Gurren Lagann: Second Gear

Chapter 2: The Beast of a Friend

        It was almost 1:30 when I arrived at the old factory where Viral lives. He lives on the outskirts of town, just above the south edge of the crater that the town is in. I don't know why he wants to live all the way up here. I've known the guy since I was born and I've never figured it out. I mean, he's twenty years old (or at least he looks like it).  Why does he live by himself anyway? I've never had the nerve to ask him.

        I walked up to the front gate (yes, it was litterally a gate) and I pressed the button next to it. It made a rusty buzzing sound for a second before the intercom above it turned on.

        "Password?" a somewhat stern voice spoke to me.

        "All hail Kamina City!" I announced, saluting.

        "Hey Inoichi! I'm in the workshop. I'll be right there!" The intercom cut off. Five minutes passed before Viral arrived. He gave me this really warm smile as he turned a lever, allowing the gate to lift up just enough for me to walk under it. When I cross over to the othere side, the gate dropped behind me and Viral high fived me as we walked back into the factory.

        "I'm glad you made it." He stated with a grin. I liked seeing him happy. He has these spiked teeth in his mouth that look cool and mysterious. Viral told me that he was something called a Beastman and that's why he has those teeth, those cat-like eyes, and those stupedious hand. They used to have claws, but Viral cut them down because he said that he wanted to feel more human. I've never seen anyone else like Viral, so I guess they're somewhere else.

        "I'm glad I could be here to." I replied. "Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. Grandmother wanted to take the day off so that we could spend some time together. It's been hard for her ever since grandpa passed away."

        Viral patted my back. "I'm know kid. I'm sorry that happened. Turst me when I say that I know how it feels to lose someone close to you."

        I looked up at him. He was smiling at me with assurence that everything was going to be just fine. "So, are we going to work on Enkidudu today? I found some gears and scrap metal around town." I slinged my bag strap from over my shoulder as we walking into the factory. I walked up to the a white sheet that towered over me. It coverd Enkidudu underneth it. I've never seen what it looked like, but it's pretty big. Viral's been working on it for as long as I know him, always repairing it "back to its amazing form." I've been helping him repair it everyday after grandmother leave.

        "Of course we're working on him today." Viral answered (apparently Enkidudu has a gender.) I couldn't help but smile a bit. Like I said, I'm not like most girls. I like to open things up and see how they work, machines being one of them. Enkidudu is a machine according to Viral, and the mechanics on the inside of his arm are like nothing I've ever seen before.

        Viral climbed  up the gigantic ladder that led all the way up to Enkidudu's arm. I put my bag down on a table next to the ladder, pickup the dirty yellow toolbox and hooking it to my belt before I climbed up after him. It was a pretty far climb upward, but I'm not afraid of heights. At least, I'm not botherd by this height. I made it up to the top, unhooking the tool box from my belt. Viral climbed up onto the upper part of Enkidudu's arm, lowering his googles to cover his eyes.

        "Why don't you work on his hand today? It need a bit of fixing up." Viral asked, taking out his blow torch.

        "Will do!" I jumped onto Enkidudu's arm, sliding all down to his and stopping on a small platform just above its palm. The hand was opened up, revealing a metalic skeletonal frame inside. There were gears, screws, and other metal fragments surrounding it. But it seemed a bit loose. I set my toolbox on the floor, taking out my own blowtorch and a wrench. I attached the harness to my belt, climbing down to the hand and crouching down above the open palm. 

        After a few hours of repairing his hand, I finally welded on the copper plating, sealing up the hand. I wiped the sweat off of my brow, I climbed back up onto the platform as Viral was coming down the ladder. He looked as if he'd been working hard as well.

        "Is someone all done fixing Enkidudu's hand?" He asked, smiling at me.

        "Yeah I am." I replied, grinning back. "What the hell did you do to this thing anyway?"

        "Let's just say that I've had to protect myself a few times over the years." He climbed down the ladder, me following right behind him. I hopped off the bottom step, settled down my tool box and picked up my bag again, slinging the strap over my shoulder. It looked out the open front door of the factory. The sun was starting to set over the horizon, releasing a orange hue over the whole sky. I couldn't help but stare for a second at the sheer beauty of the sunset.

        "It's getting late kid." Viral stated, waking me up from my trance. "Don't you think you better head home before that grandmother of your's gets home?"

        Reality just had to smake me in the face like that. "Crap!" I shouted. "I'm gonna be late!"

        "Calm down, calm down. Just take the same tunnel you took to climb up here. Once you get down back into the crater, take the express train downtown. I'm pretty sure you'll be home in less than five minutes once you get off."

        I smiled up at him. "Thanks Viral. You're always there for me!" I fist bumped him a goodbye and ran out of the factory, went under the gate and made my way over to the tunnel. Before I knew it, I was back in Kamina City and on the express train home.