The Galactic Villain Leaderboard was a leaderboard used across the galaxy to keep track of which villain was the most villainous. For a long time, Lord Dominator dominated the very top of this metric until the destruction of both her ship and armies at the hands of Lord Hater with some help from Sylvia and Commander Peepers. Afterwards, Dominator quickly fell down the rankings and almost faded from a forgetful galaxy's memory.
This state of affairs was not to last however for with a bit of Wander's help, Dominator's ship and armies eventually returned to start wreaking havoc across the galaxy once more. The first of Dominator's victims was the evil talking sandwich known as Sourdough followed by Little Bits, an evil kitten that hypnotized victims with her eyes. These victories granted her two planets to her leaderboard tally but she still wanted, needed, and demanded more.
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THE REUNION
-=episode title=-
"Lord Dominator! You will not claim an inch from any of my planets!" Kragthar of Kraaaaagtttthh, a demon-like alien with sharp teeth, tusks, hoofed feet, and large flaming horns growled at Lord Dominator's fully-armored form.
"You have no say in that, Kradgar!" Lord Dominator retorts, both standing atop one of Kragthar's planets. "I take whatever planet I please! Ahahahaha!"
"No no! It's Kragthar!" Kragthar corrects. "Kragthar of Kraaaaagtttthh."
"Kragdar?" Lord Dominator says attempting to understand Kragthar's odd speech patterns.
"No, it's Kragthar" Kragthar corrects once again. "It starts with a 'k' you see and there's a 'th' in the middle."
"Kragtar" Dominator tries again.
"You're close! Real close! Say it with me now! Kragthar!"
"...Loser" Dominator mocks. "How's that?"
"No no no! It's-" Kragthar corrects before a giant magma fist punches him away, "Kragthaaaaar!"
On command, the drill on Dominator's Domship drills into Kragthar's planet securing it for Dominator on the villain leaderboards.
Dominator's hunger for planets only sped up and next to cross paths with the green galactic menace was Something the So and So, a villain known for his notorious indecisiveness. Consistent with his indecisive nature, this villain wore a hodgepodge of various mismatching clothes like a propellor beanie, red pajamas, purple oven mitt on one hand, green glove on the other, and a brass pot for a helmet.
When Dominator arrived to Something's planet, Something was struggling to find a proper spot for one of his statues.
"N-no, I think this spot is okay... But then again, maybe the last spot is better? Or something?" Something said while planet natives pushed the statue about.
With a loud crash, Dominator lands behind Something causing him to spin around and behold Dominator's frightening form.
"Surrender or be destroyed!" Dominator demands through her robotic voice.
"Oh! Oh man!" Something says unsure of how to respond. "So I guess we gotta fight now or maybe I should just surrender? I don't know" he says rubbing the back of his head. "If I fight, how should I fight? Maybe with some big weapons? But do I even have big weapons?.. I don't know, honestly. Oh man!"
"Dude! How did you even get this far?" Dominator asks.
"I'm not sure, I think I got lucky or something" Something the So and So answers. "Or maybe I did really well! Maybe I don't really know my own strength or something?"
"So are you gonna resist or are you surrendering this planet?" Dominator asks.
"I, I, I'm gonna fight!" Something says. "...Or maybe I shouldn't?"
Dominator sighs.
"Okay, you figure this all out in your own time" Dominator says before snapping her fingers. At once, two large Knight Dombots pick Something up and drop him into a rocket.
"I, I guess I should, maybe" Something says before the rocket blasts off taking Something with it.
With Something the So and So out of Dominator's hair, Dominator drills into the planet without interruption.
Yet another planet is added to her tally on the villain leaderboards.
Dominator's return to the top was steady and unstoppable as she charged full steam ahead towards the top knocking down villains along the way, some more obscure than others, like General Puff-n-Stuff and his marshmallow army, Those Two Guys from that Time, and Granny.
Meanwhile, on more peaceful parts of the galaxy in a park, Wander and Whirry were spending quality time as friends.
"Go long buddy!" Wander exclaims before tossing a ball across a grassy field. Whirry, Wander's puppy friend who was actually Dombot 98, a spy for Dominator in a puppy disguise, runs and leaps to catch the ball. "Great catch Whirry!"
Whirry, with ball in mouth, spins around and tosses the ball back Wander's way.
"I got it! I got it!" Wander says running back, arms stretched out. "Got it! Hahaha! Awesome throw pal!"
Nearby, Sylvia had just finished assembling a kite.
"Hey you two! Check this out!" Sylvia says holding up the kite.
"Wow! A kite!" Wander celebrates. "Send it flying Syl!"
"Heard loud and clear" Sylvia says and after a jog with kite string in hand, the kite ascended rapidly.
"Will you look at that Whirry! Isn't that something?" Wander asks his puppy friend.
"M-may I try?" Whirry asks in his disguised, child-like voice.
"I don't see why not" Sylvia says and hands some string to Whirry who holds on with his mouth. "If you wanna send it high up, pull on the string during large gusts of wind."
With a tug, Whirry sends the kite flying ever higher.
"Wow!" Wander cheers, "Whirry, look how high you got it!"
"Excellent job!" Sylvia praises.
"Thank you" Whirry thanks before he is lifted up by the soaring kite's string.
"Whoa!" Sylvia lets out.
"I gotcha!" Wander says catching Whirry before Whirry is lifted too high up. "Not to worry Whirry! Hehe! I got ya" the orange nomad assures.
"Thank you again" Whirry responds gently.
"Any time buddy!" Wander says. "Now let's take things slowly. Wouldn't want you get carried away by the wind now would we?"
With Whirry firmly secured in Wander's arms, the kite flying continues before the kite leads the three to a small racing track with Piks racing about on go karts.
"Go karts!" Wander howls with excitement.
"Go karts?" Whirry asks.
"Go karts!" Wander repeats. "Let's go kart racing!"
"Certainly looks like fun" Sylvia says watching the karts speeding about the track.
"Then let's go!" Wander says pointing towards a stand labeled 'go kart rentals' in front of a kart-filled parking lot.
"Wait up buddy!" Sylvia says after Wander, unable to help himself, breaks out into a run.
"One go kart please!" Wander directs at the Pik attendant behind the kart rental stand.
"Yeah, sure" the Pik attendant says more interested in her magazine.
"Make that two go karts" Sylvia speaks up.
"Is it okay if I bring my puppy pal Whirry with me?" Wander asked.
"Sure, whatever" the Pik attendant answers too engrossed by her reading.
With helmets ready, Wander and Sylvia climb aboard respective go karts, Whirry sharing a ride with Wander.
"Ya know, I'm suddenly feeling really competitive right now" Sylvia says getting a feel for the steering wheel. "Hey Wander, ready to eat my dust?"
"I'm ready for a good, clean, fun race!" Wander informs happily. "That said, safety should always come first" Wander says before securing a helmet onto Whirry's head.
All racers gather up behind starting lines in the middle of a racing track.
"Racers! On your mark" announces an attractive purple alien woman standing beside the track and wearing racing stripes, "Get set... GO!"
Sylvia steps on the gas and takes off along with most other racers while Wander quickly falls behind.
"Out of my way losers! This Zbornak is bagging gold!" Sylvia says quick to gain the lead.
"Slow and steady wins the race" Wander says, "but most important of all, just have fun!"
The race was an aggressive one with Sylvia leading the way speeding past various spectators and drifting around tight turns.
"After you! After you! No no no, I'll go right after you!" Wander directs at racers racing past him displaying no dismay by his falling behind. "Hey Syl! Don't go too fast, we should all just be having fun!"
"I'm in it to win it!" was Sylvia's reply.
"..M-may I try?" Whirry suddenly asks.
"O-oh! I'm so sorry Whirry! I didn't mean to hog the kart" Wander apologizes before allowing Whirry the wheel.
Whirry, bothered by their kart's place at last, sneaks an injection of Volcanium X out of his puppy disguise and into the kart's gas tank.
"Hold on tight" Whirry tells Wander and almost immediately, the kart explodes with speed.
"Whoooooaaaaooooooaaaa!" Wander lets out. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Really sorry!" he apologizes after passing up several racers cutting off a great many of them along the way.
"Wander!? Whirry!? How the heck!?" Sylvia speaks up after finding her two friends suddenly passing her.
"Hiya Sylvia!" Wander greets. "Who knew Whirry was such an amazing racer? Yeehaaw! See ya at the finish line I guess!"
Once the race was over, Wander and Whirry were presented with a small, plastic toy trophy by the attractive purple alien.
"Thank you very much" Wander says accepting the gold-colored plastic trophy. "But as long as we're all having fun, that's what should matter most of all."
"Easy for first place to say" Sylvia chastises with arms folded. "Whatever, silver's more my color anyways" was Sylvia's response to a plastic, silver trophy.
"Whirry! I had no idea you could drive like that!" Wander praises. "This should belong to you by the way" he says handing over the plastic trophy.
"...My trophy?" Whirry asks incredulous. He was unsure he had ever won anything under Dominator's rule.
"Of course! You won that race more than me" Wander says handing the trinket over.
"Th-thank you... Friend" Whirry says.
"Any time buddy!" Wander says hugging.
"How the heck did you do that back there!?" Sylvia asked Whirry who was unsure how to respond at first.
"P-power of friendship?" Whirry answered after some quick-thinking.
"Yes! Power of friendship conquers all! Woohoo!" Wander cheers.
"It can supercharge a kart too apparently" Sylvia says rolling her eyes.
The three then walk into a fashion store and head for the pets section. "Been meaning to get one of these for you Whirry" Wander says fastening a dog collar around Whirry's neck.
"Looking good Whirry" Sylvia compliments.
"What do you think Whirry?" Wander says holding up a mirror. Bot 98 sees a reflection of his puppy disguise with a dog collar around the neck. From the collar hung a pendant that allowed for a photo to be slipped in for display.
"Thank you again, friend" Whirry thanks yet again, his voice softer than ever.
"No need to thank me. That's what friends and family do after all" Wander lectures.
"..Friends? Family?" Whirry asks.
"That's right!" Wander confirms before hugging Whirry. "More than just a puppy! You're family and friend and family and friends look after each other!"
"Heya guys, what do you think?" Sylvia asks after turning a corner wearing a pearl necklace.
"Syl, you look great!" Wander was quick to compliment.
"Thanks! Whirry looking pretty snazzy himself in that collar" Sylvia compliments.
"Definitely" Wander says. "Just wait 'til we slip in a photo into the pendant and it'll be perfect!"
After purchase, the three head for a photo booth outside and enter.
"So how we doing this?" Sylvia asks.
"Figure Whirry could sit on my lap" Wander suggests.
"That would be good" Whirry agrees.
"I'm the tallest so I'll be in the back" Sylvia says.
"Say cheese!" Wander says and the first picture is taken.
"Okay, that was the 'serious' picture" Wander says in a serious tone. "Now come the fun and silly ones!"
The three take three more pictures: the first of these three pictures featured Wander giving Sylvia and Whirry bunny ears while Sylvia did the same to Wander and Whirry. For the second, Wander climbs atop Sylvia's saddle and places Whirry atop his own back as though he too were wearing a saddle. For the third picture, all three swap accessories: Whirry is wearing Wander's hat, Sylvia is wearing Whirry's collar, and Wander is wearing Sylvia's pearl necklace.
Once the booth had printed out the pictures, all three find themselves seated on a bench reviewing the photos.
"Haha! We look great!" Sylvia lauds.
"So Whirry, which would you like in your collar pendant?" Wander asks.
"..This one" Whirry answers indicating the bunny ears photo.
"Excellent choice!" Wander says and after some quick work with scissors, he affixes the photo into Whirry's pendant. "Well Syl? How does our friend look?"
"Wander, I think he looks amazing in that pendant!" Sylvia lauds.
"Th-thank you Sylvia" Whirry says, "you look good in your necklace!"
"My oh my! I'm so happy you feel that way Whirry!" Sylvia says flattered. "That's very kind of you to say. Thank you!.. Wander, what's the matter?"
Looking over to Wander, Sylvia had noticed tears in Wander's eyes.
"I-I'm sorry Syl, I was just reminded of Beep Boop" Wander answers drying his eyes.
"Beep Boop?.. Oh yeah, Beep Boop" Sylvia says recalling the first Dombot Wander made friends with some time ago.
"I just hope he's doing okay... Wherever he is" Wander says reaching into his hat and pulling out a series of photos he had taken with the friendly Dominator henchman.
"...Beep Boop?" Whirry repeats and upon looking at Wander's photos is shocked to find that Beep Boop was Bot 13, a bot Dominator had tossed out of her ship after Bot 13's failure. "B-Bot 13!?"
"Bot 13?" Wander and Sylvia repeat at the same time.
"Whirry, you know of this bot?" Sylvia asked curiously.
"I... I... I... I have a confession to make" Whirry announces. After checking to make sure Dominator was not looking, Whirry removes his puppy disguise revealing he was Bot 98 to the collective gasps of Wander and Sylvia.
"You're a Dominator Bot!?" Sylvia says with shock.
"Y-yes" Whirry confirms sounding ashamed.
"Why reveal yourself Whirry?" Wander asks.
"I, I want to help you locate Beep Boop" Whirry says.
"You know where he is!?" Wander asks with urgency. "Is he okay!?"
"No, he is not okay" Whirry confirms.
"What!?" Wander almost panics. "What's wrong with him!?"
"Dominator ejected him out of her ship" Whirry answers.
"Please! Take us to him!" Wander almost begged.
Encased in a bubble and recalling the travel log of its Galactic Positioning System, Whirry lead the other two to a planet with an asteroid belt. With its antenna, Whirry began to send signals out probing the many asteroids orbiting the planet.
"Is Beep Boop on one of these asteroids?" Sylvia asked while Wander visually scanned the same asteroids.
"He was ejected out towards this planet... This way" Whirry responds leading towards a particularly large asteroid which they began to fly over and survey.
"...There!" Sylvia exclaims pointing towards a small heap of scrap metal and with rapidity, the three approach.
"Beep Boop!" Wander lets out once it was clear the heap was a Dombot's burnt remains.
"Hold on! Let me see" Whirry advises and Wander resists every urge to hug the remains enough to get out of the way.
Whirry begins a scanning of the wreckage.
"...Is he okay?" Sylvia asks.
"Please be okay! Please be okay!" Wander begs while squeezing his hat tightly.
"...He's okay" Whirry confirms.
"Oh thank Grop!" Sylvia says.
"But just barely" Whirry adds.
"What do we do?" Wander questions.
"He'll need some Volcanium X" Whirry says.
"Volcanium X, got it!" Wander says nodding his head. "Where do we get it!?"
"Not to worry, I will give him some of my own" Whirry says and a robotic arm with a red-glowing syringe at the end extends out of Whirry's body. The syringe needle pokes into Beep Boop's remnants imbuing it with the syringe's reddish glow as the Volcanium X enters Beep Boop.
What was moments ago unlit and immobile remnants were slowly infiltrated by the Volcanium X and the cracked camera lens forming Beep Boop's eye mended itself. Beep Boop's body releases magma which spreads out to reform his internal components and metallic body but the lens had yet to light up with life.
Whirry then attaches another cable into Beep Boop.
"Diagnosing..." Whirry declares with Wander's hands clenched together with worry. "Bot 13 identified... Fixing operating system... BIOS and system rebooting..."
As part of Whirry's efforts to bring back Beep Boop from destruction, memories were exchanged between the two Dombots. Through this, Whirry learned of Beep Boop's interactions with Wander. He learned of Wander helping Beep Boop after Beep Boop had crashed on a vacation planet, of the two having ice cream together, and participating in other fun activities like bicycling, searching for treasure, and riding a roller coaster. Beep Boop also learned of Whirry's friendly interactions with Wander like flying a kite, racing together, and Wander accepting him so readily after the puppy disguise was removed.
"I... am... Beep Boop" the now-recovered Bot 13 declares.
"Beep Boop!" Wander exclaims teary-eyed pulling Beep Boop into a big hug. "Oh Beep Boop! I'm so glad you're okay!" Wander then turns to Whirry and pulls him in to hug him just the same. "I love you two so much!"
Beep Boop looks over at Whirry and Whirry looks back. The two then extend their robotic arms to return Wander's warm hug.
"You have no idea how happy this makes me! It really does!" Wander admits with tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Oh, you three are too adorable!" Sylvia, herself near tears, celebrates. "Come here!" she says wrapping her arms around Wander and the two Dombots.
"I-I'm so glad you're okay!" Wander repeats sobbing.
All four eventually left the asteroid belt where Beep Boop was found near death. During their return, both Dombots recalled Dominator blasting some of her bots out of boredom and ejecting bots out of her Domship condemning them to a fiery grave for failure, a fate once imposed on Bot 13 and now-gone Bot 42. These memories contrasted drastically with memories of Wander's friendship and kind deeds, both small and large.
These were deeds that Beep Boop or Bot 13 and Whirry or Bot 98 would make sure to not keep secret or not ever forget.
Author's note: how many here ever look up villain names when they come across them? Maybe I should start pointing out references lest people miss me including canon villains into this fic. I worry people become confused by the references to Kragthar of Kraaaaagtttthh or Something the So and So for example.
