Continuing "Next Generation"

"Favorite daughters?" Meryl giggled as she turned to Renee, who smiled at her younger half-sister.

"But what about you, Rodney? Aren't you part of the family too?" Rhonda frowned.

"Well, yeah" Rodney nodded "But Protoss don't celebrate birthdays, for that i won't be here when you celebrate Rod's birthday"

"Then i won't celebrate my birthday either" Rod shrugged

"In theory" Rodney nodded "But you broke the Protoss laws by curing Timmy from his Cancer, so you are now what we call a... Forsaken" he explained

"Well, Protoss society may not fully recognize him as a Protoss, but we will make sure he's not forsaken for his birthday," Lee vowed as she wrapped her arm around him and smiled.

"I totally agree," Doug nodded as a light bulb clicked in his head and he turned to Rod. "Speaking of which, we have a surprise for you. Come with us to the living room."

"What?" Rod smiled as Rodney left the room

They soon left the office and wandered through the hallway leading to the living room. Doug and Julie then turned to each other with secret smiles as Lee smirked at her husband and kissed him. Renee and Tony, however, looked very confused and wondered what their expressions could possibly mean. Rhonda was just as curious and turned to Malcolm, who shrugged. Julie then walked up to Rod and covered his eyes. "Now keep them closed and don't open them until we're in the living room, okay?" she said.

Then the gang arrived at the living room and Julie grinned excitedly as she noted Rod's gifts sitting in front of them. There was a huge Protoss spaceship with yellow, blue and black colors and it even had the Protoss insignia on his left side. Even though it was so big that it crammed the entire living room, Doug and Julie had Shrink reduce its size so it would at least fit for Rod to see. There was also a yellow motorcycle with the same design as the Hurricane Frances 3000 and it not only had the ability to talk and understand human language, but it can also play music, determine the weather, detect any incoming obstacles, send out radar waves, translate languages, and build weapons from its own body.

There was even a new array of weaponry, including a scanner, various guns such as shotguns, plasma cannons carbine rifles, sniper rifles, Thomas submachine guns, Uzis, tasers, a pair of Omniblades containing several more devices and weapons such as daggers, knives and swords, and a digital watch. There were even goggles that use infrared and night vision. But most importantly of all was a new costume that was completely redesigned, with semi-transparent blue eye-holes and it had a swirl on its face with a heart-shaped mouth. It also had blue markings as opposed to black.

"Happy birthday, Rod," Julie chimed to her adopted son.

Rod then opened his eyes to see all of the stuff "You shouldn't have" he smiled at his mother as he hugged her

"Well, since you have been so good to us, we figured you needed some new gizmos," Renee explained.

"And your costume is getting out of style as it is and Edna suggested that I make up a new design, so here you go," Meryl added as Doug grinned at Rod. "So what do you think of your new presents?"

"They are good" Rod smiled "But don't you think you are treating me as a spoiled brat?" he shrugged

"Maybe," Doug shrugged as he rubbed Rod's head. "But it's only because you're our favorite son."

"I am not" Rod sighed

"Why do you think so?" Doug frowned worriedly.

"There are better children than me that you had" Rod sighed

"But we never had any children between us, at least not until now," Doug pointed out. "And I had Hope with Julie's mother, and Julie had David with another man. The only child we have together is Sheryl, and even she can be quite a handful."

"I am not your favorite" Rod chuckled sadly "THere must be another one who is your truly favorite"

"Like who?" Doug retorted.

"Robbie maybe?" Rod shrugged

"Why do you think we love Robbie more than you?" Julie asked.

"Cuz he is your biological son maybe?" Rod shrugged

"Well, technically he's not my biological son," Doug shrugged. "But even then, we still love you, Rod, and that's what counts. Otherwise we wouldn't have gone out of our way to bring you these gifts."

Rod then sighed "Even after i told you i didn't wanted a gift?"

"Yeah," Doug nodded. "But we wanted to be good parents."

"You are already" Rod smiled

"How are we good parents?" Julie quipped.

------

Meanwhile on the tallest peak of the Grand Canyon, Stefano was standing over the promontory with his cape whipping behind his back. He was clutching a black and red stone with red arches crisscrossing it and it was glowing a malevolent red hue. The elderly man then chuckled evilly as he turned to Harold and Beatrice, who were both tied up to the rockets. The rockets were slowly sizzling with small embers as they were getting close to liftoff.

"Now as soon as the rockets finish detonating, they will blast away to Neptune, and these buffoons will never see the light of day again. And with this stone, I will use it to bring every single person back to life, thus overpopulating the world. And once everyone is destroyed, I will fly my spaceship and travel from planet to planet, using my zombie army to decimate and wipe out entire species!"

"And after we finish here, we will go to the Petrie residence and destroy the entire team. I will track down Fajah and strangle her to death, as well as her illegitimate brats," Heinrich smirked evilly as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Of course, Heinrich," Stefano growled darkly at the younger man. "You have some business to settle with that treacherous little witch."

Then he held up the stone and it began to flicker. "Let the games begin."

The stone then began to brighten up greatly as it flashed vividly and exploded into a fiery blast. Then when the entire area was washed in a yellow haze as hundreds of zombies began to emerge from the ground. They let out a chorus of low roars as they marched up behind Stefano. Heinrich then grinned evilly as he watched the army proceed in a straight line.

"You saw me as an orphan and adopted me" Rod smiled

-

"Not if we are here to stop you!" Rodney growled as the Hyperion was above them and he stepped down in front of Stefano, along with Buckley "This ends now" he snarled as he drew out his psionic sword

"That's true," Julie nodded. "And for that you are part of our family. And so are Buck, Rolf, Jack and R."

--------

"Oh yeah?" Stefano grinned evilly as Morgan Harrington, Hermes Dante, and many of his other minions showed up. Morgan then charged up her psionics energy as her hands turned into psionic blades too. "Come and fight, coward!" she cackled.

Just then, a zombiefied version of Samantha Evans lunged at Buckley with a snarl and began to attack him, along with Horatio, Elena, Natasha, Harok, Tatiana, Great Aunt Cecilia, and Olga. They began to clobber, claw and thrash at him as they dog-piled on him and Rodney.