5 Nero vs Infamous

Nero has finally regained consciousness as he wakes up.

"Budo?! Barbara?!", he worries his friends.

He gets up off the ground and realizes he is trapped within a cage at Dr. Z's lab.

"Well now! You've finally woken up!" said Dr. Z.

"Z! You disgusting jerk! Where are my friends?!" said Nero with a frustrated tone.

"Oh, don't worry about them. Infamous is keeping them company. If they remain obedient as my prisoners, I'll make sure he doesn't hurt them."

Nero tackles the door, but it doesn't budge an inch. So, he switches to using Cosmic Flare instead.

"I wouldn't try that." Z stopped him. "This cage, created by me, is designed with strong mirrors that can reflect any projectiles, even powerful fire balls like your Cosmic Flare! You're trapped in this giant box, and there's nothing you can do! Now that I have you captured, I can make you work under me as my tool to rule the galaxy!" he said with an evil laughter.

He leaves the room to check on the other prisoners.

Nero slams his fist to the wall in frustration. He starts to lose hope, considering the state he's in.

At Home Base, Franklin puts on his spacesuit to get into the Z's lair.

"If it's taking them this long to come back home, they must be in trouble. I have to save them!" he said. "But wait! If I leave and the ship is flying on its own, I might not be able to make it back." Franklin decides to change plans and stays inside of Home Base. Franklin decides to call the Galactic Force. But they're not available at the time. "Blast it! I can't do anything! I just hope they make it back safely enough for me to pick them up."

Barbara and Budo are in a predicament as well. Infamous keeps a close eye on them to make sure they don't escape from the vault. The two are locked inside a small empty cell with close bars in front of them.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Barbara, sounding scared.

"I don't know. Sorry, Barbara." said Budo. "I put our friend in danger, and I got us into this mess. If I hadn't brought the Force Crystal to school like the idiot I am, none of this would happen."

Budo starts to deprecate himself.

"Budo. Don't say horrible things like that about yourself." said Barbara as she comforts him. "I'll get us out of here, okay? Don't worry. I'll find a way." Barbara walks towards the gate. "Excuse me! Mr. Infamous?"

Infamous hears the Barbara's voice and walks towards her.

"What is it?" he asks with an intimidating tone.

"Um, could you let us out? Pretty please?" she asks nervously. Infamous coldly refuses as he is told by Dr. Z not to let any prisoner out no matter what. "U-um …please. I need to use the restroom." she says.

Infamous believes that they'll just try to escape and tells her to be quiet. "Barbara, you tried. But there's clearly nothing we can do." said the saddened Budo.

"Oh, Nero... Wherever you are, I hope you're okay..." Barbara worries.

Speaking of Nero, he finally manages to hatches an idea to get out. He'll use the mirrors of the cage to his advantage in order to break out of there. He uses Cosmic Flare on the wall behind him. The reflect bounce made the attack strong enough to smash through the reflection of the door. After breaking the door, he's finally out!

"Awesome! Now to get Budo and Barbara out. I'll need to take the Force Crystal first." Nero grabs it.

Z appears and tries to capture him again, but him alone wasn't enough as Nero dashes through him. He calls Infamous to stop him.

"Blast! Better hurry to Budo and Barbara before Infamous stops me!" said Nero as he hurries over to the vault.

Right when he urgently heads down the stairs Infamous sees him and begins to shoot him with another laser. He dodge it and wall jumps to get through him. Infamous chases after him. Nero uses Cosmic Flare at the stairs in front of Infamous to make a smoke. It messes up the Alien of Destruction's accuracy a little bit. But he still ventures on to pursue Nero.

Nero arrives at the vault. Budo and Barbara are very happy to see him. He quickly presses the button to open the cage. Now his friends are free.

"C'mon guys! We better get out of here!" said Nero.

Infamous shoots a laser at Nero. But dodged it again.

"Look, big guy! I don't have time to deal with you! We're outta here!" he said.

Nero grabs the Force Crystal from his pocket and uses it to transform. While he protects his friends, he uses Force wave before Infamous could shoot him.

"Get out of here! I'll catch up with you guys!" said Nero.

He offers to distract Infamous for a little bit so they could escape, and they did. Infamous is immobilized by the Force Crystal giving Nero a chance to run away. After reverting to normal, he puts the Force Crystal in his pocket, but accidently drops it. Infamous is no longer immobilized.

"I'll have to come back for it." mumbled Nero as he catches up with the others.

The professor flies the ship over to the base to pick them up. Infamous nearly catches the three kids but they managed to get away.

The gang finishes dinner and they all head to the first floor to discuss another way to deal with Infamous before getting the Force Crystal back.

"Well, from what I've just seen, Infamous has the Dark Crystal inside his chest. That would explain how he fires these lasers and how he has an enhanced power." said Nero.

"It's going to be difficult getting the Force Crystal now." said Barbara.

Nero suggests that he'll have to defeat Infamous by himself while Budo and Barbara can get the Force Crystal. But Z might take it from their hands again.

"Hm.. What to do. Maybe I'll declare a challenge to Z?" said Nero. If he beats Infamous, then Z will have to give him the Force Crystal.

"Will he even agree to that?" asked Barbara.

"We'll see."

Next day, Nero jumps out of home base and flies onto Z's ship with his space suit on. He uses Cosmic Flare on the windows of his base and flies in.

"Hey Z! How about a little wager?!" shouted Nero.

Infamous arrives in the library first and sees Nero. Infamous prepares to launch an attack but Z steps in and tells Infamous to stand down.

"What kind of wager?" he asks.

"Well, if I can beat Infamous, you'll have to swallow your shallow pride and give us back the Force Crystal. And I don't care if you found it first!"

Z agrees, but he will take pride in capturing Nero if he loses. "I could just capture you right now, but a little challenge sounds rather fun. I suppose I'll meet your conditions. But Infamous is not easy to beat!"

Nero arrives back on the ship.

"How'd it go?" asked Budo.

"He accepted. Once I beat Infamous, the Force Crystal is ours!" said Nero.

"You'll need to prepare yourself for him, Nero. He's a dangerous foe, that Infamous." said the professor.

Nero nods. He and others go straight to bed.

While they're asleep, Z sends note to their ship's communication system. It notifies them. So, they wake up to go check it out. Franklin presses button and the note pops up like a text on your phone. It said

'Dear, Nero. We will meet at noon tomorrow. You and Infamous will have your little duel in space. On the Ancient Moon! Better not be late or I won't ever give you the Force Crystal! I hope you'll be ready to get tarnished!

Dr Z.'

Nero questions where the Ancient Moon is located. So the professor pulls up the map of the galaxy. It indicates that the Ancient moon is in the upper area in space. It's a moon that's bigger than the original size of the moon you see every night on Earth. It also has a mausoleum on it.

Nero agrees.

"Will you be okay?" asked the concerned Barbara. Nero assures her that he will be fine if he's cautious of Infamous' movements. The gang sets in for tomorrow.

Now it is noon. And Nero and Infamous are ready to brawl. "I'm gonna take you down, Infamous! Get ready!" said Nero.

"The outcome will be different from your satisfaction. As soon as I defeat you, I am going to take directly to Master Z!" said Infamous.

"We'll see about that!" said Nero as he charges forward.

Infamous dodges his punches and strikes Nero with a fist. Nero quickly recovers as lands safely on his feet. He fires a Cosmic Flare at Infamous, but the Alien of Destruction hits it away like a dodgeball. Dark energy rose from his hand. He shoots a purple energy beam at Nero. But he then dodges all five shots of it. Nero finally gets close to Infamous. Before he could react, he shoots Cosmic Flare from his hand as he placed it on Infamous' stomach. Infamous certainly felt that pain. Nero regained distance from the blow of his Cosmic Flare. Infamous uses the Dark Crystal in his chest to enhance his powers.

"This is bad! Infamous could wipe me out here and now if I don't use this!" said Nero.

He's talking about the Cosmic Crystal! He pulls it out and borrows its power to transform. He's now Cosmic Nero! With his green hair glowing lighter from its original color and blue aura surrounding him.

"So, we're taking off the gloves, huh? Then let's take it outside of the Ancient Moon! This place was just a start off!" said Nero.

Infamous agrees. He and Nero float out of the Ancient Moon carefully without damaging the barrier. Now they swiftly fly out into space with acceleration. Nero powers up and so does Infamous. They both tackle each other. Nero lands a direct punch to Infamous face, but Infamous counters with a smack down on Nero's back. Sending him down to crash land on a giant asteroid. Budo and the others watch in shock and despair at the sight of the action. But Nero still had the Cosmic Crystal in his hand. The aura from the crystal is surrounding him and it saved him from death. He quickly flies back up and does an uppercut on Infamous. Budo and the others happily see an unharmed Nero. Infamous strikes with his enhance fist. But Nero outmaneuvers the attack and grabs his arm. He spins him around and throws him. Infamous crashes onto a giant asteroid too. Nero floats on there. Infamous gets back up.

"I will defeat you and bring you to my master! No matter the risk!" said Infamous.

"You call Z your master?" asked Nero.

"Yes! I respect the man with my life! I will do anything to ensure his future reign! And you will not address him as Z!"

"Why worship him so much, Infamous? He only thinks of you as a weapon instead of a living being! You should make your own decisions! Start your own livelihood!"

"He's the reason why I exist! Why I have this incredible power! My livelihood is given to him! I don't care if he only thinks of me as a weapon! I will forever be his minion! You were his creation, too, were you not?! Absorber?!" said Infamous as he flies back up into the atmosphere.

Infamous charges up his signature move, Dark Plasma Beam! He fires at Nero.

"Your peaceful days are over, Absorber!"

"It's Nero!!!" he said as he uses the Cosmic Crystal to supercharge his Cosmic Flare into Ultra Cosmic Flare!

The attacks collide! It seems that Infamous has the upper hand. His beam is pushing through Nero's Ultra Cosmic Flare slowly. Budo and the others cheer for Nero. Telling him not to give in. Nero powers up and made his attack even stronger. His Ultra Cosmic Flare is given enough force to blast through the Dark Plasma Beam. And it lands directly on Infamous, knocking him out. Before he falls into an abyss in space, Nero quickly flies over and catches him. He drops him on the same rock he was just on now.

Z flies to the space rock with a V- hip. He is disappointed at the sight of the results.

"Even Infamous, the Alien of Destruction, couldn't beat you?!" Dr. Z exclaimed.

"That's right. Now hand over the Force Crystal you stole from us as promised!"- declared Nero.

Z angrily hesitates but had no choice but to give it to Nero.

"Tch! I'll be leaving! But next time you won't be so lucky!" said Dr. Z.

He gets on his ship before Nero shouts "Wait! What about Infamous?!"

"He was useless and weak! I'm leaving him here until he learns how to do better at his job serving his one and only master!"

"But he was very loyal to you! He said he didn't care if you thought of him as a weapon as long as he proves himself useful to you! You even created him! Just like you created me!"

"Ugh! You annoying little termite. I'll give you another chance, Infamous! Just don't fail me a million times!"

He grabs Infamous, who is still unconscious, and drags him to V- Ship. Home Base appeared above Nero, and a beacon picked him up.

The gang is relieved that Nero is alright.

"Hey guys! Look what I got!" Nero reveals the Force Crystal.

"You were awesome, Nero! You kicked Infamous' butt. And we finally got the Force Crystal back!"- Budo.

"It was actually noble of you to save Infamous' life right when he was about to fall. Even if he was your enemy." – Franklin.

"Well, Z did create him just like me. I do hate the doctor, but I can't but feel sympathy for Infamous. He deserves better than that guy."

"Nero... " said Barbara.

"Well anyway, we got three Infinite Crystals, guys! No way is Z gonna get the upper hand now!" cheered Budo.

Everybody agrees.

Professor Franklin takes the Force Crystal and puts it back into the vault.