Wander Over Yonder: The New Galaxy

Chapter Six: The Jungle

Welcome to chapter six!

Our buddies have been split up, and the two pares are looking for each other. In the meantime, they will get to explore the planet and see what it's like. I'm sure there will be no problems whatsoever.

Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the last chapter. I loved hearing what you think of the story so far!

Enjoy!

"I can't believe this! You lost him! How could you lose him? He was right next to you, and he's orange!"

"Well, you're one to talk!" Sylvia's voice was indignant, but she was only half listening to her companion as she scoured the forest around her for her pal. "Yours is ten feet tall, shoots lightning and is constantly yelling!"

"Okay, okay!" Peepers held his hands up, taking a deep breath in and out. "This is fine, we can figure this out."

"Yeah, not like they haven't ended up lost somewhere together before this," Sylvia supplied dryly. She wasn't even sure when Wander had vanished. She'd thought he was skipping along beside her, and she had started to focus more on noticing landmarks and ensuring she knew their way back to the ship. Then she'd looked up from making a mark on a tree trunk, and that was it; no Wander. As for Hater, the skeleton lord had been lagging behind for a while. They hadn't realized he was missing until Sylvia had turned around and started searching for Wander, only to find that Hater was also gone. They had tried retracing their steps toward the ship, but had found nothing. "Are we even sure they are together?" she wondered aloud, struck by the sudden thought.

"Of course, they are." Peepers' voice was certain.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because the furry freak can't leave Lord Hater alone." Peepers narrowed his eye, turning to scan the depths of greenery as well. "Grop, he probably got both of them lost in the first place."

Sylvia ignored his griping, though she had to admit to herself that he had a point. Wander had probably noticed Hater falling behind and gone back to check on him. She just wished her buddy had clued her in before he took off.

"Well, however it happened, I'm going to go and find Wander. Are you coming, or are you just planning to stand here and complain about it all day?"

Peepers scoffed disdainfully, but fell in beside her as she started into the underbrush, Sylvia being careful to make a mark on one of the tall vines before they set off. She didn't want the two of them to get lost as well.

Hopefully Wander and Hater actually were together, and at least she was pretty sure she no longer had to worry about the skeleton lord trying to fry her pal.

Lost with Wander.

It could be worse, Hater supposed. It wasn't the first time he'd been stuck somewhere with the pest, after all, and that was back when the very sight of the nomad sent him into a murderous rage. Now, he was just vaguely annoyed at Wander, and really annoyed at everything else.

There was something about this planet that gave him the creeps, some oppressive, stifling feeling in the air. It was like he was being watched, which didn't even make any sense, since Hater hadn't seen a single bird or other animal since the ship had docked.

Wander didn't seem to have noticed anything but, then again, he was Wander. He sometimes didn't even notice when someone was trying to kill him. The nomad was currently examining some flowers by the base of one of the giant vines, apparently completely happy and not remotely worried that they were separated from their companions, the ship and any trace of civilization.

Hater's eyes narrowed at this thought. He wasn't remotely interested in hanging around in the stupid forest all day, just waiting for Peepers and the zbornak to find them. And he wasn't about to let Wander lollygag all over the place sniffing flowers or playing his banjo for the trees, or whatever other hippy junk he wanted to do.

Stomping over to the nomad, Hater grabbed him by one arm, lifting him up to glare right at that big, annoying smile.

"Stop looking at the dumb flowers. We're leaving," he demanded.

"Look, Hater!" Wander didn't appear to have heard him. He slipped out of Hater's grasp, crouching back down again immediately and gesturing excitedly to the overlord.

"Check out these little guys!" He whispered, face close to the yellow flowers.

Hater rolled his eyes. He considered stepping on the stupid things, at the very least to get Wander's attention off of them and back on him. Then he paused. There was a strange clicking, whirring sound, very quiet, but distinctly mechanical.

Leaning forward slightly to see over Wander's hat, he peered into the clump of bright petals. Something was moving under the leaves and between the swaying stalks. Tiny insects, they looked like, but definitely not organic. In fact, they looked something like the book light Peepers had in his room for reading late at night. They had long, flexible black necks, and their heads flickered with light as they trundled along. He could faintly hear the click and whir of gears inside their tiny bodies.

Hater hadn't spent too much time on Technoiva before, and he hadn't been remotely interested in its native species, aside from those he was busy conquering, but…

"Hey, are those little techno-whosit bugs?"

"Yeah!" Wander kept his voice down, but his face was glowing with excitement. Some of 'em must've survived Dominator's drill an' all the new plants that grew afterward!" He cooed down at the tiny things. "Hey little guys, d'ya like all the new plants an' flowers? Must be pretty different from what yer used to, but I'm sure it'll make a nice home fer you an' all yer friends!"

Hater watched, unimpressed, as one of the robotic bugs hesitantly approached the orange, furry hand held out to it, then slowly climbed Wander's outstretched finger, the nomad cooing gently to it all the while.

It took the overlord approximately five seconds to lose patience with the slow-motion nature documentary, and he narrowed his eyes, raising his hand and summoning a spark to one finger, which he fired. The bolt severed several flowers from their stalks, sizzling as it hit the moist earth beneath, the tiny insects emitting frightened beeps and scattering.

That was better.

"Alright, that's it!" Hater announced, grabbing Wander by his slender middle and pulling him away from the flowers. "We're not on a stupid nature hike, so come on! We're going to find Peepers and your zbornak!"

"Sure, Hater," Wander agreed amiably. He gave a wave to the clump of flowers, among which no bugs were visible now.

Hater wasn't prepared to wait any longer. So, dropping Wander to the ground before grabbing the nomad by the arm once again, he set off in a random direction through the trees. Either they'd find the others, or they'd find their way back to the ship. The planet couldn't be that big.

Okay, maybe it was a little bigger than it had looked from the air.

Hater grumbled to himself, zapping a looping vine that was in his way. It felt like they'd been walking for ages, and while Wander was still skipping along as happily as ever, Hater felt like his bony feet were about to fall off.

Worse, that looming dread and the sense of being watched he'd been feeling hadn't gone away. If anything, it was stronger now, tinged with a faint menace that made him nervous in spite of himself.

Plus, all these stupid trees looked the same to him. He had no idea where they were going, though he certainly wasn't about to admit to it.

Occasionally, they saw other native 'creatures,' robotic birds or small metal mammal- like things. They didn't stay for long. Hater, feeling the pressure of the extra eyes, had started yelling and shooting electricity at them, which sent them beeping and whirring back into the trees.

Wander usually jumped and looked kind of sad to see them scatter, but he didn't reproach Hater about it, and the overlord ignored these reactions. It was Wander's fault for waving or talking to them in the first place. If he stopped doing that, maybe the flarping things would just leave them alone.

Hater paused, their progress once more blocked by vines, this time spread over the whole of what passed for a path on this stupid planet. It seemed like the plants had been getting thicker as they walked. They had to make their way around more huge, tree-like vines and pick, or in Hater's case blast, their way through the thickening underbrush. Wander reached out to move one of the vines out of the way so he could slip past. Hater solved the problem, stepping in front of the nomad and raising both arms. Several good bolts of lightning and the sizzling ends of the vines hung harmlessly above their heads, the rest of them lying limply on the ground.

Wander tutted gently.

"Ya didn't have ta do that, Hater. Ya catch more flies with honey, as tha sayin' goes."

"Catch flies? Ew! Who'd wanna do that?" Sometimes Wander said the weirdest things.

Hater moved forward through the newly cleared space. He peered through the dim greenness in front of them and his glare darkened. Past the cleared patch of vines, he could see more of them, hanging thickly, stretched from tree to tree and all the way down to the ground. It would take ages to destroy them all.

Next to him, Wander seemed to be examining them as well.

"Ya know, I don't think Sylvia and Mr. Peepers came this way after all. They'd probably leave us some kinda sign if they did."

"Ugh, this is so stupid!" Hater groaned. "Let's just go back."

He turned angrily, then stopped, confused.

Behind them, thick, green vines spread as far as the eye could see. There was no sign that Hater had burned through them at all. Moreover, the new vines looked distinctly menacing, sharp thorns gleaming darkly along their lengths.

"Ooookay, that's pretty weird," Hater observed, voice casual despite his sudden nervousness.

"Woah!"

The overlord turned back around at Wander's yell.

Thick vines, without thorns, Hater noticed in the back of his mind, had wrapped around the nomad's furry waist, hoisting him high in the air.

"Wander! What are you doing up there?"

"Not…sure…buddy!" Wander's voice bounced along with his hat as he was hoisted higher. "These fellers seem…a li'l friendlier…than I thought!" There was a pause as Hater stared stiffly upward. The vines seemed to be wrapping more firmly around Wander, encircling his arms and legs now as well, and they had lifted him a good twenty feet in the air. "Li'l…help…Hater?" Wander managed.

"Um…" Hater dithered, watching as Wander rose another ten feet.

He wasn't sure what to do. It had only been a couple of days ago when he'd firmly told the nomad he wasn't going to save him any more, that that had only been a one-time thing because of Dominator. He couldn't go back on his word so quickly. That would be like admitting to Wander that he didn't hate him any more, that, Grop forbid, he didn't want Wander to die.

He probably didn't have to save him, right? Wander could probably get out of that on his own…maybe. Above his head, Wander seemed to be trying to do just that, but as soon as one furry arm was freed, the thick creepers wrapped around it again even more securely than before.

The vines seemed to get thicker as Wander was pulled higher, and soon he would be out of sight. He already looked like a small, green ball high up in the dimness, with only a few hints of orange showing through. Hater felt a flash of worry, followed by the dead weight of resignation. With a frustrated growl, he ignited both hands, their green, crackling glow lighting up his surroundings. Thorny vines seemed to have been creeping towards him as well, but at the sudden sizzle of lightning they backed off slightly.

Hater aimed for slightly above the struggling bundle, high up above him now, and sent a wave of searing electricity slicing through a whole swath of vines.

The bundle of vines that was Wander seemed to hover in the air for a moment, its cut strings falling around it, before it, too, plummeted earthward. As it fell, the creepers unwound from around it, until Hater could pick out the orange of Wander's furry coat and the white of his smile. The nomad caught at the edges of his hat, seeming to use it like a parachute on the way down. He landed lightly and turned briefly to tip his hat apologetically to the dangling remains of his captors.

"Whew, thanks buddy!" He exclaimed, turning back to smile again at Hater. "That was a close one!"

"Just so you know, I didn't do that because I was worried about you, or anything lame like that," Hater hastened to protest. "I just didn't want everyone on the ship to think I'd destroyed you so they'd leave me here and I'd be stuck on this stupid planet." It wasn't a very good excuse, and Wander didn't seem to be buying it, so Hater added "When I do eventually destroy you, it'll be because I choose to, not because of some flarfing plants!" That sounded at least a little more villainous, though Wander was still smiling at him.

Hater supposed it was a lost cause. He couldn't even convince Wander they weren't friends when he was trying his hardest to destroy the little freak. Now that he didn't even believe his own threats, Wander certainly wasn't going to be fooled.

There was an ominous sounding slithering from above and around them, and both aliens took an unconscious step closer to each other.

"Sooooo," Wander started hesitantly. "Ya think we should…"

"Run!" Hater yelled. He dove out of the way just as a thorn-covered vine buried its tip in the ground where he'd been standing. Turning back in the direction they'd come from, Hater used both hands to blast a hole in the new greenery, practically throwing himself through it as more vines lashed towards him. He glanced to the side as he ran and felt his heart jump in his ribcage in shock at the empty space next to him. Wander was gone. The next second, he felt a weight on his back, saw the green hat bobbing in the periphery of his vision, and felt his face form back into a scowl, even as he continued running. He should have known.

Fortunately, the vines didn't seem able to follow them far, which made sense given that they probably had roots and junk.

Barreling into a large clearing, the grasping plants seemingly far behind for the moment, Hater paused, not before swatting Wander off of his back like a pesky fly.

This done, the skeletal overlord turned, ribs rising and falling along with the rapid beating of his heart. He clenched his hands, claws digging through the thick, yellow gloves, and finally gave vent to the full force of his feelings.

"What's with this stupid planet?!"

"Argh! What's with this stupid planet?!"

Sylvia ducked under another barrage of needles, courtesy of the spiky, pin-cushion like plants that surrounded them. She edged a little farther out from behind the rock they'd been sheltering next to, bark shield raised in case of another volley.

"I have no idea!" Peepers peeked out from behind her shoulder, blaster raised, though it didn't seem to do much against their squishy foes. "I thought that stupid flower was supposed to help the planets, not turn them into some kind of death traps!"

"So did I!"

Heaving one of the smaller boulders over her shoulder, she let it fly, gratified to see it land directly on one of the plants, squishing it flat. The next second, she flung herself on the ground as the other plants let loose a retaliatory assault.

At first, things had gone fairly well, with the exception of the fact that they could find no trace of their missing companions. Sylvia hadn't been that worried once she stopped to think about it. The forest had seemed fairly benign, and the planet really wasn't all that big, so she'd figured they were bound to find them eventually, and probably fairly soon if Hater got annoyed at Wander, and consequently, loud.

She also hadn't found herself too worried about the fact that Wander and Hater were together. It had been quite a while since she'd felt like Hater posed a legitimate threat to her buddy. The little nomad could run rings around the skeleton lord at this point, and although Sylvia was used to barreling in to save her pal when he inevitably got captured, she'd stopped being actually worried for his safety months ago.

Now, after everything Hater had done to save them all from Dominator, not to mention Wander gushing to her all about how the overlord had actually helped him to cook supper last night, she was even less concerned. The two of them would be fine on their own. It was a little annoying that she and Peepers had to search for them all across the planet, and she supposed there was always some small amount of risk whenever you were exploring in new territory, especially given the lack of common sense both Wander and Hater could sometimes display, but she still felt like things would probably be fine.

It was the forest that was bothering her.

The two of them had walked through the green twilight under the trees for what seemed like forever, Peepers slashing vines with the collapsible blade he apparently carried, Sylvia handling the bruit force side of the equation, such as knocking down a tree to make a bridge over an unexpected ravine.

The forest was silent, but the further they went, the more it felt like they were being watched, and the more uncomfortable and jumpy she got. Peepers seemed to be feeling it to, to the point that when the plants actually started attacking them, he'd jumped several feet in the air and landed on her back, quite by accident. Which had probably been lucky. He'd managed to stay on during their first panicked dash from thorny vines and thick, grasping roots.

And now, they were cornered, at least until they could manage to take out the other three opponents surrounding them.

Peepers poked his eye above the boulder, ducking down almost immediately when he came under fire. As he pulled needles out of his helmet, muttering to himself all the while, Sylvia glanced around for more ammo.

Dropping a pile of spines to the side, Peepers met her gaze, eye narrowed.

"So then, why is it doing this?"

"No idea." Sylvia shrugged, though half her attention was still on scouting for more launchable rocks. "No one's landed here since it started growing. It certainly doesn't look like it did back then." Wasn't that an understatement.

Edging herself slightly out from their cover, she snaked her tail along the ground and managed to hook another smallish boulder, which she dragged until she could pull it into her arms. She took careful aim at the next nearest plant.

She had no idea why this was happening, or what metamorphosis had taken place since the flower spores took root on Technoiva's soil, and she didn't particularly care at the moment. All she was focused on was taking the flarping things out so she could go back to looking for Wander, because now she was starting to get worried.

Thanks for reading!

The flower has its reasons. We should be exploring that a little more in the next chapter, though I'm interested if anyone has guessed why this is happening.

Hater and Wander are getting some time together to figure out their relationship a little more after everything that's changed, so I hope you're enjoying that. They should meet back up with their buddies soon.

I will hopefully get the next chapter of Fighting The Tide out in the next week or so. I am making progress. I need to take some time to watch through The Battle Royale some more and work out how I want some scenes to go.

See you next time!