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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 17:55:46 GMT -5
I've had this up on FF.net since last Halloween, but I thought it'd be a good idea to post it here too for others to see. ^_^ It'll probably appeal to older, more mature fans moreso than the younger ones since there's quite a bit of character insight. And it's only two chapters (kinda long chapters), but I hope you like it! I edited it a little bit to cut out a couple words that Buzz probably wouldn't want up here, so now it's pretty much rated G in the language department. ^_^
Title: Wirewolf
Rating: G
Genre: Just like the episode with some drama and a little Ty-ish humor mixed in here and there. ^_^ Oh yeah, and extra scenes!
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Chapter One - Trouble Brewing
Fog still hung in the air as Sentry 1 and I traversed the landscape of Canis Lunis. What were we doing there? Well, I was beginning to wonder the same thing. But, according to Star Command, we were looking for something - anything - that would threaten the new power plant standing only miles from us. Now, don't ask me exactly WHAT we were looking for, because nothing happens on that planet. Heck, there was hardly anything living on that barren chunk of rock aside from me and the power plant employees.
But there we were, patrolling as if it was just crawling with evil - which, may I add, it most certainly wasn't (unless you consider dirt, trees, and rocks "evil"). So, yeah, things were pretty dull - which was normal whenever I was sent somewhere on my own. I mean, I had been there for about a week and a half, doing this same routine day-in and day-out. You'd think that they'd assign a rookie to do this kind of thing. It was a tough job, but somehow Star Command figured I'd be just the one to do it. Why they picked me out of the half-dozen new recruits, I'll never know. All I knew was that this was my new assignment and I was just supposed to do it - no matter how monotonous and boring I thought it was.
"Nothing on sensors, Ranger Parsec," Sentry 1 announced.
I rolled my eyes heavenward with a sigh. "Nothing ever is," I replied, my voice sounding about as thrilled as I felt. I jerked a thumb to my left. "What do you say we go find nothing in sector four?"
Without another word, we crossed the invisible line into sector four. I could hear the faint whirring of Sentry 1's ventalation system but, other than that, there seemed to be nothing else around. Perhaps, I thought, Sentry 1 would sense something I didn't. . .
"Sector Four looks clear too, sir."
Or maybe not.
"Really? That's a surprise," I said sarcastically, turning to him. "Another assignment on a backwater rock." I groaned. "I'm starving for some action. . ."
Hey, anyone would be, if they were in my shoes. Besides, I wasn't really the kind of person who likes to stay in monotony for long, if you know what I mean. So, we moved on to finish up our rounds. By the time we had reached sector twenty-five (which is close to the power plant, for those of you wondering what in the universe I'm talking about), I was about ready to give up and go to bed. Lack of sleep kinda makes you grouchy. Don't think so? Try it for a few days and you'll see what I mean.
"C'mon, Sentry 1," I said finally. "Turn off the sensors; you're wasting energy."
I was referring to the two orb-like machines hovering in the air ahead of us, lighting the way as we followed. Like I said, I had basically given up on the idea that something might be out there. So, I figured, what was the use of keeping the sensors on if there was nothing to find? Before I could say anything else to the robot, I heard a strange crash behind me and spun around - only to find that he wasn't there anymore.
My eyes quickly scanned across the landscape. "Where are you?" I asked hurriedly.
ZOTTZZZ!
The strange electrical zapping attracted my attention to a nearby bush, as though in reply to my question, reddish sparks flew out of behind the plant. I slowly went over to investigate, remaining cautiously on alert - as any Ranger should be in just such a situation. I parted the leaves to see Sentry 1 being drained of his energy by a very hungry robotic vampire. Talk about weird and unusual sights; I've never seen anything like that in my life.
"Losing. . .power. . ." Sentry 1 said, his voice slowing down like an old tape recorder.
Of course, I was utterly shocked to see this happening right before my eyes. . ."Sweet mother of Venus!" I exclaimed, sort of at a loss of words.
HISS!
The energy vampire turned to look at me and rose up out of the bush. Cool, calm, and collected as I was, I jumped back and ever-so-conveniently hit my heel on a rock. That threw me back onto the ground, just as the displeased energy vampire began to make a move towards me. Okay, now the real panic began to set in.
I mean, I wanted excitement, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Being attacked by a robotic vampire was definately NOT covered in the Ranger Manual (like you didn't already know that, ranger or not).
I didn't have time to get up, so I turned around and - yes - began scrambling away as fast as I could. I could hear the vampire closing in, so I gave up the retreat and turned to face it. My mind raced for a plan. Then I remembered my laser. How absent-minded of me. I should have used that earlier. I pressed a few buttons to program my wrist laser to maximum power and blasted the robotic creature out of the sky. Or, to be more literal, sent him back to wherever he came from.
Once I was sure that thing was gone, it took me a minute or two to recover from my little ordeal or - at the very least - calm my thumping heart and quickly made my way over to Sentry 1.
"Sentry 1, are you alright?" I asked, fearing the answer wouldn't come.
"Well," he replied weakly. "You got your action, sir."
By the looks of things, I began to seriously doubt that the poor guy would make it. I stood and flipped open my wrist communicator. "Ranger Ty Parsec, reporting to Star Command," I announced. "We have a situation on planet, uh, Canis Lunis. . ." A confident grin came over my face. "Nothing I can't handle."
Then Sentry 1 grabbed my arm and I stared at him like he had gone loony. "It's an energy vampire - send backup!"
I jerked my arm away from him. "No, no, no. Scratch that. I can handle this," I added. Then the energy vampire swooped overhead, diverting my attention for the moment. "I'm. . .pretty sure I can handle this."
Closing my communicator, I watched the energy vampire as he continued to loom overhead. I suppose he wanted to finish off his meal or something. My eyes drifted back to Sentry 1, who now lay nearly lifeless on the ground beside me. Something inside of me wanted to annihilate that evil, robotic vampire - for one thing, it would definately boost my sinking reputation at Star Command - but I surpressed the urge and forced myself to think logically. Quickly assessing the situation, I finally decided that the best thing to do was drag Sentry 1 back to the plant and see what I could do to fix him, before he went offline completely.
He may have been a robot, but he was also my partner; it was the least I could do.
So, I leaned down and hefted the large robo-sentry into my arms, carrying him towards the power plant. Once I got inside, I set him on a table and attempted to gauge the damages. Unfortunately, there was only so much I could do and fixing this guy wasn't an option. He was completely offline and - not to mention - seriously screwed-up. In other words, beyond the point of no return. So, I draped a cloth over him and left to notify Sentry 2 that I'd need him to take over #1's place.
BEEP! BEEP!
That would be my wrist communicator.
I flipped it open and Commander Nebula's face appeared on the screen. "We got your report, Parsec," he said, sounding like a drill sergant. "I've already sent a team to assist you. They should be arriving at 2200 hours your time, so don't do anything until they arrive. Do I make myself clear, son?"
I sighed. "Yes, sir."
"Good," he replied. "Nebula out."
Then, as abruptly as he had called, the screen went blank again and he was gone. I marched down the hallway, hoping to grab Sentry 2 before I went out to meet my backup squad. After a few minutes of going on what seemed like a wild goose chase, I finally found him.
"Hey, Sentry 2, we have a little energy vampire problem," I said, getting right to the point. "The jerk nailed Sentry 1 and now I need a replacement." I quirked an eyebrow. "You up for it?"
The robo-sentry switched off his flashlight and nodded. "That's what I was built for, sir."
"All right then, you're with me," I replied, motioning for him to follow as I turned to leave.
I was sort of expecting him to ask me why, but he didn't. Perhaps he got the notification too. Whatever the reason, I was glad I didn't need to fill him in on the whole thing. The fact that Star Command was so quick to send backup, I'll admit, really ticked me off. I didn't even get the chance to track that energy vampire down and take care of him myself. I was more than ready to do it too - that is, until Nebula called me up and cancelled my plans. . .
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:00:02 GMT -5
And my one opportunity to prove myself.
I mean, I was hoping that just ONCE I wouldn't hear something like, "So, how was the mission? Did you need big, brave Buzz Lightyear to save you again?" whenever I ran into my fellow rangers. It was so irritating that it took all of my will power just to stop from socking one of them. In fact, taunting and jeering was becoming a typical thing for me to hear nowadays. Especially now that I've been getting patrol duty - something that first-year rookies usually got, instead.
Sentry 2 and I strolled out into the green moonlight and stopped just short of the large, spacecraft landing pad. I leaned my back against the nearest wall and folded my arms as I waited for the star cruiser to arrive.
"Star Command didn't need to send backup," I thought aloud with disgust. "I'm on top of this situation."
The star cruiser finally came into view and slowly landed on the landing pad. It kicked up a good cloud of smoke and dust as it touched down and I walked over to greet them, whether I liked it or not. But I decided to lighten up my situation a little bit. . .
"Oh well, just as long as they didn't send. . ."
The smoke cleared and none other than the famous Buzz Lightyear stepped out of the doorway. He had a grin two parsecs wide, his arms outstretched. "Ty! Buddy!"
". . .HIM," I finished, my eyes widening in disbelief as I watched him approach. Why, oh why did they have to send him? Maybe what the other rangers say is right: I am cursed. I then proceeded to hit my forehead against my helmet several times in frustration.
"Aw, where's a wormhole when you need one??" I groaned.
"This is like a rescue reunion!" Buzz enthused, patting me on the back as his friends unloaded from Star Cruiser 42.
Need he remind me?
"Yeah," I replied, making - at least - a small attempt to be agreeable. "What is it. . .our fiftieth?"
"Oh, it couldn't be more than 30 times, tops," Buzz replied.
Then Buzz's big Jo-Adian partner, Booster, spoke up. "No, Buzz, he's right," he cut in. "It is your fiftieth."
"Uh huh," I said dryly, turning to usher them into the power plant.
Now, don't ask me how the big guy knew that, but I began to question how classified my personal ranger files really were. Hopefully, he heard it from one of the other rangers back at headquarters, instead. After all, me and Buzz are legends; me for being the constant victim and Buzz for being the courageous hero. Never the other way around. That's just the way it was and I hadn't really been able to improve my reputation since.
I led "Team Lightyear" through the doors to the sign-in station. I placed my hand on the scanner. "Ranger Ty Parsec. Pass," the robotic voice confirmed, after scanning my handprint.
I stepped aside and motioned with a hand to the panel. "Now, if you will each do the same. . ." I instructed, getting the message across as politely as I could. "Procedure, you know."
Booster chuckled. "As if you didn't know THE Buzz Lightyear," he replied.
That was the last straw.
"Hey! At my post, we go by the book!" I shot back. "Nobody's special." I motioned quotations with my fingers as I expressed the final word.
The last thing I wanted to hear right now was how special my old academy buddy was compared to me. That was my interpretation of it, anyway. It may have been a small thing, but I guess the procedure was my own attempt at feeling a bit more equal with my universally-loved comerade, Buzz Lightyear. After all, he went on to become a captain, while I was finally reduced to what I had now; weeks of patrol duty on some God-forsaken chunk of space rock. In short, yeah, I was jealous - big time.
"Ty's right, Booster," Buzz said, waltzing over to the panel. "You can never be too thorough."
He placed his hand on the scanner and the voice came to life again. "Ranger Buzz Lightyear, holder of the galactic sunburst, the holder of the galactic suns, the cosmic puls. . aar. . ." Before it could even finish half of the list, the robotic voice trailed off and finally died out.
What a relief.
Buzz furrowed his brow (wondering what had happened, no doubt) and Team Lightyear looked over at me. Yup. You guessed it. I had heard more than enough out of this machine and quickly changed my mind about going through procedure, pulling the plug out of the wall. I held it out, a scowl plastered on my face. I tried to think of a good excuse for the interruption and ended up with something like this. . .
"Alright, we're wasting valuable time here."
And, with that, I turned around and tossed the plug on the floor behind me. Team Lightyear walked silently behind me as I led them into the large command center of the power plant. The doors parted in front of me as I led them inside. Large light-bulb-like transistors stood all around and Star Command workers were busy monitoring how things were going, making sure everything was working as it should. Finally, one of my new teammates spoke up.
"So, Ranger Parsec, what'cha cooking here?" Booster asked me as I showed them past a few glowing, green transistors.
I was glad to know someone was interested in my work. "Well," I began, my voice changing to a more welcoming tone than before as I pointed to a computer monitor nearby. "We collect energy from the planet's green moon and convert it into pure energy." I smiled and looked at my team. "Name? Operation Moonbeam."
"Doing business as the NOS-4-A2 buffet," I heard XR grumble.
Not that I blamed him for being grumpy. If I was a robot, I wouldn't want to be on this planet either. So, I just ignored his grumblings and moved on to one of the humongous transistors, which towered well over my head. I motioned towards it and continued my mini-breakdown of "Operation Moonbeam".
"This energy has the potential to be bigger than crystallic fusion!" I shot them a grin. "That's right."
"Of course it does," XR grumbled again.
Buzz approached me and grinned. "Let's get down to business," he said. "Where did the energy vampire attack?"
I jerked a thumb to my left. "The body's over here."
XR, probably eager to stay as far away from this "dead" robot as possible, quickly wheeled over to the wall. "And I'LL just be over here," he said. "Counting the rivets in the wall. . .One, two, three. . .Oops, lost count! One, two. . ."
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:08:06 GMT -5
Buzz and his Tangean co-pilot, Mira, walked over to investigate Sentry 1. But I remained standing near XR as he continued to count and, well, lose count of the rivets in the wall. And to think there was only six there. I shook my head and walked over to him, setting a hand on his helmet.
"You know, you don't need to make an excuse not to go over there," I said.
XR turned and looked up at me. "Well, hmm, let me think about it," he said, waiting no more than a second to reply. "Works for me."
He wheeled around, spotting Booster (who, by the way, was talking with a worker nearby) and went over there. I simply stood there, waiting for Mira and Buzz to finish up. I heard Mira laughing about some corny joke she made and I rolled my eyes at the absurdity of it. The two sentry robots beside me exchanged odd looks as Buzz made his way over to me again.
"Uh, thank you Mira," he said over his shoulder, turning his attention to me. "We'll form a search party and find this energy vampire." He shot a grin my way and, at that moment, I knew what was coming. "And, like I said in the academy, Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" He pointed a finger in the air as he said that and chuckled.
I just gave him a really big, long groan. The idea of having Buzz as my backup getting less and less exciting. "You know," I said, the lackluster sarcasm just dripping from my voice. "No matter how many times I hear that, it just seems so fresh. . ."
Turning to leave (before I said anything else I'd regret later), I sighed and assumed that Team Lightyear would follow me out. Buzz - being the oblivious-to-sarcasm person he was - immediately followed me outside, unscathed by my aforementioned remarks. I guess it was a good thing he didn't pick out the sarcasm from my voice. After all, he WAS the superior officer around here now and the Ranger Manual said it wasn't considered 'acceptable' for rangers to talk back to their captains.
Maybe I should just consider myself lucky. . .
Fat chance.
At the time, I was too angry to make that an option. Unfortunately for me, I should have, because things were about to get much, MUCH worse.
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"Tell me about the time Buzz saved you from the chest-bursting vipers of Mothroth!" Booster said behind me as we walked across the landscape of Canis Lunis.
Yup, the curse strikes again. Buzz had assigned me to be with Booster Munchapper - the chatty Jo-Adian who absolutely idolizes Buzz. That was the only problem with this guy. I mean, I like Buzz and his new friends - don't get me wrong here - but I have limits. I was just tired of hearing about these mistakes that I've made over and over and over again. Excuse the bit of melodrama, but it's degrading, which can make anyone really irritable. And I'm the kind of guy who's prone to bottling up my emotions until they finally boil over; I'll tell ya, things were getting awfully close to the boiling point.
"He's so modest. I bet he left out all of the real choice heroic stuff!"
I sighed, glancing over my shoulder at Booster. "All right. Hiss. Blam. Buzz Lightyear to the rescue. The End."
Booster's small ears fell back against his head and the enthusiastic smile melted from his face. "Buzz tells it better," he whined, clearly disappointed in my attempt at storytelling.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, I'd love to elaborate, but -"
ZAP! CRASH!
"Oh, would you look at that?" I said, after successfully disabling my wrist communicator with the aid of a tree. "My communicator's busted."
I then continued on, not really caring if Booster decided to keep following me or not. I just wanted to get this week of patrol duty over with, so I wouldn't have to face more stories, more 'Buzz-Lightyear-to-the-rescues', more failures. But - you gotta hand it to the guy - Booster assumed I was joking around and caught up with me again.
"Aw, come on," Booster said enthusiastically. "All ranger suits have a backup - you can't fool me!"
We walked across the rest of the spooky, 'haunted-backyard-in-Transylvania' landscape in silence and I looked through the sparse forest of crooked trees, almost as if expecting to see something. But unfortunately the energy vampire had gone into hiding again. At least, that's what I thought. I hoped to find him before Buzz did. If I was successful in capturing it, maybe there would be some hope that I wouldn't be mocked once we returned to Star Command.
Suddenly, Booster's communicator crackled to life and I stopped in my tracks to listen. Don't tell me they found him already, I thought to myself as I awaited the transmission.
"Uh, I've spotted him!" Buzz announced, his voice wavering a bit as if something had spooked him.
"We read you loud and clear!" Booster replied. "Well, almost."
The transmission crackled a bit and I could hear some crunching of dirt from the other end. I grabbed Booster's arm. "Buzz, where are you?" I asked quickly.
No reply - just that annoying fizzle.
"Buzz?" I repeated. "Buzz, come in!"
When I got the same response, I closed Booster's communicator and sighed. Buzz was missing one important detail: telling us what sector he was in. "Well, we'd better get over there and help him," I said to Booster, walking towards where we saw Buzz last. "Does he always cut you off in the middle of a status report like that?"
But the big guy didn't seem to be listening to me. He hurried up alongside me, looking around warily. "Did you hear that?" he asked in a hushed tone.
I gave him a sideways glance. "It's probably just the wind."
"It sounded like XR to me," he replied.
"XR?" I asked, shooting a gaze at the sky a couple of sectors away. Buzz was hovering in the air over there. He seemed to be watching something - probably his robot sidekick. "Well, there's Buzz. Let's get a move on; he might need our help."
Booster chuckled. "Buzz? Need help?" he asked. "Buzz is the best ranger on the force! I bet he can take on that energy vampire himself!" He punched a fist into the air as if throwing a right hook at the robotic vampire.
I rolled my eyes. "And I'm sure he can," I said dryly, trying to coax him into following my lead. "But we're a TEAM. Which means we all should be there just in case, right?"
"That's true," Booster agreed.
"Then let's go," I replied, heading off into the dark forest.
We quickly closed the gap between us and where Buzz was floating. That's when I clearly heard XR's screams.
"He's heading for XR!" Buzz yelled.
I finally spotted the clearing right beside the power plant building and, sure enough, there was XR - cornered against the metal wall by the energy vampire, NOS-4-A2. He was screaming and basically making up every excuse in the book to buy him more time, even as NOS-4-A2 closed in.
"Not on my post," I grumbled in reply. "I'LL do the rescuing this time."
With that, I left Booster behind and ran to assist my robot teammate.
"We should do lunch sometime," I could hear XR saying. That just made the energy vampire move in closer. "Oh ho ho! Did I say lunch? No lunch. Not that you need to go on a diet, I mean, you look great. . ."
NOS-4-A2 came in closer. . .and closer. . .
XR trembled, pressing himself against the wall even more. Then, only inches from eating his next meal, I tackled NOS-4-A2 - much to his shock and dismay. I threw him to the ground and a small cloud of dust rose up around us. The energy vampire struggled in my grip and growled angrilly. We rolled on the ground for a few minutes, wrestling with each other, until finally the guy got fed up with me and decided to play dirty.
Yup, that's right. NOS-4-A2 sunk his teeth into my space suit and began sucking the power out of it. Now, you must understand one thing: on Canis Lunis, that's a very bad thing, because the air is highly-toxic and my suit is the one thing keeping me alive. So, no power to the suit means - you guessed it - no oxygen.
I lay on the ground, pinned down by the villian and, unfortunately, very helpless. "Losing. . .power. . ." I gasped, my voice strained. "Can't. . .breathe. . ."
Just when I was about to pass out completely, I felt the power kicking in again in my space suit and NOS-4-A2 let go of me. I fell to the ground with a grunt and looked up to see Buzz directing the power plant's energy-collecting satellite dish towards the energy vampire. It was now sucking the power out of NOS-4-A2 and no doubt would kill him off, if he stayed in place long enough. Too bad NOS-4-A2 had other ideas.
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:11:38 GMT -5
"Losing. . .energy. . ." NOS-4-A2 said, heading out of the greenish light raditating from the satellite dish. "Must. . .escape!"
I couldn't let him get away that easily. He'd been terrorizing the galaxy for months and letting him escape would only give him the chance to come back again for another surprise attack. As a Space Ranger, I just wouldn't stand for it. So, I jumped up and grabbed NOS-4-A2 by the waist, hanging on tightly. That was just enough to hold him in place, until the energy-collecting satellite finished him off. In fact, as far as I was concerned, there wasn't much he could do now except struggle.
"You're not going anywhere, pal!" I told him, the sheer determination showing up in my voice.
NOS-4-A2 struggled fiercely in my grip, clawing at my sleeve and tearing pieces of fabric off in the process. But, still, I held on to him. His attempts didn't hurt me in any way, so I hardly paid any notice to it. Only a few minutes more and he'd be as good as dead. The energy vampire seemed to know that too, because he was fighting even harder.
Then it happened.
He grabbed me and bit my upper arm - my exposed upper arm. I mean, he had already torn all the fabric off; my tan-colored skin showing and everything. I cried out in pain and let go of him, falling to my back on the ground. I clutched my left arm painfully and looked up at the energy vampire, who had successfully escaped the range of the satellite.
"Ugh!" he retorted in a very vampire-ish accent. "I never drink blood. . .Now, I've lost my appetite completely!" Without another word, it flew up into the night sky, disappearing in the bright glow of the moon.
I slowly rose to my feet, the bite on my arm burning like a supernova as I held it with my free hand, and Buzz ran over to me. "You alright, buddy?" he asked. Buzz reached out to place a hand on my shoulder and I jerked away from him, mostly frustrated at myself for letting NOS-4-A2 get away, but also angry at having to be saved by Buzz for the 51st time.
"It's just a scratch," I said through clenched teeth. "I'll be fine."
I walked past him, my shoulders slumping as I made my way back to the power plant. Just then, XR popped out of the bushes, picking leaves off of himself as he made his way over to me.
"Ty! My man! My hero!" he began. "You sure saved my can - if you know what I'm talking about. Not that I was scared or anything. Cause, of course, we all know I'm not. . ."
I was about to say something in reply, when Booster ran over. "Yeah! But did you see the way BUZZ saved TY? Wow! Wait 'till I tell everyone back at Star Command!"
"Oh, would you?" I said, sounding as sarcastic as humanly possible. "I'm sure everyone back at Star Command would LOVE to hear how Buzz saved me AGAIN. Call. Please."
Booster saluted me, as if all the sarcasm just flew past his head. "Right away, sir!" he said eagerly, running inside to tell everyone in the universe what just happened.
Of course, everyone always excludes the parts where I do anything useful, so then it turns into something more along the lines of a half-truth. Then everyone at Star Command gets the impression that I'm an incompetant loser who needs Buzz to save him all the time. . .
Oh joy.
I slapped my forehead. "Sarcasm is lost on the big one," I muttered, heading inside to take a look at my arm, before someone else decided to take a wisecrack at the day's events.
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Chapter Two - Wirewolf!
I pushed the door to the storage room open and walked inside. "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" I quoted, a mocking tone in my voice. "Buzz Lightyear to the BIG, FAT rescue!"
Closing the door behind me, I frowned and sighed deeply, lifting the top part of my space suit over my head, so that I could more easily treat the nasty bite wound NOS-4-A2 had given me. I looked down at the space suit in my hands and my expression saddened, wondering how long it would last. How long it would be until I was fired for all the mistakes I'd made; all the rumors that spread; all the rescues Buzz Lightyear got 100% credit for.
Buzz Lightyear. Now that was a name that had plagued me ever since we first became partners. Well, almost. I liked Buzz alot at first, but then he began saving me - over and over and over. You're probably thinking, 'what's the big deal, you should be thankful'? Well, I was thankful the first dozen times. But as soon as word began to get out that Buzz was saving me twenty, fourty times then the jeering began and a big rift formed between me and my old friend.
Just because I made mistakes didn't make me a bad ranger - or a coward. No, far from it. To tell you the truth, I often got in trouble for the very reason I did today: saving someone else who needed help. Then Buzz usually came along and ended up having to save me. My part in any of the rescues was never mentioned around headquarters, though. It was 'all-Buzz-all-the-time', which eventually made me very jealous.
Let me guess, you're thinking that this is all about my ego, right? Well, you're - for the most part - wrong there. The thing was, I didn't really want to be intergalactically famous or anything; that wasn't the point. All I wanted was to be appreciated for the talents I had; the abilites I could utilize to help the galactic community - MY abilites. I come from a bad part of the galaxy, so I know what others are going through when they're under fire. That's why I joined the Space Rangers in the first place: to help people - not to be on every magazine cover from here to Planet Z.
A little respect and recognition. Was that too much to ask for? Instead, I found myself competing with my old partner for a decent reputation - trying to, somehow, measure up to his astronomical standards and perfect record. So, anyone in my position would feel a little overwhelmed and stressed, wouldn't they?
Anyhow, I set the top half of my suit on the floor nearby and slowly walked up to the window, gazing out at the green moon, which cast a soft glow across the room. I groaned softly, staring up at the stars. "There's GOT to be a ranger station somewhere in the galaxy where HE can't find me," I said to myself with a sigh. "Maybe I'll transfer to Alpha Centauri. Nobody ever finds that place. . ."
Suddenly, I felt an odd sensation in my left arm. It was sort of like electricity but, really, stranger than that. Curious, I lifted my hand off of my arm and furrowed my brow, looking at the injury there. Much to my shock and dismay, wires were emerging from the location of the energy vampire bite.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was definately NOT a good sign.
I tried to avoid what happened next, but it was basically out of my control. My voice changed, until finally my whole appearance changed. It's all still kinda vague to me and I didn't remember what happened after that, but I had morphed into the robot-ravaging, robotic Wirewolf. So, basically, I was your modern "Jekyll and Hyde"; space ranger by day - robotic villian by night.
Puts a really big cramp in your career plans, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, as Wirewolf, I broke down the door (yup, hinges and all) and made it out into the dark corridor. I peered into Buzz's cabin, when my search was suddenly interrupted by one of the robot sentries. He said he was gonna arrest me for intruding - gotta hand it to the robot for being so direct - and I replied by tearing him limb-from-limb like, well, a wolf. I completely drained the energy from his battery pack and just flat-out annihilated the guy.
Before I could do anymore damage, the radioactive, green moon ducked behind the clouds and I simultaneously morphed back. Laying on the ground, still shaken and dazed from my unexpected experience, I shivered and slowly made it to my feet. I stood, somewhat wobbly, on my feet and suddenly realized that something wasn't right.
I looked down at my hands, which were dripping with blue robot battery fluid, and my eyes widened. My clothes looked like swiss cheese too, all courtesy of the transformation. "Huh? Wha-?" I stammered, spotting the destroyed robot (or, at least, what was left of him) at my feet. "What happened??"
I searched for a reasonable answer to all of this, but my mind was in such a muddle I couldn't remember all of what had happened even before I woke up. All I knew was that I didn't wanna be around when that robot-destroying thing came back (ironic as that may sound). I ran into my cabin and the door shut automatically behind me. Freaked out and thoroughly confused, I rested my hands on the side of my unmade bed.
"What's going on. . .?" I asked, my voice still sounding as shaky and unsure as I felt.
I closed my eyes and hung my head. My mop of wild, brown hair hung into my face as I mulled my mind for something - anything - that would explain what had just happened. But after a few minutes of thinking, I came up with naught. I stood upright again and looked out my window at the moon, which was coming out from behind the clouds again.
"Do Buzz and the others know anything about this?" I wondered aloud. "Maybe I should talk with them."#nosmileys
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:15:44 GMT -5
I took a couple of steps towards the door, but didn't get any further than that before changing into Wirewolf again. I remained as Wirewolf for only a few minutes longer (though, not without breaking a nice terra-cotta-colored lamp first), because just as soon as it had shown itself the moon ducked behind an even bigger patch of clouds. It was like this moon couldn't make up it's mind and, therefore, I turned back to myself once again. By now, I was so completely dazed and disorientated that I barely even noticed that someone was knocking on the door.
I walked up to it and pressed the button to open it. The door parted to reveal Buzz standing there. "Say, Ty," he said, closing his eyes and making motions with his hands as he spoke. "Have you heard, or. . .seen anything - " He opened his eyes, suddenly noticing my clothes and the dazed look still hanging on my face.
"What happened to your uniform??"
I tried to think of a good excuse since, frankly, I didn't know myself. "Oh. Uh," I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck uneasily. "I'm a rough sleeper - had a nightmare." I then took the casual, 'nothing-happened-to-me' approach, casually leaning a hand on the doorframe. "So, what's the problem?"
Buzz hesitantly went on. "We lost another robot. . ."
Then my pants fell down.
He pointed. ". . .And your trousers."
I looked down to see my pants laying down at my feet, exposing my blue boxers for all to see. How embarrassing. And in front of my captain too. I glanced back up at Buzz and placed a fist on my side, trying to act as if I had expected that to happen.
"I know that," I said matter-of-factly, abruptly closing the door in his face.
"Well, after you're finished in there, I'd like you to see if this intruder has done anymore damage," Buzz said through the door. "Should I, uh, go get you a new uniform?"
Inside my cabin, I rolled my eyes and pulled my pants back up. "No, I can get it myself," I called back.
Looks like I'd have to cut my sleep a hour short today. I made it over to the cabinets that were built into the wall across from my bed and opened it. Luckily I had enough sense to put an extra uniform in there. I took the clothes out and quickly slipped into them before going out to retrieve the top half of my suit.
"This is gonna be a long night," I muttered.
**************************************
"Good, everyone's here," Buzz said, setting a hand on Mira's chair and looking around at us.
We were all gathered in the control room at about dawn, since Buzz had decided to call a group meeting to assess our current situation. Booster and XR stood nearby, listening intently as Buzz went on.
"Okay, what do we know?"
Mira was the first to speak up. "No one got in last night."
"The robot sentry was the only one attacked," Booster added. "And WOW was he torn apart! His electron modulator was so bent out of shape, I thought it was an electron ALTERNATOR!"
XR paled. "I feel faint. . ." he muttered, wheeling over to my side.
He looked like he was gonna toss his cookies (or nuts and bolts. . .whatever, lol). Arms folded, I glanced down at him with a look that said 'don't-even-think-about-it'. Just when I thought he was gonna do it, he abruptly stopped and flipped a large microscope out of his myriad of gadgetry. XR directed it at the floor.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked.
I looked at the floor. There were glowing, green Wirewolf tracks all over the floor around our feet.
"Footprints," I said. "All over the place."
XR took a closer look at them. "A size 11 and a half D," he pointed out, looking up at Buzz. "A RADIOACTIVE 11 and a half D."
Mira's eyebrows rose and she leaned forward in her chair. "Wait a minute," she spoke up. "NOS-4-A2 doesn't have any feet!" She stood from her chair and looked at us. "What are we dealing with here??"
I approached Buzz's side. "Whatever it is, it attacks at night," I added.
Buzz gave the footprints another look. "So, tonight we'll lay a trap for it," he replied. "But to lure it in, we're gonna need some bait."
"Good idea!" XR exclaimed. "All we need is a tasty little machine with lots of power, lots of gadgetry, with plenty of bells and whistles - preferrably round. . ." Suddenly, he spotted all of us staring at him and gasped. "Waitaminute - BAD idea. Yes, that's a BAD idea. Now that I've had the chance to think about it that's a very bad idea. Because, well, uh, that's exactly what he would be expecting - THAT'S why it's a bad idea. . ."
"Come on, team, let's go form a strategy," Buzz said, heading for the door. He made a fist and glanced back at us. "This time we'll be ready for it."
****************************************
"Boy, are my batteries packed with energy!" XR said (a bit too loudly, if you ask me). "I don't remember a time when I was so packed with energy!"
The five of us stood in a warehouse at the far end of the power plant. Buzz insisted that this would be the best place to find and capture a nocturnal, robot-killing villian. I didn't have any proof against it, so I just went along with his claim. I crouched down behind Buzz and a bunch of boxes; Mira was on the platform above us, guarding an exit; Booster hid behind a tower of boxes across from us, guarding another exit; and XR stood out in the open, acting as "villian bait".
"In fact," XR babbled on. "I feel like I could just keep going and going and going. . ."
In front of me, Buzz sighed and opened his wrist communicator. "Try to sound a little LESS like bait," he said, resting a cheek on his hand boredly. "Booster, Mira, exits secure?"
"Secure," came Booster's hushed voice.
"Secure," Mira said. "Well, I mean, I'm not sure it's secure. Uh, actually, I THINK it's secure. I mean, well, it's secure unless somebody tries to get in, but - "
"Mira?" Buzz interrupted.
"Yeah?"
"Resume radio silence."
I could hear Mira sigh from the other end. "You got it, Buzz."
We waited for a few tense minutes and still nothing happened. It didn't even seem like anyone was around. All I could hear were the soft sounds of Buzz and I breathing and the clunking of XR's feet against the concrete floor. He was boredly shifting his weight from one leg to the other as we all waited in silence for the villian to appear.
At that moment, the clouds slowly uncovered the moon and it began shining in through the window onto Buzz and I.
Big problem.
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:21:30 GMT -5
Like the night before, I morphed into Wirewolf and slowly rose up - all eight feet of me - behind Buzz. He didn't even notice though; he was still watching XR - even as I loomed over him, jaws open and ready to tear him to bits. The mechanical creaking I was making got his attention, though. . .
Buzz furrowed his brow. "Ty, do you hear something?"
Of course, I didn't reply - just gave him a soft metallic growl.
"Yeah, I don't know where it's coming from either," he replied, oblivious to the danger he was in. "XR, do a scan of the area. Find out where that sound is coming from."
XR finally turned his head towards Buzz and his eyes widened, pointing at me.
"B-b-b-b-b-b. ." he stuttered fearfully. "Turn around!!!"
"Behind me?" Buzz asked, staring at XR for a moment, as if wondering whether to believe him or not. He then turned his head around. At that very moment, I turned back into myself again - give or take a few tears in the shirt, my new 'mad-scientist' hairdo, and a puzzled look or two. Buzz frowned, not noticing the change, and glanced back at XR.
"How many times have I told you to clean behind your sensors?" Buzz scolded him.
XR just folded his arms indignantly.
By now, I could figure out that something was seriously wrong with me, though it still wasn't clear what exactly it was. I just knew I should get out of there, before things got worse. I tiptoed behind the stairway next to us, trying to sneak off without Buzz or the others spotting me. So far, so good. I peered out from the other side to see that Booster was preoccupied with a rat-like creature that was scurrying around his feet.
I took a couple steps out into the open and the transformation gripped me again, stopping me dead in my tracks. Within a few seconds, I was - once again - Wirewolf. So, the cycle continued - and it was the radioactive moonlight that was doing it to me. Buzz finally spotted me and jumped out from behind the boxes, pointing.
"There's our monster!" he called, still unaware that the real me wasn't around anymore. "Ty, you make the caller!"
He paused, hearing nothing as Mira and Booster came to his aid. He looked behind him. "Ty??"
While they were distracted, I grabbed XR right out from under their noses and dragged him - kicking and screaming - behind a small mountain of boxes. He began calling for help but didn't get many words out before I proceeded to tear him apart.
"Mira, Booster, you help XR!" Buzz said, turning to what was left of his team.
Mira raised her plasma gun, scanning the area. "Where is he?"
Booster pointed at the boxes. "Here he comes!" he said, ducking as pieces of XR came flying at him. He dodged another pieces. "Here he comes again!"
Buzz joined his team again, cautiously looking around. "Has anyone seen Ty. . .?" he asked.
Mira looked at him, her brow furrowed in worry. "Oh no. You don't think it got him too. . .?"
"Booster, you pick up XR," Buzz said. "Mira and I will go search for Ty."
Booster saluted, taking out a bag. "Yes, sir!"
Meanwhile, I had managed to escape without getting blasted to bits by my comerades and I ran on all fours towards the nearest room. A piece of XR was securely held in my jaws as I lept into the room. The door closed automatically behind me and I morphed back into my human form, collapsing onto the floor with a loud moan.
Outside the door, Mira stopped, hearing me, and "ghosted" through the wall to find me laying on the floor (basically, it's a Tangean thing - for those of you who don't know, they're able to go through anything solid).
I groaned again.
"He's in here!" she called.
Quickly, Buzz ran in and leaned down to help me up. Mira grabbed the other arm and they both lifted me to my feet. Buzz actually looked like he was genuinely concerned as he glanced down at me. "Are you alright, Ty?"
I was still very confused at the time and not feeling too good, so the response he got shouldn't have been a surprise. "What happened. . .?"
Booster moved into the room and Buzz and Mira let go of me, so that I could stand on my own again. "The intruder attacked XR," Booster said, sounding disappointed. "But he got away."
"What's that in your hand?" Mira cut in, moving closer to me for a better look.
I held up my hand and, behold, there was the final piece that I tore out of XR. It was kinda wierd-looking, so I had no idea what it was, nonetheless that it was XR's. "I don't know - you tell me," I said, glancing up at her.
Suddenly, the thing shook and came to life with XR's voice. "Step away from the robot. You are too close to the robot - because I am the robot!"
Booster gasped. "It's XR's voicebox! How'd you - ?"
Suddenly, the realization of the whole bizarre situation hit me like a freight train. I gasped, my eyes widening, and I stepped back from my friends, horrified by what I had discovered - and worried if it would happen again. Or, rather, WHEN it would happen again. My mind raced, if I really was some kind of mutant, then my whole team was endangering their lives just being near me. What if I changed right here and now then tore one of them apart like I did XR?? And the sentry robot?? I couldn't let that happen.
Even if I didn't like Buzz very much at the time, he definately didn't deserve to be torn limb-from-limb. In fact, I was gonna make sure that they were safe, even if it meant making a few sacrifices. . .
"You have to leave the planet!" I warned them. "You're all in danger!"
Now, they probably thought I was going crazy - they sure looked at me like I was. I didn't care, though. They needed to know before it was too late and I'd never have another chance. Buzz just chuckled, like I was joking or something, and approached me.
He put his arm around my shoulders. "Oh, no, no, no," he scolded me. "We have to catch that thing."
By now, I was dead-serious and determined to get this though his thick head. . .
"Don't you see??" I exclaimed loudly, looking at him with regret and desperation in my eyes. "I AM that THING!"
Buzz seemed to be caught off-guard by the admission, but he refused to believe me. Instead, it was almost as if he thought I really had gone mad. He tried to console me, gently placing a hand on my shoulder. "Oh, come on, buddy. . ." he said softly.
"Listen, listen," I said calmly, turning away from Buzz and walking past my stunned teammates. "Ever since that energy vampire bit me, I've been having these blackouts." I turned to look at them, continuing my explanation. "Then, when I come-to, another robot's been attacked. . .It's gotta be me!"
They stared at me, speechless.
"You're all in danger," I repeated, pointing directly at Buzz. "Especially YOU."
He still didn't get it. Sometimes talking to Buzz was almost like talking to a brick wall - you got nowhere - like now. And what he said next really sent me over the edge. . .
Buzz folded his arms. "Why would I be in danger?" he asked, a somewhat frustrated tone to his voice now. "I came here to help you, and if there was ever a time when you needed my help, that time is now."
He reached a hand out to me and I quickly jerked away from it, glaring at him. Here I was, trying to keep this guy from harm and he starts giving me an attitude. "Stop saying that!" I demanded, my voice suddenly taking on a metallic tone reminscent of Wirewolf.
Booster cringed in fear and backed away from me. "Look out! He's turning into the monster!"
Mira gave Buzz a deliberate glance, folding her arms. "And he's turning on YOU," she pointed out. "I think you and Ty have some HEAVY issues. . ."
The moon began to shine brightly through the skylight above me, signalling the fact that I was going to change again. If this didn't convince Buzz - nothing would. Right before their eyes, I changed into Wirewolf again. I growled fiercely, moving towards them and Buzz almost seemed to do a double-take. I made a move towards them.
Wirewolf growled out a ominous message to them, the metallic voice fully recognizable now.
Buzz gave Mira a brief sideways glance. "I think you're right about those issues. . ." he finally admitted, backing away from me.
As Wirewolf, I lunged at them and they quickly dodged out of the way, running to the opposite end of the room. They raised their lasers at me and I watched them. Wirewolf seemed to be inwardly laughing at their attempt to scare him off.
"Stand your ground, team," Buzz said, keeping a cautious eye on me.
They were just about ready to fire their lasers on me when I shot some cords out of my hands (or paws). They wrapped around each ranger's wrist and drained the power from them, retracting the cords again. Booster hit his wrist laser and, still, nothing came out. "My laser doesn't work!" he exclaimed.
"What do we do now?" Mira asked.
"Uh. . ." Buzz muttered nervously. "Retreat!"
A sinister grin came on my face as I watched them run out of the room. You know, that was the first time I'd ever seen Buzz run from anything - and that's the truth! But, anyways, I bounded out into the hallway after them. My strides were much greater than theirs and I was swifter, so the gap between us was closing fast. Booster was the slowest of the three, so he would have been the first to go down.#nosmileys
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:25:25 GMT -5
I was closing in, but Buzz slammed the door to the main room closed. It closed on my hands (or, uh, paws) and I growled fiercely, struggling to get in. Buzz pushed his weight against the door and finally managed to get me out long enough to lock it. From outside, I managed to use my superhuman strength to my advantage, by pounding a few dents into the metal door and punching a few holes in it with my claws. But, still, that wasn't enough to get through. Frustrated, I let out a long, bone-chilling, wolf howl.
In the main room, Buzz kept his weight against the metal door - probably worried about a possible break-in - and told the employees that nothing was wrong and they should calmly make their way to the launch pad outside. Quite an understatement there. The employees proceeded to ignore everything he said (probably heard my howls or something) and began screaming. Panicked and anything BUT calm, they ran out to the launch pad.
"Nice work, Buzz," Mira said, her comment a bit on the sarcastic side.
Buzz gave her a classic grin. "Thank you."
I almost busted through the door this time, jerking Buzz out of place and they resumed running again. After they took off, that door didn't last anymore than five more seconds before I busted through it. It was something you'd expect to see somebody like the Hulk doing, but when you're two tons of hydralics and terrillium carbonic alloy, I guess it doesn't make much of a difference, does it?
I bounded down the hallway on all fours and spotted Team Lightyear running outside. My red eyes narrowed and my ears went back against my head. I knew what they were up to - or, rather, Wirewolf knew what they were up to. . .
They were heading for the launch pad to make their escape.
Wirewolf wasn't going to allow that to happen. I ran outside and made a great leap over Booster and Mira's heads, landing squarely in front of them and rising up on two feet. Now, they couldn't go any farther without having to tangle with me first. Team Lightyear stopped in their tracks. Mira asked what to do and Buzz suggested something along the lines of the "Newzonian Maneuver" - whatever that was. While she and Booster ran off towards Star Cruiser 42, Buzz stayed behind to face me.
"Let's work out those 'issues'," he said.
I growled fiercely in reply and lunged at him. Buzz jumped out of the way and I turned to see him landing smoothly on his feet. A deep, electronic growl rose from my throat and I ran towards him, pouncing again. This time I pinned him to the ground. Wirewolf's strength was too much for him and all he could do was struggle while I picked him up. Buzz kicked me and I momentarily released my grip, allowing him to hop to the ground. He turned to fight me again, but got a hard paw-swipe in the left arm instead.
Buzz winced and I took another shot at him, but he was quick to react - as usual. He lept out of the way and backed up, pressing the button on his suit. His jet pack fired up and he flew into the air.
"Don't be afraid to let me know how you feel," he said, soaring up into the sky.
Not exactly the smartest thing Buzz ever said.
I replied by shooting the wires out of my hand (or, uh, paw) and tightly wrapping them around his waist. I then proceeded to reel him in like a sport fish. He struggled, but it was no use - I really had him this time. I brought him close enough to grab and sunk my claws into the front of his space suit, slowly draining all of the power from it.
Buzz gasped as the air began to stop flowing into his helmet. "You know," he admitted. "We really don't talk enough. . ."
I simply continued to drain the power from his suit. A few more minutes and that might have been the last I'd see of Buzz Lightyear - I'd finish him off right there and there was no fighting Wirewolf. Basically, it wasn't my choice. But I had warned Buzz over and over that this might happen. I tried to stop it before it began. But Buzz never listened to me, so now he was the one in trouble - and there was no one to save him. No one, except. . .
"Ty," Buzz gasped, trying to get the words out. "I know you're in there somewhere. . .I need you to save me."
The words hit me like a supernova blast. Did he just ask ME, the infamous Ty Parsec, to save HIM? That request hit a nerve somewhere inside of me. Suddenly, I found new motivation to fight against the thing that had taken control of me and, yes, I actually regained control again. As my first order of duty, I immediately stopped draining his suit. My expression softened as I looked up at the distressed Buzz and gently lowered him back onto the ground.
Just then, Star Cruiser 42 crashed into the moon and destroyed it. My guess was that it was all part of Buzz's "Newzonian Maneuver" plan. Without the light of the moon, I began to morph back. I dropped Buzz, grabbing my head and fell to my knees, slowly changing into the real me. Once I was back to normal, I took a look at my shaking hand - just to make sure - and took in a deep breath of relief to see I was no longer a Wirewolf.
But the shame of almost killing Buzz and the strain of the transformation took it's toll on me and I simply let my head hang downwards, trying to recover from my ordeal as I waited for the others to arrive.
Not long after, Mira and Booster touched down on the landing pad and ran over to us. Mira came up to me and took my arm, helping me to my feet again. "What happened?" she asked.
I sighed and met her eyes. "I almost killed Buzz," I admitted. "Better get him inside."
Mira's blue eyes widened a bit. "But - "
"Don't worry about me," I insisted, anticipating her response. "I'll be fine. Just get Buzz inside and take care of him."
She gave me a nod and went over to assist Booster.
***************************************************
Later that night, with the power plant out of commission and things pretty much back to normal, I stood in the main room with Team Lightyear, resting against a pipe that ran out of the wall behind me. Buzz was also sitting behind me, Mira bandaging up the arm that I hurt when I was Wirewolf. At that moment, I found my mind drifting to how I'd been acting towards Buzz the past couple years and how tonight I'd almost annihilated him. Even if it was Wirewolf doing the last deed, I felt extremely guilty.
"Boy, that was a beautiful nap," XR was saying. "Man, I was out like a light. Actually, alot like a light." He chuckled. "Did I miss anything important?"
Booster grinned. "We blew up a moon!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, and Buzz saved Ty again."
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Post by Ranger Parsec on Mar 20, 2004 18:28:50 GMT -5
I winced upon hearing that comment. So, we were back to that again, huh? It seemed like I'd never get the recognition I wanted, but that didn't mean I couldn't - at least - try and make things right with Buzz again. I didn't want the tension between us to go on any longer; he was the only real friend I had. So, I shoved my pride to the back of my mind and made myself admit what I should have said a long time ago. . . "You know," I said softly, glancing back at him. "I guess I never said this before, but. . .well. . .thanks Buzz." A small grin began to form on Buzz's face and looked over at Booster, his head held high. "No, you got that wrong, Booster," he said. "This time Ty saved me." I was taken aback by his admission and spun around to look at him, the surprise written all over my face. "I did?" "You stopped that thing from draining the power out of my suit," he explained with a smile, then lightly punched me in the arm with his free hand. "Thanks, now we're even." A small smile came over my face and I nodded, turning to look out the window at where the green moon used to be. "Well, at least now that this power plant is down, we won't have anymore problems with that energy vampire." "That reminds me," XR added. "One quick question. . .WHAT?! You mean you didn't finish him off while I was offline?! Aw man! Which way to air duct 4?" Then he panicked and began running in circles as we watched. Buzz cast a glance at me and I half-grinned, shrugging my shoulders. "He'll get over it." THE END~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I see why Buzz broke his stories up into different posts - they only allow you to post 10,000 characters! Hee hee. That would explain it.  Oh well, it works. By the way, reviews are welcome. ^_^ |
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Oh well, it works. By the way, reviews are welcome. ^_^