Freedom- A Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Fan Fiction

Chapter One- Is There Freedom Out There Somewhere?

Deep underground, there lies a small village, naive to all other life outside of the many caverns and layers of rock, apart from a few rumors here and there. Only the bravest venture into the assorted caves and caverns dug years before by ancient drills, and only then to find resources and food. One such brave soul was a young girl named Nia, and with her, we start this story.

“This is the story of a woman that has yet to realize her destiny”

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Clothed in shadow, she darts past sleeping villagers toward the smallest, deepest cave tunnel in the underground village. Rumors have been made of some fearsome statue deep within, which holds the secrets to worlds beyond the small, dank pit of a village they call home. Her curiosity was piqued, though it was against the rules to go into the caves. Shrugging on a small, plain pink jacket torn at the sleeve, she walks to the mouth of the cave and peers in. She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath, taking her first step into the darkness, her breathing coming out in short puffs. Her footstep echoes for many yards through the void, and she shivers

“Should I go further?” She whispers, then opens her eyes, determination sparking in the star-shaped pupils. “Yes…”

She steps further, then is swallowed by the inky darkness.

~~~

The echo of “yes…” follows Nia through the tunnels for a couple meters into, murmuring back to their owner. The small lights of the village as soon left behind and the darkness swallowed Nia’s frame. All that was left was the rhytmic sound of her steps, and the cold dampness of the tunnel. Further she would reach the holes dug by the villager’s diggers, and maybe she could crawl into one….Or go further and to the side to the tunnel’s that lead deeper in the earth. It was still a fairly long walk, so she had time to decide. Did she bring anything?~

Not having brought anything but herself and her determination, Nia walked with vigor toward the tunnels. As she approached, she ran her fingers along the walls and marveled at the smooth, cool touch of the stone. Her eyes searched the darkness in vain, and she almost lost her reserve and turned back after about twenty minutes of solid rock wall, but then the solid wall under her fingers disappeared and she stumbled to the side, having been leaning that way. The air shifted a bit and she could tell she was next to more tunnels. Blinded by darkness and unsure of anything else, she turned toward the tunnel and climbed into the hole, then she began to crawl blindly, her breathing coming faster in slight claustrophobia. She’d wished she’d brought a torch, but then she realized she couldn’t have crawled with it anyway. Steeling her growing nerves, she pressed on. ~~~

Nia’s clothes and skin imediately full of mud and dirt as she crawled through the hole. As she moved forward, she realized how cold the ground really was as it slowly drained some heat from her. The silence was no more, now the air was full of the sounds of her crawling and her own breathing in the closed off space. She could swear she also could hear some sound of dirt falling in small quantities from the top of the hole, but not being able to see a thing, it was most likely only her imagination.

What was not, however, was the small shifting sound she heard coming ahead from the tunnel. Scratching noises, sniffing, something moving ahead.~

Nia’s body grew colder and more cramped by the second, and she accidently bumped her head more than once. “Tsk.” Her teeth gritted, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath, calming herself down. “It shouldn’t be this hard...to find freedom.” She whispered quietly, her breath catching. Then she paused, her body stiffening, as she heard something up ahead. She fought to keep her breathing under control as fear overcame her. If something were to attack her, she’d have no way of fleeing in time. She had no room to turn around, and crawling backwards when your heart rate is racing and air is in short supply isn’t exactly easy. What had she gotten herself into? Her so-called friends had warned her countless times against venturing into the caves, but she just couldn’t stand being stuck in the little village anymore. She knew there was a greater world out there. There just had to be….So she steeled herself against the oncoming obstacle and closed her eyes (she couldn’t see anyway) and pressed onward. ~

As Nia proceeded, this time with her eyes closed (Or were they really? The darkness didn’t change at all) the tunnel shifted a bit more, and a little more dirt fell from the ceiling into her head. The rustling soung ahead became stronger and louder, and after only a few seconds she could feel she was about to hit something. And then something wet go in her face.

If Nia were to open her eyes, she’d not as muc see but have the idea of the shape of a small baby pig mole poking on her face, licking her nose with curiosity. More dirt fell from the ceiling of the tunnel. Either the tunnel wasn’t very well dug or there was something else moving up, possibly more pig moles

As those things happened, Nia heard a faint echo coming from the back of the tunnel. She couldn’t quite make out what was it, but the sound was there without a doubt~

The pig mole caught her completely off guard, and Nia screamed, the scream echoing through both ends of the tunnel, and in her surprise Nia smacked her head on the hard rock wall of the tunnel, and with a small yelp of pain, all went black. ~

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Back at the main cave before the tunnels, another set of steps was making its way through the darkness. This owner of the steps, however, was carrying a small hand-lantern with a bright flame shining ahead and reflecting on her red hair. Yoko clicked her tongue and rubbed one eye with her free hand, following the very small footprints left by Nia.

“I swear, that girl….” Yoko sighed, keeping the pace to the tunnels. She reached the wall full of holes and narrowed her eyes, unsure of which hole Nia had crawled in. Most were also big enough for her, but without a digger it would be a problem getting in and out. As Yoko considered the options, she saw a small strand of dirt fall from the ceiling and break on the ground with a “pop”.

“Nia!” Yoko called out into the tunnels, approaching her mouth to the entrances to make sure the echo would go there. “Nia, are you there? Get out, there might be a…”

Yoko’s last word was deafened by a rumbling sound; It wasn’t particularly loud, but it was enough to make the words die in her throat. The red hair woman looked back to the ceiling, seeing more and more pieces of dirt falling from the ceiling as the sound continued.

“D***....” Yoko murmured, watching the dirt fall. It could be anywhere from just a small tremor to a full out earthquake that hadn’t yet reached its peak. Yoko looked at the holes with a new sense of urgency, touching the wall and approaching the ear to the openings to try and get any sound out of one of them, to try and find which one contained Nia.

“Nia!” Yoko called again into a tunnel. She heard her own echo for a few seconds, until a variation in the sound hit her. Urgently, Yoko placed down her lantern and started to crawl into the hole after the younger girl, murmuring some annoyances about another ruined night of sleep.

And then, the rumbling got stronger. Yoko’s eyes widened as she felt the tunnel shake, and before anything could be done, the ground cracked and vanished, throwing her, and Nia, much further into the darkness.~

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As Nia finaly came back to her senses, she was laying with her back to the ground. She had much more space to move now, but also everything hurt - Her back, her legs, her arms and her chest whenever she breathed. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she had fallen, but the last thing she remembered was that she was in a digging hole. The place where she was right now was an even deeper cave, with more open space. On the walls, some weird kind of mushroom gave off a bluish white light, with some green on it, liting up the place just a bit. But the question was….Where was the place?~

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