The Life Of Normal-Taro

"What do you mean?" Ponnappan gave out a weird look towards Lonappan.

"You know exactly what I mean. Alien rights and that sort of bullshit. As if you care about something like that." Lonappan had a hearty laugh after that.

"Hey! A man could change, you know?" Ponnappan pouted, an expression which didn't cute at all on his face.

"Maybe. But the guy I know for all these years can't." Lonappan replied.

"Look, I even started believing in Chinnappan's conspiracy theory. What else do you want me to do?" The commanding officer asked.

"Well, you knew deep down in your heart that the MIB and the world leaders sold out our world to step into the galaxy and for further possibilities. You just weren't ready yet to accept that fact. But now that you saw the evidence of it, you have no choice but to believe in it. It wasn't your choice, but your necessity." Lonappan spoke.

Ponnappan sighed. "Even so, I adapted to it, right? I didn't sulk like some shitty guy and took action for the survival."

"What? Saving one alien from punishment is integral for our survival?" Lonappan asked.

"You have no idea, dude! You have no idea…" Ponnappan muttered.

"See? I knew you had some ulterior motives other than the bullshit you were spewing. Hell, even the kid caught your bullshit!" Lonappan spoke.

"And yet he chose to believe in me." Ponnappan had a proud tone in his speech.

"Of course he will believe in you even after knowing that literally every single word that came from your mouth was crap. Why? Because you are our leader. So, no matter what kind of shitty decision you take, we'll all be sinking together alongside you. Therefore, we kinda have no choice but to believe in you. Ah, the agony of being your subordinate!" Lonappan shook his head in dismay.

"You could always betray me and become a spy for the HQ. That way, you can get out scot free when we get caught for our antics." Ponnappan shrugged.

"Nah, I hate the MIB HQ as well. Not for the selling out Earth shit, but for other reasons." Lonappan replied.

"It's the kid, isn't he? My, oh my! I never thought that my junior will actually feel empathy for someone else." Ponnappan chuckled.

"Well, the dungeon is a shitty place and shouldn't exist. Remember how he was when he was assigned to me? The situation was pathetic. I don't what made him so, but some shit surely happened during the time he spent in the dungeon. And only now did he finally came out of his shell. He cares about these aliens. Standing by him is the least I could do as his senior." Lonappan replied.

"Dang, I was making fun of you when I said about the empathy thing. But I never expected for you to actually care about him. I still remember how reluctant you were when I assigned him to you. You sure came a long way since then." Ponnappan looked proudly at his subordinate.

"He's actually pretty smart, you know? Way smarter and capable than both of us combined. He might do some stupid shit at times, but he would play an important factor in whatever you're planning. There's no doubt in that." Lonappan replied.

"What do you think I'm planning?" The commanding officer asked, curious about what his subordinate thought.

"You said that you were thinking in a really small scale. And that makes me believe that what you're planning is in a large scale… Pardon, a gigantic scale, to be exact. You're actually planning to drive out the Glomeran forces when the time comes, aren't you?" Lonappan asked.

"Oh, come on! How are we supposed to do that?" Ponnappan chuckled.

"Taro and the entirety of the Holy Land and that group from the other day; also that woman… You've made quite a nice number of allies. Although, this might not be a number fit for a massive war, the number is steadily increasing, so…" Lonappan left the rest of the sentence to his senior's imagination.

"Dang, I actually like your vivid imagination that could actually predict what I'm planning." Ponnappan smirked. "How did you know?" He asked.

"Been around you for a long time to know that you look at the big picture." Lonappan shrugged.

"Hmm, the squad we have right now is too little. That's why I didn't want Scarlet to lose his shit and do the heist again right after his previous one. Even though the minions of the HQ can't catch him, the main guys in charge could sense his presence if they're specially looking out for him. He needs practice. I'd like it if his presence is concealed to the point that even Taro doesn't catch a sniff of it." Ponnappan replied.

"That's gonna be a long and tedious path." Lonappan got chills even as he thought of it.

"It certainly will be. But, he'll do it. I feel like he'll do it." Ponnappan assured him.

"Well, that'd be great." Lonappan replied. "By the way, why didn't you say the truth to the kid? I mean, he's the first one to collude with the aliens. He's certainly on our side on this affair as well. So, why?" He asked.

"I know that. In fact, I'm banking on the kid to convince the Holy Land lads when time comes. I mean, I don't think you have that sort of influence on those aliens now, do you?" Ponnappan asked back.

"Not really. I guess it's because he's living with them, but he really has a tight knitted relationship with the aliens." Lonappan replied.

"If simply living with them was enough to build a trustworthy relationship with them, then John would've been able to do that as well. Don't discredit the kid's strengths. He has this special sort of charm that attracts people. I felt it. And probably you have as well." Ponnappan replied.

"That's some high praises that I hear from you. I mean, even I haven't heard such praises." Lonappan chuckled.

"Well, you can't sing praises of someone right before them, can you? It will make them conceited. And one thing you should never be is conceited. It ruins people." Ponnappan replied.

"True that. So, was that the reason why you hid your true intentions from him as well?" Lonappan asked.

"In a way, yes. If I told him about my plan, he'd be ecstatic and work even harder. I'm aware of that. But you got to think about the person who's always by him. It's John. We can't afford to slip up before him. I'm in no way implying that Thankappan would slip up before him, but there's always the off chance that it happens and we can't brush aside that slither of chance." Ponnappan explained.

"Damn, you've thought way too hard about it haven't you?" Lonappan chuckled as he asked.

"Quite a bit, yea. I couldn't factor in the anomalies like that one alien who just popped out of nowhere into this planet. But now that I think about it, he might actually be the one important piece that I felt was missing as I made this plan." Ponnappan spoke with extreme fondness in his tone.

"We don't know what comes next, my man. That's the beauty of life. Although, I know one thing. The troops that the Glomerans are gonna bring would be massive as heck. And we're gonna get screwed by them." Lonappan spoke.

"Hey! Don't be so pessimistic about it! I mean, we have the element of surprise. We can freaking surprise the hell out of them. What do you think?" The commanding officer sounded optimistic.

"Highly unlikely. But, I like your enthusiasm. Continue doing the shit you're doing." Lonappan smirked.

"I don't even know why I asked you that question. Of course you're gonna answer negatively." Ponnappan sighed.

"I'm not all negative. Ask me about the food that I had from our canteen." He urged.

"How was the food?" Ponnappan reluctantly asked.

"I've seen way worse." Lonappan shrugged.

"How's that any different from being negative?" Ponnappan asked.

"You didn't listen to me now, did you? I just said that I've seen way worse food. That means the food is way better than that way worse food! Get it?" Lonappan looked as if he said something mind blowing.

"Yea, no. I'm not dealing with your shit anymore. Get the hell out of this room." Ponnappan ordered.

"Oh, don't be like that!" Lonappan said as he lazily occupied a seat in the room, much to the dismay of the commanding officer. "Anyway! Who would've thought? You are gonna be a freedom fighter! My goodness, the thought alone is making me feel kinda weird." He chuckled.

"And why is that?" Ponnappan asked.

"Because I feel like you just lied to me." Lonappan replied.

"What?"

"Come on, dude! As I said before, I've been with you for years now. I know when you tell a lie. The reason you told me was a lie on top of a lie. So, what's the truth, huh? Do you have a personal grudge on the MIB or hell, the Glomerans?" He asked.

Ponnappan stayed silent for a while before sighing. "I guess you could say that." He replied.

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