Wander Over Yonder: The New Galaxy

Chapter Nine: The Voyage

Hater has had some time to relax and think, and now he has a couple of days to go to the next planet.

I wonder how he will spend his time…

The Star Nomad spread its wings, orble sails filling as it lifted up and away from Technoiva below.

Hater found himself with mixed feelings as he watched the planet recede behind them. He hadn't enjoyed exploring the annoying place, and it had been the site of some uncomfortable , zapping the plants had been fun for a while, but once Wander had been stolen and he'd spent several hours fighting his way through the greenery, only to find the nomad had been fine at the end of it all, it had been an exercise in frustration.

At the same time, it was hard not to have some grudging amount of respect for the place. Hater figured Wander had had no idea what he was unleashing by risking his life to protect that weird flower, but the results certainly spoke for themselves. Now that Hater wasn't trying to fight the plant anymore, he supposed it was kind of neat to have found a planet that protected itself for once.

He had slept better over the last couple of days, whether because of his new bed, make-shift as it was, or because his chaotic emotions had settled somewhat.

Though Peepers hadn't exactly been helping with that.

His commander had cornered him last night, and they had had a long talk about the Plan. Peepers had stressed what a good situation they would be in once the skull-ship was repaired, what with all the other villains still routed from their encounters with Dominator, and the galaxy's citizens only just returning to their home planets, without access to any defences they had previously controlled.

In fact, given the relatively slow speed of the Star Nomad, they might even make it to some planets before their inhabitants returned, which meant the citizens would need to submit to Hater's rule and demands if they wanted to go back to living on their planets.

Peepers had also encouraged Hater to watch what he said to the other passengers, and to steer clear of them as much as possible to be prepared for those future conquests. Hater hadn't been interested in doing that, and the conversation had gotten a little heated.

Hater had pointed out, fairly reasonably as far as he could see, that he wasn't going to hide out in his room for the rest of the trip. He was the Greatest in the Galaxy, something other people were finally recognizing. If anything, he should be spending more time showing off how awesome he 't that be more likely to intimidate the citizens when he showed up later? Him sneaking around and hiding in his room certainly wouldn't add to his menacing image.

Peepers had been frustrated, but he'd seemed to have trouble finding something to say to that, and Hater had figured he'd scored a point.

The watchdog had also finally asked Hater if he'd been cooking with Wander, and that part of the conversation hadn't gone too well. Hater had had to admit that yes, he'd maybe helped the annoying beatnik make supper, and Peepers hadn't seemed to buy his excuse that he'd done it for research purposes only and to make Wander let his guard down, even though Hater thought it was a pretty good excuse.

Not that that was the actual reason he'd done it, but that was none of Peepers' business anyway.

The whole discussion had left Hater feeling annoyed and confused.

He knew Peepers was right to some extent. They had spent years intimidating and overawing the inhabitants of various planets by maintaining Hater's threatening persona, and it had been very effective, at least until Wander started showing up to completely ruin that persona. And the invasions.

At the same time, however, this was a different situation. Hater couldn't pretend to be in charge of this ship, the lives of the galaxy's citizens in his bony clutches. He couldn't kick anyone off or threaten them with certain doom if he was annoyed, and if he caused too many problems, he might be the one getting kicked off the ship. Well, probably not, he mused. Wander likely wouldn't let that happen, and most of the people on board seemed to listen to Wander.

Hater had also tried staying aloof from the others to some extent, and it hadn't worked. His glaring and growling hadn't made anyone back off the way it used to. They'd all still been admiring and excited to see him, which…was the other problem.

Hater was enjoying the situation.

A little, he told himself.

It made a dramatic change in attitude from his reception before that final battle. He had been at his lowest point, no planets to call his own, the watchdogs slacking off and talking behind his back, mocked by other villains and unable to strike fear into the faintest heart.

Now, the other aliens treated him like he was some kind of hero, which wasn't exactly what he'd wanted, but he could admit to himself it was at least a tiny bit pleasant to choose a spot to sit and immediately notice others sitting near him, to tell a story and have listeners hanging on his every word, and to be the recipient of all that respect and admiration he'd long been missing.

Even years ago, back before Wander had shown up, when Hater was the most feared villain in the galaxy, he'd never felt this way. He could frighten other aliens, but he'd felt like he was always struggling to maintain their respect, and he couldn't let his menacing villain persona slip, except when he was alone in his always had to be the big bad villain.

Not to say that he hadn't liked being an evil overlord. He'd enjoyed the invasions, the power and control. He'd enjoyed hurting others, dragging them to his torture room and making sure they feared him. It wasn't like he'd been lying to himself about that.

And yet, he enjoyed these new feelings, as well as his new status among the other aliens.

He might even enjoy it a little more, though he planned to keep those feelings inside his head.

And as for Wander…

Hater sighed to himself. He didn't really know how to feel about Wander.

Peepers had avoided mentioning Wander for the most part, aside from asking whether Hater had actually cooked with the fuzzy mop. He had danced around the subject a little, actually, offhandedly mentioning that they could move some of the watchdogs into Hater's room to make space if Hater wanted to move down to the make-shift barracks.

Hater had shrugged the offer off, though he wasn't sure why, maybe because it had turned out that it wasn't that awful sharing a room with Wander. He'd expected the nuisance to try to smother him in hugs and annoying songs every time he went through the door, but Wander had been surprisingly respectful of his personal space for the few days they'd already been rooming. Besides, Hater didn't like the idea of backing down, of retreating from his enemy's presence. He could handle Wander. Peepers hadn't pushed, but Hater could tell he wasn't happy.

Hater sensed movement beside him, and glanced over to find the orange toothpick himself. Wander gave him a wide smile, leaning on the railing and looking up and out, through the faint shimmer of the orble sales at the distant stars.

"Isn't this tha best part o' travelin', Hater?" he asked, leaning close and giving the overlord a small nudge with his elbow. "Lookin' out at where we've been an' where we might be goin' next?"

Hater glared, shifting away slightly from the offending elbow and crossing his arms.

"No," he scoffed. "Why would I care about that? The 'best part of traveling' is getting there. Traveling just takes up time, unless you're a weirdo who 'lives for the journey' like you. I don't usually even bother looking out the windows."

Wander chuckled, not seeming bothered at Hater's disparaging comments.

"Fair enough!" he smiled. "Only, you're missin' a couple of points there. I live fer all of it; the journey, the destination, an' any other destinations that might be just over the horizon!" He tilted his head, smile widening, and Hater found himself looking away uncomfortably, not sure what he was feeling.

It seemed to be happening more and more around the pest, as though the absence of his hatred for Wander had left a hole inside him, and he wasn't sure what emotions it was being filled with.

"Soooooo." Wander dragged out the word, looking at him sideways so Hater could see him in his peripheral vision. "Ya thinkin' of comin' ashore with us when we get to Varta VII?"

Hater kept his gaze on the endless stars stretching out away from them, feeling Wander's presence beside him like the heat of a star.

"…Maybe," he said quietly. "If I feel like dealing with you."

He didn't have to look at the nomad to know what expression he was wearing. He could sense the warmth of Wander's rapturous smile on the back of his neck.

Giving a frustrated huff, Hater moved away from the railing, heading back inside the ship. He didn't know what he was feeling around Wander lately, but he was pretty sure he didn't hate the feelings, at least for now.

The next few days passed fairly pleasantly.

Now that Hater was slightly more used to the other passengers on the ship, the strangest thing about being here was not having anything to do. He hadn't been able to bring his giant T.V. or any of his video games or movies, and there wasn't a setup for a T.V. on this dumb ship anyway. It seemed to be mostly without power, with only a very rudimentary engine controlling the wings and a few other devices, though he wasn't really clear on how all of it worked.

Hater had already made it clear he wasn't planning to sit in his room all the time, so he had to find entertainment elsewhere, and elsewhere ended up including some surprising places and meant he ended up doing some surprising things.

One day, he happened upon Thrax and the other former prisoners from his pit of ultimate pain, all working out in a ramshackle gym they had made, and ended up working out with them, just to pass the time. He hadn't been too keen at first, given the unpleasant history they had together, but they were all so excited to see him and so admiring of his actions, he ended up trying out some of the exercises they'd come up with, and it was actually pretty fun.

They actually seemed like fairly cool guys, and they ended up chatting about a lot of different topics while they exercised. It was weird to think he'd once thrown them all into the worst place he could imagine. It seemed a little strange when he thought about it now.

Another day, he was taking Captain Tim for a walk, and he ended up in a long conversation about pets with that little blue alien, Beeza, he thought her name was. The two of them got into quite a heated discussion about the difficulties of raising dangerous animals, and Hater was surprised to realize he enjoyed it.

He also ended up spending quite a lot of time with Wander, though he wasn't quite sure how that had happened. Wander just often seemed to be around, and Hater discovered he didn't really mind having him around or running into him in various places on the ship.

One evening, he noticed Wander heading for the kitchen and, on demanding what the nomad was planning to make for supper, he decided to go along to watch and ended up doing some of the chopping again, since he was so good at it last chatted to him as they cooked, as usual, and Hater even found himself commenting occasionally, along with his usual scoffing at the wanderer's ridiculous perspectives.

The next night, he stumbled upon what must be the ship's great room, where Wander and Major Threat were performing on their banjos for a few of the other passengers. Hater had stormed up on stage to put them in their places, declaring the music lame and betting that they wouldn't stand a chance against him with a real instrument, and somehow that ended up turning into the three of them playing guitars together in front of a cheering crowd.

Hater had belatedly remembered the sweet guitar skills Wander had demonstrated during his concert for Dominator, as well as the amazing performances he used to listen to from the 90 Ounce Nihilists, but by then he was having too much fun to care that he wasn't exactly outperforming his opponents, and he'd ended up having a great time.

The audience had been pretty enjoyable too, with aliens from all over the ship crowding in to hear them, cheering and waving their hands. Most of Hater's band's performances had obligatory cheering, backed up by armed watchdogs, and he hadn't really expected the enthusiasm of the crowd, or how addictive it would be.

He'd slept especially well that night, the cheers of his listeners still echoing in his head.

Then there were the times Wander just ended up beside him, when the nomad would talk to him about something or other and Hater would growl and shrug along, times that weren't exactly bad, even when they probably should have been.

Before Hater knew it, they were approaching Varta VII, the next planet on their way.

Unlike Technoiva, and many of the other planets the ship would be stopping off at, Hater had never controlled Varta VII, for the simple reason that it was very difficult to conquer. The entire planet was one big ocean, with its citizens tucked away in bubble cities far beneath the waves. The skull-ship was an admirable starship, possibly the best in the galaxy, at least now that Dominator's eyesore had exploded, but it couldn't deal with the massive pressure deep down in Varta VII's ocean. Back when they were riding high as the most feared empire in the galaxy, Hater was sure Peepers had been working on plans to conquer the watery planet, but they had never actually managed it before Wander came along and started causing chaos.

As they drew closer, Hater found himself wondering what the planet would look like now. Dominator had destroyed it along with all the others, drilling into its core to extract the Volcanium X it contained to power her army. It must have had a massive effect on the ocean. Would it still be covered with water? Would Wander's flower even have been able to take root if that were the case? And would it be similar to the aggressive plants he'd seen last time?

Strangely, he felt a slight thrill of excitement as he contemplated. It felt a little like when he and Peepers were just starting out, when he used to look forward to seeing the interesting planets, and conquering them, of course.

There it was.

Just like last time, quite a few passengers had arrived on deck to witness the approaching planet, and Hater heard excited exclamations from a few of them as they drew close enough to see some details.

The colour was the first detail to resolve itself. The planet still glowed blue in the vast black void of space, but it seemed to be a different shade from what Hater remembered, more of a teal, as though the water had gotten slightly greener. As they drew closer, it was easy to see the reason for the change.

The vast ocean still stretched from pole to pole, but it wasn't the unmarred, sparkling blue it used to be. Instead, countless rafts of giant lily pads covered the surface, each one as big as a small city on any normal planet.

As they drew closer still, hovering over the changed landscape, Hater could see the stems reaching down through the clear water. There was a whirring, as huge dragonflies, themselves as large as a single-seater spaceship, zoomed over the water.

The ocean itself seemed lower than before as well, now that they had a closer look at it. Hater could see several islands, the tops of underwater mountains probably, but now poking up above the surface.

"Woooweee!" Hater glanced over to where Wander was sitting on the railing, and practically about to fall off of it with the way he was leaning out. "Just look at this place! Isn't it amazing?" Wander's voice was a shrill squeak of excitement.

Hater watched as Sylvia plucked Wander off of the railing, dropping him safely behind it, where he bounced just as happily.

"Sure is…different," she commented warily. "Wonder if the aquanists' cities are still under there somewhere." She looked critically down through the water. "Still," she mused after a moment, "it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I figured all the water would have drained out."

"I know, right?" Wander leaned over the railing again. "That would've been awful fer all the poor critters livin' in the water!"

Hater realized he'd been listening to the exchange and pulled his gaze away, back to the watery planet below. He did his best to tune out the discussion. That was something he'd been doing more and more, listening when others were talking, and he wasn't sure when it had started. He also wasn't sure he should be doing it. He was Lord Hater, after all. People should be listening to him, not the other way around.

It was especially happening with Wander, which at least made sense, Hater supposed. The furry pain had always had a way of drawing his attention, which seemed to have persisted even after his hatred had fizzled out.

He'd at least been able to resist commenting on Wander and Sylvia's conversation this time, something else he'd started doing lately, like he was friends with them or something. Which he definitely wasn't. He may be unable to declare Wander as his most hated enemy after everything that had happened, but he hadn't fallen quite far enough to consider the little fluffy pain a 'friend.' And as for the zbornak, Hater was still feeling vaguely unsettled from that conversation she'd forced on him a few days ago, as well as her 'offer.'

He shrugged it off as best he could. This kind of thing was bound to happen while he was on this ship, surrounded by people at all hours of the day, especially when one of them was Wander. Things would calm down in a week or two when they reached Flendar and could get the parts for their ship. For now, it was fine.

Suddenly feeling eyes boring into his back, Hater turned from looking down at the water, and shrank slightly under the gleeful gaze of his former nemesis.

"Well, whatcha think, Hater?" Wander asked.

Hater bit his lower jaw uncomfortably. Had Wander asked him something? Maybe he should have kept listening after all.

"Ummm." He peered past the smiling orange face to see Sylvia also looking at him expectantly. She smirked when she met his eye, raising a challenging eyebrow. Hater glared back, before looking away and back at Wander, whose anticipation seemed to be rising to unstable levels. The nomad had his hands clasped beneath his chin, and was trembling slightly, eyes huge moist pools of expectation.

Hater couldn't bring himself to ask Wander to repeat the question, but he also found it impossible to leave the nomad hanging, especially with those eyes burning into his skull.

"Um, yeah, probably," he managed, figuring that was the safest answer.

Immediately, he was met with a squeal like a boiling teakettle as Wander's furry arms latched onto him.

"Eeeeee! I knew you'd want to! D'ya hear that, Sylvia? Who's ready for a scouting par-tay? WooowooO!"

Hater stiffened in the nomad's hug. Wander had been surprisingly hands-off lately, almost as though he had been trying to give Hater space. Consequently, Hater felt like his resistance to Wander-hugs had gone down significantly. He felt his cheekbones burn, though not from the rage that used to engulf him when the nomad did something like this. Instead, he felt uncomfortable and embarrassed, as well as some other feeling deep down behind his ribs. He pulled at Wander's arms until he could wriggle out of the hug, whereupon, he felt a heavy hand fall on his shoulder.

Sylvia's smirk was a little wider now, and Hater wondered in the back of his mind whether she'd noticed his confusion.

"Good on you for volunteering, bonehead," she said. "It'll be nice to have the firepower with us when we go ashore."

Ah, well, Hater supposed he could have inadvertently agreed to worse things. He was kind of curious to see the planet up close, after all. It probably beat sitting on the ship while the two nomads went off to have adventures.

Wander was still beaming up at him and Hater shot the nomad a warning glare, ready to fend off another hug.

He shot another look down at the peacefully floating lily pads. All he knew was that this planet had better not have any needle spitting or Wander-stealing plants on it. He was not planning to spend another day saving the pest over and over, especially if it turned out the furry freak wasn't even in danger by the end, or something was getting destroyed this time.

And if none of that happened, well, it might actually be kind of fun.

Thanks for reading!

We should be getting into some more adventure next chapter. Let's get some good old exploring done and see what the planet is like below the surface. Plus, we might be getting an unexpected visitor to this planet. It's about time some other forces start moving in this galaxy again…

Fighting The Tide is at one of those episode rewrite chapters that I always take longer with, so it will probably be another chapter for this story next, unless I get very inspired.

See you soon!