"Good morning Samuel!" A cheerful accented voice rang.

"Good morning Ramona," he said lazily. He had been in a bad mood ever since his older sister disappeared. It tore Tara's friend's hearts apart to see the boy's attitude. Even his infatuation with the designer wasn't enough to curb his depression.

"Hey Sam! Wanna go over to Sweet Apple Acres?" Ramona's younger sister Bella asked from the breakfast table.

"No thanks," he answered politely. He sat down on the table across from the young girl and stared at the dining table. Ramona placed plates of pancakes in front of the two children while pouring juice in their cups.

"Thanks sis!" Bella thanked before happily digging into the food.

"Thanks..." Sam mumbled, earning a look of concern from the fashionista. The dress maker slowly thought to herself that the boy needed some space; after all, his older sister did just disappear. She was just as worried for the well being of her friend, but there was a feeling that presented itself that made her go on edge. She knew something had to be wrong. Tara wouldn't  just leave unannounced; she would at lest leave a note or arrange her friends to watch over her brother, but this time it had seemed that she had abandoned everything and left behind her brother for no apparent reason.

"It just ain't something anyone in the right mind would do," a southern accent scolded. The apple farmer denied the fact that Tara might have been abducted and opted to say she left.

"It might not be her fault. She could have been kidnapped... Or worse." Ramona said dramatically, her voice raising on her final word. Jackie looked at her friend with an unamused look.

"She's probably seeing the princess and forgot to tell anyone."

"She should have told someone though. Just look at him, he looks miserable." Ramona continued, pointing out the green haired boy that sat on the sidelines while three little girls ran around the orchard. "He's beating himself up about it." Ramona pointed towards Sam; he poked the ground with a stick and twirled it around slowly.

"Ah'm pretty sure the girls can cheer him up. They always find a way to cheer people up." Jacqueline said thoughtfully.

"Come on Sammy! We're going to Sugar Cube Corner," a tomboyish girl with bright purple hair chimed, grabbing the depressed boy's arm and dragged him away. He complied and he stood up to follow them.

"Fine I'll come along," he agreed. The four children ran from the older women that talked to each other. Jacqueline could have sworn that Tara's brother smiled slightly when they dragged him off to another adventure.

--

"Let go of me!" Thalia screamed, struggling against the droid's grip. It didn't try to harm her, and she knew if it did she would have been dead by now. As long as nothing tried to destroy it then the robot would be peaceful enough to not harm anyone. Thalia looked at her creation that ravaged the area that had seemed to be desolate. The machine would lift up crushed metallic objects and discarded them seconds after searching it. Thalia knew what it was searching for, and she hoped and prayed that the machine The sky was grated out with smoke, making the scientist's spine chill; something wasn't right about this settings.

Seconds later there was the unmistakeable sounds of gunfire.

The robot's metal casing was able to stop the oncoming bullets, and the science driven human knew that the hits were only going to anger the drone that had held her hostage. The giant robot roared with anger before dropping the person that had created it. Thalia hit the ground hard; one of the stray bullets managed to graze her thigh. She shrieked in pain, causing the mech's eyes to darken, and it turned its attention towards the shooters.

"We got that SOB!" One of the gunmen shouted, referring to the now angry robot that they shooting. It roared again and began to charge towards the shooters. It grabbed one of the five and threw it away from the others. The soldier hit the found with a loud groan. It turned its head to the other four, striking both awe and fear into them. The robot turned away and went back to its fallen creator. Thalia still had her inter dimensional travel device with her; she activated it to get her away from the robot. She figured that the soldiers could handle this.

Thalia had failed to notice her own robot coming towards her. It swept her up into its iron grip and she pried herself away from it. She was actually successful in removing herself from the machine's grip. Unfortunately, her teleport device was still stuck to the bot. It finally sparked to life and the war machine had just went way beyond her reach. She was now stranded in a hostile universe, and she just had to wait it out. Thalia hoped the machine won't ever find what it was looking for.

"Hold your fire!" A strong, feminine voice ordered. Thalia kept her head low, faking that she was dead. The scientist heard footsteps nearing her. Thalia was turned over by a metallic object, presumably a metal boot. When she was completely turned around, she saw a tall, pale woman clad in armor. Her hair was midnight blue and she had a moon symbol on her chest piece. She recognized her as the Princess, but she did not have a concerned or caring look on her face. She had a cruel smile on her face.

"I guess my dear sister was behind this," she predicted, knowing who the girl was. "A valiant effort, but now that I have her 'most faithful student' I think we might have the upper-hand in this fight."