With our superior overseeing this so-called "practice run," we landed our ships in front of a strange structure that looked like an igloo.

"Uh, Grubber," the Storm King said through a megaphone. "That's your cue, you know."

I found the hedgehog with his head in the clouds, taking in the land that we were meant to conquer.

"Grubber, that's your cue!" I repeated, stamping my foot down and getting him to pay attention to what he needed to do. "Make your announcement."

"All right, all right, I'm going," Grubber muttered carrying the equipment he needed to make the announcement. "Jeez, what a grouch."

Stepping off of the ship, Grubber was met by a creature in purple attire with a gray square on his stomach. A strange antennae was on its head. Amazingly, the creature didn't show any fear.

"Eh oh!" the creature said, waving his paw to Grubber much to our irritation.

"Your excellency," I thought to myself. "Why have you brought us here?"

"Oh and Grubber," the Storm King remarked. "Why don't you put a little confidence in your introductory speech? Make the victim sound terrified of Commander Tempest."

Taking the microphone in his paw, Grubber addressed the purple who was then joined by three more identical creatures: one in green, one in yellow and one in red.

"Teletubbies of Teletubby land," Grubber began, looking right at them. "We come to you on behalf of our wise and caring leader, the Storm King!"

"Wise and caring, Grubber?" the Storm King snapped. "I'm not wise and caring! Look at them! Do they look terrified to you?"

"Eh oh!"

The hedgehog chuckled nervously as I gave him yet another hard stare to get him to do his job right.

"Teletubbies of Teletubby land," he began again. "We come to you on behalf of the murderous and ruthless despot, the Storm King!"

"Uh oh!"

All of a sudden, the four Teletubbies retreated into their house in fright.

"Grubber," the Storm King groaned. "Now, you are making it too scary! You can't make it too cheerful and you can't make it too scary! It needs to be just right! Let's try this again!"

Doing as he was told, Grubber took the microphone equipment and went back aboard the ship.

"Now," instructed the Storm King. "Get out there and put some effort into it."

"Um, might I suggest I go in there and talk to them without the microphone?" suggested Grubber.

"What message do you think will that send? Stay outside!"

So Grubber tried again, trying to put some effort into getting the Teletubbies to realize what they were dealing with.

"Teletubbies of Teletubby land!" he called out to the Teletubbies from inside their igloo fortress "We come on behalf of the fearsome, the powerful, the almighty... Storm King!"

Listening from inside his office, the Storm King felt satisfied by what he heard. However, the Teletubbies wouldn't come out and face Grubber.

"Okay that's good," he said. "It's not too scary and its not too cheerful. Now you need to introduce Commander Tempest. "

Following his instructions, Grubber cleared his throat and gave the next part of his introduction.

"And now," he announced. "To deliver the evil, evil message, put your paws together for Commander Tempest!"

Right on cue, I stepped off of the ship and advanced towards the door, which opened and the Teletubbies looked up nervously at Tempest as I walked inside.

"Um, what are you doing?" asked the Storm King, looking at me through the screen. "Why are you going inside?"

"Because it's obvious that they aren't going to come out and face us," I replied. "I need to go inside and…"

"No, no, no," interrupted the Storm King. "They need to come out and face you head on! If you can't get them to come out on their own, then you must force them! You have a broken horn, use it!"

That struck a chord with me. He was telling me to use my broken horn to get them to come out. As much as I didn't want to use forceful tactics, I didn't have much of a choice. Using whatever magic I had in my broken horn, I forced the door open and forced the Teletubbies to come out of their hiding places.

"Uh oh!" they cried, trying to run back inside their security. I then used another spell to get them to stop moving and face me at attention.

"Now," I said, firmly yet toughly. "How about we start with your complete and total surrender?"

The four Teletubbies merely just looked at each other with fear in their eyes. In their minds, all they wanted was to be left alone. But that is not what the Storm King does and neither did I.

"All right, let me put it in simpler terms," I corrected myself. "Here's the deal, babies, I need your magic. Hand it over now or we make it difficult for everyone!"

"Commander Tempest?" the Storm King remarked again.

"What is it, sire?"

"There is only four of them. No one else lives here."

"Thanks for the obvious."

"Bibberly Cheese!" the yellow Teletubby cried, trying to fire a blast of magic from her antennae and struck me in the face, causing me to release my grip on them. The rest of the Teletubbies fired their blasts of magic also from their antennae's. However, rather than feeling pain, I felt a sense of adrenaline build up inside of me.

"I was hoping you'd go that route," I laughed and reached into one of my pockets and threw a green orb at the purple Teletubby, hitting him and slowly turning him into stone. The rest of the Teletubbies became desperate and continued to try and strike me with their blasts of magic. Seeing what was happening inside, the Storm King felt it was time to act.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he shouted to his soldiers. "Get in there and help your commander!"

Heeding his order, the soldiers raced into the igloo and helped me take on the Teletubbies. With the green one subdued, I threw another green orb at him, striking him in the chest. Suddenly, one of the soldiers had his spear taken out of his hands and a strange blue creature with eyes and a long trunk sucked the spear up.

"Noo noo!" the yellow Teletubby cried. "Noo noo!"

Realizing that this creature was going to be a hinderance to the operation, I attempted to fire a green orb at it, but the creature was soon overpowered by several guards and beaten into pieces. This gave me another chance to freeze the remaining Teletubbies with the orbs. The yellow Teletubby attempted to hide under a table, only to be struck and frozen where she was. The red Teletubby attempted to get out of the igloo only to be stopped by a green orb, freezing it right where she laid.

"Easy as Pie," I whispered.

The practice run was over and now it was time to hear the results of the run…

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: "After the Practice Run" Estimated time remaining: 3 Minutes