Origins
Out in the peaceful cosmos, the calm serene space of an unknown galaxy was interrupted by a blinding light of pink energy shooting past all the planets.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Alarms blaring out was all that was heard on a war ship as it soared leisurely through space. Aliens were running around the cockpit, trying to figure out why the alarms were blaring. One of the navigators gasped loudly as he looked at the radar. "Someone contact the master, he'll want to know of this immediately."
The screen of the ship turns on to show a dark green room in the background with a shadowed figure sitting in front with glowing yellow eyes. "This had better be important!"
The navigator shivered in fear at the dark menacing voice of his master, sounds out. "Y.. yes s..sir. We… uh…. We've picked up a …. a trail of Zerconia(1) energy."
This seemed to catch the shadow figure's attention. "What!?!"
The navigator nervously licks his lips before he coughs into his fist. "It… it seems. To be on a trajectory to a planet called earth."
The shadow narrows his eyes. "Follow it! I want that zecronia gem. I will have my revenge one way or another." And thus, the ship turns and blasts off.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
More alarms ring out, this time inside galactic guardians headquarters. Admiral DeGill was startled awake from his nap by them as a hologram message appeared on his desk. "'DeGill, a source of Zecronia energy has been detected in the Andromeda galaxy and seems to be heading for earth.' This is bad." DeGill turns the message off and turns to one of his assistants that just came into his office. "Call lieutenant Larry(2), get him ready to retrieve the zecronia gem, inform Atomic Mazov that he's needed to assist his lieutenant on earth. We can't let that gem fall into the wrong hands!"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
On earth a little girl at the age of six is running down the stairs of her home, backpack bouncing with every step she takes. This little girl is Candy Diamond King, otherwise known as Dede and she was super excited for today as she was starting first grade. "Mama, Papa, let's go."
Keith laughs as he grabs Dede when she reaches the bottom of the stairs, making her squeal in laughter when he spins her around in a hug. "Are you looking to leave us already? Our little girl is growing up too fast!"
Dede's laughter calms down as Keith sets her on his hip just as Crystal joins the two, carrying Dede's lunch box. "I can't believe she's starting first grade already. Seems just like yesterday we were dropping her off for her first day of kindergarten."
Crystal and Keith walk out of the house and head towards their car, making sure that Dede was strapped in securely before driving to third street elementary school. Once they arrived Dede unfastened her seatbelt and leaned forward to hug both her parents, both of which hugged her back as best they could and kissed her on her cheeks. "Bye Mama, bye Papa, I love you."
Both parents coo at their daughter's adorableness. "We love you too. Have a good day."
Dede got out of the car and ran into the school, excited to get to class to meet up with her friends again. When she entered her new classroom for the year Dede easily spotted her friends standing around some desks, she smiled big at seeing the five of them and ran over. "Guys." The five stopped talking and looked over to Dede, Spinelli and Gretchen grinned before running to hug the other girl of their group.
The group's reunion was short-lived though as Mr Yamashiro(3) walked through the door. "Alright class, settle down." With this all the students begrudgingly went and sat in their seats quietly. "My name is Mr Yamashiro and I'll be your teacher for this year."
Thankfully for their first day back Mr Yamashiro had set up an easy and fun one for them, playing educational games to get them all involved and it's safe to say that by the time lunch rolls around, all the kids in Mr Yamashiro's class love having him as their teacher. "Man, Mr Yamashiro is great." Vince cheered as they all sat down in the cafeteria.
As the other five nodded in agreement the conversation turned to what they each did for the last week of the summer break, that being the week they all were too busy to meet up. Gretchen was first to share, beyond excited to share what she did with her parents. "My parents took me to the new museum and planetarium that just opened up." The remaining five all just smiled as they listened to their friend ramble about all the exhibits she saw.
Once Gretchen had finished her stories Vince was the next to share. "My folks took me and Chad to this cool amusement park, they had a batting cage and mini golf and so much other stuff."
Mikey practically beamed as he explained his last week of summer vacation. "My parents took me to a live performance festival, there was so much music and theatre shows that we didn't get to see them all."
After Mikey got done telling them about all the animals that were also at the festival, for some reason, Spinelli was next, though in Spinelli fashion, she wasn't overly excited. "I didn't do much, just watched a bunch of wrestling."
The five just laugh at Spinelli, knowing she had more fun then she was letting on but decided not to bring it up as TJ went next. "My dad took me fishing as mum took Becky out somewhere."
The five turn to look at Dede, knowing that her parents took her on holiday out of the country and they were excited to hear where she went. Dede just laughed at their eager looks before she grabbed her bag that she brought with her and took out the souvenirs she got for them. "My parents took me to Japan, it was amazing. We met this family while over there, I became good friends with their daughter, her name was Kana(4), she's a couple years older but she was very friendly to me and we went to see this festival, it was the.. the Na.. Nab?"
"Nebuta Matsuri festival!" Gretchen helped out when she saw her friend struggle with the pronunciation.
Dede smiled grateful at her friend as she nodded. "Yeah, we went there with them and had such a fun time, it was amazing and the food there was incredible. Mum brought back a lot of cook books to try them out and I can't wait."
And that's how the six first graders' first day of school went, all playing together and catching up on everything they did in the last weeks.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
As nighttime fell and everyone went to sleep no one noticed a blur of pink light shoot past in the night sky.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Dede lays in her bed, being roused from her sleep as a bright pink light shines In through the crack of her curtains. She sits up and looks at her window before getting up and opening her curtains to see a beam of pink light crash into the trees behind her house. "What's that?" Dede puts on her slippers and opens her bedroom door, being careful to not make too much noise as she couldn't hear her parents, so she assumed they were asleep and didn't want to wake them.
When Dede got downstairs she went into the garage to grab a torch so she'll be able to see in the dark and when she reached the bottom of her garden she looked around before carefully climbing the fence that separated her garden from the trees. "It should be around here somewhere?" Dede moved the light back and forth keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. She stopped in her tracks as she saw a trace of pink light just up ahead so she ran over to it, careful not to trip as she was just wearing her slippers.
When she got there she saw the pink light was coming from the middle of a large hole in the ground. Dede carefully climbed down into the hole, curious about what that pink light was, but she slipped as she got near the bottom and fell the rest of the way, scraping her knee. Dede sat up and rubbed her knee, tears in her eyes before she looked over at the glowing pink light, she looked closer and saw a small round pink gem floating just above the ground. She stood up and walked over to the gem and gently cupped it, looking closely at it as it hovered above her hands, her eyes widening as the light disappeared in a flash and the once round gem turned into an eight pointed star shaped gem.
Dede only got to look at the now star gem in wonder for a few seconds before she had to close her eyes as the gem glowed even brighter than before and when she was able to open her eyes again she gasped in shock, the gem was gone. "Where…. Where did it go?" Dede looked around seeing if she had dropped the gem but couldn't see it anywhere.
Just as she was about to turn around and go back home, thinking she imagined it all footsteps behind her caught her attention, though she couldn't turn around before a hand holding a cloth clamped around her mouth and nose, she tried to scream and get away as tears started to fall from her eyes just before everything went black.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Panting was all that was heard as a man around twenty five arrived at the large crater, looking around. "It's not here. Where'd it go?" The man started to freak out when he saw that the Zecronia gem wasn't where it was supposed to be. "Aww man, Admiral DeGill and the captain are gonna be so mad, what do I do? What do I do? Ahhh!! No! No! No! What am I gonna do!"
This man is Larry, a member of Atomic Mazov's team. He silently cries to himself in pity, knowing he had failed in retrieving the Zecronia gem as he presses a button on his bracelet to get beamed up to his ship where his crewmates were waiting for him. When he got into the ship's cockpit he saw that both Atomic Mazov and D-2 were waiting for him and Admiral DeGill was on the ship's screen. It was DeGill to break the silence. "Lieutenant Larry, were you able to retrieve the Zecronia gem?"
Larry rubs the back of his head as he chuckles, waving his free hand back and forth. "Well… you see… it wasn't there when I got there."
Atomic Mazov scoffed as he glared at Larry. "Should have known not to trust a human with something as important as this."
Larry scratched his cheek as he nervously sweats. "Come on captain, you still don't like me? We've been teammates for years already. Besides, it wasn't my fault, the gem was already gone by the time I got there."
Mazov rolls his eyes. "I'll never like a pathetic human like you, all you humans are a weak waste and shouldn't even be allowed to become galactic guardians."
Admiral DeGill interrupted before Larry could say anything to annoy Mazov any more. "This is bad, we need to find where that Zecronia gem has gotten to. It is imperative that we find it."
"Admiral!" D-2 calls, grabbing everyone's attention. "I've ran a search and have managed to locate a trace of Zecronia energy on a ship just outside the vicinity."
The second screen shows a ship floating just over by the planet mars. "You need to sneak onto that ship and find that gem, immediately." The three nod at DeGill's words and leave to board the other ship.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Dede opens her eyes and looks around, jolting up when she doesn't recognise where she is. She sees that she's in what looks like a hospital room. Tears start to build in her eyes again as she looks around scared getting up to see if she can open the door and when it doesn't open she starts to bang on the door. "Hello, Mama? Papa?" When no one came Dede sat in the corner and cried her eyes out, she was scared not knowing where she was or what was happening. "I want my Mama and Papa."
After all of Dede's tears had dried up she looked around the room to see if there was a phone or even a window to see if she could find where she was, but alas, there was neither. She did see a vent though so she got up and used what looked like a filing cabinet to climb up, being careful not to cut herself as she was now barefoot, having lost her slippers. When she got to the top the vent easily opened, allowing Dede to enter and make her way through.
The first exit that she came across she made sure she couldn't see anyone and pushed the vent cover off, wincing at the loud clank it makes when it hits the floor. She slowly climbs down and looks around the room, seeing it empty aside from a chair and a long control panel sitting in the middle of the large room, both in front of a large window. Dede runs over to the window but gasps at what she saw, the empty blackness of space, the only light coming from the sun that's peeking out from behind earth. "Wh.. what's happening? Where am I?"
Tears start to build in her eyes again as she is confused on what's going on, she cries out in fear as she hears footsteps coming closer so she squats down behind the control panel just as the door opens and two sets of footsteps enter. "He told us the gem wasn't there when he got there but the human was standing in the location of the energy."
The second voice to talk was dark and gravely, making Dede wimper from her hiding spot. "I want that gem. Do whatever it takes to get the brat to talk and if she still doesn't know where it is, rip her apart limb by limb to see if she's hiding it on her."
Dede quickly brings her hands to her mouth so she won't make any noise as the first person spoke again. "Yes, master Aristo!"
The door closes and Dede wants to believe that she's alone but the sound of footsteps tells her otherwise. She squeezes her eyes closed as she hears them come closer hoping more than anything that he won't round the control panel she was hiding behind and she thought she was lucky as he stopped walking. She let out a muffled scream as something slams down on the panel just above her head, she looks up and sees a terrifying monster glaring down at her. When she sees she's been found she lets out a loud scream and falls back, scooting away as the monster walks towards her. "Please.. leave me alone. I wanna go home!"
The monster stands in front of her and flexes one of his hands, what looks like electricity running through it. "Where is the Zecronia gem?"
Dede trembles as she looks up at the opposing figure towering over her. "I.. I don't know what that is.. please… mr.. I… I just wanna go home.. I want my Mama and Papa."
The monster growls angrily. "The gem you were in the place of, where is it?!"
Dede flinched away. "The… the gem? That pink thing? I… I don't k… know. I.. it dis… disappeared after… after changing sh.. shape."
The monster goes to reach down and grab Dede, making Dede scream in terror but he thankfully doesn't get to her as alarms start to blare out, an electric voice calling out about intruders. "Master Aristo, galactic guardians are on board!" A shaken voice rings out through the communication system.
The monster, now known to Dede as Aristo, slammed his fist onto the control panel out of anger, making Dede jump and cry more. "Well deal with them! I'm dealing with the brat you let escape and not tell me!" The voice over the com gulped but Aristo didn't care to hear their excuses and shut it off. As Aristo was busy Dede started to crawl away, hoping to leave the room and make a run for it, she didn't know where she'd run to but at this point she thought anywhere would be better than staying there. Dede let out a terrified scream as she was grabbed by the back of her shirt and lifted up, she clenched her eyes shut when she saw that it was Aristo who had grabbed her, holding her up high. "You're not going anywhere, not until I have that Zecronia gem that I know you have. Now you can either give it to me willingly or I can tear you apart, slowly and painfully. Your choice?"
Dede cried harder as she grabbed onto Aristo's hand holding her up with both of her hands, wanting him to let her go. "I don't have it, I swear." By this point the six year old was sobbing. "Mama, Papa, help me please!"
The door leading to the room holding the two occupants is blown open with two galactic guardians standing there, in battle stances glaring at Aristo. Aristo turns, still holding Dede up, and glared at the two, one more then the other. "Mazov? So my own brother has become so weak that he needs to rely on the guardians to seem strong."
Larry loses his glare and fighting stance to look between the two aliens. "Wait, you two are brothers?" Neither answers him as they are too busy glaring at each other, it was only when Dede started to move to try and get out of Arosto's grip that all their attention went to her. Mazov growls when he sees her making Dede more scared as she's now surrounded by, at least from her point of view, a bunch of beings that want to hurt her. Larry freaks out when he sees the child being held up by Aristo. "Ahhhh! Why is there a kid here? What's going on?!"
Both brothers continued to ignore Larry who was still freaking out. Mazov scoffs at the sight of Dede. "Did our loss to Kana(5) really make you so weak that you need to kidnap useless human brats? Are you so scared of another human defeating you?"
Aristo lets out a cold laugh as he holds Dede up higher. "Not even close. This brat was last seen with the Zecronia gem and it'll soon be mine."
This made the two galactic guardians freeze as they looked at the still crying child. Larry glared as he looked from Dede to Aristo. "So that's why there's a kid here."
Mazov tightened his fighting stance, keeping his glare on Aristo. "Doesn't matter. If that brat is connected to the Zecronia gem then that means we've gotta get it before he does."
Larry nods and follows Mazov as he charges at Aristo. Aristo throws Dede to the side, ignoring her screams as he went to fight the two galactic guardians, though in terms of strength Larry was left in the dust. "Oh man. I'll never be able to match that." Larry rubs the back of his head as he watches the brothers go at it. His attention is caught by Dede who is quickly crawling away. He runs over to her and kneels down to be more at her height so as to not appear intimidating. "Hey." Dede whimpered as she scurried back away from him. "Hey, it's okay. I promise. I'm a good guy and I'm here to save you." He points his thumb towards himself with a big grin, hoping to make Dede feel less threatened.
Dede just looks up to Larry, tears still falling down her cheeks. "I want my Mama and Papa."
Larry's smile softened at the girl's wish for her parents, he leaned down and picked Dede up gently. "I promise I'll get you home." He stands up and turns to shout at his team captain. "Chief, I'll go ahead and take the girl to headquarters." He starts to run out of the room, dodging any attack that Aristo sent his way.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Admiral DeGill raised an invisible eyebrow at the little girl that Larry was holding. Larry scratched his head nervously as he explained what had happened, making DeGill nod his head as he looked at the child. "This is worrisome. If she's bonded with the Zecronia gem we won't be able to safely extract it."
Larry gently sets Dede down on the ground as the door leading to Admiral DeGill's office opens and Mazov walks in, looking ruffled from his fight. "Who cares about the puny earthling, getting that gem is more important than its wellbeing."
Larry looks at Mazov shocked. "We can't do that. She is just a kid." Larry turns to look at DeGill. "Come on admiral, tell him."
Admiral DeGill nods as he looks from the scared girl hiding behind Larry's legs to the annoyed Mazov glaring at her. "He's right Mazov. It's our duty as galactic guardians to protect the innocent, not cause them harm. The best thing for us to do is keep her here until we find a way to safely extract the Zecronia gem or she gains control over it."
Dede's eyes widened upon hearing this, tears threatening to fall again. "No. Please, I just wanna go home."
Larry kneels down to be more at Dede's height and he rests his hand on her head looking over at DeGill. "Come on Admiral, she's a kid, with a family that's probably worried about her. Can't we keep an eye on her while she lives a normal life on earth?"
Mazov scoffs as he crosses his arms, glaring at the two earthlings. "This is why you earthlings are unreliable, you let emotions cloud your judgement. Who cares if it's not what she wants or if her family worries about her, getting that gem is far more important."
Larry glared back at Mazov before looking at DeGill again as Dede started to cry again. "Come on Admiral."
Admiral DeGill sighs as he looks at the distraught girl, who is now hugging Larry tightly. "Alright, we'll keep an eye on her once she's back home. Well, first we need to erase her memory, even though she's a child we still can't risk the secret of the galactic guardians being revealed to anyone."
Mazov growled as he looked away while Larry smiled big, looking down at Dede. "You hear that kiddo, we're taking you home."
Dede nods, hiccuping as she rubs her eyes from crying so much. "Thank you Mr Larry."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Just like he promised, Dede's memory of the night was erased, leaving only that Larry was to help her, and Larry beamed down to earth, near where the signal of the Zecronia gem was. "Alright, you live near here kid?" Dede nodded and pointed over to her house, resting in Larry's arm as after the night she had she was too exhausted to walk. It was thankfully still dark when they arrived at Dede's home, with the sun only starting to rise.
Larry snuck through the back door and up to Dede's room, laying her down on her bed. He turned to the balcony door to leave that way, so as to not risk getting caught by her parents, when Dede's soft voice called out to him. "Thank you Mr Larry."
Larry quickly looked back at Dede as he opened the door, smiling before he turned around again. "Don't worry kid. It'll all be over soon. That I can promise you."
With that he closed the door just as Dede rested her head on her pillow, falling asleep immediately. It seemed like only minutes before Dede was getting gently shaken awake, though she was not happy with this, for some reason she was super tired and she couldn't remember why. "It's time to wake up Jewel, breakfast is ready." She opened her tired eyes to see her mother standing there before she groaned and closed her eyes again. "Jewel? Are you feeling okay?" She rests the back of her hand against Dede's forehead and gasps. "You're burning up. Oh dear. You stay here and sleep some more, I'll get you some medicine and inform your school that you won't be in." Crystal kissed Dede on her forehead before she tucked her daughter back in before she left the room.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
It took a few days but Dede was back to full health by Thursday and she was excited to get back to school, having missed most of the first week back and seeing her friends made her wake up earlier than normal.
Keith and Crystal watched as their daughter ate her breakfast in silence, both looking worried. Crystal put the back of her hand to Dede's forehead again. "Are you sure you're feeling okay Jewel? You can stay off for the rest of the week if you need."
Dede looked up at her parents and just smiled. "I'm fine Mana, just keep having a weird dream."
Keith puts his coffee mug down to give Dede his full attention. "Weird how?"
Dede shrugs. "Not sure. I think there's some aliens and a guy that saves me. It's all a blur."
Keith stood up and jokingly flexed. "Was I the one to save you, to protect my little sweetie from the monsters?"
Crystal laughed at her husband's silliness while Dede just smiled at her dad. "Oh, I almost forgot." Crystal said as she handed Dede a velvet bag. "Here."
Dede looked at the bag in confusion before she gently took it, opening it, she gasped. Inside was a brand new set of marbles that she had asked for, they had a galaxy effect on them. "Thank you." Dede stood up and hugged her parents who laughed and hugged back.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Dede had arrived at school just before the bell rang so she wasn't able to talk with her friends much, but once recess rolled around the six all grouped up. Dede had shown them all her new marbles and they all decided to test them out as Dede explained her dream to them. "And that's it. I don't remember much but it feels like I've had this dream every night since I fell ill."
Gretchen hums as she sits on the ground, watching as Dede and TJ were playing with their marbles. "It is quite common for children to have repetitive dreams. Children's dreams can often be influenced by their daily experiences, fears, and imagination."
Spinelli snorts as she is drinking before she looks over at Dede. "That makes sense, you have a very active imagination."
Dede just smiled in embarrassment as her friends laughed in agreement before Gretchen carried on her explanation. "Children that have vivid imaginations do lead to recurring themes or scenarios in their dreams. Dreams can also be a way for children to process and make sense of new information or experiences. They may have repetitive dreams about a particular situation as their mind tries to work through it."
Vince leaned back on his hands. "But how does that relate to aliens?"
Gretchen shrugs. "Well, Dreaming of aliens can represent feeling like an outsider or experiencing something unfamiliar. It may also symbolise a fear of the unknown or a desire for exploration and discovery. Alternatively, it could suggest a feeling of being invaded or overwhelmed by outside forces."
TJ looks up after he shot his marble. "You sure have some weird dreams Dee." Dede just laughed in embarrassment.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
At the end of the day Dede hopped off the bus and started to walk the rest of the way home. "Man, why is the first day back at school after being ill the worst?" Dede stretched her arms above her head before she was grabbed from being, a cloth held to her mouth, silencing her scream and it wasn't long before everything went black.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
When Dede came to she saw she was back in the operating room from her dream, only this time she was chained to the operating table. "What? This can't be!" Dede moved as much as she could so she could bite her hand that was next to her head, upon feeling pain from the bite she realised that this wasn't a dream.
As tears started to build Dede's eyes the door leading to the room slid open up and an alien wearing a lab coat walked in. "Ah, you're finally awake." He walked in as the door automatically closed and walked over to the tray laying near the operating table Dede was strapped to.
Dede cried as she wanted the doctor alien grab some equipment out of the cabinets. "Please… let me go."
The doctor alien stopped placing different equipment down and looked at the crying child. "I'm sorry little earthlings. But you possess something that my master wants.
This just made Dede cry harder, she was petrified, realising that her nightmare was a reality. She watches as the doctor alien picks up a pen looking thing and presses a button, having a laser knife pop out. As the doctor approaches Dede clenched her eyes closed, not wanting to see what was about to happen to her, though her eyes snapped open when it felt like the whole room seemed to shake.
As the room shook the doctor lost his balance and fell down, the blade in his hand following him down, cutting one of the restraints holding Dede to the medical table. Dede cried out as not only did the blade cut the restraint holding her left arm down, it also nicked her wrist and made blood gush out.
Dede was quick to use her now free left hand to untie the restraint on her right wrist and jump down from the medical table. As Dede held her left wrist tightly to stop the bleeding as she made a run for the door that thankfully opened. Right now, all she wanted to do was get away from everyone.
As she was running down a corridor trying to find a way out, lights were flashing red all around as an alarm sounded out. Dede was panting heavily as she ran, she could hear footsteps following her and knew that if she stopped, she'd be caught.
Not that far ahead of her, Dede saw that the corridor split off like a T-junction and knew she had to make a choice then and there.
Left or right?
Dede turned right.
And ran smack straight into someone, knocking her down.
As Dede sat up she looked at who she ran into, only to pale as she saw it was Mazov. Dede started to shake as Mazov rolled his eyes and slowly bent down to grab Dede. "You're far too much of a hassle, earthing. I told DeGill we should have just got that gem from you in the first place. Would have saved us so much time."
Dede scrambled backwards before she turned and quickly got up to run the other way. She didn't want to be around another alien that wanted to hurt her. She looked behind her as she saw Mazov chasing her, though that wasn't all that scared her, what scared her was all the other aliens that had just turned the corner and were following them both.
Dede saw that they were all catching up to her and while she didn't know if it'll work, she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the new marbles she was given before throwing them behind her.
Thankfully this was successful as everyone following her tripped and fell down.
Dede almost cheered at the little success in giving herself a bit more time to run but it was short lived as she ended up running into someone else.
This time when she looked up she was relieved as she saw Larry standing over her.
Larry's eyes widen as he looks down at Dede before he kneels down to her level. "Kid, there you are?" Dede sobs as she jumps into Larry's arms. Larry pats Dede on the head as he picks her up, giving her a friendly and reassuring smile. "There, there. Let's go, we don't have much time."
Larry started walking down the corridor, his expression dropping all sense of warmth.
Dede didn't know where he was heading as she kept her head buried in his shoulder but he was the only one that made her feel safe in this whole mess.
After a minute of walking in silence the sound of a door sliding open made Dede grip onto Larry tighter. "I've got the girl."
Dede was confused on who Larry was talking to until someone replied and it was a voice Dede didn't want to hear, a dark and gravely one. She looked behind her and saw the monster that took her the first time; Arosto. "Good! Bring the girl to me. I want that Zecronia gem."
Dede looked up at Larry with fresh tears falling from her eyes. "Mr Larry? What's going on?"
Larry just looks down at the six year old in his arms with a blank expression. "Isn't it obvious, I'm giving you to Aristo."
This made Dede panic as she tried to fight and get out of Larry's arms but the man had a strong grip. "Why?"
Larry rolled his eyes at the girl as he started to walk over to Aristo. "Simple, I tried to warn everyone back on earth about the dangers of aliens and that they were coming but no one believed me. They just said I was a loon and dismissed me without any chance for me to give them proof. I tried to get Admiral DeGill to send some other galactic guardians down to earth to show everyone that aliens are real so the people of earth can prepare themselves for if anyone should try and invade it but even he dismissed me." He glared in front of him. "They all kept dismissing me like what I'm trying to warn them about isn't important so I got in contact with Aristo. In exchange for the Zecronia gem, he'll make the people of earth realise I was telling the truth and nobody will dismiss me again."
Dede was struggling more now as they reached Aristo, who grabbed Dede by the back of her shirt roughly making her cry out and grab onto the hand that Aristo was holding her up with as she looked at Larry. Tears were in her eyes again as her heart hurt, the only person that made her feel safe had just handed her off to the monster she was scared of. "Why? You… You helped me last time. Even got that talking fish to let me go home, so why now are you doing this?"
Larry just scoffed. "I've never helped you." This made Dedes eyes open wide as Aristo walked over to an empty desk in the barren room they were in. "I was the one to bring you here in the first place. The only reason I tried to convince DeGill to let you go back home was because it'd be easier for me to grab you at a later date. I've never had the intention to help you."
Aristo slammed Dede down onto the desk making her cry out in pain and fear. "Enough with this useless garble." He picked up a knife, making Dede scream and cry some more. "I want that gem."
As he raised the knife the door leading to the door was blown off as Mazov walked in.
Though, Mazov wasn't alone.
The woman that followed Mazov in made Aristo loosen his grip on Dede as he growled at her. "Kana!" He spat as he fully let go of Dede who was quick to scramble away from Aristo as much as she could.
The woman, now identified as Kana, walked in, her glare dead set on Aristo, though she did send a quick glance at Dede to make sure she was ok. "Aristo. Even after all this time you're still causing problems for others. I thought our last battle would have made you see sense, but I guess that was asking for too much."
Dede didn't know what was happening, Aristo and Larry were standing on one side of the room and Mazov and Kana were on the other. All she knew was that she had to get out of there and if she couldn't trust Larry the only other ones she could potentially trust were the other two, one that scared her and the other she didn't know.
But she didn't know if she could trust them.
Aristo growled as he threw the knife he was holding at Kana, who dodged and charged at Aristo with Mazov following behind her.
As the three started to fight Dede was crawling away, hoping to escape while everyone was distracted.
This didn't go as planned.
As she was close to the blown open door she was grabbed from behind. Dede looked behind her to see Larry holding the back of her shirt so she couldn't leave. "Where do you think you're going?"
Both of them were ignoring the fight that was happening in the room.
Larry started to lean down to pick up Dede.
Dede's eyes widened in panic and she did the first thing that came to her mind.
She head butted him.
Larry cried out in pain as he stumbled back, holding his nose as Dede held her head, she wasn't expecting it to hurt her as much as him.
Dede shook her head and stood up, running out the room before Larry could grab her again.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Kana chuckled as she blocked another of Aristo's attacks with her sword. "Wow, even after all this time for you, you're still weak."
Aristo growled as he threw Mazov off of him so he could try and attack Kana again. "You act all high and mighty. Yet I bet it's been even longer in your time than it has in mine."
Kana shrugged, still smirking as she hit Aristo, smacking him into the wall and making the ship shake. "Not quite. It's only been a year in my time." (6)
Aristo gets his laser gun out and starts to shoot at Kana, who was nimbly dodging all the blasts. "So you say. It doesn't matter. As soon as I get that Zecronia gem, I'll be able to finally destroy you."
Kana just looked at Aristo with a blank look on her face as she charged at him. The pink gem on her necklace glows and the pink light slides down her arm, encasing her sword, making it glow as she takes a swing. Destroying the laser blaster in one swoop, setting off a small explosion. "You really are stupid. I send the shards of the Zecronia out throughout different times and dimensions to find someone that'll use their power to protect. Even if you tear Candy apart limb from limb, all you'll be doing is destroying that shard as it's already bonded with her. If she dies, so does that gem."
Aristo screamed in frustration as he continued to try and hit Kana, but was stopped by Mazov. "Go!" Mazov called back to Kana. "While I hate you for everything you've done, you need to save that girl, I'll take care of Aristo." Mazov throws something at Kana that she was quick to catch.
Kana shrugged and turned around, putting the thing that Mazov threw at her in her pocket. "Fine. Doesn't matter to me." She then walked out of the room, leaving the brothers alone.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Dede stumbled as the ship shook.
This gave Larry enough time to grab Dede and throw her to the floor, pinning her down as he straddled her. "No more running you little brat." Larry raised his blade above his head, ready to bring it down onto the terrified six year old. "I will not be pushed aside and ignored anymore."
Dede closed her eyes tightly as Larry was about to bring the blade down. All she heard was Larry scream out in pain as the sound of metal hitting the ground a little away followed. Dede opened her eyes to see Larry clutching his right arm in pain, with red blooming on his galactic uniform and Kana standing behind him, her own blade swung out with some blood dripping off it. Dede looked over at where the sound of the blade landing came from and her eyes widened in fear and shock.
There, still holding onto the blade, was Larry's hand.
Dede's attention is brought back to the other two as Kana starts to speak. "You will not harm this child, Laurence Miller."
Larry looked up at Kana through squinted eyes at this, only for his eyes to widen as Kana's eyes turned red. "Wh…. What are you?"
This just made Kana smirk.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Back with the brothers, Aristo just blocked another attack thrown by Mazov. "Why are you working with that wretch? She destroyed everything we had."
Mazov dodged a punch aimed for his head, leaving a dent where his head just was. "I saw the error of our ways brother. We were wrong. After our loss on Neblix, I went out to see the universe for what it was. Nothing should be ruled under tyranny."
This made Aristo growl. "You really are weak. Free will makes beings think they can do whatever they want. Take that weaking human for example, all because other humans won't listen to him or acknowledge a single thing he says, he's willing to destroy his whole race just to prove that he was right." Aristo pins Mazov down onto the control panel. "Even if I don't get that Zecronia gem, I'll at least be somewhat satisfied in knowing that I'll have killed you by the end of the quintant." (6)
Mazov looked next to him before looking up out the giant window of the room before glaring at his brother. "You're right on one thing brother. I will be dead at the end of this." Mazov smirked at Aristo. "But so will you." He hit the button next to him, sending the ship's boosters to max.
Aristo looked at his brother in confusion on why he started the ship.
Until he looked up, his eyes widening at where the ship was heading.
Straight to the sun.
As Aristo released Mazov to try and turn the ship's trajectory, Mazov tackled him down to the ground. Mazov grabbed the small blade from his back pocket and stabbed it through Aristo's hand, pinning him there.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Larry wobbles as he stands up after Kana had kicked him away from Dede. Before anyone could say anything the ship's alarms started to blare loudly and all the screens that were stationed everywhere on the ship turned on, showing that the ship was on a direct course to the sun.
Kana puts away the blade and picks up Dede from the ground and turns away from Larry. "Well, time for us to go."
Larry grunted as he started to run at the two girls. "You're not going anywhere!"
Kana just rolls her eyes at him, having enough. She grabs a second, smaller blade and throws it at Larry, hitting him directly in his left knee. Larry cries out in pain as he falls down. "You're truly pathetic, you know that." Kana gave him a quick glance behind her back. "And now you'll die here for your own silly selfish desires."
Larry glares after the two girls as he starts to slide himself forward. "This isn't over. I will make everyone see that I was right. That we should have been creating more weapons to defend ourselves against other life forms."
Kana turned back around. "You're an idiot! Humans would only use those weapons to destroy, not protect themselves." She then ran down the halls, taking down everyone and everything that she passed as she kept a strong grip on Dede.
It wasn't long before they reached the escape pods. Dede looks around after Kana sets her down and sets the coordinates for the pod. "Who are you?"
Kana looked back at Dede as the escape pod left the bay. She smiled playfully. "What? You don't recognise me?"
Dede tilted her head as she looked at the older woman closely. "You look familiar, and your name is Kana, right?" Kana nods. "The only Kana I met was in Japan over the summer holidays, but she was only 2 years older than me. You can't be her."
Kana smiled simpafeticly at the younger girl. "Now that you've been introduced to life beyond earth, you'll soon realise that the technology is more advanced than Earth could ever hope for."
Dede was confused at this. "So you are the Kana I met a couple weeks ago?"
Kana nodded, still wearing the same smile. Dede slumped against the wall and slid down.
This was a lot for the six year old to take in.
Kana watched the little girl in sympathy, knowing what it was like to be overwhelmed in a situation that's not normal, for kids or adults.
Kana rested her hand on Dede's head as she looked out the window, watching as the large spaceship flew into the sun, destroying it and everyone on it.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Once the escape pod docks at Galactic Guardian HQ KAna leads Dede out into Admiral DeGill's office. Inside the office was Admiral DeGill himself and what dede could only assume was a praying mantis thing. DeGill had a doctor look over the two girls as Kana explained what had happened, sighing when she was finished. Taking his hat off to pay respects to Mazov before he put it back on and looked at the girls. "I knew Larry wanted to make sure earth was prepared for if it was invaded, but to go so far as to risk making his whole race extinct just to prove he was right?" DeGill started to pace his office. "Surely he knew Aristo wouldn't have stopped at just scaring the earthlings."
Kana sighed herself as the doctor walked out of the room, having just finished checking Dede over, bandaging the scratch on her left wrist that'll eventually turn into a small scar. "I don't think he cared. At the end of the day nothing seemed to matter more to him than being proven right. Even at the cost of a child."
The two look over to said child who was holding her bandaged wrist. Dede looked back at them as DeGill rubbed his chin in thought. "Question now is, what do we do with her?"
The red praying mantis hovers forward. "I sense great potential in this one. She would be a valuable asset to the galactic guardians."
The three looked at him, only Kana was smiling, DeGill's eyes widened at this. "What? Spindly Tam, are you sure? We've never trained someone this young before."
Kana rests her hand on Dedes head. "I think Tam's right. She was able to hold her own before we got there."
Dede just looked at them all confused. "What are you talking about?"
Kana knelt down to be more at her level. "We're talking about you joining the Galactic guardians."
Dede's eyes widen as she steps back, shaking her head. "No! I can't. I just wanna go home."
Kana smiles at dede sympathetically as she puts both her hands on the kid's shoulders. "I know it's scary. But you won't be alone. You have the potential to be great, that's why the Zecronia shard chose you."
Dede looked at Kana confused. "What do you mean?"
Kana rests her hand on the necklace that hangs around her neck. "This is a gem called Zecronia. A friend of mine found it in a sub-space between dimensions. Her father was a tyrant far worse then Aristo and she didn't want him to get possession of it, so she used it to transport herself to a different dimension, this one. By the time you first met me, I already had it in my possession. The power on this gem differs depending on who uses it and for what. I sent it out to find someone that wants to protect people and it chose you."
Dede's eyes widened as she looked up at Kana who stood up. "But…. I'm just a kid. I can't even protect myself, never mind anyone else."
Kana just raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Really?" Dede nods. "Well, I think you can do it. You did great in looking out for yourself on Aristo's ship before, and even after, me and Mazov got there."
Dede looked from Kana to the other two occupants of the room. "What even are the Galactic guardians?"
Admiral DeGill steps forward. "The Galactic Guardians is an intergalactic defence force and law enforcement organisation which protects the universe from villains and criminals. This charges them with preserving peace, order, and justice in the galaxy."
Dede giggled behind her hand as DeGill started doing some, in her opinion, goofy poses. Kana rests her hand on Dede's shoulder as she gestures to DeGill. "This is Admiral DeGill, he's the commanding officer for the Galactic guardians and who you'll be reporting to if you become one."
Dede looks unsure at this. "How would I become a galactic guardian? I'm just a kid."
Kana patted Dede's shoulder before she walked over to Spindly. "This is Spindly Tam Kanushu, he's a martial arts specialist. I'm sure he'll be able to train you."
Dede looked up at Spindly as he nodded. "I can train you alone with another student I'm teaching, it might motivate young Koreena to do better."
Dede was still unsure with all that was happening. "But… What about my home? I can't just leave my family and friends."
The three adults all shared a look before Kana chuckled. "You won't be forced to leave anything, your life will continue as it normally would."
DeGill stepped forward again, gaining Dede's attention. "The only difference would be when you'll need to leave for your training, and of course everything must remain a secret, meaning you can't tell a soul."
Dede nodded in understanding, as she started to think about if she wants to join the galactic guardians.
The pros of joining are; 1, she'll get training on how to not only defend herself but others, if any other alien would come after her for the Zecronia shard. 2, she could potentially figure out how to use this Zecronia shard to help. 3, she'd get to explore space, which is almost every kid's dream. And 4, she would hopefully become a lot braver.
The cons of joining are; 1, she's terrified of the starting step. 2, she won't be able to tell anyone anything, so she'll be alone. And 3, she was scared she would fail and cause harm to her family and friends.
She looked up at the three grown up watching her before she made her decision.
The pros seemed to outweigh the cons.
She nodded.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
When Kana and Dede teleported back down to earth after the three adults explained everything to the younger girl, it was already night time with the street lamps coming on.
Dede gasped when she saw this. "I'm so late. Mum and dad must be worried sick."
Kana places her hand on Dede's shoulder. "Then let's get you back home."
Once the two girls arrived at Dede's home Kana knocked on the door that was opened by a frantic looking Keith. Who, upon seeing Kana standing there, looked at her in confusion before he looked down and saw Dede standing next to her. Keith gasped before grabbing Dede and pulling her into a tight hug, picking her up off the ground. "Crystal, she's here!"
The sound of running footsteps was heard as Crystal came running out of the living room. Upon seeing her husband holding onto her daughter tears started to fall down her cheeks as she ran and hugged Dede along with Keith. "Oh my sweet Jewel. We were so worried. Where were you?"
Dede's eyes widened, she couldn't think of what to tell them, thankfully Kana came to her rescue. "I'm sorry, this whole mess is my fault." The family of three looked at Kana as she had a sheepish smile on her face as she rubbed the back of her head. "You see, I have an Akita dog that managed to break his leash. I guess when Dede saw him running towards her for some fuss she got scared and ran away."
The parents looked at their daughter still held In their arms as she ducked her head, looking away from them, going along with Kana's story. "The dog was big."
Kana chuckled. "Yeah. Again I'm so very sorry for any worry this incident caused."
Keith nodded as he hugged his daughter tighter. "Everything okay, I'm glad it was just a misunderstanding."
Crystal smiled as she walked over to Kana. "Thank you so much for finding her and bringing her home safely."
Kana nodded as she shook Crystal's hand. "It's not a problem, it was my fault after all." Kana turned to look at Dede. "Well, I best be going. You stay safe now kid, okay?"se
Dede smiled at Kana before she squirmed out of her dads hold and ran and hugged Kana tightly. "Thank you Kana. For everything."
Kana just patted Dede on her head before she turned and walked off. Once the door was closed both Keith and Crystal hugged Dede again, relieved to have her back home safe. "I bet you're hungry after that whole ordeal?" Crystal said as she pulled away from the hug. She went to grab Dede's hand but stopped when she saw something new. "What's this?"
Dede and Keith looked at Dede's left wrist which now held a white bracelet. Admiral DeGill explained it'll teleport Dede to Spindly Tam Kanushu's dojo for her training. Dede smiled as she looked at it before looking up at her parents. "It's a new bracket Kana gave me as a way to apologise for what happened. I told her she didn't need to but she was adamant, said it suited me."
Keith smiled as he ruffled Dede's hair. "It sure does. Now let's have some dinner."
Dede smiled as she followed her parents, excited to start her new life.
As a Galactic Guardian.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
THE END
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Phew, finally got to finishing the origins chapter. Hopefully people enjoyed this chapter and that it was at least an okay read.
I have also started to put the artwork I make for this story on instagram, under the username of Yuiumbreon, so if you wanna see it'll be up there, I'll post other artwork on there soon.
Anyway,
I put (breakets) with numbers in to clear a few things up.
1 - Zecronia is a gem I made up, it's a pink jewel, where if used correctly, can hold a lot of power. It'll also be a gem every single one of my OCs will have at the end of their stories.
2 - Larry was first mentioned in the officer Mikey chapter. I had been thinking about the origins even back then and I hope I was able to make him at least an okay villain. I've always loved the tropes of having a lovable character become the villain. I also wanted to have him have a stupid reason to be a villain and him being basically petty that no one listened to him was the dumbest reason I could think of.
3 - I decided to have Mr Yamashiro be Dede's first grade teacher as it is never stated what class he teaches, so instead of creating a new character I'll use an already created one that not much is known about.
4 - Kana is my main OC, while she isn't the first one I ever created, she is the one I've put the most effort into as she'll be the one that all the others will look up to, or have an interaction with. The reason I haven't posted her story yet is because I want her story to be perfect before I post it. At the beginning of her story she is plain, there is nothing remarkable about her, she'll be smart but that'll be all she'll have going for her, though at the end she'll be the strongest character I will ever write about.
5 - This fight will be in Kana's story.
6 - if anyone knows where this time scale is from, you know one of the stories that Kana will be a part of.
And that's it, if anyone has any questions I'll be glad to answer them either through a comment or private message.