"Hmm, where do they keep the Orbbal Juice at?" Wander thought as he rubbed his chin. "Do you think they even carry Orbbal Juice?"
"I don't know. I thought they did." Sylvia responded. She glanced behind her and picked up something from the shelves. "No, that's not it."
Wander traveled down the aisle to see if he could find any. He pondered for several minutes before noticing something out the corner of his eye. TVs were displaying terrifying images of a familiar villain and his troops, broadcasting live from a news station.
"Uh, Syl?" Wander's voice cracked.
"Did you find any-" Sylvia was interrupted by the sounds of terror coming from the multiple televisions that were displayed in the back of the shop. The both of them walked closer to get a more coherent audio. The static engulfed the video as a news reporter was a witness to these short and violent soldiers. Fires burned in the background, people screamed and ran away from the upcoming danger.
"I am live in Plottemis, where countless creatures are marching and destroying everyone and everything in their paths. Buildings are on fire! Oh, God-!"
The TV went black. Audio faded away from the television's speakers.
"Watchdogs," Sylvia stated the obvious. Wander gulped. The sound of army boots echoed from outside. Pedestrians began to screech with terror.
"Looks like Hater wanted to pay us a visit!" Sylvia said, clenching her fists ready to battle. Wander stood there, confused.
The streetlights dimmed as the power of the city completely shut off. Telephone poles leaned against hanging wires and some were on top of cars, houses, and in the street. Lights inside the store faded away. Wander gazed at the drained lights. He quickly ran over to one of the windows, peeking out of the blinds to see what was truly going on. His eyes squinted and he could see Watchdogs marching, zapping people with their laser guns, Commander Peepers giving orders and... Lord Hater himself. His sinister smile gave Wander chills.
The sound of a gunshot was heard.
"What do you see?" Sylvia asked aloud.
"SHHH! They'll hear us!" Wander whispered. Lord Hater stopped his stomping, surveying the damage. The neon green eyes of evil were ominous as the both of them scanned the area.
"I see Watchdogs. Hater; he's scanning the area." Wander uttered quietly. "Uhh, people are getting taken back to his ship. They are being put into cages... We need to do something!"
"We can't do anything without risking ourselves on getting caught by Mr. Bonehead and his army!" Sylvia disagreed. The Zbornak was right. They couldn't do a single thing without being caught and possibly getting killed or enslaved.
"Get away from the window before-" Sylvia started but was interrupted by Wander's sudden movement under the window seal. The star nomad motioned for her to hang low. Wander's blood began to run cold at the sight for which he saw.
"Why have you stopped, Commander Peepers?" Lord Hater impatiently asked.
"I saw something, over there!" Peepers said, pointing towards the store. Hater squinted his eyes to see if he could see anything.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, quite positive, sir."
Hater stepped forward, slowly walking towards to store; his cloak dragging behind him. Peepers followed and made sure he didn't step on his newly washed wardrobe.
Wander put his ear to the wall to see if he could hear anything. He heard very faint and filtered footsteps coming from Hater's shoes that sounded against the cold, grey pavement. Each step grew a little louder. Wander's eyes shrunk in size and Sylvia crawled and hid inside a clothing stand, hiding behind a circle of multi-colored shirts and pairs of pants. She peeked her head out and motioned for Wander to quickly move out of his spot and into hers. The shadow of a tall, wide figure appeared at the door. Time was ticking and the doorknob started to rattle. Wander swallowed his fear and quickly dashed for cover.
The door opened and it whined as it slammed against the wall. The sounds of bells were heard.
Lord Hater took a step inside the store, shifting his eyes left to right. Peepers went around his Leader and quietly walked forward, looking for any signs of life within his vision. Peepers pulled out a flashlight and began scavenging through the store.
The light ricocheted against the glossy white tile, that was the floor, and shined upon Wander's forehead and Sylvia's throat. Sylvia put a finger up to her mouth. Wander nodded.
"Looks like no one is here, let's go! I grow impatient." Lord Hater announced. The sounds of footsteps lingered for a couple of seconds, followed by a door slam. Wander leaned forward and gently moved some pants aside to glance at the door.
"I think they're gone," Wander whispered. "I don't see them."
Sylvia quietly got out of the clothing stand and the small star nomad did as well. Nearby, on a shelf, a collectible snowglobe was knocked off of the shelf by Sylvia's long tail. It echoed through the store as it hit and shattered on the tile floor. Wander closed his eyes and gritted his teeth for a couple of seconds. Sylvia stood there, frozen, knowing what she had accidentally done.
BAM!
The door flew open and cracked the wall with it's extreme force. Lord Hater stood there, neon green eyes glowing as well as his gloved hands.
"Get them!" Hater shouted. Masses of Watchdogs swarmed the store like an infestation of cockroaches. Wander and Sylvia jumped into the air and ran to the back of the store, where an Exit was waiting for them. The footsteps grew closer and closer. Without any Orbbal Juice, the duo was doomed. Wander's blue shoes splashed in a puddle of rainwater and Sylvia dodged upcoming dumpsters. The alleyway was rather small and it hardly fit both Sylvia and Wander.
"Go! Go! Go!" screamed a Watchdog.
"Run, Sylvia!" Wander said while his voice cracked with fear.
"Don't let them get away! Not this time!"
"Oh, glarb! What are we going to do!" Sylvia grunted as she dodged a Watchdog's grab. Wander quickly looked around and tried to gain some kind of knowledge of his surroundings. Nothing. At this point, the star nomad thought that this was finally it - their moment in time and their last.
Wander tripped over a rusty metal object that was lying in the middle of the alleyway. Sylvia darted past him, realizing that her friend was in dear trouble. She stopped and turned around to see her friend being beaten on the ground by their boots and the butts of their guns. Wander yelped.
She gasped.
"No sudden movements or this orange thing will be blasted! I mean it!" one Watchdog explained as he shook the laser gun near Wander's head.
"Alright, you win. Just don't do anything hostile, okay?" Sylvia calmly said as she slowly raised her arms up in the air, surrendering.
"Sylvia! No!" Wander screamed inside his thoughts. "What are you doing?!"
The Watchdogs stomped towards Sylvia. Aiming, their eyes gave an unfriendly and vengeful presence. This seemed like the correct nature of these small and violent creatures. Sylvia frowned and closed her eyes, ready to be cuffed and locked away in a cold, dark jail cell. Where a tall and evil skeleton ruler would brag about his capture for months on end.
After a moment of silence, Sylvia bursted from her trance and kicked the laser gun out of the Watchdog's hands. She turned around and punched and kicked her way out of the circle. The Watchdog holding Wander hostage gulped and he was soon punched in the eye by Sylvia's bulky and strong blue hands. Wander ran away and hid behind Sylvia, who was ready to attack anyone who would get an inch closer to her pal. Some Watchdogs groaned in pain on the floor, their eyes closed and were face down on the ground. A few of them ran up to Sylvia, but she kicked their butts twice as hard. Very few of them got a few punches. One punch ended up contacting her mouth, breaking off a piece of tooth. Soon, all of them ran away in fear. The shadow of a tower of some sorts stood over them, slowly rocking back and forth with the wind that blew through the land, which fueled the fires that spread across the city; swallowing building after building.
"Hater's most violent creatures, my butt. They're Hater's most stupid creatures." Sylvia mocked.
Wander giggled.
"Come on, let's get outta h-"
A very tall metal radio tower across the street started to shake, making grinding noises. It slanted and was heading straight for the duo. Both pair of eyes grew in size and they both dashed barely underneath it. Smoke filled the air and as the dust cleared, Wander and Sylvia got up from the wreckage. A few pieces of metal continued to fall and hit the pavement. Fire crackled as it devoured the tower and the remaining of cars that alarmed that were nearby. Structures underneath the radio tower were damaged by the heavy metal tower that fell on them.
"You alright?" Sylvia asked Wander.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Wander replied, getting off of the illuminated ground.
"C'mon, we gotta get out of here. That radio tower was the cause of the Watchdogs fleeing. We need to find a way to get a hold of some Orbbal Juice." Sylvia stated.
"WE'RE GONNA GET YOU AND YOU'LL SEE!" a Watchdog screamed from the other side of the burning tower.
"YEAH, WE'LL SURELY SEE, NOW WON'T WE? YOU COME CLOSER TO MY BUDDY AND MYSELF, YOU WILL BE TOAST. YOU GOT IT?"
At this moment in time, Wander looked up at Sylvia who was promising a beat down for the evil soldiers. He felt safe and he was thankful that Sylvia was around for him.
There was no answer. Sylvia assumed that she scared them off, but Wander knew that they had already left.
"Alright, for real this time, let's move it!" Sylvia said while turning around to head in the other direction. Wander gazed and stared deep inside the fire, seeing faint and disturbing images of death that could possibly haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Are you coming, buddy?" Sylvia said with a concerning look on her face. She walked up to Wander and touched his small shoulder. Her pupils looked forward into the flames and wondered why her friend seemed depressed all of a sudden. The smoke floated above and entered the atmosphere as the flames below danced and charcoaled the remaining of the radio antenna, along with the buildings underneath. Sylvia looked deep through the flames and saw what Wander was seeing. She gasped and grabbed Wander's hand, pulling him away and taking him to a better suited place.
There lay a child who was facedown in the pavement, soaking in red DNA. Her face was turned the other way so Sylvia nor Wander could see if she was alive or not. She had bruises that lined up her small body. Her teddy bear laid next to her, as motionless as the little girl was. There, along her spine was a hole that was surrounded by dried blood.
"Where's Daddy?" an excited little girl asked her mother who was washing the dishes in the sink.
"I dunno, dear. He hasn't answered my calls. I'm sure he'll be home pretty soon. I promise."
"Oh. Okay."
The little girl got up from her wooden seat and left the kitchen and walked into the living room, teddy bear in hand. She plopped down on the couch and the remote clicked. The TV screen bursted to life with high definition colors. The first thing she heard was a scream coming through the speakers.
"I am reporting LIVE in Plottemis where an invasion is taking place. Over the course of minutes, bombs were sounding off as soldiers were marching the streets of this city-"
BOOM!
A building behind the reportee blew up and chunks of cement from the walls blew and hit the cameraman. The impact rattled the house. Picture frames shook violently on the camera fell over and continued to shoot the destruction that occurred across the street. A dead body lay there inside the window, glass impaling it's stomach. It was the little girl's father.
"Mommy!" The girl screamed as the shaking came to a halt. The mother felt the blast in the other room and quickly ran in the other room to check on her daughter.
Her daughter pointed to the TV. It took a little moment for it to sink in, but the mother wrapped her arms around her daughter. The building that blew up across that street wasn't that far from the place. The little girl began to cry inside her mother's arms and wished that this day had never happened.
"It's going to be, okay, sweetie," her mother started, "we need to leave right now. It's not safe to stay here. We need to move." She hugged her child and quickly packed some things and grabbed her child and exited the house. Car alarms echoed through the neighborhood and the fires turned the night into daylight.
"Whatever you do, stay close to me!" Her mother told her. They got inside the car, buckled up and were on their way out of the city. The little girl hugged her teddy bear for comfort while her mother was focused driving slowly on the streets; wrecked cars, telephone poles and wires littered the streets.
The mother looked in the mirror to see her daughter crying and holding her teddy bear. She frowned.
"I-"
A car was traveling and didn't stop, hitting their car on the side. Their car slid down the street and eventually halted to a complete stop. Glass was everywhere inside. The little girl grunted and she managed to unbuckle herself. She reached down for her teddy bear, then looked up to see her mother's head dangling and motionless.
"M-Mommy?"
No answer.
The little girl looked at the side of her neck, seeing blood gushing out. She panicked and quickly got out of the wreckage. Her beautiful green eyes gleamed at the red sky and dark clouds that were hovering above her. Tears formed in her eyes minutes later as she looked back at the driver in the driver's seat. She turned her head and walked slowly down the street.
After traveling a little while, the girl stared up and saw a tall radio tower that swallowed the sky. She clenched onto her teddy bear, silent as can be.
BANG!