Wander Over Yonder: The New Galaxy

Chapter Seven: The Guardian

Our buddies are still trying to figure this Grop darned planet out! Let's see how they do.

Feel free to let me know how you're liking the story. I love hearing from you!

Enjoy!

Wander was a just little too close.

He hadn't tried to climb onto Hater's shoulders again, but was sticking right by his side. Hater would have been annoyed at the closeness, but it was easier to keep an eye on Wander this way. Plus, he was kind of used to it after all the time the nomad spent hanging around him.

The plants were acting really weird. If they hadn't been, well, plants, Hater would almost think there was some kind of strategy to their attacks.

After escaping their initial assault, they had worked their way deeper into the forest. Hater was thoroughly lost. He had no idea which way they'd even come after he'd realized they were lost the first time. To make things worse, they couldn't seem to lose their attackers for long. It was like the plants were passing some kind of signal to each other. Once they'd been walking in a new area for a while they would be attacked again, and each time it was different; spiky plants, thin, whiplike ones, a giant pitcher plant thing he had to blast his way out of, resulting in its gross juices getting all over his cloak.

The other weird thing was that the plants felt like they were after Wander.

Normally, something being after Wander wouldn't be surprising, it would just make sense. Hater might even empathize a little. This time was weird. It wasn't so much that the plants were attacking Wander, but almost like they were trying to steal the nomad from him, which was something else entirely, and completely unacceptable. Every time his back was turned one plant or another would grab Wander and try to drag him off somewhere, and Hater was getting tired of blasting them and taking Wander back. It was almost like a dare to see how many times he could be forced to rescue the little nuisance inside of one day.

Plus, he was really started to get tired.

"Where d'ya think we should try next, buddy?"

Hater looked down at the nomad in question. He glared at the 'buddy' comment, but it seemed like too much energy to correct the furry pain again. At least Wander was taking this slightly more seriously now. Hater was surprised to see the nomad even had a survival instinct after all the times he'd happily gone along with the overlord's attempts to destroy him.

Not that any of them had worked.

He didn't like the implication that Wander was concerned about the plants, but not him. It was like saying he wasn't even as much of a threat to the nomad as the literal background greenery.

Resolutely ignoring that thought, Hater peered into the dense underbrush.

"We're going that way," he decided.

"Really?" Wander followed his gaze, looking doubtfully at the dense vines and the dark shadows in that part of the forest. "It's a li'l overgrown," he assessed.

"Yep." Hater glowered into those dark depths. "You might know peace and hugs and rainbow sprinkles, but I know how to take out an enemy. If that thing has a core or a heart or something, it's probably through there where it's most protected. We're going to find it and kill it."

Wander gasped. Hater took one step forward, and found his way barred by the orange nuisance, one furry finger wagging admonishingly.

"Hater," he scolded. "Ya can't kill the flower! It saved all the planets in the galaxy when they needed it most. An' ya can't blame it fer freakin' out a little with everythin' it's been through. It's prolly just been lashing out at us 'cause it's scared."

"Well, good!" Hater snapped. "It should be scared if it's going to mess with the Lord Hater, the Greatest In The Galaxy!" He shoved Wander aside, marching up to the thick green wall. He raised both hands, smirking as his electricity gathered around them, bathing him in its radiance. "If it's scared, it should stop fighting and let us conquer it. That's how things work."

Wander was suddenly in front of Hater again, the electricity fizzling out of his hands as the nomad grasped them in his own. He looked up at Hater earnestly.

"We don't wanna conquer it, Hatey! The technoheads just want ta make their home here again. There's gotta be a way fer us all to get along!"

Hater growled, his frustration at their whole situation making him lose his patience entirely. He yanked his hands out of Wander's, the nomad stumbling back and almost tripping when his feet got tangled in a trailing root and struck the thickening of vines.

"I don't care what those lame tourist guys want. They can live in all this crap for all I care, but this thing challenged me, and I'm going to destroy it." He ignited his hands again, letting the ominous green light play over the small nomad where he was struggling fully upright among the vines. "Now," he snarled menacingly, "get out of the…"

He didn't get to finish. Hater wasn't even quite sure afterward how it happened. A bunch of giant leaves suddenly burst up from the ground at his feet, thick and waxy and practically suffocating, heavy on his ribcage as they tried to force him down, and pressed all around him. Hater fought his way through them, zapping, ripping and tearing. He heard Wander exclaim and let out a final blast of green light that scattered the torn shreds of his assailants.

He stood panting, emerald sparks still skittering across his robe.

The wall of vines and tangled undergrowth still loomed in front of him, but there was no orange, peace-loving hippy standing in the shadows before it.

Wander was gone.

"Flarf-nabbit! This is getting ridiculous!"

Sylvia pulled at the vines that were wrapped tight around her, and getting tighter all the time. Beside her, Peepers was barely visible, just a wriggling green ball at her feet. With a mighty effort, the zbornak burst out of her bonds. There was no time to feel triumphant, however, as more vines were already snaking over the ground towards her.

There seemed to be no end to the things, and she was already slowing, overworked muscles begging for a rest.

Bending down, she started in on the watchdog's wrappings, working as fast as she could. They were wrapped around and around him from head to foot and layered on top of each other. She gave up on that strategy after a few moments. There were too many to tear one by one. Instead, she seized the whole bundle so she could pull at the roots of the vines.

There wasn't enough time. She could already feel more vines beginning to wind their way around her legs again and felt the first twinges of real panic.

Then there was a boom from behind her, a shuddering in the greenery around them, and a blinding flash of electric green light, and Sylvia could smell burning plants.

The remains of the vines that were entrapping her fell limply to the ground and she was able to finally tear Peepers out of his cocoon, the watchdog gasping for air once he was freed.

She looked up at the skeleton lord. Hater was breathing heavily, one eye twitching above an incensed scowl. His cloak was ripped and stained, and he looked like he'd bathed in all of that, it was still a relief to see him, up until Sylvia noticed something else.

He was alone.

Where's Wander?

She wasn't sure if she said the words out loud or if they just resonated inside her. Hater didn't seem to hear her, in either case. She stood, dropping Peepers to the ground as she did so, speaking more loudly.

"Where's Wander?" Now Hater looked over at her, and his face was hard to read. She kept going, voice getting louder, if not quite frightened yet. "He was with you, wasn't he?"

The skeleton glared, eyes sliding away from her to where his commander was still breathing heavily on the ground.

"Get up, Peepers!" he snapped. "This thing tried to make a fool out of me, and I'm going to fry it at the core!" He turned away towards the thick wall of vines and other plants, but Sylvia was in front of him before he could take a step.

"Maybe you didn't hear me, so I'll ask again." Her voice was calm but deadly serious. "What happened to Wander?"

Now, Hater met her gaze. There was a strange emotion on his face, one she didn't think she'd seen before, but it was gone in the next instant as his eye-ridges lowered, mouth twisting in anger. "Those flarf-narbling plants grabbed him, and I'm going to roast them and get him back. Nothing and no one is going to hurt my most hated enemy but me!"

Sylvia let him stomp past her to continue fighting his way through the undergrowth, before she narrowed her eyes and stepped up beside him. It seemed like she'd have some company tearing the plants to pieces, and she decided she was fine with that.

A month or two ago, she would probably have taken what Hater had said at face value. She would still probably have ended up working with him in a case like this, but she would have chalked his cooperation up to jealousy that someone else had managed to hurt Wander when he couldn't, just like when he'd gotten Wander out of Dominator's lava way back the first time she'd shown up.

There was something more there this time, whether Hater knew it or not, and it gave her a little more confidence as they pushed further toward the center of the forest, Peepers following behind in the trail they were clearing.

If this was how Hater had to rationalize it, that was fine, for the moment. Either way, the jungle was going to regret taking her buddy before they were done with it.

Hater was not about to let this stand.

It was the principal of the thing, he decided. It was because this whole stupid forest thought it could get the better of him; attack him, fire things at him, try to swallow him.

It wasn't because he was worried about Wander, or anything lame like that. He wasn't worried at all; he was angry. He was going to find Wander and teach this place a lesson. And once he found him, he was going to tell the nomad exactly what he thought of his peace and love garbage. Just look where it had gotten him!

In the mean time, he was having a little trouble meeting the zbornak's eye, and he wasn't even sure why. It certainly wasn't his fault Wander had been taken. He'd spent what felt like all day fending off their attackers and a considerable amount of that time specifically freeing Wander when he was grabbed by some plant or other. Even at the end, if Wander had just stood aside and let him toast the dumb trees, they wouldn't have been able to grab him.

Wander would probably be fine when they found him. That seemed to be what he was best at, after all. You could try to kill him in any number of creative and violent ways, and he would still somehow end up fine, while your ship, and sometimes your face, ended up toasted, scratched and smashed instead.

He supposed he was feeling a little unsettled, way way down in the marrow of his bones. It wasn't like Wander's apparent indestructability would have protected him from, say, being inside a massive starship when it started exploding from the inside out, and that recent event still seemed to be somewhere in the back of his mind, poking at him the longer Wander was gone.

If Hater had felt the need to save him from Dominator's exploding vessel, were there other things he might be in danger from as well? What if Wander wasn't actually as untouchable as he appeared? In which case, he could be in actual danger, and they needed to find him without any stupid delays. It was also probably some kind of dumb irony that he was figuring this out now, when he no longer wanted Wander to die.

But it wasn't like he could say any of that to Sylvia, and he certainly wasn't going to admit to the sheer amount of nomad saving he'd done today.

He wasn't willing to waste time on any useless explanations of what had happened, or on trying to convince the zbornak if she had any doubts about him.

That was okay though, because he wasn't interested in talking about any of it. He was going to find whatever heart was controlling this thing and vaporize it until not an atom was left, and he was getting Wander back. He'd been telling the truth in any case; Wander was his enemy, and no stupid plants were going to take what was his.

Even if he no longer wanted to hurt that enemy, and might be willing to put up with him sometimes, he didn't really have any other way to classify Wander. And sure, they might be getting along somewhat right now, but that would change as soon as he started trying to conquer planets again. Or at least, Hater would have to change. Wander would probably keep being friendly with him like the weirdo he was.

Hater brushed that thought away. He didn't have time to focus on it right now.

Peepers followed behind them as they headed further into the depths of the jungle. The watchdog seemed to have wisely decided to keep whatever opinions he had to himself, for which Hater was very distantly grateful. Beside him, Sylvia was silent too. She seemed satisfied by his very brief explanation, more than he would have expected. She wasn't even shooting him any suspicious glances.

Well, good, he supposed. Right now, all they had to worry about was getting to center, destroying this thing and finding Wander. He could figure out everything else afterward.

Hater wasn't sure when it started happening.

It felt like he'd been frying these things forever. He was exhausted, bones aching and finger bones tingling slightly from an overuse of electricity. Only rage and single-minded purpose kept him going, when he finally noticed the forest beginning to thin.

At first, it was very gradual. He found he had to lift his hands to zap the offending vegetation less often, and the three of them were able to walk forward for minutes at a time without having to force their way through the underbrush.

Then, the plants that had been harassing them for what felt like hours seemed to be were no more ambushes, sudden volleys of needles or poison sprays, and it seemed like they were being given more space between them as they continued, the plants drawing back away from them slightly.

Normally, Hater would have taken this as a sign of weakness, and increased his attacking accordingly, just to ensure his foe knew when it was beaten, but he was so tired by this time it was probably a better idea to conserve his energy for when the other shoe dropped, as he suspected it might.

Then, suddenly, there was a path in front of them again. It was almost as though the surrounding greenery had moved out of the way when they weren't looking.

Hater shared a glance with Sylvia and Peepers, seeing his suspicion at the change reflected in their eyes, but there didn't seem to be anything they could do but keep going. This was almost certainly the way Wander had been taken, after all, and Hater still wanted payback for his absolutely miserable day, as well as to get the nomad back from the stupid plants that thought they could steal his most hated enemy from him.

He paused.

Before them in the foliage, an archway loomed. It almost looked constructed by hand; festooned with vines and multicoloured flowers, and looking far too inviting for Hater's tastes. Unconsciously, electricity gathered beneath the bone of his phalanges, poised to be released.

He heard Sylvia scoff beside him and felt a strange sense of commiseration with her.

Stalking forward, ready to strike, Hater stuck his head through the archway, blinking in the sudden sunlight.

Before him lay a peaceful meadow, lush and green, with long grasses waving in the gentle breeze, and flowers unfolding like tiny, colourful stars. As soon as he stepped on the grass, there was a motion at his feet, as dozens of metallic butterflies fluttered up around him.

Hater almost released the pent-up electricity he'd been preparing at the sudden movement, but his gaze had trailed past the insects to further in the field. There, sitting on a tree trunk and strumming his banjo, apparently for a crowd of mechanical animals, was…

"Wander?!"

At Hater's accusing yell, he had come all this way to save the little pest, after all, even if he still wasn't willing to think too much about why, Wander started up from his seat, slipping his banjo into his hat in one motion, his grin widening to nearly blinding levels.

"Buddies!"

"Wander!"

Hater glared at the zbornak's much happier yell, as she ran past him and threw her arms around the little nomad. This seemed a little too convenient, and he glanced over at Peepers to find the watchdog glaring at the display as well, fingering his blaster and shooting glances around at the sunlit meadow.

Hater's momentary redirection of his attention meant he'd taken his eyes off of Wander, which, of course, meant the annoyance chose that moment to launch himself at the skeleton lord and wrap his spindly orange limbs around him in a hug.

"Hiya, Hater!" he greeted.

Hater yelled, nearly bowled over when Wander connected, and the lightning he'd been readying was released, cutting through the air and singing some of the grass, fairly harmlessly given what could have happened.

The overlord glared at the fuzzball in his arms. He grabbed Wander with one hand, pulling the nuisance off of him and holding him at arm's length. He was boiling mad. Tricked, he felt, finding Wander like this. Naturally, the pest hadn't been in danger. He'd just been sitting here, playing his dumb banjo and smiling his dumb smile while they toiled and fought through the underbrush looking for him.

Much like the lightning that had built up inside him, Hater's anger had to go somewhere, and there was a very convenient target right in front of him.

"How dare you!" he roared, the wind from his yell blowing back Wander's fur and echoing through the clearing. "Has this whole thing been a stupid game? You were never even in danger, were you?" His demand hung in the air between them for a moment as Hater practically shook with rage. Distantly, he was aware of the metallic animals scattering, and some movements in the meadow around them, but he had no attention for any of that.

Suddenly his hand was empty, Wander's gangly arms wrapped around his neck once more.

"I'm sorry, Hater." Wander's voice was quiet, especially after that loud outburst, and the sincerity in it took Hater aback, deflating much of the indignant anger he'd been feeling. "I didn't mean fer any a' this ta happen, I promise! I'm sorry I made ya worry. Thanks fer comin' after me."

"Wha – I wasn't worried about you!" Hater smacked at Wander hurriedly, knocking him to the ground. "I was angry because that thing tried to get the better of me!"

Wander was still smiling up at him, and Hater felt a strange tightness in his chest at that smile, as though his ribs were constricting. His glare darkened to cover it up. He opened his mouth to continue his tirade, but Wander bounced to his feet, leaning close to him.

"I know there's a lot goin' on," he murmured apologetically, "an' I promise I'll explain, but fer the moment, ya may wanna try calming down a might, Hater."

"Calming down?" Hater growled. "What do you…" he paused.

His focus had been solely on Wander, but he was suddenly aware of a menacing presence all around him, and a shadow seemed to be hanging over his head. Slowly his eyes traveled from the nomad's gently smiling face around in a circle. Thick, spiky vines were hovering around and above him, poised to strike and quivering slightly as the sharp thorns glittered in the sunlight. Hater's jaw hung open slightly as he took in the sight.

He wasn't sure whether to start blasting or running, when he felt Wander take one of his hands in his own. His eyes shot back to the nomad to find his smile had softened slightly as he gave Hater a meaningful little not. He took a step, Hater finding himself following as he was led out from under the shadow of the plants. Their tips turned as though keeping an eye on him, but they didn't follow.

"There we go!" Wander said cheerfully once they were clear. "Poor thing's still a li'l sensitive. Ya can't blame it after everythin' it's been through."

Hater frowned, snatching his hand back, though, aware of the vines still waiting a few feet away, he was mindful to keep his voice down.

"Alright, then tell me exactly what is going on here," he demanded.

"Well, sure!" Wander strolled a little farther back into the center of the meadow, where Sylvia and Peepers were waiting. They seemed to have been watching his and Wander's exchange with wide eyes and Hater felt his cheekbones heating in embarrassment.

He watched Wander give Sylvia a one-armed hug, and then settle back onto the tree trunk he'd been sitting on before. He patted the space beside him in clear invitation, and Sylvia sat down. Peepers shifted his feet awkwardly, but remained standing. Hater stomped forward to join him. A glance back the way he'd come, showed the threatening vines slowly sinking back into the ground. He crossed his arms angrily, glaring at Wander to communicate his complete dislike of this whole situation.

"Alright, buddy, don't keep us waiting. What happened to you?" Sylvia seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, but Hater could tell she was also a little impatient to hear the explanation, though he himself wasn't sure how coherent that explanation would be, given it was coming from Wander.

"Right, sorry, Syl." Wander smiled at the zbornak, before turning to focus on all of them. "Well, like Hatey prob'ly told you, the plants were real insistent I come with 'em, an it was a tad worryin' tell ya the truth. Reminded me a little of an old friend of ours, actually." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck, Sylvia making a rueful face. Hater tapped his fingers on his arm, not getting the reference and not particularly caring.

"They carried me to this field, an' all these little critters were hidin' out here." He gestured, and Hater noticed that the metallic animals he'd seen gathered around Wander when he first arrived were now moving closer again. There were thousands of them, from tiny clockwork insects, gears whirring inside them, to a big, silvery elephant thing with ears like two flatscreen TVs.

"They were all pretty scared, shakin' and hidin' and runnin' this way an' that," Wander continued, an' the plants were bein' pretty high-strung. There were spikes all around the edge o' the clearin', an no one could get out. Every so often a vine would arrive an' drop another animal or two off, but that was it. I figured since everyone was so anxious, they might like some music ta calm 'em down, an' it did seem ta help." He winked at some of the animals, who still seemed to be holding back from getting too close. Hater figured his glaring around at them was responsible for that, but didn't bother to stop.

"Then, when things'd calmed down a little, I thought I'd try an' see if m' little flower friend was around. I thought it might be feelin' nervous an' that's why it was given' you all a hard time. And here it is!"

Bending down to a clump of leaves near his feet, Wander tenderly moved them aside to reveal a small, yellow flower.

Hater blinked at it. He hadn't seen the flower Wander had saved, but after seeing what it had done to this planet, he supposed he'd been expecting something bigger or tougher looking. He was half inclined to blast it, since that's what he'd been planning to do, but looking at Wander's adoring face as he beamed down at the thing, he found himself merely huffing and looking away out over the peaceful meadow. It wasn't like it was even worth destroying now, after Wander had already diffused the situation like he so often did.

"Not sure how much it understands." Wander touched one petal affectionately. He sounded almost proud of the thing. "But I did tell it about all of us, an' that we didn't wanna hurt it, just that we were scared too, and that we just landed ta make sure the planet was safe fer our friends ta come back to."

Hater scoffed quietly at this declaration. He, at any rate, had definitely wanted to hurt it, and he still kind of did, even though Wander had taken some of the wind out of his sails in that regard. Also, he hadn't been scared.

"I guess it must've worked a little." Hater felt Wander's eyes on him again, and turned back to find that sunny smile aimed right at him, brighter than the yellow flower at his feet. "Seems like it let ya in, after all."

It seemed like it had. Hater really shouldn't be surprised at this point. Wander had managed to fix everything again. His glare faltered a little when faced with Wander's warm smile. It was so strange. When had that smile stopped filling him with rage? When had it become hard to stay angry at the pest, even when he had every right to be.

"That's all well and good, pal," Sylvia was chiming in. "I'm glad you managed to work things out and get the plants to back off and stuff, but what about the technoheads? Will they be able to stay here with the whole place ready to go ballistic?"

"That's the best part!" Wander turned to smile excitedly at Sylvia and Hater felt slightly relieved when the nomad's attention moved off of him. "The flower's just protectin' the planet an' all its inhabitants. It just needs to know they wanna live here peacefully, and it'll protect them next time they're in trouble."

Hater started slightly, exchanging a glance with Peepers. That probably would make this place difficult to conquer.

"It'll probably be a little more complicated than that," Sylvia offered. She seemed to already be thinking about logistics in her head, as she glanced at the flower thoughtfully. "But, good enough for now!" She stood, dusting herself off. "If the flower's okay with it, I'd kind of like to head back to the ship. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a cold drink and something to eat."

"You know, I wouldn't mind a bite m'self!" Wander hopped onto Sylvia's back, waving excitedly to the flower and the assembled animals.

As they headed toward the archway once more, Hater put on a little speed until he was walking level with the zbornak. Peepers walked tiredly at his side, and Hater remembered belatedly that the watchdog had wanted them to find a private place to scheme during the scouting today. He doubted even Peepers had the energy for that now.

They passed through the archway without incident, and on down the wide path through the forest that definitely hadn't been there on their way in. It seemed like Wander had been right once again, and the flower wasn't going to cause trouble for them any more, unless Hater started zapping things again, he guessed.

He wasn't sure how he was feeling. He'd gotten all geared up when he thought Wander was in danger. The nomad had been fine, but that wasn't necessarily always going to be the case. Wander was capable of being hurt, and worried, and sad. He knew that now. How was he going to react the next time the little nuisance got in trouble?

He glanced over at Sylvia, remembering storming through the forest beside her. She hadn't hesitated to believe him when he said Wander had been grabbed by the vines. He could have been lying. He could have killed the nomad and pretended the plants had done it, but she hadn't been at all worried about that.

Wander had always trusted him, even when he definitely shouldn't have, but now Sylvia was trusting him too, as well as the majority of people in the galaxy from what he'd seen, and he didn't know how to feel about that.

And he didn't know how he felt about Wander either, now that the hatred was gone.

He needed a bath, something to eat, and a bed, he decided. And he needed not to think about weird, trusting nomads for the rest of the day.

Though he didn't hold out a lot of hope on that last one.

Thanks for reading!

This one ended up pretty long. I really wanted to get to the explanation for how our flower's been acting. It essentially became the guardian of all the animals that survived Dominator's drill, and of the planet. Once our buddies arrived and three quarters of them started being aggressive, loud and destructive, it started fighting back and rescuing any animals it could find but shunting them to the forest's center. Hater being aggressive to Wander caused it to think he was in danger and it 'rescued' him as well. This was its response to growing on this planet, of course, and I have some ideas for what other planets might look like in later adventures. I hope you enjoyed this one!

Next chapter, we should wrap up on technoiva and head out to see some more of the galaxy.

I'll try to update next weekend, but it's going to be a busy time, so we will see. I will still be working on my stories when I have the time.

See you then!