It was the afternoon sunset on the day after Mami's close call with the witch. She walked through the hospital hallways, looking at the staff workers run by. Sometimes they were pushing people on hospitable beds to various operating rooms. It made her physically sick seeing those hurt people go in there, for many times they would come out alive, but not always unscathed. She arrived at the room of Kamijou Kyosuke. She knew he had been in an accident, and she knew his legs would recover. But when she asked the doctors about his hands, it wasn't a positive response. She had hoped she would be able to cheer him up a bit.

She entered the room. Kyosuke was inside there, lying down on the hospital bed listening to music with a frown on his face. Not a good sign, she thought. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to his bed.

"Hey Kyosuke! What are you listening to?" She asked, trying to sound cheerful. His response was in the exact opposite tone. He told her what it was called as if he didn't care what it was called. Sayaka continued to try and sound cheerful towards him by stating that she knew who composed that piece and how people were surprised at her for knowing classics like those. She then told him that if it weren't for him she wouldn't have known about them.

"Sayaka…why are you torturing me like this?" He replied, his tone even more soft and dull than before. He took the headphones out of his ears. "You heard what the doctors said right? I'll never be able to move my fingers to perform ever again. So why are you still making me listen to music?"

"I-I I thought you loved musi-"

"Don't give me that!" He cried. He smashed his hand on the glass covering the spinning disk in the CD player. It cut his hand and blood flew all over the bed. Sayaka immediately grabbed his hand attempting to stop him. Seeing him do that made her completely lose her cheerful composure as she starting sobbing quietly on his bed. "I can't even feel the pain anymore. The doctors told me to give up all hope. There's no way my hands will ever work again."

"Don't listen to those people!" Sayaka cried back at him. "I've seen the impossible happen right before my own eyes! You can kick logic out and do the impossible! Don't believe in those doctors Kyosuke! Believe in me! Believe in the Sayaka that believes in you!" She stated with a smile, but with tears in her eyes.

"…What third rate anime did you pick that up from?" He replied, an angry tone adding to his sad one. "Here I am suffering and you have to go making promises you can't keep. It's over for me! Why can't you see that?" He turned away from her as he continued sobbing. "Just get out of here…"

Sayaka didn't know what to say. Here she was trying to cheer him up, but instead she ended up making him feel worse. She was opened her mouth to say something, when she noticed the silhouette of a certain small cat-like creature outside the window. The expression on her face changed from sad to determined, and she walked outside his room. She knew what she had to do.

"Thanks for the advice Kamina, but now I know what I really have to do now."

"Can you believe that we ended up fighting cannon fodder?" Kamina asked, very disappointed. "I thought that thing packed a bit of a punch, but noooooo. It was just another lousy familiar!" He grumbled as he and Mami were walking back towards her apartment from a labyrinth that was in a district in the city. Mami was piloting Lagann with Kamina inside with her, to try and get a better feel for the controls should she have to go in it again.

"It's a common problem magical girls face." Mami replied. "You might think you're fighting a witch, but it ends up being a familiar. To add insult to injury, that familiar was probably on the verge of becoming a witch." She looked around her as she saw some people giving them some questioning looks. "Kamina-san, is it really a good idea for me to be driving Lagann out here? Some people are staring…"

"Ah, don't sweat it! People shouldn't freak out too much so long as we keep the canopy open!" He replied with confidence in his voice. "Besides, there's not that many people out here! What problems could one little mecha being piloted by you cause for anybody?"

"I guess you do have a point there." Mami replied smiling. "I have to say that driving this machine isn't as hard as it seems. It's like I become one with it whenever I grab these two bars." She tightened her grip on the bars inside Lagann to further validate her point.

"That's the way you handle it! You just gotta put that fighting spirit into it and everything else becomes easy!" Kamina replied, pumping his fist in the air. "Now let's keep going a-" Kamina stopped to notice someone up ahead. "Hey, isn't that the black-haired girl from before?" He pointed out.

"That is Homura." Mami replied. They both watched her slowly walk towards a dark building to their right. As they saw her enter, they saw a bunch of other people walk towards them. Not one of them was looking up to see the small mecha Mami and Kamina were riding in. They all had their heads down and appeared to be in a daze. There was one striking thing about those people that caught Mami's attention however. "These people…they've been attacked by a witch! Homura's probably going in there to fight it."

"You're probably right. Let's follow her!" Kamina shouted. Mami however, disagreed.

"If there's a witch in there, then let her take it down. She arrived there first."

"I'm not talking about that! I've had this weird feeling in my gut ever since I first heard about her! She's definitely hiding something, and I want to know what it is!" Kamina shot back. "Let's hurry and go before she finishes whatever she has to do in there." Mami didn't really want to meddle with another magical girl's duty, but she felt that she at least owed Homura an apology of some sort for not heeding her warning about the witch from earlier.

"Fine then, but she gets the Grief Seed then if she defeats the witch in the labyrinth. All right?" Mami stated.

"Yeah whatever blondie! Just take us in there before it's too late!" Mami immediately pushed onwards and ran with Lagann as fast as she could towards the building. There was a big open spot which Kamina assumed was big enough for a gunman to fit inside, so he figured their best bet was to head there. He pointed it out as Mami steered themselves inside the dark building. When they got inside, they were shocked to say the least.

The people inside the building that were in a daze before were running towards a door in the building as if they were chasing someone. When they got a better look at who they were chasing, they wasted no time.

"Madoka!" Mami cried as she ran after the possessed mob of people as Madoka closed the door behind the mob. "No…there's a witch labyrinth here! Madoka will be…"

"If that's the case, then we don't have any time to waste now don't we?" Kamina retorted. He reached into his pocket and got out his Gurren. Kamina then threw Gurren into the air has the shiny green light shone from it as it grew bigger and bigger. Kamina saw his chance and he lept into his cockpit.

"Ready to do it blondie?" He asked with a massive grin on his face.

"Right! Let's go Kamina-san!" Mami cried out as Gurren picked up Lagann and threw it into the air. Mami closed the canopy and gripped the bars even tighter. A massive drill came out of Lagann's underside as it slammed into Gurren. A bright light shone from the two mecha. Gurren's arms and legs both enlarged. The patterns that were on Gurren's arms enlarged to create shields that attached to the mecha's shoulders. A red crested helmet enveloped Lagann's head.

"Man and Magical Girl combining! GURREN LAGANN!" They both cried out as the combination technique was completed.

"Gotta hand it to ya blondie! That wasn't so bad for your first time combining with Gurren Lagann!" Kamina complimented her from inside Gurren. Mami then took out her Soul Gem and opened the door to the labyrinth.

"We don't have time to waste! We have to find get inside and find Madoka!" Mami yelled back as they dived into the portal to the labyrinth. When they got inside, both of them were bewildered. For one thing, there was no floor, and Gurren Lagann floated in the air like gravity was a nonexistent concept. Mami recognized the patterns on the wall ten times more than Kamina did. There were distorted paintings of carousels with television sets on the horses on them. But that wasn't what Mami focused on. Mami was focusing on what was playing on the television sets. What she saw horrified her for, as she saw the scenes of Madoka comforting her before she went to fight the witch from yesterday and images of what could have been her final moments. The familiars in the labyrinth, which looked like grotesque children wooden dolls, also had television sets on them.

"Eat this cannon fodder!" Kamina shouted. He took grabbed the massive triangle glasses that were on Gurren's eyes and he threw them at the familiars. The triangle glasses spun around at an incredible speed from the strength of the throw. The familiars had no time to react as they were immediately sliced in half from the glasses, and like a boomerang, they came back as Kamina grabbed them and put them on Gurren's eyes. "Blondie! Don't let those things get to you! Remember, that was before we had Gurren Lagann!"

"R-Right Kamina-san!" Mami quickly replied, regaining her confidence. That was right. She wasn't fighting alone anymore. She remembered Kamina's words from his story as well. Gurren Lagann was a combining of courage that sets a man's soul on fire! She had a friend to save, and she wasn't going to stop at anything!

They both pushed their way throughout the labyrinth smashing through any familiars that came their way. But they couldn't deny they were having some sort of problem here. Madoka could be anywhere in this labyrinth along with the witch. Finding her was going to be easier said than done. At least that's what they thought before they heard a scream. Both Mami and Kamina knew who the voice belonged to as they pushed themselves upwards through the zero-gravity labyrinth towards where it came from. When they arrived there, they were horrified at the sight. A group of familiars had grabbed Madoka's limbs and were stretching them with all their might as a bigger television set watched. Kamina knew what that felt like, as Gurren Lagann itself was subjected to that torture once. They immediately prepared to counterattack, when something unexpected happened.

Bright blue lights struck the familiars, quickly taking them down one by one. Another blue light struck the television witch, and when they got a better look at where the light came from, both of them were shocked.

"No way! I don't believe it!" Kamina shouted.

"S-Sayaka-san?!" Mami cried as well.

Sayaka continued to slice through the familiars the witch threw at her with ease with a cutlass. She knocked the television witch upwards with it and she shot herself upwards above it.

"It's over for you! Take this!" She shouted. She put all her force into her attack and shot herself downwards, stabbing and defeating the witch as Kamina, Mami, and Madoka watched her in awe. The labyrinth around them disappeared as everyone found themselves outside the building. Gurren Lagann split itself apart as Kamina and Mami got out of it and shrunk the mecha down. Mami ran up to Madoka while Kamina ran up to Sayaka.

"Madoka, what happened?!" Mami demanded.

"H-Hitomi-chan was bitten by a witch, I wanted to call you but I just couldn't leave her alone to die!" Madoka cried.

"Well you're safe now." Mami replied. "Listen Madoka, don't worry about making the contract anymore. I won't have to fight by myself anymore now that I have Kamina-san to back me up with Gurren Lagann. Right Kamina-san?" Mami asked while smiling, but Kamina was already talking with Sayaka.

"Sayaka. Why did you make the contract?" He asked. This time there wasn't any emotion in his voice as he waited for an answer.

"Well, you know." She replied, embarrassingly ruffling the back of her head with her right hand. "You guys were so cool that I didn't want you guys fighting the witches alone out there! From here on out, I'm going to be a member of team Dai-Gurren!"

"You realize what that means for you right? Now you gotta spend the rest of your life fighting witches. You really think you're up to that? It sure as hell ain't an easy job!"

"Well…yeah! Of course!" She replied, Kamina noticing the tiny hesitation in her voice. "I want to keep Mitakihara city safe and sound along with you and Mami! I don't want any witch harming any more innocents! All three of us will fight for tomorrow!" Kamina took notice to the way her face looked. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something about that look she was giving him seemed a bit too determined. He was about to say something else, when he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. He turned to the left and remembered the reason why he and Mami came there in the first place.

"Oh there you are! Homura was your name right?" Kamina spoke up, remembering the reason why they came there in the first place. "If you came for the witch, you're a bit late kid, as we sure as hell didn't see you in the labyrinth!"

"Yeah! You hear that?" Sayaka added. "We were here first transfer student!"

"While I apologize for not trusting you before in the labyrinth yesterday, if you came here for the Grief Seed, I'm afraid you're too late." Mami sternly replied, wanting to avoid a fight.

"You…" Homura replied, her gaze fixed on Sayaka and Kamina.

Kamina stared right back at her. There she was again being all silent and mysterious again. He had enough of that. Tonight was the night he was finally going to get some answers!

"Hey Blondie!" He said, tossing her his Soul Drill and enlarging Lagann. "Take Madoka and Sayaka home. I'm gonna get some answers from her!"

"Kamina-san! I can't possibly leave you alone with her! She could hurt you!" Mami replied, worried.

"No worries! I got Gurren with me! Just who the hell do you think I am?" Kamina grinned. Mami looked at him for a moment before smiling and nodding. After everything that he did, Mami had absolutely no reason not to trust Kamina.

"All right Kamina-san. I'll be back." Mami said, putting the drill into Lagann and starting it up. "Get in you two." She motioned for them to get inside the mecha. Madoka and Sayaka both looked at it, and wondered how they would fit inside it. "It…might be a little bit cramped, but we should be home quickly." She closed the canopy on Lagann. "I'll be back to take us home soon Kamina-san!" She called out to him as she ran off in the tiny mecha. Kamina then smiled and turned around and stuck his face right in Homura's.

"All right. Now it's just you and me kid! Now you listen here! I've been suspicious about this whole magical girl business and that fuzzball and YOU ever since day one! Maybe this is just a hunch, but I have a feeling you know something we don't know! Now I want to get to the bottom of it! So what are you hiding?!"

Homura wasn't intimidated at all by Kamina's demands. Nonetheless, she was curious about him as well, and maybe she could get some answers out of him if she played her cards right. However, there was something she noticed that had happened a short while earlier.

"Your Soul Gem. Where is it?" Homura asked. Kamina looked confused for a moment before he brought back his usual bravado.

"That's Soul DRILL to you missy! If you really want to know, Mami and the others have it and she's using it to pilot Lagann at the moment. So what's it to yo-UGH!" Immediately after he said this, something happened. Kamina could not comprehend it as he suddenly has a very strong desire to sit down. He really didn't want to rest at a time like this, yet something was forcing him to! It was like a good amount of his energy was suddenly siphoned from him right then and there! "What…the…hell?" Kamina said weakly. He hadn't felt this much lack of energy since that time when he and Simon fought those combining posers with the sixteen-faced mecha! To his surprise, Homura had a slightly shocked look on her face as well.

"That…shouldn't be happening. You should be dead on the ground right now." She replied, her voice beginning to stutter.

"What the hell are you…talking about?" Kamina asked.

"When a magical girl's Soul Gem is taken one-hundred meters away from the body, their body cannot be controlled anymore." She found herself having to force her serious composure in an attempt to hide her shock. "Soul Gems house a magical girl's soul. Kyubey takes the souls from their bodies and turns it into those gemstones. Yet you are still able to move, but not as much. Who or what are you?"

"Heh…Just who the hell…do you think I am…" Kamina replied back, trying to stand up. "I…knew that…fuzzball…was up to no…GOOD!" He continued to struggle to stand up. "But a man's…soul…can't be taken that….easily!" He grabbed a nearby support pillar on the building. "This…is nothing…now tell me more about…that fuzzball!"

Homura looked at the grin that man kept on his face even as his body was trying to bring him to his knees. As much of a potential ally she thought he could be, he didn't look like the kind of man who could keep secrets. She was going to have to be careful in her explanation. She opened her mouth to start speaking, not noticing that a certain white rabbit and cat mixture was watching them as it lept off into the night. Through speed no human could find imaginable, he arrived at the top of a skyscraper over the city. Where another magical girl was there, eating a biscuit. Her hair was red and was in a long wide ponytail. She wore a green sweater, blue jean shorts and brown boots.

"I didn't expect you to come here, Kyoko." Kyubey spoke to her as she turned her head.

"The place I was at wasn't exactly producing a lot of witches." The redheaded magical girl replied. "So I came all the way here. But from what I heard, the story sure changed!"

"Sorry, but this city is still occupied by Mami. I also recently contracted with another magical girl, and the first magical boy." Kyubey replied.

"Seriously? You actually contracted with a guy?" Kyoko replied, somewhat stunned.

"Yes. The wish he made was…different from most of the wishes that girls ask me. He wished for a machine he called "Gurren Lagann", and he uses that for his main method of combat, rather than a magical form. He says that he doesn't need to use Grief Seeds that way.

"What kind of a pointless damn wish is that?" Kyoko asked as she swallowed her food. "You're basically saying he made a wish just so he could go and fight witches and nothing else?" She grinned. " Just when you think life can't get any weirder these days. Still though…I don't exactly like the idea of two new rookies take over such good territory!"

"What are you planning Kyoko?"

"Simple! I'll put those damn rookies out of commission! How hard could it be to take down a magical boy?" She finished the last of her biscuit, grinning.

"How interesting." Said the core of the Incubators. "This Spiral life-form as you Anti Spirals called him still has a part of his soul left when his Soul Gem was taken away more than a hundred meters."

"The soul of a Spiral life-form IS Spiral energy." The Anti-Spiral replied. "We had wanted for you to avoid this. You grant female humans the ability to use their own dormant Spiral power in their own way by taking all of it and converting it to a non-organic form based on what they wished for. However it would appear that when you tried to take the soul of a Spiral life-form with awakened Spiral energy, you couldn't process all of it. His Soul Gem does not possess any of your non-organic Spiral power and only possesses pure Spiral power, which is currently being exposed to your livestock!"

"That concern is merely trivial." The Incubators replied back. "It does not change his inevitable fate. You see Anti-Spiral, He the concern of the Incubators is the collection of energy that is not bound to the laws of thermodynamics. We harvest that energy through the hope and despair of magical girls as you know. That man has enough potential to grant us an enormous amount of energy should he give in to despair.

"And if he does not give in to despair? What will you do?" The Anti-Spirals' eyes became white lines as the collective unconscious of the other universe wondered what the Incubators were planning.

"If he does not, then he will simply die when Madoka solves the entropy problem for us when she makes a contract. She will become the greatest magical girl and then the greatest witch. Then the entropy shall no longer exist in our universe."

"Your kind certainly thinks ahead, a lot like us." The Anti-Spiral replied, impressed. The black and white life-form looked up. "We can sense that the Spirals in our universe are now preparing for another rebellion. We must now go. Expect to meet us again, Incubators." With that, the Anti-Spiral disappeared in another bright flash of light.

Got a nice longer chapter for you all today. Oh, and you thought the last few chapters were epic? Yeah those were nothing compared to what I have in mind for this fic.

Next Chapter: Screw Justice and think of Yourself!