You know how I've been hinting that Kimi and Viral have background. Well, for all you patient people who stuck with the story, here's the first part of it.

Actually, this wasn't my original plan but several chapters ago I settled on this because 1) I wanted to explore what things are like for a beastman shortly after creation, as well as Viral's philosophy in general 2) it was easier to write it this way and 3) almost nobody gives this story reviews and tells me otherwise, so I'm going to assume I can do whatever the heck I want and people won't get upset.

I own Kimi and her royal sassyface but not anything Gurren Lagann. I bet Nia was an adorascary baby.

He?… He coughed… There was… liquid? The flavor…foul… chemicals… He tried to get air… Into his lungs? He needed… needed? the air. He opened his eyes and… saw? He saw a room, filled with shadows and dim green lights… He saw the movement of figures… He could move too?... He shivered, cold, naked… There were voices, strange murmurs… It all seemed so foreign, he had never heard before, yet he could understand…

"How strange." "Already on his knees." "Knows enough to be scared, he'll live a while longer than most, perhaps." "Looks peculiar, wasn't expecting the results of the cross sequencing." "One of a kind."

The figures came into focus more as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He turned his head to look at more, more of this new place which he had never been… cognitively aware of before now. Something caught his eye. It was bright and… red. He liked that, and so he stared, until a figure approached him.

He looked up. A…man towered over him, his eyes obviously white even in the green light. He spoke, his voice booming, harsh… The others fell silent.

"You should feel honored. It isn't every day I witness the awakening of my creations. I am your king and master, Lordgenome!"

Putting lips together, exhaling, using a voice, making words, so difficult…

"Master?" he croaked. His first word, a word in inferiority.

The Lordgenome smiled. "Yes, your master. You catch on rather quickly, don't you? You're different from most, so I'll give you a second honor; I'll name you myself.

This was greeted with murmurs. Jealousy?...

"From this moment forward, you shall be known as Viral."

"… Viral?" Viral. His name was Viral. He liked having a name. He didn't know why, but it felt good to have a thing to call himself… An identity… an honor? By his master.

"Get him cleaned up and show him to his room." His master was looking at someone else. "He'll start training early."

"Training?"

Lordgenome looked at him condescendingly. "You will address me as 'your highness' from now on. And yes, training, to kill humans who dare to live on the surface. That is your reason for living; to kill humans." He turned away, his white outfit flapping in Viral's face.

Kill… Humans… His purpose?...

What was a human?...

"Not bad," Viral's Commander, and old Lion-beastman commented as Viral exited a one-headed Enki amidst a field of human corpses.

"Thank you, sir" Viral saluted.

The old beastman chuckled. "At ease, soldier. Only two years of experience and you're already at this level. It took me five years before my Commander chose me as his successor."

Viral blinked. "Sir?" he questioned.

The old Lion led Viral by the shoulder to the edge of the field, toward his own two-headed ganman. "I'm getting up there in years, Viral. Soon I'll be as dead as these wretches," he kicked a woman's corpse to add emphasis to his point. Viral winced. "My life is almost over, and I need to pick a successor. You aren't quite where I want you to be in terms of experience, but you have plenty of potential, and I think the extra responsibility will be good for you." The Lion smiled. "I want you to take the helmet off of my ganman and affix it to your own when we return to Teppelin. I would help you do it myself, but the Spiral King wants to see me immediately."

"Sir, I- I'm honored by your faith in me!" Viral straightened his back. "I will prove that your trust is not misplaced!"

"Good boy. Now let's get out of here, I can't stand the stench of humans."

As they walked back, the almost retired Commander carelessly trod over the lifeless bodies of the most recent skirmish while Viral carefully crept around them.

"Commander," he asked, "What happens when we die?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? But, sir, that doesn't make sense."

The Commander paused, right on top of a man's carcass. "Let me explain. You fall into oblivion. You see, smell, taste, touch, hear, feel, and think nothing. Some humans believe that the soul goes to an eternal paradise called 'heaven,' or to a place of torture called 'hell,' but I don't believe such nonsense. They just tell themselves that to comfort themselves, make themselves feel like their good deeds will be rewarded and the bad guys will be punished."

Go to oblivion, back where he came from? Viral looked down at the corpses. No wonder they fought so desperately for their dreams…

Viral was on his way to report another successful suppression of the human scum when something bumped into his legs. He looked down to see a small human in a white sundress with hideous pink and orange polka dots. A girl, he noted, with the scent of watermelonpuma floating about her, short dark hair, and big blue eyes.

At first, they just stared at each other. Viral had no idea what to think. What the hell was a human child doing in Teppelin?

"Get away from her!"

Viral looked up to see a woman with long black hair and blue eyes, much like the child's, storm down the hallway toward him. The little girl moved backward away from him instead of the other way around, and the woman snatched her up.

"Damn beasts," she hissed as she left a still stunned Viral looking at the small child who was still staring at him over the woman's shoulder.

Why were there humans in Teppelin? It didn't take him long to find out.

"That's the Spiral King's daughter!" he practically shouted at the cafeteria table.

"Keep your voice down!" squawked the Bird-beastman sitting across the table from him. "You're only four years old, so I'll clue you in. Every now and again our King gets bored, so he makes himself a daughter to keep him occupied until he gets bored of her or she starts asking too many questions. Granted, Kimi is a little different. The Spiral King wanted to see how a regular child and an artificial daughter would interact. So, you see, she was born," the beastman finished in a tone that was meant to convey awe.

It was lost on Viral. "What do you mean she was born? Isn't everyone born?"

The Bird slapped his forehead. "It's different! You and I, all of the beastmen, and most of the Spiral Kings daughters, are created. Giving birth, being born, that's something only humans and animals can experience. That's why there are small humans and big humans. Babies are born, grow up, and have babies of their own."

"I know that! I don't need a lesson in human reproduction! I just don't understand why being created is so different from being born."

"It just is. Now be quiet and eat your meal. Forget Kimi and her bitch of a mother and focus on your job."

They all came from the same place, and when they died they all went back to the same place. What was a beastman, as opposed to a human?...

"My name is Kimi! What's yours?" She hadn't run into him this time, and there was no sign of her mother, but she was still wearing that awful dress.

"My name is Viral, Princess," he addressed her formally, as was expected of him.

"Where are you going?" Kimi asked.

"To see your father. Should you be wandering the halls by yourself?"

She puffed up indignantly. "I'm not doing anything wrong!" She was quick to calm down, however. "Why are you going to see my father?"

"To tell him that I succeeded in eradicating the hu-" This was a little human girl. He couldn't tell her what his purpose in life was. "…The huge obstacle that was making your father upset."

"So it's your job to make my father happy?"

Viral fidgeted. "I suppose you could say that."

She smiled. "My father has been really happy lately, so you must be doing a good job!"

Yes, he had been doing a good job.

"Kimi! Where are you?"

"Uh oh!" Kimi looked panicked as her mother's voice echoed down the hall. "You didn't see me!" she pleaded with Viral before running down an adjacent hallway. Her mother appeared around a corner moments later.

"Has my daughter been through here, beastman?" she snapped when she saw him.

"No, ma'am." He didn't know why he wasn't betraying the young girl's trust. Then again, it felt more like giving the rude woman a hard time than doing her daughter a favor.

But perhaps it was because he couldn't understand why she trusted him in the first place…

"Hi, Viral!"

"Hello, Princess Kimi. And…" Viral paused, not sure what to say about the thing Kimi was holding. It looked like an even smaller girl with blonde and blue hair in a pink onesie, but the green eyes weren't blinking, so for all he knew it could be a doll.

Kimi smiled brightly. "This is my little sister, Nia. Say hi, Nia!"

The creepy eyes finally blinked and the child, whom Viral could now identify as Princess Nia, Lordgenome's other daughter, made some noise that could pass as a greeting.

"Father's busy and so is mom, which means I'm looking after her for today."

Nia smiled and giggled, which made Kimi smile even wider. "Isn't she cute?"

Viral had to force his lip not to curl in disgust. "Adorable. If you'll excuse me, I need to leave on a mission."

He had been ordered by the Spiral King to eradicate a village that was still underground, but had recently produced a rather annoying group of pests. The desert would be stained with blood before the sun set tonight, the blood of people old and young, humans not unlike the little girl fussing over her baby sister. The young Nia was another of Lordgenome's creations, not like him, but not the same as her sister either. She was something else entirely, worlds apart from either. Yet Kimi didn't make the distinction between herself and the toddler despite having different mothers. She didn't make the distinction between herself and Viral either.

Viral walked away, leaving the two girls to entertain themselves. Nia was born of a different being, actually several different beings, yet the two girls acted as though they were as close as full sisters. Were they really so different from one another?...