((712 WC))
Rick landed on Nutopia and clicked his radar.
He promptly dropped it as he looked around. "Jesus!"
There was grass everywhere. And fountains. And Japanese style buildings. And a drum circle. John ran up to him, reeking of pot. "Hey, Ricky, baby!" He clapped a hand on Ryuzaki's shoulder.
Rick noted that there were trees bearing tangerines. "Err. Right, John. Have you seen a little, rainbow ball around here?"
John pulled off his necklace and handed it to Rick.
"Cheers," Ryuzaki said. He laid it in his normal satchel, as he never replaced his quantum satchel. He clicked the radar and flew off.
"He can fly," John said aloud, slightly surprised. He eyed his joint suspiciously and shrugged.
Rick was afraid of this. He had heard of the dark side of the moon, obviously, but he always had a fear of the dark. He lit his hands in the glow of his ki and took a deep breath. He stopper himself, as if on instinct. He produced from his satchel a packed lunch, and tossed the chicken's leg into the darkness. He lit the spot with his ki again and nearly screeched when he saw that it was now naught but bones. He stepped backwards when he realized the darkness was following him; he never realized that the sun must set on the moon, as well. As he creeped backwards, he turned his head and saw the Hippy Village in the distance. Eventually, it, too would be engulfed by the hungry shadows. He checked his satchel. It was still there. He put Artik's Scouter on and scanned the darkness.
Several pings later, the HUD read, 'Vashta Nerada. Pirahna of Shadows. Can sometimes travel to developing planets and kill colonists. Usually just eat roadkill. First known sighting on Earth: Roanoke, North Carolina, British America. Left no traces.'
Rick gulped. He tripped on something and shouted. He picked up the two Dragon Balls and flew up and away from the shadows.
"Scouter," he said, "contact TARDIS."
Several ringing tones later, "TARDIS, call some mercenaries. Put up a listing in some taverns. Warn them it's the Vashta Nerada, though."
The TARDIS made a worried noise.
"Right," Rick said. "How can we be... Friends?"
The shadow still crept closer.
Rick sighed, "Right. Guess you can't speak." The Scouter pipped and displayed ways around this. Rick sighed and tossed a spare, futuristic walkie-talkie into the shadows.
It found the Scouter's channel. "We are the Vashta Nerada."
"I figured that," Rick said snidely.
"We... Must feed."
"I can order a pizza."
"We... Like hippies."
"You aren't Nixon, then."
"We... Landed here."
"In what, a ship?"
"In... Spores."
Rick continued walking backwards, "You need to find another planet. These are my people."
"We... Thank you for the cattle."
"They are under my protection." The a scouter pipped again. "Oh, I see. You're weak to light?" He hummed, "I think I have an idea, then!" The TARDIS appeared, blinked in and out of existance, and Rick jumped out a nanosecond later with a germicide lamp in hand. He waved it about and the shadows began hissing, and Rick could smell smoke. He picked up another Dragonball he found and poured his ki into a special set of gloves he found that turn light into germicidical light. He radiated it, charging the shadows back. "Gotcha now, you dust particle sons of bitches!" He heard a crackle from his scouter and decided he had eradicated them all. "The Nutopian Colony is too easy for them; new batches will show up." Rick sighed and took the gloves off and picked up the penultimate ball. He sighed and flew about. He clicked the scouter and found the location of the last ball. "Due west. Back with the hippies. Yay." He sped off to the village and touched down. "Has anyone seen a rainbow-colored ball?"
The hippies were not happy that Ryuzaki interrupted their drum circle. "Yeah, I have," a man who was wearing his tie as a headband said, "but you have to do something for us."
Rick had a good idea. He summoned the TARDIS and went to Heaven. He landed back on Nutopia, pulled a large tree out through the doors, and planted it. "There. Hallucinogenic tree." The hippies were ecstatic and Rick got the ball. Yaaaay.
