On their way back to the Holy Land, Gibli suddenly stopped on his tracks. "Why do I feel so dirty about this?" He asked as he grabbed the money in his hand.

"We really did leech the money out of someone's pockets, after all." Kunjan replied as calm as he can and asked Gibli to move on. Eventually in a few minutes, they reached Holy Land.

And in there, they were welcomed by Lonappan. "Hey, guys. How was work?" He asked.

"It sucked." Gibli answered.

"It really did." Taro doubled it.

"They're right about that." Kunjan agreed with it as well.

Lonappan was honestly surprised. "Wow, I tried my level best to find a gig that'd require nothing out of you. I didn't expect such a backlash."

"Wait, you knew it and you flipping planned it all along?" Gibli asked.

"Of course! Minimum work, maximum wage. Isn't that amazing?" Lonappan didn't find anything wrong about that.

"So that would mean you wanted us to go down that path too, huh? Corruption!" Gibli raised his voice. He lived his entire life earnestly. He didn't like the path that Lonppan chose for them.

"Boy, isn't that a strong word to use in this scenario." Lonappan had no idea what was going through Gibli's mind. How could he? He wasn't a psychic.

"That's the case, isn't it? Leeching cash out of an unsuspecting individual is what you want us to do." Gibli continued his rant.

"Well, yea. That's part of blending in. Like there's the so-called corruption all over this country. There's no living in the bright side shit around here. You wanna blend in with the humans, you better start living like one." Lonappan explained his side.

"Why the hell are you talking about corruption like it's a rather common thing or something? It's not unavoidable. Ark is corruption free! We did it, therefore you can too." He said those words so passionately that it irked him off when he heard the plankton's cheeky laugh beside him. "Why are you laughing, plankton?" He asked as if he was about to pick a fight.

"I might've agreed with you to some extent, but I lost you in that last half. Get your shit straight before you start preaching someone." Plankton said, as he continued laughing.

"What are you insinuating?" Gibli sounded really serious. He was all fun and games when it doesn't involve someone badmouthing his planet.

"Huh, you really believe it, don't you? That the Fallen Ark is corruption free." Kunjan replied. He picked a serious stance as well.

"Don't you dare!" Gibli advanced towards the plankton, fully committed on attacking him. He hated people calling his planet 'The Fallen Ark'.

As Taro, Lonappan and Thankappan tried to stop Gibli, Kunjan started shouting since nothing went through Gibli's head anymore. "Shut your trap. I speak out facts unlike you. Ark is fallen whether you like it or not. Furthermore, you wanna know the reason for that? A fucking inside job."

"What do you mean?" Gibli was as furious as he was confused.

"Huh, the Ark really did a good job covering up stuff, eh? The Ark's world leaders colluded with the Glomerans and sold you off." He shouted back.

"Impossible! Don't speak of such lies before me, you murderer!" Gibli screamed as a grim look appeared over the plankton's face. It was as if it hurt him on a personal level.

"And here I thought that I could believe you, you spineless coward." Kunjan looked at Gibli with disdain.

Meanwhile, Taro interfered this fight. "Gibli, no. What he said right now is the truth." He said.

However, Gibli was not in the mood to have a civilized conversation. "How'd you know about that, you dumb fuck!" He cried as he lifted his fist towards Taro, which was stopped immediately. It was hard to get a hit on Taro as it is, Moreover, Gibli was filled with rage . A mind filled with unnecessary emotions could never hurt Taro.

"Shall I?" Taro turned towards the plankton and asked.

"Please do." Kunjan pleaded. Taro nodded and tackled Gibli to the ground.

#

Few hours later, Gibli woke up in his bed. "What happened?" He wondered. He couldn't remember anything that happened a few hours earlier.

"Oh, you woke up! Have some green tea. I guess it might calm you down." It was Kunjan, who came to him with a cup of green tea in his hand.

Gibli gladly took the cup and took a sip out of it, "So, I fucked up?" He asked, as he placed the tea aside.

Kunjan nodded his head. "Yup, you went crazy and Taro had to tackle some sense into you."

"Ah, that explains the throbbing pain." Gibli chuckled whilst grabbing his abdomen.

"Yea, he got really pissed off about it." The plankton had a hearty laugh as well.

Soon, Gibli came back to senses and the atmosphere got serious again. "Okay, I'm ready. Tell me everything. From what you know to how you know it." He looked like he was ready to swallow the hard pill of truth.

"Do you know about the Glomeran civilization and their practises?" The plankton asked.

"What do you mean?" Gibli was confused. The things he knew about Glomera was the things that he learned from his textbooks.

Kunjan sighed. "It seems that you're not aware. Well, Glomera is like the Goa [????] of the universe." He replied.

"I don't get it." Gibli didn't get the obscure reference.

"Shit. Okay. Glomera is like the Las Vegas of the universe." He explained yet again.

This time, Gibli caught the reference. "Their main source of income is gambling?" He asked.

"Exactly. Now, the things they gamble on is a little different from Las Vegas. They conduct a contest at first. They would've planned to conquer someone and people would've to imagine who that was. Like, they'd have to bet on it and stuff. Once that's over, people would gamble on how long it will take for them to conquer that place. Normally, the Glomerans would go to that planet and show off their technologically apt community; they might be gambling assholes, but they're some of the most intelligent species too. So, when this technologically inferior planet sees the stuff, they'd be willing to do anything for it and eventually fall into their trap." Kunjan explained,

"Just like what happened to us." He was reminded of the Ark's fate.

However, Kunjan clicked his tongue upon hearing that. "Now, that's the lie that was fed up to your mouths." He said.

"Come again?" Even though Gibli did say he was ready for the truth bomb, he didn't expect such a twist in the tale.

"You know the time it took for the Glomerans to conquer the Ark?" Kunjan asked.

Gibli nodded. "Yea, it's three ye-"

"Days. Three days." Kunjan cut him off and replied.

"What?" Gibli was shocked. He couldn't get any words out of his mouth.

"In what was called the heist of the century, a mystery participant accurately guessed the time frame and won the entire shitload of money." Kunjan continued.

"Heist?"

"Well, even though Glomeran civilization as a whole weren't allowed to participate in the bet, this incredible win was met with doubts that it might actually be the Glomerans itself that worked their way in as the mystery participant. Things got more heated up when the Glomerans refused to reveal the identity of this participant." Kunjan replied.

"What happened then?"Gibli was completely invested. This was a very different take on the tragic tale of their civilization.

"Due to massive protests from the masses, they had to finally reveal that person."

"Who was it?" Gibli asked.

"Who do you think? As I said before, it was the entirety of the Ark's governmental body." Kunjan reminded him of what he said during their fight.

"What?" Although he did heard it before, he still had difficulty in swallowing it down.

"Yup. Even though, this announcement was met with a massive backlash, the Glomerans argued that the Arkians placed the bet before they were officially part of Glomeran civilization. So, it was actually deemed legal." Kunjan looked towards Gibli with pity as he saw the Arkian's perplexed face.

"Fuck, they swindled us all. For three years—we had a 'diplomatic' relation with Glomera for three years. I guess the Glomerans teamed up with our leaders and kept it in dark." He looked furious.

"Yea, they didn't sign the contract back then. They did it just so the Ark leaders could claim their innocence and get the masses with them." Kunjan said as he patted Gibli's shoulders.

"All these years. Those fuckers played with us for all these years!" He clenched his fist nin anger before realizing one important thing. "Damn, the rebels were by their side the whole time. Are they in this too?" He asked.

"Nah, they don't know shit. That's the beauty, isn't it? The government proved to be the perfect impostors for the Glomerans and got them all the insider info." Kunjan replied.

"Yea, I kinda feel bad for the rebels. All the trust placed in the wrong people." He looked down as he spoke.

In the midst of this session, Taro jumped in. He was accompanied by M'Baku. It looked like they made up for what happened a day or so before. "Hey, you fine now?" Taro asked.

"Yeah, get in. You too, M'Baku." Gibli invited them in.

"Good to see you back, M'Baku." Kunjan shook his hand.

"Huhu.. Yes, call me by my real name like that!" M'Baku was really happy about this.

"By the looks of it, it seems like he told you the truth." Taro spoke.

"You knew it too?" Gibli asked, showing a weak smile. He really didn't know how to react anymore.

"Everyone knows the infamous tragedy that unfolded back then." Taro replied.

"Even I know that!" M'Baku chimed in.

"We're a fucking joke in the galaxian community, huh?" Gibli looked down. He felt inferior to the people around him at that moment.

"It's.." Taro tried consoling. However, he was aware about the fact that he suck at doing those. Hence, he decided to change the topic. "Tell me, have you thought of going back to your home? Like, I came here by the means that I'm not aware of, nevertheless, I do dream of going back." He spoke out with hope glimmering out of his eyes.

However, instead of Gibli, it was M'Baku that answered. "Hah, you're gonna have that dream for quite a while now. Rather, that's all its gonna be—a pipedream. I've been here for four years now—came here by accident too. Of course, I had my spaceship with me, even though it was fucked up entirely. Therefore, I agreed to it when the earthlings promised to repair it. Four years and everytime they came up with an excuse."

"They confiscated it under Glomera's orders, huh?" Kunjan realized the truth pretty quick.

"Why'd they do that? I don't see any use of it." Taro wondered.

"Imagine if any big shot came here by accident. They could extort a hella money from their planet as an exchange." The plankton replied.

"Would they go that low?" Taro asked even though he knew their history.

"Well, they would just guise it as a diplomatic exchange or some shit. Those fuckers love money." The plankton looked annoyed as he talked about them.

"Alright. You guys dodged my question though." Taro got back to his point.

Instead of answering, the sly plankton dodged the question. "What would you do, Taro?"

"Well, I guess I'll go back home. Even though I'm treated differently just like in here, at least I don't have to relive through all the shit I went through again. It took me years of effort to effectively become a near-normal mob back there. So, I'd like to get back to that." He answered and turned towards the canino. "M'Baku, what about you?'

M'Baku sighed before he replied. "I'd like to meet my wife and the twelve children of mine!" He smiled as he thought of them.

"He's a dog, alright!" Gibli chuckled.

"I'm gonna forgive you this one time just because you seem down." M'Baku pouted.

"What about you, #69420?" Taro called the plankton by his chosen name since everyone called everyone by their real name now.

"I ain't going nowhere. I'm content here. Universe is shit anyway!" He finally replied.

"Very well. And you, Gibli?" Taro shifted the question towards the Arkian.

"Initially, when I knew about Glomera's involvement with Earth, I opted to stay and fight for them so that they don't suffer the same fate as Ark. But now, I gotta get back to Ark one more time. I can't just forgive the government for what they did." Gibli looked like he finally had a clear goal.

"Ha, it seems all dreamt about leaving this planet too—expect one here. Well, here's to our dreams." He held out his fist. The others did as well. The four aliens formed a bond that night.

#

[????] Its as Kunjan said. Goa is one of the only two states in India where gambling is legal. It's the more prominent one though.