Skysin quickly ducked under one's punch and sent an uppercut right to the man's chin.
Crim blocked a member's kick, then sent his own, boot to the face, knocking the guy straight into the ceiling.
As the boys held their own against their foes, torrents of black water sprouted from the shadows, thrashing the rest of their enemies.
Skysin and Crim both paused, looking back.
'What was that…?' Skysin asked himself.
"Skysin!!" Nebula had yelled, stomping her way from the entrance towards Skysin, "you're nothing but a jerk!!"
"Oh…!" Skysin anxiously smiled, rubbing his hands together as he chuckled, "Nebula! Don't you look nice?"
Nebula scoffed, standing under Skysin, prodding her finger against his chest, "why'd you guys leave me back there, huh?"—Nebula stood straight, crossing her arms— "I thought we were working together, right?"
"Nebula, Nebula… We left you there because I couldn't bare the thought of you possibly getting hurt."
"Do you think I'm an idiot, Skysin?"
"Nope."
"GAH!" Nebula grabbed her own head, on the verge of pulling her hair out, "how do I know you for barely even a day, and you're already pushing my buttons?!"
Skysin grinned, patting Nebula's shoulder, "relax my green-eyed companion. We took out the threat already, so it worked out, didn't it?"
Nebula huffed, walking forward, "…I guess. But what you did was stupid Sin."
Skysin followed behind, "ohh we're on a nickname basis, huh?"
"It's just easier for me, dummy," Nebula squinted her eyes at the boy.
"Right…I'ma call ya Nebby."
"What?? Ew. No."
"C'mon I think it suits ya."
"Nuh uh."
"Alright then…Nebby."
"Sin, I swear, I will throw you into a sea filled with monsters."
As Skysin and Nebula bickered each other, Crim stood before his ship, the Zx7, merely gazing. He took a knee, sitting his hand on the fender of the Lucanaship, smiling, relieved, "it's good to see you again, Luci."
Skysin whistled, "…this your ride? Looks great."
"Thanks, been takin' care of her since I was a kid."
Nebula sat a hand on her hip, eyeing the other ships. "well, that's good it's fine. Along with the others too."
Just as Skysin was about to speak, the three all felt a certain presence within the lair. The massive amount of aura, murky, black and violet, traveled through the large room, encasing all the other defeated members of the gang.
"What's going on…?" Nebula asked.
Crim pressed a small square shaped vestige, glowing purple onto his ship, making it disappear into its own pocket dimension. He turned, eyeing everything, "whatever it is… it's not gonna be good."
All three stood next to each other, on guard, and they could hear heavy footsteps slowly growing closer to them. Fender exited from the shadows, his body bustling with power.
"That's the guy Crim socked…he wasn't that strong before though…" Skysin relayed.
"It has to be an Eco Pill, but this is different from the others," Nebula replied, unsheathing her cutlass.
"It's definitely stronger," Crim warily responded.
Without a word, Fender raised his hand, palm wide, fingers extended. A surge of power could be felt, shaking the entire cavern in a whole.
Skysin sighed, "…shit…"
A pillar of light had exploded, shooting from the cavern, straight to the outside, like a beacon in the night.
Meanwhile, Zeris stood with his soldiers, standing over Geiz, who was unconscious.
"S-Sir! Do you feel that??" One of the men spoke up.
"Yes… stay on guard." Zeris replied, yet his thoughts fell onto Nebula. Was she okay? Suddenly, Zeris and the soldiers attention was brought to the giant wall of light speeding towards them.
"What the –!!"
Zeris hastily made a ball of water, guarding him and his men as they were swallowed in a split second.
Outside in the air, Crim flew, his flames growling under his feet, keeping him afloat. Skysin was next to him, holding Nebula like a princess, using a platform of ice to hold himself above ground.
"He's got enough power to take out a whole mountain range…" Crim stated, looking down into the once large hill of sand. Now nothing but a humongous crater, that went out for miles.
"What pill did he take?" Skysin asked, "it definitely couldn't be an Eco Pill."
"Not sure…" Nebula replied, "there's a lot of illegal things that can increase someone's power, Eco Pill's are just more widely known, at least for the military. Whatever he took though, it's obviously a lot more potent."
All three finally returned to the ground, a few feet from the crater. Skysin huffed from his nose, "guess we don't have much of a choice but to fight now, huh?"
"Uhh…Sin?" Nebula had meekly asked, her cheeks a bit rosy.
"Huh? Something wrong?"
"You're…still holding me. Could you please sit me down…?"
"Ah, my bad Nebby," Skysin chuckled, sitting her down.
Nebula patted her pants down, "it-it's fine."
Fender slowly walked up from the steep hill of the massive hole, glaring at them all. Fender gnashed his teeth, his aura pulsating around his body once more, growling, "I'll make sure all of you PAY!!!"
Fender lunged, slamming his fist right towards them. All three scattered with haste, leaping away as Fender's fist crashed into the ground, making sand explode as if a landmine was set off.
Nebula landed back on solid ground and made water shroud her cutlass, slashing away, projecting multiple crescents of black liquid speed towards Fender. Yet the man opened his palm, blocking each attack with ease.
'I should've added more power,' Nebula thought to herself, preparing for her next attack.
But Fender lowered himself, and leapt, diving right to her.
Nebula's green eyes had broadened, 'I can't dodge it…'
Skysin suddenly appeared from above, slamming his feet onto Fender's back before he reached Nebula by a hair, sending him straight into the ground, and leapt back.
Crim came running in from the other side, and flipped over the hole, creating multiple tiny balls of white flames, flickering over Fender like fireflies.
Crim snapped his fingers, and a massive explosion of flames had set off!!
"You think that got 'em?" Crim asked, looking back at Skysin and Nebula running to him.
"Doubt it," Skysin replied, "his aura was pretty dense. If anything, it just slowed him down, maybe."
A pillar of aura had shot into the sky!
"Never mind," Skysin monotonously spoke.
"Nebula, are you okay?!" Zeris' voice had sounded from behind them.
They turned around, coming to see Zeris and his team quickly approaching them.
"Zeris! We're fine, but we've got a bigger problem now!"
Skysin sweated, watching Fender slowly stand, "shit…" The speedster faced Nebula, "you need to leave, now. Get your team outta here."
Nebula furrowed her brows, shocked by Skysin's dismissal, "what?? No I'm not leaving you two alone to fight against that guy!"
"Now's not the time for this Nebula," Skysin argued, "no offense, but your team isn't near our strengths, they'll only get their selves killed."
Nebula paused, what Skysin said wasn't incorrect. And with her being a captain, they relied on her leadership. Throwing them straight to their deaths isn't a good call.
Crim made flames burst onto his arms, watching Fender take a step towards them, "if you're gonna leave, you need to do it now!!"
Fender shot forward, but Skysin and Crim hastily lunged, crashing into the man, trying to push him back.
Fender grunted, and punched Crim onto the gut, knocking him into a nearby dune.
"LEAVE!! WE'LL BE FINE!!!" Skysin yelled.
Nebula gritted her teeth, "fine! But I'll be back!!" Nebula quickly made a bubble of black water around herself and team, taking off into the air at high speeds.
"Get off of me, you little brat…" Fender growled, grasping Skysin's face as if he was a toddler, and rammed him straight into the sand. Hills shook and slid, and Skysin laid right in a large hole.
With Nebula, she tapped her foot onto the solidified water, arms crossed, biting her lips.
"What's going on?" Zeris asked, "why leave so suddenly?"
"It's that Fender guy, he took a pill. But it's not the Eco. It's something else, and he's much stronger than the others. We need backup."
"Who else is there?"
Nebula smiled, "my master. She should be near the planet already. If anyone can beat him, it's her."
**
Skysin was throwing hands against Fender.
Just as Fender threw a hook towards Skysin's face, the boy weaved under, and shot his own, connecting!
Skysin hastily spun, slipping under and swept his foot across Fender's ankle, making him trip right into the air. Skysin quickly stood, and fired a fist right onto Fender's chest, launching him through multiple cacti, into another hill.
'If this guy was better at fighting, we'd definitely be in a doosie,' Skysin thought to himself.
Multiple piles of sand had steadily rose from the ground, reshaping into huge, jagged columns. They all faced Skysin and came flying in!
Skysin acted, leaping over the first, and sat his feet onto the base, jumping higher to get more airtime. He pulled his arms and legs in straight, twisting past the others, flipping past another, dodging them all like an acrobat in the circus.
Just as he landed, Skysin looked up, coming to see a ginormous ball of sand floating high in the sky, waiting for him.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" Skysin sighed.
The giant ball of sand moved, falling to him like a meteor.
Skysin leapt right towards it. Getting his feet onto the side, Skysin took off, running up the sphere of sand, scaling it with ease. As he got to the top, Skysin jumped off as it crashed into the ground, causing a massive earthquake.
Skysin flipped, and aimed himself to Fender, pulling his arm back, ready to sock the mess out of the bald man.
Fender raised his hand, catching Skysin's fist. He made a large pillar of sand rise from behind, and swung Skysin, throwing him right into it, breaking it down.
But a line of white flames had swiveled around Fender, spiraling into the air. Just as Fender looked up, Crim was above, slamming a heavy elbow right to his forehead!
BOOM!
Crim moved from the hole Fender laid in, "yo, Sin, you're not dead yet, are ya?"
A ray of ice had shot from the rubble of the pillar, and Skysin jumped out, landing next to Crim, "nope…but that guy is trouble."
"Yeah. We're lucky he's not the most experienced, or we'd be getting our asses kicked right now.
"Oh! That's what I thought about earlier!"
"Great minds do think alike my friend."
Fender stood from the hole once more, simply eyeing them.
Crim sighed, "we gotta find a way to make this guy's aura go out. He's like a damn zombie, just keeps getting back up."
'Something to get him by surprise…' Skysin thought to himself, looking around, until he seen one of those traps, the dummies that he made explode before, standing around. Fender and his gang must've put up multiple ones just in case.
That's when an idea had slapped the back of Skysin's brain.
"I think I got an idea," Skysin grinned.
"Oh yeah, what's that?"
"We make 'em go boom…" Skysin replied, gesturing his eyes over to the dummy further in the distance.
Crim smiled, "I gotcha now. It'd catch him off guard."
Skysin lowered himself, ready for another bout against Fender, "just follow my lead."
"No problem," Crim replied, readying himself as well.
"Three…"
Fender raised his hands, aiming at them.
"Two…"
Fender made multiple spears of sand rise.
"One!!"
Skysin and Crim took off at high speed, charging right to Fender as he fired his spears of sand at the two!
Skysin and Crim maneuvered like ninjas, pivoting, rolling, jumping, flipping, spinning past each spear that came their way with efficiency.
The boys got past them all, and now their target was clear.
Fender!!
Fender gnashed his teeth, "stupid ass kids!!" Fender took off, sweeping a hook right to the boys, attempting to take them both out!
Skysin ducked under as Crim leapt above, letting Fenders fist rush through the air.
Now was their chance!
Skysin sent a punch right on Fender's gut, and Crim pulled his leg back, punting Fender right to his chin!!
The man flew back, slapping the across the ground, thrashing multiple derelict walls that stood in the desert.
But the boys didn't stop there, the two came speeding in just as Fender got back to his feet, blitzing the man, not giving Fender a chance to fight back. Skysin and Crim's fists and legs flew with quickness, putting Fender on the defensive as he tried his best to block their attacks.
But this was just going with their plan, and Fender was clueless on the fact that they were getting closer to the explosive dummy!
Fender made his aura pulse, pushing them back. He raised his hand, and clenched it, making two giant dunes uplift, and alter into balls of solidified sand!
Skysin and Crim didn't hesitate, spreading to opposite directions as Fender made the two spheres chase after them, growing faster by the second.
Skysin put pedal to the metal, as if he was switching gears. The boy became a blur in a split second, taking off, leaving a huge wall of dust as the sphere chased after him.
Crim flew straight into the sky and came to a stop as the sand dune quickly followed behind. Yet Crim made himself burst into a body of white flames, kicking up the temperature. Crim fired like a rocket, speeding to the dune, and sending himself straight through it in the blink of an eye, heading right back to Fender.
Fender was ready, however, forming a huge, jagged sword onto his arm. Prepared to slice right through Crim.
Just as Crim got to him, Fender swept the blade. Yet Crim had dispersed into nothing, disappearing as little flickers of flames that danced in the air.
"Where the hell did he go…?" Fender grumbled to himself, looking around, hastily.
"Hey, dumbass!!"
Fender quickly turned around, firing bullets of sand in that direction, yet nothing was there.
Next, a blur of blue had flashed.
Fenders eyes widened, 'no…!'
Streaks of blue came from every direction, pommeling Fender as if he was a ragdoll. So fast it seemed as if Fender was getting smitten simultaneously!
Skysin flashed before him and socked him across the chin.
Fender was forced to look towards his right, and Crim was there, firing a knee straight to his nose!
The boys were in a completely different mode, and their teamwork was flawless!
But the battle wasn't done yet.
Fender could feel his consciousness fade. Skysin lowered into fighting stance, chin tucked, arms raised, and sent his fists flying under a second.
One thousand.
Two.
THREE.
FOUR!
FIVE!!
Skysin released five thousand punches under a millisecond!!
As Fender slumped forward, a line of flames tripped him, making the man fall to his knees.
Flames manifested before Fender, and Crim was there, already in posture. Crim swung his fist low, shooting an uppercut, projecting Fender straight into the air!
The boys were already there, waiting. And the dummy was standing below.
The boys raised their hands, aiming to Fender. A ball of ice had slowly spun into existence before Skysin's palm. White flames had danced at the tips of Crim's fingers.
This was the end.
"FROST BREAKAGE!!"
"FLAME BEHEHOTH!!"
A line of crying ice and roaring flames had come storming down, spinning with one another, spiraling, speeding right to Fender.
Fender raised his hands, shielding himself against the powerful combo of frigidness and heat, but was still being sent straight down.
'No…!' Fender cursed, 'fuck! I can't lose like this, after all the power she gave me!!'
Fender was sent crashing down into the dummy, and a glorious explosion was set, raging into the night sky.
***
In space, where the beautiful stars could be seen, a ginormous fleet of white ships could be seen, floating by the planet. In the largest one, set in the middle of this massive army, a woman sat on a chair, her ample thighs in white pants crossed, merely gazing at the planet from a private room of hers, through a window. Her long, wavy sky-blue hair draped above the marble floor.
On her wrist, a watch flashed, as if being notified. The woman pressed her slender finger onto the screen, showing Nebula.
"Ah, Nebula, you look rather stressed. Everything okay? The exams go fine?" The woman calmly asked.
"Master, we got a major problem right now!" Nebula disregarded her question. "That man, Fender, the one you beat sometime ago? Well, he's back. I'm pretty sure he took some illegal substance like the Eco Pill to make himself stronger, immensely."
"Where is he now?"
"I just returned to headquarters in Grazanopolis to get some soldiers to safety. But he's currently fighting against two others that recently passed the exam, at the Sandy Sun Dunes."
"Who?"
"A red-haired boy named Crim Magmastiem, and another with violet eyes, Skysin Rillem."
The woman seemed to have paused for a second, "…I'm sorry, who was the other?"
"Skysin Rillem, ma'am," Nebula replied, "Is everything okay??"
"Yes, I'll be there soon. For now, support and get the citizens to safety if Fender has grown this strong."
"Understood. And…" Nebula meekly spoke, "please hurry…please."
The line was cut.
The woman stood, being quite short, maybe around the height of five-one at best. She chuckled to herself, her long lashes flickered, those violet eyes gazing to the planet, "…Skysin, already causing chaos as usual. I guess not much has changed, hm?"
****