Planet Protectors: Hard Times/Chapter One

Out of all of the planets in the vast universe, Xylox seems to be the most eventful. As such it would make sense that Gary the guide dog, one of the galaxy's most busiest animals, inhabits it.

Our story starts with the busy Golden Retriever, still asleep in his run-down apartment just south of Xylox Forest; this was one of the rare moments where he was at rest. Gary's apartment was in poor condition, evident from the decaying wooden floors and wallpaper that was peeling away from the walls. Outside the roof had caved in and the walls were barely holding it together. There was a rusty satellite dish that didn't work very well due to the surrounding trees and bushes from Xylox forest giving off a poor signal. Scattered around the cramped bedroom were various papers, clothing and scrap parts that the Golden Retriever would later sell for high prices at his pop-up portable booth. After navigating through the room's many trash piles, Gary had settled into his creaky bed late at the night before after negotiating some deals with clients and was sleeping rather peacefully.

For a brief moment, anyway.

A small robot burst into Gary's bedroom, skidding through the papers full of writing and clothing that needed cleaning back and forth until it landed beside the tatted bed. This wasn't enough to wake the snoring guide dog up from his slumber. After a short moment of silence, the robot vibrated and bared its teeth with glowing red eyes (which are usually blue) as it activated an alarm at full blast; this time waking the dog up, jolting out of bed.

"WH- Oh... Ugnh~" Gary wiped his eyes and rose slowly from the bed. "Helper Bot, what time is it?" Gary strenuously stretched his arms, letting out a feint yawn whilst the robot processed his request. The Helper Bot was a gift from Rufus; the anxious basset hound took notice of Gary's lonely lifestyle and being the creator of the Helper Bots, Rufus issued a model to Gary that he later repainted from blue to purple. The Helper Bots are usually engraved with the Planet Protector insignia however in this case Gary had modified it to resemble Xylox's symbol of currency; the coin. This was a crescent moon with a shimmering four-pointed star placed in the top left corner.

"IT. IS..." The bot paused for a brief moment. "5:30 AM".

"Thanks. Could you check my messages?" Gary slid slowly out of his bed and onto the floor, his blue nose pressing onto the ground as he repositioned his head flat. He grabbed onto the handle and began to rummage through his closet to get changed, only for the closet door to fall from its hinges. "Maybe you could fix that too..." He mumbled under his breath, setting the door aside and picking out a light blue shirt with the words "Need Help?" scribbled in the centre and shorts covered in a question mark pattern, complete with a drawstring tightener and clip to hold his curly two-tone tail in place.

"YOU. HAVE..." The bot paused once again. " 3. UNREAD. MESSAGES."

"Could you read those out for me?" Gary got changed and slipped his light blue open toed sandals on that were stored underneath the bed as there wasn't enough room outside of it. He also reached onto his wooden desk for his watch, carefully avoiding the worn parts so as to not get a splinter. One would assume that such carefulness would be hard to muster up at 5:30AM but this came naturally to Gary, he was used to working on the same schedule every day; sleeping late and waking early. The feeling became numb over time.

"READING. MESSAGE. ONE." the Helper Bot began. Gary was already in the kitchen preparing his lunch (cucumber sandwiches and a non-descript alcoholic beverage, as it was on most days. Sometimes he'd mix it up and strengthen the alcohol if it were a particularly bad day). He placed the sandwiches into a small blue container and sealed it with the lid. He turned around to see how the Helper Bot was doing. Still processing the message.

"FROM. DANNY." Thankfully, the Helper Bot was capable of transmitting voice mail.

"Heyy Gary. Did you hear about that Panda that went missing last week? I know you did. You're involved, and don't think I won't-"

"Next." Gary nonchalantly pushed past the bot and headed for the hallway to pack his lunch into a backpack. In addition to his lunch, there were a collection of spare parts that could fix a number of various machines and gadgets. There were also a handful of business cards and various other promotional material inside, for Gary to hand out to any unsuspecting animals and attempt to charge them for the stock shortly after. He's had a fair amount of slapping from agitated animals unwilling to negotiate with him.

"NEXT. MESSAGE... IS. FROM.... XYLOX. ADVERTISING. AGENCY."

"DO YOU LIKE TO PARTY?!? DJ Subwoofer has you covered! All animals are welco-"

"Next..." Gary replied once more, this time showing more agitation. Advertising was a familiar sound for those who have Helper Bots or communicators, no matter where you are in the solar system, each planet has their own advertising agency that broadcasts advertisements onto the general public's devices. As he works with various companies to import stock for his stall, Gary was bound to receive more promotional messages than the average animal. He stepped forward to grab his keys but, suddenly remembering his drink, turned around whilst standing on one foot and headed back to the kitchen to place it in his backpack.

"FINAL. MESSAGE. FROM... SCOTT."

"Uh... Hello, Gary. I know things haven't been the greatest between the Protectors and you... I was wondering if you'd like to catch up over some tea today?..." Scott's voice sounded rather muffled as he stuttered to collect his thoughts. This was quite unlike him; usually Scott enjoyed groaning with a firm, strong voice.

Gary was startled by the message. "Scott? tea? Talking things out? I don't get it... I withheld information that put the galaxy at state..." Gary thought to himself. "If they had known about Lana beforehand, perhaps things wouldn't have ended up so dire... Why would they want to talk to me? Surely they can't or won't want to trust me anymore." Ever since Sabre's plans to harness the red light's power had failed, The Protectors hadn't interacted much with Gary beyond Cindy dragging him into their ship in his underwear on one of his very few lazy days.

"Don't worry, Cindy is busy elsewhere on a mission with Sonar. It'd just be us." Scott's message was still playing. "Well, let me know if you're up to it." it ended, though the Helper Bot didn't seem to pick up on that, as it failed to notify Gary and remained silent.

"Helper Bot, can you record a reply?" Gary headed back into thef bedroom, moving closer to the bot so that it could pick up the audio. Helper Bots are still relatively new, only being introduced throughout the last two years. As such they have their fair share of limitations that Rufus and his crew are working on, one of those being the inability to edit audio when responding to a voice message. As such, Gary makes sure to record clear audio. He's learnt his lesson ever since dealing with a client needing a birthday cake for 'Pizza'. He misheard the name 'Lisa'. Needless to say, this was one sale that fell through.

"RECORDING. AUDIO."

"Hey, Scott." Gary fumbled for a moment. He wanted to say more but couldn't think of what to say right now. He thought he would save it for when he got there. "Uh, yeah that sounds nice. I'll be over shortly." Gary fumbled around once more, repeatedly trying to button up his backpack, his eyes focused on the Helper Bot instead.

"MESSAGE. SENT."

"I guess I better go catch the bus then. You'll be okay here, won't you?" Gary chuckled to the bot who stared blankly at him. "Heh, I'm sure you will be. Maybe you can watch our cruddy TV or something." The bot continued to stare whilst Gary grabbed his keys, locked the door and headed down the decaying path of his front garden that was overshadowed by wildlife and moss covering over it. Gary passed a log in his garden on the way, large enough for a small group of animals to sit on. Presumably this used to home a giant tree, but Gary wasn't around to see it.

Xylox's town centre was only a short stroll from Gary's apartment. It was relatively quiet as many of the town's stores were just opening as Gary walked through. The stores ranged from flower shops to electronic shops; anything a Xyloxian would need could be found here at the town centre. Gary briefly considered visiting the convenience store to pick up some supplies but shrugged it off. He didn't have time for that. As he continued through the tranquil town Gary slipped through a crevice between two stores; a shortcut towards the bus station. The crevice functioned as an alleyway before; a familiar location for the guide dog as he would often negotiate trades here. Right now, it was unpopulated due to it being early in the morning thankfully for Gary. He's not all too popular around the town centre.

The bus station was actually in space; first Gary had to stand on top of a metal platform that was showing signs of wear and tear. There were a small handful of animals waiting alongside him, dressed in business formal attire, most checking their communicators in one hand, coffee in the other whilst impatiently tapping their feet. It was a common sight; most animals used the bus to commute around Xylox to get to work every day. As interplanetary travel was more than possible, some animals used it to commute to other planets for their day jobs, whilst other Xyloxians would travel to the opposite side of the planet for theirs; travel was extremely speedy, so long commutes weren't much of a problem.

"Long work day ahead, huh?" Gary nudged a Fox next to him who did not reply.

After a couple of minutes, the platform began to slowly descend into a small confined underground room. The room was poorly lit and contained four transparent chutes and four lines, one for each chute. This was simply a system to minimize congestion as commuter demand is always high. Most planets have at least twenty chutes per station, but due to Xylox being a less economically developed planet, upgrading the number of chutes was currently unfeasible. After waiting for roughly 40 seconds Gary lost his patience and cut through the line, ducking underneath the velvet ropes and causing a lot of commotion.

"HEY! What gives you the authority to just push past us like that?!?" yelled the Fox from earlier. The crowd began to yell and several objects were thrown Gary's way, a (thankfully) empty coffee cup hitting him in the face and latching onto his snout. "Hey, hey! I'm just-" Gary's nasally voice was cut off by a German shepherd police officer attempting to tower over him but ultimately failing to do so.

"...What gives you the authority to just push past animals like that??" he echoed with his eyebrows furrowed, adjusting his dark blue hat (with the official insignia of the Planetary Police - the letters PP) and crossing his arms. The Fox raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uhh..." Gary thought for a moment, suddenly remembering where he was going. ("A little twisting of this story won't hurt..." He thought to himself.) "I'm actually on an official business mission for the PLANET PROTECTORS." Gary emphasized the last part of the sentence, making sure the crowd heard him. They didn't really react much beyond a couple glances of misbelief. "That's right. Scott? Cindy? I know them. Now if you'd please step aside..." Gary confidently shuffled his backpack up to his shoulders and began to stroll towards the chute.

"Not on my watch!" Gary was pushed back by the Shepherd. "Why on earth would I believe such a blasphemous claim?" the officer snarled, though he came across as goofy rather than threatening. This caused Gary to doubt him, letting his snarkiness slip through.

"Why should I believe you're a police officer?" Gary pulled at the officer's tie. "I mean, you don't really look like one. I'm gonna need to see some ID." He let go of the officer, causing him to stumble back a few steps. The animals in the queue were starting to lose their patience; though they did enjoy the drama between the two dogs enough to wait it out.

"I'm Bill Cooper, chief officer of the Planetary Police." He took out his badge and held it rather closely to Gary's face, causing him to step back a little. "Now, if you'd just go to the back of the line-"

"YEAH, like all the rest of us!!!" Yelled a Panda colleague of the Fox who nodded in agreement. The crowd began to rumble once more, making it hard for Bill to continue the conversation. Bill tried to talk but was drowned out by the crowd whilst Gary took this as an excuse to cover his ears; he'd rather ignore things than deal with them straight on.

"Order, order! Can we have some silence here?" Bill attempted to ease the crowd to no avail. The Fox jumped over the velvet rope and pushed past the officer, followed shortly after by the remaining animals in the line. Bill's focus however was still fixed on the ever-impatient Golden Retriever. He wasn't going to let him get away with this. His level of pettiness exceeded his level of authority.

"Are you kidding me? There's not even a line to go back into!" Gary motioned to the velvet ropes, now laid out on the floor. Bill's expression did not change. The guide dog sighed and rummaged through his shorts for his communicator and quickly dialled up Scott. Gary's communicator was a small device with a screen that could project outwards for all to see. "Just give me a second..." He began to sweat. Out of all things for him to go to jail for, this wasn't going to be the one that lands him there.

"Hey, Gary! are you on your way here?" Live footage of Scott hazily projected out from the sluggish communicator, flickering in the air and leaving Bill's jaw wide open with his pupils slowly moving up to meet the projection. "Oh..." Scott noticed him and squinted his eyes, almost as if he had seen the officer before, but shrugged it off. "What have you landed yourself into this time?" he shook his head in disapproval.

"I'm trying to catch the bus but this copper won't let me past. He doesn't believe I know you." Gary faced the communicator towards Bill, the projection lagging in motion. He held it in his hand, although expensive communicator models are capable of floating in place. Gary of course did not have one of these. It was \*slightly\* out of his price range.

"S-scott! I- I'm sorry! I had no reason to believe this guy. I'll let him right through!" Bill shrugged off his expression and jolted to open the gate to the chute, his face as flushed as a flamingo. Gary tried with all his might to contain his laughter, but the odd snicker escaped here and there, further adding to Bill's embarrassment.

"Uh... That's okay?" Scott was surprised by the officer's overly apologetic approach. "I think I remember seeing you recently, actually. Ben, is it?" At this point Scott was barely in shot of the communicator, busy organizing a shelf full of paperwork behind him. Scott was connected to a monitor; universal video calls were possible with most devices. Gary continued to snicker at the officer who was squinting furiously at him in return.

"Uh... it's Bill." He called, though Scott did not hear. He was already in the next room. Gary hung up, with the projection recoiling into the communicator and smiled at the officer as he entered the tube. Unlike the tedious waiting time in the line, the waiting time for the tube's connection to the bus station was instant. Just like that, Gary was sucked up in a flurry of air that whisked him into the station. He landed on the cold hard ground and rubbed his head. "I'll never get used to that..." He mumbled. ("I should probably wear something other than shorts next time, too.") he thought to himself whilst also helping himself up as none of the other animals had noticed his poor landing, not that they'd help him anyway.

The bus station, situated in space, was covered by a glass orb so there wasn't any need for helmets. In fact, the entire streamlined process focused on eliminating the need for helmets. The station was a mostly flat plain, held above by large gravity pads that were pushing energy out to hold the station up and stable. There were various sections for each location; animals could choose to visit areas in Xylox or travel on an express trip to other local planets. Gary stumbled through the clumps of animals locating their required sections and wandered over to the desk monitor in the middle of the station's edge where the bus stops were located.

"Where would you like to go today?" The screen displayed. Gary fumbled with the screen, swiping back and forth until he found his desired location. He inserted his bus card into the screen to verify his identity and then typed in the Planet Protectors' ship only for the screen to evade his request, displaying an intrusive red pop-up message. "I'm sorry, but you must have official certification in order to visit this location." Gary groaned, calling Scott again whilst tapping his feet on the spot, only this time he did not pick up.

"Still sorting that shelf out, huh... I guess I'll try..." Gary scrolled through his contacts, trying to find a Protector who would be onboard the ship. Gary had only a small number of Protectors on his contact list, many of the others tried to steer away from the guide dog as much as possible. "Sonar?" Gary considered the husky who was surprisingly on his contacts list. He recalled their conversation history of three whole messages asking where Scott was and decided it probably wasn't the best idea. "Jack?" Gary started the call, trying hard to push his frustration aside. He didn't want to rub it off on the ice cream corgi who was usually perky.

"Oh, hey Gary!" Jack was on the other line, once again projected from the communicator. He was outside on the ship's balcony with his boyfriend Roary who was in the background lounging on a reclining chair with a soft drink. "Scott said you might call again. He's a little wrapped up in preparing for your 'meeting' in a moment..." Jack briefly looked down at the floor. He didn't converse much with Gary and was struggling to make conversation. "...Say, do you know what that's about? Sounds exciting!" he grinned. Meanwhile, Roary had gotten off his chair and entered the view of the call. "Hey Gary." Roary winked.

"Uh. Hi." Gary scorned at Roary's aura, though the corgi wasn't really paying that much attention. "I actually don't know much, Jack." Gary tried to be as patient as he could. "So, would you be able to call me a bus here or not?" Gary took a moment to look around the station, noticing the surrounding animals flowing in and out of buses which only added to his frustration.

"Oh here, just gimme a sec-" Jack stretched his arm out of the call screen of the communicator, breaking the boundaries and causing Gary to duck. Jack slithered his hands over to the screen to read his oversized fingerprint. "That should do it! A bus should be on the way for you." Jack's grin slowly decreased into a smile and then into a blank expression as Gary stared at him without responding.

Gary was flabbergasted with his eyes wide and mouth open during the entirety of that brief exchange. "H- ... How on earth did you just do that?!?" He looked around to see if any animal around him had witnessed the scene that just unfolded but of course they did not. Animals tended to mind their own business unless it directly affected them.

"That's our tech for you," Roary maintained his cheesy grin as he helped Jack reel his arm back in as it transformed from crystal clear to static and hazy when it crossed back into the communicator. "We can send things through from one call screen to another. Pretty neat, huh?" Gary's facial expression had changed from shock to furrowed confusion.

"...Couldn't you just grab me instead?" Gary questioned, about to ramble more but was cut off by Roary's sudden burst of laughter. "HAH! You're kidding right? We're technicians, not wizards!" He laughed to himself whilst Gary stared at Jack in disbelief. "Can't you just grab me instead??" Roary air-quoted, laughing until he fell on the floor, slamming his fist on the ground. "Classic." He chuckled.

"Uhh... See you soon!" Jack let out a cheesy grin at Roary as he ended the call. Gary placed the communicator back into his pocket, shaking his head slightly. ("How on earth am I supposed to know what you can and can't do?") he thought to himself, slightly peeved from his interaction with Roary. Gary only supplied parts to animals; he had a limited understanding on technology, especially new developments. He was quite behind as the Planet Protectors and Team Velocity are cautious to share details with him; presumably over fears that he'd tell the other party on their developments.

Gary shuffled over to a nearby bench and stared at the ground for a while. "Did Jack seriously just do that? Technology baffles me..." He thought to himself. "The Helper Bot that the lil' scrawny pup gave me... I wonder if there's more to it? I hope it doesn't have some kind of destructive evil side..." Gary shook his head. "Nah, I can't imagine that from the scrawny pup." Whilst Gary zoned out, the noise of an engine grew closer and closer until it stopped.

"HEY!" Gary zoned back into reality, wiped his eyes and struck his head up. "Are ya' getting on this darn bus or what?" The bus had arrived, handled by an impatient bus driver. It looked like any ordinary bus, however it had gravity pads in place of wheels that allowed it to travel in the air and along the galaxy. The bus was intended to be dark blue but appeared more as grey due to a large amount of scratches and dents that seemed to resemble collision marks. On the side was a worn sticker reading "Pre-booked visitors only. If you have not used the local desk monitor to pre-book your destination, please locate the average travel bus." On the window was another rounded sticker featuring a polar bear holding her hands out towards the centre with a message reading "Powered by Tropoian Stardust (provided by Tropoi Space Control) - Environmentally friendly!" though the guide dog had doubts of this claim.

"Oh, my bad." Gary stepped onto the bus, readjusting his flipflop that was dangling from the edge of his heel. He walked into the first section of the bus; a sealed double set of doors blocked off the remaining seating area. The doors had two pill shaped windows, allowing Gary to peek into the seating area. There were two worn rows of seats parallel to each other and greasy handles to support those who did not have a place to sit. There was also a dedicated area for disabled animals, allowing them to easily seat themselves. The seating area was filled with stickers and graffiti alongside advertisement banners that filled the top perimeter of the bus. On one side was a commercial for DJ Subwoofer's venue whilst the other side had "SABRE IS WATCHING YOU... Waste your life away! Come and apply for Team Velocity if ya' think ya' have what it takes."

"So, you called a bus to the Planet Protectors' ship?" The bus driver scrolled through a screen built into the bus, positioned next to the wheel. From the screen he was able to view every onboard animal's destination. Once the max capacity of 40 animals was met, the screen would calculate a streamlined plan that'd take the fastest route to each desired location. The driver could also choose to lower the limit if there weren't enough animals booking tickets. "What's all that about?" The bus driver looked Gary up and down, taking note of his outfit and doubting his legitimacy.

"I honestly couldn't tell you." Gary shrugged.

"Aw, come on! Most of my taxes go towards funding these so-called heroes. I think I deserve to know if something's happening in our community!" The driver swiped Gary's bus card out of his hand vigorously though unintentionally, causing Gary to flinch. He was caught in the midst of one of his frequent rants. Even the slightest mention of the Planet Protectors in any sort of conversation would be enough to set the driver off on a spiralled ramble. He inserted the card into a slot in the screen that accepted Gary's information. He handed the card back to Gary who quickly dropped it into his backpack before speaking.

"N-no I meant. I literally don't know. I've been called by Scott-" Gary was about to continue his short exchange, but it was about to get longer than he expected thanks to the bus driver interrupting him. Gary's social skills were a bit lacking, so naturally handling conflict wasn't a strong point of his. Knowing he usually elevates conflict in situations, Gary decided to keep his words to a minimum.

"Oh, don't get me started on that Wolf! You hear it all the time on the news- He's so unstable. He's supposed to be leading us and taking care of our community? He needs to learn how to take care of himself!" The bus driver had a news article about Scott open on the screen next to his steering wheel. In the eyes of the media, Scott is extremely influential and is looked upon as an inspirational figure. Anything he does is reported in an exaggerated manner, from helping out on a case to struggling with a minor annoyance; rest assured the media will send their highest condolences to him regardless of if he's listening or not.

"Right... Anyway-" Thinking about Wolves, Gary paused as he suddenly remembered something. Cindy! Scott's sister who co-founded the Planet Protectors alongside him. ("Thinking about it, she really isn't mentioned all that much in the news...) "You do know it's not just Scott, right? He has a sister, Cindy. She honestly does a lot more of the work." Gary chimed in, causing the driver to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh right, her, yeah." The bus driver dismissed the guide dog, almost as if he wasn't there. He was in a world of his own at this point. "All of our taxes... Going towards loonies, I tell you!" The bus driver raised his hands in frustration with his teeth snarling. He unintentionally spat at Gary, causing the Golden Retriever to cover his face in aversion. After staring at Gary's uncomfortable posture for a short moment of silence, the driver hesitantly opened the door for the guide dog. "You can go through now."

"Oh, thank you. The bus is all to myself, right?" Gary perked his ears only to get shot down immediately by the growling fury of the bus driver. "No?!? I swear, you Protectors! So laid back, thinking you deserve everything! Well lemme tell ya' buddy, this bus is cramped!" He began to rant again, the cramped space of the bus entrance room tightening as his grumbly voice filled it. Gary was lucky to have floppy ears that covered his hearing slightly.

"Actually, I'm not a Planet Protecto-" Gary tried to get a word in but it was useless. After 5 minutes the driver had finally concluded his one sided 'conversation'. "Ugh, whatever. Just get in there so I can get going." The driver's beady bloodshot eyes followed Gary without a single blink as he shuffled through the rusty door and into the back of the bus.

Gary continued his shuffle streak as he scooted past a bustling horde of animals, squeezing into the last spare seat towards the end of the bus. Gary was stuck between a towering Tiger and a muscular Moose whose antlers spanned over Gary, as such he had to slouch. Gary took this time to load his social media from his communicator. His eyes widened at the sight of a notification but frowned upon opening it as it was simply Sabre liking a video from 'FUNNY CLIPS HD'. The Tiger next to him was on a call, chanting away to a friend, his voice booming through the seating area and only \*slightly\* irritating Gary.

Trying to maintain his frustration, Gary looked up to the other side of the bus where a Dachshund pup was seated next to his father. "DADDY! I WANT A HELPER BOT!!!" yelled the pup. Gary thought back to his own Helper Bot. Hopefully they're okay and the apartment isn't on fire. "DADDY, PLEASE! I WANT A ROBO FRIEND!!!" he pup continued to yell, pleading with his shimmering eyes that contrasted with the dull, motionless eyes of his father that made slight eye contact with his son only to return to reading an article on his tablet, a device that was far out of date. The pup continued his pleading yells as the Tiger continued his ever-continuous conversation. In addition to this there was another continuous feeling and that was Gary's agitation, continuing to rise.

Why couldn't the Tiger speak quietly? Why couldn't the father control his son? Gary tried to focus his mind elsewhere and observed the other end of the bus. He noticed a middle-aged Otter lady chatting to her Alpaca girlfriend. She was eating a salad with her mouth open and of course that was going to bother Gary for the rest of the trip. Suddenly an electronic screen displayed a message, shortly followed by an unenthusiastic announcement from the bus driver. "We have reached Tropoi. If this is your stop... Leave." A small handful of animals responded to the driver's slurred and muffled speech, leaving their seats and handles, forming a cramped line. Included in the line was the Moose next to Gary who was relieved to have a little more room, sighing in relief. As the Moose stumbled down the line, his rough aging antlers got caught from one handle to another, causing animals on seats to duck and animals on (remaining) handles to swerve. The animals left not through the door, but rather a teleportation pad. One pad would be placed on the desired location whilst the other would be placed on a bus; once the bus was in a close radius, the pad would glow and teleport the animal from one pad to the other. Teleportation pads are commonplace throughout the galaxy however a majority of them are limited in how far they can teleport the user; the teleportation pad in the bus was an example of this.

Around thirty minutes later, the bus was down to only two more stops; a tropical beach like planet named Friscora and the Planet Protectors' ship of which only Gary was attending to. Conveniently out of the small handful of animals, the ones that annoyed Gary the most remained seated. Gary searched his backpack for some earplugs, but he forgot to pack them. Great. As the Tiger blabbered on, laughing loudly to his bro friend on the other side of the communicator Gary took a sip of his alcohol and groaned. The pleading from the puppy, the chewing from the Otter lady and the rambling of the Tiger circled Gary's mind until he could take it no longer. Gary moved his finger over to the button on the Tiger's communicator and confidently turned it off, cutting the call.

"HEY! WHAT GIVES?!?" The Tiger stood up, casting a sudden shadow over the shivering guide dog, who had his confidence drained in an instant. He took another sip of his drink and stared the Tiger in the eye. "I've just about had it with your dudebro conversation! You've trailed off about nonsense throughout this entire ride! I can barely hear a thing, dang it!" The mumbling in the seating area came to an end as the surrounding animals observed the situation, shocked to see how the Tiger would react. Gary wasn't going to give him the time to do such a thing. "AND YOU!!!" Gary yelled, pointing at the father who continued to read from his tablet, completely unaware of Gary's presence. "Can you please just take the slightest moment to keep your darn kid under control?!? You ought to get him a Helper Bot, because I bet it'd do spectacular job at taking care of your child compared to you!" Gary's face was filled with rage as he tried to catch his breath. One animal clapped slightly and coughed after the other animals stared in disapproval. The situation was enough to work the puppy up even more, causing him to cry. The father was still in his own world, reading the "Top Ten Cute Corgis In Hats" article on BarkFur.

"Anything else you have to say?" The Tiger moved closer to Gary, causing him to tremble more than a Shih Tzu on an upside-down rollercoaster. "Uh... Otter lady? You two look like a lovely couple but would it kill you to eat with your mouth closed?..." Gary grinned slightly from the side of his mouth, sweat dripping from the top of his body to the bottom. The Otter lady watched in shock as the Tiger vigorously grabbed Gary by his collar, his hand taking up the entire span of the guide dog's head.

"UH... Hey b-bus driver?!? A lil' help here?" the doors were open and as such the bus driver quickly glanced at the scene in the room with a blank expression and carried on driving, much to Gary's dismay. "You gotta lot of things to say, huh buddy? What, do you think you're the only one having a hard time?" The Tiger growled at the guide dog pleading to loosen his shirt from the tight grip. "I- I'm sorry, I just-" Gary struggled to get his words out, feeling light headed from all the sweat dripping from his body. "I get annoyed easily, and-" The Tiger raised his arm, preparing to swing at the cowardly Golden Retriever. "Me too, buddy, me too! It doesn't mean you have to put a damper on every animal around you! I'm gonna make sure you don't forget it..." The Tiger began to swing, Gary desperately flailing to escape but having no hope. He accepted his inevitable blackout that'd follow after the blow to the face.

"STOP!!!"

The room fell silent. "This has gotten way too out of hand!" The Otter lady cried, one hand on her chest and the other on her Alpaca girlfriend's shoulder for support. The Tiger's eyebrows declined in confusion. "Mam, I'm just trying to stand up for us all." At this point Gary had his eyes closed, waiting for the blow to hit him. It was a miracle he hadn't fainted yet. "Can't you see? You're only making things worse!" she cried as her girlfriend nodded, hands on her lap and head on the shoulder of her Otter friend. The Tiger looked around the room as every animal had their eyes fixated on him (minus the father, of course). He looked at Gary, eyes clenched together in pure fear and loosened his grip. The puppy hid close to his father, his eyes watering and sniffling his nose. The Tiger finally let go as Gary dropped to the floor, yelping.

"We've arrived at Friscora. Please... Leave." the mumbled voice from the bus driver arrived shortly before the electronic message screen this time. "You're not special, dude. We all have hard times. Some of us are better at hiding them than others. Consider yourself lucky..." with that, the Tiger marched out of the waiting room and teleported to his tropical home planet. The other animals shortly followed, scooting past Gary with caution as the seating room decreased in population until Gary was alone, sitting with his head lowered. The lights dimmed out.

"Last stop. The Planet Protectors' Ship."

Gary moved over to the bus driver who scowled at him. "I have no idea how you're a Planet Protector. There's no way an animal so ill-tempered could be trusted in the hands of the galaxy! Why, I ought to file a complaint and-" the bus driver presumably continued his rant once more, but Gary wasn't exactly in the mood to listen. He had already stepped on the teleportation pad and whisked away to his location, the Planet Protectors' Starboard Ship.