The following story is in no way funded or supported by Dreamworks entertainment. Despite all the begging the author has done.

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Galaxhar is dead.

Across the stars, those few brave enough to remain out of stasis had watched as the vessel rushed to a small, blue-green rock. They'd seen the large creature captured, and the other one shot; they'd seen the three others enter. And then, amazingly, all of them had exited, and even more astounding, the ship had exploded.

Galaxhar is dead.

It had taken a bit for the meaning of the event to sink in. But then they all ran to the cryo pods, the stasis tubes, the hypersleep boxes, awakening their long-sleeping friends, and passed on the great news. Soon, all across the sky, the message was being spoken, twirped, chittered, growled, hissed, roared, sang, and even more, as the sapient races came out of hiding...

Galaxhar is dead.

And in a prisoner facility, one by one, all the frozen criminals were thawed out, tried, and given fair judgement. Many, oh so many, were let free, and the jubilation in the streets reached a crescendo. But then, there was one...

***

"Hey, did you hear? Your old boyfriend got himself blown up!"

The other guard rolled his orbs. "Dude, no. Just-- no. Don't stress her out, she's only just out of cryo."

The first guard held his weapon cautiously but confidently. "You know what she did. I'm doing her a favor, telling her NOW, I think."

"Look, stop. It's not for us to judge, it's for the courts to judge."

"Galaxhar is dead....?"

The guards turned to the prisoner. They glanced at each other, and nodded.

"Interesting...."

"Sorry toots," offered the first one.

"We know how close you were," the second condoled.

"Despite him being an omnicidal maniac--"

"Dude, shut up."

"Well it's true!"

"Just shut up, okay?" snapped the guard. "You're making it worse!"

"No it's okay, I was always aware of my husband's shortcomings," the prisoner assured.

"Still, it's rather rude."

"Hey you heard her, she doesn't mind." The guard shrugged. "Right, to the courts!"

The prisoner began walking, guards close behind her. "Where did he die?"

"Some backwater planet," said the first guard. "Aerth? Erath?"

"I think it was called Heart," quipped the other sarcastically

"What? Who names their planet after a vital organ?"

"I think it's rather romantic," said the prisoner.

"Oh, hardy har har." The guard snapped his talons. Suddenly, he burst forth with "Earth! That was it. Galaxhar abducted some creature on earth, and it blew him up."

"Blew his ship up," corrected the other guard.

"Same difference."

"And where is this planet?" asked the prisoner oh so innocently.

The first guard held up a talon. "Ah ah ah! No trying to escape before trial."

The second guard rolled his orbs again. "Oh come on, that's not the only reason that she'd want to know."

"Better safe then sorry!"

"Oh, don't worry, I won't try to escape."

"Well, I'm still not telling you. And neither are you, got that?"

The other guard crossed his wings. "Fine. It's rather--"

He was suddenly ripped in half. Before the first guard could react though, his head was rolling across the ground.

"You see," mused the prisoner, "I find merely trying things to be limiting. I prefer doing things instead." She bent down and picked up the guns, then glanced around her. "Ah, perfect order. How I despise it... One day I'll be back."

Casually, she shot down the cameras, blasted open the door, and walked toward the spaceport. Galaxhar was dead... but Flagnar?

She lived.

***

Ginormica pondered. This was a difficult choice... Far more difficult then anything he'd ever done. Straining her mind to its fullest, she carefully reached out a hand...

"Okay, your turn."

Doctor Cockroach shook his head and pushed a bishop. "I believe that's checkmate, my dear."

Susan clapped her hands. "Dang it. You are good, aren't you?"

"Actually, that last game was rather difficult," admitted the mad scientist. "Only moving one piece one space a turn is a rather annoying handicap."

"But you won," she pointed out. "Again."

"So I did. So I did."

"Would you stop stroking his ego?" Link shouted. "We're trying to focus on a game here. One we can actually win." He turned to his right. "Escargantua, got any fives?" He helpfully extended all his fingers.

The snail, who was really only the size of a horse, shook her head. "Non." She gestured to the deck with an antennae, adjusting her beret. It was amazing how quickly she'd adjusted... but then, she'd been a normal snail until recently.

Link sighed and drew. "Okay... B.O.B., your turn."

"Huh?"

"Your turn. You ask somebody for cards."

The blob rolled his eye. "Sheesh, I'm not stupid. Hey! Doc!"

The bug man walked over to the edge of the massive table. "Yes...?"

"Got any threes?"

There was a moment of silence. Susan began examining the ceiling. Link's head was clasped in one scaled hand. Escargantua was staring at B.O.B. in disbelief. Insectisaurus let out a moderate grumble.

Finally, somewhat hesitantly, Doctor cockroach ventured a "...No. No, I do not. I'm sorry."

"Oh. Well go fish, doc!"

"No, that's you B.O.B.," reminded Susan gently.

"Oh. Right." B.O.B. drew a card, then turned to the next player. "Your turn honey!"

The jello, for its part, jiggled.

"...Yes I do have a jack!" B.O.B. answered, putting the card in her hand. "You're good at this!"

Susan suppressed a giggle. B.O.B. really loved the green dessert, and from what she could see it loved him right back. He'd refused to join in the game if his girlfriend couldn't play. Doctor cockroach had resorted to handling her hand when the blob wasn't looking, which was easy to arrange. "Hey B.O.B.?"

"Yeah?" he replied, looking up at her.

Doctor Cockroach was almost instantly beside the blue monster. Fsh-wht shuffle shuffle--

"Do you know the muffin man?" floundered the silver-haired giant.

"The muffin man?"

--Check check sh-fwish pair--

"Yeah. The muffin man," Ginromica reiterated.

"Um... Does he live on cherry lane?"

Doctor cockroach held out a thumbs up.

"Yes, exactly! Thank you."

"Oh. Well... no, now that you mention it, I don't. Should I?"

"No, my dear boy," reassured the bug man, "none of us know the muffin man."

"Oh. But..." B.O.B. screwed up his one eye. "If none of us know him, how do we know he lives on cherry lane? Unless we don't know him personally... but then we're watching him for no reason! And that's creepy! Why are we watching the man we don't know?! Are we going to--"

Insectisaurus roared explanatorily.

"Exactly," Link agreed. "Insecto's absolutely right."

"Well that makes sense," B.O.B. said, relaxing. "Whose turn is it?"

"The snail's turn." Link jerked a thumb towards Escargantua.

"Hey! Don't speak about my girlfriend that way!"

Ginormica rolled her eyes. "No, he's talking about... Oh never mind."

Leaning back in her chair, she took up a moment of pondering. Here she was, in the same facility that had once been her prison, and she was thinking of it as home. Home. Huh. Amazing how life turned out.

"Another game, doc? This time you can only move pawns."

Doctor Cockroach cackled. "Well, if you INSIST, my dear..."

---

General Monger had glared at the president through the whole meeting, sursing his coffee sullenly. Wilson, in a smart maneuver, had taken the earlier order to 'fire someone' and used it to out the maintenance crew chief, so a fuse had blown and the nukes had never received the order to fire. Still, it had been pretty stupid of the president to design the buttons in the first place.

But he was a soldier, and the man was his superior officer.

"So, general, what did you think of the nerd's plan?" The two of them were walking out of the war room, silently surrounded by the secret service's entourage.

"It is a flawless exploitation of our current national income whilst incurring minimum debt, sir. I would forward it immediately if I were in your position."

"Really? I thought it would take too long. After all, does it really take a year to rebuild a city?"

General Monger rolled his eyes. "I have not had personal experience in that area, sir, but I can inform you that I had estimated it would take a decade to do so." Seeing the president's blank look, he added, "That's ten years, sir."

"Ouch. Well, I guess that those nerds can be good for something after all. I remember all those times in high school when I dunked their heads in toilets... That never gets out, by the way."

"Yes sir, mister president." Monger had spent his high school years convincing bullies to focus on their studies and wrestling the local wolves and gators; bears were hard to come by.

"Well, I'd say this was a fine meeting all the same. Monger, I think that this whole monster operation of yours is sensational. Keep up the good work, ya hear?"

"I intend to, sir." The General saluted; the president replied with a casually flicked gesture. Monger watched as the secret service entourage surrounded him, then walked out of the building.

Three blocks away, though, he punched a parking meter utterly destroying it.

Upon seeing the astounded faces of the passerbys, he explained, "It wasn't up to federal standards." Then he walked away.

Finally, a man turned to a woman. "You're sure you have your subway ticket, dear?"

Monger continued marching down the street, his thoughts quietly simmering. The man was an idiot... but he was America's idiot. At least until the next election. And the general was a soldier; he'd do his duty.

But right now he needed a drink.