Kiyo's Wish - 3

   It had been a few days since Kiyo had first met The Curator. During that time, the green Xero had collected enough Astatine to fuel the Glitch Machine and purchase a single vial from the friendly creature. 

 Kiyo was very excited. He knew exactly what he wanted and was very proud of himself for reaching that goal! Or so he thought... 

   As Kiyo got ready to see The Curator once more, he counted over his vials of rare, black goop. He knew for a fact that he had counted nine, the amount he needed, on the previous day, and after rummaging through his bag several times and nearly turning his apartment upside-down, he only had eight; eight, glistening vials of Astatine. A feeling of hopelessness overwhelmed Kiyo, his excitement now replaced with anxiety. Kiyo counted over the vials once more, checking again to make sure that he had 100% counted correctly, and realized that the vial he was missing was the one that Verox had given him the night he first met the 6-limbed scientist. Deeply saddened by this discovery, Kiyo dropped to his knees and let the remaining vials roll around on the floor. The green Xero let out a sad sigh, knowing that it’d be nearly impossible to obtain that last needed vial of Astatine, especially one that had meant so much to him.  

   After an hour or so of cleaning up the mess he had made, a small glimmer caught Kiyo’s eye. Assuming it was a misplaced prestige coin, he continued his pick-up and made a mental note to return to it later. 

   Kiyo walked out to the little pond outside his house, the one he always visited. He sat on a familiar rock and ran his hand through the rock’s groves. In an odd way, this pond and the rock comforted him. It was where he could truly be at peace and dream. Kiyo sighed and touched the water’s surface, watching it ripple. He took a deep breath in, smelling the dirt and the nature around him. Kiyo watched the water’s reflection of the twinkling stars above. They danced in the dark sky, shining and sparkling. Kiyo recalled when he joined Verox on one of his traveling days, remembering how they chatted about the reserve and witnessed the stars pass them by. It was a beautiful sight; Kiyo appreciated all of the time the two Xeros had shared before Verox accepted new ‘work’ and seemed to have little time for Kiyo. Kiyo and Verox had been friends since their early days and had been mentored together. Now, Verox visited and hung out when he could, but it wasn’t very often. That’s what made the Twilight Carnival and the visit to The Curator so special. It was time the two friends shared. 

   Kiyo stood up and ran his hand over the rock a final time before returning to his house, debating whether he should still see The Curator or stay home. With his head down, watching the ground as he walked, he kicked a few pebbles out of his way, observing how they tumbled and rolled about. One pebble was abruptly stopped by a fluffy, blue foot. 

  “Hey, Kiyo!” A familiar voice chirped. 

  Kiyo looked up, shocked to see his dear friend standing tall and proud before him. 

 “Verox? What are you doing here? I thought you were busy with Wol-” 

  Verox pulled his face into a tight smile, one Kiyo could see right through. 

  “I thought I’d join you on your Curator visit! Wouldn’t miss it for the world, HA!”

  Verox gave Kiyo a soft, light-hearted punch in the shoulder. Kiyo looked at Verox, the blue Xero’s forced smile still plastered across his face. Kiyo let out a small huff. His friend was stressed, and looking past his smile, Kiyo could see very faint eyebags. 

 “Did you sleep at all this week?” Kiyo’s antennae twitched. 

 Verox’s smile fell, now replaced with a tired frown. He let out a sigh before responding. 

 “I did.. Once or twice. You know how it is, Kiyo.” Verox smiled a little, a genuine smile. 

 “Verox..You need to rest.” Kiyo wrapped his arms around his tired friend and held him tight in a warm hug. 

 “Please sleep.” He whispered.

 “I’m ok, Kiyo. You can let go now.” Verox choked. He turned as Kiyo released, hiding his tears. He rubbed his eyes for a brief moment before inhaling and resuming his routine, happy nature. 

 “SO! Are you ready to see my six-limbed friend? Want a Ru Berry candy?” Verox handed Kiyo a candy wrapped in glimmering blue foil before Kiyo could respond. 

 “Oh… About that..” Kiyo shuffled his feet, feeling the soft ground against his paw pads. He rubbed his arm nervously. 

 “Hey, if you’re nervous, it’s ok! I’m coming with you, and obviously, you can back out if you truly want to.” Verox’s expression was warm and reassuring. 

 “No, it’s not that.” Kiyo’s gaze was fixated on a pebble he had kicked to the side. He couldn’t look Verox in the eye. 

 “What is it? Is everything ok?” The blue Xero’s genuine questions seared into Kiyo. 

  Kiyo felt guilty for losing the vial his friend had given him, and he simply couldn’t bring himself to tell Verox. He lowered his ears before revealing the truth. 

 “No, I’m ok. Great actually, and I’m glad you’re here, but.. I..” He took a deep breath and continued. “I lost the vial of Astatine you had um... Given me.” 

 “That’s all?” Verox laughed a little. “It’s ok, Kiyo. I always seem to have an extra of everything some-” Verox turned, reaching into his bag. “Where!” He pulled out a vial of dark goop and sloshed it around before carefully handing it to Kiyo. 

  Kiyo’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Verox always had a magical aura to Kiyo, and this just further pushed that idea. The green Xero tried to contain his excitement, but he couldn’t handle himself. 

 “VEROX? VEROX! OH MY GOSH. HOW?” Kiyo was nearly jumping up and down.

  Verox smiled and patted his friend on the head. “Fewer questions, more walking.” 

  Kiyo sped up towards his house, gathered all of his vials, carefully stuffed them into his bag, and slammed the door on his way out, hoping he didn’t hit Verox’s tail. 

  The pair walked through the vibrant streets, both excitedly pointing at Twilight Carnival decorations and chatting about the celebration’s festivities. Kiyo kept up a quick, bouncy pace while Verox tiredly walked behind but tried his best to keep up. Kiyo was overjoyed. His dream was finally coming true, and his best friend was at his side to witness it.

   Verox gave verbal directions to Kiyo, telling him where to turn and what he should be looking for, realizing he was falling further behind than he intended and didn’t want the pair to get lost. At last, Kiyo and Verox arrived at the unusual spacecraft home to The Curator. 

  Kiyo gave the docked spacecraft’s door a polite knock before stepping back and watched as it opened, revealing a tall, friendly six-limbed creature. The Curator smiled and greeted the two Xeros. 

 “Good evening!” They welcomed the pair inside, offering them some berry candy. 

 “I’m good.” Kiyo chirped, having just eaten a Ru Berry candy from his friend. 

 “I could go for a Kara Berry candy.” Verox gave The Curator a tired smile and a small thanks as they handed Verox a small, fruit-shaped candy wrapped in light pink foil. 

  The Curator retrieved a vial filled with a bubbling blue liquid from a shelf, sloshing the contents around for a brief moment, watching as it fizzed and bubbled. 

 “All right, now for business,” The Curator began. “This vial here, similar to the ones I showed you last time, allows the trait-adding process to commence and helps the machine retrieve, view, and add XNA. To put it simply, it allows for your genetic material to be edited. Without this vial, the process simply wouldn’t work. Different colors of this mixture allow different traits to be added. This one is a Marine Vial, as I was told Marine-subspecies-specific traits are what you desire. Though I’m sure, you’re aware of that, as previously explained during your last visit. I won’t bore you with all those details again, hah.” 

  The Curator handed Kiyo the vial, grabbing a tiny card in another hand. 

  “You’ll consume this, wait a few minutes, then step into the Glitch Machine over there. After that, I’ll insert the Glitch Card, make sure everything is doing what it should-- again, testing is.. More or less limited, and the process will begin! It might feel weird at first, but nothing painful. You may experience a fizzy feeling throughout your body as it adapts to your new traits. When you feel your traits first being added early in the process, they may appear small or even disfigured! Don’t fret, these new traits grow and adjust to your current state, that being a young adult. However, once the process is complete, it may take 12-24 hours until the full expression of your new traits. It’s all about trusting the process, haha.” 

  The Curator made a few adjustments to the Glitch Machine before requesting the necessary Astatine. Kiyo handed off his precious vials, placing them on a tray The Curator held tightly. After they put the vials away, they instructed Kiyo to drink the blue contents of the Marine vial. Kiyo did so excitedly, making sure that he drank every last drop. The liquid was fizzy, refreshing, and slightly salty. Verox waved as Kiyo hopped into the Glitch Machine, watching as The Curator inserted the Glitch Card into the Xero-sized contraption, witnessing it whirl to life. Kiyo was nervous but excited. He wasn’t very fond of tight spaces, but he was happy to see that he fit comfortably inside the Glitch Machine. As the machine came to life, Kiyo felt a tingling sense overwhelm him. He closed his eyes, letting the feeling take over his body, knowing that his dream was coming true. Suddenly, Kiyo felt his tail begin to change, his tuft of fur at the end splitting into two. It wasn’t painful, but it certainly felt weird. At the same time, Kiyo felt three antenna-like formations begin to grow from his back. 

   Verox watched in awe as he and The Curator looked on. It was almost magical seeing what was happening. Kiyo exclaimed something from inside the machine, similar to “I HAVE FINS!” but it was hard to make out. After a few hours, the process was complete. Kiyo felt like a new Xero, flicking his new tail with dual fins and moving his back spines. His fur felt slightly shorter, and he felt much more adapted to swim than his previous self. The Curator released Kiyo from the Glitch Machine and let out a small gasp. 

 “I see it worked! And changed more than your traits….” They quickly grabbed a black journal filled with papers sticking out, opened to a random page, and began scribbling something down. 

 Verox smiled and greeted his friend, complimenting his new traits. 

 “Have you seen them yet?” Verox asked, curious if the green Xero had seen all the changes done. 

 “No! But I feel it, look at my tail! OH! And my fur feels shorter too, did you see my sp-” 

 “Did you see all of the changes?” Concern flashed in Verox’s eyes for a brief moment before being handed a small mirror by The Curator, who was still writing something down. 

  Verox handed the mirror to Kiyo. This was the big reveal. Kiyo’s heart thumped in his chest, excited but nervous. He gripped the mirror with unsteady paws, almost dropping it, and held it up to his face. 

“Woah…” Kiyo was in awe. Not only had he obtained new traits, but his fur colors and patterns had changed too! 

  Verox pulled The Curator to the side while Kiyo checked himself out in the mirror, taking a look and gushing over every new thing he saw. 

“Was that supposed to… happen?” Verox swallowed, hoping the color change was intentional. 

 “Well.. It’s something new that I am trying to work out. It’s only happened once or twice before, but I didn’t think it would be much of a risk.” 

 “It has no side effects, though, and I know that for sure.” The Curator reassured Verox. 

  Verox smiled at his friend, seeing him so happy and excited. This was Kiyo’s wish, and it came true.

   The entire walk home was filled with excited banter about what had just occurred. Kiyo was overjoyed. This is more than anything he could have ever wanted, and he could wait to go swimming. Verox asked him questions about how he felt and what it was like to be in that machine. Kiyo explained everything Verox could ever want to know, even going into detail about the fuzzy feeling he had experienced and the odd sensation of his new traits forming. The pair talked and talked, nearly missing the turn to Kiyo’s house. Verox was happy to see his friend so happy. The night was beautiful too, the weather was perfect, and the stars shone brightly in the sky. Kiyo opened his door, realizing he had completely forgotten to lock the door on his way out. 

  He fixed himself and Verox a drink and sat down at a humble tabled scattered with dried leaves and fabric from previous Twilight Carnival endeavors. 

 “Oh hey, do you want something for the extra Astatine? I feel awful about losing the first… I’m sure I have some prestige around here-” Kiyo recalled the shiny object he had left in its place when he was cleaning. 

 “No, no! It’s ok, I-” Verox stammered. 

 “I know it’s not worth the same, but I saw a prestige coin lying about here earlier,” Kiyo got up from his seat and began looking for what he saw earlier. 

  He rummaged through old books and paper before spotting something glimmering underneath a bookshelf. Verox watched as his friend climbed awkwardly under the wooden structure, reaching his arm out as far as it could go to obtain the shiny currency coin. 

 “Aha! I got… It?” Kiyo grasped something that was not a coin and felt more like a vial. He rolled it forward from underneath the bookshelf with his claws and climbed out, looking down at the shiny object he had retrieved. 

   It was the vial of Astatine Verox had given him, the one he had lost. 

   Kiyo was shocked. It was here in his home this entire time! The green Xero let out a small chuckle, slightly embarrassed, and showed Verox what he found. They both laughed, Kiyo relieved he hadn’t lost the vial Verox had given him after all. 

 “I believe this belongs to you.” Kiyo handed Verox the vial of rare, black goop. 

 “Nah, you can keep it! I don’t-”

 “No, it belongs to you! It’s yours.” Kiyo shushed Verox, making sure he kept the vial. 

  Verox and Kiyo both let out a sigh of relief and happiness. Kiyo wished for new traits, but that was not his only wish. It was nice to finally feel like himself, to fulfill that desire he had felt for so long. But something else deep inside was fulfilled.

  To spend time with his friend, Verox, to laugh and to share experiences as they had so long ago. This was Kiyo’s, and perhaps even Verox’s, wish.