Operation: NECSUS, Part 5: A Wrinkle in Space-Time

Chapter 5: A Wrinkle in Space-Time

Star Haven

"Motherrr? I'm home." Jerome called as he entered his house. The Jamaican-Zathurian boy was surprised to see his house in total ruin, as if a burglary took place. He stepped toward the remains of the couch, finding a simple videotape in its place. He picked it up curiously and read the label. "Hm?…"

Great Clock

The King Family went to sleep for the night(?), and things were peaceful within this gigantic space station. Jagar and Misty had their own room, while George and MaKayla had their own, but separate beds. But MaKayla's eyes suddenly came open, glowing an unrealistic blue. The timebender threw her covers off and stepped out of bed, dressed only in her sleek blue nightgown and bare feet, her pinkish-blond hair hanging down. Her brother still snored away as MaKayla left through the slide-open doors. She entered her parents' room nonchalantly, her glowing blue eyes alighting the darkness of their room. She took Jagar's Chrono Staff and left, leaving her parents to snore away.

Planet Chamber

"Let's see, recalibrate the quantum energy stabilizers, rewire hologram projectors…" Sigmund mumbled as he rapidly fixed one of many hologram projectors. He didn't notice MaKayla walking in from behind, making no sound since she didn't wear shoes. "Ahh, that should do it- AHH!" Sigmund turned around and flinched seeing the glowy-eyed girl wielding the staff. "H-Hey! What're you doing with that?? That's not a toy, Little Girl!" The child ignored him and continued up the path on the right. "Hey! W-Where are you going? Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!"

MaKayla stopped before a hologram of Planet Aquaria. With a twirl of the staff, she forced its handle into a small compartment, creating a time portal. "H-Hey! Wait!" She ignored Sigmund's calls as she stepped inside and vanished.

Aquaria Drophyd Base; 1 week ago

MaKayla dropped behind a wall of metal crates, peeking out at the fleet of parked Drophyd ships. Hundreds of the armored fish beings stood guard outside. "When is Tachyon going to be back with our new shipment of Raritanium?" one asked.

"He said he'll come when he does. He's got an invasion on Coruscant scheduled for next week; not sure why. But he'll have to bring it by then if he wants our help."

MaKayla skimmed the field, but didn't see any way of getting past all those guards. She clutched her staff in both hands and closed her eyes, channeling the energy. A light circle surrounded her, making a ticking sound, before she immediately dashed out in the open. "Hu-Hey! Intruder!" The Drophyds began firing, but MaKayla swiftly leaped and bounced off all their helmets, then landed and dashed across the field. She swung her staff and bashed their suits, and soon the whole army engaged pursuit. MaKayla looked nervously as they surrounded her, and as the storm of lasers came, she slammed her staff's handle to the ground.

The world flashed, and MaKayla was instantly behind the metal crates, 20 seconds ago. A green, holographic clone appeared, and immediately ran out into the open to attract all the Drophyds' attention. The clone performed the same exact swift motions, evading all of the Drophyds and dashing across the field. While it did so, the real MaKayla was able to step out undetected. Her glowing blue eyes skimmed the field, before a particular ship caught her interest. She could see it in space, catching Sector V's ship in its hull.

MaKayla hurried onto the ship, hiding behind crates from the Drophyds' vision. She waited for the patrolling guards to face opposite ways, allowing her to dash past and into the next room. She made her way to the control deck, where two more Drophyds were curiously staring outside. "What're they chasing?"

"Some little girl just ran onto the field."

"What is she crazy?"

"Must be one of those galactic kids."

"See, this is why parents need to control their kids."

MaKayla charged a small, blue sphere in her palm and tossed it between the Drophyds. The Time Bomb exploded in a huge sphere that encased them, slowing their time. She quickly ran in, swiped one of their blasters, and ran out before they could notice.

MaKayla hurried into the nearby prison room and studied the three cells. Her blue eyes faced the leftmost one, seeing Sector V trapped behind its barrier. MaKayla stepped into the vacant cell and burned a rectangle around a particular spot with the blaster. With that, she ran back, slipped the Drophyd back his weapon, and ran out before the Time Bomb wore off. "I mean, let me tell you about this one guy, he let his kid have beer, and then…"

MaKayla made it to a hallway and looked both ways, making sure no one was looking. With another twirl of the staff, a Time Gate opened, allowing MaKayla to return to the present.

Drophyd flagship; present time

Drophyd troops stood guard around the ship as Tachyon marched into the hangar on his walking throne. "I'm flying back to Coruscant to check with my new employee. See to it those kids get to Zordoom with no hassles. I'll email you if there are any changes in plan. Farewell." With that, Tachyon opened the matter in one of the ships and stepped inside, closing the matter as he took off from the transport vessel.

In their prison cell, Dillon and Mason paced back and forth in boredom, Chris scraped a quarter against the barrier, while the others just sat against the wall. Aurora, Chris, and the other benders were wearing chi-blocking cuffs, because bending cheats. "You think the prison food's decent?" Aurora asked.

"I doubt they have fishsticks." Chris said.

When Aurora walked and stepped on a certain floor panel- "Huh?" she felt it creak. She yanked the piece of the floor off, unveiling the wires beneath. "Hey, I wonder if these connect to the ship's computer? Vanellope could hack in and make the Drophyds change their flight course to someplace we can escape."

"Why can't we just bust out of here and kick all their butts?" Dillon asked.

"Do you wanna fight a swarm of fish in robot suits, Chi-block?"

"Well… okay."

"Good thing they didn't put cuffs on Vanellope." Chris said. "Though I wonder if they would work."

"No time to find out." Vanellope said confidently as she stepped over the wires. "Step aside and let the Glitch work its magic." With that, she touched the wires and digitized through them.

Tachyon's Network; Drophyd Ship Flight Paths

Vanellope materialized in a small, blue corridor. She skimmed the area, noting she was in the virtual world, before stepping forward to do her mission. "Zoni." She stopped in surprise when the familiar black aliens floated before her.

"Hey… You're the little things that brought my memory back."

"The Day of Destinies draws near. The journey will commence, when the first Light alights. We are here to assist you, until time comes."

"Ummmm… okay?"

"All will be made clear, in time. Let us help you to save the Light, for now." And the Zoni flew away, leaving a baffled Vanellope. (Play "Clank and the Zoni" from Ratchet: Tools of Destruction.)

Stage 3: Drophyd Flight Paths

Mission: Alter the course of the ship that holds Sector V.

Vanellope passed the short hallway and reached a small balcony, overlooking an expansive view of virtual ships flying along thin beams of light; likely the flight paths. She passed down a path on the left, leading down into a room where a small ship-like platform moved from a hole in the right wall, to the left wall, then restarted, moving along a light path. She hopped onto a platform at level with the ship, but the next foothold was too high up.

She noticed some Zoni on the floor below and jumped down to get them. "Zoni." She led them back onto the platform, where they unveiled a secret computer in the floor. Vanellope sat down and started to hack the computer, typing the secret code 'Diagon Ally.' The light path tilted upward and around the room in diagonal segments (it was probably 'diagonally,' actually). Vanellope hopped on the platform as it carried her upward, allowing her to jump onto the ledge and exit the building.

She reached an outer area, where high above, train-ships were carrying virtual boxes along set light paths, designed like train tracks, while on the floor below, the tracks were vacant, and the doors were closed. Vanellope jumped to the tracks below, where a swarm of Tachy-drones, security drones designed like Tachyon's head, emerged from the floor and started blasting Vanellope. The glitchy girl zipped around to bounce off their heads while the Zoni launched energy balls and destroyed them. The Tachy-drones kept trying to blast her, but she zipped between several of them and caused them to blast each other.

They easily bested the other drones as Vanellope dodged over to the other side of the tracks. The Zoni unveiled another computer hidden in the wall, which Vanellope began to hack. She had to enter two codes, which were 'Math trains' and 'By 10:30am.' The trains up above stopped coming as the doors shut, and the trains on this lower floor began to come and go. Vanellope was able to jump onto their cargo, then spotted another group of Zoni above the set of doors where she found the computer. She rode a train to that ledge and jumped on to call the Zoni. "Zoni."

She noticed a high platform at level with the top of the huge cargo, so Vanellope used the trains to reach that platform. A bottomless chasm separated her and the next foothold, but there were three floating lights, called Zone Lights, leading a trail. Three Zoni floated into these lights, and Vanellope was able to glitch across them. She reached the wide, expansive field that led to the huge building where ships were flying in and out. She reached an even wider chasm with more Zone Lights leading across, scattered. The new amount of Zoni got in place of each of them, letting her zip across as a pixelly beam.

She hurried to the building and ran up the stairs to the front door. Inside was a small room with a chasm below, and two more ship-platforms: both came into the room at equal level, but one's path slanted down, while the other's went up. On Vanellope's right was a platform where the Zoni unveiled another computer. She entered the code 'Upty-Yupty' and caused the beam from the right wall to redirect straight up, making the platform tilt vertically to float up there.

She then had to take a left route, getting across the chasm by glitching to the Zoni on Zone Lights, then was ambushed by a Tachy-drone. It managed to damage her, but the Zoni shot beams at it before Vanellope glitched up and kicked it into the chasm. The Zoni helped her reach the next platform, where they found the computer. This one's code was 'Downy-Frowny,' which also made the left light beam direct straight up. The two sets of platforms were now exactly parallel with each other, allowing Vanellope to get between two and Wall Jump up as they went. At the top, the Zoni got onto two more lights to let Vanellope glitch to the platform.

She reached an outer area, overlooking the field she just crossed. The Zoni unveiled another computer as Vanellope entered the code 'Classic Platform.' A set of small platforms began moving left-and-right and up-and-down, which Vanellope bounced across to reach higher up the building. She reached a point that was level with a light path on the building's left side, where more platform-ships were coming out. Vanellope jumped on one and let it carry her across the chasm. It was leading her to the dead-end wall, but the parallel ships were too far and too high to jump to. Thankfully, a set of Zone Lights made a trail, allowing Vanellope to quickly glitch up to a passing platform.

This brought her back to the building, but on a higher level so she can reach the next ledge. She stepped up a slope into the building, finding herself in the central control room. A group of Drophyd Enforcers appeared along with average Drophyd Troopers, beginning to shoot the Program girl. Vanellope glitched onto one of the Enforcers and tinkered with his programming, causing him to aimlessly shoot the normal troopers. "Hey, it's just like taking control of an Imperial Walker!"

She glitched off to let it fall in the central chasm, then swiftly dodged another one's shots. Vanellope zipped all around its four legs, making the cockpit spin and shoot rapidly. It ended up shooting its own legs and toppling over. The rest of the Drophyds tried to attack, but the Zoni surrounded and confused the virtual fish, shocking and derezzing them.

With the enemies cleared, Vanellope was able to reach the main computer that organized the flight paths. This computer was slightly more difficult to hack, but she was able to evade the security programs. She entered the codes 'Schedule', 'Immediately', and 'Strictness.' Once she broke in, she located the ship that held Sector V, seeing it was set for Zordoom Prison. "Lessee, there's gotta be some planet we can fly to…" She skimmed a list of planets and found one of interest. "Oooh, Amazonia! That sounds cool!" With that, she clicked the planet and altered the schedule. "Gee, I hope altering all those paths didn't cause too much trouble."

Across the galaxy

Cargo and prisoner ships continued to fly about the stars, casually following their schedule. Suddenly, the schedules became altered, and ships began crashing and piling on each other aimlessly. Some of the trains instantly came to a stop, and all the ones behind them crashed in a chain reaction.

Back in cyberspace

"Ehhh… probably not that bad. Hehehahahah." Vanellope cackled. (End song.)

Vanellope brushed her hands and was ready to rematerialize to her friends. However, the Zoni flew in front and surprised her. "We leave you for now. Be cautious on your journey… and keep the Light safe." The Zoni flew away, leaving the candy girl baffled. She shrugged it off and glitched into the computer to return to her friends.

Coruscant; former Jedi Council H.Q.

"Snoooore… shooo. Snooore… shoooo." The clown scientist had fallen fast asleep, a snot bubble puffing in-and-out of his nose.

"WAKE UP!"

"WAH!" Tachyon bashed Caesar's head and startled him awake. Vendra was standing behind the emperor. "Oh, hey, Bug-guy! How'd the big election go? Did you become mayor?"

"Save the Joker banter. Hope your time in prison didn't lose your touch, 'cause you're going back in business." With that, Tachyon took a key and unlocked Caesar's chi-cuffs.

"SHUROroro!" Caesar stretched his arms and hovered in the air as the gassy coat reappeared over his form. "I'm finally FREEEE! THANK you, Tachy! Now to get back to Punk Hazard and- GYAAAAH!" He suddenly suffered a painful shock, falling to the ground.

"You'll only be working for ONE customer now." Tachyon stated, holding a remote control. "During your subconscious, I had microscopic shock-droids injected into your bloodstream. Inside your blood, they've penetrated the Logia defenses' limits, making you vulnerable. From now on, you'll only produce Bang Gas FOR ME, in the special factory I've had designed for you."

"Are you MAD? I can't give gas to just one person! I'm a FREE BIRD… GOAT… thing. I need to make and sell Bang Gas to all the people who need it, lest my customers- GYAAAAH!" Another shock.

"Maybe on Punk Hazard, but in MY galaxy, you live under the rule of the Tachyon Elite. Drophyds: show my servant to his new quarters. I expect 50 cans of the substance by tomorrow."

He reattached the cuffs to Caesar's wrists as the Drophyds led the angered scientist away. Tachyon then turned to the squadron of Drophyd troops watching him. "Okay, the takeover of Galaxia was a success." The Drophyd Leader stated. "It's time for your payment."

"Sure, sure. Haul it in."

Neftin stomped in, pulling a huge, black asteroid. Tachyon channeled his powers and scattered the matter of the iron-hard asteroid, unveiling bright-purple, glowing crystals which he passed to the Drophyds. "There you go. A fresh batch of Raritanium. Now listen up! Somewhere in this cosmos lies the parts I need to create the ultimate weapon. The weapon that was used to banish my people long ago. We must get ahold of that weapon and spread our forces even farther. And with a pureblood Zathurian in our possession, we're only halfway completed with our journey."

Cloud City

Cloud City was a metropolis built on an elevated, artificial island above a region of Coruscant that was covered with dense, foggy clouds. Nebula, Vweeb, and Pollyx entered the atmosphere of Coruscant, the sun setting over the ocean of clouds as they soared over the sky-high city. "Your hideout is in Cloud City?" Nebula asked.

"Yes, though it's not exactly 'hidden' well." Pollyx said. "Tachyon had his troops overrun the place, so I haven't been able to get in. It's the Great Library of Galaxia."

"The greatest source of knowledge in the solar system?" Vweeb asked.

"To an extent, yes. But lately, there's been weird activity occurring over Cloud City. There are strange space-time disruptions appearing in certain areas. I have a theory about what's causing them, but-" The ship shook suddenly upon impact of laser fire.

"Attention, aircraft. You are carrying wanted fugitives aboard your vessel and you are ordered to land and surrender yourselves." They looked outside as Drophyd ships flew after them.

"Ohhhh. I'll never make it to the library with them on my hide. Eh- you'll have to meet me there; you'll understand, right?"

"Understand wh-AAAAAAHH!" The baldheaded alien opened a trapdoor and sent the two plummeting to the midair surface. (Play the "Stratus City" theme from Ratchet: Tools of Destruction.)

Stage 4: Cloud City

Mission: Make it to Galaxia's Great Library.

Act 1

Nebula crashed through a pile of boxes, recovering dizzily as Vweeb bounced off her head, then onto a wood shard. A walkie-talkie then came down and bonked Nebula's head, knocking her dizzy again. "To keep in touch." Pollyx's voice was heard.

They then looked as Jane Jetson emerged next to them from the pile. "Did your husband drop you, too?" she asked angrily. They looked up as a small dollar floated down on top of her.

Nebula grabbed Vweeb and jumped out of the pile as they began their journey across the first road of Cloud City, having to jump a few floating platforms. Some Drophyd troops hovered over the cloudy chasm and blasted them, but Nebula whipped out her S.H.O.O.T.E.R. and shot them back. Vweeb used his Stun gun to shoot a Drophyd and cause him to plummet to the clouds, so the other soldiers decided to fly at Nebula head-on. She swiftly ducked and kicked up, denting one of their jetshoes and causing him to fly into another soldier. Nebula dodged the last soldier's blasts before tossing a grenade and blowing his armor up.

The two continued to a small street bustling with people, in which the next path was higher than the building tops, and the platform that levitated between levels was up there, disabled. Without Nebula's powers, she couldn't just fly up there, and there was no other way up. However, Vweeb noticed a waterspout on one of the buildings, so the little guy jumped off Neb's shoulder and entered, climbing up the inside. He made it atop the buildings and was able to cross a wire leading to the next path. From there, he got onto the platform and crawled into an opening to fix up the wires. The device floated down to Nebula, who jumped on and let it take her up.

Nebula jumped across a set of more platforms. A giant TV hovered over the chasm on their left, showing Tachyon's image. "As parents of Galaxia, it is your sworn duty to erase any fun ideas your children may have about GKND. Remember to confiscate all their toy spaceships and laser devices, and educate them the duties of a loyal, will-free citizen under an authoritarian rule. If your child is clean, boring, or acting like a zombie, you'll know you're doing a good job."

The two reached a wider city area, where they jumped at the sound of an explosion. They looked left as a tall building toppled down, ready to crush them. "AAAAAHH!"

But when the building was inches from crushing them, it suddenly froze in place. They looked around and saw the area they were in was caught inside some kind of blue beam. "What're we being abducted?" Vweeb asked.

"I…I don't know." They watched as the building rewinded and fixed back onto place. They closed their eyes when it exploded and fell over again, but it stopped in place again before rewinding.

"Umm… Did someone break Father Time?" Vweeb asked.

"Something's going on here." She noticed that when the building fell, the fire escape was close enough for her to reach. She grabbed and climbed on when the building returned to normal. Only a few parts of the stairwell had railing, so Nebula had to quickly stand on those when the building fell over, or else she'd fall. She was able to make it on top, overlooking a fleet of traffic. The traffic was also caught in the time beam, moving forward, slowing, moving backward, slowing, then forward again. Nebula proceeded to jump across the flying cars, timing her jumps carefully due to the forward-backward pattern.

She reached another open square, where the citizens immediately retreated to their houses when some Drophyd troops landed. An Enforcer appeared in the center of the square, which Nebula began to throw grenades at its legs. It jumped high in the sky, but Nebula dodge-rolled before it crushed her, then Vweeb leapt off her shoulder to start jumping up its legs. He easily crouched into an opening on the legs' base and started messing with the wires.

Nebula went to battle the other Drophyds, easily dodging their gunfire as she fired back. One of the Drophyds charged at her to try and smash her with its shield, but when she dodged, the Drophyd was crushed by the aimless-walking Enforcer. Vweeb hopped out of the robot and onto Nebula, letting its top portion blow off and crushed another Drophyd. The last two flew beside each other and readied to shoot, but Nebula smirked as she jumped between and tricked them into shooting each other.

The two climbed onto a ledge and overlooked another wide chasm, another city street on the other side. A Drophyd Transport Ship was flying by, but it lost control and exploded over the chasm. The Drophyd troops screamed as they were about to plummet, but another strange beam appeared and froze them in place. Their bodies didn't move an inch, though their eyes looked around confused. The Drophyds served as convenient platforms for them to hop across.

They reached the next street and turned a left corner, where the Great Library of Galaxia stood in their vision. They saw Pollyx's ship parked outside and hurried up the wide stairway to the entrance. (Play "Hall of Knowledge" from Tools of Destruction.)

Act 2: Great Library of Galaxia

The library was a humongous domain of towering bookshelves, each filled with thousands of books containing knowledge of the universe. The two passed between one of many aisles to reach a stairway, leading to a narrow hallway. Turrets emerged from the walls and floor, forcing Nebula to dodge quickly as she shot back. "Warning: You are trespassing on restricted property. By order of Emperor Percival Tachyon, all unauthorized personnel will be exterminated."

"Ehh, perhaps I should've warned you about the traps." Pollyx said from the communicator.

"You think??" Nebula yelled.

She and Vweeb swiftly dodged the security turrets before turning down a left wall, in which the walls were parallel bookshelves. There was a dead end ahead, and along the way, books were zipping back-and-forth between shelves like bullets. However, they noticed the flying books leading upward to a path above the dead end, so Vweeb began to quickly jump his way up. He reached the path and saw a switch on the wall above, jumping up to forcefully press it. The books stopped flying as a staircase formed, allowing Nebula to get up. She grabbed Vweeb as they continued to a ledge, high above a lower floor. The next hallway was towards the left, and the only things leading across were chandeliers on the ceiling. Nebula was able to use a G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. to swing across and easily reach the path.

"Second warning: Turn back now or face destruction. We know you've already seen the original game, so you know we aren't planning to do anything remotely horrible, but you should still act like a reasonable person and turn back now, regardless."

They had to drop to a lower floor of the hall as water began to rise from drains below. "What kinda freakin' library is this??" Nebula questioned. She quickly jumped up some platforms where the hall made a left turn, then swung some G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. targets as the water rose faster. She had to Wall Jump a set of parallel vertical platforms before the hall made a right turn. A group of Breegus Wasps flew their way, and the only way up was to jump across them. However, Nebula made a wrong jump and ended up falling into the water, with Vweeb quickly climbing on her head. She decided to swim along with it, but when she tried to climb on the platforms, the water easily caught up with her. She sucked in breath and tossed Vweeb into her mouth before the water rose to the ceiling, and they were submerged.

Nebula swam as fast as she could, but she struggled to hold her breath in since she was still worn from all this jumping. With Vweeb in her mouth, she definitely couldn't open, otherwise he would drown even faster. Thankfully, she seemed to reach the hall's exit, with the door sealed by a switch on the floor. She forced her hands against the switch, taking a lot of strength with all the intervening water, but managed to press it and open the way. She swam into a small room as the door closed, and the water sunk down the drain before the next door opened.

"HUUUU!" Nebula gasped for breath, as did Vweeb, who stood on her tongue.

"Hoo!" He waved his hand by his nose. "GKND Leader isn't a position for hygiene, huh?" Vweeb remarked.

She grabbed and set him on her shoulder before walking forward. They appeared inside a slightly wide room with Pollyx across from them. They hurried over, eager to hear his story. (End song.)

"Terrific, you're finally here!" he perked as they walked over.

"How were you able to get through all that?" Nebula asked.

"Oh, eh… I took my secret entrance. R-Reserved for Terachnoids. Ehh, perhaps I should've mentioned…"

"Well, you could've at LEAST turned the defenses off!!" Nebula yelled.

"The defenses are necessary. Tachyon only trusts this library in our hands, so I need them to keep his soldiers out. I mean, I'm certain the Kids Next Door have more than their share of defenses, eh hehehehe…" They looked disbelieved. "Ehhh… Now then… I believe our first meeting went rather rushed. Let's engage in a more formal greeting… Ahem: I am Professor Pollyx, President of Pollyx Industries. We research supernatural phenomena and all the deep secrets of the universe. Our most intricately researched topic is the Great Clock. The Great Clock is a tremendous space station that channels all of the Time Energy of the universe. It's the most important structure in our balance. But recently, the structure has been malfunctioning, sending time distortions to areas all across the universe."

"And that's why those areas back there were all… screwy." Nebula deduced.

"Exactly. We're not sure what is happening… but we've hardly had time to study it. Our company was taken over by MomCorp, as per Tachyon's orders."

"Mom?" Vweeb asked. "You mean the big business tycoon who makes mostly robots and other inventions?"

"The very same. Somehow, Tachyon is able to acquire vast amounts of Raritanium, which he gives to Mom to build her robots. In return, Mom allows him the use of her resources. After she took us over, she and Tachyon have been using our research to dive into the deepest secrets of Space itself. For instance…"

"Hm?" Nebula cocked a brow.

"Do not forget, Time and Space are very interconnected. Distortions in time are not the only thing being caused by the Great Clock. Come this way… there's something you may like to see."

Pollyx led them to a wide, vacant wall. The two kids stared confusedly, but as Nebula stepped closer, they gaped when a huge, pink crack revealed itself. "Wh…What is it?" Nebula spoke.

"There is a legend that tells of a dimension which exists in the confines of Space itself. In that place, Space Energy is incredibly powerful, but thanks to the distortions caused by the Great Clock, it's begun to reveal itself. We've called this place the Netherverse, and have deduced it as the homeworld of Vendra and Neftin Prog."

"So… this is where they came from?"

"The two bare resemblance to the dimensional race of Nethers, but they also exhibit traits of Mobians, which is why Neftin looks like an ape. And while these Space Rifts happened recently, Vendra and Neftin have been residents of Galaxia for some time. As children, they resided in Meero Orphanage on Forest Moon Endor. But that isn't important: your spacebending was stolen by Vendra, correct?"

"Um, yeah?…"

"In the realm that exists within space, I believe may lie a way to obtain your spacebending back. After all, the realm is flowing with energy, it should be able to help. Of course… the realm is dangerous, too. You've seen how Vendra and Neftin are; the Nethers inside will tear you molecule by molecule."

"Well, it's worth a shot." Nebula decided as she set Vweeb down. "Wish me luck." And before Vweeb had a chance to object, the half-Zathurian jumped inside. (Play "Clank in the Netherverse" from Ratchet: Into the Nexus.)

Netherverse

Nebula found herself in an endless, dark-pink dimension, made up of only flat, floating rocks. The dimension looked rather eerie, and her body felt very light. The first asteroid she could jump to was very far, but the gravity was weak enough to jump the great distance. She kept this up for the next bit of platforms, but black holes appeared at low and high points, forcing Nebula to keep her jumps at the right level. The next set of platforms were vertical and far spread out, so Nebula had to Wall Jump carefully.

Nebula landed on a safe platform, but the next set were flipping. Nebula decided to jump to the first one, and when she did, the gravity allowed her to stand on its flat surface. She waited for it to aim her at the next one so she could jump to it, lest she jumps into empty space. After reaching another right-side-up platform, the next set of footholds led downward, to a larger island. Nebula decided to skip the platforms and drop to the island, since the gravity slowed her fall. She landed lightly on her feet as expected, finding a floating, glowing pink sphere on this island.

Nebula carefully reached and touched the sphere, and instantly absorbed the pink light inside of her. She looked confused when her body stopped glowing, but a few glowing spheres appeared above, leading back to the platforms which would otherwise be too high to jump. Nebula snapped her fingers, and these glowing spheres grew into Space Blocks. "Mmmm!" She smiled victoriously, having gained a power back.

Nebula can create Space Blocks! Whenever she sees glowing balls of light, she can conjure platforms in those areas!

Nebula was about to jump to the first block, but- "Huh?"

"Grrrrr." A venomous growl was heard from a cave behind where the sphere was. A glowing, pink energy monster crawled out, its mouth made completely of triangular teeth. "GRAGRA GRAHGRAH GRAGRA GRAHGRAH!" (Play "Netherverse Chase" from Into the Nexus.)

"AAAAHH!" Nebula immediately jumped her way up the platforms as the Nether flew after, barking furiously. She wished the gravity didn't move her so slow, but she was able to make it up the platforms. She entered the region of spinning gravity platforms, but she didn't have time to focus on where to jump, her heart racing as the Nether's barking drew closer. She jumped the moment she saw the next platform, just barely landing on it. She quickly Wall Jumped the vertical platforms and reached the black hole region. The Nether got so close, she barely dodged the black holes, jumping the platforms aimlessly to get away.

She made it to the platform before the exit, but before she could jump there, the platform suddenly sank. She conjured a Space Block partway up, but looked frantic as the Nether flew straight down for her. She waited 'til it was close enough, then quickly jumped past and onto the Space Block. She conjured another one to jump up higher, then was finally able to reach the island with the Space Rift.

Great Library

Vweeb and Pollyx jumped in surprise when Nebula shot through the rift, the three gasping when the Nether's head popped through. "GRRRAAAAAAH!" The Nether swelled like a balloon, and exploded. (End song.)

"As I expected." Pollyx stated. "Nethers can't survive outside of their own dimension. Their bodies are so adapted to the limited gravity of their dimension, the weight is much too strong for them to handle here. But it seems the explosion has caused the rift to vanish."

"Along with the wall it was on." Vweeb noted.

"But hey… I got one of my powers back!" Nebula said excitedly, staring at her hand.

"Yes, but the energy has only filled part of your chi-paths. Your spacebending is limited. I mean, games can't be too easy. But you should be able to get by for now."

"So, wait… what does Tachyon want with the Netherverse?" she asked.

"I don't exactly know. It may be why he's working with Vendra. Regardless… Tachyon is looking for something. Something that will help him harness the powers of Space. And whatever that is… it may have something to do with your mother."

"My… mom?" Nebula looked worried.

"Yes… I overheard Tachyon when I was at Coruscant. He called Neftin and ordered him to capture Dimentia."

"Oh no!" Nebula gasped. "We have to get home!"

"Hold on! I have something for you!" Pollyx led them into a secret door, behind the wall that was destroyed by the Space Rift.

Inside was a small chamber with a black, R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R.-like ship, with a line painted across like a shooting star, facing closed hangar doors. "My son is in the GKND. He's been making this for you. He calls it the Shooting Star. When Tachyon took over our company, I knew I would be helping you, so I quickly fixed it up. It's one of the fastest ships Terachnoid technology has to offer; you can make it home in a blast!"

"Then let's go." Nebula said, hopping into the cockpit with Vweeb on her shoulder. "Our course is set straight for Star Haven." She started to press buttons and start it up.

"But, hold on." Vweeb spoke up. "Why're you helping us?" he asked Pollyx.

The scientist shook his head. "My people pursue knowledge for knowledge's sake. But Mom and Tachyon… they use it for evil desires. I want to stop them… and I also believe, that with your help, our studies will be able to dive deeper. I wish to examine further the secrets of Space, too… but I can never study peacefully with Tachyon staring over our shoulder. So please… save your mother. Find a way to stop him."

Nebula nodded seriously as the windshield covered her seat. The hangar doors opened as the ship lifted off, and shot beyond the sunset skies.