bachika!" he growled. Obviously he was still drunk.

The similarly-drunk Aumuna paused for a moment, looking up into space. "Kittan. Gotta remember that."

Then she gave him a head-butt that caused literal shockwaves to reverberate through the room, and he dropped like a rock. After a moment of rummaging she found her top again and managed to slip it on, upside-down.

The fight raged on for several minutes more, during which time the entire Brigade completely failed to subdue a single drunken Beastwoman. Kiyal was just about to assault her with a frying pan when Nia walked in.

"Oh my! Is there a fight?" she exclaimed worriedly. "Please everyone, don't fight! Surely we don't have to fight to resolve this?"

Then Nia's expression became one of pleading, adorable puppy-eyes. And the raging brawl came to a screeching halt.

"I'm Dai-Gurren's leader, and I'm going to officially welcome Aumuna and Sekiga into the Brigade." Simon glared around the table. "That means they're our allies, and if you attack our allies, you're attacking me. Understand?"

There was a chorus of grumbled understanding from around the meeting room table. The many bruises and minor cuts probably had a part to play in their agreement. Aumuna just lounged idly in her chair and grinned cheerfully at her new brothers-in-arms.

"It's real nice to get properly acquainted with all of you," said Sekiga dryly. "I'm Sekiga. I shoot things, and I do a damn good job of it. This is Aumuna Syndras. You're probably already well-acquainted with what she does."

The assembled warriors gave her a look that roughly translated as 'this is so not over'. This only caused the Beastwoman's catlike grin to widen.

"We're glad to have you on our side," said Simon quickly, sensing the tension in the air. "Sekiga's an incredible shot, almost as good as Yoko…" He missed Kittan's wince. "…And Aumuna's just as good a pilot. Also, her Ganman is insanely powerful. It's called the…uh…"

"The Righteous King Gilgamesh!" announced Aumuna in a thundering tone, standing and raising her arms to make the point. "Scion of the Sun, Invincible Lord of the Land, King of Heroes, two-thirds god and one-third mortal!"

"…So, basically, the Gilgamesh," finished Sekiga dryly.

"You're no fun, Seki."

"Ooh, but such a magnificent machine deserves a long and manly name~!" Leeron popped out from nowhere and flipped on several screens. Top, bottom, side and front views of the Gilgamesh appeared around the room, couple with lines of statistics. "I don't even know how half of its systems work! And on top of that, it's so much bigger than the others~"

"Bigger is better," agreed the Beastwoman with a cheeky grin that she directed at Kiyal.

Kiyal muttered something irritable and probably vulgar and massaged a gash on her cheek.

"The Gilgamesh," repeated Simon firmly, gathering everyone's attention again. "Leeron, Aumuna, tell us what you can about it."

"Gladly~!" Leeron pulled out a remote and pressed a button. One entire wall lit up with an image of the Gilgamesh, in all its armoured glory, standing next to Gurren Lagann. The former was at least two to three times to size of the latter.

"As you can see, Gilgamesh is much larger than a conventional Ganman!" said the mechanic in a singsong. "Look at those thick arms! Those broad shoulders! Those legs of steel!"

"I like my men big." Aumuna flashed a leer at them. "But seriously, when we designed it, we needed all the room to fit in the systems. The lower abdomen, for example, had to be massive just to fit in the generator."

"Before you ask, yes, she helped design it," interjected Sekiga. "She is, in fact, that frighteningly talented. And don't ask about the other designer. She doesn't like to talk about it."

For the first time, Simon saw a shadow flit across the catwoman's face. It passed quickly, replaced by her usual flirtatious grin. "Don't lie Sekiga, you like being afraid of me."

"Afraid of you? Ha! Besides, you're the one who routinely crawls into my bed."

"Liar! I haven't done that in fifty years."

"Last night was fifty years ago?"

"Keep it up, minion! I've been looking for an excuse to exercise my slapping hand on your mutt ass!"

"Ooh, I've never seen this side of you! Not my thing though, sorry."

Simon coughed awkwardly to interrupt them. "Um, could we please stay on track? Thanks."

"So as Aumuna said," continued Leeron, "the Gilgamesh has a much higher power output than the standard Ganman engine. I've been analyzing its generator, and it's been a positively enlightening experience!"

"Most Ganmen run on basically solar power or by an electric battery," added Aumuna. "And for you guys, they'll run on even less than that. The Gilgamesh, on the other hand, has to support both its size and the numerous weapons systems involved. Just getting it flying would take three Ganmen."

"Speaking of which, let's discuss weapons!" Leeron clicked another button, and the screens changed. Footage of their battle played, retrieved from what remained of the Centrallio computers. Specifically, it was the portion where Aumuna activated the barrier in order to repel the massive laser barrage. The other Brigade members leaned close, their eyes wide. It was the first time they'd actually seen the giant mecha in action.

"Yeah, the shield system," said Aumuna noncommittally. "With enough power, that thing can basically take anything you can throw at it. A bit like me, actually."

"We haven't tried everything yet," said Kittan darkly.

"Now this is interesting!" Aumuna leaned forward, and her monster-sized assets rode up suggestively on the table. "Come on, cutie. Show me what you've got."

Kittan's face turned a shade of red similar to Gurren Lagann. Kiyal looked like she was about to blow a fuse.

"Leave them alone," said Sekiga with a sigh.

"Seki, you're no fun. Flirting with men is literally one-half of my existence!" All the same, she leaned back again and rested her hands on the back of her head. Not that it helped much; her top was still way too tight, and completely failed to cover her midriff. Most of the men were making a point of not looking too closely at her.

"The shield system deploys from several drones that themselves deploy from the unit's back." Leeron clicked a button, and the relevant scene played. "These drones can assemble in a near-infinite variety of configurations, though the larger they spread out, the weaker the field gets. In addition, they aren't capable of covering the entire mecha in their field."

"Because every defense system needs a weakness!" Aumuna chuckled. "But really, as much as we tried, we couldn't quite get it perfect. Still, despite the massive power requirements and non-perfect coverage, it's probably the best defensive system in existence. Or was, anyway." The catwoman frowned suddenly, and added in a more subdued tone: "We can probably expect our enemies to have something like it, if not better."

"But protection isn't everything!" Leeron flipped yet another switch, and the scene changed to a scaled-down picture of Gilgamesh holding its sword. "This beauty has a full arsenal of weapons systems. More than I can even list here!"

"When in doubt, use more gun," said Aumuna with a smirk. "That was our design philosophy, at least. I've forgotten most of them, but highlights include arm-mounted high-yield rockets, shoulder-mounted guided missiles, leg-mounted pulse cannons, finger-mounted heavy machine guns, twin wrist-mounted energy blades, and a chest-mounted cyclical feedback high-energy beam cannon." Her ever-present grin only widened at the expressions of shock on her new teammates' faces. "Oh, and my personal favorite, the sword."

"Before you ask, yes, I've already begun studying them." The mechanic brushed his hair aside and smiled smugly. "Much of it is far beyond anything we've seen before. I'll have prototypes ready within a week for you guys to try out."

"Yeah, you've probably noticed that the grunt Ganmen don't get the best of weaponry." Aumuna's right ear twitched, and she crossed her arms thoughtfully. "Actually, that means you guys've been fighting with sub-standard equipment up 'till now."

"You mean the Spiral King had access to stuff like this?" Kittan looked positively disturbed.

"Should've. It's one hell of a miracle that you guys even got as far as you did. Maybe the old man was getting soft."

"We can talk about this later," interrupted Simon. "Aumuna, tell us about the sword."

She nodded obligingly. "Sure thing, chief. Funny thing is, there's not much to tell." She chuckled drily, and there was a hint of bitterness again. "That's one thing I never had a hand in. I basically said 'I want a sword' and she built me a sword. I try not to think too hard about how it works."

She. Simon filed this away for later. "Leeron, do you have any better idea?"

"Well, from what I can tell, it's capable of emitting a high-energy shockwave from the device into its core." The mechanic's face twisted in puzzlement. "Other than that, I'm having a hard time with it. If the Gilgamesh is, say, one or two generations ahead of us, then the sword is at least five. I'm not even sure if it's possible to understand it with the equipment we have."

"So like I said. Try not to think too hard about it." Aumuna spun idly in her chair. "So, that's my Gilgamesh. Thank you, I know it's awesome, try not to cream your pants too hard the next time we go into battle."

"Now for some other developments!" The screens blanked at Leeron's command, then relit with pictures of the various Enki derivatives they'd encountered

"Those bastards," hissed Kiyal through clenched teeth.

"As we have seen, Ribo has apparently acquired the means to mass-produce Enki-type units, as well as several related models." The Brigadiers shifted uncomfortably in their seats, muttering apprehensively. "And as you all already know, that includes the weapon that Aumuna informs me is the CPC, or the Charge Particle Cannon."

"It ain't fair!" Zorthy slammed a fist on the table and nearly sent his wheelchair rolling back into the wall. "The little bastards shouldn't have weapons like that when we don't! I mean, we've been outnumbered and outgunned before, but this is just overkill! If we had better weapons, then maybe the twins and I…"

"Welcome to real war, buddy," said Aumuna flatly. "Fairness isn't an issue. Luckily for you, I can still remember bits and pieces of theory. Soon enough your mechanic friend will be outfitting you guys with the same equipment."

"Oh yes indeed! I'm already starting to make huge progress!" Diagrams and numbers and statistics surrounded them. "See?"

"Yeah, sorry Leeron, but we don't understand a thing," admitted Dayakka.

"That's all right!" The screens switched to photographs of the sword Makken had stolen from one of the knight-type Enkis. "Here, I'll explain a little better. This, darlings, is a sword."

"We can see that," muttered Kidd.

"But it's not just any sword! Listen!"

On the screen the edges of the blade began to shimmer, and a high, piercing whine filled the air. The assembled Brigadiers all covered their ears in pain. Both the shimmering and the sound stopped momentarily.

"It's a vibroblade!" announced Leeron, cheerfully ignoring his teammates' pain.

"It was only a theory when I was captured," informed Aumuna. "Apparently someone figured out a way of making it a reality."

"It's a very elegant design!" Leeron positively squirmed with delight. "I would really like to meet the one who created it~! I won't get into details, but this one will be rolling off the lines within a week for all you sword-loving men! But let's move on!"

The images switched yet again. This time, Gurren Lagann's mutated right arm flitted into view.

"This nifty darling that our little piloting duo acquired is, as Aumuna informs me, referred to as a High Energy Laser Cannon."

"Guess what it does," the catwoman commented sarcastically.

"The HELC requires more power than the CPC but is waaay more powerful!" He gestured with his arms to demonstrate, waving them enthusiastically. "Gurren Lagann's version is even more powerful, of course, but as usual I can't understand anything it does, so I'll be concentrating on outfitting the Dai-Gurren with the standard version."

"What about the shields?" asked Kiyal. "The ones that blocked Simon's attack. How about them?"

"Sorry, honey, but I wasn't able to retrieve any of them." Leeron looked crestfallen. "Oh, how I would've loved to study that."

"I think that's it, isn't it Leeron?" interjected Aumuna suddenly.

"Yes it is, Aumuna dear!"

"So can I give them my own lecture now?"

"Sure, go ahead!" The mechanic gladly passed over the remote. Aumuna twirled it in her hand while her tail waved languorously.

"Now I'd like to give you all a discussion about geography. And tactics. And a couple other things." Her grin remained, but her eyes glinted with a more serious light. "Specifically, why everything went to hell for you."

"What would you know?" snapped Kiyal. "You just got here!"

"Sis has a point," added Kiyoh. "What could you know that we don't?"

"You forget that I was very important around her fifty years ago. And on top of that, I was a general." The Beastwoman shook her head. "That's not the important part, though. This is all something you should've known, but didn't take into account. It wasn't your own fault, really, but that doesn't change things. What this will really affect is your future strategy."

"We smash right through with manly spirit!" said Kittan proudly. "Always works, always has, always will."

"No," said Aumuna sharply, shaking her head. "That won't work. And I'll explain why. But let me start with the beginning."

She pressed a button on the remote, and a large map blinked into life on one wall. It showed a couple of points: Jiha Village, the site of the battle with Dai-Gurren, the ocean, and Teppelin, among others. There was a line drawn showing a route between Jiha and Teppelin.

"This is your approximate path from your starting point to Teppelin," informed Aumuna, confirming their suspicions. "I think you'd agree that you didn't leave any Beastmen standing between the two points."

"We were pretty thorough," said Iraak with pride.

"All right. And on top of that, you got help from villages within a certain radius. I've made an approximation based on what Leeron's told me. Here it is."

The map zoomed out, showing a wide circle of red.

"I think we can agree that, for the most part, you controlled this area. Yes?"

"Get on with it," growled Kittan. "Where's this going?"

"Here." The map zoomed out even more, and suddenly they were looking at a great rotating globe, on which the dot of their controlled area was a tiny portion. "This is your problem."

"That's the world," said Iraak. "I saw it once. We had a model in our village."

"…It's huge!" said Kiyal and Kiyoh together.

"The Spiral King ruled an entire world." Aumuna grinned at them. "There were other, more scattered revolts, but for the most part they were quelled. There were a lot more Beastmen than you guys faced. Even if you kill the Emperor, there's still an Empire."

"So, what, we were doomed from the start even if we killed their leader?" Kittan snorted derisively. "Like hell!"

"No. Actually, I think you could have mopped them up on your own. Oh, it would've taken a couple of years to maybe a decade, and even then there would still be pockets of resistance, but you would've come out on top eventually." She shook her head. "No, the real problem was that killing the Spiral King left a huge power vacuum, and someone had to fill it. If it had been some random Beastman lieutenant, there would have been no problem. But then-"

"Ribo showed up," finished Simon. His face was dark.

"Exactly." The catwoman nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds to me like he's a real character. Shows up from nowhere and claims to be the old man's son. I can personally vouch that he wasn't around fifty years ago, that's for certain. I think the old man was doing some research starting a couple decades before you guys happened. And this research took away your primary advantage." She pointed at Simon. "That'd be you."

"Gurren Lagann," he said understandingly.

"Exactly." She crossed her arms. "I'll try to keep things brief. Basically, a thousand years ago, there was a huge war between two races: the Spirals, and the Anti-Spirals."

"Um…what?" said Iraak, speaking for all of them.

"To be honest, I don't have all the details." Aumuna's tail flicked. "What I do know is that the Spirals were gifted with this amazing ability called Spiral Power. I'm not entirely certain what the rules are, but a Spiral user is basically a source of unlimited potential energy." She nodded to Simon. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

"So that's what it's called." Simon grasped the little golden drill around his neck. "Spiral Power."

"Yup. Turns out humans are Spirals." The catwoman frowned. "Unfortunately, that was about as far as I got before I was found out, but I think you get the general picture. I think the old man was trying to create Spiral warriors before your little rebellion. That's why you suddenly have his son, Ribo, and his little Knight playmates."

"I remember fighting the Spiral King," said Simon. "Fighting the Knights was a lot like that. They weren't quite as powerful, but they're dangerous, and above all experienced."

"But you defeated the Spiral King!" protested Kiyal. "They can't possibly be a match for you!"

"Maybe, maybe not." Simon fingered the little golden drill carefully. "I caught the Spiral King off guard, remember. I'm not even entirely sure what happened that day. I think it's possible that any one of them might give me a hard time."

"And here's where we get into strategy," continued Aumuna, putting both hands on the table and leaning forward. "You can't rely on Simon to just bust through whatever's in your way. Not anymore, especially now that that Viral kid apparently has a Spiral-powered Ganman. All it takes is either him or one of the Knights to show up and keep Simon busy long enough for him to complete any objectives he wants, up to and including decimating every single one of you. And on top of that, we don't know how many more Knights or Spiral soldiers Ribo has. He might even be making more."

"So what?" Kittan slammed a fist on the table. "We're Dai-Gurren, dammit! Who gives a damn about impossible odds, anyway? We'll bust through and save the day!"

"Aw, you're so cute when you're riled up!" Aumuna's humour returned. "Sorry, hon, but it just doesn't work like that anymore. You've got to be careful now. I don't know if the old man was getting soft or what, but this Ribo kid is a hell of a lot more dangerous than anything you've seen before. He's ruthless, competent, and powerful. Not generally a good combination."

"So what, then?" asked Simon. "You want us to sit back and do nothing?"

"Pffffft! Hell no!" said Aumuna, aghast. "I just say you should play it smart. Don't go after him head-on, like bowling straight for the capital like you did with Lordgenome. If you want to do that, I'll gladly give you my sword and you can kill yourselves now, save us all the time. Instead, try to slow him down. Target vulnerable but valuable assets. Hit hard, hit fast, and disappear. Maximum damage at minimum cost."

"I don't like it," grumbled Zorthy. "Looks to me like we'll be just dragging things out. This guy's got plenty of resources, remember. We fight like that, and we'll spend years making no progress at all. It'll be a war of attrition, and I don't think anyone wants that."

"Okay, sure. That's a valid complaint. Guess immortality's gone to my head." She bared her teeth at him. "Would you rather get blown up instead? Quick, and relatively painless. Assuming you die in the initial attack, anyway."

"We'll follow Aumuna's plan," stated Simon, ending the discussion. He looked about at them, care evident in his eyes. "I don't like having drag this war any longer, but I don't want to see any more of you die. There are some rocks you just can't break, so you drill around until you find a weakness."

"And when we find a weakness?" asked Kiyal.

"Then we'll strike right at Ribo and take him down for good." He stood. "Go get some rest, everyone. You all deserve it."

New Teppelin; Kuroko's New Workshop

"So what now?"

Yoko sat on her bed in the mechanic's workshop, holding her knees to her chest. Her eyes stared emptily out into space. She'd been like that ever since the tears had finally stopped.

"I don't know," she said flatly. "You're sure that they're alive?"

"I'm quite certain." Kuroko spun in her chair, trying to hide the winces of pain that came from every movement. "You have to do something, you know. You can't just sit idly there forever."

"What am I supposed to do?" countered the sniper bitterly. "It's not like I can do anything useful. I'm still trapped here. I still can't take down Ribo no matter what plan of attack I use. Frontal assault? Tried that one. Surprise attack? He'll probably know before I get within a hundred metres. Poison? He probably wouldn't even notice. What point is there in doing anything?"

"Hm." Well, at least she's not trying to kill herself anymore. "Maybe you're not looking at things the right way, Yoko. You're not the same you that you were anymore, you know."

Yoko chuckled drily at the comment and stared down at her right hand. Her eyes traced the blinking, pulsing green lines and hard metal edges of the device now permanently attached to her arm. It glowed softly at her in response.

"I've told you what it can do." Kuroko grinned at her newest pupil. "And who knows, maybe if you train with it, you might grow strong enough to give Ribo a run for his money!"

Yoko looked away from her hand and up at her self-proclaimed guardian angel. Her chin rested on her knee.

"This thing can help me fight, can it?" Yoko smiled wanly, the grin her first for days. "That sounds fun."

"Oh, it'll help you do lots of things!" Kuroko sprang off of her chair, landing with catlike grace. To her credit, she barely even stumbled at the sudden, sharp burst of pain that ratcheted up her spine. "You just stick with me; I'm a great teacher! I've had plenty of practice after all!"

Yoko continued smiling, nodding her head. In her eyes, the tiny spark of hope relit.

Oh God, please forgive me. Please forgive this girl.

Ribo leaned against the window pane, his face contorted into a vicious frown. Dekabutsu's corridor provided a beautifully tragic view of the ruins of Old Teppelin, and on another day he might have admired it, but today his gaze was empty. His breathing was slow and steady, but the set of his shoulders and the glint in his eye betrayed the raging turmoil beneath.

Foolish.

It was the one word that could describe his actions. He'd been foolish. He could have crushed the Brigade on the first day. He should have crushed them as soon as he'd learned of them. But no, he'd gone easy on them, tested them, waited to see how they'd react.

And now…

He growled deep in his throat and turned back down the hallway, his cape swishing behind him. Beastman and Nucleotype soldiers stepped to the side and saluted as he passed, wary of their king's temper. News had reached them of Kuroko's punishment, and they were not eager to repeat her mistake.

Perhaps he had been too hard on her, he reflected. Kuroko had been with him since birth, so naturally she'd presume to have more authority over him than reality dictated. She'd apologised in the end, and seemed to have learned her lesson.

Perhaps he should go down and apologise. No, he decided, there was too much to do for him to waste time on petty sympathies.

He came to an elevator and called it to him, and rode it to the top. By the time he had emerged in his father's former throne room, all thoughts of his subordinate had been replaced by deeper, darker ponderings.

The throne room was one of the locations he had designated to remain untouched. The scene was, presumably, exactly as it had been after his father's last battle; every crack, every broken shard of glass, every pebble remained as it was. In the centre hulked the broken remains of Lazengann, once his father's Ganman, now reduced to scrap.

He ran a hand over a beaten piece of armour, admiring its smooth black finish. Once upon a time, Lazengann had been the greatest of machines. Seeing it broken and wrecked only fueled his burning curiosity about his father.

"How did you do it?" he murmured softly. "How did you create the Empire, father? And how could you, the greatest of all men, lose it all?"

He pressed his face against the metal, feeling its cool surface against his cheek. "If I had your knowledge, I could be the greatest king to ever grace this Earth. I would be an Emperor of heaven itself."

He paused for a moment, trying to find the right words.

"I've made foolish mistakes, father. But Simon and his merry band of fools haven't won the war, not by any means. And once I have your knowledge…well, I will extinguish their lives like measly little candles."

He withdrew and stalked back towards the elevator, rubbing his hands. He had research to do.

Hope you all enjoyed. Next update will be either Never Alone(Naruto) or Darkmask(Pokemon).

Written by 1 over 0, edited by yours truly