"Ah... what a day." X sighed as he settled for a moment beside his lover. Removing his helmet and letting the accumulated static dissipate in the air. " Can you believe it Zero?"
"No," Zero grumbled, still gathering his shredded pride over his embarrassing loss...
"Alien's are going to give us a hand in fixing this mess... it's like... too good to be true!"
"Then it's not true."
"Zee!" X yelped at Zero's grim attitude.
"X... I..." Zero sighed as he hugged his life partner close. "I know you've wanted those answers, and I know your happy to be a soul and... all that trash, but." his eyes roll was as clear as the red gen embedded in his forehead. "isn't it a bit too convenient?" The Jaded reploid asked. "To me... it's too easy, too good. And if it's too good..."
"But what if it was true?" X argued back. "What if... what if it was true? What if God really answered my prayers?" X argued back. "Zero... Humans have prayed to gods for... For practically forever, and it's only when they start turning their back to Him that trouble began."
"X, your exaggerating."
"No, Zero, I'm not!" The blue bomber lifted himself so he could look into his lover's eyes. " Zero, I've studied human history for years. And one thing I've noticed is how thing were less chaotic when God was at it centre... any God."
"X"
"I know it's n;t perfect, and I'm well aware of the slaughter that happened in the name of the bible and Christianity... but I'm talking about the old ones, the ones that were practised more than five thousand years ago in the cradles of humanity. Before the roman empire began to pillage and destroy everything, they would work with nature, and they saw everything as precious and divine...not to be exploited and perverted."
Like we are, came the unspoken line.
"Those Aliens, what they practise it's... Bhakti-Yoga's ancient, The Sanskrit language they use in the Gita is the oldest and most complex written form of language and..." X trailed of as Zero kept massaging his head.
"Zero..." X broke the comfortable silence again. "We've tried so many things to improve our situation; gene editing, nuclear fission, fusion, robotic, A.I... and now we have a desert for a planet and an empty sea so polluted... It's a health hazard just to breathe It's spray." He let out a growl of frustration as tears pooled at the corners of his emerald pools called eyes.
"X... please be patient." Zero mildly asked as he wiped the tears off his beloved eyes. "I'm sure the smart guys will come up with something soon, just-"
X shook his head and pushed Zero's distracting hands away. " Ninety years... We've waited for ninety years for this scientific breakthrough..." X spoke tiredly as he maintained eye contact with Zero. "It's just like with the missing human-monkey link Zero...and whatever else science has promised us... it's a hoax... a lie."
"X..."
"Zero... I know you know how reploids are made. We're basically ghost in machines... it's not scientific, and it's... It's esoteric, it basically a highly advanced machine we think doctor light built, that sucks in ghost and stuff them in a heart-shaped box... and then there's me!" he sighed as he covered his lover, using his bulky armour as a pillow. "I just want... I just want to try something different, and... have you seen how happy those Hare Krishnas were? How loving, bright and cheery they are?"
"Yes... I did." Zero agreed with some slight reluctance, gently running his fingers in X's lovely mop of hair. Chasing whatever tension was there with practised ease. "Let me guess... you want to emulate them?" he asked.
X sighed. "They look so happy and... and it feels just right... But I don't want to practice something you don't like." He admits as he lifted himself up to plant a kiss on his partner's soft and warm lips. "You don't have to worry about losing me anytime soon, Zero." He assured.
Zero grunted; it was clear he appreciated the attention but, something else was on his mind.
"Zero?... there's more to it, isn't it?" X asked.
"I just don't like how they baited you... we know your origin X. Doctor light made you... you are his best creation."
It was X's turn to grumble. "I know, but... I'm way too advanced for any scientist to decipher. And no technologies have come even close to me in a hundred nine decades. And... he never said he made me, and the only way to have a new reploid is still by using this machine. Otherwise, no A. I can even come close to the lowest grade reploid." He let out a huff. "I... The Lor... I feel like she wants to talk to me, that she knows me."
"X!"
"It's true!" X once again rose above Zero, using his elbows. "I can feel her like... it's like I know her almost."
"X...It's a ship."
"No... no, she feels like, she feels like a reploid, but a differently shaped one and..." X huffed as he tried to hide a smile; for his part, Zero couldn't help but raise a brow at how his boyfriend had addressed the Lor. "Zero... She has the variable system; I know she does. That's how she can make the hallways and the doors big enough for us." he turned to his lover, his eyes shining with a determination only reserved from when he would make a discovery. "I know... I know I'm like her. I know I was made by those ancient aliens Zero, it Hurt How much I know."
"And then what?" Zero Snapped. "What if you are one of those artifacts? Where would that lead you?" He asked, his voice tight.
X paused and thought for a bit, and then he clenched his fist. "I would know what my real goal is, what I am and... why I exist."
"I thought the Gita told you that." Zero shot back with a tilt of his head. "Isn't it enough to know that your a soul in a body? That... That your duty and goal of life is to serve and love God?" he sarcastically quoted, his jaws clenched.
X sighed as he gave his lover the most annoying glare yet. " Zee... I know I'm a soul... or, I theoretically know that... But I want to know of my... of this body's true Origin, and why... Why did Dad lied to me."
Over the years, X had learned to detect when someone was lying through different cues like stress hormones, tone of voice and auras.
And...And maybe it will help us? Maybe those ancients have a technology or..."
"And what if you were build to destroy everything," Zero asked with a very pronounced frown.
"Zero! Why would you say that?" X asked as he stared at his Wily build lover. "Doctor Light would never do such a thing..."
"But... he may not have made you." Zero prodded with a triumphant smirk. Catching X off guard.
The blue bomber could do nothing but scamble for another argument. Only hitting roadblocks after road blokes.
Zero sighed as he let his hands rest on X's hips. " Listen, X... I would rather we just forget about this whole thing and just..."
"Keep the Status quo?"
"Yes."
X huffed... and pushed himself away from Zero, getting out of the pod.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Zero yelped as he tried to catch X's quickly receding hand.
"Crash on the couch... don't bother getting up." And with that, X left in a huff, entering the sitting room and sitting down on the ugliest yet most comfortable couch in existence.
Yes... he was mad at Zero. He was frustrated, antsy and... feeling a bit... Sick?
Yes... he felt what would be the equivalent of sick for him... 'I got mad at Zero...and he's just trying to protect me.' He sighed as he pulled out the wall charger from his socket. 'Yeah...no wonder I'm feeling sick. Zee deserves better than that...'
He never liked fighting with his boyfriend. It felt wrong on a primal level as if he was crossing a line that he was not meant to cross. Not unless there was a good reason for it.
And this time... he had no good reason, for he knew Zero was the logical one in this particular situation.
He closed his eyes after plugging himself from the wall connector; sure, he won't have the benefit of the pod, but... he didn't want to fight with Zero more than necessary. And he didn't want to disturb his lover with... whatever virus was getting dissected by his systems.
He had his own view... his own opinions...just like X.
There was nothing wrong with that.
He took out the Bhagavat-Gita from his storage and began to reread it... who knows, maybe the Lord had a piece of matrimonial wisdom in their also...
But as he read... The weird feeling he had to worsen.
X closed his eyes... His head felt heavy. And many warnings came up in his U.I... familiar to him... but in a language, no one knew... not even Cain.
Maybe he should have listened to Zero...
"And this is the report for the Jacob ladder incident." Signas finished his briefing about the whole event. One of the cabins had suffered a heavy malfunction, sending it careening to earth with around twenty new-gen reploid, including the project director.
Those reploids had sent everyone in a panicked frenzy when they had emerged from the crash site looking like Sigmas. And Layer was sure this had given her dear Zero and X quite the amount of nightmare fuel.
But overall, none had to be repaired, and all were sent back up to finish the last level of the sub-orbital lift.
"Now... to our other item of concern. We have our interstellar visitors. Namely Gooey, Meta Knight, Dedede and Magolor."
"And the Lor Starcutter." Layer added, now standing confidently under her sleek and very tasteful set of armour.
"And the Lor Starcutter." Signa's added without much of a twitch. "This morning, Layer and Axl, our current expert on this invading alien, have infiltrated the ship to gather as much Intel as possible." He turned toward the screen showing images and pictures of the alien's spaceship.
"The battle abilities of these ships are currently unknown... only that its inhabitants are extremely powerful and that their vessel can cut through dimensional boundaries," he emphasized. "Do not be fooled by its a toy-like appearance, if this ship can go through dimension... then it can easily make a few anomalies to mess with us." he turned toward the two spies.
Layer confidently walked forward. He new armour the definition of professional and efficient. Gone was the transparent part; the purple-haired Navigator looks as if she was wearing an armoured tux with battle heels. And a few gears here and there.
Up on the podium, she addressed the hunters...sans X.
"From what Axl and I have gathered on the Aliens, we know that they are not aggressive and only desire to help us. Madan... Meta Knight is an ancient and experienced star warrior from the other side of the Galaxy. His speed and fighting prowess are exceptional. He strictly follows the code of chivalry and the teachings of the Bhagavat Gita As it Is. He's a terrible cook tough, but-"
"Please keep it to what is relevant." Signas intoned...almost bored at that point.
"Right... So Meta Knight carries with him the Galaxia blade; in the anime, it is claimed that ancient beings made it's of fire...but nobody is sure about it, the only data we have is that it managed to slice through Zero's Titanium-Z armour as if it was butter and cauterized the would as quickly as it happened."
"More like wielding it shut... And let me tell you, Zero's armour may not be on par with X, but it takes some highly volatile gas to even make the alloy hot enough to glow." Douglas added. "And while if clearly melted the metal, it didn't cause any other damage..."
"I see." Signas inclined his head. Before gesturing to Layer to resume.
"Meta Knight is extremely agile and light. His cape can turn into a pair of bat-"
"Dragon!" Axl interjected. This was one well know debate between the two geeks.
"Wings... and he can disappear in it to avoid danger and appear a few meters away, usually behind his enemies. It is called 'Dimensional cape'"
"Great... more dimension shtick," Zero grumbled from the furthest corner of the room. His countenance is dour and stormy.
Meaning... he was worried. And his ego had yet to heal from the humiliating defeat he had at the hand...or gloves of one Meta Knight. Not only that...
But X was not by his side.
This...did not bode well.
"In the ancient game, Super Smash Bother Brawl, Meta Knight is ranked at the top, being an SS tier... meaning that short of himself, he is unbeatable." Layer blushed as she averted her eyes from Zero. "Like... we have all seen."
The Red ripper rolled his eyes as he clicked his tongue.
"Next, we have King Dedede, ruler of dreamland. His strength lies in his powerful arms and skill with his hammer. He can flutter and suck enemies in like Kirby and... He's considered a type of Rival to Kirby in the game...same as Meta Knight, but it seems that this animosity is gone now. He also has an army of cute waddle... of Waddle Dee's at his beck and call and can potentially summon Gordos, spiked balls with eyes, basically."
There was a collective hiss of pain. Spike... were usually covered in nasty Nanites made to corrode and screw with whatever they could.
"Next, we have Gooey, the good Dark Mater."
"Dark matter?" Douglas repeated.
"Dark matter is a being of unknown origin. In the first two games of the dark Matter Trilogy, it takes the form of a black ball surrounded by smaller oranges. It has a single eyeball, can shoot lighting, those orange ball things and can possess people, turning them maverick." She explained as she moved the slides.
The whole room's mood darkened... oh how they wished their maverick could be as easy to deal with.
"Yeah, in the last game, though, they take the appearance of some dark clouds with this red and yellow iris. They can possess people and turn them bad." Axl explained as he leaned back on his chair and rested his boots on the table, boots that a mildly annoyed Alia roughly shoved down. "Basically, that's their maverick Virus."
"I see..." Signas intoned gravely as a Life-saver began to take note. Now more than a little interest in the subject at hand. " And do we know the origin of such entities."
"Zero." Axl smugly informed the group, jerking his thumb in Zero's general direction.
The Red ripper's lips sealed themselves, and his face turned blank—his pupil's shirking to pinpricks.
Some moment passed, and Axl gestures to layer to show the next slide. It was a white orb with red-eye and some red lines surrounding it. "This Zero."
"No way..." Layer whispered. "This thing is also a Zero?" She asked the question everyone wanted to ask.
Axl laughed. "Yep, that's its name, and he's the last boss of Kirby Dreamland three... spoiler alert."
Layer groaned.
"But yeah, this evil dude just... one day decided he hated the happy and friendly atmosphere of pop-star, so he sends his scout, the black eyeball things, to corrupt and cover Kirby's home planet with evil energy. Kirby gets up from his nap and, accompanied by his animal friend, beat the crap out from the dark-matter... who had processed King Dedede. That was Kirby dreamland two, Kirby dreamland three; Dark Matter covers the happy little pop star in a literal dark cloud tentacle thing and turns many of its residents mad. And once again, it's Kirby and Gooey's duty to get rid of the abomination."
"And they do, as always." Layer interjected.
"yep, and after gathering all the MacGuffin, gratitude stars... heart... whatever, They beat the literal tar out of Dedede-"
"Again"
"and they face the same Dark Matter scout... but this time, their boss and generator, Zero, appears and start shooting our cute little duo down with his own blood."
"Wait... His...blood?" Signas asked, quite shocked at the demon's mode of attack. "You... can't be serious!"
Layer showed the next slide on a hunch... this one containing the GIF of Kirby's Zero shooting down the crayon rendered hero with what was unmistakably his own blood.
Then she went to the other slid...
"KYAH! I can't look! Layer, please change it!" Palette cried as she hid her eyes behind her hands.
"Oh, my God..." Alia whispered in pure horror. "And that's for kids?!"
For his part, Zero...the reploid, Averted his eyes as he hid an emphatic wince.
Axl Chuckled as he plopped both of his boots back on the conference table, reclining back in his chair with a wicked smirk. "Oh yeah, Kirby games start sweet and cuddly. But For those who managed to get all the collectible in the trilogy." he chuckled darkly. " you get to see the real horror that this sugar-bowl hides."
"Alright... and after this... Creature dies." Signas managed to speak as he tried to make sense of cute Kirby batting away at the disembodied, bloody eye of Zero with something that was described as a 'love love stick.' "What happened?"
"Third game, Dark Mater shook things up by taking over another star... or a planet that was not Popstar." the slide showed a heart-shaped luminary with a cutesy smile and bow.
"You... can't be serious." Spoke on of the space guy. " This can't be a planet. It's... heart shape!"
Axl gave a shrugged. "Hey... That's what it is; just roll with it. Anyway. This is Ripple Star, and it's inhabited by plenty of cute little fairies, their glass wearing queen and a giant crystal they guard.
"And Our intergalactic edge-lord could not take the cute, so his dark cloud of negative shit just covered the whole happy planet, corrupted its inhabitant and... for some obscure reason, forced the unnamed queen to send a big crystal to outer space via another fairy named Ribbon." He narrated as the opening movie kept moving. "But, dark Matter didn't let our space cutie get very far and broke the crystal, sending little Ribbon crash-landing right into our hero. And after a concise explanation, She woke up the legendary star warrior... the sleeping beast... Kirby of the star."
"And let me guess... Zero was somehow behind this?" Signas intoned as he kept an eye on the eerily quiet yet... nervous Zero.
Their Zero, the Reploid... not the bloody eye thing.
"Yep, He came back as a bloody angel." Axl gesture to Layer, and sure enough...
"Huh... he doesn't look so bad," Pallete spoke up from her chair as she peaked at the smiling creature. "He looks kind of... Never mind." She averted her eyes as they showed the true form of the beast.
"meet Zero-Two. Basically a Zombified, Angel-like cyclopean monstrosity with thorns stuck in his ass and a highly breakable halo." He grinned... and once again, Zero... their Zero reacted.
"Axl... please watch your mouth." The quiver in his voice was unmistakable.
"Alright, I'll watch my damn mouth... Scary cat." The ex bounty hunter tried to god the older and more experienced hunter.
"Just get to the next one... the floating ball. Gooey's not much of a threat anyway." Zero was annoyed... but Signas could also detect some worry...
Interesting.
"Next, we have Magolor." Layer gratefully changed the image of the screen to the floating alien. " Yesterday, he personally upgraded mine and Axl's frame and armour, free of charge. And he let us run through some obstacle course of his doing. He is rather polite and an expert when it comes to all thing related to this mysterious alien race known as the 'ancients.'" She explained. "He's surprisingly very knowledgeable about reploid morphology; even the new Axl held no secret to him."
"I got nothing on this guy except what he told us; He's a mage whose passion is archaeology... even got his doctorate for it, he used to be a criminal, got reformed after Kirby and company beat him up until the master crown took the wheel... Ah, He... got processed by an ancient artifact made by said ancient advanced civilization. Anyway, Kirby and the gang save the day and Manga... Magolor got the honour of being the only final boss who survived an encounter with Hoshi no Kirby. He's also the adopted father of the Lor Starcutter. Never got to meet hear, but apparently, she's a very sweet if very lonely girl."
"Hmm... I see." Signas inclined his head as he rubbed his chin. "Now, before we move on to this Kirby of the stars, I want to have Douglas's opinion about those updates." he turned his attention to the experienced medic.
Douglas got up from his chair as he took out his data-pad."I've scanned them both; their systems are all in the green and functioning beyond what I thought was possible." Douglas informed Signas. " Same with X and Zero..."
"Douglas?" Signa's asked the medic, is there anything else?
"Yes...this morning, Zero contacted me. X... has a fever or something that resembles it." He informed the commander. " I took a few samples from X's main tank and of those apples and the food those aliens had fed X and Zero."
"And?" Signas prodded.
"Once again, it's all in the green. What Zero consumed basically instinct grains and vegetables, the weakest human could easily digest it." Douglas informed the commander, "Those gem apples are organically grown E-crystals. They have the same composition, the same energetically output and the same property as the stuff they make in the factory but, In therm of their structures, they resemble fruits, complete with a set of seed." Enthusiasm entered Douglas's voice. "Right now, I've set up a mini-greenhouse to see if those could grow in a controlled environment." He paused. " While everything points those miraculous fruits to be as inoffensive to reploids as it can get. I'm not disproving the fact that they may cause allergy, but... so far, Only X seemed to have an adverse reaction to them.
Signa's brows went up to his cap... as every reploids and division leader.
... this had far-reaching implications. Positive implications despite the state they had left X in.
But... could they dare hope? Could they trust those seemingly adorable and innocent aliens?
"... Do we have any idea why X's system health is acting like this." He asked... out of two reploids... maybe even five, X was the only one who was suffering from a malaise. "Zero?"
"Sometime...X's System will do, what we like to call a system cleanup." Zero explain. "It usually happens at night... and it's usually happened once every year. Usually, after he gets upgraded by Doc Light's capsules."
"But?" Oh, how Signas hated when there was a but. And the amount of time Zero had used the word Usually meant that what was happening was out of the ordinary for X.
"This is the second time this year... and... he's still going to clean up after eight our."
"No... that's not normal." Douglas Validated Zero's worry. " After this meeting, you better bring it to the clinic area."
"Don't worry; I was planning to do just that." Zero returned his attention to Signas and Layer. "Alright... Layer, was it?"
The professional-looking Navigator's face turned beet red as she managed to regain some composure. "Y-yes I... Yes?"
"What do we know about... K... Kirby?"
Signas did not show it... but he didn't need his current level of intellect to see that the zeroth Unit's fearless leader was scared of the diminutive alien.
Honestly, what type of world-ending power could an eight-inch balloon possess to make Zero quiver in his boots.
"Well... I could tell you, but... I would rather show you." She Then opened another window on the screen... it was of an old website. "I've sent the same to all of your Data-Pads; please study it carefully."
And they did...
What Layer had sent them was the ancient page of a now very much defunct blog. It contained Kirby's scientific analysis using what little data could be collected from the games and the anime.
After five minutes... Everyone felt as if they were right as the top of the world's biggest nuclear reactor on the cups of a melt-down.
Axl... the lovely little imp he was, dare to give a devilish chuckle as he lazily leaned back on his chair, knowing that Alia would not push him off this time... since she had a more pressing matter to attend, like not letting the jaw joint pop out of their socket.
"... He's... strength, Multiversal... level of casualties..." Palette weakly mumbled as she struggled to keep it together. "Oh, God..."
"And you know what's even better?" Axl rhetorically asked. "He's on our side."
Suddenly, Zero scrambled out of his seat and bolted out the door. " DOUGLAS! WITH ME!"
Needless to say, The medic practically teleported out of his seat.
"Namo Namaha~ Tulasi Krishna preyasi, namo~namaha!" Mangalanada sang sweetly as he took care of their Tulasi plant. He had just finished getting rid of the spider mite and was now showering her with pure water.
Celestial Ganges water, of course.
"Namo re Namoh re meya, Namoh Naraya~ni! Say, Devi, what adventure will your divine husband make us go through today," he asked the Goddess who blessed this world in the form of the sacred basil. "Will Sir Zero try to avenge his loss to our Madan-Mohan? Will X come and visit again and let me check out his frame?"
"Be careful what you wish for, Mango." Madan Mohan's voice floated in.
Mangalananda turned around to face the dark-blue knight. He was wearing his full armour, and his eyes had turned a bright shade of yellow.
"My friend... what worried you so much?" Mangalananda asked. "You know, Were all pretty powerful, and it's clear Zero will not be able to defeat you... let alone Kamala."
"I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you," Madan warned. "There's something about him... He's not like any robot of metallic life form I've met."
"yes... and he lost to you like all those great warriors before him... and, once again, Kirby!"
Madan 'tasked' "yes, I know Kamala can and will decimate the poor thing... but how will the rest of the population react?" He asked. "Sir Zero and Sir X are heroes beloved by most; they are commanders in the army and..." He sighed as he rubbed the side of his head. "And if we start another war... if something were to happen to them by our fault..."
"Then it was by Krishna's will."
"Mango," Madan warned. "Don't blame our screw up on the Lord."
"I'm not blaming him." Mangalananda put his palms forward. "But at the same time, the battle of Kurukshetra happened by Krishna's will. Even if the Lord tried to stop it."
Madan-Mohan sighed and grumbled.
Mangala wrapped... a hand around Madan-Mohan pauldron. "Listen here, my friend. Were all doing our best in this dystopian time. The situation's not ideal; the people here are illegal robots who just so happen to be living entities... and those poor souls lived through ninety years of wars and the worst ecological disaster to date in which whatever advance made to stop a hate plague were all proven to be fake and used by their badies to make thing work."
"You... did your researches, didn't you?"
"Oh, course I did." Mangala gave Madan a hearty pat. "Now come, I heard Kamala made his ever so famous Dosa and sambar combo." he grabbed his hand as he floated away, catching the star-warrior as he traversed the corridor.
For some reason, he could feel that Lori was practically vibrating with excitement. 'Waiting for Mister X, aren't you, sweetheart?' He asked his Ship-shaped daughter.
...Yes, he was well aware of how out of the ordinary his girl was... and how most would be assumed he would take her as a girlfriend. But Lori... simply didn't fit this anime archetype.
First of all, she didn't even have an avatar to communicate with others. She could not speak, and it was only through impressions and scrambled ancient language that she could convey her desires.
But, she had desires, and those meant that she was a conditioned spirit soul that somehow got herself stuck in the body of an interstellar boat.
'In the Vaikuntha planets, even the airplanes are people... so this type of body must also be available in this material world.' Then Mangalananda realized that God must also have to body of a ship...
'Sri-Balaram... or Ananta-Shesha is everything from the Lords' shoes to his bed, lamp, cloth and the spiritual world. Meaning He's also chariots and planes.' The floating mage gave an unseen smile as the bliss of realization flooded his rotund body. 'God, I love spiritual science!'
Suddenly he hears Lori ring the alarm for a perilous threat... and this Alarm stopped almost as soon as it began.
Both interstellar Vaishnavas stood to attention, waiting to see what would occur next.
"See... I knew something like this would happen." Madan-Mohan openly grumbled.
"Oh? You have prescience?"
"No... Gut feeling." And with that, the mysterious knight teleported out to the hangar where Lori was staying.
Sure, they were under heavy surveillance, but it gave a reprieve to his little girl.
The scene that awaited that would've been quite comical if not for who were involved.
It was Zero... his whole body was screaming anger and fear as he stood to his side, ready to attack the eight-inch tall Kamala-Kanta and Gandharva das.
'Oh... that's not good.' If the red robot would dare to wound or attack a devotee... God, Krishna would have a field day with this poor soul.
As for Kamala... He had a blue double-pointed hat that indicated that this was Mirror Kirby. A good choice, considering that all weapons were light-based and that his bell Ability would probably net him a hefty fine for noise complaints...
Again.
"- Can't be! Those apples are inoffensive! And they can't turn reploids into E-Crystals!" he exclaimed. The duo wished they could've heard the rest of the conversation, but one thing was for Sure... someone had a very peculiar reaction to those gem apples.
Zero scoffed... then caught the sight of the two new arrivals.
The moment the reploid laid eyes on Mangalananda, his whole face turned frightfully stormy, his curled lips exposed a rather impressive set of sharp teeth.
"YOU!" He roared. As he took his sabre out, preparing to lunge at the Vaishnava duo.
Only to hit a highly reflective wall... courtesy of Kamala. And since it had the ability to reflect whatever force was applied, Zero all but flew backward, landing on his back.
Madan-Mohan and the mage wince in sympathy for the guy.
"... Mango, what did you give X yesterday?" The blue knight asked his friend.
"A dozen of the finest gem apple. You know, the premium ones that I sell for a stupidly high price?" Well... I used to. No one wanted to buy things from his store anymore. "And before you ask Madan; No, those apples can't turn reploids into gems. Otherwise, Miss Layer and Axl would be a pair of gleaming crystals as we speak... YOU HEARD THAT?" He addressed the scrambling blond, who grumbled something that could be taken as a confirmation.
No, those gems were not known to cause such symptoms. For it was an ancient fruit cultivated by the... ancient tribe before the cataclysm.
"Yeah, I did..." He reactivated his sabre. "But it doesn't mean I believe you." He growled dangerously.
"Obliviously." Mangalananda sighed as he approached Kamala's mirror barrier. "So... Mind telling this liar what happened exactly? And I would also need to see X... his physical state may give me a clue about why he's... crystallizing?"
They could only hear the grinding of Zero's gear... and the darkening atmosphere around him.