In the depths of a dark palace on a rogue planet steeped in red, The evil emperor Zurg had his lackeys busy reprogramming a new and improved machine to open portals to new worlds for him to conquer. A tall, angular robot in all shades of scarlet stood by his side, watching the scurrying workers with lazy disdain. The towering humanoid, AL_2_CAR-D, had his own plans for this portal. The constant race amongst galactic villains was a never ending game of power plays, and this ancient Antimatter Vampire was no different. He had much to gain through access to more worlds, not only in new energy sources, but to claim widespread destruction as his, and his alone...

"What is taking so long?! I want this portal opening up now!" Zurg shouted, slamming his fist on the nearest control panel. His grubs and brains scrambled to start the portal up.

AL rolled his eyes, controlling his urge to spew acid or an insult to the brainless tyrant. "Zurg, time is key. If you rush this process, the energy from this contraption could clash with itself. It could cause an interdimensional crossroad or a black hole in the lab just like last time." He growled, "There will be no mistakes."

Zurg chuckled, the pitch of his voice rising. "O-of course AL! I just can't help myself! Forgive me if I'm eager to impress you, it's been such a long time since there's been anyone worth impressing around here besides me in eons," Zurg glared at his own thoughts, "You're right, I want this perfect!"

"We shall see, Zurg. I have utmost respect for you," AL drawled. You could never be too unctuous. Al leaned on his elbows, following the workers with his eyes again. It would only take a few finishing touches. Everything would go according to plan.

Commander Nebula took his position at the controls. "Alright, time to open the portal!"

Warp, Buzz, and all of Team Lightyear excluding XR stood by in concern.

Buzz was the first to speak. "Sir, if XR finds out you took the blueprints from Nos's ‒ "

"They won't find out, and besides, they're having a celebration for the twins making 100 cake deliveries or something. We'll do a successful run before they figure anything out, and by then, nobody will be able to deny the positive changes we can make here!"

In a flash of cosmic humor, two portals were opened in near simultaneity in the same universe. It would be fair to say the the fabric of space and time was no fan of that.

"Let's get this started!" the words echoed in Zurg's palace and Star Command. Both machines rumbled to life, and although AL smirked in glee, all was not going to plan. The fabric of reality contorted, the energies clashed, and a tear opened into an unknown dimension.

The beautifully manicured gardens surrounding the Energy Vampires' mansion sprawled out until they ran into rolling, empty fields. The lawns, studded with fountains, flower beds, and towering trees, were the familiar playground of a pair of young robots. The day had been normal. Fletcher and Darwin had a game of checkers set up under the shade of a pear tree, doing everything they could to cheat each other and having all the fun in the world while doing it.

Fletcher had just taken a stack of five pieces, declaring it a turret and lining up to flick a piece off the top as a projectile, when a noise he could only describe as otherworldly interrupted their play. A portal opened before them and began pulling at everything in its path. Everywhere around them became a swirling, explosive storm. Reacting on instinct, Fletcher grabbed Darwin and flew in the opposite direction with all his might, but there was nothing he could do to match the force. They were gone before they knew what had happened.

A good distance outside Capital City, across the small and colorful town of Valder, the land thrived with wildlife around a proud estate. The family that lived there celebrated on their lawn. Behind the refurbished Victorian house laid a field of grass that faded into a forest, filled with a great variety of flowers.

A table was being set in preparation for a party. Zombie hornets, once hostile machines that had been liberated and repurposed, pulled out plates and sorted the chairs. A black-and-white, bipedal robot with a dark visor helped children place a small cake in the center of the table, also setting out oils and batteries. From the house came a well-known Space Ranger, XR-X-4-a2. He smiled at the sight of his twins getting along without even the smallest of outbursts. He had a feeling it was going to be a good day.

"Congrats, kids, on your 300th mission this month!" XR grinned, hugging them both.

Following close behind with a little girl in his arms was a very well known ex-villain and fellow father of three, XR's husband, Nos-X-4-a2.

Nos smiled and kissed both of his older children on their heads. "You have made and delivered 300 cakes in two days, truly an accomplishment."

Nox and Mor grinned as their bunic approached, holding out tarts for them. Nosfer Atu was an old man, apparently in his sixties but truthfully centuries old. Earlier in his life, nobody would have dared cross him for fear of their lives, but time had treated him kindly. He had adopted a family that meant more to him than every planet in the universe. "Come here, my nepoți. Here, it is tradition that we show our gratitude for such accomplishments!" He patted their backs. "I am blessed." Nosfer reached into his pocket and held out two gifts. "As we all know, in 3 months you'll be turning 10, but I wish to give you both a family heirloom. I am so honored to be part of your journey growing into the wonderful people you are meant to be."

Nox and Mor smiled bashfully as they opened their boxes. Nox held up a ruby encrusted locket as Mor lifted a similar trinket covered in topaz.

"It's a beautiful locket Bunic, thank you." Nox said in awe.

Nosfer chuckled as he held out his own sapphire locket. "They are family lockets we carry so that we know we are never apart. These were my parents' and their parents' before them. They are very old, but they are strong, and they were said to keep our family together no matter the distance between us."

Mor squealed and hugged him tightly. "Thank you Bunic!"

ALD held out the cake. "Can we dig in? I'm hungry!"

Baby Ana squealed just as the house began to shake. Lights shined blindingly bright and a thunderous sound exploded from the living room. Fletcher, still flying with all his might, launched himself and Darwin straight into the ceiling.

All heads turned toward the house. Nos looked to the hornets and nodded, sending them a wordless command. They rushed inside to see what happened, scanning but finding no threats and fanning out to search throughout the rest of the large house. Nos followed in after them, following his senses.

Fletcher and Darwin both cried out as they fell from the ceiling onto a soft divan, scrambling around and clinging to each other, looking around the room. Panic began to set in before Nos-4-a2 burst into the room. Both visibly relaxed, but Fletcher was the first to find his voice. "Dad, what's going on? Where are we, what happened?"

Nos raised a brow. "I apologize, but who are you?"

It wasn't long before XR had to follow, the twins running behind him. ALD shrugged and looked to Nosfer, who was feeding Ana a bottle of oil. "So... we dig in?"

Inside, something strange and cold flushed through Fletcher's wires. He held tighter to Darwin. Reaching out with his sensors, there was something wrong about Nos-4-a2's wavelength. Whoever the man in front of them was, it was not his father.

"Who are iyou?" Fletcher croaked.

XR rushed in, shocked to see two kids, one of whom bore a striking resemblance to Nos. "What's going on?" the ranger thought out loud, but he stopped himself when he noticed the kids shaking.

Darwin hugged Fletcher tighter, shielding him. "We asked first!"

XR's parental instincts kicked in, though he couldn't help the twinge of paranoia in the back of his mind. "Are you lost? Where are your parents?"

Fletcher stammered, "I don't know, we were just... we were just playing!"

Nos scanned him and found an undeniable connection between them. It was only slight and somewhat different, not to mention hard to read through the fear in the young Energy Vampire. Nos had a theory but he wanted to hear their answers.

Darwin had worked up the nerve to contribute, "There was a loud noise, and something happened, and now... we're... Can you just tell us what this place is?"

Nox and Mor looked over XR's shoulders, optics wide. Nox had sensed something from the blue and purple robot. He was like them somehow, but that shouldn't have been possible. The only other Energy Vampires were Mr. DRAC and... him. Nox couldn't help a groan of concern. Fletcher's eyeforms flicked between each of the robots around him, but he couldn't bring himself to react or even reach out with his sensors, trying desperately to gain his bearings.

Mor finally stepped forward, grinning wide enough to show her fangs. "Salutations!" she rushed to Fletcher and Darwin, hugging them close. Nox hung back, knowing all too well the fear they felt.

Darwin only squirmed and looked to the adults, still trying to keep Fletcher calm. "Please, I'm sorry we don't know what happened, we'll get out of here if you just tell us where we are!"

Nos looked to XR and they both nodded. "We need to speak to Nebula," Nos said so only XR could hear, trying to control his rage. XR was already trying to work out how anyone could have accessed the blueprints to their machine.

Mor, still hugging them, purred to calm them down. "I'm Mor-6a!"

Nox chose to join them, slowly walking up to them and cautiously wrapping his arms around them. "I'm Nox."

Darwin only struggled more, trying to keep them off Fletcher. "Can you please get off? We're just trying to find out what happened, aren't you confused?!"

Mor took a moment, shook her head, and tightened her hug. "Nope. I know what you need!" she giggled.

"My apologies," Nox pulled back, flustered, "she is just trying to comfort you."

"That's nice and all, but I think we'd just like to find out where we are," Darwin said.

"Seconded," Fletcher's voice came muffled from Darwin's chest.

Nos turned to address the hornets and kept as calm as he could. "Get Nebula on the line."

"Okay Mor, I think they've had enough hugs, give them some space." XR suggested.

Mor hesitated but nodded as she let go and backed away to her brother's side.

"Do you kids know how it happened?" XR asked as soft as he could, his focus was mainly how they were feeling.

Fletcher managed to pry his head out of Darwin's vice grip. "Of course not, we've been asking you this whole time!"

XR winced. "Sorry I just ‒ " he paused, fishing for the right words. "Did you see a portal open up? It would have looked like a small black hole?"

Fletcher squinted, "Maybe? We were playing checkers and there was this weird noise. I didn't think about it, I just tried to grab Darwin and get away, but it sucked us in."

"And now we're here..." Darwin muttered.

Nos perked at the description. "What noise? Can you describe it?"

"It was like... something was being torn, or sucked in, but like someone just opened a vacuum chamber underwater with a gunshot."

XR and Nos exchanged worried looks.

In the moment of silence that followed, Darwin gave words to the thought he'd been dreading. "Excuse me, did you say 'portal?'"

"Yes, but we need to know, who are your parents?" XR asked cautiously.

"You called me 'dad,'" Nos spoke. "Then that means he is ‒ "

"I have more brothers!" Mor hugged them tightly again, her arms wrapped all the way around them.

Darwin stole himself. "Um, why do you want to know who our parents are?"

Fletcher finally sat up straight, brushing Mor's arms away. He put his hand on Darwin's shoulder. "Darwin, that guy doesn't just look like Dad, he feels like him. Kind of." The hybrid turned his head to Nos and XR. "My parents are Nos-4-a2 and EVE Probe Two. My name is Fletcher. This is Darwin, and his parents are Fred and Rosie Harley."

Nos rubbed his head. "It seems we guessed correctly. Nebula has opened a portal and something has gone terribly wrong."

"What does that mean?" Fletcher asked, "How far away from home are we, exactly?"

Nos swallowed his anger. They deserved answers. "You are not in the same universe."

"You might want something to eat before we explain this," XR interjected, "especially when it's so much to take in."

Mor squealed and grabbed Fletcher and Darwin's hands. "Follow me!"

Fletcher had gone completely blank, so Darwin put his arm around his back. "Come on Fletch, we can stand up. Let's... uh, hear what they have to say, okay? It's gonna be fine, come on, it's okay..."

Fletcher managed to stand and they followed Mor towards the yard.

"I don't eat," Darwin managed once they were up and about. As trivial as the fact seemed, he didn't want to seem rude, "and Fletcher only absorbs energy."

Nos nodded as they made their way outside. "As do we aside from Nox and XR."

"I'm a special case," Nox chimed in, "but I am part Energy Vampire."

Mor pulled them outside and pushed them onto a chair.

Nosfer looked to the newcomers and then to Nos in surprise.

"They are from another universe," Nos muttered. Nosfer only nodded.

Fletcher still refused to let go of Darwin, resulting in them sitting in the same chair.

ALD looked to them. Despite his lack of expression, he exuded concern and was careful to choose a calm tone. "How do you do?"

"Pretty terrible, actually," Darwin murmured.

ALD nodded, sensing the shock in their system. "So the usual then," he quipped before he could think, scolding himself. "Cake?"

Darwin shook his head.

ALD shrugged and placed a plate down. "So I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess Zurg stupidly opened a portal and they wound up in our home?"

XR thought it over but through his calculations, not even his pops could amplify enough power to cause a portal like this. "Actually, we thought Nebula did this, but with that amount of force, it might have been two at the same time. The only problem is if anyone opens another portal, they may open up something horrible."

"Makes sense," Nos mumbled.

Fletcher's eyeforms had almost shrunken to single pixels. "How many people have access to the power to open tears between universes in this forsaken plane of existence?!"

"As of now there are three including myself," Nos bit into an energy rock and the glow died out.

Darwin perked up. "Does that mean you could send us back?"

Nos pulled the rock away and allowed it to absorb sun energy. "Well, yes and no. If we use our portal while the other two are active ‒ "

"It could cause a big bang and it could hit your world, too." XR finished for him.

"So two portals screws us over..." Fletcher stammered.

"...but three destroys the universe?" Darwin continued when Fletcher couldn't.

"Well in a manner of speaking... both universes will be destroyed," XR corrected. Fletcher looked like he might crash. "The only way to send you back without any dangers or risks is to shut off both of the other machines."

"Great!" Fletcher squeaked, "So call them up and tell them to coordinate next time, and to give us a quick window to get home!"

Nox shook in fear.

"There is a particularly dangerous complication that prevents us from doing that," Nos looked to his son in concern.

Fletcher might have drowned under their wavelengths if he didn't quickly stifle his sensors. He let his head hit the table, exasperated. "I take it the other owners of these portals aren't exactly a regulated, scientific coalition, then."

XR shook his head. "That's exactly the problem. Zurg owns one of the portals."

Fletcher waited a moment for them to elaborate before grumbling, "...Who? We're not from here, if you can't recall! We don't know who that is!"

"Okay, come on, cool it," Darwin said, "They're trying to help."

"Zurg is a terrible tyrant who tried to make me into a weapon," Nox's voice shook as he spoke, "and there is a psychopath with him who has this obsession with torturing me and my sister. This monster has terrorized me and vows to kill everything in this universe." Nox's papa held him, comforting him.

"I do not know what things are like where you came from, but Zurg is also my creator. Perhaps your father has different origins, Fletcher."

Fletcher gawked at Nox. "You're so young though, why would anyone want to kill you? And I'm sorry, but I think I'd know if my Dad was built by some maniac!"

"Then it must be different. Please understand, five years ago, Zurg found out that I was alive after he believed I was offline. He also learned about Nox's gift, unaware Mor shared his abilities. Zurg sent a monster to kidnap Nox so he could turn him into his personal weapon. This monster," Nos paused for a moment and chose not to show them who he was. "He is a 669 year old antimatter vampire who was locked away for centuries before being freed by Zurg. When he took my son, they forced him through experiments, most even today Nox is too afraid to speak about. Luckily ALD, my brother, took care of him and a few others rebelled and tried to help him escape. The day I fought AL he nearly killed me, but I destroyed him. Alas, he survived, and ever since he has tried to kidnap Nox and kill Mor."

Darwin and Fletcher stared, utterly, completely terrified. What kind of world had they been taken to?

Nosfer frowned. "AL wasn't always like that. He was a soldier that did not wish to harm anyone. He was forced to suffer so much because of my foolish son who sought power. My son created him to be weapon and that said weapon killed him in the end, as that power drove him mad."

Darwin managed to utter, "Is there no one to protect you? At home, there are interplanetary security forces that take care of stuff like this. I know we live in the middle of nowhere, but I think it's called Star Command? I guess it doesn't really matter, nobody should have to deal with this."

"There are regulations and such but AL_2_CAR-D is not a follower of rules. He destroys them. As the old saying goes, rules are words that can only go so far. Nos here works with the Galactic Alliance meaning here on Capital Planet, Zurg has no access so that is an upside," ALD explained, holding a battery and absorbing its energy within his hands.

Fletcher and Darwin clung closer to each other. They had never heard of anything so potently malicious.

Fletcher had such a hard time processing it that he could only seem to focus on the more mundane. His voice came out hoarse. "We really must be in another universe. I can't imagine Dad working for any government, especially not a galaxy-wide one. Sometimes he talks about living completely off the grid, like he wants nothing to do with the Galactic Alliance at all."

Nos chuckled. "I feel the same way. I would prefer to not have any dealings with them, but if it were not for Madame President, Star Command would have blasted me away."

"And thank the Cosmos he hasn't been destroyed," XR grinned, hugging Nos around the waist.

Fletcher relaxed a little in the moment of familiarity between this Nos-4-a2 and his own father, though seeing him with someone else threw him for a loop and the mention of the President went right over his head.

Another moment passed, and once again Darwin had a chance to say what he'd rather avoid. "So if the worst people imaginable have access to a portal, are we just... trapped here?"

"Not exactly, but it will take some time for us to figure things out," Nos admitted, sensing their dread.

"But don't feel too down, we'll take you back home. That we promise," XR smiled but knew there wasn't much comfort in the truth.

Fletcher and Darwin leaned together, numb, powerless.

"What do we do now?" Fletcher rasped, "Our parents will notice we're gone, and there's nothing we can do..."

"We might have a solution for that problem," XR was relieved to finally share some good news. "We can get in contact with your parents."

"Wait, really?" Darwin gasped.

Nos nodded. "It will take some work, but we will see what I can do." He stood up and floated to the house.

XR watched Nos go. "There's some batteries and energy rocks for you Fletcher and oil for you Darwin. Be right back." He took off into the house as well.

Nox was quiet as Mor only smiled at the stunned pair of Earthlings.

ALD picked up another power cell. "This is interesting to say the least."

Fletcher stared hard at the batteries on the table. "So, you guys feel like Energy Vampires. I've never met any besides my mom and dad before."

Mor, still smiling, nodded, "I sensed you were like me."

Nox nodded as well. "Well I'm not exactly a full Energy Vampire, but I can sense you just like papa can."

"I hope my questions don't seem too strange," Fletcher tested his words, trying to see if he could hold a conversation after all they'd just learned. "At home, my parents and myself are the only three Energy Vampires anywhere in the known galaxy. Are all of the Energy Vampires here related to each other?"

ALD nodded. "Mostly. The psychopath we mentioned earlier is of the breed, and he has a brother who shares the trait. Those two, AL and the other, are not related to us. XR is family, but he has not turned."

Mor giggled. "Daddy isn't ready to turn yet."

The hornets hissed and Mor nodded at them.

Nox interpreted, "Bob and Frank said they will make your rooms for you for the time being."

Darwin looked to the hornets, "Um, thank you Bob and Frank. You can just, uh, make us one room." Fletcher nodded in agreement, clinging to his scrap of home.

Nox smiled. "They asked papa if it was best to keep it one room and he said yes, so they were already making one room for you. They have a keen sense of knowing about this kind of stuff."

The hornets hissed in appreciation and left back into the house.

"Thanks," Darwin murmured.

"So if your other dad ‒ XR, right? ‒ isn't ready to turn, does that mean turning is hard in this world, too? My mom still has problems, and she turned before I was born."

Mor had to think about that but Nox was the first to answer. "That we don't know, but Papa said something about messing up his core."

Fletcher thought for a moment, staring at the table. "That's definitely different from the way things are at home. By the way, Mr. ALD, did you say that we're on Capital Planet?"

ALD nodded. "Do you have a Capital Planet in your world?"

"Yeah, but it's really, really far away from where we live," Darwin said, "Have you ever heard of Earth?"

Nox nodded excitedly. "That's where aunt Jessie and uncle Buzz and Woody live!" he smiled at the thought of their cousins' peaceful ranch. "Their planet isn't too far from us."

Darwin blinked, "That's so strange. Our Capital Planet is practically on the other end of the galaxy from Earth."

"Our Earth is far away from everything," Fletcher added, "It was uninhabitable for centuries, and we've only been recolonizing in the last few decades."

ALD was relieved for something easy to talk about. "Earth is a newly discovered planet, and it was only annexed into the Galactic Alliance fourteen years ago. It has been teeming with life for fourteen billion years. They have pretty decent tech, too."

"Things on our home are pretty old fashioned," Darwin blinked, "We're some of the most advanced tech you'll see there. The humans used the same technology for seven hundred years straight, but now they're more focused on cleaning up the pollution and tending the land. I've never been to a planet that's so... unpolluted. Can you see all the stars at night here?"

Mor was ecstatic to sense their mood was easing away from sheer terror. "Yes we do! We can even see the nova gas! Would you like to see it?!"

"It's more dust than gas – "

Darwin interrupted, "Fletcher, it doesn't matter. Mor-6a, the way you say that makes it sound like we could see them right now!"

"We have to wait till night time. When it gets dark you can see them much better and it is beautiful. We can even stand on the balcony outside our room and watch it." Nox grinned to sense the tentative calm.

Mor pouted. "We could watch from out here, but we're not allowed to stay outside by ourselves any more."

Fletcher looked down. "I'm not surprised. It sounds like a lot of terrible, scary stuff happens here..." he fisted his shirt in his hand, holding it tight. "Why would you ever let yourselves be vulnerable?"

To be continued...

And here is the first chapter of our story! Thank you mrsevetwo for this and more will come! Also, check out mrsevetwo on her deviantart site. And please do not repost our work, we worked hard on this!

Fletcher and Darwin belongs to mrsevetwo

We may be posting once a week but not making any promises