Epilogue: The Many

2 years later – August 2184. It was a happy autumn. A group of individuals had gathered at this huge lawn by the Corp retreat, behind the manor. They were happily playing games and other fun stuff.

"Oh man … so this is what you mean, bro." Axl slurped on some grape juice on a picnic mat. "You're sure there's no more. I mean, we've been through so much just to accommodate everyone …"

"Indeed. Everything is done. The system for old gen Reploids' employment have been made more flexible, now virtually nothing is overlooked, and … we have to take these Reploid ladies under our, or specifically, your care. They're the symbolic remnants of an old system. We have to help."

The brothers glanced around them. 12 Centaurias graced their presence throughout. Multi-coloured ones, at that. All of them made of old gen female Reploids. Of course, just like how Mehri and Kana made up Centauria, two female Reploids made up each centaur united form.

The Corp central manor had undergone another round, but quick one, of reconstruction last month. Axl Iris Lumine and Sue now stayed on the 4th floor, Lumine's office was the 3rd floor, the 2nd floor was the home for all these Reploid ladies (including Centauria and Cheironia).

Corp affairs progressed as normal, the sole global criminal syndicate that pilfered resources from all Corp conglomerates and employed a multitude of illegal occupations was clamped down, there were no more human crimes in action and thought (for now). Axl's bro worked hard indeed.

Sue had long graduated from her college and is now working for Axl's farming company, Lumine is still head of the Corp, Iris and Alia are happy with their own jobs, and so was everyone at the Hunters. Rumour has it that X and Zero could be found easily lounging in HQ for days and days.

That speaks for how peaceful things were (for now). Hence, today was a day of family. Not just Axl and siblings, and Sue, but the entire extended family of the centaurs in newer gen bodies.

"Why did it have to be, like, converting them all to newer gen bodies and keeping the centaur forms too?" Axl frowned at Lumine, who shrugged. "A sense of continuity? Perhaps it's a better deal for everyone? It'd be an insult to Centauria's history? A combination of all?" He answered.

"Urgh, well, at least I personally helped everyone learn how to get used to our world properly. I consider that worth it." Axl pumped himself. "Of course. No complaints there."

"At one point, we only had 5 Centaurias. Now, there's suddenly a total of 12. That's 24 individual Reploids …" Axl whined. "You're complaining about it now?" Lumine teased.

"Bro, training everyone is one thing, but I'm barely keeping up with interacting with everyone!" Axl hissed lightly. "You'd get used to it in due time. Maybe next year?" Lumine shrugged.

A few centaurs were roughing each other playfully, two were gazing over the horizon at Corp territory and the Big City. Two were whining and wishing for more time with Axl, one centaur was proudly reliving their experiences of being with Axl in the city doing chores for home.

The blue-coloured Cheironia looked over everyone. "Alright, we did a good job getting everyone excited for this race. I'd better not lose to the newer and faster pairs." "Indeed, we must perform well, Oira. Our dignity as an awesome centaur is on the line!"

"Heave ho, heave ho." The indigo-coloured Karelyna and red-coloured Pholossia carried a huge long table with all the catered food and drink towards Axl. "We got everything, boss." They said.

"Thanks, but … don't we need to at least have the race first?" Axl pointed to the starting point.

"Oh, that's right. We can't have lunch without the race!" Karelyna's hind quipped. "Let's go!"

"All contestants, get ready to the starting point!" Pholossia said aloud and waved for every centaur's attention. "The boss will soon choose who to sit on! Make haste!"

"YAY!" "YAY!" Every front and hind cheered in excitement. Centauria, still the green-armoured united form, paced over to Axl. "Come, boss. It's time to give your latest encouragement. Make a good choice this time."

"Give me a moment. I still need to think. Oh hey, Iris is coming." Axl took note of it.

"Yay! Iris is here to watch us!" Cheironia cheered. Everyone cheered and applauded the brunette's arrival. "You're too kind …" She blushed.

"Do you know why Iris tends to get nervous whenever we use this retreat?" The light-grey-coloured Voivodia remarked curiously, staring between the race's starting point and the retreat. "No idea … it's as if she uses the retreat for something else. I don't know." Her hind remarked.

"Hey, Voivodia. Today's finally the day I get to outrace you, the fastest of us all! Haha!" The orange-coloured Hellenica pointed dramatically at the former. "I've been training so much for this!"

"Aw, come on … it just happens that we could run faster than anyone, even Centauria." "Yeah! We didn't run to deliberately mock everyone! It just is!" Voivodia's front and hind said, respectively.

"Aw, man. You're really no good with jokes. I'm just trying to up the hype for this round of the race …" Hellenica sighed. "Oh … whoops. We're sorry." Voivodia tried to console her.

"We can do it this time!" "Yes we can, Alber!" The hind and front of the dark-grey-coloured Balbrusia encouraged each other.

"Oh, you're not racing this time?" Pholossia asked Centauria, noting she was standing by the huge table with food and drink. "Oh, I wanted to do guard duty this time. Don't mind me." "Yeah ... I'm still tired from running so much."

Only Centauria was not racing. The 11 centaurs prepared themselves at the starting point. The noise from chatter simmered down. Everyone looke expectantly at Axl, who was approaching them.

Iris said down beside Lumine. "Huh, I thought Sue was coming." "Nah, Axl said she's staying even longer in the company these days, overseeing the crop growth and sales. She has a gift for this type of things. I'm amazed Axl hasn't employed her the instant she graduated." He commented.

"I rode on Balbrusia before … um, Karelyna before … hmm … who else did I ride?" Axl said.

Everyone raised their hands. "Us! Us, Axl!" "No! Me! Me!" "Come on, do us the honour instead!"

"Uh … Ephesea, I choose you." Axl gently walked over to the mauve-coloured centaur, who was surprised at being picked. "I – I'll do my best!" "Yeah, you can count on us!"

The noise simmered down. "Now that I think about it, Ephesea is the slowest racer of all of us." The yellow-coloured Mederiria remarked softly. "I've never seen them win. Poor girls. Maybe they do deserve the boss' encouragement this time." "Ah, you're right. Let's see how this goes."

"Hey Cercodria, after I'm beating you, I'm making dibs on as many fried pork dumplings as I can." The black-coloured Absolvena smiled widely at the brown-coloured centaur. "Hey, no fair! Regardless who wins or loses, you shouldn't just stuff your mouth greedily!" Cercodria protested.

"Why does your front always like to taunt my front like that?" Cercodria's hind spoke sternly to Absolvena's hind. "I don't know, seriously. That's just Serene speaking, not me." Came the reply.

Axl managed to sit properly on Ephesea's centaur backbone. "Sorry, Sora, am I hurting you?" He asked Ephesea's hind. "N – no! I'm fine! Don't worry! I can support you! Just hold on tight to Corena's guts, if you will! The race is almost about to start!" The hind fidgeted.

"How did it come to this that the only major competition everyone agrees on is racing?" Iris asked. "Simple. Most of them don't share the same hobbies, either jointly or individually. The imposed unity forms on them made it so that racing's the only common sport for them." Lumine answered.

"Everyone! On your marks! As you know, one lap is around 700 meters, from start to finish! The fastest from 3 laps wins!" The lime-green-coloured Penrausia announced. "Get set!"

Axl held on tightly to Ephesea's front guts, just in case. When he sat on the others, they ran really fast, and he was almost galloped off several times. "Good luck." Centauria whispered.

"GO!" Penrausia said, and everyone galloped off. The sheer stomping made Iris feel as if an earthquake has come. "Ahh-ahh-aahhhh!" Axl exclaimed as he found unusual speed coming from Ephesea.

"We're going to win this, thanks to you boss! This is also for you!" Ephesea remarked back. Everything was a blur around him, but he could feel the sharp swerving around the corners.

"Whoa! Ephesea's really going!" Pholossia commented. "Nargh! I will never allow you to be faster than me, Pholossia!" Mederiria grunted as her hind hooves pushed on the ground harder.

"Careful, Karelyna! Your horns!" Balbrusia warned. "Sorry, sorry! I't s hard for me to turn around if I don't tilt my head on and off! It's weird I know, but it works for me!" Karelyna apologized.

"I don't believe it … we're catching up to Hellenica and Voivodia!" Ephesea was quite excited.

"Gah! She caught up to us!?" Hellenica was stunned. "Boss, even if you're with Ephesea, she still can't beat me!" Voivodia said aloud. "I'm no so sure! We're 1 lap to the end!" Axl countered.

It was a tight race. Hellenica and Voivodia were busy trying to nudge one another playfully to second place while being ahead. Ephesea's hind keep pressing herself forward.

"Boss, are you okay!? I think this time you need a break!" Cheironia caught up with Ephesea. "No! I can do this! I'm almost there, thanks to Axl!" Ephesea whined.

PEEEET. The blow of a whistle. "Sorry, everyone, but Voivodia wins this race again~" Penrausia announced loud enough for everyone on this green space to hear.

"Huh!? You weren't racing!?" Mederiria argued with Penrausia. "Uh … we decided not to at the last minute. Sure, Centauria was guarding our food, but … someone needed to keep track of who will come in first, right?" "Indeed. It was my idea." Penrausia's front and hind explained.

"Argh …" Axl dropped off Ephesea after she arched onto the ground. "Uh … you have some hidden strength, I guess? Good job?" Axl could only muster. "Thanks!" "Thank you!"

"Who wants to get drinks first?" Centauria asked. "MEE!" Everyone else cheered.

"Oh man … everyone's just so happy." Iris pondered when the food and drinks were distributed to everyone. The front and hind Reploid individuals were cheering and chatting to one another.

"What can I say?" Lumine munched on his sushi lightly. "Axl looked after every single Reploid here. Of course they will all love him and clamour for his attention. They're happy just being around him and doing anything with him. Goes the same with us. He's our brother."

"Do you think we should petition to boss?" Karelyna talked to a few of the centaurs. "I think just 2 of us accompanying Axl to his farm place is too little. We should at least make it 4 …"

"Makes sense, but Axl did say long ago that he doesn't want to complicate things or explain …" Voivodia gestured. Everyone nodded.

"But how is that explanation valid? Some of the workers there already know there's a lot of us. They're not stupid, they're bound to note all of our coloured armours!" Pholossia's hind quipped.

"Looks like we're going to have to talk to him again. While we're at it, maybe we can go with him whenever he bikes into town. We are meant to be with him, are we not?" Penrausia commented.

"We can go out and eat with him!" "A trip to the park! The mountains! The forest!" "Or we can just hold more of these competitive events. It's thanks to Cheironia we can gather like this. They were the ones who organized for us this tradition. And it's fun, right?" "Sure is!" "Indeed!"

They continued talking. Their hopes of being with Axl as much as possible, for as long as possible was around. In their eyes, the existing schedule of rotation wasn't working so well.

But that's a story for another time. Perhaps. All of the girls do love and cherish their boss, anyway.

Axl sighed, having settled on Lumine's left. "Argh … no more racing for me. I'm beat."

"Don't force yourself, Axl." Centauria smiled calmly. "Just do what you want to do. Everyone here will respect you for it." "Indeed, you must always be yourself." Kana remarked happily.

The autumn wind blew gently through the grounds. Every Reploid savoured the softness of the touch. Centauria inched herself closer to Axl. "Hehe." "Hehehe."

Mehri thought inwardly to Kana, and Kana joined her in thought. They remembered their long journey from spying on Axl, to being stuck together in their Centaur Woman outline, and their ways of working together now became the basis for Oira, Arana, and the various other female Reploids taken in by Axl and this form of an extended family.

Everyone had their own ups and downs. Everyone shared decent moments with Axl. Axl aided each female Reploid to be the front and hind, yet also treated each as their own person.

Centauria looked at the glorious sight of all these centaur ladies interacting in cheer with one another.

"Everything before you … is all thanks to your hard work and care for us, boss. Well, also because of myself and Kana. But … once again, we all really do thank you for that." Centauria smiled. "I know everyone's thoughts and hearts by now. I can confidently represent them."

"No problem. What's done is done. We move on together. It's tough interacting with everyone sure, but … in the end, I like it. Everyone in this house is family to me." Axl smiled widely.

The two shared a laugh (Kana giggled inwardly), followed by Iris and Lumine.

All the centaur women turned to see the laughter, and everyone slowly paced and gathered around their boss. Mehri and Kana smiled before the huge idle banter from everyone could start.

"I'm so glad we are here, Kana." Mehri said. "Same here, same here, friend." Kana replied.

THE END.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE]

Yeap, you read it. The joke that turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy was Axl getting more Kanas and Mehris and Centaurias. But ... at least he's having fun?

In case you're wondering what that sole global criminal syndicate was ... I refer you to my other story called "The Heurassein Chief". It takes place after AASR (as a sequel) but alongside, chronologically, with The Centaur Women. If you put two and two together, what Lumine did in AASR would naturally produce such a consequence of a story. (I took some liberties with writing that fanfic, so Tales of Vesperia fans - don't hate me; I love Estelle too)

And once again, I end this fanfic with Kana and Mehri because the story started out with them, and their actions gave way to Oira, Arana and this epilogue you see here. It comes full circle for me, I believe.

And ... that's it. This fanfic is over, as of 22nd July 2019. I have no idea what I'm writing anymore, but if you've been reading since the original An Axl Story, I really thank you all. Especially so if you've enjoyed all my stories so far. Thanks so much you guys.

I bid thee farewell, for now.