Wander over Yonder Season 3-21

Lord Dominator once ruled the top spot of the galactic villain leaderboard with the heaviest of iron fists. Since her falling however, the top spot was there for anyone to take. Unsurprisingly, the very vessel responsible for helping to topple the green villainess, The Doom Moon, was wasting no time filling in the power vacuum left at the top.

Among the founders and current leadership of this new, powerful spaceship was the ever-hateful Lord Hater and his sidekick Commander Peepers.

"I spy with my little eye yet another jewel to be added to my glorious crown!" Lord Hater announces inside the Doom Moon's command room after having arrived at a planet ripe for conquest.

"Oh! My turn to announce their doom?" Emperor Awesome asks eager to do his part.

"The microphone's all yours!" Commander Peepers answers.

"Awesome!" Emperor Awesome celebrates before stepping in front of a camera designed for projecting a villain's image. "Greetings nerds!" the planet-sized projection of Awesome announces. "Are you ready to rock!?"

"Emperor Awesome! Everybody panic!" horse-like residents exclaim before galloping around in a panic.

"Gonna need my disco ball. Have it running by the time I get down there. My audience eagerly awaits!" Emperor Awesome says before heading for his limo-shaped ship and descending on the planet.

"Disco ball mode!" Hater says before, at the press of a button, the Doom Moon began to rotate shining and glimmering very much like a disco ball and joining in on the intricate array of lights and loud music Awesome was subjecting his victims to.

"Having fun, Hater?" Sourdough the Evil Sandwich suddenly speaks up from a different part of the command room. Standing by Sourdough was Little Bits not looking too pleased.

"Yeah, why? Aren't you?" Hater asks very casually.

"Oh this is swell and nice and all" Sourdough answers sarcastically, "but Dominator is still out there! Her and her ship is still out there!"

"Yeah? And?" Hater asks.

"This ship was made for destwoying Dominataa!" Little Bits reminded Hater. "Why haven't we destwoyed Dominataa yet!?"

"Relax!" Hater requests. "We took care of her last time. Did you forget?"

"I don't like leaving jobs half done!" Sourdough reveals. "Let's tie up any loose ends before they become unruly!"

Before Hater could respond, Peepers jumps in.

"Even if we wanted to, we currently don't know where she is" Peepers updates. "She got away from us last time. For the time being, we will continue conquering planets. We're bound to run into her sooner or later. It's the best we can do."

Sourdough and Little Bits look at each other impatiently.

"...Fine" Little Bits says simply. "The moment we wocate her better be the moment we anniwihiate-anniwhiiate-aniwiha-aniwihate-"

"Hehehehe!" Hater giggles at Little Bits's adorable struggles.

"DESTWOY her!" Little Bits finishes angrily.

"All I ask for is patience" Peepers requests. "With her missing, there's little we can do."

"Argh!" Sourdough growls impatiently. "...Great! We have no choice it seems... How irritating!"

"I want her gone as much as the next guy" Peepers admits. "But we gotta find her first..."

"I know and it's infuriating!" Sourdough growls.

"In the meantime, sandwich" Hater says.

"Sourdough! The name is Sourdough!" Sourdough corrects.

"Whatever! Let's just be happy we have come so far" Hater says showing the evil sandwich the current villain leaderboards. The Doom Moon was at the top accruing a steady supply of planets, a supply that dwarfed all other villain conquests in the same leaderboard. "And let us see how much farther we can go!"

"Fine! I'll be putting out a bounty for Dominator and her minions then" Sourdough claims.

"That's a good idea, actually" Peepers admits. "Well done."

-=episode title=-

THE DOWN TIME

-=episode title=-

"Your bedroom" a Dombot said after helping escort Dominator to one of her old rooms in her former Domship.

"..Thanks" Dominator responds after the wall to her room turned to magma and opened up allowing entry.

Considering how enraged her Dombots had been when they drove Dominator out of her own ship, Dominator was not surprised to find her room ravaged: her bed had been torn apart, her television and computer shattered, her drawers ransacked. The floor was littered with torn clothes, shattered glass, and broken pieces of unknown materials. On one of the walls, there was a crude drawing of Dominator with an 'X' over it.

Likely owing to the ship's regenerative properties, the windows to the room were still intact and made a pleasant pitter-patter sound when struck with the falling rain drops outside. Dominator caught sight of rays of light in the distance piercing through the thick rain clouds, a beautiful sight she was not used to catching.

"Knock knock!" Wander's voice came through the portion of the wall where a door would usually be.

Dominator panicked for a moment fearful Wander would see the room in such a poor state but figured there was no point worrying. Wander wasn't the type to care, he'd probably just want to help clean up she figured.

The wall turns to magma and opens up allowing Wander entry.

"Hello Dee! How's it going?" Wander asks.

"Not too well. My room's seen better days" Dominator answers.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Let me help you clean up" Wander says pulling out broom and dust pan out of his hat.

With Wander's help, quick work was made of tidying up.

"Never in many eons did I ever think my- I mean your Dombots would ever have turned on me like this" Dominator admits while encasing broken glass in magma for easy lifting.

"Well, any and all ill treatment only turns into resentment" Wander instructs.

"I'm seeing that now... But it's strange. I never programmed this behavior in them. I never thought they'd actually resort to graffiti like this" Dominator says indicating the crude drawing on her wall.

"Maybe you've been underestimating them all this time?" Wander suggests.

"Clearly I have... They were always meant to be mindless killing machines that obeyed my every order..."

"And now you see there was a heart in them all along" Wander said sagely.

"Yeah. And it scares me!"

"Scares you?" Wander asks.

"They have reason to dislike me and now they're unpredictable too" Dominator explains. "Unpredictable is scary!"

"Life in general is unpredictable" Wander says with a smile. "I never expected to be called 'Lord Wander' at any point and yet it happened! Ever think you'd be helping bring a desolate planet to life?"

"No, not at all."

"Ya see?" Wander reasons. "Life can be filled with plenty of surprises. And don't worry too much. Over time, if you're good to them, the Dombots should warm up to you."

"...I hope so..." Dominator says.

Looking outside, Wander notices a post-rainstorm sunshine starting to illuminate the planet.

"And looks like the rain has slowed down and the sun's coming out" Wander observes. "A stroll through the land would be perfect! What do you say we go for a walk?"

"A walk?" Dominator asks.

"Yep! No better time than now and we'll get to see how our seeds are coming along" Wander said.

"O-okay" Dominator agrees. "...J-just you and me?"

"No, let's go see if Syl wants to go" Wander says.

"..Oh..." Dominator emits half-disappointed, half-relieved.

With Dominator's room cleaned up, the two head for another room where Sylvia was singing karaoke with a number of Dombots.

"You two go ahead" Sylvia says after Wander's invitation. "I never knew some of these Dombots were so into karaoke! They're so my kind of people! Or, erm, my kind of bots."

"Alrighty then! See ya later Syl" Wander says after Sylvia turned down the invitation. "Just the two of us then."

"Y-yeah. J-just the two of us" Dominator repeats as she and Wander headed for the ship exit.

Once outside, the two are treated with a lovely sight: though there was a light drizzle, numerous beams of light were piercing the dissipating clouds above. These light beams helped to illuminate the ground below which was looking less dull and gray and more vibrant with green and occasional patches of flowery coloring. Looking at the ground before her, Dominator confirms the beginnings of blades of grass.

The planet looked to be well on its way to become as lush and lively as many other living, breathing planets in the galaxy.

Wander inhaled loudly and deeply before exhaling similarly.

"Smell that morning air!" Wander sung. "Nothing like morning air after a refreshing shower!"

Dominator takes a deep breath, refreshingly cool air infiltrating her lungs.

"Smells rejuvenating. I'm feeling re-energized!" Dominator comments to which Wander smiles.

"That's why morning air can be so great! Look around with pride at what we've built, Dee!" Wander instructs. Dominator does so leaving her wordlessly awestruck at how much more life the once desolate planet had been gifted. "Now off we go!" Wander says grabbing hold of Dominator's hand and leading the way.

Dominator wasn't used to people holding her hand but Wander's hand was too warm and soft for her to complain.

"Where are we going?" Dominator asks.

"Wherever the heart takes us" Wander answers.

Dominator opens her mouth only to close it right after. What Wander had said sounded too romantic for her to know how to respond. Domination was what Dominator knew best and romance was what she knew least.

"I-is this a date!?" Dominator almost asked Wander but stopped herself thinking it would have sounded awkward. "A-a date with Wander!?... N-no! There's no way! I would never date Wander! Totally ridiculous!" Dominator objected in thought but she made no effort to stop Wander leading her by the hand. Wander's hand felt too nice to stop holding.

"Wh-where are we going?" a now light-headed Dominator asked again, her legs feeling weak.

"We're going to wherever you and I can finally fall in love."

Dominator wasn't sure if she had imagined those words but next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground.

"Dominator! You okay!?" Wander's voice asked with alarm.

"Wh-what happened?" Dominator asks regaining consciousness.

"You fainted!" Wander said while fanning her.

"I did?" Dominator asks sitting up slowly.

"Yeah. Did I rush you too much back there? I'm sorry" Wander says to which Dominator shakes her head. "You have a fever?" Wander then asked placing the back of his hand on the green villainess' forehead.

"I'm okay" Dominator insists.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure" Dominator says stubbornly.

"You wanna go back to the ship?"

"No, I'm okay" Dominator insists again.

"Okay but we're stopping here. I don't want you fainting on me again" Wander says before laying out a picnic blanket and affixing an umbrella above it.

"Wh-what did you say?" Dominator dares to ask.

"Huh?"

"Before I fainted?"

"Umm, oh! You asked where we were going. I said we're going to enjoy a picnic feast made with plenty of love. Right after a nice stroll, of course."

"...O-oh" Dominator emits.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious" Dominator answers. "..I swear I'm hearing things" she thought as Wander pulls a picnic basket out of his hat.

"That said, it's picnic time! Hope you're hungry" Wander says pulling out and handing over a hoagie. The hoagie was wrapped neatly in snow-white handkerchiefs, wrapped so neatly that Dominator almost didn't want to undo the handkerchiefs.

"..Thanks" Dominator said having a seat next to the orange wanderer.

"You're very welcome!"

"..Delicious!~" Dominator praises after a bite. "S-so warm and moist!"

"Glad you like it!"

"Oh!~ How I've missed his cooking!" an overjoyed Dominator thought to herself.

The two continued eating and enjoying the peaceful quiet of a planet on its way to greener prosperity.

"...This planet's coming along nicely but it would look nicer with some wildlife" Dominator says. "I recall seeing orange deer with green antlers on another planet. I think they'd do great here!"

"That would present its fair share of challenges but certainly something to look into in the future" Wander says.

"And this planet doesn't have a name by the way. We should name it" Dominator suggests.

"..That's a good idea!" Wander says. "What should we name it?"

"That's the hard part isn't it?"

"Yep! Always is" Wander agrees.

"Erm, I'm not very good at this... Leafville?" Dominator says shrugging.

"Hehehe! That sounds like the name of a city."

"I told you I was bad at this" Dominator defends with another shrug.

"...How about Gardenia?" Wander suggests after a moment of thought.

"Gardenia... I like it! Let's go with that."

"Great! I'll be sure to run it by Sylvia and the Dombots for final approval. I think they should get a say too."

Dominator moves to bite her hoagie only to realize she had finished it. She wasn't too surprised: she had fallen in love with Wander's cooking on day one. "...Wander, how'd you ever get so good at cooking?"

"I don't know, I just cook for people who are important to me" Wander says. "I think that's the secret to a great dish! When it's done for someone who matters a lot to you, and you hold them close to your heart, they will love it!"

Dominator had heard this philosophy before: something about infusing food with love. Dominator was too distracted by Wander to recall it accurately.

"Oh! Still hungry?" Wander asks noticing Dominator had finished her food. "Well I got dessert ready earlier and it's just waiting to be enjoyed!"

Wander pulls out two fruit smoothies out of the picnic basket.

"I'm almost done with my hoagie" Wander says handing over Dominator's smoothie. "I should be able to join you for dessert shortly."

"You make this yourself?" Dominator asked accepting the fruity beverage.

"Yep!" Wander reveals.

"..Of course he did" Dominator thought fondly before thoroughly enjoying Wander's smoothie.

Dominator had never really had someone like Wander in her life. She had certainly done plenty to drive many away, Wander included and now she understood how lucky she was to have someone like him by her side. Sitting beside him, she felt close to the orange nomad and only wanted to get even closer, to feel him pressing up against her and feel herself pressing up against him, feel his warmth coalesce with her own. This was a desire she had never had for anyone else before in her life.

Dominator spots Wander's hand atop the picnic blanket. The sight made her want to hold that same hand thus an increasingly pink-faced Dominator moves to place her hand over his. Wander lifts his hand up and away at the last second.

"Hey! I think that's a river!" Wander says using his hand like a visor. "Once you feel better, let's go check it out!"

Dominator wasn't interested in a river, she was interested in Wander. Dominator's people skills weren't the best but she was also Lord Dominator and when Lord Dominator wants something, she reaches out and takes it. Lord Dominator dominates!

"We should go rafting on one-" Wander was interrupted by Dominator suddenly grabbing him and laying him down, his head resting atop her lap. "D-Dee?"

"You talk too much" Dominator criticizes.

"I'm sorry, was I rambling?" Wander asks looking up at Dominator.

"Sort of" Dominator says, her hand resting on Wander's chest. "I mean rafting sounds nice but I'm not really in the mood for that right now..."

"Oh... What are you in the mood for?" Wander asked.

Dominator looked like she wanted to tell Wander something slightly scandalous during a drawn-out quiet.

"I'm in the mood for... just talking about us" Dominator says stoically.

"About us?"

"Yeah... Do you like resting on my lap?"

"Yeah! Your lap is really nice!" Wander compliments eagerly.

"Good. Saw it in a magazine once and figured I'd give it a try..."

Wander giggles. "So do you like it?"

Dominator could feel her heart beating powerfully. "Yeah. It's nice" Dominator answers feeling almost as light as air. "So Wander, what do you like about me?"

Wander makes a face as if he'd always wanted Dominator to ask him that question. Perfect chance to shower her with compliments. "You have very lovely green skin and you have a cool hairstyle! And you have cool black drippings under your eyes! Super stylish!"

"What do you like the 'most' about me?"

"That's not an easy question, I like many things about you!"

"You 'would' say that" Dominator says.

"Okay, I definitely like that you've become a better person" Wander says. "I can feel you really trying your best! I love people who try to better themselves and when people better themselves, they better the world around them too!"

Dominator lifts Wander up and wraps her arms around the orange nomad.

"Hehehe! You're in a hugging mood today!" Wander giggles more in Dominator's embrace. "Now you tell me what you like the most about me."

"That you're too good for me" Dominator readily whispers in Wander's ear. "Too good for me and still, here you are... I'm very lucky and it makes me very happy. You make me happy."

"It makes me happy that I make you happy" Wander says.

"This is called 'cuddling', right?" Dominator asks.

"Yep!"

"Cuddling. I could get used to this" Dominator learns.

"I've always been used to this!" Wander says.

"...Let's cuddle for a while. I like cuddling" Dominator admits holding Wander as close as she could.

"If you wish" Wander agrees.

Not in several millenia did Dominator think she'd be so touchy-feely with Wander atop a picnic blanket but Wander felt too soft and warm in the planet's chilly atmosphere for Dominator to be able to resist. Dominator had tried to destroy Wander in the past and now, she had never been more glad she had failed in her attempts to destroy the little orange nomad.