Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction ❯ Factory ❯ Simple Meets the Factory ( Chapter 35 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I: Innocence Crosses the Line:
When does innocence end? During sex? The first drink? The first smoke? For Simon, Kei, Conrad, and Nia it came when they first entered the Stardust Factory.
This latest adventure came one late summer Saturday. Kei didn’t fell like going to her summer class that day. She turned to her guy friends.
“Let’s do something fun today,” the Kyoto princess said. The boys looked at her uneasily at that suggestion. Their friend pouted at them.
“Come on!” she said. “It’s around here! Please?” The boys still stared at her. Yet, somehow they felt obligated to humor her. Otherwise, she just won’t shut up about it. Conrad threw up his hands at her.
“Fine,” he said. “Where do you want to go?” Kei gave him a huge grin.
“Take me to the Factory!” she announced. The boys all looked at her.
“What?” Conrad asked.
“You can’t be serious,” Simon said. Kei gave her boys a wicked grin.
“What? Are you chicken?” she asked. Simon and Conrad didn’t answer. The Kyoto princess stood back with her arms across her chest.
“Well then,” she said. “Let’s go!” Then, she started to walk away. Conrad and Simon stared at her back. Kei glanced over her shoulder at them.
“What is it now?” she asked. The boys blinked at her.
“Do you even know where the Factory is?” Simon asked her outright. Kei turned around to him.
“Of course!” But then, she paused. “Actually, I don’t have a clue.” The boys sighed at her.
“Hopeless as ever,” Conrad muttered to himself. Simon only nodded. Nevertheless, the quest to the Stardust Factory already took off.
The trio found their way to the Factory by sundown. Kei bravely walked up to the door and knocked on it. She would do all of the talking as well. The peep hole slid open. A pair of golden eyes behind glasses looked outside.
“Yes?” a voice asked inside. Kei stood back with a little smile on her face.
“We are here to see the Stardust Factory,” she said. “Could this be the place?” The owner of the eyes didn’t speak. The door just slid wide open.
II: Simon and Andy:
As usual, Andy charmed in new suckers into his world. He got to the child without any trouble. First victim?
Simon looked around at all the art in the hallway. He had never seen such splashed on art and cut up canvas before. It all looked much better suited for the trash. The boy blinked at what he saw.
What is all of this?, he thought. Suddenly, he felt a pair of eyes on his back.
“Impressive, huh?” he heard a voice ask him. The child froze in place while he tried to think of something to say next. Andy smiled to himself from behind.
“It’s okay, actually,” he said. “Just tell me.” Simon quickly glanced behind him. Andy looked him deep into the eye as he waited for a reply.
“Really,” he said. “Just speak your mind. I just want to hear what you are thinking right now.”
“Uh…” Simon replied.
One down, four more to go.
III: Kei and Andy:
Andy’s next target wasn’t that hard to draw in either. She was already sold in from the beginning. Kei walked over to him. Andy had waited for her to walk right through his open door.
“How are you liking the Factory?” he asked her. Kei broke into a big smile.
“Really well, sir!” she said.
“Tell me something, why did you want to come here in the first place?”
“I wanted to check things out because I was bored today.”
“And why is that?”
“I just wanted to see what this Factory was all about.”
Andy leaned in closer to her young face. “And now that you have, then what will you do?”
Kei’s eyes grew big at that question. “Uh…”
IV: Conrad and Andy:
Conrad proved a bit tougher at first, but Andy won him over without putting up the effort. The boy stood near the door frowning. The puppet master made his way over to him.
“Is there a problem?” he asked. Conrad snorted.
“No,” he said.
“Then, why so angry.”
“She’s supposed to be in class right now.”
Andy raised an eyebrow at him. “Your friend?”
“Yes.”
“And she wanted to come here instead.”
“Yes.”
“And what about you?”
“I’m just here to keep her out of trouble.”
“Trouble? She and your other friends are doing fine here. How can she be in any trouble?”
“Oh, she finds a way. Trust me.”
Andy stared him straight down with a serious look on his face. “And if she doesn’t? Then what would you do?”
Conrad blinked at him. “Uh…”
V: End of Innocence:
And here begins the endless run-ins with the Stardust Factory and Simple Tokyo. Now it’s time to sit back and watch as they go further into the experience.