Chapter 02: Trust me, I know all about hating yourself for not doing something you should have.

"It seems Adiane has failed." Guame the Immovable, the Supreme General of Earth who was an armadillo-like beastman, hummed as he smoked from his pipe.

"She disregarded us and brought her bravado before the Spiral King." Cytomander the Swift, the Supreme General of Air who was a very human-like beastman with a few rooster and peacock traits, huffed conceitedly. "And now she has no honor left to return with."

"So then, won't you entrust me with the task next?" Guame stated brazenly, surprising even Cytomander himself.

"Guame..." Lordgenome the Spiral King, who was the most humanoid in nature compared to them all, glared down at the smoking beastman, his concentric eyes narrowing. "Even you?"

"The fact that they're using an unknown mini-type gunmen worries me." Guame explained. "I suspect that it might actually be an unregistered Fifth-Tier gunmen, if the reports of a 'Gurren-Lagann' are any indication."

"That's quite the gall of you, labelling something other than my personal gunmen as Fifth-Tier." Lordgenome commented, idly fondling the breasts of one of the women hanging off his throne. "What the humans have dug up is of no true importance."

"Even so, it's become quite a nuisance." Guame pushed. "Please, if you would..."

"Guame..." Lordgenome growled. "Are you telling me what to do?"

"..."

Cytomander gulped as he looked between the two, quietly marveling at how little fear his fellow general was outwardly displaying.

"...very well." Lordgenome acquiesced. "But I have a standing order for you. If possible, I want the pilot of the Gurren-Lagann brought to me alive. Do as you will regarding everything else."

"That gave me chills back there." Once they were free of their king's audience, Cytomander had to state his mind. "I doubt that there's anybody in this world who could act so brazenly with the Spiral King. For that, you have my respect."

"That mini-type gunmen could be an important discovery." Guame exhaled a large plume of smoke. "Besides, we've been friends for quite a long time."

After taking a moment to digest that, Cytomander spoke up again. "Even if savages, this 'Dai-Gurren Brigade' still possesses significant combat prowess and nonsensical strategies. How will you handle that?"

"Naturally, I have a plan." Guame gave another puff. "They do believe themselves a 'heroic' group, do they not?"

Cytomander's eyes narrowed as he smirked in realization. "Oh? So that's the angle you're going for."

"You're pretty skilled." Yoko commented after watching Rei score perfect target shots with the pistol she'd been given. "Is Shinji like you?"

"He has less training experience than me, but yes, Ikari-kun possesses significant skill." Rei answered, again referring to Shinji with his village name.

While Shinji might have explained it to them, Yoko still didn't get how in another world where they had 'surnames' instead of 'village tribes' but still insisted of usually addressing others through those names instead of their unique personal names.

Yoko just didn't get it. If Kamina were here, he'd-

Yoko frowned before shaking her head free of bad thoughts. "So, how are you two getting along with everybody?"

Rei looked to the side. "Ikari-kun is happier here. Back home, we were part of a taskforce against Angels, a similar enemy to Humanity. But despite Ikari-kun being an innately talented pilot, he isn't violent by nature, so every battle took a toll on him. I am unsure if he's noticed, but he smiles a lot more here."

Yoko hummed, thinking back on Simon's timid nature. "He does remind me of Simon a bit. But at least Shinji is still contributing. Simon is just wallowing about in his grief. If it wasn't for both Shinji and Nia, he'd just be spending all day sculpting and digging in his room."

At this point, the usually stoic Rei grew a slightly annoyed expression. "Yoko-san, that is needlessly cruel of you."

Yoko recoiled as she'd been slapped. "Cruel?! You-"

"You seem to be ignoring that Kamina was Simon-san's brother, and as such, is someone who Simon-san was the closest to, compared to the rest of you." Rei bluntly stated as she put down the pistol. "When someone close to another is lost, the bereaved person rarely acts rationally."

"We've all lost someone close to us." Yoko's fist clenched tight enough to almost draw blood. "Even I lost my sister Yomako to the beastmen!"

"And how long did it take you to get over her death?" Rei replied. "Yomako wasn't somebody that could be replaced, correct?"

Yoko choked before looking away, doing nothing to stop Rei as she left the target range. "Bold of you to assume that I ever got over it..."

She unclenched her hand to look at the marks in her palm, almost envisioning a softer hand tenderly holding it while the flash of a pair of cracked glasses crossed her eyes. "And horrible of me to think that Simon could do so on his own when I at least had Dayakka and the others."

After all, Simon was now the only Giha in the team.

"Iyaaaaa! Save us!"

Shinji and the others in the bridge stared at the monitor that was displaying a distress video sent from a nearby village.

"Gunmen are attacking our village!"

It wasn't that Shinji wanted to disregard that they might have genuinely needed help.

"Somebody! Somebody save us!"

It was just that the 'messengers' were very attractive women who looked way too clean and well-kept for people who lived underground.

"Ah. Gunmen are over there! Aaah!"

Now, even though only the lead women had been speaking, all three of them moved and spoke as one to point at something to the side, only to 'cower' instead of dodging aside when an avalanche of rocks crushed whatever had been transmitting the video.

Shinji stared before turning to Dayakka. "That's clearly a trap, right?"

Dayakka nodded in agreement. "Very suspicious."

Tetukan himself frowned as he tried not to fall asleep. "Who the hell would fall for that?"

"How horrible!" Kittan clenched his fist in anger. "Let's go and save them right now!"

Shinji, Dayakka and Tetukan all resisted the urge to groan.

"Well, I think I know where they are." Leeron commented as he tracked down the video's signal. "But Shinji-kun does have a point in believing this to be a trap."

"How did they even get that kind of equipment?" Kinon commented. "We didn't get any of that until we left Bachika and stole them from the beastmen and did modifications."

"And if you're strong enough to steal from a beastman in their gunmen, you're at least strong enough to escape them, right?" Shinji asked the others, which got him varying nods.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Kittan snapped from all the logical arguments. "Don't worry about small details! Are you alright with those beauties having their village destroyed while we chit-chat?!"

Kinon raised an eyebrow. "'Beauties'?"

"We can't hesitate! If Kamina were here..." Kittan trailed off, everybody except Shinji struck silent and becoming solemn.

"...ahem." Shinji cleared his throat, getting their attention. "So um, Kamina-san was the kind of person who'd spring even the most obvious of traps, if it meant that he'd be getting something out of it?"

"E-Exactly, Shinji!" Kittan quickly recovered. "And that's how the Dai-Gurren Brigade does it, kicking reason to the curb to get what we want! And even if it might be a trap, that doesn't change the possibility that they might be seriously needing our help!"

"True." Leeron commented. "The possibility is small but not nonexistent."

"And there you have it. All right, Dai-Gurren, move out!"

At Kittan's command, Dai-Gurren adjusted course, heading in the direction Leeron determined.

Finally, they came upon Merah Village, allowing Shinji to finally sight an underground village for the first time. There seemed to be five gunmen surrounding a large hole in the mountainous ground, with varying beastmen moving around the supposed entrance. "Is that it? Merah Village?"

"Yeah." Dayakka confirmed after Shinji handed him back the binoculars. "Looks like the gunmen are switching shifts. Don't shoot-"

"FIRE!" Attenborough immediately slammed on the shooting button, causing Dai-Gurren's cannons to fire immediately at the gunmen without regard.

"Why did you do that, Attenborough-san?!" Shinji freaked out, having seen one of the shells explode inside the hole. "Aaah! One of those flew inside!"

"You maniac!" Kittan throttled Attenborough. "Are you trying to kill the beauties we came to save?!"

"S-S-Sorry... m-my... bad..." Attenborough managed to choke out before Kinon pulled her brother away.

"Wait! The enemy gunmen... are retreating?!" Tetukan observed, scratching his forehead in confusion. "Already?"

Attenborough resurrected. "Yeah! Just as I planned!"

*THWACK!*

Shinji winced as Kittan's heel slammed into the back of Attenborough's head, not really feeling as sorry as he should for the trigger happy guy. "So who's going on which team?"

"Team?" Kittan and a few others repeated.

Shinji raised a confused eyebrow before clarifying. "We need two teams: One to check on the village while the other makes sure that the gunmen don't return without us knowing."

"Good idea, Shinji!" Kittan gave him a thumbs up. "Just for that, you get to come with me on the village checkup team!"

As the village checking team approached Merah, Shinji was simultaneously surprised and relieved to note that nobody seemed hurt, even if there really was a suspicious lack of males amongst them.

Leeron sighed in disappointment after noticing it himself. "What a boring village..."

"Thank you!" The lead girl who had been in the video, calling herself Mara, gratefully grasped Shinji's hand. "Thanks to you all, our village is saved!"

"You don't need to thank us that much." Shinji bashfully replied as he looked away. "The beastmen are everybody's enemy, including us. I'm more worried about that stray shell that flew into your home. Was anybody hurt?"

"Thankfully not." Mara replied as many of the female villagers mingled with the team, some of them in white hoods and veils. "The only one hurt was the nasty beastman who destroyed our transmitter in the first place."

"All according to my plan!" Attenborough declared, only for Kinon to smack his head as she was closer than Kittan.

"But still, we can't even see a single man anywhere." Kittan asked Mara, gently pushing Shinji out of the way. "Did something happen?"

"No... well... That's because..." Mara hesitated to answer, her eyes turning guilty.

"Alright, don't move!"

Shinji flinched as he suddenly felt the muzzle of a rifle pressed against the side of his head, the owner suddenly removing her hood and veil to reveal an andromorphic anteater.

At that cue, every hooded person revealed themselves to be armed beastmen as well, all of them aiming rifles of their own.

"It really was a trap!" Shinji wailed.

"No way!" Kittan gasped in shock.

"Of course, it was." Leeron sighed. "But what about the team sent after you guys?"

"That group?" One of the beastmen scoffed. "They gave us a little trouble, but that was nothing a simple EMP bomb couldn't fix. General Guame wants you all alive, after all. Of course, he probably wants to check out the females as usual."

Shinji stiffened. Ayanami had been on the other team, and if she was unconscious right now... and dressed in her form-fitting plugsuit...

"GURK!" The beastman choked as Shinji's fist slammed deep into the base of his snout and sent him flying while dropping his rifle, which was immediately picked up.

"Where are they?!" Shinji, possessed by his infrequent burst of maddened courage and unaware that his bluish-gray eyes were now gleaming red, pointed his newly acquired rifle at the beastman who looked the most important. "Where are our comrades?!"

"Don't worry about it." Hearing the ground break apart behind him, Shinji turned about just in time to see an abnormally large armadillo exhale a large burst of smoke right into his face after bursting out of the earth. "You will all be joining them soon."

Choking from the smoke, Shinji was assailed by a sudden failure of his lungs and limbs as they refused to work properly, causing him to collapse while hearing the worried shouts of his new friends.

"Take him and the others away." Guame ordered as he idly dodged Kittan's punch and exhaled another puff of colored smoke into the blond's face. Just like Shinji, Kittan fell just as easily, his body spasming. "Puny humans can never handle this stuff well. Now... let's go see how well Princess Nia's been since she left Teppelin."

"It's been a while, Guame." Nia greeted, having been left in a private room in Merah Village with the General.

"Indeed it has, Princess Nia." Guame replied, seated opposite her. "You look unafraid to be alone with me."

"Thymilph had always warned against me doing so." Nia confirmed. "...is it true, though? Did Father really abandon me?"

"...the Spiral King's life is eternal, having already lived over ten centuries." Guame replied. '"Even the mere act of procreating is just one of his hobbies to pass the time, no matter who gets born. Just like a child would throw away a toy when bored with it, that is the same for him and a doll like you. That's all there is to it."

Nia gasped sadly. She'd been trying to psyche herself to this obvious truth for a while, but to have it once again confirmed by the closest thing her father had for a friend... "A doll, you say...?"

"I heard you asked him why you were born. That was a bad thing to do. The Spiral King abhors freedom of thought, and a doll possessing such a thing is no good."

"Father... why was I born?"

"...I see. So even you've become like that as well, Nia?"

"But honestly, you are just too beautiful to just get killed off like that." Guame giggled as he looked over Nia's smooth and fair skin, no doubt imagining her clothes absent from her body. "Maybe it was good that Thymilph was rather protective of you, as I might have spoilt a morsel like you too early."

Nia shivered as Guame suddenly grabbed her chin, having suddenly closed the distance between them. "Perhaps I'll have you become the new head of Merah."

"What?"

"Why not? It's a village full of women taken and gathered from other villages for the Spiral King's usage." Guame started to drool from the thought. "Don't you realize that your mother came from here as well? Of course, as soon as you were born and weaned, she'd outlived her usefulness and was gotten rid off."

Nia shuddered as she flashed back to the ravine. "Does that mean... she was thrown down there as well? In one of those coffins... is my mother?"

"That's correct, Nia." Guame's slobbery smirk growing wider and more grotesque. "That dumping spot is just one of many that the Spiral King throws away dolls he no longer desires. And of course, you're not exempt from that."

It... stung. Nia had never felt like this before. Her heart pounded despite her body being still and cold. Her fists clenched in instinctual preparation. Her teeth became bared as her lips moved into something she knew wasn't a smile or a frown.

It was like...

'Ah... It's like how Kittan-san and Adiane felt, isn't it? How did Kittan-san describe it...?'

"An enemy is a bad person we gotta beat up!"

Nia glared at Guame with unshed tears, the roundness of her eyes 'sharpening' for an instant. "Guame, you're an irritating enemy."

Guame didn't quite see Nia's palm smacking into his face. What he did see however was the most vivid flash of green he'd only remembered seeing in the 'old days', which was sufficient enough to have him being violently hurled away hard enough to crack the wall.

Even as he slid down the wall, rather than raging or wincing from the pain, Guame instead burst out into a loud cackle. "Hehehehe! I had no idea that the Spiral King's blood ran that strongly in you! What a find! Hehehehe!"

Nia just hugged herself, feeling cold in a manner that wasn't an effect of the room temperature.

"Don't underestimate us undergrounders!"

Paying little mind to Kittan's shout as the Dai-Gurren Brigade went to even throwing themselves out the earthen walls of their cell, Rei instead focused on Ikari as he looked around carefully. "What is it, Ikari-kun?"

"If I remember the geography correctly, one of the cell walls lead directly towards the mountainside." Ikari replied. "If we could all focus on that one wall instead of wildly scrabbling at everywhere ineffectually..."

All too soon, Rei watched one person after the other desisted from striking at the walls after receiving nonstop bruises and bloody wounds for their efforts. "They're quickly getting exhausted, though."

"Even so, what's the point?" Simon's voice caught their attention, causing both Rei and Shinji to regard the despondent boy. "Dai-Gurren's been seized, nobody's capable of breaking through this bedrock and Nia got taken away by that Guame bastard. This is a loss."

Rei frowned imperceptibly before looking at Ikari for guidance, having no idea how to save somebody from depression like he did. Ikari himself sighed in understanding before sitting down before Simon.

"Simon, do you realize how much you remind me of me right now?" Ikari started to speak after a few seconds. "Just how badly you believe so little of yourself? How utterly weak and useless you feel that you are?"

Simon frowned as he stared accusingly at Ikari. "You're not weak like me, Shinji. Sure, you said that you don't like fighting, but that doesn't change the fact that just thirty minutes ago, you stole a gun right from a beastman's hands and threatened to shoot them if they didn't tell you where Rei was."

Off to the side, Kittan nodded in approval. "Yeah, that was pretty hardcore."

"When they came for Nia, I just..." Simon grimaced harder. "I caved so easily. Nia had to go, so that they didn't just shoot me for not moving out of the way fast enough. One of the few people here who didn't look down on me after Aniki died and I couldn't even move to save her-"

"Then go do so." Ikari cut Simon off. "Trust me, I know all about hating yourself for not doing something you should have. I'm a coward-"

"No. You've never been a coward, Ikari-kun." Rei asserted, getting their attention. "Depressive, yes, but never cowardly."

"We might be remembering things quite differently, Ayanami." Ikari protested. "Because I remember a lot of my cowardly moments."

"Even so, I am sure that the you of now is not a coward." Rei ascertained. "When I was injured, it was you who rushed forward to help me when I fell from that gurney despite us being complete strangers. Instead of reporting Suzuhara for punching you or evading him, you met him head-on and even forgave him when you would've been justified to hold a grudge. You even caught and held up the Eight Angel completely by yourself. Ikari-kun, the only times you were a coward were when you allowed yourself to be. Even Pilot Sohryu could admit to knowing that, despite her contrarian attitude. You're much better than you think you are, both you and Simon."

Shinji blinked at her words. 'H-Has Ayanami ever spoken this much to me? Or to anybody, even?'

Simon blinked between the two newbies of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, almost failing to say his next words. "Why do you believe in me so much? Nobody else is anymore."

By now, everybody in the cell had stopped to listen, some of them becoming guilty that Simon had actually said that out loud and they were the most likely cause for it.

"Because you should learn to believe in yourself too in order for your bonds to stay strong and whole." Rei pointed at the core drill hanging off Simon's neck. "That is why this no longer responding to you."

"And because you're the one who's always saving us whenever you think we're in trouble. Do you think we didn't notice the fact that even without Lagann, you were the first to rush towards Nia when she was in trouble from Adiane?" Ikari added as he reassuringly patted Simon's shoulder the best he could with his handcuffed hands. "I'll never know what exactly Kamina-san would've done in your shoes, but I do know what you've done so far. Maybe it's easy for me to say this since I never met your brother, but I don't want you to become Kamina. I'd prefer Simon the Digger over Kamina the Hero anyways. So, just who the hell do you think you are to not believe in yourself?"

Simon's jaw dropped, his eyes wide before closing them and grabbing his core drill tight into his hands. Then after a minute, he stood up and after looking around, walked right up to the wall were the twins were resting. "Move, please."

Before he'd even finished speaking, Jorgun and Balinbow had already leapt out of the way boisterously, allowing Simon to tentatively tap his handcuffs against the bedrock. Then he turned to the others who were now all looking at him. "This wall is the closest to the surface. Everyone, focus on this part and start hitting it with your handcuffs. Either the wall or your handcuffs will break soon enough, and that will still be progress."

It was like the command they'd all been waiting for, as they all roared in unison and attacked the wall anew. As they begun anew, Simon took his core drill and started to dig into the wall with it.

And then after about a few minutes of uninterrupted work, the core drill pulsed brightly with a viridian gleam. When Simon paused to stare at it, Rei yanked Ikari out of the way when Lagann suddenly drilled through the wall they'd been digging to land right before Simon.

"Lagann?" Simon asked in surprise, which got him a reassuring gleam from both his core drill and the mecha's closed eyes. "Let's go, Lagann!"

"General Guame!" Nia observed as one of the beastmen rushed into Dai-Gurren's bridge, saluting to Guame. "We've looked everywhere but there's no sign of the mini-type gunmen."

"Don't tell you can't find it!" Guame retorted. "That gunmen is what allowed these foolish humans to thrive in the first place! Search around properly, especially in the hangar bay!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" The beastman ran off, leaving Guame to stew in his seat while other beastmen in the bridge kept working.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Guame?" Nia questioned. "Is there an order from Father that's giving you problems?"

"That isn't something you need to know, Nia." Guame scoffed. "What is more important is that you tell me where the mini-type gunmen was hidden. This Lagann intrigues me a lot, because if Dai-Gunzan's records are correct, it may be something even beyond a Fifth-Tier classification."

Nia frowned. "Tier?"

"Ah, that's right. You wouldn't have learned about the gunmen classifications from those ignorant humans." Guame huffed. "Tiers are used to classify the many gunmen of the Human Eradication Army into their appropriate ranks. All those run-of-the-mill gunmen the humans use are mostly First-Tier gunmen, while that red one with sunglasses and that star-shaped yellow one are both Second-Tiers I believe, for those who are promoted into commanders after being fitted for future enhancements."

Nia blinked. "Gurren and King Kittan are Second-Tiers?"

"You're renaming them?" Guame sneered. "Of course, you are. Anyways, Third-Tier gunmen are our custom gunmen, outfitted with the transformation mechanism, such as my Genba. Then we have the Fourth-Tier gunmen which are the gunmen Dai-Guns, such as my Dai-Gundo."

Guame's smirk returned as he finally stated his true aim. "But the Fifth-Tier classification only belongs to a single gunmen, which is the Spiral King's Lazengann. And from these records I've been getting, the energy signature of this 'Gurren-Lagann' looks very similar to Lazengann's. So would you mind obeying my orders like a good little abandoned princess doll and telling me where Lagann is?"

"I won't do such a thing." Nia refused. "I won't betray Simon at all."

"Simon? Is that the name of it's pilot?" Guame mused, before suddenly pressing a rifle against Nia's head. "Fine, then. After you die, it'll be a simple matter to get them from the cells."

"I will not die!" Nia showed no fear to the gun almost pressed to her face. "You may consider me a useless and boring doll, but I've learned so much after coming to the surface."

"Such as?"

"The sight of cloudy and sunny skies. The feel of muddy earth. The scents of natural grass and trees. The warmth of a friend's hand. The taste of a meal eaten with children. The terror of war between former and current friends. The loss of family members. The rage of conflicting fighters and beliefs." Nia recounted all of the experiences she learned ever since Simon had woken her up from the box. "In just two days of leaving Teppelin, I've learned almost more than I ever did in my life as a princess. And I still have so much to learn, including why I was born. So, I absolutely refuse to die!"

"This isn't the kind of world where you can do the impossible by willing it enough, Nia." Guame scoffed. "Take that naivety of yours with you when you die."

*BLAM!*

The bullet was fired... but the gun had been diverted, causing Nia to notice Old Man Coco having suddenly appeared to have saved her. "Ojii-san! Why are you here?!"

"What?! Who are you?!" Guame exclaimed in shock, with the other beastmen in similar states. Nobody in the bridge had noticed him getting there at all.

Which was why nobody was prepared for Lagann to suddenly drill upwards from the floor between Nia and Guame, coincidentally shredding apart Guame's weapon as it stuck itself into the roof.

"Nia!" Being upside-down as Lagann opened up to reveal him, Simon called out to her from within, his eyes much brighter than Nia had ever seen them. "I came to save you! Get in!"

Nia gasped in shock and relief, especially when Coco somehow released her of her handcuffs and leapt down the hole through Lagann had come through. "Okay!"

Leaping forward and grabbing onto Simon, she let herself get pulled into the gunmen as Lagann continued it's upwards digging until it flew high into the air.

"Sorry for taking so long." Simon spoke as Lagann hovered high up in the sky. "I understand now. Shinji and Rei taught me. I really understand what I can do and be!"

"So do I. Thank you for saving me again, Simon." Nia happily replied, nestled between Simon's arms until she noticed his bruised hands. "Simon, move your hands off."

When Simon complied, Nia placed her hands onto the throttles before guiding him to place his own hands atop hers. "Is that better?"

"Um..." Simon's cheeks reddened as he let his fingers nestle between hers. "Y-Yes. Yeah! Let's go, Nia!"

As Guame rolled through Dai-Gurren in his ball form at high speed, he was heavily affronted at how his beastmen unit were already been subdued by the vexing humans.

And the women of Merah were helping?!

"Why do the humans have to be so troublesome and reprehensible?!" Guame complained as he finally made it to his gunmen, loading himself into the cockpit.

Down on the ground with both the Merah women and the Dai-Gurren Brigade subduing the beastmen, they all paused as they noticed the hulking appearance of an orange-armored gorilla, sporting long, insectoid antennae as it rumbled across Dai-Gurren's deck.

Third-Tier Dual Mode Gunmen

GENBA

"You humans may have escaped, but now you will all regret doing so!" Genba loudly rumbled as it snapped it's fingers, causing projectors placed across the entrances of many underground villages to display the battle to the inhabitants within. "What do you think of Genba's magnificent form? Your helpless demise to it will be broadcasted to people all over the world."

"So what, you stinkin' punk?!" Kittan loudly protested.

"Your opponent is here!" Rossiu shouted as Gurren stepped forward.

"Do you believe that a mere Second-Tier is a match of my Genba?" Guame scoffed, Genba's antennae extending to restrain Gurren's arms as it then transformed into a massive mechanical wood louse with needle-like legs, using the huge face on its back to start chomping down on Gurren. "What's wrong?"

"Shit! Gurren's getting chomped on!" Kittan panicked, prompting Yoko to start firing at it. Unfortunately, Genba was apparently made of sturdier metal similar to Seirun's, as her bullets kept bouncing off instead of at least denting it.

"There, there..." Genba had gotten in half of Gurren's body now. "Just a little more!"

Rossiu struggled to get Gurren out of Genba's grasp, desperation marking his young features.

"Rossiu!"

"Simon-san?!" Rossiu looked around for Lagann, as their comms could only work if Simon had gotten Lagann to work properly again. 'Where is he?!'

"I'm coming down from above! Prepare to combine!"

Rossiu gasped as he looked up, before an exited grin crossed his lips as he forced Gurren up into a proper position, flipping his position with Genba now below him. "Yes!"

"Damnit! Is it that mini-type gunmen?!"

From above, Lagann dropped down into Gurren's top and drilled deep.

And both Shinji and Rei witnessed a transformation unlike anything they'd ever seen. Lagann glowed powerfully with green light that washed over Gurren before revamping it's form into a larger and more advanced form, with even a helmet with a broken golden ring materialized over the unprotected head.

Seventh-Tier Assimilative Spiral Gunmen

GURREN-LAGANN

"Is that... the Gurren-Lagann...? Asuka would've been so jealous if she'd seen this."

Rei nodded in agreement to Shinji's words.

Just as he said, the top of Gurren-Lagann's head opened up to reveal Simon with a fierce glare on his face.

"Aniki is dead. He's gone..." Simon thumped his chest as the wind blew past his jacket. "But he's still living on my back and in my heart, always a part of me!"

Simon pointed up dramatically, a particularly bright patch of sunlight hitting him at that moment. "If you're gonna dig, dig to breach even the Heavens! Even if it's my own grave I'm digging, I keep going! Once I've dug my way through, that means I've won!

"What? What are you blathering about?!" Guame shouted incredulously.

"Just who the hell do you think I am?!" Simon handily ignored the armadillo beastman. "I'm Simon of Giha! I'm not Aniki, not Kamina the Hero... I'm me, Simon the Digger!"

Finishing his speech, Gurren-Lagann sported drills on both sides of it's fists before smashing them into Genba's eyes, forcing the Third-Tier to recoil and release it.

"So you're gonna do things the hard way!" Genba transformed immediately into it's humanoid form and wrapped it's massive arms around Gurren-Lagann, crushing it inwards with massive needles. "Genba Press!"

While Gurren-Lagann held strong against the attack, Simon trembled as he thought once more of his brother.

"Yours is the drill that will burst through the vault of Heaven!"

"I'm going to tell you something important now, so you better dig the wax out of those huge ears of yours, and listen! The reputation of the Gurren Brigade echoes far and wide... When they talk about its badass leader, the man of indomitable spirit and masculinity, they're talking about me! The Mighty Kamina-sama!"

"Reject common sense to make the impossible possible! That's the way the Gurren Brigade rolls, right?!"

"Don't believe in yourself! Believe in me! Believe in the Kamina who believes in you!"

"Get going, Simon! Burst through the Heavens with your drill!"

"JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!"

"You best remember this, fuzzball! Combining is all about one's fighting spirit slamming into another! It's when a man's spirit is set ablaze! The zenith combination! GURREN-LAGANN! JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!"

"Listen, Simon. Never forget. Just believe in yourself. Not in the Simon that I believe in. Not in the Kamina that you believe in. Have faith in the Simon who believes in you."

"Let's do it, Simon... Certain Kill...!"

"Certain Kill!" Simon growled as many narrow drills burst off Gurren-Lagann's form, freeing it from Genba's hold.

Yoko and Kittan gasped at the start of that familiar technique.

Gurren's giant sunglasses popped off before being flung and doubled by Gurren-Lagann to restrain Genba up in the suddenly starry sky with it's limbs spread out.

"GIGA..."

All of the drills retracted into Gurren-Lagann's body as one massive singular drill manifested through it's raised right hand.

"DRILL..."

Gurren-Lagann shot forward, the massive drill powerfully activating as it was thrusted forward at Genba.

"BRREEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAK!"

Genba was completely torn through in an instant, hovering for an instant while Gurren's sunglasses unified and returned to Gurren-Lagann's chest as it landed.

Then it exploded in a magnificent manner.

"Later... buddy..."

'Later... Aniki...' Simon released his grip on Nia's hands.

"Hey, Simon..." Nia spoke up after they were done, still holding Simon's hands. "Can you please take me... back there...?"

Shinji had seen a lot of explosions in his short career as an Evangelion Pilot, even caused a few himself, but this was the first time he'd looked at an explosion and labelled it 'awesome'.

Of course, holder of the 'strongest' explosion would always be the Sixth Angel. It would be very hard to surpass something that melted down a mountain that was just in the way from the sheer heat of it's attack.

Shinji's smile died as he shuddered from the phantom pain of being boiled alive.

"Retreat!" Guame ordered, after having managed to escape Genba just before it's destruction. As the beastmen obeyed his orders, Guame stewed in his defeat. 'The Spiral King won't be pleased...'

While Shinji grimaced as they forced open one of the older ones, Rei looked stoically into the coffin, observing the details of the long dead person within. "This looks around five weeks and two days deceased."

Rei paused before clarifying. "Judging by the lack of scratches on the inside surfaces, they were most likely kept asleep as long as the coffin stayed closed. So it was... peaceful."

"A last act of mercy from him?" Shinji frowned as he and the Dai-Gurren Brigade looked over at the many coffins in the ravine. 'I still want to know how Ayanami and I ended up here of all places with them...'

"I want to give them all a proper place under the sky." Nia solemnly stared over her many siblings and mothers. "Please."

"R-Right!"

"Where do we bury them?"

"Get the shovels!"

"Let us help."

"Huh? Mara-san? And the other girls from Merah?"

"Please, a few of us have family members here as well."

"Oh... Okay, then."

"Load them up into this carrier." Simon spoke up. "We'll take and bury them where we buried Aniki."

"...yeah, we can't leave Kamina alone in that hill." Yoko nodded along.

"Seems fitting." Kittan huffed as he crossed his arms. "That guy's gonna have so many girls hugging up his space."

It was backbreaking work, recovering all the bodies for proper burial, but after some hours, they managed to get it done by sunset.

Soon enough, they'd buried them at Kamina's burial ground after reaching it with Dai-Gurren, the lone sheathed katana with a crimson cape tied to it sticking out amidst the many spires of stone marking the graves.

"Father was my whole world to me." Nia spoke as she looked over the graves. "My beliefs, my reliance, my life, it was all for him. Until I questioned why I was born."

"...Nia, here." Simon showed an uncut emerald he'd found earlier, gently offered with his bandaged hands. "I found it while I was digging through Merah's bedrock earlier. Also, I don't fully understand, but your origin as a Spiral Princess doesn't really matter. What matters is the Nia right here. So, um, it's okay if you stay yourself."

Reassured at Nia's happy smile growing, Simon smiled back. "And I'll just be myself, too."

"Right. That's the Dai-Gurren Brigade way, after all." Kittan chuckled as he smacked Simon's back. "Right, leader?"

"Eh?!"

"Seriously?!" Shinji exclaimed.

"As I thought, Simon's really the guy Kamina would've wanted to take the helm." Kittan admitted. "And um, sorry. I don't think I treated you well back then..."

Simon shook his head. "No, it's fine. There were times when I acted rather bratty and reckless."

Simon gave his core drill a glance. "And Lagann doesn't like suicidal pilots controlling it, no matter how fighting spirit it's getting."

"So, what about you two?" Yoko turned to Shinji and Rei. "We said that you've got the option of dropping off at the next village we met, and Merah's good as any to drop you off at when we pass by it again. Are you still going to leave?"

Shinji crossed his arms in thought before looking to his partner. "What do you think, Ayanami?"

"...I don't mind either leaving or staying." Rei replied. "Just as long as I'll be with you."

While her response got some whistling from the guys, Shinji's face reddened before he made a decision and turned to Shinji. "We'll be staying then. I still don't like fighting in general, but I've also gotten attached to you all and can't just leave. Commander Pilot Simon, can Ayanami and I officially join the Dai-Gurren Brigade?"

"And me, as well?" Nia joined in.

Simon smiled widely. "Only if you and Rei start addressing each other in your actual names. But even so, welcome! All of you!"

"Yay!" Nia grabbed Shinji and Rei into a hug, which was then joined by Simon and the Adai kids, then almost everybody else.

"Glad to be working with you again, Shinji-kun." Rei smiled at Shinji, who was stunned to see her smile.

"Ah, y-you too, Aya- I mean, Rei."

KingVessel: Done, gimme your reviews!