Chapter 7

Nebulous

(A/N: He killed Vanilla. He captured the plant. This is it. Chapter 7, in which Sonic and his new allies must combine forces to defeat Dark Oak's maniacal son. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Now hang on to your hats, because you're about to see what Nebulous can really do.)

"You see this?" Nebulous chuckled, and the aura of shadows that surrounded him seemed to grow. "Beings such as yourselves, Flesh-things and Petalis, could never summon this much power if you had three lifetimes of training! This is the power entrusted to my father, and his father, and all the rest of the Thorndrigans, who you destroyed! And now...I will take my REVENGE!"

Sonic barely had time to react as the blunt hilt of the scythe struck him right in the forehead, sending him reeling backwards into the trunk of the tree. Galaxina aimed her Gunarrows as fast as she could, but Nebulous had the reflexes of a cat: punching her directly in the stomach, then twirling around in some sort of pirouette and swinging his scythe. The hard wooden handle struck Galaxina in the back, sending her sailing at Cosmo, who was seconds away from driving the blade of her scimitar directly into his back. Suddenly, he swung his scythe in a wide arc, slashing Sonic and sending him skidding backwards. Nebulous kicked Cosmo backwards again and had just enough time to throw a seed at Galaxina, who was taking aim with her Gunarrows. The seed exploded, sending a burst of thick smoke into her face, causing her to stumble backwards and miss by about three feet. Sonic struggled to his feet, as Galaxina waved the smoke out of her face, and Cosmo pushed herself up on her scimitar.

Nebulous laughed. "That's all?" He said, spinning his scythe casually. "That's ALL?!"

Sonic gave a snarl of rage, charging at Nebulous in a blur. Galaxina and Cosmo raised their respective armaments and hurled themselves at the assassin. Nebulous rolled his eyes...and disappeared off the face of the planet. Sonic and the two Seedrians didn't have time to stop, and with a comedic 'klonk' noise, they crashed into each other and went reeling backwards. Nebulous phased back into being on all fours. Sonic's eyes widened as he realized what he was about to do.

"He's gonna fla-!"

Suddenly, Nebulous threw himself into a wild spin, whirling on his hands, and planted a high-powered kick right into each of his opponents, in what break dancers call a flare kick. Each of them went flying in a different direction. Sonic flew through the air, directly toward a tree branch. He reached out, gripping the limb and whirling under it, sending himself boomeranging at Nebulous. The Seedrian had no time to react, and with a satisfying 'whack', Sonic's fist smashed into his face. Nebulous was sent flying backwards, landing hard on his back with an 'oof!". Sonic grinned and waved his throbbing hand.

Nebulous slowly struggled to his feet, leaned down, and picked up his scythe, which had fallen from his hands. The three heroes raised their weapons as Nebulous shook his head from side to side leisurely. "Whew...you had me worried for a minute. I thought that you weren't gonna fight back!"

Sonic stared. "Huh?" Nebulous giggled.

"I've been looking forward to this fight for...well, EVER! I actually get to fight the guy who beat my Dad., and I get to kill not one, but TWO Petalis! This is great!" He shouted. "This is what I live for!" The aura surrounding him grew larger and darker. Sonic's knees buckled under the sheer malice of the darkness, and Cosmo actually collapsed to her knees. Nebulous grinned insanely.

"I'M ABSOLUTELY CRAZY ABOUT IT!"

Suddenly, afterimages blitzed directly for Sonic, but this time, Sonic was ready. He quickly ducked and swept out with his foot, catching Nebulous behind the knees, but Nebulous simply allowed himself to fall, rolling backwards on his elbow and using his momentum to begin another flare kick. Sonic blocked the kick and was knocked backwards, skidding on his feet. Nebulous ended the spin and dove forward, and was intercepted by Cosmo, who swung her scimitar and was blocked by Nebulous. He pushed Cosmo away and deflected Sonic's punch, and the three of them began a heated battle. They moved around the tree, striking and parrying, advancing and retreating. Sonic and Cosmo kept a steady offensive, but it was warded off by Nebulous, who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

Galaxina, meanwhile, was circling the battlefield, looking for an opening to fire. Unfortunately, the three were moving too fast for her to fire safely. At least, it was unsafe to fire with normal blasters...

Galaxina held both blasters out before her, with the tips of the needles touching, as she pulled both triggers. Instantly, a high pitch whine filled the air and the needles began to glow neon blue. Blinding blue energy began to amass around the front of the Gunarrows, crackling with black electricity as the whine grew louder. Galaxina called to her two friends.

"Everyone down!" She shouted, and pulled the needles apart. Instantly, the gigantic blue arrow of energy rocketed forward, knocking Galaxina onto her rear. Sonic and Cosmo looked up in surprise and leapt away. Nebulous didn't have a chance to dodge, however, and the laser blast impacted against him. With an explosion that shook petals off the tree behind them, the laser sent Nebulous sailing backwards, trailing smoke. His scythe flew high into the air, spinning like a baton. Sonic leapt up as high as he could, grabbed a branch, launched himself higher, and grabbed the scythe. Landing on his feet, he dashed towards Nebulous, who was slowly struggling to his feet. With a roar, Sonic pulled the scythe back, then swung it like a golf club, slashing Nebulous into the air. Nebulous went flying with a cry of shock and pain, his aura seeming to fade.

But Sonic didn't stop there. He pursued Nebulous into the air, swinging the scythe as hard and fast as he could, slashing Nebulous repeatedly and knocking him higher and higher into the air. Finally, with a swing like a baseball bat, he smacked Nebulous far away, then used the swing's momentum to spin, flinging the scythe directly at the assassin, which sliced right through him. Sonic landed on his feet, as Nebulous toppled out of the air, landing hard on the planet's surface and kicking up a dust cloud. Galaxina and Cosmo stared.

"I...is it over?" Cosmo said hesitantly. The cloud slowly began to clear away, and a shape slowly became visible. Suddenly, a glimmering knife launched out of the cloud directly at Cosmo. Cosmo held up her scimitar to block it, but when the knife struck, the sheer force not only broke the knife, but it sent the sword flying out of Cosmo's hand. Cosmo desperately tried to grab it again, but it spiraled away and clattered to the ground. Sonic's eyes widened.

It was Nebulous...and he didn't seem to have a scratch on him. In fact, he looked ecstatic. His aura was restored, and if anything, it seemed to be growing. "Incredible. I never imagined my scythe would answer to you of all people, Hedgehog. You truly are the one who beat my father. And Galaxina...that overcharged blast thingy...that actually hurt..." He chuckled as he floated into the air, then giggled madly. "It HURT!"

He threw his arms out, and the darkness enveloping him exploded outwards, covering the entire arena, hiding all but the fighters and the tree behind them. The beautiful roses covering the tree glowed suddenly, and burst apart, turning into a gigantic storm of glowing petals, which spiraled around the heros. The petals swirled around, but suddenly stopped. Sonic and his friends stared as the petals began to glow, until they were simply shining orbs. Suddenly, Sonic realized what was about to happen. He also realized, to his horror, that there was no way for him to stop it: they were going to fire too fast.

Galaxina stared around them. Oh, great. THIS attack! I don't think I'll be able to stop this unless I use my new move...I've never used it in combat before, but if I don't, we're all doomed!

Galaxina slowly raised her blasters high above her head, and began to spin them. They whirled faster and faster, and began to glow blinding white, until they were simply swirling vortexes of white light. Nebulous grinned insanely and held his open hand outstretched before him.

"GAME OVER!" He shouted, clenching his fist. Instantly, the orbs of light rocketed directly towards the heros, just as Galaxina launched her attack: sending countless white arrows in all directions. The orbs and arrows impacted against each other, and a deafening series of explosions filled the air, and a blinding light obliterated all senses.

Nebulous stared down at the cloud of smoke below him, as explosions burst from its surface, and he grinned. "Completely obliterated. Game...set..." He reached into his pocket, pulling something out: a banana Dum Dum Pop. He unwrapped it and placed it in his mouth. "Match."

Suddenly, the smoke cleared, and Nebulous swallowed the lollipop, stick and all.

They were alive. Galaxina was on her knees, looking ashen and drained, but the three of them were quite plainly alive. Nebulous snarled. "Well, there goes my last good nerve..." He descended slowly and hefted his scythe. "I'm getting kind of bored of this...so I guess this is goodbye, baby sister..."

Cosmo turned to run for her scimitar. Nebulous chuckled, and flung a seed at his fleeing sister. The seed burst into smoke, and a heavy bola whirled out of the cloud. It struck Cosmo's legs, wrapping around them. Cosmo let out a cry of shock as she toppled over and fell hard on her stomach. Sonic ran at the Seedrian, who simply waved his hand. Vines burst from the ground, wrapping around the waists of Sonic and Galaxina and lifting them off the ground, but keeping their arms free. Nebulous didn't even notice and continued toward the fallen Cosmo, who struggled even harder. Sonic turned to Galaxina.

"Can you shoot him?" He asked.

Galaxina held up one of her Gunarrows. The needle and spiked diamonds were gone. "Sorry...after my overcharge...and that energy barrage...my life force's level...has fallen too low...and triggered the auto-safeties...I can't fire anymore..." She panted, looking more exhausted then ever.

Nebulous slowly walked to Cosmo, grinning. "We learned a lot about you, White Seed, from the implant...your ideals, your personality...you kept saying over and over that you were no good...I disagree."

Sonic turned to Galaxina. "Give me your gun."

Nebulous loomed over Cosmo, who stared in fear at the assassin. "You are about to prove yourself very useful..." He raised his scythe. "In death!"

Galaxina tossed Sonic the gun, who caught it and aimed. Instantly, a blue needle erupted from the front of the blaster, and blue ammo appeared on the handgrip.

Nebulous brought his scythe crashing down at the same time Sonic fired. Cosmo scooted backwards, and the scythe missed, slicing through the ropes binding her legs. The bullet fired behind them both, striking Cosmo's sword from where it lay on the ground.

With a clang, the scimitar flew high into the air...

Nebulous immediately recovered and swung his scythe again, but Cosmo leaped out of the way, landing on her feet.

The scimitar stopped rising, and slowly began to fall...

Nebulous let out a howl of rage, charging at Cosmo. Cosmo dodged his vicious swing, a swing that left his heart completely exposed...

The scimitar toppled out of the air, and Cosmo caught it. Nebulous' eyes widened in shock and horror as Cosmo lunged forward, driving the blade into the assassin's wicked heart.

Time seemed to stop.

Then slowly...ever so slowly... Nebulous, the son of Lucas, toppled over dead.

(A/N: YAY! They did it! Goodness prevails! But don't count this story over, because it's not finished yet; they still have to take out Oak! Read and review, please, and look forward to the next installment.)