Wander's Nightmare

Wander and Sylvia were traveling down the road as the night had fallen and so far they hadn't have found anywhere to stop and rest on this new planet since they had just landed no longer then a few minutes ago and their only sorce of light was the lantern Sylvia was holding in her hand.

"We better find someplace to stop soon." Sylvia said "You look like your about to collapse at any moment."

True, Wander did look pretty worn out with bags under his eyes and a droopy expression on his face in spite of his smile, which was wobbling a little as he tried to stay awake, And the little alien said "What? Me? Collapse? I never collapsed before."

"Your about to if we don't find a resting stop soon." The Zbornak said before she spotted a cave nearby and said "Found it! Hang on Wander."

Sylvia took off like a bullet while Wander yawned and hung on as much as he could but his grip was slipping and his vision was slightly blurring. After all that time spending hour after hour helping people without so much as a breath of fresh air he felt exsausted and before he knew it his energy was depleating faster then Sylvia's own dash.

Then he let go of the reins...

Sylvia was almost at the cave's entrance when she felt something fall off her back and land with a thud behind her. She skidded to a hault and turned her neck around to find her saddle empty and Wander lying on the ground.

"Wander!"

She ran back to him and picked him up, his eyes still half open and a dazed like smile plastered on Wander's face as he said "Are we there yet?"

"Are you all right buddy?" Sylvia asked her friend in consern "Are you hurt? Did you break something?"

Wander let out a yawn and said "Nope, i just got tired and fell over... must've been tired then i thought."

Sylvia sighed with deep relief and smiled as he reached out and gave her neck a hug. The Zbornak continued to head for the cave but this time she walked there with a drowzy Wander in her arms and once she reached the gave she placed Wander down and patted his cheeks a little, forcing Wander to fight for energy as he tried to look at Sylvia.

"No why don't you just take it easy for a while." Sylvia told her friend as she looked outside the cave to see the stars "It sure is a pretty night outside isn't it?"

She turned to her friend only to find he was already fast asleep. Sylvia just smiled and placed her best friend inside his hat and tucked her saddle blanket under his head for a makeshift pillow before she curled up next to him and fell asleep as well.

Hours Later Wander started to have a dream about his past, a horrible memory regarding his own family and the last day he had seen them before his galatic travels began.


Wander was a ten year old boy who was celebrating his own birthday party in the backyard of his house with his family and friends, all that were just like him but with diffrent fur coloring of all kinds.

Back then Wander was a young dreamer with his head in the clouds, with dreams of seeing what lay ahead of the road of adventure far from his own planet while his family prefered to stay and be homebodies. Wander had three siblings, teenaged brother Lander, young child Dawn, and toddler Smarts. His parents were named Sitron and Candy and they both wanted their children to fallow in either of their footsteps, Sitron was a rancher who trained animals and Candy was a buisness woman with a no nonsence attitude.

Wander was up in the tree as he looked at the birds that were perched at the branches when his father called out to him "Wander! Come down here!" Wander obeyed and climbed all the way down to the bottom of the tree and looked up at his father before he said "Yes Daddy? What is it?"

"I want to give you something for your special day." Sitron said with his hands behind his back and he put them forward to reveal a large green hat for the little boy with a star and belt on it.

"Wow!" Wander cried happily "My own big floppy hat! It's just like yours! A little."

Sitron chuckled and rubbed the rims of his own hat, with was like Wander's hat but it was black with a red belt and a silver glittering moon on it. "I had it made just for you so you can store anything you want in it. Just promise me that whatever you do do not remove that hat from your head, because it's more then just a hat, it's your new personal treasure from your family."

Wander smiled and went to join the party with his father. He had thought his happy life with his folks would never end.

But he was wrong.

Early the next morning Wander snuck away to play and he hopped around as his hat flopped and flipped, covering his face a few times as the little alien pulled it up. However when he pulled his hat back up a third time he saw a bird he had never seen before and ran after it, not even bothering to notice that the more he chaced the bird the more he ended up farther and father away from his house and when the bird ducked into a large space truck Wander went in but the door closed behind him.

Wander could only gasp as the cargo in the large truck jerked and started and as he hung on to his hat one of the crates, which was holding soda, broke and one of the cans hit the little boy in the head, knocking him out cold.

When Wander came to he felt that the truck was no longer moving and a pair of arms grabbed him and tossed him out of the truck with a grumpy voice shouting "Get outta here brat! No stowaways!"

Wander was dazed but he recovered just in time to see the truck leaving him behind on another planet, it was raining heavily as gray clouds covered the sky, the landscape was nothing but trees and mountains as far as the eye could see and there appeared to be no signed of life anywhere.

Wander felt scared as he looked around and cried "Hello? Anyone here? Where am i? I'm not suppose to be here! I'm only ten years old!" As he cried out tears fell from his eyes because he knew he couldn't get back home even if he got help; he was never good at remembering his own home planet's name and now he was really in trouble as he called out some more before he broke down and started to cry under the shade of a gloomy tree.

Then he heard a growling sound behind him, he turned and saw a hideous space bear and yelped as he jumped backwards but tripped and landed with a thud on the ground. The large black creature loomed over the poor boy with it's four inch long fangs bared and drool slopping out of it's maw before he let out a roar and raised it's paw, ready to strike as Wander covered his head and screamed.


"Wander! Wander wake up!"

Wander jolted awake and took reveral deep breaths as he looked around. He was still in the cave and it was the middle of the day as Sylvia looked at him with a worried look as Wander felt his face to feel tears dripping from his eyes and the saddle blanket covered in dots of tears.

"Wander? Are you ok? You were crying in your sleep and then you were screaming like you saw a monster or something."

"I... i had a bad dream." Wander said "It... it was when i got seperated from my folks and-and that space bear and... Oh it was horrible!"

Sylvia could tell that his past was scaring him and she knew that he hadn't have seen his folks or his planet since that day. She wrapped his tail around Wander's body in a gentle way and pulled him close as she said "It's ok buddy, there's no space bear around here. You're safe... your all right."

"Yeah, but..." Wander started "My family... i haven't seen them in seventeen whole years. What if they don't remember me anymore?"

"I doubt that highly." Sylvia said "Nobody can forget your so easily. Your the friendliest face in outer space! Surely your family's heard of you and are proud of what you've become."

"Then... why didn't they come back to get me?" Wander asked.

"They just didn't know where you were." Sylvia said "They didn't know what had happened to you... but i bet they're proud of you now and are just waiting for you to come home so they can see what a great traveler you've become."

Wander smiled and said "Well, i wouldn't have been able to survive without you." Wander said "I still remember that day so well..."


In the flashback where the nightmare had left off Wander was being attacked by the space bear and as the creature was about to strike a blue creature suddenly leaped out of no where and punched the creature stright in the gut as she cried "Take that hairball!"

The beast ran away and the Zbornak cried "Haha! That'll teach you to pick on somebody your own size."

Wander didn't know what to do for a brief moment but happiness suddenly filled his heart and he tackled his rescuer in a tight hug as he cried "Thank you so very much Ma'am! I would've been a goner if it wasn't for you!"

"Yeah yeah," The creature said as she pushed Wander aside "Now would you mind going away? I can't be seen with a kid everywhere i go."

"I'm new around here, kinda got stuck here by accident." Wander said, oblivious to the creature's nasty attitude "But anywho, what's your name?"

"Sylvia," Sylvia said "Now beat it." She walked away and yet Wander walked close to her. She was annoyed that the orange child was fallowing her and tried to lose him as she ran across bushes and past trees but Wander was still right behind her until he grabbed onto her tail and whooped for joy "This is awesome! Wheee!"

"Get off me!" Sylvia cried angrily before she skidded to a hault and cracked her tail like a whip, sending Wander rolling across the ground like a ball before he smashed into a rock and stayed there as Sylvia said "There, that'll teach you not to mess with me."

She walked away but as she turned to look at the boy she expected him to get up and walk away, instead he remained still and wasn't moving at all. She tried to ignore it but the more steps she took the more she was forced to look back at the boy. Finally she couldn't take it and ran towards his side.

"Kid? Kid you can get up now." Sylvia said but Wander didn't stir. She gently removed his hat from his head and saw that his eyes were closed and she gently nuged his little cheeks as she said "Kid? Kid wake up, Wake up kid! Kid?" Then in a desprate whisper she said "K-Kid?"

Wander's eyes remained closed.

"Oh no," Sylvia gasped as guilt filled her heart and she fell to her knees as tears formed in her eyes "No... what have i done? W-What have i done?! I... I killed him... I killed a poor dear little boy... I... i actually killed an innocent little boy."

She scooped up Wander in her arms and held him close as she sobbed "Oh the poor little thing, poor poor little thing... i... i didn't mean for this to happen... i... how'll i ever be able to forgive myself?! I'll never be able to live this down." She rubbed her face aginst Wander's own as she sobbed "I... i don't even know the poor thing's name."

"My name's Wander."

"Yaagghh!" Sylvia yelped when she heard Wander's voice and jumped back when Wander hopped out of her arms with a wide smile on his face "You don't have to cry Sylvia, you did nothing wrong."

Sylvia felt a burst of joy as she pulled Wander close for a hug and said "Don't you ever, i mean ever scare me like that again! I thought i lost you!"

"You didn't." Wander said Sylvia just smiled and together she and Wander shared a long and warm hug, and within that moment their loving friendship and bond was born and since then they had never ever been appart.


Back in the present Sylvia and Wander hugged each other as they sat together and smiled. Wander hugged Sylvia's stomach as she held his head and looked down at him with a warm smile and when Wander looked up at her she winked at him and he smiled, all sadness and memory of the nightmare fading away into nothing as he said "I'm so happy i ran into you that fateful day... i would've been lost without you."

"Me too." Sylvia said.

"And you've taken such good care of me." Wander stated "We've become so close it's like we're family now."

"We are family." Sylvia said "And nothing or nobody is ever going to tear us appart, no matter what."

Wander smiled and rubbed his head agenst her stomach before it let out a loud rumble. Taking the none verbal action to himself he climed back on Sylvia's back before he took out his banjo, a gift from Sylvia for his eleventh birthday, and strummed it as they walked out of the cave and hummed a song as they looked around for something to eat. As he played his banjo Wander knew that Sylvia would always love him and he would always love her right back as they traveled the galaxy together. Who knows, maybe they'll finally reach Wander's home planet so that his parents and siblings could see what a kind and friendly traveler he had become.

The End