The Universe At My Fingertips

by aspen1044

Tony Veleno and her best friend, Brogyn Adyll, are meant for something bigger. Being from the Lunar Colony of Ghallia, the galaxy will be completely new to them as they see it from the HQ of the Legion of Superheroes.

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

We head out to our next mission and the bad guys get away and we have to continue on to Weber's World since Whindrel would end in about a week and Plotuary just around the corner. Thinking that, I realize that Plotuary is when Jo planned for his vacation to Rimbor. It takes us about a week to get to Weber's World, and we arrive, we don't stay with Winima, but we do visit her first. That evening was the New Year's party. We were going to the big party, which was hosted by Winima, but this one would have people of all ages and was more for the inhabitants of Weber's World. It was held in their city park, which was huge and had a big tower in the middle where they would project the countdown and there was fireworks going to come from it when it hit 0.

We go to the party at 10 after having late dinner at Winima's house without her since she had to be at the countdown when it started at 8. We kind of dressed up and I had on a bright orange dress on with floral print and my prussian sandals. We arrive and there was 2 hours on the holograms. We all walk along the merchants gallery on the north side of the park, we turn into the carnival area and Jo and I see these stuffed animals dangling from one and I drag him over. It was a game that if you could hit the target 3 times, then you get a prize. You were also not allowed to use any powers or anything. Jo put down a few coins to play and he picks up the ball and threw and hit. He did the same thing again, and again. The carnival man offered me to pick anyone of the animals. I saw one dangling in the way back and it was a red omnitiger. I point at it and the carnival man gets it down and hands it to Jo and as we start to walk he hands it to me. It's like a tiger, but those went extinct long ago, and the only difference is it could be any color, had 2 tails, and a third eye. It was adorable and it was about the size of a pillow. I squeeze him and tell Jo "thank you" as he gets me on the Tunnel of Love ride. We get on and don't pay as much attention to all the cute romantic stuff around us as we do on making out.

The countdown grows near, so we leave the carnival part of the park and go to the tower and watch as it counts down. There was 5 minutes left and I grab Jo's hand and he looks at me and then comes behind me to wrap his arms around me. It went down to 4 minutes. Jo started to sway me back side to side. 3 minutes. He turned me around so we were rocking back and forth like a slow dance. 2 minutes. He gives kisses on my neck and I give kisses on his. 1 minute. Jo takes me so that we are face to face with each other and I was looking into his amber eyes.

3.

"I love you, Tony," he exclaimed.

2.

"I love you too, Jo," I said.

1.

We kiss and everyone is cheering around us in celebration for the New Year and we are completely closed off. We finish and we gather with the rest of the Legion and we start heading back to the ship to go to bed so we can leave as early as CB wants, which is 7. I will probably not be up at that point. When we get back, everyone goes their separate ways to go to bed and I see some couples going to bed with each other. Jo and I go to his room to finish our kissing and as we slow down, I ask, "Jo?"

"Yes?"

"Can I stay the night?"

"Of course you can," he says, very happily.

I go to my room to get my pyjamas on and take off my make up and go back to his room. My pyjamas were just a purple gown which was just a spaghetti strap dress of silk that went just below my butt with lace accents. I slip into his bed and Jo whispers like we could get caught and the walls were paper thin.

"You look radiant without makeup," he exclaims, clearing my bangs from my cheek.

"Thank you, Jo. And I'm glad you said I love you."

"I've been thinking about saying for awhile, but I wanted to wait for the best time for it. New Years seemed like the best time."

"I've been dying to say it for quite a while too."

"I love you, babe," Jo exclaimed, nestling into my neck as he wraps one arm around my waist to spoon.

"I love you, too sweetie," I respond, squeezing his hand.

And we fall asleep like that. The perfect start to the year and with an amazing boyfriend. And it's hard to believe I would be meeting his family soon too. I had to wonder if I would meet the Emerald Dragons, or if I would meet all his brothers, be liked by everyone, or be allowed to stay at Jo's house with him.

For the next two weeks, we were traveling towards Rimbor for Jo's vacation. As we were going through space, we get a distress signal not too far from where we were and CB insisted on us going. It was this planet called Scatterlyn. It was called that because the planet had exploded some time ago into big chunks that would still rotate and orbit like a planet. The signal was from one of the pieces called Drindel and it was a video recording sent out.

The video started out with these 2 young men in lab coats who were talking to the camera and saying, "There's something mysterious on this island that's different than all the data we've collected. We have logged in all the plant and animal species except this one because we never see it. All we ever get its tracks and feces, but still nothing, but we think we may be dealing with some kind of monst-"

The scientists get cut of by this screeching howl and the camera goes to static as they exit the screen and we hear them scream. CB explains that we are dealing with a beast that is not a lab experiment and by what we have collected, has killed these two men. We need to go in there are see what this thing is and put it to rest.

We reach Drindel and go to where the lab was and the doors were ripped off but everything else on the outside seemed intact and still new. We land on the roof and go into the building. On the top floors, everything was fine, but when you got down to the 1st floor was when it turned gruesome. Dead bodies were all along the floors and pools of blood. There were bloody claw marks along a lot of the walls and we kept walking through into the lab where we found the two scientists there, dead as well. We all spread about to do some inspection.

Jo and I go to some of the scientists in the hallway and he and I lean over and he sticks his fingers in the blood.

"It's still warm. He was here recently. That video must have had a dispatch system."

"What I don't understand is why would he leave and not get any meat while he was here? All animals have the instinct of killing for survival and only homosapians kill for murder, " I exclaim, looking at one of the scientists IDs.

"Guys!"

Jo and I ran to where we heard the shout and it was Trip and Bouncy in another hall with a big wall they were staring at. The wall had been graffitied in blood.

"Leave this planet or die like these who did not," Sparky read from the scribbles.

"What are we dealing with," asked 'Nix.

"Obviously not a normal beast. This one has intelligence and kills for murder," Brainy exclaims.

Phantom Girl goes up to the wall and at the end of the sentence she grabs at a tuft of fur I saw as well. She hands it to CB and we go to the small lab and put it on a scanner. The scanner traced it and it came up with slight DNA matches. Human, Collosabeast, Trivinand, and Welchian. The welchian and human were homosapien, but collosabeast and trivinand were beasts native to the land. We looked through the data and apparently, all the scientists here were Welchian, so we erased that from the list.

CB decided we needed to go outside on the space and look for this beast. We went in groups of 3 and I was with Cham and Jo and we went to the south end of the crater. It was really humid and the terrain was rainforest, especially where we were. There was a river we were walking along and I thought it was so amazing how a disassembled planet can still have ecosystems like this. We heard a loud growl from behind us and turned and all we saw was rustling of the leaves in the trees. Cham transforms into a big collosabeast and growls back, but nothing responds. Jo goes invisible and jumps up into the trees and I hear him rustle and then come back down.

"Whatever it was, it's not there now," Jo exclaimed, reappearing. We kept walking, being on guard and I got jumpy when I'd hear a rustle or a twig break and eventually I couldn't stand it. There was one loud rustle and I whipped out a vine at where I heard it, but all that moved were the tree leaves to reveal nothing.

"Aspen, calm down. You can scare the creature away," Cham exclaimed as Jo rubbed my shoulders.

"I can't stand this anymore. I feel I'm being watched and followed and the thought that something could attack me at any moment is getting me as anxious and stressed as I could be."

"We are all anxious and scared right now, but you have to stay calm or you're really going to lose it."

We continued on and we found a cave and went in with Jo leading with a light projecting from his hands. There was no creature in the cave but we believed we found its home because there were bloody claw marks along the floor like the ones in the lab hallway. We saw it was getting dark outside, so we head back to the lab and we meet up with the others. The others found dead carcass' and bloody claw marks too around the island and more fur sampling and it showed the same, just without the Welchian. When night fell, we could hear howls outside from a distance and knew that that was the creature. Sparky, Saturn, CB, Phantom, Brainy, and Bouncy decided they would go fly around and see if they can find it. We were to stay here and have some dinner.

"We got it and it's heading towards the lab, I want you guys to head out now and try to block it off!"

CB was telling this over the flight ring and we had just finished dinner. We all run out and go to the fence line of the lab and get up in the sky above it and spread out. We hear the creature and see the other half of the Legion flying towards us, trying to herd it directly to us. We get to the ground and Gim, Jo, and Cham all grow into bigger things to stop the creature and it halts and tries to turn, but Brin, Sparky, and Brainy stop it on that side and we all surround it and Bee, Phantom, Vi, and Trip cover the sky above. Frosty tries to shoot it, but it dodges and I try to get its legs, but it jumps. Saturn Girl tries to hypnotize it, but it hits her head and knocks her out and Sparky didn't like it and shocks it, which puts it unconscious.

CB and Brainy discuss what we should do with it, and decide we need to kill it because Science Police won't be able to handle it and we can't take care of it. CB gets a radar gun from the lab and shoots it a few times and Saturn checks if it is still active and it was sure enough dead. We go to the ship to sleep and decide we can leave in the morning. I had Jo come to my room about midnight because I couldn't sleep since everytime I closed my eyes, I got scared. He came over and we spooned and I felt immediately settled and could actually sleep.

I wake up before Jo and I try to stay still, but he wakes up too. "Well, were you able to sleep with me here?" he asks.

"Yes. You make me feel safe, Jo. This place scares me, and just your presence calms me and makes me feel better."

"Well, I'm glad you could sleep soundly," he exclaimed, kissing my forehead.

Today, we were going to leave Drindel and continue our way to Rimbor. It would be another day until we got to Rimbor and Jo decided I need to know what his family was like, so he explained each one's interests, facts, opinions, and history to me.

"So, my mom's name is Hai and she likes crafts and antique things. She stays at home and has bookclub every week with the other wives in town and watches old shows at home and has amazing cooking. She thinks that everyone needs like, 5 rounds of food for meals and we need to be studious and also sociable. She likes it when we bring people home or go out to hang out with people because it means we are building connections with people on our own or something."

"My dad's name is Buu and he takes care of the ranch at home. He gets up at 3 every morning and has a strict routine for the ranch chores in the morning until 6. He always has us help out for an hour in the morning from 7 to 8 before breakfast and then more in the afternoon. He drives into town a lot to sell what we make and he does the grocery shopping most days. He believes hard work builds character and we need a good education to get from the ranch to a better place. That's all both of them really want for us."

"So, my brothers. Day works in town as a doctor for kids. He is a lot like CB in a way because he acts like he is superior, but really, he's just the older brother that protects all of us. Ku and Ko own this toy shop in town but Ku is more interested in fashion designing and Ko is a writer, so they do those as actual careers, but there's not much pay from either. Zue is in college, but he will be here for our visit and he is studying Rimborian History to become a history teacher and he will graduate this year."

Jo was telling me all this in one afternoon plus a great amount more because, well I think it was because he wanted me to make a good impression on his family, but I think Jo was just rambling on because he was nervous. He was nervous to bring me home to his family because An Ryd, they knew, but I was a totally new person to them and I think Jo wants his family to approve of me. I mean, I was nervous about it too, but definitely not as nervous as Jo was. I felt I would make a fine impression on them and his family seemed nice enough to not assume the worst of me when we first meet. At least, I hoped so.

We arrived on Rimbor that next morning and Jo and had packed before breakfast, planning to stay for 7 days. I packed light, knowing that if I needed anything i forgot, I could just come to the ship and get it. The planet from where we hovered above the atmosphere, looked very brown and green, with only lakes of water. Very different from what Earth use to be, which was 70% water, Rimbor looked like it was at least 70% land. We landed in the Tanderian Air Base, which was Jo's town's space harbor. It was flat land, surrounded by brick walls and was all dirt. Tanderia was the town that Jo's family lived in and their air base was on the west side of town, and Jo's ranch was on the east side. The Legion gets out with us and when we step out, it's windy and very dry.

We head to the air tower, where we could reach the road that would take us into town and we could tell the air base team we were here and staying for a week and they would give us a lot to stay for the time. CB talks to the air base team and we wait for him to be done. They get a lot and Bouncy and Trip go back to move the ship and CB decided we can go into town without them since they will catch up. We fly into town, which felt awkward to me since I was carrying one of Brainy's space cubes in my hand and Jo was the only one who was carrying one as well. CB insisted on us wearing our uniforms to town, but I didn't like the idea since, from what i heard from Jo, we'd stick out like a green tree in this place.

We reach town and I was right about sticking out, because everyone in town looked like they came out of an Earthly History book from the 19th Century of cowboys and indians. We walked down the sidewalks and passed by saloons and small businesses and Jo decided that maybe we should all go change, and CB decided that that was a good idea, and everyone went back to the ship, but Jo and I called over a carriage.

"Jo, are we going to your house?" I ask, as we get in.

"Nah Family Ranch," Jo exclaimed to the carriage driver. "Yes. We can change there and meet with the family. CB will be okay with it since it's my vacation and I can have as little or as much communication as I want with the Legion."

We ride out of town and I see tons of fields of kettle pops and fritters and many other crops. There were dirt roads that went off the main one we were on that led to cute ranch houses that were deeply nestled in the crops. We turn down one and we are approaching the ranch house. It's light yellow with white windows and brown shingles. It was a two story and was long. As we got closer, I saw a wind turbine and a garage near the house. We reach the patch of land that is flattened for the house and there is a barn with stables next to it and a coop. There was an old truck outside the garage and a motorcycle sitting by the garage. Jo and i get out of the carriage and Jo gives him his fee and we approach the house.

My nerves were rumbling now and all that I wasn't worried about, became a worry for me. Jo reaches the porch and I walk with him as he knocks on the door. I see some space cows next to the barn that I didn't see before and there were two rockers on one side of the porch and a swing on the other. I saw another dirt path leading off into the fields behind the garage and a field machine sitting at the edge of the entrance to it.

"I'm coming! Is it my baby boy, Jo?" an older woman voice exclaimed from inside, having a twang to the voice. It was Jo's mom who answers the door. "Oh, Jo! It's so good to see you baby. I'm so happy you came now, I just finished making some bar-b-que sandwiches for lunch." She is hugging him now and he has a big smile on. "And who might this be?" she exclaimed, looking at me with a smile.

"I'm Aspen- I mean, Tony. Sorry, I've been so used to saying my Legion name as my introduction," I exclaim, shaking her hands. They were wrinkled and dry, but very warm.

"Mom, Tony is my girlfriend. We have been dating for 4 months now. I was thinking, if it's alright with you, she could stay here."

"But of course, deary. But I'm not quite sure where you'd stay since all the rooms are filled now, even the guest room. Ku and Ko got their old room, Zue has the guest room, and Day has the couch in the den. And you will have your bed."

"Well, mom, I was thinking she could stay in my room. I could take the floor or something."

"I'm not sure, would your parents be alright with that?" She was asking me now.

"They would be fine with it. And we wouldn't be doing anything," I exclaim, and Jo gave me a look that spoke 'really?'

"Well, if everyone is alright with it, I think it's okay."

"Thanks, mom. Tony and I want to change though, and then we can join you for lunch. Where are my brothers and dad anyways?"

"They went into town to get some hardware tools and sell some dairy and crops. They said they'd be back for lunch, but we will see, and if they aren't here, we will eat and their food can go cold."

Jo leads me upstairs to his bedroom. It was similar to his bedroom on the ship with weights and mechanic stuff, but this room had tons of books and a desk. There was a dresser and a bed too, but the bathroom was in the hall for everyone to share. Jo put his clothes away on one side of the dresser and grabbed an outfit.

"I will change in the bathroom. You can change in here."

"Okay," I exclaim, putting my clothes in the other half of the dresser. I get an outfit out and it's my blue swirl blouse and khaki skinnies with brown riding boots. I put on my dark green cardigan over it and head out to the hall and down the stairs, where I see Jo's complete family. The Nah Family.