Chapter 6

The mighty Gurren Lagann, a mecha with limitless potential, was being piloted by a man of strong fighting spirit, the indomitable Lieutenant Scourge. He had been in wars against the Anti-Spirals ever since he was in the Neo Neptune army. The planet was named differently back then, but the Kepler 616 galaxy star system didn't find the need to name this black planet anything other than death incarnate. They called it such because this is where the people of Kepler 616 would go to die. Back when the Anti-Spirals had their iron fist over the universe, Neo Neptune was a military installation. They would stage their Spiral warriors to battle the Anti-Spirals here at the forefront. The foreboding dark skies would reflect the demeanor of the people of Kepler 616. Nobody was a hero in this star system, there were only martyrs.

Lieutenant Scourge was one such potential martyr. Exhibiting a high capacity for Spiral energy as a young child, he caught the eye of a young colonel who wished to provide a major dent in the Anti-Spiral operation. They never did go all the way however, a hero from the planet of Earth risked it all against the Anti-Spirals in a high stakes game which humanity had won. After the war, Kepler 616 lost all their military luster. The king who ruled this star system fell into complacency and comfort, focusing instead on appeasing the Earth heroes instead of taking care of his own people. Both Scourge and his superiors concluded only one thing, it was all the humans' fault.

That is why Scourge created the Anti-Human Revolution. That is why he has been spreading propaganda to Kepler 616 and other star systems of the human selfishness, deceit, and vices. Finally, this is why he planned such an elaborate plot to pilot Gurren Lagann. He knew what the giant mecha represented: a symbol of hope, a symbol of peace, a symbol of humanity. He wanted to corrupt and pervert that symbol, turning it into a force of disgust and oppression. Even though he is on the verge to succeeding, at this moment, he is being thoroughly embarrassed.

"YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU CAUGHT ONE OF MY LEGS I'LL LOSE TO YOU!?" Scourge yelled at a smirking Coco, "I still have this other le-" At that very moment, Gurren Lagann's other leg caved into another pre-drilled hole that Coco had prepared before his entrance. Scourge got visibly red and upset. "Oh I forgot to mention," Coco teased, "Apparently the owners of this building decided to leave some concrete mix outside of the compound. I helped myself to a couple of packs." Coco rubbed his nose, thinking himself clever, "I also hope you don't mind me using your water?" he addressed Gimmy on the floor, "Concrete doesn't just settle itself you know."

Scourge was beet red at this point and ready to explode at a moment's notice. Unbeknownst to Coco, this was the source of Scourge's fighting spirit, anger drove the man who was once a hero-martyr to his people to a point of extreme rage. "I CAN STILL KILL YOU!" The arms of Gurren Lagann were free to move around, even though the big mecha was buried from the pelvic area down, the arms were still Spiral death machines that could and would cause everlasting body damage if Coco were caught in a single strike.

It was quite a sight to behold with Coco against the gigantic mech, and by against it, we meant he ran away. With the legendary robot ensnared in cement, at least 20 feet deep, the robot really didn't have any room to run after the young driller. Instead, he shot as many drills as he could generate from his hands. Gimmy had earlier dodged this onslaught acrobatically before faltering at the last second. Gimmy was older by quite a couple of years, but he still had his gymnastics down. While he did lose the spring in his step to do anything spectacular, he was very serviceable as a normal man dodging various attacks from the universe's most powerful robot. In contrast, Coco was clumsy, comically clumsy. When he dodged, he would tuck all his body parts in as close to him as possible, shaking after every successful dodge. It literally looked like an arachnophobe shaking off spiders when they've been on their body. But as much as people would make fun of Coco for exhibiting such cowardice in the heat of battle, he was doing a particularly admirable job avoiding every single hit.

"HOLD STILL YOU MAGGOT!" Scourge gritted his teeth as his Spiral gauge inside of Gurren's dashboard steadily rose. This extra strength giving Scourge the needed energy to crack the cement which locked in his right leg. "I will crush you!" Scourge's legs were now both free as he completely broke out of his stone prison. Anne, Gimmy, and Coco were alarmed that the pissed off Lieutenant was free once again. Coco ran for his life some more as Gurren Lagann unloaded bursts of drills towards his general direction. "Keep running," Anne cheered on. "Forget about us, save yourself!" Gimmy told him. "WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO!?" Coco replied back. Both Anne and Gimmy looked at each other in complete embarrassment. "This kid he's…" "...pathetic." Anne finished off Gimmy's sentence.

Coco kept running, but Gurren Lagann finally was catching up, the stride of a 50 foot tall robot could not be beaten after all. Coco desperately tried to reach the door which seemed so far away, "Must...reach...door...and I'm home...free," he huffed as he told himself. Gimmy looked as Coco kept running, his cape picking up wind as he ran. "He ought to do something about that cape," he mentioned. Suddenly, Gurren Lagann clutched the cape, which nearly became a noose for Coco's neck. Gimmy jinxed it obviously. "I knew that cape would be the death of him," Anne rebuked. She was bored out of her mind being buried in debris she couldn't shake off, but she grew concerned over their only savior being caught.

Coco was now hanging by his neck as Scourge controlled Gurren Lagann's arm to pick him up like a rat by the tail. Coco struggled as he gasped for air from the suffocating tightness of the knot he made in his cape. "About to die? It's okay let me help you." Scourge threw Coco right above Gurren Lagann's head and forced both of Gurren Lagann's hands to do a nice solid overhead clap. Anne and Gimmy stared in horror, as the force Gurren Lagann looked like it would have splatted Coco into a thin red paste. But whether it be luck this time or Scourge's compassion, or his pride, or his general playfulness, the clap didn't kill him. The clap nearly broke every bone in his body. Coco lay face up, looking at Gurren Lagann's face with his lifeless eyes, he lay in the palm of Gurren Lagann, ready to accept his fate.

"You foolish human," Scourge taunted, "Did you really think you could defeat me? A spiral warrior akin to that digger of Earth?

Maybe even better?" Scourge continued to ramble. "Let me tell you something boy, I detested you the minute you reared your head into that warehouse. You remind me of all the self-centered, overfident, insignificant humans, always thinking that your race is such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Always suppressing those species who are not you. Did anybody ever tell you that the universe would be better without all of you?"

Scourge knew it was over, Coco lay defeated in Gurren Lagann's hand, all Coco could do was listen and watch. "First, I'm going to kill you in the most fitting way possible. And then, while you lay on my drill arm, I'll show you the hope of humanity you so depend on: that Chief right there, I'll shoot one drill right between his eyes." Scourge then pointed to Anne, "That girl, well, let's just say before she dies, I'll drill her in some other areas, before making sure that one drill makes it so far up in her body that it will come out of her mouth." Scourge was sick, he was truly a disgusting individual. As Anne gritted her teeth at the thought of being a plaything after death, Gimmy winced in pain as he felt the worst about to happen. "No," Gimmy thought to himself, "I can't let anyone get hurt. Not now. Not ever."

Scourge served up Coco, throwing him straight up in the air. As Coco looked at the ceiling, he began to think about everything Scourge said. "Are humans really that worthless? Do we make other spiral beings more miserable?"

Then Coco remembered.

It wasn't very long ago, maybe a couple of years back. Coco was scrounging for the last of the scraps he could find at a local food stand vendor. "What do you think you're doing kid?" A hairy lion-man hybrid spoke to him. "You dirty human," he said, "Pick your scraps from elsewhere." The lion frightened the young Coco, but there was someone who frightened the lion-man much more. "Hey Harry!" a domineering gigantic oaf of a man came over to the lion-man. The lion-man cowered in fear as the man approached his fruit stand. "You're late on your rent of this space, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"No please," the lion-man pleaded, he bared his teeth in a large smile, but the landlord took it the wrong way. "Want to bite me Harry?" Harry shook his head frantically, "No sir...I…" The landlord held his large baton over his head, ready to bash the lion-man over his head. Coco, still little and petite, walked in front of the lion-man, surely the landlord wouldn't hurt a small boy. "Stop it," Coco was missing his two front teeth, when he said 's' words, he would whistle. The landlord laughed at the young boy in incredulity. "Oh come on," he pushed Coco out of the way, tossing him to the floor to eat dirt, "What can you do kid? Is this Beastman your daddy? Perhaps I should teach you a lesson after I'm done with him." The landlord rose his baton, ready again to cave the lion Beastman's face in.

"That's quite enough," a man in a cloak stopped him, "He may be a Beastman, but you're the one acting like an animal." The man in the cloak stood tall and proud, he covered his face, but the landlord knew who he was. "Hey stranger," he said with a tone of caution in his voice, "A-a-a-are you already done with the tunnel?" The landlord stuttered, just what was he so afraid of from this cloaked man? Was it respect? Was it fear? "I came up," the cloaked man began a sentence as he reached for an apple-peach from the Beastman's fruit stand, "Because I needed a snack. Wouldn't want you to harm the fruit vendor who gives me a snack everyday at this time." The landlord lowered his baton, "I see," he said, "hurry up and drill the tunnels. I want you out of our town by tonight." The cloaked man took a bite of his apple-peach, "That's no problem." And the landlord walked away.

When the landlord went into his nearby house, the cloaked man went back to the lion-man's fruit stand. "Here you are," the man dropped 3 coins on the man's fruit stand counter. The lion-man, ever so grateful shook his hands and head, "No, it's quite alright." The man in the brown cloak watched the lion-man intently, staring into his soul. The lion-man knew what to do. He picked up two fresh apple-peaches and 2 of the 3 coins. He walked over to a muddied Coco and helped him up. "You didn't have to help me," he dusted the dirt off of Coco's shirt, "I sometimes forget that not all humans are like him. I'm sorry." He apologized and offered the two apple-peaches with 2 coins. "This should take care of you for a couple days, don't scrounge anymore okay, rotten fruit is bad for a kid like you." Coco rubbed his nose and thanked the stand owner. The lion-man looked one last time at the stranger, "Stranger, thanks for reminding me, fear and hate aren't ever the answer to fight against those kinds of people." The strange cloaked man nodded silently. "Don't spread the hate," he solemnly said.

Coco shot open his eyes. He was well aware of his situation as he was faced the ceiling. He was steadily elevating into the air, Gurren Lagann's arm pointed up and as soon as Coco would lose altitude, he would be impaled on the drill which would now act as his pike. "KID!" Gimmy shouted out, "TAKE THISSSSS!" Gimmy had set it up perfectly - he took off his core drill key off his neck, he told Anne to load it into the barrel of Lady Luck, Anne cocked back the bolt of her rifle. Now it was time for Coco to execute the perfect timing, assuming he was awake and aware what was going to happen. Anne fired.

Coco heard the gunshot, he tucked in his chin, seeing past his feet. He saw a shiny object coming right at him quickly, his instincts kicked in. It was hard for him to maneuver in the air, but this time, he had to try, he had to absolutely live. He was going to show the world, he was going to show his enemy, and he was going to prove to himself, that no matter how everyone treats him, however the bad guys would bully those they deem inferior.

"DON'T SPREAD THE HATE!" he screamed out.

Coco used the momentum from a forward roll in the air to flip upside down. The core drill key brushed his left cheek and whooshed by him, but he outreached his left hand and perfectly caught the string of the core drill necklace. Perfectly executed.

He now saw one of his potential fates, the drill of Gurren Lagann inching closer to his face. "I'LL SHOW YOU!" he yelled at Scourge, unleashing his revved up drill from his right arm. He pointed it down, his angle and acceleration as he fell was what he wanted. "If hate is the reason for all this madness, then I'll teach you, I'll teach everyone, to not spread it. You'll learn just as I have, that people, not just humans are capable of so much more than this!" At last, the arm drill of Coco and the powerful drill of Gurren Lagann met point to point. Gurren Lagann's drill was easily about to overpower the smaller drill mounted on Coco's arm, but the point wasn't to beat him in a test of strength.

Coco knew his way around a drill, he knew the feeling of the direction of the spin and he knew the momentum he came in at certain angles. He was uneducated in the science, but he was a master in the practicality. All he needed was that spin, that momentum, and he used it to redirect the force of his path in the air. Gurren Lagann's drill was more powerful, it turned him and with this force, Coco used the orbital momentum to shoot himself off the centrifugal pull of the drill and into the direction of Lagann, the smaller Gunman which would be the head, mounted on top of Gurren to form Gurren Lagann. The membrane of the Lagann cockpit opened up, welcoming a familiar key to enter back into it. Coco readied his impact. He landed perfectly into Lagann's cockpit seat. The roof closing on him finally. Coco instinctively knew what to do, he inserted the key into the Spiral gauge. "Lagann…"

"SPIN ON!"

A huge flash of blue, red, and purple lights shot out from all directions of the robot. Scourge was blinded by this lightshow. He could see everything from the window of Gurren. "What the hell is this!?" Scourge then noticed the large drill in his roof of Gurren about to detach. "No!" he screamed out, "You're not taking this away from me. I'm so close." Scourge forced Gurren's arms to clamp down Lagann from escaping, the energy in the warrior of the Kepler system kicking his Spiral power into overdrive. Above in Lagann, Coco felt the shockwave of the arms clamping down, forcing him to stay attached to Gurren. "You can hang on as long as you want," Coco yelled, "But you'll never stop me from reaching the stars." Coco clamped on tightly to the handles of Lagann, squeezing as the spiral gauge spewed out colors of the rainbow. "The lights in the sky are stars," he echoed the saying he heard long ago, "I'll fly together with Gurren Lagann to see them, and that means you won't be piloting this ever again!"

Scourge clutched onto the controls of Gurren, but it was no use, the lights from the spiral energy emanating from Coco sparked the main control systems of Gurren, Scourge let go, his hands falling wayside as the gigantic drill hole above him opened up. Lagann quickly produced feet and Coco was now in full control of Lagann. "My first order of business," Coco went gunman face to gunman face with Gurren, "I need to get you out of there!" Lagann's arms were powerful, they clutched onto the upper and lower jaw of Gurren's face. Coco grunted fiercely as he generated his strength into the arms of Lagann. Lagann had now become an extension of the young upstart, whatever Spiral energy was generating from the drill thief, was now pouring out of every crevice of Lagann.

Through sheer willpower, the face of Gurren finally opened up, a shocked Scourge shot his eyes wide open as he stared face to face with Lagann. He felt a sharp tug as Lagann's arm grabbed his lapel, "GET OUT!" Coco said as he yanked Scourge out of the cockpit and threw him in the opposite direction. He rolled, he bounced, but most importantly, he was out of Gurren. Scourge took a couple of scrapes as he skid along the concrete floor of the storehouse. Now Coco wanted him all to himself, he figured he should do the most humane thing at this moment. No longer was he going to be a coward and run away, he was going to face his problems head on. The membrane of Lagann opened up, a green light emanating from the cockpit, Scourge slowly picked himself up as he saw Coco, one leg hunched over on the dashboard of Lagann and staring right in the eyes, warrior to warrior.

"HIS EYES!" Scourge alarmingly noticed, "The sign of the spiral!" Coco's eyes had given off a strong spiral within his irises, and Scourge wasn't the only one who noticed. "The spiral…" Anne marveled. Reza was finally coming to, he was hunched over as he noticed Coco, "Well this is a surprise…" Both Anne and Gimmy looked briefly at Reza, thanking whatever forces in the universe that he was still okay enough to still be making jokes. Gimmy turned his attention back to Coco, "Just who the hell is this kid?"

"Let's finish this!" A sharp determination from Coco readied his drill arm, he began to rush towards Scourge. The green haired army man was finally standing tall, he had one surprise up his sleeve. The mark of a Spiral warrior was the ability to generate any solid matter from the Spiral energy around him. As such, Scourge conjured up the only thing he knew to combat this brash punk who was about to meet him head on, a drill. Coco was not afraid, Scourge was bigger, he may have been stronger, but he wasn't going to lose today. They met head on, two drills colliding with each other at the tip. Scourge stood valiantly in the face of the sparks flying from the two pieces of metal grinding against each other. But Coco was inexperienced, he couldn't control the energy imbued into him in this desperate moment of survival, he buckled his left knee slightly. "Well," Scourge taunted, "Looks like you don't know how to use the Spiral." Scourge continued to pour his own spiral energy into his drill arm and imposed his strength to buckle Coco's knees further. The young boy would seemingly be beaten at this test of strength.

"I guess this is where you say something dumb?" Scourge egged him on, "Are you going to say something like 'your drill will pierce the heavens?'" Coco smirked, "No, that's not what my drill is for." Scourge raised an eyebrow in confusion. Just what was so funny? "My drill doesn't need to pierce the heavens, someone already did that." Coco found second wind, his cape flapping in all sorts of directions as the spiral energy pulsed out in one big wave out of his body. He straightened out his knees, fighting back the more experienced Spiral warrior with the power of his own drill arm. "My drill's purpose is to restart this cycle, to transition the forgotten memories of the old and give birth to them anew," with a discernible confidence in his voice, he echoed the final purpose of his drill, "I'm going to start this shit again. My drill's purpose is to provide a 2nd spin!" Scourge's drill cracked as Coco's revved up faster, "...and don't you ever forget that."

An explosion.

That's what happened as Coco's own power proved too strong for the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant was thrown back from Coco, but that wasn't the only surprise, the energy emanating from Scourge's arm took manifestation. A light appeared briefly but then instantaneously turned into no light at all.

A Spiral nemesis black hole was born. Its' first target, the conjured Spiral drill of Scourge. Scourge screamed as it ripped the drill forcefully off his forearm instantly, his arm was next. The pain was excruciating. Coco held on to the enemy's free hand. "I'll save you…" he valiantly said, "Just hang on." Scourge chuckled at the irony, he wanted to kill this boy, and now he was getting saved by him. This wasn't worth the embarrassment. Scourge laughed. The rest of the black hole tearing various holes in his body. "Just you wait," he muttered, "The Colonel will come for you." As the final pieces of the Lieutenant disappeared into the ether, his voice reverberated throughout the room, "The Order will come for you." And with one final cackle, Scourge was gone. The 3 members of Gurren Lagann Agency and the one thief looked at the space where Scourge once was. Blankly staring as they tried to understand the gravity of what just happened. Coco fell on his butt in exhaustion, he didn't want his enemy to die, he simply wanted to defeat him. Why did he feel so empty? Was everything worth it all? "Don't feel sorry," Gimmy told him as he noticed his sadness, "The man chose the warriors' way, even though you feel at fault. Always remember that you did what had to be done." Coco looked at Gimmy and his team, he was expressionless.

Noda and Sylveria met back up with the team back at the burning remains of HQ. The fire department had alas put out the fire to the entire building and the remaining embers flickered. It left ground zero with a beautiful blackish orange glow. Noda was speaking to the local police away from the building, while Sylveria adjusted the towels draped over Anne's shoulders. Anne and Reza were sitting in the back of the ambulance, trying to get warm after being examined for their injuries, it was a rather cold night. Reza let his legs dangle over the rear bumper of the ambulance, "We sure got a big break today," Reza mentioned to his cohorts. Anne took a sip of her warm drink, hugging the warm mug in her two hands delicately. "Yeah," Anne said with a sigh, "Took down the leader of the AHR and the leader of the Diamond Gang." Gimmy walked over his three subordinates, "Don't forget," he interrupted, "We also have to be thankful that we're all safe." The team nodded in unison. "That's right."

Noda walked over to his team after talking to the officer, "You all look like you've seen better days," he sarcastically said, "Chief, I spoke to the officer and they mentioned the Inspector will be put in intensive care tonight to make sure she's back up and running in no time." Gimmy was relieved, he wanted to thank the person who had saved Darry, he nearly lost her and there's no way he could repay anyone for the life he saved. Suddenly, something caught the team's eye: Coco was handcuffed, a local police member was pushing him towards the direction of his gun squad car.

"So you know why we're arresting you kid?" Coco sulked as he recited what the officers originally booked him for, and then some: "Thieving diamonds, colluding with the enemy, obstruction of justice, breaking and entering-" "Wait a second...breaking and entering?" the cop asked. "Yeah," Coco looked at the burning remains of HQ with pride, "Someone almost lost their life here tonight. I got her out just in time. I'll admit to that all day." Coco smiled. "I wonder if she's safe and sound somewhere," he thought.

"Wait!" Gimmy heard enough, "Officer, I need to ask the prisoner a question." Gimmy stared intently at the piercing gaze of Coco, "Were you really the one who came here tonight?" Coco smiled and nodded in affirmation, "Yep, and I'm glad I did. That girl with the pink hair, the building nearly went down on her if I didn't get here in time." Gimmy gasped, "He saved Darry?" Gimmy simply couldn't believe it, the person he had to thank, was the person who potentially started the whole mess with the Anti-Human Revolution to begin with. Was this his way to atone? Gimmy sternly mentioned one phrase to the officer, "Release him." The officer gawked at Gimmy with a look of confusion. Gimmy's own team looked at Gimmy the same way. "He's one of us officer, release him now." The officer obliged. The team looked on in confusion some more, but they knew not to question their Chief's executive decision because there was always a reason.

Coco's cuffs were removed, the officer put them back on his holster and he bid farewell, leaving the team and Coco to have a conversation. "You're a big flake," Gimmy insulted, "You're awkward when you fight. You're awkward when you run away. You ramble when you have nothing to say. You're a crook. You broke the law by escaping my team." Coco was puzzled. Just what was the point of this conversation? "But even so, you saved my team today," Gimmy's serious tone lightened up, his team couldn't help but crack a smile as well, "You showed guts. You showed determination. You even said a cool catchphrase." Coco rubbed his nose, his ego inflating on each praise mark he received.

"But you're raw," Coco's ego was shot back down to earth, "Maybe you want to tryout for our team to not be as awkward as you are?" Coco was absolutely flabbergasted, this team, whoever they were, had Gurren Lagann in their store house. Whoever they were, he concluded, they were a big deal. They were definitely tied into some branch of the Earth government, high above the ranks so that not only would all his petty crimes be pardoned, but he would finally be able to move on from the thief life into one among the stars. Gimmy looked for affirmation, he turned to Noda - thumbs up. He turned to Reza - thumbs up. He turned to Sylveria - thumbs up. When he turned to Anne, she had her arms crossed in indifference, "Well don't ask me," she apathetically said.

Coco extended his hand to Gimmy, "I'm Copernicus," he introduced, "My friends call me Coco." Gimmy took Coco's hand and shook it, "Gimmy Adai." Coco smiled as he shook his hand intently. Ready for his new future, Coco just had one more question, "Just who are you guys?" The team gathered around, regrouping next to Gimmy to meet their new protege. "Us?" Gimmy pointed at his team. "Don't worry about that for now, all you need to know is…"

"We're just a bunch of nobodies."