"0 matches found" blinked on the screen. Melcandy's expression grew hopeless as she rubbed her tired eyes. She sat and lowered her face into her hands.
"Melcandy, this was only the first stop. The search isn't over." Telly reassured her.
"I know." she answered.
She started her breakfast of cereal, milk, and a strange fruit shaped liked the letter T that she found on her journeys. Her bowl and food sat across from a framed photograph. It was a photograph of her husband, Jearis. She couldn't smile at it today. The stress from his absence was being to show. "After breakfast let's prepare to go. Well, after I say bye to that kid. Might as well do that."
A new song played from a laptop on a desk in 90's Kid's room. He paced around. A Pop Tart hung from his mouth. Like a doctor writing a prescription by gunpoint, he wrote quickly on his notepad. It was filled with chicken scratch and crossed out words, but held the feelings he has been dying to say for fifteen minutes.
He rested on his bed and finished the Pop Tart before grabbing another. A new track played and he listened to the lyrics. They were about a man seeing a woman for the first time. It described being smitten and having very little time till they had to say goodbye. 90's Kid related to the song's message and smiled. He knew what to write, grabbed his notepad and thought, this was just the thing to make something awesome happen between us.
Melcandy ate the last of her cereal when she called 90's Kid. I want to say goodbye gently, she thought. "Hello? 90's Kid?" she asked after not seeing him on screen.
She heard rustling and sounds of someone fumbling over things. An out of breath 90's Kid, Pop Tart still in mouth, muffled out a "Duuuuuuuuuude!" or as it sounded to her "Mmmfffffffffffffm!" She managed to smile and giggle at 90's Kid.
"90's Kid, what are you wearing?" she giggled. He wore his usual green shirt except it was buttoned up and a grey blazer that he stole from Linkara's closet. He had a bowtie, but since he didn't know how to put it on, he pinned it to his hat to make it look "fancy."
He pulled down his shades enough for Melcandy to see his blue eyes. "I dressed up for this occasion." he told her.
"You're looking classy, with a K and dollar sign S's." She laughed, before becoming straight faced. "I was calling to tell you-"
"Hold on!" He interrupted and threw his pop tart to the side. "I wrote something for you, my lady."
Melcandy blinked. Oh no, she thought. He's not going to do what I think he's doing.
"An ode to Melcandy." He began. "You are extreme like a bowl of ice cream! You rushed into my life like a laser through a chest! You look so pretty and never very gritty. Your tech is the best. I hope I'm not a pest! Someday let me take a rest on your nice, bodacious-"
"Stop." Melcandy ordered. "What is this?"
"The next word was ship not-"
"No. 90's Kid, is this… a love poem?"
90's Kid couldn't keep his glance on her. "Yes." he admitted.
She struggled to complement the horrid poem. "That was...not bad."
90's Kid grinned. Those words were enough to brighten any day. Well, honestly just 90's Kid's day since he lacked the social grace to detect the insincerity in her complement. He was just happy and he smiled anyway. "So, you want to keep building things? I'm almost done thanks to you." he asked.
"Actually, 90's Kid. I called to say goodbye. I am on a quest and I didn't find what I was looking for." she explained. His expression turned downcast and his heart broke. This is the most not awesome feeling ever.
"I can help! I have a friend... with a huge ship that has all sorts of stuff to find what you're looking for!" he hurried to say.
"My scanners came up empty. Sorry, but I have to go." she told him. "And you'll find a nicer girl than me. One your own age. But thanks for the poem. I haven't had a guy complement me in a long time."
"You deserve to always be called radical, Melcandy! What are you looking for?"
"My husband. We got split up, but he's off fighting and I'm looking to join him." 90's Kid found it hard to hide his disappointment. He knew she was a bit older, but a first love is always a burden. She wanted to cut things off and move on but she felt a bit sorry for him. "If you ever meet a man named Jearis around these parts, can you let me know?"
"Jearis!?" he exclaimed. "The Gunslinger!?"
"You know him! Where is he? What happened!?"
"He lives here now. He can't go home because Linkara broke his watch since he caused us trouble." he explained.
Melcandy's fists balled up and her body shook. She had a wrathful expression with a small drop of a tear in one eye. They broke his watch. Who is this Linkara? "I'll have to talk to you later 90's Kid." she hung up.
"Wait!" he tried to say before she disconnected. Hurt and rejected, he sat for a moment. His eyes widened, he lifted his head, looked worried and dashed to Linkara.
Melcandy stood in silence for a moment. The breakfast and her husband's photograph flew across the ship when she kicked the breakfast table. Her fists pounded the floor as she screamed her husband's name. Tears welled in her brown eyes. She kneeled on the floor and begun to cry.
"Melcandy, I'm sorry." Telly the AI spoke. "Are there any other materials to-"
"An anchor can only be made in the home universe! We can go back home but we can't find here that easily! We were just lucky!" she yelled.
"Well, what will we do?" Telly asked her.
Melcandy got off the floor and sat in the captain's chair. Her mood changed from woe to rage. "Telly, go over those files of Comicron-1 the kid sent us! Find out its weak points and make a map of it! Prepare the cannons and raise shields to 100 percent! Activate the core pulse up to five!"
"Are you planning a takeover?" Telly asked.
"No." she answered. "We're gonna kill that damn Linkara!"
Linkara sat in his review room, lamenting his poor dancing skills from the night before. He looked at the You Tube video over and over.
"I honestly look like that!?" he shouted at himself.
"Yes." scattered voices from different rooms said.
90's Kid ran in the room and tried to catch his breath.
"What is it, 90's Kid!" Linkara said.
"It's...horrible." he answered still gasping for air.
"I know. My dancing sucks. I'm a better singer anyway."
"No, dude. Trouble." 90's Kid sat down to rest for a moment.
"Information." said Nimue. "Comicron-1 is under attack."
"WHAT!" Linkara exclaimed.
"I was trying to tell you!" 90's Kid yelled. "I know w-!"
"Nimue, beam me up! I'll take care of this myself!" Linkara said.
"Nope." said Harvey from the door frame with Linksano and Ninja Style Dancer behind him. "What have we told you about teamwork, kid?"
There wasn't time for thank you or touching moments, but they all had an unspoken understanding. You mess with one of us, you mess with us all.
Sparks flew from control panels as Comicron-1 shook under everyone's feet. Resounding booms sounded as weapons pierced the ship. It competed with the repetitive noise of the alarms. Linkara struggled to shout orders to everyone. Linksano went to engineering to keep the core cool and the power on. Harvey tried to maneuver the ship. The Ninja Style Dancer manned weapons as Pollo read off the dropping status of the ship's abilities to withstand this attack. The little ship attacking them was surprisingly strong.
"The scout ship has just been launched." Pollo told Linkara.
"Why?" Linkara asked. "Wait, where's 90's Kid?"
"Linkara!" said a message on the screen. "I'm gonna talk to her!"
"What the hell, 90's Kid! What is-"
"She's Jearis' wife! I've been talking with her and I can stop this!" he explained.
"Comicron-1's weak spots are being attacked one by one." Pollo announced.
"I gotta go talk to her! Trust me!" 90's Kid told him and hung up. He put on his power glove and stood in the center of an octagon. The new cockpit of the scout ship was part advanced technology that it originally had and new add-ons that included an arcade stick, a stick shift with a skull handle, several Sega systems, a hidden pocket to keep his lucky Care Bear and a sound system that rivaled any pimped out car in the state.
Sweat dripped from beneath his backwards cap. He was getting acquainted with nervousness. His hands shook as he called Melcandy and he pressed two buttons on his power glove. A familiar song song played.
Like a bee, Melcandy weaved her spaceship around Comicron-1. Each weak point was targeted with petite laser cannons. She didn't think this was so tough. Comicron's attacks were dodged easily due to her size and speed. The big ship couldn't get her fast enough. The main weapon was almost ready to take out Comicron. She stopped when she heard an unfamiliar guitar riff on her speakers.
"Melcandy!" shouted 90's Kid. "You can't do this!"
"Yes I can and I am! How about that!" her voice shouted.
"Linkara didn't mean to do it! It was a mistake after Jearis-"
"I don't care! My husband can't come home with me! I will destroy Linkara's home! He is gonna know how it feels." she cried.
"You have to go through me. Revenge is not cool, dude. Unless it's Bloodgun. Then it's cool."
"I know everything your ship can do. I helped you build it, idiot! But you don't know anything about me. Telly, final form!"
The ship, Bulk n' Skull, grew two grappling arms and revealed two legs. The head was the cockpit. Melcandy smirked as she looked at 90's Kid on the screen. She nodded at him to rile him up to attack her.
"90's Kid! Are you going to fight that in the scout ship!" asked Linkara in a message. "It doesn't have weapons!"
"Yes it does." he replied. "What did you think I was doing to the ship every day? Playing spaceboy? I wanted the most radical ship ever! And Melcandy! There are things I didn't tell you!"
"Oh? Let's see. Nothing I haven't helped with." she responded.
"Maybe, but I don't want to show you. I don't want to fight you."
"Why? Because you loooove me? You only knew me for days. This isn't a kid's film! And you're a teenager!"
"I don't. I do. Who cares? So what! And I am! I will not let you destroy my friends!" he told her.
"Fine then. Like I said before, ends justify the means." she quoted.
"I can quote things too! Uh, smells like teen spirit!"
She looked disgusted and closed communication.
Melcandy sat up and pulled her controls closer. The small ship, now a mecha, flew at full speed toward the scout ship. The scout ship, Vigilant, moved and shot missiles. They followed the mecha's twists and turns till they got close enough for a hit. The mecha's petite lasers detonated all of them and they left a smoke shield.
90's Kid couldn't see her but moved in anyway. His body controlled the ship according to his leans and kicks. The power glove was the weapon controls along with a few other buttons on the ship. The ship moved closer to the smoke. Melcandy's mecha zoomed out of it and its grappling arms grabbed Vigilant. It began to rip off its outside like a zombie to flesh. A blaster came out of one of Vigilant's compartments and shot the mech a few times to escape. 90's Kid backed off to give him some room to think. Melcandy chased him.
The rest on Comicron watched the two small ships chase and dodge each other's attacks.
"He should be here by now." Linkara said.
"Jearis?" Harvey asked.
The mecha fired at the Vigilant but missed due to 90's Kid getting a better grip on his controls.
"The master cannon is ready to fire, Melcandy." said Telly
"Point it towards Comicron-1! I'm taking those suckers to hell with me!" Melcandy ordered. "FIRE!"
The main cannon fired from the center of the mecha toward Comicron-1. A yellow beam headed towards the control center of the ship. Linkara and company closed their eyes. No one wants to see their own demise.
A house shaped ship flew to the scene and shot at the beam neutralizing it. Melcandy was shocked.
"A plasma neutralizer ray has hindered the attack." Telly explained.
"What! Fire again! Who the hell-"
She was interrupted by her message screen that showed Jearis. A song began to play on everyone's ship. 90's Kid remembered it from that morning. It was a song on the Xenon album Melcandy gave him.
"How can I be just your friend?" Jearis began to sing. "I fall to pieces each time someone speaks your name. I want to be that man who wakes up next to you. 'Cause you're not here, with me... 'Cause you're my everything. 'Cause I fall to pieces each time someone speaks your name."
Melcandy's eyes started to flow with tears. "My Jearis." she whimpered.
"My Melcandy." he said.
"Please stop. I know it hurts, but I have a lot to tell you about, and those people on that ship, they're friends of mine. I understand why you did this. I made mistakes too." Jearis told Melcandy.
She hunched forward and put her face in her hands. "I can't take any of it back! I've done so much just to find you! Jearis..." she cried. Two hands gently touched her from behind and she turned to see Jearis on her ship.
"I missed you too." he told her.
She stood up and grabbed Jearis' into an embrace. He held her tight and stroked her hair as she cried in his chest. The absence of her body was finally filled. She felt a weight float away from her mind. After fighting and working against the grain for a long time, she achieved her goal, to see her husband again. He took her in a passionate kiss. After a few, lip locked moments, they pressed their foreheads together and looked in each other's eyes.
"My word, this is sappy yet beautiful." said Linksano looking at the message on Comicron-1.
"Everything's quiet. Are they making love in there?"
Jearis turned and noticed the message screens with everyone looking.
"You ruined it, you voyeur." Harvey said.
"You're one to talk! You're the one complaining about ruining it!" Linksano pointed out.
"Honey, did you press 'message all' again before you sung that song?" Melcandy asked.
"Oops. Well, I was in the heat of the moment." he explained.
She kissed him and smiled. "You haven't changed."
"I did a little. Well, a lot. I'll explain WITH Linkara." he emphasized.
Everyone sat in Linkara's place around mugs of coffee or cocoa. They talked about the events of the last few days. Melcandy showed discomfort to be there, especially with 90's Kid staring at her. 90's Kid tried not to stare, but he still had those feelings for her and was still in shock over the fight they had. Harvey sensed this and put a hand on 90's Kid shoulder to calm him.
"I'm sorry, Melcandy." Linkara said. "Even though I tried to make up for it-"
"No, Linkara." Jearis interrupted. "We all made mistakes. If I came to you-"
"We all did!" Melcandy shouted. "We all did. "Especially me."
"I did the whole ends justify means and revenge stuff as I was gathering those guns. I sat around building a...fantasy that what I was doing was right." Jearis told her.
"I almost went down that same path." Linkara started. "I was turning evil. I didn't even notice. It took my gun to put my magic out of commission just so I can change."
"I did some shady stuff to build my ship. I traded and collected scrap, but I also stole, cheated, hurt people for my goal. I even hurt a new friend." Melcandy said looking toward 90's Kid. "90's Kid, I'm sorry for what I said to you. I'm sorry for ruining your ship and I could have hurt you. And I'm sorry for stomping on your feelings." She hugged him. Despite everything that happened, he welcomed her arms and blushed.
"It's okay. You're a too old for me." he told her with a smile and his usual nod. She kissed him on the cheek. "Not too old." he corrected.
"But married." Jearis said pointing at him. The room filled with laughter.
A few weeks passed and Melcandy was helping out 90's Kid once more. They hung out in Comicron-1's hanger to work or just listen to music and read 90's comics. Today, 90's Kid welded a new body for Vigilant and Melcandy and a mobile Telly programmed the inside.
"This is going to be my magnum opus." She stated with confidence.
"You said that yesterday before it failed on you. I think that is your bad luck word." Telly said.
"Bad luck is spelled T-E-L-L-Y."
"Wow. I guess you have good luck if you can go this long without knowing how to properly spell." Telly told her. Melcandy pouted. "Mel: 33, Telly: 196."
"Melcandy! 90's Kid!" yelled Linksano as he stomped through the hangar bay. "Did you take my maser antistapler!"
"Nope, we're using mine." Melcandy answered.
"Yeah, Linksano. We haven't snuck into your tool room." 90's Kid said.
Linksano grumbled as he left. Little did he know Pollo had it to use in an attempt to not only make himself arms that work, but maybe become a mecha.
"Dude! When the new part scout ship part giant robot is done, I'm gonna name it Deathmech the Extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeme!" 90's Kid said.
"Uh, maybe we should stick with Vigilant. Linkara might like that." she told him.
Jearis pointed his gun at Linkara. A shock was on Linkara's face as his new friend pulled the trigger. A bullet hit him in the chest. A deadly shot, however, it was a NERF dart. They did shooting practice with NERF on the holodeck, but everyone knew it was just two men playing like boys.
"I believe this proves I'm the better gunslinger between us." Jearis taunted.
"Best 5 out of 8!" Linkara said "Restart the counter."
That night Melcandy transported onto Jearis' ship. They greeted with a kiss and held the others hands.
"Sierra. Make sure there are no disruptions tonight." Jearis said.
"No problem, Master." it answered.
He picked up his wife and spun her around like he did when they married. They kissed as they continued to the bedroom to spend a night taking comfort in each other. They planned to make up for those long years alone. Even with the hardships life had waiting for them, they could handle it better than ever.
THE END