Story #9 already! K so this one's been sittin' in my head for a while now, and I decided to let it go. It may take a while for updatage, but I swear by my proud cultural Irishness that I will NEVER, EVER abandon a story as long as my account lasts, which will be forever.
R&R people, Torotyrannus15 is watching...
"Good news, everyone!"
The Planet Express delivery service employees were all sitting at the conference table, as they do every so often. Professer Hubert Farnseworth, "genius'' and owner of the buisness, had some seemingly good news for his staff.
"What's the good news, Professer?" Amy asked.
"I'll gladly tell if you would be so kind as to shut up!" The Professer retorted, offending Amy. "You all remember that little mission to Vergon 6, correct?"
"Don't remind me." Leela dejectidly said, reminding everyone of a certain incident aboard the Nimbus.
"Wasn't that the mission where we had to save animals, but failed because of SOMEbody's ravenous little pet?" Fry said, glaring at Leela. She returned the favor.
"Yes, that's correct." Farnseworth confirmed. "Anyway, this time around, Fry, Bender, Leela, Hermes, and Amy will be travelling to the planet Afrocadia 1, a large africa-esque planet home to a huge diversity of savanna animals." Leela perked up at the mention of animals, her 2nd favorite thing in the universe.
"Why are we going to Afrocadia 1? And more importantly, why do me and Hermes have to go?" Amy asked.
"Because, Afrocadia 1 is suffering through a prolonged planet-wide draught, and if it goes on for much longer, the animals will all die of thirst." Farnseworth answered. "Now, there is a DOOP research center on Afrocadia 1, and the five of you were requested specifically."
"That doesn't explain why I'm going." Amy pointed out.
"I'm getting to that." Farnseworth said. "Amy, you're going because you're sexy and you can easily seduce the men."
"That makes sense." Amy said, happy to be called sexy. Leela spoke up.
"So we're going to help the animals, right?" She said.
"Hell no!" Farnseworth retorted. "I'm only sending you on this mission so we can make up for that hazardous trip to Vergon 6. Oh, and that reminds me, Leela, You are forbidden to bring Nibbler this time."
"Well, I don't bring him on missions normally, so okay." Leela responded.
"May I go along as well, Professer?" Dr. Zoidberg asked. "You see, I have scheduled to visit my great grandfather, Hermelton Zoidberg, who has spent the last 70 years living among the silver savanna crabs of the planet. So, can Zoidberg go?"
"Go wherever the hell you want, as long as you're not all up in my face!" Farnseworth yelled at the crustacean.
"Hooray! Zoidberg is a part of something!" The six of them then climbed aboard the Planet Express ship and zoomed away.
After a few dozen lightyears, the ship approached Afrocadia 1. The planet had a single continent that covered over 78% of the planet, and the whole landmass was yellowish-tan, due to the virtually endless savanna grassland. The ship landed in the middle of a dried-up riverbed and the crew stepped out.
"So this is Afrocadia." Bender said as he stared out at the rolling plains. "Not much to look at."
"This place kinda reminds me of africa for some reason." Fry stated foolishly.
"Well spluh! Of course this place looks like africa." Amy told him.
"I used to hear stories about this place at the orphanarium. I hope we see some wildlife." Leela said as she marveled at the natural buety if the planet. "Look! A blue monkey ripper!" The crew turned and saw a heavyset blue creature with thick arms and mouth tenticles tearing a monkey in half. It looked at them as it cracked the spine.
"Are you going to eat that?" Zoidberg asked the creature.
The PE soon landed near the Afrocadian DOOP research outpost. As they walked out of the ship, they were greeted by a creature that looked like a cross between a human and a hornbill. He had a reddish beak and had green plumage and dark skin and feathers.
"Welcome to Afrocadia 1." He said in a swahili accent. "My name is Mielubu, of the Redbeak tribe."
"I'm Turanga Leela, captain of the Planet Express ship." Leela said as she shook hands with the man-bird. "I'd like to talk to whoever's in charge here."
"Right this way, miss Leela." Mielubu said. The odd bird human led the crew down several hallways in the building, eventually stopping at a large doorway which he promptly knocked on.
"Come in." A voice said. The door opened to reveal a man with a stubble sitting at a wide table with a large screen behind him. The man was wearing a white uniform and had short brown hair.
"Mielubu, who are these persons?" He asked.
"They are from Planet Express, General Yodderson. You gave me orders to meet them when they arrived, remember?" Mielubu said.
"Ah, yes. I remember. Welcome, Planet Express. I am General Robert Yodderson. I've been expecting you." General Yodderson said. "Mielubu, get me a drink. I'm feeling a bit parched." Mielubu sighed and exited the room.
"I just know I've seen this before." Fry said as he scratched his chin.
"Have a seat, everyone. I'd like to discuss the issue of this planet with you." Yodderson said. The crew members each took a seat near the general. He spoke again.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I requested you all here. Well, here is the answer: This planet is in trouble, and as evindence by DOOP's file on all of you, you are capable of much more than you'd think." He pressed a button on a remote and the screen turned on. There was an image of DOOP's logo on it.
"Do you all remember what happened a year ago, when the scammer aliens took control of Earth?" General Yodderson asked. The crew nodded. "Yes. You, Hermes Conrad, commanded an entire battilion of battle ships as a head in a jar."
"Ahh, yes. I remember dat." Hermes said. "It was after my wife left me after my head got cut off."
"Correct. And do you, Phillip Fry, remember when you became telepathic and defeated the Dark Ones?" The General asked.
"Yes. I especially enjoyed being part of the Legion of Madfellas." Fry responded.
"I'm sure you did. And Amy Wong, not long ago, you saved earth from the diabolically adorable Thubanians. Am I right?"
"Yep." Amy replied.
"And lastly, Dr. John Zoidberg. A few years back, you single-clawedly freed earth from the enslavement of your people, yes?"
"Correct, but I am only here to visit my great grandfa-" But Zoidberg was cut off. The General resumed speaking.
"Yes. You see, everyone, I have requested you to this planet because you have each saved earth and the entire universe at one time or another. That is why DOOP needs you to help save this planet."
"Don't worry general. We'll save as many animals as possible." Leela said.
"What? This isn't about those dumb animals! It's about giving DOOP a good image, especially considering what happened with Zapp Brannigan last year." The General said.
"Wait, you know Zapp Brannigan? How he really is?" Leela asked.
"Well, of course I do." The General replied. "After all, I'm his uncle!" This statement earned a slight gasp from the others in the room.
"You are the uncle relative to the Zapp Brannigan?" Zoidberg asked in surprise.
"Yes, I am." General Yodderson replied. "Now, Leela, Fry, Bender, and Zoidberg. I want you survey the surrounding area and try to find the source of this prolonged dry
season." The 4 mentioned accepted and exited the room.
"Y'know, the general and Mielubu remind me of someone, but I just can't put my finger on it." Fry said. The others sighed.
The Planet Express ship was soaring low over the grassy savannah. Leela landed the ship next to an empty riverbed. As they left the ship, Leela saw something.
"Oh my god! Look over there!" She said. Everyone looked about 30 yards ahead and saw a sorry sight; there were up to a dozen animals desperatly looking for water, and they even tried to drink the filthy mud that remained in the cracked earth. There was one large hippo-like creature with a dimetrodon sail, 3 small rhinos with spikes on their lower jaws, 2 quadropedal orange spotted birds, a small whale-like beast with stumpy legs, a 10-foot-tall brown stork with arms as well as wings, 2 beaked lizards with saber teeth, a chimpanzee with 4 arms, and a cow-sized brown ladybug. The poor animals were barely able to stay on their feet. The poor creatures desperatly searched everywhere on the riverbed for the slightest trickle of water, but all they found was dry, cracking earth and undrinkable mud. The sailback hippo stuck its snout in the mud to try to drink it, but spit it out in disgust. Defeated, the creature opened its huge jaws and roared into the sky before it collapsed from exhaustion and thirst.
"Oh my god. That's so sad." Leela commented sadly on the animals' plight.
"And the worst part, there's nothing we can do." Fry said as he took out a large water bottle and drank from it.
"Gimme that!" Leela yelled as she grabbed the bottle and then went over to the hippo. It moaned and looked up at her as she nelt down in front of it, holding the water close to its mouth.
"C'mon, big guy. Drink." She said. The hippo looked back and forth at Leela and the precious water several times, before it eventually decided that water was worth more than trust right now. The hippo stuck its big tungue into the bottle and lapped up some of the life-giving water. It growled in pleasure as it finally got a drink. When it regained enough strength, it slowly pushed itself up on its feet and smiled at Leela and nuzzled her with its snout. She giggled as the hippo lovingly licked her.
"Aww. You're just a big cutey." She said. The sailback hippo slopped its thick tungue across her cheek. Leela stood up and saw the other 11 animals staring at her with pleading eyes; they smelled the water too. Leela couldn't bring herself to let these creatures die of thirst, so she let them each have a little drink as well. Before long, the bottle was almost empty. The animals growled their thanks to the cyclops, and turned to leave. Leela went back over to the other who had watched.
"Well that was a waste of time." Bender said.
"Shut up Bender." Leela retorted. "I wasn't going to leave those animals to die of thirst."
"Yeah, but they drink a whole lot of water." Fry pointed out. "Animals need to drink water almost every day. They probably won't survive much longer with the draught."
"Oh god. You're right, Fry." Leela said. "Wow. I never thought I'd hear myself say that. Anyway, we should help those animals. Like Fry said, they won't last a week out here on their own. C'mon, let's get them in the ship." The others did what she said and helped her coax the animals into the cargo hold where Leela gave them some vegatables to eat. The creature happily ate, enjoying the sweet taste of fresh vegatation that they had missed for a long, long time.
"Hey Leela? Where did you get all those veggies?" Fry asked.
"I stole a few crateloads during that delivery to Vegi 4, you know, the planet with the healthiest vegatables in the universe, where everyone is a vegetarian. Don't you remember?" Leela responed.
"Oh yeah. They tried to kill us when I mentioned that I hate broccoli." Fry recalled. The sailback hippo finished eating and gave Leela a lick on the cheek.
"Aww! He's so cute!" She said as she scratched the hippo behind the ears. "I think I'll call him Robby."
"Why would you call him that?" Bender asked.
"Well, doesn't he look like a Robby?" Leela responded.
"What the hell." Bender said as he lit a cigar.
"Bender! You can't smoke around animals!" Leela yelled at him.
"Bite my shiny metal ass!" Bender retorted. At that moment, Robby charged at Bender and clamped his jaws onto the robot's posterior.
"Help! He's biting my shiny metal ass!" Bender screamed.
"Put him down, Robby." Leela said. Robby obeyed and dropped Bender on the ground. The other animals had all decided to take a nap after their meal, but Robby followed Leela up into the bridge.
"Looks like somebody likes you, Leela!" Fry mocked.
"Shut up, Fry."
Cahapter 1 over...