“I’m so excited to see everyone again! I’m also nervous though! It’s been years since the asteroid incident. I wonder how everyone has changed,” I felt like I couldn’t stop talking. I had so many questions. “Calm down for a minute! You can ask everyone your crazy questions when you see them. The pups are very excited to see you again, and there are also some new additions to the team,” Ryder explained. I was so excited I was practically bouncing off the walls. I noticed that Link was trailing a bit behind and giving Ryder a wary look. Ryder turned to Link and said, “I’m very excited to get to know you Link. You seem like an interesting character. I hear you’re a swordfighter?” Link stiffened and did not respond. Ryder looked a bit hurt. “He’s slow to trust new people. It’ll take a while for him to warm up to you. I’d suggest not asking too many questions until he does,” I explained. “Oh, okay. Why don’t we talk about getting you two new vehicles since Nebula’s jet got destroyed?” Ryder asked. Link’s hackles rose a bit, “I’ll stick to my Master Cycle Zero, thank you very much,” he grumbled. Ryder flinched, and I could tell he was upset. “Linky isn't normally like this. He hasn’t been in contact with humans for quite a long time, and he’s been on edge lately because of our recent encounter with my archnemesis," I tried to comfort Ryder. He nodded, “Alright then. So what kind of new vehicle would you like? Something similar to the old design, or something brand new?” I could tell he was still a bit upset and wanted to change the subject, so I played along, “Okay, I want something like an arwing crossed with an exo tank, or maybe an aether ring? No, definitely an exo tank. You have no idea what I’m saying, do you?” Ryder laughed, and we continued down the hallway, Link still trailing behind. “Okay pups, they’re here!” Ryder called to my former comrades: Marshall, Rubble, Chase, Rocky, and Zuma. Almost all the pups immediately surrounded me in the dog equivalent of a hug. Everyone was talking over each other and trying to ask me questions. “How did you survive the asteroid?!” “This has got to be some kind of mirage.” “We missed you so much!” “Don’t ever scare us like that again!” “If this is a dream, I never want it to end.” “Okay everyone, calm down,” Ryder interrupted, “I’m sure Nebula wants to catch up with all of you, but she also needs to get acquainted with the newer pups.” My friends gave me some space and revealed the two newer pups. Skye, who had discovered my hiding place, and a dachshund, who I didn’t recognize. Skye looked sad, nervous, and a little afraid. She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Skye? I know we had a bit of a rough start, but I really hope we can be friends. I’m actually glad you told everyone that you’d found me. If you hadn’t, well, it might have been years until I finally worked up the courage to reveal myself,” I had to stop myself. If I hadn’t I might have never stopped talking. Skye looked up at me and smiled, “I hope we can be friends too,” she said. “See? I told you she couldn’t be that bad! I bet you two have more in common than you think!” the dachshund said to Skye. She turned to me, “I’m Liberty, nice to meet you!” she barked happily. We all started talking to each other and having such a good time that I almost forgot that my brother existed. “Hey!” I hollered to get everyone’s attention, “I almost forgot. Guys, this is my brother, Link!” My comrades barked their greetings, but my brother just scoffed. “Well this guy is just rude!” Liberty said annoyedly. Link ignored her, but I was rather offended. I was about to warn Liberty not to talk about my brother like that, but Ryder interrupted and asked if he could have a private conversation with me and Link. “Listen, Link, I understand that you’re a bit on edge,” Ryder began, “but you’re gonna have to be a bit nicer to the other pups-” “Shut up,” Link cut him off, “I’m not gonna be staying here forever you know. I’m not your pet. I’ll stay until I’m sure that my sister is safe here, then I’m leaving. And if she wants to leave and you won’t let her, I will not forgive you.” I couldn’t believe he would say that about Ryder! I was so mad at Link, I almost ripped one of his earrings out! Suddenly, Rocky came out of nowhere, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything too important,” he said, “but we have something special planned for you two!” We followed him back to where everyone was hanging out, and he showed us what looked like a giant geode surrounded by fancy science equipment. “This meteor crashed on Adventure City a while ago, the crystals inside gave us some crazy superpowers!” Rocky exclaimed, “Let’s see what yours are!” Link scoffed, “I don’t need any silly crystals,” as he said this, glowing markings appeared on his right foreleg. Liberty freaked out. “Aaaah! He has patterns! He’s a demon! Run for your lives!” she yelped. Everyone stared at her as if she had just spoken another language. continued below
She saw the look her friends were giving her and said, “What? Have none of you seen K-pop Demon Hunters?” Everyone laughed, even Link seemed somewhat amused. When the silliness finally died down, I took a crystal from the asteroid, and it attached to my new pup tag seemingly of its own accord. I closed my eyes and felt the energy surge through me. I hadn’t opened my eyes, but I could sense where everyone was to the point where I could almost see them. I opened my eyes and looked at my paws. They glowed teal. I held one up, and a blue flame emerged from it. “Of course!” I exclaimed, “My power is to sense and control aura!” “Isn’t that some kind of brainrot slang word?” Chase inquired. “Well, uh, maybe, but that’s not the kind of aura I’m talking about,” I said, feeling rather embarrassed. “You see, aura is a kind of energy that most people normally can’t see, but everyone can feel. Some people have the power to control aura, making it visible. They can channel this power into really strong attacks. I’ve always been able to sense aura, but I wasn’t very good at it, and I couldn’t control it,” I explained. Everyone was really surprised. I practiced using my powers, and the rest of the pups showed off theirs. Marshall had fire paws, Rubble could roll around and smash stuff like a wrecking ball, Chase was super fast, Rocky had magnet paws, Zuma could control water, Skye could fly, and Liberty was stretchy like a rubber band! Link was sitting in a corner doing nothing, so I begged him to show off his powers. He rolled his eyes and begrudgingly agreed. As the markings on Link’s foreleg began to glow again, Liberty started singing Takedown, but Skye nudged her and she quieted down. Link kept his demonstration very brief. He could lift pretty much anything with a power that was quite similar to telekinesis, ascend through ceilings, fuse stuff to his weapons and shield, reverse time for an object, and instantly build lots of random contraptions out of a substance called zonaite. After this, we all went back to having fun. I got caught up with my old friends, and got to know my new ones. Pretty soon it was time for bed though. I was extremely tired. It had been a long day. I drifted off to sleep with my brother. After a while, I couldn’t feel him next to me. I opened my eyes and looked around for him. “Link?” I whispered. No answer. I closed my eyes again and tried to sense where he was. It took a minute but I found him. For some reason he was on the roof! I snuck out of the bedroom and went to find him. When I got up to the roof I saw him staring at the night sky. “Linky! What are you doing up here?!” I barked. He said nothing. I sighed and looked at the sky with him. The moon was red. I had forgotten that tonight was a blood moon. “The blood moon rises once again. The aimless spirits of slain monsters return to flesh. The world is threatened once again,” Link said solemnly. He looked sad and afraid. “I know this brings back some bad memories for you buddy,” I tried to console him, “but you don’t have to worry. There aren’t any monsters here.” “I want to go home, Imouto,” Link said sadly. I started to worry. He only ever used my Japanese nickname when he was really emotional. I snuggled up close to him. Honestly? I wanted to go home too. We didn’t need to say anything. We each knew what the other was thinking. We sat there and stared at the stars for a while, and eventually we fell asleep. “Hey. Hey! Hello? Are you two awake?” I heard Ryder’s voice and felt someone shaking me. I rolled over and grumbled. “You have to get up! There’s something crazy going on!” Ryder was almost yelling. Link and I begrudgingly got up and followed Ryder to the main control center. What I saw on the screen shocked me. “Oh my triforce,” Link almost whispered. On the screen was video of the city being attacked by the same monsters I had faced when I was training with Link. “What are we doing just standing here?!?! We have to stop this!!!” Link yelled angrily. “Uh, r-right! Come on pups, let’s go!” Ryder said, seeming flustered. To my surprise my new vehicle was already built. It looked almost exactly like I had imagined, an arwing from Star Fox crossed with an exo tank from Kid Icarus. It looked a bit like a bug, but I didn’t mind. We took off towards the edge of the city where the attack was happening. Suddenly, I heard Link’s voice over the intercom. “I thought you said there were no monsters here!!” he barked angrily. “Don’t worry!” I replied, “We’ve faced stuff way worse than this!” “We may have, but what about the other pups?! Have they ever been in combat like this before?! Do they have as much experience as we do?!” he continued to yell. “They battled a mad scientist, does that count?” I questioned. Link sighed, and began giving me the silent treatment. I could tell he was in one of his moods, so I left him alone. To be continued... (out of space again :P)
