A/N The events of that were straight up intended to happen and planned to happen but the method of how they happened weren't known at the time. I always intended for the events to occur 14 years afterwards instead of ten years after. I wanted to keep that 14 year bit up my sleeve so I put it under a different number in terms of major events while the federation president is lying to Zurg's face.
Songs to listen to:
Daughtery - September
Daughtery - Gone Too Soon
Daughtery - Home
Jordin Sparks - One Step At A Time.
Terror kept the Evil Emperor awake all night long. It stretched on for days, remaining there, for extra measure by the brain pods presumably. He didn't sleep an inch. Once certain that the time had elapsed, he waited, patiently, for the gate to be rebuilt in little to no time. The Tunnel Extraction System door appeared, the old fashioned one, with heat radiating from it as the Evil Emperor leaped off the boulder taking the toy with him. He went through the portal then was thrown and crashed against the wall, twirling, then held up a long claw.
"Did-d-d-d-did you have to go back to the original model?" Zurg asked.
Zurg could see birds flying across his helmet.
"It's the only thing that your loyal brainpods would hand over." Freeves said.
Zurg turned in the direction of the new comer's voice as the room spun around him.
"Who are you?" he used the nearest table to prop himself up, rubbing the side of his helm, then looked on. "What are you?"
"Audacity Lord Freeves." Freeves said. "How nice that we get to meet this way," Freeves bore a unnaturally wide smile. "face to face," His hands were linked behind his back as Zurg sharply turned toward the new comer. "Hard to believe, that you, have been getting in the way of the conquering." He stood short, right around Mira's height, looking upon the Evil Emperor as he stood at a stoop angle. His voice sounded rough, yet sharp, as Zurg clenched the waist of the toy and Freeves clenched his hand that was held up then laughed. "You have my complete attention."
Zurg stepped back.
"Hornets, destroy them!" Zurg ordered as he pointed.
"Too late, they're gone."
"Gone!" Zurg exclaimed in surprise.
"They gave a really good fight the first few days," Freeves said.
Zurg's arm became a ion blaster then he was surrounded by droids and it was apparent, he was going to lose.
". . you purposely removed me from the board to win a chess match, manipulated me, stroked my fears! Used me like a kazoo!"
"Your brain pods and your grubs, they, shall be a wonderful addition to my growing empire, you, on the other hand, are going to lose everything." Freeves had a low pitched laugh. "If you bother to escape, then, well, those Hellbringers, they don't really go away after a day, state of hibernation, waiting, you see, they, are stirred up when the target makes a whole fuss. . ." Freeves gestured toward the alarmed Evil Emperor who became alarmed. ". . . and this planet is filled from top to bottom with my droids."
"Perhaps we can work together, defeating the Galactic Alliance, once and for all," Zurg tapped his claws together approaching the shorter being. "hm?"
"My interest isn't in taking apart something that can take itself apart." Freeves said with a roll of his eye. "Oh, if I wanted to, I could wedge every single member against another, disorder, chaos, war, distrust, hatred-only interested in a handful of planets."
"And what then?" Zurg asked, linking his arms behind his back and clenched his wrist. "What then after getting those planets?"
"Start rebuilding the empire, probably." Freeves shrugged as Zurg had a long cold skeptical stare.
'You're not going to stop there." Zurg acknowledged.
"For the time being, yes!" Freeves shook his hands with a scowl over Zurg's skepticism.
"Once the Galactic Alliance is dissolved, you will go to Bathyos, you will take control of the crystallic crystal trade, you will put in a puppet regime, killing every single governmental official, hold a fake election, and do it over and over and over on every planet that you get it until you wake up the sleeping dragon."
"What dragon?" Freeves asked.
"What a chad. Not knowing the strengths, the history, the courage, the pattern, that the Gamma Quadrant holds in times of dire straits!" Zurg stretched his arms out for emphasis then set his hands on his hips then loomed forward, glaring, unimpressed. "It's Morph."
"They're not interested in war." Freeves dismissed the Evil Emperor. "All those diplomatic meetings, trying to negotiate a peace treaty at a table meant for the surrender of another planet, stubborn people allowing their men to die instead of surrendering with dignity and their lives, trying to poison their representatives-"
"How easily are wars forgotten after being waged decades ago, the scars healed, memories forgotten, losses distant, if you take me down then someone worse-No. . . a new villain will step up to the plate and become your nemesis.'
"You make it sound episodic." Freeves accused the Evil Emperor. "War is one long episode-"
"In a way, it was." Zurg said, bemused, fondly, with nostalgia, cutting off Audacity Lord Freeves. "It was."
"But I am not going to kill you." Freeves said.
"Oh, phew." Zurg relaxed as all the tension faded.
"Instead, your memories are going to be deleted and then leave you at a diner, reprogrammed as a chief, and a computer virus that'll eat away any attempt to remember who you were."
"Oooooooh, that is evil!" Zurg clapped his hands together, happily, quite impressed with the intentions. "I think I like you."
"And how does it feel knowing your ex-nemesis is dead?" Freeves bore a dark smirk.
"Buzz Lightyear?. . ." Zurg looked aside, distantly, hints of sorrow in his softened voice. "It's been a while having to think about him." he turned his attention back toward the lord. "Sometimes, there is sorrow that it ended. The means to the end, the chase, the struggle, the determination, what fun it was being his nemesis with one of the best competent Space Rangers."
Lord Freeves pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand cupping his elbow then sighed.
"No, not him." Freeves shook his hand, lifting his head up, briefly closing his eyes. "The other one." Zurg loomed over him. "Captain Darkmatter."
"Warp Darkmatter?" Zurg said, incredulously. "Died on a Friday? No, he's a 'dying on a Monday' kind of person."
"Killed by his own partner." Freeves continued with his hands linked behind his back. "Just. like. Buzz. Lightyear."
Zurg was quiet for a solid moment staring at Freeves then hunched over, hands on his knees, laughing.
"You are not meant to laugh."
Zurg took a solid long moment to stop laughing.
"That assertion is very incorrect." Zurg noted, his voice softer, looking toward the Tunnel Extraction System. "He died by his own choice -" he looked down toward his claws, still coated in red that didn't weigh as it had before then back up. "-with my hand deeply embedded in the issue." he closed his claws. "More so than Warp Darkmatter's hand could ever be." he set the toy on the counter with care. "Only one of us is going to Venus for that prized loss and suffer greatly and appropriately for the tragedy that happened instead."
Zurg looked toward Lord Freeves.
"Can we get this over with?"
"In a short while. Need the entire Galactic Alliance to see the downfall of Evil Emperor Zurg." then he added. "Any attempt to escape, and then my droids will happily destroy you. . ."
Zurg looked toward the admirable droids that were gray, thicker, elaborate, detailed, less simple than his hornets.
"Any attempts to change the outcome and his children are simply empty lifeless husks." A warning from Freeves. "All six of them."
Zurg admired Lord Freeves. It was genius. Zurg reflected. The whole scheme. Warp was gone. And so was Buzz.
"I rock, so much!" Oort cried out on the couch, admiring what was on the screen.
"How so?" Warp appeared with a plate of meat loaf as he sat down.
"I found a way to the elite four through the victory cavern." Oort said.
"Victory Road? Elite Four!" his head bobbed up in alarmed as his thin brows raised. "How?"
"Rock climb!" Oort sported a big grin.
"Where?" Lo and behold, he saw the tower, the tower that he had always imagined, and somewhere deep inside, his inner child was whining about how easily another kid got to it first. "I have tried for decades to get past it and finish the game and never could."
"You go up a set of stairs," Oort retraced his steps before the Space Ranger's eyes. "use strength multiple times and rock smash," Warp took another bite out of the slice of meat loaf. "then go into another cavern entrance," Warp stared at the screen. "use rock climb," Oort was truly a genius to the Space Ranger. "then go around the mountain of rock, battle three people, then go down the stairs."
Warp loomed over Oort as the young Lightyear displayed his method then the Space Ranger frowned.
"I am such a dumbass." Warp acknowledged.
Oort looked up, lifting both brows.
"No, you are not!" Oort balked.
"For some reason, the trail was always . . ." he stared at the screen as the character went down the rock on a Bibarel. "Always missed it!"
Oort lowered his gaze sporting a big smile.
"Now to destroy the Elite Four!" Oort laughed, maniacally.
Warp looked both ways then set the meat loaf on the table, walked on, then opened the basement door, shared another side ways glance, walked into the basement, retrieved a old console, then powered up the device, pressed Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, pressed a few buttons, then Pokemon at level eighty-eight appeared on screen. The screen wasn't big as the screen on the switch that Oort was playing with, the cords that went with it were tucked neatly beneath where the nintendo switch had once laid. Fond memories flashed in his mind spending hours playing it, over and over, during road trips, from start to finish.
"Heeeey, old farts." he greeted the figures as he stroked the screen.
It was pristine and in rather excellent condition after being held protected in a container. Warp looked on toward the box then stared toward the contents that he had largely forgotten about ever since he went into the academy and got onto Zurg's payroll. He heard a series of footsteps trail behind him.
"Gamma and Quark are making a gingerbread house." Chari announced. "They wanna know if you want to help."
"A ginger bread house," Warp held his hand up then tugged a rope and light poured into the basement. "Hah."
"Aaaah, the light, I'm melting, falling apart, turning to ashes, ahhh, I'm allergic!" Chari started to sink as Warp looked down upon the contents of the box.
Warp laughed as he picked up a bucket of Little Blue Warrior Men, a wimpy knight with metal armor covering his vulnerable frame even his helmet, a white t-rex with blue texture resembling fur, monkeys in a barrel, a saber tooth cat with a long extendable portion in the center, a hyper realistic dragon, a wimpy horse, and a space man. The space man was in a bright red space suit with black gloves and a plastic white egg shaped helmet that had a glass window with a face, his laser blaster still in his holster. Captain Woozer hadn't changed a day. He dug a little deeper searching for any other toys until finding another wimpy knight with braided long dark blue hair peeking out beneath the helmet. Warp rubbed his forehead feeling nostalgic remembering how his childhood had gone.
"Hey Chari, are you open to having kids of your own?" Warp asked.
"My first kid's name is going to be George, and if the kid is a girl, it'll be Georgia."
"Great!" Warp looked toward the young girl with a big grin.
"For what?" Chari asked.
"For these guys." he motioned toward the box with his hand. "They come from Ipseadan."
"Gamma and Quark aren't going to have kids." Chari looked around the basement that was full of boxes. "It looks less freaky in the light."
"Their loss." Warp said as Chari joined his side. "Can you promise me to remember them?"
Chari looked inside then toward him, raising her eyebrows, curious.
"Why didn't you give those guys to us?" Chari's brows furrowed.
Warp sighed as he turned his attention upon the collection.
"I . . . sort of, kind of, may have forgot . . . about them." Warp admitted, regrettably, having a small laugh. "Family heirlooms." he put the toys back inside of the box. "They're priceless."
"Oooh, you have a switch, too!"
Warp patted the nintendo switch against the palm of his hand with care looking down upon the young girl.
"This old thing was the one thing that I retreated into during the most stressful exams back in the academy."
"Ooooh!"
"Think there was a sheep or two with them, years ago, they were so wimpy, part of my sheep collection. Had a really strange fascination with sheep during your age or it could have been a Potato Head. . ." Warp saw his old childhood marked through the box, things that he treasured, loved, his old and small favorite red blanket with a purple stripe at the center, a treasure chest with his baby teeth, old books ranging from bed time stories to teen, among other things such as holographic photographs. His voice softened as he continued. "Could have donated them away before leaving home."
"Or thrown them away." Chari said, in pity.
"Maybe." Warp shrugged. "Anyway, this is Metal Brave, and this is Victoria. And this space man, oh, he's everything that Buzz Lightyear was." There was affection in his voice, certain sorrow, with fondness. "Good, honest, kind, and flawed, and best of all, brave."
"He was your favorite toy." Chari noted.
Warp looked toward Chari then shook his head.
"Negative," was the denial. "it was the mercenary action figure, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack Cross something." he snapped his fingers, repeatedly, trying to remember looking aside sporting a frown. "Lost him on the move to the academy." Warp shrugged then his shoulders lowered. "And this is Saber, she came with a donkey dragon friend but . . ."
"You lost it." Chari finished in pity.
"And I had three tall squeaky toys, ten inches- they were humanoid dogs with one eye."
"One eye!" Chari exclaimed, her brows rising up
"And they came from Burger World." Warp added, fondly.
"Burger world! BURGER WORLD?! You mean the restaurant chain with the slide jungle and the beany bag pit?" Chari repeated.
"The very same." Warp confirmed with a nod.
"OH!" it hit her at full force. "They have those toys in those strange machines that resemble saucers."
"And they were awesome clients for Jack Cross..." Warp let his words hang there. "Makes sense that they got lost together."
"You would have given them to us if you had remembered." Chari said, softly.
"Totally." Warp looked toward her, affectionately, then back, regretfully, upon the toy.
"And oh, you've got mail upstairs." Chari picked up Woozer and admired him as Warp looked back toward her. "The mail guy is waiting your signature."
"The new suit, YES!" Warp turned off the game, chucked it into the box, then ran.
Chari looked down into the box staring upon the knights then picked up the knight with the most detailed design on the helmet looking like it were actual armor. It's the way that the forehead had a tall wing like addition on the forehead, the way the nose and the eyes and the mouth were exposed, the way it had chain mail exposed between where the armor wasn't covering, the plastic sword that was still in the holster, and how it had a red scarf wrapped around the neck. It looked quite authentic for a toy built to be a child's play thing. The teenager toyed with the wimpy knight swinging the plastic sword in the knight's armored digits wrapped around the handle then put it back inside after some toying and placed it back then ran out of the basement and left the door partially open as the toys peered out the edge of the unlocked chest. The two knights stared in shock at the stairs leading up as the space man lifted the lid up then exchanged hopeful smiles of their own as the dragon behind them was twirling, wiggling, cheering for being picked up.
From upstairs, Warp finished signing the paperwork then looked down at two boxes in front of the door; one of them was larger and the other one was smaller. Warp lifted a brow upon the boxes. He lifted the smaller box inside the house then carried the long and wider box inside on a dolly. The wooden box was set alongside the doorway and parked. The Space Ranger took out a knife then stabbed into the smaller box and sawed it through to the smaller box. He opened the box, withdrawing the side panels, grinning, then his features fell spotting a wimpy constable with a dark blue helmet and a very familiar toy that he had only gotten rid of a few years ago. He picked up a letter on top of them.
"Captain Darkmatter: My mom hates Dummy Evil Emperor Zurg. Donate plz."
He squinted at the lower text.
"Also plz donate the constable to the archaeology exhibit of Vallis Prime, turned out dad stole him from a dig site. :("
Warp bore a smile as he got a very good idea to do with the Evil Emperor toy to be rid of him once and for all.
"Puh-lease, Constable. . . uh. " he looked around for a name for the toy. "Bat, right, yeah, that's a good name." he chuckled to himself as he set the two toys on the table. "Ain't going alone." he turned away from the toy then raised his voice. "Who wants to go to Vallis Prime for a field trip?"
"ME!" suddenly, he were surrounded by Lightyears.
"Okay, we're going as soon as I get into uniform and each of you get into the junior grade space suits!"
The five scattered about, colliding against one another, dispersing, racing up the stairs, leaving Warp there laughing then picked up his plate of meatloaf and slid the toys aside and resumed eating it, taking his sweet time, as the toys fell down the stairs.
Zurg was laughing in the center of the throne room across from his throne as his helmet was connected to several cords reaching from a strange machine that had been outfitted for the exact purpose that had been laid out and built and designed in such a way that it were painful with how deep the cords dug through his helmet, through his sensitive armor, the aching from his head stung just as it had when the machine clasped on to him. The camera crew were taking their time in getting the machine ready and going over how to operate it since it had been some time doing this kind of work.
"Why are you laughing, Evil Emperor Zurg?" Freeves asked.
"How many fingers do you have?" Zurg asked.
"Uhhh," Freeves counted his fingers. "seven."
"You have six fingers!" Zurg countered.
Freeves counted, again.
"No, it's seven." Freeves said.
"Six." Zurg argued.
"Seven." Freeves said with a glare.
"You want me to believe that someone like you can count?" Zurg asked, in disbelief.
"Yes!" Freeves hissed.
"You are a bag of unintelligent rocks that deserve to be turned into fine china, packed into a bag, then smashed repeatedly with a bat, then forced to count again." Zurg said.
"The answer is still seven." Freeves said, irritated.
"There are SIX fingers." Zurg countered with his facts. "The seventh finger is a evolutionary process of your people, it's a appendage, hardly used, meant to use for mating rituals, for self defense against the predator of your world, although it has fallen largely out of use."
"How many fingers do you have?" Freeves asked.
"Ten." Zurg replied.
"I have fourteen." Freeves said.
"You have twelve fingers." Zurg replied, coldly.
"Fourteen!"
"Nope, incorrect, you lose four hundred points!" Zurg said, cheerfully. "That's not an actual finger."
"It is!" Freeves smacked the arm rest of his throne. "What is this nonsense about?"
"There are five Buzz Lightyear clones."
"There are six."
"No, there isn't."
"This attempt to gaslight is failing spectacularly."
"I should know the correct number; I made them." Zurg reminded Lord Freeves, gleefully, before elaborating. "I authorized their existence, the Brain Pods designed their cloning pod, the grubs built their cloning pods, and tried to age them and FAILED! I gave up on the fifth try!"
"You. . ." Freeves began to say. "Are. . ." he was frozen staring at the Evil Emperor. "not lying."
"Why lie before evil?" Zurg asked, taken back, but insulted at what the newcomer was implying. "From villain to a villain who did things quite inventively, it would be against the point of accepting defeat. It's against the villain code to lie about that sort of thing."
"We're ready, Lord Freeves." A grub said.
Freeves was stunned speechless raising up one hand, trying to say something, but he couldn't exactly say anything then leaned back.
"Let the Galactic Alliance see, that I, alone, will be heavily armed if they continue to interfere and will get my hands on a V-Class hyper bomb one of these days. It'll cause them to back off and let my mission be done."
Freeves grew a big closed smile, slyly, smugly, clasping his hands together with his elbows on the arm rest as the camera was turned on.
Buzz was smiling as he were reading a magazine when the live feed on the news cut out on the screen television set.
"Hello, you may have heard of me. My name is Audacity Lord Freeves, I hail from a distant galaxy, exiled by my own people, I was taken in a passing craft, nearing death, I told him my royalty, my connections, he let me aboard, where I recovered."
Buzz raised his head up as he recognized the figure, one of the members who was part of the resistance who could produce a limited number of droids to his disposal rescued by a passing by Star Cruiser, he helped in extracting captured Space Rangers and getting things that caused a dent in the war against Zurg, making things a little better, in a crap sack existence.
The lord was seated in such a way that it was like he were sitting on a couch, his legs dangling on the edge of the arm rest, with his arms folded, he looked younger, glowing, happier. Buzz remembered when the younger man was miserable, how he allowed his dark hair to grow out, how he neglected to peel off his old skin by hand and allowed machines to do it so that they buzzed around him, neglecting himself. He remembered approaching Laypin and Freeves, insisting that they team up, they could do something, with what resource they had; they laughed at him.
"I was introduced to a world by King Philip Nova that would do wonders to adapt and start anew, and he was right. Naturally, he sent an assassin after me. Oh, a bounty hunter. That assassin became my body guard back home, oh, beautiful, drawing two people together, and then I returned the favor to him. Now, I won't say how, but he feels it quite deeply."
Buzz dropped the magazine then keyed into the comn and the phone rang from the other side. Oh Venus.
"Where am I? Obviously, the greatest planet with a factory that can make an entire army." he stretched his arms out with a grin as the camera backed up revealing Zurg's throne. "I am about to do something that Star Command could never do; take down a Evil Emperor and reap in the rewards."
Buzz dropped the small phone in horror then covered his mouth.
"And I have everything to my disposal, brain pods, this time, oh, not for effect, it's going to be for success." he winked back at the camera. "You'll thank me later."
The camera twirled revealing Zurg.
"I'll flip a switch and Evil Emperor Zurg will be deleted, slowly. More like, drained, into a small device, and destroyed, promptly, making sure that deleting is permanent. That's how I see deleting here."
"That's not deletion, that's file storage!"
"Your memories are gone forever either way."
Zurg laughed as the camera showed a spliced view of the events transpiring at the same time; Freeves taking out a remote then pressing a big red button. He grew a broad grin watching as Zurg's laughter faded then replaced by confusion.
"Who are you?"
Freeves laughed, louder.
"I said, WHO ARE YOU and WHY ARE YOU SITTING AT MY THRONE?"
Lord Freeves slid up an item on the console.
"Let's just hurry this up and make it twice painful."
Zurg screamed as his helmet cackled with electricity.
"MY HELM!"
He looked up clenching his helmet.
"You must be that hot shot who almost got in the way of my evil scheme on Vakgio!"
Lord Freeves laughed, bemused.
"Is that worth replying?" he cupped the side of his mouth with a wink toward the camera. "It's not."
Buzz paled. Vakgio? Didn't that planet recently have a volcanic disaster and require the evacuation of an entire planet that was unprecedented?
"How does it feel? Now? Losing months at a time worth of memories, years at a time, slowly, losing, as each minute passes-oh, that pain must be simply horrible."
Zurg was cowering, in pain, Buzz was confused, why was he not struggling? Why was he not fighting back? Why was he suffering? Going through it?
"How did I get back here so soon? I had just entered the ruins of my lair-Buzz Lightyear is doing something to me!"
Freeves admired his finger nails as Buzz grew horrified as the Evil Emperor screeched in pain, in dear agony, there was something that he knew from the heart, if he had one, whatever it were close to it, t wasn't in the memory, it was somewhere deep inside the Evil Emperor that felt significant harm would prevail should a action be taken. Buzz stared on, appalled, horrified, in disbelief, blinking. Instead of wishing for his defeat, he wished that someone would swing in and make the playing field fair such as himself. And yet, going back into the space suit, he recoiled at the thought, after everything Zurg had done; Buzz didn't have the heart to rescue a villain.
Gasps escaped through the car dealership watching the screen as disturbing screeches echoed on as the lights in the bright throne room shattered, glass broke, piece by piece with pops, and red night lights tucked around the throne room beamed on.
"Curse you, Buzz Lightyear!"
Zurg cursed, his voice hoarse, his arms stretched out, hands in fists-a nightmare! It had to be a fantasy! A day dream. It wasn't. This time, after all Buzz had imagined his downfall, after all these years; he didn't relish it, enjoy it, not even a bit. The live feed was cut off. And it felt hollow and meaningless having seen Zurg's defeat with that curse that would have and should have given him complete satisfaction to hear one last time.
"Everything that drops on the floor is cursed!" Hoichi announced.
"Check the fridge." Warp suggested
"Why would you do that?" Hoichi asked, in disbelief.
"I put you in the fridge one time instead of milk." Warp revealed, fondly, nostalgically. "You don't remember that," he grew a broad smile as he began to laugh. "it happened, ran around looking for you panicked, and you were laughing your head off. You were very little."
"Look under the furniture!" Hoichi announced.
"The table!" Quark said, scanning the floor.
"The bed!" Oort added from upstairs.
"The counter!" Chari shoved aside the counter in which Warp was eating his meat loaf then bit into thin air without a fork.
"Oh, we haven't checked the basement!" Gamma shouted.
"Riiiight!" Warp said as he snapped his fingers as he went to his meal and resumed eating it with his fork as he stood instead of being seated. "turn off the basement light!"
"We will!" the children chimed as they went down into the basement.
Warp laughed then went to the wooden box and dragged it in with a big grin then closed the door to the basement. He carried it up the stairs, set it against the wall in his quarters, closed the door, then stripped out of his civilian uniform and took out a modified onesie lacking a left sleeve then with care slid it on, took out piece by piece of the space suit and put it on until the wooden box was empty. Warp looked toward the mirror admiring himself with a broad grin as his armor had clicked into place.
Warp rubbed along the Star Command symbol on his shoulder, with care, with affection. Buzz was gone, but not the values that he lived by and the pieces of the environment that was left behind. Warp smiled to himself then looked toward the other shoulder with the Space Ranger insignia that had the ship in the center between the two letters. He sighed, content, then moved his old Rescue Ranger uniform inside then carried it down the stairs with a whistle-
He slipped and fell sending the wooden box flying that crashed on his face. Warp groaned sliding the box up as he heard the teenagers laughing then gazed at what had been the source of his misery; a wimpy banana in pajamas, a classic plush toy. He picked up the stuffed toy then gazed on ahead as he started to laugh at them.
"Very funny, kids, put this toy back where you found it."
"Sure, old man!" Hoichi said in between laughter.
Warp got up to his feet then set the box alongside the doorway.
"Did you find the Constable and Dummy Evil Emperor Zurg?" Warp asked.
"Couldn't find the dummy toy." Gamma said as she approached Warp with the constable in her hand. "Was this a gift?"
"From a kid that I rescued? Negative." Warp laughed, warmly, shaking his head. "That banana toy, though, that was a gift and supposed to go into the donate box reserved on the counter a month ago. Alright, get to the van." he opened the door then set his hand on his hip looking toward the crowd. "We got a mission-" then he stopped as a thought occurred to him then glared upon the teenager as a dark cloud loomed over Warp's head. "which one of you stole The Wiggles Emma Classic Plush last week?"
"Oh? That red head toy?" Chari asked as the Lightyears shifted their attention toward her. "I gave it to a new kid at school."
"She was going to be donated, so that's a plus." Warp said. "Ready, set, mark-van!"
The teenagers came storming out the door as Warp pointed toward the blue van then exited and he walked out the doorway with his hand gripping the handle.
Nebula walked out of the office with his hands in fists, the moment was now, and the rangers that were working with this operation were moving to their designated pieces on the chess board. Star Command had individual rangers on various missions, a number of them on solo, XR and Booster were on patrol with Mira enjoying an ordinary day, largely unaware of the events that were transpiring in the background. It was better that way. Lose the crown jewels of Star Command trying to rescue Zurg? Anger the Galactic Alliance? Begin another war in the process? The admiralty and the commander had made sure that the news largely kept Planet Z off the headlines, off the tabloids, not a peep, using largely tactics that drove home that everything could change in Zurg's favor and the Space Ranger Corps look like fools for daring to help. Breaking their back, their spirit, discrediting them, with the aftermath of the news being released in any form. The admiral walked on as he made it to the hangar and observed the reconstruction of a Star Cruiser on a padd.
He walked toward his old desk then stared upon it for a solid moment waiting at the parking padd where Warp's Star Cruiser would normally rest, waiting for him. Nebula bore a smile upon it, he looked forward to seeing the younger man being chased by the desk, he hated paperwork, if only Buzz were going to stay long and see that happen. Nebula turned around then exited the Star Cruiser bay then made his path to his admiral grade Star Cruiser with experimental weapons. Nebula boarded the craft, buckled in, then sent the craft flying on for Planet Z. Warp's van flew on by with the windows tinted black as the teenagers were singing along to a car song, Gamma covered her ears, Warp smirked looking at the mirror in the center, pleased.
The Star Cruiser made it in quick succession where Faudile, Faudill, Raptor Chill, and Milky Weight were waiting in the weak spot of the Evil Emperor's security system. Nebula unbuckled then exited the Star Cruiser then gazed on observing in the distant view was Freeves's type of ships around the orbit of the planet. Faudile and Faudill were set to be the distraction around the tower that was needed as part of the delta squadron, Milky and Raptor would attack the dreadnoughts drawing them away as part of the alpha squadron, just barely giving Nebula enough time to make a rescue and leave the planet with a amnesiac Evil Emperor.
The admiral programmed the ship for the events that had been anticipated as the squadrons moved with ease performing their roles in the mission. Nebula had an easy flight to the tower, taking the back door, the droids heavily distracted, then the rest of it was a breeze making it to the brig. He heard the sound of laughter down the hallway nearby. Could it belong to Lord Freeves? He avoided that path and took the next.
Nebula came to a halt, tense, observing the slumped form of the Evil Emperor resting against the wall with burn marks decorating his helmet which stood out, his long gray forearm armor was no where to be seen, his emblem was gone, as was his cape. Nebula looked aside spotting the black chassis armor with red stripes leading up into the familiar collar on the table, the collapsed purple skirt was folded, the mechanical legs with the rocket boots attached rested on the table, the purple upper section of the arm connected to the gray arm, and the only thing that weren't there was his legs. He looked toward the slumped form that lacked arms. His optics weren't glowing brightly as they normally were, they were dimmer, flickering, as if he were unwell.
"Oh god, look what he did to you."
Nebula approached the bars then broke them with a single blast and ran toward him. He ran back toward the legs, picked them up, shoved one of them in, the optics briefly powering back on then fading, he went back, set the collapsed skirt aside, and then the next one was shoved, and Zurg gasped.
"Ion, can you walk?"
Zurg looked toward Nebula a bit woozy.
"Who's Ion?" Confusion.
Nebula grimaced at the question.
"Er, it's a long story." then Nebula had a laugh over it. "It's ridiculous."
Zurg looked up toward Nebula then toward his arms and back again.
"They took my arms! My arrms! Myy AAAAAAAAARRRMMS!"
"And so are you . . ." He grimaced. "You're going straight to jail after this for all the crimes that you did."
Zurg looked toward him, still, quiet.
"What crimes?"
"Evil stuff. Really bad stuff."
"Oh . . Did I like it?"
"You did, apparently, doing it for forty . . fifty. . . Well, maybe accounting for your childhood, seventy to eighty to ninety years."
"Was it good evil stuff? Brilliant? A good laugh? Fun? Entertaining? Spicy?"
"It was all that." Nebula got up then looked toward the arms and began to approach them. "I'll get your arms and then put your skirt back on."
"Have we met?" Zurg asked as the admiral walked away. "Where am I?" he looked around. "It's so dark and frightening in here." the Evil Emperor's figure was trembling. "Where are you going?" he grew more frantic. "I can't see you! Please don't leave me all alone in the dark!"
"Even without your memories, afraid of the dark." Nebula commented with a shake of his head. "I'm only doing this to make some shred of a good thing in the middle of a bad thing." Nebula turned toward him with a glare. "It's what Buzz Lightyear would have done."
"That rings like a bell." Zurg said as Nebula turned toward him bearing a small smile. "Charming, classy, and very unique, and bug-like!" Admiration for a dead man. "Who named them?"
"His parents." Nebula approached Zurg.
"Sensible people!" Zurg said, cheerfully.
"Hold on for one moment, and don't scream, I have never done this before, going to be painful putting it in."
"Why in tarnation would I-YOOWWWWOOOOWWWWOOWW OW OW OW OW OW STOOOOP!" Nebula withdrew his hands as the Evil Emperor's optics let out a loud heat ray that melted a support beam then the figure relaxed. "How dandy!" Zurg was cheerfully, watching his hand move, happily. "I NEED A DRINK!"
Nebula put in the other arm and the Evil Emperor left a nice hole in the wall swearing up a storm that was quite unlike him. Then again, he didn't have memories of who he used to be.
"NO DRINKING!" Nebula yelled.
"Torture!" Zurg whined in the mist of pain. "Absolute torture in the worst candor there is!"
"Now put that stupid skirt on."
Nebula clipped the skirt back into the frame along the Evil Emperor's waist and it didn't look metal at all, still dress like, not like it did normally. Not like the hovering lower half of the Evil Emperor.
"Come on, get up, helmet head!" Nebula lifted Zurg up to his feet and began to walk.
"I am most unfortunate but I can't seem to remember how to walk." Zurg noted as his boots dragged behind him then was set down alongside the wall. "Or. . . seem have to forgotten." Zurg looked up, genuinely curious, tilting his helmet. "Did I use to walk?"
"Internal processor damage, spinal damage, geeze, what else did he damage in there removing your memories?"
"The strange short man?" Zurg asked.
"Freeves."
Zurg looked toward the table then toward Nebula.
"Were we friends?" Zurg asked.
"No." Nebula said with his hands on his hips.
"No, you and me, were we?" Zurg pointed back and forth. "Not Lord Freeves and I. . . Before losing my memory?"
"It was a looong time ago." Nebula folded his arms, grimacing, lowering his head then took a few steps away. "We went our ways, weren't happy about your choice, still not."
"My head hurts." Zurg rubbed his helmet.
"It'll stop hurting relatively soon. Alright, you're going to get up and YOU'RE GOING TO WALK! And then, afterwards, you're going to use that wireless setting and find your memories!"
"How do I do that?. . ."
Nebula stared upon the baffled villain.
"Use your emotions and use it to do stuff," He loomed over him as he pointed. "such as the heat ray vision."
Zurg could only stare at the admiral.
"You're implying that I am a machine that made functions be used by my emotions." Zurg pointed out.
"Not implying." Nebula said.
"Great, that's like digging a pond for ducks and for turtles and fish and nothing showing up in the middle of a desert!"
"You remember something!" Nebula snapped his fingers.
"That comes from a back up list of animals and landscape settings." Zurg looked away. "Unfortunately."
"Wonderful." Nebula said, sarcastically.
Nebula lifted the Evil Emperor up to his feet, balancing him, with one arm on his shoulder, and the other hand on his waist as the Evil Emperor was hunched over taking baby steps forward. He was tired, lethargic, internally damaged to a certain extent that the admiral was unaware of but with the level of technology that he was at, it had to be easy to repair internally.
"Where's the crying coming from up ahead?"
"There isn't any crying."
"But I hear it."
"You're hearing things."
"A side effect of losing such treasured memories, hearing echoes, but can't hear the words."
"What does the crying sound like?"
"Like me. Why? Why would I be crying? It's not me, obviously."
"It's a glitch is what it is."
"Oh, that makes sense."
"That door looks frightening!"
"There is no door!"
"Intimidating, it looks . . eeeevil."
"What does it look like?"
"It's black with fire at the bottom drifting out the bottom and it has a red blazing Z on the front. It looks miserable with the state of decay it is in, rotten, uncared for, and aging badly, it even has a crystal knob!"
"Don't open it."
"Then stop approaching it!"
"It's not there, ignore it, it's a product of your imagination!"
"My imagination is that thing?"
"It's you!"
"I don't like myself! He scares me! Chilling. Gives me goosebumps! Ow, ow, ow ow, my leg, oooh, owch-those machines trying to 'disarm' me damaged my joints."
"I think they misunderstood what the word disarm meant."
"Those poor illiterate things."
"How bad do your legs feel?"
"Think I can't run in them."
"We'll get that fixed once we get to Star Command!"
"Don't go to that door!"
"It's not real!"
"Don't!"
Zurg was dragged along as he squeezed his optics.
"See? Not real. It's a figment of your imagination, it's a door in a program, it manifests physically to you."
Zurg was tensed up as he was set up against the wall.
"It's not real. It's not real. It's not r-" Zurg screamed as he pointed ahead. "it's still there!"
Nebula looked ahead as Lord Freeves walked in the line of sight from the edge of the doorway.
"Freeves!"
Nebula withdrew his hand then the Evil Emperor fell against the wall.
"Commander Nebula, what a surprise." Lord Freeves laughed, his shoulders shaking with amusement, arms stretched out. "not surprised really!"
"It's Admiral Nebula." Nebula corrected.
"Ah." Lord Freeves said.
Zurg was cowered covering where his ears would be with closed optics.
"Don't make me shoot."
"Here to stop me from taking over this world, too late."
"No, I'm here to take this prisoner to Star Command to stand for his crimes instead of being dumped at a Cosmic Landfill."
"Touche."
"Don't look, don't look, don't look, it's not real, it's not real, it's not real, it can't hurt you! It can't hurt you."
"You've really distracted my droids, didn't even know, aware, actually, there was a intruder in my tower."
"That's the point."
"Look at him, so pathetic, cowardly, terrified. . ." he looked upon the trembling Evil Emperor. "Not as brave or evil. Memories being the armor, the strength, the source, the muse, of being bold enough to be wicked; it's laughable."
"Step out of the way before anyone else has to get hurt."
"Not until I get the last word."
"Zurg, uncover your ears. Now. You have to listen."
"Who's Zurg?"
"You!"
Zurg lowered his claws, even still confused, he had been called Ion, and now Zurg, was it a secret identity?
"I brought this along for the sake of argument, believed you would lie to me, but. . ." Lord Freeves beckoned his had out to his side. "In hindsight; if you had no hand in it . . ." he looked toward his side as a figure approached him. "then who did this!"
A four year old in a junior grade green space suit approached the taller being carrying a large Booster Muchapper plush, tightly, that had two wimpy toys velcrowed on his chassis, in one arm then took Freeves's out stretched hand then turned in the direction of the Evil Emperor, dropped the plush, then pointed.
"Fiend!" Alpha accused.
Freeves grew a wide pleased smile as he looked toward the boy.
"Alpha Lightyear knows you." Freeves said in a sing-along tone as Zurg got up to his feet. "You made them."
Nebula's jaw clenched then he looked toward the Evil Emperor and stared toward Alpha.
"Don't hurt this child, it has nothing to do with you and I!"
"Did you have a sibling, little one?"
"Delta, Gamma, Chari, and Oort!"
"How old were you when you last saw them?"
"Three!"
"When was the last time you saw them?"
"Watching Blues Clues."
"And what happened to them?"
The boy stared at Lord Freeves for a long moment thinking, taking one step back, tripping and falling over the plush, terrified, yanking out Jessie and Woody, the easiest to carry, then ran.
"WELL THEN!"
Lord Freeves took a weapon out then aimed after the fleeing boy-Zurg tackled Lord Freeves to the ground knocking the weapon out of his grasp.
"Leave that orphan alone!" Zurg pinned him down.
"How can you tell that's an orphan?" Lord Freeves had a gentle laugh.
"It's the way that a child looks at a monster." Zurg said, darkly, carrying rage and hate within it. "Nebula, find the boy and take him somewhere safe!" He looked toward Nebula as Lord Freeves stretched his long arm out for the fazer. "Before he gets that fazer!""
Nebula ran in the direction that the boy had run in leaving him behind.
"So, you did make it!" Lord Freeves exclaimed, in shock, surprised.
"He's not a thing, he's a person, he's a child with nothing in stake, you're not evil, you're not sinister, you lack any conscience, you lack direction, even with the panache, do I remember you? No, but what is known is that there needs a monster to be slain and if I were brave as Zurg, then you'll be dead in no time!"
Lord Freeves punched out Zurg knocking him down to the ground. He picked up a piece of a dislodged pipe then saw a toy red and black space man standing in front of a collection of destroyed droids from across standing there with a grin alongside a wimpy cowboy. Zurg picked up the pipe then turned toward the target. It wasn't evil, it was out of self defense, it was something good, it was everything that wasn't Zurg, for the basic well being of another. Lord Freeves turned around then caught the pipe before it struck him then punched him causing the helmet to spin and the pipe was dropped. Zurg fell then looked toward the toy, an idea hit him, how to buy the admiral more time and keep the child safe.
"Why don't you give up?" Freeves asked, incredlous. "You've lost!"
"I already have!" Zurg replied.
"Crawling seems to say otherwise." Freeves said, testily.
"But. . ." Zurg crept closer to the space man. "I haven't given up on someone else."
"You don't have any memory." Freeves loudly laughed looking down in contempt. "Providing a distraction, oh, that's different from a fuss, not attacking others out of malice."
Zurg picked up the toy then pressed a button.
"Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!"
Zurg clenched the toy pressing the side button and the wings popped open as he looked upon it.
"Regressing to a child-like state . .." Freeves commented upon the scene while Zurg looked aside. "That's funny for an has been Evil Emperor. It'll be nice to kill you in this state of-"
Zurg turned around then punched Lord Freeves at the face, multiple times, double slapping him with the toy, with the last blow sending him flying then he tossed the toy up and down.
"Ooooh, he glows in the dark!" Zurg said in awe. "Cool!"
Lord Freeves got up then Zurg stepped on the fazer and kicked it out of the way.
"My fazer!" Freeves said.
"Too slow!" Zurg mocked.
Lord Freeves swung a fist then Zurg stepped back, then the lizard flung a fist, and Zurg stepped aside.
"What an Audrey!" Zurg cackled. "Ooh, this memory bank of slang is very entertaining!"
"You mock and you dodge with skill!" Lord Freeves noted.
Zurg caught the flying fist from Lord Freeves with ease then grew alarmed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Zurg apologized, awkwardly, his claws digging into Lord Freeves's hand. "I didn't mean to do that!"
"You're still in there! How did you do it? How did you evade being transferred!"
Zurg looked around then toward the toy in his other grasp.
"Who are you talking to?" He crushed Lord Freeves's hand, confused, over the screaming. "Oh, sorry," Zurg loosened his fingers off the kneeling being's fist. "That's not meant to happen."
"Why is that child so cratered important to you?" Freeves asked as his eyebrow ridges twitched.
"Because they're a toddler!" Zurg cried back, then looked on noticing the stuffed plush was the only thing left and shifted his attention back. "What kind of villain are you?"
"The one who wins!" Freeves replied.
"I can see why there was a conflict between you and him." Zurg said.
Zurg was punched at the helm knocking him colliding against the wall as Freeves lifted himself up then adjusted his hand in such a way that it popped and back in working order.
"Small disagreement." Freeves said as Zurg kept himself up. "Only you know the truth regarding Alpha Lightyear."
Again, Zurg saw the door, it was closer to him, but the sound of a baby's wailing replaced his crying. Was the boy his child? Did he make him? A question that needed to be answered as scared as he was, trembling, reluctant, resistant to opening the door. Zurg stretched his claw out as Freeves picked up the fazer. Zurg gripped the crystal handle that felt, hard, consistent, uneven, then turned it and opened it, and walked into it, as his body remained standing still, closing the door behind him.
Suddenly, Zurg turned around toward Freeves then knocked the Fazer out of his grasp with a loud smack then slapped Freeves repeatedly, maliciously. Zurg slammed him against the ground like a rag doll then smacked him against the wall, fully aware of what he were doing. He was well aware of the personal cost.
"You stupid donkey!" Zurg exclaimed. "Foolishly ripped a unrelated child out of a loving home!"
Zurg flung him down the hall then cracked his knuckles.
"Destroyed in large part to a wild fire!" was his reply as Zurg took a step forward, fury building behind his optics, insulted. "Sole survivor!"
"Lie!" Zurg pointed back at the lord with a long gray claw. "A wild fire wouldn't spare the child's toys!" His dark shadow cast over the lizard humanoid. "You had his family killed in the dead of night."
"Van Selling started the wildfire by accident!"
"Van Selling!" Zurg repeated, unconvinced. "Deplorable! Sticking to a transparent lie! You did the deed, suck up to it, like a villain or else be known as a monster to my optics!"
"Droids, destroy Evil Emperor Zurg!" Now it was Freeves's turn to point then he run.
Zurg picked up the space man then threw him right after Freeves turning off his wings with a click and the toy hit him with enough force to knock him out cold and a yelp as Zurg heard the sounds of footsteps behind him. Was it worth it? Yes. In hindsight. His arms became ion blasters as he looked toward the direction of the wimpy cowboy. I go, you stay.
"Warning, warning, tunnel system has activated." Echoed throughout the tower that Zurg paid very little attention to.
That smile reminded him that no matter what happens from there, happiness could be found again even after it had been lost. Even when he was all grown up, Woody was still being a good friend. He looked up spotting the droids heading his way then fired round after round at the droids as Freeves lifted himself up then gazed around and crawled away fast as he could with a scrape along the side of his head standing out in his short strawberry blonde hair that was caked in red. He fled getting up to his feet as the droids covered him then Zurg was knocked back by a plasma blast tearing down a crowd of the machines with him. Zurg propped himself up then stared on toward the oncoming traffic and fired his ion blasters in unison after them.
Zurg got up to his feet then pressed his button in his dress; his dress became armor, his legs into an elaborate antigravity system so that he floated, then pressed another button on his comn, let his ion blasters become arms then he grabbed the ceiling and sent out a large plasma blast in the crowd that assembled. Zurg flew on away heading for an escape from certain doom as his arms became an ion blasters and fired repeatedly in the way of the targets. A plasma blast him from behind causing the Evil Emperor to have a terrible crash that meant torpedoing an entire wave of droids then roll on to his side. Zurg lifted up, halfway, near the door to the tunnel extraction system, aiming, only hearing the sound of clicks as a number of droids surrounded him. His ion blasters faded away replaced by average long and sharp claws.
Scared, his optics deactivated as he turned his helm away raising his arms defensively in front of his helmet, scared, then there was the sound of laser fire and plasma blasts and machines being broken. Zurg's optics turned back on then he looked on spotting Nebula. Zurg turned away then crawled away and the door opened per the motion sensor. He went to the console nearby the machine, put in random coordinates, then looked toward the doorway, he fell as the door opened and a large droid, a hyper droid, came through. Zurg shrieked, then crawled away, fast as he could.
"Zurg to Raptor Chill," Zurg called.
"This line is busy." Came the comn's response. "Please leave a message."
"-Please," Zurg begged as he crawled toward the door. "I'm begging you, come to the Tunnel Extraction System chamber as soon as you can!"
Zurg turned toward the machine, terrified, lacking anger to fuel the heat ray vision, he had made a mistake in not taking down Freeves when he had the chance. He used the nearest table to stand up to his feet close to the gate as he lifted up to his feet then faced his doom. He grew furious, he could have avoided this altogether, he could have avoided this all together, he could have avoided this-he flicked his claws up then his heat ray vision melted them down as he fell down to the ground. With the machines down, he fell to his side, exhausted, trembling, using the table as his support to get back up, and approach the doorway.
"Zurg!"
Zurg turned toward Nebula.
"Stop running."
"Don't you get it? I can't help you, Zeb! I can't go back up there with you. It's over! I'm done with it! No more villain. I've. . ." he looked aside, Warp's words echoed, the exasperation on his features, his head hung, the disappointment in his eyes. ". . . done enough screw ups as it is."
"You don't mean that!"
"I mean it, Nebula." Zurg turned toward him, apologetically. "Thinking more rationally," he rubbed his helm. "more clearly, more. . ." he lowered his servo. "self-preservation." he looked toward Nebula. "I am not cut out for the villain business as I thought that I was . . Got the best nemesis killed by accident, brought evil Buzz Lightyear, let Lord Freeves run amok. . ." he turned his attention away in shame. "It's time to cut the umbilical cord, Zeb. The Galactic Alliance, the Space Ranger Corps, they're ready to lose the training wheels."
"We can still take him down!"
"Zeb, please."
"No, he has droids, and you know what droids use, programming. You know what they're connected to? Each other! You're good at making viruses, you've made one, just for this instance, don't you?"
Zurg withdrew a card from his forearm then looked toward Nebula then held it out.
"You're going to need XR to deliver the virus." Zurg set it on the table then approached the gate then halted in his tracks. "It'll kill him to deliver the programming."
Nebula approached the table then looked toward Zurg and took the card.
"We built something from the ashes of a terrible war. . ." Nebula took a few more steps closer toward Zurg. "didn't we?"
"It's going to outlast us all, Zeb." Zurg assured the admiral as the door opened behind him. "You should have seen your little Star Command," Zurg folded his arms with a laugh. "they're worthy foes a thousand years from now!" He unfolded his arms as he continued to laugh. "Even when facing tech from now." Zurg set a hand on the side of the admiral's shoulder who grew a small smile. "Another threat from another galaxy was dealt with ease, and will be, many times; no massive losses, no ill prepared Morph, and home isn't alone."
Nebula put the card into Zurg's claw.
"We can find another way without relying on killing XR." Nebula said.
Zurg smiled upon his old friend then stretched his arms out and hugged his frame then the door opened behind the admiral revealing droids and Freeves at the front.
"Farewell, Zeb Nebula." Zurg withdrew then looked up drawing the admiral's attention.
Nebula turned toward the scene then pressed his wrist laser only to find he was out of power.
"Don't shoot!" Zurg held his claws up as the admiral turned toward him. "I'm not coming back!" the admiral didn't like the long odds against Star Command or the Galactic Alliance. "I surrender!"
"Fire." Freeves said, sinister, sporting a twisted grin.
Nebula stepped between the droids and Zurg with a smile.
"Good-bye, Ion." Nebula said.
The admiral shoved Zurg through the simmering portal as the firing started over the shrill shriek then admiral fell and landed to his side with a thud. The wall of the chamber blasted open, revealing Milky Weight and Raptor Chill standing there scowling that became looks of horror replaced by looks of rage. Freeves's droids were destroyed in short notice by Milky Weight as Raptor Chill picked up the fallen admiral then flew out of the chamber as as Raptor Chill stepped back and Freeves shot a ion rifle instead of a fazer toward the young Space Ranger who had brown spiky hair and sported a five o' clock shadow. Milky Weight flew after his partner fighting back tears as the other rangers got the news and flew out as the ranger lowered his hand.
Warp lowered his hand as he finished explaining the wild adventure that took finding the individual responsible for handling a ancient civilization's toy.
"This will be very helpful." the museum manager looked down upon the Constable with love and adoration and admiration. She looked toward Warp. "Thank you, Commander."
Warp turned around then walked back toward the van where the teenagers were.
"Okay, what movie marathon are we going to watch this afternoon?" Warp asked.
"We haven't decided." Gamma hissed.
"I wanna watch that old Hulk movie." Quark said.
"Which one?" Warp asked.
"The one that's like a comic." Quark's arms were folded with a poker face. "It's got that artistic narm nature to it."
"I wanna watch Jumanji." Oort said.
"Great!" Warp said.
"Not the one where a gymn teacher is insulted." Oort said.
"Oh, you mean you want to watch Jungle Cruise. That's sorta like Jumanji's old spirit, fun, with Pirates of The Caribbean and The Mummy thrown in?"
"Never heard of it." Oort said.
"Turn on the radio!" Hoichi said. "There's news about a rock band!"
"Which one?" Warp asked.
"Any!" Hoichi announced. "Something about them breaking up!"
"Why should we care about a rock band? . . ." Gamma asked, confused.
"Here we go." Warp started the vehicle then turned on the radio with a laugh. "Up, up, up, and away!"
Warp shifted through the radio over the music until settling on one.
"The Barney Is Godzilla Band has separated due to infighting and fatigue."
The boys pouted at once and a number of them groaned over the news as Hoichi laughed, throwing her head back, maniacally, then Warp turned off the radio.
"How about we watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy after the Jungle Cruise?" Warp suggested.
"That sounds great!" Quark said with a laugh.
"What's Lord Of The Rings?" Gamma asked, confused.
"An elf, a dwarf, hobbits, a wizard, and a couple of humans seeking to destroy a ring of incredible power with the power of friendship, hope, faith, and love, there's even a unexpected resurrection!" Warp heard beeping coming from his comn. "Really powerful stuff there."
"How long is it?" Chari asked.
"The movie or the trilogy?" Warp asked.
"The trilogy." Chari clarified
"Eleven hours." Warp said.
"Are you gonna answer that?" Oort asked.
"This is my day off." Warp said, casually. "Tomorrow's my first day of on-duty as commander."
"What if it's important?" Hoichi asked.
"The admiralty is handling it." Warp assured.
Warp arrived home then parked the van in the garage, everyone unbuckled,then got out of the van. Hoichi was the first to storm out of the van and make a bolt inside racing after Chari. Warp watched the teenagers racing inside as rain poured above his head then looked up toward the heavy gray sky and bore a big grin. He opened his mouth, tipped his head back, and let the rain fall in with a grin. Warp lowered his head then made his way into the house and closed the door behind him. Hoichi popped in Jungle Cruise then hopped on to the long couch followed by the rest of her siblings. The old trailers played as Warp turned off the lights then returned from the kitchen with a large bowl of buttery popcorn. He set the bowl on to the table then sat in the large center that had been purposely left out for him. There was just enough room for one more person to be seated with him and the children.
The teenagers were absorbed in the film as Warp heard the sound of laughter during the film off and on, over the sound of his comn beeping, younger, child-like, and it continued during the credits. It became apparent that it weren't part of the film as part of the surreal nature of it all and the hammiest parts. Warp got up to his feet then slowly approached the basement door, gripping on the door handle, then opened the door observing the light was still on.
"Pops, where's The Lord Of the Rings films?" Quark asked.
"In the cabinet beside the washing machine." Warp reported as he gazed down. "Did anyone leave the light down here?"
"I turned the light off." Chari said.
"Someone is inside!" Gamma said, alarmed as Quark went up.
"What if we watched Moon Knight instead?" Hoichi asked.
"Who cares about three guys and their Egyptian God!" Oort snapped back at Hoichi, grabbing her by the shirt, then shook her. "Someone is in the blasted basement!"
"Stay here until I come back up." Warp ordered.
Warp descended down the stairs, his hand gripping the wrist laser, descending down the steps, gazing back and forth in the narrow passageway. He took a sharp turn then entered the basement gazing back and forth taking a step forward then gazed down ahead of him spotting a familiar little boy playing with his old toys using several boxes for a makeshift city. Warp looked confused toward the little boy, he was older a year older, big ears, playing a game of pretend rescuing a space civilian. Warp turned away then went up the stairs where he was hit by several baseball bats.
"Take that, you fiend!" Gamma cried. "And that!"
"And that!" Hoichi said.
"And that!" Chari chimed.
Quark hadn't even thrown his bat as he simply stared at the older man waiting to hit, his lips puckered, standing there.
"Wait, it's just our old man!" Oort announced as they stopped.
Warp took their baseball bats then broke them and handed them back.
"Try fixing that." Warp challenged, sarcastically.
"Oh, sure!" Oort said, cheerfully.
"What's down there?" Hoichi asked as she looked aside toward the long corridor leading down into the basement.
"Something from last year that I did." Warp said.
"From forever ago?" Chari asked.
"Stuff?" Quark asked.
The door bell rang as Warp looked ahead.
"Stay right here." Warp ordered, pointing down, sternly, then the door bell rang again.
Warp left the basement door then exited the kitchen. He approached the doorway, grabbed the handle, and slid it open. It was Booster with a large umbrella holding it above Mira and XR, their uniforms glowed green softly in the darkness, wearing the same look, their white suits blending in with the background in a shade of gray.
"Warp. . . " Mira looked saddened.
"What happened?" Warp asked, concerned.
"It's Nebula." Booster said, regrettably. "Lord Freeves, he, wiped Zurg's memory, LIVE, Nebula tried to take in Zurg, and. . ."
"Lord Freeves is officially Star Command's problem." Warp said.
"And the Galactic Alliance!" XR waved his arms in the air.
"Zurg is missing." Mira said, softly.
Warp turned toward the waiting teenagers then toward the group.
"When's the press conference?" Warp asked as the lights flicked on then turned off.
"It hasn't been arranged, yet. . ." Mira replied, solemnly. "It. . . It's. . . too soon."
"What about Van Selling?" Warp asked. "Does he know? Does everyone else know?"
"Not yet." Booster said with a small smile. "He was on a solo mission. Just got back."
Warp turned toward the teenagers standing near the doorway leading to the kitchen, whistling, pretending as if they had not been listening in.
"Kids, go watch The Lord Of the Rings! I'll be back in fifteen minutes!"
"What's in the basement?" Hoichi asked.
"Something scarier than a teen who's got acne!" Warp replied.
"I don't have acne!" Quark snapped as he scowled then turned away. "It's called beauty spots!"
"Acne, Mr Denial!" he turned back toward the group then closed the door behind him then held his index finger up. "Wait for it. . .""
The crew heard their screams and the sound of footsteps in the house.
"What did they see?" Mira asked, interested.
"Responsibility." Warp replied with a smirk and a laugh. "Let's go."
Booster was the first to enter the parked Star Command grade van with the others following suit then the van flew into the darkened sky.
Zurg sat there, he had just arrived, gazing on where the portal had once been. He was speechless in the middle of the messy room. No, he couldn't be dead. He couldn't be gone, because if he were, then there was no chance that he would ever see the admiral again, this time forever. He had lived his life to the fullest as a Space Ranger watching cadets grow into competent Space Rangers and watching over them, and he was an admiral now, the kind where it meant retreating into the background and only showing up for very important events.
Zurg looked down toward his claws that once held onto his figure. He got up then fell down to his metallic side, looking over, his skirt torn by the damage, electrical sparks erupting, laid on the side of his lower half. He looked toward his claw that held the most important item in the entire world that could make it easier for Star Command to take down the droids. He crawled away then his free hand clasped on a space ranger that had paint covering his helmet. He lowered the toy to the ground in shame covering his optics turning his helmet away. He couldn't look at the Space Ranger with that hanging over his helm. He was supposed to be dead, not Nebula, yet, Zurg was here.
He had seen the firefight start. He had seen it. He had seen the blasts flying toward him. There was no denying it, Admiral Zeb Nebula was dead. Zurg smacked his fist against the floor, sobbing, then cradled his claw against his chassis, pained. The Evil Emperor wailed in the lonely messy room letting it all out then slumped over after the release. Destruction couldn't truly express the loss of a friend. An old friend from the days before he became what he was and who he was. Zurg lifted himself back up, his lower half on the ground, lacking legs, his hands on the floor, then he lowered his helm, rocking himself back and forth. He tossed a wimpy cowgirl at the door then the doll fell to the ground. He was sore from within, aching, pained at the loss that he should have seen coming. Zurg was undeniably alone, he had lost everything.
A empire, a planet, a friend, a nemesis, brain pods, and grubs, for all the universe was concerned; he had truly lost. Zurg pressed a button on the side of his skirt then limped forward. He yanked the door off its hinges then walked on but halted at the side of the doorway slumping to the side and sinking down. How was he ever going to get back home unarmed, with damaged rockets to do what would be best in Nebula's memory and what he wanted? Nebula's sacrifice had to be used honorably, he couldn't toss it aside, undo it, because then the Hellbringer problem would have continued. The sting had to stick. Zurg could attend Nebula's funeral. He had time on his side, adding the chance of geniuses that were like the brain pods in terms of intelligence and the uncertain chance of technology being around at the right time, and Zurg was going to be there when his biodegradable coffin was lowered into the ground. But, would he make it on time?
Dread, terror, fear, uncertainty-Zurg lifted up his servo and held his servo out then crafted a holographic projection in his hand.
In faint red light, the holographic projection produced a wimpy form, smiling back at him, large as he remembered from his childhood.
He tugged the cord, as per the program, his slight voice clip modification was needed.
"You can do this, deputy!"
Zurg stared at the wimpy holographic projection.
"You're right, Woody." Zurg said.
Zurg fondly laughed upon the figure as his shoulders trembled with his hammy laughter.
"I . . . can. . ." Zurg stepped up to his feet as the figure vanished in a red hue from his grasp. "do. . . . this!" he took one step forward as he rubbed the center of his back, hunched over, feeling an ache. "One step . . ." he took a step forward, defiant, willing to go through what it took to get back home. " . . at a time."
With an aching heart, Zurg made his way through the corridors of Sunnyside then tore open the last doors. He ripped the door in half then used it as his walking stick going forwards leaving the place behind and walked on. He was going to need to wait for technology to be up to par with him so going to a junkyard and waiting there for a couple of centuries would do. He walked on and on, then slid down against a car, keeping himself up with his claws planted on the roof of the vehicle. One of the windows slid down and a seven year old boy with braided black hair poked his head out.
"My mom's working, Mister Zurg!" The door across from him swung open. "You can sleep in this half of mom's bed if you like."
Zurg slipped into the vehicle then closed the door, pressed multiple buttons, pressed a button then held his arm out as his gray arm became coated octagon shapes.
"Did you lose to Buzz Lightyear, again?"
Zurg could look up and see the distant road ahead leading toward uncertainty and trouble and sorrow as it had all those years ago getting back on his favored path.
"He won fourteen years ago."
The boy puckered his lips then scowled.
"Who did you lose to then?" The boy asked.
"A blasted Lord. Should have cratered him long ago-when I get my claws on him, I'll hunt him down like an animal! Show him how it feels being a prey! Butcher him! Kill him, slowly!"
"What did you lose?" the boy amended his question.
Zurg looked aside before replying, this time quiet, his anger fading.
". . . I lost a friend, a very good friend, Zeb Nebula, he was . . . a very good commander."
"There's a new Commander? Not Burnside? Not Hawthorne?"
"Never heard of them." Zurg looked toward the boy then looked away and slouched in, sinking further, struggling to fit his long damaged legs in.
"My name's Joey, and this is my friend Alisha Hawthorne." Joey waved the Space Ranger in front of the Evil Emperor's helm. "And this is my room!"
Zurg looked back toward the boy then observed the dwelling, it wasn't quite a bad cramped space. There were articles of clothing in the back behind him that were in trash bags, he had stashes of pens, pencils, little green alien men scattered about, a Booster Munchapper, a Darth Vader Action Figure, and what looked like several Storm Troopers. At least, that's what the Evil Emperor could see from the front seat lacking any form of trash.
"This. . ."
"Yep!"
"Not bad."
"I sold my old toys and board games and video games to help mom. Even my big brother's Buzz Lightyear. . . " Zurg felt the most pity. "He's a very old toy, missing his name, his space ranger insignia, his legs were pretty yellow, one of his brows isn't as dark as it used to be, and the yellow thing round his wrist laser button is missing. He even has a smiley face on his boot in permanent pen that dad drew and mom put a butterfly beneath it. Never going to go away from him for a very long time."
"Willingly? You let him go, willingly?"
"We lost the house." Joey said, grimly, looking aside. "Used money from my piggy bank. Sold that, too. It's the price of doing the right thing."
"Then where did you get those toys from?" Zurg asked.
"A yard sale." then he held up Alisha. "Alisha was from a unopened box that I found at a landfill." Zurg stared at the boy. Did he go searching for Buzz there, hoping, that he were thrown away to get him back? "Don't ask."
"What's your last name?" Zurg asked.
"Wringly." Joey said.
"Thank you, Joey Wringly, for offering your dwelling." Zurg turned away then shifted on to his side. "Wake me up when your parents are approaching."
"You must be feeling awful being homeless." Joey said as Zurg deactivated his optics. "Missing your place. Your nice decent bed. Your night light, your books, your minions, your tech, your zyclops . . ."
"Hornets."
"What?"
"They're called hornets."
"But. . . the packaging says Zyclops."
"Different things. I am from a distant alternate universe." Zurg turned around then displayed the settings of his world, the characters, as the sun sank in the distance. "I. . ." Zurg had trouble beginning to talk. "had people against me, I caused the existence of unity, I caused people to put aside their differences, I caused people to be better than me, I caused people to be worse off." the Evil Emperor laughed, reflecting, over his legacy then his laughter came to an abrupt end. "Could have avoided losing it altogether if not treating the issue at hand with urgency."
"My dad left us." Joey said drawing Zurg's attention. "He was too upset about his gambling addiction being the root. . ."
"Is he still around?"
"It's been months."
"He'll come around and make it right."
". . . Eventually."
"Yes, eventually, and things will be better."
The boy tossed Alisha into his lap.
"What's that for, child?"
"A friend to sleep with in the car, she's doing hosting duties as a mission." he looked toward the boy who was missing a number of teeth, grinning widely. "She may be cheap, but her presence is priceless!"
Zurg picked up the Space Ranger looking down upon the smiling Space Ranger then pressed a button, fondly.
"Alisha Hawthorne to the rescue!" A voice, familiar, the face, oh, that Space Ranger, he remembered now, she was an admiral these days.
"Can you eat anything?" Joey asked.
"Baby food." Zurg took his arm out of the window looking toward the mirror at the center. "Like Robocop."
"Water?" Joey said.
"That's easy enough to consume." Zurg allowed himself to have a laugh. "Being designed as a machine does come with its perks believe it or not."
Zurg's optics deactivated, reflecting, the price of doing the right thing meant losing something dear. Memories. Lives. Careers. Love. Family. Desire. Incidents featuring those crossed his mind, falling into the berth of sleep, as Joey took out a blanket then threw it over the Evil Emperor covering him up for safety measure. Zurg clung on to the Space Ranger, tightly, his claw grasping along her form, snoring. The boy finished his homework then played with his toys, softly, behind the evil Emperor. The boy looked up as a silver vehicle came by then an older woman came in, and popped in.
"We're eating at Pizza Planet, tonight!" Joey's mom said.
"Pizza planet!" Joey exclaimed.
"What do you got over there?" Joey's mom looked over toward her side.
"Just a giant Evil Emperor electronic toy!" Joey replied.
"Let's go to Pizza Planet!"
"Pizza Planet!" Joey buckled himself in then waved his arms. "Wooooohooo!"
The volkswagon drove off from the side of the road heading on toward the road as street lights flickered on as they passed it as Zurg remained fast asleep.
Van Selling was tired, entering the locker room, then peeled out of his uniform as his comn rang. He set the space suit in the locket, then traded it in for his civilian wear, yawing, loudly. He walked out of the locker room, the comn ringing distantly but muffled behind the door, with his head lowered, tired, it had been a very busy day planting Lord Freeves's seeds in the middle of a mission that meant taking down a wanna be dictator. He strolled through Star Command, something felt off, there was silence, unusual silence, and everyone was looking at him. He halted in his tracks, distrust, heartache, disappointment, shame, all on him.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"You tell us, buster!" Booster said.
Van Selling turned in the source of the voice then froze, spotting Warp in front of the furious team, stepping back.
"You're under arrest for treason, for aiding and embedding in the attempted murder of a Space Ranger, for conspiracy against Star Command, and for dozens of other violations!" XR said.
Van Selling stepped back at the silent Commander who had his arms folded looking down on him then Milky Weight and Hikari appeared behind him and restrained him, unexpectedly.
"And you know what hurts the most? Today's my first day as Commander, and Admiral Nebula can't attend your court martial as we liked to."
"Why?"
Warp laughed, as did a number of Space Rangers, bitterly, hollowly.
"Your friend killed him!" Warp snapped, a bulging nerve appeared on his forehead, his anger showing, then cooled down in disgust.
"No, no, no, he didn't-"
"He did!" Warp said. "We got his body in the freezer!"
"He wanted to kill Zurg!" Van Selling protested. "That's why-"
"Take him down to Morph for his trial." Warp tuned the rest out as he turned away. "He's no use to us. . ." he turned away. "I can't trust you. Nobody can." he briefly closed his eyes. "You've burned yourself."
"I can help you!" Van Selling cried, struggling, terrified, desperate. "Give me a chance!"
"Shut up." Hikari hissed as they dragged him away. "You got Admiral Nebula killed!"
Warp watched the mole be taken away shaking his head with a sigh then turned away and walked on to deal with arrangements pertaining to Admiral Nebula's death. It was an accident, the mole was suggesting, but what had happened wasn't at all.
Alpha awoke in the middle of the night, crying, from the couch. Upon the fifth note, Warp was there by his side. The hours after arriving here had been confusing, the last time the boy had been here, the house looked very different from the outside, the interior of the first floor was relatively the same. Identical to the last molecule even to the basement that had the toys which XR had got out for him. He didn't quite remember the machine as he had a year ago, but the house itself was memorable due to the way it were different from Nana's house. He remembered machines doing chores, cleaning, tending to the hedges, watering the lawn when he arrived the first time around.
"They're dead!" Alpha shrieked, loudly. "They're all dead!"
Warp sat down alongside the boy.
"They're all dead!" Alpha smacked his fists against the Space Ranger's chest, rocking back and forth, distraught. "They're all dead!"
Warp took the boy into his arms then hugged him, tightly, ssshing him, the boy crying into his chest.
"Who's dead?" Warp asked, concerned, yet alarmed.
"Delta, Gamma, Oort, and. . . " Alpha sniffled, clinging on to Captain Woozer. The toys that he normally clung to were set on the table, his bed was the couch, a makeshift bed. The box that they were fetched out of were set alongside the couch acting as a toy chest. "Chari."
Warp rubbed the little boy's back then kicked the remote up and caught it with his stretched prosthetic hand.
"Well, I am not." Warp said, his voice was low, soft, his well aging voice was smooth. "And neither is Quark, Gamma, Hoichi, Chari, and-"
"But they're dead!" Alpha announced, leaning back, pain in his features, trauma resurfacing, trembling. "Is that it? To be quiet? Still?"
"That's what being dead means," Warp confirmed, sorrowfully, gazing down upon the boy. "But they're not quite dead here," he poked the toddler's nose then began to tickle him and a bellyful of laughter rang in the room. "What does that say?..." Warp held his prosthetic hand up. "Clod? Fort? Fork?" he squinted back at it. "Ooooh snap, it says Oort!"
Alpha continued to laugh as Chari peeked out the side of the wall gazing toward the curved living room couch.
"And you know what? They're a little older, but, they're still your brothers and sisters- Gamma, well, they're both your brother and your sister, and that's fine, what's even more is who you realize you ought to be to me or to your siblings or to the entire Galactic Alliance."
Alpha took his free hand as he fought to stay awake, haunted, by the nightmare.
"Don't go." Alpha squeezed his larger hand with his smaller hand.
"Talk to me about your nightmare, and I'll think about it." Warp said.
"We were watching Blues Clues. . ." Alpha started.
"What happened?"
"A dragon destroyed the house." Alpha said.
Warp set aside Captain Woozer then handed Sir Metal Brave into the boy's hand.
"I can already tell you that you're going to need Sir Knight for these nightmares." Warp said. "Woody and Sir Brave are on rotation," Chari went up the stairs, quietly, tip toeing as Alpha looked up toward him. "Sir Metal Brave goes first."
"Can Sir Knight fight dragons?" Alpha sniffled.
"He has a sword! He's-He can defeat a cowboy, a horse, a dragon, a t-rex, any day!" he picked up the dragon and made playful roaring noise. He took out the knight's sword, slipped it in the grip, then collided the two together, displaying a rigorous battle between two forces. "Hiyaaah!"
Warp knocked the dragon off his lap then shook the wimpy knight from side to side.
"And the dragon is defeated!" Warp defeated, then cheered. "Wohooo!"
Warp handed the wimpy knight to Alpha.
"When you're scared, and all alone, and need a friend, a innovative one, turn to this horse, and your two wimpy dolls, Woody, and Jessie."
Warp scooted the wimpy toys into the boy's lap.
"Captain Woozy, well, a strategic individual who fights hand to hand combat and uses his laser pistol with an infinite supply. . . He'll have their back."
He set the toy among the collection.
"And when you get an anxiety on tough days, watching Blues Clues, hold that little furry dinosaur that looks like a giant dino-parrot, be the dinosaur, be the brave big dinosaur, because long as he is brave like Sir Metal Brave, then so are you,"
He picked up the other knight.
". . . and if you need an attractive knight to swoop in to save your toys in a tight spot, turn to Lady Victoria Brave." he handed the toy over. "The queen of the sun, the silver, the snow, she's batgirl, she's there one moment, and gone the next. And this cat, well, she's. . . she's the loyal friend of Captain Woozer." he looked down upon the collection. "Because as long as you got them, that dragon doesn't stand a chance against you and them."
Warp turned on the television, set it on the music channel, resting there as the boy hugged the stash of toys.
"And oh, one more thing, when you are stressed or really angry," he took out the Evil Emperor dummy from the chest, sporting a wicked smile, the lighting outside highlighting his features in a sinister manner. "Hurt him."
The boy was so giddy taking the toy in a way that was very funny for someone happy to see a normally fearful evil being. Warp smiled from ear to ear.
"Have you met my parents?" Alpha asked.
"Not yet. . ." Warp shook his head, his smile fading, looking down upon the saddened boy in the dark. "but the police are looking for them. They'll meet me, soon."
The boy rested against his arm, his eyes drooping close, snoring. Warp remained there for a long while looking down upon the peaceful four year old. He looked at the clock then back toward the boy as the time indicated roughly a hour had elapsed hanging out with the toddler. Warp withdrew, slipped the pillow under the boy's head, leaving the toys in his grasp. He spotted Woody was missing his hat then after a quick search, he found the hat in the cushion. He put the hat back on the cowboy's head then looked down at the boot. The boot read 1 Lightyear.
Warp smiled, looking over, then started to laugh, rubbing his forehead, figures, the boy, making a pun with his name. He set the cowboy among the collection, left, then returned with a heavier blanket, dropping it upon the little boy. A comforting heavy blanket that would lure him to sleep along with the collection, realizing they were there, and they weren't going to be leaving him anytime soon. Warp tip toed away, then looked toward the music channel, a kids channel, warmly smiling.
Warp could only imagine Buzz Lightyear remaining there by the boy's pillow and enjoying the music. He wished, but, Warp knew Buzz Lightyear well enough that he wouldn't have kids when Zurg was still around, he didn't want what happened to him to happen to his kids; losing their father so young.
"Good night, Lightyears." Warp said, warmly. "And take care of him, guys."
Warp turned his attention away then went up the stairs as the boy tugged the toys closer against his chest, fast asleep, content.
