TTGL: So this is the Heavens.
Chapter 9: My first mission. I'd cheer but it hurts to breath.
Eternity was overrated. The eternal darkness faded into a foreboding gloom, then into a casual black before settling on a grey.
Kamina opened his eyes to find himself in the sterile environment of the medical facility. His body ached all over and his muscles wouldn't respond when he tried to move. Slowly he swivelled his eyes around and was greeted by an ample chest topped by a ginger haired head.
"Ah! Mister Kamina, you're finally awake! Captain Unohana had to work really hard to save you. If she hadn't been there, you would have died. She had to leave though so now I'm in charge of looking after you." said the women in one long flowing speech.
"And who are you? A pretty young woman like you shouldn't be given gruesome task like treating the wounded." flirted Kamina. She really was very attractive
"Me? I'm Orihime Inoue, third seat of squad four."
"Wow. Third seat. Beautiful and powerful.
"Oh, I'm not really that strong and I don't like to hurt people so I'm no good in a fight. They only left me in charge since the captain stabilised your condition." she stammered quickly, waving her hands before her like to get praise was a crime.
"What happened anyway? I don't remember anything."
Orihime sighed. "You were shot. Twice. That man showed no emotion at all, it was horrible to watch. You're lucky that you survived."
"Damn it! How could I have lost? I tried my hardest, used all of my fighting spirit and determination but it wasn't enough. What more can I do?"
"Don't worry. You fought really well. The final round didn't last half as long as your match and Masanori-san didn't even use his Shikai." said Orihime enthusiastically, encouragement lacing her every word.
"What difference does that make? I lost, that's all it comes down to." snapped Kamina. "When can I get outta here?"
"Captain Unohana says that you should rest."
"Forget that. I need to walk, clear my head a bit."
Orihime hesitated a moment before placing her hands over his wounds. A warm glow spread around the area, loosening Kamina's muscles and returned feeling to his limbs. A few seconds passed before she stopped. His body still ached like hell but at least he could move now.
"Just don't get into anymore fights. Your body can't take it at the moment." the women said concernedly.
Kamina didn't respond. He slid out of the bed and limped out through the door. He paid no heed to where his feet took him. This was the first time that he had ever felt so low. Usually Simon was there, powering forwards. That site always had given him renewed strength. Without Simon to inspire, what good was his façade of bravery and unwavering confidence?
He wandered for a solid hour, running the battle through his head time and time again to see how he could have won but he could see no way. Keero was just on a completely different level.
"Are you the man known as Kamina." asked a soft voice behind him, ripping him from his thoughts. He turned to see a young woman with black hair that was pulled back into a braid. She wore the normal shinigami robes except that her kimono was very short. A lieutenant's badge was wrapped around her arm.
"Yeah. The one and only."
"My captain wishes to see you. Please, follow me." she said in a voice that was even more emotionless than Keero's had been.
"Sure. Which captain would that be?" asked Kamina as she began to lead the way. She too was beautiful in her own unique way.
"My father, Captain Kurotsuchi."
"HIM! You're that deranged clown's daughter! How the hell?" raged Kamina, incredulous at the idea of such a shy and good looking girl could be related to that freak in some way. "What does he want anyway?"
"I do not know. He has yet to inform me on his intentions. My orders were to bring you to him with any force necessary."
They entered the squad twelve compound and found Kurotsuchi waiting for them.
"What took you so long you insolent doll?"
"He had left Squad Four's care without notice of his destination. I had to search for him." came Nemu's meek reply.
"That's no excuse. After all the modifications and improvements I've given you, it should take mere seconds to find a blue haired man. Get out of my sight!" snapped the captain angrily.
"As you wish." came the soft reply. She turned and left Kamina alone with the madman.
"Who do you think you are, treating your own daughter that way? Nothing gives you the right to be such a bastard!" growled Kamina, aching for a fight.
"That's none of your concern." said Kurotsuchi, shrugging off the topic without a moments thought. "You're here so that I can gather maximum data on the new kido. It's very simple, just fill out this questionnaire."
Kamina had expected some kind of crazy experiment. He took the offered sheet of paper and scanned its contents. The questions were basic and easy to answer such as how draining the kido had been on his energy reserves.
He wasn't good at reading or writing. Up until he had met Leeron, Kamina hadn't even known of written language. The mechanic had taught him a few of the basics and the Academy had helped further but his skill was still at a low level. Slowly he worked his way through the questions with a messy scrawl.
Kurotsuchi continued to speak as Kamina poured all of his focus onto the pen in his hand. "It seemed to be the change in balance against that ponytail boy but it made no difference against the shikai user. The power levels will have to be modified. As for using kido to violently combust your zanpakuto, very unique. I would love nothing more than to dissect you to see how you tick."
"Done." muttered Kamina before putting the pen down. He passed the paper back to the captain. "Could I look at that screen again? I need to say sorry to my bro, for not being able to help him."
"Whatever. I need time to analyse my data so as long as you don't bother me you could have a picnic on my science table for all I care. Just don't blame me if your food starts trying to eat you."
Kamina wearily walked to the room that housed the giant screen. Within a few minutes it was set up and the coordinates for Dai-Gurren were once again keyed into the console. It flickered to life, bathing the darkened room with light.
It showed a battlefield. Dai-Gurren was stood against four other giant gunmen. One looked near identical to the Dai-Gurren while another looked like a giant snake. Another hung in the air flying, raining bombs down upon the Dai-Gurren. The last looked like a giant turtle shell. All were pouring out troops against the few gunmen that team Dai-Gurren had at its disposal.
The view panned to the airship. Kamina rushed closer to the screen as it showed Simon hanging onto its side, hundreds of feet from the ground. Using just his old manual drill and core drill, he was slowly making his way up the gunmen, towards its outstretched arm. In that hand was clenched a girl of Simon's age with flowing white hair.
"I believe in the me, that believes in myself!" growled the boy through grit teeth. His core drill seemed to react to his determination but the airship gunman finally managed to swat the boy away.
Simon was hurtled past the girl and he shouted out to her. "Nia!"
He sped towards the earth. Using his larger drill he tried to grab hold of the legs of the gunmen but it merely caused him to crash into the metal plating before resuming his freefall.
"Nia is, waiting for me!" he screamed, determination filling his voice even as he rushed toward certain death. His core drill flashed again. A moment more of freefall passed then from the smoke below rocketed Lagann. The two met in midair, saving Simon in the nick of time.
Without wasting a single moment the miniature mecha stormed through the sky and ripped through the flying monstrosity's hand that held the girl. Hanging upside down, Lagann's top opened. "Nia! I'm here to save you. Come on!"
The girl looked on the verge of tears. "Simon!" she cried as she leapt to hug him. She was pulled inside and the top closed again. It powered off higher into the sky leaving a spiral path behind.
"I was sort of late. Sorry. I…get it now! Lagann told me too. I…finally understand!
The screen blurred and refocused on an image of the Dai-Gurren's deck. Gurren fought a losing battle against Viral's Enkidu. By the withdrawn style being used, Kamina guessed that it was Rossiu who piloted his old mecha.
"Pathetic." came the mocking voice of Viral. So he survived, mused Kamina. "I can't believe how pathetic you are. It's too bad, Kamina!" Not the brightest guy.
Gurren looked on the edge of defeat when Simon's voice screamed from somewhere above. "Rossiu! Lets combine."
Gurren began to strain and finally managed to force Enkidu away from it. From the sky shot Lagann, smashing into the top of Gurren. The two merged together into Gurren Lagann, instantly hijacking a flying gunmen and assimilation its jetpack. The mecha hovered in the air high above the battlefield with Simon stood upon its head.
"My bro is dead. He's gone. But still, he's on my back and in my heart! Within me he continues to live! If you're gonna dig, dig to the heavens! Even if it's my own grave I'll go through it. Once I break through it means I've won! Who the hell do you think I am? I'm Simon. I'm not my Bro, Kamina. I'm just me! Simon the digger!"
He disappeared back into Lagann. The General's airship went on the offensive but Gurren Lagann easily pinned it down with a handful of giant shades.
"Finishing move. GIGA! DRILL! BREAK!" The giant drill sped towards the gunmen with unstoppable fore then-
The screen blacked out. Scientists scurried around it frantically.
"Just give us a moment and it will be back up." one informed Kamina. They had all become engrossed in the battle.
"No need." said Kamina, a grin spreading across his face. "I already know how it ends. Just who the hell do you think we are!" Fiery magna filled his soul once again. Kamina felt inspired and knew that Simon would now get by fine without him.
He strode confidently out of the building, all of his former boldness and enthusiasm returned tenfold. Without any caution he stepped outside, crashing into Captain Shuhei.
"Finally. I've been looking for you, Kamina. How are you feeling? Orihime said that you looked down."
"Forget that!" shouted Kamina before striking a dramatic pose. "Real men move forward and never look back. If there is an obstacle that you cannot pass then you just keep trying until it crumbles under your determination. When even death doesn't stop me, what chances does some wannabe shinigami have?"
"I take that as you're feeling fine then." sighed Hisagi Shuhei. "Anyway, follow me. We have an important assignment for you."
"Assignment? I didn't thing first years were allowed to do anything worthwhile." stated Kamina sarcastically.
"You'll find out soon. There is no point me filling you in yet as I have to brief all the participating students."
They walked without talking all the way to the Academy. Hisagi wore a grim face while Kamina had yet to stop grinning and whistled happily as loud as he could. Once at the Academy, Hisagi led the way into his private office. It should have been a large room but between massive piles of paper and the eight students who were already inside waiting, there was very little room to move. Kenpi and Myu were both present.
Kamina jumped up onto Shuhei's desk, partly as it was the largest open area and also that he preferred to stand out. A small space opened up around Hisagi.
"As you all know, you're here for a special mission. Usually any missions of consequence are reserved for advanced students at the minimum, but as I am sure you are all aware, we are currently shorthanded and our enemies are growing in number. Hence, the more skilled amongst the students were chosen for this mission."
"Sweet. My first mission. I'd cheer but it hurts to breath." added Kamina. Despite his statement he was hopping from foot to foot with pent up energy. His skin glistened with sweat though, a testament to the fact that he had yet to fully recover.
Captain Shuhei continued. "Simply put, we have a big problem with bandits. Squad Two have discovered a small hideout for one of the lesser bandit gangs and after much discussion, we decided to send you rather then divert our main forces away from the larger threats."
"What's the plan then?" asked a tall girl with the lightest of green hair. She was in the third year of the Academy but Kamina knew nothing else about her.
"Basically, we're sending the nine of you in to neutralise the bandits. Our intel confirms that there are only fifteen bandits within this hideout so you should be able to deal with them easily enough. You'll be working in teams of three so that the base can be outflanked, reducing the chances of any escaping."
"Kamina will be in charge of Kenpi and Myu because of his real world experience. Clara, you'll lead Denu and Sara while Clinton will manage Parre and Oswatt. How you complete this mission is up to you, as long as the goal is met and we suffer no fatalities."
Shuhei motioned to a woman in the back corner of the room that nobody had noticed. She wore the ninja attire of Squad Two. "Haruhi Hattori was in the team that found the hideout. She will be your guide."
"Let's get going then!" exclaimed Kamina.
It was a long march to the hideout. They passed through the Seireitei, then through the vast expanses of the Rukongai and then continued several miles into the hilly region beyond. They made a simple camp when night descended until the first light of dawn when they set off again.
They entered a forest around noon and Haruhi informed them that they were close by now. And hour passed with them wading through the thick roots and twisted branches until they came across a giant cave. Through the gloom they could just see a building inside with a few men patrolling the outside.
Clara, being the most senior student in the mission, took overall charge of planning. "Kamina, Take your team straight forward and cause as much destruction as possible. While you distract them my team will take them from the left while Clinton's will take the right. Any problems?" No one argued. "Right. Kamina, go do what you do best."
"Hell yeah!" replied Kamina, a mad gleam in his eye. "Lets rock!"
Kenpi and Myu both nodded and the three sped off directly towards the structure. Kamina levelled one guard mid run while Kenpi took down the other. Myu shot of a few fireballs at the structure, setting the wood alight. Without slowing Kamina rammed the building's door, ripping it from its hinges.
Once inside he was mildly surprised to see that only the outside wall was made of wood. The inner walls all seemed to be solid concrete. The place seemed too complicated to house just fifteen men.
Regardless of this they ploughed their way through the building, knocking out any bandits in their way. They were all weak, nowhere near a match for the mighty Kamina.
At the centre of the building the three teams met up. Tolling up the foes they had defeated the number came to twenty two.
"This place seems too well built to belong to such weaklings." observed Clara agitatedly. "I feel that I'm missing something."
"I know that I'm missing something." grumbled Kamina. "A good fight, that's what." he grunted, stabbing his sword through a chair. Rather than stopping when it hit the floor though it continued through the carpet causing Kamina to loose his balance and smack his head on a shelf placed perfectly at head level.
Clara threw the chair to one side and pulled the carpet away. Beneath it was a simple wooden trap door. Kamina went to stop on it to open it but she quickly opened it by hand, hissing at him to be quiet.
As quietly as they could the students descended down the hole. It led to a bare corridor with a single door at the end. Voices were audible on the other side.
"Do you pledge your allegiance to us then?" came a deep, authoritative voice.
"Yes, master." answered a second, smaller voice. "Though we are small in number and strength, we will do all that we can to serve the Apostils of Satos."
"Excellent. As more and more of the smaller groups join with us, we will soon have enough power to rival those fools in the Seireitei."
"Damn." whispered Clara. "That voice, the deeper one, a think that is Khorne. He is one of the leaders of this Apostils of Satos and is on the Shinigami threat list. He's ranked strength wise as a third seated shinigami. We can't win him. We should head back to the academy and report on what we've heard."
"If he's a leader of these bandits then we need to defeat him. There are nine of us and only two of them. Plus Scarface said it himself, we are a group of some of the strongest students. If we win then that would be merit to be put straight in a squad." pointed out Kamina.
Clara looked tempted by this prospect. "Hmm. A position in a squad. We should have enough power between us to win. If things look bad though then we get out straight away, got it?"
"Yep. May I?"
"Go for it."
Kamina kicked the door with all his force, shooting it across the room. The students charged into the room and within seconds had surrounded the two men.
One was a simple faced man with a strong body and lots of armour while the other was slightly more muscled and had an intelligent face. This one wore very little in the way of armour. His shaggy black hair, beard and moustache combo left little of his face visible except for sharp glaring eyes.
"Ah, so you've finally decided to join us. I was wondering when you would gather the courage to confront us." said the bearded man. "Its times like that when it become obvious why the brave die young." He clicked his fingers and from the very door which they had just entered through, twenty bandits sauntered into the room.
"You bastard!" roared Kamina. Now that battle was upon them he instantly filled in the roll of leader. "Clara, get everyone to take care of those cannon fodder. I'll take the boss."
"Right!" she affirmed, knowing not to argue. She ordered all of they others to turn and face the new threat. Kenpi stepped up to Kamina's side.
"I'll take this other guy." Kenpi motioned to the simple faced man.
"Whatever. Just don't get in my way." shouted Kamina, already half way to the enemy leader.
"Your reiatsu is impressive." complimented the man. "But against Khorne it means nothing." he growled as he avoided Kamina's slash and punched him in the stomach.
"Yeah, well I'll make you into corn flakes in a minute." retorted Kamina, spinning around and lashing out with blade, fist and foot.
Khorne blocked them all with quick hand movements then struck out but this time Kamina was prepared and easily dodged.
"Blazing sword!" bellowed Kamina. Even before the flames had fully emerged he slashed out, just managing to scrap Khorne's sleeve. The material caught alight. Before the man had chance to put out the flames, Kamina began to rain down explosive slashes upon him. "Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!"
"Troublesome child!" spat Khorne. His robes were in tatters but his body seemed untouched. He drew his sword for the first time. "I'll show you the power of the Apostils of Satos! Shock their core, Raimaru!"
The simple katana morphed, becoming golden in colour. The blade became zigzagged like a lightning bolt and small sparks of electricity crackled around it.
"Damn! I've had enough of these damn shikai!" snarled Kamina.
Khorne slashed and Kamina rose his zanpakuto in defence. The blades clashed but electric volts passed through Gurren and straight into Kamina. The force of the volts sent him flying backwards and into the far fall.
As he got back to his feet he saw that yet more bandit reinforcements had entered. The other students were only just holding their own. Kenpi seemed to be winning his fight. Kamina made a move towards Khorne but with lightning speed the man charged across the room and slammed into him.
Before Kamina could recover, Khorne had him held up against the wall with his throat. Kamina could hardly breath.
"Now you die, weakling." mocked Khorne. He slashed at Kamina's chest, opening up an large gash and causing electricity to flow through his body. He dropped the twitching student to the floor then placed the tip of his blade against Kamina's throat.
Do you want to win? Came a disembodied voice. Kamina weakly looked around but could see no speaker. Do you want the power to save the world?
"Yes." croaked Kamina weakly. The world around him became duller. A cloaked figure appeared behind Khorne and stepped through him. Without a perceivable change, Kamina's surroundings became the great outdoors. It looked to him like the battlefield on Earth where he had died. The ground was littered with gunmen parts, a graveyard of destroyed mecha.
"Where the hell am I?" asked Kamina. He suddenly realised that he could move again, his wounds only a background sensation. Everyone had disappeared except for him and the cloaked man.
The man wore a tattered red cape much like Kamina's but this was larger and was wrapped around the man's body, leaving only his head visible. His dark blue hair was longer than Kamina's and looked somehow familiar to the teen. His head was bowed, covering his face.
"This is your soulscape, or inner world." replied the man in a deep, powerful voice.
"And who are you?"
The man looked up. "N-no. It cant be!" stammered Kamina. The man's face was hardened like chiselled stone and his eyes shone with a fiery soul. He spread his arms, opening up the cape to reveal that he had no shirt. His body was coated in swirling blue tattoos and several rings adorned each of his fingers.
"D-dad!"
The man smiled. "No, Kamina. I am not your father. I am a physical embodiment of your soul. Your father was the only man you ever respected and so you based your life around his memory. It only makes sense that your soul would emulate him too. Everything that makes you who you are is shown upon me."
He held up his right hand to back up his last statement. Rather than flesh, the limb was metal and looked remarkably similar to Gurren's arm.
A light bulb clicked on inside Kamina's head. "Wait, I remember Nohime talking about this. You're my zanpakuto!"
"Correct."
"What were you saying, about the power to save the world?"
"Fate demands that you get stronger. If not then you will die here. You are not yet ready for my power but I am willing to loan you my services to end this fight. We will speak again when the time comes for you to use me properly. Do you accept the power?"
"Who the hell do you think I am.! I'll beat this bastard and then you just wait. I'll be knocking on your door so that I can prove that I am ready for your power, one way or another." vaunted Kamina.
"I will be waiting." The man assured as he and the world around him began to fade away.
Kamina found himself back on the floor with the blade against his throat. New energy flooded into him. He laughed aloud. "Lets make them grit their teeth, Gurren!"
There was a eye searing light and a wave of raw power that knocked Khorne staggering back. Flames erupted from the spot where Kamina had been as though there was a volcano.
The light show died down and Kamina was stood with his head and shoulders slumped. Slowly he straitened himself up and held out his sword before him. Only, it wasn't a sword anymore but a giant pair of black sunglasses. The edges looked razor sharp and its four points each looked able of skewering any unwary foes. Somehow the sharp edge wasn't cutting into Kamina's own hand where he held it.
"You ready to kick it up a notch?" beamed Kamina like a shark at a goldfish.
"Impossible! Your power can't jump up that much. You just don't have the power required for a shikai." blustered Khorne.
"Whoops. My bad. Oh well, time to end this, eh?"
Kamina dashed a struck out. Khorne blocked but the electric current couldn't pass through the shades like it had done with the metal sword. They exchanged a series of blows and due to the strange shape of the sunglasses they were hard to defend against.
Khorne leapt back panting and Kamina let him move a few feet away.
"I've been dying to try this again. It wont be the same without Simon but lets see what I can do. Finishing move!" he roared as he threw the shades. They split into two mid flight and struck Khorn's arms and legs, pinning him in place. Miniature shades formed across his right hand across each of his knuckles and grew in size until each was as large as his orange shades. "GIGA!" Flames shimmered across their surface as Kamina began to run forward. "SHADE!" He sped closer and readied some energy into his hand for one hell of an explosion. "BREAK!"
His fist slammed into Khorne's gut like a sledgehammer. The shades stabbed through his flesh, burning the meat within. As the punch reached its zenith an explosion erupted around the hand, smashing up the man's body and sending it cart wheeling into the far wall. He hit it with such force that rocks tumbled out of place, smashing to the ground.
At almost the exact same moment, Kenpi finally got the opening he had needed and finished off the other leader with a single swift strike. At seeing their commanders defeated, the bandits began to panic and run. They were quickly finished off.
The second that the last enemy had been knocked out, Kamina's shikai reverted back to its sealed state despite how hard he had tried to keep it active.
"We all nearly died then." scolded Clara. "Easy fight my ass."
"Hey, we won, don't complain." chided Kamina. "Look at it this way. Its gonna be one hell of a report with some sweet rewards at the end."
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AN/ How are you all. Hope this chapter meets your approval, over a thousand words more than any other chapter in this story so far. Things are starting to move forward now so get prepared for the main story arc.
On a side note, this story will be on hiatus for a short while since I need to finish something important by the end of may so I am focusing all of my attention on that. I will 100% be coming back to this story and this is only going to be until this other thing is finished. My guess is between two to six weeks. Hope you don't mind the wait too much.
Any comments or suggestions then please review or PM me as I will get back to anyone who has anything to ask within a day so feel free to contact me.
Until I return, enjoy yourselves
-FWF