Good…whatever time you're reading this at, ladies and gentlemen! About one year ago, a fanfic writer named 'avatarjk137' hosted a sequel to his original writing tournament, 'A Winner Is You!'. In the original, various fanfic writers chose one or two characters from works of fiction. Then, they had to pick another writer involved in the tournament, and both writers had to create a chapter where their characters beat each other up. The chapter deemed better than the other was given a point, and whoever had the most points at the end received a reward from avatarjk137. The sequel tournament, 'A Winner is Two!', was similar, with the main difference being that the victor was decided by how long they survived instead of mere points; writers that lose the challenges could have their characters 'killed off' if the opponent desired, and could no longer use them in the tournament.

Now, the third tournament is starting soon, and I'm going to try my hardest to win it. In this competition, instead of picking up to two characters, each writer can now submit entire teams. And for my first entry out of the two I plan to submit, I have decided to use Simon, Kamina, Yoko, Boota, and Leeron from Team Dai-Gurren. I'm choosing to yank them right before the second battle with Thylimph, the Beastman General that…well, for those that have never heard of the series, I won't spoil anyone. The team will also be accompanied by Viral, for 'teh lulz' if nothing else. Oh, and terribly sorry if this is too lengthy of an introduction chapter. Once I started writing this thing, it was kinda hard to know when to stop…

TEAM DAI-GURREN PROLOGUE – FOR THE SAKE OF A UNITED WORLD

~.~

"…And so, Lordgenome, you can understand how vital this information would be to my associates. Considering that neither of us have many other resources available to us at this point, working together to eliminate this uprising would be the most logical option for success."

Lordgenome, the Spiral King, studied the strange figure before him. Ordinarily, such a character would have no right to be there. At first glance, he was nothing more than another foul human, draped in a black cloak to protect him from the vast wastelands one had to cross to reach Teppelin. But Lordgenome could sense something odd about the man; despite having some strange power within him, he did not have an ounce of Spiral Energy within his core, a trait that had only been possessed by his underlings until now. As the stranger claimed to have a peaceful proposition for him, Lordgenome had granted him the audience he sought. And although he did not say it aloud, he had to admit that the stranger's proposal was quite appealing.

"Very well then, being void of Spiral Energy," uttered Lordgenome in a deep, commanding voice. "Vice Commander Viral! Please stand forward and present your findings to our…special guest."

Upon his lord's command, the Vice Commander of the Human Annihilation Army, Eastern Unit, First District, stepped out from the shadows of the room. Similar to the stranger in the court, Viral had many similarities to the common human, with enough key differences to tell the two apart. Most telling were his teeth as jagged as a shark's, and a pair of eyes as sharp as a cat. As he was a Beastman, such descriptions of his appearance were as literal as one could get.

"But of course, my liege," Viral began, before turning to face the stranger. "My investigation began months ago, as through a sheer fluke in experiments meant to improve the efficiency of our Gunmen, we accessed a world parallel to our own. You have said that such a power is common for your organization, but to our people, it was nothing less than a stroke of luck. I volunteered to investigate the new world, and in little time, discovered the existence of an empire known as BORED. It was a horrible discovery, as for reasons we still have yet to figure out, it threatened to obliterate all we have ever worked for. They wanted access to power great enough to bypass the laws of life and death, which would create a massive outburst of Spiral Energy and ruin everything that the Beastman empire has worked towards. Now, as I had lost to a pathetic naked ape in combat prior to this event…"

Viral couldn't help but pause for a few brief moments before continuing with his report. His defeat to those infernal naked apes with blue hair would forever be scarred into his memory, but for the good of his lord, he had to reserve his resentment for later. "…It was only right that I regained my honor through conducting espionage in the middle of enemy territory. For such a powerful force, you'd be surprised just how trusting those pathetic humans could be if they aren't prepared for educated minds such as the one I was blessed with…"

~.~

"All this time, Mr. Curtiss, and you never once asked me why I was so loyal to you," Viral whispered to himself. "I wonder if you already knew who I was…or if you were too confident in your own abilities to be concerned over such a thing. I guess I'll find out the answer to that by the day's end."

With a few swift movements, the Beastman commander shed his disguise. As there always seemed to be more Klokateer minions scurrying around the base than there was, it was simple to infiltrate the outpost used by B.O.R.E.D. during its "A Winner Is Two" publicity stunt. And as the average intelligence quota of one of those filthy naked apes was barely enough to avoid electrocution when installing a light bulb, it didn't take long for the opportunity to work with Jade Curtiss to present itself to him. Viral had been able to retrieve enough information about their "Project Lotus" to suffice, and by sheer luck, got direct insight as to Mr. Curtiss' experiments in genetic manipulation. Why the corpse of a powerless contestant was necessary was beyond Viral's comprehension, but if he didn't want to blow his cover, he'd obey the spectacled naked ape's inane commands.

Once the unwilling contestants of the publicity stunt began to fight back, it was a breeze for Viral to escape without being detected. After all, the majority of the maggots were all heading the other direction, scrambling either for revenge or merely to escape from the hell they'd gotten themselves involved with. However, there weren't many options for escaping that didn't involve going back into the belly of the beast, which could make Viral's entire mission as pointless as it was degrading. By sheer luck, soon after reaching one of the island's shores, he managed to find two beings he could actually tolerate standing near for more than two minutes. What were their names? Dino and Judie? Regardless, they possessed traits revealing non-human genetics, which was adequate enough for him.

It took a bit of effort to coax them into assisting him, however. They had come to the territory in order to assist their friends, and while Viral could not confirm or deny the existence of the one named 'Vitali', he could certainly remember digging up the one named Gig from his impromptu grave. Although they seemed upset that their comrades would not even receive a decent burial, Viral convinced them that it was better if they escaped while there was still an island to escape from. Using some odd artifact they referred to as a 'Scarlet Tear', the two non-humans were able to return to their own homeland as the bearers of bad news, and returned Viral back to his own dimension as well. Oddly enough, Viral never did find out what happened to Mr. Curtiss, but the Beastman had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he'd have to deal with the associates of BORED…

~.~

"…And that concludes the report on my infiltration of BORED facilities," Viral finished, hoping it was adequate enough for the stranger. Although he wouldn't admit it, the faster he could move on with his life and stop having to recount time spent with those furless abominations, the better.

"Very interesting…" the stranger mused, one hand resting on his chin in a thoughtful pose. "My superiors can certainly make use of this knowledge, especially the information on Jade Curtiss. He's been missing since the incident, and data on his last project could be the key to tracking him down. Now, before we decide on a strategy to eliminate our common foe, I insist that you inform me of the properties of this 'Spiral Energy' you referred to. Perhaps utilizing it to our advantage is the key to victory…"

"Are you insane?" Viral spat. Had he been given the order to, the beastman wouldn't have hesitated to slice the black-cloaked man's head off right there and then. "Must I reiterate that Spiral Energy is what we are trying to eliminate from society? In addition, it can only be wielded by humans such as that bastard Kamina of the Gur-whatever, and I absolutely refuse to cooperate with those lowly naked apes ever again!"

"Am I? Consider the following, if you will. In previous battles, we have displayed the tactical genius to come out victorious against our foes, only to fail for reasons we cannot comprehend. Perhaps if we attempted to pit these troublesome creatures against each other, we would have better results. In a best case scenario, one of your greatest threats will be utterly annihilated, and the other members of Organization XIII can mop up the remains of the other party. Perhaps I must be the one to reiterate information; specifically, that we have run out of other resources."

"Stand down and cooperate, Viral," commanded Lordgenome. The Vice Commander gaped at his words, before quickly backing away from their guest and bowing in apology. Though he hated the thought of what he would be forced to do, if his king committed to this idea so quickly, he had no other choice but to obey. "For the future of this world, Zexion, we shall agree to your terms. Now, how do you plan on harnessing the Spiral Power that you seek? "

"Oh, my Nobodies will quickly take care of that little problem," said the Organization member. "Your Vice Commander mentioned a bastard named Kamina? If my suspicions are correct, he shall be the perfect idiot for this assignment. Of course, I highly recommend that your Vice Commander accompany the group I send, just in case they decide to rebel. You wouldn't mind that too much, would you?"

If he didn't know better, Viral would've sworn that Zexion was smirking at him right then and there. It took every nerve in his body not to shout to the stars above and eviscerate the blue-haired book-wielder with his own two claws. It seemed that the human hater's suffering had yet to be over and done with.

~.~

It was the middle of the night. Earlier that day, the former Team Gurren, now the re-christened Team Dai-Gurren, first encountered Beastman General Thymilph and his mobile Gunman carrier. After a little motivation from their leader, the great Kamina, it appeared that their goal was unanimous: they'd use Simon and his Lagann to jack the controls away from the big gorilla…thing…and use it as their own base of operations.

Simon, however, wasn't so confident about the whole thing. Kamina was a brother to him, and had believed that Simon had talent back when they were in the underground village of Littner, before the whole mess with the Beastman army ever started. Yoko, who had helped them countless times, would be right behind him with her sniper rifle and bazooka. Boota, his little pigmole buddy, would be riding on his shoulder and keeping him company even during the most dangerous parts of the mission. Leeron, though he still gave him and Kamina the creeps, would be providing the support and surveillance he'd need to survive without his bro's help. And of course, there were all of those other nice people that would be supporting their fight against the Beastman's tyranny.

…But I'm just a single kid, Simon thought to himself, as he struggled to get comfortable in his Lagann. Just in case the Beastmen decided to go against their regular behavior and try to attack at night for once, the boy with the drill necklace wanted to be somewhere safe. What if all those people die because I mess up? I still don't really know how Lagann works, so what if I accidentally break it when I'm surrounded by Beastmen? I'll be dead, that's what! And what about Yoko and-

Simon couldn't shake it out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. Yoko was always really kind to him, and he couldn't help but get a bit of a crush on her. But a little while earlier, he'd accidentally seen her with…it was nonsense, utter nonsense! He should be happy for them! After all, they were like family to him! And if had gone the other way, Kamina wouldn't be worrying about it…would he? Didn't matter; Simon had seen them kissing, and he couldn't un-see it. Either he could deal with it, or he'd let the stress drive him crazy. It was probably for the best, too; not only was Kamina closer to her age, but he was also brave enough to protect her no matter how much danger she was in. The more Simon thought about it, the more he could see how they were perfect for each other…so why did this hurt so much?

After spending another few minutes thinking about it, Simon's mind finally stopped focusing on the kiss between Kamina and Yoko. Not because he'd finally accepted it, though. But you have to admit, a silver-colored beast appearing in front of you and pointing a featureless face at you is rather distracting.

Simon was so scared, he couldn't speak. His first instinct was to turn Lagann on, and then rush back to camp. If the others weren't in a deep sleep, they'd wake up from the noise, and they'd come to his aid. But the beast was too fast; it knocked the drill bit out of Simon's hand with one swipe, and knocked Lagann's pilot out with another. Boota, who had been on Simon's shoulder the whole time, wisely decided to jump down near Simon's legs before he was brushed away like a fly. A few more Nobodies materialized out of thin air, took hold of Lagann, and began carrying it away…

~.~

"You've got to be out of your mind! Do you think that the legendary Kamina of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, the man who risks his very soul to preserve justice for humans, would ever just lay his dignity aside and willingly cooperate with the forces of evil? Especially when said evil has the gall to kidnap him, his bro, and his girl during his well-earned nap? News flash, jerkface: who the hell do you think I am?"

With a noise as loud and full of testosterone as Kamina's voice, Simon couldn't help but awaken from his injury-induced slumber. Looking around, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone. Boota was still with him, but he could see some of his friends nearby, too. Yoko was standing a few feet away, right next to Leeron, who was still rubbing dust out of his eyes. But Kamina was the most awake and alert out of all of them, eyes blazing and swords crossed with Vira-

"Viral?" Simon burst, loudly enough that Leeron fell flat on his backside in alarm. The digger took a few moments to look around, and realized that not only was he within a few feet of one of his bro's rivals, but that they were all in some unknown location with extremely tall structures surrounding them. "What's he doing here? Where's 'here', anyways? Where's Rossieu and the others?"

"Apparently, we're in some surface city known as 'Metropolis'," Yoko told him. Simon guessed that, since she wasn't panicking as much as he was, there had already been some communication going on before he had awoken. "Sharkboy here and some weird silvery Beastmen snuck into camp late last night and dragged us here under orders from his boss. He says that if we help take care of some humans that want to wipe out both his friends and other humans, they'll escort us back home and stop the daily raids on our homes. After that, Kamina decided to take action, and then you woke up."

"…Well, I don't feel weird," Simon uttered, calming down and trying to examine things in an optimistic light. "If the weird Beastmen wanted to hurt us, they could've done so last night instead of just kidnapping us. It'd odd to think that there are people that would want to harm other people in addition to Beastmen, but if it's enough of a problem that-"

"Simon!" Kamina interrupted, trying to keep steady while fighting Viral. "Don't just retreat into your happy place and buy all these lies! You know that Beastmen only attack during the day; an ambush at night not only goes against their regular style, it's a cowardly and unmanly action! A man needs at least eight hours of sleep if he wants to be in the best shape for battle! And if this so-called 'BORED' group he's telling us about is as powerful as he says, then why the hell didn't you take Gurren along with us?"

"First off, those silvery creatures aren't actually a part of my lord's forces, so they could do whatever the hell their master wanted them to," Viral answered, once he managed to knock Kamina out of his personal space. "And second, it's apparently 'against the rules' to crush the opposition with something as great and powerful as a Gunman. Besides, our sponsor's minions couldn't have snuck something that big past your naked ape brigade even if they tried. At least that twerp's machine is qualified, or you'd all be nothing but cannon fodder for some of our tougher opponents."

Enraged at his bro being insulted, Kamina was about to charge back towards Viral and continue fighting, but Yoko grabbed his arm and halted his movement. "Don't you cause more trouble than you have to, you big idiot," she said. "Like it or not, this whole mess seems too complicated to be anything less than what Viral's saying it is, and that means everyone we know is in danger if we don't work together and stop these BORED guys. Plus, I doubt Viral's happy having to work with us, and fighting will probably just make things worse. It's best to just grin and bare it until we can get back to our friends."

Yoko glanced at her 'boyfriend', and noticed that he now sported a deep blush and unfocused eyes. She had a feeling that he was in this state since she uttered the word 'bare', and decided to let it slide for convenience's sake. Deciding that there was no real reason to worry, and that the reward for this adventure would be worth the effort, Simon was feeling more invigorated than he had been for a really long time. Since his big bro was still daydreaming, Simon decided to be the one to say something motivational.

"All right, everyone, let's go!" Simon said, punching the air for dramatic effect. "For the sake of a united world! Let's go and show these guys the power of Team Dai-Gurren!"

With the exception of Viral, the others made a similar gesture, eager to do their best in the trials ahead. The Beastman merely shrugged and hoped that he could at least survive this miserable torment…

PROLOGUE – END

So…how was it? Does anyone think that I have a good grasp on everyone's characterization? It took me a long while to get a product I'm happy to upload, so I certainly hope that you guys enjoy it. Review if you have something to say, best of luck to my fellow competitors, and happy holidays!