The Whirlpool Design: Epilogue (Kamina & Viral)
WHO: Kamina and Viral, with relevant precursor +radio between Viral and Simon.
WHAT: Kamina gives Kamon a proper burial. Viral happens upon him. It goes slightly better than one might expect from these two.
WHERE: Near Kamina City, the Spiral Planet
WHEN: December 22, 2007
WATCH FOR: Kamina being shockingly cute when it seems like nobody's watching...while simultaneously using foul language (for which there is a warning).
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: *signal pulse*
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Eh?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Simon.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Viral! Sounds like you got back home all right.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: ...Yeah, I did. I admit, that's not the reaction I was expecting.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: I was wondering. Things were hectic on our end... But, even if you don't see it that way, you and the Divine Crusaders fought for Kamina City.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: I'd rather you all make it back in one piece.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hmph. I can't deny that my battles, as well as theirs, were in a roundabout way for your city. Nia thanked me as well.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: But that's not why I'm contacting you now.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: All right... What is it?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: I'm sure you had other things on your mind, but after Kamon's death, I went to retrieve Master Asia's mech and confirm his death. I saw his mech explode, but better to be certain.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: And although I found remains of his mech, I didn't find any remains of *him*.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: ...Egh.. That means the bastard is still /alive/, probably.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: And if he is, he'll come after Nia again.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Gh... Right. I don't know why he wants her, but since he was willing to destroy a whole city... Well, there's another reason I can't let him get her.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Lucky for you, I *do* know why he wants her.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: And I'm sufficiently annoyed at having to fight for your city while fighting my own battles that I'm willing to tell you.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: ...Why?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: The Formerly Undefeated wants to save his world. Unfortunately for them, he wants to save his world at the cost of all human life there.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: To that purpose, he's got a machine that he calls the Devil Gundam, and apparently it requires a female core.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Son of a bitch. So he wants to stick Nia in this thing. What the hell is this Devil Gundam?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: That much I don't know. Shin's ordered recon on the matter so we can figure that out. But I do know he was researching Spiral Power to find a way to make it work.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Damn it... All right.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Months ago, he approached me to ask about you and Kamina for that very reason.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: I guess he found a way to make Spiral Power, then. It makes sense - he grabbed a hair off my head when we fought last time.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: What it has to do with the Devil Gundam and Nia, though... That's an open question.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: No, I don't think he has.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Remember? He told Lordgenome he'd fight on his behalf in exchange for something he needed.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: That was Kamon.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: But Kamon didn't work for his purposes, so now he's targetting Nia and the other woman, Yoko.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Damn it all... Well, he'll have a tough time finding Yoko. Nia...
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Nia, he knows he can consistently find in Kamina City. Therefore he'll naturally target her first.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Damn it all...
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: And he's shown that he's willing to attack the city to try to force me to bring her out, if she isn't there.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: It might be only a secondary concern for him, but he's out to kill humanity to revive his Earth. He's certainly be willing to kill a few extra humans in another world.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Yeah. He's shown that by now. Well... Seems clear to me what we need to do.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Oh?
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Find this Devil Gundam and destroy it.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hmph. And how do you intend on doing that?
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: That's the hard part. I'll have to figure that out.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hopefully you'll do that before your city's trashed *again*.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Geh. I'll have to see to it.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Do that. Frankly, I don't care what you do with this information, as long as you do something useful with it. What do you do to help yourself and yours is none of my concern; I just don't want to be accused again of coming to your rescue.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Hah. I'll see if I can save you the trouble, Viral.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hmph. In any case, that's all I had to say.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Yeah. Thanks, though.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: ... ...I suppose you're welcome.
================================== The IPA ===================================
Message: 12/15 Posted Author
Master Asia and the Spiral Clone Sat Dec 22 Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Great Gurren Brigade logo. Text only.)
Last night, Kamina City was attacked by Master Asia, also known as Toho Fuhai or the Undefeated of the East. He brought a clone of Kamina and me with him, named Kamon. They came to try to kidnap Nia. We beat them back; the Master Gundam was destroyed and Kamon was killed. The city was damaged, especially thanks to Kamon freaking out, but we forced Kamon into the air and avoided the worst of the damage.
We were helped by the Divine Crusaders and Syndicate, though. I got some information from Viral after the fact, though. Master Asia apparently wants to save his world... by using something called the Devil Gundam to rejuvenate it and kill all of humanity in the process. He needs a core for the Devil Gundam, and he has his eyes on Nia. The DC also got to the Master Gundam's remains, and Viral reports that there's no body in it. This means he's alive.
It also means he's coming back. We'll be ready.
- Commander Simon
Great Gurren Brigade
==============================================================================
Kamina stuck the wooden cross into the ground, crossing his arms once it was finished. There was nothing he could say for this guy. "You weren't my brother...well maybe you were. But I guess...Well you were a real asshole. So even if our blood was the same...You know. Tch. Rot in hell you bastard! ROT IN THAT HOLE!...Even if you're not in it, okay? You owe me one for digging it for your that scrap iron I found." He sits down in front of the grave in a huff. "You know if you really were my brother...You could've tried to fight back! You know...So we could've atleast pretended we were family...Dad is gone but Simon and Simon are still here. Not sure how much time I got but...They will be still here. So you could've fucking tried. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE FOR NOT TRYING?! EH?! EEEEEEEEH?!"
There was no answer. Kamina just sighed, keeping silent for a few moments. "So I guess what I'm saying is...when I'm gone, I'm going to kick some sense into you. Got it?! YOU HEAR ME YOU DAMN CLONE! NO PART OF ME IS GOING TO BE A TOOL!" The blue haired man laided down, grumbling to himself. It was such a pretty night...a little blurry. Kinda wet too. Or was that just him? "YOu coulda fucking tried to be like us...I woulda understood."
For having nothing he could say for this guy, Kamina sure talks a lot. Viral notes this from a respectable distance, watching the blue-haired Gunmen pilot digging that hole and yelling at the cross he places on top of it. He had come out this way for no more reason than morbid curiosity on what Kamina City looked like in the aftermath of the battle; with his Gunmen wrecked and put on forced leave, there's nothing else Viral can think of to do with the beginning of his newfound vacation than that.
He had watched for a while, which had prompted him to come to a decision and contact Simon via private radio, and then left. Or at least, he started to leave. While taking a meandering way back to the Gate, Viral had spotted Kamina doing something in the distance, away from other people. Again, curiosity had won out, though he exercises caution with it.
All the same, Kamina speaks so loudly that it's impossible for Viral not to hear him, even if he didn't have such sharp hearing. His gaze is on the ground, arms folded over his chest and back leaning on a jut of stone. Most of him thinks it best if he leaves Kamina silently to his tears, to his existential knowledge of his forecoming death--but what Kamina says bothers Viral, the same as a lot of things last night bothered the beastman.
"I wonder," he thus rumbles after a good stretch of quiet after Kamina's had time to be a little wet, raising his voice enough to be heard but remaining that good distance away. "Would you still be able to say that if you understood what it means to be someone else's creation? Kamina. ...No," Viral amends himself, tilting his gaze up to the moon shining ghostly pale overhead, "knowing you, it wouldn't matter."
"Heh, he was my blood. The only guy like that is dead. But blood is only something that goes so far. So he was my brother and at the same time, he was an asshole. If he was created to be like me, then he should've tried harder to be like me. He was capable of it. And even if we were on different sides, I'd still respect him." The blue haired Gunmen pilot stood up and dusted himself off. "Just because you're a fucking Furry, doesn't mean you don't have a right to happiness. We might you guys to get back to the surface and touch the sky. We fight to live...So if one of us has to die, its not gonna be me who gives it up for your little Spiral Empire." He grins widely, crossing his arms again.
"Also this doesn't mean, we're friends either. You're still a smelly flea bag who needs to be knocked down on his ass a few times. So quit having some break down because someone made you or whatever...Doesn't mean you're not alive. Just means you started differently."
Viral watches Kamina; he must admit, he has to give him respect for not hesitating in the slightest when approached while grieving from behind by an enemy. His composure is incredible--even if he still needs to get hit several times in the teeth for his mouth.
"..." Something in the beastman's golden eyes flickers as Kamina affirms that he's got a right to happiness--he's starting to get used to Simon saying things like that, but Kamina? Simon at least knows he's no longer... But Kamina proves by talking more that he's not aware. Viral simply stares, frowning beneath his scarf, at Kamina as the tenacious human grins at him with arms folded.
Then he looks back up at the moon. That he was /alive/ was something Viral never questioned. Kamina has a fairly good grasp on the situation, but there are some things he misunderstands. Viral will only bother to rectify one of them.
"What the hell makes you think I'd want to be *your* friend?" Beastmen might be fundamentally weaker than humans, but that doesn't mean Viral wants to *be* human--he just wants that quality that grants them strength. "And I also have to wonder... would you still talk like that if I informed you that I am no longer a soldier of the Spiral Empire, and have no intentions of ever becoming one again no matter *what* version of the Spiral King appears?"
"Tch. I'm just telling you so you never get the idea." Kamina's grin doesn't fade for even a moment, standing tall in the pressence of his enemy. "Eh? So you're not under his direction anymore? So what? You're still a cocky jerk who needs to have his teeth kicked in. Doesn't matter if you on my side, nothing is going to change who you are, Viral. I'll fight you whenever you want. Who the hell do you think I am?!" The blue haired man looks back at the makeshift grave site. "What do you expect me to change my opinion of you because you're not under Genome anymore?" He chuckles at the thought. "You don't get me at all if thats the case."
"I never said I was on *your* side, either," Viral says flatly, scowling at the blue-haired human. But he nods, just slightly, regardless. Actually, that works out better for him. He's always hated Kamina, and he certainly doesn't hate him any less now that he's not out to try and kill him. Some things don't get erased so easily. If that's how this is going to be, then he can accept that. That Kamina tells him he'll fight him whenever tempts Viral sorely, too--but no. He holds himself back for now. There's a time and a place for rematches.
"But no, not really. I just wanted to make that clear." Golden eyes flick towards the empty grave. Viral thinks of how he had likewise found no remains for Toho Fuhai, either. Might Kamon be alive after all...? He doesn't much relish the thought of both of them being alive, but at least their mechs have been destroyed...even if Viral suspects they can get replacements. The Devil Gundam is still out there, too. If they *are* both alive...
...if he *is* alive, wouldn't Kamina want to know? Viral flicks a look at the undergrounder. ...no, better not to say anything. It's still not certain if Master Asia is alive, suspicious as his lack of remains is. There's no point in bringing up baseless suspicions, /particularly/ to THIS man. "In any case, I was just passing by. I *will* fight you again, Kamina, and next time I'll crunch your face in--but not tonight."
With that, Viral turns to leave, then pauses. He just remembered something else he's been wondering off and on for a long while now. He glances back over his shoulder, frowning slightly. "...actually. There's something I've been meaning to ask you." He turns around, folding his arms over his cloaked chest, and regards Kamina briefly. "Why did you leave the DC?"
If Kamon was out there, Kamina would need to put him in the hole. That was if the clone couldn't live up to his family heritage. The fleeing Viral doesn't disturb Kamina so much as the question that follows. He sighs, thinking back to that. That was the first battle he had beyond the world he grew up in. The DC and the SYMC. The Gunmen pilot scratches the back of his head, groaning alittle. "Why the hell do you want to know that? That Geezer put you up to this?"
"No," Viral says curtly, his frown not so much at Kamina's irreverent description of Shin (though it is partly that as well) but at his asking him if Shin told him to do this. "We never discussed it since I first joined and I realized you are the real Kamina. I'm asking because I genuinely want to know for my own reasons."
In other words, he's not going to end up regretting joining the Divine Crusaders, is he? Viral likes and respects Shin well enough so far, but if Kamina knows something he doesn't, he'd like to know what it is.
Kamina looks up at the sky. "Back then, I joined up with the Divine Crusaders through Zeon. I met alot of people I respected then. Sangar, Elzam, Char, Lalah, and Shin...These were the guys I fought with to help defeat something that would surely have killed us all. It was also a way to break through the heavens...But after the STMC and the death of Lalah...I found out where the money for the DC came from. So rather than answer to a bunch of crimanals, I decided to answer for my own actions. If I was going to break the law, I was going to do it my way and not answer to some jerks in the background. Shin is a man I respect but at the moment, we don't fight for exactly the same things." The blue haired man eyes Viral and shakes his head. "And you're an idiot if you think I'm gonna justify your membership for ya. Do it yourself, you fucking Furry."
"I never asked you to do anything like that!" Viral snaps, offended by the tone Kamina takes with him. "I said it's for my *own* reasons, and /fuck you/ if you think I don't damn well know what they are, naked monkey. I'm asking to see if, by some freak chance, you know something I don't."
Who the hell does he think *he* is? He wouldn't have joined the DC if he didn't have the determination to follow through with it, and wouldn't have stayed after he'd fulfilled his promise and repaid his debts if he didn't respect Shin. But what he says about 'where the money comes from'--does he mean the Old Men that Kazuma's mentioned in the past? Or does he simply object to the fact that the DC is a branch of the Syndicate? From the way Kamina phrases it, it could be either.
"Tch. Whatever. Look I don't know anything alright?" Kamina growls under his breath, folding his arms across his chest as he turns away.Truth was Kamina didn't exactly remember what lead up up to everything. What mattered was that the Gurren Brigade was now free to do what it could without some other party holding it back. They had come far. Now...it didn't matter about the DC anymore. He would do whatever he felt like and if that helped Shin and others, that was all the better.
Viral snorts. He gets the sense that Kamina is not being wholly truthful, but at the same thing, he doesn't think that it's that he's not telling anything he might need to know. If he were to learn that Kamina just doesn't remember, Viral would be unenthusiastically unsurprised.
"I should have figured," the beastman mutters darkly. "That's how you usually are, after all." With that, he turns again to stalk away. There isn't anything more that Viral has to say to him--at least, nothing that he's going to say to him if they both acknowledge they hate each other. The matter of Kamon is buried by now, both figuratively and literally.
WHAT: Kamina gives Kamon a proper burial. Viral happens upon him. It goes slightly better than one might expect from these two.
WHERE: Near Kamina City, the Spiral Planet
WHEN: December 22, 2007
WATCH FOR: Kamina being shockingly cute when it seems like nobody's watching...while simultaneously using foul language (for which there is a warning).
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: *signal pulse*
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Eh?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Simon.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Viral! Sounds like you got back home all right.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: ...Yeah, I did. I admit, that's not the reaction I was expecting.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: I was wondering. Things were hectic on our end... But, even if you don't see it that way, you and the Divine Crusaders fought for Kamina City.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: I'd rather you all make it back in one piece.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hmph. I can't deny that my battles, as well as theirs, were in a roundabout way for your city. Nia thanked me as well.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: But that's not why I'm contacting you now.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: All right... What is it?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: I'm sure you had other things on your mind, but after Kamon's death, I went to retrieve Master Asia's mech and confirm his death. I saw his mech explode, but better to be certain.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: And although I found remains of his mech, I didn't find any remains of *him*.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: ...Egh.. That means the bastard is still /alive/, probably.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: And if he is, he'll come after Nia again.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Gh... Right. I don't know why he wants her, but since he was willing to destroy a whole city... Well, there's another reason I can't let him get her.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Lucky for you, I *do* know why he wants her.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: And I'm sufficiently annoyed at having to fight for your city while fighting my own battles that I'm willing to tell you.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: ...Why?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: The Formerly Undefeated wants to save his world. Unfortunately for them, he wants to save his world at the cost of all human life there.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: To that purpose, he's got a machine that he calls the Devil Gundam, and apparently it requires a female core.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Son of a bitch. So he wants to stick Nia in this thing. What the hell is this Devil Gundam?
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: That much I don't know. Shin's ordered recon on the matter so we can figure that out. But I do know he was researching Spiral Power to find a way to make it work.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Damn it... All right.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Months ago, he approached me to ask about you and Kamina for that very reason.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: I guess he found a way to make Spiral Power, then. It makes sense - he grabbed a hair off my head when we fought last time.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: What it has to do with the Devil Gundam and Nia, though... That's an open question.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: No, I don't think he has.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Remember? He told Lordgenome he'd fight on his behalf in exchange for something he needed.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: That was Kamon.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: But Kamon didn't work for his purposes, so now he's targetting Nia and the other woman, Yoko.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Damn it all... Well, he'll have a tough time finding Yoko. Nia...
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Nia, he knows he can consistently find in Kamina City. Therefore he'll naturally target her first.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Damn it all...
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: And he's shown that he's willing to attack the city to try to force me to bring her out, if she isn't there.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: It might be only a secondary concern for him, but he's out to kill humanity to revive his Earth. He's certainly be willing to kill a few extra humans in another world.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Yeah. He's shown that by now. Well... Seems clear to me what we need to do.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Oh?
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Find this Devil Gundam and destroy it.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hmph. And how do you intend on doing that?
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: That's the hard part. I'll have to figure that out.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hopefully you'll do that before your city's trashed *again*.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Geh. I'll have to see to it.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Do that. Frankly, I don't care what you do with this information, as long as you do something useful with it. What do you do to help yourself and yours is none of my concern; I just don't want to be accused again of coming to your rescue.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Hah. I'll see if I can save you the trouble, Viral.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: Hmph. In any case, that's all I had to say.
[RADIO] To Viral, Simon radios: Yeah. Thanks, though.
[RADIO] To Simon, Viral radios: ... ...I suppose you're welcome.
================================== The IPA ===================================
Message: 12/15 Posted Author
Master Asia and the Spiral Clone Sat Dec 22 Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Great Gurren Brigade logo. Text only.)
Last night, Kamina City was attacked by Master Asia, also known as Toho Fuhai or the Undefeated of the East. He brought a clone of Kamina and me with him, named Kamon. They came to try to kidnap Nia. We beat them back; the Master Gundam was destroyed and Kamon was killed. The city was damaged, especially thanks to Kamon freaking out, but we forced Kamon into the air and avoided the worst of the damage.
We were helped by the Divine Crusaders and Syndicate, though. I got some information from Viral after the fact, though. Master Asia apparently wants to save his world... by using something called the Devil Gundam to rejuvenate it and kill all of humanity in the process. He needs a core for the Devil Gundam, and he has his eyes on Nia. The DC also got to the Master Gundam's remains, and Viral reports that there's no body in it. This means he's alive.
It also means he's coming back. We'll be ready.
- Commander Simon
Great Gurren Brigade
==============================================================================
Kamina stuck the wooden cross into the ground, crossing his arms once it was finished. There was nothing he could say for this guy. "You weren't my brother...well maybe you were. But I guess...Well you were a real asshole. So even if our blood was the same...You know. Tch. Rot in hell you bastard! ROT IN THAT HOLE!...Even if you're not in it, okay? You owe me one for digging it for your that scrap iron I found." He sits down in front of the grave in a huff. "You know if you really were my brother...You could've tried to fight back! You know...So we could've atleast pretended we were family...Dad is gone but Simon and Simon are still here. Not sure how much time I got but...They will be still here. So you could've fucking tried. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE FOR NOT TRYING?! EH?! EEEEEEEEH?!"
There was no answer. Kamina just sighed, keeping silent for a few moments. "So I guess what I'm saying is...when I'm gone, I'm going to kick some sense into you. Got it?! YOU HEAR ME YOU DAMN CLONE! NO PART OF ME IS GOING TO BE A TOOL!" The blue haired man laided down, grumbling to himself. It was such a pretty night...a little blurry. Kinda wet too. Or was that just him? "YOu coulda fucking tried to be like us...I woulda understood."
For having nothing he could say for this guy, Kamina sure talks a lot. Viral notes this from a respectable distance, watching the blue-haired Gunmen pilot digging that hole and yelling at the cross he places on top of it. He had come out this way for no more reason than morbid curiosity on what Kamina City looked like in the aftermath of the battle; with his Gunmen wrecked and put on forced leave, there's nothing else Viral can think of to do with the beginning of his newfound vacation than that.
He had watched for a while, which had prompted him to come to a decision and contact Simon via private radio, and then left. Or at least, he started to leave. While taking a meandering way back to the Gate, Viral had spotted Kamina doing something in the distance, away from other people. Again, curiosity had won out, though he exercises caution with it.
All the same, Kamina speaks so loudly that it's impossible for Viral not to hear him, even if he didn't have such sharp hearing. His gaze is on the ground, arms folded over his chest and back leaning on a jut of stone. Most of him thinks it best if he leaves Kamina silently to his tears, to his existential knowledge of his forecoming death--but what Kamina says bothers Viral, the same as a lot of things last night bothered the beastman.
"I wonder," he thus rumbles after a good stretch of quiet after Kamina's had time to be a little wet, raising his voice enough to be heard but remaining that good distance away. "Would you still be able to say that if you understood what it means to be someone else's creation? Kamina. ...No," Viral amends himself, tilting his gaze up to the moon shining ghostly pale overhead, "knowing you, it wouldn't matter."
"Heh, he was my blood. The only guy like that is dead. But blood is only something that goes so far. So he was my brother and at the same time, he was an asshole. If he was created to be like me, then he should've tried harder to be like me. He was capable of it. And even if we were on different sides, I'd still respect him." The blue haired Gunmen pilot stood up and dusted himself off. "Just because you're a fucking Furry, doesn't mean you don't have a right to happiness. We might you guys to get back to the surface and touch the sky. We fight to live...So if one of us has to die, its not gonna be me who gives it up for your little Spiral Empire." He grins widely, crossing his arms again.
"Also this doesn't mean, we're friends either. You're still a smelly flea bag who needs to be knocked down on his ass a few times. So quit having some break down because someone made you or whatever...Doesn't mean you're not alive. Just means you started differently."
Viral watches Kamina; he must admit, he has to give him respect for not hesitating in the slightest when approached while grieving from behind by an enemy. His composure is incredible--even if he still needs to get hit several times in the teeth for his mouth.
"..." Something in the beastman's golden eyes flickers as Kamina affirms that he's got a right to happiness--he's starting to get used to Simon saying things like that, but Kamina? Simon at least knows he's no longer... But Kamina proves by talking more that he's not aware. Viral simply stares, frowning beneath his scarf, at Kamina as the tenacious human grins at him with arms folded.
Then he looks back up at the moon. That he was /alive/ was something Viral never questioned. Kamina has a fairly good grasp on the situation, but there are some things he misunderstands. Viral will only bother to rectify one of them.
"What the hell makes you think I'd want to be *your* friend?" Beastmen might be fundamentally weaker than humans, but that doesn't mean Viral wants to *be* human--he just wants that quality that grants them strength. "And I also have to wonder... would you still talk like that if I informed you that I am no longer a soldier of the Spiral Empire, and have no intentions of ever becoming one again no matter *what* version of the Spiral King appears?"
"Tch. I'm just telling you so you never get the idea." Kamina's grin doesn't fade for even a moment, standing tall in the pressence of his enemy. "Eh? So you're not under his direction anymore? So what? You're still a cocky jerk who needs to have his teeth kicked in. Doesn't matter if you on my side, nothing is going to change who you are, Viral. I'll fight you whenever you want. Who the hell do you think I am?!" The blue haired man looks back at the makeshift grave site. "What do you expect me to change my opinion of you because you're not under Genome anymore?" He chuckles at the thought. "You don't get me at all if thats the case."
"I never said I was on *your* side, either," Viral says flatly, scowling at the blue-haired human. But he nods, just slightly, regardless. Actually, that works out better for him. He's always hated Kamina, and he certainly doesn't hate him any less now that he's not out to try and kill him. Some things don't get erased so easily. If that's how this is going to be, then he can accept that. That Kamina tells him he'll fight him whenever tempts Viral sorely, too--but no. He holds himself back for now. There's a time and a place for rematches.
"But no, not really. I just wanted to make that clear." Golden eyes flick towards the empty grave. Viral thinks of how he had likewise found no remains for Toho Fuhai, either. Might Kamon be alive after all...? He doesn't much relish the thought of both of them being alive, but at least their mechs have been destroyed...even if Viral suspects they can get replacements. The Devil Gundam is still out there, too. If they *are* both alive...
...if he *is* alive, wouldn't Kamina want to know? Viral flicks a look at the undergrounder. ...no, better not to say anything. It's still not certain if Master Asia is alive, suspicious as his lack of remains is. There's no point in bringing up baseless suspicions, /particularly/ to THIS man. "In any case, I was just passing by. I *will* fight you again, Kamina, and next time I'll crunch your face in--but not tonight."
With that, Viral turns to leave, then pauses. He just remembered something else he's been wondering off and on for a long while now. He glances back over his shoulder, frowning slightly. "...actually. There's something I've been meaning to ask you." He turns around, folding his arms over his cloaked chest, and regards Kamina briefly. "Why did you leave the DC?"
If Kamon was out there, Kamina would need to put him in the hole. That was if the clone couldn't live up to his family heritage. The fleeing Viral doesn't disturb Kamina so much as the question that follows. He sighs, thinking back to that. That was the first battle he had beyond the world he grew up in. The DC and the SYMC. The Gunmen pilot scratches the back of his head, groaning alittle. "Why the hell do you want to know that? That Geezer put you up to this?"
"No," Viral says curtly, his frown not so much at Kamina's irreverent description of Shin (though it is partly that as well) but at his asking him if Shin told him to do this. "We never discussed it since I first joined and I realized you are the real Kamina. I'm asking because I genuinely want to know for my own reasons."
In other words, he's not going to end up regretting joining the Divine Crusaders, is he? Viral likes and respects Shin well enough so far, but if Kamina knows something he doesn't, he'd like to know what it is.
Kamina looks up at the sky. "Back then, I joined up with the Divine Crusaders through Zeon. I met alot of people I respected then. Sangar, Elzam, Char, Lalah, and Shin...These were the guys I fought with to help defeat something that would surely have killed us all. It was also a way to break through the heavens...But after the STMC and the death of Lalah...I found out where the money for the DC came from. So rather than answer to a bunch of crimanals, I decided to answer for my own actions. If I was going to break the law, I was going to do it my way and not answer to some jerks in the background. Shin is a man I respect but at the moment, we don't fight for exactly the same things." The blue haired man eyes Viral and shakes his head. "And you're an idiot if you think I'm gonna justify your membership for ya. Do it yourself, you fucking Furry."
"I never asked you to do anything like that!" Viral snaps, offended by the tone Kamina takes with him. "I said it's for my *own* reasons, and /fuck you/ if you think I don't damn well know what they are, naked monkey. I'm asking to see if, by some freak chance, you know something I don't."
Who the hell does he think *he* is? He wouldn't have joined the DC if he didn't have the determination to follow through with it, and wouldn't have stayed after he'd fulfilled his promise and repaid his debts if he didn't respect Shin. But what he says about 'where the money comes from'--does he mean the Old Men that Kazuma's mentioned in the past? Or does he simply object to the fact that the DC is a branch of the Syndicate? From the way Kamina phrases it, it could be either.
"Tch. Whatever. Look I don't know anything alright?" Kamina growls under his breath, folding his arms across his chest as he turns away.Truth was Kamina didn't exactly remember what lead up up to everything. What mattered was that the Gurren Brigade was now free to do what it could without some other party holding it back. They had come far. Now...it didn't matter about the DC anymore. He would do whatever he felt like and if that helped Shin and others, that was all the better.
Viral snorts. He gets the sense that Kamina is not being wholly truthful, but at the same thing, he doesn't think that it's that he's not telling anything he might need to know. If he were to learn that Kamina just doesn't remember, Viral would be unenthusiastically unsurprised.
"I should have figured," the beastman mutters darkly. "That's how you usually are, after all." With that, he turns again to stalk away. There isn't anything more that Viral has to say to him--at least, nothing that he's going to say to him if they both acknowledge they hate each other. The matter of Kamon is buried by now, both figuratively and literally.