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kamaandhallie · 9 months

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The Dark Lord and the Savior: Chapter 2

Wander Over Yonder x Star Wars x Dune crossover fanfic

Chapter 2: The Dunes

Wander and Sylvia walked through the hot blistering desert, hundreds of sweat drops pouring from their body and forehead. Wander sat on Sylvia’s back where he normally is, and he luckily has his big oversized hat to protect him from the sun’s rays, but he was still getting dizzy from the heat. Sylvia was the one suffering the most, as she had no protection, and she was the one walking, so her feet were getting fried by the hot desert sand with every step she took, it honestly felt like her feet were on the brink of bursting into flames or melting off. On top of that, she was thirsty beyond belief, her tongue was sticking out and her throat felt as dry as the desert around them. What she wouldn’t give to get a bottle of cool water right now. Despite all that, Sylvia persevered and continued to walk, while she did walk slowly due to exhaustion, she won’t stop until they find some shade.

“Hurgh…I can’t stand another second of this desert! Ya got anything from your hat, buddy? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure this is a moment we need something right now!” Sylvia said, her voice raspy due to dehydration and exhaustion.

“Sorry, Syl, but I keep trying to pull something from my hat and it’s not givin’ me anything,” Wander said, feeling bad that he can’t help his friend who was suffering pretty badly right now.

“And we can’t even form an orbble right now?” Sylvia asked, knowing the answer.

“Sorry, the heat just kept making the orbble pop before it can even form. I think we’re gonna have to wait ‘till the heat dies down, Syl.” Wander said.

Sylvia tried her best to hide her frustration (she was too exhausted to be frustrated, anyway), because she knows Wander’s just as tired as she was and is still trying to help. But she doesn’t know how much more she can take of this desert. Everywhere they look, it’s nothing but sand, not a single rock formation in sight where they can take shade since even the shady side of the dunes is still too hot to be rested under, not to mention the dunes move a lot. Sylvia made a mental reminder to never allow herself and Wander to go to any desert planets again, especially one that seemed to be uninhabited considering they haven’t found a single sign of life anywhere.

“Sylvia, look!” Wander shouted, pointing towards something in the distance.

Near the horizon, they could see what looked to be a watering hole, a pretty big one too. Wander and Sylvia stuck their tongues out in anticipation from the thirst, their eyes shining at the sight of the prize. Sylvia wasted no time to use whatever energy she had left to rush as fast as she could towards the watering hole.

“Precious water! Here I come!” Sylvia shouted triumphantly as she ran at full speed and leaped in the air towards the watering hole.

When Sylvia landed though, there wasn’t a splash, she landed with a dull thud on the sand. Sylvia looked around, the watering hole wasn’t there. It didn’t take long for her to figure out what was going on.

“Darn it! It was just a mirage!” Sylvia said angrily. On top of her thirst and exhaustion, she now has to add anger on top of that, her situation’s only getting worse. She should have expected it was a mirage, but she guessed she was to thirsty and tired to think at that point.

“Look! Sylvia! There’s a coconut tree over there!” Wander shouted again, running off in the direction he pointed. He looked like he was getting dehydrated too.

“Wander, that’s not––!” Sylvia tried to call out, but Wander already tried climbing up the non-existent coconut tree, only to fall back to the ground.

“Rrrgghhh! Is there no end to this gropdarn desert?!” Sylvia yelled to the sky, her voice echoing throughout the landscape.

“Sylvia! Look over there!” Wander said as he pointed in a new direction, his voice now slow and out of energy.

Sylvia looked in the direction Wander was pointing, which was a huge dune, and she could see behind it was what looked like the top part of a palace. Though it was hard to be sure since its form was hazy and wavy due to the heat reflected off the ground.

“We can ask for water there!” Wander said droopily. He ran off in the direction of the dune, which surprised Sylvia that he could still run since he looked like he was on the verge of passing out.

“Wander, I told you, that’s just gonna be another––” Sylvia called out again, but stopped when Wander got to the top of the dune and suddenly fell down to the other side of it. “Wander!”

Sylvia mustered up the last of her strength to run after Wander as quickly as she can manage and running up the dune drained so much of her energy, but her determination fuelled her enough to get up quicker than she would’ve if Wander was with her at the moment. She finally reached the top of the dune, but by then she had completely run out of energy so she fell and tumbled in the same direction Wander did. After tumbling down the dune for a few seconds, Sylvia finally came to a halt, and she had to spit a mouthful of sand out. She found Wander, upside down with half of his upper buried in the sand right next to where she was. Sylvia pulled Wander out of the sand and brushed off whatever sand was stuck to his orange fur.

“You alright, buddy?” Sylvia asked. Her hands were placed on Wander’s shoulders.

“Yeah, I’m alright, Syl.” Wander answered with a tired smile.

The duo looked in the direction of the mirage, expecting to find nothing there like their previous two attempts. But to their shock, it wasn’t a mirage at all.

In the distance, they saw a humongous palace made of what was presumably granite and other desert rocks. It seemed to be a terraformed structure, formed from some existing plateau and carved out into a regal-looking palace judging by the size and remnants of rough surfaces. On the palace’s outside walls were multiple green and black banners with a red hawk insignia at the center. What surprised Sylvia more was that near the palace, there was an entire armada of spaceships and aircraft resting in the open desert ground that acted as the spaceport. That entire armada of spaceships was big enough to launch a full-scale invasion on an entire planet, or even an entire star system, which caused Sylvia to look at them with a bit of caution in her mind. Even more surprising is that they both looked up and saw silhouettes of gigantic spaceships hovering beyond the blistering blue sky above them, they were so huge that Sylvia was surprised they didn’t notice them sooner.

The spaceships looked to be mostly giant metal tube-like cylindrical structures with a gigantic opening in the front side, so it was likely that they were used for cargo, to transport goods, or other smaller spaceships, the same way a ro-ro ferry carries cars inside them to travel across the ocean. Wander and Sylvia were still in awe at how massive those spaceships were, they could fit in thousands of spaceships of all shapes and sizes, and hundreds of thousands of people in them, even a dozen of Vader’s Star Destroyers could fit inside them.

Sylvia was honestly getting suspicious seeing all these gigantic spaceships on this isolated desert planet. This armada was bigger than Sourdough’s thousand-year-old armada, and the spaceships themselves were bigger than even Dominator’s ship. There was no way an armada possibly bigger than anything this galaxy’s ever seen could go unnoticed unless they’ve only arrived here fairly recently, and if they did come here fairly recently, why was an armada going to this galaxy anyway? This didn’t feel right for Sylvia, but she and Wander were a bit too drained from the scorching desert heat to really wanna think about it.

“C’mon, Sylvia…” Wander said, his voice sounding raspy now. “Maybe we can ask for water in there.” Wander got on Sylvia’s back and saddle and she began to walk towards the palace.

Sylvia walked slowly but surely, still frying underneath the desert sun. She still can’t shake off the ominous feeling she’s getting from this place, she felt something bad was gonna happen, even though there was nobody in sight…or so she thought.

Suddenly, out of the sand in front of them burst out three hooded figures wielding knives. Sylvia narrowly missed the slashes of their knives as she quickly moved back out of their reach. Despite previously being so drained of energy that she and Wander were on the verge of passing out, this moment was enough to recharge their adrenaline. The three figures landed on the ground, their knives raised in preparation to attack.

Sylvia could now get a clear look at them, the figures wore grey armored suits, and a part of the suit was a mask used to cover their nose and mouth. They covered their heads with a robe that acted as a hood and mask, and the rest of the fabric was so long that the unused parts became a cape for them. Their only weapons appeared to be simple handheld knives (which looked to be made of a tooth of some sort from its pearly white color), which was a pretty odd weapon choice since 90% of the galaxy always used laser blasters as weapons, and even the ones that do at least use something more effective like swords and spears, but these guys seem to use small knives as their main weapon, as you’d never pull out a ‘last-resort’ weapon first. Their most striking feature was easily their eyes, which were a full dark blue-on-blue, their pupils the only thing that was barely visible. Sylvia, having traveled to many planets in the galaxy with Wander, had seen plenty of weird-looking eyes, but these felt strangely creepy to look at, especially when Sylvia notices that these guys are probably the same species as Vader’s army, which for a moment made Sylvia wonder if these guys worked for him.

One of the hooded men spoke up. “Who are you?!” he asked fiercely.

“You are trespassing on the grounds of Muad’Dib!” another spoke.

“Woah there, fellas. We don’t mean any harm. We’re just looking for some water to drink.” Wander said, trying to defuse the tension. “So how about we stop tryin’ to fight and just help a friend in need?”

“Buddy, I don’t think these guys are really interested in making friends,” Sylvia said, still backing away. “Who are you guys?! What is this place? Are you working for Vader?!” Sylvia asked the three hooded men, but got no answer.

One of them leaped forward with his knife raised in front of him, Sylvia managed to quickly dodge the attack and smacked the man in the face with her tail, which managed to knock him out for a minute.

“Sylvia!” Wander shouted, distraught from the fighting.

“Sorry, pal, but there’s no other way out of this,” Sylvia reassured.

The other two charged forward and Sylvia and Wander both managed to avoid the knife slashes and stabs that came their way. Sylvia managed to land several hits on them when a window of opportunity presented itself, but unlike Watchdogs, they got right back up again, and they soon managed to strike back against Sylvia with their punches and kicks.

Sylvia wasn’t in the best condition to fight, she has already been exhausted and dehydrated from their long trek through the scorching desert, so she barely had much energy to put up the best fight. She still put up a shockingly good fight despite her condition.

Soon after, the first hooded man that Sylvia knocked out got back up again and joined the other two, making the fight harder than it already was. Wander and Sylvia fortunately had always been good at dodging attacks, so they have yet to manage to get a single strike landed on them. Wander even managed to pull out a big metal tray from his hat, which he used to protect himself and Sylvia from any incoming knife attacks, and in turn that allowed Sylvia to land some hits on their opponents. Not that it did too much good, they all kept getting right back up. Wander and Sylvia didn’t know how much longer they would last, they already ran out of energy from their desert walk, and this fight was even more physically draining, and the hooded men showed no signs of stopping or even getting tired. Luckily, something stopped the fight before anything bad could happen.

“Stop!” a deep voice shouted, and the five of them stopped fighting to see who it was.

From the direction of the palace came a tall bearded man, with the same attire and blue eyes as the other three hooded men, except his face wasn’t covered.

“Stilgar…” one of the hooded warriors said.

“What’s wrong?” another asked.

“Muad’Dib wishes to see those two,” Stilgar answered, gesturing to Wander and Sylvia, who looked confused at what was said. They both looked at each other and could only shrug an answer.

The hooded warriors calmed down and sheathed their knives, and Stilgar lead all of them to the palace. Wander had calmed down and was glad someone came along to cease the fighting, but Sylvia was still pretty tense, she still didn’t trust anything about this place. And why was who she presumed might be the leader here wanna see them? They haven’t even met. How did they even know she and Wander were outside? This place brings up too many questions for Sylvia to not be suspicious.

As they entered the palace, they finally got a sense of how huge it was. The hallways are long and the ceilings are at least two stories high, it would make sense if this was terraformed from an existing plateau. The walls, ceilings, and floor, were all made from solid brownish-yellow rock that you’d expect to find in the desert, but the ones that made up the palace were unbelievably smooth like they were carved by the most masterful hands in the universe. They saw more banners in the hallway they walked through, as well as artifacts, statues, and paintings of people, none of which they recognized. So far, this place did not seem anything like what Vader’s forces would have. They couldn’t be more different in fact, as Vader’s forces seemed more grey, robotic, and industrial; but this place felt natural, mystical, and whimsical. That didn’t stop Sylvia from being wary, though.

They finally reached the end of the hallway, where two of the hooded warriors opened up a pair of enormous double doors, the biggest doors Wander and Sylvia have seen, they were at least twenty to thirty stories tall and their width was half their height. But they were shocked even more when they entered what was easily the biggest throne room Wander and Sylvia had ever seen in their lives. The ceiling was at the height of a big city skyscraper above them, both of the floors stretched as far as the eye could see, and at the other end of the room, they could see the vague shape of a throne resting on the top of wide, enormous stairs and underneath three red banners of the hawk insignia with dozens of guards standing on either side along the wall.

On the throne, they saw the ruler sitting there, staring at the newcomers intently. The ruler was a bearded wavy-haired man with the same striking blue-on-blue eyes as Stilgar and the hooded warriors. He also wore a grey armored suit, and on top of that he wore a regal cape with white circular patterns on it and held together with a gold necklace. Besides his throne were two significantly smaller thrones, more chairs than actual thrones. The throne on the left was occupied by a blue-eyed woman wearing brown robes, she looked fierce, the warrior type, and she also appeared to be pregnant; the throne on the right was occupied by a tall regal-looking blonde woman, she looked like she might be a princess, and the strangest thing about her is that she didn’t have blue eyes, instead she had regular white eyes with green irises, which raised more questions in Sylvia’s head. Standing beside the thrones was a tall handsome athletic man with curly black hair and a round but flat face with perfect features and weird red stained lips wearing orange robes, he also didn’t have blue eyes. In fact, this man and the princess seemed to be the only people without blue eyes in this palace as everyone else they’ve seen always had blue eyes.

“They are here, Usul,” Stilgar said to the man on the throne.

“Good, I’ve been expecting you two.” The man on the throne said to Wander and Sylvia.

“Wow! Hey, there! What’s your name, friend? Nice palace you’ve got here. It’s huugggeee!” Wander said, breaking the uncomfortable mysterious feeling surrounding the situation.

“And whaddya mean you were ‘expecting us’?” Sylvia asked, more confronting than Wander was.

“Of course, allow me to introduce myself.” The bearded wavy-haired man said as he got up from his throne and walked down the steps. “I am Emperor Paul Muad’Dib, Duke of Arrakis, Head of House Atreides, leader of the Fremen, the Lisan al-Gaib, the Kwisatz Haderach, and the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe.”

“Wow, that’s a lotta titles.” Wander chuckled.

Sylvia crossed her arms and looked at the Emperor skeptically. “‘Emperor of the Universe’? Then how come I’ve never heard of you?” the blue zbornak asked.

“Don’t worry, you will soon.” The Emperor answered simply. Sylvia didn’t like the way he said that, something about it felt ominous.

“Well, nice to meet ya, Paul!” Wander grabbed the Emperor’s hand and shook it roughly.

Stilgar and the hooded warriors called the ‘Fremen’ apparently, didn’t like what Wander was doing, as they began to unsheathe their knives again. “Do not touch Muad’Dib!”

“Hey, back off, buddy!” Sylvia yelled as she stood between Wander and the Fremen guards, narrowing her eyes at them.

The Emperor pulled back his hand hard from Wander’s grasp and stared at him with an annoyed look, which worried Sylvia for a moment, but he gestured to his guards to stand down, which they did, and Sylvia breathed a sigh of relief.

“You will address me as ‘Emperor Muad’Dib’.” He said with a slight irritation in his tone, and that annoyed Sylvia so much that any desire she had to address him formally completely disappeared. “But back to important matters, what are your names?”

“Well, folks call me Wander, and this is my friend Sylvia.” Wander gestured to the blue zbornak.

“Wander and Sylvia, eh? Are you perchance the two fugitive nomads that travel this galaxy saving innocent lives and defeat conquering warlords?” Paul asked.

“Yep! That’s us!” Wander answered.

“Why, I’ve heard a lot about you two. I’m honoured to be able to meet two heroes of the galaxy.” Paul smiled slightly.

“‘Heroes of the galaxy’? Aw, shucks, it’s nothing that big. We just offer help to any folks who need it.” Wander blushed and waved off the compliment.

“That’s what makes a hero, Wander. A real hero doesn’t seek to help others, they’re called to it, and they answer with no hesitation or ulterior motive. Remember that.” Paul said in a pretty serious tone, and his words made Wander smile warmly.

Sylvia wasn’t as easily fazed by Paul’s words as Wander was. “How did you know about us, anyway?” Sylvia asked.

“Yes, I suppose you’ve been wondering about that. I’ve seen your arrival here, long before you’ve actually come.” Paul explained in a very cryptic way.

Sylvia raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I said that I am the Kwisatz Haderach, the name means ‘the shortening of the way’. I am able to see many possible futures, and ever since we came to this galaxy, every future I’ve seen always had you two in it.”

Wander gasped loudly with his hands on his cheeks and sparkles in his eyes. “You can see the future?! I wanna see! Here, can you predict what I’m gonna say in five seconds? Five, fout, three, two, one! Did ya guess it? It’s ‘let’s be friends’!” Paul did not look amused at all by Wander’s antics.

“Woah woah woah, move back a bit. You said you guys were from a different galaxy, right?” Sylvia asked.

“Really?!” Wander exclaimed. “Well what brings you fine folks to our humble little galaxy?”

“Do you remember what I said about one of my titles being the Emperor of the Known Universe? Well, my empire spans across many galaxies. Any point of the universe explored and inhabited by humanity is under my rule, and my empire is a constantly expanding one with every new planet, system, and galaxy that’s discovered. But the thing is, while we have explored and inhabited many galaxies, this is the first galaxy my empire has discovered that contains intelligent non-human life.” Paul explained.

“Seriously?” Sylvia asked, this time not in an antagonistic tone.

“So many galaxies yet you’ve never found anyone else until now? That sounds kinda lonely.” Wander said, feeling sad for Paul and his people.

“It’s fine,” Paul reassured, and he continued. “ This is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of all of humankind. I even left my own home planet of Arrakis for the first time in a long time to come to this galaxy myself, to see it with my own eyes, and since I feel that this could be a great opportunity for humanity and the inhabitants of your galaxy. We can make an alliance together, exchange knowledge, expand our strength and numbers, and assist each other in ways never thought possible.”

“You wanna make an alliance with this galaxy?” Wander seemed pretty interested and excited for that.

“Woah, not so fast there, buddy. Why exactly should we make an alliance with you? We don’t even know anything about you.” Sylvia said.

“My people are constantly looking for new homes. Every planet we find is a potential new home for them, and this entire galaxy is the most habitable one we’ve found, with nearly every planet in it being occupied by life. It seems it could be the best potential home for humanity in the near future.” Paul answered.

“Why, we’d be glad to help your people find new homes,” Wander said.

“But what’s in it for us?” Sylvia asked, her arms still crossed.

“Sylvia…!” Wander whispered, nudging Sylvia’s side.

“Do not worry, Sylvia. I was never planning on just asking something from you without giving something in return.” Paul smiled again, though Sylvia felt that his smiles always felt forced or artificial. “I have noticed that your galaxy has been infested with warlords and conquerors for a while now, is that right?”

“Yeah, there are quite a lotta villains running around.” Wander answered.

“Lord Hater, Emperor Awesome, Sourdough, and Dominator not too long ago. Not a day goes by that one of these jerks don’t try to take over a planet.” Sylvia added.

“Well, I promise you this. I will help you rid this galaxy of every warlord and conquering tyrant, and I shall help bring safety to your galaxy.” Paul raised a hand to his chest.

“You’d do that for us?”

“Not only that, but I’m going to offer your galaxy the most valuable substance in the entire universe,” Paul said as he pulled a gold locket from his pocket and opened it for Wander and Sylvia to see its contents.

Inside the locket was a very strange powdery substance, it didn’t even look like anything you’d classify as ‘valuable’. The powder had many colors, some were reddish brown, some were violet, some blue, and some orange. The color seemed to change from whatever angle they looked at it.

“What is that?” Sylvia asked, pretty mesmerized by this strange substance.

“This is spice melange. The substance my entire empire runs on.”

“Ooh, spice?! Can we try some?” Wander asked.

“Go ahead, try a bit.” Paul encouraged.

Wander and Sylvia prodded their fingers into the powdery substance and licked what stuck to their fingers. The moment they swallowed it, they could feel something happening to them, to their minds. Sylvia felt like her mind opened for a moment, like she was somehow beginning to see something that was beyond her understanding. But it only lasted for a moment before her mind snapped back to normal.

“Wow! That tasted like cinnamon!” Wander said in amazement.

“I felt like I just unlocked something in my mind,” Sylvia said in a bit of a daze.

“Just a handful of this is enough to make you the richest individual on your planet,” Paul explained further.

“What? No way. This powdery spice stuff is worth that much?” Sylvia asked in disbelief. She had a hard time believing something could be worth that much.

“Of course it would be worth that much. This isn’t just your typical spice. This substance bring enormous health benefits, extends your life, unlocks your mind the way no other substance can, and this substance is required for interstellar travel within my empire. It’s not an exaggeration to say whoever controls the spice, controls the universe.”

“Really?! Can I have some more, then? That was really good!” Wander asked.

“No, I think you two have had enough for now.” Paul closed his locket and placed it back in his pocket. Wander seemed to deflate from disappointment hearing that.

“Why do you need spice just to travel through space?” Sylvia asked again.

“Unlike your galaxy, our galaxies are much bigger, more vast, and planets are much farther away from each other. We can’t just get from one planet to another just by using a simple spaceship. Did you see those giant spaceships hovering above the sky when you came in?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Those are Guild Heighliners, owned by the Spacing Guild, and they are our galaxies’ only mode of interstellar travel.”

“Gee, that’s too bad, I guess.”

“But that’s about to change. I feel that the spice will help advance your galaxy significantly, and we could use it as well as our differing methods of interstellar travel to prevent anymore conquerors from taking over unsuspecting planets. Not a single soul will have to live in fear of suddenly being conquered.” Paul continued.

Wander and Sylvia didn’t really know what to say right now, they were too busy taking in his words. Wander seemed to be ecstatic about Paul, though Sylvia couldn’t tell if he was genuinely agreeing with Paul or he’s just excited in making a new friend. Sylvia was pretty intrigued by Paul’s goals, though she didn’t feel full convinced.

“So, what say you?” Paul asked.

Sylvia answered first before Wander could say anything. “Well, uh, we’ll consider your request and all, but before we do that…can we have some water first?! I’m parched!”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot why we were here,” Wander said to himself.

“Hm, very well. Bring the travellers some food and water right away!” Paul called to his servants, and with that, Wander and Sylvia were escorted to the dining room.

They were brought before a long rectangular table, filled with many assortments of silverware and fancy-looking glasses, a long piece of fabric that ran from one side of the table to the other, and several plants in vases which was a strange sight to see after a long time walking in the barren desert. Wander and Sylvia sat on two chairs on the same side next to the princess, who sat opposite the pregnant blue-eyed woman who kept giving the princess strange glares (and who, now that Sylvia paid closer attention, Paul seemed closer with than with his so-called wife). Paul, meanwhile, sat in the middle, where he could oversee the entire table, and he looked so regal that all that was missing was a golden light emitting from behind him. The athletic curly-haired man with stained lips, on the other hand, stood behind Paul’s chair on the right (or left from Paul’s side). The servants poured water into Wander and Sylvia’s glasses, and it was some of the most pure-looking crystal clear water Sylvia had ever seen, or maybe that was just her thirst talking.

Wander and Sylvia both immediately chugged down their glasses the second the servants stopped pouring. The water felt so cool and refreshing They forgot they should’ve drank a bit more politely in the presence of royalty, but they were so thirsty that they probably wouldn’t have cared anyway.

“Aahh, that hits the spot.” Sylvia sighed after finishing her entire glass and leaned back in her seat, her and Wander’s mouth completely soaked and covered in undrunk water due to how quickly they drank.

“I’m glad,” Paul said monotonously, although he and the two women on the table gave them weird stares.

Wander and Sylvia both belched loudly. “Oops, excuse me,” Wander said, feeling embarrassed. Paul and the two women just stared at them even more.

“While we’re here, I’ve only just now remembered that I forgot to introduce the people close to me. I apologize for that.” Paul spoke up. He gestured to each person, first to the blue-eyed woman. “This is my beloved Chani. Then he gestured to the curly-haired man. “This is my mentat, Duncan Idaho.”

“Charmed.” Duncan Idaho said with a smile.

“What’s a ‘mentat’?” Sylvia asked.

“Someone who’s been trained to be highly skilled in logic, computing and cognitive thinking far beyond that of an ordinary human. We use them to replace thinking machines like computers. Your galaxy still relies on computers, doesn’t it?” Paul asked.

“Well, I mean, we don’t use them all the time, at least Wander and I don’t, but I’d say yeah,” Sylvia answered a bit hesitantly.

“That’s going to be one of the major advantages in the alliance of our two galaxies, we can help expand and advance your minds in ways never seen before. You won’t need computers or any other thinking machine anymore.”

“Uh…that’s great…I guess.” Sylvia hesitated again, she didn’t really know how to feel about that statement that Paul gave.

Paul saw that the blonde woman was staring at him, smiling a little, like she was gesturing him to do something, which caused him to sigh. “Oh, right, this is my wife, the Princess Irulan.” Paul introduced her with no enthusiasm at all, while Irulan greetingly smiled at Wander and Sylvia. This pretty much confirm Sylvia’s suspicions, this and the fact that Chani was the pregnant one while Irulan wasn’t.

“So, what’re we eating? I’m starving.” Sylvia said, now suddenly a lot more energetic and enthusiastic than she was before, trying to change the subject.

“The food has arrived. Why don’t you see for yourself?” Paul said blankly as the servants entered the dining hall with many trays of food and drinks.

Sylvia just realized something about Paul. He spoke really formally and monotonously. Way too formally in Sylvia’s opinion. The way he spoke just sounded really unnatural. Not a single person she’s ever met, even the most stuck-up noble leaders, ever spoke like Paul did. It sort of made listening to Paul pretty unbearable for Sylvia.

The servants placed an entire row of food and drinks on the table. It was like staring into paradise for Wander and Sylvia, there was no way to describe the joy they felt seeing the colorful arrangements of cuisines that were in front of them after spending all day seeing nothing but dry sand. Wander decided to take the fruits, while Sylvia decided to take the sandwiches cakes, which were topped with sugar, seeds, and candied fruits. The servants gave Wander and Sylvia extra glasses and poured two different drinks in the glasses, one was filled with coffee, while the other was what Sylvia presumed to be beer. Paul, the princess, and the pregnant Fremen woman didn’t take the same stuff Wander and Sylvia did, they instead just drank water and wine, and their food was simply rice.

“So, I was wondering, what’s the deal with your eyes?” Wander asked as he took a bite out of his apple.

“I’m sorry?” Paul asked back.

“I mean…no offense, but I just noticed that you and almost everyone here has completely blue eyes, but Duncan and the Princess don’t. Even Vader’s officers didn’t have them. Is there a reason behind that, because I think they look pretty neat.

“It’s caused by the spice,” Paul answered.

“The spice caused your eyes to turn blue?” Sylvia asked as well while eating her sandwich.

“More precisely, it’s from long exposure to spice. A common symptom of spice addiction, usually. When the spice enters your body, it oxidizes, causing it to turn blue, which then leads the eyes to turn blue. The Fremen live in an environment where spice is everywhere and where it originates from, thus why our eyes are all blue, and Irulan and Duncan’s aren’t, because they weren’t on Arrakis or spice addicts.” Paul explained.

“Woah, that’s pretty cool,” Wander said, looking at Irulan and Duncan.

Sylvia finished her sandwiches and then took a bite from her piece of cake, and the taste was absolutely amazing, it was sweet in all the right ways. It completely mesmerized her.

“Oh, Wander! You’ve got to try this stuff!” Sylvia said enthusiastically with a full mouth.

Wander stopped chewing on his apple and decided to take a piece of cake, and when he took a bite, his reaction was exactly the same as Sylvia, except it almost looked like he was gonna have fireworks burst out of him.

“Wow! You were right, Syl! These are delicious!” Wander exclaimed.

“Whaddya put in these?” Sylvia asked Paul with her mouth full.

“Those are tabara, a Fremen desert. It’s a honey cake, and it’s stuffed with sugar, honey, fruit, and spice.” Paul answered, not looking up from his meal.

Sylvia nearly spit the food out of her mouth, but luckily stopped herself and managed to swallow it. “This cake has spice in it?”

“Not just the cake, the coffee, the beer, the sandwiches, and a lot of the food in front of you has spice as a primary ingredient.” Paul gestured to the food on the table.

Sylvia looked into her cup of coffee. “You even put it in the coffee?”

“You should feel honoured. Spice-based food and beverage is something only the richest of the rich in my empire usually get to delight in. This is a rare opportunity, you might not get it too often.” Paul said.

Sylvia put her cake down silently. She couldn’t exactly put her finger on it, but Sylvia felt kind of suspicious about how much spice Paul seemed to be trying to feed her and Wander, considering they just said this is apparently a highly addictive substance with long-lasting effects as evidenced by everyone’s unnaturally blue eyes. Wander, on the other hand, finished his piece of cake, licked his fingers vigorously, and went and grabbed four more pieces to put on his plate. He even finished his spice coffee and spice beer.

“Oh boy, this is the best stuff I’ve ever tasted!” Wander exclaimed.

“Wander, I don’t think you should–” Sylvia was about to stop Wander from consuming more of the spice food, but she stopped when she noticed Paul was staring at her with a raised eyebrow. “Heheh…um…I think I need to go to the bathroom. Can you tell me where it is?” Sylvia asked nervously.

“It’s down the hall to the left,” Paul answered, his head resting on his hand, and his dark blue eyes stared at her intently.

“Thanks, buddy. I’ll be right back.” Sylvia said as she got up from her chair and left the dining hall.

“That’s weird. Sylvia said zbornaks only go to the bathroom once every five months, and she only went to the bathroom last month. Nah, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Wander shrugged it off and continued eating his cake.

“Your friend doesn’t trust me,” Paul said, not looking up from his meal.

“What? Oh, Sylvia sometimes can be a little rough around the edges once in a while, but she’s usually pretty friendly to everyone she meets.” Wander tried to explain.

Paul didn’t say anything, he kept chewing his food while looking down, not making any eye contact with Wander. After a while, Paul finally looked at Wander and spoke.

“How old are you, Wander?” Paul suddenly asked.

“What?”

“I can see it in your eyes, you may act like a childish vagabond, but there are a thousand years of history behind those eyes, most bright and good, but underneath there’s something dark that powers the light. What drives you to help people?” Paul asked again.

“I don’t…” Wander was starting to get a bit nervous.

“Even the kindest of heroes don’t just start helping random people out of nowhere. There’s always a driving force, something terrible must exist in order to awaken and power up the greatness within. What was your driving force?”

Wander understood what Paul was trying to ask, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything, he just rubbed his arm and looked to the side. “I don’t know if I really wanna talk about it right now.”

“That’s fine,” Paul said. “That allows me to get straight to the point. I’ve heard you’ve bested many conquerors, tyrants, and warlords, like Lord Hater, Major Threat, Emperor Awesome, and Lord Dominator, many times, yet they’re still running about. Why is that? How exactly do you overcome them? I’ve heard stories, but second-hand stories are never all that reliable, and I prefer to get it directly from the source. So please, enlighten me.” Paul asked, watching Wander while awaiting his answer.

Out in the hallways of the palace, Sylvia snuck around the corridors, avoiding the sight of the guards and the servants constantly lurking around every turn and corner. Sylvia was going around checking every room in the palace, she knew there was something fishy about this place, but she had nothing to prove her suspicions. The fact there was an armada as big as the one she and Wander saw outside was odd enough, but she needed something more concrete. Sylvia checked many rooms , meeting rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, training rooms, but she still hasn’t found anything that actually warranted suspicion. She came across a large pair of double doors on the edge of the enormous corridor she was in, so she decided that would be worth a try. If she opened them and still found nothing, she’d just go straight back to the dining hall and join Wander again, not that it would get rid of her distrust of Paul.

She kicked the double doors open (although she realized she should’ve tested to see if they were actually locked first), and inside she found an enormous library. Tall shelves reaching the ceiling filled to the brim with books of all sizes, colorful scrolls, cassette tapes, and things that looked like tiny projectors. Sylvia didn’t really know where to start, and there was no way she’d check every book, so she figured there has to be some place around here that’s obvious to start with. In the center of the enormous library, she found a large writing desk (why does everything in this palace have to be so needlessly big? Sylvia thought) that was stacked with many books and piles of paper as well as inks and voice recorders. Sylvia approached it, analyzing the different books. The first book she noticed was called ‘Ecology and Culture of Arrakis’, which if memory served her correct, was the name of the planet Paul came from, so she decided to take a look at it. Sylvia was never too big of a reader, and she knew Paul would start to suspect something if she was gone too long, so she had to look through these books as quickly as possible.

The first book she picked up talked mostly about the environment and conditions of Paul’s home planet, as well as the culture of the Fremen people who follow Paul. Sylvia read out the words that stood out to her most and she felt could be important.

“Arrakis…Arrakeen…sandworms?...Shai-Hulud?...woah, these people had to live alongside giant worms? That’s pretty impressive.” Sylvia thought aloud to herself. She continued to read. “Spice melange…sand trouts?...the spice comes from where?! Okay, now I’m really glad I didn’t continue eating those cakes. Wait, did my sandwiches have spice in them too?” Sylvia asked herself, but quickly shrugged it off because the idea was just too gross to think about and she wanted to get this over with quickly.

“Ah, something about the Fremen! Hmm…sietches…stillsuits? Is that what they’ve been wearing?...woah, it does all that?...crysknife, so that’s what they’re called…made from the tooth of a sandworm…Amtal rule?...a duel…pushed to the limits…” Sylvia read aloud to herself. Sylvia felt she’d read everything important to be found in the book, so she closed it and decided to check out another one.

Sylvia looked at the other books, but only now noticed something about them. “They’re all about him?!” Sylvia exclaimed quietly in disbelief. She looked at the titles, and every single one of them had ‘Muad’Dib’ in the title; ‘A Manual of Muad’Dib’, ‘The Sayings of Muad’Dib’, ‘The Wisdoms of Muad’Dib’, ‘Words of Muad’Dib, ‘Private Reflections on Muad’Dib’, ‘Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib, ‘Muad’Dib, The Man’?! It was all too much for Sylvia. She checked the authors of each book as well, and when she saw who it was, Sylvia groaned and rolled her eyes even more. “And they’re all written by his wife?! Geez, how much of an ego trip do ya need, pal?”

Sylvia saw a book that looked unfinished, still in the process of being written. She checked the title which read ‘The History and Life of Muad’Dib’ by Princess Irulan, which made Sylvia roll her eyes again but she decided this might be the most helpful book to explain what in the world was going on around here.

Sylvia flipped through the pages, only noting whatever looked important to her, and she didn’t understand most of what was written at all. “Let’s see, there’s gotta be something in here…Caladan…House Atreides…son of Duke Leto…Lady Jessica…Bene Gesserit…Kwisatz Haderach…Emperor Shaddam IV…the Harkonnens…the Baron…Feyd-Rautha…Dr. Yueh…Arrakis…bla bla bla…” Sylvia skimmed through the pages. But then she got to the second half of the manuscript, where there were a lot more words and passages which grabbed her attention, and the more she read on the more her eyes widened and more horrified she became. “…the betrayal…the attack on Arrakis…the Sardaukar…the death of Duke Leto…Missionaria Protectiva?…implanted myths and superstitions…the Lisan-al-Gaib…overthrowing and banishing Emperor Shaddam…‘my father’?!...Muad’Dib’s jihad?...holy war of purification?...forty religions wiped out?!...ninety planets sterilized?!...five-hundred worlds demoralized?!...61 billion people killed?!...so far?!’ Oh, no…Wander!”

Back in the dining hall, Wander was in the middle of answering Paul’s questions, Chani and Irulan listening intently as well, but not saying anything.

“Well. y’know, I just try to distract them from doing their big bad evil villain things and all, and encourage them to try fun things and nice stuff instead so that they can see that it’s much better to be good than to be bad.” Wander explained in his usual cheery manner.

Paul and Chani didn’t seem too convinced by Wander, though, as they did nothing but stare at him skeptically.

“What you’re saying is…you annoy your enemies from doing bad things and that helps them revoke their cruel ways?” Chani asked, which was the first time Wander heard her speak.

“I guess in short terms you could say that. Whatever helps bring out the good in the bad. As you said, Paul, you need a little driving force to bring out the inner greatness in you.” Wander said.

Paul and Chani continued to stare at Wander, although their stares are pretty different from each other now. Chani still seemed skeptical, and it seemed as though she has stopped trying to take Wander seriously. Paul, on the other hand, actually started to seem intrigued by Wander’s technique in a way, as his skeptical stare was now gone.

Paul got up from his seat and faced the wall he walked up to. Paul then asked a question with his eyes closed. “Wander, do you want to help everyone in this galaxy at any cost?”

“Why of course I do!” Wander answered happily with no hesitation.

“You are considered a hero among everyone in this galaxy, Wander. I’ll need the help of someone they can trust.” Paul explained.

“To do what?”

“To spread my message, to let everyone know that I can help them. You want to help your galaxy and so do I. If we want this galaxy to be a safe place where warlords and conquerors shall no longer roam free to take over any world they want, we not only need to join forces to fight them, but give everyone else the strength to fight back too, and not even the most ruthless tyrant shall ever be able to conquer another world.”

“Yeah! We teach everyone to stand up to bullies! And once we do that, we can help change the villains for the better!” Wander added, but Paul didn’t seem too satisfied with Wander’s statement.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Wander,” Paul said plainly.

“What? Why not?”

“The conquerors of this galaxy would simply be too much of a threat to be left alive, no doubt they’d jump at the opportunity to overthrow me and take revenge on you when they see the chance. Besides, I’m making a promise to the inhabitants of this galaxy that I will rid every conqueror in it and bring safety and security to every planet, I’d be going against that promise if I kept them alive, and I doubt the people I promised would be happy about that.” Paul explained.

“But…”

“You can be a great ally to my empire, Wander. Not only will you help spread the messages of Muad’Dib along with your own messages of kindness, but you can help us take down even this galaxy’s most powerful warlord with ease. Once every conqueror in this galaxy is gone, your galaxy will officially become part of the great Atreides Empire, where it will not only be free and safe from any warlord and tyrant, but it will advance like never before. Technology will increase, political power will increase, the economy will increase, and your galaxy will become more great and powerful than ever before! So I ask you again, Wander…what say you?”

Wander didn’t really know what to answer, he was starting to feel a bit unsettled by Paul and what he seems to be planning. “I, uh…don’t thin-”

Suddenly, the doors of the dining hall crashed open, which made everyone in the room jump. Sylvia stood at the entrance, out of breath but ready to fight.

“Grop, this place is a labyrinth! Wander, stay away from that guy!” Sylvia warned, pointing at Paul.

“What? Why?” Wander asked.

“Why don’t you tell him yourself, Paul,” Sylvia said to the emperor, venom dripping from her voice when she said his name. “Tell Wander about what happened to the people in your own galaxy! Your own empire! 61 billion killed?! Was that your idea of ‘helping’ them? Of ‘improving their lives’?”

“What?!” Wander exclaimed and looked at Paul.

“So you learned about that,” Paul said. He didn’t even sound angry, he sounded sort of…sad, or disappointed.

“Were ya hoping I wouldn’t find out? So you could Wander and I into joining you? Fat chance, buddy! I knew there was something off about you! That armada outside wouldn’t just be used for exploring a new galaxy!” Sylvia shouted. “So why don’t you tell us the truth, Paul? About why you’re really here. You wanna kill us off to expand your empire?!”

Paul remained quiet for a while, doing nothing but staring at Wander and Sylvia. “The truth? Fine, then, I’ll tell you what’s going on. Remember when I said I had prescient abilities?”

“What?” Sylvia said.

Paul continued, his voice now no longer trying to sound friendly and welcoming, but instead cold, empty, and full of dread. “Even before I ever met the Fremen and became Muad’Dib, I always felt like there was a…terrible purpose that awaited me. But as terrible as it is, I did what was necessary for humanity’s, and now possibly yours and other creatures of the universe’s survival.”

“Necessary?! Sixty billion people were destroyed because of you!” Sylvia retorted.

“Yes, I am fully aware of that. But I didn’t come to this galaxy myself to encourage more destruction, but to minimize it. I feel there is great potential with having intelligent alien life by our side.”

“‘Minimize’? So you’re not against destroying a few more planets and killing a few million more people to fulfil your ‘purpose’, huh?!” Sylvia glared into Paul’s blue eyes, and this time Paul glared back, his voice becoming harsher.

“Do you want to know what I’ve seen will happen should I fail my purpose?! A universe without change, with no future. A universe where everyone is doomed to stagnation and destruction. I’ve seen that universe, every other path besides the one I take now will lead to it! I will do my duty as the Kwisatz Haderach, I will bring the religion of Muad’Dib and the Atreides Empire to this galaxy no matter what, and if I have to destroy sixty billion more lives or ruin their way of life to do my duty, then so be it.” Paul ended with a sinister tone. “I am doing this to save the universe as we know it. Surely you, Wander, who has saved countless lives in the past, can understand. I am saving lives too, I’m saving all lives, but I must take a darker path in order to achieve that. Will you not help me, save the entire universe?” Paul asked, this time with a softer tone.

Sylvia and Wander backed away and stared at Paul, Sylvia’s eyes wide with horror, while Wander’s was filled with disappointment. She realized what Paul really was. He wasn’t just another villain doing evil just for the sake of it. He wasn’t some overgrown spoiled entitled child given too much power like all the other villains were. He was delusional. Completely and utterly out of his mind. He didn’t wanna destroy the galaxy, and he didn’t just wanna conquer it. He wanted to colonize it, bend it to his will, turn its inhabitants into his brainwashed followers, and reshape it into just another piece of his cruel empire and erase any form of unique identity the galaxy had. The thought of that terrified Sylvia way more than Dominator’s near-total destruction of the galaxy ever had.

Paul noticed their faces, and he looked disappointed. “But I suppose you already have your answers. That’s a shame, though I suppose I knew you might never accept.”

“Let’s get outta here!” Sylvia shouted as she grabbed Wander, placed him on her back and ran away as quickly as she could.

“Stop them!” Paul shouted from within the dining hall.

Duncan unsheathed his rapier and chased after them, as he closed in on them in the halls with his rapier in hand, Sylvia turned around and quickly punched him as hard as she could, which sent him flying far backwards. He landed next to Paul’s feet, who was watching what happened from the dining hall’s entrance alongside Chani and Princess Irulan. Duncan didn’t seem to be moving at all, or breathing.

“Duncan? Are you okay?” Paul asked.

“Oh, no! They destroyed Duncan Idaho!” Irulan said in horror.

“Relax, everyone. I’m here.” Duncan said from behind them, walking up the hall, despite his body still lying down on the floor in front of Paul.

“What?! But…how?!” Sylvia exclaimed in disbelief.

“We always have a backup Duncan,” Paul answered plainly.

Sylvia still looked really confused, but brushed it off immediately. “You know what? Never mind!” she said, and she continued running away.

Running down the halls, Wander and Sylvia could hear the marches of a hundred Fremen soldiers coming towards them. Out of every corner and turn, a guard lunges towards them with dual crysknives in their hands, but Sylvia and Wander were had quick enough reaction time to dodge and or jump over them. They continue to run down the halls, now with a whole platoon chasing behind them. Wander and Sylvia looked ahead, only to see another platoon running towards them from the frontside. Sylvia had an idea, she slowed down her running slightly, just enough for the soldiers behind them to be within reach. Once they were near the soldiers running from the front, Sylvia leaped in the air while the two platoon of Fremen soldiers collided with each other. Sylvia ran on top of the soldiers’ heads while avoiding the crysknives of those trying to attack from underneath her.

Sylvia finally jumped off the soldiers to the hallway behind them, and quickly rushed to the front gates of the palace. She managed to get out of the palace, but Paul’s forces weren’t far behind.

“Wander, now’s the time!” Sylvia said.

“On it, Syl!” Wander replied as he reached into his hat and pulled out the bottle of orbble juice. They weren’t far into the desert and were still under the shadow of the palace, so the orbble shouldn’t pop from the heat.

Wander quickly formed the orbble around them, and they quickly took to the air. But before they could get high enough in the air, a Fremen soldier leaped up in the air as well and popped the orbble with his crysknife, causing Wander and Sylvia to fall back to the ground.

The duo quickly got back up when they saw the soldiers walking toward them, and Paul has now showed up too, joined by Stilgar. Wander got on Sylvia’s back and Sylvia immediately started running, deciding to take their chance in the desert. But again, before they could get far, they were stopped dead in their tracks, this time by a voice unlike anything they’ve heard before.

“S T O P!” the voice shouted, its sound rattled their bones, and they felt their vision going blurry. “C O M E

H E R E! K N E E L! ” the voice commanded again.

Wander and Sylvia regained their consciousness, feeling like they just passed out for a second. They now found themselves on their knees and right in front of Paul, pretty far from where they were previously. Sylvia knew from the look on Paul’s face that the voice came from him, though how or why it managed to sound like that was beyond her.

“Don’t think running to the desert will save you. The desert is our home. My Fedaykin death commandos will hunt you down with ease.” Paul said, his face still as emotionless as ever.

The Fedaykin (as they’re apparently called) all held their crysknives up to Wander and Sylvia’s throats, preparing for their execution.

“Wait, Paul, there’s other ways of helpin’ the galaxy where you don’t have to hurt anyone, not even us or the villains. We don’t have to do this.” Wander tried to reason with Paul while smiling nervously.

“I’m sorry, Wander, but if I let you and Sylvia leave to warn the galaxy of me, it will ruin the chances of getting the it to join my empire willingly, which will only lead to far worse outcomes. I’m afraid I have no choice but to rid of you both.” Paul said, gesturing to his Fedaykin to carry out the deed.

“We could not let you live anyway. Nobody who witnessed a crysknife must be allowed to leave the planet alive.” Stilgar said, staring at Wander and Sylvia coldly.

The Fedaykin troops all raised their crysknives, preparing to get rid of Wander and Sylvia for good. They strike their knives down, but before they land their blows…

“WAIT!” Sylvia shouted, causing the Fedaykin to stop their knives from landing.

“What is it?” Paul asked.

“I invoke the…the uh…oh grop, what was it called? The Ang Tall? The Am tall? The Amtal! I invoke the Amtal! I invoke it!”

The Fedaykin all looked shocked, and they all looked at each other.

“You know the Amtal?” Stilgar asked. He never would have expected Sylvia to say that.

“Yeah, I challenge you, Paul! If I win the fight, you’ll let Wander and I go, and you’ll leave this galaxy immediately and never come back!” Sylvia declared.

Paul didn’t seem fazed by Sylvia’s challenge, he just looked her up and down, as if trying to look for something. “Are you sure that’s wise? Do you actually know what you’re getting yourself into?” he asked.

“Of course I do! I assure you, buddy, I can beat you at your strongest, in fact I dare you to not pull any punches, I wanna fight you at your strongest, ‘cause I’ll show you that this galaxy isn’t to be messed with! So whaddya say, Paul? You accept? Or is the ‘Emperor of the Universe’ too chicken? Buck buck buck!” Sylvia challenged Paul, and started doing a very childish chicken impression to provoke him, which only got an annoyed stare out of him.

Paul closed his eyes for a moment, as if he was seeing something in his own mind, and then he opened them again. “Very well, I accept. You shall be Wander’s champion.”

Less than an hour later, not far from the palace, in the midst of tall desert pillars of rocks, a crowd of Fremen were preparing to witness the duel between Emperor Paul Muad’Dib and Sylvia the Zbornak. Wander was tied up to make sure he didn’t try anything, and Sylvia practice by herself by punching the air.

“Sylvia, are you sure this is a good idea?” Wander asked.

“Don’t worry, buddy. Nothing would motivate me more than the idea of punching that creep Paul in the face!” Sylvia said with determination.

Paul finally showed up, wearing his stillsuit but no visible weapons. His face was as calm as ever, but it was ready to fight. Sylvia then saw Chani walk up to her, holding a crysknife, but she didn’t seem to want to attack her.

“I’m giving you this,” Chani said.

“Why’re you giving me this?” Sylvia asked.

“The crysknife is very valued amongst my people. You are very brave to challenge Muad’Dib like that. I want you to at least die with honour holding this.” Chani offered the crysknife.

“No thanks, lady. Appreciate the offer, but you have way too low hopes for me. Besides, I wanna try and take down your emperor with my bare fists. My two most trusted companions, the Lady Haymaker and the Duchess of Wailing!” Sylvia brought up and introduced her fists.

Chani just looked at Sylvia blankly. “That’s a shame, but if you insist.”

“Well, gotta go. I got an emperor who needs some serious butt-kicking.” Sylvia said as she ran off into the ‘arena’.

“Be careful, Sylvia!” Wander shouted.

Sylvia met Paul in the arena, who was still unarmed. It seemed Paul wanted to go about this bare-handed too. His stance was still calm, not the stance of someone about to fight.

“You ready for this, Paul?” Sylvia asked with a confident smile, her fists raised in preparation to fight. Paul said nothing.

Sylvia leaped in the air towards Paul, preparing the strongest punch she could muster up, yelling as she did. She thrust her fist forward to make the punch, only to feel it hit something that instead of hurting Paul, instead ended up hurting herself.

“OOWWW!!!” Sylvia screamed in pain and anger, shaking her hurt hand. She saw what was going on, Paul was now visibly surrounded by a blue energy field that wrapped around his body, which seemed to be completely unharmed.

“A shield?! That’s not fair!” Sylvia complained.

“You said you didn’t want me to pull any punches and to fight me at my strongest,” Paul said.

Sylvia wanted to argue, but she stopped herself. “Oh yeah, I did say that,” Sylvia murmured to herself.

Paul then pulled out a crysknife, he tapped it on his shield which the shield predictably repels, but then moves the blade to his hand slowly, which it actually penetrates the shield and touches his hand.

“Holtzman Shield,” Paul said. “It repels any fast-moving attacks, and only slow attacks can penetrate it.” He explained further. “The Amtal rule is used to test something’s strength, to push it to its very limits, and that’s exactly what I am going to do.”

“Ooh grop, this can’t be good,” Sylvia said to herself.

Paul leaps towards her with his knife raised, and Sylvia manages to dodge him, as well as Paul slashing the knife in her direction several times. Sylvia ducks another slash and punches Paul in the stomach from below, but again the shield blocks it. The punch was strong enough to knock Paul back, though he was still standing and unfazed. Paul lunged forward again, and when Sylvia dodged him again and Paul ran past her, Paul attempted to strike her from behind, but luckily Sylvia dodged that attack too. Sylvia tried to attack back by throwing punches, kicks, tail smacks, a lot of the powerful enough to send Paul back flying, but the shield kept making her attacks useless, and Paul always got right back up as if nothing happened.

Sylvia was honestly shocked at how good Paul was at this fight. Usually the villains she fought were never great fighter and always had an army or fancy weapons and or superpowers to make up for it, Paul had no superpowers (save for his prescience and that weird voice power, Sylvia guessed) and only had a knife as a weapon, yet he was giving Sylvia a hard time keeping up. Paul wasn’t just quick, he was pretty accurate too with his attacks, Sylvia only narrowly missed getting hit most of the time, it’s pretty clear Paul has been trained to fight for years. Sylvia was starting to feel worn out, no matter how many blows she delivers, the shield always repels them, and she could never bring herself to deliver a slow attack, and even when she did Paul was quick to react, so it was pretty much hopeless, and all Sylvia could do was keep dodging and hope she miraculously manages to destroy the shield or Paul tires himself out, which seemed very unlikely.

Sylvia just noticed something on Paul’s left hand, it was some sort of device with a button on it. She suspected that must be the switch to Paul’s shield, considering that his right hand didn’t have one and she’s pretty sure it wasn’t there before. That seemed like Sylvia’s best option to beat Paul, but the shield was still in the way and there was no way she’d be able to make a slow attack without the risk of getting stabbed by Paul. Or was there?

Sylvia finally had an idea of what to do. She ran towards Paul with a confident grin on her face, and Paul was preparing to attack. As Sylvia got close, Paul thrust his crysknife forward, which Sylvia stopped by grabbing his arm with her tail and raised it to make sure Paul couldn’t make any moves. Sylvia then grabbed Paul’s left arm with her hands, and while one hand held the arm in place, the other attempted to get past the shield, and it seemed to be working as the shield flashed red and Sylvia didn’t feel her hand getting repelled, all that was left to do was to turn off the shield. Unfortunately, Sylvia forgot to account for Paul’s legs.

Paul kneed Sylvia hard in her chest, and Sylvia winced in pain as she felt the wind knocked out of her. As soon as Sylvia’s grip on Paul’s arm loosened, Paul freed his left arm and punched Sylvia in the face, the shield giving his blow more power, and Sylvia was knocked back, and Paul’s right arm was free now too. Paul lunged forward and made a slashing movement with his knife again, which Sylvia manages to dodge by moving her head back yet again, but then Paul saw an opportunity and struck Sylvia in the head by moving his knife back the way it came and hit her head with the butt of his knife, which managed to knock Sylvia to the ground.

Sylvia’s head hurt real bad, and she could feel herself becoming disoriented. Paul walked over to her, kneeled down with one knee on Sylvia’s chest, as he now held the crysknife with both his hands, raised it high, and then plunged the knife down at full speed, aiming for Sylvia’s neck. Sylvia managed to catch Paul’s hands with her own, pushing the knife back with all the strength she could muster, as Paul did the same. It was quite the struggle, Sylvia and Paul both pushing against each other, all while Paul’s crysknife was mere inches from Sylvia’s neck. Sylvia was sweating like crazy, so much sweat that the Fremen would’ve cried at how much water was being lost, and Sylvia could feel Paul staring to overpower her, but she wasn’t going out so easily. Paul’s knife was now starting to move closer, Sylvia’s hands still mustering up the last of their strength to hold it back, but the knife was slowly moving toward her inch by inch.

Sylvia suddenly felt something strange happen with their hands, and it seemed Paul felt it too, as they both looked at their hands to see what was going on. Sylvia’s hands have penetrated the shield, which was now flashing red, and she could actually feel Paul’s hands. Sylvia realized what happened, the slow movement of their struggle allowed her hand to get past the shield. Sylvia was filled with an inordinate amount of joy and determination.

“Ha ha!” Sylvia laughed victoriously at Paul, and in turn his eyes widened.

Sylvia pressed the button, and she could see the blue energy field surrounding Paul’s body quickly fade away. She quickly took her chance as Sylvia wrapped her tail around one of Paul’s legs, got up to her feet in the blink of an eye, and started slamming Paul back and forth into the ground by his leg. Sylvia slammed Paul into the ground so many times, and Paul finally let go of his crysknife around the fourth or fifth slam and the knife went flying off, landing on the other side of the arena, it kinda scared Sylvia it took that long for Paul to let go of the knife. After repeatedly slamming Paul into the ground, Sylvia then lifted him up upside down by his foot and started punching Paul repeatedly in the face as if he was a human punching bag, Wander and all the Fremen gasped at just how much Sylvia was brutally overpowering Paul. As soon as Sylvia was done punching Paul, she throws him to the ground.

Paul laid face-down on the ground, his face full of bruises, and he could barely get up anymore, let alone fight. It was pretty clear to both of them who had the upper hand now. Sylvia could hear a lot of the Fremen getting angry and starting to yell at her.

“Had enough…Paul?” Sylvia said, out of breath.

Paul did nothing but turn his head around to look up at her, and Sylvia could tell from his look that there was something wrong going on.

“Yes…you have bested me. But now you’ll have to finish the job.” Paul wheezed.

“What?” Sylvia asked, confused by what he meant, though she had a sneaking suspicion of what it was.

“There is no yielding in the Amtal rule, only death is the test of it,” Stilgar said from within the crowd.

“I had a feeling you didn’t fully understand what you threw yourself into, but now there is no going back. Proceed with it, Sylvia.” Paul said, as he managed to get up back to his feet, though his balance was bad. Paul left himself wide open for Sylvia to attack and closed his eyes. “I am no longer able to fight back. Take your chance.”

Sylvia hesitantly raised a fist, preparing to deliver a beating to Paul, but she couldn’t do it. She just stood there, her fist raised but not moving, just shivering in place, and she just stared at Paul nervously. Paul was calm the entire time, and after moments of not feeling anything, he opened his eyes, and Sylvia could tell Paul knew what was going on.

“I knew it. Even with all your great strength and amazing fighting skills, you’ve never actually killed anyone, have you?” Paul asked, knowing the answer.

Paul was right. Sylvia has fought and beaten hundreds upon thousands of enemies, from Watchdogs, robots, and giant monsters, but she’s never actually killed any of them. Even the few times she’s destroyed something, she usually had the pleasure of never directly witnessing it herself. Sylvia still stood with her fist raised, still not delivering the punch. She looked at Wander, secretly hoping he might have a way out of this, and she saw Wander pleadingly shaking his head at her, gesturing her not to do it. Finally, Sylvia had enough.

“RAAGGHH!!!” Sylvia yelled as she wrapped her tail around Paul’s neck and lifted and pulled him right towards her face where they can see eye to eye. Sylvia looked at Paul with complete anger, while Paul still kept on his calm emotionless face. “Alright, fine! I admit, I can’t kill you! But I beat you fair and square! You lost the fight, Paul, and you know it! So keep your end of the deal!”

Paul stared into Sylvia’s eyes, his unnatural dark blue eyes feeling like they’re gazing into her soul. “A true leader must never go back on his word. Very well then, you and Wander are free to leave.”

“Really?” Sylvia said as she made her tail let go of Paul’s neck, she almost didn’t expect Paul to actually fulfil his promise.

Paul rubbed his neck before continuing. “But unfortunately, the conquest on your galaxy will still continue.”

“What?!” Sylvia exclaimed. “But we had a deal!”

“We did,” Paul said. “But when you invoke the Amtal, the deal isn’t fulfilled until your opponent has been killed, and since you did defeat me but didn’t kill me, I, unfortunately, can only fulfill half of the deal.”

“B–But…” Sylvia tried to argue, but she knew there was no point. Paul was right, she threw herself into a situation she didn’t fully understand, and she obviously won’t be able to change Paul’s mind. The fact that Paul allowed them to leave at all was already a miracle in Sylvia’s eyes, so she might as well take that chance. But she should’ve expected that nothing that happened to herself and Wander was ever gonna be that easy.

“She committed violence on Muad’Dib!” a Fremen in the crowd shouted.

“She’s a blasphemer!” Another shouted.

“Kill the blasphemer!”

“What?! Oh, come on!” Sylvia said, outraged by the crowd’s response to her victory.

“Everyone, please. She won the fight fairly. Allow them the dignity of mercy.” Paul tried to reason with the crowd, which actually quite surprised Sylvia, but it had no effect.

“I’m sorry, Usul. But any heresy and blasphemy committed against you must be met with death. Besides, they both have witnessed the crysknife many times, yet they still live, and no outworlder must be allowed to leave the planet alive after witnessing the crysknife.” Stilgar said, which the entire crowd all angrily shouted in agreement.

“Oh, grop…” Sylvia murmured nervously to herself, realizing the situation was only getting worse.

Paul looked at the crowd nervously, he seemed to have lost control of the crowd. He turned to Sylvia. “If I were you, I’d get out of here immediately.”

“No need to tell me twice,” Sylvia said, and she did exactly that.

Sylvia rushed towards Wander, who was about to get stabbed by two Fedaykin guards, both of which she punched out, one with her fist and the other with her tail.

“Time to get outta here, buddy!” Sylvia said as she untied the ropes on Wander, placed him on her back, and immediately rushed out of there.

An entire crowd of Fremen had unsheathed their knives and started chasing after them, while Paul still stood in the middle of the arena, doing nothing but staring at them. Wander and Sylvia started running into a narrow passage between two giant pillars of rocks in hopes to slow down the crowd going after them. While they were in there, two Fedaykin jumped down towards them from above, Sylvia jumped up and smacked the both of them away with a spinning swing of her tail. As they approached the end of the passage, they looked behind them to see the crowd was closing in on them.

Wander grabbed the bottle of orbble juice and quickly formed an orrble around themselves, and they immediately took to the air. The crowd behind them tried to jump after the orbble, but to no avail. Suddenly, a Fedaykin trooper jumped up high and attempted to pop the orbble with his crysknife again, but luckily Wander and Sylvia were quicker this time, and they narrowly miss the knife as the Fedaykin trooper fell back to the ground. Several of the Fremen began pulling out small guns which firing darts (most likely poison), but they fortunately seemed to be out of range as the darts fell back to the ground before they could reach them. It seems the guns weren't very long-range.

Wander and Sylvia were now high enough where nobody could touch them, leaving behind a crowd of enraged fanatical Fremen down on the ground below them. They both breathed a sigh a relief, now all that was left to do was to get out of this planet.

From the ground below, Paul looked up at the faraway orbble that was slowly getting smaller the higher it went. He stared at it in silence, but it was clear thoughts were going through his head.

Later on, out in space, Wander and Sylvia strolled in silence, looking back at the desert planet they were on with the dozens of gigantic heighliners hovering above it, a lot of them nearly big enough to fit a planet inside them. Both of them were unsure of how to feel about what just happened or what to do now. Sylvia was the first to speak up.

“Rrgh! That Paul guy makes me so mad! He thinks he’s some high and righteous savior even after killing countless of his own people. ‘Better path for the galaxy’, oh please!” Sylvia ranted, mostly to herself.

“Uh, I don’t know, Sylvia. I mean…Paul wasn’t really that nice of a guy. He wanted to hurt people, to kill all the villains, and I really didn’t like that idea of how to help the galaxy. But at the same time, he wasn’t really evil, he wanted to help people, and he wanted to do the right thing. If we can bring out the good in the villains, then who’s to say we can’t bring out the good in him?” Wander said hopefully.

Sylvia sighed. “I’m sorry, Wander. But just because someone has good intentions, it doesn’t make them any less bad. Sometimes an enemy who isn’t all evil and tries to do good is way more dangerous than someone who’s totally evil for no reason.”

“I’m not sure, Syl. People sometimes get lost and confused trying to do the right thing, and well…if someone’s having trouble doing the right thing, then I wanna help them down the right path, no matter what! Whaddya say, Syl?” Wander asked.

“I’m not sure, buddy. I’m just not sure.” Sylvia answered as honestly as she could.

“But that spice stuff was pretty good, though. I’d wanna try it again sometime.” Wander said.

“Buddy, I think I should probably tell you what that stuff actually was.”

In the palace, Paul sat on his throne, at the end of his ridiculously enormous but nearly empty throne room, that was now darkening due to the setting sun. He was surrounded by all those close to him, Chani, Irulan, Stilgar, and Duncan, and before them at the bottom of the throne’s stairs stood a platoon of Fedaykin, awaiting his announcement.

Paul sat there in silence, a lot of thoughts running through his head, many of them conflicting with each other. He knows what he must do, but deep down he doesn’t want to. He’s tired of feeling guilt weigh down on him all the time. But he eventually decides to repress those feelings yet again and do what he knows must be done for the greater good.

“I suppose there’s no other option,” Paul said to himself before he stood up and unfurled the piece of paper that was revealed to be a wanted poster for Wander and Sylvia, and Paul announced loudly to his followers. “I hereby officially declare Wander and Sylvia as enemies of the Atreides Empire!”

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#wander over yonder #dune #star wars #crossover #fanfic #wander #sylvia #paul atreides #muad'dib #crossover au

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fangirl-creates · 3 years

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ZERO OVER YONDER (FULL FIC)

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1 - Banjo Pluck

“Look, all I’m saying is—would it kill Rippen to just have a little chill once in a while?” The red-headed boy vented to his friends as they walked to the movie theater.

“Penn, Rippen is Rippen. Of course he’s still gonna be rude to you when we’re not saving the Multiverse.” Sashi commented, wanting desperately to hear the end of these complaints spilling out of Penn’s mouth.

“Well yeah, obviously. But today, there was just no end to it! Like even when I was eating lunch, BAM! There he was!” He folded his arms, his face turning about as red as his hair at this point.

Rippen had definitely been more annoying than usual today. The reason? Probably having a bad day and picking on Penn was the only thing that would bring him ‘joy’...if you’d even call it that. And even though Penn had learned to ignore Rippen during times like these, today was one of those ‘impatient’ days for Penn Zero—considering the fact he had stayed up till 3am last night on a count of The Chinchilla bothering him again.

“Don’t worry about it, dude.” Boone put his arm around his friend, patting his back. “I’m sure beating Rippen again will put you in a good mood. Think of it as a way to get back at him.”

“Yeah!” Sashi chimed in. “I’ll even let you kick him in the face this time.” She smiled.

Penn felt a little better, the red from his face fading away. “Thanks, guys.”

The trio stepped onto their usual spots on the zap platform, Penn cracking his knuckles.

“I’m really gonna let him have it today.” He grinned between his teeth.

“Violence must wait till tomorrow!” Phyllis called from her spot on the balcony.

Penn titled his head. “...I don’t understand.”

“You will see.” She pulled the lever, the trio levitating as they were forced into the portal. “GOOD LUCK!”

After the brilliant blue flash, Penn opened his eyes. Space. He saw Space. Below him was the material of some kind of smaller planet he stood on—“Purple-colored dirt” in his Earth vocabulary. But that wasn’t the thing that surprised him...it was the body he was in. It was weirdly insulating, like a very thick fur coat—that’s when he realized he was covered in it. Orange fur coated him from head to toe. The only articles of clothing he was actually wearing were white socks and some slightly worn blue sneakers. He felt..uncomfortable.

“Penn?” Sashi’s voice made itself known.

Penn looked up, a bit surprised she was taller than him now. “Sashi! You’re a—uh….” He studied his friend’s new look. She was blue with a pink mane—yet her body itself was a cross between a horse and a dinosaur. He shrugged it off. “Never mind.” He looked around for the Wiseman. “Where’s Boone?”

“Right here!” A confident voice called, Penn searching for the source.

“Boone? Where are-” He noticed Sashi pointing above his head, to which he realized he was wearing a hat as well. He took it off to find the rather large green hat staring back at him. “Oh.”

“Oh yeah. I definitely feel like a wiseman now…”

“Cause you were on my head and you feel like you can give me knowledge that way.” Penn raised a brow.

Boone did what was an attempted shrug. “Who knows...maybe I’m magic.”

Penn rolled his eyes, placing Boone back on his head. “Okay Sash, check the specs.”

Sashi pressed the side of her glasses, which were now a dark purple to complement the colors of her new form. The holographic image showed up in front of them. “You are a wandering Do-Gooder, and I am your trusty steed and best friend.”

“What about me?” Boone asked, feeling a little left out.

“You’re his hat.” ….She didn’t add anything else.

“Well, I still think I might be magic.” He looked away. “You two just don’t know it yet.”

Sashi rolled her eyes. “Annnnyway, the evil Lord Hater is planning to conquer another innocent planet with his army of Watchdogs. It’s up to us to stop him before he manages to leave the planet successful.” Normally, this was the part where the hologram would disappear, but it lingered.

“All right! Sounds easy enough.” Penn pounded his fists together. “I’ll admit, this body is a little on the weaker side, but I can still give Rippen a good fi-”

“Actually, you can’t use violence at all. I’m the one who can fight them. You stop bad guys by...being nice.” Now the hologram was gone.

Penn suddenly understood what Phyllis meant earlier...and he hated it. “I...I can’t fight him?! Seriously??” His face was turning red again, yet it was hard to tell with the orange fur. “So not only does Rippen get away with all the stuff he did to me today, but now I can’t even GET HIM BACK?!”

“No one said you can’t get him back—you just can’t beat him up.” Sashi folded her arms.

“...Can I at least punch him?”

“No. You’ll ruin the hero’s image.”

Penn covered his face with hands, a muffled scream. He then took a deep breath, calming himself. Thankfully for him, this body seemed to have a very calm mindset...that, and really cheerful one. “Okay...okay, I’ll do my best…for the sake of the mission, and because I don’t want to accidentally break something.” He hopped onto the saddle on Sashi’s back.

“Good choice.” Sashi nodded. “Now how do we get out of here?”

“Don’t look at me—what the??” A small bottle fell onto the ground. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a container for bubble blowing, but it read ‘Orbble juice’, with instructions on the back. Penn shrugged and pulled the wand out, blowing as a large air-tight bubble formed around them, lifting them off the ground. “Now we’re talking!” He yelled out into the bubble, cheerfully. “HEIGH-HO, SYLVIA!”

Sashi and Boone both looked at him.

Penn blinked, not sure what came over him. “S-Sashi...I meant Sashi. Oh, that was weird.”

Thankfully, it was quickly forgotten by the trio, heading on their way to their next destination…

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2 - A Hero’s Image

Rippen looked at himself in the mirror. In all his years as a Part-Time Villain, he had only been a skeleton once. And even then, it was only for a couple minutes. The complete lack of skin made him feel...exposed. But at the same time, the bone seemed hard as nails, so there was that.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted, however, by the rambles of his cheerful minion—who was in the body of a Commander with the exact opposite personality. But that didn’t affect Larry in the slightest. “Isn’t this eyeball head weird? I mean I’m talking, but there’s no mouth! How crazy is that?” He laughed. “How do people even know when I’m speaking?”

Rippen rolled his eyes. “Your pupil moves, Larry.”

Larry looked in the mirror, expressing a smile as much as a watchdog could to the best of their abilities. “Heh, it’s kinda funny how it bounces like that.”

“Can we get on with it, then?” He was having an exceptionally good day...as far as Rippen’s standards go. And he didn’t want this good mood to go to waste.

“Right, right...sorry.” He laughed softly, pressing the side of his glasses, which were now yellow and only one square instead of two. “Okay, you are the evil Lord Hater and I am your Second in Command. Our Mission is to conquer another poor innocent planet before Penn stops you with-” Larry paused, unsure he was reading this right.

“With what? Come on, spit it out.” Rippen pestered.

“Um...friendship.”

Rippen blinked, a bit stunned by what Larry just said. “Maybe it's the lack of ears that makes it hard for me to hear you, but did you say…‘Friendship’?”

“Yep. He’s supposed to be nice to you.” Larry nodded.

Rippen was silent for a moment, then he burst out laughing. “Penn Zero’s forced to be nice to me!” He laughed again. “If we’re lucky, he’ll break under the pressure, completely ruining the hero’s image! And then I can finally become a Full-Time Villain!” When he laughed a third time, however, green lighting shot from his fingertips as he made a ‘rock n roll’ gesture with both of his hands.

Larry narrowly avoided it, but some watchdogs down the hall weren’t so lucky; loud yelps followed by groaning were heard after getting zapped.

“Wait..what just happened?” Rippen looked at the gesture he was making, a bit confused.

“Oh yeah, you got cool lightning powers! I forgot to tell you that…” Larry attempted a smile again.

For once in his life, Rippen was filled with the absolute confidence that this time...this time, he could not only win...but finally annihilate Penn Zero. He laughed one more time, green lighting sparking around him. “This is it, Larry! Victory is finally at hand!”

Friendship...of all the things. He had been nice to Rippen before, sure, but that was often out of pity...or on rare occasions, when he genuinely felt sorry for him. But this was the first time he was forced to do it. And that fact made him upset. Heck, even the phrase ‘Kill em with Kindness’ was starting to sound not understandable anymore. He glanced at Sashi. “Soooo, this whole ‘friendship’ thing…”

Sashi’s eyes met his, despite being focused on the destination.

“Is he like...allergic to it or something? Is he gonna melt if I hug him??”

“No. You’re just being nice to him...for the 100th time.” She mumbled under her breath.

“I know, I know...it’s just...what’s the point of being nice to your enemy if they’re just gonna continue to do you harm? How is this furball even still alive after constantly clashing with this guy?”

It Never hurts to Help. A little voice said in the back of his mind.

Penn blinked. “Boone, did you say something?” He glanced up.

“Uhh no?”

He scratched his head, thinking. If he was really gonna do this, he was gonna do it right. But how?

As if on cue, Boone jumped up, a Banjo seemingly appearing out of nowhere, landing in Penn’s hands. He stared at it. “Uhhh Boone...where did this come from?” He looked up.

Boone just gasped in response. “I AM magic!!” He said triumphantly.

Penn rolled his eyes, holding the banjo awkwardly. When it came to music, Penn considered himself more of a singer than anything else. But Instruments were not his strong suit...still, this Banjo didn’t look unimportant. He held it the right way, his fingers dancing along the frets. And then, as if on command…he started playing. It wasn’t a specific song or anything too complex, just a simple melody that made his friends smile as he continued. It was so strange...he had never played the banjo before, and here he was; playing it like he’d had years of practice. He was so lost in song, that he didn’t realize he was moving around while he did so. Luckily, they had found their destination before Rippen did, so Sashi was able to land on the ground, giving Penn freedom to do...whatever he was doing.

Sashi was amused by this. She had seen Penn dance before, but this was nothing like how he normally did it. This kind of dancing was silly, almost...cartoonish. What was even funnier was that not only did he dance in tune to the music, but he sang along to it as well. Well...more like sing-talking gibberish. Regardless, he seemed really into it. In fact, he got faster with each ‘verse’. It got to a point where he was strumming so fast, one would think the banjo was going to catch fire.

Penn’s chest went up and down as he breathed heavily, stopping finally. The sound of Sashi clapping caught his attention and he immediately realized what was going on. “O-Oh...yeah I didn’t mean to do any of that….” He blushed.

“It was cute.” Sashi commented. “But, you know, like in a funny kind of way.”

“Yeah, But not so good for me…” Boone managed, feeling a bit dizzy from Penn’s rapid dancing and spinning.

Penn cringed. “Ohh oh no. Do you need a minute? Do hats even get sick??” He thought about it for a second. Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud THUD.

All three turned to see a giant Skull Ship land on the planet’s surface. It opened its mouth, a large tongue landing down as watchdogs began to march in formation, chanting ‘Hate’s Great, Best Villain!’ as they did.

Penn watched, standing proudly as he held the banjo close. “Alright…” He took a deep breath. “Time to go to work.”

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3 - Never Hurts to Help

It didn’t take long for Rippen to get the Watchdogs out, the inhabitants of the planet already running away in fear. The Do-Gooders were behind a rather large rock. Not the best hiding spot, but a good temporary one.

“Okay, Sash. That’s your cue.”

Sashi cracked her knuckles, but glanced at her friends before she ran off. “I know you can do this, PZ.” Then she was gone—charging into a group of Watchdogs.

Penn watched, taking a deep breath.

“So what are you gonna do?” Boone asked.

Penn hesitated. “Honestly, I have no idea.” He remembered what Sashi had said earlier...No one said you couldn’t get back at Rippen—you just can’t beat him up. Penn remembered how annoying Rippen was earlier...and for some reason, the mindset of this body seemed to know exactly how to annoy him back. A smirk appeared on his face as he ran to find his enemy.

Rippen was having the time of his life, blasting back at forth. What felt even better was that the creatures feared him the closer he got. He didn’t even care Sashi was punching the Watchdogs left and right—as long as he got his reward, he didn’t care what else went wrong.

“Havin’ fun, Rippen?”

And there it was.

Rippen turned to face the orange ball of fur, a cackle at how tall he was compared to the do-gooder. “Well, Well, Well! If it isn’t Penn Zero!” He raised his hands, pointing them at him as green lighting charged between his fingers—the soft glow illuminating on everyone close enough to see. “I know all about this little requirement of your’s to not hurt me-! So now I only have one thing to say to you—!”

Penn’s heart pounded in his chest. Best case scenario, the plan worked. Worst case scenario, Rippen blasts him into the next dimension.

“—Are you ready to meet your demise?”

Penn cleared his throat, standing casually. “Actually, Rippen ol’ Buddy, I’ve got a question for you.” He sounded so calm despite the fear inside of him.

Rippen raised part of his brow, staring down at his enemy. This day had been going so well for him. And if he destroyed him without hearing the question at all, it would haunt him forever. Rippen shrugged, not letting his guard down. “You know what? Ask away!”

Penn breathed a small sigh of relief, taking a step back. “Well I was just thinking...you must be hungry after this...invasion thing.”

Though he didn’t want to admit it, Rippen was starving. He didn’t understand why, but this body had the need to consume every junk food imaginable. And everything it craved, Rippen had never touched in his life. He made a slightly annoyed face at Penn. “Why would it matter to you?”

“Oh no reason…” He pulled out two sandwiches from behind his back. “Just that...uh..got some sandwiches here. Hate for them to go to waste…” He mocked, waving the scent around Rippen’s nonexistent nose. “Truly...truly a shame.”

Rippen’s stomach made probably one of the loudest sounds a stomach was capable of making—strange, considering Skeletons didn’t even have stomachs. He tried to keep his eyes off the two sandwiches, but it was impossible. “Ugh! Just give them to me—!” He tried to reach, but Penn jumped back.

“What’s that? You do want these?” He grinned. “Well, would you prefer—” He threw the first sandwich at Rippen’s face. “Mustard-?” He jumped over Rippen, throwing the other sandwich on his face when he turned around. “-or Mayo?!” He laughed, landing on his feet.

Rippen angrily wiped the sandwiches from his face, staring at Penn with a piercing glare.

Instead of a rude gesture, Penn stuck out his tongue in a playful manner, his legs speeding up. “Come and get me!” And he was gone.

Rippen didn’t know why, but every voice in the back of his head screamed ‘GET HIM!’ no matter what. And that’s exactly what he did. He ran, screaming at the top of his...lungs? Whatever skeletons have.

Penn pulled out the banjo as he ran, turning around as he was now jogging backwards. “How about a little chase music?” He smiled, strumming rather fast. The music seemed to be annoying Rippen even more, which meant it was working.

Meanwhile, Sashi had already beaten up all the Watchdogs while Rippen was distracted. Larry was too busy watching Rippen chase Penn around to notice. Something about it made him want to sigh. He was...disappointed in Rippen?? He shivered, hoping he’d never get that feeling again.

At this point, Rippen was exhausted. He clawed at the ground, now laying on his stomach. Penn, however, didn’t feel tired at all. He felt as though he could run a marathon in seconds. Eventually, he stopped running and walked right over to Rippen, bending down so they were at eye level once more. He put his hands behind his back, a smug look on his face.

“You uh..you doing okay?” He raised a brow.

Rippen wheezed, trying to stand. “W...Watchdogs! Get him—!” It wasn’t until he yelled that when he realized they were all defeated, Sashi standing there triumphantly. “NOOO! I WAS SO CLOSE!!” He wheezed again, his face lightly hitting the ground.

Penn felt a little bad for him. He wasn’t sure why the feeling was so sudden, but he didn’t question it. “Look, you seem pretty exhausted, so I’ll just leave this here for you.” He placed one of the mustard sandwiches and a bottle of a soda labeled ‘Thunder Blazz’ in bright yellow bubble letters on the side.

Rippen stared at the food, standing up as he wolfed down the sandwich. He glared at Penn, pointing at him. “This doesn’t make us friends!” He spoke between bites.

Penn made a face. “I uh...I never said that.”

Rippen blinked, shaking his head. “Oh never mind!” He grabbed the soda and angrily trudged back to the skull ship, Larry patting him on the back as they headed inside.

The inhabitants cheered once the skull ship took off, Sashi running to greet her friends. “You did it, Penn!”

“Yeah!” Boone chimed in. “I’m not exactly sure what you did...but you did it!”

Penn’s eyes watched the skull ship fade from view. Why did Rippen retreat? And why did he think he was trying to be his friend? Even with all these questions, Penn still couldn’t help but feel good about himself…

With another blue flash, the trio was pulled back to the movie theater, landing safety back onto their original spots. Penn looked at himself, no longer feeling uncomfortable, but a bit disappointed the cheerful feeling was gone. “That was probably one of the strangest missions ever...but in a good way.” He managed.

“Yeah, wonder what was up with Rippen after we won…” Sashi added, hand on her chin.

“Sometimes,” Phyills started, coming back down from the balcony. “Enemy is just a friend you haven’t made yet.” She looked at Penn. “Remember that, Penn Zero.”

Penn put his hands in his pockets, a smile. “I will.”

—————————-—————————-—————————-—————————-—————————-————————

4 - Epilogue

Later that evening, the space duo set up camp for the night. Sylvia was still trying to process exactly what happened earlier. Her fists were sore from punching Watchdogs, when she hadn’t even done that today? Or had she??

Wander, on the other hand, seemed to be in a particularly good mood. Normally, that wasn’t a surprise in Wander’s case, but it definitely was after the events of today.

“I swear,” Sylvia put some wood on the fire, the flames grasping onto it. “My head’s buzzing like a swarm of bees. The whole thing was so weird…” She sat down next to her friend, who was casually resting, playing a happy tune on his banjo. “How are you keeping it all together, buddy? Doesn’t your head hurt?” She asked, concerningly.

The Nomad looked up at her, smiling. “Because I helped someone.”

Sylvia blinked. “So...you remember what happened today?”

“Nope.” He cheerfully responded.

“...then..how do you know if you helped someone or not??”

“Just a hunch.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes, playfully, rustling his fur. “Okay, buddy…”

Deep within the stars, they saw the skull ship pass by, the voice of Lord Hater screaming into the night sky…

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY ATE ONE OF WANDER’S STUPID SANDWICHES!!”

Wander chuckled, yawning as he got into his normal sleeping spot. “Yep, not a bad day…”

Sylvia still couldn’t remember what happened, but regardless of that, she was happy Wander still got to help out someone. And in the end, that was all that matters...

END

#penn zero part time hero #wander over yonder #crossover fanfiction #fanfic #pzpth #save woy #woy watchdogs

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