Chapter 8

Light

(A/N: Well, this is it. The end of the story. Thank you for the reviews, all of you. There is some good news; there might...might...be a sequel. Maybe. Until then, enjoy the conclusion to Nebulous!)

The vines wrapped around Sonic and Galaxina withered and turned to dust, dropping them on their feet, or in Galaxina's case, knees. Cosmo stared at Nebulous's lifeless form, which was crumpled on the ground.

"I...I don't...I didn't...want to...to kill..." She stammered. Sonic shook his head.

"Cosmo..." He said. "That was incredible!" Galaxina nodded slowly and managed a weak grin.

Suddenly, the world around Sonic and his friends began to shimmer and evaporate, like the smoke that had surrounded them. Sonic stared as their surroundings vanished, revealing the Atrum and temple. Amy was on her knees, with her face in her hands, and her shoulders were shaking. Knuckles had his arms around her, softly rubbing her back. When he looked up, his eyes widened.

"Guys!"

Amy slowly looked up and wiped her eyes. Suddenly, she jumped up and leaped into Sonic's arms, sobbing into his shoulder. Sonic hesitated, and then wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so glad you're back..." Amy said softly. Galaxina chuckled from where she kneeled on the ground.

"We never left. That had to be one of the best illusions I've ever seen, and Nebulous had some good ones. I know."

Suddenly, the ground gave a mighty lurch, knocking Cosmo, Sonic, Amy and Knuckles over, and a loud whooshing noise filled the air. The team turned to look at the temple. An obelisk-like spire rose out of the top of the building, glowing with a blinding white light. With a sound like an electrical discharge, a huge white laser burst from the top of it, striking what seemed to be an invisible wall in the sky. Sonic stared up in amazement as a new rip appeared in the bottomless sky of darkness, revealing a spiraling tunnel of rainbow light. "The portal..."

"Nebulous was the one who opened the portal to get us here! Now that he's dead, the rift opened!" Knuckles shouted over the din. "Come on, we gotta get to the X-Tornado!"

"No need!" A familiar voice yelled, as a shadow passed over the group. The team craned their necks to see the X-Tornado hovering overhead. Cosmo glanced back at Sonic.

"The X-Tornado...Tails..."

Sonic chuckled. "Everyone came...Tails, Cream, all of us...we told you before, Cosmo, you're our friend." He paused, then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Hey Cosmo...hide."

Cosmo stared, then a small smile formed across her face, as she turned and hid behind a pillar.

Tails and Cream leaned out the window as a rope ladder fell from the cockpit, and the two descended from the Tornado, which hovered in the air. Tails ran to the rest of the team.

"Guys, perfect timing! We just finished the Tornado when the portal opened! Now we can leave. Where's Nebulous?" He asked quickly.

Sonic chuckled, stepping to the side and revealing Nebulous' lifeless form. Cream gasped. "An old friend helped." Explained Sonic. He smiled, and turned to the temple, jerking his head in a signal. Cosmo slowly stepped out from the temple.

A piercing silence filled the Atrum. Tail's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "C...c...cosmo?"

Cosmo nodded. "Hi, Tails..."

"COSMO!" Tails dashed forward, leaping into Cosmo's arms, sobbing wholeheartedly. "I...'hic' I thought I would...would never see you again!"

Cosmo held the fox tightly. "Shh...I'm back, Tails, and I won't ever leave again..."

Knuckles grinned, then his smile faded. "Guys! We don't have time for this!"

"He's right." Everyone turned to Galaxina, who was shakily trying to get to her feet. "That portal's not gonna stay open forever. We have to leave." She tried to stand, but her legs gave out from under her, and she collapsed to one knee. "I'll be fine..." She said, trying again and succeeding, although she did stumble a bit. She reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a small vial of pills. Pouring two out, she popped them into her mouth.

"Seedrian ration pills. They should tide me over for now." She explained

Tails turned to Cosmo. "Let's go home." He said, and the team ran to the X-Tornado.

Sonic, however, did not head right to the Tornado. Instead, he walked to Nebulous' body. Leaning down slowly, he picked up the scythe, then extracted Cosmo's scimitar from his chest. He looked the scythe over with a strange expression on his face.

"SONIC!" Knuckles shouted from the Tornado. "LET'S GO, MAN!" Sonic dashed to the Tornado as it began to take off, jumping onto one of the wings, then into the open cockpit. The Tornado turned to the slowly-shrinking portal and hit the accelerators, launching toward the gateway.

"We're gonna make it...we're gonna make it...we're gonna make it..." Tails chanted softly.

"LOOK OUT!" Cream shouted.

Tails turned a hard left as something blazed past them: something silver and red...

"The...the Nightshade!" Cream shouted. "But if Nebulous is dead, who's flying that thing?"

Sonic's eyes narrowed. "Three guesses..."

The Tornado exploded out of the spiraling portal seconds before it vanished into nothing, sealing the Atrum once again. Tails let out a slow, steady breath.

"We made it..." He said.

Sonic was scanning the infinite space around them. Suddenly he stopped and his eyes narrowed.

"There..."

Everyone followed his eyes to see the Nightshade hovering before them. As they watched, the ship turned and rocketed toward a familiar blue and green object in the sky.

"He's heading for Mobius!" Knuckles growled. "After him!"

The Nightshade broke through the atmosphere and leveled out, hovering once more. The Tornado burst through the clouds after the silver ship, gliding slowly to the ground. The cockpit burst open and the Mobians and Seedrians leaped out.

"LUCAS!" Shouted Sonic, swinging Nebulous' scythe.

A small hole opened on the belly of the ship, beaming down a pillar of light. With a flash, a being appeared with his back turned, a being that Cosmo and her friends had seen in their nightmares for the last three years...

"Take a look at this planet." Lucas began.

"Another monologue, oy..." Galaxina rolled her eyes.

"This place is like a desert, practically devoid of plant life...and I had a dream to change all that." The Metarex leader continued. "I dreamed of a paradise, devoid of animal life and abundant with plants. And thanks to you..." He turned to them. "That dream will never come true..."

"Dark Oak!" Cosmo shouted. "No...how are you alive?!"

Lucas gave a gravelly chuckle. "I told you once before...one girl cannot stop the Metarex. However, I humbly admit your meddling became very annoying. You ruined my plan for forestation, forced me to spend three years trapped in that accursed Atrum...and you killed my son." He slowly reached up, pressing the large green jewel on his chest. "For these infractions against the Metarex, you will not be forgiven."

With a hiss, steam burst from every orifice in his armor, and it collapsed off him.

"Umm...you realize you just took off your armor, right?" Sonic said, confused.

Lucas removed his helmet and shook his head to clear up his helmet-hair. "I removed my armor..." He said, tossing the helmet aside. "So I wouldn't destroy it when I did THIS!"

Suddenly, the purple Thorndrigan gave a primal roar, and he began to grow: taller and taller, until he towered above the team. His red horns became longer and thicker with sharp, twig-like spikes protruding from it. His teeth turned to fangs, and his eyes became yellowish, with slits for pupils, like a snake. The monster's shape changed, until it looked like some sort of tree-tyrannosaurus. Within seconds, Lucas had transformed into a horrible monster. Galaxina's eyes widened.

"He's done it..."

So that's the beast-form that the hologram was talking about?" Amy asked.

"Yeah...and now that he's used it-LOOK OUT!" Galaxina ordered, pulling Amy down as Lucas' tail whipped over them, as the rest of the team hit the deck.

Lucas gave a roaring laugh. "You see this?! This is the power that I created, the power that Hertia feared, the power that could have saved our planet!" He raised his foot and brought it crashing down. Mobians scattered in all directions as the foot created a reasonably sized crater.

"And now, you're gonna see what this power can do!"

Sonic tossed Cosmo her scimitar as Galaxina whipped out both of her Gunarrows. With a flick of her wrists, the guns were loaded once more with pink bullets.

"I'm ba-ack!" She shouted, and fired a barrage of laser shots directly at the massive tree-monster. Unfortunately, the projectiles merely bounced off the huge beast. Galaxina's eyes narrowed. Placing the barrels of her blasters together, she began to charge them. Unfortunately, Lucas saw her, swinging his tail and catching her in the chest, sending her sailing backwards. Knuckles dove forward, catching the flying Seedrian and the two went flying into a tree.

"Gal...Galaxina...are you alright?" Knuckles choked.

"I'm fine...thanks." Galaxina said, jumping up and helping Knuckles to his feet. "But we got a real battle on our hands. That thing's got no known weaknesses!"

The two stared as Sonic, Cream, Amy, Tails and Cosmo battled the fearsome creature, or rather tried to stay out of the way of the lashing tail, snapping jaws, and crushing stomps. Amy swung her hammer down on the creature's toe as hard as she could, but the monster merely lashed his tail like a javelin. Amy's eyes widened and she brought her hammer up to block the tail, and it impacted with the force of an old Ford. Amy let out a fresh howl of pain as a horrible crack filled the air. Amy's left arm had broken, and she was sent flying backward, skidding on the ground. Cosmo leapt into the air, raising her scimitar, but Lucas saw her, opening his jaws wide as a huge blast of white energy burst from them. Cosmo was blasted backwards, her scimitar blocking the worst of the laser, but she was still knocked back, crashing to the ground and kicking up dust. Tails ran to save her, but a massive clawed foot kicked him away, sending him crashing into Cream, and the two of them went tumbling down a hill. Sonic frantically scooped Amy up as a foot slammed down where she was mere seconds before.

Sonic looked down at his girlfriend. "Amy, are you okay?"

Amy gripped her arm and cringed. "I think it's my arm..." She said.

Sonic lay her down against a rock. "Wait here." He said, pulling out Nebulous' scythe and running to the monster. Lucas opened his mouth and let out a roar, accompanied by a massive mouth-laser. Sonic dashed out of the way, dodged a stomp...and was hit by Lucas' tail, sending him sprawling. Staring upwards, he saw Lucas open his mouth, preparing for another laser attack. Sonic held the scythe out and braced himself; Lucas fired and the weapon blocked the laser, digging Sonic deeper into the ground. Sonic struggled to hold the weapon out, but the blast was slowly pushing the scythe toward him. If he stopped, he would be roasted. If he kept it up, he would be crushed. Sonic closed his eyes...

Suddenly, the torrent of power stopped, and Lucas let out a deafening scream. Sonic stared at the massive creature as it staggered backward rubbing its eye, out of which protruded a pink diamond-like bullet. The hedgehog jumped to his feet, staring at Galaxina, who merely grinned and pointed toward the blinded monster. Sonic glanced up to see Knuckles bring his fist back and slam it into Lucas' injured eye. The beast let out a howl and swatted Knuckles away, then screeched as Cosmo's scimitar stabbed into his other eye. He swung his head wildly, dislodging Cosmo who went flying into a tree.

Now blinded, Lucas flailed his arms, trying to swat Tails and Cream out of the air, who were flying around his head, Tails firing his arm cannon and Cream flinging Cheese. With a deafening roar, Lucas fired a wild blast of energy knocking Cream and Tails out of the sky, then bringing his arm up to deflect a barrage of bullets fired by Galaxina. "You...little...freaks!" He shouted, then let out a roar as Sonic toppled out of the sky, bringing the Scythe down and slashing Lucas viciously. Sonic landed, grinning up at the Thorndrigan. He raised his arm and aimed the scythe at the wounded beast. Amy struggled to her feet, slowly limped toward Sonic, and placed her hand over his, followed by Knuckles, Tails, Cosmo, Galaxina, and Cream. Lucas was incredulous.

"HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?! NO!" He shouted. Sonic grinned as an aura appeared around the scythe. This one, however was an aura of pure light.

"You killed my mother..." Said Cream.

"You destroyed my clan..." Said Cosmo.

"You threatened my friends..." Said Knuckles.

"You destroyed my planet..." Said Galaxina.

"You ruined countless lives..." Said Tails

"But you can't cheat death twice!" Said Amy

"So this time, Lucas...STAY DOWN!" Sonic shouted, firing a huge blast of light through the evil monster. Lucas screamed as the blast ripped through his body.

"I HAVE THE TRUE POWER OF THE THORNDRIGANS!" He bellowed as cracks formed across his body, light shining out of them. "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I CANNOT LOSE TO FREAKS LIKE YOU! I AM DARK OAK! I CANNOT...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

There was a huge explosion, forcing the team to cover their eyes. When the light faded, Sonic and his friends stared in amazement as the smoke cleared.

Lucas was lying on his back, his dead, empty eyes staring at the sky.

(A/N: HOORAY! Dark Oak is dead for real this time! Thanks for sticking with this story to the end, and thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! The universe is saved, and this story is at a close...or is it?)

Epilogue

Five Years Later

Knuckles and Galaxina stepped into the Café Chaotic. Vector glanced up from where he was bussing a table.

"Galaxina, Knuckles! It's good to see you! They're right over there." The crocodile said, gesturing to a table in a corner of the café, where Tails, Cosmo, Amy, Sonic and Cream sat. "But, uh...you seem to be a head short."

Knuckles and Galaxina turned back to the door, where a little blue echidna stood, hiding behind the frame. He had bright, clear violet eyes and light blue fur, except for the tips of his dreadlocks, which were light red, The crescent on his chest was red as well.

"Don't worry, Charybdis! Vector's a good guy. Come on in." Galaxina told him.

The echidna slowly stepped out from where he hid, and ran to his father, who lifted him up onto his shoulder, getting a giggle from the three-year-old, and the family walked to their friends.

"Hey, guys!" Sonic smiled. "Wow, the little guy's gotten big!"

"Hi, Uncle Sonic!" Charybdis squeaked. "I'm three years old!" He held up four fingers, getting a laugh from the team. Knuckles got a high-chair for his child, and he and his wife sat down at the table next to Sonic and his wife.

"So what've you been up to?" Asked Galaxina.

"We visited Vanilla's grave." Amy said. "Cream still has nightmares now and then, but she's usually fine."

"Except when she has nightmares..." Quipped Sonic, earning a playful glare from his adopted daughter.

"I had a nightmare last night..." Said Cosmo. "I dreamed that I was back on the colony, when it got attacked by the Metarex. It was horrible..."

Tails glanced up at Espio, who had just asked him what he wanted to drink. "Water, please." He turned back to the group, putting an arm over Cosmo's shoulders.

"Don't worry, Cosmo...everything's over. The Metarex are gone, and they're not coming back."

KABOOM!

A massive explosion rocked the café, knocking everyone out of their chairs. Knuckles dove for Charybdis, catching him seconds before the chair toppled over. Sonic jumped up, glaring out the window. A massive, red egg-shaped robot was rampaging through the street. Amy hefted her hammer.

"Eggman!" She shouted.

"About time! I hope this one's tougher than the last one!" Her husband shouted as their daughter whistled. Cheese, now a full-grown angel Chaos Chao, flew through the window and landed on his master's shoulder. Tails pulled out his arm cannon and his girlfriend drew her scimitar.

"Vector, watch Charybdis!" Knuckles told the Crocodile, as his wife whipped out her Gunarrows.

"Everyone ready? Then let's go!" Shouted Sonic, as he and his friends dashed out of the Café.

Watch out, Eggman, you're going down!

The End