Chapter 49: The Desert Whirlwind
"Bored. Bored. Bored. Boreddy bored bored..."
Mew was kicking back in his couch while staring up at the ceiling. He was all alone at home with the peace and quiet that came with it. And it sucked.
He turned onto his side at the clock, "9:00 AM..."
He turned back and with a pout shouted, "Damn it!"
He put his hands behind his head and muttered, "Bored. Bored...Super mega ultra BOOOOOORED..."
He took a limp hand towards the remote and turned on the TV to flip through the channels, "Seen it, seen it. New episode? ...Wait I don't like this show. Seen it. Seen it. Stock markets up? ...Seen it. Seen it. Pass. Seen it. Too dramatic. Too unfunny. Seen it. Seen it..."
"Ugh...!" He shut the TV off and flopped the controller onto the floor, slapping the hand onto his chest.
"Hey Joe, why don't we-" Oh, right. He's not here anymore.
"Its only been a day..." He paused and thought about it a little, when his eyes widened and he exclaimed, "A week?! How can that be?!"
"Uuuuuuuugh...!" He collapsed back onto the couch and drooped one arm off the side, "Maria and Kairi's at school. Riku's still training. Joe Dark's probably laughing at up at his new manor with tons of women catering to his every whim..."
He closed his eyes and sighed, "And I'm stuck at home about ready to count all the pimples in the ceiling paint...again."
For the record, there's 15,000 of them, give or take two.
"Aye caramba, I should really do something..." Mew sat up and dreaded considering the possibility of, "Like...get a job."
A shiver ran through his skin. The situation was getting out of hand and he needed to correct it. Fast.
"Ring! Ring!" Came the sound of his phone, a savior in outdated technological form!
He zipped over to it in a second and clutched it against his face, "Master of the house speaking!"
"Mew?" Right off the bat the voice didn't sound like anyone in his family, and it was a guy not a girl either so...
"Its me, Seth." They said right away.
"Oh! Hey Seth!" AKA, Aurian Mars, voted "Least likely to be a stick in the mud" amongst his group, "How's it going? Haven't seen you since the beach."
"Yeah that was a fun time wasn't it?" His laughter could be heard over the other line.
"Speak for yourself..." Mew grumbled, feeling a twinge of pain in his spine, "So, how'd you get this number any-"
"...You know what, never mind," The answer wore a big white lab coat, "You wanting to hang out again? Catch another trip to the beach? Play video games?"
"A-Actually I really need your help with something." His voice lacked the usual laid-backness.
"You're sounding a bit shook up there buddy, is it that bad?"
"Not really...if I get your help at least."
"Well fortunately for you my schedule's all freed up today!" Mew lit up with a smile, "Shall I meet you at the Pyramid then?"
"No need, I'll just beam you up...As soon as I remember how this works...Lets see, this button locks on, this one..."
Mew felt his body become incredibly fuzzy as he was pulled off the floor and straight...up? through hundreds of miles in the blink of an eye.
He slammed his head against a glass ceiling and plopped down onto a comfy leather seat, with a hard light seatbelt locking him into place thereafter.
"OW!" He said, barely fazed as he rubbed his head.
"Oh good, you made it in one piece." Mars' voice came in super clear now cause he was sitting in the seat directly in front of him.
Mew looked around and saw they were in a simple two-man space ship overlooking the planet Earth and all the satellites that cluttered over the atmosphere.
The ship started flying away, zipping past the moon so fast the stars became streaks of light. Then a click was heard and Mars looked over the shoulder of his chair to extend a hand towards him.
"Thanks for helping on such short notice Mew."
Mew shook his hand and said, "Its nothing. Anything for a friend."
Mars then sat back down and gripped the steering wheel, taking the occasional look at the wildly changing coordinates off to the right.
Mew leaned back into the chair and but his hands behind his head, "So you gonna tell me what the mission is chief?"
"Oh right!" Mars snapped back over the chair and reached towards a disc-shaped device in his vest. One button press later and a hologram popped up revealed a titanic entity in shadows, with a very, very big number attached to something resembling a dollar sign below it.
"I'm on a mission to stop a powerful creature known as the 'Tremorlord' that my information broker said is being dropped onto an inhabited world."
Mew stared at the beast's silhouette but couldn't make out any distinguishable features, "So kinda like a bounty hunting mission eh? Didn't take you for the type."
Mars shut the device off and his head hung with a sigh, "Gotta make ends meet somehow these days..."
He flopped back into his chair and gave Mew some food for thought, "Oh right, you were getting paid by Gravitus..."
Mew firmly crossed his arms and gave a half-hearted gesture of apology, "Sorry but not sorry buddy. He needed to be stopped."
"I get you. I kind of figured it was going to happen to him someday."
He didn't expect to hear that, "You did?"
"He had some good ideas but at the same time you could just tell he had a couple screws loose..." Mars scoffed with laughter and shook his head, "I sure as heck wasn't gonna say anything though."
"True, he'd flatten you like a fly without even looking at you." Mew responded nonchalantly.
"Ouch..." Mars cringed, "You're right and all but still, ouch..."
"I think Catherine's been taking it the worst out of all of us, especially over the last week."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Mew blurted out suddenly.
"You know something about it?"
Mew clamped his lips shut for a moment and came up with a way around his mistake, "E-Even if I did it wouldn't be right to tell you in her place."
"True that."
A few minutes later, Mew crossed his arms and leaned into the chair some more, "So tell me more about this...'Tremorlord'"
"Well according to my info its a massive surface trenching worm that devours all stone in its path. There's been one or two reports in the past of one eating its way through an entire planet until only the core remains."
"...And you said we're going to an inhabited world?" Mew took the matter seriously.
"Yeah. Some asshole on the black market bought and raised a Tremorlord larvae then deposited it on the planet Bickbock, probably for shits and giggles." Mars said with a hint of anger.
"And nobody's giving them a heads-up?" Mew inquired.
"The galaxy's crazy right now Mew, especially where Gravitus' empire is concerned. A lot of bounty hunting and thus bounty hunters have cropped up to take advantage of the chaos."
"Like you?" The moment Mew said that he could feel Mars' animosity coming back at him, "S-Sorry I didn't mean it like-"
"I got my reasons for doing this, that's all I'll say..." Mars ruffled around with a sigh. He was clearly antsy from the way he fiddled his fingers on the wheel, "Most hunters take the easy jobs to make a quick buck leaving nobody wanting to deal with the tougher ones, the ones that'll actually make a difference to someone..."
"Really pisses me off..." He muttered under his breath.
"..." Mew leaned towards the back of his chair and patted him on the shoulder, "Then how about we go make a difference?"
"Hmm!" He nodded in approval.
A few more minutes later the ship jumped out of lightspeed moving towards a giant mass of brown rock with a bunch of fissures and deep chasms already carved into it.
"Oh no, are we too late?" Mew said, tensed up.
"No this is how it normally looks. That means the Tremolord hasn't started burrowing yet..." Mars arched his brows determinedly and set the ship on a direct course for the planet's surface.
The sky was orange and it felt like there was no air to speak of. Mew prepared an air barrier around himself in advance and was about to give one to Mars when...
"No need," He spoke confidently, raising his right wrist to reveal a watch on it, "I'm prepared."
He landed the ship onto a thick stack of stones and opened Mew's window first. After he hopped out he saw a bright flash of light coming from the ship and turned back around. A black streak shot out of the cockpit and crashed down in front of Mew, cracking the ground.
Mars was in the same kind of suit Saturn tended to wear, albeit he got to keep his vest on the outside. Red to brown light lines flowed in groups of threes from his feet and arms to his chest, and the orange visor was shaped like an "M".
Mars squeezed his fist and said happily, "Still as snug as a glove..."
Mew leaned back slightly and crossed his arms with a smirk, "You too huh?"
"I-Its not like I like the suit or anything..." Mars stumbled on his words, "It just helps me breathe."
"Uh-huh. So what was your suited up phrase?" Mew's smirk grew wider.
"Now? I-I don't really remember what..."
"Oh don't give me that come on. I wanna hear it."
Mars sighed heavily and then swung his right arm to the upper corner of his body unenthusiastically, "When evil comes to rob the innocent of peace, I rush to their side...I am Galaxy Rider Mars."
"Again, with aplomb!" Mew clapped his hands.
"Mew..." Mars grumbled.
"Oh fine, later..." Mew crossed his arms and turned towards the horizon. Rocks rocks rocks as far as the eye can see. There were some cool rock arrangements out there, but they might as well have gotten their color palette from a pile of shit.
"Lets get to the surface." Mars advised before taking a swift, daring leap off the tower.
"Right-o!" Mew followed suit.
Once they both landed Mew looked around for any signs of life, wondering who the heck would want to be here on this dull rock.
"What's the plan of attack?" He asked.
"You can sense movements in the ground right?"
"Uhhh, if I'm familiar with the rocks yeah. Gimme a moment..." Mew closed his eyes and laid his feet flat on the ground. Concentrate. Concentrate.
"Oh yeah, this is super basic rock here..." He muttered confidently. Expanding the scope of his senses through the ground, he felt a faint tremor coming from a couple miles to the east. No, one mile away?
The tremor was shaking his feet and moving a few pebbles on the ground. He widened his eyes open and declared, "I think our target's closer than we want him to be...!"
Mars hunched over and drew his clasped nunchucks in one hand, "Then get ready!"
His voice started to be drowned out by the violent rupturing of the ground ahead of them, "HERE HE COMES!"
In one vicious rise a circular set of razor sharp metal sawblades came out of the ground, attached to a cylindrical, tunnel-length monstrosity capable of devouring large cities in one gulp. Its head alone drowned the two in a pitch black shadow.
Mew and Mars split up as the beast crashed upon the surface and started tearing ass like an out of control train. Its hide was coated in a thick, rugged diamond-like material.
"How are we supposed to stop this?!" Mew exclaimed, barely able to hear himself, "Oh son of...!"
He leaped far out of the way of the worm's warpath and dashed faster than it could move. Mars' assessment wasn't an exaggeration. The worm didn't let any wayward debris escape being devoured by its body or mouth.
He got past the worm's mouth and saw Mars had gotten to that point with his head already turned in anticipation of his arrival.
"HOW DO WE STOP THIS?!" Mew yelled at the top of his lungs.
His voice amplified by his suit Mars screamed, "TREMORLORDS ARE TITANIC, BUT THEIR BRAINS ARE INCREDIBLY SMALL. THEY ONLY KNOW HOW TO EAT. TAKING OUT THE BRAIN WILL STOP IT."
"ATTACK THE HEAD, GOT IT!" Mew flashed a thumbs-up and then took a daring leap onto the worm's head with Mars following suit.
The beast trembled like a magnitude 10 earthquake and made it hard to stand. Mew drew his sword in a stabbing motion but it bounced off the beast's hard hide.
"What is this thing made of?!" He gasped in disbelief.
"Nobody knows! Its too hard to even use as jewelry!" Mars seemed to have no problem standing though, "But fortunately the worm's young so the skin shouldn't have fully developed over the brain yet."
"Alright that's great!" Mew scoured the immediate area with his eyes and grimaced, "Ok this is not great, I ain't seeing an opening anywhere."
"What?" Mars did a scan himself and clutched his fists, "Damn it! The culprit must have artificially accelerated its growth!"
"Got a Plan B?" Mew hastily asked.
"There is no Plan B! If we can't get to the brain we're not stopping this thing by force!"
"He's right. This thing's too huge and heavy for me to lift off the planet, and I ain't about to try attacking from the inside with all those razor blades in the way..." Mew snapped his fingers and figured he'd have to just try his usual method of dealing with things...
"I'll try breaking through with my fists! You run on ahead and warn the people of this planet!"
"Crap, I forgot to mention...!" Mars said, bitterly clutching his teeth at the end.
"What?" Mew panicked, "What now?"
Mars turned his head and he looked visibly shaken on the inside, "The people of this planet are made of rocks too!"
"WHAT?!" Mew felt the worm's body jerk around which, for it, would almost be enough to throw them off. He then ran to the very top of the worm's mouth and saw it nearing a massive fissure.
And just down below he could make out a series of flat-faced rock creatures with goofy drilled through eyes and various shapes and sizes moving around stiffly on their cavernous porches.
"You could've led with that!" Mew exclaimed before he dove off the side of the worm and flew underneath its path. The worm flew off the edge and started barreling towards the helpless citizens.
Mew turned upside-down and grit his teeth, rapidly pounding the underside of the worm with kicks. His legs quickly felt like they were on fire and he watched his shoes be stripped down from the friction.
The worm was kept suspended over the chasm and eventually crashed "safely" on the other side. Mew's feet throbbed heavily as he positioned himself upright and caught his breath.
"Jesus christ..." He gasped, taking straight off back to the Tremorlord's head. Landing on its hide was very, very uncomfortable on the heels.
"Well there goes my best shoes..." He said, flicking the battered things off his feet.
"We've averted disaster, but for how much longer?" Mars muttered to himself.
Mew winced and looked straight out, noticing another fissure over the horizon. He threw his hands down and concentrated on the ground ahead, "Not this time you wormy bastard!"
He threw his hands out and extended a massive bridge over the fissure for the Tremorlord to tunnel through. He then gripped his fists and said, "At the speed its going I don't know if I can keep doing this..."
He closed his eyes for a momentary break to think. Somehow, he had a brilliant shot in the dark kind of idea, "Hey if the creature's growth was accelerated then wouldn't that make the skin weaker around the brain?"
Mars sprung up and snapped his fingers, "That's right, it would be!"
"Great!" Mew drew his sword in both hands and raised it high, "Keep an eye out for anymore fissures, I'll carve our way through!"
Mars hopped to the front and Mew stabbed down. The tip of the blade failed to meet its mark. He took a couple steps forward and tried again. No luck.
Mars hollered "FISSURE!" when it was time for Mew to break away and bridge the gap for the worm to cross. Meanwhile Mars used his shotgun nunchucks to try and pick up Mew's work.
Rapidly alternating between the two's jobs kept the people safe but the planet was suffering a lot of damage in the meantime. Eventually though Mew felt his blade get stuck.
"Got it!" He gasped out in relief.
He discarded the sword and went for the faster approach of chipping through the surface with a flurry of fists. His knuckles quickly turned red under pressure but he kept going strong, eventually feeling something wet and squishy underneath.
"Almost there...!" He said, sweat glistening off his face.
"Leave this part to me!" Mars chimed in, giving Mew the chance to breathe.
Mars dipped both ends of his nunchucks into the soft membrane and fired two concentrated shotgun blasts. Bits of flesh and viscera spewed upward like a geyser, and the worm started squirming uncontrollably.
Mew dug his hand into the side of the wound to hold on while Mars went tumbling onto his back, sent rolling past Mew.
Mew summoned a solid cloud and he used it to bounce back over.
"One...MORE!" He grunted with all his might as he put one nunchuck into the gap, and fired.
The Tremorlord let out a sky-rending screech and reared its head high. The strength in its voice depleted to nothing, and when its head came crashing down the entirety of its girth was thrown around in a twisted shape.
Mew and Mars were tossed off the side and got within a hair's breath from being crushed.
Mew threw his fists in the air and screamed, "WOO HOO! What a work out!"
His fists twitched and he went "OW!" as he pulled them back towards his chest.
Mars stood up and brushed the dirt off his suit, then walked over to put his hand on the worm's hide, "That was close..."
Mew sprung forward onto his feet and crossed his arms partway, "Sooooo, what are we going to do with the body?"
Mars flipped his right hand around and a number pad appeared on it. He dialed on them with his mind and raised it to his hand, complete with a dial-tone, "I'll get Catherine to run by later and carry it off to a sun for disposal. It should be fine here for now."
He then turned away and said "Hello?" basically saying to Mew "I'm busy". Mew shrugged and stepped aside while he did his thing.
When the click came from him he turned back around and saw Mars walking his way, "Alright I reported the bounty in to the bureau. Now I got to stop by and pick up my reward. You mind?"
"Not at all, I'm curious to see what its like." Not as if he had anything better to do. It also just felt good to have done something heroic for the first time in...months.
After getting back to the ship, shockingly in prime shape, they took off back into space. Mars deactivated his suit too. The trip to their next location was much shorter.
They weren't heading to a planet, but a massive space station. It looked grimy, surrounded by a force field enforced by hollowed out metal skull satellites.
There was vigorous static coming in over the radio that Mars came to answer with "Desert Whirlwind, reporting in."
The static ceased with a screech, upon which the two front-most satellites opened their jaws to form a gap in the force field.
The space station was smaller than the main part of Neptune's casino but as ugly as a pile of trash. Vicious looking spaceships loitered in small, barely attached compartments and there was a camera on every corner. This was where the worst of the worst came to hang.
The ship was landed and the two of them climbed out. The doorway to the main part opened like a rusty jaw, keeping Mew on his guard.
Mars walked with a calm, confident strut and kept one hand near his nunchucks as they went through the humid tubes. At the end they wound up at a gathering of the galaxy's roughest toughest bounty hunters all gathered in lines.
There was a four-legged cowboy-like figure with slimy tentacles for arms and a face made of a tangle of smaller tentacles, one of which reached up and lowered the rim of its hat over the gap of shadows where the eyes should be.
A bipedal triceratops with a broken horn and tattooed back flashed a smirk towards them while pulling another of its horn off and scraping it across the metal wall to intimidate.
Mew tucked his fists in his pockets and rolled his shoulders comfortably, "I'd like to see them try..."
He got in line with Mars and waited up to an hour for them to get up front. In that time there were three lacerations, one knock-out, one alien getting shoved through a wall, and at least ten accounts of gunfire. None focused on him, unfortunately.
"Cowards..." Mew said, putting his itchy fingers in line for now.
Mars got up to the counter, protected by a wire-mesh wall. There stood a woman with light-green skin, barnacle covered cheeks, and three eyes arranged in a triangle.
"Hey Quillax." Mars greeted comfortably.
The woman's throat made a gurgling sound and she raised a webbed hand onto the counter with a check glued to it.
Mars pulled it out and waved the sticky stuff off, tucking it away in his pocket, "Split as usual right?"
Quillax nodded and made more gurgling sounds.
"Thanks, you're a peach." Mars flashed a smile and thumbs-up and the woman's barnacles expanded, puffing out hot steam.
"S-Sorry, you're right," Mars said with an awkward chuckle, "Later."
And just like that business was through here and they returned to the ship without any interruption. Mew leaned back into the chair with his hands behind his head and remarked, "Seemed like a pleasant place."
Mars started the ship up and they rode on out past the force field. He then locked in new coordinates and said, "I got one more stop to make. You wouldn't mind right...? Its on the way back."
"No absolutely, go right ahead!" Mew waved a hand down gently.
"You sure...?" Mars tilted his head.
"Positive, Maria's not out of school for a few more hours."
"I mean if you want to go back..."
"Just go...!" Mew hurried him along before the inevitable return to loneliness could settle in.
"Alright!" Mars gasped and set the ship to lightspeed.
After a relatively short gap of time the two exited lightspeed over a mostly desert planet. Though, with the few bodies of water throughout it'd be better to call it an oasis. The planet had a red moon and a perfectly breathable atmosphere.
"What's this place?"
"Alluranda, the Oasis that Never Sleeps." Mars spoke warmly of.
He took the ship through the atmosphere and got within a hundred feet of the surface before leveling out into a glide. On the horizon was a city ripped straight out of Arabian stories. It was much more tall than wide, built entirely out of stone, mud and sand.
At least, that's how it looked at first. As they got closer Mew caught some electrical wires and poles going through the city, and there was more metal at the base of the buildings to prop them up. Also, there was a concrete road going in and out of the city, where people seemed to be towed on floating carpets by giant, speedy scorpions.
Mars glided past the city and looked at it for a while with a smile. He then continued his descent on the outskirts, heading towards a two-story building with a palm tree shaded garden and a series of jungle gym equipment for children.
Mars landed in the parking lot and opened the cockpit, exposing Mew to the cool, sandy air.
"I'll be just a few moments ok?"
Mew started climbing out the side, "I want to see what its like here."
"T-That won't be necessary...!" Mars exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
Mew turned his head and found his body language suspicious since they had arrived. He then cracked a wily smirk and crossed his arms, "Oh ho ho, got a secret hidden in your vest do you...?"
"No its just...not very interesting..." Mars and Mew both watched as another scorpion ride came darted by down the road.
Mars then saw the big smile on Mew's face and fell over in a slump, "Ugh fine. You can come with."
"Sweet!" Mew threw his arms down and walked alongside Mars towards the building.
Mars knocked twice on the wooden door and said stiffly, "H-Hey, I'm here...!"
A woman answered the door, having tan brown-skin just like him. Her dark brown hair was resting on her right shoulder as a fancy braid tied up by flowery tropical ribbons. She too had little regard for how much skin she showed, judging by the palm-tree patterned bikini and slightly see-through skirt.
"Well if it isn't Seth!" The woman said with a slight Arabian accent, "Come on in!"
She gave way to her two guests and raised a hand beside her face, "Kids! Seth's home!"
A rupturing roar of "YAYs!" came from the stampede of little kids barreling out of the nearby room. They gathered around Mars' legs and clung on tight, fighting one other for the right.
"S-Settle down everyone." Mars squirmed but offered little resistance besides a playful shove or two.
The kids ranged from 4 to 12 years old and were all well-dressed. They dragged Seth towards the big room to the left and the woman was left talking to Mew.
"Friend of his?" She said, her eyes and smile changing as she scanned him over.
"You could say that...?" Mew crossed his arms and looked the woman in the eyes. After a good long while he roughed up a cough and remarked, "Are you...his wife?"
"Oh ho ho!" She lightly slapped the side of his arm and leaned forth to chuckle, "Did he tell you to say that?"
She stood up and waved her hand over towards a wooden board with a name chiseled onto it, "Gala Lala Chawa, owner of the Palm Side Day Care, at your service."
"Pleasure to meet you Gala," Mew extended his hand, "My name's Mew."
She held his hand tight and gave it a firm shake, "Charmed. Ooooh, you've got tough hands there..."
Mew withdrew coolly and said with pride, "I may get into a few fights..."
"With a friend like Seth I'm not surprised," Gala gestured towards the other room and said, "Come join us."
Mew went quietly into the room, finding Mars peeling off the kids and sitting on a chair.
"Did you bring a gift?"
"What kinda monsters did you fight?"
"Tell us a cool story Seth!"
The kids were all over him like bees on honey. Mars gently pushed his hands towards them and said, "Settle down and I'll tell you a story..."
"YAY!" They cried, plopping onto their rears with their eyes lit up like a starry night.
Mew and Gala stayed under the door frame as Mars recounted the encounter with the Tremorlord. Mew's name was kept out but his presence was still there. He didn't try to spice it up or anything, but the kids ate it right up.
Mew glanced around the room and noticed some framed pictures on the wall. One with Mars and Gala, looking a few years younger, gathered around a different group of kids.
But then, there was another picture showing Mars with a different woman and another group of kids. Then another one with ANOTHER different woman and group of kids. And another. And another. And another...The state of the Day Care changed too, to a point where it didn't have its second floor, and then almost looked like it couldn't stand. The clothes of the children and woman became less clean and exotic and more like scraps of paper patched together.
"..." Mew decided to keep that in the back of his mind for now.
The story ended and Mars tried to get up only for the kids to cheer "Another! Another!"
Gala stepped in and waved the kids down, "Everyone, its lunch time. Seth'll tell you another story later."
"Hooray! Lunch time!" Shouted some of the kids as they stampeded out of the room, nearly toppling Mew over.
"Thanks Gala." Mars breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're a natural kid magnet Seth," Gala chuckled with her hands pressed on her lips, "We're opening a new Day Care in Cabalea, maybe its time you settled down and took a job there?"
"You call that settling down?" Mars laughed calmly, and began to reach into his vest, "That reminds me though..."
He pulled out the check from earlier and handed it off, "Sorry I'm a couple months late on my contribution, its been a busy time."
Gala snagged the check in hand and looked over it for a second before it was tucked into her bikini for safe-keeping, "I'll make sure it gets to the King safe and sound don't you worry. By the way, he wanted me to say he missed you coming to his wife's dinner last month."
"Aw man that totally slipped my mind..." Mars recoiled slightly in shock, "Tell him I can make it up to him next month ok?"
"Will do." She laughed.
"Well, I'll catch you later. Tell your mother I said 'Hi'." As Mars began to head towards Mew, Gala waved him off.
"Lets go." He said with a sigh towards Mew.
As they left the Day Care Mew tucked his hands into his pockets and noticed Mars seemed kinda down.
"Need to talk?" He extended a gesture of good faith.
Mars craned his head back towards the big city a mile away and put his hands in his pockets too, "I've never been good at subtlety Mew."
He looked over his shoulder and said with a relenting sigh, "You pieced together that this is my home, didn't you?"
Mew rolled his shoulders and said, "I may have found a hint or two..."
Mars looked back up at the city and stated calmly, "I used to be an orphan."
Mew relaxed, sensing he'd be hearing a long story from the Desert Whirlwind.
"Our planet wasn't always this pretty. Alluranda used to be known as 'The Land of Fading Gold'. This city you see was the only one, where the rich ruled from the top and the lower you were, the more grim your day-to-day life felt."
"And if you lived outside the city, you were lower than sand. But that's where my life began, far as I can remember...Outside the city, at the Palm Side Orphanage. We barely had any money and scrounged up clothes from the trash people threw over the walls."
"I tried to sneak into the city a lot to get food and money but tended to get caught a lot and tossed back out. But I kept trying, improving, and eventually succeeding. But scraps weren't going to cut it. We'd need a King's Ransom if we wanted to truly survive..."
"I planned to sneak into the King's tower one day and steal from his vault. It took multiple attempts, and it got harder as I got older, but eventually I succeeded...Or so I thought."
"I was sloppy, thought I was a nobody in the King's eyes...He didn't take to being stolen from very lightly. He had his guards follow me footsteps back to the Orphanage and tried to have it burned down. A few of my family died in the fire by the time I got back and incapacitated the guards."
"That night I broke back into the King's tower in a rage, knocked out his guards, and cornered that rat bastard in his bed...I demanded he take his money and start using it to treat his people equally no matter where they came from."
"He was prideful, fearless...All that money blinded him to danger. But more importantly, he had a particular vendetta against me..."
"I was his son."
"My mother was the victim of one of his one-night stands and she had tried to use my birth as leverage to make the King bend to similar demands. But the King, not wanting the populace to learn of his 'dirty child' had his guards kill her in the dead of night. But with her last breath she brought me to the orphanage."
"The King took advantage of my shock to call in more guards...I gave him a swift kick in the dick and told him that I would keep coming back until he realized the error of his ways."
"I kept fighting off guards and stealing treasure. Somewhere along the way that Grand Cosmic Sage guy showed up and, for whatever reason, gave me the powers I have now. But I stuck to my usual bag of tricks to keep my home safe, with the added bonuses of being ageless, I guess..."
"I didn't win by beating the King physically, or mentally, but because I outlasted him. Years of vexing him led to deteriorated health on his end, and when he was 77 years old I got a message from one of his guards that he was on his death bed...and he wanted me to come see him."
"I thought it was a trap, but the guards stayed still as I approached the old bastard on his bed one more time. For the first time in my life I saw a shred of humanity in his eyes as he looked to me full of regret and said..."
"'I have been selfish my boy...Hoarding, feasting away atop my tower with all the pleasures in the world at my side...And yet now, in my final moments, did any of it make me happy? I am...alone. I have no wife, I have no child...Just the company of a street rat, nay, a brave man who fought this foolish king's greed to the bitter end.'"
"In his last moments he declared a new law, 'Seth's Law', stating that all outside and inside the city are to be treated equally."
"And then he gave his last breath, and went quietly into the night."
"..." Mars rubbed the back of his head calmly and grumbled, "He was a bastard, and his last moments don't erase years of oppression but...His decision always reminds me that there's good in everyone. It was the only thing he ever taught me."
"...After that there were a few years of turmoil about succession from the king's two nephews, but when that got ironed out the planet's thrived ever since. In-between stuff with the Planetary Aurians and Gravitus I drop by to see how everyone's doing."
"And give a little bit of your paychecks to the orphanage?" Mew remarked.
"...Yeah." Mars whispered.
Mew leaned around and smiled, "Why'd you want to keep this a secret? You're like a combination of Robin Hood and Aladdin!"
"Are those heroes on your world Mew?" Mars turned aside and shook his head, "I-I'm not a hero...I'm just a guy who did what should be done."
Mew settled into place and nodded, "You're right. But don't you think you might be overdoing it a bit now?"
Mars took pause as Mew chewed him out a bit, "If you didn't get a hold of me I feel like you would've tried taking that Tremorlord on yourself."
He waved his hand out and kept any hint of humor out of his voice, "The people here love you, don't make them mourn you.
Mars wagged his hand aside and remarked with a dry chuckle, "Maybe I can...dial it back a bit."
"Or just keep calling me for help! I had a fun time today!" Mew said grinning from ear-to-ear.
"If you're not too busy again sure."
"Oh I can't see that being a problem any time soon..." Mew muttered under his breath. He then looked Mars straight in the eyes and hesitated, "Say, when you've felt alone, how..."
He shook his head and relaxed into a smile, "Never mind."
After that Mars took him back home with no further detours. He was teleported back into his house right where he had been left off, and once he hung up the dangling phone he returned to his couch.
But as he relaxed back into it, his smile turned into a frown...Until he focused on how he helped Mars out, which made that smile return.
"This was a good day..." And maybe that's all it needed to be.
Next Time: Eyes of a Scaled Half-Breed