AN: I made a few tweaks to the prior chapter and added a new scene in the later half. If you're following along as I go, you might want to re-skim the last half of the chapter. This message will self-destruct upon the next update

…

"So what's your Grand Plan?" Yoko attempted to add a sardonic note into her question, but given the circumstances it was hard to pretend that grand wasn't an appropriate adjective for the current goings on.

The fading sunlight provided colorful light to the equally colorful assortment of Gunmen arrayed around the group. From Simon, Kamina, and Kittan's three, now there were several times that many. Dayaka Litner had 'aquired' another mech for himself shortly after Kamina had left, and used that to help others steal even more. Now most of the human-owned war machines were in one place, ready to give some payback to the Beastmen. And their pilots were all looking to Kamina.

"Well, it all comes down to Lagann," Kamina stated, pointing to Simon, "Ron has been looking into how Simon here's mecha combines with mine… and if it works the way he thinks, we're gonna steal that big sucker right out from under the Beastmen's noses!"

That got a few yells of assent, the most of those present leaned in as they started to hash out the details of the plan. Kittan, however, stood at the back with a tight look on his face, before eventually ducking out of the group and slowly walking away. Yoko noticed, seemingly the only one, and excused herself to follow.

She found Kittan a short distance away, slightly hunched over and gently kicking the base of a boulder.

"You alright?" She asked.

Surprised not to be alone, Kittan started, then sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just… there was supposed to be this competition to see which've us was gonna lead. And I'm realizing that I think I've already lost."

Yoko didn't say anything immediately, and eventually Kittan continued, "When we saw that big Gunmen, I didn't have a clue what to do. I was ready to run. But he," Kittan gestured back in the the direction of the meeting that Kamina was indisputably leading, "was ready to go. I don't think he had a plan right then, and I don't think you believed him either," he looked up to see Yoko nod, and then kept his head up as he talked, "but by the time we got all these guys together, he did, and I still had nothin'. We ain't fought it yet, but I think Kamina's gonna end up in charge of this thing one way or the other."

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" Yoko finally said something.

Kittan gave one last bitter laugh, then gave a genuine, if a bit predatory, smile, "Yeah. I guess I am. 'Cause if we take that thing out, or better yet steal it for humanities sake? Then I'm starting to think I don't care so much about who's in charge, as much as where we're going!"

Yoko smiled as well, and reached out to shake his hand, "Well I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say I'm glad you're here with us. Now get back in there and make sure to keep him," there was no question as to who she was talking about, "under at least a little control."

Kittan turned to walk back, but realizing Yoko wasn't following, asked, "You coming?"

Yoko's smile changed a bit. "Nah… I've got a few things I need to think about as well. I think I know what I'll be doing in the morning, anyway. Go ahead." With that, she waved Kittan on, and sat against the rock he'd been kicking as he worked through his thoughts.

…

The sun was setting by the time a break in the planning was called. Simon stayed behind with Ron, who was going into depth on the deciphered systems of Lagann that Simon would be using in the morning.

Kamina left them to it. He hadn't failed to notice Yoko's absence from much of the meeting, and he wandered off to look for her once he was free. Eventually he found her, lounging against his own Gurren. He gave a casual, "hey" as he approached.

Yoko's response was anything but casual, "Hey. I was waiting for you."

Kamina wasn't so easily phased, though, and maintained his demeanor, "Oh really? What for?"

Yoko continued to stare straight into Kamina's eyes. "Tell me the truth. Did you really have a plan. I mean when we first saw that big Gunzan? Or were you just making things up as you went along."

That finally caused Kamina's façade to crack. "I had a plan… well at least I had the start of one. But we would have…" Yoko cut him off.

"No you wouldn't have just pulled it off! Going off half-cocked against an enemy like that would have been reckless. You could have died! Or gotten someone else killed, like Simon, or me!"

"What other choice did we have?" Kamina shot back, "we can't slow down, we can't hold back. That Gunzan is proof of it! There's more powerful enemies out there, I just know it. If we don't keep stealing more and stronger Gunmen from the Beastmen, if we just sit around with what we've already got… eventually they'll pin us down with something stronger and beat us. So we're putting our lives on the line one way or the other!"

Yoko took half a step back at Kamina's torrent of words, but was stopped by the rock-solid leg of the mecha behind her. Seeming to take some measure of that strength for herself, she stood back up straighter than before, "That doesn't mean you have to throw your life away! If we fight stupid and lose a fight we could have won, that's just as bad. If you want to risk your life… at least do think about everyone else that'll effect. Like all those other people here today. You being alive is what's inspired them, is what's brought them to this point."

"That can't be all of it. Even if I'm gone, someone else will take up our banner. Like Simon. You're worried about more than that, aren't you?" Kamina was unsure, for once, as to what was going on, but he could tell there was something there under the surface.

Yoko took a deep breath, steeling herself even further. Then she stepped forward, put her hands behind Kamina's neck, pulling him down for her to kiss him briefly on the lips. Releasing him, she continued to look up at him, blushing slightly, and stated simply, "That's why."

Kamina blushed as well, finally understanding the undercurrent to the atmosphere. He didn't hesitate at all before pulling Yoko into an embrace and kissing her as well. "I promise. I'm not being reckless. I really am thinking ahead."

Yoko gave a slightly watery laugh, "you aren't as dumb as you sometimes look. I'm glad you're taking this seriously." She returned the hug.

"I am. And I'll return that tenfold once this fight is won."

Another giggle. "You could at least try to make that sound romantic."

…

Shinji was, once again, lost in thought. He certainly hadn't predicted any kind of romantic developments between his extremely long-distance friends. There had certainly been sparks flying, but he hadn't guessed what they were the signals of… and if that was the case…

His train of thought was both disrupted and brought to it's conclusion as Asuka, standing beside him on the tram, elbowed him in ribs. "I'd offer a yen for your thoughts, but I doubt worth even that much," she said, leaving the question of what he was thinking about merely implied.

Shinji blushed, "…It's nothing. Just those silly little dreams again," he tried to downplay things, but Asuka wasn't having any of it.

She was barely pretending like she wasn't interested in the lives of Shinji's friends now. "Oh, just that, eh? Come on, spill it!"

Shinji just repeated himself, though, knowing the danger inherent in his current line of thinking, "Really, it's nothing," he then attempted to change the subject, "anyway, shouldn't we be focusing on our own fight? Misato said the Angel is almost finished regenerating, so we're sortieing for real today."

Asuka scoffed, "we're as ready as we'll ever be. Especially with my Unit 02 ready for their splitting tactic this time!"

This time Rei finally spoke up, "Ikari is right. Miss Akagi has warned us that there may be more than we expect in this fight. We should focus."

Being ganged up on only seemed to invigorate Asuka's curiousity, and she continued to pry even as they were loaded into their respective Evangelion and prepared to launch to the surface.

…

"There she is" Dayaka reported. The Dai-Gunzan was on their scopes once again, stalking over the horizon towards the same location they'd spotted it yesterday.

"Alright!" Kamina tried to shout at a whisper. The human-contolled Gunmen were at laying in ambush, and even if a human voice was unlikely to betray their positions, everyone was still talking in low tones. "Everyone know your roles? One last time before we do this for real."

Dayaka, Kittan and the others responded, "We'll engage the carrier and whatever Gunmen are with it," in concord, if not with exactly the same wording.

Simon, sounding somewhat muffled from the distance and rock between his hiding spot and the rest of the Gunmen, said, "I'll go for the Gunzan's head and take control once the fight has started."

Finally, Yoko piped up with, "and I'm fire support. I've got your back, Kamina!"

As the last responses trickled in, the massive enemy Gunmen got closer and closer to the cliffside the human Gunmen were camped out on. As the rumbling footsteps drew near, a new sound was added to the mix; there was a roar and a belch of smoke as lava began to pour from several mountains nearby. Kamina grinned. "I don't know what that is, but if even the mountains are fired up, I know this is gonna be a great battle. Let's go!"

In an instant, stealth vanished as the humans began to rain automatic fire, boulders, and Yoko's sniper bullets onto the deck of the Beastmen's leviathan.

However, the oversized mecha barely shuddered, and a booming voice broadcast over an open channel. "I am Thymilph, General of the Spiral King. Before I crush you, I'll ask the name of those who dare to challenge me!"

Without missing a beat, Kamina shot back, both physically, with a rock, and verbally, with, "I am Kamina, and this it team *Dai*-Gurren. You can go ahead and tell your 'Spiral King' this; once we're done kicking your ass, he's next!"

The commander of the Gunmen carrier just laughed, "Hah. Do you think we didn't detect you yesterday? That we weren't prepared for a fight today?"

With that, the elevators on Dai-Gunzan's surface opened, and a multitude of Beastman-controlled Gunman revealed themselves, including the familiar form of Viral's Enki.

…

By this time, the Eva catapults were growing quite familiar, though far from comfortable. Shinji just clamped his jaw as he and the two girls bore out the acceleration of their mechs hurtling towards the surface. After all their hours of training, it felt like second nature to copy Asuka's move from earlier and leap into motion as the elevators reached the surface, summersaulting into a landing run towards the Angels location. Misato and the rest of the command staff looked on approvingly as the three pilots moved as one, like dancers at ballet, with Asuka and Shinji racing ahead side-by-side, and Rei mere steps behind and right in between, a perfect triangle concentrating the most power mankind had ever seen into a tight formation.

Once again broaching the hillside overlooking the bay, the regenerating Angel was visible ahead. The Evangelion's timing was perfect; just as the chrysalis of its regeneration faded, Asuka and Shinji were already attacking it. As before, when attacked the Angel split into two separate beings… but this time the pilots were ready for it. Asuka and Shinji seamlessly took on one half of the Angel each, countering its moves with the practiced ease of the hundred hours they'd spent in training. Rei stood back, occasionally firing a well-placed shot into one half-Angel or the other to keep the two fights even.

In short order both red and blue Eva's had their respective monstrosities in a grapple. Then a shadow formed as they threw the two halves of the Angel towards each other. Just as planned, the Angel recombined into a single entity as attacks from both Asuka and Shinji homed in on its core…

…And totally unlike the plan, Misato called out "New Blue Pattern detected! Rei, keep if off them as they finish off the first target!"

A sphere, or maybe just a circle, with a black-and-white fractal pattern, snapped into being above the battlefield of Tokyo-3, just the Angel they had been fighting snapped back into its original state. The pilots training had covered scenarios along these lines, though ,and they knew their roles. Asuka and Shinji followed through with their attacks on their original target, leaving their defense to Rei. Just as the Angels split cores merged into one, two attacks smashed into it from either side, like a hammer and anvil, and the core shattered and the Angel burst in a spray of quickly-fading blood.

With no time to celebrate as a new threat appeared, Asuka and Shinji turned to face the sphere in the sky… or at least attempted to. As soon as Rei had fired upon it, the circle had disappeared, and as their original target left their sight, a deep, source-less shadow formed underneath Shinji, and quickly spread from there. Instead of turning, Shinji began to sink into the ground. In fact, there was no sense of 'ground' underneath him, merely moving down at a steady pace with nothing to feel below him.

"Asuka, watch your feet!" Shinji shouted as he tried to lift his own from the blackness beneath him. Asuka leapt from the ground just before the pure darkness reached her position. Sinking Unit 02's limbs into a building, she tried to climb away as the building itself began to sink into the ground.

Shinji's struggle was in vain, though. Unit 01 was quickly engulfed up to its waist. Shinji attempted to shoot, then stab, the darkness, but nothing seemed to effect it. As the building Asuka was hanging from the side of leaned closer, Shinji abandoned his attempts to free himself, and instead made a boosting gesture towards the other Eva. Asuka hesitated for a moment, then obliged, jumping down with one foot towards Unit 01's clasped hands. Catching her foot, Shinji shoved both hands to the sky, throwing Asuka clear… though somehow not effecting his own rate of descent at all. Despite this, he barely had time to acknowledge her safety before the shoulder and then head of his Eva fell below the surface and he saw… white?

…

Kamina merely grinned as the Beastmen counterattacked. Gurren and the other human Gunmen dropped onto the deck of the carrier to meet them. The behemoth's massive turret turned to engage, but could only fire a single salvo apiece before the humans were in too close and too mixed in with the Beastmen mecha to continue firing.

But more importantly, by turning to face Kamina and the rest of the frontal attackers, Thymilph's main guns were facing the wrong way when another, smaller Gunmen sprang out from the earth and slammed down drill first, onto the center of the Gunzan's humanoid superstructure.

As Lagann penetrated the bridge of Dai-Gunzan, the larger mechs movements became sluggish and uncoordinated. The three main gun turrets, which had been turning to face the new threat, first stopped, then seemingly began to dance, as conflicting orders caused them to move back and forth, with each individual gun moving up and down.

Further highlighting the struggle for control, the warships steps ceased, and it slowly fell to one knee, causing the deck to tilk, and most of the Gunmen, human and Beastman alike, to tumble to the ground below. Even as they clambered to their feet, there was a brief pause in the melee as they looked up at the two mechs who hadn't fallen, and now faced each other, balanced on the now-raised edge of the flight deck.

Enji and Gurren faced each other again, swaying slightly as they kept their balance. Neither was ready to make a reckless first move with such precarious footing. Taking advantage of the brief respite, Kamina commed to Simon, "You okay? What's taking so long."

Simon spoke through clenched teeth, straining against the controls as he urged his mech on as best he knew how, "I don't think anything is wrong. I'm in partial control and gaining… it's just taking a while to gain control of each system. I guess it's not as easy with an unwilling target."

Thymilph's voice resounded over every speaker in the area, both broadcasting and pounding out from external speakers on the mecha-carrier, "All units, get this twerp off of my ship!"

Prodded on by his superior, Viral finally moved. As Kamina stepped forward to meet him, he called out to his allies, "Everyone! Protect Simon. And Simon… see if you can't kick it up a notch. I believe in you!" With that, he fully devoted his attention to fighting the Beastman in front of him.

…

Despite the blackness that had absorbed him, the void he appeared trapped in was white, Shinji noted, before turning the displays back off to conserve power. He'd lost external power shortly after being fully submerged in the Angel's manifest shadow. That put him on a timer, though with most combat systems shut down he had far longer than five minutes. He'd still already used up about a third of his available power keeping life support on, though.

And even though he had turned off the viewports, and even though the void seemed featureless, Shinji was seeing things. He was pretty sure the Angel was torturing him. He didn't think he was asleep, but the same images he'd been seeing in his dreams appeared before his waking eyes now. A Beastman mech ripping into Kamina's Gurren from below the deck, and the fatal results after the battle had been won.

It wasn't even the same imagery on a loop. There were subtle variations. Shinji noted he was unwillingly becoming a connoisseur of Kamina's doom.

"Please. Stop it."

…

Kamina slowly backed towards the ship's superstructure. Despite not being paired with Simon this time, he was holding his own versus Viral. Despite his brash style, the balancing act seemed to favor Gurren over Enki. However, the Beastman lieutenant wasn't his only concern. The other human mechs had managed to lock most of the other Beastmen into a chaotic fight on the ground, but a couple had clambered back onto the pitched flight deck and were slowly crawling up towards him… and if they reached the top, they'd have an easy route to run towards the near-defenseless Simon. So Kamina had to reach a position where he could try to stave off both prongs of attack.

It turned out he needn't have worried though. A series of staccato shots rang out. Enki was thrown off balance by a glancing blow, forcing Viral to focus on his footing rather than pressing the attack. The Gunmen climbing the deck faired even worse; Yoko's fire destroyed at least one outright, and the others lost their grip and tumbled back into the maelstrom of metal below, and this time none escaped to try to disrupt Simon and Kamina. "I told you, I've got your back, Kamina! You can believe in me!"

Freed to attack, Kamina began to push Viral back now, and even spared time to respond, "I never doubted you, Yoko!"

There was a rumble below decks, though, and an equally rumbling voice, "Fine. I guess I'll have to do this myself. Feel the wrath of my Byakou!"

…

"Stop…. It"

Shinji couldn't tell if he was still awake or not, now. He'd been reduced to turning the life support off and on to try to eke out a few more minutes of life. The Eva was growing cold, and the LCL tasted even worse than usual, as well as developing a haze. And now power was completely gone. And yet what should have been a dark coffin continued to show Shinji someone else's death.

He'd lost count of how many times he'd seen it now, both in his dreams and now in this waking nightmare. He knew this was the end, but at the last, something inside him kept him from slipping away. He felt his cheeks flush, and his pulse quicken, and he couldn't bring himself to care how that was wasting the last of his precious oxygen.

Why wouldn't it stop? Anger overtook fear and dread as the sourceless vision once again focused in on the moment where an unseen Gunman would burst from the bowels of Dai-Gunzan and seal Kamina's fate.

He wasn't seeing anything else, so he couldn't see as Unit 01s gauges all flashed back on, power restored at last… but he could feel power surging through him as he urged the mecha to move.

"I. Said. STOOOPPP!"

…

Time seemed to stand still. In a single instant, Thymilph and his new Gunmen rent it's way out of the hull of the larger mech, driving home an attack on a surprised Kamina… and at the same time, the very air itself was rent as a purple fist flew out of the nothingness and slammed into him, shifting the attack off course, and then sending Thymilph flying. Despite having the chance, Viral couldn't move, stunned by the sight of a totally unfamiliar mecha slowly tearing itself into reality, and accompanied by a massive spray of blood of equally unknown origin.

As Unit 01's head broached the surface of the portal, Shinji was finally able to communicate. "Kamina! Are you alright? And Simon?"

The appearance of another friendly face reinvigorated Simon. Finally wresting full control of Dai-Gunzan, and the warship stood up straight once more, giving a shake accompanied by the ships now former crew being sent flying from every hatch. "I've got it under control! Kamina?"

Shinji finished pulling himself from… wherever he'd been, and turned to get a good look at his handiwork. The gash in space didn't seem to be closing, and danced hypnotically as Simon moved the Gunzan, but Shinji was more interested in a much smaller mecha.

Gurren hadn't escaped Thymilph's attack unscathed. There was significant buckling on the right side of the Gunmen's torso, and as Kamina brought it to its feet, Shinji was concerned as how the arm on that side hung limp. However, the battle wasn't over, when Kamina tersely reported, "I'm fine. Really," there wasn't much Shinji could do to dispute his call.

Shinji spared a glance at his readouts, and wasn't terribly surprised to see that he had full power available with no countdown, despite having no connection to speak of. If his intuition was right, they needed to wrap this fight up quickly, though. Time to make use of that power, and the foresight of seeing this battle play out hundreds of times in his head. "You two take out the general. I'll take care of the small fry".

Without waiting for a response, Shinji charged towards Viral, shaking him out of his stupor. Faced with something he was familiar with, he stabbed a blade into his attacker… only to be surprised again as the torso was pierced with seemingly no effect.

The Evangelion accepted the attack, and Shinji accepted the pain, in order to carry through a tackle that took both mecha off the deck of the battleship and crashing to the ground below. Shinji managed to maneuver their fall slightly, and drove Enki into another Beastman Gunmen, crushing it beneath the weight of the two falling mecha. With the Gunzan back upright, it'd take some effort for any Beastmen to get back aboard, and Shinji intended to prevent them from getting the chance. He'd brought Enki into the ongoing melee on the ground, and he as he drove a fist straight through another Gunmen, taking it out of action, he was sure that he and the others on the ground could carry the fright. Now he just had to hope against hope that Kamina wasn't…

…

On the deck of the Gunmen battleship, Kamina faced the direction Thymilph's mecha had last been seen in. Right on queue, the Beastman general came back into view, lazily twirling the massive spear that had already pierced Gurren's armor once. Before they could clash in earnest, though, Simon in Lagann hopped down from where he'd been commandeering the Gummen; with the crew rejected, there was no danger in leaving Dai-Gunzan uncontrolled for the moment, and Simon could also tell all was not right. "Bro, let's combine and end this."

Kamina agreed, and stood steady as Simon leapt back into the air, aiming for his familiar perch as the head of their combined mecha. Thymilph wasn't having it, though, and attempted to interrupt them, only to be interrupted himself as more sniper fire rang out. With the help of the Black Siblings, Yoko had relocated to the top of the superstructure. A glancing hit got his attention, and then he dodged away from the next few shots… but with that, he was out of time.

"GIGA"

Gurren Lagann was together again, and Kamina raised the mecha's left fist into the air, and a massive, twisted spike emerged from it.

"DRILL"

Gurren's massive blade pinned Thymilph's mecha to the deck, but it was no mere sniper fire that he was now prevented from dodging.

"BREAKER…"

Gurren Lagann lunged forward, the drill seeming to extend out to infinity as it blasted through the Byakou, leaving a massive hole where once its torso had been. The barely-connected pieces of the mecha slumped to the ground.

…Just as Gurren fell to one knee alongside it.

"Kamina!" Yoko cried out.

…

Shinji heard the shout, and the dreadful feeling of failure threatened to take hold of him. Enki was leaping towards him again, but Shinji dismissed Viral from the fight with a roundhouse kick that sent him soaring towards the horizon. From there he leapt up to grab the edge of the Gunzan's deck, and in a few endless moments hauled Unit 01 onto the main deck, fearing the same sight he'd been assailed with for days.

It was bad. Yoko and Kiyoh had blood up to their elbows as they pulled Kamina from his cockpit, and he was covered in even more blood… but Shinji could see Kamina take a weak breath, and if the bleeding was bad, the fact that blood was still flowing from the mess that was the right side of his chest was at least a sign of life. For now.

But there were no hospitals. Not in this world. Kamina was going to die without medical attention that could only be found on another world.

A flicker caught Shinji's gaze once more, and he looked up where he'd first tore his way into this world. The rip was still there, now a perfect circle, seemingly steady but for the black-and-white pattern on its surface.

Shinji's mind didn't so much as race, as it came to the only answer that could save his wounded friend. If he was wrong, he was dead anyway. Without saying a word, Shinji reached out and gingerly picked up Kamina, and leapt back into what he desperately hoped wasn't the void he'd just escaped from.