> The Cost of Desire
>  by TheEternalWanderer
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> The cost of desire prologue
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Chapter 0: The Legend of a king

Long before the age of the three tribes, there existed a kingdom like no other, all manner of species lived together in harmony and peace ruled over a by a kind king. Though all was not peaceful forces of darkness sought the kingdom for its treasure and resources and others sought to destroy it simply because they could not stand the species living together. 

Though each attack was repelled by the king and his men who fought briefly, it was not the end. The forces continued to come back one by one, and each time the cost of defeating them grew greater and greater. 

The king no longer wants to lose any more of his citizen sought out ways to gain the power to protect his people. He sent his brightest alchemists and magicians in search of answers.

Their first breakthrough came when they found legends of the king’s species ancestors who were protected by two different warriors known as Kugga and Agito. While they could not find where either was now, they now knew the form the power they sought would become. 

From there they researched other legends of armoured warriors and learned of the Kivat clan a group of bats like creatures told to be able to craft mighty armours which would strengthen the wearer. 

The king and his men sought out and eventually found the tribe but learned that none of them would be able to make use of their armour as only a few could survive using it. Though not all was lost as the Kivats made friends with the king and promised to aid him looking for an alternative source of power. The Kivats with their great knowledge helped the king's Alchemist and Magicians attempt to create their own armours. 

These efforts where lead by two individuals the mighty alchemist Gara and the noble magician Ebulon. Both worked on different methods of producing the armour. Gara sought to harness the powers of various animals and grant them to the armour user, while Ebulon sought out a group of thirteen beasts of legend in hopes of harnessing their powers into armour. Both succeeded in their duty. Gara created thirteen sets of coins like object which would later be known as core medals which could be used alongside a device he developed called the ooo driver form armour and use the power the medals provided. 

Ebulon, on the other hand, created fourteen decks. Thirteen of which were linked to each one of the beasts of legends which would grant an armoured form to the user. Both sets worked miracles with the king taking the ooo driver for him to use in battle while the decks were given to his knights. In time the king and his knights became heroes to all easily fighting off the forces of darkness. 

Though like all good things it must come to an end. Gara was consumed by his greeed and sought to use his creations to become a god. He created a second type of medal known as cell medals which he used to form an army of golems to take over the kingdom. He and the king fought against each other. Gara had turned himself into a monster by directly absorbing the core medals into his body one by one. 

The king knowing that unless Gara was stopped made the ultimate sacrifice and scanned all the medals at once. This caused a large explosion which reduced Gara to a pile of cell medals and shattered the core medal which had held his mind, and the king was turned into a stone coffin where all the core medals were sucked in and sealed inside.Though the kingdom was restored, it was destined to fall as without the king the various species grew more hostile and the kingdom was divided, and the species went on their separate ways. 

Ebulon and the reaming knights knowing that there was nothing they could do so each was sealed in the advent void to sleep until they were once again needed, with the king’s coffin sealed in a tomb which could only be open up by one who had a pure heart and needed help.  And thus the legend of the first ooos ends and soon his heir shall rise.
> Cost of Desire Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: The return of the king

Flames, that’s all Zen could see as the smoke rose into the sky in front of him. Five bodies lying on the pavement in front of him, charred to a crisp. To most these bodies would be unidentifiable, but for him, he knew them all too well, the large one to the left was his father, the one beside it his mother. Just a bit away was his older brother’s corpses, and to the right of that where his two older sister’s bodies. It was a stupid mistake, an accident. He knew he wasn’t the one truly responsible no that person was standing on the opposite side of the flames looking at him. 

The crow earl, something that shouldn’t exist, it was just a villain he made up for his book, an arch rival for his hero like the joker is for Batman, Lex Luthor for Superman and the goblin for spiderman. But then he appeared and taunted Zen kept mentioning how he needed to be empty before his journey began. The fire was not the first attack the crow earl did. No that was about a month ago when he killed his mother right in front of him. over the month the crow earl proceeded to kill of the rest of his relatives one by one, leaving them in various mangled states for Zen to find, with various message written near the bodies about random things that seemed to just be there to taunt and make Him feel worse. Nearly every message had the words desire, kingship, emptiness and journey pop up in them in some form. 

The fire was his final attack, the corpses of his family brought here and his last reaming living relatives his sisters burnt alive with the corpses of his entire extended family. Normally one would be filled with rage or anger and swearing revenge towards the cause. But for Zen he was never one for things like that, well except for a few times his anger got the better of him. But this time, he couldn’t feel anything. His mind was overloaded with thoughts of blaming himself and plans to just end his life. His family were so much more than some stupid lazy kid like himself who spent more time on a computer then with them. He let out a hollow laugh as he thought back to all the times they asked if he would join them to watch some movie in the evening, but he would refuse and instead spend time on his own in his room reading various stories and other things that boy do in private. He also felt that he never got the saying you never know what you had until you lose it, truly until now. 

In this moment as his own self-depreciation continued to grow the Crow earl walked over dropping several items at Zen’s feet. 

“You’ll be needing these, I’d like to just break you and make you snap right now but for now you must stay on the edge just a step away from falling as I have so much more planned for you, after all it’s bad if I just skip to the end after all the journey is the most important part after all” The crow earl said as he let out a maddening laugh as he walked away.

With a slow movement, Zen glanced down at the items left behind by the monster and to his surprise they where Kamen rider toys. The first was the driver of one of his favourite riders Kamen rider OOO, along with what looked like a modified medal holder. With some effort, he opened the book and found it contained a mostly complete set of tree for all the medals that have been released, though there was only one of each of the shocker, imagine and rider medals. Next to the holder lay the birth driver and buster, and next to that lay the IXA driver from Kamen rider kiva and a bag pack. Inside the bag pack was a pack of underpants and some of his things form his bedrooms such as his ds, a key chain push of twilight sparkle forms my little pony, and what appeared to be users manuals for the birth driver and Ixa Knuckle . With a sad smirk, Zen packed the items, knowing that while the crow earl wants him to suffer these items might work as some kind of aid, if not then at least he could pass a few hours messing with the drivers.

A short while later the firefighters came and put out the fire. Shortly after the firefighters where done, he was taken into custody by the police and was interrogated, or by this time giving an update on the killer seeing as all the crow earls’ previous murders had him as the first discoverer of the body somehow. He kind of gave up caring at this point, once he given his report he was let go and was set up in a nearby spare apartment so that they could easily reach him if they had any more questions and that he had somewhere to sleep for the night. 

After settling in, he pulled up some Kamen rider fanfiction to read and began messing with the ooo driver as he tried to think about what had happened over the past month.  With a sigh, he sat up and walked towards a Mirror which was long enough that his whole body was reflected in it. He saw his messy dark brown hair, his square shaped glasses sitting in front of his brown eyes, he was wearing his black full metal alchemist t-shirt which he had gotten from qwerty with a transmutation circle made up of symbols from the show printed on it. He also had on a pair of black sweatpants. He also noted his figure which was a bit thinner than before due to him not eating very much the past few days and going for several runs to clear his head though it didn’t help that most of those walks ended up with him finding another corpse of a family member. Taking the ooo driver from the table, he put it on his waist. He Then dug out the medal holder and picked out a red, green and yellow medal the three medals which made up ooos default form. The medals all had a golden ring on the outer edge, and each depicted a different animal on it. The Red medal showed a hawk, the green a grasshopper and the yellow a tiger’s face. “He wants me to break and fall into Despair, but they wouldn’t want me to live a life like or be consumed by revenge; they would want me to move own to continue my path of life. But every time I try to move forward, I can’t help but fall to my own self-deprecation. But there is no path for me to follow, I have no way to stop that monster from continuing to ruin my life. But I won’t let him win maybe I can be like Eiji and the other riders, my own happiness no longer exists and will probably to even try and create as long as the crow earl exist, but maybe I could just reach out and help others instead” he muttered as he looked at the medals in his hands. “It’ll be a start; I hope that they can be happy wherever they ended up. Tomorrow morning will be my first step. But first one scan for good luck” Zen said as he took the medals and slotted them into the belt, a strange glow began to emit from them and the bag. Before he could react, he was engulfed in a bright flash of light and him along with the bag where gone. 

Meanwhile, in a dark forest in another world, two figures rushed through the dense foliage towards some unknown destination. The first had tri-coloured hair which was stripped violet, pale gold and rose. From her head, a small horn-like protrusion was present along with a pair of small horse ears, on her back a pair of pink wings sat folded up and a tail of similar coloration swayed behind her. On the back of her hands where a pair of marks showing a crystal heart. She was dressed in a torn dress and was running for her life. Beside her was a slightly younger girl with a mixture of dark blue and violet hair. She to had a horn like protrusion and a tail which matched her hair simlar to the other woman but lacked a pair wings of her own. She was dressed in similary tattereted and worn clothing. On her hands where a six-pointed purple star with smaller stars surrounding it.

“Quickly Cadence those monsters are gaining on us, there should be a river just on the other side of the forest, we just need to reach there and were home free,” The younger girl said as she tried to help cadence keep running.

“I know Twilight, but I don’t know if we can outrun them, I suggest we find somewhere to hide and let them pass before continuing.” Cadence suggested.

It was at this moment a strange glow caught both girls’ eyes drawing them towards a nearby cave. Without, a second thought both ran for the cave both feeling that it is their best bet. As they ran in the found that the cave slowly changed to something more Pony made then a natural cave structure. As they walked deeper, the cave began to turn into some kind of chamber with a large door at the end. On the walls either side of the door where depictions of armoured warriors themed after various animals. Fighting against some kind of monsters which looked like they were wrapped in bandages. 

Both girls looked at the image curiously, a look of recognition came across both of their faces when they looked at the monsters, but the warriors were unknown to them. “Maybe we can hide behind the door” Twilight suggested as she walked towards the door. As she touched the door, she felt a bolt of energy pass through her and then heard a voice in her head.

“you of pure heart, please make use of the power hidden within to protect. But be warned if the one who wields the power is consumed by their desires then destructions is all that awaits this world.” 

Shortly after the voice finished the doors creaked open revealing a large chamber. All along the walls where more depictions of the warriors from outside, six on one side and seven on the other. Below each image was a small self which showed held a small rectangle box, each one was a different colour and had a gold emblem on the top. On the back wall showed another warrior this one was tricoloured with a red head, a yellow body and green legs. All around it where circle made up of what looked like coins all in varying colours with three of each colour. There where coloured red, blue, green, orange, purple, grey, and several other colours of a similar shade. Below the image sat a large stone coffin. Curiously Twilight walked towards the coffin almost like she was in a trance, not noticing Cadence shouting at her. Upon climbing up the altar which the coffin sat on, she found that on the lid was a rectangular object which was at an angle. Drawn to it she shifted it so that it was straight. As it clicked into black cracks began to form in the coffin, and a glowing light began to seep through. Then the coffin exploded knocking Twilight to the ground blinding her and Cadence as the light filled the room.

As the light dimmed they where both made witness a strange sight. Where the coffin once sat now lay a pile of silver coins, and in its centre, a young man stood his features hidden in shadows created by the remaining light. All around him coloured coins like the ones depicted on the mural behind rose and began to circle him. Twilight noted that there where several more medals then are shown on the mural. The coins each began to glow and then one by one shot into the man, though he didn’t seem to notice. Once the last coin entered him he bent down and picked up an object, Twilight recognising it as the item she turned just moments ago. With a small movement, he placed the object on his waist. The stone fell off like an animal shedding its skin revealing a mainly black body with blue highlights. The boy looked at the entrance and let out a sigh. The girls both turned and saw standing just meters away from where their pursuers. There were ten in total, the bulk where mummy-like creatures which matched to those shown on the walls outside the chamber, the leader, however, looked like some kind of humanoid praying mantis. 

The mantis looked past the girls and straight at the man. “You have core medals, give them to me now” it yelled.

“I don’t take orders from Gara monsters, he didn’t make these medals and they are mine, to use for protecting this world. I may only have a few minutes left, but that’s more than enough to finish off a weak yummy like you” the man said. He opened him his palm with a small jerk, and a trio of medals appeared from them. They where coloured red, yellow and green. Without another word, he slotted them into the belt and knocked it sideways. He then reached to his side and took a circular object which was attached to the belt that had formed when he put on the driver. With a single motion, he moved the object over the driver.

“Henshin” he shouted

“TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TaToBa” 

(Cue Tighten up and regret nothing)

As the belt sung out larger versions of the coins began to spin around the man in the form of three rings. Two of the rings rotated around him horizontally around his head and legs. The one going around his head spun to the right while the one going around legs spun to the left. The third ring was instead vertical and spinning downwards. The continued this until each one stopped on a different coin. The one around the head stopped on a replica of the red medal which sat on the driver, while the vertical one stopped on a replica of the yellow coin and the last ring stopped on a replica of the green coin. The three coins images moved out from his body and began to overlap. Once they were completely overlapped the image change to now show a golden circle with three distinct images, on the top part was a red hawk, with the centre part showed a yellow tiger and the bottom part showed a green grasshopper. The image then flew back slamming into the man's chest becoming a solid piece of armour which then had light spread out from it and over the rest of the body completely covering him in light before bursting apart. 

As the light flew off, it revealed the man now in a mainly black suit of armour, with a red faceplate which looked like a hawk with green eyes. He had a pair of yellow gauntlets with a pair of claws folded back over the arm, and the legs had green boots which reached up to the knees before becoming green lines which connected back to the image on the chest. 

Both Twilight and Cadence looked in awe at the transformation. Though both realised that he looked exactly the same as the mural on the wall.

“Get those cores for Lord Sombra,” The mantis monster said as the mummy looking creatures rushed forward.

“you’ll have to do better than using Gara’s pathetic waste yummies to beat me, like acutally learning how to fight” the man said as the middle section of the chest glowed, and the light then travelled from it and into the arms causing the claws to extend out. The man quickly moved through the monsters slashing them with the claws. As he reached the other side, the creates all exploded leaving behind half coins.

“Now it’s time for you to go,” the man said as he took out a second green medal swapping it with the yellow one in the belt. With a quick scan, his body changed now having a green middle section with two sword-like protrusions coming off the edge of his arms. The centre of the chest where the tiger image once was now showing a green praying mantis. The creature charged forward and began to swap blows with the man. Though they seemed equally matched a well-trained eye could see that the man had gotten several attacks through. With a large swipe of the blade on his left hand, he knocked the monster back. He took the scanner in hand again and ran it over the belt.

“Scanning Charge!!!” 

The belt announced as the man crouched down with the green legs glowing before jumping up to ceiling beneath him a trio of rings appeared forming a diagonal path towards the monster. Extending his right leg out the man shoot through the rings and into the monster landing behind the monster as it exploded into a large pile of silver coins. 

(End music)

Both girls were speechless as what they had just witnessed. But both quickly got back their wits as the man undid his transformation and took a seat on the stairs which lead up to where the coffin had been.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked looking at the man.

She could now clearly see his appearance. He had dark purple hair and golden eyes, unlike her and cadence he didn’t have ears like theirs on top of his head instead he had strange looking ears on the sides of his head. He wore a black t-shirt with a strange design like some kind of alchemy circle and a pair of black sweatpants. Though she wouldn’t say it out loud twilight also found him quite handsome. He also looked a few years older than her and about a year older then Cadence

“I am just a spirit borrowing a body before I pass on, but if you require a name, you can call me Allister for now. As I mentioned, I don’t have much time, so I need to say a few things. First, take care of the true owner of this body he has a hard journey ahead of him, he will need you to help keep him on the right path as he is now I fear that he could easily be consumed by the abyss even with the aid of the fossil. Second, I will leave him some of my memories so that you can understand more about those things I just fought and be able to find the ones who can use the real version of decks on the wall. Lastly under this alter is a secret room which contains several tomes about the armour I just used as well as the ones provided by the decks, they will hopefully allow those that use them make full use of the armours abilities and weapons. To access it simply have the boy present the driver to the indentation on the wall just below the mural…. It seems that my time here is at its end” Allister said with a sad smile as the golden colour slowly began to fade from his eyes leaving behind brown eyes and his hair also shifted into a dark brown colour. His face turned younger now looking around the same age as Twilight. 

“Wait why are you trusting us with this kind of power?” Twilight asked.

“Because I have faith in my friends and the magic our bond had, after all Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Kindness and Magic made it all complete you were all my very best friends.” Allister said as the final part of the gold and purple disappeared leaving only brown. The boy's eyelids then flickered for a moment before he let out a small groan. 

“What the F-ing hell just happened and why do I feel like I just ran a marathon…oh yeah, the ghost of a dead king used my bodies to fight waste yummies and a mantis yummy. … that should disturbed me far more then it is” he muttered before his eyes caught sight of Twilight just a few feet from him.

“Hi,” he said slowly looking at her in confusion.

“Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle I don’t suppose you remember anything that just happened?” She asked. Though unnoticed to her a look of recognition flashed in the boy's eye.

“Sort of just give me a moment the kings set of memory is coming in and is causing my mind to act a bit weird, and you can call me Zen” he replied as began to rub his temple. 

After a few minutes, he stopped and let out a sigh. “I’m fine now, so what now?” Zen asked as he looked at the two girls.

“I say we check out the secret room, I think it will help us in the long run and there might be information on a secrete entrance we can use to get out of here without running into another squad of Sombra’s men” she replied.

“I’m okay with that, what about you?” he asked looking at the other girl.

“I’m fine with that and you can call me Cadence” she replied with a kind smile. 

“Okay, though first I suggest we collect the Cell medals,” Zen said as he got up off the steps and moved to the pile of cell medals, though he tripped slightly and knocked one of the decks to the ground. As soon as the deck touched the ground a light filled the room, and a holographic image of an old man with a white beard appeared.

“My lord Allister if you see this or if your Soul Heir has arrived as I predicted and is watching this I want to inform you that the decks are replicas which will allow you to find your knights who have chosen to put themselves in stasis until they are needed using the advent void safety feature. These replica decks will allow you to enter temples created to hold each rider in stasis. Though I must make note that the advent master deck along with the temple keys which are the fake decks are required to unseal each rider. Though it saddens me to say this Lance, Alice and Michael fell while they did not have their decks, so they are no longer with us, though their decks are currently in possession of Drake holder of the Wing knight deck. I wish you luck also if you are the Soul Heir I have left the instructions on how to use the master advent deck to assign new users to the free decks.” The hologram explained his face faded with a sorrowful expression.

As the hologram shut off the three were left speechless though tears fell from Zen’s eye with flecks of gold visible in them. 

“Zen why are you crying?” Twilight asked as she noticed the tears.

“Those three where good friends of Allister’s and I think the memories I got from him are causing me to feel what he would’ve felt in this situation. They were his family, they all where,” Zen explained as he wiped away the tears glancing to the murals on the walls.

Twilight nodded in understanding. They made quick work of collecting the keys to locate the real decks and put them into Zen’s bag which was now laying where the coffin once stood. They then quickly gathered up the cell medals and put them in some sacks Zen found in his bag.

“Why are you being so careful with those and what are they you called them cell medals right?” Twilight asked as she noticed the medals. 

“Yeah, they are what are used to create monsters known as yummies which you saw Allister fight and destroy, and they can also be used to create the other creatures you saw used known as Waste yummies” Zen explained.

“How do they do that?” Twilight questioned.

“I’ll answer that after we cleared out the hidden room and have a safe place to rest, right now we don’t know if there are any more of them in the area and I’m currently drained form Allister using the belt, that thing takes a physical toll on the user after each use and until I get used to it I probably can only transform once or twice before being too tired to fight anymore. Now on to more important matters, where you are searching for this place or where you are heading somewhere else?” Zen asked as he began to inspect the wall at the back of the altar for the place he was supposed to present the belt.

“No, we found it while we were trying to make our escape from Sombra’s forces, we got a lucky break with Sombra visiting an ally for a period of time and using the magic we manage to save up we broke out of our cells” Twilight explained to him.

“I see, when I tell you more about the medals you can tell me about what the world is like right now, also I think I found where I’m supposed to present the belt” he said as he pointed towards a marking on the all which was a set of three circles overlapping looking like an infinity with an extra loop added on. Deciding to test it he raised the driver to the wall and as it became level with the markings a light shone out and scanned the driver. A few seconds later a loud rumbling sound echoed throughout the Chamber. They looked around the room and saw that at the centre of the altar a part of the floor had retracted revealing a stone staircase leading downwards. 

With that, the three headed down the newly revealed steps. After a few short minutes of walking down, they found themselves in what looked like a small study of some kind. The walls were filled with several diagrams which Zen noticed one looked similar to the ooos medal tree released with the Complete selection ooos driver. Though several others seemed to depict the various ooos forms and combinations. On another wall was a similar diagram to the ooos medal tree but instead showing the various advent deck emblems along with depictions of the different riders. On the other side of the wall where several tomes stacked on top of each other, beside them where three strange bat looking statues which were familiar to Zen. As they entered Twilight rushed over and began to look through the tomes, cadence looked at the depictions of the riders, and she felt drawn to a depiction of a white rider. 

Zen, however, was drawn to the bat statues which were hanging from a bar resting just above the desk. The first bat had a dark crimson and black body, the next bat had a black and gold body and the final one who was slightly smaller than the other two had a mainly white body. He knew they were familiar, but Zen couldn’t figure out exactly why as his curiosity grew he poked the middle bat gently. In a blink of an eye, the bat sprung to life followed shortly after by the other two stirring. Their sudden movement caused Zen to stumble back landing on his but, his hand catching Twilight as he fell bringing her to the ground with him. 

“Ow,” they both muttered as they looked up to find the three bat-like creatures. 

“He looks like the king, but his eyes are different,” the white bat said as she flew into Zen’s face to get a better look.

“Stand back child, I believe he might be the one Ebulon called the soul heir. Our oath still stands, also boy what is your name?” The crimson bat said as he flew down to Zen. 

“Zen, and are you guys Kivats?” Zen asked as he remembered the companion of kiva who granted him his armour. 

“So, you know of us, that’s good. I look forward to working with you though before you ask neither you nor the purple haired one will be able to use us safely and the tri coloured could probably only last at least two more extra uses before suffering a similar fate. Though I do have something to pass on to you” the crimson bat said as he produced a translucent whistle like object with a castle design and a dragon head sticking out of it. Zen knew what this was it was the Castle Dorian fuestle which was used by Kiva to summon the castle dragon, but what made the double take was that his knowledge didn’t come from his memory of the show but one of the memories of the king.

“Thank you, is there anything else here of note we should take to keep safe?” Zen asked as he and Twilight stood up.

“No, other then the diagrams and tomes ever another important piece was stored along with the rest of our clan in castle Dorian, including a weapon Ebulon was developing for the king should he return” The crimson bat replied.

“I see, by the way, what should I call you?” Zen asked.

“You may call me Yami, my son the golden one is known simply as Kivat and my daughter you can call Kiva-la” Yami said as gestured to the other two bats.

“I see, I’ll go grab my bag and we can pack this stuff up,” Zen said as he left the room leaving the two girls and the bats to talk.

Once back in the chamber Zen let out a sigh as he looked at the cell medal sacks. He did a quick look around, and once he was sure he was alone, he held out his hand towards one of them to test something. At first, nothing happened, but all the coins began to rise and fly toward Zen. The minute any of them touched his body, there was a silver glow, and they disappeared inside his body. As the last medal entered his body his vision flickered to a distorted view before turning back to normal.

“To think I’ve become a greeed. Though at this point I don’t think there is that much a difference I barely feel anything anymore, so losing my sense will not cause a difference that much my goal will remain the same I will reach out my hand to help others, I have to keeping moving forward for them” he sighed as he walked over to his bag and picked it up, as he did a small note fell out. Curious he picked it up suspecting it to just be the Crow Earl taunting him again.

‘Dear Zen,

First off, I’m not the crow earl, that bastard is just a necessary evil I wish I could kill. I am someone you know off, but I’ll get to that later. But first, you didn’t create --------------------------------------------------------------. The reason you know of it is because you are ----------------------------------------- and I’ll leave the rest to when I can meet you in person. As some repayment I made it so the bag will have infinite storage similar to an inventory in video games, all you need to do is put an item in and it will be stored than to remove an item just think of it, and it will be brought to the opening. The journey ahead of you will be hard, and I know right now you are in a state where you could easily fall, despite being the wrong power just remember to hold on to your hope. 

Yours singerly ------z.’

As he read he noticed that parts of the letter were seemingly erased by something leaving blank most of what he assumed was the important information except for a bit about the bag. 

“At least the bag will be useful, though I wonder who Z is and what didn’t I create” he murmured as he picked up the bag and went back down to the others. After packing away the tomes and diagrams, the group climbed back up and left the chamber. The Kivats guided them to a hidden dock. At the dock was a simple boat which would take them to a hidden settlement which will give the shelter for a few nights. With that the group rode a boat into the unknown.

 
> Cost of Desire Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of footsteps echoed through the lamp lit cavern as Twilight, Zen and Cadence made their way down a secret passageway from the tomb where they found Zen. The passage was shown to them by Yami, saying that Allister had planned this saying that a mysterious rider who could travel through time came and informed him of things that his heir would need to help the land. The rider was also quite accurate as to who would be using it as upon entering the first part of the passage, they found changes of clothes for all them, correctly fitted and suited for travelling across a variety of terrains. Though Zen felt that they were in for a headache when they meet the rider, seeing as they will eventually to meet them to give the information they would then give the king to prepare this for them.

Twilight was wearing a mainly purple dress with a short purple cloak over her shoulders, some light purple fingerless gloves and a pair of purple boots. (it looks similar to how she is dressed in this image https://derpibooru.org/473411) Overall it made her look like a mage from a fantasy game. At least to Zen.

Cadence, on the other hand, looked like a knight. She wore a plain light pink t-shirt, with a set of leather armour over it. She had a pair of leather arm guards and greaves. She is wore a pair of cotton trousers and belt which held a sheathed sword. She also tied up her hair into a ponytail. 

Zen had also taken the chance to change out of his casual clothes he was brought there in. His set of clothes he could honestly say made him look like a pirate.  He was now wearing a wine-coloured shirt with a light blue coloured leather vest over it. A pair of cotton trousers and a pair of leather greaves. He also had a pair of gauntlets, but they were made of some kind of metal instead of the leather ones Cadence had. He finished him assemble with a dark black pirate captains’ clothes. (for those who want to see what they actually look like, well at least the top half. Got to https://www.briellecostumes.com/pirates-1/ and look at the one under the title BLACK SAILS INSPIRED PIRATE COSTUME, that is essentially what Zen is currently wearing and will be wearing most of the time outside of certain events) 

Once they were all changed, they continued down the path until they reached a small dock. At the end of the dock sat a small rowboat perfectly sized to fit them all in comfortably. As they all sat in Twilight turned to Yami.

“So where does this river lead?” She asked.

“It leads to a tribe which was allies of the king in the old days and made a pledge by magic to provide aid to his heir when the time came. They live deep within the forest of harmony and guard the Tree of Harmony keeping it safe from harm. Though they only act if the tree itself can’t as they allow it to make its own decisions such as granting the elements to the bearers” Yami explained. 

“I see, so do we need row the boat I don’t see any paddles?” She questioned as she looked for paddles on the dock and boat and found none. 

“You don’t need any; the stream will take you there with its current, you simply need to sit in the boat and wait. The tribes port is designed to catch the boat, so you need not worry about missing your exit point. I also suggest that you all take this chance to rest, as you two have surely been through a lot recently and the heir shows signs of the fatigue brought upon by the initial use of the OOO driver” Yami answered. 

The trio did just that as they all set down in the boat untying the boat before they all drifted to sleep. Whether by accident or on purpose Twilight ended up using Zen as a makeshift cushion. Though the person in question didn’t have any problems as he had already fallen into a deep sleep. Cadence who was the only one of the three still awake saw this, and a small smile made its way onto her face. “I wonder if you two might have a future like me and Shining once had. I hope where ever you were sent when the world was rewritten your safe my love” She whispered to herself as she to drifted to sleep.  

They were awoken a few hours later as the boat hit something shaking them all awake. One by one they got up and rubbed the grogginess out of their eyes as they looked at their new surroundings. What they saw took their breaths away, they were no longer in a cavern but instead a large dense forest filled with trees, some of which were so tall that their tops couldn’t be seen from the ground. Over the edge of the dock where to boat now rested was a large beautifully designed city which was built into or around the various trees becoming one with nature itself. Though too far to be able to identify the species they could still see large amounts of people moving about. 

They slowly got out of the boat one by one, though as Zen helped Twilight, he noticed she was slightly flushed in the face. “Are you okay?” he asked as he put his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. This caused her face to go an even deeper shade of red. Cadence and the Kivats all watched this while letting out small laughs at the two actions though neither of them noticed. “I’m fine” She stuttered, trying to look away from Zen.

“Good, I don’t want my …friends to be sick,” Zen said though Cadence who was still watching the paired noticed Zen’s eyes seemed to look empty and depressed for a few seconds as he mentioned the word friend. 

Before she could think any future, a commanding voice shouted from behind them. “Halt. Name yourself trespassers and declare your intentions and how come to Thicket.”

The all turned to see a group of about five soldiers — theywere all dressed in brownish armour except for the leader who wore a more reddish Armor around each of their necks where a small barrel which was held in place by a ribbon. Though the most eye-catching part of their appearance was the deer horns which stuck out form openings in their helmets. 

Zen’s eyes suddenly gaining small purple flecks as he stepped forward and spoke. “We mean you no harm, I am the heir of the multi king and have come to seek aid in accordance to the oath of the thirteen which was signed by the previous Multi king and Heart of the Forest. If you doubt my claim, I will willingly accept the Sacred trees trial to prove myself.” 

As he finished spiking the purple flecks vanished leaving his normal brown eyes. Everyone except the Kivats looked at Zen the deer guards where in shock while the Cadence and Twilight both looked at him in a mixture of intrigue and shock. 

“Very well, we shall take you to meet the current Heart as if such an oath exists then he would know of it if he doesn’t then we’ll make you prove yourself in the trial.” The lead guard said as he kept an eye on Zen. 

The guards then separated and moved so that the leader was head of them with two of them behind him while the other two moved, so they stood behind Twilight, Cadence and Zen. With that, the group set off into the wooden metropolis. As they walked Twilight moved closer to Zen to talk with him.

“How’d you know all that?” She asked 

“I think Allister’s memories acted up as the information just came to me, and my body seemed to move like it was on autopilot” Zen replied.

“Auto-what?” She asked looking a bit confused. 

“Autopilot, best way to think about is acting on habit or instinct without really thinking about doing the action” Zen replied.

“You two keep quiet” one of the guards ordered. 

“Sorry” the replied in sync. 

With that, they walked in silence as they were brought through the city. All three of them marvelled at the buildings which were built into the trees and the methods that seemed to have been used to achieve this. 

They eventually reached what was most likely the largest tree in the forest which seemed to have a castle built into it. In front of them stood and intricately carved gate which stood in grandeur. They where quickly lead in and took through the halls until the reached another large door. 

“Halt, I will go inform the King, you four stay here and guard them” the guard in the reddish armour said as he left through the doors. It was a few moments later that he came back out and ushered them in.

They found themselves in a grand throne room. Along either side where various murals depicting various scenes made from some kind of coloured glass-like substance. Directly in front of them stood a large wooden throne. On it sat a man in elegant white robes. Like the guards, he too had a pair of antlers coming out of his light brown hair. Around his neck was a heart-shaped vial which was attached to a golden necklace. He looked at each of them closely his eyes focusing mainly on Zen.

“So, you claim you are the heir of the multi king. I ask you what proof do you have?” The King asked.

“I have the OOOs driver, and I can summon the armour of the king” Zen replied politely. 

“I see, then present this driver and show me the armour of the legendary king” The king replied.

Zen nodded as he pulled the driver out of his coat and first showed it to the king before placing it on his waist. Then putting his hand in his coat pocket, he summoned the taka, tora and batta medals to his hand and made it look like he took them from his coat. He then placed the medals and transformed. The king’s eyes widened as he the armour appeared on Zen. They darted around taking in every detail of OOO’s TaToBa combo.

“It looks exactly like the armour depicted in the legendary scriptures left by our ancestors of the adventures of the Thirteen if you truly are the heir then do you know what has happened to our people’s warrior who served you ancestor the Advent Knight Imperere?” The king asked. 

“He along with the other advent knights each went into hibernation in their respective temples across the lands, so that they would be able to aid me, as my awakening was only meant to happen when the world was once again in need of the power of the multi king” Zen answered.

“I see guards at ease. It as he said. There is an oath between our people and the multi king which requested that we would aid his heir and their companions. Please send for my son I believe he would like to meet the inheritor of OOOs and get the cooks to prepare a feast I suspect that our guest hasn’t eaten in a while.” The king said as he sent off the guards. 

They all bowed and left to fulfil the Kings orders.

“Know then I don’t think I properly introduced myself. I am King Aspen the current Heart of the forest and King of Thicket, may I get your names please.” The king asked now taking a more relaxed tone in his voice.

“Of Course, your highness, I am Cadence, and it is an honour to meet you, my aunts used to tell me stories of you and your people, would I be correct in assuming that we are currently in the heart of the Everfree Forest?” Cadence asked as she introduced herself.

“You are correct; we are in the very heart of the forest. Nothing is able to get past our defences here, not even those monstrous soldiers Sombra and Chrysalis are so proud over.” Lore Aspen replied. A low growl could be heard as he mentioned Sombra and Chrysalis.

“Your Highness I am Twilight Sparkle, and you know of the Yummies they use?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, they are exactly the same as those monsters created by the traitor Gara that my ancestors fought against with the multi king and the advent knights. Though any more information about them was lost over the years. I don’t know how they got access to them, but I know that it will lead to no good for my kingdom. Unfortunately, due to current circumstances, I can do little more to play along and act as an ally so that they will leave my kingdom alone, as we do not have the power to fight against a force as big as there’s. That is your goal isn’t it multi king, to overthrow those who are making use of those monsters?” Aspen asked as he turned to Zen who had just de-transformed.

“Most likely, I only got here, so I haven’t gotten the full scope of the situation only know that I needed to help these two escapes from a yummy which was chasing them. But if I do plan to fight, I need to know more about the current state of the world, and from there I would probably work on gathering various allies first and awakening the Advent Knights. After all, no one can win a war on their own. And you can call me Zen” Zen answered with a smile.

“Right you are. It was that very reason our ancestors along with the other twelve tribes joined together with the multi king, funnily enough, the power of the king was inspired by the various tribes or species of the same family” The King replied. 

Just then the door cracked open, and a young boy around the age of ten or eleven who looked like a slightly younger version of Aspen came running in, followed shortly after by a guard. “Father you’ve called for me,” The boy said as he did a small bow to Aspen before standing off to the side of Zen’s group. As Zen gaze settled on the boy, he felt a strange sensation in his body which passed a few moments after though he noticed that the boy also glanced towards him in curiosity. 

“Yes, my son. I would like you to meet the heir of the multi-king and his companions.” The king answered. 

“I see it is an honour to meet you, your highness; I am Prince Bramble. I don’t suppose I could see the legendary armour” Bramble asked as he aimed the deadliest weapon known to man usable only by women and children puppy dog eyes at him.

Zen started to speak, paused for a moment before as his eyes accidentally met brambles again and began mumbling something to himself and let out a smallsigh of defeat. “Stupid puppy dog eyes, I’ll show you the armour after the feast, that way I will be well rested and I your majesty would there be a place of land where I could so off some of the abilities of the armour without having to worry about the collateral damage?” Zen asked as he turned to Aspen though he noticed behind him the girls giving a small laugh to his reaction to Brambles question.

After that, they talked a bit more before they were lead to a separate hall where a table was set for the feast. They were each lead to their seats by the guards. Twilight was beside Zen, with Bramble and Cadence sitting on the opposite side of them, with King Aspen at the head. Most of the feast was spent talking about plans on what to do next and rules for the demonstration which was taking place after the feast. Once they were all done King aspen lead them all to a large open area which his men used for training. While the filed was being set up for the demonstration Zen was checking his satchel having remembered there being a medal holder in it before he awoke in the temple. With some searching, he found the holder, and upon opening, he found it just as it had been when he last looked at it. He quickly removed the medals for the TaToBa combo, along with the Kamakiri medal and the cheetah medal. He also summoned forth some cell medals to create waste yummies for him to fight. 

“Are you ready Zen?” A voice asked from behind him, causing him to jump slightly.

He turned around to see King Aspen. 

“Yeah, and please don’t do that again, I swear I felt my heart jump into my throat” Zen replied with a smile. He quickly headed to the now clear field and took out the belt. 

“Now before I start I will just explain something, so you don’t think I’m secretly evil, I’m going to use these cell medals to create some waste yummies for me to fight against” Zen explained as he showed a pair of cell medals to the King and the others. They all nodded in understanding. With that confirmation, he snapped the medals in half and tossed them across from himself. As they flew through the air, he quickly slotted in three random medals form the ones he took into his belt.

“Taka, Kamakiri, Cheetah”  

A Familiar glow covered him and the OOO’s armour formed around him. Though while the head was the same as the previous times, he used it the body and legs had changed. He now had a green torso with two elongated blades coming out from around his wrist, and his feet where now head yellow parts instead of green which covered far more of his legs then the green ones did. As the transformation finished the medal fragments hit the floor. As the tip hit, the floor bandages erupted outwards from each piece and began to intertwine with each other. After a minute each fragment had formed a mummy like a creature with a circular mask where a face would be. 

All the others looked at the waste yummies in a mixture of fascinated, fear and anger. As these where the main troops of Sombra.  “So that is how those monsters are made as well?” Twilight asked.

“No, these are failed versions of them in a sense. These are what are known as waste yummies. Unlike their normal counterparts, they can’t grow stronger and take a long while to produce cell medals. They make up for it by being tough to take down and very durable. The fact that Sombra has a squadron of these with the greeed most likely he has enough surplus of cell medals that making these aren’t really a waste of resources. Now watch closely as I curb stomp them” Zen replied.

With that, the lower section of his chest plate which showed a cheetah glowed and the light travelled down to his legs. Before their eyes, he became a blur, and they all saw as he flew between the yummies slashing them back and forth. That was until he ran into a wall. 

“Are you okay?” Cadence asked as looked to see any signs which might indicate injury. 

“I’m fine, just this is the first time I’m using super speed and accidentally forgot to break. Now then let's finish this” Zen said as he pulled out his scanner and scanned the belt. 

“Scanning Charge” 

Three golden rings then appeared in a line in front of Zen leading up to the waste yummies. He sped forward as he passed through each ring the ring became energy and entered the blade on his arms. They grew brighter as he passed through the other two rings and with a grand crossing of his arms he blurred past the waste yummies appearing on the opposite side of them. behind him, a glowing x cut through all form yummies, and they exploded leaving behind a half medal each. With that, he turned to the others and undid his Henshin. Though he noted that he was less tired, then he was before. Still drained but less, he wondered if perhaps the medals in him were different from the ones in the holder, maybe the journals will mention something. But for now, he concluded that it would be safer to use the medal holder medals as they will at least allow more consecutive transformation which will be plus for the future. 

“So, what did you think?” He asked with a smile as he rubbed the back of his head. 

“It was awesome, that armour was so cool do you think I could get one?” Bramble asked with  excitement only a child could have.

“Maybe when you’re older” Zen replied 

“Your decent but you need work, and I can have some of my men help you get more used to the powers while you’re here,” Aspen replied bluntly.

“Thanks, so I don’t suppose we could leave that to tomorrow and instead move onto the talking about the current state of the land?” Zen asked

“Yes, we can, follow me to my study. Bramble this is a more delicate matter, so I can’t allow you to come with us for now, though I suspect that you still have some of your studies left to do?” The king answered.

“Yes father, see you guys later,” Bramble said as he left with a guard. 

The rest of them relocated to Aspen’s personal study where they all took a seat around a round table which held a map of Equestria laid across it. 

“So, before I begin to explain would you mind telling me what you already know?” Aspen asked. 

It was Twilight who responded first. “We don’t know very much aside that Sombra had taken control of the crystal empire and the surrounding land and the rest of my friends and princess Celestial where split up between, Chrysalis, someone called The Storm King, and two mysterious figures known as Kazari and Gara who were the only ones who we physically saw when they visited us in our cells though both where covered head to toe in cloaks hiding their features.  

Another thing which I don’t know if you’d believe me when I say it, but the world shouldn’t be like this, they were not ruling here for as long as they appear to be here, and those yummies did not exist before something changed. I know for a fact that me and my friends managed to drive each one of those evils back, aside from the three we never heard of using the elements.  Which I believe protected their bearers, Cadence, Celestial and Luna, as we were all gathered at the tree when it happened having been summoned there by someone via a letter.”

“I see and don’t worry I believe you, due to the original multi king and our ancestors meeting with a time-travelling rider, we have ways of telling if history was altered. But from what you said it seems I have a good bit to tell you. To start the lands of Equestria and beyond have been divided seven ways. As you already stated Sombra is in control of the Crystal Empire and the surrounding lands, another curious fact is that has in recent years taken the title of the Green king. 

What you knew of as Manhattan was turned into the new hive by Chrysalis and has been running the city from the shadows which I speculate is to generate the needed love for her and her changelings to feed on. Though honestly doubt the people there even notice what’s going on, seeing as both there and in the crystal empire the wealthy are consumed by their own desires. Like Sombra she also has started to use a new title, I believe hers is the Blue Queen. 

What used to be the Dragon lands where taken over by the one known as Gara who is called the Orange king and not much else is known except that he is trying to make new kinds of monsters to add to their armies. 

The other individual known as Kazari took over the deserts creating a large colosseum and casino’s where he forces others to fight for his and the so-called noble people's amusement. His title is the Yellow King. 

The Storm King, however, was ruling the outer lands in both timelines, I suspect that you would have eventually fought him if things have not changed though the outcome I don’t know. As with the others, his title has changed in the recent years and he is know known as the Grey King, he is also rumoured to have a magic user with him who goes by the name the Black Witch.  

I’m sorry to say this, but the one who took over Canterlot and the lands around it except for this forest was Nightmare Moon. I’m sorry as I know that she was the corrupted form of Princess Luna. I don’t have any clue if it is the princess corrupted or if she was something made in the image of the princess form by Gara. She unlike the others didn’t gain a new title. There are rumours of a warrior Gara uses known as the Red Knight who shares the colour theme, so they might also be related to the new titles. All that is known about them gaining the titles is apparently some ceremony they called the Stripping.” Aspen explained pointing out each location as he named it. Though Zen noticed that the map was colour coded to display the territories of each person.

“Interesting, I think I might know a reason why they took those specific monikers or at least a rough guess,” Zen said as he glanced at Aspen.

“And that is?” Twilight asked.

“They’ve all become Greeed, we’ll all accept maybe nightmare moon, but both Kazari and Gara are definitely ones, it is likely that the other five became or were turned into greeeds or have one working for them, as only a Greeed can control the yummies which they create,” Zen replied.

“What is a Greeed?” Candance asked 

Zen stayed quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “I think I best start at the begging” he then took out the medal holder which held the core medals and several cell medals. Putting them in the plain view of the other three. “These are core medals and cell medals the source of mine, the Greeeds, Yummies and one of the drivers in my bag powers. The colourful ones are the core medals, and the silver looking ones are the cell medals. Yummies and Greeeds are beings created from desire and are quite similar in build both have bodies constructed out of cell medals. The main difference between the two is that a Greeed will have medals of a certain type within their body, they dictate both its appearance and the type of yummy they can create. Another difference is that a yummy can grow stronger by feeding off the desire that spawned it, increasing the number of cell medals it has. The method in which this is done depends on which core medals the Greeed making it had. 

For example, yummy born form, a Greeed who only has green medals will create insect-like yummies similar to the one form the temple. They gain strength by consuming the source of desire most of the time; there are some odd ones which have more unique methods which depend on the yummy itself if the desire doesn’t really have a physical form for it to consume. For example, let’s say the yummies host had a desire for wealth the yummy would go around consuming gold, cash and stuff similar to that which symbolise wealth. The more it eats, the more cell medals are created and the stronger it grows.

Greeed, on the other hand, have two methods to grow stronger; the first is to absorb large amounts of cell medals into their body, large amounts of cell medals can grant them incredible strength and durability. The other method and the more dangerous of the two is them absorbing core medals. The more core medals a Greeed has of their type, the more access to their full powers they have. Nine medals of their respective set are what is need for them to become whole and gain their most destructive power; probably the scariest is the power the grey Greeed.”

“Why is that?” Aspen asked 

“Because, the power it gains with all nine of its medals inside of it, is to turn anything it touches into to cell medals. Though I would say what happens should one Greeed be filled with several different types of medals at once might be equally scary. The reason is because first they will turn into a super Greeed which is just a destructive beast, but should even more core medals be added, then the Greeed will turn into what is known as the medal vessel which then proceeds to consume the world. Back to my original reason for speaking the reason, I believe they may have become Greeed is that each set of core medals is differentiated by a different colour, of which include the sets with the colours, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Grey, Red and Black” Zen finished explaining.

“I see, that is worrying. Do you know how many core medals they each may have already?” Aspen asked in a worried tone.

“There are ten medals in each set they have between one to seven medals of their respective sets; I have three of each set in my holder here. Without having a confrontation with them, I won’t be able to tell for sure.” Zen answered. 

“I see. Is there anything else you need before I have the guards show you to the guest rooms?” Aspen asked 



“We’re fine” Twilight and Cadence replied

Though Zen paused for a minute remembering the fuestle he was given by the Kivats.

“There is one thing I need to check from the stuff we got from the temple I woke up in, but it needs a large open space do you know anywhere that could fit that?” Zen asked 

“Yes, I have just the place I can show it to you tomorrow after breakfast” Aspen replied with a smile. They all got up, and the guards began to lead them away when Aspen stopped Zen.

“I have one more question I would like to ask you in private,” Aspen said as he signalled his guard to continue bringing Twilight and Candance to their rooms.

“Okay, ask away?” Zen said as he noticed Aspen seemed to look slightly guilty.

“How does one get turned into a Greeed?” He asked.

“The change is triggered by inserting a core medal into their body. It not actually that hard. When the medal is brought towards the body, a coin slot will appear for it to be put in. It is the same method used to create yummy, with the only difference being the type of medal used. Is there anything else” Zen answered.

“No thank you, a guard will be outside to take you to your room,” Aspen said as moved Zen out of the room and closed the door. As the door closed Zen noticed that the guilty he saw in Aspen earlier had seemed to intensify. Before he could think anymore, he felt the drain from the using the armour finally hit him and had the guard lead him to his room.
> Cost of Desire Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ch 3: Of Course, it’s a Dragon 

The next morning Twilight, Cadence and Zen were brought to the room where they ate last night and where served breakfast. It was mainly a mixture of fruits, grains and vegetables as the deer’s where all herbivores. After breakfast, they returned to their rooms to prepare for the trek to a clearing where Zen could test his Fuestle. 

As he was getting ready Zen heard a knocking coming from the door to his room. Quickly putting the last item in his bag and slipping the ooos driver and medal holder into his coat pockets which were surprisingly roomy, though he suspected it had something to do with the ability all riders seem to have for storing items related to their belts on their person with no visible bulge. Reaching the door, he opened it to find Cadence standing there waiting.

“Hello, is there something you need?” Zen asked feeling it was strange she would seek him out when they are shortly set to leave.

“Yes, I have a small question which I would like to ask in relation to the information you told us yesterday about the Greeed.” She replied as she moved into the room closing the door behind her. 

“And what would that be,” Zen asked though Cadence took note he seemed to slightly tense up.

“This may sound rude, but are you one?” She asked.

Zen looked at her in deadpan. “Blunt aren’t you, may I ask what lead you to ask me such a question?”

“It was a simple observation. When you were awoken from the coffin, several sets of medals orbited around you and the entered your body. You mentioned in your talk about the Greeed that they have core medals which are part of their body, just like the ones which entered you. Therefore, you must be a Greeed or something similar. At least wouldn’t that be the logical conclusion to come to. I do hope you are honest with me, as you yourself said if any Greeed got too many different cores in them they would turn into a world-ending thing” She replied as she smiled sweetly.

Though it wasn’t the good kind of sweet smile, one would expect for a princess like her. No, it was the kind of smile women gave which to only the densest of people would miss the hidden warning it hid. Zen physically felt a shiver race down his spine as the Alicorn princess of Love watched him carefully.

“I see, there is no real point in hiding it. I’m most likely turning into one. I honestly have no clue. Yes, there are medals inside me, heck the first time I henshined in front of the king and when Allister used my body to fight the medals came from my body. Though for the demonstration I used the ones from the holder. I don’t know what will happen, what I know about both are form a story I heard in my old world, and I don’t know how well it matches up with Allister’s past, still trying to figure out how to access them on demand. But know this no matter what happens I will fight to aid you and Twilight in saving your land even if I must become a monster to do it. I will help you guys no matter what” Zen said as he looked her straight in the eye.

She knew he wasn’t lying. After all, one of the things about being a princess of love is the ability to sense the emotions of other people. While yes, her main area and most accurate revolves around romantic feelings and other types of love. She still made sure to study and practice using the ability to detect the other emotions. After all in any royal court it handy to be able to understand the emotions of others when keeping an eye out for the ones who might try and use you for their own gain. 

“I’ll trust you, but two things first,” She said with a firm tone.

“Yes,” Zen replied.

“First if you ever hurt Twilight or do anything to harm her, I will so you how deadly a princess of love can be,” She said

“Yes, mama” Zen shouted back accidentally snapping to attention. 

“Good, the second thing is this evening me, you and Twilight are going to sit down, and you are going to tell us exactly the process of becoming a Greeed. So that we can do our best to help you and also be able to notice any warning signs if something goes wrong.” She finished. 

“I understand” Zen replied, though he noted that Cadence confrontation felt similar to a worried sister mixed with a dad threating a boyfriend. Though given the relationship of the two it wasn’t unexpected.

With that, the two headed to meet the others at the gate. Twilight was already there reading one of the tomes from the temple she got from Zen during breakfast. once they were all checked and ready, they headed off to the clearing. The walked for about half an hour before reaching a large open space that was well hidden by the surrounding foliage. Zen took out the Fuestle, and the Kivats appeared, causing all of them to expect Zen to jump.

“I see you also had the legendary armour makers with you, is there a reason you didn’t mention them before?” Aspen asked as he looked towards Zen.

“They went off wandering during the meeting, and with all the other information it slipped my mind, sorry. Though I should introduce you to them, the black and dark red one is Yami, the lighter coloured version of him is Kivats and last, but not least is Kivala.” Zen said as he introduced the Kivats. 

With introductions out of the way, he tossed the Fuestle to Yami. Who caught it in his mouth. As he closed his mouth on the Fuestle, the sound of trumpets filled the air. Then silence fell. Zen looked towards the sky as if he was expecting something to appear. But much to everyone’s surprise a large castle doorway shimmered into existence.

“Okay, that was not what I was expecting. Yami is there a reason this happened?” Zen asked as he turned to the Kivat.

“There is, it seems that Doran is currently stuck somewhere and can’t reach us. But seeing as the doorway was sent that means that she is safe along with her occupants. The doorway will lead you to the inside of the castle though I suggest adding searching for Castle Doran on you to do list. As the fact I can send the door to us means that it is somewhere in the land.” Yami replied as he gave Zen back the Fuestle. 

“Got it, so are the rest of you ready to enter Castle Doran?” Zen asked as he turned to the rest of the group.

“Yes,” they chorused and with the group entered the castle through the doorway. On the other side was a large ornate hallway which stretched father then they could visibly see with doors and turns leading into different hallways. As he passed through the door, Zen felt a similar sensation to when he first met Bramble pass through his body. As they all came into the many forway a low growl filled the air, and a black and white blur tackled Zen through a doorway which opened on its own. Before anyone could follow the door vanished. And the door they came through shut and disappeared leaving only a dead end behind them. 

“What was that?” Twilight exclaimed as she rushed to where the door Zen flew through just was. She was surprised to find a belt now laying where the door was. It was mainly black and gold with blue highlights. It was split into two parts one looked like a knuckle duster while the other was attached to the belt and had a red jewel in it. As soon as she touched the belt, the floor below her opened sending her down a drop. Just as it too vanished the rest of them heard the sound of a splash. 

“Twilight” Cadence shouted as she watched her sister in law vanish rushing forward but unable to reach her in time. A sound of bells then filled the hallway, and as she turned to find them, she found she was alone, and the guards and Aspen had vanished. Just a few feet away from her was some sort of gun and a silver and green belt which had a coin slot on it and a stack of what Zen had called Cell medals beside it. Cautiously she picked up the belt, and as her hand touched the driver, she found the knowledge on how to use it and what it was called forced into her mind. The belt was called the Birth driver. But before she could recover from the transfer, a crashing noise drew her attention. She looked up to see a bulky figure which had stitches all over its body and in its arms was a large hammer. Bolts could be seen on either side of its neck. Cadence noted that it had an eerie similarity to the monster of Dr Frankenstein from the book she read when she was younger. 

The creature then began to charge towards her. She rolled out of the way, putting on the Birth driver on her waist without realising it. As she recovered, she quickly fired some bolts of magic towards the creature hoping to stun it, so she could escape and look for Twilight, Zen, and Aspen and his guards. But much to her shock her attacks either bounced off or just did nothing. Seeing this she suspected that its skin was magic proof or at least resistant to it in some way. As she looked for something else to use her eyes drifted to the gun which the knowledge transfer told her was called the Birth Buster laying on the floor. Her eyes moved back to the creature who had already turned around and was preparing another strike. With another roll, she dodged out of the way as the creature grabbing the Birth buster and the cell medals as she did. She quickly loaded the gun like how the knowledge told her to. With a quick turn, she faced the monster and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the kickback was greater then what she expected, and she was thrown back as the shot went wide hitting the roof above the monsters. A loud roar echoed throughout the castle. Candace quickly recovered as she dodged another strike by the creature. 

“This is getting ridiculous; maybe the belt can do something to help” She muttered as she pulled out a cell medal and slotted it into the driver as she turned the crank. She then heard a popping sound.

(Play Reverse/ Rebirth)

Balls of light shot out of the driver and flew to the joints on her body. Translucent armour began to appear and form around her limbs. Within several seconds she was fully equipped. She now sported a black, silver and green armour, with several capsules at different points of the body, including the shoulders, elbows, knees and hips. Using the knowledge, she slotted in a second cell medal and quickly summoned forth one of the attachments of the driver — the caterpillar legs. Now having the grip to nullify the feedback she shot the Birth buster again, this time the shot flying true and hitting the creature. The blast sent the creature backwards and seemed to knock it out. But before she could check a voice spoke behind her.

“Nighty, night princess.” 

She suddenly felt something hit the back of her neck and found her conscious slowly fading away. Though before she completely fainted, she caught sight of something blue.

Back with Zen he and the blur crashed into a large open room which seemed to be made for sparing. Zen was knocked away from the blur as he quickly got to his feet and slapped on the OOOs driver. He quickly grabbed some cores and slotted them into his belt and transformed.

(Play Sun goes up)

“Kuwagata, Gorilla, Cheetah”

His new form had a green head with stag beetle horns, a silver body with large armoured gauntlets and the yellow legs he used in his demonstration. He quickly turned to face what had tackled him, and its appearance confused him. It appeared to be a white werewolf with hints of red hair on the top of its head, and it was wearing a black short sleeve top and green cargo pants. Not really having time to take it in as the werewolf rushed towards him. He quickly raised the Gori bagoong gauntlets to defend himself. Pushing outwards he threw the werewolf backwards. Not giving it a chance to recover he used the cheetah legs to rush forward ramming right into the wolf with the gauntlets sending it flying into a wall. As it hit the wall visible cracks and a roar echoed through the castle. 

“Sorry Doran, but the wolf attacked first,” Zen said as he kept an eye on the werewolf who was groaning. Just then a voice spoke. 

“Daddy, you’re back.”

He quickly turned to see nobody. He turned back to see the wolf flying towards him knocking him to the ground. He then heard in a low growl. “Never take your eyes off an opponent unless you sure their down, don’t you remember that lesson, Allister” 

Zen looked up and found the wolf looked different now. Gone was most of its wolf body instead the werewolf was looking more human aside for the large paws which were keeping him pinned. He was now face to face with a young woman with red hair and golden eyes. but just as he was about to retort the ground beneath them vanished and they began to fall. He heard the wolf mutter something along the lines of “What the hell Doran” before they both hit the water.

While they were both under the wolf quickly grabbed the ooos driver and undid the transformation and taking the belt.

“Shit” Zen thought as he quickly swam away from the werewolf girl knowing that without the driver he didn’t have a chance unless he found something to fight with.

A few minutes before with Twilight. She coughed as she pulled herself out of the water along with the driver she had found. She had no clue what it was other then it was most likely something in a similar vein to the driver Zen used to create his armour. She looked around and found a towel sitting nearby. She quickly grabbed it and began drying off.

“Excuse me, quick question?” A voice asked.

Twilight quickly turned around and found a girl around her age with light pink hair and eyes. she was dressed in a light pink bikini. 

“Yes?” She replied warily as she kept an eye on the girl.

“Did you get any kind of info dump when you touched the driver?” She asked pointing to the belt Twilight held in her hands. 

“No, I didn’t. should I have?” Twilight questioned back.

“Possibly yes, but it seems that you are not destined for that driver. That’s fine it just means I don’t have to test you. Doran wanted us to test all the riders of your group. Riza took the one using the old king's armour, and Fran was supposed to test the one who got the other driver the one using the king's armour had on him. I’ll just take you to the library. Doran will be guiding the rest of the group there, and when the other two are finished, they will be brought there.” The girl finished.

“I see, so my friends are okay then?” Twilight asked still being cautious of the girl.

“Yep, also you can call me Lunar, what is your name?” Lunular asked as she cheerily smiled Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you Lunar” Twilight replied with a smile as she started to feel at ease with the girl. But just as they began to move the ceiling opened up, and two figures fell down into the pool. 

The first to emerge Twilight recognised as Zen who seemed to be in a hurry as he sprinted past her. Though as he passed her, he paused noticing the items in her possession. 

“Hey mind if I borrow those for a bit?” He asked pointing towards the driver in her hand. 

“Here, what happened to your driver?” Twilight asked as Lunar looked at him in curiosity. 

“Werewolf girl took it, and I guess you a mermaid or is mermen universal for both genders?” He asked as he took the driver from Twilight.

“Mermaid for us, just so you know this is a test to see where you currently stand, she’ll give you the driver back eventually just be prepared for hell as she was one of Allister’s regular sparring partners,” Lunar said as she gave him a smile. 

Zen nodded as he put on the driver and took the Ixa Knuckle from Twilight and continued to put distance from him and the water. Moments later the wolf girl shot out and chased after him, muttering about how Doran new she didn’t like getting dumped into the pool. 

“That’s Riza by the way, now follow me to the library,” Lunar said as she led Twilight away.

Back with Zen and Riza, they ran until they ended up in another empty room. With a quick spin, Zen prepared to fight again. He hit the Ixa Knuckle into his left hand and then slotted it down into the driver. But instead of the transformation, he expected he was given.

“Incompatible user, DNA Lock currently active.” 

“WHAT THE HELL?!, The DNA Lock was only in Gaim, and most other drivers where more species locked then DNA locked and the IXA Driver was definitely not one of them, especially with how many people actually ended up using it,” Zen complained. As he did this, he didn’t notice Riza rushing him and hitting him in the gut sending him flying. But instead of hitting the wall he crashed into an object which seemed to just appear in the room. It was a blue and black sword stuck in a stone.

He turned to see the sword he crashed into and sighed. “Really this is how I get it…wait why am I complaining I need it now” He said as he turned and quickly grabbed the hilt and pulled the sword free. As he did, he felt a large electric charge flow through his body, and his mind began to fall into unconscious. But as the last bits of his mind began to fade into unconscious something within in him began to stir. His body straightened up and turned to Riza his brown eyes now looking empty, and a glowing purple slowly began to filter in. He sprinted forward and struck her with the dull edge of the sword sending her flying and causing her to drop the ooos driver. His arms shifted to something else, his hands looked more monstrous and now sported purple claws. 

The fallen driver glowed and began to rise as the core medals that were in the driver where ejected. The driver then placed itself on to his waist. From his chest, three purple medals flew out and were about to enter the driver when a blue figure appeared and shot some sort of energy at Zen knocking his body out. The medals froze in mid-air before re-entering his body.

“Note to self, remember to remove electric charge to prevent Riza messing with next time, as it caused the instincts to form his medals to awaken as an attempt to protect him. And of all the ones he had to get partnered with it had to be those ones. Riza, I know you’re still awake. Come grab the new king and bring him to the library so we can all talk.” The figure said as she turned to leave. A giggle sound filled the air as the figure turned into a young woman with dark black hair and blue eyes. she wore a blue coat over a darker blue dress. In the coat pocket, a small light blue rectangular object poked out.

“Yes Mezool” Riza muttered as she pulled herself from the destroyed bookcases she was thrown into form the strike. She quickly grabbed Zen unconscious body and slung him over her shoulder and took the sword with the other. The two headed down the hallway until they reached a large set of double doors. Mezool clicked her fingers, and the doors swung opening revealing a large library. In the centre of the room, several chairs were set up all of which were occupied except for three of them. Aspen and his men along with Twilight and lunar all drinking tea, while a still unconcise Cadence lay in one chair while beside standing guard was a tall woman in a white dress. She had light red hair which covered her eyes, though a golden metal horn coming from her forehead split her bang in two. 

Beside her was another individual. In contrast to the other residents of the house, he was male. He had dirty white hair and electric yellow eyes. He wore a messy lab coat with several patches on it. Under it was a plain black t-shirt. On his shoulder shat a bat similar to the Kivats. Its main body was a snow-white colour with a golden colour for the highlights of its body.

“What happened?” Twilight asked in worry as she noticed the unconscious Zen.

“Mezool forgot to unplug the electric defence on the sword” Riza answered with a smirk.

“It was an honest accident” Mezool muttered as a small blush appeared on her face. 

Meanwhile, with the two new individuals, the man held out his hand as the tall woman reluctantly placed a red gem in his hand while mumbling something about a stupid sheep. It was at this moment Zen stirred and as if on instinct replied. “It’s not stupid sheep, it Mad Bastard Electric Sheep or otherwise known as the MBES.” 

“I’m not a bastard Omnes, though mad and electric are accurate” the male retorted.

“I’m not Omnes, I’m Regale you dumb Sheep keep your kings from being mixed up, Allister had dark purple hair I have dark brown” Zen replied. 

“Am I the only one who finds this weird?” Twilight asked as she watched the exchange.

“No, but with Stein we’ve gotten used to this kind of bizarreness, and I can chalk this up to the Kings’ memories in the kid and also the fact I think Stein soul is a parried soul with the old king so it likely that he had a counterpart the soul heir new from before he was summed” Mezool replied.

“A parried soul what’s that?” Twilight asked as her curiosity was sparked by the new topic.

“Nothing really that special, it is rumoured to happen sometimes with reincarnations mainly but can happen other ways as well, but most commonly it is when two people’s souls are linked together in such a way that they would always end up near each other if reborn or be attracted to each other. It also sometimes cause past habits or shared behaviours of other lives to appear or show true, like what is happening right now. Though I don’t know why that caused him to regain consciousness, if you’re interested I can show you a book about it later” Mezool replied. 

“If you two are done talking I’m dropping the Newbie King,” Riza said as she tossed Zen into an empty chair beside Twilight with him giving an indignant hey. 

“Yes, we’re done, and Doran you should also create a golem to join us,” Mezool said as she and Riza took the remaining seats. It was this moment Zen finally saw Mezool properly and like when he entered the castle and met Bramble a tingle passed through his body.

Just then form the door a little girl entered. She looked around four or five and was wearing an oversized orange jumper. It was actually a bit comical as the sleeves were so long that you couldn’t see her hands and the rest of the sleeves drooped. She had long orange hair and properly the strangest feature where her yellow reptile like eyes which quickly shifted to some bit more normal looking ones.

“Doran is here, now which seat has daddy,” She asked cutely. Though as she spoke Zen noticed that she sounded like the voice which called out to him in his fight with the wolf girl, who was apparently called Riza. 

Doran quickly made her way over to the chairs and her eyes locked on to Zen and in a blur of movement she vanished and reappeared on his lap. 

“Daddy’s lap is always the most comfy,” Doran said childishly as she snuggled up against Zen as she made herself comfortable. Zen attempted not to react and to allow her to do what she wanted as he quickly figured out she was either an avatar Doran the castle created to interact with them or possibly a human Shoo Doran. Though he once again felt the same tingle, he got when meeting with bramble and coming into the castle as she sat on him. The others looked at this scene in a variety of ways. Stein was cackling his head off, Twilight, the tall woman, Mezool and the King looked at them in a mixture of fondness and a bit of amusement at Zen’s obvious awkwardness. Riza was indifferent. Cadence who had sensed the love Doran was giving off began to stir and wake up.

Doran then tilted her head towards Twilight and looked at her for a moment. She then turned back to Zen and then back to Twilight. She did this a few more times before turning her head forwards and tilting her head back to look at Zen. Then raising her arm and pointing to Twilight and asked in a completely innocent way.

“Daddy, is she my Mommy?”

Silence fell in the room as both Twilight and Zen blushed, and nearly everyone except for the tall woman, Aspen and the just waking up Candance burst into laughter at the twos reaction especially when Twilight began trying to explain that she wasn’t Doran Mommy. 

Though it got even funnier when Doran questioned her.

“Don’t you want to be my Mommy?” 

“Well…not that I…. I mean we just met and all… and I think I should give it more time…” She stuttered to respond as her blush grew a bit deeper. Zen let out a small chuckle but that soon changed when Doran once again looked up at him and spoke. 

“Daddy, don’t you want her to be my Mommy as well?”

Zen didn’t respond only sat in silence as his face also grew a deeper shade of red. It was at this moment Cadence finally regained consciousness. 

“Why do I feel like I just missed something good” She muttered as her eyes adjusted as she took in where she was.

“Nothing much, just Zen has a daughter, and she has proceeded to embarrass him and Twilight” Stein causally replied.

Cadence paused for a moment before glancing over towards the still blushing duo. She then looked back at Stein. “Adopted I assume.” 

“Sort of. It’ll be explained later with another topic. Now then I assume some introductions are in order, and the best way to do that is to use the turnip” Stein said as he sat up and pulled a turnip from one of his pockets. Said turnip was about three times the size of the pocket so how it fits in there with no clear bulge confused most of Zen’s group.

“Who shall ever hold the turnip shall have to the right to speak and introduce themselves. I’ll start. I am the great and mad alchemist Stein von Sheepinstein; I will be running maintained on your weapons and drivers for the future. Also, the little guy on my shoulder is Motobat the 18th, or as I like to call him Yugi, he doesn’t speak much. Nice to meet you” he said with a smirk before lobbing the turnip towards Riza. 

She quickly transformed her hand to catch the turnip before glaring at the sheep. “What have I said about throwing things at me sheep.”  Riza Grumbled.

“Not to make them sticky, that my dear fraulein is a solid turnip with no sickness” he replied

She grumbled as she turned to address the rest of the group properly. “I am Riza Wolfen, personal trainer of the old multi king, last of the Wolfen tribe and the Knight of Kiva,” she said before passing the turnip to Lunar.

“So, I’m next then. Nice to meet you all I am Lunar Mer the last of the mermaid’s, the underwater specialist of our group and the Bishop of Kiva” she replied with a smile as she passed the turnip to Mezool. 

“I am Mezool Abyss, I am one of the king’s special guards and was given the fifteenth advent deck of the Abyss. Also due to her habit of not speaking much, I’ll introduce our last member she is Fran Oga, the last of the Franke and the Rook of Kiva.” Mezool said as she gestured towards the tall woman by Stein and Cadence. 

“Okay, then I’m Zen…” Zen began, but he was stopped by Mezool putting up her hands.

“We already know all of you, Doran was given the ability to read people’s memories to make sure they are safe to let in when they passed through her door as a safety measure. So, she already informed us of all your names. Now we have some business to get onto. I would like you to lend your drivers to Stein, so he can do an inspection of them to make sure nothing unwanted was added to them, and while he’s checking them, I believe the young king might want to see his room” Mezool explained.

“My room?” Zen asked in confusion. 

“Yeah follow me, though lord Aspen and his men might want to go with Stein, I believe he has finished something which your ancestors requested be made so that they could be of more assistance to the king if he should return” Mezool said as she began to lead Twilight, Cadenced and Zen away while Stein took the drivers and led the others away. 

Doran, Riza, and Lunar followed Zen’s group. With Doran getting a piggyback ride form Zen. Fran and Stein led Aspen and his men out a different door. 

Mezool led her group through several different hallways. As they walked, Twilight began to question Mezool. “So how did the castle change to separate it?”

“Doran just shifted Doran body mommy” Doran stated from her spot-on Zen’s shoulders.

“What do you mean by your body?” Twilight asked 

“Doran here is just an avatar for the castle to interact with us, where inside her true body” Riza explained as she pointed to Doran.

“Wait where in her body, I never read anything about a real living castle,” Twilight said as she looked at the little girl in amazement. 

“She’s not a living castle she a dragon which was turned into a castle,” Zen added in causing both Twilight and Cadence to look at him.

“Wait a dragon turned into a castle, how and why a dragon?” Twilight asked

And almost in unison Mezool, Riza, Lunar, Doran and Zen all spoke. “Of course, she’s/Doran's a dragon. What other creature would be awesome enough to be made a living building then a dragon/ Then Doran.” 

“That was weird” they all muttered, except for Doran who was just smiling as she sat on Zen’s shoulder. The continued on their way with Mezool trying to explain a bit more on how a the turned a living dragon creature into a castle and also explaining how Doran was actually a member of a different species of dragons then the ones Twilight knew of. 

They eventually reached their destination which was a normal size white door which was familiar to Zen. Mezool stepped back and allowed him to walk forward and open the door. As it creaked open the inside became visible, and it sent a chill down Zen spine. The room inside was his bedroom form his old world, the one which was meant to have been burnt down during the bastards last attack on his family. 

He glanced around and saw his various books, games, movies, and toys all where they were in his old room. The main difference was they were a bit more spread out as the room itself was a lot bigger and the window that sat at one end of his room wasn’t there anymore, which makes sense since this wasn’t the exact same room. 

He also found that the other movies and games his family had own where also there in new selves. He noticed that his My little pony items and comics were missing. He suspected there was a reason, but he decided to leave it for now. 

His eyes glanced around and saw his posters stuck to the wall. But as he looked along the wall, he spotted something which stirred the emotions he had tried to run form since awakening her. Cadence sensing the sadness turned to see what was going on and found Zen looking silently at a wall of frames. Tears rolling down his face. The first thing she caught sight of was a white frame with a crossed stitch picture of old movie monsters, such as Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s monster and his bride, the invisible man, the creature from the black lagoon and the mummy. She didn’t know this, but this was the last Christmas gift Zen had gotten from his older sister before they died, it hurt even worse as she had handmade it for him due to his love of monster’s movies. Besides that were several pictures of a group of people at varying ages, all standing together in different backgrounds. Each photo showing them at different ages, but each photo was always the same people with some new ones appearing it what would be the later picture.

These especially hit Zen hard, as these where all his family pictures which were taken yearly at their get-togethers. Zen stayed silent as his mind was once more thinking about how he would never see them again and the actual reason for it.

“Who are they?” Cadence asked softly as she moved beside him to try and comfort him.

Zen paused and gulped before taking a small breath. He knew he shouldn’t bottle this up and with his current situation this was even more critical, so he decided to at least talk about some of it so that it might lessen the feeling in his heart. During this Twilight had also moved over to them with the other three standing respectfully at the door.

“They’re my family, I knew full well before I came here I wouldn’t be seeing them again. so for that reason, I made myself a promise for them that no matter what happened I would continue to move forward and use my power to help others in need” Zen said with a somber smile. 

Unknown to him Twilight had begun having a little crisis of her own. “when I turned the belt did I drag him away from his family” She thought to herself as panic and worry began to form on her face.

Zen catching this and looked at her. “Let me guess you're blaming yourself thinking you dragged me away from them, right?” Zen asked as some slight hints of purple entered his eyes. 

Twilight nodded, as she prepared for Zen to say something about her dragging him away from them. 

“Don’t worry you didn’t there wasn’t much left when I was brought here; he made sure of it. Anyway, let’s move on from this topic. Is there anything else you need to show us or should we go check on Aspen and his men” Zen asked as he quickly changed the subject.

Mezool just nodded as she led them out of the room. After that, they went down some more hallways until they reached another set of double doors. As they were about to enter she pulled Zen to the side and allowed the rest to go in. 

“So, have you lost your senses yet?” She asked as she began to inspect him. 

“No, but my vision did flicker after absorbing so cell medals” He replied.

“I see, for now, absorb this, I’ll be helping you understand your new senses that come with this and the method the old king figured out to allow us Greeed, to gain proper senses in our case and regain them in yours.” She said as she hands him a small blue round cut gem. He inspected it for a minute noticing a faintly glowing number visible on the top. It was the number four hundred. 

“what is this?” he asked.

“Well, you see lugging around cell medals got a bit annoying for all of us, so when Gara was still good, he and master Ebulon figured out a way to make them easier to carry. The cell medals are turned into different gems, with the colour and shape depending on the core set the majority of cell medals look like. Blue for the blue set and so and so forth for each respective core set. The number shows how many medals are stored in it. Also, as you already guessed, I too am a Greeed. The Aquatic animal Greeed to be more specific” She explained.

“I see, well at least I have someone to help understand this. So I just will it to be absorbed right?” Zen asked as he looked at the gem in his hand.

Mezool nodded as she watched Zen. A soft glow came from his hand, and the gem vanished into his palm. As the gem entered his body, he suddenly felt refreshed as if he had just had been well fed and had a good long rest. 

“Wow, that was something” Zen muttered as he adjusted to the sudden burst of energy entering his system.

“It is, isn’t it. Also you don’t only have one good Greeed to help you, Doran is also a Greeed, though she is like you rather than me being turned into one rather than created,” Mezool said with a smile.

“So then is the tingling sensation I felt.” 

“is when you meet another Greeed. Though you probably the only one who has it as I believe it happens due to the cores which are you in your body. I sensed something, but that was only because I was paying attention to you after already witnessing the purple medals come from your body.” She replied. 

“I see, but why was Doran turned into a Greeed?” Zen asked.

“It was done for two reasons; the first was because she was badly hurt after a particularly rough battle against one of our old enemies and in order to save her, Allister used the orange core medals to save her. With them, we would be able to keep her mind safe, and the provide core medals to recreate her body with. The second reason is that we could use cell medals to replace the energy she had normally used to survive, and she could then convert the extra energy from the cell medals to keep the other three well fed due to needing a similar type of energy she needed before the change” Mezool answered.

Zen nodded, and with that, the two entered the lab preparing to see what Stein had for Aspen. With one single thought filling into Zen’s head as they walked. If he only got the tingling feeling when he met a Greeed then why did he get it when he met Bramble and that made him start thinking about what Aspen asked him after that meeting.