There was once a boy who knew nothing but the world underground. He did nothing save dig and dig to support the only home he had ever known.

Then his brother brought him to the surface along with a fiery young woman with a gun. There they met many people and saw the monsters that threatened to destroy them. They fought many battles. More people followed their banner. They started to create an actual resistance against their foes. Everything was going fine. They were unstoppable.

Then his brother died.

Then he felt lost. He fought his enemies. Vented his rage out on them. But it never made him feel better. He blamed himself for his brother's death. For not being able to be like him.

Then he met a girl. That girl helped him realize the truth. His brother was dead, but his spirit lived on. Inside of him. That he shouldn't try to be his brother. He should be the man that his brother believed in; Himself.

He got back up. He kept fighting. Kept pushing himself forward. He kept on drilling. Even when the chips were down and he was near death, he kept on drilling.

And when he dug through, he won.

Not just against those who oppressed the surface.

But against those who had oppressed the universe. A race whose fear of evolution led to them locking away their own potential, and trying to enforce their views onto all living beings that wielded the Power Of The Spiral.

And when the battles were over, he turned away and left everything to the next generation.

Thus he sat in the desert, watching the sky as the humanity he fought to protect made it to the stars. He watched the lights in the glow as bright as the future he had secured. In his heart, he felt at peace.

The last thing he saw when he closed his eyes, was the night sky lit up by uncountable green stars.

...

...And when he next opened them, the first thing he saw was a dark blue ceiling with hints of purple in it.

Simon The Digger, the one who defeated the Anti-Spiral, the boy from the underground, and former leader of Team Dai-Gurren, blinked as he realized he was alive once again.

His mouth opened as he breathed in a lungful of the air of wherever he was. He quickly checked to see if his body was still in working condition. When he confirmed he could still feel his arms and legs, he used them to push himself into a sitting position. One hand reached up on instinct and he felt some of the building tension in his chest abate. He could still feel his sunglasses, securely sitting on his head. Looking to his right and holding his arm out, he could see that he still had the dark blue and red Team Dai-Gurren cape he wore when they went to fight the Anti-Spiral. And a glance at his legs showed that his blue pants held up by shining belts were still there as well. As he looked down, he saw that his Core Drill was gone. Which was expected. He had given it to Gimmy before he had left to wander the world. Entrusting the future to them. But though he didn't have it...

He placed his right hand on his chest and sighed as he began to focus. A short exertion of will was all it took to make a green light pulse beneath his fingers. He could still feel the unending well of Spiral Power that rested within him. The confirmation that he hadn't lost his connection to that seemingly endless source of power gave him some more peace of mind.

"So. I'm alive, somehow. I've still got Spiral Power. And my clothes," Simon said to himself. His voice echoed across the empty walls of...wherever he was. Frowning, he got to his feet, glad that he could move all of his limbs without issue. Though he did feel his backbones pop as he stood up straight. With a wince he stretched his arms out above his head, enjoying the feeling of his backbones popping and cracking back into place. He continued to do various stretching exercises while observing his environment. But the ease at which he was able to move his body gave him pause. He held his hands up to his face and the confirmation made him gasp.

He was young again.

Blinking, he let his arms fall back into place. He continued to do stretches while his eyes roamed the environment again.

He plainly wasn't on the surface, otherwise, he'd be able to see the sun. He hummed as he started doing a few squat thrusts to help get his blood flowing. He assumed he was underground then. It would explain the strange shape and color of the walls. And ceiling. And floor. Even the multitude of lights that hung from above. He had dug through enough underground tunnels to know that a plethora of things that could give off light even in the darkest of spaces below the surface.

Unfortunately, that went out the window when he squinted at the ceiling. And saw that the lights weren't coming from anything natural like moss. They were, literally, part of the ceiling and giving off light somehow.

Simon tilted his head as he stood up from his latches bout of stretches, "Huh. Is this place man-made? Doesn't look like it but..."

He placed a hand on his chin while his eyes roamed across everything in sight. The strangely smooth walls that didn't have a hint of damage on them, the various pillars and rocky formations some distance in front of him, and a few loops or slopes here and there. These things weren't always naturally formed underground...but they sometimes were. He couldn't tell whether or not there was anything deliberate in the construction of wherever he was. But there was one way to find out...

"Hey! Anybody out there!" he cupped his lips with his hands and started to shout. He waited for a few minutes. When no one answered, he called out again, "Yoko! Viral! Gimmy! Darry! Anyone?!"

There was no answer. Save for his own echoing voice.

Simon frowned, crossing his arms as he started to consider his current circumstances. So, he was probably somewhere underground. Wherever he was, no one, that he knew or didn't know, seemed to be nearby. And the place didn't look like anywhere he's been before. Not to mention that the last thing he remembered was dying of natural causes. Yet here he was, alive and well, and back in the prime of his life. He even still had his sunglasses form when he went to fight the Anti-Spiral. His frown grew deeper as question upon question piled higher and higher into his mind. Why was he here? Where was he? Why was he still alive?

He pondered these questions for a few moments, eyes closing as he considered them all.

Then he smiled, opened his eyes, and shrugged.

"No point in worrying over them. Not gonna learned anything just standing around," Simon said with hope in his voice. Then he placed his sunglasses onto his eyes, picked a direction, and prepared to head off.

"Urrrroooooarrrrrrr!"

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee?!"

That is until he heard a sound he didn't recognize and one he did. While he couldn't place what could've made the first cry, he knew exactly what the second cry was.

It was a cry for help.

"Hang on!" he shouted, running in the rough direction of the scream. Any other thoughts had been put to the back of his mind. He didn't know why he was here, he didn't know where he was, or how he was back in his prime. But none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that someone was in trouble.

And he needed to help them.

[hr/hr]

Bell Cranell scooted backward, trying to get as far away as possible from the towering minotaur. Unfortunately, his luck had just run out. His back hit a wall within the wide square room the monster had cornered him in. His blood ran cold as the bull-headed monster approached him. Every step it took shook the ground beneath it, its hooves crushing rocks and pebbles that got in its path.

Bell felt his body seize up as the monster got closer and closer. A part of him was screaming at him to do something. To stand up! To run! To get away before that thing killed him! But his body wouldn't listen. He couldn't do anything.

Another part kept asking why. Why had this happened? Why had a minotaur wandered onto the lower fifth floor? Why had it chosen today to come here? Why had he run into it?

All these questions and more swirled through his mind. But those paled in comparison to what got him here in the first place. The reason he dared to go to the lower fifth floor of the Dungeon.

To meet someone.

The girl of his dreams.

He had wanted to come here to find her. Have a fated meeting with her. Save her from a monster. Be a hero that others tell tales about.

Yet, those dreams hadn't gotten him anything.

Except this.

His back against a wall, about to have his head crushed by a minotaur's hoof.

He stared up into the face of his killer and-

"IIIINNNAAAAAZZZUUUUUMMMMAAAAA-"

Something made the minotaur pause.

It turned its head around as if it sensed danger. Bell thought that someone had come to save him. That someone had appeared to defeat the minotaur and stop him from being killed.

He was proven correct.

But what he didn't expect was the way he would be saved.

Following the minotaur's gaze, his mouth slowly opened as he beheld his savior.

A young man, his dark blue cape flapping behind him, a symbol of fire with sunglasses on it emblazoned on the back, flying at the minotaur's head from the sky with one foot aimed downward.

The minotaur, whether from shock or total astonishment, didn't even try to dodge.

So, the man's foot connected with its head...and managed to shatter one of its horns.

"-KKKKKIIIIIICCCCCCKKKKKKK!"

A bellow of pain and rage left the minotaur's mouth as it fell to the ground in a heap. The man landed on his feet, head whipping up while his eyes fell onto the sitting Bell. His voice was filled with concern as he called, "You OK?"

Bell's mouth hung limply as he stared at the man crouched across from him. His mind raced with questions over what the heck just happened. The minotaur got to its feet, pieces of its shattered horn falling from its head in a cascade of ivory. Its hateful gaze locked onto the newcomer, massive blade rising as it roared in rage. Bell squealed and backed away from the beast but his savior merely grimaced. He stood and raised his hands with their palms up. Suddenly, twin green twisters appeared in his hands, lighting up the dim room that Bell had retreated into. A second later two small drills floated in the man's palms.

Bell's mouth somehow opened wider at the man's actions. But he didn't have time to wonder about what had happened, as the man threw one of the drills his way. It hit the young adventurer in the chest and fall onto his lap. The man said, "Hold onto that. I'll keep this guy busy. If you feel like you can stand, get up and stab him wherever you can!"

"Wh-Wh-What?!" Bell shouted, floored at how his savior expected him to fight against that monster. It was twice his size! Heck, the one who saved him only came up to its chest. It could crush both of them with one swing of its arms if it wanted. He grabbed the drill out of reflex but didn't even consider the possibility of fighting that monster.

His savior didn't seem to hear him though. As the blue-haired man just ran straight at the minotaur without a care in the world. He shouted a battle cry, raising a fist high as he charged at the monster. The minotaur swung its massive blade at the approaching human's left side and Bell thought that his savior was about to die. He started to close his eyes, not wanting to watch another person get sliced in half.

But he never did close his eyes.

Because, right when the weapon was about to hit him, the man parried the minotaur's attack.

With the small drill he now held in his left hand.

Bell's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open in awe. The man kept going, taking advantage of the now off-balance minotaur. He jumped upward, one-foot landing on the monster's chest. Using it as a springboard, he launched his right knee into the minotaur's chin. As the beast's head flew back the man put both of his hands together and brought them down in a hammer blow. Bell swore he heard an audible crack as the man's fists slammed down onto its skull.

One of the monster's hands came up, planning to grab the man in its large grip. He saw the attack coming and kicked out with his right leg at its left arm. Bones crunched beneath his foot, but the minotaur still didn't fall. It dropped its blade and swung its right fist at the still airborne man. Using his momentum, he flipped in midair and landed on the monster's arm. Then he ran up the beast's arm with his drill held in his hand. Bell swore he saw the item start to glow a bright green, creating a trail behind the man as he ran.

"Dddrrrillll-," the man started to shout, diving forward and thrusting his drill at the minotaur's face. It roared once more and tried to aim its mouth at the man's arm. But just as Bell's savior felt the minotaur's repugnant breath on his skin, he placed his free hand on its collar and pushed. He moved just enough to skim across the beast's open jaw and into its forehead.

"-Immmppppaaccccttt!"

A flash of green light was accompanied by the sound of a drill spinning.

A second later, everything above the minotaur's shoulders disappeared in a flash of green and red. Its bloody viscera exploded outwards, coating the man and Bell in the red liquid. The monster's kill fell to the ground. He stood up, his blue cap flapping in the breeze as the minotaur's body crumpled to the ground.

Bell could do nothing but stare with his mouth wide open. He didn't even mind the various drops of blood that fell onto his tongue. He was totally mesmerized. By the man. By his actions. By how he carried himself. But most importantly, by that cape on his back. The flame emblazoned on it. He couldn't explain exactly what it was, but something about it shook him to his very core.

He couldn't even move as the man turned around and rushed over to him. He skidded to a halt in front of Bell and knelt. Two strong hands fell onto Bell's shoulders as the man looked at him with concern, "Hey! You alright? Hurt anywhere? Need me to carry you home?"

Bell remained silent.

He stared at his savior while the man kept fussing over him.

Then he did the only thing he could think to do at that moment.

He started screaming.

[hr/hr]

And it was here that a new bond was forged.

The young white rabbit who wished to be a Hero.

The Spiral Warrior who had conquered the impossible.

The bond between the two of them would push them to heights never seen before. And though many hardships await them, their will to go on will persist through it all.

Yeah, this is a thing now.

What?:Basically, I've started reading through the Danmachi LNs recently. I'm only on Volume 3, so please no spoilers. Though I have read through the manga, at least some of it, but I've been told that skips some stuff.

Anyway, for some reason, whenever I thought of Bell I couldn't get this image of him and Simon fighting together out of my head. I eventually wrote a snippet for it...now I'm turning it into a full-on story. So...yeah.

Couple of things to keep in mind:

1. This is Simon after he beat the Anti-Spiral. For those of you who don't know what that is, I'd suggest you don't read through this. Cause it's gonna have a lot of Gurren Lagann Spoilers. For those of you who do know, then yeah. Simon's gonna be pretty OP going forward, but he's in charge of how much Spiral Power he uses. So, no, he won't just dumpster everyone else in the fic unless something pushes him to go all out.

2. Bell is gonna get Spiral Power. I have an idea for how it's gonna work with his Rapid Growth Skill. And, yeah, it's gonna cause a bit of a stir in the Setting to put it lightly.

3. As always with these kinds of fics, no shipping. Bell's relationships will (mostly) remain the same save for logical changes based on what happens in the fic. But I'm not gonna be specifically trying to put him one character or another. And Simon isn't getting anyone cause he's loyal to Nia. Even now.

I think that's about it. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.