The Last Eliminator

Azalea-Take care of yourself for me.

Kanone scowled.

Miserable little-!

And, without any warning, he seized Timmy by the throat.

~*~

"Want to be a hero, Turner?" Kanone breathed, eyes glinting.

Timmy choked as the man shook him, chuckling softly.

"Well....in that case, who am I to stand in your way to martyrdom, eh, Darkness t-?"

BANG.

~*~

Poof had been ready to conjure up an entire fleet of zoo animals to fall perhaps, he didn't know-Kanone's head-but someone had beat him to it.

Timmy's eyes traveled upwards.

What he saw made him groan.

"Don't you EVER give up?!"

The Eliminator was peering down at the man, distaste in every pore of his features.

Timmy swallowed, heart pounding wildly in his chest.

"What did you...?!"

Kanone's eyes widened-his amber orbs flickering.

With a groan, he sank to the ground, looking somewhat dazed.

His grip on Timmy loosened from where the three perched on the meteroite, deathly silence enveloping them.

Finally, Kanone was the one to break it.

"Ah....aha....ahahaha...."

He staggered up, looking somewhat sleepy.

"Hallo," he commented, as if he had not tried to brutally murder Timmy seconds before. "This is interesting. Interesting."

He looked at the pieces of space debris floating about-and the man scratched his head, looking somewhat bemused.

"Guess I shouldn't have eaten that month old pizza....looks like Helen was right. I'm dreaming."

Timmy stumbled back, face torn into disbelief before shooting an astonished glance at the Eliminator.

"W-What did you...?"

~*~

The Eliminator sighed, looking extremely annoyed.

"I figured you wouldn't like it too much if I killed him-which, in my opinion-sounds like a rather charming idea-but no."

He held up a sparking hand, and shrugged.

"Our name comes from the word, "Eliminate," Turner."

Timmy rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I got a "D" in English-not an "F." You'll have to look at four other classes for that-but I get THAT! How did you-what did...?"

The bot withdrew his sputtering, copper alloy hand for his usual titanium.

"What else COULD I do? I destroyed his memory-and replaced it with another."

"Y-you..."

Timmy shook his head.

"Poof-I wish Kanone or what's-his-face was gone! Anywhere! In the world he THINKS he lives in!

NOW!"

Poof was only too glad to oblige...

...and Kanone Hilbert vanished in a flurry of light.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Timmy's eyes narrowed as he faced the robot, scowling.

"Poof, I wish-!"

"There's no point, Turner."

The Eliminator smiled, eyes flashing like minature emeralds, caught ablaze in a firestorm of illumination.

Poof shuddered-and began to quiver slightly.

Was it....getting colder around here?

An icy torrent of wind began to whistle throughout the empty air. Timmy winced, and drew a hand over his flickering eyelids as the all too familiar

sensation occurred again.

His eyes widened in terror.

No.

The starry atmosphere opened up-into an inky, writhing mass. The boy's heart almost stopped.

The Eliminator smiled again, extending his hands to the heavens.

"My job is done. I have brought the boy to you.....

Master."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"THERE!"

"There wha?"

Cosmo and Mark had been busy in an odd game-seeing as so many of Mark's board games had been missing pieces, they had been forced to

combine many.

"YOU SUNK MY SCRABBLESHIP!"

Wanda scowled, antenna in her head blasting a fiery wall at her forehead.

"I have a lock! I have a lock on the boys!"

~*~

The Darkness had finally come.

Timmy closed his eyes, heart hammering in his ribs.

So, this was it, now. If what the Eliminator had told him was true....

The thought of being a part of the Darkness sickened the boy to no end.

"Even if you're allowed to die a mortal death-which my Master would never permit if you're in IT'S clutches-the Darkness is LINKED to you now,

you stupid boy. You are as much the Darkness as it is YOUR essence. It'll know you're alive, and pursue.

And, if you DID die, Turner-the Darkness would turn in on itself with its final and greatest counterattack.

The End. The end of all existent-all things that BREATHE, the sun, the stars….

…and your miserable, backwater planet would drown in fire.

And if you want to die knowing you've destroyed everything-go ahead! Keep running! Keep putting yourself in danger like an idiot!

There was no running this time. Not that Timmy was intending to flee.

But, in the few words of comfort that his older self had offered once in their pursuit of Vicky-

"There is no line between good and evil, Timmy. The Dark is bred in our bones-just as is our capacity to do good. In the end, whatever we've

chosen to bask our lives in-that is the cornerstone where we take our path to walk-whether you've lived in some utopia with a heart's

countenance of ink blots-or live in the darkness-which, alongside light, accepts those in without question.

The man had given him a sober glance before entering a puppety word consisting of nothing but scenery and brick walls.

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies...but not everyone lives, Turner."

Timmy took a deep breath, and quietly exhaled.

"Poof....go back to..."

The little fairy shook himself, a small pout forming on his face. Timmy stared at him in astonishment.

"You....wanna come with? No way! I'm not letting you-!"

The Darkness was hungrily sucking the stones from the air....

...and Poof's rattle slipped from his fingers.

~*~

Timmy drew Poof close, and groaned, pinching the bride of his nose with the tips of his fingers.

"Well...looks like we have no choice now, little guy."

He glanced about himself.

"Please, please, PLEASE don't tell anyone I said this, but you're really something special, Poof."

The little fairy gave him a euphoric smile-

Just as the artic winds swept the two into the air.

~*~

The first thing Cosmo saw:

Darkness.

First thing Mark saw:

Robot laughing maniacally.

And what Wanda saw...

...was two small boys being drawn into the Darkness.