Chapter 3: The New Galaxy

Author's Note: Both the first and alternate universes in this fanfic are similar to the universe in the original Wander over Yonder series. But there are also some differences. You'll see what I mean later. Enjoy!

Spinning. Wander was spinning and spinning senselessly. He spun so much that his head began to ache and his blood began to rush. His surroundings were nothing but fuzzy, unfamiliar blurs. And, maybe he was hallucinating, but he thought he heard a door open.

Suddenly, Wander was no longer spinning, and the blurs began to turn to distinguishable things. He was back in deep space, it appeared, and familiar, brightly colored planets and moons greeted him. Twinkling, luminous stars blinked at him, and friendly travelers waved at him. Wander could not believe it; he was probably still in his galaxy and the witch put her foot in her mouth!

"Whoa... This is AMAZING!" Wander was so fascinated with the views around him that he didn't notice he was floating at an incredibly high speed. Luckily, he landed on the soft, plush leaves of a strange, orange tree on an unfamiliar planet. Aside from the assortment of orange and violet trees and plant growth, a shiny palace surrounded by humble huts was on this planet.

"And what a beeeeautiful place to explore!"

"Ha!" A man in shining armor suddenly popped out from a nearby bush. "A foe at last!"

Wander just grinned amiably and waved. "Hi! Folks call me Wander! I'm - "

"A stranger! The fool! Just like the prophecy foretold. Now I will kill you, villainous fool, and saved the beautiful Princess Demura, and my fabulous hat will finally be mine! Because I am Sir Brad Starlight!"

Wander gasped appreciatively. "Wow! That's so cool!" He especially liked Sir Brad's starry, midnight blue cape and the hat he was carrying. It was green and black with a bright yellow star stitched in the middle.

"I know, right?" Sir Brad grinned proudly, posing heroically.

"Well, it was nice meeting ya!"

"What?" Sir Brad blocked Wander's path. "No, I -"

"You want to hear me sing? Because I'm always happy to sing for a new friend!"

"NO! We are certainly not friends! I -"

"What a cool hat you have!" Wander blurted out, observing it. "But shouldn't you wear it on your head? Hats are made for wearin', not carryin'!"

To Sir Brad Starlight, the temptation to smack this nomad was beyond tempting. "Not this one, you simpleton! It must choose its owner." He raised the hat over his head as if it were a trophy. "This hat is the most magical hat in the entire galaxy! No, the universe! It can give you anything your heart desires." He reached inside the hat and pulled out what he needed. "Like a sword!"

"Ooh... Can I try? Can I try? Can I try?" Wander could barely contain his excitement. "Can I? Can I? Can I?"

"No, it's mine!" Sir Brad whined childishly.

The star nomad just shook his head disapprovingly. "Well if it's yours, then wear it! I bet it'll look good on ya!"

"I'll put it on later - after I kill you and save the princess!" He almost struck Wander, but the nomad then hopped on his back and started to rub his broad shoulders.

"Hey, it's okay, buddy. I can tell you're tense."

"Get off of me! We're not buddies!" Even when Wander did hop off of him, Sir Brad had reached his breaking point. "FINE!" He stubbornly stomped the ground. "I will don this hat only to prove that it is truly mine! And when I do, will you shut up?" Wander nodded affirmatively. And so, the confident knight donned the hat and fell dead.

Before Wander could call for help, he heard children scuttling from the foliage. Then, several rosy-cheeked faces greeted him with parted mouths and eyes full of wonder and innocence.

"Who are you?" A little boy piped up.

"Who are you?" Another inquired, staring curiously at Wander.

"What are you?"

"Where did you come from?"

Adult aliens of all shapes and sizes soon emerged as well, and began asking Wander more and more questions.

"Who sent you?"

"Why are you here?"

"Are you the prophecy?"

"Hey! Hey!" Sylvia fought her way to the center of the crowd until she reached Wander, who was beyond grateful to see her. "Give the kid some air, will you?"

"SYLVIA!" Wander grabbed and hugged her tightly, catching her off guard. The zbornak stiffened but then quickly recovered and returned the embrace.

"Hey, buddy."

Wander looked up at her. "Where are we?"

Sylvia frowned bemusedly and scrutinized him from head to toe. "You're kidding, right? Did you hit your head or something, Tumbleweed? We're on the planet Oasis. We stopped here to rest a bit."

"Oh." Wander shrugged and smiled brightly. "Well as lovely as this cute little planet is, we should skedaddle on home and -" Wander's eyes widened in realization. "Did you say... Tumbleweed? I'm Wander, Syl."

Sylvia looked just as troubled and confused as he. "What? Home? Wander?"

Wander stared at his older sister worriedly. "Did you hit your head or something, sis?"

"Sis?" Now Sylvia was a little scared. "Tumbleweed, what in this galaxy are you talking about? Did you hit your head or something?"

"Oh no..." Wander recalled what happened a few minutes ago at his house. The witch... He remembered with a shudder. She sent me here...

"I'm gonna let you suffer in another universe alone..." She glanced at his family. "Without them."

The poor nomad did not know whether to hop excitedly or scream until his throat hurt. He was in a whole other universe, with another Sylvia, who never took him in and called him Tumbleweed!

Both trembling from excitement and terror, Wander knew one thing; he had to return to his original galaxy.

One little girl grabbed his hand, interrupting his train of thought. "Mister, how'd you kill the evil Brad Starlight?"

Wander recoiled at the thought of killing anyone. "I - I didn't kill him! It was all an accident! He just put on the hat and dropped dead!"

"Just as the prophecy foretold." Everyone turned to the source of the soothing voice: a stunning princess. She had golden curls, pouting pink lips, and big, royal blue eyes. She wore a huge, magenta and lavender gown with pink hearts at the waist and hem, matching gloves, and a modest magenta crown. Various forest animals surrounded her.

All the citizens bowed before their princess, while Wander and Sylvia just gaped at her.

"She's beautiful..." Wander whispered in awe. Shaking herself out of her stupor, Sylvia gagged beside him and shielded her eyes.

"And pink. Ugh!" She gave Wander a light shove. "Bow, Tumble - I mean, Wander!"

Princess Demura gracefully descended down the stairs of her palace and walked up to Wander and Sylvia, who bowed hastily.

"Your majesty," the duo said in unison.

"You may rise." And so they did. "A hero would bring a fool's death and save me. That was the prophecy. Thank you..." She trailed off awkwardly. "Oh dear. What is your name?"

Wander grinned shyly and gave the princess another bow. "Wander."

"Thank you, Wander." Princess Demura smiled sweetly, and everyone else paused to stop and stare. She was truly beautiful. The princess herself then bowed to Wander, and all the citizens of Oasis gasped before bowing to him instead.

Not used to so much attention, Wander quickly changed the subject. "But... how did I save you?"

Princess Demura sighed wearily and stared at the fallen Sir Brad Starlight. "When we were children, Brad and I were close friends. But then, we started dating. It was great at first, but he grew into a selfish, arrogant, misogynistic jerk. So I had to dump him." Her stare hardened a little with irritation. "But he became so obsessed, thinking we were made for each other! I have told him numerous times that I simply do not reciprocate his feelings for me and that we should just be friends." Her gaze saddened. "And he's been trying to taking my hand in marriage ever since, one way or another. He did everything from threatening my family to threatening the safety of my people! His arrogance was his downfall."

She smiled again at Wander. "And so, for saving us all, I present to you this." She knelt down to his level and latched a glowing, ruby pendant around his scrawny neck. "Whenever you need my help, just hold it and whisper my name into it."

Wander flushed and smiled coyly at the princess. "I never received a gift from a princess before. Thank you."

A little girl tapped Wander's shoulder. "Sir?" She presented a lovely bouquet of flowers to him. "A gift for you, sir, to show our gratitude."

"Why thank you, lil' lady!"

Soon, more citizens bestowed gifts to the humble hero and his speechless steed. The gifts began to pile around them. So Wander stowed them in his bottomless hat, kindly expressed his thanks, and told them this was more than enough. After that, the crowd began chanting Wander's name and shouting bizarre requests.

"Sign my arm! Please, heroic one!"

"Sign my butt!"

"Marry me, Wander!"

Sylvia grimaced. "Okay, this is getting weird." She placed Wander on her back. "Let's go!"

"But -"

An enormous, intimidating space ship suddenly soared in the sky and landed on the planet. A throng of huge, black magma robots with laser cannons as faces poured from it and encircled them all.

"The Dominator-bots!" Someone cried shrilly. "Lord Dominator is here!"

Then, from the ship's entrance, a massive being emerged, wearing a black suit with spiky shoulders and a scarlet red bleeding heart painted on the chest. Its protruding horns and huge gloves were orange and yellow, designed like flowing lava. The being's black and white helmet, however, was the most intimidating feature, with a black spike on top and soulless, neon green slots for the eyes.

This soulless creature was none other than Lord Dominator, the most villainous villain in the entire galaxy.

"WHO KILLED MY BROTHER?!"

Scratch that. The thunderous voice was the most intimidating feature. The deep, cold rumble sent shivers down everyone's spines. Only Sylvia was able to mumble anything competent.

"Oh crap."

"WHO?!" Lava burst from the gloves, heading for the frightened citizens. Princess Demura raised her dainty hands, and she enclosed the citizens, Wander, Sylvia, and herself in a glittery pink bubble.

Princess Demura frowned at Lord Dominator. "You will not lay a finger on my people, Lord Dominator!"

The suited villain just chuckled darkly. "Cute display, princess." With one poke from Dominator, the bubble burst, and the menace grabbed the princess' arm. "But you'll have to do better than that to get rid of me! Now tell me who did it!"

"No! Wait! Stop!" Wander jumped in-between them, but this only infuriated Dominator even more, and Wander's arm was grabbed, too.

"Was it you?"

Sylvia glared daggers at Dominator. "Hey, buddy -"

"Nobody did it!" Wander yelped. "It was an accident! Please release the princess. It was an accident!"

The villain growled but released both Demura and Wander. Then, the suit shrunk, revealing a green-skinned, pink-eyed beauty with choppy white hair, wearing a black dress with a splattered red heart on it, the same, horned and spiked black helmet, the same gloves, and white socks and sneakers.

Everyone else except Demura gasped. They had never seen the villain without her suit before.

"She's beautiful."

"Beautiful and evil!"

"Wait... So Lord Dominator's a girl?"

Lord Dominator snarled at the gossipy citizenry. "YES, I'M A GIRL, YOU IMBECILES!" Her voice was no longer sonorous, but it was still cold, and it rumbled with the seductive lure of darkness. She turned to Wander and lifted his chin with one of her long fingers. "An accident, you say? Well, sweetheart..." She cooed mockingly. "I can cause accidents, too!"

"Aren't you forgetting your late brother's hat, Lord Dominator?" Demura inquired.

This definitely caught the villainess' attention, and she laughed almost cutely at herself. "Oh right! Silly me!" She scanned Sir Brad's body but quickly found no hat. "What?! It's gone!" Hot lava bubbled from her gloves. "Where is it, Demura? Give it back or I'll destroy every last particle of this pathetic planet!"

Princess Demura barely batted an eye. "Do you not recall the prophecy?"

Lord Dominator blew a raspberry. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. A loser dies, a princess is saved even though she's perfectly capable of defending herself -"

"Why thank you!"

"- And the blasted hat chooses its owners! Blah! Blah! Blah! Whatevs! That hat belongs to me! I am the greatest, evilest, most powerful villain in the whole galaxy! So it's mine!"

The blonde princess grinned knowingly. "Huh. Well, the hat disagrees." She pointed to Wander, and all Demura's people gasped. On the little nomad's head sat the hat.

Wander stared at the hat with wonder. "It's... warm. I think..." He smiled wholeheartedly. "It likes me!"

Sylvia looked at Wander incredulously. "How can a hat like you?"

"It's sentient," Demura explained. "It chooses its owner." She gave Dominator, who looked ready to fry the nomad, a pointed look. "Its selfless, dauntless, caring owner who wants nothing from it but needs it to help him serve others."

A light bulb appeared to turned on in Dominator's head, and her voice turned sickly sweet. "Listen, kid, why don't you give your little ol' hat to me? I mean, I'm the only one who knows how to use it. It's of no use to you."

Demura pulled Wander away from Dominator. "Don't fall for it, Wander." She whispered softly. "She only wants to conquer the galaxy with that hat so she can destroy it. It's a very powerful hat." Wander nodded.

Dominator barred her teeth at Demura, making a few children faint on the spot. "Stay out of this, Blondie, or you're finished!"

"Someone one day will stop your reign -"

"And who would that be?" Dominator interrupted snobbishly. "You? Ha! What are you gonna do? Blow me some bubbles and blind me with your excessive pinkness?"

Demura's animal friends gave the villainess dirty looks, but Demura simply shrugged. "I cannot do much, but with the infinite powers of space, he can."

Sylvia did a double take of Dominator. Maybe it was the sun in her eyes. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe she was misinterpreted something. But she could have sworn she saw the well-known and feared villain at the top of the Galactic Villain Leaderboard glance at Wander and wince with genuine fear.

"Fine," the villainess hissed. "I can destroy this lame planet later. I'm a patient woman with no competition."

"Except us!" Sylvia shouted, cracking her knuckles.

Dominator rolled her eyes. "Just try and test me, you wretched creature! You and your tiny friend!" She then turned to Wander. "You may have the hat, but you don't know how to use it. Therefore, you don't know how to protect yourself from me." She got dangerously close to his face until Wander could feel her hot breath on his cheeks. "That hat is as good as mine. And once it's in my grasp, I'll wipe that stupid, sunshiny grin off your face permanently." With a dramatic sashay of her hips, Dominator stormed off, giggling madly.

"LET'S GO, BOYS!" Her wicked cackling deepened as she shifted back to her masked form. Her loyal robots scurried to the bowels of the ship, with their leader right behind them. Then, not a second later, the ship soared into the black abyss.

Frowning, Demura looked at Wander with evident pity in her eyes. "You're in quite a pickle, Wander."

Sylvia glared at where the ship left. "That's an understatement."

"You better return to your home planet asap."

Wander just shook his head sadly. "I'd give anything to return to my home planet, your highness, but it's in another galaxy, in an alternate universe!" This made the citizenry and Sylvia eye him skeptically, but Demura just nodded.

"So that's why I saw that vortex... door... thing. Someone sent you here, and I'm afraid the only one who can help you return to your home is the mysterious Major Threat." Once the word's left her mouth, the crowd chattered incessantly.

"Are you nuts?!" Sylvia shouted brazenly. "He's a bad guy! He'll kill him!"

"No. You are misinformed. He just does what his heart desires. He's mostly known for his not-so-pleasant deeds, but he has done good ones numerous times, and he has never killed anyone. And he does desire to help the helpless. And if you ask him for your help, I'm sure he'll grant your wish. Just follow the yellow stars and - "

"Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!" Wander wildly shook Demura's hand, kissed it, bowed, and hopped on Sylvia's back.

"Let's go, Sylvia!"

"Wait! I almost forgot! There is another way you can -" By the time Demura started speaking, Wander and Sylvia had flown miles away from planet Oasis in an orbble bubble.

"...Return... home. Oh crap - I mean, oh dear." She stared at the duo, who were now a speck in the sky. "Well, at least he knows how to use the hat."