The Halo Ring-2552 AD
The Pillar of Autumn began to smoke and shake violently, disorienting the Grunts currently on board, among them Dorflap, a Grunt Minor. Dorflap and the others in his squad had been among the Covenant forces that had boarded the vessel. They had since come into conflict with the parasites that had gotten loose on their sacred ring, as well as one of the super-soldiers their human enemies dubbed "SPARTANS". But now, the entire ship was starting to fall apart all around them. Being the cowardly little alien that he was, Dorflap panicked immediately upon feeling the vessel shake.
"Not good, not good. Must flee! Yes, yes FLEE! Run away!"
And with that, Dorflap kept to the classic Grunt proverb: "When in doubt, flee" and took off as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him, looking for an escape pod to flee in. He shot a brief glance back and could see his fellow Grunts were also panicking, but only he was actually running away. He reasoned that they were all idiots and kept running.
Dorflap made his way back to one of the ships the Covenant had used to board the Pillar of Autumn in the first place. As he was about to board it, the ship shook violently again, causing Dorflap to fall face first onto the floor. Desperate to save his skin, Dorflap practically launched himself forward into the escape vessel. Upon entering it, Dorflap punched the ejection console and then ran to the main controls, flying the vessel away from the doomed human ship...
As it was, Dorflap's timing was perfect. For mere minutes after he flew away, The Pillar of Autumn exploded, killing whatever Covenant troops remained on board. But as Dorflap looked on, he saw to his horror that it was even worse than that: the entire ring was being destroyed by the explosion!
Oh no! Not our special ring! NOOOO! Stupid humans destroyed our ring!"
Dorflap continued to move the ship away further and further from the ruined ring, which was now smashing itself to pieces. One of said pieces was actually now floating off towards Dorflap. Panicking, Dorflap randomly punched another button on the control panel. A slipspace hole opened up as a result, and Dorflap immediately realized his mistake.
Uh-oh...
The ship flew through the slipspace hole, and Dorflap was gone.
Unidentified World
"Hey Mai?"
"Yeah?"
Ty Lee struggled to maintain her handstand as she asked her question:
"I've been thinking, and I have a question that I think only you can answer…"
Mai sighed. It was one of these things, she could tell. Some innocuous question or another that Ty Lee was so fond of asking her. Mai braced herself as Ty Lee gave it:
"Do you ever wonder if there's…oh, I don't know, other life out there somewhere? You know, somewhere beyond this one world we're all stuck on…do you think that there's anything out there like us?"
"Other life? Out "there" somewhere? No. I don't."
Ty Lee gave Mai a look of disappointment. "Aw, really? Why not?"
"I don't know" Mai responded rather irritably "I just don't"
Ty Lee sighed, disappointed with her friend's usual apathy. But then, she saw a bright flash in the sky that caused her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Looking up, she could see the bright flash grow fainter and fainter, until it disappeared.
"Did you see that?"
"Huh? No, sorry, I didn't"
"Well I did, and it looked weird…in a good way! So I'm gonna go figure out what it is!"
And before Mai could say anything, Ty Lee was off…
-X-
Dorflap eyed the nearby planet cautiously. He had no idea at all what was on that planet, or whether or not he could even survive there, and that wasn't terribly comforting for a lone Grunt lost in uncharted space. For a second, he planned on once again acting on the Grunt motto: "When in doubt, flee", but then he realized: flee to where? There were no other planets in sight, and his ship could only fly for so long…what was he going to do?
Dorflap looked down on the planet again. It seemed innocent enough. Very green, no traces of a hostile or treacherous landscape, and nothing else that really stood out. There wasn't even any real light on the planet, suggesting little to no advanced life was on the planet. It was against his better judgment, but Dorflap decided to take his chances. He'd have to land sooner or later, even he was smart enough to know that, and so with that in mind, he directed his ship down to the planet…
As the ship descended into the planet's atmosphere, Dorflap could see that the planet was another air-breathing world, which meant he wasn't going to be removing his breather mask or methane tank while down there. As the ship went in lower and lower, he could see miles and miles of rolling green hills, valleys, and forests of trees. It was, by all means, a very innocent-looking landscape. That calmed Dorflap's nerves a bit. He decided that it was safe enough to land the ship fully on the ground.
The ship continued to descend until it at last came to a gentle landing on the ground. Dorflap lowered the ramp and went to arm himself just in case there was anything dangerous on the surface. Since he was now the only occupant on board the ship, Dorflap saw no reason why he should not choose whatever weapon he wanted. He tried the carbine first, but it was too cumbersome, so he opted for one of the Needlers instead. Dorflap also grabbed a pair of plasma grenades and descended down the ramp…
He looked out at the rolling green hills and decided that he would be safe. He walked off, careful to remember where his ship was once the time came to return.
As Dorflap was walking, he came to a nearby stream and a forest that went beyond that. Deciding against going into the forest, Dorflap ventured further outwards, where he saw a large egg of some kind lying on the ground. Curious, Dorflap plodded over to it and poked it…
Dorflap heard a loud growl behind him. His blood freezing, Dorflap ever so slowly turned his head to one side and saw, to his horror, a massive, brown-furred creature with a long tail, claws, and a bill, and it did not look happy that Dorflap was touching its egg.
The monster roared, and Dorflap screamed in response.
"AGH! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!"
And with that, Dorflap ran off, dropping his plasma grenades in the process, with the monster chasing after him.
-X-
Ty Lee had been running through the meadow to try and see what the source of that strange flash in the sky had been all about and Mai was struggling to keep up with her. She groaned in frustration and vowed that this would be the last time she ever did this with Ty Lee…
The two were stopped in their tracks by the sight of a Platypus Bear chasing a creature that neither girl had ever seen before: it was short, with stubby little arms and legs, blue skin, and orange armor, a large part of it was sticking out of the creature's back. Reacting first, Ty Lee impulsively rushed forward at the Platypus Bear. Using her agility and chi-blocking, she brought the beast down in short order. Dorflap watched it all with awe. Here was a human girl on this planet, who took out the monster simply by touching it…this was a bizarre planet he was on indeed.
Before Dorflap could do anymore, Ty Lee took notice of him, and the sight of the little creature drove her ecstatic. With a cry of joy, she practically pounced on Dorflap, hugging him tightly to her as if he were a toy.
"Awwww! He's SO CUTE! Can I keep him?"
Mai sighed, not really giving Ty Lee any kind of answer. Dorflap, for his part, struggled and struggled to free himself of the accursed human girl's grip to no avail. She just continued to hug him and squeeze him in a near-suffocating grip. Desperate, he reached for his plasma grenades, but he remembered, he'd dropped them. Now, as many a marine would attest, no Grunt would ever be caught dead without plasma grenades. No grunt that is…except Dorflap.
Dorflap continued to struggle to no avail. Ty Lee hoisted him up, carrying him like a mother her baby, and happily walked off with him.
"We're gonna have so much fun together you and I!"
Dorflap groaned, as close to crying as a member of his species could be, as Ty Lee walked off with him. Dorflap suddenly wondered if perhaps he should have stayed and died with his brothers on the sacred ring…