Operation: Who is the princess?!

"Ah, but Commander, this might not be such a good idea-"

"Aish! What do you know? Are you the Commander? No. I am."

"It's still a stupid plan. What if she isn't the Princess? And better yet, we still haven't figured out why she left Mato. What if there was a reason?"

"Oh, you think you're soooo smart don't you Young Jae? Just because you and Daehyun managed to stowaway in the cabins doesn't mean you're a genius. You weren't even selected for this mission!"

"Well, I did score higher than you on the intelligence tests,"

"Hmph! If you're so smart then tell me this! If the Princess was sent away on purpose, why would the Prime Minister and Hyosung send people on missions to find the Princess?" Himchan seemed pretty satisfied as he pointed this out, crossing his arms over his chest. Tats, who had been reading a book next to his owner/counterpart, nodded as he mumbled "Checkmate," under his breath, winking over at Joko, who rolled his big black eyes in response.

Young Jae leaned a bit closer, his body language screaming that he had a big secret to share. He looked around the room they were occupying, signaling for the others to gather closer. Yong Guk ignored his signal in favor of reprograming Zelo, since the young bot always seemed to shut himself down at the most inconvenient of times. Shishi and Toto curiously peered around the General's shoulders, trying to get a glimpse of the complicated Earthlings technology that was used to produce the highly efficient but often dopey and excitable robot.

  Daehyun was currently quite concerned with putting together an acceptable meal to appease his aching, empty stomach. He was obviously struggling with the terrestrial flavors and deciding what would make the best possible taste, but he kept his face calm and level even as his actions became more frantic. Meanwhile Keke rummaged through the pots and pans, scratching his head as he marveled at the foreign objects, tossing them carelessly behind himself.

Jong Up was trying to set up a video game that their servant/manager had purchased to appease Dada's need for speed, but it was proving nearly impossible. Jong Up's permanent smile had been wiped clean from his face in favor of a concentrated frown and, though he tried not to make it obvious to him impatient bunny, he was very listening in to Young Jae and Himchan's conversation intently, since it involved the coffee girl he had been quietly in love with for months. He had yet to acknowledge that she was their long lost princess. He had tried to turn Himchan away from his plan to abduct the princess, but he hadn't had any luck. Thankfully Young Jae had willingly argued with the commander, as he usually did.

"I heard rumors," Young Jae said, deliberately slow to torture the anxious commander, who nodded vigorously. Himchan glared at Young Jae, realizing the younger alien was taunting him. When Young Jae continued to stare silently back at Himchan, the impatient commander threatened violence. Joko jumped to protect his master, but Tats was ready for the clown faced bunny and shoved him back with all his might. His master Himchan may be easy to push around, but Tats was an aggressive bunny, albeit a little lazy and vain.

Joko's black eyes narrowed, but he stepped down from Tats's challenge. Himchan eyed his bunny with approval shining in his large, cat-like black eyes. Young Jae seemed agitated at the interaction between the extraterrestrial, talking rabbits, but he didn't say any thing.

“You heard rumors,” Himchan urged, his eyes narrowing a bit more. He didn't often look angry or anxious, but when he did it was to be taken seriously. He was the commander for a reason.

Young Jae sat up a bit straighter, noticing that Yong Guk had paused in repairing the cheerful, tall robot and was eyeing them intently and that Jong Up had all but completely stopped trying to set up Dada's game, despite the prodding of the little green masked bunny, who was tugging gently on the baggy black sweatpants of his perma-smiling master, blinking up at him unhappily. Young Jae was quite satisfied to have an audience, and happily continued his little string of gossip. “Ah, yeah, I heard a rumor that the PM sent the princess away to protect her from an assassination plot!” He said excitedly, only to be met with blank faces, and even a couple chuckles.

“No one would try to assassinate the princess, stupid,” Yong Guk said flatly, losing interest in the conversation. Zelo peered around at his hyungs in confusion, watching them all melt into various states of amusement aside from the irritated Young Jae and the confused Jong Up. Zelo had been created on Earth, and had never seen nor heard of the Princess that Himchan was currently obsessing over. He cocked his head –to Yong Guk's annoyance- and watched the developing argument as it formed.

“Yah! Why do you guys discredit it so quickly?” Young Jae asked, his voice a little sharper than he intended. Jong Up's eyes snapped to his face in surprise, and Daehyun paused in his never ending search for food, half a pickle dangling from his lips. Keke peered from behind his legs, his drawn on pink eyebrows knit together. He was close friends with his fellow stowaways, but sometimes Young Jae was unnecessarily harsh with the commander.

Yong Guk peered over once again, his keen eyes focused on Himchan's body language. He knew the commander may seem friendly and a little bit dopey, but he had a hair-trigger temper and was considerably stronger than he looked. It didn't seem like Himchan was going to snap, however. He merely seemed amused, judging by his lightly shaking shoulders and slouched posture.

“Aish! It seems you younger boys probably don't know then,” Himchan said proudly, sitting forward on his seat and ushering Daehyun and Jong Up to join them. Zelo, although he was still being worked on, jumped to his feet and scurried over to sit by the commander, excited to hear the story that he felt was coming. Yong Guk frowned deeply, glaring at his disobedient android. He looked ready to order the boy back over, but the broad smile that Zelo shot him stopped him in his tracks. He let out a loud, grumpy sigh and turned back to his computer to research the human race and check up on the strange stories they were writing about him. He caught something tagged BangHim and clicked it, wondering what that little tale had to do with him. He glanced over the description and clicked to the next chapter, scanning each word curiously.

“You're all probably too young to remember the King, the father of our princess. But let me tell you, he was horrible. He was always declaring war on other planets, and was always sending off the soldiers like cannon fodder. He didn't care about the citizens of Planet Mato, he just cared about power. He outlawed all our sacred traditions, like our 'coming of age' ceremonies or our music festivals. Even our yearly Warrior induction ceremonies and our Warrior games were outlawed. Boys as young as a millennium were being shipped all over the galaxy to fight in these meaningless wars. Anyone who refused to fight was enslaved on the conquered planets, condemned to mine or farm until they collapsed. He was merciless and wicked. And one day, he just...died. Some say he was poisoned, but no one cared enough to investigate it. We bit our nails for two whole days as the Princess and the Prince fought it out to win the crown, knowing that the Prince was every bit as cruel as his father. We didn't know anything about the Princess since she stayed out of the affairs of her father and the War campaigns. She wasn't as powerful as her brother, but she was smarter and faster and somehow she pulled it off. She bested her brother in battle, and assumed the throne,

“Ever since then, Mato has returned to it's glory days. We're a peaceful planet for the first time in eons, and we've been readmitted into the Intergalactic Committee. We've relinquished our hold on various planets and even paid reparations to the victims of the King's crusades. Once again we can celebrate all of our most sacred holidays, the ones our Warrior Gods designed for us when Mato was first born. Boys no longer fight in battles, and warriors are trained the traditional way. We're no longer ruled by money and profit and weak, pitiful things like that. Honor, and dignity are the only things we should ever fight for,” Himchan finished his little speech quietly, wiping at his eyes theatrically as he was overcome with some strange admiration. Yong Guk also seemed quite moved, but the younger warriors were on the verge of giggles.

Jong Up wasn't quite so blatant in his amusement, but his eyes twinkled with a mix of glee and awe at his hyung's speech. Daehyun hid his smile behind his mask, but his twinkling eye smile gave him away, and Young Jae flat out laughed. “Yeah, so why wouldn't someone try to assassinate her? Maybe the Prince is trying to get her out of the way so he can restart his father's goals.”

Something seemed to dawn on Himchan, and his face darkened. He shared an uneasy glance with his general, and the two got up and marched out of the room to discuss this development, while Young Jae stared smugly at their retreating forms. Tats glanced over at Shishi, grinning impishly underneath his pink gas mask. His cheeks were a little pink, and his eyes were gleaming with hope.

“So, you think Kni is with the Princess?” he asked. Shishi shot him a lewd smirk and a thumbs up.

“You bet she is. The Princess doesn't go anywhere without her,” he said, and the two were consumed with their fantasies of the Princess' royal guard, the Mato bunny named Kni. While the others tried to figure out what was so important or fascinating about Kni. Jong Up quickly finished setting up the video game for Dada and rushed over to join Zelo and Young Jae, who were both staring intently at the door where Himchan and Yong Guk had disappeared. He smiled at them, but they hardly spared him a glance.

“I'm the one that found the princess,” he said proudly.

“Oh.”

“That's cool.”
 

Jong Up frowned at their lack of enthusiasm, “She's really pretty,” he said, this time more to himself. Zelo blinked curiously over at him.

“Aren't all princesses pretty?” he asked, and Young Jae shouldered the naïve robot roughly, tutting him and admonishing his lack of general knowledge. When Yong Guk programmed him, he had been working off of his own miniscule knowledge of humanity and his oddly biased opinions. And something called the internet, which Yong Guk used to explain Zelo's extensive knowledge of and his strange, almost constant use of the term “that's what she said,” following anything remotely dirty. His favorite use was when Daehyun was staring down at Himchan's cooking with evident concern over the unhealthy looks of it and Himchan said, “Just put it in your mouth!” Zelo always erupted into giggles at that point, though the others had no idea why.

“No, stupid, there are ugly princesses too. Like the princess of Hangoo, she's hideous,” he said, earning a soft chuckle from Daehyun, the only other one in the room that knew about the crush the princess had on Young Jae, and Young Jae's horrified reaction to receiving gifts from her, and seeing her in person. Although Daehyun didn't think the princess of Hangoo (her name escaped him at the moment) was ugly, he wasn't about to argue with the stubborn Young Jae.

Zelo shook his head, unwilling to believe that there was such a beast as an ugly princess, and Jong Up seemed inclined to agree. Just as Zelo opened his mouth to disagree, Himchan slammed the door to the back room open and stomped out, a determined look setting his features ablaze. Yong Guk followed on his heels, equally set.

“We've made a decision on what to do about the princess!”

Sorry it took so long! My internet broke, and I'm a lil under the weather... But it's all good! Hope you enjoyed!