I'm surprised on how much and quickly I updated last week. One day after another, but even I have others things to do. I needed this break, even though I'm sure that there are other authors that take a month or more to update. Well, here's the next chapter that gets into more action and drama and such. Or maybe not. Please work with me here!

Last time, the Eager, Young Space Cadet was saved by the Martian's involvement of his plight. What was his plight again? Why, Duck Dodgers was brutally wounded from head to webbed toe by a callous being that was as dark as his enigmatic background, that's how. Noir, the ultimate wanderer, searched for a true rival to test his impressive fighting skills against. His search led him to Dodgers, and was unsatisfied by what he was given. For the waste of time, Noir blew his ship out of space which led to the Martian's involvement.

If anyone was going to finish off Duck Dodgers, Mars had the first rights to his head before anything else.

So far, the Cadet and Martian Commander X-2 were still contacting Dr. I.Q. Hi to spread the news of Dodgers' fall. The network server was rather slow. The connection between I.Q.'s office and the Martian Palace was still loading.

"Gee, I-I-I don't know how it c-c-came to this," the Cadet said, worried. "One minute, Captain Dodgers and I were en-en-en-enjoy—relishing a fine day. Then that ps-ps-psychotic swordsman a-a-attacks us and injures the poor Captain."

"Oh, how dreadful," X-2 commented. "Are you sure Dodgers did not do anything to provoke the said psychotic swordsman into attacking you?"

"I-I-If he did, Noir w-w-would have said something," the Cadet replied, looking at the Loading… animation on screen. "Say, you still have a thing for the Queen right?" X-2 glanced at the pig as though he was spouting gibberish.

"Oh, my, that came rather out of left field."

"S-S-S-Sor-Sorr… I apologize. It's just that you didn't r-r-react much to her concern o-o-over Captain Dodgers." The Cadet heard the Martian Commander release a deep sigh, even though the Martian had no mouth. His tired, round eyes told him enough on how he felt about all of this.

"Cadet, I truly love my Queen, I really do," X-2 confessed, looking away. "But even you remember what happened back at our wedding. It seems that whether Dodgers cares or not, he somehow makes my life miserable."

"I-I-It's not your fault that the Legion of Duck Doom crashed the wedding just f-f-for an attempt at the Captain's life, Martian."

"Ah, you don't know how true you are," X-2 sighed again, pacing about around the computer. "Seeing how Dodgers made a loyal follower out of that robot impressed the Queen enough before you joined the fray, Cadet. I guess it's just that overpowering 'charm' of his. I would have otherwise moved on to a better archenemy that to stick around him for long."

"S-So you do respect him."

"He's earned the Queen's respect… and her heart. And all I want is for her to be happy. If Dodgers can provide what I failed to bring for the Queen, then I can finally rest in peace. If I'm not fit enough to be the Queen's consort, then the least I can do is serve her and Mars till the day I'm shot out of the sky."

"B-Boy, that's r-r-really mature of you to think like that, Martian," the Cadet praised. "At least you're still on good terms with her since then."

"I'm pretty much her best friend when you think about it," X-2 mused. "… No wonder she's lonely. That royal job of hers really killed much of her social life."

"What about her p-p-previous job as Miss Mars?" the Cadet inquired.

"The Royal Council of Mars demanded that she stay on her path to royalty instead of continuing her hobby, and at a young age too," X-2 explained. "The Council also says that her modeling is just attracting more perverted peasants to the imperial palace. Some of them were not even Martians!"

"T-T-That's b-b-b-b-bu-bull—just plain silly," the Cadet said, shaking his head. "I g-g-guess when you think of it this way, it's a w-w-wonder how she became a tyrannical r-r-ruler with a cold, i-i-iron fist."

"No one said that the royal life is the best life," X-2 shrugged. "The Queen's strength and wisdom of Mars was why she was chosen to take up the crown, aside from inheritance of course. Always having to find what's best for Mars and never any personal time for herself, I actually have pity for her. Even when she has more free time these days, she doesn't even remember having them due to her being so used to her imperial obligations of conquering and whatnot years back."

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Hello? Hello?" a familiar voice called out.

"D-D-Dr. I.Q. Hi!" the Cadet exclaimed.

"Cadet? What are you doing in the Martian Palace?" I.Q. Hi queried as his image came on screen. "If you hadn't already realized, Earth and Mars are still pretty much in war. Even Dodgers knows that since he continuously boasts about kicking the Commander's butt."

"Excuse me, but the Commander is standing right over here," X-2 called out, annoyed.

"Erm, so you are… Cadet, what's the meaning of this?"

"I-I-It's Captain Dodgers I want t-t-to talk to you about, sir," the Cadet said meekly, saluting him. He saw I.Q. Hi release a big sigh on the screen; nonetheless, it was usual behavior when the Cadet was filing a report on Duck Dodgers.

"What has Dodgers gotten himself into this time?" I.Q. Hi queried in a bored tone.

"S-S-Sir, he's gravely injured and is currently in the M-M-Martian Queen's care," the Cadet explained, worried about what I.Q.'s reaction was going to be. In a heartbeat, I.Q. Hi quickly rose out of his chair, looking incredulously back at the Cadet and Martian Commander.

"You're kidding me…!" I.Q. Hi exclaimed as though he was out of breath. "Duck Dodgers was actually defeated by a powerful opponent instead of his ironic dumb luck saving him? How… How did this happen?"

"Well for one thing, we're puppets of a mysterious being who claims that he is the almighty follower of a dimensional-traveling jester," X-2 brought up, looking up. The Cadet and I.Q. followed suit, confused on who or what the Martian Commander was referring to. Up there…

"O… kay… How about you, Cadet?" I.Q. Hi asked, ignoring the last proposal.

"Simply put, sir," the Cadet began," we were just mind our own business until this alien f-f-f-fighter attacked us out of the black. His n-name was Noir, a thrill-seeking assassin from what I could g-g-g-gath-gathe—surmise."

"He claimed that his goal was to find a new perfect rival to best him at a fair standoff," X-2 added, "just to end his wretched immortal life. I still don't understand why we couldn't have unleashed the wrath of Mars upon him."

"I t-t-told you that Noir is completely ruthless to achieve his goals," the Cadet answered in a harsh, reasoning tone. "If someone like Noir was actually able to d-d-d-defe-defe—take down Captain Dodgers, then what chance d-d-does the Martian military have? He'll slice you all apart one by one!"

"Okay, okay! Sheesh…," X-2 muttered, shaking his round head. "No need to be melodramatic about it. I'm not about to let this Noir being get away like this either."

"So it's a good thing w-w-we're both going after him then."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Say what?" I.Q. Hi inquired disbelievingly. "Cadet! Commander! Do you guys have a death wish or some newly acquired mental disorder when Dodgers was wounded?"

"S-Sir?"

"You don't know anything about this Noir. For all you know, you could be walking into a trap."

"B-But sir…"

"Hah… fine," I.Q. Hi finally said, rubbing his temples. "Look, hearing that Dodgers was brutally taken down was a shocker. The first real shocker I've had in a long time, actually. I've known in the past that Dodgers may be incompetent, unreliable, insensitive, selfish, rude, unpredictable, disorganized, irritating,—."

"Get to t-t-the point already," the Cadet sighed exasperatedly.

"One more," I.Q. Hi replied, placing his rubber-gloved arms behind his back. "Poorly groomed. Okay, if you truly want to avenge Duck Dodgers and capture Noir, then the least I can do for you guys is to offer you two a background check on him as you start your search for him."

"T-T-Thank you, sir," the Cadet said, bowing alongside the Martian Commander. "We're most honored for your a-a-assistance."

"We'll take my ship since Dodgers' is still in the Repair Ward," X-2 said, shaking his keys in his hands as indication.

"Very well," I.Q. Hi concluded. "If there's no more business left, I.Q. out!"

Somewhere far away in the darkest crevices of some dark galaxy inside an abandoned space station…

The revived Legion of Duck Doom plots its next move on annihilating Duck Dodgers from existence and conquering the universe. The latter goal was more of a treat to Z-9 than the other galactic villains. The majority of them, which was the twelve original members, just wanted to be rid of Dodgers once and for all.

And Drake Darkstar?

The evil duck doppelganger was simply being Drake Darkstar. His plans and motives were his own, though he wouldn't mind sharing in the feast of Dodgers' planned defeat with his fellow villains. Even if the saying of the feast was literal, Darkstar wouldn't mind filling his stomach with his goody-goody twin freshly baked.

"So when in Sam Hill are we gonna strike down that no-good, razza-frazza varmint?" Sa'am asked aloud, twirling his long mustache.

"I was wondering when you 'gentlemen' were going to ask me that," Z-9 said with cold confidence. Dish 2.0 activated the holographic map situated on the wall behind the former Martian General. It displayed the entire solar system, which ranged from the nine original planets. Their present location was displayed with a holographic map of their galaxy next to the first map.

"Ooh, fancy stuff," Crusher remarked, mesmerized by the bright projection.

"And the map is for…?" Higalgo inquired, spinning his hand around as a gesture for someone to fill in.

"To mark our positions around the quadrants of the universe, you incompetent," Z-9 snapped, his brief display of anger quickly deteriorating and rendering him back to his cool self. "Yes, so anyway I've discussed this plan with Councilor Dish and Darkstar. And considering your motivations of destroying Dodgers is great, we've agreed on the simple 'divide and conquer' strategy."

"Gweat! Now elabowate, if you please," Fudd suggested.

"After considering all of your unique talents and which environments would receive the best benefits from, we've assigned you to different places to intercept Dodgers if he should happen to pass by," Z-9 explained. With his strong arms crossed in front of his chest, he resumed facing the holographic maps. "Any questions?"

"Aye!" Silver hollered, raising his hand. "So where is Dodgers, captain?"

The following moment was that of an awkward silence. Ironically enough, a random tumbleweed was carried on a nonexistent wind, lightly bouncing on the heads of several villains. Some of them paid note to that tumbleweed, others did not.

"Man, this is infuriating," Canasta grumbled, laying his head on the table.

"I'd like to get my hands on Sea Man, that's for sure!" Black Eel declared. "Wherever Sea Man is, I will hunt him down!"

"Enough! We'll have to settle for Duck Dodgers later," Z-9 interrupted. A new marker was indicated on the holographic map, seemingly originated from Planet Mars. "It looks like we'll have an old acquaintance of mine as an appetizer first. Get ready 'cause we're gonna strike hard and run away fast. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Aha ha ha ha ha ha!" the Legion followed suit in raucous evil laughter.

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but then again there are probably a lot more authors with this horrible habit. No offense though. =P

Anyway, please review as always!