Chairman Bana was happily staring at his new machine, a conveyor belt, running through the whole factory. Poppi, an artificial blade was lying on the ground, deactivated and without any sign of movement.
“And Muimui is sure this is going to work?”
“Yes, very sure, thanks to artificial blade of Tora”, Muimui said, hopping up and down.
“Good! Very good! Now we can make infinite blades with the people of Mor Ardain.”

“Rex Rex, we have to hurry!”, Tora screamed while Rex tried to break down the door of the old factory they visited once before. Nia, Dromarch and Mythra were there too, just shaking their heads.
“I can’t believe he would be stupid enough to start again at the same spot”, Nia said.
“Done!”, said Rex and the metallic door fell to the ground.
“We need to be careful, he might have a new powerful weapon.”, Dromarch mumbled.
“You mean, an even bigger robot?”, Nia giggled.
“Remember, we’re not outside, I can’t use my full powers in here”, Mythra said.

The group stopped in front of a conveyor belt.
“This is new!”, Rex said.
“Yah! But it’s not moving”, Nia said.
“Look there! Poppi!”, Tora screamed pointing at the artificial blade lying in the middle of the room.
“Let’s go!”, Rex said, jumping on the conveyor belt, that was running along between them and Poppi.

“Humanoid detected”
“Wait? What?!”
Suddenly the conveyor belt started and Rex lost his balance and fell down.
“That idiot!”, Nia said, shaking her head.
“Rex, jump of that thing!”, Mythra shouted, while trying to follow it.
“It’s not… that easy, this thing is moving too fast.”, Rex said rolling around.
“Rex! Hurry, there is a weird machine there!”, Mythra screamed, but it was to late. The machine shut its door with Rex in it.
“What’s happening to Rex Rex, we have to get him out!”, Tora said panicking.
“Just use brute …”
“Beginning Procedure”
“No! Not beginning anything!”, Nya screamed, attacking the door with her weapons.
“Procedure complete!”
“Oh, wait, let’s just get him on the other side, he might be coming out.”, Mythra said.

Just as they said, Rex stumbled out of the machine a few seconds later and Mythra got him of the conveyor belt and placed him next to it.
“Sorry guys, I should’ve been more careful…”, Rex said, kneeling on the ground.
“Uhm… Rex?”
“Wha’ is it?”
“Your legs”

Rex looked down on himself and couldn’t believe what he saw. His leg armor had vanished and been replaced with robotic legs.

“WHAT IS THIS?!”, he screamed.
“Tora knows these, these are Poppis legs!”
“POPPIS?!”
“Yes yes, Tora built them himself, very strong legs!”
“I don’t care! How do I reverse this?!”
Tora approached Rex’ legs, punched against them and a metallic “cling” could be heard.
“This is solid metal, nothing else underneath.”, Tora said.
“Guys… this can’t be true… help me!”
Nia just looked confused.
“If we knew what to do, we would’ve told ya!”

Mythra had an empathetic expression for a change.
“Maybe it isn’t so bad, I meanit doesn’t really change that much.”
“Can you move them freely?”, Nia asked.
Rex made a few steps on the spot, jumped up multiple times and sighed.
“Well, yeah… but they are really heavy. I don’t think I can go salvaging like this, maybe if I train enough…”
“And if something is broken, you can come to Tora! Rex Rex will even get friendship discound!”
“I have to pay? For real?!”
“I’m sorry, I have to interrupt you, but we should get Poppi and find Bana”
“Oh dang! You’re right Dromarch!”, Nia said.
“Well, we should stay away from that conveyor belt… maybe there is a way around.”

They started running along the conveyor belt, after turning a corner, they saw themselves confronted with a group of four Tirkin.
“Let’s show’em a thing or three”, Rex shouted while grabbing his sword. They split the enemies up into two groups, two Tirkin for Rex and Mythra and two for Nia and Dromarch.
First, the battle went smoothly, but Rex still had problems moving his new legs, so one of the Tirkin started running towards Tora.
“No! You fight me!”
Rex jumped in front of Tora with an insane speed and shielded him with his sword. He wondered for a second how he moved so fast and why there was a sudden urge to protect Tora. But he shaked that feeling away, Tora had no blade right now and was nearly useless, so someone had to protect him.

After a few hits, all the Tirkin were laying on the ground.
“Thanks for saving Tora. Rex Rex moved really fast!”
“Yeah, it was really hard to move with these legs, but then suddenly it just worked.”
“They might come in handy, if they give you superpowers like that”, Nia said.
“It’s actually not that bad.”, Rex said with a grin on his face.
“Hey guys… there is a terminal there!”, Mythra said.
“Whoa Mythra, this might deactivate the conveyor belt, you know how it works?”, Nia asked.
“No… but Tora might.”
Tora approached the terminal, clicked a few buttons and turned around.
“This controls crane over there!”
“Ah, damn”, Nia said.
“Maybe Tora can use crane to bring us to Poppi”
“Not a bad idea.”, Mythra said.
“Okay, Tora will try!”
Tora pushed a few buttons again and the crane started turning around and stopped with the grab above them.
“This is claw grab…. Try holding onto it, after I bring it down.”
…
…
“… It not working”
“Wha?” Nia asked.
“Tora doesn’t know, but grab won’t come down.”
“Damn it! Come down you stupid thing.”, Nia said, throwing a rock at it.
“Stop Milady, you don’t…”, Dromarch started.
“Humanoid detected”
Suddenly, the crane came down and grabbed Nia.
“Wha?! No, Stop it Tora!”, She screamed while being lifted.
“Tora is trying, crane doesn’t react!”
“Quick, try to get her down.”
“I swear, if you start throwing rocks, you will regret that!”, Nia shouted angrily
The crane started turning away and stopped above a similar machine as the one Rex was in.
“Nonono, I don’t want robot-legs! Get me out of here guys!”
“Ah damn, we can’t get up there… I wish Poppi wasn’t… wait, maybe I can use her weird rocket shoe Powers!”
One the top of the machine, the hatch opened up.
“Come on, come on!”, Rex said, fiddling with his legs and jumping on the spot.
“click”
He, did something with the belt buckle.
“poof”
Suddenly he felt himself ascending and could see the flames coming out of his feet. He tried to ignore weird balloony feeling in his pants.
“Yeeeaah! It’s workin’!”
Rex started boosting himself into the direction of Nia, but instead of grabbing her, he bumped right into the crane… as a result Nia fell down into the machine.
“Yoou idioooot”
“Miladyy!”
Rex was out of control and bounced back and forth in the air until he flew against the wall and met the ground just next to his friends.
“Beginning Procedure”
“R-Rex? Are you alright?”, Mythra asked
“Auugh… damn… I was so close.”
“Listen Rex, it seems like whatever happened to you didn’t completely stop.”
“We have to get her out… wait what do you mean?”
“Look down.”
Looking down, he saw what that “poof” was. His pants changed and they looked nearly identical to Poppi’s, except these had blue parts in them.
“You’re kidding me…”
Rex began pulling and tearing on the pants but they didn’t move an inch.
“Rex Rex might not want to hear, but these are Poppi-Pants! They are attached to Poppis body and filled with fuel for flying mode!... The fabric part is just outer layer to make Poppi look….”
“Don’t even say it!”, Rex said annoyed.
“It’s not that bad”, Mythra said.
“I’m wearing bloomers… I mean, they aren’t super-girly, but they are clearly girls clothes.”
“At least you can fly now”
“Just gr…”
“Procedure complete!”

“Milady!!”, Dromarch screamed and ran to the door.
Angrily Nia stomped out of the machine.
“Okay guys, anything changed?”
“Uhm… Nia, if something changed, we couldn’t see… oh wait, your neck!”
Nia grabbed her neck and fumbled with the bow, that now rested there.
“It looks like you’re wearing a blouse too.” Mythra said.
“This is really bad… but not as bad as girly-pants right here”
“Hey, cut it out, Nia!”
“Serves you right for doing this to me!”

“Okay, now what?”, asked Rex.
“The crane was just something like a shortcut, we can still run through this conveyor belt labyrinth”
“I didn’t mean that! What if we change further?”, Rex shouted.
“Tora believes you just have to stop using Poppi-powers.”
“I don’t even want these Poppi-Powers, but wearing these pants and not even having any benefits?”
“Stop that whining and let’s save Poppi so we can get outta here”, Nia said.

With that, the group continued their way, just to run into another group of Four Tirkin.
“Why do they even hire these guys, again and again?”, Nia asked while pulling her weapons.
“Tora, ready to go!”, Rex shouted and pulled out his sword.
“Mehmeh?”
They used the same strategy as last time but this time, they encountered more problems.
The attacks of Mythras blade seemed to lose their strength. Additionally he seemed to be mostly blocking attacks with it, instead of swinging it.
“Rex, what’s wrong?!”, Mythra shouted.
“I don’t know, it just doesn’t work!”
“Just swing the sword”
“Oh! Many thanks! You’re right!”
But even though he now knew, what he was doing wrong, his attacks seemed to work even worse. It were just frantic swings without any sort of strategy.

Nia on the other side had similar problems, her healing spells just wouldn’t work the way she wanted to. She could still beat the Tirkin up, but if she couldn’t heal injuries, she couldn’t heal Tora if he would get hurt. Why was she thinking about him? She didn’t know, but she knew, he needed to be protected without his blade, and looked back if he was okay.

Suddenly, the Tirkin ran past Rex and jumped at Tora. This time, Rex used his boosters, to get in between them and Tora.
“I will protect Mas… Tora!”, he screamed and fended of one of them with his sword. The other one, tried to stab Tora when Nia arrived.

“What are you doing?! You have to protect him!”, she shouted angry.
Rex looked back, the two Tirkin Nia was fighting were now rushing to Tora.

“Same for you!”, he said, ran past Tora and began blocking the attacks.
“Rex! Stop blocking with that sword! Attack!!”, Mythra shouted.
“Oh, right!”, with that, he let the sword fall down and materialized a drill shield in his right hand, which became fully metallic.
“How did he… no wait, Rex! These are Poppis powers!”
“REX SPINNING SLASH”, he screamed and whirled around his shield. His chest started to become metallic too from the belt upwards, his jacket became loose and poofed out into a blue cape. After defeating the Tirkin with his new weapon, he turned around to see how Nia was doing, just to see, that she already finished her enemies and was standing with everyone, looking at Rex with a weird expression.

“Rex! You’re…”, Mythra began.
“So these are the effects…”, Nia said, breathing heavily.
“Rex is….No, I am so sorry”, Rex said.
“You just fought like Poppi and look at you, you are nearly identical to her now.”
“I couldn’t stop it, I had to protect Ma… Tora”
“It seems, this is something far more serious, than we thought. Could it be, that this is changing his behavior?”, Dromarch said.
“Oh shoot, does that mean… Damn, I think I really wanted to protect Tora too in that fight.”
“Am I really acting weird?”, Rex asked.
“Did you even notice how you look?”
Rex looked down on himself… well there wasn’t much of “him” left, except for his left arm and his head. Instead he wore a blue cape, similar to Poppis red one and had a Poppy-Flower on his metallic chest.
“I really changed a lot.”, he said.
“Yes… and we can’t go on like this, we have to retreat and think about our options… we should’ve taken Morag with us”, Mythra said.
“Butbut… what about Poppi?!”
“I’m with Mythra on this, I think I am on my way to becoming something like Poppis advanced form, and I really don’t want that.”

“But Tora will be sad, if we don’t save Poppi”, Rex said.
“We will save her, but we can’t go on like this… Tora can’t fight, you’re on the verge of becoming Poppi yourself and Nia might be too.”, Mythra said.
“We can make a plan about this and get someone to assist us.” Dromarch said.
“But then… then maybe too late…”, Tora said with his head hanging down.
“No!”, said Tora, “I will save Poppy, even without friends help.”
With that, Tora started wobbling away.
Rex looked at his friends, then to Tora, then back to his friends again.
“No Rex, don’t do this.”, Mythra said.
“Sorry…”, he said and turned around and followed Tora.
“Mast… uh… Tora, wait!”
Tora turned around, looked up at Rex and began tearing up.
“Rex Rex! You will really help Tora?”
“Mas… ugh…. I mean… Tora, I will help you, yes”
“But… Rex Rex really should stay with friends… otherwise Rex Rex might become even more like Poppi.”
“No, Rex will help Tora, Re… I’ve made up my mind!”

“Did he really just leave?”, Nia asked.
“Yes… And I’m not sure if it was Poppi devotion to Tora or just Rex trying to save everyone”, Mythra said.
“What do we do now?”
Then, Mythra swapped with Pyra.
“I will follow them”, she said, “I told him I will stay by his side, and I will do that… you wait here!”
“I will make sure Milady is alright, go and save Rex and Poppy”, Dromarch said.

“Hey guys! Wait!”, came a voice behind Tora and Rex.
“Master-Pon! See! Pyra is joining us!”, Pyra could hear Rex say… his voice was still male, but the way he said it was just like Poppi.
“Uh, lookie lookie! You really want to help Tora too?”
“You’re calling him… nevermind…
are you sure you don’t want to reconsider? Look how far Rex is gone already.”
“Rex not gone, Rex right here”, he said waddling his arms in surprise.
“See, he’s moving like Poppi and talking like Poppi… you can’t do this to him.”
“Tora knows… but Tora can’t leave Poppi alone and Rex won’t leave, even if I tell him.”
“That’s right! Rex will stay with Master Pon!”
“Rex, do you even realize what’s happening any more? Do you remember what we wanted to do?”

“Pyra… Rex really is sorry… Rex not sure if he remembers correct… We wanted to go to Elysium, right?”
“No… I mean, yes… but”, Pyra said.
“But now, sister needs help and friends always help.”
“Sister?!”
“Yes, Master Pon built her and then he build me, so we are sis…”
“Stop! You weren’t built”, Pyra cried.
“Rex was not…? Oh, yes Rex was human before…”
“Tora, please stop being so stubborn… Let me get her, I will do it, but don’t let Rex go any further!”
“T…Tora not sure…. Yes, maybe that best solution”

Nia on the other hand, sat there waiting with Dromarch.
“You think they are okay?”, she asked.
“Absolutely, Rex withstood every sort of danger up until now, he will also get through this.”
“Do you think, Tora is okay too?”, she then gasped and clapped there hands on her mouth.
“You acquired some sort of devotion to him too, right?”
“N-no! I just care for my friends! What if they die? What will become of me then?”
“Milady, don’t think like that.”
“And… and Tora, I could be there protecting him, instead I’m just sitting around.”
“You know what will happen, when you activate any sort of powers.”
“Augh… yes… I can’t believe I’m suddenly all about protecting him… I mean, was I like this before, would I have protected Tora, if I wasn’t forcibly changed like this?”
“Milady, please… don’t worry for now. You would’ve helped him of course.”
“Okay, what if I followed them?”
“I will not allow that, Milady.”
“But what if, would I really change? Can it really change the mind? I mean, I can’t just change, I’m a flesh eater, remember?”
“I don’t know about this technology, but it is really dangerous.”
“Dangerous? All I have is this bow on my neck, nothin’ else… I’m fine!... It… It’s not like I have to protect Tora.”
“Pyra and Rex are there protecting him, there is nothing to worry about.”
“But… but I do! I have to be there, how bad could it be, just trust me.”
“You could be changed to be just like poppi… I don’t know how much, but I heard Rex almost saying ‘Master Pon’ multiple times.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too, but I would never call him Master Pon.”
MASTER PON… that doesn’t sound so bad
“We can’t know about all the effects for sure, let us just wait for them to return.”
“Augh Dromarch, you’re right, as always… Rex and Pyra will make sure that Tora…”
MASTER PON
“…that To…”
MASTER PON IS IN DANGER
“…that Master-P… N-no… wait”
PROTECT MASTER PON
“Milady, are you alright”
“D-dromarch, I think… It really continues working somehow…”
“What?”
“I- I have to protect… Ma-master Pon!”, with that, part of her outfit popped open to reveal big breasts, clad in a frilly blouse.
“Oh no, Milady…” wimmered Dromarch.