Part 82: To The Royal Capitol, Teppelin

"God created the world in seven days," says Lordgenome, starting us off on a classy note, "and it was on the sixth that he created man."

Guame grumps that it's just like humans to declare that they were the final thing to be created. And speaking of humans, they're coming for the capitol - and not just the humans either, says Lordgenome. Cytomander asks for permission to be the one to intercept, and receives it from the King. Guame grumbles again that he's too hotheaded "a young lad of just 200." Lordgenome is aware, but he's also aware that Cytomander is up to the job of weakening the humans. After that, it will be Adiene's and Guame's turn to step in.

Guame obeys, but continues to gripe that "we stamp them out over and over, and they spring back up like weeds." Even sealing them under the soil wasn't enough to contain them. That's the Power of Spiral - "and they don't even realize it'll be they're own undoing." Lordgenome agrees that their blissful ignorance gives them strength, but he's about to stamp them down so they can never spin again.



This is what Lordgenome was talking about - the Imperium is coming here too. Actually, they're already here, skirmishing with the beastmen up north. It would be nice if we could just watch the Imperium and Lordgenome's army duke it out, but militaries all over the planet are having to deal with those moonbots. Like the beastmen, it seems that those creatures want to wipe humanity off the Earth, and the other half of GOONZ is heading to the moon itself to confront their commander.

That doesn't mean it's going to be easy for us, either. All the beastmen deployed all over the world are returning to the Dark Continent, ready to defend the capitol from our siege. Simon, on the other hand, is pleased. "We're here to defeat the beastmen once and for all. If they're all in one place, it'll be easier to take them all down."

Well, Simon knows it wasn't quite as good as his bro's speeches, but Ryoma, Renton, Jiron, and even Kitan have to admit he's doing a good job as leader. In fact, Shirota says that he and Zero have decided to put Simon himself in command of this operation. He knows the beastmen best, and morale-wise, there's no better leader to be found.



Simon's up to the task, and Crowe's impressed at his progress. "Not long ago, it would have been more like, 'I can't do it! Mr. Shirota, you or Zero do it!'" It's a pretty good impression, but even that doesn't bother Simon anymore. And he knows that they're really on his side. We'll have to be on his side; the beastmen will try to destroy us, Imperium or no. "Why? Because we're stronger than the Imperium."

He's even got intelligence. The beastman capitol is called Teppelin, the summit, but to get there, we'll have to go through their barricade on the North Canandoma Plateau. Once we break through their last line of defense, we'll be on our way...


Chapter 42: To The Royal Capitol, Teppelin
(Dark Continent route)



Cytomander, of course, is already waiting for us in his Dai-Gan-Ten and his army of Katras.



I had just enough room to fit in everyone with a speaking role (unfortunately, this includes Renton), plus Karen. Anyway, Simon's strategy is to blow a hole in the enemy formation that we can rush through. With Gurren-Lagann, that might just work. But Zero's still coming to give tactical advice.



Despite the mission telling me to crush the enemy army, Simon's orders to focus on Cytomander's Ganship are a terribly good idea. The stage needs to be finished in six rounds, but there's a lot more coming than what you see here.



Sorry, here. This is the starting scenario. Like I said, we're going to move straight in for that Ten.



With Simon drilling through enemies, it takes less than a turn - a solid clue that there's a lot going on in this stage, if it wasn't obvious.




No problem.



We do have a lot to get through, though, so I'm going to skip to the part early in turn 2 where the Dai-Gan-Ten goes down...



And Cytomander promptly bails, only to return in his robot, the Shuzack, which we will also have to take down.



Blegh, but also not very strong.




Still turn 2, Cytomander's down again, and this time he drops a Vernier.



Suddenly, we're surrounded by three ship-class Ganmen, including what looks like a new version of the Dai-Gan-Zan - with Viral and the helm, itching to destroy us and reclaim the honor he stained by escaping when his commander Thymilf fell.



Alongside Adiene in the Kai and Guame in the Do, both laying down their lives to keep us from reaching their King - and to end Nia, as well.



So this is not a great situation, especially if we have to divide our forces to take down all those ships. But for now, I'm out of turns.



This is where I messed up. All those Ganmen riders have Offensive Support, too, so it's going to be hard not to lose Jiron. More generally, I'm on an unintentional self-imposed challenge by bringing along underleveled pilots just so they can have a shot at the beastmen.



Fortunately, the beastmen start too far away to mount a proper assault, and I'm safe to regroup.



Here, I wanted to show the new Dai-Gan-Zandu in all its glory, but also to show that the ships aren't really that much stronger. On the other hand, all the Ganmen they've got all over are going to be incredibly annoying.



Against my better judgment, I'm going to take a turn to clean those out a bit while we let those ships (those slow, slow ships) come to us.




Turn 4: Boil Adiene...



And damn it Viral what are you doing all the way over there.

(Trying to get to Gurren-Lagann, most likely.)





Fine, I'll just put a hole in Guame in the meantime.



Guame what are you doing.





RIP Guame.



And oh nice to see you join the party, Viral.






Jerk.

It's turn 5, but the chapter's not done yet...



Because the remaining beastmen generals have yet to use their final trump card.

Combine!
Do-Ten-Kai-Zan!
Diiiiieeeee!



I don't like the way this is headed, and Adiene and Guame have even left Viral in charge of the combined ship to deploy in their own robots, the Seirune and the Genbar.



Oh, and the Great Axion is here, too. Viral plans to take them all out at once, but...



Gaioh lets out a mighty roar that seems to shake the whole land, freezing everyone who hears it in place. He declares that he's only here to watch the fight, not to participate. "Though I'll fight you if you still want to," he says, grinning savagely. No one does.

So he leaves, probably to find a better vantage, and the whole battlefield relaxes. Except, Guame only seems more petrified.

He's... trying to remember... his mission... b-but... the whole universe...
The Imperium's watching just nearby. Even if we can beat the beastmen...
If they move in...
It's all over... everything we've worked for...
Oh, come on!



Why do we care about people who aren't even here?
Simon...
We've gotta keep digging through the walls in front of us, bit by bit!
If there's another wall behind that one, we'll dig through that one too!
And someday... someday we'll break through and see the sky!
Break through...
To the sky!
Simon!
Can we do it?
Of course we can! Who do you think I... we are?
All right! Let's do this!
Forget about what comes after! Let's crush the enemy we're fighting now!
Whoooah! Let's goooooo!
Brace yourselves, beastmen. We're not going to break.



Woooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!



They... they've turned their fear into strength!
Simon's drill will pierce through the heavens!
Humans may be small, but they... they have tremendous hearts!
Hearts...!
Turn a drill once and it goes forward. Turn it a second time and it goes again! Turn it forever and we can go anywhere!
Our hearts will spin the drills that can drill through the impossible!
Here! We! Gooooooooooo!



The Do-Ten-Kai-Zan isn't even the final boss of this split, but it is pretty impressive.



And it has a MAP attack! Scary.

(I've only used one Valor this whole chapter, on the Dai-Gan-Zandu.)

Hey, beastmen! I know you know something about old man Saotome!
Perfect! I'll knock you all out of my way and ask your boss myself!





The sun is meant to shine on all life, beastmen!
But if you drive the humans underground and deny it to them, you don't deserve it yourself!
Daitarn 3 and Banjou Haran will fight to bring the sunlight to all!






We were forced by Siberian Railroads to live our lives in the icy snow...
So I won't let anyone take anyone else's freedom again!
And I'll fight with all I've got if you keep taking lives!








Our lives are precious, okay? We're not going to sit and let you take them from us!
The Walker Gallier's a man! It stands up to jerks like you!




If that's all you've got, we can handle it!
We're on our way and you can't stop us!






So you're the four generals of the Spiral King? Well, we're PR Division 2 of 21st Century Security!
Is that supposed to scare them?
It shows we have pride just like they do! We're not going to let them dampen our spirit!




Have I mentioned that Gurren-Lagann runs down on energy really quickly?

We're going to the capitol of Teppelin! We'll crush our way through anything in our way!
My drill's going to pierce the heavens! Just like it's been since we left Jeeha... since Bro first put his faith in me!










Still haven't used any more Valors.



Guame's Genbar drops an E Carbon Armor.

L-Lordgenome! We haven't much time! This world is...
Was that beastman saying something?
We'll find out when we meet the Spiral King.
I will get there, Guame. I will see my father and learn the truth.



Oh, and Simon learns one of the ultimate Spirits in the game: Courage, which. Well.



For just 60 SP, it gives Simon Accel, Strike, Invincible, Valor, Spirit, and Fury. Yeah, at once. That's 3 squares of movement, 10 Will, one attack with doubled damage that tears through defenses, one attack fully soaked, and a turn of guaranteed hits.

It's pretty good. Valor and almost any one of those other Spirits would be 60 SP on their own.








Ships with Alert are very silly, and it's a crime that Dayakka, an actual member of the Great Gurren Gang, wasn't given his own lines here.





Anyway, it's a good start on Adiene.





I forgot Kouji's actual turn. Those supports are intense.



And I appear to have an unused unit. Who-




Oh, right. Fine.

How can you deny anyone their right to live? Who would let you do that?
Renton...
I'll fight anyone who tries! I'm done with people who try to steal other peoples' lives for themselves!







Well, this is what this was for.



Heero's survived this long on Prevail (he has seven natural levels of it!). Let's see if it keeps up.

Locked on. Target: Beastman commander.
We will neutralize the final obstacles and continue.



Perfect!






Prevail is actually really good.







I thought Viral would use his MAP. Weirdo.






That's what you get.

You're tyrants, just like the Britannian Union!
I reject your yoke! And I will destroy you in the name of humanity!





You guys talk, and all I hear is greed and oppression!
And you think you're better than humans? Then watch us take you down!







T-Thymilf... I'm sorry! Gwaaaaaahhh!
Adiene... these are the same humans you referred to as trash.
All of us who live must live with all our might. You didn't realize that. You were destined to fall.



Kei gets a Radar.



Which brings us, on the final turn, to Viral and just a couple more things to get through.

Outta my way! We don't care about you, just your king!
And you don't want to try to stop us from getting to his big fancy castle!





Sorry, he's clean out of energy.

Just so you know, we're not trying to beat you up just 'cause you're beastmen!
I really want to be happy with everybody, okay?
But you're attacking humans, so you're gonna have to face Trider and me!





I'm afraid I cannot respect your refusal to coexist with humanity.
It's hardly even worth consideration. I'm compelled to meet force with force.
Just know that it's you who have forced me to make use of the Big O!








Looks like it's gotta be either the humans or the beastmen...
If only you guys coulda been like our Nia, it wouldn't have to be this way.





(Valor.)







Well, this was disappointing.









This could only end one way,



And what the Do-Ten-Kai-Zan, master of the three domains and four directions, drops is, appropriately, an A-Adapter.

Not yet... I can't die... until I destroy Kamina...



He's still trying to fight?
Kamina, I'm not done yet! Come out and face me, Kaminaaaaaaaa!
Bro is...
Bro is dead!
What?
In... in the battle with Thymilf? Kamina... died?!
You mean, I lost to you... to a child!
...
What's your name, child?
Simon!
Hear me, Simon! If you have inherited Kamina's will to pilot Gurren-Lagann...
Then I will destroy you!



Gh...
He's so intense!
But we're not done yet! My... and Bro's Gurren-Lagann won't go down so easy!
Come on, Gurren-Lagann! If there's any heart in you, give me something!



Wooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
All units, follow Simon!
Yeah!
Under the banner of the Great Gurren Gang!
!
Viral! This is our spirit... the spirit of the Great Gurren Gang!



With this kind of power... with all these friends at our side, under the flag Kamina left, we have nothing to fear.



Certainly not a few leftover Cannon Gannons.



And it's still turn 6. We're well on our way to Teppelin.

But what of the Imperium? Zero says wherever they are, they're out of radar range. They really are picking the best seats to watch us like we're gladiators.

"Then let's show them," says Simon. "How we win."



Viral reports the deaths in battle of Adiene, Guame, and Cytomander - with great shame, since he is again the lone survivor. But he had to escape, even he was only going to be executed, for he had to know one thing before he died. "Are humans truly inferior to beastmen? What are they?"

Lordgenome is silent for a moment. Then, "Beastmen are imperfect creatures." They live long, much longer than humans, but their bodies can only repair themselves in a deathlike sleep from which they mustn't be awakened lest every cell within them collapse. They exist in a sort of stasis, never evolving.

Viral asks why the Spiral King would create such creatures. In turn, Lordgenome asks him if he really wants to know what humans are - what sets them apart. Of course Viral does. Well, then Lordgenome's guest will have to wait.

Guest?



Oh. Guest. Fair enough, says Gaioh - he did barge into his host's castle. He's come to find his lost memories...



This is not a good sign.