-14- COSMONEBULA
The images and memories of the past had entered and resituated themselves in Cosmo's mind after the tendrils Von Nebula had released pierced his body. He glowed with bright blue light, and despite the raw energy now coursing through him with the tendrils jutting out of his back, Cosmo remained fully functional. He only smiled at Von Nebula.
"I awoke to these ruins without memory," Cosmo declared to Von Nebula, who was watching from his face on the black mass. "But just as I have remembered who I am, so too has the power you stole from me. It remembers who I am. It hates you and loathes you. It wants to return to its original master. That is what it is doing now. I am reclaiming my power."
Von Nebula screamed into the chamber. The chamber rumbled as he roared in anger. Taggart watched from the back of the room with no idea of what he was witnessing.
"You won't get away with this, Cosmo!" Von Nebula shouted. Cosmo just smiled. The tendrils of the blue and black slime had removed themselves from Cosmo's body, and even separated from them Cosmo glowed with blue light. Von Nebula pulled the tendrils back into the mass, the glow of his own mass having vanished.
Then Cosmo began steadily walking towards the mass. Von Nebula's face on the mass looked surprised and confused.
"What're you doing, Cosmo?" he asked, furious. But Cosmo did not reply. He only smiled and continued walking toward the mass. Von Nebula produced new tendrils from the mass and attempted to strike Cosmo again. But as the tendrils flew towards Cosmo and were within meters of striking him, they stopped, and slithered backward as if frightened of him. The blue-glowing Cosmo walked closer and closer to Von Nebula's black mass, the tendrils slithering backwards until they submerged themselves again into the mass.
"Get away from me!" Von Nebula screamed. Cosmo had now reached the mass. He took both his hands and plunged them into the thick black slime. When he did this, the mass once again erupted in a blue glow. Von Nebula roared.
"Get back!" he demanded. "Leave!" But Cosmo only pushed further into the mass with his hands. Then he lifted his right leg and submerged that as well. He repeated this with his left leg, until all he had left to pull in was his head and body. Using his limbs, he swung his body inward. The mass began sending itself up around where Cosmo was attempting to enter, beckoning him.
After a few seconds, the mass claimed Cosmo, and the blue glow intensified. Taggart watched from the back of the room as Von Nebula's face on the mass faded and the blue swirls that had retreated to the side of the mass returned to their original positions. The giant mass now appeared as it had when he and Cosmo had entered, a black blob covered with the swirls of blue. But the glowing had not left the mass. It was the only source of light in the chamber. With the elevator destroyed and nowhere else to go, Taggart sat and watched for a sign of anything on the mass.
Meanwhile, Cosmo sunk into the blue and black slime, and as he did, its mysterious properties took over. His consciousness was removed from his body. It was dispersed throughout the mass. Then he felt himself falling. This substance was the physical form his power and that of his kin took on in the material world. It recognized him for who he once was. Even on his mortal body, the substance detected the imprint that was left on him from before he was robbed of his stature. This was when it pulled him out of reality and into the place where the consciousness of Von Nebula resided.
Cosmo felt himself floating through a void of black and blue, just like the colors of the mass. As he descended into this abyss, he saw the black and blue roll away off to the side of his vision. In place of these colors came the whiteness he remembered from his encounter with Von Nebula and from his many visions.
When the whiteness took over, when neither black nor blue was in sight, Cosmo felt himself in his citizen robot body again. He glided gently down to the floor of the white void and stood up. He was not alone, and he sensed it.
There was the sound of someone grumbling behind him. Cosmo swung himself around to meet the noise. Behind him in the void was Von Nebula, or rather, Von Nebula as he once was. The being formerly known as Von Ness was stumbling through the void, grasping his torso with his hands as if in pain. His body was no longer the giant hulking form he had obtained when he first robbed Cosmo of his power. Instead, Von Nebula occupied his old Hero body, but with a Hero Core that glowed the same blue color as the mass from the chamber before.
Eventually, Von Nebula hoisted his stance up and met Cosmo's gaze in the void. There were several meters distance between them. Neither had any weapons or tools.
"Well, Cosmo, congratulations," Von Nebula spat at him in annoyance. "You've reduced me to a lowlier state. And you still haven't gotten your precious staff back."
"What form my power takes does not matter," Cosmo told him. "Once it took on the form of a staff. But now it is the blue and black essence that you saw fit to throw around its chamber like paint." Von Nebula only snarled at Cosmo. The two looked into each other's eyes with mutual contempt for some time before the confrontation resumed.
"You're alone, now, Cosmo," Von Nebula continued. "With your power and what you gave Mr. Makuro, I ascended into the realm where you and your kin once resided. I killed both of them. Their power belongs to me."
"I have already reclaimed half of it from you," Cosmo told him with a smile. "Otherwise you would still be that grotesque monstrosity you were when you left me in limbo." Von Nebula laughed, and then clenched both his fists and shut his eyes. The blue glow from before appeared around his black-armored Hero body. When he opened his eyes, his body lifted off of the ground and began hovering above the floor of the void. He looked down at Cosmo while hovering in place.
"And even half of that power is enough to destroy you for good!" Von Nebula shouted. Cosmo grinned, and clenched his own fists. A blue glow appeared around his body, and he too was able to lift himself off of the ground. Both beings floated above the floor of the void. Von Nebula's blue Hero Core glowed the same blue color, and Cosmo's eyes did the same.
"So this is what things have come to?" Von Nebula asked. "Am I going to have to fight you to take your power?"
"I will defeat you before you get the chance," Cosmo said maintaining his sly grin.
"I killed your kin, and I can kill you!" Von Nebula declared. He then lifted his body further into the air of the white void and rocketed forward in the direction of Cosmo. Von Nebula balled a fist and prepared to strike, but Cosmo flew out of the way of the hurtling Hero. Von Nebula missed, but swung around in the air to come down for a second strike. He then repeated the same maneuver. As Von Nebula flew toward Cosmo, the black-armored citizen swung out of the way and sent his own fist into Von Nebula's face. The impact of Cosmo's punch sent Von Nebula spinning through the air behind Cosmo. A splattering sound could be heard on the ground beneath them. When both he and Cosmo resituated themselves in the air, they saw small puddles of the bluish-black substance on the floor. Cosmo looked over at Von Nebula and saw small drops of the substance coming off his body.
"You're slippery, Cosmo," Von Nebula congratulated him. Cosmo then floated down to where the substance had hit the ground. When he floated over it, he clenched his fists again and began glowing blue. The black substance lifted off of the ground and up towards Cosmo. He absorbed the substance, and the brightness of his glow slightly intensified. Von Nebula saw what he was doing, and then charged at Cosmo.
Instead of swinging his fist, Von Nebula hurled his large left foot outward as he flew toward Cosmo. Cosmo was unable to dodge the heavy attack and was smashed by the kick. He went flying backwards, blue-black splashes flying out of his body onto the floor. Von Nebula followed by floating up to the recovering Cosmo and punching him several times. With each punch, more of the substance shot into the air, and Von Nebula absorbed some of it as it fell. Just as the black Hero might have delivered another powerful blow, Cosmo countered with a kick in the chest, smashing Von Nebula's blue Hero Core with his foot.
The two raced down to the puddles of the substance that had fallen to the ground. They scrambled on to absorb as much of it as they could. When all of it had been dried up, the two stood poised for another attack on the floor of the void.
"Back to square one!" Von Nebula shouted. "You and I are a fine match!"
"This fight has already been won," Cosmo replied, certain of his words.
"I agree!" Von Nebula jumped off the ground and spiraled toward Cosmo. He dodged the attack and grabbed Von Nebula's right foot with his hands. He lifted the Hero by the foot into the air and then threw him down onto the floor of the void. When he hit, the blue-black substance shot out of Von Nebula's back and up to Cosmo who promptly absorbed it. Cosmo then descended upon the downed Hero with another kick. The strike sent more of the substance up to Cosmo. Now on top of Von Nebula, Cosmo began delivering a series of punches, each sending up more of the substance. Von Nebula writhed under Cosmo's attacks, but finally found an opening to send up his own fist into Cosmo's jaw. The uppercut strike knocked Cosmo into the air and sending the blue-black fluid spraying outward.
Von Nebula flew up to absorb the rain of droplets. As he did, there was a sudden, strange weakness he started experiencing in his chest. He grasped his blue Hero Core, where most of the strange sensation was concentrated. Cosmo, who was also floating in the air and recovering from the blow, looked at Von Nebula. He smiled. Von Nebula looked at him in confusion.
"Have you figured it out?" Cosmo asked tauntingly. Von Nebula glared at him.
"What treachery have you pulled, Cosmo?" Von Nebula asked.
"There was an advantage to choosing a citizen robot as my material form." Von Nebula cocked his head in confusion at this, then felt himself slowly begin to descend. He tried clenching his fists to hover again but only found himself falling from his height.
"What are you doing, Cosmo?" Von Nebula asked as he plummeted to the floor of the void. Cosmo smiled.
"It is nothing I am doing," he said. Von Nebula landed on the floor of the void, suddenly unable to hold his own weapon upon his legs. He collapsed onto the floor, every part of his body weak.
"What…what's happening to me?" he asked himself in fear. His voice conveyed great exhaustion. Cosmo then allowed his own body to gently hover down until he too was standing on the floor of the void. He then walked over to Von Nebula, who had fallen to his knees on the floor. Cosmo stood above him and stared down.
"Your Hero Core," Cosmo said. Von Nebula looked down on his chest armor at the blue Hero Core. It was no longer glowing, and it was no longer blue. It was an empty gray color.
"What…what is this?"
"You are a god with my power," Cosmo said. "But without Quaza, you are nothing." Von Nebula looked up into Cosmo's eyes with shock. He shook his head in denial of what Cosmo had just implied.
"No…it can't be…" Von Nebula whispered. "No, it can't be! I'm a god!" Cosmo only smiled as Von Nebula screamed in defeat. The black Hero, Quaza core depleted, fell to the ground, attempting to lift himself back up to no avail.
"Your body now remembers how little Quaza you actually had left when I came to you." Cosmo's tone was mocking. With still some strength left in his body, Von Nebula growled at Cosmo though his teeth.
"You taunt me," he said in anger. "You are enjoying this."
"I am," Cosmo admitted. The black citizen then knelt beside Von Nebula and placed both his hands above his chest. From out of the Hero core came upward-flowing streams of the blue-black substance, twisting up into Cosmo's hands. Cosmo absorbed the substance, all the while his blue glow becoming brighter. Von Nebula gasped as this happened, sensing his life force leaving him.
Eventually, all of the power that Von Nebula had stolen was absorbed by Cosmo, and he glowed with bright blue light in the void. Von Nebula lay on the ground breathing in hoarse gasps. Cosmo moved his limbs and felt the sensations of the well of power he had now absorbed. His own power, the power of his kin, and the power the three of them lent Akiyama Makuro, was now in Cosmo's hands. With that power, he began shifting their surroundings.
The white void was slowly transforming into something new. Von Nebula's vision had faded to a blur. He was unable to witness what was happening around him, but he felt the surface his body was laying on changing. Instead of the cold, hard floor of the white void, something new and more welcoming began caressing his back. Von Nebula felt his weary body sink into warm granules of what felt like sand. Instead of the stark silence of the white void, the sounds of the splashing of gentle waves of water entered his ears.
With the final remnants of strength he had left, Von Nebula forced open his failing eyes. Above him was a pure blue sky. He felt warmth hitting him, warmth he had not felt in some time. The rays of a gentle sun were hitting his ailing body. Von Nebula turned his head in the direction of the waves he was hearing. His eyes still barely open, he could see that he was indeed lying on a beach. Out from where his body rested, a vast clear ocean expanded, and the warm sun he felt floated above it and cast its light on the shimmering surface of the ocean.
"Such beauty," Von Nebula whispered to himself. "Our universe could have been this, Cosmo."
The change in surroundings from the white void to the beach had been facilitated by Cosmo, who stood a few paces behind Von Nebula's lying body. He heard the words of the former Hero and did not respond.
"All I wanted was to be someone else," Von Nebula said. "To make a universe where anyone could be whoever they wanted. Was that such a crime?"
"What did you want to become?" Cosmo asked solemnly, looking out into the ocean with Von Nebula. "You were not a Hero, and you were not quite a Villain either." He thought for a moment before continuing. The events of their strange journey together played again through Cosmo's mind. From this, he reached his conclusion.
"You were neither," Cosmo decided. "And as much as I hated this universe, there was no place in it for the indecisive."
Von Nebula felt the approach of death, the last remains of life leaving his tired form. There was a kind of calm that fell over him in those last moments, sharing the vision of the mysterious beach with Cosmo.
"Had we settled our differences…" Von Nebula whispered. "We could have become partners, you and I. We both hated this universe."
"We could never have been partners," Cosmo corrected. "You only wanted to change this universe."
"Oh? And what did you want?" Cosmo stared out into the ocean in a moment of silence before he responded to Von Nebula.
"To end it," he said.
A single faint gasp escaped Von Nebula's mouth, before his red light-eyes faded out. He died then on the beach that Cosmo had conjured with his powers.
Cosmo knew he had the power to destroy the universe. He wanted to. But he knew that if he did not create another, he too would die. The visions he had in the Assembly Tower ruins, the visions of the beach he stood on now, the visions of the white void, the visions of metal spheres, the visions of a city, and the visions of the mysterious blue-black substance returned to him. He knew what they were. He knew what they were telling him.
Cosmo turned around to face the portion of the long golden coast behind him. When he faced the stretch of beach behind him, he saw objects strewn across its surface that were not there before. In the distance from where he stood, Cosmo saw the beach covered in the metal spheres he saw in his visions. Two of them began emitting white clouds of steam, much like the sphere he encountered in his vision. But instead of pouring out the blue-black slime, two figures emerged, one from each sphere; one with red and yellow armor, and one with red and blue armor. The figures climbed out of the spheres and walked onto the beach, staring up at the sky in awe. They were unaware of Cosmo watching them from a distance. But Cosmo knew them all too well.
Cosmo looked out at the ocean again. It too had changed. From the clear water of before, the ocean had now transformed into a pitch black sea. On the surface of this black sea were the familiar swirls of blue. Cosmo smiled.
This is the way of things to come. Cosmo thought to himself with happiness as he looked out into the blue-black ocean. The area on the beach where Von Nebula's body used to lie was now nothing but sand. After seeing this, Cosmo began slowly walking towards the ocean of blue-black. It moved exactly like the ocean before it, waves of its color gently lapping against the sand of the beach.
Cosmo approached the waves of blue-black, recalling his first vision on the beach where he had approached the ocean in hopes to seeing his reflection. But he knew who he was now. He was going to the ocean for a different reason.
The waves of blue-black began splashing against his black, blue-glowing body. Cosmo gracefully marched into the waves, descending into the blue-black ocean. The farther in he walked, the deeper his body submerged. Then, when only his neck and head stuck out from the surface of the blue-black waves, the entire ocean as far as his eyes could see began glowing blue as well. Cosmo felt a force dragging him downward. He accepted, and plunged into the blue-black sea.