The lush and cool green foliage slowly came into view as the ship descended further and further into Karn's stratosphere. The bright blue sky was dotted with white clouds, and it was seeming to shine brightly in the sun's warm rays against the more calmer hues of the jungle ranges. Various relatives of trees stood amid over the earth, hiding the deepest and darkest secrets that Karn held away from all prying eyes.
Everyone in the Star Cruiser gazed at the terrible beauty that Karn offered. Buzz and Mira had the best views, both of them sitting comfortably in their pilot and co-pilot seats respectively. Booster, XR and Ty all sat further back in their own seats. Well, Booster and Ty had their own seats. XR was up on his treads in between the two organics as they sat down in the newly-refurbished seats. When the LGMs heard that Team Lightyear was going to have Ty come along, they were quick as lighting to add on a second seat for the fifth Ranger, a fact that Ty was all too glad to accept. He didn't want to be standing up during the flight.
And so far, everything looked relatively peaceful and quiet, although as some experienced hands would say otherwise.
It could not have been more evident for Team Lightyear. "Well, here we are again. Right back into the deathtrap that is Karn. This is, what? The fourth time we've been here?"
"No XR, this is actually the third time we've been here now. The first time was when we first met Dr. Furbanna. The second time..." Mira seethed in discomfort as she thought back to the last mission she was given that took place on Karn.
Ty raised a brow as he turned in his seat to look at Mira. "I'm gonna assume that the second time you've been here, something happened?"
Mira, in her co-pilot's seat, shrugged with a free hand. "Yeah, pretty much. I was assigned to escort Madame President on her vacation when Zurg hit our ship. We had to crash land on Karn and trek our way out of the jungle." Madame President was the leader of the galaxy's government, the Galactic Alliance. It all worked out, although there were a few details that had gone array. Mainly to do with the President's traitorous aide, Smoltz. Not that anyone from Team Lightyear would bring that up, seeing as how that was a thing of the past.
"Really? Where was everybody else?" Ty was fairly interested to know in what happened on this mission, seeing as how this was his own first visit to the green planet.
Buzz piped up, "We split up to look for Mira and Madame President-Booster and XR took off in one direction, Dr. Furbanna and I went in another. The mission was a complete success."
"Although we had a few rocky points along the way that I'm more than happy to forget, thank you." XR crossed his arms as he frowned at the memory. Some things were best left in the dark.
"Heh, I bet. So I know you told me about what Dr. Furbanna's like, but is there anything else about her in particular I should be aware about? I don't exactly want to make a first bad impression, y'know."
"Just don't mention anything bad about animals. She loves them all, even the ones that want to eat you." Booster bit his lower lip as he thought back to the first time he picked up the light green and fanged-filled animal known as a skullborer. He was not willing to keep that as a pet despite his love of animals.
"...I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."
They landed the ship a few feet aways from the Bio-Station. The silver and metal sphere sat innocently enough within the blackish green thicket, its flight of stairs empty. Nothing dangerous was thankfully present and ready to feast on everyone. The team made it to the building, in which Buzz would politely call out, "Dr. Furbanna! Team Lightyear's here."
"Please, Lightyear. You know you can call me Ozma." The door would open up to reveal a light-skinned woman about Mira's height, albeit a little taller than her. She was dressed in Star Command's bold colors of green and purple, making her auburn cut stand out. Her dark blue eyes took in all of the present members of team as she leaned her hands onto her hourglass hips. Although her smile was aloof and small, it was also real, much to Team Lightyear's surprise. She normally greeted them gruffly and with a disapproving scowl. "I'm glad you arrived here in one piece. But who's your friend?" She curtly motioned to Ty with her head, the latter who was initially looking at all of Karn's flora and keeping an eye out for vicious fauna before returning his attention back to the naturalist.
Buzz introduced, "Dr. Ozma Furbanna, I'd like you to meet Ty Parsec. He's an old friend of mine. Ty, this is Dr. Furbanna, the top naturalist on Karn."
Ty cleared his throat and greeted back politely, "It's an honor to meet you, ma'am. I've heard a bit about you from Buzz. Sounds like you have quite the adventures here on Karn." He could already tell that although this Ozma was civil, she wasn't too particularly intimate. But he'd have to wait and see before he could make any further judgments on her character.
Ozma relaxed her smile a little. This Ty person was certainly making a well-mannered impression on her, but it was still too early to tell what kind of person he was underneath that Ranger protocol. "Well, I hope that Lightyear told you good things. I wouldn't want to find out if he said anything bad about me." She threw a pointed smirk at Buzz, the man throwing up his hands to defend himself.
"Heh, he has, ma'am. Don't worry about that." Ty's own small smile breached his features.
The rest of the team, while glad that Ozma was being civil, were still reeling from the shock. She wasn't being the slightest bit blunt or abrupt with them as she usually could be. She was actually being somewhat inviting. Wanting to find out what's going on, Mira would be the one to bring the topic of the mission back into focus. "So what is it you wanted to show us?"
"You'll see." Ozma waved a hand. "Let me get my suit on first. Then follow me and find out."
She made them wait outside while she would go back inside her home base to suit up for the rough and tough jungle terrain.
"Wow...so far, so good," Ty thought. His interactions with the naturalist were going over surprisingly well.
Booster would ask, "What's the big surprise?"
As she pushed and hacked her way through the thickness of the jungle, thanks in part to her sleek suit coming complete with machete and other gadgets, Ozma only repeated, "You'll see. But I will say this: I've got a new friend who makes my job here on Karn a little easier for me."
Buzz couldn't believe his ears. "A friend? What kind of friend is that?"
Ozma rolled her eyes at Buzz's apparent disbelief, all the while grinning conspiratorially at him. "Take it easy, Lightbrain. You'll meet them soon enough."
Ty exchanged a confused glance with Mira, who merely shrugged. This must have happened often when Buzz and Ozma were together. Ty wasn't about to stop them; he was enjoying the sight of seeing his friend sweat it out with someone he liked. As in liked liked. Ty got to know Ozma and her work a bit further; he learned from her that there was apparently a two-hour break for the inhabitants here to digest their food, thus giving the Rangers and researcher a chance to explore.
Meanwhile, the rest of Team Lightyear was still trying to figure out in their heads how Ozma mysteriously seemed to be a little more laid-back than she usually was.
Ozma took them to a little section not too far from her Bio-Station. It was a grassy clearing, leading away into a field of rocks. It was reasonably dark in this part of the woods, but a small ray of sunshine peeked through the trees, enabling a patch of serenity within this larger portion of the Karn landscape. There was a slight breeze around this patch of space, warm and soothing as a spring day. She held out a hand, signaling them to stop. "Alright, we're here. Now, watch this." Reaching into one of the compartments the suit held, she pulled out a small and silver whistle. She brought the whistle to her lips and blew.
But no shriek or song was shrieked or sung.
This left the crew of Rangers confused.
Confused and strangely headache-inducing in Ty's case. Right out of the blue, a strange sonar ping echoed into his ears and drilled into his skull. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to block out the mysterious noise. But just as quickly as it invaded his brain, it left quickly as well, the headache disappearing. He shook his head subtly, trying not to have the others look over him in concern. Besides, they were busy pondering over the mysterious whistle Ozma blew on.
What was that supposed to do?
Nothing happened for a few moments. The only one who seemed certain that something would happen was Ozma. She was learning forward with an ear out. She smiled when she heard the noise and turned to the others. "She's on her way now. We'll meet her in about seven seconds."
Buzz blinked. So it WASN'T that kind of a friend. It was a female friend. Thank the cosmos. "Your friend's coming here? Who is she?"
"Just be patient. She'll tell you herself." And just as she finished her sentence, the team froze. A series of padded prints could be heard coming towards them. The team understandably stood alert and wary, almost ready to strike should this 'friend' of Dr. Furbanna's be lethal. But it wasn't.
For running swiftly and coming into view was a silhouette of a canine. A big canine that suddenly leapt into the air before bouncing off the rocks. It silently bounced off the rocks like a ping pong ball. The team watched with fascination.
As the canine got closer, its features began to be clear for all to see. The canine was a little taller than XR, standing about three feet. Its sleek coat was a navy blue, with the blue encompassing over most of the main body and long cheetah-like tail. The coat was also white in some areas, mainly the face, snout, parts of its broad chest, socks on its back legs, and tail tip. Its pointed ears and yellow sclera were big and alert. A deep purple collar was worn around its neck, the same hue of purple of Ozma's own outfit. The dog looked like a combination of a sturdy German Shepherd and a wily jackal.
The dog came to a complete stop, landing right in front of the team with grace. It panted vigorously as though it just ran a ten-mile marathon, but it was certainly smiling. The animal looked at everyone curiously, its black eyes shining before it went over to greet Dr. Furbanna. The dog nuzzled Ozma's arm, as if to say hello.
The team's tension evaporated when Ozma's passion for animals shined through in a loving smile. "It's alright. She's one of the more friendly residents here; she's my new partner and dog."
Buzz crossed his arms as he was trying to contain his awkward discomfort over the implication of Ozma's friend. So it was a dog and not another human working with his girlfri-her.
It was a good thing Ozma was so busy concentrating on the dog. Ty himself was cringing and forcing himself not to growl in frustration about the word 'partner', no doubt remembering Nebula's words. Craters, this day was going back and forth between being good and bad. It didn't seem like it could make up its mind.
Once more, no Ranger noticed Ty in distress. Booster grinned a wide grin, eager to meet this dog. "Wooooow! I've never seen a dog like her before. Can I pet her?"
"You can. You can even give her commands if you'd like. She's very well trained." She turned to her dog and ordered, "Go see Booster." She pointed at Booster and the dog, still panting, went over to see the big guy.
The Rangers, minus Ty, all watched with fascination as she came up to greet Booster like a pro. "Coollll. Okay, um...sit, girl."
The dog sat on her haunches.
"Shake." Booster held out a hand for the dog to put her paw in. They shook appendages.
"Great! Now speak."
"What's up?"
Everyone except Ozma stiffened like statues. Ozma bore a rare and mischievous grin at seeing everyone react so strongly to what they just heard.
"Did that dog just say 'what's up?"
The dog turned to a bewildered Ty, still smiling and panting. "I sure did!"
"Whoa!" How was she talking?!
The dog was completely standing up on all fours again and wagging her tail, excited to greet Ty. Her tomboyish spirit and playful enthusiasm was evident in her "tone" as she introduced herself. "The name's Pix. And I'm so psyched to meet ya!" In excitement, Pix leapt right up to the Ranger and placed her front paws on Ty's chest, sending him to take a few steps backwards. He was still reacting with shock as he couldn't move his arms, for fear of doing something foolish by mistake. "And who are ya? What's your name?"
"..." Ty threw a glance to Ozma that alerted, 'what am I supposed to do?'
"Just talk to her. She won't bite. Pix, down."
Pix obeyed Ozma's commands and fell back down onto all fours as she continued to look up at Ty in anticipation for making a new friend. Not just with him, but hopefully the rest of the other creatures!
Ty cleared his throat to overcome this embarrassing event. He wasn't trying to be scared, so sue him. He just never saw a dog as enthusiastic or talkative, as this one. She was very friendly, he'd give her that. "Uhh...name's Ty. Ty Parsec." Ty had never thought there'd be a day when he'd be talking to a dog out of all animals. Then again, he did have one when he was a kid. But that was a long time ago, and he wasn't exactly sure on what to think of canines after what he went through recently.
"I'm glad to know ya, Ty! I just met you and I like you already."
XR, curious about how Pix was able to communicate without using her mouth, wheeled over in between Ty and her. "Pardon me for cuttin' in, but HOW are you talkin'?" He crossed his metallic arms as he squinted in curiosity. Dogs don't normally have the ability to speak verbally...or mentally for that matter. So how was it that THIS particular canine managed to do so?
Ozma would provide the answer to this mystery. "I can explain that one. Pix is from the planet Verdentia."
"Verdentia? Hey, isn't that the peaceful planet we saved from that comet, Buzz?"
In response, Buzz nodded to Booster's question. "That's right, Ranger. I knew it was another rock, but I didn't know about these kinds of dogs livin' on there."
"Of course you wouldn't."
The corners of Buzz's mouth curved downwards into a scowl in comparison to Ozma's triumphant smile. Ozma elaborated further on Pix's origins. "You see, she's able to talk through her collar. There are a couple of dog breeders that train dogs like Pix to do anything-search and rescue, herd, race, whatever suits your need. And they not only train these animals to follow commands, they can also converse with them through handmade special collars that translate the dog's thoughts into speech. That's why I decided to hire her; I needed a partner who could navigate her way around the jungle looking after the animals without me having to worry about her safety. She can take care of herself." It was also any wonder why she was more lax now than before she had Pix-she found someone who shared a similar sense of humor and dedication to the job, making it easier for her to be around other humans.
Mira looked over the mysterious dog, who was having a grand time annoying XR by sniffing around him. "But what kind of dog is she? I've never seen a dog breed like hers before."
Pix's ears perked up and she hopped over to Mira, surprising the latter. "I'm a dustchaser, of course!"
"A dust what?"
"What are you, deaf? I'm a dustchaser! And proud of it too!" Pix ignored XR's glare and stood up straight and tall with pride in her heritage.
Booster grinned. "A dustchaser? Wooooow...that sounds really cool! Um, why are you called that?"
"Because dustchasers are recorded in history to be the fastest land mammals in the entire galaxy. They're able to run up to six hundred miles per hour." Ozma shrugged at everyone's gobsmacked gapes sent her way. "It's a true fact."
Ty blinked at this newfound detail. Dogs like Pix could run that fast? He glanced down at Pix once more, amazed at how happy-go-lucky and bold she was making herself to be. She was also making herself to be fairly relaxed, like she wasn't afraid of anything the jungle could throw at her. Whether it was either through her training or another aspect, Ty didn't know, but he had to admit, it was certainly admirable. But he was wanting to know one thing. "Dr. Furbanna?"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering, how does Pix do her job here with the animals and all?"
Mulling over the question, Ozma turned to her assistant. "Pix, is it still safe to be out during this time?"
She was pleased when Pix nodded vigorously. "Yes, ma'am. The animals are still eating and digestin' their food." Compared to her explosive interactions to the Rangers, her interaction with Ozma was more subdued and down to business.
"Good. Well, then, if you'd all follow us, we'll show you what she can do." Ozma activated her helmet, and it enclosed over her face like a mask. She waited for her partner to go ahead of her and when Pix trotted forward into the underbrush, the woman followed not too far behind. The rest of the Rangers, however, stood for a brief moment, unsure if where they were taking them was safe. But if Ozma was the one leading them to some place free of any vicious animal and/or plant activity, they'd take the chance. One by one, the Rangers trailed after the duo.
The one acting as the tail end of the group was Ty, who was still trying to reel in the newfound information of this dog.
But he was not the only one.
Lurking away within the jungle, far behind the Rangers, the researcher and dog, were three robotic stooges. Protected by a camouflaged vehicle and the jungle's shady sense of blackness, they silently bore witness to the whole event. Two of them were coherent in speech; the last one was not, resorting to speaking in plain gibberish instead.
"Did you hear that? This will make a WONDERFUL star for sure. If what the human scientist said was true, then we're going to make history with our project!"
"Yes. And we'll be able to fully redeem ourselves in the eyes of our employers, both old and new."
"Anwe'llbealetotakedaysoffandgerevengontheseinferiorbeings."
"Quite right, Epoch. Let's get to work!"
A/N: I'll go more into detail over on my blog about this chapter. Enjoy for now!