Skyfire King of Town Captain Lightyear member is offline
"I am Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know what other people do not."
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,264 Location: Star Command Karma: 8
100 Challenge! « Thread Started on Nov 7, 2009, 6:55am »
EEZ doing hers inspired me to do mine...
Yesterday, I read her latest one-shot and her author's note at the end which called for more fanfic treatment of minor characters. Well, I can't do Ozma or 42 because I just... can't. I need to be able to get a feel for their characters to write pieces centered on them, and I just can't do that.
HOWEVER. Here are the characters you WILL be seeing!
Bonnie Lepton The Clones King Nova Sally Santa Torque & Co. Tremendor YES.
That being said, here is my - well, actually second vignette for my 100 challenge. Unfortunately, I forget the number - once I find my list again (it's on my defective desktop, not my laptop), I'll edit in the number.
Dark
I gave you everything.
My time.
My talents.
My energy.
Whatever is left of my heart and soul.
My life in its entirety.
And this is how you repay me.
Nothing.
I have nothing.
I am nothing.
There are clouds across the night sky, but the stars are visible and brilliant. Once, they were a siren call to adventure; slowly but surely, they gave me a sense of fulfillment, for I owned them. They were mine.
Now, their beauty mocks me. They are free.
Sighing, I close my eyes. These stars were never even mine – the stars that I once owned belong to a duplicate, a copy of this universe.
Strange, that I almost feel… homesick.
Strange, that I no longer have enough energy even to be angry about all this.
I can only feel a profound sense of… loss.
Ironic, that I could have conquered Star Command, the Galactic Alliance, my entire universe… survived fighting my alternate Good self twice… survived the explosion of Zurg’s dreadnought, the destruction of the solar station…
…Only for my jetpack to quit on me during entry into Alpha Centauri’s primary planet, causing a crash and tremendous injury to myself.
I think I’m dying.
The multiverse has a strange sense of humor.
I’m sure my Ranger double would call it Justice. Poetic justice.
All I can do is lie here on the ground and watch the starry sky.
I gave my all to Evil – all that I have, all that I am.
And this is all I have left to answer for it.
My realm is gone, stolen from me.
My universe is recovering from my destruction – it will take a lifetime, but it will happen.
This universe remains almost completely untainted by my dark touch.
And I am dying here on a backwater world that is, ironically, the closest habited world to Capital Planet.
Evil.
Always.
Wins.
I have to believe that.
It’s all that I have left.
~FIN~
...Oh. Well, that was actually unexpected for me. I started writing it, and then as I wrote more, it became a character death story. Hmm.
No, I don't really think that Evil Buzz died like that after "Sunquakes" - like just about everybody else, I like the idea of him coming back AGAIN and making things difficult for both sides. The episode definitely left itself open. But it is an interesting idea, no?
I'm glad that we are different, we've better things to do.
Joined: Jun 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 162 Location: on Teh Intarwebs Karma: 11
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #2 on Nov 24, 2009, 5:35pm »
That was actually really awesome. Huzzah for alternate character interpretations. I love how you were actually able to portray the triumph of good as something tragic, without making it cheesy. It was just matter-of-fact. And suddenly a universe recovering from destruction is the last thing you'd ever want to happen.
~Nihil facimus, sed id bene facimus. ~~We do nothing but we do it well.
Skyfire King of Town Captain Lightyear member is offline
"I am Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know what other people do not."
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,264 Location: Star Command Karma: 8
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #3 on Dec 28, 2009, 7:08am »
Author's Note:
Oops, I never responded to those reviews! Oh well, that was when my connection was... @#%$! ...Ahem. I'll get to those later! In the meantime, enjoy!
96. Never
From the shadows, she watched him.
His small body was engulfed in that large throne. He would grow to fill it soon enough, of course, but still…
His head was facedown on his right arm. She wasn’t sure how she knew that it was facedown, because she couldn’t really tell from her position, but she knew it anyway.
His blue-black hair spilled wildly over that arm, unruly from not having been combed that morning, no doubt.
His cobalt-blue robes were rumpled as if they had been slept in. They probably had been.
His body began to tremble. At first, she wasn’t sure, but gradually, the trembling grew more pronounced.
It was not long before she heard his breath hitch.
Every protective instinct she possessed wanted to rush up to his side, clamber up onto that throne, and gather him into her arms. As if just by her strength of will, his tears would dry, and his nightmares would be undone.
She didn’t move.
Muffled sobs drifted to her in her hiding spot.
She bit her lip back, and moved.
But not forward.
She turned to slip away.
Safely in the corridor beyond, she covered her mouth and tried to stifle her own sobs. One of the guards turned to her and softly asked, “Did you talk with him?”
She shook her head, still trying to bring her emotions under control. “I…” She stopped herself, and took a deep, shaky breath. “I couldn’t. I don’t think he would have let me.”
The guard nodded in understanding.
She chewed her lip briefly before saying, “He’s crying.”
The guard sighed. “I know that you do all that you can. Don’t give up on him.”
“Shayatta ki nora,” she replied, an undercurrent of steel in her tone. I never will.
…Fifty years later, he wore purple instead of blue, power instead of mourning.
Fifty years later, she was a smuggler rather than a guardian.
Fifty years later, they were business associates rather than best friends.
Shay ki notu asdien fera.
She hasn’t given up.
Shayatta ki nora.
She never will.
~FIN~
Author’s Note:
Wow! Just like the previous fic “Dark,” that was so out of my BLoSC norm – I love it! You can probably guess who the “he” is, right? How old was he, since he sounds like he’s pretty young? …He’s twelve.
The “she”? Well, yeah, she’s an OC. (Not a romantic interest, so don’t anybody go getting worked-up.) Don’t worry, you’ll find out more about her in the future.
I’m not sure just how clear the blue robes were, though I tried to explain it in the last few sentences. The idea is that the color blue in their culture is used for mourning, like Western culture uses black (and doesn’t China use white?).
AND I STARTED CREATING MY OWN LANGUAGE!! Do you have any idea how much grammar went into those two little sentences?? A LOT!! I had to associate “never” and “not” with each other, as well as “will” and “have.” On top of that, I used a past-participle, fully aware that I had to keep in mind that “given” is not a verb in the present or even past tenses. I DO LOVE LANGUAGE. xD Oh, not only that, but such adverbs as “never” and “not” automatically go at the beginning of a clause. …If you understood all that grammar jargon, more power to you! You deserve a cookie! Anyway, this language will DEFINITELY be developed further in the future, and I’ll probably end up using it in my original fantasy series!
Joined: May 2007 Posts: 5,444 Location: It's red and starts with a 'Z' Karma: 32
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #5 on Jan 2, 2010, 10:19pm »
*takes out reading spectacles as promised*
Alllllright, let's see whatcha got here....
Ahah! Evilyear strikes again! Fear and terror penetrating into the hearts of trill--ah but wait, he's dying...Pifflesticks! He's a Lightyear! Those buggers always come back like bronchitis does in the winter--once it shows up, you just can't get rid of it until it wishes to depart on its own terms. Still, I do like that someone is showing him attention. He had so much potential in the series and it was a shame to see that it wasn't followed through in time. Of course, it's also saddening--at least somewhat--that he's dying here and he's not achieving what he wanted to do all along: go out and smash the living daylights out of his good self for the pure thrill of the challenge.
I'm throwing my money in right now that he comes back from Alpha Centauri riding nothing but mindworms and wielding planet busters!
*is hit for SMAC joke*
Anyway, moving on before Saria demands more jokes about a dead fandom--hurr hurr.
That is my cue to be both confused and intrigued at the same time.
Okay so there's a throne which instantly made me go PING!Zurg, BUT, then the lad has black-blue hair which also made me go PING!Skyfire's version of Buzz hair? so naturally I got excited really fast and then plummeted into the depths of murky confusion...
So I'm still confused a bit but not to worry! I'll recover, fair maiden. *guess who got into the sugar pot this morning*
But I digress! I like how you finally developed a language! GOOD. New languages for alien cultures are always fun. X'axaxaxa! And the colour for cultural meaning, very good indeed. Now, since he had hair, is this a human Zurg or some humanoid-ish Zurg? I can never tell anymore in my old age with regard to Zurgcentric things...Have to re-read my re-reads!
*smacks granny gums and 'meh's*
Anyway, fifty years! That kinda parallels me! Or about...I still kind of jump from fifty years to around five decades--give or take a few years off and on *wiggles fingers airily*
Keep it up! My only qualm with these two is that they're too short! It's a personal thing to like long, entertaining pieces, I guess--just ask Steel XD
Skyfire King of Town Captain Lightyear member is offline
"I am Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know what other people do not."
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,264 Location: Star Command Karma: 8
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #6 on Jan 3, 2010, 3:01pm »
Feedback response time! First off, thanks to those of you who reviewed! I’m glad I could deliver!
@KJ: For your review on the first story, thanks! I don’t know that it’s unique in and of itself, but I think it’s at least unique for BLoSC. =D And as for your review on the second story, I’m glad you like it so much! And I can’t wait for you to see more of the OC, myself! xD
@Ckret: Awesome? *blushes* Thank you! …You know, honestly, the “triumph of good as something tragic” never really occurred to me while I was typing. I swear my fingers just moved of their own accord and I was pulled along for the ride! But that is so very cool the way that turned out.
@Steel:Muchas gracias for the enthusiastic feedback! xD The “internal Evilyear monologue” was just as much a surprise to me as it was to everyone else, but I really love it. You really think that the second is pure win? Even though it’s from an OC’s POV? (…which I know is a knocker for some people…) …That just warms my heart. =)
@EEZ: …When I manage something that you enjoy, I know I’ve got something good. xD ----Weeell, just because Evil Lightyear’s dying doesn’t mean that he actually dies, y’know? ;-) …I’ve paid him a lot of attention ever since I first saw him a year ago – he’s such an awesome villain. The interesting thing about him is that… he could die, and it wouldn’t bother me, because he’s such a truly evil person. Now if, say, Torque, Gravitina, or the Gargantian militants (Zurg and Warp I don’t want to eve consider)… were to die… that would definitely bother me. So anyway, yeah, he could still come back. And like I said above, my fingers basically moved of their own accord: I wasn’t really thinking the story at all, so what resulted was just as new to me as anybody else. ----D’aww, I’m sorry I confused you in the second fic! …I’d actually wondered if that hair color would confuse people… Okay, so here’s the thing! I used to describe Buzz’s hair as cobalt blue, then navy blue when I realized that it was darker than that. But never blue-black. That has always been reserved for Warp. On the other hand, ever since I started visualizing my young!Zurg, he had blue hair, as well. But as I typed this, I was trying to think of how to describe it in a way that wouldn’t confuse Zurg with Buzz. I’d imagined his hair was dark blue, but I didn’t want to say dark blue, and I definitely could say navy blue since it was already in use for Buzz. So I went with blue-black. Sorry for the confusion! ----As far as the new language goes, thank you! I’ve done very little in developing Zeretanaen, but I’ve enjoyed it thus far! I am a language buff, after all! (Just don’t think that Zurg’s give name is going to change – it’s too firmly ingrained in my head now, and I still can’t think of anything, anyway. xD) “Shayatta” was the first word that jumped into my head, and then I had to figure out a meaning for it as well as finish the sentence. It was great. ----Originally, he was just going to be wearing the normal purple robes, but then I thought Wait a sec, he’s in mourning, he should be wearing something else. Blue was the first color that came to mind. I do love little details like this! =) …Just to throw this out there, the one thing that I really hold from Toy Story into BLoSC is the color of Buzz’s eyes. Blue. The color of his eyes is the Zeretanaen color of mourning. Just thought that was interesting. ----I can honestly say that ever since I got involved in the fandom, my Zurg has never been human. He’s still Zeretanae, and the Zeretanae are humanoids – yes, with hair, lol. ----Fifty years… Well, you know, it’s funny – Zurg mentions “five decades ago” in the RP, and I suddenly remember that you use that same time-span as well. Oh well. It doesn’t have anything to do with your story – it’s just the way my timeline turned out. If I remember my timeline correctly, Zurg is 63 during the events of TAB, though for the Zeretanae, that’s more like our 30s. ----…Somehow, I just knew that the complaint about “short” was coming, lol. *shrugs* Both of them, once they were done, felt very much finished. I tend to write my one-shots short, anyway – sorry about that!
…And now I’ve got more inspiration to dig into Zurg’s childhood again! (Maybe someday I’ll actually get motivated enough to write the story ideas I have in my head for Bonnie Lepton, Santa, Sally, Tremendor, Torque, Team Z, and King Nova. =P) Anyway… Coming soon to a forum near you!
Skyfire King of Town Captain Lightyear member is offline
"I am Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know what other people do not."
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,264 Location: Star Command Karma: 8
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #7 on Jan 15, 2010, 3:33pm »
==25. Strangers==
To EEZ and Steel, who keep my imagination running wild with a certain Evil Emperor
Buzz stumbled out of the shuttle, muttering under his breath. Blast these stupid electrical storms! He’d had to fly through Planet Z’s storms a few times before and they always got to him. And this time, he’d been struck and had to crash – ahem, make an unscheduled landing – on the planet surface, miles from the Z Tower and any trace of civilization.
The wind screeched and pummeled him fiercely with red sand. The individual grains were so large and coarse that they could harm an unarmored person – Buzz was glad he’d activated his helmet before leaving the shuttle.
Zurg probably didn’t even know Buzz was here, and even if he did, Buzz doubted he would send out the hornets in these conditions. It wasn’t fit for man, beast, or machine out here.
He was here on a reconnaissance mission. It was Saturday, actually, so the rest of the team was at home, enjoying the weekend. And Buzz? Well, Buzz had volunteered to do a solo, because it needed to be done and Evil never slept and Justice needed to be served…
Read: it was a rainy day back home, and he’d been bored out of his mind.
And even this was better than that.
He folded his arms and took in his surroundings as best he could. It was hard to make anything out in this world of flying red, but there were shadows at 2 o’clock. Probably part of the planet’s many mountain ranges – though he didn’t dare open his communicator to check it out for fear of the sand damaging it.
He headed forward, traveling perpendicular to the wind. He quickly lost track of time, quickly recanted his mental comment that this was better than being bored at home. After a while, it almost felt like nothing had ever existed except for the harsh, unforgiving wind and the blinding red sand.
Almost.
The shadow grew steadily nearer.
There were frightening times when the shadow disappeared in the storm, and Buzz’s heart would leap into his throat. But it always reappeared, like a nineteenth-century lighthouse guiding an old sailing ship into port.
At last, the shadow loomed up around him, and he stretched out his hands to feel for it. Not long after that, his fingers brushed against something solid. He took one more stride and felt it – it was rock.
Hallelujah, the mountains.
And where there were mountains, there were bound to be caves.
Now that was when Buzz finally got a break, because it was only two minutes tops after finding the rock that he discovered – working almost by touch alone – a cave. He stumbled inside, exhausted – both physically and mentally.
And discovered that he was not alone.
“Argh!” A red laser-light shone in his eyes; he immediately squeezed them shut and threw his hands up to shield his face. “Hey, cut that out!”
“Who are you?” demanded a young male voice.
“I’m… a Space Ranger.”
The light moved away from his eyes, and he lowered his hands. It took him a few seconds to focus his vision correctly, and when he did, he saw a young man before him, standing in front of a campfire and aiming a plasma rifle at him.
“Space Ranger, huh?” The young man’s eyes – red eyes with yellow pupils – roamed over Buzz. His whole stance remained guarded and cautious. Buzz realized that the boy was a Zeretanaen – an honest-to-goodness member of Zurg’s race. There were probably less than a million left in the galaxy, scattered all over, and Buzz couldn’t recall ever meeting any aside from Zurg. The boy was slightly taller than Buzz, had unruly blue-black hair and medium-tone lavender skin, and wore an amethyst-and-black jumpsuit, a black “Z” intersected with what looked like a cross emblazoning the left side of his chest.
He couldn’t have been any older than his early twenties.
“Do you have a name, Space Ranger?” the boy asked, authoritatively.
“Starrider,” Buzz replied promptly. “Bret Starrider. Look, mister, I just wanted to get out of the storm.”
“I’m sure you did,” the boy said reasonably. “But Space Rangers don’t come all the way out here for nothing.”
“Look, my ship was damaged and I crashed!” Buzz told him. “It’s right out there, somewhere – probably still smoking!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Look, kid, I’m not here to hurt anybody!” That, at least, was one hundred percent true.
The sincerity of that last statement must have reached the boy, because he sighed and slowly lowered his rifle. “All right, all right, chillax. Just… one wrong move from you, and you’ll be hurting, you got it?”
Buzz raised an eyebrow. “Uhhh, got it.”
“Good. Come on, over here by the fire.” He motioned Buzz over, who realized that the boy had a large backpack propped up against the cave wall and survival gear littering the ground.
“You came prepared,” Buzz commented.
“Planet Z’s electrical storms are unpredictable and dangerous,” the boy said matter-of-factly. Buzz noted that the boy’s accent was Classic Galactic, equivalent to Earthling British… and he could’ve sworn that that voice was familiar somehow. “One should always be prepared if they go out beyond civilization.”
Buzz nodded, deactivating his helmet. “So what’s your name? And how did you end up out here?”
“E… Zuriel.” The boy seemed to falter for a moment, then recover. “My name is Zuriel.”
Buzz held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Zuriel.”
Zuriel stared at the hand for a moment before taking it. “The pleasure’s all mine… Bret. Sit down.”
“Thanks.” Buzz lowered himself to sit Indian-style on the ground. “So why are you out here?”
“Oh, I do this every now and then,” Zuriel replied, seating himself and comfortably pulling up his knees to his chest. “When it’s not storming, it’s pretty quiet out here. Lonely, too, but in a good way, if that makes any sense.”
Buzz nodded again. “Kinda like Outer Space when you’re driving alone.”
The boy’s eyes lit up – literally lit up – at the older man’s understanding. “Exactly. It’s nice to get away every now and then.” The light dimmed as his eyes took on a faraway look. “It’s a good place to forget… everything that happened. To wonder what your life would have been like if… if certain things hadn’t happened.” His chin sank to rest on his knees.
Buzz studied the boy as he lapsed into silence. He looked… well, both young and old at the same time. As if there were still a lot of kid in him, but something had aged him when he was still too young for it. After a few moments, Buzz said quietly, “You’re an orphan… aren’t you.”
The red eyes gazed up at him without the head moving, then returned to stare at the ground. He nodded mutely.
“I’m sorry. I… I know what it’s like,” Buzz offered. “My mom died when I was really little, and I never even knew my dad.”
“You’re lucky, then,” Zuriel said in a voice just above a whisper. “I remember both parents all too well. They died within a few months of each other.”
Grief for the younger man stabbed through Buzz’s heart. He couldn’t imagine… “I’m sorry,” he said again. “What… what were they like?”
“They were the most amazing people I have ever known,” Zuriel replied quietly. “My father… was always busy – but he always made sure to spend time with me. My mother…” He nearly choked on the lump in his own throat and just shook his head.
“I think you’re the one that’s lucky, then,” Buzz said gently. “I’d give anything to have known my parents like that – especially my father.” His own voice took on a wistful note. “I don’t even know who he is. …Or was, or if he’s even still alive.”
Zuriel raised his head slightly to study the older man. “Wow,” he said softly. “That… must’ve been hard. Growing up like that.”
Buzz gave a slight shrug. “Not really. I mean, I missed my mom and I always wondered about my dad, but I was content with my nana. She was a great woman.”
An inexplicable anger passed over Zuriel’s features. “Good for you,” he said tightly.
Buzz frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Zuriel turned his gaze away, stared out toward the tunnel entrance. “It’s just that… My own nana… was… was… She was a real witch, okay?”
“Oh… I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“You’re okay. You saying what you did about your nana just reminded me of mine, that’s all. What was yours like?”
Buzz smiled in remembrance. “Like I said, she was a great woman. She never seemed old – I think she was always a kid at heart. We’d run around the block with water guns and she always, always soaked me.” He laughed. “I barely ever scored a hit on her.”a
One corner of Zuriel’s mouth pulled back. “Sounds like you had a lot of fun with her.”
“You bet. And when I got drafted into high school football, she’d be there at every game, all decked out in the school colors and wearing face paint and ribbons.” Buzz grinned. “I think she was more superstitious than the coach. And she’d be up there on the stands, screaming with everyone else to cheer us on.”
Zuriel let out a brief laugh – the first laugh Buzz had heard from him. “That must’ve been something.”
“Well, I’d swear she would’ve been down there with the cheerleaders if they would’ve let her,” Buzz quipped.
Zuriel laughed this time – a warm, real laugh.
“Funny thing was, we never won,” Buzz continued. “That first year, half of us were freshmen, just about all of us were short… we got the living daylights beaten out of us. The next three years weren’t all that much better. But all the families and students still turned out to watch us play – in just that small, small chance that we might possibly win a game. We never did, but it wasn’t all bad.” Buzz shrugged. “I would’ve rather done baseball, though – football was never my thing.”
“Then why’d you do it?” Zuriel asked.
“Like I said, I got drafted,” Buzz smirked. “They said I had the build for it.”
Zuriel’s crimson gaze flashed up and down Buzz again. “I can see that, yeah,” the boy nodded. “Did you ever come close to winning?”
“Sometimes, we made it to half of the other team’s score – that was about the closest we ever got. The best game ever, though, was this one time near the end of the first season. We were playing at home against a team from the far side of the Omega Quadrant that we’d never even heard of before.
“They walk out onto the field, and I’m thinking, ‘We are so dead – most of us don’t even reach these guys’ shoulder-height.’ It was a bunch of terrified kids against a lot of really big and mean-looking seniors.”
Zuriel winced. “Ouch. So what happened? Did you get pounded?”
“Hold on, hold on – you’re getting ahead of the game,” Buzz warned, with a brief grin. “Typically, I played defense, but this time I was stuck as the wide receiver, which is probably of the worst places to be against people like this. First pass I caught… I was spitting out grass for twenty minutes.”
“Ooo,” Zuriel grimaced.
“Yeah,” Buzz nodded. “They dug me into the ground. Second pass, got it and got two yards before they knocked me back ten.”
Zuriel grimaced again. “Cra-ters.”
“You said it. The whole game goes like that. They keep on scoring, and we keep on getting slaughtered. I’m mad, too. Really mad, ‘cause the starters on the bench are laughing at us, the oppostion’s laughing at us, and despite the best efforts of the marching band to keep everybody peppy, the fans are just shaking their heads.
“So in the last two minutes – them forty-five and us zilch – the quarterback calls us together. Good kid – ended up playing on the Capital Planet All-Stars when I was a senior – but that first year, none of us knew what we were doing. But he says, ‘We have to get one touchdown. I don’t care how – just do it.’”
“So did you –” Zuriel began, but was cut off by Buzz’s shht-shht-shht-shht-shht.
“Our plan came down to two people, him and me – it was crazy. When we got to the scrimmage line, the rest of the team had to let themselves get bowled over and do everything possible to bring these guys down with them. And the quarterback and I would be completely on our own. He has to drop back twenty yards, run like the dickens towards our own goal…
“And I have to go for their goal, getting past anyone who got in the way.” Buzz grinned his infamous never-say-die grin, and Zuriel couldn’t help grinning back. “It’s a forty yard pass, and this is our last chance to score. Fourth quarter, last minute, third down. Line up, get down… if you’ve ever been so focused that you couldn’t even hear the crowd… well, that’s what it was like.
“I get out of the crowd, shoulder one guy out of the way who prob’ly could’ve snapped me in half, and I’m in the clear. He brings his arm back, four guys barrel down on him, and he throws it…
“And I catch it. But I still have another twenty yards to go, and they’re already on my tail. It’s like being chased by a stampede of Jo-Adians – all roaring like Raenoks – and here I am, this freshman who doesn’t even like football, running like the dickens for the endzone.
“And I’m thinking that, if I can pull this off, then I can do pretty much anything. Ten yards, one of ‘em jumps for me, catches me on the five, and somehow only gets my shoelaces. So I scramble to kick the shoe off, still standing, prob’ly hit him in the face once or twice, and just as I’m loose and leaping for the goal, three of them land on me.
“’Course, when you’re that young, something like that is the end of your life.” Zuriel nodded his understanding as Buzz continued. “I mean, I’m really…” He shook his head. “My ears are ringing, and there’s this grey fog in my vision, so I don’t know what the galaxy’s going on. But when they get off of me and I can actually see, there it is.
“Just over the line.”
The smile on Zuriel’s face spread from his lips to his eyes. “Oh-ho, wow.”
Buzz laughed, staring at the fire. “The sheer screaming from the stands was enough to knock a person over. The rest of the team just stood there with their jaws dropped. Nobody considered it a loss, I guess, ‘cause the whole town was up all night celebrating.” Zuriel laughed. “I don’t think they let me get any sleep till Sunday afternoon. If I’d tried to quite the team after that, they woulda murdered me.”
Zuriel laughed again, shaking his head. “I’ll bet.”
Buzz started, certain that he’d heard that laugh before. The laugh, the voice… why couldn’t he place them??
But the boy’s laughter faded, and his voice turned wistful. “I wish I could’ve had something like that in my teenage years. They were pretty bleak.”
Buzz’s smile dissipated. “I wish you could’ve, too.”
“Any other games like that?” Zuriel asked abruptly.
Caught off-guard, Buzz managed to reply. “None that intense. That was The Game… everything else was just weak compared to it.”
“Hmph. I’m sure.”
Buzz eyed his “host,” and decided that it was his mission from this point forward to cheer the kid up and bring a little sunshine into his life. “I’m sure you must have some good memories,” he tried.
Zuriel shrugged. “I guess. Most of them are with Zo… Zilla.”
“Girlfriend?”
Zuriel instantly pulled a face. “Craters, no. We’d kill each other in a week. Nope, she’s more like my big sister. My father kind of took her in after her parents died.”
“…Oh.” Buzz face-palmed himself mentally. “Oh??” Reeeal bright there, Lightyear.
“We did everything together,” Zuriel continued. “Once, I started building this tunnel in an old warehouse – made it out of chairs and tarps – and we kept adding on to it. Eventually, it got to be a maze.”
Buzz grinned. “Sounds fun.”
“Uh-huh. And we were always going down to the range to practice shooting. She always beat me, but she was older, anyway. We’d practice martial arts together, too.”
“Really?” Buzz drawled, interested. “Are you any good?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Care to try your luck?” Buzz grinned.
“You gotta take your suit off first, hotshot,” Zuriel told him, smirking cockily. “Then I’ll take you on any time.”
“Fair enough,” Buzz shrugged, then stopped. “Wait, wait, how do I know this isn’t a trap?”
Zuriel rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, if I were going to actually do something to you, I’d’ve done it a long time ago.”
Buzz frowned, but began to pull the armor off. “Okay, okay.” Fully un-suited, he said, “There, ya happy?”
Zuriel nodded, then stood and crouched, his crimson eyes narrowing. “Okay, Ranger-boy – let’s get it on.”
“With pleasure,” Buzz smirked.
The boy was good. He was wiry and fast, and Buzz couldn’t outmaneuver him. After several minutes of tussling, they came to a point when they were pretty much rolling around in the ground, both getting stained with maroon dirt. At last, Zuriel managed to grab Buzz’s wrists and pin them to the ground. “Pinned-ja,” he smirked. Buzz growled and pushed Zuriel off of him, and they rolled further… Buzz finding himself in the same position once more. “Pinned-ja ag’in,” Zuriel grinned.
“It ain’t over till the Jo-Adian lady sings,” Buzz warned. He managed to throw Zuriel off of him and hurled himself at the boy. In a couple of heartbeats, he had Zuriel’s wrists firmly pinned together at the small of his back, and the boy was nearly spitting out dirt. “See?”
“Okayokayokay, you win, you win,” Zuriel choked. “Get offa me, you Raenok!”
Buzz grinned, let go, and stood.
“Nice,” Zuriel admitted, pulling himself to his feet and trying to dust off his jumpsuit. “Cop trick, huh?”
“Yup.”
“Boy, that really cans my peaches,” Zuriel muttered.
Buzz turned to him sharply, tensing. “What did you say??”
Startled, Zuriel looked up. “What, what did I do?”
“What did you say?”
“You mean, the canning peaches thing?”
Buzz’s blue eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
“Just a saying I like to use! Mother of Venus…”
Buzz relaxed only slightly. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He cast a glance at the cave entrance and the sand still howling past. “Say, when is it gonna let up out there?”
“No telling,” Zuriel shrugged. “These things can last for a full seventy-two hours.”
“Three days?? I can’t be here three days – I’ve got a life to get back to!”
“Relax, it probably won’t be that long. And I’ve got food and water, so we’re not going to thirst or starve to death.”
“You can’t thirst to death in three days, let alone starve!”
“Yeah? Well, you can still feel like the dickens, so there!” Zuriel shot back, turning away and folding his arms.
Growling, Buzz also turned away and folded his arms, and for a good minute, the two men mirrored each other’s stances exactly.
Zuriel was the first to break the silence, kicking idly at the ground. “So… um. You’re a Space Ranger.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Betcha have a lot of stories to tell.”
“Yup.”
Silence.
Zuriel glanced back at his older companion, who was apparently just as good as he was at holding a grudge for whatever silly reason – if not even better. “Are we going to keep up this silence thing for the rest of our stay?”
Buzz glanced over his shoulder. “I guess not.” He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “Sorry about that. I, uh…”
Zuriel waved a dismissive hand. “No biggie. I do it, too. All the time.”
Buzz raised both eyebrows. “Really.”
“Uh-huh. Zilla says I have the worst temper this side of the Core.”
Buzz’s eyebrows shot skyward. “Sounds like you have some serious issues.”
“It’s never anything that’s worth anything,” Zuriel defended himself. “I know better than that, even when I’m mad.”
Buzz shook his head. “So, what do you do?”
The question caught Zuriel off-guard. “Oh. Well, I, um… um… I’m self-employed.”
“Really? What kind of work do you do?”
“Um… Fringe stuff.” It was Zuriel’s turn to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“Oh.” Heh, no wonder he’d been reluctant to say – folks on the Fringe generally didn’t go around telling Space Rangers what they did for a living. “That’s okay – you don’t have to tell me any more.”
Emotions looked different in Zeretanaen eyes, but the relief there was evident. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it – and I mean that.”
Zuriel quirked a small grin. “Okay.”
~*~
The next several hours, they talked and bantered and laughed and tussled. And when the time for sunset on Planet Z rolled around, Zuriel declared that he wanted to get to sleep early.
Rather tired himself, Buzz agreed.
When Buzz woke up, the first thing he noticed was that the air was cooler. He opened his eyes and saw that the fire was smoldering.
Zuriel stood at the cave entrance, a black silhouette against the swirling red sand. At his side was his backpack.
“Zuriel?” Buzz called.
“It’s dying down,” Zuriel said in a distant tone. He turned to Buzz. “I need to get back home now – they’ll be worried.”
Buzz rose to his feet. “Yeah, same here,” he admitted.
Zuriel nodded. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Bret Starrider. I hope we can meet again, someday.”
Buzz nodded back. “I’d like that.” He held out his hand, and this time, Zuriel grasped his arm and shook it firmly.
“Take care of yourself,” the younger man told him.
“You, too,” Buzz smiled.
“Will do.” Zuriel hefted his backpack on, then headed out into the red wind.
Buzz frowned. Something in that stance seemed familiar… straight, proud…
His voice.
His laughter.
His little catchphrase.
His stance.
No way. No way in the galaxy… Buzz ran out of the cave. “Zuriel!” he shouted. “Zuriel!!”
But the other man had disappeared into the sandy wind.
~*~
Buzz massaged his eyelids and took another sip of coffee, trying valiantly to stay awake. He’d completed his reconnaissance, returned to Star Command, and spent the next several hours in paperwork, despite it being a Sunday.
He was going to request a day off tomorrow, because he knew that there was no way he’d be able to get behind the helm come morning and stay awake long enough for takeoff, let alone whatever mission his team would get. It would be a shocking first, yeah, but then, there was a first time for everything, right? And he was just too doggone tired.
He typed a name into the Star Command Database search engine: Zuriel.
It brought up 1,246 results.
But the one on top was a name he knew well.
Awake now, his heart was pounding as he opened the article, then clicked the “Classified Version” button, typing in his password to get to in.
And his heart really did skip a beat.
The snapshot staring back at him from the screen was not the same metallic, green-grilled face he saw every week.
It was the same cocky smirk the boy in the cave had given Buzz when he’d said that he could take Buzz on any time. It was even the same jumpsuit.
Buzz’s hand moved up to cover his mouth. “Sweet mother of Venus,” he whispered.
Somehow, he and a much-younger Zurg had transcended the boundaries of Time itself.
Buzz studied the face. How… how could that innocent boy… How could he turn into something so completely wrong? “What happened to you?” Buzz softly asked the photo.
~*~
Zurg stood before the wrecked shuttle, arms folded. The number “42” could just be made out. “Terrific!” he grumbled. “Lightyear was here and gone, and nobody ever figured it out!”
“Y-your Evilness,” one little Grub stammered, “we calculate Lightyear to have crashed here during the storm!”
“Really? Well, tell me something I don’t know, and really now, I mean that.”
“Your Evilness –”
“Oh, shut up!” Zurg frowned at the footprints leading up to the shuttle. They were Space Ranger footprints, all right, but why were they going towards the shuttle rather than away from it? Motioning for his little contingent to stay behind, he followed the footprints, and realized that they were leading toward the mountains. So, Lightyear had crashed in the middle of the storm and searched for shelter in the mountains, hmm? He must’ve come back to the shuttle after the storm had passed.
Just to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, he trekked all the way to the cave and halted in the entrance. Yes, there was a dead fire inside. Lightyear had been here.
There was nothing else in the cave, though, and Zurg turned to leave.
And stopped.
For a moment, he could’ve sworn he heard an echo of laughter, felt a lingering trace of grief. Something familiar…
Then the moment passed, and Zurg left, his cape swishing behind him.
==FIN==
Author’s Note:
For starters, I’m not the first to use this trans-time idea, and I’m sure I won’t be the last. But the idea latched onto me the other day and wouldn’t let go!
Buzz’s football story is SLWatson’s genius, used with permission. Same goes for Nana and the water guns.
And this is The LONGEST one-shot I’ve ever written! Even discounting Buzz’s story! Woo-hoo!
That was a fantastic journey to take. Maybe some day, I’ll come back and add a little more material, but for now, it feels complete. I’m satisfied. Which reminds me: this is officially a part of the For Good canon, and I think I know where to fit it in the timeline, too.
One thing’s for sure, though: Zurg may have forgotten his long-ago encounter with a Space Ranger, but Buzz will never think of Zurg the same way again.
He knows now that there’s a heart in there.
He’s seen it.
I don’t think it’s too cliché to say that things will never be the same again.
Joined: May 2007 Posts: 5,444 Location: It's red and starts with a 'Z' Karma: 32
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #9 on Jan 18, 2010, 3:49pm »
First of all, I'm glad to see something so massive! I like reading massive, detailed things! *blahblahEEZweknowblahblah*
And second, it's about Zurg! Huzzah for evil!
But third....I am not too keen on time slips--at least not myself, personally. Wouldn't that alter the flow of time and the events that have already taken place? Wouldn't that deconstruct something of the universe or alter the pace of time itself? I don't know, that just seems...very dangerous. And that gets me thinkin': darn you, Old Buzz! Perhaps it isn't so bad, but one thing is for certain: a one-shot cannot do this justice without knowing what was and is! Gaps, gaps, gaps, and I don't have my pole vault....
Regardless, however, I do like! I may not agree upon some things, but those are just author scruples so I still like! Keep up the challenge!
Joined: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,387 Location: college Karma: 10
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #10 on Jan 19, 2010, 3:06pm »
((First statement)) Sky this is great!!
((Second statement)) I kinda have to agree with EEZ. I'm having a hard time seeing Zurg forget something like that. Just saying. Keep up the awesome work!
Skyfire King of Town Captain Lightyear member is offline
"I am Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know what other people do not."
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,264 Location: Star Command Karma: 8
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #11 on Feb 4, 2010, 7:02am »
Quick Author's Note:
Will reply to your guys' reviews later. Meantime, thank you so much! <333
==16. Purple==
“If you want something turned Evil –” his feet touched the floor – “turn it evil yourself.” He glided toward the Unimind with venomous intent. “That’s what Nana Zurg always used to say to me,” he couldn’t help muttering, “and she was plenty evil.”
He reached out for the brilliant golden sphere before him.
Sank a claw into it.
It was hot.
Instantly, the touched spot turned violet, as if tainted by his touch.
Upon contact, his mind brushed against the Unimind. He delved deep within himself and drew out his darkest thoughts, emotions, desires.
Memories, too.
The Unimind screamed at the violation.
He pressed harder, further.
Power.
He.
Wanted.
Control.
The taint spread.
The Unimind continued to scream in agony at the Dark One.
Behind, little Grubs grimaced at the cacophony and held their heads in pain. Around, psychic waves billowed out and overloaded machinery, causing explosions. Somewhere above and to the side, a brainpod wailed, “Eeevil overload!” just before his console exploded.
The violet continued to spread up the orb, devouring the gold and the green lines. The green ring dissipated.
The screams intensified, and violet lightning danced around the sphere.
He stood motionless, keeping his hand within the globe. The waves tossed his cape out wildly behind him, tried to buffet him, but he stood firm, immovable against the storm.
Control…
He kept his eyes open and trained on the sphere, though the intensity of the light burned his eyes and threatened to blind them.
The screams finally hit a notch beyond human hearing, and it took considerable willpower not to grimace at the torturous noise.
Just keep pushing…
The violet reached the crown of the sphere.
It was finished.
He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Smoke from electrical fires drifted on the air. Grubs and brainpods cowered around the room, eyes riveted with morbid fascination to the sparking orb.
He slowly withdrew his hand from the sphere. It almost felt as though it were on fire.
And he felt exhausted.
Gliding slowly away, he murmured one thought aloud by accident: “Nana Zurg would be so proud…”
Author’s Note: Okay, okay, so maybe anybody could do it. But I did it first. Or at least posted it first.
Watched TAB. Somehow got the idea to write this scene out. One of the best scenes in the movie.
Listened a bit to Ra’s theme from Stargate while writing. It was awesome.
Honestly, though it happens so quickly in the show, it had to be difficult for Zurg. It was only as I wrote this that I realized that there could be some physical difficulties as well as mental ones.
Joined: May 2007 Posts: 5,444 Location: It's red and starts with a 'Z' Karma: 32
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #13 on Feb 10, 2010, 8:54pm »
Whoa, Nilly, that was short!
Now let's see, criticism...
First of all, purple! *heeeee* Second, another Zurg piece! Nice! I like how someone finally dabbled into the whole Unimind conversion. Several of us have developed theories but you are the first to post. I should really get working on that...Anyway, it's good on detail (despite length) and it does give us deeper insight as to what went on within his mind, BUT--and I say this lovingly--but, the sole purpose for control and power is a bit trite. Then again, this is IC without outside bias, so what can you do.
Skyfire King of Town Captain Lightyear member is offline
"I am Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know what other people do not."
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,264 Location: Star Command Karma: 8
Re: 100 Challenge! « Reply #14 on Feb 19, 2010, 4:00pm »
Author’s Note:
I’ll answer the feedback, don’t worry. I’ll try for sometime in the next 7 days, okay?
…And please remember that I’m still getting the hang of writing Zurg. So if he feels off, you know why.
==33. Too Much==
“Make sure that the eight o’clock curfew is strictly observed.”
“Yes, Your Evilness.”
“All the Grubs are to wash up before bed.”
“Yes, Your Evilness.”
“And the brainpods –”
“Your Evilness?”
“Darkmatter, it’s rude to interrupt,” Zurg chided. “What is it?”
Warp tried his best not to sound frazzled. “We go through this list every time you leave me in charge, and you’ve left me in charge no fewer than seventy times in the past ten years. I could recite that list in my sleep. Don’t worry – we’ll all be just fine.”
“In your sleep?” the Evil Emperor echoed, interested. “Could I videotape you at night to find out?”
“Your Evilness~!” Warp groaned, at this point unable to help sounding more like a teenager than like a man just entering his forties.
“Don’t get your knickers in a knot!” Zurg told him. “It was a joke. Sheesh, an Evil Emperor can’t make a joke anymore…”
“The dreadnought is ready, Your Most Evil Highness!” announced a little Grub.
“Excellent!” Zurg crowed, turning to the Grub and rubbing his hands together. “Time to trounce Lightyear!” With Zurg’s back turned, Warp rolled his eyes in safety. “Hold down the fort, Darkmatter!”
Twenty years of paramilitary service had drilled it into Warp to salute with a “Yes, sir!”
Zurg shrugged one shoulder as he glided away toward the transport shuttle. “Well, at least Star Command was good for discipline…”
Warp stood in attention until the shuttle lifted off, then felt safe in mimicking, “Well, at least Star Command was good for discipline.” He snorted in mild disgust, then strode away from the docking pad. Out in the hall, he came across a small assemblage of brainpods and Grubs.
His unofficial “sidekick” Brainpod 20 rolled up to him. “So… Warp… You’re in charge again.”
Brainpods 73 and female 96 traded glances.
“Yyyep,” Warp nodded calmly. Then his steel-blue eyes gleamed. “Is that cool or what?”
“Totally!” 20 cheered. “C’mon, guys – to the rec room!”
Most of the group cheered – dour little 73 simply moaned, “If he ever finds out, we are going to be in sooo much trouble…”
“Which is why he’s never going to find out,” Warp assured him. “C’mon, 73, I’ve been handling this for years now – give me a little credit!”
“I give you plenty of credit!” 73 protested. “But just because you’re good doesn’t mean that you’ll always be good enough.”
“He’s got a point there,” 56 admitted.
Warp sighed. “You brains sure know how to take the fun out of a – C’mon, everybody – rec room.”
“Yeah, that’s right! When the cat’s away, the mice come out to play!” 20 cheered.
The Grubs latched onto brainpods piggyback style as they all raced to the lifts for two floors up. The noisy, happy crowd grew as they traveled further through the building.
The Rec Room was one of the oldest rooms in the remodeling of the Zurg Tower some forty years ago. Warp knew that its original purpose had been as a fun room for a young Emperor Zurg and his sort-of sister Zomega, but less than five years after its creation, it was abandoned. Eventually, Zomega decided that the Grubs and brainpods needed some kind of place to relax in the tower itself, aside from the various little “clubs” that dotted the lower levels of the city. Zurg had agreed, but with a plethora of conditions on how the room was to be used.
But when Zurg started putting Warp in charge of things while he was away, Warp figured that as long as he did a little tampering with the security cams and made sure that the room was cleaned up… Well, he could let the gang have their uninhibited fun and Zurg would never be the wiser. And he never was, either – everyone did their part to make sure that he never found out.
Warp really didn’t think that the consequences would be as bad as the other underlings imagined; but extra work would probably be a good bit of the punishment, and he honestly wanted to avoid that for all concerned. When Zurg was away, Warp felt his own odd little attachment to the “freak show staff.” If Zurg was their twisted sort of father figure, Warp was the big brother. There were times that he would be as arrogant and dismissive of them as Zurg himself was, but those times weren’t often. More than once, he’d actually taken the rap for an underling’s mistake. It was after the first such occurrence that the brainpods and Grubs knew – really knew – that they could trust him, despite the occasional mood swing.
Brainpods and Grubs poured out of the lifts by the dozens, all scurrying for the room at the end of the hall. They burst inside, 96 dashing over to the stereo system to turn on the music. Derriyan techno began to blare from the speakers, and Warp grimaced and covered his ears. Derriyan techno was one of his favorite music styles, but at this volume and with all the other commotion – well, it was a one-way ticket to one whopper of a headache. “I’ll be right back,” he told 20. “I’m gonna go get some aspirin.”
“I’ll get it,” 20 volunteered.
“No-no, I want to,” Warp assured him. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Warp hurried out of the room and shut the door behind him, then jogged down the hall. A good two hundred feet from the rec room, he stopped and slumped against a wall, pressing the left side of his face against the cold metal. It felt good.
Twisting away from the wall, he pulled a small packet out of the compartment in his cybernetic arm, and took out a cigarette. He lit it and raised it to his lips, taking a brief drag and blowing it out in a thin, precise stream. He didn’t smoke much – hardly ever on Planet Z, since his boss despised it – and he understood the danger but figured that as long as he did it only once in a defense moon, he’d be okay. And there were just times when he needed it to soothe him, like now.
He felt overdrawn.
Twenty-three years ago, he’d first accepted Zurg’s job offer.
Fifteen years ago, he’d cheerfully assured Zurg that he wouldn’t give up his job for anything.
Two and a half years ago, he’d come on fulltime.
Eight months ago, he’d met a girl who’d… mm… penetrated his otherwise tough shell.
Three weeks ago, he’d pulled his former partner away from an exploding grenade.
His loyalties hadn’t felt so conflicted since… since… well, since a long time ago.
“Hey, Warpster.”
Warp jumped at the quiet voice, then snarled down at its owner. “20~! ******, don’t sneak up on me!!”
“It’s not my fault you weren’t paying attention!” 20 shot back.
Warp growled and let loose a string of profanities in several different languages. 20 rolled his eyes, folded his arms, and waited for Warp to finish. Once the agent paused for breath, the pod interjected, “Look, I’m sorry, okay?”
Warp exhaled forcefully. “Yeah, yeah.”
“What’s the matter with you, partner? You haven’t been your chipper self, lately.”
“I would say that’s the understatement of the year.”
Warp thought a moment before responding. “D’you ever wish you were somewhere other than here?” he said slowly.
“Yeah,” 20 sighed. “Off at the Mahambas VI beaches in a cherry-red Cayona Corvette.”
Warp gave him a look.
“What? I meant it.”
Warp growled slightly before grinding out, “I’m serious, 20.”
Alarm slowly bled into 20’s eyes. “Warp, that’s treason,” he whispered hoarsely. “You could lose a lot more than your job for a remark like that!”
“Well, maybe that right there is one of the reasons!” Warp shot back.
“And I have a feeling that a pair of big brown eyes is the biggest.”
Warp glared warningly at the pod. “Y’know what? Shut up.”
“C’mon, Warp – I know you like… what’s her name? Arie?”
“Erin.”
“See, you even know her name.”
“20, I told you to shut up.”
“I will not! Not until you ‘fess up!”
“Whaddayou want me to do – get on my knees and propose to the kid?”
“Would you?”
“She’s training to be a Space Ranger, for crying out loud!”
The pod gave a motherly sigh and shook his head. “Boy, you’ve got problems, man.”
If 20 had had a regular body, Warp would have socked him in the face. Instead, the man grabbed the pod’s neck cable and thrust him roughly aside, then stormed away.
“Ohhh,” 20 moaned, pushing himself upright. “Gooolly.” Should’ve known better than to push him like that.
Warp stomped up to the medical closet in that wing and opened it. The aspirin bottle was right in front, and he took a pill, swallowing it dry. Then he slammed the door shut again. **** you, 20!
Well, he couldn’t go back to the party now – he’d end up vaporizing anyone who came near him.
He would have to take a walk. A long walk.
As he strode for an exit, he briefly wished he was in his civvies and his right arm wasn’t so big. He kind of wanted to shove his hands into his pockets.
***
It was breathless outside. Not a wisp of breeze stirred, and the air hung heavily.
Storm coming.
He remembered the first time he’d seen a Planet Z electrical storm. The blue-white lightning against the maroon clouds and the eternal red of the ground, the screaming wind… It had captivated him.
He stepped out onto a catwalk, strode across to the other side. Took a left, up a flight of stairs, took a right, came out on an open platform, looked down.
The planet’s surface was really far below.
The danger of it exhilarated him. Danger always had.
He catapulted himself into the air…
And fell.
The air seared past him as he fell, stinging his eyes slightly. Shades of red, brown, and purple blurred past him.
And the ground was rapidly rushing up to greet him.
He blinked.
And swerved upward, a mere four feet from impact.
Rocketed up into the red sky.
Zurg thought he owned the Grubs, thought he owned the brainpods, thought he owned Warp.
Yeah, right.
Warp had a newsflash for him: not a chance.
It was all about choice.
And the one thing that Warp valued above his own life was freedom.
He began to weave around the various towers that formed the city’s skyline.
More than anything else, he’d always wanted the freedom to choose for himself what he was going to do with his life.
When he was seventeen, he made a choice that he’d stuck with to this day. But at any time, he could have chosen to stay with Star Command, even chosen to divulge the inner workings of Zurg’s empire and take down the Evil Emperor. He could have topped Lightyear with that stunt.
He’d chosen not to.
In a deep part of him that he usually refused to acknowledge, it had nothing to do with wealth or power. It was something akin to fealty… even akin to family.
In his own twisted, crazy way, that’s what Zurg was like to Warp. Family.
Of course, on the same token, that’s what Lightyear was, too.
Craters.
Talk about a messed-up life.
Oh, it was messed-up. That much, he would freely acknowledge, if only to himself. He couldn’t help getting close to Lightyear in those two decades they were partners, but that just really complicated his life. He didn’t want to have the shades of grey in his life that Buzz’s friendship created, wished that things could be just a simple black-and-white, ‘cause he honestly didn’t mind that division.
No such luck. The pieces of white here and there that created the grey refused to let go.
Craterscraterscraterscraters.
He wasn’t even going to think about Erin.
****, ****, and double ****.
***
The wind was kicking up when he finally returned to the Zurg Tower. Bits of crimson sand whipped across his face, leaving small but stinging abrasions.
The hatch whirred shut behind him, and he raked his claw through his hair. Was he ready to return to the rec room?
Craters, yeah. He was in need of some fun.
***
Thirty minutes later, he was in the middle of a fast-paced game of Truth or Dare that encompassed all three hundred-odd beings crammed into the room – some odder than others.
“All right – Brainpod 29!” a Grub bellowed. Well, as well as a Grub’s weak little voice can bellow.
“Me?” 29 moaned.
“Yeah – you! Truth or dare?”
“Um, truth?”
The brains always pick “truth” – bunch of ninnies…
“Stupidest moment!”
Warp rolled his eyes – the Grubs came up with such lame questions.
29 looked heavenward and said, “When I tried to get a raise from the Evil Emperor when all he wanted to do was shoot the Zurgatronic Ray.”
Snickers around the room.
“My turn!” 20 called out.
The rest of the room’s inhabitants cringed back.
Oh, he WOULDN’T.
“Warp! Truth or dare?”
He had to give 20 one thing – the pod had guts, unlike a lot of his cowering comrades. But, um, that wasn’t the only thing Warp was going to give 20. “Dare.” …Or maybe that wasn’t the smartest decision. 20 was known for his insane and dangerous dares – dangerous in the form of “if-you-know-who-finds-out-you-are-sooo-DEAD” kind of dares. 57 had loved to play as dangerously as 20, and the two would play the game for days on end – generally with big-time punitive consequences. Warp was pretty sure that one such occurrence – maybe an especially bad one – had prompted 57’s defection. 57 had always been an independent spirit – moreso than maybe any other brainpod on Planet Z. No wonder he bailed out and teamed up with Romac.
20 nodded, expecting Warp’s reply, after what had happened earlier. “Oookay. You have to… go up to the throne room and stick a smiley-face sticker on one of the armrests.”
Collective gasp.
“Are you cr –” Warp cut himself off as his mind caught up with the sentence. Oh-ho, 20, you goofed on this one. He nodded slowly and shrugged, allowing himself a mischievous grin. “Suuure. Why not?”
“Warp, are you crazy??” 96 hissed. “He’ll go berserk!”
“No, he won’t,” Warp said casually, weaving his way around the various insectiod and mechanical bodies. “Don’ worry.”
“Uh, W-Warp?” 20 stammered, handing the man the sticker as he passed.
Warp winked and clicked his tongue before the door whirred shut behind him.
***
Ten minutes later, he returned to find the brainpods all deep in contemplation. “Okay, Darkmatter, we can’t figure it out,” 12 told him. “You go up there, put a smiley-face sticker on the Evil Emperor’s throne –”
“No, I didn’t,” Warp cut him off, grinning.
“But that’s what I dared you to do!” 20 protested.
“No, you didn’t.” Warp’s grin grew wider. “See, um, you told me to put the sticker on one of the armrests. You didn’t specify that it had to be on the throne.”
Round of “ohhhs”.
“Yeah, it’s on one of the Grub’s chairs in the control area.”
Laughter.
“Argh! I should have seen that!” 20 rebuked himself.
“Yep. You should have.” 20 shot him the death glare, to which Warp responded only with a sickeningly sweet smile. Oh yeah, revenge was sweet. Indeed. “Okay, my turn.”
A few pods and Grubs cringed, but most were sure that Warp wouldn’t ask them to do or say anything too dangerous – usually, anyway.
“Umm…” Warp’s blue gaze roamed over the crowd of anxious faces. Craters – playing “Truth or Dare” on Planet Z was SO far removed from playing the game back in the Academy. Heh, he, Buzz, and Rocket had been the wild ones – Ty and Janet would be brave every now and then, but they’d tended to be careful. The rest of the class wasn’t even worth mentioning as far as dares were concerned… “Brainpod 73!”
“Truth,” 73 grumbled. 73 was an eternal pessimist and worry-wart, and he never took a dare.
“C’mon, 73, take a dare for once in your life!” Warp protested.
“Yeah, come on, 73!” 96 urged, giggling a bit.
“I said truth,” 73 scowled. “What part of truth don’t you understand?”
“What part do we understand?” 40 spoke up from across the room. “We’re on the wrong side of the law!”
The brainpods laughed; the Grubs, apparently, didn’t understand the joke.
“Yeahyeahyeah fine,” Warp muttered. “Okay, um… 73…” He snapped his real fingers, a wicked glint entering his eyes. 73 instinctively backed up. “You’ve got a snapshot that you carry around in your briefcase –”
“How did you know that??”
“You once left it lying around and open.” Warp shook his head and clucked his tongue. “Aaanyway… Snapshot. Pretty sweet-lookin’ chick in that photo.”
Instant “oooos!” around the room.
73 looked very much as though he wanted to strangle Warp.
Said Warpster merely folded his arms smugly and leaned back against the wall. “Well, 73? Ya gotta tell the truth.” Yup, he was so very good at this game.
There was a good half-minute of ribbing and catcalls before 73 finally caved beneath the pressure. “All right, all right! Her name is Leela Dericone.”
“Aaaand?” Warp pressed.
“College girlfriend, all right??” 73 shouted back.
“Oooo!”
“Sweet mother of Venus!”
“73 had a girlfriend!”
“No way!”
Warp stared incredulously at 73. “My sentiments exactly, 73. No way any woman that good-looking would hang out with nerdy little you.”
“Hey, I used to be good-looking, too!” 73 shot back, upset now.
“Whoawhoawhoa, hey, guys, guys!” 96 blurted out, rushing to interpose herself between 73 and Warp. She flicked an admonishing glance back and forth between the two. “Warp, lay off. 73, chill.”
“Yes, Mom,” Warp said sarcastically.
The rebuke came like a whiplash: “WARP!”
And he flinched. That’s right: Warp Darkmatter, former Space Ranger, Agent Z, Fringe man extraordinaire… flinched at the rebuke of a pretty sassy little female brainpod. “All right, all right.”
***
An hour later, all was forgiven between Warp and 20 – it never took long for them to make up, anyway – and they were in the middle of a most intensive and monumentally important project in the midst of the happy chaos around them.
“The red one goes there.” 20’s voice.
“Nooo, it goes there.” Warp’s voice.
“No, it doesn’t! It goes like this!” The pod’s claw snatched the red wire out of Warp’s own claw.
“20! Careful!” Warp hissed.
“Cool your jets, will ya – I’m not hurting anything.” 20 placed the wire, then retracted his claw, gazing with satisfaction at the hot-wire job before him.
“All right, fine. But if it blows when we switch it back on, it ain’t gonna be my fault.”
“Fair enough. And if it doesn’t blow when we switch it back on, my genius.”
“You’re on.”
“Okey-doke.” 20 closed the service panel and flipped the switch at the base of the neck.
The hornet came to life and stood.
Very wobbly.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Warp whispered.
The hornet lurched forward, flailing its arms, then its body shook as if it was laughing.
Warp and 20 burst into laughter. “Aaall right! My genius!” 20 cheered. “High five, big guy!” The pair smacked their claws together.
“Aww, that is priceless!” Warp laughed, clutching his side. “Anybody got a camera??”
“I do!” Brainpod 61 called out, holding up a camera and then aiming it at the hapless hornet, snapping off several shots.
Said hornet stumbled around, swinging its arms clumsily.
“Now if only hornets had vocorders,” 20 sighed happily.
Warp folded his arms in satisfaction. “Ehh, it’s good enough the way it is.” They traded glances and immediately broke into laughter again. “A drunken hornet! We actually managed to program a hornet to act drunk!”
“Finally!” 20 chortled. “Ohhh man, doesn’t get any better than that.”
“You said it.”
Grubs shrieked as the duo’s handiwork tramped recklessly through them, and a few brainpods shot the duo the evil eye. One even chucked a wad of paper at 20.
Eventually, though, everyone was enjoying the new “Life of the Party,” affectionately dubbed John Doe.
***
The next day…
“I think that all that ice cream melted your brain, Darkmatter!” Brainpod 22 called out.
“Eh, you’re just jealous that I have one,” Warp grinned.
Laughter rippled through the room.
“But seriously, Warp,” 96 frowned, “how could it be Thunderboy’s fault that he lost his powers? Dr. Sykatar stole them from him.”
“Well sure, but it was because Thunderboy took those extra powers when he wasn’t ready for them that made it possible for Dr. Sykatar to steal them,” Warp pointed out, holding up issue 74 of the Thunderboy comic.
Zurg actually had quite a collection of comic books both modern and ancient, and subscribed to several. His excuse was that they provided him inspiration on how to defeat the Galactic Alliance and insight on how to outmaneuver Buzz Lightyear.
Warp didn’t buy it for a second. The Big Z just loved comics – even superhero comics – as much as his underlings did, plain and simple. And just about everybody on Planet Z loved Thunderboy – it just happened to be a really fun comic. Warp suspected that Zurg had a Thunderboy collection of promotional merchandise and toys from Pizza Planet up in his private chambers, but it was nothing that he could prove unless he hacked into Zurg’s accounts. Considering what had happened the last time he’d pulled that stunt, however, he wasn’t likely to try it again any time soon.
“Darkmatter’s right,” Brainpod 8 (one of the oldest pods at some fifty years of pod-dom) agreed, nodding. “Professor Kyerk warned Thunderboy that the powers needed to be developed further before Thunderboy could use them. But he didn’t listen, went out to go stop Dr. Sykatar, and Sykatar managed to drain his powers because he didn’t know how to handle them.”
“Sounds kinda like the thing with the Tangean Princess a while back,” 20 muttered.
“Yeah,” 73 murmured back, standing beside 20.
“See?” Warp said triumphantly, folding his arms over his massive chest. “There’s a lesson here, even in Thunderboy: don’t get ahead of yourself. You could wind up in deep waters.”
“You sound like Lightyear,” Brainpod 89 sniped.
Warp shot the pod a venomous look. “Don’t. Say. That. Again.”
96 grimaced and shook her head. “Okay, everybody – DANCE TIME AGAIN!” She flipped on a Mahambasian swing tune, and the room broke out into crazy, happy dancing.
Warp shook his head.
“Warp?”
He looked down to see 96 standing there, looking up. “Yeah, 96?”
“Wanna dance?”
He snorted. “That could be difficult, kid.”
“We won’t know until we try,” she insisted. “Pleeease?”
Good grief, how could a brainpod manage puppy eyes?? Especially as big and innocent as 96 was giving him right now!
Warp sighed, knowing full well that he was being suckered. “All right, all right.”
It wasn’t easy, but after a few minutes of trial-and-error, they managed. Their mismatched dance comprised mostly of 96 spinning, but she didn’t mind.
96 was special. Very, very few females made it into Zurg’s employ, and it wasn’t because Zurg wasn’t in the market for female staff. He’d hire anybody who could do their job right and not have any qualms about it. It just so happened that not many women cared to apply for jobs on Planet Z, and most of those who did left when they read the contract. Actually, for the most part, Zurg wasn’t all that bad of an employer, but there were various things in the contract that just didn’t appeal to the feminine gender – not the least of which was the brain-in-a-jar thing that was the fate of most scientists in the Zeta Empire.
96’s real name was Alexis Teribex, a Rhizomian astrophysicist. At the age of twenty-six, the woman applied at Planet Z and was accepted for her considerable talent in her field, not to mention her doctorate. That had been almost three years ago. A maverick herself, she quickly bonded with the spirited and individualistic 57 and 20, and even managed to befriend sourpuss 76. Warp knew that she still felt the loss of 57 keenly, even more than a year after his defection – and Warp suspected that 96 kept a correspondence with the renegade pod.
She tended to be a peacemaker like the older pods, and made herself available whenever possible as a sort of sister figure for any Grub or young pod who had a problem. 96 was one of the eight female brainpods, but as far as Warp was concerned, 96 was one in a million. She was just that great.
The music died out suddenly, interrupting Warp’s musing, and he heard a collective gasp. 96, despite the expressive part of herself being her eyes and “eyebrows” only, looked pale – and let go of his hands and backed up carefully.
He didn’t need to ask, though, because he felt the problem. A shiver skittered painfully down his spine just before he turned.
To see the glowing crimson eyes of his boss, the Evil Emperor Zurg. And at that moment, Zurg was looking every inch of his title.
The room was completely silent, breathless.
“Darkmatter…”
Warp suppressed a shudder at the low, lethal tone he had only heard a few times before in his life. None of those times had ended well. After five seconds, he figured that he’d better answer. “Yes, Your Evilness?”
“Is today a holiday, and I missed the memo?” Even tone, still low and lethal.
“No, Your Evilness.” Warp was reckless, but he wasn’t stupid. There was no way he was going to lie to Zurg now.
“Is today a Sunday?”
“No, Your Evilness.”
“Labor union issues? Day off that I forgot about?”
“No, Your Evilness.”
Zurg nodded slowly. “Then… why, Darkmatter, is a good fifty percent of the city workforce partying here on a workday?”
Yep, Zurg was giving Warp enough rope to hang himself on, and he could just feel the noose settling around his neck. Warp’s mouth worked for a few seconds before his brain finally latched onto something halfway workable. “Well, Your Evilness, everyone’s been working so hard lately, and I didn’t think it would hurt to let them –”
“Darkmatter, did I not leave you instructions as to how to run this place in my absence?”
“Yes, Your Evilness.”
“Was… partying… included in them?”
“No, Your Evilness.”
Zurg nodded again. “I didn’t think so.”
“Your Evilness, the workforce still met their quo –”
“YOU STILL DISOBEYED ME, DARKMATTER!” Zurg roared, his face twisted with fury. Warp grimaced at the damage his hearing was undoubtedly receiving. “MORE THAN THAT, YOU WENT BEHIND MY BACK!
Okay, wow – Buzz must’ve beaten the Big Z really, really bad, this time.
“And,” Zurg continued, in a calmer voice, “I get the feeling –” he slowly turned in a 360 degree arc – “that this is not the first time.” He scowled at the cowering, feeble forms around him. “WELL?? IS IT??”
“N-no, Your Evilness!” a Grub squeaked.
Warp’s eyelids briefly fluttered closed. Of course, it would be a Grub who would crack first. The best Warp could hope for now was that this little trial would be over fast and he’d be demoted to janitorial detail for the next two weeks. Which sucked, really, but it was better than any sort of corporal punishment, which he really wanted to avoid.
“Really?” Zurg pressed. “Do tell! How many times have you had these little… parties… while I’ve been away?”
“S-sometimes, Your Evilness,” a different Grub replied. When Zurg turned his literally heated glare upon that Grub, the little one hastened to correct itself. “Uuusually, Your Highness.”
Yep, Warp was done-for.
“Really?” Zurg returned his glowing eyes to his right-hand man. “Darkmatter, Darkmatter, Darkmatter, my boy… you… disappoint me,” he said evenly. “I thought, for sure, that if I could trust no one else, I could at least trust you.”
“You can, Your Evilness!” Warp insisted. “I just didn’t see the harm in letting –”
Something happened then that had never happened before.
Warp found himself crying out in pain, reeling backwards, and holding the right side of his face. When he pulled his gloved hand away, there was blood on it. He stared in shock at the man before him.
The brainpods and Grubs felt rooted to the floor, their eyes riveted in horror to the Evil Emperor and the man on trial. Zurg had never struck Warp before.
It scared them.
“I gave you orders, Darkmatter,” Zurg hissed, “and when I give you orders, I expect them to be OBEYED!”
A collective, horrified gasp as another smack sounded, followed by another cry. This time, Warp held the left side of his face, trying to blink back tears.
96 moved a fraction of an inch forward, felt a claw on her pod, and turned her head marginally to see 20. He gave a miniscule shake of his head, his eyes brimming with concern and fear.
“I… I’m sorry, Your Evilness,” said Warp, his voice growing raw.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Darkmatter!” Zurg returned, eyes blazing. “You are going to pay for your disobedience! You are going to clean this mess of a rec room, and you are going to do it alone! No machines! Just you, a bucket, a cleaning agent, a rag, and a mop! And when you’re done, you can expect your first visit to the Wedgie Ray!”
Warp’s face paled, almost from anger as much as fear. “That isn’t in my contract… you said you’d never –!”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to go behind my back for the past ten years!” Zurg turned, but froze when Warp spoke again.
“No.”
Everyone stared in shock at Warp. Zurg slowly turned back to the younger man. “Excuse me?”
Warp’s stormy blue eyes flashed. “I said no,” he replied, his voice even though still holding that note of rawness. “I will not be tortured like some sort of prisoner or slave.”
20’s eyeballs felt ready to fall out in shock. Warp had always been independent, but this was going way too far!
“You will,” Zurg told him, that lethal tone returning, “if I say you will. You will do anything I command you to do. You belong to me – you are MINE.”
“No.” Warp’s heart hammered against his ribcage, his survival instinct screaming at him to stop before he got himself killed.
But the one thing that he still valued above his own life was freedom.
And that was something that no one would take away from him.
“I do not belong to you. I am not your servant, I am not your slave. I am your employee, and I do obey you as your employee. But not as a slave.”
Zurg drew closer to Warp, who shrank back. “Darkmatter,” Zurg said calmly, continuing to stalk the younger man, “I had no idea you were such an… idealist. And here I thought I knew you.”
“Maybe you never did.” The words were out of Warp’s mouth before his brain could fully realize the stupidity of voicing them.
Zurg gave a small chuckle that chilled Warp. “Apparently not. I knew you were backstabbing and loved to ‘goof off’ when there’s work to be done, of course, but I never thought you’d stoop this low, and I certainly never thought you’d defy me so brazenly.”
Warp swallowed hard, still backing away from the ever-approaching Evil Emperor. He cast a swift glance behind him – he was just a foot away from touching the room’s one huge window.
“I gave you everything, Darkmatter. I whisked you away from your miserable little existence. Without me, you’d still be programming spacecraft mainframes at Gemini. You’d be a nobody.”
“Your Evilness –”
“So yes, I do own you. You are my slave. I created the Warp Darkmatter that exists today, I made you into what you are. You. Are. Mine.”
Warp was backed up against the window now, his real hand pressed flat against the transparisteel.
“Go ahead and take a look out the window, Darkmatter,” Zurg nodded. “Look down – take a good look.”
Uncertain, Warp took a brief glance down. The surface was really far below.
And this time, the danger wasn’t exhilarating.
“Far, isn’t it, Darkmatter? In under five seconds, I could rip off your jetpack and hurl you through that transparisteel. What do you think would happen then?”
Warp just stared at Zurg with wide, slightly wild eyes.
“I could do that, you know,” Zurg repeated in a whisper, moving closer to Warp until their faces were mere inches apart. The heat from the Evil Emperor’s eyes was unbearable. “It’s either that, or the Wedgie Ray. Since you seem to suddenly be so fond of freedom… you have the ‘freedom’ to take. Your. Pick.”
Warp’s mouth knew the answer first, and as it moved, the rest of him agreed with it. “The window,” he whispered, unable to speak aloud.
Another collective gasp.
Zurg stared at Warp in disbelief.
Warp didn’t deceive himself, though, into thinking that Zurg wouldn’t make good on his threat, no matter what kind of relationship had existed between them in the past. Warp had gone behind his back, caused the Evil Emperor embarrassment in front of more than half the ground staff, and now forced his hand. Zurg had no choice but to follow through.
“So be it,” Zurg said finally, though the fire had died out of his eyes.
A claw reached out and tore off Warp’s jetpack, flinging to Warp’s left. It ended up embedded in the wall. Warp flinched, but otherwise didn’t react.
Then the same claw gripped his neck and lifted him into the air, his feet swinging a foot off the floor.
It hurt.
Warp’s instincts screamed at him to do something, anything… He could probably hold his own in a one-on-one, but an instinct deeper than survival or fight-or-flight told him that now was not the time. Not yet.
Something like regret flickered through his eyes, and maybe even his own sense of betrayal.
For a moment, Zurg almost faltered. Almost. He was that close to stopping himself.
But the moment passed, and he scowled fiercely, swinging and hurling Warp at the window.
The transparisteel shattered at the blow.
Someone – or maybe several people – screamed.
And Warp fell.
He was dying again.
But this time, he… wasn’t… afraid.
He was free.
Training kicked in, and he threw himself into a series of somersaults to slow his fall.
If he didn’t, he would very literally splat.
After what felt like an eternity, his feet touched the ground. His body quickly followed, and the breath was knocked out of him just before his head hit earth and his world went black.
Above, the wind whispered mournfully.
***
Crashing and slamming could be heard all the way through the private level of the Tower.
Zurg kicked indiscriminately at something on the floor, then picked up some small device or other and hurled it at the wall, shattering the object.
He had been at it for a good five minutes.
At last, his arms fell limp, and he slumped, exhausted, into one of the chairs that had managed to escape his wrath.
A string of choice words in his native tongue as well as several other languages ran through his mind, but none of them were enough to convey what he was feeling.
Oh, he was angry, certainly. In fact, he was absolutely furious.
But he wasn’t furious at Darkmatter alone. No, he was furious with himself, perhaps more than anything else.
Lightyear had really thrashed Zurg good this time, so the Evil Emperor had already been in a supremely foul mood when he’d returned home.
Add to that the fact that almost no one had been where they should be, keeping his evil empire running.
Add to that the fact that half of them had been in the rec room, having a party while he was gone.
Add to that the fact that it was Darkmatter who’d let them.
And then it was just too much for Zurg’s fragile restraint.
He’d needed someone to take his frustration out on, and Darkmatter had provided himself as an ample target.
The younger man was right, though – Zurg had once said that he would never torture Warp. He didn’t go in for torturing, for the most part. If he needed to interrogate prisoners, sure. But on his own staff? Nope. Worst that ever happened to them was Evil Bowling and being thrown around for random reasons.
But Zurg had been enraged, and he hadn’t been thinking clearly.
He probably would have even gone through with the Wedgie Ray, too.
But Darkmatter just had to push even further. And he’d pushed too far.
Zurg would not appear weak before any of his staff unless the cause was Lightyear.
But…
There had been few times that Zurg had hated himself more than when he’d hurled Warp out that window.
He wondered if Warp had survived. Probably. The man had none of Lightyear’s luck, but he at least always managed to walk away from dangerous situations alive.
He wondered if Warp would come back.
***
He never knew how long he’d been lying out there, exposed to the planet’s harsh elements.
All he knew was that when he finally came to, his head was drenched and he was hurting all over.
Grunting in pain, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, and quickly studied himself. His throat was sore, the blood on his face had dried up, and he felt chilled from getting his head drenched with Planet Z’s slightly acidic rainwater.
Great, he probably had pneumonia, not to mention the fact that he had to look like a wreck.
Where do I go from here?
Talk about a fix.
Shivering, he pushed himself to his feet. God, if You’re up there, I could sure use some help right about now.
Then something very rare happened. For a couple of moments, the clouds drifted apart slightly to reveal a small piece of the heavens beyond. He remembered being a boy and wanting nothing more than just to be out there, among all those stars.
One corner of his mouth pulled back. If he’d been looking for a sign, he’d gotten one.
The clouds drifted back together, obscuring the heavens once more.
He set off for the docking pads, doing his best to keep his mind from wandering. At night, very little other than hornets stirred, and Planet Z’s only city was pretty spooky. There were a lot of ghost stories floating around, most of them stemming from the fact that the planet had once been a prison planet for the Zeta Empire. Some were so creepy that Warp wondered who in the universe had had an imagination that wild – others were just plain sad.
Probably one of the saddest was about the little boy who roamed the city at night, crying and searching for his dead parents. Warp knew the truth behind that one – that little boy was none other than the man who called himself “Evil Emperor.”
He shivered again.
And in the corridor to the docking pads, bumped into something.
Oh NO, speak of the Devil…
“Darkmatter.” The voice was quiet, but surprised.
“What, didn’t think I’d make it?” Warp snarled bitterly.
“I knew you would.”
For a good minute, the two stared at each other in silence.
At last, Warp looked down at the floor. “I didn’t think it was wrong,” he said, just above a whisper.
“You didn’t think it…” Zurg began incredulously, then cut himself off. “You don’t think, Darkmatter!”
For a moment, Warp looked as though he was going to say something that both men would probably regret forever. Then the moment passed, and he just looked rather tired and soul-weary. “Can I go home now?”
How are you supposed to handle such a situation? “…Just as long as you’re back by noon tomorrow.”
Warp nodded slowly, not bothering to bow or salute. “Yes, sir.” He made the short distance to his car parked on Docking Pad 9, opened the door, and practically dropped into the driver’s seat. The engine revved, and he lifted off into the roiling black clouds, headed for his moon.
***
That next day was odd for all concerned.
The Evil Emperor and Agent Darkmatter both acted as though nothing had happened the day before, though the bruises on Warp’s face said otherwise.
No one knew what to make of it.
But there was a tension between the two, a strain that had not been there before.
Something – small in the present but important in the long run – had shifted, changed… And life would not be the same ever again.
***
More than a month later…
It was a pretty lousy Saturday evening in Capital City, as far as the January weather was concerned. Earlier that week, the region had decided to heat up just enough to melt the snow, and now it was raining.
So Buzz was lounging on the couch with a mug of coffee as he surfed through his TV channels, trying to find something good to watch.
A ring on the doorbell interrupted his surfing. Muttering to himself, he clicked off the TV, set down the coffee, and moved over to the door to open it. But when he did, he nearly fell back in surprise.
“Hey there, partner,” the visitor said quietly. “Long time, no see.”
It took a good five seconds for Buzz to come out of his deep-freeze. “Warp?”
==Absolutely, Completely, Definitely, Totally… NOT the End==
Author’s Note:
*whistles innocently* …What? Hey, don’t give me that look!
Okay, so yeah, this is set in the For Good timeline, but if you overlook the references (of which, there aren’t many), it could stand as a sequel to “Ancient Evil,” which it is, anyway.
Oh, and this is SO very much my LONGEST one-shot EVER, BAR NONE. Over 6,900 words! *whoops* (Over 7,400 words if this note is included.)
I know that Zurg really runs the gamut of emotions here: from normal-lovably-goofy at the beginning, to raging and dark in the middle, to angry and almost kinda mournful at the end. Probably not my best piece of writing involving him, but what can I say? I’m still working on figuring out how to write him – and I’m not going to get any better if I don’t practice and post. And I’m sure not going to apologize if people don’t like his characterization here – as I said, I’m still getting the hang of it.
I FINALLY GOT TO USE MY BRAINPOD OCS! 20, 73, and 96! That was just too cool! Poor 20 and 96 have been waiting almost a year to make their first appearance! 73… was created much more recently, but he was fun, too.
I’m sure that somebody else could’ve done a better job with Truth or Dare Planet Z-style, but I did the best I could.
Before anyone jumps on my case for that sort-of prayer, let me say this. Number One: my BLoSC fics ALWAYS take place in OUR galaxy. Number Two: I never said anything about Warp being a Christian, ‘cause (duh) he’s not – he simply says “God, if You’re up there”… (emphasis added)
The clouds parting just enough to reveal a little bit of the stars is actually a nod to the Return of the King movie. Cookies to anyone who got that.
The drunken hornet is actually from a (Star Wars) Clone Wars novel, in which a protocol droid programs himself to act drunk. I’ve always loved that, and when writing this, I thought it’d be so funny for Warp and 20 to get the bright idea to program a hornet to act drunk. xDDD
The dialogue from when Warp asks 20 if he ever wished he was somewhere else was sort-of inspired by dialogue between co-employers Richard and George in The Christmas Box, starring Richard Thomas.
The Thunderboy comic… hopefully, I’m not using a name that isn’t already taken. I wouldn’t know – that’s not my thing. xD But the idea for that scene came from an Adventures in Odyssey episode, along with Warp and 20’s enthusiasm at Warp being left in charge. For both scenes, Warp replaced AIO character Wooton Basset, who is actually voiced by the same actor who voices Keno Kentrix in “Large Target”!
Oh yeah, and the photo in 73’s briefcase also came from an AIO episode.
…Umm, I think that’s it! Hope you enjoyed my first big shot at Planet Z!
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BG FTW!!![[image]](http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x108/BandGeek727/BLoSC%20chibis/Villains/zurgnurse.gif "[image]")
XDDDDDD No comment, folks