Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The New Gunmen

[Sora1297]

WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRR ~ BZZT.. CHA-CHA THUNK!! BUUUUUURRRRR... THUMP THUMP
THUMP!!... WIIIIIRRRrrrrzzz...

"Damn it, not again.. Yo, Marku!! My Drill's busted again!!.. Marku? MARKU!!"

~~~

Marku groaned in annoyance as he sat up from his position on the wall, tilting his really not needed sunglasses up to clearly see in the barely illuminated caverns. He sighed and closed his eyes in frustration as he heard the mans words and took off the stylish shades, sliding them up to the top of his head before he sat up from the cold, stone ground and stretched out his back, letting out a yawn. Secretly, he had been sleeping on the job, but who could blame him? Life was incidentally boring as hell when you spent all your day fixing drills rather then using them to better help expand the city. He rubbed his brown eyes and itched his lower back as he walked over to a man known to him as Linkara and extended a hand, which his drill-key chain was dumped into. Marku activated the drill and grabbed a torch from a nearby wall and examined it closely, noticing several large chips and breaks in the tip of the drill, making its pointed edge dulled and useless. "Looks like you hit some heavy-duty rocks... It'll take some time to repair it, like, a few hours to a day, but the damage might also be permanent. Either way, I'll see what I can do, Link." he said, patting the red haired boy on the back with a slight smile before he deactivated the drill and walked back to his resting place, making a right turn before he shoved open the door to a small little room with a large metal bench in the middle of it. He closed the door behind him and let out another sigh as he leaned against the stone structure, closing his eyes.

After a few minutes of quiet sulking, he threw the drill down on the work bench and went over to his window, staring out into the dark caverns that surrounded the city of Renagal. Marku had lived in Renagal ever since his mother gave birth to him in the very small hole in the wall he currently lived in. Just thinking about his mother brought a heavy feeling to his heart and forced him to hold back tears of pain thinking of all she has gone through and currently is trying so desperately to overcome. When he was only 8 years old, his parents were trapped in a massive cave-in along with 20 other residents of Renagal, but they managed to escape after 4 days when a drill team managed to find a thin patch of stone amongst the overly hardened cave wall rocks, which were almost impossible to dig through. When the people were rescued, however, the city doctor discovered they were suffering from some kind of disease caused by a poisonous fungus that grew in the caverns. Each day, the sick got worse and worse until eventually, they began to suffer from fits that derived from their minds being turned to mush and the pain of their internal organs as they slowly shrivelled up and broke apart. Out of the 20 trapped in the cavern, only 6 managed to survive the disease because their body accepted the cure. Marku's father was one of the 14 others who perished, but he had been cured successfully, but died when one of the deranged victims of the disease attacked him with medical tools and slit his throat open. The horrifying images of that day still haunted Marku, who wished that the man who killed his father was rotting in his grave at that very moment.

His mother, on the other hand, had survived and raised him as best she could, but the disease had rotted away her lower nerves and crippled her, condemning her to a life of limitations inside of a wheel chair. In the end, Marku wound up taking care of his mother and helped her through her recovery, continuing to help her as he grew up. But lately, she's been sick and had been forced into the medical areas for confinement. They say she's suffering from the disease in a stronger sense, but its not as damaging to her system immediately as they thought it might've been, but Marku was told she is slowly dying and there is no cure. So, until the final day arrives, he promised himself he would visit her everyday and tell her how much he loved her... But maybe something could be done on the surface world.

Marku shook his head as the stupid thoughts of the imaginary world above the caverns came into his mind. He had remembered hearing about the surface world from the old Friar before the church system was abolished in the caves thanks to people not knowing where or what the "sky" was and how anybody could live in it. The friar passed all of his wisdom about the surface world onto Marku, who constantly showed up to hear more about it, with its strange "Trees" and "Oceans", as well as a large blinding torch in the "sky" called the "Sun" which shined brightly and illuminated the world. However, up on the "surface world", there were no walls or caves surrounding you, which meant you could go anywhere at anytime, roaming far beyond your house, occasionally seeing things called "Hills" or "Mountains", but you could walk around and over them, which wouldn't stop oneself from walking further. Marku so desperately wished he could see the "surface" as it was referred to by Friar Tokomo before he passed on, but knew it was impossible.

First off, how was somebody supposed to drill upwards like that for so long without gravity forcing him/her to plummet to their doom when their arms go tired? Secondly, the mayor would have none of it and so would the rest of Renagal. It might not have been a surprise to Marku that all they knew was a dark cavern with limited or dwindling amounts of food and water, where people lived in uncomfortable little holes in the wall and slept on hard rocks, never seeing anything as bright as a "Sun" or looking up at the cave ceiling to see thousands of shimmering orbs of light known as "Stars", but only darkness and the occasional stalactite. Marku knew that the surface was probably just a fairy tale, but he couldn't help but feel as if it was real and was constantly beckoning to him, trying to bring him up there for some purpose he knew not of. However, he knew the first thing he would do if the "surface" was real: he would bring his mother up there to show her the beauty that obviously lay all around it, letting her know of a better place before she passed on, then bury her next to a patch of small colourful things called "Flowers"... But he was getting off track and he knew it. He often plagued himself with questions or thoughts about the surface when he had important work to do, but knew it was only a way for him to escape the reality of living in a cave while avoiding his job. He sullenly turned his head back to the broken drill on his work bench and let out another heavy sigh before he grabbed his own drill and activated it so he could examine the two. Marku had made some "special" (and by "special", it meant they were totally unauthorized by the mayor or guards and nobody else knew of them) adjustments to his own drill, which included a radar system that would tell him when heavy rocks were close by that could damage his drill, if anything cool such a treasure was nearby, or even if there was a tremor so he knew to stop drilling, should he risk a cave-in. He had also upgraded the actual drill portion, making it extremely durable and powerful enough to cut through the stone he dug through like it was a piece of rubber getting chopped up by a buzzsaw. However, nobody had approved of such things so he made the drill look as inconspicuous as possible as to not draw attention.

Marku was regarded as a very good mechanic and tinkerer, but he often called what he did "Inventing better ways to live in this shit hole of a cave", but he only said the last part when he was alone. He dumped his drill next to the broken one and grabbed the essential tools. The damage to Linkara's drill was rough and it would most likely take a few hours to fix, so Marku slid on a pair of protective eyewear before he grabbed a box of matches and lit a small fire, beginning to melt the metal he would reattach to the drill's tip to make it whole again.

[LuckySpectre]

Mickiza was doing the usual round, he was part of the guards making sure that all the young ones were doing their job drilling. This job suited him as he hated other people, he had one exception which was a lad called Marku. He was quite a good fighter as he used to wrestle and fight with his older brother before he died, both his parents were also deceased from the same illness that took his brother, he now lives with his grandpa, some crazy old coot that goes on about the surface like a crazy little school child. Both him and his Grandpa lived in Renagal, they had lived there for years now and Mickiza was getting bored, especially when his Grandpa is some druggy lunatic.

It had been a quiet day, nothing much had happened which kind of annoyed Mickiza, he always usually had to get in a bit of ruckus with the other guards or the drillers. He was about to finish his shift when he saw a bunch of slackers, doing his job he walked over to the younger boys, they all circled an older boy, another older driller about his age ranting on about the surface. "The surface is a beautiful place, i should know, i've been there" the Kid was the same build as Mickiza, they argued a lot before hand but nothing serious, "oi loud mouth get back to work you lying scum, it does not exist and you of all people couldn't reach it even if you tried, pah you can't even drill more than ten feet before tiring" the boy frowned at him, infuriated, "shut up, you always harass me, i have been to the top, i went with my friend years ago!" the boy poked Mickiza causing their eyes to lock.

"screw him, he deserved it, so the mayor says i went over the top, its just a fractured shoulder blade" Mickiza was locked in the village cell, he had been there for an hour now cursing over the fight he had with the boy. He may have went over the top and hit him a few too many times but he discovered that the hard way.

[DMMommy20]

Mikare jumped out of the dumpster and dusted off slightly, that was twice today that had to hide from the guards. Going through life stealing things wasn't really the most grand life, but what was better? Spending you life hopelessly drilling to expand the shithole of a cavern she had called home? Or worse, dying like her parents had, in a cave-in, breaking their backs every day and having no one care if you showed up at work again the next day.

Her stomach started to grumble, and she hissed, "hush, I'll find food later." Quickly she walked to the nearest house and checked for inhabitants. No one was home, so she let herself in. She was searching everywhere for even the tiniest remnants of food. When she couldn't find any, she decided maybe Julie would take pity on her and feed her.

Just as she was walking out, a guard grabbed her arm, "I've been trailing you for months. Finally, I caught you." He pulled her away and threw her into the community cell.

When Mikare landed in the cell, she huffed, "What are you doing here?" She looked the the teen in front of her. He looked like he had been fighting, but not hurt to badly.

[LuckySpectre]

Mickiza just looked at the girl, his eyes where quick icy but broke into a joyful face, "having fun!" he then returned to the same look from before, "beat the crap out of some snot nosed brat" he grunted, "was talking way too much about the bloody surface area" Mickiza shook the cuffs a little, listening for a click, then when he heard it slammed the cuffs on the floor releasing his hands "much better".

Mickiza sat there silent, staring at the girl, "names Mickiza, usually i would be out doing my patrol but you know, got out of hand and now i'm here, whats your name? and why did you get thrown in here" his was now playing with the broken cuffs.

[DMMommy20]

"Mikare," she whispered, then rolled her eyes, "And apparently it's wrong to wander into the wrong cave." She grumbled, "Apparently, I'm what's known as a petty thief. I don't steal anything I can't use." She huffed and crossed her arms, "I needed food, there was nowhere else to go." She shrugged, "Oh well...it's the first time they caught me in a year."