--Capital Planet--
The increased wind blew the snow in miniature twisters around the streets. It was not yet even the earliest dawn; the sun still played hide-and-seek with the darkness. While the neighborhood snored, Zurg's house had experienced an early awakening.
It had been impossible for the nightmare-cursed Emperor to get sleep any longer. Moreover, he lay on his back on a sinking purple sofa and kept a bag of ice over his throbbing forehead. The headache lingered in his frontal lobe like a cranky flea in a mongrel's fur. Mariañ sat worried in the other end of the couch, ruffling his hair every once in a while, and trilling something jittery.
"Oh but Googly Bear, they were a whole new set of pajamas! And the nights are cold still! How is my Zurgypoo going to stay warm now?"
"Gruhh... I do not know, Smoopsiepoo. It is a pity to lose something so glorious, oh the woe..." He tried to rise an inch up, but her hand softly kept his head down.
"Tut tut, you should rest, Purrypoo Iddikens. You were so exhausted after the nightmare!"
Zora's face was suddenly painted with an ill shade of tension. His bushy brows crumpled, and his voice fell an octave.
"I do not think it was just a nightmare."
"W-what do you mean, Flopsy-Mopsy?"
"I wish I would know myself..." he sighed, "My son was in it, captured somewhere. It was this stone corridor... there was something else too... a man in robes... somehow so familiar, as if I had met him before... a great shadow of evilness was hovering above him..."
"Y-you were yelling all these scary things!" the girl puled as if she had been addressing a ten-year-old, and ruffled some more of his overgrown locks.
"I know... I know. I remember every bit of the dream. It does not go away. It stays there, looming. And this pathetic headache! Quasars! Is this not just the bee in the summer meadow?" This time he rose rather hotly up, whereas Mariañ was left to shudder petrified in her corner of the sofa. She believed that her whatever-lame-pet-name-this-time Emperor was taking too strong movements regarding his 'sickness'.
"But Purpleteddy, you should..."
"Indeed. But I deem I must do something for this. As odd as it sounds, I have the worst feeling that something has happened to my son. I cannot lose him again. I once did..." Zurg hushed the sentence's end, swallowing the ill sentiment that always rose upwards his gullet while remembering the false paths of the past. Holding his pounding forehead, he clicked his fingers. "Grub! I need some strong coffee and painkillers. And you shall also put the breakfast ready. Your Master is leaving early this morning!"
"Yes, yes, yes, my not-anymore-evil-but-nowadays-very-kind-and-caring Emperor!" a little lackey scampered from the corner and whizzed immediately away to complete the task. And although the young surgeon kept mewling and disagreeing worried, Zurg had made up his mind. Once the headache would have settled down a bit, he would go and search for help.
Hence, two hours later a tall figure emerged from the mini-empire's yard. It directed its course towards Booster Munchapper's apartment a few miles away.
Z. Z. Lightyear needed aid and badly, as confusing as everything appeared in the horizon. He had to find out what was going on on Morph. Whether his son was still somewhere... or not. Whether his eerie reverie had been just a dream... or more.
*******
The mirror reflected the slumberous face of a red reptilian. His eyelids were flopping constantly down, and anteriorly the pupils was a white fog. Booster resembled merely a zombie sleepwalker this morning. Also his somnus had been inferior last night; but not because of odd apocalyptic hallucinations about dark lords and their everlasting cliché-like obsession to conquer the galaxy. No, he had simply come tremendously late back home the previous day, and thus thudded into the bed during the small hours. And now a new day rose and shone, the alarm clock contrived cheerily chirping about it before the weakest daybreak. However, due to its irksome essence, a large red fist had smacked it to mere springs and screws, after it had beeped so joyfully a few minutes.
But the Jo-Adian had been obedient for his schedule and clambered up -as toilsome as it had been. Now he was in the bathroom brushing his teeth, or rather to say was accidentally emptying the insides of a shower gel bottle onto the toothbrush. He was too tired to notice the mistake, until he held an empty bottle in his hand and his mouth was bubbling with pink rose-smelling goo. Luckily Booster did not need to shave his bald cheeks. In this state, he would have probably thought the shaver to be his breakfast and munched it with good appetite.
A while later, he succeeded to get rid of the bad-tasting soap that was invading his mouth. He startled to hear the front door's buzzer whine like an angry, badly played bagpipe. At this point, he was so much awake that did not mix the ear-splitting moaning with the broken alarm clock's twirp. He slouched to the doorway dragging his bathrobes, and lazily wrenched the gateway open.
If he had owned hackles, they would have escaped up with the sudden fright he experienced. Against the streetlight and the innocent whiteness of the snow was delineated a tall, menacing-looking figure. Its long black cape was rippling in the gusty wind, and the silver horns of its headpiece were glimmering ominously.
"ZUR---GGG--- I-I m-mean S-sir Lightyear!" he gasped, terror warping his face. The threatening form had stepped into the shaft of light that was coming from Booster's hall.
In all his solemn might, Zora Lightyear managed to look exclusively ridiculous. Majority of his attire did look imposing -like the finely tailored full-purple winter suit under the black traveling cloak which had a red velvet lining- but somehow the high-standing starched collars and his peculiar self-knitted cap were quarreling badly with the impression. Especially the cap. The imperial passion to horns did not cease. These ones were crocheted from metal-shiny string and stuffed hard with wad, so that they were protruding from the cap's top just like the infamous horns of his old Zurgatronic helmet. To make the headwear even more ludicrous, it had the classic 'Z' stamped on it, just above the little visor. From under it, the old man was scowling with an austere pout.
The red fat reptilian was however eyeing especially at the cap with the utmost fright, as if it had been the most terrifying sight of the Gamma Quadrant. His chin stuttering, Munchapper asked diffidently what brought Mr. Lightyear Senior at his door at this time of the day.
"Oh, oh, and come in, Sir!" he piped while noticing how the blizzard gradually was turning His Majesty into Jack Frost.
Ten minutes later Zoxedaszeĉ was sitting in Booster's living-room, a teacup the size of a bucket in front of him. Across the table, the confused Jo-Adian was listening to his speech that consisted of grunt series and frowns. Mainly his questions were directed to inquire what Commander Nebula had ordered the remains of Team Nova to do today. Zurg seemed gloomier and more beetle-browed than usually, as if he had been deeply worried about something. This misgiving virus of course infected the Jo-Adian, who was already known as a nervous wreck. Thus Booster was twisting his hands franticly and spilling his morning tea onto the floor. Yet, one detail lowered his apprehension rate at least a few percent. The odd headpiece was removed and jutted in the rat rack; it was not initially causing fright to the poor space ranger.
"Umm well..." he stuttered to answer the Emperor's queries, "Sir Commander asked us to continue to search for Captain Nova. I think we're going back to Morph today. We went through half of Kaon yesterday and umm well... I guess we're going through the second half today."
"No. There shall be a schedule change. If we wish to find that Tangean, we ought to find out where my son is", the old man muttered. "As pathetic as it sounds, I need you two insufferably incompetent pinheads to help me. We shall go and find Buzz."
Booster, who was so used to Zurg's slanders, did not quite even notice what new pleasant nicknames he and XR had just received. "But... isn't Buzz at home? Or I mean at work?"
"No, he is not."
"But how can you say so? We saw him on Friday and I think Commander Nebula would know if..." But he never finished his sentence. Merely he sprung up screaming with dread, as Zurg's fist hit the rickety living-room table in frenzy and smashed it broken.
"QUASARS! SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO MY SON! WHY NONE OF YOU IGNORANT SPARROW-BRAINED POOS GET IT? That peg-legged old coot keeps me as some kind of a senile goof-off who does not understand the difference between a light bulb and a troll doll! If I say that something has happened to my son, then IT HAS HAPPENED, by jumping Bunzelbees! I sense it! The dark side ruined me; it forces me to sense every single shift in its balance!" he blustered in a horrible hollow voice. If this tantrum had not awakened the neighborhood, not even the gentle silent boom of an exploding a-bomb would have.
"Ohh this just cans my pickles!" His huff calmed down a tad, and he was left to measure the wrecked table with a glare. "Hrrhmhyy. I must stop doing that. Otherwise it shall become a habit. How much do I owe from the broken table and two tea cups?"
Booster, who wobbled in the farthest corner of the room, did not catch even a half of what Zora was ranting. Only the thing that Buzz could be in probable danger and that this wacko royal knew it somehow. Nonetheless, nervously he threw in his tiny counterargument.
"Uh... b-but shouldn't we m-make sure at f-first that B-Buzz hasn't g-gone to work? And s-shouldn't we still a-ask the Commander what we're going to do? I mean, it's against the space ranger oath to disagree your Commanding Officer's orders! W-we could get punishment, or worse!"
Zurg narrowed his eyes and placed an unnaturally long, thin finger on his lower lip. Brooding, he admitted that that big blob had some point in his lisping. He himself was a criminal on parole; he could get mightily in trouble for forcing space rangers to work against their rules. Buzz had of course ditched guidelines every five minutes during his captain career, but that was a completely different story.
"Very well then. Quasars, this just boils the turnip, does it not? In any case, we shall fly to Star Command immediately. We would have needed to collect your tin can friend from there anyway. And I obviously need to say a few straight words to that old hoary cuckoo clock. Hmm, on the other hand, I must admit that it is rare that he has a Z in his name, even as the first initial... but shall that make him any better than the other pathetic mortals...? Hymm..." Brows drawn together, he stopped the inane rambling, and put his hand into his breast pocket to pick up his wallet. "Now, how much do I owe? Uni-bucks or Zurgean Z-Galleons... ah yes... My mistake. Never mind, my Empire has fallen, that currency would be useless... uni-bucks then..."
--Star Command HQ--
In Commander Nebula's office, the prospects for another Zurg-conducted mission were not that bright. Zeb merely had rolled his eyes at the paddy train he had performed in the room. In the background, Booster and XR stood leaning against the wall, shrugging and semi-interested waiting for what would follow.
It was just the same bluster spray as last week. This time, the Emperor just seemed to be even more stubborn to fume about some odd happenings he though he sensed. The male had not bothered to explain a diphthong about the nocturnal ghost that had driven him to visit the Jo-Adian's hut. His bee in the bonnet was just to insist that Buzz was in trouble, and that he needed someone to help him with the vague dilemma. He would have turned to Warp ages ago, but nobody had the slightest idea where the Darkmatters had evaporated. Alone, the ex-sinister self-proclaimed ruler of the universe was rather defenseless. Yes, he had overly-beefed biceps and vigor, but was not allowed to carry even the most minuscule weapon, in addition that the Big Brother Lawguardian sniffed his every footprint.
The trouble hill did not shallow an inch by the fact that Zeb had actually made a vidphone call to the Space Ranger Recruit office where Buzz worked. Morph announced that Buzz Lightyear had called and asked for sick-leave this morning. Of course a staff medical officer should have certified the nature of the illness, but the Captain was so trusted in their quarters that nobody even bothered to doubt his word. And the alien on the other side of Nebula's comlink assured that Buzz needed his resting days; he had looked so pallid and sunken-eyed in the vidscreen. Obviously some quick-hitting flu, the office worker had deliberated.
So, seemingly Buzz had an alibi. But uncanny was, that Zora did not believe a mere atom of this sick-leave song. It just seemed to increase his jumpiness.
"Quasars! How many times do I have to repeat to you lamebrained rutabagas that a shadowy haze is draping our future? An Indistinct Evil is rising in the horizon, and somehow my son is a part of the crochet work of this dark creature that also shall be maliciously purple and merciless! I do not know how, I do not know why, it is only this alarm ringing in my superiorly divine brains!" Zora strolled past the Desk, which was whimpering with fright. The poor piece of furniture still recalled how that monstrosity had hit it in two halves. "You used to trust my son's so-called 'ranger instinct', which always aided him to foil my naughtily z-rich plans. So if I am having similar premonitions with something you feeble lack-wits shall not even comprehend, why is it any different? Snarrrl! Grrrfffhhht!"
Commander Nebula frowned at the Emperor. "Hmfpf. Blast, look, I think you should go home. Maybe you should take a sick-leave. Sweet mother of Venus, this starts getting far too impossible. We just heard from Morph that Buzz is fine, safe, and sound. Well, not fine and sound, but safe anyway. Our concern is to find out what has happened to Ranger Nova since she hasn't presented herself here even today. We..."
"My son is not SAFE! I do not even think it was Buzz who did that pathetic blasted call! It was... hymm... someone else. Some dimwit decoy perhaps. Sodden space dust, you should know my son! He would go to work even in fever. If you inferior puny skeptical fluffy bunnies wish to have an example of a sick-day faker, call Darkmatter! And he is not my son!"
Without doubt, this notion raised up some weird impressions. But XR broke the silence with a whisk of hand.
"I'd fake sick days too if I had one of those exotic Kalevan babes at home. I think I'd fake sick days eight days a week! Our ex-captain hasn't been the same once the cross-eyed cupids shot him with their crooked arrows."
"Even you tiny tinplate toy are a part of this white-green conspiracy against me! Huh? HUH? HUH! I shall say it one more time for you wannabe-deaf whimpering pigeon plushies that YOKA-HANEN HAS BEEN NAPPED... or something. Hyrm. Anyway, she is NOT there! And neither is Buzz!"
"Blast, get a grip of yourself!" Zeb was beginning to lose even the remains of his nerves, "We never got assured of that. Why wouldn't you take a nice holiday in Rhizome, they got some relaxing spas for rampant old bucketheads like you..."
But Zurg never heard the end of the sentence under his sudden emotional rage. Did that leg-lacking stump think he was some floppy old pumpkin who had place for nothing any more? He could not see that Zeb was referring to his habits to cause trouble and act utterly stupidly in certain situations. Just like back in the times of the Gate case: After the Portal to the adverse galaxy had been shut, and the enemy ships had evaporated during the dimension opener's self-destruct mechanism, that royal had acted up at Star Command. A pack of villains had still kept the Headquarters in their jelly clutches, and he with Team Lightyear had infiltrated the Base in order to free it. What a mess it had been... the goofy male had run wild around his full Zurg costume on, including the helmet, which he had snatched with from Mariañ's office. The lobelias had been dumped away, and the Emperor had announced that if he kept it on, nobody would recognize his face. Nonetheless, after the hullabaloo was over, Capital Planet's gutter press blazed in their tabloids that 'Zurg had been seen alive at Star Command Headquarters, fighting side by side with Buzz Lightyear'. Luckily nobody had really believed those headlines, and Zeb's grumpy explainings about seeing swamp gas and weather balloons had been far more plausible.
But still.
Yet, Zurg was initially gathering a raven thundercloud above his head. Nobody would doubt his strength! His dark eyes sparked with fury, and a horrible harangue escaped from his wide-open, grimacing mouth. "WHAT? Are you pathetic pitiful snipe claiming that I have no strength any more? WHAT? I am the glorious, all-powerful Emperor Lightyear and I am in the powers of my youth! Graaarrrrrgggghhhhhh!" His both fists in the air, he bellowed to the far shorter man, who tried protecting himself from Zurg's wild-flying spit. But this was not enough. Zora went on ripping forcibly his other sleeve up so that the canvas got torn and the cuff links bounced off, flying next across the room. He stuck his bare arm in front of Nebula's nose, tapping his steel-hard huge bicep with a tip of long finger, hissing, "I can lift huge rocks with my plain hands, twist thick metal bars into rosettes, and bake the most delicious muffins of the Quadrant! Huh? Huh! I am the master of the universe! Do you wish to see how I still have the knack of the Althuzian Death Grip? I learned it perfectly in my Dark Padawan Training thirty years ago! I was the youngest in centuries in the whole Zeta Quadrant to study such advanced Dark Arts!" And as if this shower of self-praises had not been enough, the nutcase began to strike odd karate poses and utter ominous karate sounds in the middle floor.
Commander Nebula buried his head in his hands, trying not to see the whole loony theatre. It was like talking to a brick wall; Z. Z. Lightyear became ever crazier. Buzz was like a serene sheep beside his father, if the obstinacy rates were compared. Just hopeless. Was Zeb's only option to give up, again? And where were the wormholes when one was needed? His cheeks were becoming redder and redder with sheer embarrassment, as Zora did not show even minor signs of quitting the martial arts exhibition. He wanted so much to put an end to this more than imbecile insanity.
But obviously Booster and XR were thinking of the same.
"Alright, alright, A-Okay, how about this way, Pater? We do this one more time what the Genghis Khan wishes. Now, peace, flowers, chocolate cakes, and no more fighting! Thank you." The android had come in the middle, and stretched out his metallic legs so that his head was on Zora's eyelevel. The Commander behind the robot wiped his forehead, sighing hard with frustration. The Emperor stopped the karate movements, crossed his arms over his chest, and left an angry snort through his nostrils. If he had been a dragon, little flames could have been seen coming out.
"Sweet mother of Venus, anything! Just get that pigheaded showoff out of my office! And you better to be right with your dark lord alarm! And you", Zeb pointed at the mecha, "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me your father!"
"Sure thing, Dad!" XR saluted and grabbed the old royal by his arm, "Now you got your mission again. Let's go before we know all these funky Jackie Chan tricks by heart."
--Kaon--
Fifteen minutes had passed since Zurg had for the first time ringed Buzz' doorbell. The house was completely abandoned-looking. Curtains were drawn over every single window, and the morning post was still stuffed in the mailbox. Booster and XR stood under a cherry tree eyeing at one another in perfect amazement. Had that grand vizier of a batty bug paradise actually been right? As ridiculous as it sounded like, the piece of deviant art seemed to have its point. If Buzz really was sick, he would most likely be at home and open up. Even if the Captain had snoozed, he would have perked awake in a few seconds due to Zora's yell-and-bang door-knocking style. Also, there was no sign of Yoka-hanen anywhere. Should not at least she be perching somewhere nearby, doing chores for her bed-tied mate?
"We shall get in. XR! Pick the lock!" the purple-worshipper snarled.
"B-but Sir, we can't just break into Buzz' house!" Munchapper protested horrified.
"I am waiting for the sniveling minions to give better ideas of how to get in", Zurg folded his arms across his chest. A great load of clothing had vanished from over him; otherwise in this summer heat he would have been roasted. Also the terrifying headpiece had been left inside Forty-Two. Thus Booster dared to be braver with his speech; the ominously uncanny ex-darksider looked a bit less ominously uncanny.
"Well, what if we take the classic point of view and check the backdoor?" the android suggested.
This actually indicated to be a good means. Odd as it was, the target of speech was unlocked and opened feather-lightly.
Inside reigned another panorama. Clearly nobody was at home, it was futile to holler any names. The chambers were unlit, the air felt stuffy. Every item stagnated in the same places as last Friday; even the same unwashed dishes were growing greenish mildew in the kitchen. The remnants of a half-drunk coffee stood cold on the dining table. Somehow, the atmosphere appeared as if someone had left the house in a great haste.
A cold feeling filled Booster, a slight stutter found its way into XR's accent.
Was Zurg really right...? If so, what on Saturn had happened?
"Sensors indicate: very spooky", the robot nodded at himself while caterpillaring around the first-floor rooms. Munchapper stood rather shiftless in one nook, whereas the Emperor was sniffing every wastebasket and dust particle. Clearly he was looking for something but surprisingly now kept his cake hole shut.
Actually, a great stoneload of worries had been suddenly piled inside his chest. He had hoped to be wrong with his ill-omened sensations... but apparently the joy and laughter were meant to die. This was the first time he had gotten in to his son's house after the odd news about Yoka.
And it was just as he had feared. No woman had resided in this household in ages. And now even his only son seemed to have experienced the same fate? On the top of that, Ranger Mira Nova glowed with her absence.
"You two lackeys! Look around and do not just loiter there when the eternal darkness is falling above the universe! You shall look for anything peculiar. I will go upstairs."
Rather slothful the duo remained to stroll in circles around the living-room.
"What do you think could have happened to our ex-cap? My sensors indicate: spookier than spooky", the mecha mused.
"Uh well I don't know. I hope he's alright, wherever he is!"
Suddenly there was a creak in the shadows.
Something was moving in the kitchen. Something other than Emperor Zurg.
...to be continued...