The Ball

(Opens showing a grass planet that looks very much like a tennis ball. Pans in to a close up of Wander, hatless and floating on something)

Wander: Ahh!

Sylvia: (she is floating on something as well) Ahh!

Wander: (Reveal he is on a fountain of bubbles) Ahh! (mumbles)

Sylvia: (She is floating on a bubble fountain also, mumbles, giggles)

Wander: (Mumbles, giggles)

Sylvia: (Mumbles, giggles)

(Widen to reveal they are in a spa amongst flea citizens)

Girl: I hope everything at our Relaxatorium is to your liking?

Wander/Sylvia: (float over to Beeza) Ohh.../Ahh... (Mumble, giggle)

Girl: (giggles) I am so pleased you've enjoyed your stay on Ballzeria 9. We're quite fond of our peaceful home!

(We hear three chimes in the distance, alerting the other fleas)

Girl: (leaving) Well, time to flee and abandon it forever.

(The fleas leave)

Wander: Huh?! (his bubble fountain turns off)

Sylvia: Huh?! (her bubble fountain turns off as well)

(They notice the fleas leaving with suitcases.)

(Wander and Sylvia walk up to Beeza)

Wander: Beeza, what the heck is goin' on?!

Beeza: Oh, a thousand pardons, it's just that our entire planet is about to be destroyed.

Fleas: (dryly, in unison) Again.

Wander: What?!

Beeza: (Sighs) On eight different planets...

(Flashback to the past Ballzeria planets, all destroyed)

Beeza: (voiceover) ...we've built our perfect civilization. And eight different times, we've heard the Armageddon Chimes, letting us know that he's come to destroy all we've worked so hard to build.

(Flashback ends)

Beeza: It's pretty routine by this point!

Sylvia: Wait, what? Who's "he"?

Beeza: We used to call him the Worldbuster. But now, most of us just call him...

(Cut to an extreme close up of a dog's nametag)

Beeza: (offscreen) Buster.

(Reveal Buster the dog playing with Ballzeria 9 as if it were a ball. Freeze frame, the episode's title appears. Buster begins sniffing)

(Cut to the fleas being sucked into Buster's sniffing nose, Wander and Sylvia hold on. Right when Buster stops sniffing, the fleas fall back to the ground)

Beeza: The winds already? (straightens her antennae) This doomsday is moving along quite briskly! (walks off)

Wander/Sylvia: Huh?! (run off)

(Wander and Sylvia rush up to Beeza)

Wander: You folks are abandoning your beautiful home for a new one? Just like that?

Beeza: What? Of course not!

Wander/Sylvia: Phew.

Beeza: Oh, there aren't any planets left in our system! We have absolutely no idea where we're going. We'll just fly through space until we run out of fuel. Or food, whichever comes first. How does one fight off cannibals? Some kind of pointy stick, I assume.

(Wander and Sylvia's jaws drop)

Wander: (shakes head, runs in front of their ship entrance) Everyone, just hoooold up! Y'all have put so much work into this pretty little planet. Don't you want to try and save it? I know you're scared of Buster, but if you keep running, that's all you're ever gonna be doing! You have a chance to change that. You just have to turn and face your problems head-on! Whataya say?

(Long pause)

Beeza: Eh, sure. Whatever.

(Another pause)

Wander: That's good enough for me! Now gather round, I have a plan.

(Montage begins, we see the blueprint of Wander's plan to stop Buster. Everyone begins gathering parts to build a capsule like object. Soon the fleas are working away, hammering, blowtorching and wheelbarrowing. Wander is helping eight fleas sew something. Two other fleas are working on the rockets. Four others are drilling in the screws. Sylvia helps by punching the rivets. Wander and Beeza twist the cone onto the top. Extreme close up of the rockets on the bottom, they fire up, and the capsule blasts into the sky. Buster notices this)

Wander: We got his attention, time for phase 2!

(Sylvia activates a remote, the upper and lower areas of the capsule break off, revealing small center grippings which inflate on both ends, making it look like a bone. Buster sees this, and runs off barking)

Wander: We did it! Here's to facing your problems head-on!

Male flea: Hmm. Hey, not bad.

Female flea: What do you know?

Male flea 2: (gets a dollar from another flea) I did not think I was gonna win.

(Wander and Beeza run up to each other giggling and hug)

Sylvia: Uh, folks...?

Wander/Beeza: (gasp)

(Buster looms over the planet and drops the giant bone over the area where the spa was)

Wander: What happened?! I thought it worked!!

Sylvia: Flarf nabbit, it DID work! We threw a dog a bone, and he FETCHED it!

(Buster begins drooling all over the planet)

Beeza: Oh, darn. The Sticky Rains of Terror? We've lingered far too long. (leaving) Come on, time to flee!

(Wander and Sylvia scream and run off. Dog drool begins raining everywhere, trapping three fleas and washing others out. One drop gets into a flea's mouth, causing her to cough. The fleas begin running to the ship)

Sylvia: Wander, buddy, we tried, but these folks seem okay with just getting outta here! Maybe we should be too?

Wander: Naw-uh! No way! I have one more plan! (runs in front of the ship) Everybody! (chanting) One more plan! One more plan! One more plan! One more plan!

(The fleas look at each other, confused)

(Crossfade to Beeza drumming a drum. Widen to reveal Wander, Sylvia and the fleas standing tall and serious)

Wander: Alright soldiers! On my mark... (Buster is begging) ...present... (he and Sylvia hold up whistles) ...weapons!

(The fleas hold up whistles)

Wander: Wet...whistle!

(The fleas put the whistles to their lips)

Wander: Deeeeeeep breaths!

(The fleas inhale deeply)

Wander: And...BL-OOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!

(The fleas blow their whistles. No whistling is heard. Only Buster hears this, he starts to get annoyed, he turns around and cowers)

Wander: It's working!!! Don't stop now!!!

(The fleas continue blowing. While their whistling is inaudible to us, Buster angrily runs around, then starts barking back. The waves from Buster's bark blow buildings all over the place and make cracks in the ground)

Sylvia: Hey! Bad dog! Ah-ah ah-ah-ah-ah!

(Buster's tongue begins licking the ground and everything in its sight onto it)

Wander: Wait! New plan! (runs off)

Wander: Everybody! Wait! New plan! New plan, new much better plan! (blocks the ship entrance) Everyone! All new and improved plan!

(The fleas glare)

Wander: (holds up a garbage can full of trash) Trash!

(The fleas glare again)

Wander: Everybody, hit that tongue with the grossest, nastiest, worst-tasting garbage you can find!

(Buster continues licking. One by one, the fleas find trash everywhere. They start tossing the trash at Buster's tongue, eventually he stops. The fleas cheer, but then Buster continues licking and the fleas run off)

Wander: Whaaaa...why didn't it work?

Sylvia: Wander, don't you get it?! Dogs! Love! Trash!

(On each of the last three words, the camera cuts a bit closer to Sylvia's face, ending in extreme close up. Cut to Wander, whose expression is completely deadpanned. Buster continues licking, then begins biting into the planet, causing it to break. A crack rises under Wander)

Wander: But...but...but...

Sylvia: (she is on a rising crack as well) Sorry buddy, it's time to go!

Wander: But...but...

(Sylvia takes Wander with her and rushes off to the ship. She leaps inside just as the door closes)

(Cut to inside the ship)

Beeza: Oh, hey! (they come to a stop) You guys made it, that's great.

Sylvia: GO GO GO GO GO!!!

(The ship takes off, Buster continues biting. One last hard chew from Buster causes Ballzeria 9 to break apart. Buster sniffs, zoom out to reveal Wander watching the action from a window in the ship, he sadly hangs his head)

Sylvia: So we didn't get a win this time, but...Wander, sometimes a problem is so big, you just have to flee.

(Pause, Wander bangs on the window)

Wander: NO! THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO STOP THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!!! (runs off screaming)

(Cut to the captain's room, Wander barges in, screaming. He yanks the captain's seat off the ground and throws it with the Captain stil sitting in it)

Captain: Come on, what are you – (lands outside) Hey! (door closes)

(Wander starts driving the ship uncontrollably, leaning it one way to the other. Soon it begins charging at Buster. The captain repeatedly bangs on the closed door, Sylvia and Beeza run up)

Sylvia: What's going on? Where's Wander?

Captain: That little kamikaze's heading straight for that monster!

Sylvia: Wander? (peeks through the door's window) I know you're upset that Buster ate the planet! Heck, so are the rest of these folks!

Beeza: Eh, we'll get over it.

Sylvia: But destroying him and us is not the answer! WE HAVE TO FLEE!

Wander: THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING!!! I'm facing this problem... (cut to a spinning view of Buster, zooming in closer) HEAD-ON!!!

(Wander screams, Buster opens his mouth attempting to chew the ship. It flies around, missing the chewing. The ship flies onto Buster's back and flies through the fur strands. Fade to black as we hear a crash)

(Snap up on the crashed ship in Buster's fur. The door opens revealing Wander)

Wander: Head-on. Yeah.

Sylvia: Have you lost your nut?! Do you realize what you just did?! (she, Wander and the fleas walk onto the furry terrain) Without that ship, these folks have nowhere to live! They needed someplace safe from Buster with...trees, and...fresh air, and...places for really great spas, and... (realizing) a-a-and...huh.

(She stops walking. Zoom out to reveal the peaceful furry landscape with Buster's tail wagging in the distance)

Fleas: (talking simultaneously) Oh!/Would you look at that?/So pretty!/Alright!

Beeza: Oh, Wander, thanks to you, we finally have a permanent home. (hugs him)

(The fleas cheer)

Wander: Heeheehee yeah, heh! See, y'all always wanted to flee, but, it turns out, all you really needed to do... (elbowing) was flea!

(Cut to Wander and Sylvia leaving in an orbble)

Wander: F-L-E-A, flea! You know, bzzt, like the bug? 'Cause they're livin' on the dog?

Sylvia: Look, if you have to explain the joke –

(We hear a cat's meowing, pans to the right revealing a planet shaped like a ball of yarn. Wander smiles, Sylvia frowns dejectedly)