SUPER ROBOT WARS LW
CHAPTER 03
Please see: all characters in this story will be referred to with their first name preceding their family names, as to follow Western naming style.
By the way, the Great Gurren Brigade will appear here. This means the Simon/Touma/Sanger conversation in chapter 1 has been ret-conned.
-x-x-x-x-x-
// unknown location //
The young woman sighed.
Today's mission was very tiresome, and she had to take a full day's break to recover from her fatigue. To make matters worse, her performance was criticized by the Council, and she had been speechless to answer the Council's questions. She was neither disappointed by the harsh critics nor her alleged poor accomplishment. She was a soldier, and it was her duty to become the best.
"General Testarossa, we have prepared the hot spring for you," the maids spoke as they bowed to the kimono-wearing woman.
"Thanks. You may leave," she replied. The maids nodded and left the woman to her private world.
She entered the room the size of a swimming pool. Untying the strings and letting the clothes slip to her feet, she tipped into the pool and sighed in pleasure as the warm water began its wonder. She settled down and stared at her reflection on the water surface. Her astounding figure, barely covered by the steamy air, was visibly striking and displayed her prowess as a fully grown individual. Her silky skin seemed to refresh whenever it came to contact with the warm fog; her assets that perfectly matched the curvature of her body; the ruby eyes that seemed to glitter under the light.
She closed her eyes. She wanted to forget everything, and let the warmth of the indoor hot spring embrace her bare body. She let her body to slowly sink into the water and freely float.
Then her eyes opened.
She had encountered many opponents, and she had fought each and every one of them, yet none of them would give her the type of challenge she needed.
"What should I do, Alicia?"
She closed her eyes again.
-x-x-x-x-x-
// Seto Inland Sea //
"Terrorists' attack on Shirokaze Town yesterday afternoon had been successfully thwarted, thanks to the quick response of the Earth Federation Army. It is unknown why the terrorists carried out the attack but it had been reported that the terrorist, claiming themselves as the Green Sphere, are after the state-of-the-art Romancer of the Silver Moon mecha designed and developed by the Centaur-Hanagami Heavy Industries. No casualties have been reported so far, and the seaport itself suffers relatively minor damage."
The TV was turned off. Gilliam Yeager shook his head at the latest development of war on terror. "The terrorists are taking more and more steps to wreck worldwide chaos. It's somehow good to hear Rätsel and their buddies saving the town, though," he said. "Hope they don't find out this place."
He later turned to the Grungust, as the testing facility's crews were preparing the super robot. "I can worry of the terrorists later. I have the Grungust and the new equipment to test," he pondered.
"Alright, then! Things are ready to go," said Irmgult Kazahara after he performed a final check-up on the Grungust. "Oi! Is the test pilot here already?"
"He's at the café right now, Irm," one of the workers said. "He'll be here shortly."
"Then get him right over here," Irmgult shouted. "The sooner we get this test started, the sooner we can finish this and go home." He spotted the test pilot coming into the hangar with a woman accompanying him. "Just in time. Hey, you!"
Gilliam watched from the comfort of the control room, as Irmgult met up with the newcomers and said a couple of words with them. The test pilot bowed to Irmgult many times before he was directed to the awaiting Grungust.
"Nagasumi Kenshiro," Gilliam murmured the pilot's name. "Qualified as a robot pilot at the age of 14 and enlisted to the Earth Federation Army on his 15th birthday. His specialty in close-range combat earns him the nickname Spirited Guardian."
-"This is Nagasumi. Requesting permission to begin operation."-
"Command centre to Nagasumi, you are cleared," the operator spoke. "You may proceed."
-"Thank you, command centre."-
Slowly the Grungust detached from the cable and headed to the beach. The giant robot halted after it approached a couple of decommissioned Barrelions. It reared back and lunged forward to fire a Boost Knuckle at the Lions, destroying them in one hit.
-"Yosh! I did it!"-
The Grungust turned to face several remote-controlled Lion-Fs buzzing around in the air. It transformed into the Windgust and performed simple aerial manoeuvres around the non-attacking drones. It turned back to the drones, shot them down with missiles and returned to the ground as Grungust.
-"This is easier than I thought. How is it, Gilliam-san?"-
"Good work, Nagasumi," Gilliam replied. "Continue with the test run."
-"Alright then!"-
"Grungust is uploading its information to the database," the system engineer reported as the Grungust continued attacking several more targets deployed everywhere around the beach.
"How is it going?" Gilliam asked.
"So far everything is going well."
The alarm suddenly buzzed. Gilliam and the operators were caught off-guard by the alarm. "What's going on?" Gilliam asked.
"Two unidentified objects heading towards Grungust!" the radar operator reported. "Hold on! Three! Four! It's increasing! There's too many of them!"
"It's the terrorist!" the engineer cried out.
-"What the hell is that?"-
Gilliam seized the microphone. "Nagasumi! Return to base! We're cancelling the test!" No answer was coming from the Grungust, and Gilliam repeated the radio contact. "Nagasumi! Can you hear me? Nagasumi!"
"Gilliam, the radio's jammed. We can't reach him," the radio operator told him.
"What in the world is going on?" Gilliam snarled. "How did they find us here?"
-x-x-x-x-x-
// two miles away //
"Aniki, are you sure this is the place?"
"There's no mistake about it. It's Kittan who told us to come here, isn't it?"
"But I think this place is a bit out of… place?"
"You always talk too much. Besides, I heard it's among the best sunset viewing spots."
The Gurren Brigade continued moving. Two of the members -- red-coloured Gunmens, the Gurren and the Lagann -- led the group, moving along the hillside road in slow pace. The Lagann was exposed, revealing its pilot (14-year-old goggles boy) to the freshness of Seto Inland Sea.
"Say, Aniki," the boy spoke.
"Hmm? What?" the Gurren pilot replied.
"When we fought those Gunmens, I never thought we'd be sucked into that portal we had come across," the boy continued. "I wonder what happened to Kittan and the rest of them after we come to this world."
"Don't worry too much," the Gurren pilot said. "If we got message from him, it means they're fine. Right, Yoko?" The red-haired, sniper rifle-wielding girl did not answer, but instead asked the group to stop. "What is it, Yoko? Have they arrived already?"
"I'm afraid it isn't them," the girl replied.
Everybody stopped. Up front, over the sea, the setting sun was riddled with dots that seemed to come out of nowhere. And facing the dots on the beach was a blue Grungust, and it became clear to the Gurren Brigade that the dots were outnumbering the mecha.
"Oi, oi, someone's thrown into a fight without even inviting us," the Gurren spoke (as it was synchronizing its mouth with its pilot's speech). "Simon, what do say?"
"I say we go and help him," the boy answered.
"Well, then." The Gurren Brigade changed direction and headed to the beach, with the Gurren pointing to the sun. "Quick! To the sunset!"
// Grungust //
"Damn it! I can't contact Gilliam-san!" Nagasumi Kenshiro said. "They must be jamming the radio frequency!" He quickly brought the Grungust back to the hangar, trying to outrun the threat that was coming towards the coastline.
The Grungust trembled. The system registered frontal damage, and it did not take long before the mecha was under attack. "It must be the terrorists San-chan has been talking of!" Nagasumi pondered and regained control of the Grungust before it fell onto the sandy ground.
Nagasumi looked at one of the video screens, and was not amused to see numerous Gespensts and Doms coming from the sky. "They can't approach the facility!" Immediately he positioned the Grungust between the hangar and the coming terrorists. "I have to stop them somehow!"
A Gespenst fired its 60mm Vulcan. It did nothing more than knocking the Grungust off-balance but was sufficient enough for several Doms to pounce at the mecha. Stun rods were plunged into the Grungust's legs, electrocuting Nagasumi and short-circuiting the Grungust's system.
"Damn it! What do they think they're doing?!" Nagasumi counterattacked with a Boost Knuckle that destroyed some of the Gespensts, but caused the Grungust to overload and shut down. Nagasumi was now trapped, and could do no more than wait.
Then a miracle happened.
Inexplicably the remaining Gespenst exploded in succession, as if they had been hit by a surprise attack. "What happened?" Nagasumi peeked at the surviving video screen and saw two weird-looking robots running across the coastline towards his position. "Who?"
"Unknown robot, leave this to us," one of the robots said and snatched a sunglasses-shaped boomerang to be thrown back at the oncoming Doms. Its partners followed suit and tossed itself at the Gespensts, impaling them with drill attack before they could return fire.
"Simon, let's go!"
"Understand, Aniki!"
The smaller mecha transformed into a drill-spiked head and combined with the bigger mecha. Arms grew longer, legs increased in length and armoured plates with fiery skull emblems appeared on the mecha's shoulders.
"Throw your logic and kick reason to curb! Beautifully following the golden road!"
"If there's a wall, knock it down! It's a road built with these hands!"
The combined mecha snatched the boomerang eyeglasses. "Kokoro no Magma no Honoo to Moeru! Chouzetsu Gattai! Gurren Lagann!" The Magma of the Heart's Final Ignition! Perfect Unification! Gurren Lagann!
" Ore wo!" the Lagann's pilot spoke.
"Oretachi yo!" the Gurren's pilot added.
"DARE DATTO OMOTTE YAGARU!!!!"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE!!!??
The waves mysterious became gigantic and crashed onto the rocky beach behind the Gurren Lagann in a dramatic fashion. Nagasumi was startled. So did Gilliam, Irmgult and everyone else in the base. "Gurren… Lagann?"
The Gurren Lagann pounced at the opponents. "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY PRECIOUS UNDERLINGS!!!" it shouted and punched through multiple Gespensts and Doms. The red mecha returned to deliver a flying kick at another group of Doms and shouted: "WHO DO YOU THINK I AM!???"
"What the hell is this mecha?"
"We can't analyze it! It's not in our database!"
"Well, we just have to shoot it down!"
"I don't think you can touch us! I shall shove this fist into your sorry mouth!"
The manoeuvrability, firepower and overall capability of the Gurren Lagan were unheard of, and everybody could not analyze or comprehend. Even the terrorists were overwhelmed by the power of the burning heaven, and were soon kicked to curbs.
Gilliam, however, was more interested in the sudden increment of energy reading from the Gurren Lagann. "This energy doesn't come from a Psychodriver," he murmured. "What exactly is it?"
The Gurren Lagann stopped attacking the hordes. It backed the Grungust and made a defensive pose, facing the terrorists that had been assisted by reinforcements. "So you think you can attack him when he's incapable of fighting?" the Gurren pilot said.
"Who the hell do you think you are!?" one of the Gespenst pilots asked.
"Who the hell do I think I am?!" The Gurren Lagann pointed upward to the evening sky in dramatic fashion. " ORE WA KAMINA! KAMINA-SAMA!! TEN NO TSUKURU DORIRU DA!!!" I am Kamina! The Great Kamina!! The drill that pierces through the heavens!!!
"The drill that pierces through the heavens? What kind of sick joke is that?!" a Dom pilot jeered.
"I'll show you what a sick joke is!" Kamina replied and activated the Gurren Lagann's cannon. "KORE WA HONTO NO OTOKO NO KOKORO!" This is the true spirit of men!
Nagasumi took the opportunity from the confusion to bring back the damaged Grungust online. The backup power was well below the level, and the Grungust again shut down. "Damn it! I must do something! SOMEHOW!"
The Grungust rocked. One of the Doms had dodged the Gurren Lagann's punch and fired its Raketen Hammer at the mecha. It was blocked by the Gurren Lagann, and the red mecha suffered damages. The Dom was later destroyed by Yoko's long-range sniping attack from onboard the Dayakkaiser.
"Aniki! Are you alright?" Simon asked.
"Those rockets can't even scratch Gurren Lagann!" Kamina answered and pointed to the appalled Doms. "What say you if we return the fire double as much? THIS IS THE TRUE SPIRIT OF MEN!"
Nagasumi tried moving the dual controllers, but they would not bulge. "Capable or not, they won't beat all the terrorists!" he shouted. "Come on! Come on, Grungust! Do this for me! Please get up!" the Grungust would not respond to his command, even after he shouted to the microphone in his loudest voice. He became desperate and punched the control panel. "ONEGAI DARO!!!"
Inexplicably the system restored.
// Base //
"Gilliam! Grungust is registering sudden influx of power!" the system engineer screamed.
Gilliam was shocked. "What?"
"It must be the new Spiral Driver we had installed last week!" the engineer continued.
"Spiral Driver?" He compared the data the Grungust was transmitting with those he got from the Gurren Lagann. "The energy patterns are very similar. Can this be?"
// Gurren Brigade //
Leeron gasped. "This energy reading… it can't be! A Spiral?"
Simon, Kamina and Yoko were shocked. "What?"
// Grungust //
"Kurae! FAINARU BIIIIIIIM!!" Take this! FINAL BEAM!!!!!!!!!!!
The Grungust fired the Final Beam at the terrorists, destroying them in one shot. The Gurren Lagann turned around, startled to see the Grungust restoring to full power and moving towards the terrorists.
"Oi, oi, what do you think you're doing?" Kamina asked.
"I must protect the base!" Nagasumi replied after he regained control of the Grungust. "I must protect San-chan! This is the path I have decided to take!" (At the base, the said person -- Nagasumi's wife, San Kawakami -- blushed. "Nagasumi-san…")
Kamina grinned at the declaration. "I like that hot-blooded spirit! You should join the Gurren Brigade sometimes!" he said.
"Aniki, you still have time to recruit him?" Simon asked in amazement.
"Get them!" the remaining terrorists roared and pounced at the two mechas.
"I'll show you Grungust's ultimate attack!" Nagasumi shouted and commanded the Grungust to withdraw its best weapon. "Keitou… Ragouken!" Come forth… Calamity Sword!
"Nice sword there," Kamina cooed.
The Grungust made a battle stance. "Ankensatsu!"Darkness Attack!
It turned forward and lunged towards the terrorists.
"DORYAAA!!!!"
The Grungust rocketed through, and executed fast airborne manoeuvres as it hacked and slashed and stabbed the terrorists' robots.
The Grungust reappeared, leaving the mechas suspended in midair.
"ZAN!"Slash!
One by one, they exploded and set a chain reaction that swept across the sky.
The Grungust left the explosion and landed. Nagasumi sighed and slumped into the ejection seat. "That was really close," he murmured. "Though what did I just do to make Grungust move?"
The video screens had come online, as so did the radio. "Nagasumi! Are you alright?" Gilliam asked.
"Nagasumi-san, please hang on!" San pleaded.
Nagasumi could only laugh. "I'm alright, Gilliam-san, San-chan."
"Nagasumi! You're going to pay for the damage you did to the Grungust!" Irmgult yelled.
Nagasumi laughed in silly manners. "Ah, sorry for damaging it, Irm-san," he apologized.
-x-x-x-x-x-
// on a nearby cliff //
He looked at the battle down below, shielded by the cockpit of the peculiar-looking white Mobile Fighter. He was neither interested in the terrorists nor the Grungust that had single-handedly destroyed the reinforcement. His eyes were fixated on the Gurren Lagann, even as the mecha performed dance-like movements in front of the Grungust.
"What do you think, Domon?"
The pilot of the God Gundam nodded. "For now, we have nothing to worry about them," he answered. "But I'm more concerned of the mysterious Real Trooper that attacked the EFA scouts."
"The black Huckebein?"
He nodded. "If the rumours are true, then the Green Sphere is not a matter to be laughed at," he said and kept watching, as the Grungust knelt and its pilot jumped off the cockpit to meet up with the base's workforces, as well as the Gurren Brigade that arrived afterwards. "Can you do a favour and look for any information about the Huckebein?"
"I see if I can do anything about it, Domon. I'll let the rest of the Shuffle Alliance know of this, too."
"Thanks, Rain."
The transmission cut off. He threw his sight to the evening sky (the God Gundam copied his movement and turned its head to the evening sky). "War against terrorism…"
Then he turned east. "The east… it smells of war…"