Gurren Lagann: Second Gear

Chapter 1: The Scavenger

I am a pure disappointment to every girl in Kamina City. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing towards me. I'm saying that it's a statement that all those bitches can't seem to drown out. You look at me and you look at ninety-nine percent of the female population of teenage girls and you'll see some major differences. They like to keep their hair short. I like mine to be the long and knotty mess that reaches down to my thighs. They all like to keep in tone with "the fashion generation" whereas I just like to wear anything that makes me feel nice (which is pretty much the same thing everyday). They've all been blessed with racks and asses.  Yet, there are sheets of paper that put me to shame. What can I say? I didn't exactly get the same blessed body that my grandmother Yoko had when she was my age.

Welp, that's life for ya. My friends (yes, I have friends) call me Inoichi The Scavenger. I have this name because I like to scavenge parts together to make things. Like, tiny mechanical objects. People thing it's weird, but I adore it, so I don't care what they think. I live in Kamina City. It was named after the great Kamina, who was said to, and I quote from the statue in the middle of the park, "Be so manly that the heaven's themselves couldn't take it." Yeah, I don't really believe it either. My grandmother told me stories about our former supreme commander Simon and how he save the world twice using this gunman that he liked to call Gurren Lagann. She said that he could assume a god-like form that could break through the heaven's themselves and defeat any known evil. He started out like me and made his way to the top.

        Yet, here I am, spending day in and day out wandering the streets, searching for anything that I can make into my next greatest invention. Grandmother is always traveling around the city, so I only get to see her in the mornings. After she leaves, I leave and explore the city from sunrise until sun-

        "Hey look!" A girl exclaimed just a few feet from me. "It's that dirty scavenger I was telling you about!" I turned around to see Sylvia behind me with a group of her bitchy friends. She pointed at me, laughing. The other's laughed as well, all pointing and bearing their shiny white teeth.

        "Shut up Sylvia!" I shouted back, brushing my black hair to the side of my forehead. "I'd rather be dirty instead of having to hang out with your pampered ass!" Sylvia merely laughed at me.

        "Once a filthy rat, always I filthy rat if I say so myself." She snapped her fingers. "Come on guys. Let's leave this vermet with her fleas." I watched as they turned the corner and walked away. I couldn't help myself from scratching my head, making sure that I didn't have any fleas. I don't understand why they were so mean to me, and I understand why. I mean, when I was 12 and we were in middle school, Sylvia and I were the best of friends. But ever since I turned 16 and high school came around, she's been a bitch to me at any opportunity she gets! It just pisses me off!

         Eh, I don't have time to deal with this. It's almost noon and I have to be on the other side of the city. I have a friend of mine to me. After tightening the strap on my messenger bag, I rushed to catched the next train to the other side of town. I have to go meet Viral and get back home before Grandmother Yoko comes back as sundown.