A single spiral can accomplish great things. But when spirals join together for a common cause, they can accomplish the impossible.
- Avatar of the Spiral.
Chapter 4: Avatar of the Spiral?
"Squad 852 was running a routine patrol when they noticed smoke. They reported the incident before going in to examine the problem. Less than a minute later, they were all rendered immobile by an unseen gunmen." Kinon said slowly, already knowing what Rossiu's reaction would be.
He was a complete wreck. Now, during the most important thing that he would EVER take part in, his home village had to come under attack. Without any doubt, god was testing him, just to see how far he could go before he snapped again.
Rossiu stood up, determined to show that he wouldn't be broken, "Your attention please."
The room fell silent as the quarreling attendees faced their host.
"It has come to my attention that there has been an attack launched on Earth." he stated.
There was an uproar from all around the chamber.
"What kind of conference do you think you're running here?" one representative shouted.
"Please, remain calm. We will dispatch a Gunmen squadron immediately to deal with this interruption." Rossiu quickly said.
"I feel that you should only send out Gurren Lagann to demonstrate for us that humanity has the power to lead this conference." The Iroain ambassador stated, his yellow skin giving him a malicious appearance as he stroked his beard.
There was a murmur of agreement from all around the chamber.
"You can't possibly be serious!" Kinon spoke up.
"That's enough Kinon." Rossiu said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Very well Ambassador Kisaramu. Gurren Lagann will engage the enemy alone."
"But Rossiu…"
"No Kinon, I have faith in Gimmy and Darry's abilities as pilots. They were chosen by Simon after all."
Darry had just finished giving a lesson to new recruits when she got the call. Without even bidding farewell to her students, she ran towards the hanger. Gimmy was already waiting for her.
"So did you hear?"
"Yeah, we're being sent out alone." She responded as they climbed into the recently repaired Gurren Lagann.
"It shouldn't be too much of a problem. I mean, we'll have our Spiral Lock off this time."
"I hope you're right." And with that, they took off for the place of their birth, Adai Village.
As they approached their target, Gimmy spoke up, "It's hard to believe that this will be the first time we've come back here."
"Yeah." Darry said, her mind obviously elsewhere. This was the place where they had almost been sacrificed. The place where they suffered and starved. The one place where she had hoped she'd never have to go again.
A dust storm had picked up, obscuring their enemy from view. Without warning, Gurren Lagann was hit from the side, toppling it over. Before Gimmy or Darry could get their mech back on it's feet, the opponent hit them again, sending them rolling.
"I can't see them!"
"Calm down Gimmy, they can only hide for so long."
They started to get back up, when they felt something pulling on Gurren Lagann's leg, trying to knock it back down.
"ENOUGH!" Gimmy screamed, kicking away the attacker and summoning up his Spiral Energy, blasting the dust away. Now they could clearly see the Gunmen. It looked like a massive purple snake, with yellow eyes that seemed to pierce Gimmy and Darry's souls and a drill on its tail. Darry could feel her hands starting to shake on the controls.
Mustering up her courage, she gripped down tightly and asked, "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
"WE ARE THE LASEN, MORE ANCIENT THAN TIME ITSELF! BY ORDER OF THE AVATAR OF THE SPIRAL, YOU SHALL BE JUDGED!"
"Avatar of the Spiral?" she thought.
Before either of them could question any further, the snake gunmen drilled into the ground.
"Stay on guard Gimmy, they could be anywhere."
"At least there isn't more than one."
With that, eight snakes burst out of the ground, knocking Gimmy and Darry into the air. Activating their rockets, Gurren Lagann hovered in the air while the snakes looked on from below.
"You just had to say something, didn't you?"
The snakes coiled up on the ground, eying their prey. Sweat started to form on Darry's brow.
"Calm down" she told herself, "They can't reach us up here."
Suddenly, the snakes launched themselves into the air like springs, baring their fangs.
"INCOMING"
They managed to dodge the first five and grab two of them, but the eight one managed to latch onto their leg.
"Hey, get off!" Darry said, trying to shake the limb free.
Meanwhile, Gimmy was trying to deal with the two that they had managed to capture, attempting to crush them in Gurren Lagann's grip. Unfortunately, their armor was a lot tougher than it looked.
"What the hell are these things made of?"
The gunmen in their right hand launched a bite at Gurren Lagann's head.
"Oh no you don't" said Gimmy, chucking it at the ground in retaliation.
That's when Gimmy and Darry felt something pulling on their backs. In the confusion, two of the snakes had managed to bite onto their wings on the way back down. Gimmy tried to reach back to grab them, dropping the other snake he was holding in the process, but he just couldn't reach. The snakes dug their tails into Gurren Lagann's jets, shattering it and sending the red Gunmen spiraling to the ground with a massive CRASH, followed by the other snake gunmen, who fell in a pile in front of them.
"Darry, you ok?"
"Well, my back is killing me, or did you mean aside from the fact that we just fell half a mile onto solid rock?"
"Ok, you're fine."
"Yes, but now the snakes went back underground."
"Just great."
"Don't worry, there's only eight of them. If we keep are guard up, we'll be fine."
The eight snakes drilled out of the ground all around them, attempting a repeat of their previous move."
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" The twins yelled in tandem.
Gurren Lagann jumped out of the way, grabbing two of the snakes in the air. The remaining six snakes started to tear up the ground with their tails and launched a barrage of boulders at the two pilots. Swinging the two snakes around like whips, they batted away the incoming hail of rocks.
"I can't believe they're all attacking from the same side." Darry said.
"They may be well coordinated, but their strategy could used a lot of work." Gimmy replied.
Unfortunately, they were so caught up in their conversation, that they didn't notice that the ground beneath them was starting to shake. Almost immediately, a large brown gunmen launched out of the ground beneath them, once again sending them flying in the air. Seeing the opportunity, the snakes increased their rain of stone upon Gurren Lagann, knocking it away. Gurren Lagann was pushed away, again crashing into the ground.
"There was another one?" Darry asked, obviously shocked as they got Gurren Lagann back on its feet.
"It must have been hiding underground until the perfect moment."
They looked at the new opponent. It closely resembled a pigmole in its design, but the things that caught Gimmy and Darry's eyes were the eyes and the back. Over its eyes were a massive pair of sunglasses, identical to the ones on Gurren Lagann and on its back was a large symbol. It looked like a star in front of a spiral, possibly the group's logo. Darry sent the image back to command, hoping that it might give them some leads.
Meanwhile, at said command, Leeron was watching intently. These enemy gunmen were simply fascinating. Their coordination was perfect, yet they didn't seem to have any form of communication with one another.
"Now that is interesting." Leeron said to himself, his hands flying over three separate keyboards. "Their power is rising, but they're not generating any Spiral Energy."
Suddenly he felt a vibration near his butt. Reaching down, he grabbed his cell phone, smiling when he saw who the call was from.
"Yes Viral?" "Really? That's wonderful! Come by in about an hour and we'll start working out the details for the surgery."
"Now," He said, closing his phone, "back to these strange readings."
"Eight Great Snakes Bonds!"
Two of the gunmen shot out from each side, grabbing Gurren Lagann's limbs. In seconds, Gimmy and Darry were bound to the ground, their arms and legs stretched to their limits.
"Come on Gimmy, give it more power!" Darry screamed at her brother as she mustered her strength.
"What do you think I'm doing?"
All of the sudden, it started to get really dark.
"Huh? Was they're an eclipse scheduled for today?"
"No."
"OROREI CRASH!" The pigmole gunmen screamed as it body-slammed into Gurren Lagann.
"UGH!"
The ground beneath them cracked, sending them tumbling into the caves below.
Darry slowly opened her eyes. In front of her stood the sight of the "Face God" she had spent her childhood praying to. It's strange. Despite all of the painful memories she had of this place, seeing it made her feel calm. That's when the rumbling started. And right before their very eyes, the mighty face god shattered as the enemy gunmen burst through the wall. The snakes had dug their drill tails into the pigmole, combining into a nine headed monstrosity. The massive gunmen lunged at Gurren Lagann, all nine mouths wide open. Darry closed her eyes for what she was sure would be the last time.
"DRILL OF THE PIERCING CLOUDS!" Gimmy yelled as a single long drill shot out of Gurren Lagann's right arm, impaling the enemy.
"DRILL TYPHOON!"
The drill spun around at an astounding rate, ripping the massive snake creature to pieces. Soon, the twins were left in nothing but silence. After about a minute, Darry spoke up, her arms were now shaking like mad as she gripped the controls, as if she would die if she let go.
"Gimmy."
"Yeah?"
"Promise me we'll never come back here again."
"Sure thing."
About and hour later, Leeron was debriefing with Gimmy (Darry had arranged for an appointment with her therapist as soon as she got out of the cockpit).
"I can't believe how strong they were. It's almost like they had an infinite amount of power."
"According to the readings, that wasn't the case." Leeron said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it was feeding off of your Spiral Energy. During the entire fight, not once did they generate their own spiral power. Not to mention the fact that the more Spiral Energy you used, the stronger they became." Leeron responded. "If more of these things come along, you'll need to be more conservative with the amount of Spiral Energy you use. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with Viral's junk."
…
"What?"
Authors Notes:
So, we finally get around to mentioning that weird character that seems to be at the beginning of every chapter. Who are they, what is they're motive, and what makes you think that I'd actually spoil it?
Sorry for the short chapter and the lower quality. I kind of got lazy with working on it. Although it is Gurren Lagann, so having the 4th part be lower quality than the rest is just following tradition. I'm not entirely happy with how the fight turned out, both sides occasionally just standing there. The whole subplot of Viral talking to his wife was reduced to nothing more than a phone call with Leeron, but I'll make up for that next chapter.
The names of the enemy gunmen are as follows: The Pigmole one was called Ororei and the snake ones are Oroichi, Oroni, Orosan, Oroshi, Orogo, Ororoku, Orosichi, and Orohachi. So basically, in broken Japanese, Snake-zero through Snake-eight. Also, the logo mentioned is the same one on my profile page.