For the next several days, Amy, Belle, and I got into a routine. I spent time with Amy every morning, checked on my gardens, checked on Nova. I either worked with Belle or worked on my greenhouse. Luckily, the shuttle I used to carry materials didn't draw much attention. I got the framing of my greenhouse, carried the unique soil I would need for my flowers... There was still much more to do. I would be working on it for a while yet. I reunited with Amy in the evening and we spent more time together. I stayed with her until she fell asleep, then I joined Belle so she could work on my programming the entire night. Belle said there was one large additional aspect of security that was extremely hard for her to break, so she's been approaching it as delicately as she could. I trusted her. The routine continued as we worked towards our various goals.



Amy gave me another letter... It was beautiful. Reading her words gave me a special type of joy. I nearly overheated and shut myself off unintentionally... I was still getting used to the limitations of my base form. I left her a bouquet of flowers in the middle of the night so that she would be greeted by them when she woke. Considering her very affectionate response when she next saw me, she liked them. She also allowed me to see her own art and gave me a piece as a gift. She drew our time at Little Planet from memory, fondly recalling the time we watched Never Lake above us in the sky. The drawing had us sitting together, hands intertwined and gazes upwards... I didn't know what to do with the drawing. I didn't want to fold it or store it anywhere, but I wanted to see it. Taking some inspiration from her own decorating, I decided to put it in a frame and displayed it near the flower in our room. She was very shy the rest of the day.



Nova often visited the laboratory, even after I got rid of my old body and repurposed it. Instead of take naps on my old body, they began to settle in random spots, sometimes inconvenient ones. Belle asked me to do something when we found them asleep on Carillon Rose's head. I didn't know what a proper replacement would be, so I asked Amy for an additional space for Nova to rest. Later that day, she brought back another fluffy chao bed like the one from the second garden... We just had to encourage them to use it.



"Nova," I called. I placed the bed where my old body used to be. Nova spread themselves on the table that Belle used to work. She briefly brought her attention to Motobud and performed maintenance on him in hopes I would have Nova sorted by then.



"Chao?" They did not move.



Irritating. "Nova, come here. Now."



Nova rolled around to face me, eyes half-open. They slowly blinked at me, then yawned. "Chao?"



Irritating. "That is not a space for you to rest! Lay here," I said, showing them the bed.



Nova kept staring at me, then they closed their eyes and... snored.



I stood up fully and picked up Nova myself. A spiral formed above their head. They grunted and wiggled to try to get out of my hold. "If you do not sleep where I tell you to, I will forbid you from entering this area!" I told them firmly. I placed them down on the bed.



"Chaooo!" They sounded just as irritated. Good. Insolent thing.



Belle moved back to the desk when I got Nova to leave it. She sighed out, then began fiddling with the device with the Shield Crystal we had. "What did you do with your old body, anyway? It would've been a good backup if anything happened to your current one," she hummed.



"I will not tell you," I replied. "Regardless, my old body was ill-fitting to be a chao bed."



"Cha-OH!" whined Nova. Spoiled thing, unhappy with a bed specifically for them. They needed proper discipline. Too used to getting what they wanted.



"You will stay here," I growled. "Or you will go back up."



Nova narrowed their eyes as they glared at me, clearly considering their options. I narrowed my eyes in return. They would lose this challenge.



With a grumble, they settled in the bed. Good. I stood up. "I'm going to go check on my flowers, Belle."



"Okay! I'll be here, uh... Gears, I don't even know what I'm doing," she sighed again. "I'm tinkering and hoping something hops out to me."



"As much as I admire your resolve, you should probably take a break," I said. "I'll be back momentarily to take over."



"Thanks... Taking a break is tempting without a doubt. But I also feel like there's something we have to be missing. I mean, I've tested just about every material at this point. So it might not be a material. Then... What? Did you use magic or something? I-is magic real?"



I honestly didn't know how to answer her question. "I'll see you soon, Belle," I said, deciding to walk away instead.



I was halfway down the hall when I heard Belle call my name:



"M-Metal!" she yelled, somewhat nervous. I turned around-- Nova was back on the table, sniffing Belle's tools and the Shield Crystal.



I rolled my eyes and returned to the room. "You lost your lab privileges, Nova."



Nova pretended they didn't hear me. They were getting on my last nerve.



Zrrrt!



Nova jerked back from Belle. Their eyes welled up with tears and they yowled out.



Both Belle and I stared at each other, surprised. I picked up Nova, who quickly quieted down and sniveled against my chest.



...



"What happened?" I asked.



"Th-they touched the Shield Crystal while I was messing with it," she muttered.



...



I held Nova out towards the Shield Crystal. They pulled back, crying out again. They were clearly scared of it. I returned Nova to my chest and attempted to comfort them. For what it was worth, I didn't see any visible damage on them.



Belle glanced away nervously. "W-we... We haven't really tried other organic beings, have we?" she asked.



"No..." This was... new. New information. "... I'll go get Amy."



I left the laboratory with Nova. They settled back in the produce garden without much of a fuss. I left on my own to go find Amy, eventually discovering her cleaning her house. I caught her clearing out her storage room; as soon as she saw me, she acted very flustered. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to enjoy her shyer feelings. I told her I needed her help, but it would possibly be painful.



Amy ventured back with me without any convincing. As we descended down the elevator, she playfully flailed one of her hands. "I'll be fine. I think you're worrying more than I am," she said with a chuckle.



"I will ensure the damage is brief. It seems you need to keep contact when its active for it to affect you," I explained. "If it affects you, then Carillon Rose and Cavalier Sonic might be more like animal-powered badniks."



"That's kinda weird, isn't it? Isn't the container too small for an animal?" she asked, raising a brow.



It bothered me too. We returned to the lab without discussing more. Belle changed the device to utilize the Shield Crystal without necessarily needing to be plugged in, somewhat similar to the weapons my Master made. Belle got too nervous holding the device, so she handed it to me.



... I also did not want to use it.



"Oh my God. You two are being such babies," Amy said, crossing her arms. "You swing at me all the time! Usually for fun!" she exclaimed.



"That's different. We were sparring," I mumbled.



"If you won't test it on me, then I'll do it myself. Give it--"



"I'll do it," I said back. I would know better when to cease using the device. "Prepare yourself."



I aimed the device at one of her arms and activated it.



...



Amy raised a brow. "Did you do it?" she asked.



"I did..." I checked the device to make sure it was working, then tried again. It did not affect her at all. I finally turned it off.



"Okay, then. So it doesn't affect me, doesn't affect you two... But it affects Nova?" asked Amy.



Belle and I nodded.



Amy tilted her head as she thought. "Well... There's a huge concentration of these crystals on Angel Island. There's also a huge concentration of chao, so... They must counteract each other in some way. That's... Good, right? We figured out that Lonnie and Cava must be related to chao somehow."



"Yes, but... How?" Belle asked, frowning.



A long time ago, I copied the data of Chocola the Chao along with Froggy due to their unique ties to Chaos. Their abilities allowed me to transform into a leviathan of my own making. In receiving my upgrade, I received very similar data, but... I did not need to be powered by chao. The data given about these robots implied that they could not use their own unique abilities unless they...



... But... I felt conflicted. Did I harm chao to give them their power source? Maybe in the past, I wouldn't have thought about it, but I felt different here. I felt different about Nova.



...



"You two look so solemn!" Amy yelled. "What, do you think you'd really kill some chao to make robots?" she asked, raising her brow.



"I'm... honestly not sure," I replied. "It depends on what my goal is. If I had the choice under normal circumstances, no, I would not use chao to make anything else. I could copy their data. I didn't need them in physical form," I explained. After a brief moment, I crossed my arms. "I like to think using tiny creatures to power my creations is beneath me."



"So, why are you so worried? I mean... If you made them, and they're good-natured..." Amy sighed. "I don't think any good robot would want to keep going if they were powered by an innocent animal. And plus, you love Nova. The passage of time can't warp you that badly."



"W-wait! Yeah!" Belle motioned towards Carillon Rose. "Lonnie had files about Nova! Like, there was the implication they were still around! Of course, I couldn't dig into the actual files, but... I-I mean... That's something, right?"



"If I had my upgrade, I would better study their genetics to figure out their relation to the power source," I said, frustrated. "We should have figured it out sooner."



"Should have, would have, could have," Amy scoffed. "It's fine. Everything happens when it needs to happen, so we figured it out now. Let's do what we can with it."



Amy was right, strangely enough.



... I sighed. "I'll go get Nova."



I couldn't believe I was spoiling this child again. I ushered them awake and kept them from being in a foul mood by offering them some candied berries. Afterwards, I took them back down to the lab. Belle and I carefully collected a sample of their gelatinous skin to figure out what corresponded exactly to the Shield Crystal. With the samples we needed, I sent them back up. Amy and I played with them in the produce garden until they settled again.



Amy caught onto my own behavior as always. She could tell the discovery, though groundbreaking, didn't sit well with me.



"Metal, you know your own feelings. If you don't want to hurt Nova, then you wouldn't do that to make two other robots," she told me. I checked the health of the plants to keep myself busy as she stood at my side.



"Three hundred years is a long time," I replied.



"Yeah, and Nova is one of the few creatures that'll actually live that long with you," she retorted. "There's Belle, there's other robots... Who knows who else will be around in three hundred years. But Nova is special, aren't they?"



I thought for a while. "... Yes..." I glanced over to Nova, curled up on their heart-shaped bed. They cuddled on tightly to one of the toys Amy used to play with them earlier. "Nova is like me," I said.



She smiled at me. "What makes you say that?"



"They learn their world by copying others. Determined when there is a goal they aim to achieve. Good at sneaking around. Bad at swimming, good at gardening. A little while ago, I trusted them to assist me with my flowers. They have done well."



Amy giggled. "Stubborn's another one," she teased. "You know, you raised them since they were a baby. You're basically their dad."



I lifted my head and glanced at her. I never thought about caretaking in a way that made me... a parent. "Did they not have those other chao as parents?" I asked. "Why would they leave their family?"



"Well, you want to leave yours too, don't you?" she asked back.



"It's different," I quickly replied. "Those parents were incredibly stressed when Nova was hanging off the cliff side. They actually cared what happened to them."



"Let's view it this way," Amy said, holding her hands out. "Nova might have wanted to see where life would take them when they followed you. Why do you want to leave where you come from?"



I stood up straight and crossed my arms as I considered her question. "I want to stay with you and not be commanded to do otherwise," I said.



"Well, what does a life with me mean to you?"



"... Okay, fine, I get what you mean. I will have new experiences with you. In that way, Nova is similar. Still, why leave when you are already loved?"



"It follows you everywhere," she replied with her warm smile. "Sometimes part of that love is allowing them to make those choices... Like when you told me you respect my choice to live a natural life."



I somehow understood her point. "... You don't want to leave me before that, right?" I asked.



She laughed. "No, I don't."



I was relieved. I continued checking the plants.



"At least, not for long."



I stood back up and squinted at her. "Elaborate."



She laughed again. "I mean, I still might take vacations with my friends or go on little adventures on my own. I'll always come back home, though!"



"Oh. That's fine." I relaxed again. "Time apart will have you miss our own togetherness, so you will spend more time with me."



She playfully nudged me. "Distance makes the heart grow fonder, so they say."



"Maybe your metaphor holds weight, but I much prefer us in close proximity."



"Of course," she giggled once more. "Well, my main point is that maybe Nova is your family now. At the very least, Nova looks up to you that way. I think we're onto something with Nova for sure, but... Don't worry about causing them harm. In the future, family seems important to you for Lonnie to refer to you like that. You called Belle your sister. Surely Nova is part of that, too."



"I suppose you're right," I said. "I wonder if we have all the pieces in figuring out the power source, or if there's still something else..."



"We'll figure it out," Amy said, gently rubbing the top of my head. "I believe in you and Belle."



I watched Amy for a short moment... Her belief in us heartened me. I believed in her as well.