"He is!" Jr. put a hand forward, finger extended to try and give the bird a rub of the head. "Hey there cute little guy! And he knows words already, too, huh?"

He wasted no time after that, turning and dropping down to sit next to Zouichi. "Yeah ... that's the Asher for you! That thing's been around since I was a lot younger, so I guess it's a kind of fate that it came into my hands down the line."

The way he used the word fate was light, but Jr. often wondered how true it actually was. The Blue Testament had told Jr. and his friends that they were being 'compelled' too ride their E.S.s, and their wills resonated with the power source inside the mech. Jr. had no idea what that stuff even meant, but they needed the power, so he simply piloted. Plus, it wasn't as if he couldn't pilot his mech if it lost its power source, being a special case that possessed a backup.

Jr. leaned back against the tree and stretched; for as much as he enjoyed the fighting inside, it did feel good to rest and relax, too.