The next day, the mythbusters decided to have a day on the town, with this being their first official day of work, they decide some sightseeing would be beneficial. That and they wanted to have some fun before disaster struck. Kepher is at Sugar cube corner with Pinkie pie and Toby, baking a cake with them. "Okay!" Pinkie said, "we have all our ingredients right?" she asked. The boys looked on the counter, checking over all the ingredients. Sugar and butter, eggs,vanilla, flour and baking powder, and milk. "We thought we should just make a simple cake for your first time here." Toby told Kepher.
"Okay, this is gunna be fun, vanilla is my fav!" he clapped his hands.
Toby smiled at him. "Hehe, i dunno what i like anymore... i used to like chocolate, but lately i've had a craving for strawberry flavored snacks."
Kepher gave a thoughtful look."Huh... fruit snacks are pretty good... I guess i'm at a loss as to weather i like vanilla or blackberry more."
Toby laughed. "You like blackberries? i've never had a pastry made with them before... is it good?"
Kepher put his hand on Toby's shoulder." If you ate something with blackberries, your heart would stop from shock at how awsome it was." Toby laughed.
"Okay cutie wutie Toby and sweet wittle Sugar cane, lets get started, we have to mix together the sugar and butter to make a cream." Pinkie instructed. Kepher took a small bowl, butting in some sugar and butter, and handed a spoon to Toby to stir.
"Okay, next we put in the eggs, and a pinch of vanilla." They did as they were instructed, Toby cracking the eggs, and Kepher pouring the vanilla. "Next, add the flour and baking powder, then stir." They did so, Toby putting the ingredients in as Kepher stirred. "And last, the milk." Pinkie poured the milk in herself."Now all we have to do is put it in the oven!"
She placed the cake tray into the oven and turned it on. Toby jumped exitedly." That was fun! we should do that again sometime Sugar cane." Kepher nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. *Jingle* "Oh! a customer! i gotta do this, the cakes are busy with the twins right now, so I have to run the shop, you two stay and watch the cake." she said as she ran out to meet the customer.
Toby looked out to see who it was...and his eyes went wide with shock. Kepher turned to him.
"What's wrong?" Kepher looked over to see what Toby was staring at. "Oh my god..." he said. The one who had entered the bakery wasn't a pony, and he definitely wasn't one of the mythbusters. Toby and Kepher could only stare in curiosity as the tattered and seemingly depressed boy, his hair covering his face, walked up to the payment counter. "...Hello..." he said, his voice barely audible. Pinkie was shocked to see the state this colt was in, he looked so hurt, and his eyes showed through his hair a bit, they made Pinkie sad to look at them. He spoke. "...I was passing through... and i smelled these..." he picked up a small cake. "...alot of work...was put into these...wasn't there?" Pinkie nodded. "...I love pastries...they add so much...happiness." He placed a few bits on the counter. "I can tell...these are top notch...you must be proud of this place..."
"Y-y-yeah, I am...thanks for the compliment..." Pinkie couldn't keep her happy demeanor with this colt... the look in his eyes was that of someone that has had there heart crushed and their hopes broken down. She took the bits and placed them in the cash register. The boy gave a weak smile. "...Thank you..." He turned and walked out.
Pinkie pie let out a breath she had been holding in. "Oh my gosh, that was nerve wrecking...poor colt..." Toby and Kepher ran out to see her. Toby spoke first. "That guy was creepy... and those shackles on his wrists... do you think he was a prisoner?"
Kepher shook his head. "Naw, i could see runes on those shackles and he had a noh aura, which is like a Myths aura, but it's for humans who have spent long periods of time around myths... maybe he's a refugee from the moontouched?"
Toby gave a confused look. "moontouched?"
Kepher nodded. "Yea, that's what we call humans with noh aura, the moonlight strengthens the aura, increasing their power like it would a myth, so those people are called the moontouched."
"Oh... i hope he's okay...should we try to follow him and see if he needs help?" Toby asked
"No...I think it would be best to leave that guy alone... he seemed kinda depressed, and people like that can usually get violent if you bug them." Toby nodded in understanding.
Pinkie finally seemed to snap out of her funk, so Kepher decided it was time to leave. "Well I really had a lot of fun, thank you for inviting me, but I need to get back to work protecting ponyville, I'll see ya later, M'kay?" They both nodded and waved goodbye as he walked out the door.
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Meanwhile, at Golden Oaks Library
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Natalie had decided to stop by to say hello to twilight during her patrol around town, seeing as they seemed to have some common interests, it would be a good idea to try to make at least one close friend in equestria. She walked up to the library and knocked. The door opened and she saw a small purple dragon standing there. "Oh, you must be Psylocke, right?" it said. Natalie nodded. "Okay, i'll go tell Twilight your here, come on in!" she walked in and sat down on one of the pillows by the back of the room. As the dragon walked upstairs to fetch Twilight, he called down to her. "Oh, by the way, my name's Spike."
Natalie smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you Spike." He smiled back and continued up the stairs. Natalie took the moment to look around the room, it was round and had shelves full of books, being a library, that should be expected, to her left was the staircase that led upstairs, and to her right were two doors, one leading to a kitchen, and another next to it with a staircase leading downwards, towards the basement. "pretty good, considering it's a tree" she thought. Right then, Twilight came trotting down the stairs. "Hi Psy!" she said, her smile was big, and made her look adorable, Natalie just wanted to hug her. Twilight continued her cheerful welcome. "I'm so glad you came! I have so many questions about human magic!" Natalie chuckled a bit and took out her chronicle. she held it up for Twilight to see.
"What do you want to know? i'll answer as best I can.
"Well for starters, what are those rune things you talk about?" Twilight began.
"Well, runes are basically symbols that act as doors to the elemental planes of each world, the shape of the rune and the way you draw it changes the spell, this book i'm holding is called a mystic chronicle, every time i learn a new lineup of runes, or discover a new symbol altogether, I write it down in this book, so that i can turn to the page and activate them without having to rewrite them somewhere else, and the chronicle itself has the energy to activate them, so there is no need for an outside source." Twilight beamed and bounced with excitement at this new found knowledge.
"Oh wow, I'll have to write a letter to Celestia telling her about this, I'm sure she would love to know about those runes of yours!"Spike came over with a quill and scroll.
"I'll write down all the new things we learn, okay psylocke?" he said.
"Alright, no problem, what else do you want to know?"
"Hmm... how does being a mythbuster work?" Twilight asked.
"Well... we pretty much just go around protecting people, or in this case ponies, from the myths, we usually help with things other than myths as well, we're like a second law enforcement group."
Twilight was enjoying the conversation greatly. "Okay, well...you and your friends are all so young... how do you fight so well? I've only seen Sugar cane fight so far, but I'm sure your just as strong, right?"
"We trained since a very early age, I practiced runes since i first learned to read, and even before i could read, I had learned to use my mind to move objects, i also learned a few skills, like paralyze and such, but I use runes for even small things like that, and my partners are all weaker than me. I am an upper C class buster, while Regret,Vice, and Sugar cane, are lower D, upper D, and lower C, in that order. Don't let that fool you though, Regrets just lazy, but he could pull an upper D move once in a while. Speaking of which, don't think too badly of him, okay? he's actually really nice, he just gets a little bit rude once in a while, he's used to having insult wars with Vice... the point is, he's just not the best when it comes to getting others to like him." Natalie frowned a little.
Twilight tried to cheer her up. "Don't worry, I don't think badly of him, I can tell he's a lot nicer than he lets on, and I'm sure the rest of my friends think the same thing." That seemed to bring a smile back to Natalie's face.
"Thanks for understanding, I think of all of them as my little brothers, I've been with each of them since the first days they arrived..." Twilight gave her a warm smile.
"Hehe, I think of spike the same way, I guess that's another thing we have in common besides magic."
Natalie giggled. "Yeah, I guess so, by the way, would you mind if I borrowed some books? I just love reading."
Twilight jumped up. "Me too! wow, this just gets better and better!"
Natalie stood up. "Hehe, I bet we'll get to learn more about each other later, but for now, I need to get back to hunting around, never know when a myth will pop up...or twenty." She took two books she found interesting, "Mystical illnesses and cures" and "fouls' tales". "I like a little fairy tail once in a while." she said with a smile as she waved goodbye and left.
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At The Carousel Boutique
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Rarity was busy making clothes for her new line as the bell on the door rang. "I'll be there in a second darling!" she called. She quickly finished stitching the last few seams on the dress she was making and got up to go greet the customer. "Okay dear, what can i do for..." she cut short as she saw the colt in front of her, tattered and emotionless.
"...Hello...I heard you made...really nice clothes..." he said.
"Why, I would hope so, it is my favorite thing to do, and my job." She tried to sound calm, but she was horrified at the condition of the colt. His clothes were ruined and his expression was unnerving. "I was hoping...you could fix my clothes for me...?" He gestured towards himself. Only then did Rarity realize that the colt had shackles on his wrists.
She looked at him worriedly. "Of coarse dear, just go into the changing room and remove them, ill take care of the rest."
He nodded and followed her to the dressing room. He removed his shirt and pants and handed them to her, she used her magic to levitate them with her to her workroom while the colt waited in the changing room.
"what did he do to get torn up like this?" she thought. She not only fixed his clothes, but completely changed them.
She brought the new clothes to him and he tried them on, once he stepped out into the room, Rarity smiled.
"Oh' you look a lot better now darling! those clothes suit you so well!" she said. She had changed his solid grey T-shirt into a white shirt with grey sleeves that reached down to his wrists, where he still wore the silver shackles. His black pants remained as they were, only without holes, obviously. she had even gone out of her way to make him some shoes. It wasn't too hard to make clothes for him, as he appeared to be the same size as Toby. The shoes were white with grey soles and black laces. "...Thank you very much... how much do i owe...?"
She shook her head. "Oh, these clothes are free darling, with the state you were in before, this was the right thing for me to do, think of it as a favor."
"...You are very generous..." She smiled warmly at the compliment.
"...If that's all...I will leave..." and with that, he was gone.
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At Fluttershy's Home
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Toby had gotten home from baking with Pinkie and Sugar cane, and was surprised to find Fluttershy had a special guest visiting. "Oh." Toby said. "Hi Vice..." Vice got up from feeding some gophers and turned towards Toby.
"Hey there, I was just helping your mom with the animals." He walked up and ruffled Toby's hair. "You wanna feed the animals with me?"
"Sure." Toby answered. He liked Vice, the way he was so serious but fun to talk to, and he was really nice.
They spent some time feeding the animals until Fluttershy walked in. "Oh, welcome home Toby." she said.
"Thank you mamma." he answered back. "Me and Vice just finished feeding the animals." he smiled proudly.
"That's very nice dear." she looked to Vice. "Thanks you again for helping out, Vice."
"No problem, I like animals, feeding them is fun." he said. He looked at Toby, who appeared to be frozen in shock.
"What's up with you?" Vice turned around to see a boy walking up the path. He was wearing very nice clothes, and had his hair covering his eyes, and strangely, he had shackles on his wrists. "Oh, hi there." Vice walked up to the boy.
The boy looked up a little and answered him. "...Hello..."
"Are you okay buddy? you sound like your losing your voice..."
"...I am fine..." Vice scratched his head.
"Um... okay then..."
Then Fluttershy flew up next to the boy. "Oh dear, are you alright? you look hurt..." she said worriedly.
"...Don't worry...I am alright...thank you for you concern...I must be going..." He continued straight into the Everfree forest. Vice gave a confused look. "Wow... he looked like he was around your age Toby, that's pretty cool... strange to see someone not a mythbuster here though... and i should probably get my mask repaired... it said he was an S class myth... seriously...that's overkill even for a malfunction." He tapped his visor. Toby laughed nervously.
"Hehe, yeah, like a kid could be a myth..." He remembered what Sugar cane had said about the moontouched, but chose to ignore his fears. "He's just a kid like you toby, and he doesn't seem to be mean, just ignore it..." He thought to himself.
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Deep In The Everfree Forest
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Maxwell strolled through the forest, looking for myths that might wander too close to the town.
"Ugh... I told you, this place is dangerous! even more so than you're used to! myths can kill you in a second!"
He turned around to see the three fillies that followed him into the forest. Applebloom, and her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Mah sister said you an' yer friends were real strong, so as long as we're close to ya, we're fine." Applebloom said. "Thanks alot Applejack..." he thought to himself. "Alright... just don't wander off, and if a myth shows up, Stay behind me and don't interfere." They all nodded and smiled. Applebloom looked at him happily.
"Do ya think that if I worked hard enough, I could fight myths too?" she asked.
"Maybe... but don't get any bright ideas, it would take a lot of training just to be able to fight anything above an E class."
Scootaloo looked to Applebloom with a grin. "Hey, maybe you'll get your cutie mark for hunting myths."
Maxwell noticed the look in Appleblooms eyes and quickly spoke against it. "Don't even think about it, if you got hurt, I don't even wanna think about what Applejack would do..." They looked at him sadly. Then Sweetie Belle tried to reason with him. "But if you're with her, then she doesn't have to worry! right?" they looked at him with pleading eyes.
"No! I'm not risking it." he shouted. "You're lucky I haven't turned around to bring you back to ponyville yet."
"Aaaaaw..." they all said at once. Scootaloo decided to ask Maxwell something she had wanted to say earlier, but didn't know how to. "Um...Regret?" she asked
"Yeah?"
"Why do you always wear that mask? It's kinda creepy..." She had originally been scared of him, before Applebloom explained who he was. "It's not important... it just makes me look cool and mysterious." he said
Then Sweetie Belle screamed. "Aaaaaah! there's one!" Maxwell turned to where she was facing and saw a blue tinted bear.
"Oh..." he said. "Only an E class... too bad, I wanted to face a C class like Sugar cane did. oh well, can't choose what you get..." Then he rushed towards the beast. "Watch this, i'll beat it without using my weapons at all!" he tried to impress the fillies, it seemed to work because they were standing tall and leaning forward with excitement. Scootaloo spoke up.
"Oh, this is gonna be so cool! maybe not as cool as Rainbow Dash, but hopefully close enough!" the other two nodded.
Maxwell rushed towards the bear, only to be knocked away. "Ow!" he yelled.
The fillies cringed at seeing him hit. "Um... are ya'll gonna be okay?" Applebloom asked.
"Yeah, I just had a rough start is all. i'm gonna take this thing down in one move!" he said.
They all got excited again. "Oh, really? that would be neat!" Sweetie Belle called.
Maxwell got back up and darted into the trees. They were confused as to why he would do that, until he came flying from the treetops with his right fist drawn back. As he fell he threw his punch, the force of his weight, strength, gravity, and the runes engraved into the backs of his gloves, the punch destroyed half of the bear, leaving the soul gem shattered, and the myth defeated. "So... still rethinking your thoughts about me?" he smirked.
"No way! that was awesome!" Scootaloo cheered.
Sweetie Belle giggled. "At least we know we can trust you to keep ponyville safe, thanks a lot!"
Applebloom was still in shock from seeing a huge bear destroyed in one punch. "Wooooaaaa..." was all she could manage to say.
Just then, a figure stepped into the clearing, dirty blonde hair covering his eyes, and a nice long sleeve shirt with dress pants and nice sports shoes. He walked up to Maxwell and spoke. "...I saw you defeat that myth..."
"Yeah...what about it?" Maxwell asked.
"...Normally...a myth can't be shattered like that...from just any attack..."
"Your point?"
"...How strong are you...?"
Maxwell was a little surprised at the question, it being out of the blue, but then again, so was this kid.
"Well, i'm told i'm only a lower D class fighter, but I know it's bull, they just can't handle me." He bragged, admittedly, his low rank was most likely from being so lazy during the advancement exams.
"Speaking of strength, those shackles your wearing have sealing runes on them, there a reason for that?"
"...maybe the same reason you wear that mask..."
"What, you have a monster in you too?" He joked. The boy's eyes widened a little.
"...you too...?"
Maxwell was a little surprised by that. "Wait...he actually has one?" he thought. "Well, yeah..." That was mostly true, Maxwell did his best to suppress his anger and sorrow in the back of his mind, but after a while, the stress would try to take over, becoming a beast within his mind. More than once it got through and made him lash out on the ones around him. He wore his mask to hide the emotions from everyone around him, concealing the monster within him even more so.
The other boy spoke once more. "...What's your name...?" he asked.
"I'm Regret."
"...I am...Zero..." He turned to leave. "...Nice meeting you...Regret..." and took his leave.
"Well that was wierd..." Scootaloo said.
Applebloom looked at Maxwell with a worried expression. "What did ya mean when you said you had a monster in ya?"
"Nothing..." he said. "It's a...human thing...yeah, that's it..." He began to walk back to ponyville."Well, I guess we should head back... comon girls." And they left to return home.
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Through The Eyes Of The Strange Boy
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Zero had spent the morning hunting down new species of myths, he had gotten an E class manticore, a lower C class timberwolf, and had encountered an A class cockatrice, the cockatrice wasn't much of a challange for an A class, he simply looked into its eyes with his own and it dissipated, leaving only the soul gem. He had put all the soul gems into his pocket and left the forest. He decided to walk through ponyville to see what he could find, and sure enough, he found something he enjoyed right away.
Zero's heart skipped a beat as he realized what it was. He could smell wonderful pastries from a shop to his right. He walked in and looked around, it was a nice little shop... He noticed a pink pony rush out to the counter to greet him. He approached her, and as he did, she seemed to lose some of the cheer she had shown just a few seconds prier. "...Hello..." he said, his throat hurt whenever he spoke, and he could feel the dark aura around him pull on his heart every time he opened his mouth. "...I was passing through...when i smelled these..." He picked up one of the cupcakes that were on display, and noticed an aura around it, a happy white aura that showed happiness and love. "...alot of work...was put into these...wasn't there...?" he said. The pink pony nodded, still with a small frown on her face. "...I love pastries...they add so much...happiness." He remembered how miss Varen would bring him a small cake every day after training to help him feel better when he was a lot weaker, and got hurt more during the training sessions. He reached into his pocket for his dimension cube and extracted some bits to place on the counter.
"I can tell...these are top notch...you must be proud of this place..." he said.
The pink pony seemed a little down. "Y-y-yeah, I am...thanks for the compliment..." she said.
Zero gave her a small smile. "...Thank you..." he said, and he left.
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Later
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After a while of wandering, he found himself walking in front of a large tree, which had been made into a house, as he was passing it, a girl, seemingly older than him, walked out with two books in her arms and one on a strap on the right of her belt. Zero was surprised at this, he hadn't seen another human since he arrived. She turned to him and waved.
"Hi there!" she said. "I thought me and my friends were the only humans in equestria... what are you doing here?"
"...I was... teleported here... I'm just... wandering around...looking for something...to amuse me..." He replied.
"Well, I hope you find something of help... by the way, you should get some new clothes, the ones you're wearing are pretty messed up..." she said
Zero looked down and noticed she was right, his clothes were badly damaged from all his training, he barely ever noticed before. The girl spoke again. "I know! I have a friend named Rarity, she lives at the carousel boutique down the road. It's a store that sells lots of beautiful clothes, you could go there, if you've got some bits." She gave Zero a warm smile.
"...Thank you...for the information..." he said. she nodded and waved goodbye before leaving.
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More Later
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Zero had thought about it and he decided some new clothes would be a good idea, all of the ponies he passed had looked at him with strange expressions since he arrived, and if he were to fit in better, he would need to look much more decent than he did now. Once he had arrived at the house the girl had told him about, he walked in to see a dresser with a mirror to the right, a changing wall slide to his left with a small stage-like platform beside it, a door to a kitchen and stairs leading to the upper floor. Nothing else in particular seemed interesting, a notable fact would be there was fabric laying all over the place. He heard a voice from upstairs."Okay dear, what can i do for..." she stopped as she got to the bottom and looked at him. He could tell she was shocked, so he tried to break the awkward silence.
"...Hello...I heard you made...really nice clothes..." he said.
"Why, I would hope so, it is my favorite thing to do, and my job." she sounded slightly nervous.
Zero decided it would be best to get to the point."I was hoping...you could fix my clothes for me...?"
She looked at him with a strange expression he normally only saw from miss Varen after his training or when he asked her about his powers."Of coarse dear, just go into the changing room and remove them, ill take care of the rest." she said.
He nodded and followed her to the dressing room. (It was really just a sliding door in the middle of the room, but he didn't argue) He stood behind said door, and removed his shirt and pants, handing them to the unicorn. the clothes levitated out of his hands to her, and she walked upstairs.HE began contemplating. "where should i go? I have nowhere to call home here... I don't really know anyone...and I can't just stay out in the open space... " He thought about these things for a good while, until The white unicorn finally returned. She gave him the new clothes and he tried them on.HE stepped out and was greeted with a smile. "Oh' you look a lot better now darling! those clothes suit you so well!" she said. She had changed his solid grey T-shirt into a white shirt with grey sleeves that reached down to his wrists. His black pants had all the holes patched up, and she had even gone out of her way to make him some shoes. The shoes were white with grey soles and black laces. "...Thank you very much... how much do i owe...?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "Oh, these clothes are free darling, with the state you were in before, this was the right thing for me to do, think of it as a favor."
"...You are very generous..." he said. She smiled warmly at the compliment. "...If that's all...I will leave..."
He turned and left, sensing that she was uneasy around him still.
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Even More Later
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Zero had been walking for at least twenty minutes by the time he arrived at a small cottage beside the forest. He saw two boys and a pegasus standing there, feeding the animals. One of the two boys called to him.
"Oh, hi there." The slightly taller boy with the mask walked up to Zero.
He looked at the boy in front of him and answered. "...Hello..."
"Are you okay buddy? you sound like your losing your voice..."
"...I am fine..." Zero said. The other boy scratched his head.
"Um... okay then..."
Then the yellow mare with the pink mane flew up next to Zero. "Oh dear, are you alright? you look hurt..." she said worriedly.
"...Don't worry...I am alright...thank you for you concern...I must be going..." He continued straight into the forest.
He didn't want too much attention, unfortunately, he wasn't doing a very good job at it. Just having the bare minimum of contact was already messing him up.
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Even Later Than That
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While wandering the forest, looking for shelter Zero heard the sound of combat from nearby, so, curiously, he left to investigate. He was surprised to find a boy around his age, falling from high in the air, annihilating a bear myth, he didn't get to see what level it was, as it was destroyed too quickly. He decided he would like to speak with this fighter.
Zero walked out into the clearing and approached the boy.
"...I saw you defeat that myth..." Zero said, getting to the point.
"Yeah...what about it?" the boy asked. He seemed rather confident, that sparked Zero's interest.
"...Normally...a myth can't be shattered like that...from just any attack..." he stated.
The boy seemed eager to get on with the conversation. "Your point?"
Zero did not wait any longer to move it along."...How strong are you...?"
"Well, i'm told i'm only a lower D class fighter, but I know it's bull, they just can't handle me." He said. this got Zero curious. "He's strong enough that they lie about his power?" he thought.
What the boy said next caught Zero off gaurd. "Speaking of strength, those shackles your wearing have sealing runes on them, there a reason for that?"
Zero decided to make a blind shot at the feint runic energy he felt. "...maybe the same reason you wear that mask..."
"What, you have a monster in you too?" The boy said.
Zero was absolutely shocked, but the myth inside his heart refused to let him express it. "...you too...?" he asked.
The boy gabe a small "hmm?" then continued. "Well, yeah..." This was the clicker for Zero, finally, someone else like him. Someone else with a beast trying to hold back their heart. Unfortunately, Zero still had to keep himself under the radar for a little longer, until he could get his operation set up properly, but that didn't mean he couldn't know the name of his "noh" brethren. Zero spoke once more. "...What's your name...?" he asked.
"I'm Regret." the boy said. Regret...powerful name." Zero thought.
"...I am...Zero..." He turned to leave. "...Nice meeting you...Regret..." and took his leave.