The Hollow Creed (Zenless Zone Zero x Male Reader)

Chapter 3 - Party Time (Part 1)

So! Pretty crazy stuff, am I right?

Q&A TIME!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

1. Will I retaliate against the Sons of Calydon? No. What could possibly be gained from that?

2. What will I do now? Wait. Things always happen, and I don't believe in chance.

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Dust in the wind.

That's what the dead are. Gone, never to be brought back by anyone. Never.

Speaking of dust, Y/N spit out some. The Outer Ring was dusty. Very, very dusty. One of the many reasons why Y/N preferred to stay as far away as possible from it.

Perfect for a criminal organization? Absolutely.

Also filled to the brim with people would would no sooner shoot you than offer you a place for the night? Absolutely.

Y/N stood in front of a tall, wire fence. Faded, fraying, yellowing pictures taped on to the mesh. Notes, ink nearly illegible. Only one thing was new. A red piece of fabric, billowing in the late morning wind.

To the right was a giant stone slab, carvings of names etched in. Y/N walked over."The names of those lost during the old capitol's fall...." he murmured to himself.

Suddenly, his phone rang. "Yes?"

"Y/N! Thank goodness, I've been trying to call you for hours!" Belle's voice blasted into his ear, and Y/N winced.

"...Did something happen?" Y/N asked, even though he already knew what.

"Another explosion, that's what!" The sounds of her fumbling around with a remote, before hearing the faint sounds of a news report. "The logo of the Black Bonfires was spotted near the ruins of a building, evidently blown to hell by Smokescreen and their gang. Authorities are warning everyone to stay alert after hours." There would've been more, but Belle shut it off.

"I don't see how any of that has to do with me."

"Y/N, me and Wise were worried about you. I should think that calls for some sort of acknowledgement, preferably a profession of gratitude!" The sentence was accusatory, but Belle's tone was playful. Teasing, even.

"Ah. Acknowledgement of gratitude sent." This caused an outburst of giggling from Belle, and it was so contagious that Y/N emitted a chuckle of his own.

"Anyway, we're heading off to the Outer Ring to-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why are you going to the Outer Ring?" Y/N asked sharply.

"Look at you, worried about your friends! If you had let me finish, I would've said that we're going there to visit a party by some friends of ours. Wanna come?"

"Not really, no."

"Please? Think of it as an opportunity to meet some of our friends, and maaaybe make some new ones?" Now the tone was pleading. Y/N gained a newfound understanding for the slight bags under Wise's eyes.

"...Fine."

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Belle said that the party was later that night. She also said to meet her and Wise at the back of Random Play; they would drive Y/N there.

That left plenty of time in the day for other activities, like following up with Victrol. Which was lucky, because his phone rang just after Belle had hung up.

"Well?"

"Boss, you were right. There was a Bangboo with them, but whoever it was knew to wipe our carrot data scrapers before leaving, so that we couldn't track where the data was going."

Smokescreen growled in anger. "Please tell me you got an image of it."

"Uh, boss, we used our Bangboo operational sensors to gather it. The list of systems wiped by it were, as I said, the carrot data scrapers, the security cams, and the computational unit access system."

That was a problem. This Bangboo was sharper than the average pencil. Although there was the possibility of the Black Bonfires having to deal with a proxy who had access to an H.D.D. system, which made him or her VERY dangerous.

"Well, there's nothing we can do now. Good work, Victrol. Now listen to me."

"Uh...yeah?"

"It's obvious the warehouses are not secure enough, so I need you to do these things for me. I need to you give everyone an ether aptitude test."

"Wha-why?"

"I'll get to that. Next, wipe the memories of and kick out anyone who fails. Kill anyone who knows too much."

"Why and why?"

"Because wiped memories can be restored, genius! Once a memory is created, it is impossible for it to be removed from the mind completely."

"All right. I still don't understand why we need to take the aptitude tests."

"We're moving our base of operations into a Hollow."

"WHAT?! Why the hell would you do that?"

"Use your brain for once! The only people stupid enough to go into Hollows are Agents or raiders! And we can handle either!"

"...Okay. Which Hollow are we moving to, boss?"

"Try the Zimorian Hollow. That one's pretty isolated, so we should be safe there."

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"Party time, baby! Woo!"

Loud techno music streamed out of the tiny van's speakers. Y/N was lounging in the backseat, while Wise and Belle were in the driver's seat and shotgun, respectively.

The time was nine at night, and Y/N was already regretting it. "So who's gonna be hosting this...party?"

"You'll see." Wise smiled through the backseat mirror. Belle giggled, eagerly looking back to Y/N for his reaction.

"Oho, 'You'll see!' he says." Y/N muttered in a bored tone. Belle's giggling swung into outright laughing. The van turned a corner, and the metropolitan view of New Eridu gradually disappeared, to be replaced by T H E  W I L D  W E S T.

"Welcome to Blazewood, folks!"

Oh boy.

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Woo!

This party that I'm hyping up will be a three part chapter! Y/N's gonna have to partake in some of Blazewood's...more unusual activities. (of which I made up, obviously.)

With that being said, PLEASE go check out my other upcoming ZZZ story, simply called Rise. More instructions are in there.

Happy reading, and may you rise anew!

-Junior21135

AAAAAAAA WHY DID I SAAAYYYY THAAATTT