Nebula, Queen of the Universe

Author's Note
Now I know what you guys are thinking: HOLY CRAP, DEATHWALKER'S DOING AN E-RATED COMEDY?!

Sorry guys, I just can't wait for this, this idea is so ripe with potential... thankfully, it will be a very short story. It happens soon after Number One Fan, at a time where Arbiter, Inferno, Red, and Amnesty are all still alive and friends. Sangria might be two years old at this point.

This was born from a joke I made with HeroForever about the possibility of Nebula ruling the Universe, and then I thought to myself, "Why the heck not?"

Cheers,

 (Deathwalker 13000)  03:12, April 15, 2012 (UTC)

The Dusty Old Book
"Nebula, are you sure you can watch the house while I'm gone?" Ruichi asked with a slight pang of worry.

"Of course, Ruichi!" Nebula responded in her typical, chipper fashion.

"I'll only be in Empyrea for two days, ok? Just.. don't blow up anything or whatever while I'm away, okay?"

"Yessir!" Nebula said, saluting.

Ruichi still couldn't help but look back anxiously as he shut the door behind himself.

Nebula finally broke her salute. "Let's see, what can I blow up today?" the little wisp asked herself, completely forgetting about Ruichi's warning. She began to look around the mostly empty house for inspiration.

"Ugh, finally, he's gone, I've been waiting far too long," an unfamiliar voice said.

"Eep!" Nebula cried out, spinning around on the spot to see a finely-dressed man literally walk out of the shadows on the wall. The man wore a top hat and donned a short, flowing cape. His moustache was long, and curled into little spirals at the ends.

Nebula's instant shock soon transformed back into her normal exciteable demeanor. "Hi! My name's-"

"Nebula," the man interrupted.

Nebula was stunned. "How did you-"

"I just know things," the man said. "Oh, where are my manners; I am called Gambol, Miss Nebula."

Nebula giggled at the title 'Miss'. "So, whatcha want, Gamby? Oh, I know! We could blow something up! Like fireworks! With rainbows!"

Gambol chuckled. "You are quite the free-spirit aren't you, Miss Nebula?"

"I have no idea!" Nebula said happily.

"Hm, well, I like you Miss Nebula. Your just like me in a way; random, chaotic. Hang on a second-"

Gambol snapped his fingers, and the room around them melted away to reveal a strange world, resembling a city on earth, with a great number of odd, noticeable changes; buildings hovered in the air and floated, sometimes upside down. Lollipops, candy canes, and other confections sprouted from the ground, which Nebula could've sworn looked like chocolate. The sky was pink, with balloons instead of clouds.

"Whee! This is so cool! Where are we?" Nebula asked, positively filled to the brim with glee.

"This is my world, Miss Nebula," Gambol said. "You like it?"

"I LOVE this!" Nebula exclaimed.

Gambol chuckled. "This is my vision of a perfect universe. A perfect universe, with no darkness, no despair, just candy and laughs and fun. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yup! And if I ruled the universe, it would look just like this!"

Gambol's smile grew wider. "Is that what you really think, Miss Nebula?"

"Of course!"

"Then I've got an idea," Gambol said. In his hands, a rather large, dusty tome appeared.

"In this book are written the laws of the universe," Gambol said. "It took me some time to find this, but I'm in a generous mood. Let's just say that if this book were in your hands, Miss Nebula, the universe could have all the candy, laughs, and fun that you wanted. If I give this to you, all I ask is that sometime later, you repay the favor..."

The only words that registered with Nebula were 'candy', 'laughs', and 'fun'. "Deal!" she exclaimed, snatching the book from Gambol's hands. Gambol laughed.

"Nice doing business with you, Miss Nebula," he said, before fading away. The surrounding world faded too and Nebula found herself once more in her home, clutching the dusty tome. A look of confusion suddenly crossed her face.

"...what just happened?" she asked aloud. Shaking stray thoughts from her head, she walked outside, looking out at the bland, boring plain, and the drab, blue sky.

"Sheesh, this is so boring," Nebula exclaimed. "I wish there was a rainbow, or something..."

A bright flash of light; the sky was suddenly graced with a multitude of colors. Nebula's eyes widened.

"This... is... so... AWESOME!" she exclaimed, holding the book out like a child recieving a valuable birthday present. She couldn't wait to try it out further...

Rainbows and Lollipops
(OOC: As many characters that are willing to join can join here now in a relatively normal setting, which will soon explode with the randomness and cuteness that only Nebula could devise. All I ask is that at least one character familiar with Nebula be present.)

Jeniyus was sitting on the beach, enjoying the warm sun and soft sand. She'd had a long day of fighting off Metrinos's minions, which were trying to steal bars of gold from a special vault. She sighed with bliss at the perfect ending to a successful day of crime fighting.

A short distance away was a cloaked man with emerald green hair. He was leaning against the broad side of a massive sword embedded in the ground, sleeping soundly. Suddenly, his golden eyes snapped open. He sniffed the air.

"...chocolate?" he muttered to himself, confused.

A few moments later a winged figure is dragged across the landscape, holding onto a small dragon that is taking flight - "MURK! STOP!".

"NEVER! I WON'T DO IT!" the dragon protests as he flies around in circles, the winged figure refusing to let go.

Suddenly, the sky flashed white, and the white was suddenly colored in with splotches of random hues; the ground became a red and white checkered pattern, and cute animals emerged from all directions; rabbits with large, adorable eyes hopped around on the ground while vibrant, multicolored birds circled around the two dragons, chirping disharmonic birdsong. Large sticks of candy sprung from the ground like trees and buildings in the distance began to float up into the air. The sun was replaced with a disco ball.

Jeniyus ripped off her sunglasses, and squeezed them in her hand. "METRINOS!!"

The man who was sleeping against his blade just moments ago was flabbergasted. Reactions amongst all others on the beach seemed to be somewhat the same as the crowds suddenly seemed to fall into a panic as the world was changing before their very eyes.

Inferno released Murk and flew up into the air and yells out to the heavens, bathing himself in Twilight Flame "Face me vile demon!".

Nebula herself suddenly teleported onto the beach, holding the large book. She giggled with childish glee. "This is so cool!" she exclaimed. "Oh look, candy!" She ran over to a large stalk of licorice, broke off a piece, and began chewing.

"Mm, Thif if gewd," she said with her mouth full. Then she noticed the green-haired man. "Mr. Arbiter!" she ran over to him. "Do you like it? Huh? Huh? I love this! This is so awesome!"

"More like cataclysmic if you ask me," Arbiter said. "I've never seen anything like this..."

Inferno explodes further into flame as he flies down and hovers next to Nebula: "YOU!".

"Eek!" Nebula squeals in fear, holding the book out before her like a shield.

Inferno grabs at the book, "give me that before you do something stupid!".

"No! It's mine!" Nebula exclaims, leaping away from Inferno. Even Arbiter looked startled. "Inferno, do you know what that book is?"

Inferno growls "Nebula - for once in your life listen to me! that book could belong to a Multiversal Lord.. if it does it means you *stole* it! They don't take kindly to that - not to mention the fact such power is not for us to have!".

"I didn't steal it! It was given to me!" Nebula protested.

Jeniyus stood staring at the spectacle, not sure what to do.

"Who gave that to you, Nebula?" Arbiter asked.

"A funny man!" Nebula exclaimed. "He said his name was Gambol!"

Murk appears next to Inferno and looks at Nebula and the book, shuddering slightly "..dude.. that's creepy..".

"Shut up, Murk.." Inferno frowned, his flames dying away as he looks to Arbiter "..tell Nebula to give me that book before she screws up the Multiverse - this isn't a game and she's not nearly responsible enough to have even *half* the power this book could give her.. if it's what I think it is..".

"I can't give it away!" Nebula said, clutching it tighter. "It's a present!"

"Nebula, give us the book," Arbiter said firmly.

"No," she said, suprisingly as firm as Arbiter.

"Then you leave me no choice but to bring in the heavy guns.." Inferno said grimly.

"IT'S MY BOOK!" Nebula screamed suddenly with shocking fury; the skies suddenly grew dark and thunder clapped. "IT'S MINE! AND I'M GOING TO READ IT!" Each word she screamed was accompanied by a blast of wind-like force.

Inferno lifts Murk up to Nebula and yells "NOW MURK!".

"What!? Hey! You know what!? NO! Why am I always the one who has to do this!? NO! NO NO! This is stupid! I can't believe you'd make me do this! I mean!" Murk complains, the dragon going into a long, long, long rant.. Inferno holding the dragon up high as he braces the storms.

Jeniyus summons her sword, and runs toward the group.

"Wait," Arbiter says to Jeniyus, motioning for her to stop, cringing slightly at the verbal torment that Murk was putting him through.

Suddenly, the storms seem to die down and Nebula stares, before bursting into a fit of giggles that grew into racious laughter as Murk continued to rant on and on and on...

"You're funny, little dragon!" she exclaimed. "Hey look," she suddenly flew up into the air. "Those people look confused. Aw, I wish they were all happy!"

Like a charm, the formerly paniked crowds were suddenly silenced, seemingly content with the world around them.

Jeniyus looked up at Nebula. "You can't control people like this. Free-will is the greatest gift we have."

"But I made them happy!" Nebula said. "Isn't happiness the best thing you can give?"

Inferno growls and drops Murk to the ground, looking to Nebula with disgust - then turns away and begins walking off.. even Murk is confused as he rubs his head, "Hey! What the-!? Inferno!?".

Jeniyus continues, "You can't force them to be happy. The people don't want this."

"Hey, look, Inferno's sad..." Nebula said, disheartened, before brightening up. "I have an idea! I know what'll make you happy, Inferno!" she said, teleporting into the air next to him. "A game! Let's play a game!"

Inferno suddenly lashes out at Nebula with surprising force, especially since he and her had usually gotten along quite well - "LEAVE ME ALONE!".

Murk blinks as he turns and observes this, the young dragon looking rather concerned but in the awkward position of not being able to do much to help.

"Aw," Nebula giggled. "You're just being a big grumpy grumpy-pants! Let's play hide-and-seek! Try to find me!" Nebula vanished, giggling. Where she was standing moments ago, a doorframe sprung out of the ground and opened, revealing a portal into another world.

Arbiter stared. "This is the oddest thing I've ever seen..." he mumbled to himself.

Inferno's eyes spark up and he opens a portal to the Twilight Realm, "..you are just like Arodnap.." - with that rather unfair comparison he heads into the portal and begins to close it behind himself.

"That was.. harsh.." Murk remarked, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood next to Arbiter - flicking his tail back and forth, clearly uncomfortable. Arbiter nodded.

Jeniyus shook her head. "What do we do?" she asked aloud.

"We might as well play her little game." Arbiter frowned, walking to the door. "Humor her for a bit. Then we can try and get that accursed tome..."

Meanwhile, a distance away, undetected by Arbiter and the rest, Gambol watched. he looked down at the object in his hands- a cluster of torn pages. Smirking slightly, he folded the pages and placed them in a pocket on his vest.

"...pleasure doing business with you Miss Nebula indeed," he said to himself, twirling the curled end of his moustache between his fingers.

Hide and Seek
Upon going through the doorframe, Arbiter, Murk, and Jeniyus are greeted to the sight of a large tower with peppermint-striped walls, a gumdrop walkway, and licorice trees.

"This is all so unreal. Maybe I'm just dreaming," Jeniyus stated.

"This reminds me of the time that gingerbread man tried to take over Red's Kingdom.." Murk notes.

Arbiter raised an eyebrow, slightly bemused.

"..or that time the Muffin Man tried to make Avalon into a bakery.. or the time that giant mistook the Royal Castle for a wedding cake.. or that time.." Murk continues, each new statement more bizarre than the last.

"Did all of those things really happen, Murk?" Arbiter asked.

"You are talking to a dragon while a pink fairy controls reality with the mindset of some crazy surrealist painter and you think my stories are far-fetched?" Murk notes.

"Touché," Arbiter said. He began to walk towards the door towards the large candy-tower. But upon reaching and turning the doorknob, they were greeted with a loud "OW!"

Two eyes opened up on the door, and the knob winced like a nose. "Whatcha think yer' doin', lads?!" the voice exclaimed, seeming to come from the door itself.

Jeniyus's eyes widened. "The door....is talking..."

"This is Nebula's world, after all," Arbiter said.

"How'd yeh like it if ah reached out and grabbed yer nose like that?!" the door exclaimed, irritated. As if to illustrate it's point, a hand grew from the door itself, tweaking Jeniyus' nose.

Jeniyus clapped her hands and laughed, thinking it was funny. "Do it again!"

Murk shakes his head and steps forward, "alright - enough of this.. You! Door! Open by the command of Murk - Prince of the Twilight Dragons!" - he puffs himself up, yet looks decidely unimpressive.

"We don't have time for this!" Arbiter grumbled, stepping forward and pushing the door open, walking through without a further care.

"Hey! That's what I said!" Murk protested as he followed Arbiter.

"Oi! Whatcha think yer' doin'?! Get back 'ere! I'll slam shut on yer' little fingers!"

As soon as the trio steps into the tower, ignoring the rather colorful commentary of the talking door, they find themselves in a rather large room, with walls painted in nauseating pink and green stripes. A pie suddenly flies out of thin air and strikes Arbiter in the face.

"Heehee- that was funny!" Nebula's voice echoed.

Arbiter stood there, looking rather ridicuous as the desert slid off of his face and onto the floor. His frown clearly stated he wasn't amused in the slightest.

Jeniyus looks around. "Where did that even come from?"

Murk looks to Arbiter, then to the pie - then slowly backs down, picking up pie and eating it.

Conjuring a small burst of water, Arbiter cleans himself of the pie's residue and walks forward without a word.

"Aw, are you grumpy too, Mr. Arbiter?" Nebula's voice exclaims. "But lookie there- Murkie's enjoying himself, and I got Miss Jenny to even laugh... don't you want to have fun?"

Jeniyus looked around, an angry expression on her face. "Where are you? Show yourself!"

"Silly you, I can't show myself, we're playing hide-and-seek, remember?"

Murk suddenly stands up and grows several feet, his mass expanding signifcantly as he puffs out smoke "Nobody calls me MURKIE!".

They were answered by another one of Nebula's laughs. "You're funny, Murkie!"

Suddenly the area grows dark as Inferno breaks through, yet he looks decidely different as his eyes are filled with determination and he has what appears to be a chef's hat on and an apron.. one hand above his head and holding a tray.. the sight alone makes Murk revert right back to his usual form.

"..uh.. I got nothing.." Murk blinks, stunned into submission.

Jeniyus stood staring at Inferno, shocked into silence.

Even Arbiter was stunned. "Inferno... what-"

Nebula's voice burst out in racious laughter.

"Heeheehee... HA HA HA HA HA! You crack me up, Mr. Inferno!"