Chapter 3: XR's Scheme

XR was brought into the science bay after yet another mission. There wasn't too much damage to him this time, except for his broken arm.

"I've taken worse than this," he muttered. "But every second spent in here is one less second spent with the team! Mira will be leaving us soon!"

The LGMs all gasped in surprise. "Does she… not like us anymore?" asked one quietly.

"It was us calling her 'Luna' the other week, wasn't it?" cried another one. "We should get better tabs on names around here!"

More LGMs started to bombard XR with anxious questions. "Is it because I stepped on her toe?"

"Or that I didn't think she could read our minds?"

"Or that I misdirected the 42 once?"

"Fellas, fellas, fellas!" XR insisted, waving his non-broken arm for silence. "Listen to me very carefully. Mira is being forced into this by her father. You see, he and Angstrom are the royal killjoys. They didn't want Mira to stay in the rangers and decided to set her up with that new Cadet, Fop Doppler."

"Then… why is Fop even here?" asked a third LGM.

"Three words, little guys: Challenge. Of. Worth," XR explained. "If he passes, then he and Mira will get married, and Mira is out of the Rangers for good!"

The LGMs all gasped with shock. "She loves being with you," cried a fourth.

"You guys are like her brothers," the first LGM cried.

"Is there nothing we can do?!" exclaimed the second.

XR chuckled and pulled in the four LGMs closest to him. "Listen very carefully. You guys are going to build some robots with some anti-Tangen materials."

"Ooooh!"

"But," piped up a fifth LGM. "Wouldn't that get us into trouble with Nebula?"

"Not if you do it like you had me constructed," chuckled XR. "Just hide it with other forms. Besides, I'm his son. You guys won't get into trouble." he held out some chocolate bars for them. "If you guys do it, I'll give you guys some sweets."

"Ooh… chocolate!"

"Just… keep this whole sweets situation quiet around Booster, okay?"

The LGMs all nodded and smiled.

As Fop continued his training, Team Lightyear watched with anticipation. Mira was fiddling with her hair, Booster was barely touching his popcorn, and Buzz put a frustrated hand to his forehead. XR, though, looked particularly smug, as Fop was trying to figure out how to phase through the robots.

"Hmm… how peculiar," he commented. "I was sure I was able to phase through them yesterday. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night, wot…"

Booster raised an eyebrow, glancing back at his teammates. "Hmm... Mira," he piped up, "how come Fop can't phase through those robots? Is he sick or something?"

Mira shrugged. "I don't think so, Booster," she admitted. "I don't see any sluggish movements, or pale skin or anything like that."

"Oh, it's nothing to do with that," XR smirked. "Those robots are built with anti-Tangean metals, The LGMs built them specifically." He winked at his organic teammates. "He'll flunk out of the Academy now."

"Oh, indeed!" a stern voice cut off the quiet chuckles from the team. Standing right behind XR was Commander Nebula, and he did NOT look happy with what he had heard.

"What's say we buy some lunch?" Booster hastily suggested to Buzz and Mira. "Chips are on me."

"Good idea!" Buzz agreed quickly. "I thought I saw a hotdog stand that way."

"I'll get us some sodas!" Mira quipped. The organic trio zipped away like comets to avoid their commander's wrath.

"O-Oh, hi, Pops!" cried XR, trying to play it casual, "I must say, today is a lovely day for training–"

"Did you orchestrate this, XR?" Commander Nebula demanded. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was his Rangers breaking the rules, and purposely trying to make others fail by cheating.

"Who? Me?" XR tried to smile. "Good heavens no. I would never want anyone to fail training–"

"Then why did you say seconds prior that Fop will flunk out?!" he thundered.

"Oh er…" he trailed sheepishly, "well, you know how it goes, dad. Some pass, some don't–"

"You want him to fail, don't you?" growled Commander Nebula. "Well, XR, guess what you're going to do?"

"Dad, calm down here, I was just–"

"Get those robots decommissioned at once!"

"Aw, come on, Pops!" XR put hearts in his eyes.

"And stop calling me 'Pops' or 'Dad'!" … of course, that didn't work. "You'd also better tell me which LGMs were responsible for this tomfoolery when we get back to Star Command."

XR reluctantly set off as his organic teammates returned from their 'lunch errand'.

"I knew that wasn't going to cut it," sighed Buzz, handing hotdogs to the rookies.

"Well, XR does care…" Booster insisted, handing his friends small buckets of chips – he ordered the large for himself, "...in a very 'XR like' way." Mira nodded sadly in agreement.

"Let's face it, guys…" she sighed in defeat, offering the boys their sodas. "The wedding chimes of doom will be ringing soon…"

Booster pulled Mira in for a hug. "Oh, Mira… you shouldn't be forced into this… marriage should only be for love…"

"That's not how it works in royalty, Booster…" Mira shook her head as Buzz put a hand on the Tangean's shoulder. "Though I wish it did…"

A bit of a short and sweet chapter, but I did have a lot of fun with XR. He's just the wildcard of the group, and you never know what he's going to say or do. That being said, he does care for Mira and her happiness as much as the others do. Too bad he can't make his 'dad' happy...