this story is named after the credits theme to zero 1. relevant because it occurs after the end of zero 1, about 6 months into the year between games.
it's definitely one of the "big ones" that i viewed as essential to this anthology. i split it into 3 parts for flow.
zero is such a cool guy.
i wanted to contend with the fact that some people in the world would definitely be old enough to personally remember zero from before his long nap. especially in bnw, where things happen on a faster time scale. having tomato be elderly is, i think, an efficient way to give a vague impression of the time scale of this anthology, or more particularly, the time between our version of x2 and z1.
when zero says he "killed [copy x] with extreme prejudice", this is a callback to cyber elf x telling zero to do exactly that.
the cyber elf that tanuki man uses, pinatari, is actually a reference to an OC i have, with the same name. i've posted art of him on this website. he's a zelda oc, belonging to a race of tiny mouselike people. he's not really relevant, i just wanted to have him show up so the real mollyheads could soyface.
the cyber elf jackson is actually a real cyber elf from the games. apart from the mother elf and x by technicality, he is the only real one that shows up. he's a secret easter egg you get in zero 1 if you played on easy mode or used literally every elf. he's a weird lizard fellow who is a reference to sting chameleon from x1. he allows zero to become invincible while flashing rainbow colors for a few seconds if you hold A, which is actually how sting chameleon's weapon behaves when charged. i'm not implying zero used all the cyber elves or canonically exists in easy difficulty, though. i'm just saying the elf exists and helped zero out of a few binds. his power probably works differently in the BNW continuity. note that i skirted around describing it. in any case, having him be too damaged to use the power again and retiring is a good way to make sure zero isn't just chilling with a god tier elf forever. like lowkey throw croire out if this dude is around. zero would low diff weil and survive ragnarok with jackson in tow.
so uh. zero and cerveau (the mechanic in the photo). i explicitly ship them. i genuinely think there's something deeply homosexual about how cerveau dotes on zero and tells him "don't you dare die". i sincerely think that it's probably really intimate when cerveau is repairing zero and zero, this badass guy, is wincing from cerveau's gentle touch. this is yaoi that is actually yuri. oh my god the longing is real. i'm gonna draw them blushing. fuck you. i'll make them kiss.
^ cerveau btw
when tomato says "That's right. I'm a bona fide human.", this is actually verbatim quoting a bit of dialogue from zero 3, where weil reveals that killing him is theoretically-but-not-really a conflict of interest for what he assumes are but is wrong about zero's motives. however, here, i use the line to a much less creepy effect.
when tomato alludes to having a granddaughter, i am in the loosest and most cheeky sense implying that it is ciel from the zero games. tomato doesn't know at this point that ciel is wrapped up in resistance stuff.
the "nephew" zero alludes to is jade. and, yeah, this means jade is alive and well and reachable. therefore it is safe to assume he isn't living in neo arcadia. lol
also, i just want to be clear, tomato lives fulltime in tin can by this point and has for a good while. she's disgusted by neo arcadia.
zero is like solid snake. he has his shit together. for the most part. but i want him to be with the boy in his life. cerveau is his otacon. FUCK