Chapter 5 - The Meet Cute
Despite being raised so well, Gypsy would occasionally do something out of anger or greed; for example; hitting a guy who angered her or stealing a few bucks from the pocket of an unsuspecting sap. But even though those occasions were very rare, Gypsy would purposely turn to the bad side in order to take care of herself.
She usually headed to a bar on the not-so-good side of town once she saved enough money from hopping between planets. And this time, she landed on one what had to be the most crime-induced planet she'd ever seen. But she didn't let fear of being mugged take over; she headed straight for the closest pub. But just to be safe, she always dressed up to keep her true identity hidden when going in such dangerous places, as to keep any thugs from tracing her down; this time, she put on an khaki old cloak.
Unfortunately, the old western doors were set really high in the doorway for much larger criminals, so all the other mugs already inside laughed their heads off when Gypsy simply walked right underneath the doors. But again, she only ignored them.
She hopped up onto a tall stool and stared at the bar tender, who stared at her judgingly. When he finally spoke, he had a gruff Spanish accent, "You're in the wrong side a' town, Little Girl."
"Don't call me that, and I got just as much right to be here as any of these idiots," Gypsy hissed and grabbed two coins from her bag, skidding them across the bar and the bar tender slammed his hand down on them, "Tell me about the latest score."
"Are you sure you can handle the crime?" he asked while rubbing the two coins between his index finger and thumb.
"I've taken down a pack of full grown Zbornaks all on my own."
"I have a very hard time believing you, Pipsqueak."
Before the bar tender knew it, the small furry creature suddenly jumped out of her seat and grabbed the collar of his shirt in a vice grip. She pulled his face close, just inches away from hers as she glared daggers directly into his eyes.
"You wanna end up like the dead gang of Zbornaks, Bub?" Gypsy threatened in a low hiss, and the bar tender rapidly shook his head. She loosed her grip and widened the space between them, but she didn't let go.
"Th-there was a new shipment of silver candles to the orphanage just two planets over," the bar tender meekly suggested.
"I don't steal from orphans."
"U-um…the church on the neighboring planet made a huge amount of savings for charity."
"You want me ta steal from charity? Shame on you!"
"Ok, ok! How about the Ring of Invincibility?!"
The entire pub gasped in shock, and they all froze and stared wide-eyed at the bar tender and Gypsy.
"What 'Ring of Invincibility'?" Gypsy repeated in disbelief.
"Oh, no! You don't wanna know about that!" a random local on the other side of the pub warned.
"Why not?" Gypsy demanded, finally letting go of the bar tender and turning her attention to the rest of the pub.
"Every super villain in the galaxy is after that thing! It's gotta be nothin' but a horrible battlefield by now!"
"Then why aren't any of you out there fighting over it, too?"
"Are you crazy?! We're desperate criminals, but we're not that insane!"
"Eh, you're just a bunch a' wimps!" All the other bad guys watched in shock as Gypsy left the bar, and they all had a pretty good idea where she was going next.
"That little fur ball is gonna get herself killed," the bar tender shakily pointed out, and the rest of the pub nodded in agreement.
Gypsy had to ask around for quite a while, but she eventually got the correct directions to where this 'Battle for the Ring of Invincibility' was. And when she finally arrived, she realized that the criminals at the bar weren't kidding.
There were hundreds of super villains, each and every one of them trying to kill the other. But all Gypsy could see was the small red speck at the top of a sharp rock peak in the center of it all.
But just when Gypsy tightened her cloak around her neck to prepare to dive into the war, a bright green and red flash of light at the top of the spiky mountain caught her attention. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw none other than her captor Lord Hater, and he was battling a villain Gypsy had never seen before.
"Not you again," Gypsy growled in frustration, but she soon shook it off and pulled the hood of her cloak back over her head, "Well, one thing's for sure; before I make the galaxy a better place with this stupid ring, I'm takin' that skeleton out first."
She eventually made out a route that would get her to the ring quicker, but she stopped by debris falling from the top of the mountain due to the battle with the strange new villain and Lord Hater. One piece of debris managed to hit her rather hard, knocking her down many platforms before they finally stopped tumbling.
But when Gypsy finally shook the dizziness from her head, she realized it wasn't a piece of the mountain that hit her, but rather a strange furry orange creature…that not only looked a lot like her, but also looked very familiar.
"You look familiar…have we met before?" Gypsy asked in suspicion once the orange creature with a large green hat picked himself back up as well.
But he didn't seem to notice her, as he grabbed his head and started pacing around while babbling hysterically, "This isn't good, this isn't good, this isn't good…"
"Buddy! Oh, thank Grop you're ok!" Another raspy voice hit Gypsy's, and it too sounded very familiar; soon enough, a light blue female Zbornak came running up to them, with the captain of Lord Hater's Watchdogs on her back, too.
"I thought something terrible might've happened!" the Zbornak pointed out with worry.
"Something terrible did happen! This isn't so mush as a meet cute, and more like a meet-ARGH I'M GONNA TEAR UP YOUR FACE!" the orange creature explained dramatically.
"Your heart's in the right place, Buddy, but if we don't get outta here, you're gonna be splattered all over this mountain," the Zbornak protested in fear.
"But if we leave, Hater and Dominator will never stop fighting, and they'll never fall in love and get married!"
"What?!" Commander Peepers exclaimed.
"That's what I said," the Zbornak told the Watchdog flatly.
"Guys, I think we've got a bigger problem," Gypsy interrupted and pointed up at Hater's skull ship, which was now floating above the mountain and had all its lasers aimed at Dominator.
Hater wasted no time in trying to blast Dominator off the mountain. But even after hundreds of lasers being fired, Dominator still managed to dodge or block every single laser, and he soon used his own sort of hyper beam to effortlessly incinerate the entire ship…but Hater somehow only got away with some minor burns?(I don't know)
Hater's motionless body then fell hundreds of feet, and the impact on a platform far below created a large crater in his shape. And after moments of nothing, Hater seemed to be defeated, as all the other villains stood around his crater in shock. They couldn't believe he went down that easily after fighting so hard.
But their attention was soon drawn to the top of the mountain, where Lord Dominator finally obtained the ring and laughed maniacally after putting it on.
"Wha…but he…but they…she…it didn't work?" the orange creature rambled on in surprise, falling to his knees in defeat.
"You seriously had something ta do with all this?" Gypsy asked in shock.
"I'm sorry, Buddy. Love's a battle field—and sometimes, ya lose," the female Zbornak admitted sadly, but she reassuringly patted her friend's shoulder.
Soon, the other villains began bowing and chanting to Dominator, "Dominator's great, best villain! Dominator's great, best villain! Dominator's great, best villain!"
As their chanting echoed around the mountain, a green glow within Hater's crater grew brighter and brighter. And soon enough, the said arrogant bad guy blasted himself out of the ground and flew up to Dominator, ultimately punching him so hard in the face that his helmet came off.
As Dominator went flying back, the ring came off his finger as well, and Hater wasted no time in claiming it for himself. But once Dominator's face became fully visible, the other villains all gasped and Hater stopped on his murder spree, all dumbfounded by the fact that Dominator was a woman.
"He's…a she?" Gypsy asked slowly, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
It didn't take long for Hater to hopelessly fall for Dominator, especially when her lava armor suddenly molted down into a slimmer feminine body. She slowly walked up to him, smiling seductively as he fantasized and mumbled about her being a pretty lady.
Dominator then pulled the ring from Hater with ease, and she merely poked his forehead to push him off the edge; he once again fell down onto a platform below, only this time the crater wasn't as deep and ironically shaped like a heart…just like his pupils.
Dominator started laughing evilly again when she put the ring back on, but she eventually pulled the ring to her lips and took a satisfying lick. Once she started eating the ring, she retreated back to her ship.
"A candy ring? All this was for a candy ring?! Are you kidding me?!" Gypsy snapped at the furry orange creature.
"I'm very sorry for the misunderstanding, Ma'am, but I promise I'll make it up to you for an invitation to the wedding," the orange creature calmly protested.
Gypsy was about to protest, but she eventually sighed in defeat, "I don't even care anymore."
"Sir? Sir?!" Commander Peepers called out to his lord, but Hater just kept dreaming lustfully.
"I think it's safe to say that he really likes her, so we kinda sorta won! Whoo-hoo!" the orange creature.
"But…oh, whatever. Nice job, Buddy," the Zbornak sighed with a smile.
"Thanks, Syl!"
"Syl…" Gypsy quietly repeated, a memory suddenly coming back to her. She took a closer look at the light blue female Zbornak, and a familiar face and name suddenly came rushing back to her.
"Sylvia?!"
"Huh? Do I know you?" Sylvia questioned in confusion, but she was suddenly pounced on by Gypsy, as she gave her a great big bear hug.
"Syl, it's me!" Gypsy then pulled down her hood to fully reveal her face, and Sylvia immediately recognized her. The Zbornak gasped and tears started welling up in her eyes.
"G…Gypsy? Is it really you?" Sylvia sniffled, her voice breaking from her tears.
"Oh, my Grop! I can't believe I finally found you!"
"You can't believe it?! I can't believe it! Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?!"
"Ooh, who's your friend, Sylvia?" the orange creature cut in with excitement.
"Wander, you're not gonna believe this! This is Gypsy, my long lost sister I've told you about," Sylvia explained and finally whipped away her tears.
"You're Gypsy! Oh, my goodness! It's so nice to finally meet you! And I know Sylvia said you looked like me, but didn't think you actually looked just like me!" Wander gasped and suddenly grabbed Gypsy in an even bigger hug, spinning her around in the air.
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on!" Gypsy interrupted and pulled herself out of Wander's tight grasp, "What did you say your name was?"
"Folks call me Wander," Wander kindly replied with a tip of his hat.
"You're Wander?" Gypsy's eye started to twitch, and her teeth were audibly grinding.
"Yessum!"
"The same Wander that Lord Hater put a bounty on for all the galaxy ta hunt?!"
"Doh, that's just a game we play."
"But you're the reason I'm here!"
Wander was truly surprised when Gypsy suddenly snapped, and she was even pointing an accusing finger at him. "What?"
"Don't act all innocent 'cause you're not! It's because of you that I was taken away from my family!"
"Well, that sounds horrible and I'm very sorry, b-but I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FER THIS!" And with that, Gypsy lunged at Wander, effortlessly taking him down and beating him to a pulp with fury.
"No, Gypsy, stop! You don't understand!" Sylvia called and rushed to pull her sister off of her best friend.
Well, this certainly ain't the best meet cute ever, huh? But don't worry, I'm sure Sylvia managed to break them up before anyone got hurt...I hope0.0
Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!