Chapter 03: So, this is your Gunman now?
"The battle seasoned warrior, Guame the Immovable..." Cytomander sneered during their audience with the Spiral King. "Smacked on the nose by mere humans. How pathetic."
"I don't want to hear that from somebody who never leaves the capital." Guame replied.
"I'm ready to launch an attack at any time, if the Spiral King orders it." Cytomander immediately retorted.
"Where is Adiane?" Lordgenome finally spoke, prompting the two to attention.
"We cannot reach her at this time." One of his women replied.
"She's bad at passing on to the next life." Cytomander scoffed.
"What about the Dai-Gunzan?" Lordgenome's next question prompted the glowing floor to now display a massive map detailing the stolen gunman's distance from Teppelin.
"It is heading directly for the capital."
"This is a good chance for Adiane." Guame observed as they all stared downwards.
"What do you mean?" Cytomander asked.
Guame smirked. "They're heading straight for the sea."
"It's so massive!" Gimmy exclaimed at the sight of the sea.
Shinji couldn't blame him, as he and Rei had been just as captivated. So much... blue.
"Shinji-kun... There's so much life in it..." Rei whispered breathlessly beside him. "Is this the sea...?"
"Obviously, you guys!" Kittan boisterously proclaimed from behind him, a lot of the crew present on Dai-Gurren's deck. "The sea's massive 'cause it's the place where all the rains and rivers gather."
Shinji nodded absentmindedly, his eyes not leaving the wide expanse. He knew that much for himself. Still, it was wondrous to look upon an ocean that hadn't been ruined thanks to this world not having suffered any Impacts.
"I've heard people talk about it, but this is my first time seeing it!" Nia commented with Shinji at her side.
"Did you know..." Kittan shouted again. "Seawater is very salty!"
Shinji frowned. "Where had they been getting their salt from if they didn't already know that?"
"Apart from the oceans, salt can also be obtained from sodium chloride mineral halite." Rei explained. Shinji must have appeared dumbfounded to Rei, because she then simplified it for him. "Also known as rock salt."
Ah. Shinji nodded in understanding before looking back over the sea. "So how soon before we get sailing?"
"That's no good, Shinji-kun~" Kiyol's voice hummed from behind Shinji before he suddenly felt her weight from behind him, stilling at the sight of her and her sisters in swimsuits. "We should take a break to go swimming~"
"S-Swimming?!" Yoko choked out.
"How can you look at that wide open water and not want to dive in?" Kiyal cheered in her blue swimsuit.
"I empathize." Surprisingly, Rei nodded in agreement with Kiyal's whim. "But will that not interfere with our mission to reach Teppelin?"
"Exactly!" Yoko snapped, punching away the men who had started to ogle the girls. "Getting there's our top priority! We don't have time to mess around!"
"Well, that's not quite true. Look here for a second." Leeron chimed in, prompting some of them to gather and look into his makeup mirror-like computer, showing a small map display of their location before it expanded to show Teppelin... all the way at the other side of the ocean. "Our destination is this point, Teppelin."
"I see." Rossiu realized. "In order to get to Teppelin, we have no choice but to cross this sea, right?"
"Yes, but Dai-Gurren was made for the land, and can't enter the sea." Leeron informed, much to Shinji's surprise.
"Are you telling me that despite this gunman being so much like an aircraft carrier, it's not seaworthy?" Shinji deadpanned.
"I am very interested in this aircraft carrier you just mentioned, but Dai-Gurren isn't it." Leeron shook his head. "No matter the similarities, the blueprints I've looked over for this vessel just don't lie."
"Then what do we do?" Simon asked.
"For this situation, I've already been preparing plans to make Dai-Gurren seaworthy!" Leeron winked flamboyantly. "But it'll still take quite some time to implement."
"""Which means?!"""
Shinji and Simon squawked, them being too slow to dodge aside quick enough when the Bachika sisters pushed them aside.
"There's plenty of time to play around~!" Leeron confirmed.
"ALL RIGHT!"
Cheers erupted from Leeron's declaration before there was a sudden rush to obtain swimsuits from within the gunman carrier. Watching the sisters dive straight into the water, Shinji stared as Rei actually hunched in preparation to dive after them. "Rei, your plugsuit?"
Rei stilled before looking down upon her attire with... miniscule but actual annoyance? Another of many surprises being a part of the Dai-Gurren Brigade had brought them: Rei's slow but increasing frequency of visible emoting.
She was still incredibly reserved to the natives here, but from Shinji's perspective, the difference between this Rei and the Rei he'd met was monumental.
"I shall leave to acquire a swimsuit." That was all Rei spoke before quickly striding into Dai-Gurren as well.
"Aren't you going?" Leeron asked to Yoko, who frowned in reluctant distaste.
"Swimming under the sun..." Yoko mused. "It might be fun, I guess."
When Rei came down onto the sandy beach, she looked for Shinji. Kiyol had apparently already left a swimsuit for her with appropriate sizes, but had requested via her note that Rei was to seek Shinji's opinion of it while she wore it.
Strange, but not problematic.
Walking back outside with Yoko and Nia, she immediately sought out Shinji while he watched over the young Adai children. "Shinji-kun."
"Yes- E-Eh?!" Looking to face her, Shinji's face turned brilliantly red, his eyes quickly looking over her form. The swimsuit she wore was a deep blue one-piece with golden accents, it's sides held together by woven laces that still exposed strips of skin down her sides.
"I was told to seek your opinion on my swimsuit." Rei asked to the stunned boy. "Does it fit me well?"
"Y-Yes, you're hot- I mean, great!" Shinji babbled, struggling as if trying to look away but utterly failing. "You look really great, Rei."
"I see. Thank you." Rei smiled in relief that was surprising even to her. To think that Shinji's validation of her appearance would please her this much... Was this why Pilot Shikinami had always been insistent in dragging either Shinji or Class Representative Horaki for her shopping trips? If so, this was probably not something that she should get addicted to. "Well, then. I shall now leave to swim in the sea."
Rei strode for the blue expanse, feeling Shinji's heated but somehow pleasurable gaze on her the whole way.
The dangerous possibility of addiction rose higher.
The moment she dived in past the waves, Rei felt the difference immediately. There was no aftertaste of chlorine in the few droplets that escaped into her lips compared to the strong salty taste that hit her tongue, her eyes took much lesser to adjust and-
Something small and fast swam past her, Rei's vision barely managing to memorize the small fish as it continued on it's way.
There was so much life.
Deep within Rei, her usually dormant Angelic side hummed in content to be surrounded by so much of creation, even if foreign to her senses and memory. Kicking off after another fish, Rei's body smoothly traversed the deep, completely feeling at home of the first ever time in her life.
"Main modifications... complete!"
Three hours later, Shinji and the others stared at Dai-Gurren's additions... which were basically flippers welded to it's giant feet along with it's arms holding up a massive paddle. "Please tell me there was more you did to make Dai-Gurren more seaworthy than this."
"Well, the hull was already watertight, but what Dai-Gurren really lacked was a propulsive force beyond it's feet." Leeron explained to the others. "If we'd dropped into the sea earlier, we'd have definitely floated safely, but we wouldn't have been able to move at all."
And this was the solution somebody as intelligent as Leeron reached?
Even Simon, with his own limited knowledge, seemed just as dumbfounded as Shinji felt. "Will it really be okay like that?"
"For the time being, it's okay!" Leeron declared.
Shinji hoped so. Following the others into the massive gunman, Shinji entered into the bridge to find no foreign changes to it, showing that Gabal wouldn't have much trouble steering-
"That seat is mine-"
"LAUNCH!" Attenborough, somehow in Gabal's seat, slammed his fist upon the ignition, rocketing Dai-Gurren forward into the sea, the mechanical behemoth actually running several miles across water until it settled into a rocky sail.
"You idiot!" Zorthy yelled from his spot, his body having ended upside down against a wall. "What are you doing in Gabal's seat?!"
"Somebody..." Shinji groaned from where his forehead had smacked painfully into the metal floor, just trying to stay still and ride the headache. "Somebody... please smack Attenborough-san..."
"On it." Kittan wasn't the only one to growl ominously and approach Attenborough while cracking their knuckles.
"Well?" Leeron asked Simon as Dai-Gurren began to paddle forward after settling into the water, the gunman going steady.
"It's amazing!" Simon commended.
Leeron snapped his finger. "Well, then, give the order, Commander."
"Right!" Simon pumped his fist. "Set a course for Teppelin!"
"""Yes, sir!"""
That being said, there really wasn't much to do than was usually done when travelling on land. Shinji helped in preparing the meals as he usually did, Rei did guard duty and they all just generally enjoyed the days overseas.
Shinji was also thankful that he wasn't seasick or anything, because falling sick in a world that was much further back in time with medical acumen was terrifying. No matter how advanced Dai-Gurren's medical bay looked compared to Dr. Akagi's, it was mostly useless to those without the knowledge to fully use it.
For two whole days, the Dai-Gurren Brigade experienced smooth sailing. Then...
"There are ships on the underwater radar!" Kinon suddenly reported, snapping the bridge members out of their lethargy. "They're closing in!"
"They're directly beneath us, but they're Gunmen!" Tetukan immediately confirmed.
"Full turn to starboard!" Dayakka directed, hitting an alarm that resounded through the Dai-Gurren. Unfortunately, they were still too late to react towards the torpedo missiles that hit them from below.
Fourth-Tier Sub-Navigating Fortress Gunman
DAI-GUNKAI
Several meters below in the depths, a massive centipede-like gunman prowled through the currents, Adiane in command of the assault.
"Torpedo Gunmen one, two, three, at your command!"
"They're like summer bugs flying into the boiling sun, aren't they?" Adiane commented to Viral, who stood at attention before her seat.
"Yes." Viral answered while Adiane crossed her long legs behind him.
"I'm taking Seirun out." Adiane declared. "You'll be taking over command of Dai-Gunkai."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Nia and her human scum, I'll make them all regret humiliating me!" Adiane growled deeply as she glared at the visual of Dai-Gunzan above. "I'll drag you all down to the darkness beneath the depths!"
"Fire!" Dayakka's shouted preceded the bombardment of the cannon fire into the sea, an endeavor Rei could see to be useless.
"Yoko-san, do we have any options for attacking underwater?" Rei asked.
"If we've got one, hopefully Leeron lets the others know!" Yoko replied, her tone showing that she was just as unsettled as Rei was at their current uselessness. If their gunmen didn't have anything resembling C-Type equipment...
"Cut them off with depth charges!"
Rei observed as Dai-Gurren's arms placed aside the paddle to grab the depth charges that were being loaded up from it's deck, before proceeding to fling them about into the waters behind it.
However, it seemed that the enemy Gunmen were just too deep because Dai-Gurren soon reeled from another torpedo bombardment. A minute later, King Kittan and Twinboekun rushed out and into the water.
"Are their gunmen fitted with C-Type equipment?" Sighting Yoko's confused look, Rei clarified. "Do their gunmen possess the capabilities to operate underwater?"
"Not as far as I know!" Yoko shouted back.
"I haven't made the gunmen watertight yet!" Leeron immediately proved Rei's worries right when Dai-Gurren immediately reached into the sea to drag the sinking gunmen out before they and their pilots were lost.
"Another of them's coming!" Yoko gestured at a speeding shape cutting towards Dai-Gurren from underneath, both her firing sniper and the gun turrets being too slow in even slowing it down until it impacted.
Strongly, if the groans and squeaks of pain Rei could hear from the broadcast were anything to indicate.
"It doesn't look like another torpedo gunman..." Tetukan's voice carried over from the radio. "It's another one of the Beastman General's Gunmen! It's Adiane, again!"
"We've got no choice but to rely on Gurren-Lagann again!" Leeron decided as Dai-Gurren grabbed Gurren-Lagann up and prepared to throw. "With Gurren-Lagann's special self-repairing ability, it might become watertight!"
Rei blinked in surprise. Gurren-Lagann could repair itself? Just which beastman had Simon stolen that his gunman from for it to possess that much capability?
Yoko winced as Gurren-Lagann got flung hard enough to skip water and pierce through waves until it disappeared underneath. Grabbing her radio, she immediately demanded to be connected to Attenborough. "You moron! Why did you throw them so far away?!"
"Oops, sorr- OUCH!"
Rei didn't blink as somebody hit Attenborough's head again. "Are Commander Simon and Pilot Rossiu alright?"
"It's okay, we're good!" Simon finally spoke up.
"Zero flooding." Rossiu reported. "No problems, like Leeron-"
*CRASH!*
*CRASH!*
Simon grunted as Gurren-Lagann got hit many, many times from the too fast enemy. "It's that ray thing! You bastard!"
Gurren's maw opened to catch the gunman, allowing Gurren-Lagann to grab it close and tight.
"Filthy humans..." Seirun tore itself free, transforming like Genba into it's humanoid form while the 'eyes' beneath it's wings bathed Gurren-Lagann in eerie light. "To challenge me in the water... How arrogant!"
Simon grunted as she began to attack them anew, unable to respond well underwater.
"Simon-san!" Rossiu shouted in panic. "Dai-Gurren's being dragged down!"
"Everyone!" Simon grunted just as Gurren-Lagann had it's arms grabbed by Seirun's massive pincers.
"Have you got time to be looking elsewhere when you're in front of me?!" Adiane growled from within Seirun as the stinger began to smash into them repeatedly. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
Simon and Rossiu grunted from the onslaught, stuck at an impasse on what to do-
"Commander Shinji." Rei suddenly spoke up on the comms. "Are you able to draw the enemy gunman up to the surface?"
"Rei?!" Simon said in surprise. "Do you guys have a plan?"
"Not exactly a plan, but I have always had the intention to acquire a gunman of my own, and I chosen Beastman General Adiane's. Do you have any objections?"
"Objections? No way!" Simon smirked as he brought down his goggles for the effect, Lagann's screens lighting up to match his excitement. "Stealing a general's personal gunman's definitely something we haven't done before! Let's correct that!"
Gurren-Lagann's forearms burst into giant drills, shredding it free of Seirun's pincers.
"What?!" Adiane yelled as her gunman was forced away, wincing from the brief flash of emerald light. Then she gawked as Gurren-Lagann formed new drills compared to it's usual step drill cones.
"You say that you're undefeated underwater, right?!" Simon roared as Gurren-Lagann formed two wide Auger drills from it's feet before swiftly swimming to grab Seirun from behind. "Let's change that!"
"What in the world?!" Adiane grunted as Seirun rapidly ascended against her will, Gurren-Lagann clutching tight as they rocketed towards the Fourth-Tier gunmen. "I'm supposed to be number one in the sea!"
Thankfully, it looked like Viral noticed their approach and had Dai-Gunkai fire it's torpedoes at them. Seirun's potential damage meant nothing compared to the impending humiliation.
However, it was for naught as they pushed through the explosions regardless and slammed headlong into Dai-Gunzan, Gurren-Lagann somehow generating enough power to shoot them all up into the airy surface.
"Damnit!" Adiane growled as Seirun twisted about, preparing to at least try and punch a hole through those shits-
"Here you go, Rei!" Gurren-Lagann flung Seirun towards Dai-Gunzan's deck, disorienting Adiane upon the impact. No matter, she was already immediately recovering.
In mere moment, those scumbag humans were going to-
*BLAM!*
*BLAM!*
*BLAM!*
*BLAM!*
*CRUNCH!*
Adiane gawked as her cockpit was assaulted by four separate but very powerful gunshots before suddenly forced open by a blue-haired human female while another female with long red hair pointed her still smoking rifle at her.
"Out." The redhead demanded.
"Nonsense!" Adiane growled as she lurched forward, her tail whipping up to strike them. However, the blue-haired female backhanded her tail aside before grabbing the front of her dress to throw her out.
With a start, she realized the human suddenly was looking her in the eyes, those detestable orbs full of crimson swirls lined in green-white.
Those eyes...
Adiane felt as if looking down into the depths of an ocean, depths that went far, too far into the abyss than she could fathom.
How?
Why, why did this human who felt like she could take the world in hand and ask of her as if- as if...
No, not her.
Adiane realized suddenly, this huma- thing-angel-demon-monster would never offer her anything.
(She was beneath notice. And the animal instinct within was glad, because to be noticed was to be killed-)
Adiane barely resisted being thrown out of her gunman.
Yoko looked down at the woman she'd expected to give them much more trouble. "What did you just do?"
"It seems that I was intimidating to her for some reason." Rei replied as she entered into the seat and grabbed the controls which were surprisingly somewhat similar to her EVA-00's. "How do I pilot this gunman?"
"With fighting spirit." Rei's befuddlement must have been clear because Yoko herself sighed before moving to get out. "I don't get it either, but that's what all the boys say. Good luck."
With Yoko jumping back out, Rei stared as the cockpit closed, leaving her in relative darkness as the gunman refused to respond of her motions or vocal commands.
Now, how would she get it to move?
Nia sighed as Adiane tumbled into view, already stepping forward with the spear Coco had gotten from somewhere clutched tightly in her hand. "Adiane..."
"Are you... challenging me...? Princess Nia?" Adiane scoffed, albeit shakily as she started to prowl towards Nia, her tail twitching uncontrollably as she fought the urge to not look back at the aberrant that had just stolen her Seirun. "A couple of lessons from Thymilph doesn't change what you are: A thrown away doll clinging to a dream world!"
"Then by all means..." Nia entered into a ready pose as the two girls began to circle each other. "Wake me up."
"My fucking pleasure, your highness!" Finishing with a maddened cackle, Adiane charged forward with a vicious clawed swipe that Nia diverted, still being disoriented by the water that had been coating her arm. "What's wrong?! Don't go drowning so soon!"
Adiane twisted about, her stinger nearly grazing Nia's side, only to be backhanded aside before the princess scored a slash against Adiane's cheek. Pressing her advantage and nimble size, Nia surged forward with a series of thrusts while making sure that she never took a hit.
However, it was impossible to overpower the General of Water as she soon landed a vicious kick that sent Nia skidding backwards. Briefly falling onto all fours, Adiane launched forward and slammed downward with a powerful double punch, barely missing Nia as she dodged.
Jumping backwards, Nia immediately thrusted into Adiane's tail, the woman shrieking as the smaller girl roared and flung her back several meters away.
'She's way too strong for that smallish frame of hers.' Adiane huffed as she and Nia glared at each other. 'Either Thymilph was a way better teacher than I thought... or the Spiral King's blood runs rather strongly in this particular child.'
Seeing Nia quickly recover, Adiane stalked forward as well, waterclad fist striking against the golden spear that had started to emanate a weirdly familiar green glow.
"Adiane-sama!" Viral roared as Dai-Gunkai roared, the mechanical leviathan frothing the seas with it's movements. "Damn you!"
"Right back at you!" Simon roared as Gurren-Lagann rapidly dodged between the many torpedoes being fired at them. "We need to hold still enough for the Giga Drill Break, but there's too many limbs!"
She needed to stand.
She needed to move.
She needed to fight!
For a moment, Rei felt her body squeeze itself in existential pain, familiar resignation rearing it's head.
But if she failed, somebody else(Shinji) would have to step up.
That must not come to pass.
She may be an aberration, created to be an aberration, to inflict despair upon both of her kind at his command.
But he was not here.
Shinji was. And he was happy here.
What would he do, if he were to be sitting in here instead of her?
(He would fight. He always saw himself as a coward, but had far more willpower than she ever did. All she had were her orders.)
"You won't die. I will protect you."
"It's time. Let's go."
Still, what was she supposed to do? What was best in a scenario like this?
"Smiling would be a start."
Rei smiled as Shinji's words rose up within her, and her world became awash with spiraling crimson lined with green-white.
*SLAM!*
Simon and Rossiu stared as Dai-Gunkai's massive form suddenly became entangled by many tentacles crushing and holding it in place. "What the...?!"
"This is Pilot Rei reporting successful acquisition of Seirun." Rei's voice came through the comms, slightly peppier than she normally was as Dai-Gunkai slowly became crushed within thanks to her mecha having changed form into another imitation of an aquatic predatorial creature.
"Let's do it! Be sure to let go in time, Rei" Simon ordered as Gurren-Lagann surged forward, readying a massive drill. "GIGA... DRILL...!"
Nia and Adiane separated once more, the former's panting heavier than the latter's. Adiane herself could barely believe that Nia had lasted so long against her despite the clear advantage she was supposed to have.
Dolls weren't supposed to be this troublesome!
(Dolls also weren't known to have been put into combat scenarios, events where children of the Spiral King either had to develop a fighting spirit or die-)
(The Doll before her was of the Spiral King's seed and wanted to fight-!)
Nia braced herself before starting to twirl her spear about, the green glow surging in strength with each movement. "Adiane, please block this."
Then she flung the spear with way more power than she was supposed to have, the air screaming as it collided against a water barrier Adiane hastily created.
A water barrier that utterly failed, causing Adiane's entire left side to be blown away. "Damn you..."
Coughing up blood, Adiane collapsed to her knees before slumping down to her back, granting her a nice view of the sky until it was blocked by Nia's disgusting face. "Are you... not pleased...? To see me defeated... not even by your precious Gurren-Lagann... as my peers were...?"
Despite the scratches and bruises she'd been inflicted with along with many tufts of her fiery hair missing, Nia still frowned down sadly at her. "I told you to block my attack, so that it wouldn't kill you... Why did you stop at the last second?"
"...little princess Nia saw through me, huh?" Adiane coughed raspily, more blood dribbling down her chin. "Earlier... you asked me... if I'd die if His Majesty ordered me to... I tell you now... I would do so... But..."
Adiane weakly raised up her hand, letting her princess grab hold of it. "Only half of your blood... is that of a scummy human roach... The other half... comes from the Spiral King himself..."
Adiane chuckled, her tone resignedly amused. "Of them all, you're really... the least disgusting human... I wouldn't mind... dying to..."
Adiane reached into her robe and fished out a tracking device, weakly handing it to Nia.
"This is...?" Nia asked in confusion.
"Thymilph... was working on something... in his personal Gunman garage... before he left and got killed..." Adiane rasped. "Whether it's you... or that Viral... Go to it... Thymilph..."
The choked, broken-off sound of that name as her final word was like a yearning sob, Nia solemnly clutching Adiane's hand tightly as the General of Water passed away moments later.
"Hmm?" The Spiral King glared down at his remaining generals, not pleased with the recent news he'd just received. "She's dead, huh?"
Guame and Cytomander stayed silent on their knees, both sweating nervously as they awaited his verdict.
"DAMN IT!" Viral roared as he punched a soaked fist against the beach sand, once more the sole survivor of the attack. "DAMN YOU... GURREN-LAGANN! DAMN YOU, KAMINA!"
"So, this is your Gunman now?" Shinji marveled as he looked upon the mecha Rei had appropriated, it being properly looked over by Leeron and the other mechanics.
Somehow transformed from it's previous form, it now heavily resembled Rei's body type while having EVA-00's color scheme, along with the 'helmet' being an exact replica over the mechanical face. Along with all that, there were also the coiled up tentacles that had arranged themselves in a skirt-like manner around the Third-Tier Gunman's torso.
"So why did it change so much?" Shinji asked.
(KingVessel: A Gunman's appearance changing upon being appropriated is actually canon, if Kittan's success in Kittan Zero is any indication. As there's a whole marked distinction between Second-Tier and Third-Tier Gunmen, I've made it more pronounced.)
"I have yet to acquire an answer that isn't a variation beyond 'fighting spirit'." Rei replied before suddenly blushing a little. "I also... thought of you, Shinji-kun, as an inspiration."
"R-Really?" Shinji's own cheeks reddened even worse than hers. "So what's the name you've chosen for it?"
Rei blinked before giving her Gunman another look. "I was considering... 'Watashi'."
Watching from nearby while her hair got trimmed by Yoko, Nia beamed at the sight of their closeness.
KingVessel: 'Watashi', a normally genderless (but frequently used by women) Japanese term that translates to 'I'. A simple but perfect name for a cloned girl slowly growing into her individuality. Unless somebody thinks they've got a better name?
