Planet Protectors: Experiments/Story

It was a cloudy day on Xylox, a familiar place for Kaiya, an arctic fox who once lived on the planet. She was in the midst of a walk in Xylox's forest (east of the town centre) to help keep her mind at ease from recent changes. She was now a Planet Protector; she lived up amongst the highest authorities. She saw faces like Scott and Cindy (her idol and childhood crush) on a daily basis. This was not her first walk; she had been taking a few throughout the week that the Protectors had visited Xylox on a mission. Xylox's forest was a way for Kaiya to normalise her life such far; in the years after Rufus had left it was a place where she could hide and be alone without any interruptions. If anything, Xylox's forest was home to her. It was the place she was most familiar with, anyway.

"I should probably get going back to the ship now.." she thought as she inspected a hole inside the tree closest to her. She had taken the route that she took every time she came to the forest. Kaiya was uncertain to change and was most comfortable with creating routines and sticking to them. This route always took Kaiya deep into the forest and to a tree in the centre where she would sit beside it and sleep. Inside the tree was a faded picture of Rufus and Kaiya that the two had taken around 5 years ago. She remembered this spot being her primary location, where she would head out to steal food from the local store and return to the spot, looking at the picture and gazing to the stars, wondering where Rufus was and hoping he was okay.

"I can't believe I ever did that.. To steal and feel no guilt for it.." Kaiya continued to glance at the picture, noticing how malnourished her past self was and adopting a different tone.

"..Then again, there was nothing else I could do.. It was either that or starve.." Kaiya's eye contact moved away from herself to her old friend in the picture.

'Rufus..' she suddenly remembered. '..He must be worrying by now.. I need to go back.' Kaiya attempted to use the device she was given from Rufus to contact him however was still unsure on how to use it properly so instead picked up her pace so she wasn't too late.

Kaiya was quite deep into the center of the forest. She knew Xylox well so this was not a concern.

"Even after all these years.. nothing chang-"

Kaiya was about to finish her murmur but hit against.. "thin air?".. She began to feel around the air which was for some reason physical. Within a flash the shape began to gain an appearance, that of a lion. The lion had scruffy, well matted blue hair with shades, a moustache and goatee. He wore an unbuttoned stripy shirt and short jeans. At the bottom he wore purple sandals. He lifted his shades.

"H-h-hey." He spoke. "Di-did I startle you?" He noticed the fear in Kaiya's eyes as she began to take a step back.

"Where in the world did you come from??" She covered her mouth, shaking. The lion did not react to this change of tone.

"Invisibility." He fixed his shades back to their original position. Kaiya stared blankly. Somehow she believed that. "The name's.. Uh.." He pondered and pulled at his goatee.
"Ah.. I think it's.. Leon.. Yeah. Th-that seems right." He lifted his hand out to greet Kaiya but she did not return the gesture.

"You don't.. know your own name?.." she was quite the distance from Leon now, ready to leave. "It's been nice talking but I really have to get back to my job.." She began to ran but Leon simply teleported in front of her like it was no problem.

"Where are you going?.." He held her to which she slapped his arm, knocking it off. "I don't have time for this.. If there's something you need to say please say it in a hurry.. And explain how you are moving around like that!" Kaiya raised her voice and applied a serious tone, despite the huge amount of fear she had lingering inside of her.

"My life relates to science and science only. A lot of my experiments have.. backfired." Leon pulled his sleeve up and looked down at his arm. "..Y-you see, I've struggled to find participants to experiment on.. I've had to experiment on myself. That is why my body is so fragile." He pulled his sleeve back down. Kaiya kept a stern face whilst Leon gave a menacing stare. "BUT YOU!.." His arm extended, his fist growing and capturing Kaiya.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" She screamed and struggled with all her might to escape from the Lion's strange form but his grasp was too tight.

"Th-there there. No need to worry. You can come to my lab. I'll reward you handsomely for being such a willing test subject!" He smiled and began to walk towards his lab, Kaiya in hand.

"Will.. WILLING?!?" She screamed. "I'm far from that, you creep!! Scott! Cindy! RUFUS! Someone please help me!!"

The Planet Protectors had finished their mission yesterday and were spending today on Xylox taking a break. Scott and Sonar were spending their break at the town centre whilst the others were taking a lazy day in the ship. Rufus had invited his brother Danny over so that they could catch up on the recent on-goings in their lives.

"So wait, you went to outer-space?" Danny asked his brother who wasn't paying attention to the game that they were playing.

"Yeah.. That happened.." he replied, barely noticing that Danny was beating him at the game.

Danny looked over at Rufus, completely in his own world and frowned. "Hey.. Something's not right. What's the matter? You know I want to support you more.." Danny questioned with a pinch of guiltiness.

Rufus paused the game. "It's just.. my friend, Kaiya.. She joined the team once we returned from Velocity and she's been having difficulty adjusting to life on the ship.. She went out for a walk yesterday and she hasn't returned.." Rufus snuffled, placing the controller to the side and burying his head in his hands.

Danny stood up and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Kaiya? You've never mentioned her before.."

Rufus raised his head. "She was an old friend back when-" He suddenly stopped and turned his head. Danny also paused and held his arm.

"Oh. Right.." He tried to turn the situation around.

"Well, luckily you know just the animal who specialises in these problems!" Danny worked in the Animal Protection Party, a group formed with the focus on solving missing animal cases. It was a small group of investigators who would leave site to solve cases with Danny being the supervisor to his head Skye who ran the group.

Rufus jumped up in glee. "Oh yeah!! I totally forgot! Do you think you can take a look for me? I sent Cindy out but-"

Cindy returned shaking her head. "Sorry Rufus.. I had no luck. I promise you we'll find her soon.." She went over to Danny and Rufus who were now pulling up some files on the main screen. "Oh, Danny, are you helping too?" She was happy to see the two working together, even if she didn't quite understand the gibberish that was presented on the screen.

"You bet! I've been part of the lead in many top priority investigations." He began to pull up some cases. "See this fox here? He went missing for over a week. If it wasn't for our team he wouldn't have been found.."

Cindy stepped closer. "What caused his disappearance?" She was intrigued but also guilty. This was her first time hearing of such a case. "If only I could've helped them too.." She thought to herself.

"Oh uh. Velocity. Sabre tried to get him to work for free. He declined, to which Sabre simply kidnapped him. It was a risky recovery mission, but the Fox is now safe.." Danny scrolled down to the other disappearances.

"So what caused all of these, again?" Rufus began to notice a theme.

"..Velocity.." Danny's eyes widened. "Oh man. Oh wait, no. This one here. Casey. The longest disappearance we have ever dealt with. She was just on the ceiling the whole time.." Danny chuckled faintly.

"I don't think that counts, hah." Cindy let out a nervous chuckle, still feeling guilty.
"Anyway, since it's clear who's behind Kaiya's disappearance.." Cindy began to walk towards the ship's exit. "I'll be right back.." She ran out. The two shrugged and in what seemed to be an instant Cindy was back, Gary in hand. She dropped him to the floor.

"HEY! WHAT GIVES?!?" Gary yelled. "I was in the middle of sleeping there.." He was barely dressed. Cindy collected him from his small apartment in the outskirts of Xylox's town centre.

"There's no time for that." Cindy glared at Gary as he helped himself up. He was in the centre of her, Rufus and Danny. Gary noticed Danny. The two have had some.. interesting interactions over the past few years. Danny is one of the best animals to converse with Gary and can usually avoid his bribes and offers with relative ease.

"Oh great.. Hi, Danny." He got up. Danny did not respond. Cindy motioned the others to take a step back.

"Look. Kaiya has gone missing, and we have the rights to believe that Velocity is to blame. As you know them oh so well.." Cindy passed a communicator to Gary.

"..Kaiya? That's the silver one right..? Friend of the lil' scrawny one here." Gary questioned and rubbed the back of his head. "I honestly have no idea. I swear! I can ask Sabre if you like." he shivered. Whether that was due to Cindy's threatening demeanour or his lack of clothes was questionable.

"Yes please. I need to talk to him about the missing Husky cases that have been reported recently.." Danny looked over to Rufus who had his head down. Cindy was eyeing Gary who was typing Sabre's number into the communicator.

She was quite impatient. "Hurry up, will ya?" She moaned.

"Sheesh sheesh! Chill!" Gary called. He moved the call onto the screen that Danny and Rufus were researching on. The screen stuttered whilst it established a connection. Whilst technology is advanced to a high extent, long distance calls are still an issue, especially from Velocity Headquarters of all places, situated high up in the middle of space.

Sabre was on the other line. He yawned. "Hey Gaz." He rubbed his eyes and yawned before noticing his audience. His eyebrow raised. "Hm, so what do we have here?"

Cindy frowned. "This is no casual call. Sabre, our friend Kaiya has went missing, and we believe that you are responsible. If you don't free her I'm goi-"

Sabre waved his hands frantically. "Woah now! That ain't me. Nope, no way." His heart was racing. In all honesty he was kind of scared of Cindy. Meanwhile Gary was looking for some clothes but got dragged back by Danny.

"Why should we believe you?" Cindy raised her fist. She wasn't going to let this go.

"Well.. Uh.. Have I ever hid plans from you guys? You know I'd tell you when I'm about to totally win one over on you."

"If that's the case, care to input on the recent Husky disappearances?" Danny questioned.

"Oh yeah. That's totally us." Sabre grinned.

Sabre looked over at Rufus who was tearing up and gulped. "But uh.. Hold on." Rufus looked up in confusion.

"I swear if he comes back with Kaiya I'm heading to Headquarters myself.. I'm not going to let this go, Rufus. We'll get her back." Cindy hugged Rufus whilst he wiped his tears.

"Hold on, I need to report this back to Skye." Danny began to contact Skye on his communicator.

"..Can I go home now??" Gary asked.

"No." Cindy replied.

"..Can I at least go grab some clothes?.."

"No." Cindy replied.

"Why are you doing this again??" Spinky had walked into view of the camera. Sabre followed them and glanced over at Rufus, motioning towards him to Spinky who was mostly confused.

"B-because.. I feel bad for the lil' guy there." Rufus glanced at Sabre. "Look at him! All sad and that. Look, Will you help him find his pal?"

Spinky sighed. "Well.. I suppose I can scoop this low. Just this once! Besides, I'm all out of anime.. I got nothing better to do."

Sabre smiled. "There you go! Sorted. I do wish you'd tell me about your loved ones guys. If I knew I would've kidnapped her! Ugh.." He moaned. Cindy was ready to walk directly to Velocity Headquarters for a beatdown but considered Sabre's unusual helpful nature and retracted her fists.

"Oh and Gary?" He looked over at the golden retriever not even questioning his choice in attire. "Can ya' make your way over here? I need to talk to you about.." He looked over at the Protectors and squinted his eyes. "..The thing.." He whispered.

"Uh.. Sure thing. Gimme an hour or s-"

"Heyy Cindy! We've ran out of soda do you wanna come to the store with me--" Casey noticed the scenario and stopped. "Oh.. Heh.. What's going on here? a party?" She didn't get a response. "I'll just.." She walked back, grinning. "Let myself out.." She snapped her fingers, turned around on the spot and dashed.

Kaiya opened her eyes. She was surrounded by light, limiting her vision. She tried her best to look around and see where she was. She looked down only to notice her feet weren't connected to the ground; she was floating in mid-air. Her arms were forced behind her back and locked together with holographic cuffs. Her legs were also cuffed. She noticed a startling array of test tubes and equipment far beyond her understanding. She glanced over and squinted to see Leon sleeping on a couch. "I shouldn't wake him up.." She thought before having a sudden realisation. "Oh wait.. He kidnapped me! It's the least he deserves.." She raised her voice. "HEY! Leon, is it? What's going on?!?"

Leon jumped. "GAH! Do you have to shout?!?" I'm only here.." He began to move towards Kaiya. "So um.. What's the issue?"

Kaiya stared in confusion, startled by what to say. "Issue.. What's the issue.. WHAT'S THE ISSUE?!?" She screamed. "We're both on the same planet, right? You straight up kidnapped me! Let me out of this thing!"

Leon turned his back on Kaiya and stroked his goatee. "Hm.. I guess you could view it that way.." He pondered before turning around. "But you're so lucky!" He shouted, Kaiya was startled but couldn't really show it.. You know, being trapped and such.

"..I'm trapped and floating in mid-air whilst talking to a magical teleporting lion.. How am I lucky?"

Leon chuckled and smiled towards Kaiya. His reaction was somewhat delayed. "Your contribution towards science, my dear!"

"..My.. Contribution?..." Kaiya tried to wiggle herself out of the cuffs but to no avail.

Leon rushed to grab a blackboard of which he had already scribbled tons of details on. "YES! Your.. C-contribution-n.."

"You see.. I have great plans.. Plans that would put you in history books! (and me in criminal record logs..)" Leon thought to himself before shrugging it off. Science is more important than the law, to him anyway.

Kaiya had a sudden idea. She smiled and nodded. "Woah, that sounds awesome! ..Though I feel it would be much better if you would let me free.. I'd feel much more comfortable then.." She smiled.

Leon was surprised by this sudden tone change but thought nothing much of it. "Alright.. B-but promise me you won't try anything.."

"I promise." Kaiya's arms may have been handcuffed but that didn't stop her from crossing her fingers.

"There.. You're free." Leon watched her with caution.

"Sorry, I didn't quite hear you.. Could you come closer?" Leon advanced towards her. Kaiya gulped. Was she really about to do this? You bet she was. With a swift glance she gave Leon a fierce punch to the face, knocking his shades off his head and shattering them. Leon, dazed and sprawled on the floor, raised up and opened his eyes to see Kaiya running down the hall.

'I can't believe I just did that..' Kaiya felt regret, despite all of the things Leon had done to her. She noticed that she had bruises on her arms, supposedly from Leon taking her to the lab whilst she was unconscious. She frowned and the regret faded away. Punching someone was completely out of character for her, but yet she felt such a rush from it. She had no idea where she was going, but each turn found something new. She had ran through a corridor full of photographs of Velocity members, linked together alike a conspiracy theorist would create boards to connect their evidence. 'Looks like Leon's researching Velocity's tech..' She thought to herself.

She could see daylight from the end of the corridor! The exit. It was there! She did not know how long she had been in the lab but it felt like days. She began to run faster but was suddenly stopped in her tracks and was stuck in some sort of gooey, green substance. From the faint distance, Kaiya heard clapping. In front of her, the substance had grown an eye on the outside. It began to move towards the source of the sound. It was too thick for Kaiya to escape. She sighed. She was so close..

The substance suddenly stopped and spat her out with ease. She looked up to see Leon, staring down at her with a straight face. Now that his eyes were exposed, Kaiya had noticed that one pupil was significantly smaller than the other.

"That attempt.. Was fairly admirable.. I- Rather-r.. We.. Will need to pay close attention to you now.." He looked over to the substance that had now grown a sentient form. It was almost twice the size of both Leon and Kaiya, and was transparent and bared some resemblance of an animal, with large floppy ears and a button nose that was tightly compacted against its singular glowing eye. It had no mouth and thus could not communicate however had short, stubby hands that curled alike that of a dinosaur. It stared directly at Leon and did not blink. "I guess you're wondering who this is here.." Leon looked up at the creature.

"It was one of my many questions.." Kaiya glared at Leon with angst.

"This is one of my many DNA mutants.." Leon began. "Y-you see, corporations like Velocity think that robots are the way forward in intelligence and assistance.. They rely on robots to do their jobs for them.. B-but tech.. Tech cannot emote.. Pure, organic, scientific life can.. That's where my m-mutants come in.. They were created with strands of my fur.. This however.. has been unsuccessful.. The mutants thus far have failed to show the intelligence that I have desired.. This is down to the size of the s-sample tha-a-t I took to create the mutants.."

Kaiya paused in an attempt to take this in and noticed the colour of the mutant. "But wait.. The mutant is green.. Your fur is pink and your mane is blue.."

Leon looked over at the mutant. "Smart observation.. You see-, My fur and mane were originally green. It wasn't until an accident with a couple of interns that turned our fur and body structures.." He stopped. "But enough of that!- This is where you come in.. I need your DNA to construct the perfect mutant! From that.. I can reproduce said mutant and CREATE life! Life that can be commanded at any time! Isn't that wonderful?"

Kaiya thought for a moment before realising that "..That sounds pretty cool, actually.. But why did you kidnap me as opposed to asking me?.."

"Well-l, to e-extract your DNA.. That means to destroy it's host in the process.." He mumbled.

"Wait.. That means.."

"You'd be disassembled and destroyed.."

Kaiya gulped.

It had been three hours since Danny and Rufus, with the help of Spinky via video call started their work on locating Kaiya. Jack and Melissa were also present, being briefed on the situation by Cindy. Sitting on the sofa facing behind them was Roary, furiously tapping his fingers as he struggled to write poetry. Casey was sitting opposite him with grocery bags on the table. She had a complete crate of sodas to herself; after offering one to every animal in the room, all were too busy to take a drink break.

"So um.. Guys.. You sure you don't want any of these??" Casey glanced from animal to animal, none returned the gesture. She looked back down at the sodas.

"Yeah.. Just forget it." She sighed, tossing the sodas carelessly into the fridge and heading back to bed.

"Just one area left to check!" Spinky exclaimed in delight. They were mostly happy to get this situation over and done with. They glanced up at Danny and Rufus who were checking the details on the area.

"It's.. Xylox forest?" Danny started to lose hope.

"Uhh.. Yikes. Why would she be there? Well, we've checked everything. Sounds like she may have been taken to another planet.. I'm not helping you if that's the case. I'd honestly rather stare at a wall or something." Spinky pulled at their wonky whiskers whilst nonchalantly staring at Rufus who was visibly sweating.

"Wh- Oh! Wait.. This might be the place, actually.." Rufus cleared his mind. "She was always fond of the forest back when we lived on Xylox.. I wouldn't at all be surprised if this is where she went.." Rufus began scanning the forest from the ship's remote tracker.

"But what could've happened to her?.. This is a real mystery.. It is only just trees and other wildlife in the forest, right?.." Danny peered over Rufus' shoulder, observing the scenario.

"Err.. Apparently there's a giant lab close to the centre of the forest." Spinky viewed the results they had generated. "..I don't think that's part of the wildlife."

Danny and Spinky exchanged confused glances whilst Rufus' eyes widened. He slowly backed away before running over to Cindy and the corgi siblings.

"I thought he wanted my help? Ugh! You Protectors.. So impatient and uncaring.." Spinky shook their head.

"Well, um, I'm not a Protector.. I think it's biased for a Velocity member of all animals to call someone 'uncaring'." Danny smirked whilst leaning back on his chair, pridefully taking in Spinky's rage.

"YOU LOWLIFE! How DARE you--"

Another voice could be heard shouting from Spinky's side of the call.

"HEY SPINKS! THE SHOWER'S ACTING UP AGAIN!! HELP??" Harvey came into view of the call, noticing Danny. "Oh hey, did you make another friend?? That's so nice!!" He waved. Danny waved back, cracking up at Spinky's face that was hotter than Sabre's ego.

"He's NOT a FRIEND!!" Spinky screamed, jolting up and slamming their chair to the side. They grabbed Harvey's hand and rushed off to help him.. Before realising they didn't end the call. Spinky slowly returned.

"Uh.. Bye." Spinky glared at Danny. The call was over.

Jack and Melissa dashed over, knocking Danny, who was relaxed off his 'high throne' and onto the floor. Rufus followed and helped him up. They were all out of breath from running so fast. Cindy came behind them with no signs of fatigue.

"You don't think.." Cindy inspected the lab.

"It has a similar appearance to his last one.." Rufus gulped.

Jack and Melissa fell silent. Danny dusted himself off.

"What's the deal with this place..?" Danny began keeping in touch with Rufus only a few years ago. He was oblivious of the lack of communication between the four.

"It looks like it belongs to.. Leon.." Rufus finally spoke his name. Jack and Melissa sighed in unison.

"Who's 'Leon'?" Danny was still unclear on the situation and was clearly frustrated by this.

"It's a name we avoid dropping around here." Cindy spoke cautiously as she cradled over Jack and Melissa, supporting the two with her hands on their shoulders. "Do you two want to explain or should I?"

"I only recently explained it to Roary, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain again.." Jack raised his head, his hands still locked together tightly pressed in his lap.

"It was ten years ago when me and Melissa were scraping for any food and money we could get, like Xylox, the planet we were on, Corgamaious, wasn't doing too well. We were in the middle of searching for a job when we saw a poster from a peculiar Lion..." Jack passed the story onto Melissa.

"...This Lion was of course Leon. The guy was crazy weird. In all honesty I have no idea how we didn't notice this.. But we were desperate and the poster claimed we'd receive a 'handsome reward' for taking part in a few experiments he wanted to conduct.." Melissa paused. "..Wow. That really was messed up.."

"..Yeah, but I just remember being starving and having no other choice.." Jack chimed in. "We eventually arrived at his lab, which looked very similar to the one deep in the forest, where he conducted a few experiments on us which went smoothly until.."

"..The last one.." Melissa added. "Leon miscalculated the radius of his firing ray, and it hit all of us! like.. PSShh! PEW!" Melissa imitated the ray's sound. "The ray had also hit some ice cream that Leon had saved for later.."

"..and it merged with you guys!" Danny chimed in, feeling like he'd just solved the next big case.

"..Yeah." Jack awkwardly shuffled in the chair before continuing. "We originally thought this was super cool. Our limbs were really stretchy and.. uh.. well.. We were made of ice cream! Doesn't that sound cool??" Jack asked.

"Yeah, so what's the problem?" Danny asked, taking a chunk out of Jack's ear before being angrily swatted away by him. "I mean.. You taste great.." he chuckled.

"I have to sleep in a fridge when it gets hot in fear that I might melt." Jack groaned with a stern look on his face whilst Danny slowly finished the last bite of his ear.

"I have to be very careful when cutting up food.." Melissa added.

"I'm gonna need more details.." Danny rolled his hands, expressing to Melissa that she should continue.

"..Let's just say Sonar didn't appreciate the finger in her sandwich."

"..OKAY I get it!! It's not fun to be made out of ice cream.." Danny shuddered at the mere thought.

"So um.. Where were we. Oh yeah! So long story short Leon turned super weird and just left the lab in a sudden surge of power. We tried contacting him so that we could get our pay but.. He ignored our calls and locked the lab when we visited.. After the attacks on Corgamaious we assumed the worst as the lab was destroyed but.. I guess not? Hm.. I mean, this new lab looks very similar to the one back on Corgamaious.." Melissa had slowly shifted from the story to her own thought tangent.

"Hey, does anyone have a good rhyme for 'neat'?" Roary slowly strolled over, one hand on his hip and the other holding a notepad. He had a pen in his mouth.

"Not now." Cindy pointed to the screen where Rufus had written notes on the discussion that had taken place.

"So the chances of Kaiya being here?" Danny asked yet another question. This seemed unlikely to him.

"I'd say it's pretty likely. Leon seems to be pretty desperate for willing experimenters. Is that a word?" Jack scratched his head.

"I'll go there right no-" Cindy was stopped by Jack and Melissa.

"Let us have this one." Jack nodded to his sister.

"Yeah!! We still have some.. Unfinished business with him. Besides, we're all on equal ground with our magical ice cream powers..and such." Melissa stretched her arm whilst the others ducked.

Roary's pen dropped out of his mouth. "No way are you two going alone! I'm coming too. It's my destiny! I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to the two of you.."

"You really care about me that much??" Melissa shrugged.

"Why do you think I dyed my fur pink? It was out of admiration before I joined the team." Roary moved next to Melissa.

"I suppose they do look alike, huh." Danny looked from one to another before being unable to tell them apart.

"Sweet." Jack suddenly bursted out.

"Huh?" Roary questioned.

"The rhyme you wanted, sweet! It rhymes with neat."

"Sweet, just like you.." Roary gave Jack a tiny kiss on the cheek.

The past hour had been an extremely busy one for the Protectors as they each prepared for the Corgi Trio's encounter with the familiar scientist Leon. Jack was preparing Roary in his dorm for the fight ahead.

"Uh.. Are you sure I need to wear this?.. It's a little.. exposing on the shoulders." Roary stood still whilst Jack clipped one of the Protectors' signature uniform vests to his back.

"Of course you do! If you're heading out onto the battlefield you must wear the official uniform of the Protectors!" Jack threw a belt over to Roary. "You'll need one of these, too."

"WOAH REALLY?!? a utility belt!! and you got me a pink one too!!" Roary kissed the pink glowing button on the utility belt, gazing at the simplistic yet technologically advanced design.. Before realising he should probably put it on.

"This is one of the latest models too!" Jack held Roary's hands whilst the two jumped up and down excitedly. Although Jack was worried he was certain that Roary would be more than capable on the battlefield. He loved the idea of Roary accompanying him on their adventures. "It's got weapons, music, a map, news.."

"HEALING TOO?!?" Roary pushed in the pink button on his belt and giggled as an aura surrounded him. "It feels like thousands of tiny kisses.."

"I thought it suited you, you know, being all.. poetic and such." Jack twiddled his thumbs as he tried to find the correct wording.

"You mean it suits me because it reflects upon my passionate nature and desire to spread love through my poetry?" Roary continued to check the belt out, swiping through the apps that were on display via the holograph that the belt had created.

"..Yeah, you got it, heh.." Jack blushed.

"Okay.. I think I'm ready now.. As ready as I could be." Roary finished combing his hair. "It's hard to look hot in this outfit but I'm working hard to pull it off."

"You're doing great.." Jack chuckled whilst his corgi friend struck various poses towards him. "Okay okay! We gotta act professional here." He continued to chuckle. "Let's go and find Melissa. I'm sure she's ready now."

The two had met with Melissa, who was downloading the map data from Rufus to ensure the three would find their way in the deep and confusing forest.

"Alright, you should be good to go now.. Please be careful and stay in touch.." Rufus attempted to cuddle Melissa but couldn't reach her due to his small size.

"I promise! We'll search long and hard for Kaiya!" Melissa bent down to return the hug. "Are you two read-"

"Wait!!" Cindy reached out her hand. "This could be very dangerous. I strongly feel I should join you." Cindy muttered sheepishly.

"I think we'll be okay. If there's any problems we'll give you a call." Roary flipped his hair back. "Alright, let's go. We have business to attend to!"

"Look at him, being the hero now all of a sudden!" Danny remarked. "Skye and I are here if you need us."

"Thanks for all the support everyone!" Jack quickly packed a tiny rucksack full of supplies (including a soda Casey finally managed to give away). Despite the rucksack's size it was still quite straining on Jack. "Okay, now we're ready!"

"Good luck you three! Stay safe!" Cindy's smile slowly decreased into a sigh as the three left the ship and set out on their journey..

The trio had left the ship and were walking through Xylox's town centre. The town was surprisingly vibrant and bustling since Jack's last visit to the planet. The inhabitants of Xylox were tough from the inside and out. A simple inconvenience such as a corrupt corporation holding animals hostage wasn't going to bother them for long. Shopkeepers maintained business and kept their familiar smiling faces that made it feel as if nothing had happened in the first place.

"Are you sure bringing Roary along was the best idea..?" Melissa pulled her brother aside. Roary was distracted by the flower store opposite them, taking in the various aromas before remembering the mission he was on.

"Yeah, of course! He's just.. very passionate." Jack looked over to see Roary inside the store, purchasing a bouquet of roses for his green little lover.

"Although I guess that's kinda an issue.." Melissa scratched her head. "I was thinking more along the lines that we're all.. well.. mutant ice cream animals. He isn't." she flailed her arms which wobbled due to a lack of bones.

"He's honestly a pretty swell fighter.. Seriously, watch him run to the fridge when there's cake in there.." He chuckled but Melissa wasn't finding the situation all that hilarious. "..No but seriously. We may not even need to fight if we can negotiate with Leon effectively.. That's where Roary comes in. He has a way with words, you know."

Melissa noticed that during this time Roary was still talking to the shopkeeper, creating a long line of frustrated animals trailing behind him. "Hm.. yeah. I think you're right." She sat down on a bench outside the store, impatiently tapping her foot whilst Roary finally wrapped up the conversation. "..Still, we need to make sure we're keeping him safe. We haven't seen Leon in years now; we have no idea how powerful he is.. Or if he found a cure? No idea what to expect here.." She had her head down before feeling the presence of a young pup sitting on the opposite side of the bench. She had her eyes fixated on Melissa, to which she slowly looked over.

"Hey.. Is everything okay?" Melissa asked the pup. Jack had not noticed the situation as he was busy updating Rufus on their whereabouts.

"Are you a.. PLANET PROTECTOR?!?" The pup gleamed with delight. "Will you PLEEASSEEE sign my laser gun?!? Please please please!! You guys are AWESOME!!"

"Oh.. Yeah! I'm M-"

"Melissa!!" The pup hugged her. "And that's your brother Jack!!" she prodded his nose.

"GAH! oh uh.. Hey kid!" Jack looked down at the pup having no idea where she came from.

"So you guys are fighting a lion huh?? Wow you're so brave!!" The pup bounced around from Jack to Melissa who were struggling to keep up with her.

"Well we're not sure if we're going to fight hi- wait, how do you know about this??" Melissa backed off a little as she approached Jack. "Do you think she's a secret spy or something??" She whispered in his ear, paranoid.

"You've been mentioning your problems out in public.." The pup's mother dragged her away from the two. "Sorry about her.. She can get a little excited. Thank you for all the work you do."

The two waved, smiling awkwardly as the mom and her pup walked down the street. "..So she wasn't a secret spy then.." Melissa took a deep breath. "..Though now that I think about it, how in Xylox does she have a laser gun?!?" her eyes widened. Jack shrugged it off as Roary returned from the store.

"Hey baby.. Sorry for derailing us there.. I just took one glance at the store and was overwhelmed by all the enticing flowers.." Roary moved his hand from behind his back to reveal the roses. "I got you these though, heh.." He blushed, handing them over.

"Aww thanks! No worries, but we really gotta get going now.. Rufus isn't doing too well.. He stopped responding to me, Danny says he went into his dorm and locked the door." Jack pushed the roses through his rucksack so that they were poking out of the top.

After a few inconveniences the three had finally manoeuvred through the back streets of the town centre and headed towards Xylox forest. The forest was sectioned off by an aging wall covered in growing moss. Shoddily placed in the middle was a rustic gate with a lock that had long since been broken. The gang began to inspect.

"So what's with this wall here..?" Roary rattled with the lock before it fell off completely. "It doesn't look like this place has been touched in years.."

"Well we know Kaiya's been here within the last few years.. Leon's lab is here too. We need to proceed with caution.." Jack shook the gate open and was about to enter but noticed his sister curiously standing around the opposing end of the wall.

"Guys, there's a hole in the wall here! I wonder what it leads to.." Melissa crouched down to take a better look. "Hmm.. Well, I'm not gonna get through there.. Jack, you're a lil' too pudgy too.." Jack nodded whilst Melissa made eye contact to Roary, disgusted at the idea.

"It's so dirty.." Roary shuddered.

"Hey, hold on a sec." Jack stretched his arm as it flopped to the ground and slithered through the crack, wobbling around and feeling for any danger. He shrugged his shoulder and his arm retreated. "I think you're safe. Crawl down boyee!"

"Wish me luck.." Roary gulped as his noodle-like body squeezed through the tiny hole in the wall. His eyes squinted.

"Woah.."

"What is it?!?" The two corgi siblings burst out in unison.

Roary got up, hurting his back in the process. He was in a cramped room covered over by a thick layer of green glass. Inside the room were various trinkets and broken tech that were showing signs of age. On the floor was a communicator. He dusted it off.

"Uh guys? This communicator has the Planet Protectors logo on it.." Roary slid the communicator through the gap and into Melissa's hands.

"Huh.. Why would one of us be here of all places, with a communicator? It still works, too.." She tossed the device over to Jack who juggled it between his hands before becoming stable.

"Wait a second.. When Kaiya told me about.." Jack paused. He hadn't yet told his sister or his partner about the story that Kaiya had told him; the origins of how Rufus joined the protectors. Since he was so quiet about the situation.. Jack decided to keep it hush for now.

"..All I know is that she told me the two talked to Cindy here.. Maybe that's why the communicator is here?" In his mind, Jack was almost certain that this was the hideout of Kaiya and Rufus in their earlier years. Not that he could share this, though.

"I guess one way to find out is to ask!" Melissa chimed.

Roary attempted to crawl out of the hole, his head sticking out. He struggled to which the two assisted him as he slipped back out again. "I can't believe I'm the one saying this.." He softly turned his head to the side. Light shined on his face like a movie star despite the area being covered in greenery. "You know.. Cutting conversations short. But now's not the time for chatting! We have a mission at hand here! We can't just dilly around being all-"

"So we talk to Cindy about this after the confrontation. That's all you have to say.." Melissa rolled her eyes, much to Jack's disapproval.

Melissa slid the communicator into her pocket and the three headed through the rusting gate, carefully pushing it to the side as it faintly creaked. The area ahead was covered in trees that obstructed the corgis from their otherwise simple path towards Leon's lab.

"Looks like there's multiple ways of getting through here.." Jack glanced at the tree formation that had created three separate paths.

"Well, we all have working walkie-talkies in the form of our communicators.. Let's separate!" Melissa's DNA deconstructed and she split into two. "..Though I don't wanna risk my substances going haywire, so.." Her voice echoed. She reformed.

"Think you can live without this love for a short while?" Jack passed back the rose he was given to Roary, knowing he'd feel lost without his lover, the rose being a reminder of Jack.

"Jack, my love, as long as I always have a piece of you I-" Roary paused. "Oh wait.. I literally can always have a piece of you!" He pinched Jack's bubblegum nose, gently removing it.

"..I can have that back later, right?" Jack giggled, his voice distorted due to his nose-less form.

"Sure thing." Roary winked. "Let's get going then!"

"Just remember to keep in contact, we don't know what's out there.." Melissa was the first out of the three to step paw first into her path of the maze. It was surrounded by jagged trees that had long since lost any essence of life inside of them. Melissa's stomach wrenched in fear as she turned through the path that was constantly twisting. She stayed wary in anticipation of something lunging at her from the corner.

"You guys see anythi-"

Melissa felt a large object lightly collide with her shoulder. Startled, she jumped in fear, swiftly punching the object directly in the face.

It was Jack.

"Oh man! Sorry Jack!!" Melissa helped her brother up. He rubbed his head, smooshing his ears back into place. "Hey.. On the bright side, at least your nose isn't bruised!"

"Heh, It's okay." He rolled his eyes. Literally. That punch turned them around completely.

"Is everything okay??" Roary voiced his concern through the communicator that echoed through the otherwise silent forest. "I heard Melissa scream a-"

Roary suddenly came to a stop.

"Yeah, we're fine." Jack waited for Roary to respond. Nothing. "Uh.. Roary? You there?.."

Still nothing. "Roary?.." He repeated, this time with a more weary tone. "What gives? Roary would never give us the silent treatment.. Something's up.." Jack paced, biting his non-existent fingernails out of fear.

"Wait, do you hear that??" Melissa's ears perked up. "Sounds like.. screaming. Uh oh."

"Over there!!" Jack pointed over to the end of the forest's complex path where a Lion dashed through at an unusually high speed, complete with a screaming Corgi in hand.

"UH, GUYS?!? I THINK I FOUND LEON.." Roary screeched, his flowing hair vigorously swaying to and fro from the Lion who continued his attempt to break past the sound barrier.

"Yeah, that's him alright!" Melissa began to pick up her pace. Jack shortly followed.

The two aligned themselves behind Leon and Roary. Jack's arms wobbled as he extended them whilst still maintaining his speed. His arms solidified, creating a pathway for Melissa to climb up. Melissa pounced onto the newly-formed path of ice cream, sending the decaying leaves of the forest floor in various locations. She swiped through the communicator's holographic display, selecting her trusty axe. The axe formed in front of her. With elegant grace she swiped the axe out of the air and into her hands.

Meilssa hopped down from Jack's arms and dived. "Take this, ya' furry creep!" Using her axe, she sliced through Leon's arm clean.

Roary fell flat on his face, covered in a pool of slush and ice cream. "Eurgh.. Wait." He began to lick the ground.

"Dude, I don't think that's the best idea.." Jack assisted Roary as he dusted himself off and gave Jack his nose back.

"But.. we don't know it's Leon for sure.. Don't you think attacking directly like that is an issue?" Roary looked over to Melissa who was making her way over to the Lion.

"Who else would have a magical ice cream arm?" She shouted. "This is the end of the line, Leon. We know you have our friend, Kaiya. Give her up!"

"Yeah! ..And our money, too!" Jack added.

Dazed and confused, Leon held his head as he viewed his surroundings. "Do.. Do you KNOW how LONG it takes to grow back an arm?? That was my favourite shirt, too!" He paused. "Wait.. no.. Is it.."

"Yeah, it's us, Leon! You just straight up 'napped my boyfriend! What gives?" Jack moved closer to Leon who had now stood up, ready to leave.

"How.. did you f-f-ind me..?" He rubbed his bare shoulder. "Listen, I'm not giving you anything!.. And I have no idea who Kaiya is!"

"Well, she happened to go missing.. Your lab was the only location we have yet to search.. You did try to capture me too.. Why?" Roary tried to maintain the situation's intensity.

"You'd be a wonderful partner to my willing test subject back at the lab.. You'd be c-contributing towards S-S-SCIENCE!" Leon raised his last arm.

"A partner?.. Who may that be?" Roary rested on the ground and patted it, prompting Leon to sit beside him. Melissa watched with caution.

"Uh.. I don't know.. her name.. But she has silver hair.. Real pretty dress.. Well it was.. It's kinda scruffy now.. She tried to escape but.. I managed to reassure her.. She now understands the mistake she made.. She's prepared for my ultimate experiment." Leon adjusted his drooping nose.

"I see you never reverted the ice cream mishap.." Jack took note of Leon's slimy skin.

"I was going to find a reversion.. But I figured it has it's.. Benefits." Leon's form reverted to mush as the liquids that were once his body swirled around and reformed. Leon had shrank in size but in turn exchanged the mass he once had for his missing arm.

"How the heck did you do that??" Melissa strained as she tried to replicate the action but failed miserably.

"Leon.. Would it be okay if we visited your test subject? We have reason to believe that they are our friend Kaiya and-"

"AND we want to wish her luck on her experiment of course!! That's what friends do, right?" Jack interrupted Roary, his face sweating with mint. "Right Roary?!? That's all! Just want to say our goodbyes!!"

"..Yeah.. That's it!" Roary grinned cheesily. Melissa slowly shook her head.

"We're doomed.." She whispered to herself.

"Of course not! This is private-" Leon paused and considered the scenario. "Actually.. She did mention being quite lonely.. M-maybe you three can give her a quick visit..?" Leon grinned.

The four animals made their way into the lab's entrance corridor. Leon led ahead whilst the other three trailed behind with caution.

"She's just down here now.." Leon picked up his pace, exiting the corridor and fading in the darkness of the main room.

"Uhh.. Can 'ya turn the light on in here??" Melissa stumbled.

The three were unable to see anything. Faint noises could be heard in the background, slowly getting closer to the Corgi trio.

"Do you guys hear that?.." Jack's tail shuddered. No response. "..Guys..?"

"mmf-mmm!" Melissa mumbled.

"Uh.. What do you- mmff!"

Leon flicked the lights on. He was levitating mid-air, arms crossed, observing the three who were trapped inside three of his DNA mutants. "This is what you wanted, right?"

"NO!" Roary took a deep breath, enabling him to communicate through the mutant for a brief moment.

"You wanted to see your friend. You can join her! W-wouldn't that be great! Not one perfect mutant.. But two.. No three.. Four!" Leon laughed in excitement, completely ignoring the trio's cries for help.

Leon continued to levitate towards the lab's raised second floor and landed next to Kaiya, who was still held hostage. She remained silent.

"Are these perchance your friends? They said they want to participate in the experiment with you!" Leon smiled.

"No they don't! Nor do I! Leon, let them free!" Kaiya tried with all her might to release the cuffs that were holding her captive.

"Dear, you have no idea what you want.. I am doing what's best for y-you.. For s-s-SCIENCE!"

"Maybe.. Maybe YOU have no idea what YOU want! You're wrapped in all of these crazy experiments and not once do you think about the consequences! You're way too wrapped up in this!"

Whilst Leon and Kaiya were arguing, Melissa was trying hard to reach her communicator; a difficult task for one to do when upside down. She glanced over to Jack, who was sniffing through the mutant he was trapped in. His tongue bobbed out. She glanced at him and shook her head in disapproval. He noted her disapproval and tossed it into the trash, taking a bite of the mutant and freezing before being surprisingly delighted by it's taste. He continued to bite through until he was free.

"Hold on a sec.." He whispered. "I just gotta.."

The mutant glared at him. He gulped.

"UHH.." Jack began to frantically swipe through his weapons and in a hurry selected an umbrella. "I have this. Stay back!!"

Yet the mutant did not react. It simply stared, despite being chewed through the centre.

"These guys seem friendly.. Or dumb. Either one. But I don't wanna hurt them anymore than I did.." He bobbed the umbrella through the mutant that captured Melissa. She used all of her strength to grab onto the end. Jack pulled her out and did the same for Roary.

"That was so disgusting.." Roary shivered.

"There's no time for that! We need to save Kaiya!" Melissa charged towards Leon.

Kaiya had not yet noticed the three had escaped due to her heated argument with Leon.

"You're so lucky that I chose you. Don't make me regret it!"

"PLEASE, PLEASE regret it! You didn't choose me at all! You kidnapped me! There's a difference there-"

A large pink fist trailed down the platform at great speed, slamming Leon against the wall. Melissa recoiled her arm and ran over to Kaiya, freeing her.

"Kaiya! Are you okay??"

"Oh, Melissa! Yes, I'm fine, just-"

"Great. Now we need to get out of here!" She dropped her arms down to the floor, then herself and dragged her arms back up to grab Kaiya and help her down.

"But what about our money?!?" Jack groaned.

"Is that really what you're thinking about right now?!? C'mon!" Melissa ran ahead and through the corridor.

"Where are you all going?!? You just d-don't understand!" Leon jumped down from the raised platform and ran towards the three.

"Go, go!" Jack shouted to Kaiya. After some short hesitation, she sighed and ran after Melissa.

"Leon.. You're too dedicated to your subject. Your work risks the lives of innocent animals.. You need to recognise your limitations!" Roary tried hard to maintain peace but Leon continued to run. He dived into Roary and shoved him aside, bruising him. He continued to run after Kaiya.

"Are you okay?!?" Jack ran over and helped Roary up.

"Yeah.. I don't think there's any way I can help him.." He huffed. "I guess you can't help everybody.."

The two dashed outside to see Leon levitating above Melissa, who was closely guarding Kaiya behind her. She had her axe ready.

"Give it up Leon! We're leaving now. You better stop all of this nonsense!" Melissa snarled. Jack and Roary surrounded Kaiya, adding an extra layer to her protection. Leon was hit with a sudden realisation.

"This.. This isn't going to work." His eyebrow raised.

"Ah.. I'm so glad that you came to the realisation tha-" Roary was interrupted.

Leon's form transformed, altering the lion to be blue and transparent. He glanced at the four animals before floating into the lab, traversing through it's walls and merging with it. He began to glow whilst a large current of wind created a swirling vortex in the centre of the lab.

Melissa slammed her axe into the ground and held onto it whilst the others grabbed onto her, creating a chain. After a few seconds, the wind current stopped and Leon, along with the lab vanished into thin air.

"..That explains how the lab moved away from Corgamaious.." Jack stuttered as the four stared blankly.

"Do you think he'll stop experimenting now..?" Roary pondered.

"I'm not sure.." Melissa retreated her axe. "C'mon, let's get back to the ship. I'm sure Rufus is worried sick.."

"You say the lab just disappeared?" Cindy rubbed her forehead.

"Yeah, and we have no idea were it went.." Jack concluded the report.

"It's okay. All that matters is that Kaiya is-"

"KAIYA!!" Rufus ran through the room, slipping face first onto his face and getting back up again to hug her. "Are you okay??? I can't believe Leon would take you like that!"

"I'm fine I'm fine! Let's just.. Let's never go outside again."

"Agreed." Rufus nodded.

"Hey, Melissa, Jack, Roary!" Scott walked into the main room with his hands behind his back. Rufus and Cindy stood beside him.

"Here. Medals of honour. One for Jack, and one for Melissa!" Scott passed them over to the corgis who stood in disbelief.

"What?!?" Melissa yelled. "We don't deserve these!"

"Yeah! They're only for those who triumph in the greatest of dangers!" Regardless of his statement Jack had already applied the medal to his vest.

"It was my idea." Rufus piped up. "You saved my best friend!! I can't thank you all enough!" He hugged the three corgis with all his might which was challenge for his short limbs.

"Aww, you flop! Thanks so much!" Jack ruffled Rufus' bobbed hair.

"I think you more than deserve it.. You saved me from that awful lion.. I just hope he's learnt his lesson.. I cannot thank you three enough!" Kaiya congratulated the two on their promotion.

"Roary, your first mission was a success-" Cindy began.

"But Leon got away.." Roary glanced down.

"That wasn't the objective of the mission. The primary objective was ensuring Kaiya returned safe.. Well, here she is!" Cindy put her arm around Kaiya who blushed.

"And for that reason.." Scott smirked, noticing that Roary's eyes glistened. "..You're being promoted to full-time Planet Protector. Congratulations!"

"I can't believe it! Thank you so much! I won't let you down." Roary saluted to the two wolves.

"We need to continue to monitor planets for any suspicious activity. It sounds like Leon is a peculiar character to say the least.. We can't simply ignore him. But for now? I think we all deserve to take a break." Cindy yawned.

"Though one more thing.." Jack asked Rufus. "..Why is there an umbrella in the system's weaponry?"

*END*