"Guys, are you being serious?" Jonathan pleaded with the trio of teenagers he was speaking with.

The boy with the orange hat just shrugged. "I mean yeah, it's messed up, but what can we do about it?"

"It's not like we have any weapons here," another boy wearing a yellow shirt chimed in.

"None of your parents had any weapons when they were still here?"

"I mean, my dad had a couple of guns, but they weren't there any more when the weird teleportation beam went through the neighborhood," the third teenager explained.

"Weapons were probably one of the first things that those guys took away," said the boy in the orange hat.

Jonathan sighed. Is this really what his society had come to? Was his generation truly as lazy and apathetic as they were stereotyped to be on social media and among the older generations? Or was there another reason for their lack of spirit? After all, his age group was always branded as the most fiery, most rebellious and tenacious of all.

"Look, I understand that you guys are nervous," Jonathan said, trying to find a new angle. "But are we just going to leave our parents in danger after everything they've done for us?"

The other boys exchanged an apprehensive look, and Jonathan became hopeful.

"These aliens show up out of nowhere and separate us from our parents, then expect us to be loyal to them? Whatever they're planning for our parents, it won't be good."

"And so what?" a deep and brutish voice suddenly interrupted.

Jonathan and the other boys turned to see Howard Swanson sauntering over to them, his blue sneakers smeared with mud and his black tanktop slick with sweat. Jonathan almost wrinkled his nose when the stench of Howard's five-day-strong body odor hit his nostrils. Clearly, this bully had been taking advantage of the fact that his parents weren't around to scold his unhygienic habits.

"Who cares that our parents aren't here?" Howard continued, adjusting his hat. "We can have all the fun we want now."

Jonathan was taken aback. Yes he enjoyed his independence as a teenager, but had he ever wanted his mom to just go away?

Then again, he wasn't really one to talk, given how he'd treated her before the Hoo-Meerian Empire's arrival.

"Yeah, you're right," the teen in the orange hat shrugged. "Not having to go to school is great. No more annoying essays for once."

Again, Jonathan was aghast. Rejoicing over not having to write essays? And that alone was worth not having their parents around?

"There, see?" Howard agreed. "Why don't we just enjoy what we have."

"You mean like the boys in Pinocchio did when they went to Pleasure Island?" Jonathan retorted.

Howard laughed. "Are you seriously using a children's movie as a reason why we should not enjoy our fun?"

Jonathan felt his heart begin to race. Despite being shorter than him, Howard was much stronger and athletic than Jonathan was. However, he could not, in good conscience, sit idly by and let this uncivilized brute insult the magic of animated movies.

"What? Animated movies can still be for older folks," Jonathan argued. "Besides, I don't

want to see you turn into a donkey. Then again, I guess that ship has already sailed."

The other teenagers standing next to Jonathan snickered as Howard's expression turned angry.

"Oh yeah right, punk. You're just as much of a jackass yourself, seeing as you've never even been able to get close to a girl."

"Oooooh!" the other teen boys said as a crowd began to gather.

Jonathan could feel the sweat beginning to form on his forehead. He'd drawn too much attention to himself, and now his plan might backfire. But being the optimist that he was, he was not about to back down from a fight. He stood up straight and readied himself for the next round of verbal sparring.

"Can you even define romance?" Jonathan asked, adjusting his glasses for dramatic effect.

"Something you'll never have, bub," Howard chuckled, making an effort to put as much condescension as possible in his laugh.

"Any romance you have will be as toxic as your personality," Jonathan shrugged.

"Ooooohhhh!" the crowd of teenagers cheered, urging them on.

"Oh yeah right, chump," Howard replied. "I get twenty times more girls than you."

"Twenty times zero equals zero, doofus," Jonathan said, stifling a laugh. The crowd of teenagers made up for it by laughing their heads off, some of them even taking out their phones to record the confrontation.

"Okay that's it, squirt," Howard growled, cracking his knuckles. "You're going down."

"Hey look, someone wrote gullible on the ceiling," Jonathan said.

Howard looked up.

His face turned red.

The crowd grew silent.

After all, Howard had actually done it.

He'd looked up, when Jonathan had pointed up...even though they were all standing outside.

The crowd of teenagers finally burst into laughter, their amusement reaching new heights upon witnessing Howard's self-induced humiliation. Howard gave Jonathan the mightiest death glare ever seen in human history, and Jonathan just stood there with a big, silly grin on his face.

He'd won!

Well, the battle of words at least.

Jonathan scarcely had time to react as Howard charged forward. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Howard planted his sneaker in Jonathan's chest, knocking him to the ground. As to be expected, the other teenagers began to cheer even louder and continue recording the fight on their phones. Jonathan tried to get back up, but Howard was relentless, kicking him down again and readying another stomp aimed for Jonathan's head.

"Stop this at once!" Garruck's voice boomed.

The circle of teenagers broke apart as Garruck and four Hoo-Meerian Guards stormed over to the scene, their spears poised to strike and their expressions stern.

"He started it!" Howard lied.

"Really?" Garruck said in a severe tone. "Let us review this recording from your compatriot and see if that is the case."

Garruck beckoned one of the teenagers over with his long finger, and the contrite bystander knew better than to argue. He walked over to Garruck and showed him the video, showing how Howard had made the first strike.

"Ah, so it would appear that you are a bully and a liar," Garruck scolded Howard. "You now have two choices, young man. You can either come with me and my guards peacefully, or we will take you to my tower by force."

"Who the hell do you think you are, you wrinkly-faced freak!" Howard shouted. "You can't boss me around!"

"Oh, I believe I can," Garruck narrowed his eyes.

"I'll show you who's boss around here!" Howard said, and lunged at Garruck with his fists at the ready.

But before he could land his punch, two of the guards darted forward and stabbed their spears towards Howard's chest. A jolt of electricity shot out from the tips of the spears, stunning Howard and bringing him to his knees.

"You have made the wrong choice, young man," Garruck said. "Guards, bind this troublemaker and bring him to my tower. And the rest of you, never let me see you encouraging fights ever again."

The other teenage boys and girls began to disperse with their heads hanging down, as Jonathan got to his feet and dusted himself off. Darius and Bill, who had also witnessed the altercation, walked over to check on their friend.

"Hey man, you okay?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine," Jonathan said, blinking back tears.

"Take it easy Jonathan," Darius encouraged. "He hit you pretty hard. It's alright to say it hurts."

"No, it's not!" Jonathan suddenly blurted out.

Darius and Bill were silent.

"It's like middle school all over again," Jonathan sniffed. "Always getting friendzoned. Always getting beat up. And I can never do anything about it."

"Jonathan, take a deep breath," Darius said with understanding. "I get that you're frustrated, but it's nothing to lose your head over."

"Wish I could just shut Howard's stupid face for good," Jonathan fumed. "That good-for-nothing, scurvy little spider can jump off a cliff for all I care."

"Jonathan, stop it!" Bill cut him off.

"He started it!" Jonathan said. "You heard him! He doesn't even care that our parents are in danger!"

"That's because his father was abusive," Darius said.

Jonathan blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm serious," Darius assured them. "You know how my father is a cop? Well, a year ago he got called to a domestic violence case. It was at Howard's house, and he had to arrest Howard's dad.

Jonathan began to feel ashamed of what he had said.

"Wow, I had no idea," Bill said.

"I didn't want to tell anyone at school, otherwise the hallways would've had more gossip than they already do," Darius added.

"That is a fair point," Bill nodded in agreement.

"Well...well, I guess I should've asked first," Jonathan said.

"It's alright dude, you didn't know," Darius replied.

"I'm just gonna go read for a while," Jonathan told them, then quickly walked down the street and back to his house before his friends could say anything.

Upon approaching his house, Jonathan saw Helen working out in the front yard of her new (forced) residence), with a small yellow shovel in her hand and a green bucket beside her. For once in his life, Jonathan didn't flinch when he saw his crush. However, he still felt himself growing nervous as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Did Helen think he was a creep?

Did she secretly blame him for their placement next to each other, and just wasn't telling him to be polite?

Was she gossipping to all her friends about his every little flaw and misstep?

Did she like him back and just didn't want to say anything for fear of being ostracized?

Jonathan decided that enough was enough. He was not about to leave any room for misunderstanding on his end. He walked up to the fence between his house and Helen's, taking care not to step too loudly.

"Hey Helen," Jonathan said.

Helen stopped her digging and turned around. "Oh, hi Jonathan," she smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"From what I saw, Howard kicked you pretty hard."

"Oh, yeah, um, that," Jonathan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I couldn't react in time."
"I'm sure Garruck will talk to him," Helen assured him.

"Yeah, yeah, right," Jonathan shrugged. "Speaking of Garruck, I swear this wasn't my idea okay?"

"What do you mean?" Helen asked.

"I did not ask for you specifically to be put next to me," Jonathan started explaining, waving his hands around as he talked. "I promise, I wasn't secretly hoping for it, or wishing for it, or anything like that."

"Jonathan–," Helen tried to speak.

"I can talk to Garruck to get me transferred if you want, I'm sure he'll listen," Jonathan continued rambling. "I can ask him to be put in my aunt's house in the next neighborhood, or–,"

"Jonathan!"

Jonathan was startled by Helen's shout, and had to catch his glasses as they fell off of his face. It seemed fortune was smiling upon Jonathan, however, for Helen only laughed.

"Look, you don't need to over-explain everything to me, okay?" Helen chuckled. "I wasn't even thinking that you asked to be placed next to me."

"Oh. You weren't?" Jonathan asked in confusion.

"No," Helen snickered again. "Listen, if I feel like you're being rude or inconsiderate, I'll let you know, or ask Garruck to talk to you. Alright?"

"Um, r-right," Jonathan stammered, his face turning red as he realized he'd fallen into his old bad habit again.

"You have good confidence," Helen said, changing the subject.

"What?" Jonathan said.

"For standing up to Howard like that," Helen clarified. "I don't think many people in our school would even dare to look at him wrong."

"Well...thank you," Jonathan said. "I didn't really do much."

"I think one person is enough to make a difference," Helen winked.

"Stan Lee," Jonathan laughed.

"I figured you'd get that reference," Helen said.

"Gee, thanks," Jonathan laughed.

After agreeing that Helen could come over to his backyard to tend to the garden any time she wished, Jonathan went back into his house and flopped back down on the couch to read a book. Lately, he'd been reading The Assassin's Scars, a riveting fantasy and romance novel centered around criminal clans in a forest. It'd been quite the story, really. Something to help him take his mind off of things.

His reading was interrupted thirty minutes later, when he heard an urgent knock at his door.

"Bill, does it have to be right now? I'm reading?"

"I don't believe that Bill has magical powers, nor does he come from my planet," Garruck's stern voice said through the door.

"Oh crap," Jonathan realized. "Hold on, I'm coming."

Garruck put a finger to his lips after Jonathan opened the door, and stepped inside the dwelling to converse with the now apprehensive human.

"What was that you were saying to Howard and those other boys, Jonathan?" Garruck said in a low voice as he closed the door.

"What, the roasts?"

"No you nitwit," Garruck facepalmed. "Before that."

"Oh, we were only talking about...well, you know...,"

"Rebelling against our empire?"

"Why did you ask if you already knew?"

"Well for one, to test your integrity," Garruck scowled. "Secondly, because I want to help."

"Oh wow, that's real–wait what?"

Garruck put one hand on Jonathan's shoulder, while waving his other hand around to cast a spell.

"This spell gives us ten minutes before my guards become suspicious," Garruck whispered. "Please, young one. I've waited centuries for this opportunity."

He motioned for Jonathan to sit down.

"So tell me, Jonathan, how do you intend to stand up to my master?"