Gurren Lagann: Second Gear

Chapter 21: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

"Travelers?"

"Ya!" I answered him in the fakest made-up foreign accent I could think of on the spot. The two Mo-Shogun standing guard at the city entrance looked at each other, then back at me, their metal faces unchanged but I could tell that they were confused.

"Travelers from where?" The left one asked me.

"Ve come from far far away!" I answered, pointing towards the south. "Three cities zat way! Much fighting and disagreement has started in home village, so we leave and journey here to grand Rossiu City, ya?" I switched my expression to appear more apologetic and innocent. "Are ve not velcome here?"

"Well, we don't really have a rule against travelers," the right Gunman started, "but it is still unusual. Where did you three say you were from again?"

"Small village." I pointed south. "Three cities ova zat way! It much small, may miss it."

The looked at each other. "She must be talking about Einzer nest that was created a couple of weeks back. The humans tried to fight back. It didn't end well."

I nodded quickly. "Yes yes! Zat one!"

"Alright, we'll let you three in. But there are rules to this city now. I'm sure you'll catch up on them. If you don't we kill you. Understand?"

I faked a smile, screaming on the inside. "Yes yes! Zank you for protection big robot! I am in debt of you!" They parted, the massive wooden door opening, revealing the stone cold city interior. I grabbed our duffle bag, walking through the gate, Sylvia and Dane following close behind, careful not to look suspicious. When we were safe inside, the gates closed behind us with an eerie creak, sealing us in.

Sylvia glared at me, looking as if she was about to stab me through my forehead. "Was the accent really necessary?"

I shrugged, giggling. "Hey, I had to get them to buy what we were selling, which was grade A bullshit. Seems like they bought it."

"Uh guys?" Dane got our attention, already facing the city. "You need to see just how horror movie this place looks up close."

We turned around, my jaw instantly dropping. We just stepped through a gate, but it felt like we just stepped back in time. Now before us stood a full 360 degree view of a totally monochrome city. The buildings were solid black, blank and white borders to show windows and doorways sticking out like a sore thumb. The road was grey with a white line to divide into two lanes, people walking either towards us or away from us. Speaking of the people, they were the worst of all. They were dressed similar to us, sporting black, white, and grey, hair following the same colors, their expressions having as much emotion as the city itself. Even florescent signs that were flashing to show directions and signalling that shops and stores were open had appeared to be drained of their color, just shooting out blinding white or grey light when they lit up. This was...this was horrible. (I feel like a little bit of me just died. inside.)

"I feel like we're watching one of my mom's old movies." Sylvia stated.

I nodded, agreeing. "Or more like one of Grandma Yoko's television shows."

"We should probably move out of the way." Dane directed us, gesturing over to the sidewalk. "We don't wanna be standing in the middle of the road. We might attract attention that way." Sylvia and I looked at each other, knowing Dane was right. We made our way over to the sidewalk, our outfits blending in with the building. We started walking, heading for the factory, looking around to make sure no one was following us.

"Now that we're in, what's step two 'captain?" Sylvia asked me, holding up air quotes.

"Well, we're heading for the Adal Building of course." I answered her, keeping my voice low.

"And then what?"

"...I'll answer when we get there."

"As long as your plan includes dodging those Sawzorthn, Mo-Shoguns, and the occasional Twinboekun, we should be fine."

I turned my head back a bit, an eyebrow raised. "Viral said there were Twinboekun here?"

"He did before you two arrived. I guess he forgot to mention it again."

I shrugged it off. I didn't have a reason not to believe her. "If so, we're gonna have to be on our extra guard. I mean, I'm sure that they'll only pull them out if they really need it. If we lay low, we have nothing to worry about."

Sylvia looked around, briefly parting from the group to pick up a flyer that was floating along the ground. "Even if we were found out," she started saying, holding up the flyer for me to read, "looks like they've got much bigger things they're going after." The flyer really stood out, seeing that it was a bright yellow compared to everything else here. I took it from her, reading it over. The title on the top said ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ in big bold, the subtitle reading ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴏʀ ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ ʙʏ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ sᴘɪʀᴀʟs. Underneath on the left was a picture of a boy, looking a bit older than me, his skin resembling the same white hue as snow. He was staring at the camera, making a face that consisted of sticking his tongue out and pulling down the bottom of this left crimson eye. His right one was covered up by long dirty blonde hair, shaggy and untamed. On the right was a picture of a Gunman in action, one that I had never seen before, it had the head of a rabbit, long white ears sloping over the back of its head, the brown tips reaching down to its smooth round ball of a tail. Unlike every Gunman we had, this one appeared to be wearing a clothes-like armor, a bright red metallic vest covering the sides and back of its long humanoid white body. Its legs were blue, resembling jeans, a golden belt around his waist sporting blue jewels and the feet appearing to be large grey sneakers. The one feature that really stood out to me were the fist. They were hands curled into their five-finger face punch position, the knuckles looking to be just seconds from fully engulfing themselves in flames. Under the picture,  I read the name.

Usagiboekun.

This Gunman looked like a fighter, as did its pilot to the left. I handed the flyer to Sylvia, filled with newfound determination.

"What's with the smile?" Sylvia asked me, left eyebrow raised.

"Nothing important." I replied, marching on. "Just thinking about how we could add this guy to our team. That's all."

"You're not serious."

"But I am my soldier." I corrected her. "The Dark Spirals means business, so if this guy is wanted by them then he has to be seen as a threat to them, correct? Therefore, if we find him first, he shall be made a member of our team."

"If you say so." 

"We should really get off the street." Dane said aloud, looking around. "I think people are starting to suspect us."

I looked around, seeing a few eyes staring at us. "Good point. I see an inn up ahead. We can duck into there for a bit."