TTGL: So this is the Heavens.

Chapter 11. They want a war, we'll give them a war!

The rain pored down around them. The base and mountains were cleared of bandits without a doubt yet no one cheered or celebrated. Two students had been killed by a caged hollow and the news that the Seireitei may have been invaded seriously dampened the group's spirit.

"Who is this Aizen guy anyway?" grimaced Kamina. A medical student walked along side him to heal his wounds as they walked. Kenpi and Myu lay on stretchers near the back of the group along with another seven injured students. "Everyone seems terrified of him."

"Aizen was once a shinigami captain, my predecessor for Squad 5 in fact. He became a traitor, or more likely was never loyal to begin with. He somehow took control of the Hollows and waged a war on the Soul Society. We all fought him but he was easily the strongest shinigami. Eventually though we managed to imprison him and he was sentenced to 20,000 years in our most secure prison. If he has escaped then we have a big problem on our hands." answered Ichigo.

The group walked in near silence. When they were in the forest of tall trees that surrounded the Rukongai, Ichigo halted the column.

"Wait here. If the reports are true then we can't just go marching blindly into an unknown situation." he announce. A second later he flash-stepped away.

"You don't think that all this is true do you? It can't really happen?" asked Myu when Kamina moved over to the quickly assembled hospital area.

"Who knows. All I know is that if it is, then we move on, kick some ass and win our enemies like we've always done. Believe in yourselves and we cant lose."

At that moment Ichigo appeared again, his face grim.

"Its gone. All of it. The Seireitei, Rokongai, everything. Just dust and rubble." the captain stated, his voice carefully neutral. "There is no sign of hostiles. From this point on we're on search and rescue duty."

Emerging from the tree lines they were greeted by the sight of total desolation. The once sprawling city of the Rukongai was none existent, reduced to a field of eddying dust. The huge white walled stone buildings of the Seireitei were shattered and littered the ground like a stone beach. Nothing moved.

The students under Ichigo's guidance spread out and searched through rubble but it yielded no results. There were no bodies, no unbroken item, nothing that suggested that the area had once been the capital of the Soul Society. An hour passed without any success and the groups spirits fell with every passing second. In an instant though, everything changed.

"You won't find anything." stated a smooth voice. Every head swivelled around to see a lone man dressed in scraps of ragged black. His hair was brown and his eyes had a piercing look as though they could see into the very soul of all that he looked upon.

"Aizen!" roared Ichigo. Kamina noticed that he was loosing his calm. "How did you get out!"

"Kurosaki, I see you have moved up in the world since the last time we met." commented Aizen casually.

"Answer me damn it!"

"If you must know, I was freed. Now I can fulfil my original goal of eliminating the Spirit King. The shinigami have been dealt with so now this time nothing can stop me."

Ichigo's robes and sword changed into their bankai state without a word. "Don't underestimate me!" He charged and swung at Aizen with enough force to destroy a mountain but Aizen blocked it with his own sword that materialised out from nowhere.

"I am still immortal, or have you forgotten this?" jeered Aizen. His eyes trailed past Ichigo to look coldly upon the students.

"We'll see about that!" Ichigo said before jumping back. An enormouse wave of spiritual pressure rippled out from him on levels that Kamina couldn't even comprehend. His skin turned white and the bone mask formed again over his face. This time though it had two large, blade like horns jutting out from its forehead. His ginger hair grew rapidly until it streamed down his back.

Aizen also triggered his own release, huge wings formed from snakes ripped out from his back while his whole skin turned white, shedding the black strips that had remained of his clothes. His hands, feet and face all turned black and three holes appeared vertically along his chest.

The two clashed, the spiritual pressure alone of the two combined was enough to knock out a good portion of the students. It was unreal, the power being given off simply unimaginable. The very sky seemed to suffer under their attacks, shimmering rents in the air appearing where their blades passed.

Ichigo fired of a red stream of energy used by hollows called a cero from between his two horns. Aizen deflected it with his hand and the beam shot of into the ground creating a huge crater.

"I am glad to see that you have not been idle these past 18,000 years. You have perfect mastery of your inner hollow. Interesting." mussed Aizen. "It will not be enough to save you all though."

He clicked his fingers and a portal appeared before him. From it exited a pitch black monster with a white hollow mask. It was double the size of a normal hollow and gave off similar power levels as a menos grande but in a more combat efficient form. More like a scaled back vasto lord.

It pounced instantly. Claws and teeth ripping through the closest student. Rather than leaving a corpse though the body rapidly disintegrated and faded from the world.

"This is an Anti-Hollow, a gift from my new business partner. They are designed to eliminate souls altogether. Anyone killed by one of these will cease to exist and thus will be unable to continue the cycle and be reborn back onto Earth. If every soul is wiped out in such a way then all life on Earth will wither, die and be unable to produce new life. You should thank your Quincy friend as it is there weapons that inspired this creation." Aizen explained.

Another two students fell simultaneously as the beast struck again. It leapt for a fourth but Kamina barrelled into it from the side. It turned to face him and received a flaming sword to the face for its effort. It didn't die though, simply shrugging off the attack and the swiping at Kamina with a razor edged claw. The ex-pilot narrowly dodged.

Ichigo moved to help but was assaulted by Aizen again, preventing him from eliminating the powerful new breed of hollow.

"Damn! Let's make them grit their teeth, Gurren!" shouted Kamina. Nothing happened. He dodged another attack by a hairsbreadth. "Fine, be like that you damn sword. Who needs a talking sword when you have manly determination!"

He slid his orange tinted shades from his robes with his left hand while he attacked the beast with the sword in his right. The hollow attacked, knocking the sword away violently but leaving it open for a counter attack. With a swift lunge Kamina rammed the corner of his shades into the monster's throat.

The creature bellowed but more through rage than pain. A click from above diverted Kamina's attention for a moment. Aizen smiled down at him with the look that an executioner gives a condemned man. Four more portals opened up in the sky, an Anti-Hollow clawing its way out of each.

"Shit!" growled Kamina. "Everyone get your asses in gear. Kido quick!"

A volley of hastily cast kido sped into the air, all equally ineffective as they either missed completely or dissipated on contact. The hollows charged through the air at them.

"Zanpakuto at the ready! Give them hell!" ordered Kamina, his natural leadership becoming apparent once again.

The original hollow tackled him, knocking him to the floor. He was up again in an instant, just in time to block an attack that had the power to rip him in half. He risked a look around him and regretted it. The four newcomers were ripping through the lines of students with ease.

Up above, the battle between Ichigo and Aizen continued at a furious pace.

"I won't let you win Aizen. I am a protector and I wont allow you to hurt any more people."

"Big words considering you wards are dying below you at this very moment." mocked the ex-captain.

Ichigo grit his teeth. He held out his hand and a red beam shot from each of his fingers. They each hit a hollow, creating a link between all five hollows and himself. He dropped his sword and fired another five beams, this time all at Aizen. His horns began to glow purple. They tore through the air creating a black hole. With one last look down at the students he passed through the hole, pulling the hollows in with him. Aizen struggled for a moment against it before allowing himself to be pulled through. Then all was quiet and still.

"Oh crap. Oh crap. We're all doomed. We're gonna die." screamed one of the students frantically. "The Seireitei is gone, Aizen is free, those hollows are so powerful, there are no shinigami left and even Captain Kurosaki is now gone. Its only a matter of time until we're all dead."

Kamina punched him with such force that he collapsed sprawled out upon the rubble strewn ground.

"Listen up yer bozos!" Kamina shouted, addressing all of the remaining students. "Most of the shinigami were away on similar missions as ours. That means that most were not here when it was destroyed. All we have to do is find them all."

He paced the ruins for a few moments before bending down to pick something up. There was a flash of red then a second later Kamina's cape was back across his shoulders. It looked tattered and torn but if anything this only made it that much more epic.

"They want a war, we'll give them a war! This is my kind of conflict. From this point on you are all honorary members of Team Dai-Gurren, Liberators of both Heaven and Earth. You are all now part of a legacy that was built up by never losing a battle! We will keep moving forward, growing stronger and more determined with every step. But before we worry about that next step, first we set up camp and get some chow, you've earned it. Call it a celebration feast on your promotions. I recall being told that if we completed this mission then we became full fledged shinigami."

Kamina strolled away from where the others were now busily setting up tents amongst the debris. Kenpi limped beside him, his skin pale and sweaty and a huge bandage wrapped tightly around his chest.

"I have one question for you." he stated.

"What? 'How are we going to win?' 'Do you really think the other captains are fine?' How are you so awesome?'"

"No. how come the entire city was reduced to rubble the size of my fist yet your cape is the only thing still in one piece?"

"Good question. I can only guess at epicness."

"Huh?"

"My cape is infused with so much epic and badassness that it physically cannot be destroyed." Kamina explained like it was the logical and scientific obvious.

Kamina seated himself upon a rock and gazed absently at the sky. Kenpi was about to speak again when a drill suddenly burst through the rock right between Kamina's legs. Kamina didn't bat an eyelash at this like it was nothing new. A moment later a woman's head appeared followed closely by a slender body. Kenpi stared incredulously while Kamina just grinned.

"Hey, you're Ne…Nim, Ner… er, that clown's daughter!" shouted Kamina with triumph.

"Oh, it is you, Mr anomaly. We were trapped deep underground during the attack and have only just been able to reach the surface." said Nemu evenly. She looked around. "It appears that the city was destroyed." she stated emotionlessly.

She moved from between Kamina's legs and another six shinigami from Squad Twelve exited the hole.

"What happened to your bastard of a father?" asked Kamina.

"He went to fight against ex-captain Aizen. I was underground in our most secure experimental facility at the time but his spiritual pressure vanished soon after the battle started."

"Damn, I could have done with his scientific know how at the moment. I had a really epic plan as well. Now where am I supposed to find a master inventor?" Kamina muttered dejectedly.

Nemu leaned over him with no regard for personal space or any knowledge of what may be considered as awkward. "I am proficient at every known form of science and several unknown variants. My father designed me to be able to build a rocket from teaspoons and create anything he could possibly theorise including deep sea panda."

"O-kay. Well, that's certainly interesting. It still doesn't help with my plans though." commented Kamina, slightly missing the point. He removed some ragged paper from his pocket and examined it dreamily.

Kenpi snatched the paper from his hands and handed it to Nemu. The paper showed a crude drawing with a few sketchy measurements and annotations. "Seriously?" he commented. "You really think that that is even physically possible?"

"I know it is!" Kamina replied confidently.

"The design is possible." stated Nemu matter-of-factly. "Would you like me to invest my time in it's production?"

"Hell yes!"

In the days that passed, the little camp grew in size as the new shinigami set to work on preparing for the inevitable conflict in the near future. Lessons had been resumed, taught by the more knowledgeable among them, Kamina teaching combat to the others himself. Patrols and a system of guards was set up but no hostiles showed their faces, Kamina stating this to be as only an idiot would look for them in the site of their last massacre.

Kamina himself spent much of his time alone in the woods that surrounded the ruins. He knew that he was strong but he also realised that until he could control his zanpakuto then he was just another guy. The leader of Dai-Gurren's Heaven Division needed to be able to at least control his own weapon. He could now commune with it's spirit at will but the image of his father was a hard man to work with.

On the sixth day since the destruction of the Seireitei, Kamina finally managed Shikai without imminent death forcing his zanpakuto's hand. He was only able to hold it for ten seconds but that was enough to boost his determination to new heights.

Then, on the seventh day, Kamina's grand project was completed. Even he had expected it to take longer but Nemu worked like a devil and here team had barely slept all week. Kamina gathered all of the shinigami around for the grand unveiling. It had been built in the forest to avoid prying eyes and had been covered with a huge blanket of woven leaves.

Kamina stood upon a tall branch to address the crowd. "Hey, listen up and take note. Today is the day we embark on our manly destiny to pierce the heaven and into tomorrow. To help us with this quest, let me introduce you to our new base of operations!"

Nemu pulled off the cover with one tug despite its massive size. Beneath it was a giant construct of stone, wood and metal. It looked like a ship with arms and legs. A huge blade was positioned across its prow and an enormous face sat upon a tall, head like tower. It was painted head to foot in crimson, only three white claw mark designs across either side breaking the red monotony.

"I give you, the Nensho Seirei no Dai-Gurren! (Burning Spirit of the Great Crimson Lotus)." Kamina roared in his most inspirational voice. "It is made using the finest sekkiseki rock that the ruins of the Seireitei has to offer, rendering it highly resistant to all spirit based attacks. It can house two hundred people comfortably and up to three hundred at a loss of legs space. Several spirit cannons provide us with some heavy support while at a top speed of very fast, it'll get us wherever we want quicker than if we ran."

There was a murmur of impressed comments and gasps. From the edge of the crowed someone called out "Dibbs on shotgun." another voice from the other side countered with "You can have shotgun, dibbs on cannon!"

"Dude, you're crazy." muttered Kenpi in amazement.

"Why thank you." Kamina replied with a grin. He turned to face Kenpi, his face more serious. "We don't really need a ship, it'll just draw more attention to us. They needed a symbol of hope. Men are all fair and good but this is slightly more durable. I learned that the hard way back in life."

"You aren't planning on kicking the bucket already are you?"

"Hell no! I've only just gotten warmed up. I intend to be idolised as a symbol of resistance and masculinity for a bit yet. I never got the chance to really enjoy it back on earth." Kamina responded with a half smile, remembering his time spent with Yoko and the way the members of Dai-Gurren looked upon him as a hero.

"What is it like? Earth I mean." asked Kenpi. "I don't remember my past life, none of us do. I just want to try and imagine what kind of life I would have led."

"I wont lie. You probably lived and died in the same God forsaken hole without ever experiencing true life. A miserable existence lived in ignorance of the beauty and freedom just above your head. If you did make it to the surface then you were probably killed by a beastman. Earth is a tough place both above and below ground. You just wait until my bro is through with it though, then you'll see how Earth really should be."

Myu joined them. She was still in a worse condition than Kenpi due to her weaker body but she was slowly recovering all the same. Her white hair and sickly pale skin nearly merged into one blur.

"What's our first move then, General?"

Kamina smirked was feral. "We're gonna climb aboard that bigass battleship over there, stomp along the plains of the Soul Society crushing bad guys and unifying good guys as we go. What could fail?"

The shinigami were already boarding the NS no Dai-Gurren. Kamina watched with pride as a flag was hung and billowed in the wind. It depicted a flaming skull wearing pointed shades.

"Time to pick up where I left off." he mused.

00000000000000000000000000000

A/N: Hello again. First off, a thank you to all of my reviewers and general readers for sticking with this story, its much appreciated.

I hope this chapter met with your approval. I tried to measure out story and combat so that it wasn't lacking in either.

On a side note, any suggestions on pairings would be appreciated whether it by cannon characters, existing OCs or maybe even introducing a new OC to provide a better match. I don't want it to become a dominant part of the story but I feel that it might add more depth. Either way, its you guys' call.

Please review. Hope you all enjoyed.

-FWF