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Somewhere on the planet Earth, somewhere in the eastern hemisphere, somewhere on the continent of Razen, somewhere three-quarters of a mile off the ground, something exploded.
It wasn't a particularly impressive explosion, nor was it all that lethal to anything with anything resembling armor, but it was enough to knock its' target out of the sky. Three-quarters of a mile below, Gurren-Lagann hit the ground hard and skipped across the landscape--by some miracle or act of spiral power not losing any critical parts or suffering severe damage from either the fall or the subsequent trip across the planet's surface--before coming to rest belly down in the shadow of a rock outcropping.
In Gurren's cockpit, Yoko Ritona groaned miserably and tried to sit up, only to fail when it became apparent that she was no longer sitting in her seat, but had been jostled into one of the "top" corners of the cockpit and was lying on part of the access hatch. Cursing fluently at whatever it was that had hit them, Yoko extracted herself from the corner and slipped back into her seat, bringing up her vidlink with Lagann.
"Simon? Are you alright?"
An answer came immediately, as Simon's vidlink connected to Gurren's viewscreen, showing the young pilot slightly battered and nursing a badly bruised cheek, but otherwise unharmed.
"I'm fine Yoko, what's your situation?"
"A little banged up, but mostly okay. Any idea what hit us?"
"Some kind of rocket, I think. I didn't get a good look at it, I was running search patterns for ganmen patrols, but a guided missile would have set off warnings up here."
"Well never mind what it was for now, we've definitely got enemies in the area," Yoko replied, slipping her arms into Gurren's control harnesses and starting to push the massive mech back up onto its' feet.
"Just one, actually."
Yoko froze, and several feet directly over her, Simon sucked in a breath through his teeth as Lagann's viewscreen came level with the rock face in front of them... or rather, what was sitting on it.
At first glance it appeared to be nothing more than an oddly-shaped part of the cliff face, as night was beginning to fall and the shadow of the mountain was deep and black, and the behemoth before them was colored almost completely black, blending in well against the mountain. Only three features gave away that the thing before them was not in fact a part of the mountain. First were the two large yellow disks upon the thing's armor, located several meters apart from each other and slightly below Lagann's eye level. The second feature were the two red eyes that glared out of the shadows, boring through Lagann's vidscreen directly into Simon's eyes. Simon almost flinched at that steady gaze, inexplicably feeling as though he were being judged.
But the third and final indicator was the object which lay between Gurren-Lagann and the mysterious goliath; a massive sword with a curved blade, like the one Kamina had once wielded but comparatively shorter. This blade was stuck into the ground before the black giant, which--now that Simon's eyes had adjusted to the lack of light--had a humanoid shape and was sitting upon a shelf of rock jutting out from the side of the mountain with all the regality of a king sitting on his throne. For one horrible moment, the thought crossed Simon's mind that they had found the Helix King prematurely, then banished the thought from his mind. If they had found the reclusive king beyond the walls of Teppelin City, they would defeat him no matter what the circumstances.
"Who are you and how did you access our comms unit?" Yoko demanded, putting up a brave front despite being slightly rattled by their adversary's sudden appearance.
"Is that really your highest concern when an enemy stands before you?" the giant replied, sounding faintly disappointed. "As to who I am... that depends."
"Depends? On what?" Simon asked.
"On which way you intend to go, of course." The giant raised one massive hand and pointed west, indicating the direction Gurren-Lagann had come from. "If you intend to go that way, then I am just an old man watching the road to Teppelin City." Then he pointed east, towards Teppelin City. "But if you intend to go that way, then I am your next adversary. No humans may pass this way without facing me, and no human who has faced me has ever lived to speak of it. Knowing this, children, do you still wish to pass?"
Simon's answer was immediate. "We do. We have sacrificed a great deal to get this far, and we can't turn back now. No matter what stands in our paths, we'll pierce through it without fail."
There was silence for a long moment, then the giant laughed good-naturedly.
"Good spirit, boy. I've heard much of your little band of rebels, but I wanted to know what kind of man could defeat Thymilph, Cytomander and Adiane. You don't disappoint, lad... now let's see if you've the skills needed to back up your will!"
With a sudden movement, the giant rose from its' seat and seized the sword before it. At Yoko's direction, Gurren-Lagann leapt back a distance, getting out of the giant's immediate reach as it drew the sword from the ground. Fully erect, it stood almost twice Gurren-Lagann's height, but Simon was unperturbed. He'd conquered larger enemies than this before.
But then the giant's sword unfolded, stretching and expanding until it had transformed from a Ganmen-sized katana into a massive claymore nearly three times as long as the giant was tall and many meters across besides, and Simon realized with faint apprehension that he'd never faced an enemy with such a massive weapon before.
"I would have your names to remember you by, children. It has been a very long time since I've faced a foe worthy of my blade."
Simon sat up straight in his seat, as did Yoko in the cockpit below him. There was a weight to the giant's words--or rather, those of its' pilot--that almost compelled him to answer.
"I am Simon. Simon the Digger, of Jiiha Village."
"Yoko, of Ritona Village."
Somehow Simon knew the pilot was smiling at their answers.
"Very well, Simon and Yoko. As the fifth and final of Lord Genome's generals I challenge you to a duel to the killing blow."
The massive mech hefted its' colossal blade, assuming a fighting stance.
"Come! Test your might against Sanger Zonvolt, The Sword That Cleaves Evil!"
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Got tired of waiting for Super Robot Wars to do this, so I did it myself.
