"En-na, en-na, en-na, en-na..."
A red blank-model Bangboo lay on a patch of supple, emerald-green grass with his eyes closed, basking in the sun and constantly making strange "en-na" noises.
But a white blur soon shattered the scene...
"En-na-!!!"
A rapidly spinning baseball slammed into the Bangboo with tremendous force, sending him two meters through the air. He rolled several times before coming to a stop.
He struggled to his feet, clutching the spot where he had been hit, and cursed at the two culprits:
"En-na! En-na-na!" (You two **! You ** did that on purpose, didn't you!!)
Not far away, a blue blank-model Bangboo rested a baseball bat on his shoulder. Watching the red Bangboo fly into a rage, he said dismissively:
"En-ne-ne." (Whatever you say.)
But the very next second, another powerful baseball nailed the blue Bangboo square in the head, knocking him flat.
"Wa-da, wa-da-na?" (Oops, Blue Two, not catching?)
The yellow Bangboo sitting atop the turret-shaped pitching machine, otherwise known as Yellow Three, asked in confusion.
Blue Two, the blue Bangboo, sat up, tossed the bat aside, and said:
"En-ne-ne en-ne!" (I'm done. This gets less fun the longer we play.)
"Wa-da." (Oh.)
Yellow Three answered, jumped off the pitching machine, and sat down beside Blue Two.
Seeing the two of them like that, Red One couldn't be bothered to keep demanding an explanation. He went over and sat beside them too, though he didn't forget to bean Blue Two in the head with the baseball.
Red One: "En-na-na?" (Hey, Blue Two, what else can we play?)
Blue Two: "En-ne-ne en?" (Want to play the game consoles in the room?)
Red One: "En-na, en-na en!" (Don't want to. I got sick of those consoles years ago. There's nothing new at all!)
Blue Two: "En-ne... en-ne-ne?" (Yeah... what about you, Yellow Three? Any ideas?)
Yellow Three: "Wa-da." (No.)
Red One: "En-na, en-na-na?" (I see. But how are we supposed to get through the next month?)
The three fell silent for a good while before Red One spoke:
"En-na en-na?" (How about we go beg the young lady again and ask her to put in a good word for us, get our sentence reduced?)
Blue Two: "En-ne, en-ne-ne en-ne." (Forget it. Begging didn't work the last few times, let alone now.)
Hearing that, Red One lay down and resigned himself to his fate. "En-na-na en, en-na." (All right, true enough. The young lady isn't nearly as easy to talk to as she used to be. She picked up bad habits out there ages ago.)
Yellow Three: "Wa-da..." (Sigh...)
After another long silence, Red One seemed to think of something. He sat up and asked:
"En-na en-na?" (Oh, right, what do you think the master has been doing lately?)
Blue Two: "En-ne en-ne." (No idea. Something big, maybe.)
Yellow Three: "Wa-da-na." (Master, laboratory.)
Red One: "En-na-na, en-na en-na."
(Yeah, the master's been holed up in his laboratory lately. Not like before, when he'd go back to his office every few days to snoop on other people's private lives for entertainment.)
Blue Two: "En-ne." (Then what do you think the master is doing?)
Yellow Three: "Wa-da, wa-da." (Unclear, laboratory, biology.)
Red One: "En-na... en-na-na, en-na." (Yeah, the master's biological research... hey, do you think he might be making himself a flesh-and-blood body?)
Blue Two: "En-ne..." (That is possible...)
Yellow Three: "Wa-da." (Not necessarily.)
Red One stood up, pointed at the nearby castle, and said, "En-na-na? En-na." (Then should we go take a look? The master hasn't restricted our access to the laboratory anyway.)
Blue Two stood up too, patted his backside, and said, "En-ne." (I'm in. I'm a little curious about what the master's working on too.)
Yellow Three hesitated. "Wa-da wa-da." (This, risky, what if.)
Red One: "En-na en-na, en-na." (Then Blue Two and I will go. But don't ask us what was inside afterward~.)
Yellow Three: "...Wa-da." (...Together.)
Retrieving gene stock CYL-35, 0.12%... retrieved. Injecting... injection complete. Performing system scan... compatibility: 16.5%, activity decreased by 4.1%, effect deviation: 46.5%. As the results fell below expectations, this cultivation protocol has been deemed a failure. Detailed data recorded. Cleaning container...
In another dimly lit room, Huojin stood before a control console, his right hand inserted into a slot in it.
His eye lights were off, and his towering figure stood motionless, like a sculpture.
The console held all kinds of holographic and mechanical screens, their displays constantly flickering with data.
Most conspicuous were the two huge cultivation tanks behind the console, secured amid densely packed machinery.
An irregular ball of flesh had been floating in the tank on the left, a failed experimental specimen. After machinery enclosed the tank and performed a series of silent operations, only a fresh batch of pure experimental fluid remained inside.
The other cultivation tank held an embryo. Although it still looked rather strange, the outlines of its head and four limbs had already formed.
More than a dozen fine wires extending down from the top of the cultivation chamber were attached to the embryo. Several machines, each half the size of a fist, swam around it.
While the cultivation tank on the left waited for a new experimental specimen to be transferred in, the elevator doors a short distance behind Huojin opened.
"En-na en-na..." (Holy moly, looks like the master really is trying to make himself a flesh-and-blood body...)
Red One walked curiously up beside Huojin and murmured as he looked at the cultivation tank on the right.
Blue Two and Yellow Three, who had followed him, also examined the data displayed on the console with curiosity.
Then Blue Two spotted the information labeled on one of the mechanical screens on the right side of the console.
[Offspring Cultivation Project], progress: 72.8%.
Blue Two pointed at the screen and said, "En-ne, en-ne." (No, the master's trying to make a child.)
Red One: "En-na?! En-na..." (What?! Let me see...)
While Red One and Blue Two crowded over to look, Yellow Three approached a lectern-shaped console. He looked at the screen projected above it, a little puzzled.
[Partner Project] progress: 99.9%.
Then, in the time it took Yellow Three to blink a few times, the progress jumped from 99.9% to 100%.
[Partner Project] progress: 100.0% Note: A cloned weapon originating from the Defense Force's secret experimental project, the "Silver Army" project. Code name: 9. Modification progress is now complete. Vital signs normal. Chamber release conditions met. Report submitted... Instruction received. Executing chamber release procedure...
"Wa-da-na?" (Partner, Silver Army, weapon, clone, project?)
After Yellow Three saw the latter passage appear on the screen, a small section of metal flooring beside the console sank and opened amid a faint mechanical whir.
A white, cylindrical nutrient chamber rose out of it.
The movement over here drew over Red One and Blue Two, who had been shoving each other on the other side.
And so the three little ones huddled together, watching the nutrient chamber slowly open.