Operation: NECSUS, Part 12: That’s Just Dandy

Chapter 12: That's Just Dandy

Sector V's captured Drophyd ship

Sector V dropped Makava off on Planet Glomour, and the ship was nearly empty except for them by the time they left the planet. "Boy, I didn't think Glomour was so dark!" Haruka beamed. "So pretty! I hope we go back some time!"

"Bleh. If there ain't sun, there ain't soul." Sheila said. "No wonder they're all so white."

"Heh, 'guess it's why Makava's so yellow, hanging out on a beach planet." Dillon laughed. "Wonder if she'll develop the pale now."

"That should be the last of the aliens we brought." Aurora said. "How are we on that?"

"Ummm, one last stop to make." Chris reminded as the Kateenian kids had his hands and legs tied behind him.

"Heheheh. Well, Kateenia is relatively close, so we'll drop 'em off quick."

"Um, I wasn't thinking Kateenia. I was thinking Secco Fried Kateenian."

"GRRRRRRR!!!" The tiny aliens were enraged.

"Better watch it or they're having Kateenia Fried Human." Aurora smirked. "I just hope they'll all be safe from the Drophyd Army. But I guess now I'll just finish this sentence uninterrupt-" But as always, no sentence can go uninterrupted without a random laser blasting their ship.

"Either we're on the wrong side of the road, or Tachyon's guys finally caught up with us." Dillon figured.

"Whoa there, kiddies. Do you brats have your licenses yet?" called a smooth voice from a big, yellow ship a few meters away.

"Well, who are YOU, the driving instructor??" Haylee shot back.

"Come on, Hayls." Harry said disappointedly.

"Young but feisty, I can already see you turning into a fine woman. But right now, you're still kids. And kids have to take their nappies. So may your young minds become senseless when you gander the unspeakable awesomeness of:" (Play the Opening to Space Dandy.) The slim, mid-20s man combed his pompadour and clutched his controls tight, his gorgeous eyes fixed on the Drophyd ship. "Space Dandy."

Legendary rookie alien hunter

SPACE DANDY

"Space Dandy?" Mason questioned.

"Are you a bounty hunter?" Aurora asked.

"Not just any bounty hunter, Baby. Ah'm the greatest. I comb every corner of the galaxy, in search for rare aliens. I'm only a bounty hunter in my downtime."

"Oi, git a load o' this bloke with the worm-hair!" Sheila retorted.

"DON'T insult the 'do, okay??" he yelled defensively. "Anyway, the other bounty hunters are busy so they wanted ME to come and bring you kids to their hangout. 'Course, I passed a ship of supermodels on my way, so I lost sight of the Drophyds I was supposed to follow…"

"I thought it was weird we only had to fight a few Drophyds on our way." Aurora said.

"Okay, so we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. I much prefer the easy way since I wanna make it to Boobies, but that's up to you."

"Hate to break it to ya!" Artie declared as he took the weapons' seat, "but you're gonna be LATE!"

"So let's ASTEROID and fly!" Haylee declared, taking the driver's seat.

"Haylee, leave ARTIE to the bad jokes." Harry retorted.

"Heheh! Sorry!" She grinned goofily.

"Okay! Time to DANDY UP!" declared the handsome hunter as he yanked a lever forcefully. A large hatch on his ship popped open, and out came a slightly smaller ship, designed like a car painted red with white flower patterns, like a Hawaiian shirt. "Little ALOHA, let's transform!" The giant car instantly changed into a large, skinny combat robot.

Haylee made the Drophyd ship swiftly dodge as the Little Aloha launched forward with a punch. Artie quickly blasted the robot, but he took the hits and fired homing missiles. Haylee tried to dodge away, but the missiles locked tight and damaged their vessel. "Ugh! Drophyds have the WORST transportation in the universe!" she yelled.

They flew closer and kept trying to blast the robot, but Dandy was quick to dodge, throwing a kick that sent the kids flying back. "Doesn't this ship have any better offense mechanisms?!" Aurora asked.

"In retrospect, this is supposed to be a transport ship, not a combat ship!" Artie cried.

"Ugh! Let's just get outta here!" Haylee decided as she turned and tried to escape.

"SAVE US, Chriiiis!" The Kateenians cried as they were on their knees.

"I HOPE YOU BURN IN THE AIRLESS VACUUM OF SPACE!" Chris screamed.

"Oh no you DON'T!" Space Dandy exclaimed as his ship's left arm emerged a huge sword of lightning. He lashed the blade and sliced the tiny Drophyd ship in half, and both halves exploded into flames.

Sector V did not survive the explosion. Space Dandy was just too incredible for them. Their exciting adventures came to an end. Their noble efforts in protecting kids everywhere will always be remembered, and their legends echo across the stars of space. …But not that much.

Shooting Star

Team Nebula left Legola's atmosphere and were back in space. "Ahhhh nothin' like Lego Gold." Bender sighed as he looked at the stacks of golden Legos in his compartment. "Gonna be swimmin' in dough after this, baby."

"You sure those aren't just normal yellow Legos?" Nebula asked.

"Well, the traders don't have to know that." He winked.

"Either way, I'm glad Lord Business let us have the Dimensional Piece. Any idea where we should start looking for the next one?"

"Nope, not a clue." Pollyx replied. "But I have picked up signals of another Space Rift, on a planet that's a little close to where Endor was. It likely wouldn't hurt to acquire a new power, right?"

"It certainly wouldn't." Nebula agreed. "Send us the coordinates and we'll be on it."

"I hope they got a few beers, 'cause Ah need to reload!" Bender announced.

Atmosphere of unknown planet

The Shooting Star arrived at an unknown yellowish planet, which struck Nebula and Vweeb as familiar. "Wait a second… this is the planet we landed on on the way to Endor!" Nebula remembered.

"Really? What's it like?" Bender asked.

"This swarm of robot bugs almost snacked on us like Tetramites." Vweeb responded.

"He's right. We better watch ourselves if we don't wanna be dinner."

However, as they took land on an open area and climbed out, there was already something odd about the planet. "Uhhh… was this here before?" Nebula asked. (Play "Cobalia Wilderness" from Ratchet: Tools of Destruction.)

The planet was filled with vast, metallic jungles, where robot dinosaurs roamed for miles and miles. "Hot-diggity daffodil! It's a planet o' robo dinos!" Bender exclaimed.

"But yesterday, the only life on here were those robot bugs." Nebula said. "How could all of this be built in one day?"

"If you consider robots 'life.'" Vweeb noted.

"Hey!" Bender yelled, offended. "For your information, robots evolve just as well as other creatures, except faster!"

"Robots can't evolve, they don't have the genes to." Vweeb argued.

"Oh yeah? Well, how d'you explain this robot fossil I found?" He pulled out a bedspring with googly eyes.

"That's a bedspring." Nebula told him.

"It's a ROBOT fossil!"

"Never mind! Let's look for the Space Rift and get off this lifeless rock."

"Still better than YOUR rocks!"

"Ugh! Let's just go!"

Stage 13: Mecha Jungle

Mission: Locate the Space Rift and acquire a new power.

Act 1

The team of three began the journey into the metal jungle, first arriving at a small pond of robotic plesiosaurs. They simply had to jump across them to climb onto a ledge on the other side, but when they reached a wide path, a robotic T-rex roared as it burst through the trees. It charged and grabbed Bender in its teeth, shaking him around as the robot screamed. It tossed Bender away and focused on Nebula, but Bender got up, reached to grab its head, and tried to bend it back. Nebula took this time to toss grenades at its legs, but it shook Bender away and attempted to chomp the Zathurian, only for her to dodge.

They decided to leave the robo dino and hurried to a wider field, but a group of none other than tricycletops; robot triceratops with three wheels, sped out from the trees. The group dodged as Nebula tossed some grenades, but they still had no effect against the strong dinos. They hurried away again, following a path through the metal jungle and reaching a tall cliff. There weren't any Grav-Paths or anything, so the group returned to lure in one of the tricycletops, making it speed down the path and ram the wall, which made it dizzy. In its dizzy state, the group climbed on its back and reached the ledge.

They appeared in a wider field with robo pterodactyls flying overhead, carrying boulders. When they flew over the trio, they dropped the boulders, which were easy to dodge, then went to get more. There were several metal patches around the field, so the group got the pterodactyls to drop boulders on them, breaking them open to reveal spike traps, some crates of ammo, but one of the pits contained a strong geyser of water. The water rose as high as the pterodactyls, and still had the boulder on top. When the geyser came down again, the three jumped onto the boulder to get propelled upward, then jumped onto the closest pterodactyl.

The pterodactyl carried them a short distance across the jungle, while baby pterodactyls swooped over to try and nip them. Nebula shot them down with the S.H.O.O.T.E.R. before the pterodactyl eventually dropped them on an open ground. They followed a short path to a small pond where the path continued in an underwater cave. Nebula placed Vweeb in her mouth and held her breath before diving underneath, while Bender was able to walk underwater, breathing just fine. They swam to some bars blocking the cave, which Bender was able to bend and allow them to pass.

They reached a wider cave with some robotic puff-fish, which beeped like mines as they swam to the group and tried to explode. Nebula swam to the next cave ahead, but quickly dodged when a robot seasnake shot out and tried to snack her. She swam to a nearby air bubble for a quick breath before getting a puffbot's attention, luring it to the cave where the seasnake rested. She dodged the snake and let it snack the puffbot, which exploded and made the snake retreat.

The tunnel ended as they resurfaced before a mountainside cave, dark and empty as they walked in. When they slowly approached a wall, another gaping pink crack presented itself. "Well… there it is." Nebula figured.

"Yuck!" Vweeb exclaimed as he held her mouth open. "We really gotta talk about this whole underwater-mouth thing."

"Dry you up later." Neb stated as she set Vweeb down. "It's time to get another power back."

"You guys do that, I'm goin' ta see if this cave has any buried treasure." With that, Bender ran to an alternate cave.

"Enjoy yourself." Neb remarked. "Wish me luck." After waving Vweeb off, she jumped into the crack.

Netherverse

The cave was fairly small, but Nebula had to make her way through a small maze. It was pretty basic, despite the pink crystals popping out of the wall every now and then, but under her feet was a see-through glass with a tinier maze underneath. She reached the maze's end in a short amount of time, dropping down a short ledge to an enclosed area. The glowing pink sphere floated in the center, and on her left was a strange mirror. She approached the pink sphere and let it absorb into her body.

Nebula learned the Space Shrink! The power to change size is hers to command! With this, she can shrink herself to smaller sizes and be as stealthy as a mouse! However, she needs to be able to face herself to minimize, and when using it on enemies, her chi will be more limited.

With that, Nebula turned to face the conveniently placed mirror, reflecting her image perfectly. She held her thumbs and indexes in a frame position, fitting her reflection inside. She slowly closed her frame together, but her reflection still fit inside as the area around her grew in size. Of course, it wasn't the area growing, but her body shrinking, and she stopped at 2 inches tall. "Hoo… never used to that sensation. Okay, let's get outta here."

She entered a tiny hole, beginning to make her way up a path beneath the maze's ledge. "Grrrrr." She heard that infamous sound and looked to the opposite cave as a Nether came out. (Play "Netherverse Chase" from Into the Nexus.) "GRAGRAHGRAGRAHGRAGRAHGRAGRAH!"

The Nether was too big to follow her in the tiny pathway, so it split up into a swarm of mini-Nethers to chase her. They split up to take different routes, so Nebula had to decide her path carefully to not run into them. She reached the top of the ledge and began to make her way through the tiny maze, directly under the giant maze. Since this maze was smaller, it was a lot more complex, but she frantically looked for an exit as the Nethers kept after her.

She searched around the east end of the maze, seeing Nethers coming at her from all directions. Her heart raced as she was forced down a single path, but was relieved to see a stairway that led out of a hole. She came out inside the normal-sized maze, seeing a giant (to her) mirror with her reflection. She caught her reflection in a finger-frame and re-expanded her body to normal. The Nether swarm flew out of the mini maze and formed together to make the full Nether. Nebula hurried across the regular maze again to avoid its wrath. It still wasn't too difficult as she found the exit and jumped out. (End song.)

Mecha Jungle

Vweeb watched as Nebula flew out, and the Nether's head popped out, puffed, and exploded. "What do you do to tick those things off?" Vweeb asked.

"No idea. But hey, I got a new power! Check it out!" She bent down for a close look at Vweeb, catching his form in a finger-frame. She closed the frame together, and to Vweeb's surprise, he grew smaller than he already was. "Waaaaah!!! Hey!!"

"Hm hm hm! What, too small is too much?" She reverted him back to normal.

"Well, it was only a matter of time you got a shrinking power, anyway. Let's hurry and get outta here."

The two exited the cave, but- "Rooooaaaarr!" a group of robotic dinos had them surrounded, like the T-rex, tricycletops, etc., and all were growling viciously.

"Um, you wanna put that to use now?" Vweeb asked.

"I can't shrink too many at once."

However, Vweeb noticed something in the sky. "WHOA! What's that?!"

The sun sizzled as it unleashed a wavy beam, and when it reached the planet, the mechanical dinosaurs sparkled and fell down immediately. "It's… a solar flare." Nebula responded in shock. "All the dinosaurs are dead. Only feeble, mammal-like robots hiding in caves could've survived." At that moment, Bender came hurrying out with an armful of sparkling rocks.

"Well I didn't find any treasure, but there's a bunch of cool rocks I bet we can make some money off!"

"Bender, we're not taking all those with us."

"But didn't you just get a shrinking power?" Vweeb asked.

"Shhhh… Anyway, even if these robots were considered life, they're dead now. Let's take off and start looking for the next fragment."

Sargasso Space Station

Sector V was once again trapped behind a blue barrier in the station's dungeon. "Why is it that this whole story, we've been taken prisoner in these places?" Dillon complained.

"Yeah. And didn't we die in that explosion just now?" Haruka asked.

"I guess it's a good thing that we didn't." Aurora said. "I suppose we should try getting out of here now."

"I'm already on it." Vanellope replied as she began to type on her computer. "Thankfully bounty hunters don't have the greatest budget in security. What're they doing with their bounties, anyway?"

"Blowing them on beer, guns, and hookers, what else do thugs do with hard-earned allowance?" Haylee asked.

"Aaaand that should do it riiiight… now." Vanellope confirmed as the cell's barrier switched off.

"Warning: Security breach in Sector A-B. Security breach in Sector A-B. Also detecting a mockery in our security budget. Well, we're activating the spherical energy barrier so you can't escape. How do you like us now?"

"Crikey… don't get so worked up about it, Mate." Sheila mumbled.

"They just turned on a huge barrier around the station." Vanellope explained, still studying her computer. "There're 5 generators we need to shut down."

"Okay team, split up and look for those generators." Aurora ordered. "We also need to steal a ship so we can get outta here. And if you can, try and grab some supplies that'll last us the trip, like food, weapons, anything we might need. Okay, let's go!" (Play "Sargasso Region" from Star Fox Assault.)

Stage 14: Sargasso Station

Mission: Find a ship and escape the bounty hunter fortress.

The team hurried out of the prison wing as a swarm of Ruffians already ambushed them in the hall. Aurora and Chris tossed a series of fireballs to push the first line down, while Sheila hovered above and punched a charged Light Sphere to bounce around others' heads. Vanellope then warped around in her pixel form to confuse them while Kirie Beatles spun around and rapidly smacked them with her fans. Chris spun in a flame torpedo and burst through the swarm before the kids hurried out to the wide open area, where many crates sat and ships were parked.

"We could hog one of these when we're ready." Chris said.

"Unless we brought a shrink ray, no way we're all fitting on one of these." Aurora stated.

"Crud. I knew I shoulda flew by Emily's before we left." Artie huffed.

"Frankly, we need a ship that's awesome enough for a galactic journey." Haylee informed. "You guys handle the generators, I'm gonna look for that."

"Hey, you're still helping us!" Artie yelled.

"Ugh, fine, ONE generator, then I'm off."

The kids all split up as Mason, Sheila, and Haruka went up a left slope onto a second-floor walkway. A Ruffian Wheeler; Ruffians in giant mechanical wheels, sped out and blasted them with machineguns. Sheila went over first and punched Light Spheres around the wheel's front to hit the Ruffian from his exposed side. This eventually caused the Wheeler to spiral out of control and fall over. Another group of Ruffians waited from behind, blasting laser rifles at the kids as Haruka created a smokescreen of purple gas. Mason drank some Purple Flurp and burped Gas Bombs at the Ruffians, knocking them over the edge.

"Were you planning to share those sodas?" Haruka questioned.

"These aren't for everyone, I use 'em for battle." Mason stated.

"Hoarder." Sheila mumbled.

They entered a small, narrow corridor where the first generator sat across a chasm with a line of big fans. The signs on the left and right read Gas-powered Fan Chamber, and below them were open, empty pipes. Mason and Haruka shrugged and unleashed gas into the pipes, causing the line of fans to activate. Sheila then hovered across with her propeller tail, using the fans to stay airborne as she reached the generator. "Okay, time to put me mum's teachin's to the test!" With that, Sheila dealt several punches against the machine, before spiraling her fist and smashing the generator with a super-punch.

"Generator B disabled. We better step up our defenses."

Kirie, Dillon, and Vanellope entered a narrow, darker corridor where Ruffians hurried down from a left corridor. Kirie swiftly dodged the shots and jumped over to dance on their heads, leaving Dillon to use Shadow Veil and pull two of them underneath. Vanellope glitched over fast as lightning and rapidly kicked the remaining ones, knocking them out as Dillon finished beating his bunch.

They entered a longer hallway where a security camera locked onto them from the other end. Dillon used Shadow Veil to slide across, evading the camera's vision while Kirie gracefully danced across, the camera failing to shoot her. Just as well, Vanellope simply glitched across and avoided the camera's shots. When Dillon made it over, he slithered behind the camera and jumped out to yank it off the ceiling. They found the generator in an enclosed area, which Vanellope proceeded to hack. She entered a code 'Dogs' to shut the generator down.

"Generator A disabled. Our security's looking pretty crappy right now."

The Gilligan Triplets snuck into a large room that went up many levels, having several large crates and a generator at the top. The kids snuck under the first ledge toward the staircase, listening to a couple Ruffians talking above. "Hey, did you hear about that new guy workin' with Star Wolf?"

"Who? Dandy?"

"Yeah, him. Heard the guy's a madman. He apparently got run out of his own galaxy after blowing up a planet… with HIM on it."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! How do you blow up a planet when you're still on it, and not git turned into a ghost??"

"That's what I'm sayin'. He's not normal."

"That's probably just some rumor, right?"

"Maybe… but in all honesty, I don't wanna be around that guy. Heard he's a freakin' legend."

"That's just his talk."

"You wanna go mano-to-mano with him?"

"I'm just sayin', he-" The Ruffian was smacked by Artie's S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R. from behind, and the boy dodged and smacked the other Ruffian before he could shoot. The Ruffians on other levels got into turrets and began blasting. The triplets made it onto the next level and took out the first turret Ruffian, and Harry took control of the turret to blast other ones while his siblings made it upstairs. There were Ruffian Mechs waiting above, the kids dodging as they launched grenades. Haylee slid over to unbolt their wheels' screws with her wrench, causing the mechs to fall apart, and when the Ruffians tried to attack the kids their selves, Artie used the S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R. to send them tumbling down the levels. With that, they focused attention on the generator, which Haylee easily disabled by unscrewing all the parts.

"Generator C disabled. I don't wanna be the person who takes the blame for all this."

Chris and Aurora entered a second-floor room where many female Ruffian Ninjas flipped out, wielding nun-chucks. On the other side was a painting of Aurra Sing, and on the right was one of Aurorra Bane. One wrapped their nun-chuck around Aurora's leg and flung her overhead, but she regained composure and tossed fireballs around the room. Chris spun in a flame torpedo and sped around the room to knock ninjas over, and when he stopped, he jumped in the air and kicked forceful fireballs from both feet at other ninjas.

Aurora grabbed one's bo staff and kicked her backward, and she ended up crushed by a rolling barrel from the left. They looked up a slope in a narrow passage, where a Ruffian Mech was throwing barrels down like Donkey Kong. The Uno kids tried to jump the barrels, but ended up smashed and pushed back down. However, Chris noticed the word 'GAS' written on the barrels, so when the Ruffian picked up the next one, Chris tossed a flame and exploded it completely.

With that, they hurried up the slope and found a room loaded with gas barrels, as well as the generator. The kids smirked and nodded, setting a small flame before rushing out of there.

From the outside, a mighty explosion erupted from one of the station's windows. "Generator D disabled. Talk about overkill."

After finishing their generator, Mason, Sheila, and Haruka looked around as they left the room. "Let's try to find the next one." Mason said. "Hopefully I can find some drinkables in here."

"Hoarder!" Haru yelled.

The three split up and searched rooms of another section of the base. Haruka found a room with medical supplies, and figured they could make do with this stuff. Space was deadly, after all.

Sheila wandered into a room filled with wanted posters. She curiously skimmed around, viewing all the criminals' visages. Wanted: Cad Bane, for crimes against the Republic. 500,000 Credit. Wanted: Romulus Slag, Captain of the Slag Pirates, for several planetary raids. 700,000 Bolts. Wanted: "Golden-Fist" Marine the Raccoon, for the destruction of several naval battleships. 8,000,000 Earthican currency (respective country).

Sheila stopped walking and stepped back to view the poster. Her 16-year-old mother looked very spunky, wearing an eyepatch on her right eye, a captain's hat, and raising a sword with a thumbs-up. Sheila smiled with pride, giving a wink and thumbs-up back. "Arrrr! Good on ya, Mom!"

Mason entered a darker passage, but found a large, open room with a generator on the left. (End song.)

As Mason slowly walked in, a beautiful tune fell in his ears. A calm, peaceful tune that eased the wild aura of this battle-crazy station. In the center of the room was a cloaked, tan-skinned mustachioed man, turned halfway from Mason as he stared at an open music box, his eyes hidden under his hat. "Uhhh… do you work here?" Mason asked confused.

"For so long… I longed nothing more than one thing. That one thing… sums up the lives of all bounty hunters. Never would I expect… to find a treasure… more valuable. Never… have I felt the happiness." Mason kept his confused look as the man spoke quietly. "But alas… that one treasure, that gave me light… grew up in darkness. It looks so innocent… but the darkness swallowed her. It was… inevitable."

"…" Mason cocked a brow.

"Kids do not know the true evil that swallows the world. When I see you and your friends doing such reckless things… I wonder, if you even know a thing." He faced Mason.

"W-What?"

"Hear this: I am Daddy the Parent. Member of Star Wolf. The others have asked me to guard this station. I will take pleasure… of ending your quest here. As soon as this music box stops… we draw."

Mason glared at him from across the room, and Daddy glared back. Both fighters looked more than eager to clash. They stood still… awaiting the signal. The lovely tune played for 7 more seconds… until it stopped. "Errrr-YAH!" The hunter whipped out two pistols and aimed. (Play "Monkey Blue Face-off" from Ape Escape 3!)

Boss fight: Daddy Masterson

Mason frantically dodged the guns and began running around the room when Daddy began firing. He quickly skidded to a halt when Daddy fired in front, then the Dimalanta boy quickly ducked behind a nearby metal crate. "Huff, huff! Talk about being on the war path! Does this guy ever quit?"

"You know you can't hide from me." Mason looked up as two homing bullets hovered overhead and locked in on him. He jumped out quickly before they shot down, and Daddy began firing at him some more. "BUUURP." Mason burped a cloud of gas, but Daddy easily brushed it away with his cape. "You'll need faster attacks than that to take out a sniper!"

Mason swiftly dodged a few more bullets before ducking behind the crate again. "Well, I'm not a Mobian like Sheila. I can't MOVE that fast! Hmm, but I should be halfway decent with long-range. 'kay, Purple Flurp, do your thing!" He whipped out a can of the soda and drank away. With that, he backed against the wall, still behind the crate, and "BUUURP" sent a Gas Bomb through the air, hoping it would strike Daddy. The hunter dodged side, but Mason burped more Gas Bombs in different directions in that facinity, but the hunter still dodged the shots. Mason ran out, seeing the area smoky, and quickly hurried to the hunter's silhouette to jump and kick against his face.

"Uah!" The gas cleared as Daddy rubbed his chin, still desperately trying to shoot Mason with his guns. The Dimalanta boy dodged around and got behind, lashing a Poison Whip and yanking Daddy by the legs, making him fall forward and drop his guns. Mason quickly kicked them away, but Daddy jumped to his feet before pulling out a machinegun. Mason screamed and ran even faster as Daddy started rapidly firing, not stopping for a second. He back-flipped over the line of bullets and threw a poison blast at Daddy's face, which he dodged, and in his briefness of ceasefire, Mason dashed behind another crate.

Mason pulled out another Flurp and guzzled it down, sending more Gas Bombs at the mustachioed hunter, but Daddy blasted the bombs midflight and exploded them before they reached. Mason kept burping, but he ran low on gas, so he jumped through the smoke resulted by the bombs, hoping to avoid the machinegun. He made it to Daddy's side, taking him by surprise as he whipped around, but Mason grabbed the gun as the two aimed it upward. Mason kicked Daddy's shin and hauled the rifle from him, tossing it aside.

Daddy whipped out a new gun and shot spinning tops with strings attached. They wrapped around Mason before spinning him rapidly, making him dizzy as Daddy ran and kicked him away. He sent more tops, but Mason dove between the strings and sent gas at the hunter, which he dodged and shot more tops. Mason ran behind the hunter and tricked the tops into wrapping around him, allowing the poisonbender to jump and deal two spin-kicks. Daddy fell and flipped back up, unwrapping the ropes and tossing the top-gun away before extracting a missile launcher. He locked onto Mason and fired mini missiles that didn't stray from their target.

Mason ran all around, but the missiles stayed on him tight, so he frantically ran behind a metal crate to make them crash. Daddy sent more missiles that eventually destroyed the crate, forcing Mason to run around some more and get behind another one. As the missiles destroyed that crate, he took notice of the generator just a few feet away. As soon as this crate was destroyed, Mason dashed and ducked behind the generator, tricking Daddy's missiles into attacking and destroying.

"Generator E destroyed. Barrier disabled. Nice going, Genius."

"Grrrr!" Daddy growled, glaring at the smoke from the generator's remains. Mason guzzled down two Purple Flurps at once and flipped out, his back facing Daddy as he unleashed a forceful fart, sending a beam of gas at the hunter that pushed him all the way against the wall. The hunter still got back on his feet, ditching the missile weapon and jumping to a higher floor around the room's walls.

He pulled out a classic sniper rifle and began shooting Mason from afar, but the Dimalanta still evaded and ducked behind another crate. Daddy was beginning to destroy that crate as Mason caught his breath. "Hokay, he's a bit out of reach right now… I could try this new move I've been working on, but it's a one-shot. …Oh well, when haven't those sold well lately?"

Daddy destroyed the crate, creating a cloud of dust that Mason inhaled. He stepped out and, "Aa…aa…AACHOO!" he fired a whipping fast snot bullet that struck Daddy in the stomach. "Guah!" The hunter tumbled forward and fell back onto the field, looking up as Mason dashed over and kicked him forcefully in the stomach. He dropped his gun and coughed before falling over, and Mason saw a small locket fall from his coat. (End song.)

The Dimalanta walked over and picked up the locket gently, hearing the same peaceful tune from earlier. Inside the locket was a picture of a beautiful, and very familiar blonde-haired girl. "Hey… is this-"

"Uuuuug." Daddy moaned as he helped himself up. "That is no toy, Child! That is my one and only daughter, Carol! The last memory I have of her…"

He whipped around, "YOU'RE Carol's FATHER??"

"You know my daughter?!"

Hangar area

Haylee Gilligan quietly crept through a hall before peeking into a hangar. There sat a big, yellow ship whose legs were held down by metal binds. "Hmmm… this ship looks perfect! It doesn't look like anyone's on it… I better unhook it fast."

She walked over and started using her wrench to try and unscrew the bolts of the metal binds. "Grrrrr!" She struggled to unscrew the first one, unable to budge it at all.

"What do you think you're doing?" She gasped with fright and looked to her right. Space Dandy leaned against his ship, smirking wittingly with pearly-white teeth.

With Mason and Daddy

After a few minutes, Mason finished explaining his acquaintanceship with Daddy's daughter. "Hm hm hm…" The man found it a little silly. "That is… an interesting tale."

"Eeeeee." Mason grinned and blushed goofily.

"You will have to excuse my daughter. She is… sort of a troubled person."

"I got that. But part of the reason was because you left them… wasn't it?"

"It was not Carol that tempted me to leave. But I, could not bear to live with that ghost of a woman who is her mother. You see… Carol's mother was born under a long line of rich nobles. In the olden days, the nobles were the most powerful people in wealth, and their exercises are still practiced today. They believed themselves superior to every lower being, especially the little people, meaning Lilliputians or Minish. I believe the Corporate Presidents are also descended from these nobles.

"But these facts didn't matter to me at the time. Not at all. My only passions in life were guns and money, and the best way to put 2 and 2 together was become a bounty hunter. I was one of the best bounty hunters out there, hunting small-time criminals, and a few big-time. The wealth I acquired as a result was incredible. But I longed for so much more. A loved one, if you will. So I came to Earth, to find a lady. I met a fairly wealthy girl, ironically, whose name was Mommy. We… were given weird names at birth. Heheh. She wasn't the prettiest sight to look at, but, the only thing I looked at was her vast amounts of wealth. And as certain minds think alike, she was impressed in the wealth I acquired as a bounty hunter. So… we got married. And several months later, our daughter was born.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful. She was… like an angel, to me. We played together all the time when she was growing up… and using the money I got from bounties, I bought her all the fancy jewels and clothing. But in time… she took after her mother's lifestyle, as a noble. In which there's barely anything 'noble' about her. She tried to solve all of her problems with money. She started being rude to kids who didn't wanna play with her, and she began her hunt for a Minish to claim as her 'pet.' But that only would've resulted in captivity, as you confirmed. I talked to her mother about her 'dilemma,' but she only passed it off as a natural thing, and rich people deserve to feel this way. I know that I used to feel the same way about money… but seeing my daughter act that way, changed a part of me. So I left them, and returned to Galaxia, continuing my job as a bounty hunter, though I hardly had an interest in the bounty. I regretted leaving Carol behind… but I assumed it was already too late. But it seems… you and her made friends in the end."

"Heheheh. Yeah, we got there eventually. She's still pretty hooked on money… but she has been pretty nice."

"Even so… I must thank you for befriending her. Perhaps she may change her ways if she experiences true friendship."

"I wish she had operative training, then we could hang out all the time! …Oh, but speaking of which, we kinda have a job to do still. Does this place… have any drinks that aren't poisonous?"

"I thought you were poison?"

"There's a limit!"

"Hm hm hm! That fridge over there has a few sodas." He pointed across the room. "We keep 'em for, uh… the juniors."

Mason walked over and proceeded to take an armful of sodas. "And remember, Child." He looked at Daddy, the hunter giving a serious glare. "I still have my honor as a bounty hunter. If we are ordered to shoot you down… I may not hesitate."

"Hm hm!" Mason only passed him a smile before hurrying out with the sodas. Daddy pulled out the music box and stared at the picture of his daughter. It filled his heart to know… she had a friend.

Aloha Oe's hangar

"Those're reinforced titanium screws, you know." Dandy told Haylee. "Your little wrench ain't gonna cut it."

"Stay back!" Haylee yelled, aiming her wrench. "Or I'll…I'll screw you up real bad!"

"Ease up, Little Lady." Dandy smiled coolly, whipping out his own screwdriver. "I'll give ya a hand. Wouldn't be dandy to leave ya hangin'." And so, he began unscrewing the binds.

"Um… thanks?"

"But let's get something straight here, I don't like kids, never did. A bunch of whiny pests if you ask me."

"You teen guys have a few unpleasant qualities too, if you ask me." Haylee glared. "But why're you helping us?"

"I've been hanging around these parts for a while now. News travels fast. 'Army of snot-nosed kids saves entire universe from an army of plant monsters', 'evil adult alien foiled by a swarm of more of these little brats.' Just hearing about all the things these kids get into… it makes me astonished. Knowing these young generations doing all these reckless things. I feel the strange need to lend a hand. But I just have to know one thing: why do you kids do what you do? Wouldn't it be much easier to just, sit at home, play your videogames, and leave all of this crap to the grown-ups?"

"It's the fact we can't trust grown-ups to do jack that we risk getting blown up in space. It's become our duty to save, not just other kids, but whole worlds. It's a lot to burden, but to have a universe where kids can play in peace, it's worth it. …Say, now that I think about it, how did we get blown up in space and survive without a scratch?"

"It's a really weird story. See, a couple years ago, after getting back to my ship, I found a box that contained a weird fruit. I was hungry at the time… so naturally, I ate it. Then before I knew it, I was able to escape any situation in one piece, and I was able to let other people escape from things, too. Why, even if the Apocalypse were to happen right now, you can bet I could avoid it with nary a scratch."

"Hmmm…" Haylee had an idea what it was he ate. But how it got to him… hmmm. "So, whaddo you do, anyway?"

"I'm a bounty hunter, of course." He responded, continuing to unhook the Aloha. "But not like most of these guys. I happen to be a hunter of rare and unique aliens. In the galaxy I came from, there's a registration center that collects data of alien species, always looking to scan and analyze new creatures. You bring new species to the center, and the rarer the type, the more Woolongs you get. Then the aliens are released back into the wild, I think. I moved to this galaxy in the hopes of finding some rare types. But funds were a little low, so I teamed up with these sleaseballs. But between you and me," he bent down to Haylee and whispered, "my eyes are on that nifty Vendra lady and her brother. They're the only ones of their kind, so they have to be worth a lot. I'm laying low, awaiting the perfect opportunity to nab them."

After a few more moments, the Aloha Oe was unhooked. "Well, it's done. Ready to ship off when you're ready. Oh, I got this for you, too." He tossed her a small, black-and-white pyramid.

"Hey… this is one of those Zathurian Artifacts!"

"Your friend's been looking for those, right? I happened to find that after blowing up a planet back in my home galaxy. I tried to crack it myself, but even a chainsaw couldn't put a dent in that. Tell her it's for good luck. Oh, but uh…" he bent down to Haylee with a sneaky glare, "I wanted a little favor from you, too."

"What?"

"There's another reason I came to this galaxy: I'm currently searching for an extremely rare alien called the Chameleonian, which can shape-shift into almost anyone. I heard it was last spotted in these parts… but if you help me find it, I'll give you a share of the profit."

"What's the profit?"

"Heh heh, I'm not gonna tell you. Just spot it for me, will ya?"

Side Mission unlocked: Locate the Chameleonian and bring it to Space Dandy.

Haylee turned to stare up at the shiny, yellow ship. "Oh, Kid?" Dandy tossed her the keys to the ship, and she fumbled to catch them. "Take care of the Aloha Oe for me. She is… she is my baby. I caught my first bounty with her, and we survived blowing up a whole planet. So you better not get 'er scratched by asteroids, Miss Junior Pilot." He began to walk away, waving her off. "Stay in school, Kid!"

"…" Haylee smiled and stared in his direction a few seconds before the others hurried over. "Yo Hayl, we got the- What're you staring at?" Artie asked.

"OH! Uh… just thinkin'."

"Waaaait I've seen that look before." Artie glared. "Haylee's in LOOOOVE."

She blushed madly, "I AM not!!"

"Awwww! Who you kissy-kissy face wiiiith- Ow!" Harry smacked him.

"Man, you kissy-face over Hancock. Now we ready to go or not?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." Hayl nodded. "We're ready. Oh, and I got this!" She presented the artifact.

"Hey, it's one of those things Nebula mentioned!" Aurora recognized. "Where'd you get it?"

"I'll explain later. Offscreen explanations save budget. Now come on, before any more thugs show up!"

They boarded the Aloha Oe and were soon taking off for deep space. From one of the station's windows, Dandy's two crewmates, Meow and QT, watched their ship leave. "Dandy lent his spaceship to 11 ten-year-old kids?" Meow asked.

"Sure looks that way, yep…"

"I knew I was gonna regret signing up for him…"

Great Clock

MaKayla and George peacefully slept in their beds… until MaKayla's eyes glowed blue again, and she was off on another time-traveling adventure. She hurried to the Planet Room and located Earth's holographic image, channeling the energy before vanishing in a Time Portal.

Punk Hazard; two years ago

"Mmm, make me a Devil Fruit, she says, get on with it bastard, she yells… Well, are you HAPPY now, Mom?" Caesar grinned maniacally as he extracted a white bacuri fruit, decorated with little black lines. "The Escape-Escape Fruit will help you evade ALL the tax-collectors you desire! So shove THAT up your ass…"

MaKayla peeked in the room as Caesar went to put the fruit in a metal box. "Those Drophyd things should be here any minute to collect it. Siiigh… I wonder if Doffy wants to meet up for booze later?"

A Drophyd Transport Ship soon landed as troopers went in to take the crate. MaKayla snuck onto the ship and hid behind other cargo before they returned. The ship was soon taking off for space, but before it could reach Galaxia, MaKayla took the box with her through a Time Portal.

Planet Huron; two years ago

MaKayla appeared in a desolate valley under a blue nighttime sky with a sea of stars. Before her lay a vast canyon where a building sat all the way across, and parked near that building was the Aloha Oe. The night sky and breezy atmosphere making her sleepy, MaKayla began another journey across a rugged landscape in bare feet. (Play "Outpost X11" from Ratchet & Clank.)

Stage 15: Huron Outpost

Mission: Cross the valley and bring Dandy the Devil Fruit.

MaKayla started down a slope into the canyon, but having to carry the box containing the Devil Fruit was a struggle. The trail was zigzaggy, but stayed along the right trench wall as it made a corner turn, leading her to a group of froglike aliens in purple army suits, called Incursions. The aliens blasted her with laser rifles, but MaKayla dropped the crate and flipped to them, knocking the weapons away with her staff. She then kicked a few Incursions upside the head, and when they all charged, she stuck her staff on the ground and twirled herself around it to kick them all away.

She entered a dark, nearly black cave, awaking a green, bright firefly on the way in as it began fluttering around her, allowing her to see a little. Some Swoopers flew at her, but she swatted them away with the box before reaching a small pond with platforms. She had to toss the box onto the individual platforms before jumping to them. Some of the platforms had piranhas jumping over, but she slowed them with Time Bombs to get across easy.

She reached a short, dark chasm that several fireflies were alighting over, revealing the zigzaggy balance beams, some of which were disconnected from the path and led to platforms with switches. There was a switch beside her that connected the first trail, so MaKayla used Recordance and stood on that switch. When she restarted, the clone stood on the switch, allowing her to carefully haul the box across the beam. It's times like these she was thankful for her small feet, otherwise she could never balance as great as she does.

She had to stop on all the switches and restart Time Recordance so her clones would balance their way to them, allowing her to eventually make it all the way. However, there was still one more switch, and while she could set her box on it, she still needed to get across. She restarted the Time Recordance, but erased all the clones, thinking of a plan: she restarted the whole sequence, but this time left the box on every first switch, then went to press the second switch. She kept this up and was able to get across, with her clones and box's clones holding the switches.

She got to another chasm, where the platforms led down, then led back up to the other side, so it was just a matter of tossing the box down, then jumping after it. On the other side's ledge was a waterfall pouring from a small, shallow stream, and it felt nice to cool her feet down as she jumped on. But on the dry path that continued, a Tetramite hive sat in the middle of the area, and MaKayla knew those creatures could feast on her fast, even with Time Bombs. There was another beam that hung a few feet from the ground, and it led around the hive and across the room.

MaKayla tossed the crate below the beam, then hurried to jump and grab the beam before the Tetramites could grab her. They swarmed ravenously underneath her, desperately awaiting her to drop down. MaKayla held tight to the beam and grabbed the crate's handles with her toes, climbing across the beam and pulling the box with her as well. She reached another stream and could safely drop down since the Tetramites didn't like water. She carried the box normally again across a narrow, zigzaggy path over a pit of darkness, then finally reached the cave's exit.

She followed a wide path down between trench walls and reached a cliff where more Incursions waited. Some flew on jetpacks while they blasted at her, but MaKayla dodged and hit their shots back with her staff. She ran to whack and beat the other ones until they were all knocked out, then turned to a zipline that led across to the next ledge. She grabbed the hook and held the box with her toes again as she zipped across, dropping off and carrying the box up this next path.

She reached a vast, open field filled with Incursions, who all took notice of the girl and began shooting. MaKayla held the box with her right hand and scepter in her left as she began to dash through, swinging both items and blocking and deflecting the shots (respectively). A line of Incursions blocked her way, but she used her staff to pole-vault above them and kick a Time Bomb down. Others charged at her with swords, but she swiftly dodged them all and ran into the thin gap in the wall on the other side. The road split in two, and she dashed down a left path as the Incursion swarm followed. The froggy aliens chased her into the distant desert.

However, the REAL MaKayla smiled as the Incursions chased away her clone. With that, she followed the right path and climbed a high ladder, still holding the box in her right hand and the scepter in her teeth as she used her left hand to climb it. Once at the top, she had a lovely view of Space Dandy's prized ship, the Aloha Oe. She stepped inside to make the delivery. (End song.)

Inside the Aloha Oe

"WOOOO!" Space Dandy cheered as he returned to his ship, raising a bottle of beer. "Boy, you Incursions sure know how to party! Hey, good luck with your next invasion!… Hm?" He found a peculiar metal box seated on his pad. He opened the box and found a strange, white fruit inside. He picked the fruit up and tried to make out what it was. "Hmmm… Well, I am a little hungry. Ah well." He took a bite out of the fruit, baring a curious look as he munched. "Yuck! That's the worst thing I ever tasted! Well, it's probably healthy, 'n that case." And he continued to finish the whole thing.

Unnamed doomed planet; one year later

Dandy was cowered behind a rock as a swarm of giant, ravenous alien monsters sniffed him out. "QT, just push the button on that doll and we can blow all these things to smithereens!" Dandy yelled into his communicator.

"Well… okay." He pressed it.

"Great! That thing's meant to blow up this planet and everything on it!"

"That's good, but, how do we get outta here?"

"…Oh." Dandy frowned. "No wonder I never used it. But at least I die with a full head of hair."

And the starry skies looked ever so bright when the entire planet vanished in a great explosion.

And thus, Space Dandy's great adventures have come to an end. His legends will echo across the stars… but not really. He's not DEAD anyway, you already saw the future…