Prologue: The Beginning

Before we get started, I own nothing. Enjoy!

Sylvia detected movement out of the corner of her eye and turned. She saw nothing but crystalline buildings at first, but then she heard distant sniffling.

"What the..." She inched closer to the source of the noise until she spotted it: an orange star nomad, no bigger than a kitten. As soon as her shadow shrouded his diminutive form, the poor nomad shivered and shyly looked up at her with big, azure eyes.

Sylvia was definitely no sucker for cuteness, but she could not turn away from the helpless nomad in front of her. Instead, she knelt down, closer to his level, and spoke softly.

"Hey. It's okay, little guy. I'm not gonna hurt you." She frowned as realization dawned on her. "Where are your parents?" The nomad said nothing, only sniffled some more and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Aw, it's okay." She outstretched her arms and wore a kind smile, and the nomad slowly but surely fell into her arms and sobbed into her soft fur. "Let it out. Let it out." She gently patted his back and rocked him until he stopped crying and trembling. "Now then, where are your parents?"

He looked up at her and spoke in a low but oddly mature voice. "I... I don't remember... They... They left, and they said they won't, can't come back." He choked a little, holding back tears. "Called me a mistake..."

The teenage zbornak stared down at him with pity. She had parents who were tough as nails, but they would never ever call Sylvia or any of her bullish three brothers a mistake. And those big, goo-goo eyes did not bother Sylvia one bit like cute things usually do. In fact, they called out to her, begging her...

She suddenly made a decision then and there. Her mom would just have to deal with it, because she was a daddy's girl, and both father and daughter never backed out of any decision.

"Look at me." She gently cupped the nomad's chin. "You are no mistake. You're here for a reason. We met for a reason." She gave him another bright smile and stood up with him snuggled in her arms. "You want to go to my home, buddy?"

The nomad just looked at her like she was the greatest treasure in the galaxy and smiled a huge, adorable smile.

"Home..."


"GET UP!"

In present day, a walking eyeball for a commander spotted a sleeping nomad and decided to yell in his ear. After all, the stranger was on his lord's future territory, and Commander Peepers would rather have one less friend than get electrocuted by his lord again.

Unfortunately, the stranger was just as tormenting.

"Hey, neighbor!" Commander Peepers found himself squeezed to death by the smiling nomad. "Folks call me Wander! I love this planet, don't you? Don't you? Don't you?"

"We're - " Wander unceremoniously dropped Commander Peepers and gawked at him.

"Oh my..." Then, he proceeded to grab and shake him crazily. "You're so adorable I can't stand it!"

"C-Can't... Breath..."

"Whoops! Sorry!" Wander dropped him again just as another stranger, a zbornak, walked up to the irritated eyeball. "And this is Sylvia, my best pal!"

Peepers ignored Sylvia and turned to Wander with his fiercest glare. "Listen up! We're about to conquer this planet, so I suggest you take your steed and your orbble juice somewhere else before Lord Hater obliterates you!"

Sylvia just rolled her eyes. "First of all, I always thought that was a stupid name, and that he's nothing but a whiny bully. Second, pipsqueak, I'm this guy's -" She gestured to Wander. "-Older sister." She clenched her fists. "So you better back off before my girls pain and misery obliterate you!"

"Sylvia!" Wander scolded. "That's not nice!"

"That's it!" Peepers aimed his gun at Wander's belly. "I tried to be courteous to you meddling civilians, but now you leave me no choice but to force you to leave or -"

"Light..." Wander whispered softly. He followed the gun's red, beaming light like a kitten, while Sylvia just smirked down at the confused Peepers.

"Why is he -"

"I'd like to see Lord Hater try to tell us to leave," Sylvia boasted, crossing her arms over her chest. "And when he does, I'm kicking his bony rump!"

Peepers then stopped baiting Wander with the gun's beam and instead aimed it at Sylvia. "How dare you threaten Lord Hater!"

Sylvia was just as peeved. "How dare you threaten Wander!"

"Isn't your brother a little young to go out traveling by himself, even with you?" Peepers smirked as he noticed her flush.

"None of your business!" Sylvia did disobey her mother, though, and took Wander out to another planet. She just could not say no to him forever, and Sylvia firmly believed that Wander was too sheltered.

"PEEPERS!" Suddenly, a towering skeleton in a ruby red robe grouchily marched toward them. "What are you doing?! Playing laser tag with these weirdos and wasting time?! You're supposed to be supervising while the others are fixing my ship!"

Peepers sweated nervously and pointed at both Wander and Sylvia. "They were threatening you, sir! I was simply defending your honor!"

Wander grinned widely and waved at Lord Hater. "Hi!"

Lord Hater glared harshly at his second-in-command. "Don't pull my leg, Peepers. Even if they did threaten me, I, Lord Hater, number one superstar, am not intimidated by a ditzy short guy and his horse."

"Idiot." Sylvia mumbled.

Lord Hater stomped over to Wander, who was still smiling cheerfully. "What did you CALL ME, YOU IGNORANT FOOL?! How dare you! I am the Duke of Dread! The Monarch of Mayhem! The Emperor of Evil!"

Wander's eyes enlarged with amazement. "Wow... Congratulations!"

Peepers pulled on his lord's cape to get his attention. "Sir? The kid didn't say it, It was the zbornak."

"Are you correcting me?" Lord Hater hissed vehemently.

Peepers shook wildly. "No! No, sir, no!"

As Lord Hater yelled at Peepers, Sylvia grabbed Wander's arm. "Buddy," she whispered urgently, "We should go. This isn't just any villain. He's on the Top 10 list."

Wander pouted sympathetically at the infamous villain. "He looks like he needs a hug."

"And so does Gram, and yet she always calls you a thief when you're less than a meter away from her."

The planet suddenly rumbled, making all four lose their balance and fall. Then, the ground beneath them cracked until a huge chasm formed. On one side of the chasm, all four watched as a young, attractive, green-skinned woman gracefully emerged from the crevice. She had spiky white hair and wore a purple dress, a black leather jacket, cyan sunglasses, and royal blue boots. Wander, Sylvia, and Lord Hater had no clue who she was, but Peepers did, and he hugged Sylvia tightly in fear.

"What is going on here?" The woman demanded, glaring at the intruders behind her sunglasses. "What are you four doing on my planet?"

Lord Hater opened his mouth, but Peepers quickly leaped up and covered it. "Oh, this is your planet? Wow. Our bad. We are so sorry and will leave. In fact, we were just leaving - "

Sylvia leaned over to Peepers. "What gives?" She hissed so only he could hear her.

Peepers released Lord Hater and turned to Sylvia. "Do you live under a rock?" He hissed lowly. "That's Dee, the most powerful witch in the universe! She's not on the top villainy lists, but cross her, and you pay the price!"

"Wow..." Lord Hater, meanwhile, gawked stupidly at her. "She's pretty..."

"Sir! Didn't you ever read that Guidebook to the Galaxy's Nefarious that I gave you? She's in it!"

"Y...N...No?"

"It was a birthday present! Damn it!"

Dee smirked darkly at Lord Hater. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Lord Hater."

The skeleton lord grinned charmingly at her. "So you've heard of me?"

"Yes." She leaned closer to him and laid one of her hands on his broad shoulders. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised you're even number four on the list."

"He actually went down to number five last week," Peepers mumbled to himself.

"PEEPERS!"

"Yes, sir! Shutting up!"

Dee chuckled, keeping her hand on Lord Hater's shoulder. "Seems like you lava challenge..." Hot, flowing lava poured out from her hands, crawling on Lord Hater and approaching the panicky commander.

"Hot! Hot! AHHH!" Both lord and commander squealed like children as the lava chased them to their ship. Thankfully, their watchdogs had just finished repairing it, and they flew from the creeping lava, avoiding injury and potential death by the crossed witch.

Dee chuckled at the sight of them fleeing before turning to Wander and Sylvia. "Now, who are you two?"


Back at Sylvia and Wander's home, an older, grumpier zbornak was angrily chopping carrots in the kitchen. This zbornak was none other than Sylvia's biological mother and Wander's adoptive mother: Dorothy.

"Hmph! When they get home, they're going to get an earful!" She grumbled to herself.

"Careful, Dorothy." Her mother, affectionately called Gram, called out to her. "You're about to chop your fingers off!"

Dorothy just sighed tiredly and turned to Gram, who was eyeing the television set disdainfully.

"Where are the boys?"

"Don't know. Don't care. Watching T.V. Leave me alone."


"Now remember Wander." He and Sylvia returned home fifteen minutes after meeting Dee. Thankfully, they made it barely unscathed.

"Just let me do the talking."

Wander nodded hesitantly. "Do you think Mom will be really mad, Syl?"

"Pft! She's a tough old brod." Sylvia assured him, glancing at Wander to make sure he was sitting safely on her back. "Besides, you're immortal. You've lived for hundreds of years and this is the first time in months that you've been on another planet besides this crummy one. And..." She ruffled the fuzz on Wander's little head. "She favors you because you're so adorable."

Wander gasped so loudly that Sylvia twitched. "Sylvia! That's not true! There's no favoritism in our happy little family!" They heard the door of their home (or hut, to Sylvia) and Dorothy rushed out to pick up Wander and hold him close.

"Wander!"

"Sure there isn't..."

"Are you okay?" Dorothy analyzed her youngest from head to toe. "Have you eaten yet? Baby, look at me."

Wander just laughed at her worrying and hugged her back. "I'm fine, Mom. Really." He gave her a warm, sunny smile to prove it. "We ate berries and played Hide and Seek and met these really nice people and explored the planet Brew Cauldron!"

Dorothy gaped and set Wander down. "You... what?"

Sylvia rolled her eyes and huffed. "Just chill out, Mom."

"He's too naive and innocent to go to those dangerous planets. And a witch lives on Brew Cauldron, the worst of witches!" This time, she circled and examined Sylvia. "What did she do?"

"Nothing." Sylvia flexed her arms proudly. "I even gave her a black eye because she threatened Wander." Dorothy just sputtered, shocked and flabbergasted.

"It was so cool!" Wander gushed, jumping up and down. "Well, the violence wasn't cool, but the exchange was! She was all 'You'll pay for coming here.' And Sylvia was all 'Uh-uh!' And I said 'Ladies, let's put our differences aside.'"

"And I put her aside!" Sylvia added smugly, giving Wander a high-five. Dorothy just closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Wander? Go inside. Now."

The star nomad hesitated, looking back and forth at his equally vexed mother and sister. "Mom, it wasn't Sylvia's fault. Honestly! I asked her to take me to that planet. I read about it and saw it on TV. So it's all my fault, not hers! I should be punished and -"

"Wander." Dorothy's tone left no more room for arguments. "Now." Wander drooped, reluctantly obeying.

But she didn't say he couldn't eavesdrop.