2 The Beginning

Over the years of growing up on the ship, Nero learned as hard as he could about his powers and how to control them. It was difficult but he never gave up until the end. Now he is able to easily perform an attack that comes from the energy inside his body. Cosmic Flare. Ever since he accidentally absorbed the Infinite Crystal as a baby on the moon, some of the crystal's energy shocked Nero and now the energy remains in his blood. That's how Nero is agile, strong, and a great jumper. Now his powers are his weapon.

Nero's been Dr. Z's main target ever since. That evil scientist would not rest until he captured him. This is why Professor Franklin vows to protect Nero from that scandalous man.

Now, in this present, Nero is seen getting ready to visit his school on the first day. The school is called Galactic Academy. It's an intergalactic school built by the Galactic Federation. Nero gets dressed and walks outside his room.

"Ready to go, Professor!" he exclaims happily. Professor Franklin, the man who raised him, waited for him outside in the hallway where Nero's room is located on the ship.

"Okay! I'll drop you off. You head into the garage and I'll beam you to the entrance of your school." Franklin kindly offers. Nero gave a quick and happy nod before taking the elevator to the garage. Now Franklin heads to the other elevator to behind to go the ship's main control.

Afterward, he flies over to the school, and with Nero in the garage stepping on the Transport Panel, he zaps him over to the entrance of the intergalactic facility. Nero walks into his new school and the guy at the gate greets him. Nero happily waves and shows him the entry form that Professor Franklin filled out. So the guy opens the door for Nero, politely granting him access.

Nero walks around to find the classroom. He looks at the paper that says Class A1 and continues to search around the hallway for the classroom with that specific number and letter. Two students watch him from far behind.

"Hey, is that the new kid?" asked the girl with glasses.

"I guess. There are a lot of students here. But I've never seen him around. Seems like he's from a different planet. Most of the students here are Arcticans like us." the boy said.

"Regardless, he looks a bit lost. We should go see if we can help him." said the girl running to Nero.

"H-hey! Barbara!" the boy chases after her.

As Nero was having trouble finding the classroom, he turns around only to bump into the girl with glasses, who was called Barbara. Nero falls down on his butt.

"Oh no! I'm sorry! Are you alright?" asked Barbara.

"Y-yeah. Sorry about that." Nero apologizes.

"You must be new here. I'm Barbara." she introduces herself. She offers a hand and Nero takes it as she helps him up.

"My name is Nero. It's a pleasure." the teal-skinned alien introduces himself as well. "Say, I'm looking for Class A1. Can you help me find it?".

"Yeah! We were actually going there ourselves," said Barbara.

"We?" asked the confused Nero.

"Oh! Right! I'm so sorry. I forgot you haven't met Budo yet. He's right here." she says when the spiky blue-haired boy, named Budo, approaches.

"Yeah. Name's Budo. Say, what planet are you from? You don't look like you're from Arctica." he wonders.

"Well, this may sound crazy but-" Nero fails to finish his sentence before the bell rings.

"Guess we'll have to talk more later. Follow us, Nero. We'll show you the way." offered Barbara. "Great! Thanks!" said the happily grateful Nero. The three, along with the other students, run to the class.

Everyone is in their seats. The teacher introduces Nero to the group. Nero bows down and says ''Nice to meet you all. I'm Nero. And I hope to learn as much as I can here until graduation. My dream is to one day join the Galactic Force. So that I can become a soldier. Someone who is able to do great things. I want to save the lives of others, fight evil and other great things. I'll eventually be the greatest soldier ever.". After this introduction, the teacher happily respects Nero's passion and a well-set goal.

"Thank you, Nero. You're an interesting young man. If I may ask, where are you from?" the teacher asks him.

"Well, as crazy as this sounds. I sorta live in a spaceship. It's flying slowly up there above the school." said Nero.

The entire class is a bit surprised at the information. "He lives in space?"That's insane."I betcha he's an alone astronaut." No way. He seems too young to live alone in space." said the quietly gasping students.

"In a spaceship? He must be one of those space pirates or some other evil invader!" said Budo thinking intensely in his head while gritting his teeth.

"Well, you can take your seat, Nero. It's right over there." the teacher said, pointing to the very middle seat in the front row next to Budo and Barbara.

"Thank you. Uh... Mr..." said Nero. "You can just call me Mr. Thunder if you want. Hope you have a nice school year. And that you'll be the hero you always wanted to be." said the nice teacher.

"Right! Thanks, Mr. Thunder!" Nero says as he gives a quick bow before taking his seat.

Mr. Thunder begins his lecture to his students about the first lesson on space. Since the entire school is an intergalactic facility, why wouldn't there be an astrology class? Nero, Barbara, Budo, and the other students pay attention to the lecture. They stayed in class until 10 AM as the bell rings.

Break time resumes as Nero walks through the hallway trying to find a perfect spot to eat his snack that Professor Franklin packed inside his bag for him. Budo and Barbara run right behind him before he notices them.

"Hey, Nero! Wanna eat with us?" Barbara asks kindly.

"I dunno, Barbara. He might be one of those guys," said Budo.

"What guys? What are you talking about?" asked the confused Nero.

"I had a suspicion that since you grew up on a spaceship you must be a pirate!" said Budo.

"W-what? No, I'm not!" Nero rebuttals.

"Sorry, pal. But you can't prove me otherwise. If you're not from any planet, then we can't trust you that easily. And you grew up on a spaceship, which makes you more suspicious." said Budo.

"Mr. Thunder trusted him despite knowing that he lives in a spaceship! Budo, why can't you do the same?" Barbara glares at her blue-haired friend.

"Barbara, you know that space pirates have a lot of ships. Nero could easily be in any one of them."

"I'll prove to you that I'm not a pirate!" Nero fires back.

"Really? How?" asked the uncertain Budo.

"Well, do I even look like one? This isn't even a disguise!" said Nero, showing his attire.

"Well, what about your ship?" asked Budo.

"I'll show it to you guys after school. I get that you don't trust me, Budo. But I will prove to you that I'm not one of these pirates you're talking about. Believe me." Nero swears sternly.

"Budo, please. I know how you feel, but Nero is really innocent." said the reasonable Barbara.

"Fine. I guess I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," said Budo.

"Thanks," replied Nero.

"Oh! Look at the time! We only have 12 minutes left!" realized Barbara, looking at the clock.

So they hurry to finish their break before going back to class. Suddenly, a noise broke through the school entrance. It alerted everyone, including Nero, Budo, and Barbara, to go see the cause of the commotion. It appears that Nero's archenemy, Dr. Z, has arrived with his hovering mech. Everyone is shocked and scared upon seeing that the villainous doctor is human. But not Nero. He is angry at his malevolent presence

"Well, well, well... Well! If it isn't Nero. Didn't know that you attend proper education. But alas, class is dismissed. For you are mine." said Dr. Z.

"Go away! What are you even doing here?!" Nero angrily shouts back.

"Had a hunch that a specimen like you would be here. Since you always wanted to be a hero after you graduate and all. But unfortunately for you, that dream will never come to be." the doctor said before snapping his fingers. This summons all five of his robots to appear from behind him.

"Attack!" he orders them. They do so as commanded. The middle one fires a long-ranged laserbeam at Nero.

But he dodges it by making a big jump before landing safely on his feet. Everyone else runs for their lives to avoid the robots. But Budo and Barbara stay behind.

"What are you three doing?! We have to get to the Safe Zone!" Mr. Thunder warned.

"Don't worry, I got this! You two go on ahead with everyone! The last thing I want is to put someone in danger!" said Nero, raring to fight.

"I can fight, you know! I don't who this guy is but it's clear you're not on good terms with him! Especially if he's human! I'll help you take care of him and these buckets of bolts!" said Budo strongly.

"Mr. Thunder, stay back!" said Barbara.

"Are you trying to get yourselves killed!? Let's go! You can't fight them!"

"I'll just support Nero and Budo. Please, just leave this to us!"

"Young lady! Do you have any idea what you're saying?!"

"Watch out!!" Nero shouted as the robot was about to tackle them. But he protected them by giving a swift kick to its head. The kick was so strong it sent it to the ground.

"You two okay?" asked Nero.

"N-Nero, you just... struck it." said the surprised teacher.

"Run, Mr. Thunder! Please!" requested the concerned Barbara.

"A-alright. You kids better not get hurt."

Mr. Ray took Barbara's advice and ran away as fast as he could. Barbara runs back to the classroom to get her laptop in order to analyze the robots' weaknesses.

"Where are you going, Barbara?" asked Nero.

"Don't worry, she's going to get her laptop. She has great information on there. Especially about these robots we're fighting right now. So it might help us." said Budo, fighting the robot closing in on him.

Nero delivers a punch to the one on his right. After it's been knocked down, Nero goes for its head. But to no avail, as it immediately recovers and strikes a punch. Nero goes flying and does a somersault to recover in midair.

He then fires back with another punch. Smacking the robot's head hard and yet it's still standing. Nero gasps in surprise by its endurance. The robot extended a punch that would knock Nero down, but the young, teal alien dodges it with ease and knocks Budo down instead. Nero offers to help him up.

"You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah, thanks. Man, how do we deal with these things?"

"You have to try to weaken them with heat!" Barbara yells as she came back.

"Heat? That might be very effective! Thanks, Barbara! Looks like I'll have to use it!" said Nero.

He charges cosmic energy as his hands start to glow and release a powerful, white fireball from them. "Cosmic Flare!" he calls it. The attack hits the robot he's facing. It goes down and explodes.

Budo and Barbara look at him with shocked expressions.

"Wha- How did you-" Budo gets cut off by a robot's extended arm behind him sending him flying to the wall. It impacted his back first then is face down on the ground.

"Budo!" Barbara and Nero shout for him.

After he gets up, the four robots surround him. Budo is now defensless. Nero quickly finds Flare Gun by his feet. He picks it up and tosses it to Budo.

"Huh? What's this?" Budo wonders.

"A Flare Gun! Use it! Quickly!" Nero shouts. Budo does as instructed and incinerates all the robots surrounding him.

After the process, he quickly rolls away to escape the self destruction sequences. Now Budo is quickly safe from getting caught in the blast.

"We did it!" Budo cheers.

"Hehehehehe. Don't celebrate just yet." Dr. Z snickers as he now has Barbara grabbed by the claw of his hovercraft.

"Barbara!" Budo fears for her safety.

"Leave her alone, Z!" Nero demands.

"If you want me to unhand the green girl, Nero, you'll have to come with me peacefully as an exchange for her safety." said the doctor.

Nero grunts and clenches his fist with anger. And then he lets out and exhale.

"Fine, I'll go with you."

"Nero!" Barbara cried for his well-being.

"Hey, are you seriously going with that guy? C-come on!" Budo said.

Nero slowly walks over to his arch foe, only to shoo him away with a Cosmic Flare. The impact causes the claw to drop Barbara. Thankfully Nero catches her in time.

"I'll get you next time, Neroooooo!!!" yelled Dr. Z after being blasted away.

Budo runs over to Barbara with joy.

"Barbara, are you okay? You hurt anywhere?" he asks while hugging her tight.

"N-no, I'm fine. Are you two okay?"

"Yeah! Nero here just saved my bacon! But he clearly saved yours too. I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Hey, Nero? Thank you so much for saving me."

"I-it was nothing. I'm just glad I could help." Nero says while rubbing the back of his head in modesty.

"And you really helped a lot! Sorry for suspecting you like that. You really are cool, Nero. Just like Barbara said." apologized Budo.

"Eh, it's alright, Budo. Say after school, how about I show you guys the ship we were discussing?"

"Sounds cool! I'm there!" said Budo.

"Me too!" cheered Barbara.

The end.