Chapter 5

Atrum

(A/N: Okay, people. First off, thanks for all the reviews! I luf reviews! So here's chapter 5!)

Disclaimer: This chapter contains a weapon called Gun-Arrows. I do not own them. They are used by Xigbar from Kingdom Hearts 2, which belongs to Disney and Square Enix.

"Whoa..." Sonic said in disbelief. "Where are we?"

The portal that had opened in front of the Nightshade had led the team to a desolate world: huge, countless rock platforms floated above a sea of nothing. Darkness that seemed to stretch out forever surrounded them. The world seemed to be one of nothingness. Amy gave a frightened shiver from where she sat next to Sonic. "I don't like this place, Sonic..."

Tails stared around the darkness. "Why would he bring us here?" He stared at the Nightshade, which hovered just in front of them. Suddenly, a high-pitched screeching noise filled the Tornado. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Cream covered their ears in shock and pain, while Tails struggled with the controls.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Sonic shouted over the piercing scream.

"Sonic pulse!" Tails called back. "He's overloading my systems! Gotta make a landing, so hang on!" The fox guided the shuddering craft to one of the larger scraps of rock, making a perfect three-point landing.

Sonic shook his head. "My ears..." he said, amongst similar complaints from the rest of the crew.

Tails staggered to his feet. "Come on, guys. This ship's not going anywhere until I make repairs." The crew jumped out of the ship and onto the rock.

"Guys." Knuckles held up a large hand. "I hear something."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Suddenly there was a bang and a huge burst of smoke exploded out of the ground, causing the Mobians to whirl around. Nebulous slowly stepped out of the smokescreen, a huge grin on his face. "Wonderful! Wonderful! I never DREAMED it would go this smoothly!"

Sonic glared daggers at the alien. "You." He growled. Cream clenched her fists in rage. Nebulous's grin widened, as if that was even possible.

"Well done! You've helped me immensely in my mission! For that, you have my eternal thanks." He said.

"What the hell are you palavering about?!" Snarled Tails. Nebulous threw his head back and laughed.

"HAHAHAH! Don't you get it, you fools!? You fell right into my trap! My mission is as good as accomplished!"

"Explain!" Knuckles ordered. "What do you mean?"

Nebulous grinned. "It is useless to explain myself to a dead man." He raised his scythe. "My orders were to spare the blue one. Your friends..." He said to Sonic. "Shall die right here." He sucked on his lower lip, thinking. "But who to kill first?" He looked from Tails, to Amy, to Knuckles, to Cream, then stopped. "Yesss." He hissed. "You shall die first, Rabbit. But do not worry. You will soon be with your dear mother...in Hell."

Sonic raised his fists in preparation for a fight he knew he couldn't win. Nebulous took a few steps forward, then stopped, parrying something that had flown from another rock: a strange, pink glowing projectile. He glanced upwards, then his eyes widened: a huge storm of the projectiles flew directly at him. Nebulous spun his scythe before him like a baton, deflecting the assault. "Who's there!?" He barked.

A shadow leaped down from the rock and landed between Nebulous and Cream. It stood, aiming a weird weapon at the Seedrian. It looked like some sort of blaster, but it had what appeared to be pink diamonds spreading down the outer edge of a circular handgrip. It had a sideways metal ring on the top of it, which had a pink needle-like object protruding out of its front, which was aimed directly between Nebulous's eyes.

The assassin chuckled. "How troublesome...on second thought, forget it. I have the plant, and it doesn't matter if I kill you or not; you're not getting out of here anyway." He said as he vanished in a swirl of flower petals. "Don't think about following me, either!" His voice echoed.

The Mobian's savior put the blaster down, which seemed to deactivate, as the needle and ammo vanished. The being put the blaster on its back, on which rested another blaster.

Sonic finally got the lump out of his throat. "Who...who are you?"

The being slowly turned, and Sonic's eyes widened. The being that had quite possibly saved their lives was yet another Seedrian; this one however, was different from both Cosmo and Nebulous. It was clearly a female, indicated by the blue leaf-like dress she wore. Instead of flower buds on the sides of her head, she had a daisy-like flower on the top of her long blue hair that reached her shoulders. Gold cuffs encircled her wrists, and a shining emerald amulet hung around her neck. Knuckles stared, and a small blush unintentionally formed across his nose. She's...beautiful. He thought against his will.

The Seedrian closed her violet eyes. "My name...is Galaxina"

"So Galaxina," Began Sonic. "Why did you save us, and what is this place?"

Galaxina took a sip of the tea that Cream had made the group: thankfully, Tails was able to get the stove up and running after the pulse that had grounded them. "This place is called the Atrum Universitas: the Dark World. It is a world of pure nothingness, into which all can enter, but none can escape. As for why I saved you..." She took another sip. "Well, I couldn't just stand there let that guy kill you."

"So why are you here, Miss Galaxina?" Asked Cream. Galaxina giggled slightly at the rabbit's politeness.

"Well, you said you know about the attack on my planet, and how I had to escape with the other Petalis. As you probably know, we lived on a colony for a while, but then I accidently...I mean..." She stammered suddenly. "Er, the enemy found us, and attacked our colony. I had just enough time to send myself here, and escape the explosion. The rest of the colony..." Her voice choked off.

"Hey, Galaxina. That Seedrian we fought, his name is Nebulous. Have you heard of him?" Asked Amy.

Galaxina gave a sudden twitch, accidently spilling some tea.

"Galaxina, are you okay?" Asked Knuckles.

"Um...yes." She said finally. "I actually have heard of him..."

"So who is he?" Asked Sonic.

"Well..." Galaxina stuttered. "He's, uh, he's the most feared assassin in the galaxy. He's said to have never failed a mission, and just the mention of his name sends criminals running in fear. He is well versed in weaponry, earning him the name of Weapons Master, but his weapon of choice is a scythe. Other than that, I have no idea who he is.

"Now here's a question. He mentioned a plant. What was he talking about?"

"That plant used to be another Seedrian. Her name was Cosmo and..." Tails' voice choked off. Galaxina's eyes widened.

"Cosmo? She's here?" She asked in shock.

"Yes...but she's dead." Sonic said sadly. "She left behind a seed that grew into a plant, though, and Nebulous stole it. Why do you ask? Did you know her?"

Galaxina looked away. "Yeah. She was my...best friend on the colony. I'm glad she didn't die in the explosion..."

"Okayyy..." Knuckles said, taken slightly aback by the Petali's strange answer. "Well, can you tell me more about this Atrum place?"

"This world was originally postulated by a Seedrian scientist. He found that opposite Greengate, there was the Atrum. This dimension could be entered through a certain chant, but the portal could not be opened again from the inside.

"However, there is a way to exit, but it was...well, if someone opens the portal, you must kill one of the person's species while in the Atrum Universitas in order to escape it, so obviously, people were not so keen on entering this place."

Tails suddenly looked up, a shocked look on his face. "Of course. I can't believe I didn't see it before!"

"See what?" The rest of the crew asked simultaneously.

Tails stared around the table. "Don't you get it? Nebulous sent us into the Dark World along with him. And remember what he took with him?"

Sonic sat up, nearly dropping his mug of tea. "Cosmo's plant! Oh, no..."

Amy shook her head, shocked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." She said. "Are you saying that creep wants to sacrifice her plant? But why?"

"What do you mean, Amy?" Sonic asked confused.

"Well," Amy began. "Why would he bring himself into this dimension just to leave it again? If he wanted to kill Cosmo, then why didn't he just do it immediately?"

"Like he told us before, he wants to trap us here." Knuckles suggested.

"Or maybe..." Sonic said slowly. "There's another player in this game."

Nebulous slowly landed the Nightshade in front of a stone temple, resting on a huge rock platform in what could be called the center of the Atrum. Climbing out of the ship, he approached the temple with the plant, and kneeled, waiting.

"Nebulous." Said a deep, mechanical voice, and Nebulous looked up to see a tall being approach. It wore armor that was black as night, punctuated by a green jewel on its chest, similar to the jewel that protruded from the front of the samurai-like helmet he wore. A tattered-looking cape flowed from his shoulders, and a sheathed sword rested on his hip. He reached up and removed his helmet.

Long purple hair fell to his back, and from his head grew two red horns. Sinister green eyes glared out of a purple face.

"There is no need to be so formal..." Said Lucas. "My son."

(A/N:You know the drill: REVIEW!)