"Ahhhhh!"

"Woahhhh!"

Wander and Sylvia both felt the same. Simply staring in wondrous awe. The ocean side in front of them was like a gateway leading into heaven. Rocks stood up in the water the about the same height as tall buildings, trees, vegetation, grew on the tops and birds flew over them. Further out into the horizon blue mist clouded the air and the sky was kissed with stars and planets leading up into space. It was the most beautiful scenery they'd seen in ages.

Despite not getting a lot of sleep the night before, Wander felt better. Just gazing into something so stunning put him at ease. All worry was washed away like the waves below them without a care. However, it was packed with tourists. They walked around, they played in the water, played in the sand, laughing and having a good time. There was also a walking deck barely touching the shore with shops, and restaurants.

The duo looked at each other, barely containing themselves and smiling. Wander, with his poncho back on, hopped onto Sylvia's back.

"Let's do this." Wander patted her shoulder.

He carried a beach bag of supplies with towels and sunscreen with some water. A bag prepped for a long day at the beach. And no stopping them. Sylvia didn't hesitate. She ran like the wind and into the sandy beach below. Within twenty seconds they got there, some people gave them strange looks at the sudden newcomers as if they'd never seen a Zbornak with a hairy squirrel on top.

Wander didn't want to point out all the jumping and shifting made his chest throb, he ignored the pain. He happily got off.

"So where do we set?" Wander asked her.

"Oh, I thought right here is fine." Sylvia pointed down with her arms.

It wasn't far from where everyone was swimming.

"You don't prefer a table and chair?" He suggested.

She looked at all the other beach tables and they were taken and occupied by other tourists. Some were in questionable condition anyways.

"Doesn't look like there's any left." She input.

She went behind him and put her hand in Wander's hat.

"What're you-"

He almost forgot it was on his back and instead on his head. He tipped backwards at the sudden drop in weight as Sylvia pulled out a lounge table, and two chairs. The new items plopped into the sand, making a puff of smoke rise.

"Thanks, hat!" Sylvia thanked with glee.

"Ah!" Wander clapped his hands.

He wished he thought of that, sometimes it slipped past him to use his hat when it was needed.

"So Wander, let me ask you this," Sylvia unfolded the chairs and moved them closer to the round wooden table,

"Are you going to stay here with me, or you go do your own thing?"

He rolled his eyes back to think. "I'll join you later Sylvia. I really want to go look at the places over there and sit by the shore!" He announced.

She didn't argue with that. He loved to explore which was his favorite thing to do, and sitting around made him jittery.

"Alright, bud. Go on and have fun." She encouraged.

He was going to head off until she stopped him, "One last thing, have you been putting on your painkillers?"

"Yes, I have!" Wander revealed his arms from under the poncho, and the strips were buried under the thick coat of fur, but noticeable.

"Alright. You can go." She smiled and waved, and took a seat facing the shore. Her pink hair whipped against the wind.

Before heading to the walking deck he wanted to sit on the sand close to the shore to make sense of his still lingering thoughts that bothered him.

"Things have been so different, and I've felt distant from myself lately."

As much as the sound of the waves, the crisp, and gentle salty breeze soothed him, he felt so disconnected. It disturbed him that he could only remember bits and pieces before he left Mysterium. He wanted to remember it so badly, but reminded himself some things weren't meant to be remembered. For now, he put it aside again.

He did something he hasn't done in a few days; play his trusty banjo.


Nate was killing time, he went to the back of the hotel with a set of binoculars and giving himself some air to look at the majestic ocean outside. He knew spying wasn't polite but he loved watching everyone have a good time. He observed families swimming in the water, kids playing in the sand, people of all alien races and ethnicities from the galaxy to relax.

Then he just happened to spot Sylvia.

"Ah, there she is."

She sat on the chair with sunglasses, not moving. Her hands and arms were up against her head from behind.

"Where's her little Furnicle friend?"

It took him several minutes to see a tiny puff of orange fur about half a mile off where Sylvia was.

"What's he plotting?" Nate chuckled to himself.

He didn't expect the little orange nomad to be playing a banjo and smiling to himself. He appeared to be harmless, but Nate knew better.

He also didn't expect someone else to come walking up to Sylvia...

"Whoa, who's the shark man?" Nate pressed the binoculars tighter against his eye sockets.

...

The humidity was getting to Sylvia so she went to the shadier places of her tanning spot. Now it was time to look at the ocean and forget everything...but was interrupted by someone.

"Yo Becks, what's up?"

She shook her head and pulled off her sunglasses.

"Oh, great. What're you doing here?" She groaned.

Emperor Awesome stood in the way of the shore, blocking her view. He smiled a smug grin at her. He wore something a little different than usual, black shorts with a floral patterned shirt and unbuttoned and white sandals. He folded his arms and frowned.

"Same thing I wanted to ask." He said flirtatiously.

That tone of voice he always made at her never failed to make her vomit in her mouth.

"It's none of your business." She snapped gently. "Go bother someone else."

"Now come on, don't be like that," He shrugged," I just wanna talk man- to-horsie."

A vein popped on Sylvia's temple.

"Man-to..? excuse me?"

He ignored her and sat at the other chair and slouched like a typical moocher would.

"Where's your furry boyfriend?" He asked in a dreamy manner.

"Wander? Somewhere else, where he's not allergic to sharks." Sylvia retorted, avoiding to look at him.

Awesome made a sad face. "So he left ya, huh?"

"Oh, would you drop it? And he's not my boyfriend!" Sylvia yelled.

"I just wanna talk, that's all." He laid out his arms.

For once he didn't make a tone that sounded like he was trying to empress a dancing pole. He sounded like he wanted to talk to her in an honest manner. But she kept her guard up.

"Make it quick." She gestured her hand.

"Okay look..I'm a jerk. I know that. So, I just want to say sorry?"

Now she glanced at him. She didn't buy it, but he looked like he was trying.

"Look Becks, I-"

"Before you go any further...the name," She glared at him over the lenses of her glasses, "Is Sylvia." She growled.

He wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He narrowed his eyes in agreement.

"Fair enough."

He leaned towards the left side of the chair and placed his arms on the armrest;

"I'm trying to be better. Ever since the one time I left that planet that was lame and your ex boyfriend beat me at dancing, I thought, maybe partying isn't always so great. Even I get tired and bored of it. But ever since I saw you I wanted to be a better guy, maybe even a friend?"

This took Sylvia by surprise. He sounded so down to earth and honest.

"Is that all?" Sylvia asked, now she looked at him in his face.

"Not entirely," He made a quick look at the beach, and lifted his head out in thought, and back at her,

"I'm just getting started." He shrugged.

"With what?"

He dug a hand into his shorts pocket and pulled out a gray colored glass jar. He unscrewed it and brought it closer,

"Well, maybe you're not so bad-"

"Psych."

Something black and round-shaped jumped out of the jar, making a loud sloshing noise, it expanded in the air and landed on Sylvia's chest and arms.

"Ahh! What're you-?"

The black fluid moved to her hands, and formed a round ball. Red- orange colored veins appeared and made small heat waves and smoke.

"Sylvia. You're lucky today. You're probably the luckiest chick, because you're coming with me!" Awesome pointed his thumb at himself.

Sylvia fought to remove the restraining liquid off her body, she rolled in the sand and kicked it off, but it wasn't budging. Then she knew why:

"This..! These are Dominator's cuffs! Are you working for her!?" She demanded.

"Pfft, as if. I tried to offer her assistance and my help, but that failed." Awesome pulled out a remote of some kind and pushed a couple of buttons.

"No, baby...after I escaped and while that loser Hater and your friend were there, I took the cuffs she had on me and made them my own. It wasn't easy. I had to modify it."

Sylvia yelled in fury, both at Awesome and the restraining liquid on her hands. She stopped fighting it because it wasn't getting her anywhere. From the past she remembered, every time she pushed them off, they would reform and come back. She could still stand on her legs though.

"Come on, let's have some fun," Awesome greeted with a toothy smile, "I called my ship over to take us out of this dump."

"You tricked me! You're getting the biggest whooping ever!" She threatened.

She knew something was up! He acted too nice, she had her senses on high alert, but he still had her trapped into his little scheme.

"Don't be like that, we'll talk it over later," He pulled out a 2nd jar from his pocket. "First, you'll need to stay still."

He opened it up and more of the liquid jumped out, and made her fall on her face, getting sand in her mouth. The second pair of cuffs tied her legs together, now unable to walk, let alone stand. The wind began to pick up than normal, above them was the large pink limousine-shaped ship. Awesome picked Sylvia up by the neck with one hand to help her stand, he put the other hand over his head and looked up.

A beam of bright blue light circled them and they began to levitate upwards.

"You're better off with me, not with Wander or whatever, I can show you a good time, and give you a whole new makeover."

Awesome held her closer in his arm, while she could only glare at him, she wanted to lodge a punch at him so badly, but was unable to. She dropped her anger and remembered the only one who could help her...

"WANDER!" She yelled out as loud as her lungs could push.

Wander was on the other side of the beach, enjoying the shore and time to himself. If he didn't stop strumming his banjo ten seconds later, he wouldn't have heard Sylvia cry out his name.

"Wander!"

He jumped and flinched like a shock of electricity had touched him. He whipped his eyes to the left, his fingers dropped the instrument into the sand.

"Sylvia?"

"Help, I'm being taken!"

He heard it loud and clear, his eyes shrunk at the sound of desperation in her voice. He instantly felt the distress from her and in himself. He hastily stuffed his banjo into the hat, and it sucked it up like a vacuum.

"SYLVIA!" He shouted back.

He began to run; he felt his wounds begin to throb, but he didn't care. The pain wasn't important right now. He had to get to wherever she was calling out from. The sand made it a challenge to run on as it demanded more muscle from his legs. Already heavily panting, but he kept going and retraced the path he came from, a moment later he saw the ship in the air with Sylvia and Awesome. He gasped.

"Oh no, no, no, Sylvia!"

Where is he taking her? What's he doing!

A small crowd was forming and they threatened to get in his way. Forgetting his manners because of his state of panic, he shoved and pushed the beachers out, who stared at the ship and were unaware of the scene unfolding before themselves.

"Move! I have to get there, out of my way!" He demanded.

His long arms grabbed and pushed hard, the crowd was becoming thick and bigger, the more thick it got the more Wander became agitated.

"Wander!" Sylvia cried again.

"I'm coming, Sylvia!" He shouted back.

"LET ME GO, YOU JERK!" She screamed at Awesome, she spit in his face, and tried to bite him, but only managed to spit at him.

She was helpless at this point.

"How you two even met and became buddies, gets me so confused." Awesome said lazily.

The two of them reached the doors of the vehicle like ship and he opened one, shoving her inside and he sat in next and shut it. The ship immediately began to get higher in the air and ready for take-off.

Wander thought of the only way to get to her; he pulled out the orbble juice bottle and blew into the wand and made it go through himself, he instantly headed to follow and ran as fast as he could and tried to catch up.

"Sylviaaa!" He cried, his eyes began to water.

The blast of the ship's rockets were that of strong hurricane-winds and it blew him back, he pushed harder, it pushed him further and further away. He stuck his hand outside the orbble bubble reaching out and with a look of despair and desperation as it faded into the stars.

"Sylvia..." He was focused on the last place he saw where it was, he wasn't aware the bubble was pushed and flung back at more than 150 mph, to him it was all in slow motion.

BOOOM!

He hit the sandy ground with a slam. The bubble broke and burst, making the air that was provided inside the bubble go against Wander and hit his body like a sledgehammer, knocking him unconscious. The impact made a medium sized crater in the middle of the beach. His poncho revealed his bandages and spots of crimson arose from them.

A minute later he sat up, now awake. He looked at his new surroundings in a panic, pain from his chest erupted and he held himself, and began to cry softly. His hat came undone and fell off his shoulders and laid to the side.

"Sylvia! I'm so sorry! I couldn't-!"

In a fit of anger, he sobbed harder, and hit the sand with his fists.

"Augnh! Augnh! AHG!"

He cried her name in frustrated outbursts. He was angry at everything and himself. His poncho fluttered with his every move, and kept punching the sand. He cried in between deep breaths, making one greater and louder than the other. He sat on his knees and buried his face into his forearms. There was nothing he could do.


"That's it."

Nate had seen enough. He watched everything. He put his binoculars on his office desk and started to head towards the beach. He couldn't believe one of his customers was taken just like that, and no one did anything to help or stop it. Then he called himself an idiot, because he too, did nothing until now.

"I still haven't changed, what am I doing?" He muttered.

He knew he was one of those people that did last minute things; and that was just a grave mistake he did and didn't bother to call the authorities. So why didn't he?

"That friend of Sylvia's..he tried to save her."

He was fearful of Wander, despite he'd done nothing to Nate. He let his weariness get the better of him. He decided to head out and see if he could give help, but still keep his guard up in case Wander was up to something.

...

Wander stood up, his face wet from tears and head bent down. He bit his lips hard and cursed himself internally over and over.

"What good can I do if I can't fight back? I am a stupid, and worthless lump of nothing."

He let Lord Hater's words get to him and echo in his mind, he was right. A whole lot of nothing. He never hated him for saying it, but right now to Wander... it felt so true.

"What if Sylvia is better off without me, if I can't even help her?"

The more negative thoughts he told to himself, another would come with it. To release his self-hate he kicked the sand.. as soon as his foot came into contact, an unexpected gust of wind picked up at a rapid speed and made him fall over. For a second, Wander thought he caused it;

But it was the engine blasts of an over sized skull-shaped ship with two large, red eyes. And roaring laughter came with it.

Lord Hater's ship hovered over the hotel, and the moment the tourists saw it, they ran in a panic and screamed. The ship landed a good distance away from the shore; the long fleshy tongue rolled out and Watchdogs began to march out.

"This planet is now under the control of Lord Hater! Surrender now!"

Commander Peepers and his leader stood side by side with confidence and victory inside the piloting room.

"It was a brilliant idea to take and conquer the most luxurious planet in the galaxy, sir!" Peepers commentated.

"Of course, that way I can do whatever I want, and when I want to, because I'm the greatest!" Hater shouted excitedly.

Peepers touched some more buttons on the panel and zoomed the camera from outside into focus on the beach. Then he stepped away, and saluted.

"I'm going outside to assist the army, are you going to come with-"

"NO!" Hater suddenly yelled, making the one-eyed alien flinch in fear.

"S-sorry sir! I was only suggesting!" Peepers stammered, hoping he wasn't going to be zapped by his electricity in the next second...

"No, not that! IT'S WANDER!" Hater growled, his lime green eyes dilated with fury.

"Huh?" Peepers looked at the control panel again.

The computer pinpointed to Wander's face, recognizing him and his features. Wander appeared to be in shock and relief at the ship from outside, which was odd to Hater. But for Peepers, it was annoying having to see their hated enemy on the one planet they just managed to conquer.

"Drats, should we dispose of him, sir?"

"Wait."

Hater shoved Peepers of his way and narrowed his eyes at the screen and placed his bony hands on the panel. He pressed a couple of buttons to zoom in on the picture.

What caught his attention to Wander was; his poncho was being blown by the wind pushing it from behind and revealing his bandages...and bleeding. Peepers also noticed, shocked.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I see. What's your plan of action?" Peepers asked eagerly.

Hater smiled evilly.

"You lead the Watchdogs, I'll deal with him. If he's injured, all the more reason to take him out, right?" He made a giggly laugh.

Peepers gasped. He was both shocked and amazed at the idea, but didn't argue. His lord wasn't one to take down an enemy in a weak state but held his tongue.

"And destroy him once and for all, and he won't get in your way ever again, I love your strategy, Lord Hater!"

"Now, go." Hater shooed him away while he began to make his own preparations.

The Watchdog didn't hesitate and went to work. As soon as he left..Hater put his hands behind himself, his evil expression changed to concern.

"Sure, he's out of the way and I have Wander all to myself..but something doesn't make sense, where's his Sylvia friend?"

He watched Wander make his way to his ship, running in a state of fear. Which is what he liked and waited so long to witness. But what made the skeleton ruler worried was his current condition...

"What happened to him, and why is he bleeding?"

He moved out to find the answer.