Operation: NECSUS, Part 17: Zordoom Prison

Chapter 17: Zordoom Prison

Aloha Oe

"Heck-deh-doy-y!" coughed Pollyx through the walkie-talkie. "You're going to break into Zordoom?! Have you lost your mind??"

"Big deal, I break outta prisons all the time. It's like, my 4th hobby." Bender stated.

"I thought graffiti was your 4th hobby?" Vweeb asked.

"It mighta been 9th. I get 'em mixed up sometimes."

"That still doesn't put me in a mood of- GAAAH!" Pollyx was pushed away.

"Numbuh Eternal, as your second-in-command, I strongly advise against doing this!" Jerome told her.

"For the last time, Jerome, when we're not on duty and there's no GKND, we're just brother and sister." Nebula replied.

"Well as your BROTHER, I strongly advise against this!!"

"Jerome, if there's one thing about siblings, it's that they usually don't care what the other says." Aurora told him.

"Jerome, I'm going to save Mom and the others and you can't stop me." Nebula stated. "…Uh, that is to say OUR mom. And if you wanna take this formally, then I order you as your Supreme Leader to not stop me."

"That's not fair!"

"And if you try to stop me, I'll shrink you with spacebending and make you wash the inside of my shoes." She smirked.

"Siiiigh, you're unreasonable. But how do you know Neftin and Vendra won't still be there? Those two are much too strong for either of you to take."

"No doubt they're planning to lure us in for a trap of some kind." Nebula knew. "But they could've captured us right then if they wanted. We'll just have to be ready for whatever they're planning."

"Very well, Sis. But I'm not paying your bail if you get captured!"

Zordoom Prison

"OIIII!" Sheila screamed as she furiously tugged on the bars of her tiny cell door window, pressing her feet against the door as she did so. "LET US OUTTA HERE OR I'LL PUNCH YOUR ROTTEN TEETH OOOOOUT!"

"Sheila, your screaming will blow our ears up long before it convinces them to let us out." Chris told her, sat back against a corner.

"Especially when we don't have Dillon's shadowbending to bail us out." Mason said as he walked around the cell.

"Hrrrr. Sounds like they're enjoying it in there." Neftin grinned evilly.

"Like moderately evolved apes in a highly evolved cell." Vendra smirked.

"But why didn't we attack Nebula when we had the chance? We could've taken those kids."

"The reason is simple: you recall what happened on Legola. IRIS said that Lord Business could repair the Dimensionator, and you know he'll be too stubborn to listen to us. But if Nebula is after the Dimensionator, and Business is indebted to her, he'll definitely build it for her. When that time comes, we swoop in and TAKE it."

"But that still doesn't explain why we're luring them HERE."

"So Nebula can rescue her mother, of course." Vendra said with a wicked smirk. "Because the two of them have something in common with us. I'd do it myself, but just so Tachyon doesn't get suspicious. We may need his help a little longer. Either way, I'll leave the choice up to Nebula. If by any chance she refuses, we'll have her dealt with then and there…"

Approaching Planet Viceron; home of Zordoom Prison

The Aloha Oe was approaching a light-red, dark-blue planet on the bottom of Galaxia's solar system. "Is this whole planet a prison?" Aurora asked.

"No, it was originally a barren planet, except for some wildlife." Nebula replied. In the background, Vanellope was still wobbling back and forth dizzily. "10,000 years ago, the galactic government bought a piece of land and built a prison to hold all their criminals. They also have other locations for witness protection, but it's mostly-" They heard a thud and whipped around, finding Vanellope on the floor as her body began glitching.

They approached her worriedly as her eyes hung open while she lay, her body making no movements while she sparked. "Well, someone's bored." Bender remarked.

"Vanellope! What's wrong?!" Dillon yelled, the most worried as he knelt down by her.

"She must be having a technical malfunction." Aurora assumed. "She has been jumping between computer systems a lot lately, not to mention the normal world."

"You said you found her as a broken Program in an old computer system, right?" Nebula asked.

"Yeah, Dillon found her in a lost part of the KND computer network." Aurora confirmed. "Then we downloaded her in our treehouse's hologram machine as a solid hologram. She could barely survive anywhere else besides her intended network, so all this jumping around must be really unhealthy for her. Game-and-Watch had an easier time, though, probably because he didn't have her glitch."

Nebula felt sympathy for Dillon as he stared over his friend's dysfunctional body. She heard how Dillon's family took Vanellope in as their adopted daughter, so Dillon was close to her like a real sister. So seeing her so sick must've hurt him the worst. "U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-" Vanellope stuttered rapidly before she began moving again, still on the floor. "So are we almost there?" she asked with an excited smile. She looked baffled when she found herself on her front. "Um, are we taking a nap?"

"Heheheh." The team laughed humorously, though nervously.

The Aloha passed the atmosphere and approached a huge, orange, armored building aiming several spotlights in the sky. Alarms started screeching across the base, blasting rapid machineguns at the ship. "'Guess Neftin and Vendra alerted them." Haylee said. "Prepare for landing, we're gonna charge straight in!"

Nebula reloaded her weapons and declared, "Kids Next Door, CHAAAARGE!" (Play the "Jailbreak" theme from Ratchet: Tools of Destruction.)

Stage 21: Zordoom Prison

Mission: Save Dimentia and the captured operatives and escape from the prison!

The team ran across the field to the front gate as machineguns shot at them from parallel rows of pillars, but Vanellope zipped around the turrets on the left and made them blast each other, as usual. Bender bent the pillars on the right and made some turrets upside-down, tricking them to shooting ones ahead of them. When all was done, the robot hurried to the barred gates and took a tremendous step over them, using his extendable legs, then bent the bars open for his allies before running ahead.

A troupe of Drophyd soldiers marched forward blasting guns as Kirie Beatles jumped high in the air and launched sharp flowers from her fans, slicing the Drophyds' weapons before Dillon flung over and kicked their helmets off. Team Nebula hurried up a slope where Killbots were rolling down, blasting their machineguns as Bender stretched up and pulled himself to the top of the slope. With that, he stretched his arms and legs to both sides of the path before rolling down and toppling all the Killbots, leaving them in a disorganized pile on the bottom.

"Ohhh… I think I broke my oil basin-"

"SOMEONE SAID 'YASIN'!" yelled a Killbot at the bottom before shooting and blowing up the whole pile.

There was a grind-rail across a chasm, so Bender and Vweeb held onto Nebula as she swung across a G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. target, but it was still too far to reach. Thankfully, Bender held the target himself and stretched his legs to the rail's end, letting Nebula grind across him and reach the rail before Bender hauled himself over. Bender actually grinded on the bottom of the rail, hanging by his legs as he went ahead of Nebula. The rail made a rightward turn down as they saw it was bent away from the following rail. When Bender grinded to that end, he quickly bent it back into place, and this repeated for following broken parts.

"Will prisoner 'Vorselon, Flint', report to the main office. You have a package from a 'Dr. A. Nefarious'. Flint Vorselon to the main office, you have a package from Dr. A. Nefarious."

The three took land on a small platform where Drophyds ambushed them, but Bender easily stretch-punched and pushed them over the edge. There were two Split Pads here, but the double grind-rails were far below in the chasm. "'Guess someone turned them off." Nebula observed. "Hope Sector V can find the switch."

Sector V was taking an alternate route, following a straight path with crates as Drophyd Enforcers stomped from ahead. They easily ran under the robos' long legs as Aurora set fire to them, then Haruka threw gas, making the armored bodies explode. They eventually arrived at a dead end overlooking a chasm, but a computer terminal happened to be placed there. Vanellope hacked in and entered the code 'Break-In', which caused the double rails to rise on Nebula's end.

Nebula noticed electric generators spread out around the rails, and how they eventually led to a huge glass wall blocking their way. "Looks like we have to activate all the generators to get through." Nebula deduced. "Time to split up." She stood on a Split Pad and divided in two, and both halves hopped on a rail to begin grinding down, both zapping Space Lightning whenever they saw a generator. Bender went with the right half while Vweeb rode on the left.

"Will prisoner 'Rattlesnake Jake' please report to Cellblock D, you have been relocated. Prisoner Rattlesnake Jake, report to Cellblock D."

The rails eventually met up as the two Nebulas connected, and she had to zap one last generator before the glass wall opened and they could jump to a ledge. Meanwhile, the wall opened beside Sector V's ledge as some Drophyds intended to bring in some crates, but weren't prepared when the team charged in throwing weapons or powers. Doors began to close ahead, but didn't shut all the way, leaving a tiny gap in the bottom that Dillon could Shadow Veil under. In the individual segments of the hall, Drophyds tried to shoot Dillon, but the shadow boy swiftly avoided and kept going. He knocked out the Drophyd at the end and pressed the switch to open all the doors, letting the rest of his team charge in and attack more troops.

With Nebula, her group landed on a route filled with searchlights, carefully skimming the area. "If those spot us, they'll release the Drophyd Turrets in those barriers." Nebula pointed. They noticed some Drophyds in mechanical flying pods inside green barriers.

"Yeah, I know the drill." Bender replied, having been here before. The searchlights skimmed the area slowly, so they were easy to navigate around. The Drophyds, however, saw the trio passing by and tried desperately to escape from their barriers, but they couldn't. The three reached a point where a long line of crates stretched across the left side, while a searchlight skimmed them back and forth from the right. The group simply crossed over the crates, but had to drop down every so often because a searchlight skimmed above the crates, too.

When they reached the end, Nebula launched them to a Grav-Path above, which had searchlights skimming thin, narrow paths, forcing the group to wait for them to pass. On the way, the Drophyds were extremely aggravated knowing they couldn't do anything to stop them. "Ugh, this was the DUMBEST mechanic ever!" one yelled. Team Nebula finally arrived at a high foothold with a hall that led into the building. Parts of the wall were opening as Killbots rolled out, and the hall rang with bullet fire as the trio clashed against them.

"Bail for prisoner 'Strange, Hugo' has been paid. You are free to go. Prisoner 'Huge Strange', your bail has been paid."

As Sector V fought their way through, they reached what seemed like a studio that was inside a cell. The label above read, Arlon & Phosphora in: The Uneven Chaps. Inside the cell, cameras recorded as Phosphora loudly blasted her hairdryer while Arlon quietly read a newspaper. "I say, Dearest, must you blast that contraption so abruptly?" Arlon asked.

"Hey, if I let my hair get all filthy, it'll fall out and I'll be bald like you."

"Oh, I remember a time when young men and women simply dried their hair with a towel, or perhaps the fresh air. The chap who invented these metallic banshees clearly did not understand the value of serenity."

Sector V gave disbelieved stares before hurrying ahead. Another swarm of Drophyds charged them from ahead, but Vanellope glitched around and kicked all their helmets, making them confused. In their confusion, Mr. Game-and-Watch stuck a bunch of 2-D plugs into their suits, all connected to his little bell. "RI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-N-N-N-N-N-G!" The Drophyds' eardrums were ready to pop, but this didn't happen in time before their suits exploded, leaving their heads flopping about. Dillon and Kirie were beginning to squish some heads (just 'cause it's fun) while Vanellope planted her foot on a random one.

"Now YOU better tell me where our friends are or you'll be SQUISHED marshmallow on my shoe." She threatened in the cutest way possible.

"Ahh! They took those kids to the bottom floor in Wing Z!"

"Any clown-faced women?"

"The Zathurian? She's on the same floor."

"Thank you very much- much- much- much- much- much- much- much-"

She kept repeating this as her body glitched, so Aurora decided to gently pull the Drophyd out from under her foot. "Uhhh… sorry about that." With that, she kicked the fish against the wall and knocked him out.

"Much- much- Hey, where'd he go?" Vanel asked once she stopped.

"Hey Nebula, your mom and our friends are on the bottom floor, Cellblock Z!" Aurora said into her communicator. "We'll split up and try to meet you down there."

"Okay. Let's save them as soon as possible." Nebula replied before hanging up. The trio saw some Drophyds come out of an elevator ahead. They knocked the squad out before jumping in, and decided to drop down the elevator shaft. Nebula had a light landing using her powers while Bender held the shaft's rope as he slipped down, his hands scorched once he landed. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!"

The three hurried down the hall and arrived at the 'Robot Execution Room.' It was a fairly wide room with parallel walkways going around the sides, and the path on the other side was barred. "'Guess this is yet another job for Bender!" the robot declared. "'Fact, now that I think about it, this room feels familiar- WHOOOOAA!" He was suddenly lifted near the ceiling, caught between two powerful magnets that were tugging him and slowly ripping him to pieces. "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H!" His body sizzled. "HEY G-U-U-U-U-Y-Y-Y-S! Help me o-o-o-o-o-u-u-u-u-t!"

The two switches to shut off the magnets were at the ends of the walkways, and a sign read For your fun and enjoyment, both switches need to be pressed at once. There were Split Pads placed, so Nebula got on the left one and divided in two, sending both onto opposite walkways. Only her left half carried the weapons to defend against Drophyds, so Vweeb had to defend the right one. Both halves reached the switches and pressed them at the same time, letting Bender drop to the ground. "OW!"

Bender bent the bars open so they could run forward, going down a long narrow flight of stairs. They reached the bathrooms and decided to enter the women's room first, since Nebula was the leader. There was nothing of particular interest, but when Bender opened the stalls, he found a Bender Marking among many other graffiti writings. They snapped the picture before leaving to the boys' room. "Hehehehehehehe!" In this room, they noticed an air duct on the wall and a tiny cracked path within the wall leading up. Nebula shrunk Bender down with Space Shrink, and using the room's dirty mirrors, she shrunk herself down.

The cracked path began above the urinals, which were close enough for the three to Wall Jump up. They followed the filthy path as bugs crawled out to attack them, but Neb and Vweeb kept them away with their weapons. They reached the vent and began to venture through, the light breeze of dusty air brushing past them. They walked over another duct and looked down into a cell, where a brown-haired boy in a straitjacket appeared to be talking to… no one clearly visible.

"Yes, Golly, I DID tell them I was talking to cartoons, that's why I'm in here! Crocco, I doubt hitting them with a mallet would do any good. Tux, I am NOT in the mood for jokes! I don't CARE what a can-opener is that can't work! A CAN'T-opener, HOW original!"

Team Nebula exited a duct over a wide, cylindrical, windy shaft. They landed on a small walkway at the top, where they found an old mirror that Nebula used to re-expand, then Bender. "Think THAT takes us down to the bottom?" Bender asked.

"I don't see a way down." Vweeb said.

"Well, you know the only way to the bottom, right?" Nebula asked. "DROP!!"

"WAAAAAAAH!" Vweeb cried as they began to skydive down the empty shaft. Well, it wasn't totally empty as mines floated around, so they had to navigate around. Drophyds hovered on jetpacks and tried to shoot them, but Bender stretched, grabbed them, and flipped stylishly before tossing them into mines and blowing away other Drophyds. Nebula spotted a floating capsule containing a Boulder Wisp in the center of a tunnel of mines, so Nebula carefully fell through and grabbed it.

They took land on the bottom as Nebula cried, "BOULDER!" and shot into the following maze of halls, bowling over all the Killbots and leaving a trail of their rubble wherever she went. If she didn't grab that Wisp, they'd end up having to fight them all their self, so it was a good thing she did. The Color Power wore off by the time she blew down a good chunk of Killbots, her friends catching up as they read the label above, Prison Wing Z. "We made it! Let's save our friends and get out of here!" She ran ahead.

"Let's never sky-jump again." Vweeb replied groggily.

"Just keep it over the shoulder." Bender told him.

With Dillon and Vanellope

The adoptive siblings were charging to a squad of Killbots in another hall, but they had no time to shoot before Vanellope zipped over and glitched into their bodies, making them malfunction and shoot each other ('course, all they really need is a gun-related phrase). The Killbots were followed by a swarm of Drophyds, taking aim with rifles. "Nyaaah, these fishsticks just won't stay cooked." The candy girl smirked. "'Guess it's time to serve them my hottest dish!" And she began zipping around and around as a beam of pixels, the Drophyds trying to follow along. "May your eyes never see straight again! After getting a taste of my Pixel Feet of a Million Lickety-Split KICK-!; ick-ick-ick-ick-ick-ick-ick-!" She froze completely in midair, her foot aimed at the first intended Drophyd as her body sparked.

The Drophyds exchanged confused glances and all took aim at her. "NO!" Dillon ran to attack them, but one successfully shot Vanellope and knocked her out of the air. Fueled with rage, Dillon extended his shadow's right fist to super-size and began to smash all their armor to pieces. Not totally satisfied, Dillon jumped around and squished their floppy bodies. With that, he ran to his injured sister as she lay weakened on the ground. "Vanellope!"

Her body glitched a little as she weakly sat up. "Ohhh… that guy musta been… a really good shot to hit me that fast."

Dillon lifted her in his arms. "It's okay, we're heading back." He spoke into his communicator, "This is Dillon, Vanellope's been injured so I'm taking her back to the ship. Tell Mason I'm sorry I couldn't help bail him out." He began to run back, carrying Vanellope the whole way.

With Team Nebula

The team of three finally arrived at Prison Wing Z near the building's bottom, where they saw a light shining from one of the cell door's windows. "That must be them!" Nebula assumed.

"Well, well… so you came here after all." (End song.) The team looked up as Vendra floated down, while Neftin dropped down with a thud. "I expected you to. You little kiddies just can't survive without each other."

"Get out of our way! We're freeing my mom and our friends!" Nebula told her.

"Oh, rest assured… I have every intention of letting you try to rescue them." Vendra wore her usual smirk and glare. "There's just… one thing I can't help but feel curious about: why are you trying to find the Dimensionator, anyway?"

"So that Tachyon can't get his hands on it, and we can use it against him!"

"Hmph. If you don't want Tachyon to find it, you shouldn't look for it at all. You have another reason for wanting to find it…"

"…" Nebula was silent, baring an anxious look.

"What is she talking about?" Vweeb asked.

"Ahhh… so it's true." Vendra observed.

"Siiigh." Nebula sighed and looked down. "Well, the truth is… I did wanna find the Dimensionator to stop Tachyon… but… part of me… wanted to use it to find Zathura, too. Remember the Transportifier I used to send Cheren to Termina? The main reason I built that was to try and find Zathura. As leader of the Galactic Kids Next Door, I talk to so many kids from different cultures, and I never knew my own culture. My mom barely cared about her culture as a kid, so I couldn't learn from her. And not just Zathura, but other universes, too. There's just… so much out there I'd like to explore. And with the Dimensionator, I knew I could accomplish that."

"That's exactly what I want, too." Vendra said. "We have the same goal, Nebula. We both never knew our cultures, and we want to see them. That's why I stole your Space Chi: even with the Dimensional Fragments, the Dimensionator can only go so far. Ironic as it sounds. That's why, with our power added, it can extend its reaches, and find our homes. All four of us: you, me, Tachyon… and the King of Space."

"The King of Space?" asked Nebula with surprise. "The one who gave you your powers?"

"Yes, thank you for snooping through my stuff. I don't know who he is, but he was banished from his home the same as we were. And he wants to help me, so I want to help him. But I wouldn't mind lending you a hand, too. So whaddya say, Nebula? Screw what Tachyon says and let's find the Dimensionator together. We'll use its power to return to our homes and we can have everything we ever dreamed. Doesn't that sound marvelous?"

Nebula became serious again and shook her head. "No. As much as I want to find my people, I can't let you or Tachyon get away with any of this. No matter how you look at it, you're both criminals and need to be stopped. We're freeing Sector V and locking you in their cell."

"Huh." Vendra frowned. "So in the end, you have no care for your people at all. Just these little runts. Oh well… I'll be making sure they stay in their cell. And you can go in with them, after we knock you… Huh?" When she turned toward the cell, she took particular notice of the light dimming on and off in the door window. "Wait… there aren't any lights in these cells. What the…"

She approached the cell cautiously, hearing a whirring sound as she floated beside and peeked into the window. "GRRRRRR!!" Vendra gasped with shock when a powerful force BURST the door off its hinges, smashing Vendra against the opposite wall. Everyone looked toward the cell with mouths agape. Sheila Frantic stood in the doorway, panting and sweating heavily as her left fist steamed red. "Nnnnnn!" She shook her hand. "Blimey! Oi guess the bigger the Light Fist, the more it's gonna hurt in the morning! Ouch!"

"But that's impossible!" Vendra yelled. "That cell was reinforced Raritanium! There's no way you could've…"

"Wow, way to go, Sheila!" Mason cheered as they left the cell. "That was amazing!"

"What did she do?" Nebula asked.

"It was the greatest Light Punch ever!" Mason exclaimed. "You should've seen it!"

"Oi'd like to show you again, but me knuckles're a little red from the pounding." Sheila said, still holding her fist.

"She used a lot of energy." Mason said. "She needs a rest. Let's get back to the Aloha quickly."

"We have to save my mom, first." Nebula told them. "Try and locate the others and meet us back there."

"Be careful." Chris nodded as they ran off, with Mason having to help Sheila along.

"Grrrr. I don't have time for this. Go squash those kids, Nef, I have somewhere ta be." And with that, Vendra warped away. Neftin looked in the direction of Sector V, but turned and glared at where Team Nebula ran. He focused his sights on them.

Team Nebula made it to the lowest point of the prison, where a single Drophyd was guarding Dimentia's cell. "Stop right there! I am under strict orders to protect this cell at all costs!"

Bender narrowed his eyes and pulled a plate of steaming fishsticks from his compartment. In seconds, the Drophyd surrendered his keys and let them open the cell. "Thank you, Bud!" Bender said before punching and knocking him out. With that, the three friends enjoyed steaming fishsticks.

Dimentia sat in the back of the dark cell and looked up when the door creaked open, letting in the light. "Mom!"

"Nebula?" Dimentia looked surprised as her daughter ran in and embraced in a hug. "How did you get down here?"

"Anything's possible with Sector V." She smiled and shrugged. "Quick, let's get outta here!" She ran and tried to pull her along.

"Where're we going?"

"Well, first we're going to the Kreeli Comet. The IRIS Supercomputer says she has something from your parents!"

"My parents?!" Dimentia pulled away, suddenly filled with anger. "I have no interest in them!"

"What? But you haven't seen them in two million years! Wouldn't you want some kind of…"

"My brother and I were abandoned by our parents after we were born. Why, because we were the first and only spacebenders to exist on Zathura. Even among a planet of freaks, we were singled out, forced to live in a circus. And if they didn't do that… maybe I wouldn't've become a crazy dictator bent on destroying the universe."

"Maybe, but… if they decided to keep you, you might not've been around in the future to, well, eventually save the universe. You couldn't've met all the friends you came to know, and, then there's me and Jerome…"

"Siiigh. Fine, a lot of good things happened because they abandoned me… but I still had to go through 2 million years of suffering. They were still bad people for abandoning us and I don't want anything to do with them!"

"Boy, your mama's more of a bitch than she let on- OW!" Nebula smacked Bender with the S.H.O.O.T.E.R..

"Mom, maybe there's a reason your parents abandoned you. Like, so your powers wouldn't be abused. It wouldn't hurt to see the message because it might be an apology."

"I don't care. Besides…" Dimentia turned around and walked back to the cell. "The whole thing matters nothing to me now."

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since I began to redeem myself… it's been my goal to put my past behind me. I didn't want to remember anything. My parents, Zathura, the Cragmites… they all bring bad memories and I wanted to forget them. That's why… I hated Tachyon so much. It wasn't just because of his ideas, he was the only remnant remaining from my past. It's also why… I can't go with you now."

"Can't go with me?! After the trouble we went through of coming here?!"

"Well, there was Sector V." Vweeb reminded.

"Nebula…" Dimentia turned halfway to her daughter with a serious look in her right, black eye. "I had that tape prepared for a while. I wasn't even sure if Tachyon would be after me. But all along, I planned for you to look for the Dimensionator. Because I wanted nothing to do with Tachyon, I wanted to let myself get captured and rest in the safety of this cell. I wanted you to find the Dimensionator and send Tachyon away. Then when it was all done, I wanted the Dimensionator destroyed. I could finally erase all remnants of my past… and only move toward the future."

"Is that why you never told me anything about your planet? Is that why you didn't care?" Nebula asked, voice filled with hurt.

"Yes. It wouldn't do you any good to know about the place that brought me bad memories. It may be ancient history… but it's history best left forgotten."

"Mom, I don't CARE about your bad memories! I just wanted to know about my heritage, where we came from! And if we had the Dimensionator, we could go back there and see what it's become!"

"You were born on Star Haven and you live in Galaxia, that's your only heritage." Dimentia stated. "And all Zathura is now is a wasteland of lost hopes and dreams. It's a black hole that's developed an unholy consciousness, whose only goal is to eat everything in sight and leave nothing. That's why the gods sealed it. And thanks to me, it almost attained that goal, and that's why you should NEVER open it!"

"…" Nebula stared with anger. "Maybe Zathura is in ruin by now… and maybe it is destructive… I can understand that. But Mom… you can't just abandon your past. It shapes who you are, and why you do the things you do. And if I send Tachyon away with the Dimensionator… it's only so he can be with his people, too. So he can know where he came from. That message from your parents might be the closest thing you can get."

Dimentia sighed again and faced the cell. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going. I'd just be a burden, anyway. Vendra sucked my powers away, too. And they had no use for me since they couldn't acquire any artifacts. But… I will tell you this: they mentioned the location of one of the Dimensional Fragments. It's divided in two halves, and both halves were entrusted to two races who have been at war for a hundred years."

"What two races are those?" Vweeb asked.

"Hm hm hm…" Dimentia chuckled, suddenly feeling very humorous. "It's funny… that this whole story was brought up, now that I think about it. Because you are in the same situation, Vweeb!" She turned and focused her furrowed eyes on Vweeb, baring a devious smirk.

"W-What?" Vweeb was totally baffled.

"Have you ever wondered why your parents never took you to Glomour or Kateenia?"

Nebula looked at him with shock. So Vweeb was never taken to his planets of origin either? It already sounded like her own story. "Is that true?!"

"Y…Yeah." Vweeb was feeling very anxious now.

"Hm hm hm. It'll hurt you to know… your parents' relationship was originally built on a lie. The two opposing races, who own the Dimensional Fragment pieces… are the Glomourians and Kateenians!"

Their mouths popped wide open. Bender was a little confused though, having no idea what any of this meant.

"Your mother knew. But your father didn't. And for 20 years… she never said a word."

"Mmm HM HM hm hm! Half-GLOMOURIAN? Then someone forgot to update my software!" The words of the hysterical robot waitress suddenly made sense in Vweeb's mind.

"If you don't believe me, go and ask them." Dimentia told them. "Anyway… good luck to you, Nebula. Just as I've abandoned my past… the future of the Galactic Kids Next Door belongs to you now. You've already proven to be a better leader than I was… so only you can finish the quest." And so, she reentered the cell and shut the door.

"…" Nebula still stared questioningly at her mother. "Let's go." They began to run off.

They reached the cylindrical room and looked up the gaping shaft, seeing a Gravity Path that led straight up. "Let's get back to Sector V and go after that next fragment. I don't know if this war is true, but it's probably one we'll have to fix. Hopefully Vweeb's parents will- WHOA!" The three jumped back when Neftin Prog smashed down from above.

"You aren't going anywhere." said Neftin with a glare. "No matter what, I can't allow you to recover the Dimensionator. It's time I stopped you, once and for all, and save my sister from-" He shielded himself when a barrage of Starbursts suddenly fired at him from above.

"I'm afraid I'll have to deny your request for vengeance." Jerome said as he lowered to the floor before Neftin.

"Jerome!" exclaimed Nebula with surprise.

"I couldn't let you break in here without backup. Did you save our mother?"

"She…She's going through some drama. She can't come now."

"Hmm… well, it could've ended worse. Anyway, it's time for you to head out of here, Nebula. This man will be no challenge."

"We'll see who's REALLY no challenge, you WORM!" Neftin leapt high and tried to punch down on Jerome, but the boy swiftly dodged right and slammed a Starburst against Neftin's face, flinging him away.

"Whoa!" Nebula was surprised at her brother's strength.

"That's your cue to leave." Jerome told her professionally. "The universe cannot wait forever. Oh… and I should probably mention." He turned to her with a smile. "After I told Vweeb's parents that we dropped Makava off on Glomour, his mother did not look pleased."

"…" That confirmed it was true. "Okay. Be careful, Jerome." With that, Nebula levitated to the Grav-Path and began to hurry up with Bender and Vweeb.

"Ohhhh." Neftin got back up and shook his head, glaring at the Zathurian male.

"Your Spaceman Taijutsu is impressive, but it still takes a lot of time to bond with the element itself." Jerome told him, back to his usual serious frown. "I for one have mastered the quiet side of Space. While Space is open and accepting, like Nebula, it is also quiet and expressionless, like myself. My personality is one that helps me put big obnoxious brutes like you in your place."

"Hurrrrr. If that's how you want it, then FINE. I'll squeeze the life out of you first. No matter what… I will see to it that no harm comes to my sister."

"Then so it begins. Let our clash commence…"

And both opponents declared, "FOR MY SISTER!!" (Play Black Doom's Battle Theme from Shadow the Hedgehog.)

Boss fight: Neftin Prog

"URRRRAAAAAH!" Neftin launched forward again and slammed his fist down, but Jerome kept dodging as the big brute came. When Neftin was wearing out, Jerome threw a barrage of Starbursts at his face, but Neftin punched the air and made a black hole to suck in the beams, sending them back at Jerome, who dodged. The gorilla-Nether began to make zipping movements around Jerome as the Zathurian kept an eye on him, unprepared when Neftin split into several copies with his zipping, leaping up and successfully smashing Jerome to the ground.

"Uuuuuhh!" Jerome moaned as he weakly recovered, barely warping in time when Neftin tried another smash-down. He warped behind Neftin and threw more Starbursts, then dodged back when the Nether swung his arm behind. Neftin then whipped out double spiked ball-n-chains, electrified as he whirled and lashed them rapidly at Jerome. Jerome dodged the first few shots, but was slammed against the wall by another shot. Neftin leapt forward with another punch, but Jerome whipped a Starburst at his crotch to knock him back.

Jerome recovered and flew around as Neftin turned, and the two began to throw punches that seemed to equal in strength as they blocked the other's fist. Neftin did a horizontal punch that Jerome dodged back, then had to move around as Neftin lashed his ball-n-chains again. Jerome dodged left when a ball-n-chain came, but wasn't prepared when it shot out its spikes and stuck Jerome against the floor. He gasped when the other ball-n-chain was about to smash him, but Jerome quickly warped and kicked Neftin upside the face.

Neftin jumped away and sheathed his weapons before beginning to punch the empty air, his fists bursting through black holes that spawned all around Jerome, the boy dodging quickly before the fists began to punch and knock him around. When the fists stopped, Jerome couldn't dodge when Neftin zipped over, grabbed him, and chucked him forcefully against the wall. Neftin then twirled around and thrusted his hands toward the wall, causing a force of gravity to bind Jerome against the wall. As the Zathurian struggled, Neftin ripped off pieces of the floor and threw them against Jerome, the gravity causing them to stick.

Jerome eventually regained composure and formed a Gravity Bubble to unstick and make the debris float. He aimed a hand at Neftin and channeled the gravity strongly to make the debris fly and stick on him. "GRAH!" Neftin blew the debris off and leapt at Jerome again, trying to punch him as the boy dodged. Neftin decided to punch the air next to him, channeling gravity in that spot to pull Jerome in, then allowing Neftin to punch him away. As Jerome recovered on the ground, Neftin punched the ground and caused parts of it to explode, making Jerome jump around. Neftin slammed the ground with both hands and surrounded Jerome with explosions, but the boy already warped behind, caught Neftin in a Space Block, and exploded it.

Neftin survived the blast, but was covered in soot as his right mechanical monocle was sparking. The gorilla-Nether threw rapid punches at the ground, and Jerome felt himself pelted by thrusts of gravity that forced him on his back. With him grounded, Neftin whipped out his ball-n-chains and swung them around before launching them above and connecting them, forming a bigger, deadlier ball-n-chain. Neftin leapt up high and used spiked shoes to stick to the wall, swinging his Super Prog Wrecker in both hands. ("Is THAT what it's called?" Jerome asked, unimpressed.)

Jerome weakly opened his eyes, still on the ground as he dreaded the impending doom under the wrecking ball. He managed to lift his arms, hold his hands in a framing position, and just before the Prog Wrecker launched, Jerome expanded a giant portal that caught the spikeball perfectly. Neftin looked confusedly, but gasped when another portal spawned before him, and the wrecking ball flew out and smashed him.

Jerome helped himself up and brushed off, not changing his professional look. He looked up as the wrecking ball dropped out, revealing Neftin's smashed, bruised body with broken teeth and armor. The Nether tumbled out and thudded on the ground, grunting painfully as he tried to stand. (End song.)

"Hehhh, hehhh, hehhh…" Neftin began to breathe heavily, barely standing as he glared at Jerome. "How… You're just as big as those other brats… and nowhere near muscular, hurrr… How are you so strong?"

"I must admit, I'm a little surprised myself. And all in my attempt to allow Nebula enough time to get out of here."

"But why?"

"It's my duty to protect her as her second-in-command… and her brother."

Right away, memories flashed through Neftin's head.

"Uuh, uwuh!" Vendra grunted as the bullies punched her away.

As Neftin skimmed books in the orphanage's bookshelf, he found a particular one about Element-Style Combat.

"I promise… I won't let anyone hurt you again, Sister."

"…Hmmm." After standing back up, Neftin got to his knees and held his arms out. "I surrender."

"…" Jerome was taken by surprise, still keeping his professional look. "Why all of a sudden?"

"Because, you and I have something in common, too. We both risk so much… for the sake of protecting our sister."

"Hm hm hm. Sisters are annoying, aren't they?" Jerome smiled.

"More than you know. But ever since she spoke with that 'King of Space,' I knew something was wrong. We don't know who he is… but I was always afraid he was another bully trying to take advantage of her. Before he appeared, Vendra was always the weaker one. Always so afraid. Then after she got her powers, she's become so mean and soulless. It could be a result of the bullying, I know… but the King of Space still played a part in it. And I know… something bad is going to happen if she uses that Dimensionator. Please… all I want you to do is… help me stop her!!!"

"…"

"In the process, you'll be helping Nebula, too. You can stop Tachyon's plan, and get Nebula her powers back."

"…Very well. I'll trust you for now. But in return, if we are successful… you and Vendra must turn yourselves in."

"…We will."