XO

CONTENT WARNING This page contains spoilers.

XO is the secondary mascot of District: Zen, and a character from the Origins lore.

Appearance
XO has a semi-masculine maroon body. He has a very long tail with pointy horns and ears. He has black hair with an additional hair strand colored in pink. His eyes are yellow in sclera and red in pupil. His fingers, toes and horns share the same accent color, which is a mixture of red and orange.

He wears a long black-yellow no sleeve jacket with a dark-gray scarf covering his health bar. He also owns a fanny pack to store his weapons, with the letters "XO" mounted on his second pocket.

Personality
XO doesn't have a clear personality in his past yet.

After the events, he tends to be rather quiet, and rarely talks to people except the ones he trust. He has a hard time believing in people's words due to the past trauma. He still owns a warm heart when it comes to helping each other out.

Weapons
XO has a stored primary weapon (KROZON XO-100) used for hunting down Virus-infected Zendroids for bounty prizes. This weapon is a silent killer, so other enemies won't detect noises easily. However, as it shoots a neon beam upon fire, they can detect where it's headed from.

His current nickname (from Infi) is also based on this weapon.

He has a secondary weapon of a pistol that contains poison darts, but he only uses it for last resorts in case of emergency.

History
XO was born in Delta, on 10 February, not long after the Zen Pyramid's creation.

Living under misery with his abusive parents, he tried to seek help from his neighbors when his parents weren't home, but instead, the neighbors warned him about his parents’ behavior. One day, his parents came back arguing with each other after a Virus attack. XO got worried and told them to stop, but both parents turned back, realizing that their son knew what happened. They dragged him out and told him to not worry, as they claimed that they were evacuating from a crisis attack. However, once they reached the Port, XO asked the purpose of coming here. His father let out a sigh and threw him into the core beam of the Port, killing him.

Upon his first respawn, his parents vanished. He was left alone and abandoned. He was later found by a caretaker so he was sent to a nearby orphanage with the other abandoned Zenlings. After months of settling there with others noticing his strange glitchy behavior (such as him freaking out sometimes due to traumatic experience), the caretaker got worried so she called for help, and XO was later taken to a mental hospital for checkup. After realizing that there's something unusual going on with his code, he was sent to the Virus Research Institute currently controlled by the higher ups of Alpha, Zenora, along with other Zendroids who shared the virus with him.

XO was bandaged to keep him secure from glitching, and he was attached with 3 tubes on his back for the scientists to analyze his code. He was later locked in his chamber for years of experimentation.

After a successful escape of Viruses in the institute a few years later, he was set free by a Zendroid, who shared the same condition with him. He later joined a group of Viruses to secure themselves from getting caught again by destroying the ports.

A few years later, they teamed up to raid the Delta Port for the 5th time in an attempt to escape the city. However, multiple Port Guardians were employed and most of the Virus-contaminated Zendroids were exterminated. XO was pushed away by the person who saved him and attempted to run away, leaving him to get killed by the bounty hunters in the process.

He was respawned and later dropped from the Virus clan, to hide his presence from everyone and not trust anybody he met as he continued his life to start anew. He managed to wipe out his identity to clear his reputation and was later assigned as a Port Guardian to seek revenge against the people who turned against him.

Development
XO was first teased on 25 November 2019 as a side character alongside with Infi. He is currently included in the official District: Zen Slender Fortress server's Message Of The Day. This was his first appearance. His first base art is shown at the left. His previous design has bandages with different accent colors on his tail. He used to have a bag but was later on merged with the fanny pack. He does not own a jacket in his previous design.

The current version of him is the final concept. Most of his design traits remain unchanged but with slight alterations to the hair, tail and accessories for easier art purposes in the future due to his complex design.

Trivia

 * XO was previously spelled as "Xo". However, this causes some people to pronounce his name incorrectly, resulting in a case change.
 * XO is the second Zendroid created on District: Zen, and of course the male counterpart mascot.
 * His name is later used for CHROMA on the Slender Fortress servers, going by "XO Tier".