Starman

Starman is the ninth episode of Project Deca. It serves as a tribute to Tech 10: Star Spirit, the Featured Series for 2016.

Episode


Aboard the Unendlich Reich's flagship, Ubermensch was sorting through documents for an upcoming meeting when Terox suddenly appeared and grabbed the files out of his hands.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ubermensch growled.

"I'm seeing what you're doing." Terox replied dismissively. "Nothing interesting, I can tell that much."

"I'm preparing for a meeting with the Fuhrer." Ubermensch snatched the papers back from Terox. "As the Reichsmarschall, I am expected to report on our extradimensional military operations in-person once every few months."

"Sounds fun." Terox snorted. "Can't think of anything I'd want to do more than talk to an angry, shriveled-up prune of a-"

Terox cut himself off as his pupils dilated, prompting a confused reaction from Ubermensch.

"What are you-"

"Holy shit." Terox muttered under his breath before suddenly teleporting away.

Left alone again by this odd turns of events, Ubermensch stared at where Terox had been standing with a questioning glare before getting back to his paperwork.

"Okay, what?" Attai said. "What do you mean you're 'not supposed to be alive'?"

The Jester took off his hat and dusted it for a moment before answering Attai's question.

"Well, it's a bit complicated." The Jester coughed. "See, Earth-83 has an item called the Celestial Clock that's supposed to reset the universe in the event of an unavoidable 'end of the universe' scenario."

"Alright, following you so far." Attai grunted.

"Quite a few people died that were fairly important to both me and the universe in general, and as the last pin holding everything together, I decided to erase myself to trigger the Clock; it sort of worked, but someone's holding back the reset."

"That's why Earth-83 is stuck in Quantum Flux." Theo-4 interjected. "It's stuck between resetting and not resetting."

"Who would try to stop the reset from happening?" Attai asked.

"A Celestialsapien that gave up some of her power to obtain a human body." The Jester replied. "If the universe resets, her plans fall to the wayside. She'd survive the reset, of course, but her work wouldn't."

"And you're alive because...?"

"I'm both alive and not alive actually, much in the same way the universe is both resetting and not resetting." The Jester said. "The last few minutes leading up to the reset and a few minutes after it keep repeating as the Celestial Clock and the Celestialsapien each try their best to drag it one way or the other. I can get you into that timeframe, where you can prevent at least one of the deaths leading up to the reset activating."

"What exactly is killing these people so badly that the whole goddamn universe would need to be reset?" Attai raised an eyebrow.

"That part's not really important." The Jester pulled a card out of his jacket and handed it to Attai. "You use cards, yes? If you get into serious trouble, use this to get a leg up in the situation."

"Uh..." Attai flipped the card around, revealing it to be a tarot card of 'The Fool'. "This is absolutely not the right type of card."

"Trust me, when you get in a pinch, I think you'll find that this is exactly the type of card you need." The Jester chuckled.

"Oh, your universe is going to be obnoxious as all hell, isn't it?" Attai groaned.

"Most likely." The Jester snapped its fingers, opening a portal through spacetime. "Tally-ho!"

Terox popped into existence in an unfamiliar location, wild-eyed and frantic.

"Alright, who's the motherfucker with that batshit insane energy signature?!" Terox demanded.

Looking around, he found himself in an impossibly large, futuristic library, whose shelves were lined with what looked to be electronic datasheets instead of books. There was a large clearing in the shelves in front of him, where a large, mysterious vat loomed over the area.

Staring at him in shock were three beings: an earthen golem with a spiked head, a pink-skinned female alien wearing black armor, and what appeared to be a tall, pale-skinned human woman wearing a long, flowing black dress with similarly long dark blue hair.

"Hey Three Stooges, don't make me repeat myself!" Terox snapped. "Where the fuck is that energy coming from?"

"Uh...are you talking about the vat?" The pink-skinned alien jabbed a thumb at the towering tank.

Terox focused in on the tank, finding that it was indeed the source of the energy he was sensing.

"What's in that thing?!" Terox hissed. "I could smell it half a multiverse away!"

"Souls and Kunenga Energy, mostly." The woman said. "Who are you?"

"Terox, devourer of gods and fucker-er of people's shit." Terox hissed. "Give me one good reason not to kill all of you and take that energy for myself right now!"

"Well, that's a bold way to start things off." The woman laughed. "My name's Divara, by the way. My lovely assistants here are Zetium and Prelude, respectively; I'll let you figure out which is which."

"I couldn't care less." Terox snorted. "I'm just here for that."

Terox gestured to the vat, which prompted the golem to stand up and place itself between the vat and Terox.

"Attempting to take that energy will be the last thing you ever do." The golem warned.

"I'll give you a hint; that one's Prelude." The woman teleported between the two. "Everyone just calm down here for a hot second."

"You're no human." Terox narrowed his eyes. "That energy...you smell like a Celestialsapien."

"I'm both, actually!" Divara said. "I gave up a bit of my power so I could get a human body and make decisions unimpeded. Neat, right?"

"Not really."

Before the conversation could continue, Millennia appeared in a pink flash, pushing Terox back a few feet.

"Oh look, it's the queen of empty threats." Terox snorted. "What are you doing here?"

"I sensed an entryway opening into a universe that's supposed to be in Quantum Flux, so that was pretty suspect." Millennia said. "Then I sensed your temporal signature suddenly showing up here, which I found very suspect. I decided to drop in and see what's going on."

"An entryway?" Divara looked puzzled. "What could possibly...goddammit, it's probably The Jester again. I should've known he'd take advantage of this somehow."

"The who?" Terox raised an eyebrow.

"The Jester is the physical manifestation of a dimension in this universe called The Void." Divara explained. "It's a force of nature that exists to filter excess Kunenga Energy into Void Energy, which screws up some of Kunenga Energy's properties. Suffice to say he's made things fairly difficult for me."

"Cool cool, still gonna kill you and snatch that shit." Terox said.

"Kill me?" Divara laughed. "I wish!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Terox growled. "I've fucked up a Celestialsapien before."

"Maybe wherever you came from, but here, Celestialsapiens aren't allowed to die." Divara sighed. "If I can complete my project, however..."

"You can put in an order for a coffin, got it." Terox nodded.

"That's...more than a bit concerning." Millennia interjected.

"I'm aware." Divara flashed a wry grin. "But I'm far beyond caring."

"Alright then you Hot Topic reject, let's say I let you finish whatever you're doing and die because I'm just a nice guy like that." Terox sniffed. "Why are you doing it in a goddamn library?"

"This is no mere library." Prelude huffed. "This is the Archives of Oberon."

"Archives of Oberon?" Terox muttered, confused. "The hell is an 'Oberon'?"

"Oberon is the King of the Fae in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream." Divara answered. "That being said, I don't know actually know what it has to do with the Archives."

"Oberon does not originate from Shakespeare's play." Prelude interjected. "In the original poem, Huon of Bordeaux, Oberon is the king of the fairies, yes, but his role in the narrative itself is helping the protagonist complete several impossible tasks. The Archives are meant to help my master complete his impossible task, and as such, the name 'Oberon' was chosen for them."

"Well that's hokey as fuck." Terox rolled his eyes, leaning on the wall. "Your master sounds like a huge tool."

"You are either very bold or very unwise." Prelude growled.

"We'll say both and split the difference." Terox tsked. "Also, what do you mean 'his'?"

"I'm not his 'master', I just have him on-board to help me bring his master back." Divara chuckled. "Everything in that vat is going towards bringing back something called the Anti-Life Entity."

"Bold name, straight to the point, could use work on the creativity angle." Terox hummed. "Six out of ten. Anyway, how exactly is that vat going to resurrect anyone?"

"It's a collection chamber for the wandering souls that comprised the entity's being." Divara explained. "They're all more or less here, but I need to construct a solid form for them to take root in. I've tried making self-sustaining nanomachines that could create or convert a suitable body, but...they haven't worked out as well as I'd hoped."

"Why not just slap him into the big lug over there?" Terox lazily jabbed his thumb at Prelude. "I don't think he'd mind."

"Unfortunately, my physical form is unsuitable for the entity's presence." Prelude said. "I was created as a herald, not a vessel."

"This is all...very interesting," Millennia said. "But as someone who's done business in this universe, I need to ask why it's in Quantum Flux."

"Always about the money with you." Terox snorted.

"Not the issue here."

"The universe is trying to reset; I don't want it to." Divara said. "I created a situation where threats to the Entity's return would be eliminated, but The Jester didn't take it well and did...something to trigger the reset."

"Huh." Terox huffed. "Eliminated by what?"

"A warlord named Kucorbian, I believe." Divara replied. "Why?"

"I'm just spitballing here, but if he's powerful enough to do take out threats to something called the 'Anti-Life Entity', wouldn't he make a half-decent body for the damn thing?"

"It's not that simple." Divara sighed. "It's not that his body is inherently powerful; he simply has control of nanomachines that can create...a suitable..."

Divara trailed off and stared into the distance as she appeared to realize what she was saying. Terox clapped his hands together and began laughing, walking over to the front of the vat's control panel. Millennia kept an eye on him from across the room with a concerned expression.

"That dawning moment of realization is what I live for." Terox cackled, tapping the side of the tank. "Might want to get on that sooner rather than later, lady."

Divara opened her mouth to reply, but decided against it. As she turned to leave, Millennia walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulder, teleporting them behind some shelves in a different part of the Archives.

"Hey, can we talk for a minute?"

"I..." Divara blinked a few times, momentarily disoriented from the sudden transportation. "About what?"

"About all of this." Millennia gestured to the Archives surrounding them. "About you especially."

"Sorry?" Divara looked confused.

"Is this convoluted mess really what you want?" Millennia asked. "All this just to die?"

"Even if it wasn't, I've gone too far to stop at this point." Divara looked away. "Too many people..."

Divara clenched her hands together, slightly trembling.

"Too many people have suffered for this to amount to nothing."

Millennia stayed silent for a few moments.

"...I'm a woman of business." Millennia said. "There's a concept in my field called 'cutting your losses'. Sometimes it's better to back out of a bad deal and accept the consequences than trying to see it through and making things even worse."

"This isn't business." Divara turned away. "It's my only way out."

"Out of what?" Millennia asked. "Why do you want to die so badly?"

Divara took a moment to collect herself before replying.

"I...I lost someone very close to me." Divara breathed. "I'd never had anything to lose before meeting him. When he died..."

Divara fell to her knees, leaning on the shelves for support.

"I realized how empty I really am." She mumbled.

"Let me guess." Millennia sat down cross-legged next to Divara. "A human?"

"Did having a human body give it away?" Divara chuckled dryly.

"Not necessarily; it's a convenient body type." Millennia replied. "It's just that...well, I know where you're coming from."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a Chronian." Millennia sighed. "I'm not totally immortal like you, but I don't age the same way as most species."

"Did you fall in love with a human once too?" Divara asked.

"Couldn't help it." Millennia chuckled. "Stupid charming bastards."

"And...?"

"And, she died." Millennia said, taking a deep breath. "We adopted kids, but they died too. Old age, all of them. Never got grandkids, so the whole family's gone. It's...well, it's just me now. I haven't tried settling down again since then."

"Are you okay with that?" Divara looked at her.

"I'm not okay with it, but I've had to accept it." Millennia said. "It's just the way things are. You're going to see the people you love die. There's nothing you can do about that."

"I know, but..." Divara trailed off. "What am I supposed to do? Forget about them?"

"Of course not." Millennia shook her head. "Cherish their memory, but don't dwell on their deaths. Move on for their sake."

"For their sake?"

"Well, yeah." Millennia placed a hand on Divara's shoulder. "What was the person you fell in love with like?"

"He was...incredible." Divara placed a hand over her heart. "When he found out what I was, he wasn't afraid or angry. He understood me like no one else ever did."

Divara choked up for a moment as tears ran down her cheeks.

"He didn't treat me like a god because of what I could do or where I came from." She choked out. "He treated me like one because...because he loved me."

"That being the case, do you really think this is the outcome he would've wanted for you?" Millennia asked.

Divara had no reply, leaving the question hanging in the air. After a few moments, Zetium's head peeked out from the end of the aisle of shelves.

"There you are!" Zetium exclaimed. "Hey, that Terox guy teleported out of here cackling something about 'taking the hero-killer's power for myself', and in my experience, that kind of behavior usually means we should be worried."

"No, no, that's good." Divara got to her feet, wiping her eyes. "I lead him on with that on purpose."

"What?!" Zetium yelled. "WHY?!"

"I needed to get him away from the Entity's energy, if only for a short while." Divara explained. "So I gave him something else to focus on."

"Don't you think that could backfire pretty badly?" Zetium groaned. "What if he does get that guy's powers?"

"It won't matter as long as I can bring the Entity back." Divara said. "Its powers supersede all others."

"Yeah, but it got killed by a kid with a watch, so like..." Zetium made an 'iffy' gesture with her hand. "You sure it's gonna work out?"

"...No." Divara replied. "But it's all I have left."

Outside the remains of a thoroughly-destroyed building in the industrial zone of a rather large city, two teenagers were fighting for their lives. One resembled Theo-4, with a white trenchcoat that stuck out next to his otherwise purplish clothing and cyan-symbolled Omnitrix. The other was a girl named Nova with a scarlet crop top and black pants, her hair stained a bright magenta that accentuated a pair of red, star-shaped sunglasses.

Their opponent was a skeletal monstrosity named Lord Kucorbian, wearing a crude facsimile of a pumpkin around its head and a noose around its neck. His entire body burned with a bright purple fire, imbuing it with power unknown.

Seconds beforehand, Kucorbian had killed Theo's parents, Isaac and Moranna Logical, while his own body was crafted from the remains of Nova's father, Napoleon Eldridge. Looming over Theo and Nova, Kucorbian took the opportunity to put in one more taunt.

"Most of your enemies could have killed all of you almost instantly if they hadn't wasted their time talking and allowing you to talk."

Theo's shock at what had just happened swiftly turned into pure, unfiltered rage, resulting in him letting out a bloodcurdling warcry as Bomb 2 Hell manifested from his Omnitrix and began pummeling Kucorbian mercilessly.

Chunks of Kucorbian's body were torn off and incinerated by the miniature explosions accompanying each punch, and as Kucorbian fell to the ground, Bomb 2 Hell switched to stomping on his body, crushing his bones until he was little more than a large smear of skeletal powder strewn across the ground.

Nova ran over to Theo and tried telling him something, but the ringing in his ears and overall disassociation from reality made it impossible for him to tell what she was saying. He gradually began to calm down, a process that was abruptly interrupted by a ball of burning energy flying towards the two.

All of a sudden, time seemed to slow down and stop, only to suddenly resume, knocking Theo somewhat off-balance. The ball of energy flying towards them was blocked by a new arrival; a black-shelled alien riding a motorcycle that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Ridejacker looked at Bomb 2 Hell and raised an eyebrow.

"Theo, right?"

"I..." Bomb 2 Hell disappeared as Theo took a moment to process what was going on. "How do you know my name?"

"Met a different version of you who's a real pain in der arsch." Ridejacker tsked, dismounting the motorcycle. "The hell's going on here?"

"What's going on is me eradicating my enemies!" Kucrobian snapped, having reformed his body a few meters away. "Who are you supposed to be?!"

"The name's Attai Zehn." Ridejacker summoned the CataloGun and reverted to human. "I'm here to do my job."

Kucorbian growled and flung another ball of flames at Attai, who shot it apart with the CataloGun before it could reach him.

"Well, you aren't doing a very good job of eradicating things." Attai snorted.

"Bold words for someone who just got here." Kucorbian hissed. "I've already killed these brats' parents, so if you don't mind, I'd like to finish burning down the family tree."

"Really?" Attai scoffed. "When'd that happen?"

"...Just now." Nova mumbled from behind Attai.

Attai turned to look at Nova for a second, then looked back at Kucorbian.

"Huh." Attai folded his arms. "Bad timing on my part, I guess."

Another ball of flaming energy flew past Attai's head, singing a bit of his hair as he stepped out of the way.

"Do you mind?" Attai grumbled.

"Yes!" Kucorbian snapped. "This is a battle! I'm here to kill, not talk!"

"Normally I'd commend that, but I don't think you and I would get along all that well." Attai pulled up the CataloGun. "So I'm gonna go ahead and ask you to verpiss dich."

"Just who do you think you are?!" Kucorbian roared.

"I just told you." Attai tsked, swiping a card through the gun's side slot. "Pay attention."

"Endangriff!" The gun announced. "Sandbox! Bitte seien sie vorsichtig!"

Attai fired, creating a massive tornado of sand that ripped through the air towards Kucorbian, engulfing him in a whirling pillar of earth. Kucorbian growled and blasted apart the tornado, only to find that his opponents had disappeared. Looking around, it appeared that he had been teleported to the bottom level of an underground parking garage.

"COWARDS!" Kucorbian roared. "Face me and die like men!"

"Would you settle for dying yourself?" A new voice came from behind him.

Kucorbian whipped around to find Terox observing him with his arms crossed, wearing his typical shark-like grin.

"And who are you?!" Kucorbian demanded.

"A god who's here for your powers." Terox replied. "You'd be wise not to put up a fight."

"Oh, a double 'who's that voice?' segment, very interesting." Another new voice came from Kucorbian's right.

Kucorbian and Terox turned to find a white-haired man wearing black clothing and a shirt with a yellow hourglass design approaching them while holding a recently-emptied bottle of whiskey.

"Of course, a lot of interesting things seem to be happening right now." The man smirked. "Things way above either of your heads."

"And while he's distracted-" Attai blinked a few times before lowering the CataloGun in confusion. "...Alright, what the hell?"

"Are you crazy?!" Theo-4 as Clockwork yelled, appearing in front of him. "That was the event that caused the quantum flux in the first place! Why would you stay here and fight?!"

"Oh, you must have teleported him away." Attai grumbled, dispelling the CataloGun. "Believe it or not, I don't know if I can teleport other people myself."

"Seriously?" Clockwork said. "You're a pretty crap Timewalker."

"Bite me." Attai tsked. "Not like I know where this is supposed to be anyway."

"Well, this was the outside of the local Plumber base, but it looks like it got wrecked pretty badly." Clockwork sighed. "I was hoping we could get some help here, but-"

"AERON!" Clockwork was interrupted as Theo lunged at him with a scream.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Attai snapped, grabbing Theo by the back of the collar as he passed him.

"Theo, are you serious?!" Nova protested. "There's no way that's Aeron, the color scheme's all wrong!"

"What other version of Clockwork looks like that?!" Theo retorted, smacking away Attai's hand.

"That's not Aeron, you absolute blodhammel." Attai shoved Theo aside. "He used to be, but he's certainly not now."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Theo growled.

Clockwork rolled his eyes and reverted to human, revealing his true appearance as a near-doppelganger of Theo with different clothes. Theo and Nova's eyes widened as Theo-4 awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah, so, you know how Aeron and Ego were kinda one person split into two?" Theo-4 said. "I, uh...got that fixed."

"No thanks to your Aeron half." Attai noted wryly.

"Yeah, I'm well aware." Theo-4 huffed.

"You think this changes anything?!" Theo grabbed Theo-4 by the shirt collar. "Fusing back into one person doesn't bring back any of the people you killed!"

"You have bigger problems right now." Attai pulled Theo away from his Dimension 4 counterpart, more than a bit annoyed by all this. "You can deal with this drama later. Right now, he's here to help."

Theo begrudgingly stood down, keeping a wary eye on Theo-4.

"Alpha, Herc, Pyros, Reaper..." Nova mumbled to herself, looking at the remains of the Plumber base. "They're all..."

Before she could finish the thought, a large, olive-skinned fist burst through part of the rubble, shortly followed by its owner, a hulking, black-haired man with black clothes carrying the unconscious bodies of two humans and an alien.

"No way, that's-" Nova started.

"Orion?!" Theo exclaimed, taking notice of the man emerging from the rubble.

"Who?" Attai asked flatly.

Orion stumbled through the ruins of the base towards the three, laying down the people he was carrying before sitting on the ground himself, battered and exhausted.

"They're alive, but just barely." Orion said, breathing heavily from the effort. "I was able to get them out, but I can't heal them."

Theo froze for a moment before solemnly nodding and pulling up his Omnitrix, summoning a pink and white winged alien next to him that hovered over to the survivors and began healing their injuries.

"How did you get out?" Nova asked. "Weren't you in a coma?"

"Yes, but I received a particularly jarring awakening." Orion sighed. "Normally, climbing out of the wreckage carrying those three wouldn't be difficult for me, but my muscles have atrophied quite a bit because of my extended bed rest."

"Seriously?" Attai raised an eyebrow, glaring at the man's toned figure.

"Who are the new arrivals?" Orion questioned, looking at Theo-4 and Attai. "One I can assume to be an alternate version of you, Logical, but the other's identity eludes me."

"He says his name is 'Attai Zehn'." Theo replied. "I'm...not entirely sure what he's doing here."

"Like I said earlier, my job." Attai huffed. "More importantly, did he just call you 'Logical'?"

"Yeah, that's my name." Theo said. "Theodore Logical."

"Theodore." Attai's eye twitched.

"Right."

"Logical."

"Correct."

"Theo."

"Yeah."

"Logical."

"Yes."

"Theo Logical."

"Again, yeah." Theo snapped. "What are you-"

"I hate this universe." Attai growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I hate this universe so goddamn much."

"This universe..." Orion said. "I take it you're not from here, correct?"

"I'm just a Timewalker who's passing through." Attai tsked. "Once I get this universe fixed up and scanned, I'm out."

"I see."

The alien Theo had summoned disappeared as it finished its job, leaving the three people Orion had pulled out of the rubble completely healed. After a couple of moments, they began to wake up.

"What happened?" The blue alien groaned, rubbing his head for a second before noticing his surroundings. "...Something that's going to be a royal pain to explain, apparently."

"Probably." Attai said.

"Okay, I'll bite; who the hell are you?" Terox grunted. "Anyone interesting or am I gonna have to blow you away with this jackoff?"

"I'm not here for a fight; not with you anyway, I'd probably lose." The new arrival casually put his hands up. "You've got some serious energy buildup, I can tell that much."

"Just answer the question, asshole."

"Pushy, aren't we?" The man tsked. "Call me Rotor. Pix T. Rotor. I've got some insider info on this universe you might be interested in."

"Your presence here is unnecessary." Kucorbian growled. "Get out of here before I-"

"Before you what, destroy my body?" Rotor interrupted. "I hate to tell you this, but that's going to be a bit more difficult than you'd imagine."

"My fire absorbs the soul of whatever it touches." Kucorbian stated. "Even if your body were to survive, it would be nothing more than an empty husk."

"I'm an AI, I don't have what you would call a 'soul'." Rotor rolled his eyes. "At least not in the traditional sense."

"So what, you're an android?" Terox snorted.

"Not exactly." Rotor shook his head. "My body is mostly flesh and blood. That being said-"

Rotor was cut off as Kucorbian launched a massive burst of flames at him, consuming his body entirely.

"That's all I needed to know." Kucorbian grinned.

"Okay, you need to calm the hell down." Terox tsked. "And if I'm the one who has to say that, you've definitely got a couple screws loose."

"Well, I guess this works as a demonstration." Rotor's nonchalant voice sounded from inside the pillar of flames.

The fire and smoke died down, revealing what appeared to be a black mass of tendrils dotted a sickly yellow roughly in the shape of a human nervous system attached to a device resembling the core of an Omnitrix. Bone, organs, muscle, and skin all regenerated around this unnerving frame, restoring Rotor back to normal with his clothes in a matter of seconds.

"Now, can we get back to business?" Rotor said.

"I gotta admit, that is interesting." Terox laughed. "Alright wise guy, I'll hear you out. I just gotta take care of this pissant first."

"Fair enough."

"You'll have a hard time 'taking care of me' with the soul ripped from your body!" Kucorbian took a deep breath and fired a burst of flames from his mouth.

Terox took the brunt of the flames, folding his arms in an impatient manner.

"It's a stretch to say I have a soul, and even assuming I did, I'm an energy being." Terox rolled his eyes. "Good luck pulling my consciousness out of a completely arbitrary body."

Kucorbian ceased his attack, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"I don't get it." Kucorbian said. "I know I absorbed someone's soul just now, but you're still standing."

"Don't be ridiculous." Terox snorted. "I'm obviously still here and Gamma's consciousness is way too fucked to ever come back, so who the hell could you have-"

Terox paused.

"What are you doing?" Kucorbian demanded.

"Shut up, I'm thinking." Terox waved him off. "Hey alcoholic, do you know how this fucker works?"

"That 'fucker' is Lord Kucorbian, an alien that can absorb souls." Rotor laughed. "He was the ruler of his entire species before he went and killed them all."

"Finally, someone relatable."

"Anyway, he's currently using Swarm 1, a swarm of nanomachines made by a race formerly known as the Zenturi." Rotor continued. "All you really need to know is that it can construct pretty much anything the user wants using Void Energy. Weapons, machines, bodies, and so on and so forth."

"I might need to steal that thing." Terox mused.

"Good luck with that!" Kucorbian cackled. "Swarm 1 is controlled by the strongest soul within its framework. I spent twenty-five years trapped in this device, so there's no way in hell an outsider like you could possibly-"

Kucorbian was suddenly cut off as his body was consumed in crackling orange energy. He fell to his knees, unable to control his body as Swarm 1 pulsated around him, deconstructing and reconstructing parts of him in random waves.

"What's going on?!" Kucorbian managed to wheeze out. "What is this?!"

Terox began laughing hysterically, eventually stopping to close his teeth into a shark-like grin.

"Looks like there's some Gamma Energy in you that ain't playing too well with your Void Energy!" Terox cackled. "And if that means what I think it means..."

Kucorbian's body split open, a mix of orange and purple energy exploding out of his bisected torso. A humanoid figure emerged from the light, kneeling one leg on the ground to support itself as it was seemingly ejected from its host. Kucorbian regained control of Swarm 1, immediately racing to reconstruct his body and back away from whatever had just come out of him.

"What the hell?!" Kucorbian yelled.

The light surrounding the figure faded, revealing its features to those present. It was a male teenager with brown hair and orange eyes, wearing a black outfit with orange stripes and an equally orange undershirt. On his left wrist was a black and orange device resembling an Omnitrix. The person slowly clambered to his feet, facing Terox with a weary glare.

"Miguel Rivers!" Terox announced, a crazed look in his eyes. "Welcome back to the world of the damned!"

Terox and Mig stared at each other in silence for a fairly long time. Eventually, Rotor pretended to check a watch he didn't have and whistled.

"Damn, is it that time already?" Rotor said. "Looks like you two are gonna be busy for a couple minutes, so I'll be back later. I have something else I want to do."

Rotor gave a lazy wave before his body abruptly dissolved into the air, leaving the remaining three present by themselves. Mig looked at Terox for a few more moments before abruptly turning and starting to walk away.

"Woah woah woah, where do you think you're going?!" Terox yelled, bewildered by this reaction. "Look at me, Rivers!"

Mig paused and looked back at Terox with a flat expression, giving Terox no clue as to what he was thinking.

"What's the point?" Mig finally spoke up.

"...Excuse me?" Terox's face scrunched up in confusion.

"What's the point of talking to you, Terox?" Mig snapped. "Everything's gone. My family, my friends, my universe, all of it. You won. What the hell else could you possibly want?"

"Nothing; that's sort of the problem." Terox replied. "I felt pretty good about myself for a while, but destroying a universe doesn't leave you much to mess with."

"You mean you did all that shit without an endgame in mind?" Mig spat.

"Doing all that shit was my endgame." Terox said. "I just didn't think about the post-endgame. Now I'm bored all the time, but with you here..."

Terox rubbed his hands together.

"You were always my favorite pawn, you know." He continued. "Messing with you is the one thing I could never get bored of."

This time, it was Mig's turn to laugh. Terox stared at him, confused by this reaction.

"God, you're pathetic." Mig said. "You have all the power you ever wanted, and now you're bored with it? Do you know how much you could do with that power?"

"Don't patronize me." Terox snapped. "I know perfectly well what I'm capable of. I just don't have any applications for it."

"...Of course you don't." Mig began laughing again, covering his eyes as he threw his head backward. "Of fucking course you don't. What else was I expecting from someone like you?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Terox growled.

"Think about what I could do with that power." Mig stopped laughing. "I'd bring back our universe. Restore everyone you killed. Bring back my family. I'd have goals, Terox. But you?"

Mig cracked his fingers, tilting his head to the side as he glared at Terox.

"All you ever do is wreck shit." Mig continued. "Your goal? Wreck shit. Can't wreck enough shit? Get more power to wreck more shit. Run out of things to wreck?"

Mig paused, waiting for a reply from Terox. After he receiving none, he rolled his eyes and heaved a deep sigh.

"...You're stuck, Terox." Mig said. "You got as far as you could go, and now you're stuck. Fighting me over and over again in this endless pissing contest won't change that for you."

Mig scoffed and began walking away again.

"As far as I can tell, nothing will."

"Wha-don't turn your back on me, you little shit!" Terox yelled. "Get back here and fight me! Don't you want revenge?!"

"Normally, I'd say yes." Mig replied, looking back over his shoulder. "But unfortunately for you, I just can't bring myself to care anymore."

"What about restoring our universe?!"

Mig stopped walking and turned around.

"Excuse me?"

"You just said that if you had this power, you would restore our universe and bring your family back and all that gushy shit, right?" Terox said. "I got this power by killing you in the first place. If you could kill me and take that power back, you'd be able to do everything you just talked about."

There was a long moment of quiet.

"You know..." Mig finally broke the silence. "I know you're baiting me. Problem is..."

Mig pulled up the device on his left wrist.

"You make a damn good point."

"A heartwarming reunion, but I'm afraid you'll need to find somewhere else to play out your pathetic squabble." Kucorbian interjected. "If I'm going to keep getting interrupted, then I'll just cut to the chase."

The purple fire spewing from Kucorbian's body intensified, burning so brightly that it was painful to look at. Cracks in reality began to form, with chunks of space and time dissolving away into nothing.

"The first thing Swarm 1 ever did was destroy its own timeline." Kucorbian smirked. "This may not be as satisfying as killing people up close and personally, but it is much more efficient."

"Yeah well, I can destroy a whole universe of timelines at once, so like, whatever." Terox huffed, folding his arms together.

Mig pressed a button on the device on his wrist, transforming it into an attack gauntlet. He lunged at Kucorbian, trying to land a solid blow to his head, but was backhanded away by his target.

"What the hell are you doing?" Terox asked.

"I second the question." Kucorbian hissed.

"I may not have anything left to lose, but the people living in this timeline probably do." Mig clenched his fists. "I couldn't save my own world, but I'm not going to stand by and watch as someone else's is destroyed."

"There's that misguided fighting spirit I missed!" Terox laughed. "You know what, I think I'll be nice and let you warm up on this clown."

Terox disappeared, teleporting away to parts unknown. Mig glared at the spot he had been standing in for a moment before punching his fists together and reaching for his gauntlet.

"I guess this is the start of something new again, huh?" Mig tsked. "Let's get to it."

After some introductions, Attai was informed that out of the three people Orion had pulled out of the wrecked base, the alien was named Herc, the young adult wearing a black outfit with an orange shirt and a pompadour was an alien hybrid named Pyros, and the man wearing armor was named Reaper.

"Reaper, huh?" Attai said flatly. "Was 'Bloody Darkness Death Man' already taken?"

"I am perfectly aware of how odd my name sounds in the modern age." Reaper replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, Reaper's from ancient Egypt." Pyros stated casually.

"That response explains absolutely nothing and has only confused me even more."

"What about Alpha?" Nova asked. "Kucorbian destroyed her Data Crystal and wrecked the computer systems. Is she-"

"Alpha is an ancient AI that's outlived everyone here combined and then some." Reaper interrupted. "I'd be very surprised if she didn't have another backup somewhere else."

"Not that it helps us now." Theo said. "We need to beat Kucorbian before he kills anyone else."

"Uh, I dunno if you noticed, but Kucorbian has Swarm 1 on him." Pyros said. "I know you've got Swarm 2, but that's like a downgraded model or something, right?"

"It's not downgraded, it's just-" Nova started protesting before taking a moment to think. "Who am I kidding, it's a hell of a downgrade. But that doesn't mean it's useless against Swarm 1!"

"But it will make killing Kucorbian a lot harder." Herc tsked.

"Speaking of hard things..." A new voice sounded.

The group turned to find Rotor approaching them, tossing away one bottle of alcohol while pulling another one out of his breast pocket.

"Orion, you tough son of a bitch!" Rotor laughed. "I thought for sure you'd be dead by now! You know, since I shot you in the fucking head and what not."

"Rotor." Orion's eyes narrowed.

"Who?" Attai asked.

"Pix T. Rotor." Orion elaborated. "The man responsible for the death of my family."

"The AI responsible for the death of your family." Rotor corrected him. "Besides, you got your son out well and good. I wasn't technically supposed to kill anyone, but rules are meant to be broken."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, if I recall correctly, my job was just to get you out of the village." Rotor tapped the top of his beer bottle against his chin absentmindedly. "Infiltrating your life beforehand and making your friends and family go night-night was just a fun little side thing I decided to do."

"Are you serious?" Theo snapped. "Do you really think that little of human life?!"

"Hell yeah I do!" Rotor took another drink. "Speaking about dead people, have you ever heard of Mozart's Requiem in D minor?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I just think it's a hilarious story." Rotor shrugged. "Guy got commissioned by some mysterious stranger and thought he was writing his own funeral music. Then he fuckin died before he finished it! That's what I call classical comedy!"

"Are you trying to make some sort of point here?" Orion demanded.

"Yes and no."

Rotor took another drink of alcohol before continuing. He pointed to Theo as a large smirk came across his face.

"Your Requiem, much like Mozart's, remains incomplete." Rotor grinned. "My Elegy, on the other hand..."

Large black tendrils sprouted out of Rotor's back, lighting up with glowing yellow dots resembling the pattern of the Requiem growths.

"Was completed a long time ago."

"That's impossible..." Theo muttered. "How could you have Requiem nanomachines? They were only created a couple years ago, and the ones I don't have are at the bottom of the ocean!"

"Water pressure isn't an issue for me, but that's neither here nor there since these aren't Requiem nanomachines." Rotor chuckled. "Like I said, they're Elegy nanomachines. A predecessor of your version, to put it bluntly."

"A predecessor?" Theo only grew more confused. "I didn't see anything like that in the Marianas lab. How could-"

"Do you honestly think humans made these?!" Rotor began howling with laughter. "Get real, kid! You didn't find it even a little bit strange that these scientists made a completely unprecedented breakthrough in Earthling nanotechnology, a self-replicating device capable of interacting with alien devices, mind you, almost entirely by accident? You're even dumber than I thought."

"Just get to the point already." Attai snapped.

"Geez, you're no fun." Rotor tsked, turning his attention back to Theo. "My point is, the Requiem nanomachines were planted into a human nanomachine development project so you could get lured to them without thinking anything of it like an idiot. You think the crab guy's robot suddenly coming back online after twenty-five years just sort of happened?"

"What the hell is he talking about?" Attai interjected.

"Long story." Nova answered.

"Look, I'm gonna cut to the chase." Rotor rolled his eyes. "First came my Elegy nanomachines, which brought me to life. Then came your Requiem nanomachines, which brought you back from the dead. What does that tell you?"

"Someone's been trying to develop life-giving nanomachines that tie into Omnitrices for some reason?" Attai stated flatly.

"Still not talking to you." Rotor grunted, then turned to point at Orion. "And you, you dumb motherfucker, did you think you just so happened to visit fucking Antarctica by chance?"

"Excuse me?" Orion's eyes narrowed.

"Don't 'excuse me?' me, you know what I'm talking about." Rotor grunted. "You somehow survived bleeding to death on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Why? After that, you found your way to Antarctica, where you learned about the power of Kunenga Energy. Why? And then you somehow managed to track down the one artifact in the multiverse capable of transfusing Kunenga Energy into yourself in some random-ass Aztec temple completely off any known maps. Why?"

"Are you suggesting I was manipulated into these circumstances by what would have to be some sort of...higher power?" Orion asked incredulously.

"I ain't suggesting shit, I'm telling you outright." Rotor snorted, taking a swig of alcohol. "The same person who made me has been making all of you look like goddamn idiots for the past decade."

"As someone who hasn't been here for the past decade, I have absolutely no clue how any of this is relevant at the moment." Attai snapped.

"How is it not relevant?" Rotor laughed. "The only reason these people aren't dead right now is because you showed up and hijacked the timeline. Ten years of manipulation leading up to everyone here dying, and it all gets a wrench thrown into it by some random Timewalker coming in. It's beautiful, really."

"How does any of what you just said directly correlate to what's going on here?" Attai said.

"Boy, for a smartass, you can be thicker than pig shit, huh?" Rotor tsked. "Put two and two together, would ya?"

"I think he's trying to imply Kucorbian was able to take over Swarm 1 because he had help from the same person that's been doing all this." Theo-4 interjected. "All things considered, probably a Celestialsapien or a similar reality-bending species."

"That's ridiculous." Herc spoke up. "Why would a Celestialsapien bother with all this roundabout nonsense?"

"Because the more it looks like a series of drawn-out natural events, the less likely it is that other Celestialsapiens are going to look into it." Reaper offered. "They could have stopped the process at any time if they had found out about it."

"Finally, someone gets it!" Rotor exclaimed.

"Why are you telling us all this?" Theo hissed. "Just to taunt us?"

"More or less." Rotor shrugged. "You're welcome, by the way. I was planning on taking over the Zodiac Organization and seeing how much I could steer this whole gig off-course, but everyone left or died after Orion got arrested, so that didn't pan out."

"Everyone?" Orion's eyes narrowed.

"If you want to get technical Scorpio and Aquarius are still in the area but they weren't interested." Rotor shrugged. "I even had a cool new name for the group lined up and everything."

Before any more questions could be asked, cracks suddenly began manifesting in the air itself, with chunks of reality crumbling away into a black void.

"Oh shit, looks like Kucorbian's cutting out the middle man early." Rotor whistled. "It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to this."

"She?" Attai said.

Instead of replying, Rotor took a quick swig of wine from a bottle he had hidden in his coat pocket and flashed a peace sign, dissolving away into the air again.

"Can't you people just be normal for once?" Attai groaned.

"This is bad." Theo-4 said. "Whatever Kucorbian is doing, it's wrecking the integrity of this timeline. If we don't stop him, we're all dead."

"Well, you're all dead." Attai sniffed. "Still, I'm not keen on letting that happen."

Attai turned and pointed at Pyros.

"Hey pompadour, you said you're an alien hybrid, right?" Attai said. "Anyone else here have extra DNA?"

"I do, but it's not alien DNA." Theo remarked.

"Doesn't need to be." Attai replied. "You know any other hybrids that would help us fight Kucorbian?"

"A few, but why hybrids specifically?" Theo looked puzzled.

Attai summoned a card and ran it through the CataloGun, pulling the trigger twice. Two Hybrider belts appeared in front of him, and he placed one around his waist while tossing the other to Theo.

"These things are why." Attai stated. "A little armor can go a long way."

"You know, when I asked if you knew any other hybrids, I was kind of hoping for adults." Attai grumbled.

Attai, Theo and Nova walked through the streets of suburbia with their new recruit tailing behind. She was a black-haired teenager wearing an oversized white sweater with green stripes and a pair of black jeans.

"I-I know I'm not much, but I've gotten a lot better at controlling my powers!" She said. "I don't really know how to fight, but-"

"You're fine, I'm just sick of working with teenagers." Attai grunted.

"Don't worry Sybil, we'll be there the whole time." Nova placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just follow our lead and you'll be fine."

"Or dead." Attai remarked.

"Not helping!"

Theo's phone began to ring and he motioned for the group to stop. He answered the call and put it on speakerphone so everyone could hear.

"The good news: we found Scorpio and Aquarius." Pyros's voice came from the other end of the call. "Bad news: they told us to fuck off."

"We did kinda wreck their day job..." Nova scratched back of her neck awkwardly.

"It's not that." Pyros said. "They just don't want anything to do with Orion."

"Uh...wasn't he their boss?" Theo looked puzzled.

"It would be wise to place emphasis on the past tense in that sentence." Orion's voice came through the phone. "More than that, however, Scorpio is my son, and we have an...unstable relationship, so to speak."

"Dude, you hired your kid to be part of your world domination club?" Nova tsked. "Talk about nepotism."

"Ignoring all that, how did your search go?" Herc said from the other end of the line.

"Sybil agreed to help." Theo said. "But not having Scorpio and Aquarius is going to make things more difficult."

"Well, one is better than none." Attai interjected. "And we don't have time to mope about it. We need to find Kucorbian, and fast."

"But how-" Sybil started.

"No, no, let me do it." Attai interjected wearily. "'But how are we going to find him?'"

A massive explosion shot into the air over the downtown area, prompting a shocked look from everyone except Attai.

"We'll meet you at the obvious giant explosion." Attai said. "Let's head out."

All nine members of the group converged in front of a destroyed mall in the center of downtown. Anyone who wasn't dead was running as far away as they could from the area.

"What the hell is he doing?" Herc said. "If he's ripping apart the timeline, why waste time wrecking a shopping mall?"

Herc's question was swiftly answered as a humanoid alien seemingly made of rock was suddenly thrown through the wall of a second-story sports center, crashing into the ground with a loud crack. There was a sudden flash of orange light, after which the alien was revealed to have reverted to Mig, groaning in the center of the crater his body had just formed.

"Shit..." Mig coughed, pulling himself to his feet. "Even Bedrock isn't tough enough for this guy."

"Who's that?" Pyros asked. "He's got a cool outfit."

"A DEAD MAN!" Kucorbian's voice rang through the destroyed mall.

Kucorbian leaped out of the building he had thrown Mig through and landed on his feet a few meters away from the group, leering up at them furiously.

"Because of this wretched worm, I haven't been able to focus on destroying this timeline!" Kucorbian spat.

"Hey, works for me." Attai tsked. "Seriously though, who are you?"

"Miguel Rivers." Mig answered. "Call me Mig."

"He a friend of yours?" Attai asked Theo.

"I've never seen this guy before." Theo replied.

"I'd be surprised if you had." Mig chuckled hoarsely. "I'm not exactly from around here."

"But you're going to die here!" Kucorbian roared.

Kucorbian launched a massive wall of flames at the group, attempting to consume them all at once. Attai activated his Hybrider belt, assuming his Gesamtkunstwerk form and running a card through the CataloGun within the space of a millisecond. A copy of Big Chill appeared in front of them, freezing the flames and then disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.

"What is that?!" Kucorbian demanded, pointing at the belt.

"It's some tech you don't have in this universe." Attai smirked. "Good luck eradicating this, asshole."

Attai ran another card through the CataloGun and summoned copies of Ryan Fenrir and Shane Vidar in their Hybrider forms as Pyros and Sybil put on their own Hybrider belts. Theo hesitantly grabbed the handle of his belt and looked over at Attai, who simply nodded at him.

"...Alright." Theo said. "Let's do this!"

Theo, Pyros, and Sybil activated their Hybrider belts, causing armor to envelop their bodies. Theo's armor covered less of his form, resembling the Gesamtkunstwerk armor more than a standard Hybrider's.

"Hey, uh, what did you say these things were called again?" Pyros asked.

"Hybrider belts." Attai tsked. "You're Hybriders."

"Sounds fake, but I can get down with it!"

Theo's Omnitrix started beeping and whirring, prompting him to look at it. The dial's screen flashed a strange hexagram symbol with an angular infinity sign in the center.

"Uh, I think this 'Hybrider' tech screwed up the StarTrix." Theo said.

"Just work with it." Attai grunted.

The Hybriders rushed Kucorbian all at once, something he wasn't particularly expecting. Kucorbian created a massive broadsword and swung at Theo, only for Attai to jump in and parry it with Rigon's blade. Sybil threw out her arms, creating a gravity field around Kucorbian that began crushing him into the ground.

He attempted to create a burst of flames to ward off his attackers, but they were dispelled by Ryan and Pyros, with a further attempt being thwarted by Shane raising a razor-sharp diamond pillar from the earth beneath him, impaling him rather thoroughly.

With Kucorbian effectively immobilized, everyone that had previously hung back joined in. Reaper slashed at Kucorbian with a scythe made of lights, followed by a shotgun blast from Herc's transformed arm and a solid blow to the head from Orion. Mig took the opportunity to pull up his gauntlet and transform into a cheetah-like humanoid alien, rushing in and assaulting Kucorbian with a series of blows too fast for the naked eye to follow.

"What the hell is this?!" Kucorbian screamed, his body being destroyed as quickly as he could rebuild it.

"Little tactic I picked up in the field." Attai tsked. "Blitzkrieg."

"Nova, now!" Theo yelled.

Nova jumped into the air, aided by rocket boosters she constructed on her legs using Swarm 2. As she reached the apex of her jump, she dismantled the rocket boosters and reconstructed them as one large booster located on her back. In place of the boosters on her legs, she constructed a massive drill around her right leg, revving it up to high speeds.

The rocket booster on her back kicked in, launching her at Kucorbian as everyone else cleared the area. The tip of the drill made contact with Kucorbian's forehead, lodging itself in the thick shell surrounding it as it slowly dug further in.

"What are you doing?!" Kucorbian demanded. "This is useless!"

"Swarm 2 may be a downgraded model, but it's still got the same basic functions as Swarm 1!" Nova yelled. "You may have taken our parents...but I'm taking them back!"

Kucorbian's head exploded as Nova's drill made contact with Swarm 1's control module, destroying it instantly. The energy previously contained in Swarm 1 flowed into Swarm 2, flooding Nova's body with power as Kucorbian's own body broke apart. With one last push, the drill finally pierced through what was left of the fallen lord's body, explosively disintegrating his remains in one final blow.

Nova hit the ground with the drill still spinning, accidentally lodging it in the earth and spinning her around a few times before she managed to deconstruct it alongside her rocket pack. Theo ran over to her with a concerned expression.

"Nova, are you okay?" Theo asked.

"I'm good, I'm good, just a little dizzy." Nova grabbed onto Theo's shoulder for support. "More importantly, I got what we needed."

After taking a moment to recover, Nova took a deep breath and activated Swarm 2. The nanomachines under her command buzzed around and began forming glowing humanoid shapes in front of her. With one last flash, the Swarm's job was complete, and Theo and Nova's parents stood in front of them fully intact. Nova fell to her knees, heaving from exhaustion.

"WELL FUCK YOU TOO PUMPKIN MAN!" Isaac yelled before suddenly realizing where he was. "Uh...what just happened?"

"I'm not sure." Moranna replied, observing their surroundings. "But it looks like it was a mess."

"Swarm 1 stores souls, remember?" Napoleon said. "Nova must have used Swarm 2 to grab our souls after Kucorbian killed us and-"

"Yeah, yeah, we all get the picture." Attai snapped. "We don't need any more exposition on it."

"Dad!" Nova picked herself up and practically tackled Napoleon with a hug. "I thought you...I thought I'd..."

Nova broke down crying as Napoleon returned the embrace and patted her on the back reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying," Nova choked out. "I just-"

"Nova, it's alright." Napoleon said. "If I were in your position, I'd be crying too."

Attai looked over at Theo and his parents, who all simply gave each other a reaffirming nod.

"Ah, the duality of man." Attai tsked.

"To be fair, Nova did see me shoot her dad's head off a couple of hours ago." Herc coughed.

"...You what?"

"It was Kucorbian, he just hadn't refurbished the body yet."

"Oh." Attai paused. "Wait, that fucker was using-"

"What a heartwarming reunion!" Rotor's voice sounded from above the group. "I hate to be a party crasher, but..."

Rotor leaped down from the roof where he had been standing and took a swig of beer before smashing the bottle against a piece of rubble.

"Actually, scratch that." Rotor said. "Crashing parties is pretty much my favorite hobby at this point."

"What are you doing here?" Orion demanded.

"I'm here for you, actually." Rotor replied. "I got distracted earlier, it happens, but uh...remember how I shot you in the fucking head but you surived anyway?"

"...Yes."

"Yeah, I feel obligated to get it right this time." Rotor pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Orion's face. "That's the excuse she's trying to get me to think is my own choice, at least."

"Again with the 'she' thing." Attai grumbled.

Rotor slammed a fist into the ground, creating an explosion that sent everybody flying. The copies of Ryan and Shane disappeared, while the rest of the group hit the ground hard.

"What the hell?!" Theo groaned. "That's Bomb 2 Hell's power!"

"What, you didn't think me fading into the wind was a result of magic and pixie dust, did ya?" Rotor laughed. "I've got alien powers, you twats!"

"But how?" Pyros asked. "Are you a hybrid too?"

"Not exactly." Rotor dug his fingers into his abdomen and ripped open his chest to reveal the Omnitrix core merged with his sternum. "I'm what you might call an 'Omnitrix'."

"A walking, talking Omnitrix with alcohol problems." Attai muttered. "Sure, why not?"

"I don't have alcohol problems." Rotor protested. "I mean, I have problems, but I usually find that alcohol is the solution."

"I don't understand." Orion said. "What made you?"

"The lady I keep talking about, duh!" Rotor laughed, closing up his chest. "Problem is she's shit at programming, so she just gave the AI life and accidentally created my bomb-ass personality! Ain't life grand?"

"Okay then, why were you made?" Herc interjected.

"She needed a prototype Omnitrix to carry around the Elegy nanomachines before moving on to the next model." Rotor shrugged. "Not much else to it."

"Wait a goddamn second." Attai snapped. "Prototype Omnitrix...Prototrix...Pix T. Rotor...are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Feels good for someone to finally figure that out." Rotor took a deep, satisfied breath before cocking his pistol and aiming it at Orion again. "Welp, bedtime for bonzo."

Before Rotor could take the shot, a large, scorpion-like tail impaled him through the back, skewering his Omnitrix core and ripping its sparking remains out of his body.

"Yeah, I should've figured something like this was gonna happen now." Rotor wheezed. "Turns out the bonzo is me."

Rotor's body slumped to the ground, no longer controlled by his destroyed core. Scorpio pulled his tail out of Rotor's back and swung it around, trying to shake off the various bits of gristle that had gotten stuck on it.

"Here, let me." Aquaris walked up behind him. "You know, this wouldn't be a problem if you had gone for it through the front."

"Yeah, but then he would've seen me coming!" Scorpio snapped.

Aquarius pulled some water out of a nearby broken pipeline, using her abilities to wash it over Scorpio's tail and clean it off. Once she was done, the tail retracted, disappearing to the point where it didn't even look like it had been there to begin with.

"Scorpio..." Orion said. "You-"

"Don't get the wrong idea." Scorpio huffed. "This doesn't mean we're cool. I still got a lot of beef with you, old man."

"That's fair." Orion hung his head, hiding a faint grin. "That's entirely fair."

"So, out of curiosity, what made you two decide to show up?" Attai raised an eyebrow as everyone else pulled themselves to their feet.

"I dunno, just felt like it." Scorpio shrugged dismissively. "Get off my case."

"I'm beginning to sense a pattern here."

All of a sudden, a ripple in reality formed as Divara materialized in front of the group, giving them all a slight bow before looking down at Rotor's corpse.

"Why did I ever think it was a good idea to make you?" She grimaced.

"Let me guess, you're the mysterious 'She' this guy kept rambling about?" Attai snorted. "The evasive person 'controlling everything from the shadows'?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds more malicious than I really meant it to be." Divara coughed. "At any rate, my name is Divara. It's nice to finally meet all of you."

Divara gave Attai and Mig a puzzled look.

"Except you two." She said, gesturing between the two of them. "I...I don't know who you are."

"Let's just say we're new arrivals and leave it at that." Attai rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Why reveal yourself now?" Theo asked. "After a whole decade of doing your best to keep things under wraps?"

"Because I'm just about done, and I wanted to apologize to you all in person." Divara said with a sad smile. "You deserved far better than this."

Elegy nanomachines began flowing out of Rotor's body and pooling together near Divara. At the same time, Theo's Requiem nanomachines began leaving his body as well as the StarTrix, causing it to flicker for a few moments before suddenly reverting to a gray and black color scheme with a standard emerald hourglass symbol displayed on the screen.

The Requiem nanomachines began fusing into the Elegy nanomachines, with the yellow and blue lights of each merging to create a sickly green glow.

"Uh, what's happening?" Pyros said.

"I'm merging the data from the Elegy and Requiem nanomachines into one set." Divara stated. "With both of their abilities combined, they should be able to create the final product."

"What product?" Theo demanded.

Divara's only response was a snap of her fingers, creating a portal into the Archives of Oberon's vat space. The souls and energy from the vat began flowing into the mass of nanomachines, which reacted by warping and heaving itself into various shapes before finally settling into a vaguely humanoid appearance.

The last of the souls from the vat made their way into the pulsating mass, and with one last explosive burst, the fusion process was complete. The nanomachines covering the surface of the new creation retreated beneath its skin, revealing a tall, armored entity whose only facial features were two piercing eyes providing sight for a body that glowed a radiant green.

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me..." Isaac's eye twitched. "That's-"

"The Anti-Life Entity has returned!" Prelude announced, making his way through the portal and spreading his arms out wide. "Rejoice! The day of salvation is at hand!"

"Okay, anyone want to tell me what an 'Anti-Life Entity' is?" Attai hissed.

"An ancient being crafted from the merged souls of an alternate human race." Reaper said. "It bears the power of Kunenga Energy, which allows it to use any ability in existence."

"The Entity is much more than that!" Prelude interjected, kneeling down before the Entity. "It is the savior of all sapient beings!"

"You say that, but the fact that it's got 'Anti-Life' in its name gives me doubts." Attai scoffed.

"The Entity thinks that since living brings about suffering by necessity, destroying all life is the only way to save it." Isaac folded his arms. "Real roundabout shit, but that's how it is."

"Isaac Logical." The Entity gestured towards him. "I must thank you for killing me as you did. Now that I know my weaknesses..."

The Entity's body flared up for a moment as he surrounded himself with bright energy.

"I can correct them."

"Yeah, I was kinda banking on you not coming back." Isaac said. "This is a bit of an issue."

"For you, perhaps." The Entity stated. "But for your kind? This is salvation."

"This is stupid." Attai huffed, shouldering the CataloGun. "If people want to live, then let 'em live. What gives you authority over everyone else?"

"Experience. Power." The Entity tsked. "Knowledge. Life formed by pure chance, and the desire to live is but a result of yet more chance occurrences. Why allow suffering when the life that gives it to you is as meaningless as everything else in the universe?"

"If everything is meaningless then the idea that everything is meaningless is in and of itself meaningless." Attai rolled his eyes. "'Oh wow look at me, I can observe that things that happened by chance happened by chance I'm so smart and cool!'. No, you're not, you're just being cynical. Stop trying to use a college-level philosophical loop to try and justify this shit you goddamn edgelord."

"I'm not being cynical, I'm being realistic." The Entity spat. "Prove to me that life has any inherent value."

"Prove to me that it doesn't." Attai retorted.

"Like I said, it was created by chance."

"So was the 'suffering' it experiences by extension." Attai said. "By that logic, then suffering is also meaningless, and making attempts to remove it from the universe is just as arbitrary as anything else. If life has no meaning, then pain has no meaning."

"This confrontation is a lot drier than I was expecting." Scorpio grumbled.

"Enough of this!" The Entity yelled. "I have no need to explain myself to the likes of you!"

"Then I have no need not to kick your ass." Attai shrugged.

"Hang on a sec, does anyone else hear something weird?" Nova interjected.

Those present paused to listen. Sure enough, there was a strange noise off the distance that vaguely sounded like the words 'MINE MINE MINE MINE' being chanted over and over. Without any warning, Terox appeared next to the Entity with a loud crack as he broke the sound barrier on his way over.

"What up?" Terox asked, grinning from ear to ear.

With that, Terox plunged his arm into the Entity's chest.

After a few moments of stunned silence, the Entity turned its head to face Terox with a glare.

"What is this farcical nonsense?" The Entity growled.

"Don't mind me, just taking your energy." Terox laughed. "Now this oughta be some good shit."

"Begone, fool." The Entity grabbed Terox by the helmet and tossed him away.

"Sorry, but it ain't that easy to get rid of me." Terox smirked, landing on his feet. "I'm sort of famous for that."

"Are you?" The Entity raised a hand towards Terox, using telepathy to read his memories. "Hm. It appears you are rather difficult to destroy."

"See, what'd I tell ya?"

"But not impossible."

The Entity made a crushing motion with his hand, causing Terox's body to implode in on itself. Terox managed to reform his body fairly quickly, but appeared severely caught off-guard by this.

"Alright, that hurt." Terox growled. "But I'm an energy being. Destroying my body isn't going to do anything but inconvenience me."

"Then I inconvenience you I shall."

The Entity created a miniature self-contained black hole in the middle of Terox's body, ripping it apart and keeping it from reforming.

"Welp." Mig tsked. "We're fucked."

"I must admit, I'm a bit surprised by my own strength now." The Entity clenched and unclenched his fist. "Prelude, what was the method you used to revive me?"

"As much as I would like to take credit for that, the one responsible for your resurrection is this woman right here." Prelude gestured to Divara.

"I see." The Entity walked up to Divara, stopping in front of her. "Then I am obliged to ask you the same thing."

"Used nanobots to collect data from Omnitrices and build you a better body." Divara explained. "I wasn't expecting these results either if I'm being honest, but all the timeline hopping the kid did while using the Requiem nanomachines gave them a temporal distortion effect."

"Meaning?" The Entity raised an eyebrow.

"Your abilities aren't limited to the timeline you're in anymore." Divara said. "You can draw power from and manipulate things on a universal scale."

"Incredible." The Entity muttered. "With this level of power, I can destroy every timeline in this world at once instead of going through them one by one."

"Oh goddammit." Isaac groaned.

"For your actions, I must award you my sincerest gratitude." The Entity said to Divara. "In return, you will be the first one to receive salvation."

As the Entity stretched a hand out towards Divara, she closed her eyes and waited for everything to finally come to an end.

But nothing happened.

Divara opened her eyes to find the Entity staring at its hands, confused.

"I'm sure I used the power of erasure on you..." The Entity said. "So why-"

"Death Bill 48, Clause 387, Paragraph 9." A disgruntled voice sounded from beneath the earth.

"What is this?" The Entity glared at Isaac. "One of your tricks?"

"I wish."

The ground separating Divara and the Entity split apart, moving them apart and creating what appeared to be a staircase leading into the depths of the underground. In short order, a man wearing blue and white clothing ornately decorated with golden patterns and wielding an intricately forged bident made his way up the stairs, holding a photocopied document in his left hand.

"According to the rules set in place by the Celestialsapien Immortality Act, any being of Celestialsapien origin that bears Celestialsapien DNA is not allowed to die except in cases of court-ordered termination." The man shoved the paper into the Entity's face, impaling it on the main spike protruding from its helmet. "And as for you..."

The man whipped around and pointed accusatorily at Divara.

"What made you think this would work?" The man grumbled. "You've tried hundreds of other things, yet you somehow came to the conclusion that if you just tried yet again, it would suddenly work out?"

"The Entity has the ability to supersede other reality warpers." Divara protested. "I thought that-"

"Other reality warpers, yes." The man interrupted impatiently. "Me? No."

"Who the hell is that?" Attai asked.

"Pluto, god of death." Isaac replied with a smirk. "He doesn't like it when people screw up his schedule."

"...What is wrong with this Earth?" Attai grimaced.

"Normally you'd get a Celestialsapien underworld representative dealing with this, but unfortunately for me, you being kinda human officially categorizes you as also being my problem." Pluto continued speaking to Divara. "I know you're aware of the superficial 'not dying' rule but you've taken this pathetic charade so far I feel obligated to inform you of the legal text regarding-"

Pluto trailed off as he noticed Divara's expression had gone blank.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"I guess it was stupid of me, wasn't it?" Divara chuckled morosely, falling to her knees. "To think there was ever going to be a way out."

"That's a bit blunt but yeah, basically." Pluto said.

"Your intervention is not welcome here." The Entity spat, ripping the paper off its helmet. "Do you intend to stop me, 'god'?"

"Don't...don't call me 'god', that's just weird." Pluto said. "Look, I'm not really authorized to interfere with whatever else you do, but killing an entire universe at once is going to give me way more overtime than I'm willing to do."

Pluto pointed his bident over at Attai's group.

"You people better stop this guy, got it?"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Theo asked.

"Just pull something plausible yet completely ludicrous out of your ass like you always do." Pluto huffed. "I'm out."

With that, Pluto descended back into the earth, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the air.

"Well, you heard the ground man." Attai grunted, summoning a card. "Get going already."

"Are you kidding?" Theo said. "My Requiem nanomachines are gone, and the StarTrix is back to square one. There's no way we can beat that thing!"

"Theo..." Nova stepped forward. "I know this is way out of our league, but...I just got my dad back. I don't want to lose him again."

Nova turned around and stretched a hand out towards Theo.

"Even if we can't win, I still want to fight." Nova said. "So even if you don't believe in yourself, will you believe in me...one last time?"

Theo stared silently at her outstretched hand before finally reaching out and taking hold of it.

"I still don't think this is going to work." Theo said. "But I'm going to support you down to our last breath."

"Which is probably gonna come up pretty quick here if you two don't get a move on." Attai interjected.

"A pointless gesture." The Entity scoffed. "Any attempt to stop me now is futile. I am all-powerful!"

"That type of statement kind of loses its impact when you hear it over and over again." Attai grumbled.

"Then allow me to make a demonstration."

The Entity casually waved its hand to the side. The entire city in the direction he was gesturing was completely destroyed, ripped apart in an instant by psychic ability.

"Any questions?"

Nova and Theo both stepped forward, with Swarm 2 beginning to buzz around their bodies. There was a bright flash, which cleared to someone new; an adult with features of both Theo and Nova, but clearly a new person of their own.

"Okay, what the fuck?" Attai said.

"That's Technova." Orion explained. "A fusion state combining the powers of Swarm 2 and the StarTrix."

"Less chit-chat, more kick-ass!" Technova snapped.

Technova pulled up their left wrist to use the StarTrix, only to find its dial displaying the same hexagram symbol it had before.

"Well, not like whatever this is could make things much worse." Technova grunted, slamming down on the dial.

Technova transformed into a yellow-skinned alien with three pointed horns and legs that ended in spikes instead of feet. All of a sudden, the Hybrider armor Theo had been wearing manifested onto the alien, turning its skin white as a star-like belt appeared across its waist.

"What the hell happened to All Star?" Pyros asked.

"Not sure, but this sure as hell ain't the normal thing." Technova replied. "I think I'll call it...All Star Cosmic!"

"Prelude, take your leave." The Entity tsked. "This world won't be intact for much longer."

Prelude nodded and opened a portal of his own back to the Archives, leaving his master to fight unimpeded.

The Anti-Life Entity scowled and fired a massive blast of lightning at All Star Cosmic, only for them to block it by covering themselves in spiked, rocky skin.

"Call me crazy, but isn't that Rolling Stone's skin?" Isaac said.

"You're crazy, but apart from that, you're right." Herc tsked. "Something's fucky."

"Nothing's fucky, I'm just badass!" All Star Cosmic exclaimed.

All Star Cosmic shot towards the Entity, who attempted to block them with a pillar of stone.

"Holy Diver!" All Star Cosmic yelled.

Their hands transformed into brown drills, letting them bore through the stone barrier and deliver a swift kick to the Entity, who responded by grabbing their leg and slamming them into the ground.

"Unravel!"

The Entity's arm began unraveling into a rope-like substance, allowing All Star Cosmic to escape his grab.

"Okay, are those bad catchphrases or alien names?" Attai grunted.

"Well..." Isaac began.

"Yo-Yo A Go-Go!" All Star Cosmic yelled, firing a volley of exploding energy yo-yos at the Entity.

"...Both."

As the battle raged on, Divara had crawled behind the remains of a destroyed wall, trying her best not to hyperventilate. Everything was pretty well fucked, and she had no idea what to do about it. After a few moments, Millennia appeared in front of her in a pink flash and offered her a hand.

"Need some help?" Millennia asked.

"Help with what?" Divara chuckled wryly. "Fucking everything up for no reason? I think I have that pretty well-covered."

"I can relate, but now's not the time." Millennia grabbed a hold of Divara's hand and pulled her to her feet. "You need to so something about this before it's too late."

"It's already too late!" Divara protested. "I revived the Entity! I ruined these people's lives! All for nothing!"

"That's why you need to get in there and help fix it!" Millennia snapped. "I'm not just going to let someone else stew in their own guilt and rot away inside like I did!"

"You..."

Divara trailed off as Millennia let go of her and summoned a portal to her storage dimension.

"If I'm being honest with you, I'm not a good person, and I'm not sure I really want to be." Millennia said, pulling a large module out of the portal before closing it. "But I can't help how I feel about this."

"What are you going to do?" Divara asked.

"The only thing I'm still good for." Millennia replied. "Destruction."

Millennia disappeared, leaving Divara alone with her thoughts.

Meanwhile, All Star Cosmic continued launching various attacks at the Entity, all with no effect.

"Useless, useless, useless!" The Entity shouted. "If you aren't going to give up peacefully, then I'll just erase you all from existence!"

"Oh shit, he can probably do that." Attai pulled out the tarot card The Jester had handed him earlier. "Well, nothing to lose."

Attai slid the tarot card through the CataloGun and pulled the trigger. A massive burst of Void Energy exploded out of the barrel, irradiating everyone in the immediate area. The Entity moved to erase them but found this ability ineffective.

"What now?" The Entity growled.

"Void Energy counters the effects of Kunenga Energy." Napoleon explained. "You won't be able to erase us that easily!"

"Then I'll just have to kill you through more traditional means!"

"Oh no you don't!" Attai exclaimed, sliding the 'Multi' universe card through the CataloGun.

Attai pulled the trigger, summoning a copy of Infinite Alien X.

"Wreck his shit!" Attai yelled, pointing at the Entity.

"Verdict: Granted!" Infinite Alien X nodded. "Anti-Life Entity Destruction; motion carried!"

Visible ripples in reality appeared as Infinite Alien X's abilities activated, only for them to suddenly be canceled out with a wave of the Entity's hand.

"Overruled." The Entity growled, erasing Infinite Alien X from existence.

"Oh, so he can override other reality warper's overrides of reality warpers." Attai pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Neat."

"Do you understand yet?!" The Entity demanded. "Every power you have is one I've claimed for myself! Any attack you use is one I have the ability to overcome! This struggle is meaningless!"

"But you're still fighting anyway." Millennia's voice sounded from behind.

Attai turned to see Millennia walking towards them. She placed the module she was carrying into her belt, with it spanning across two ports and covering the buckler. A hovering craft resembling a tank carrying two large cannons generated next to her, firing several energy bolts at the Entity with smaller barrels emerging from its hull.

"And who are you?" The Entity glared, stopping the incoming shots with a quick snap. "Another hopeless warrior come to die?"

"Attai, I know you don't trust me, but you need to work with me on this one." Millennia said, ignoring the Entity. "I have a way to weaken this guy."

"You can't be serious." Attai replied incredulously. "After the shit you've pulled?"

"Yeah." Millennia said. "After the shit I've pulled."

Millennia pulled down a lever on the module inserted into her belt, forming an 'X' shape across the front. The drone next to her broke apart and attached to her suit, creating thick chunks of armor with various cannon arrays. The two largest cannons attached to the piece on her back, folding over her shoulders to point forward.

"You asked me before what the Nazis had that I needed so badly." Millennia continued. "You're looking at it."

"What is that?" Attai asked.

"The Cross-Timer." Millennia explained. "An ancient Chronian weapon, thrown across the multiverse to prevent it from ever being used again."

"...What does it do?"

"It's so powerful even the Chronians didn't want it." Millennia's reply was unusually subdued. "What do you think it does?"

"Fair enough." Attai grumbled. "What are you thinking?"

"Hit it with a bunch of multiverse card finishers at once while I fire the Cross-Timer at it." Millennia said. "The combined force should be enough to kill it."

"You sure about that?" Attai raised an eyebrow.

"Dead sure."

Attai began sliding cards through the CataloGun as Millennia firmly planted herself into a firing stance. The Entity's only reaction to all this was a bemused laugh.

"How many times do you people have to fail before you give up?" The Entity taunted.

"A lot more than we have." Attai snapped.

A yellow scan wave hit the Entity's body from behind, a quick event that went unnoticed by most. All charged up, Attai pulled the trigger on the CataloGun one last time.

"Sehr Gute, Sieben!" The CataloGun announced. "Team! MEGA! Multi! Young! Protector! Evolution! Horizons! Das große Finale!"

Millennia wordlessly fired the Cross-Timer armor's massive shoulder cannons as a huge beam of energy shot from the front of the CataloGun. Not bothering to dodge the attack, the Entity found himself caught off-guard as his body began dissolving away inside the energy field.

"How?!" The Entity screamed.

The attack finally ceased, leaving a large, smoking hole where the Entity had once stood.

"Is...is it over?" Pyros asked.

Almost immediately, the Entity reappeared several meters away, breathing heavily out of shock more than anything else.

"Oh, come on!"

"I was able to recreate my original body at the last second." The Entity hissed. "But how were you able to destroy the new one?!"

"I've gotten pretty experienced with killing supposedly immortal beings." Millennia remarked.

"...You what?" Attai gave her a questioning glare.

"This isn't turning out exactly as I expected." The Entity muttered. "Enough messing around, then. I'll simply destroy this planet, and all of you along with it!"

"Like hell you will!" All Star Cosmic snapped.

All Star Cosmic dove towards the Anti-Life Entity and grabbed it by the collar, dragging it up into the sky at impossibly high speeds.

"Silver Mt. Zion!" All Star Cosmic yelled, sprouting three pairs of angelic wings from its back as silver, eye-laden rings formed behind their head.

The two of them quickly breached the atmosphere, with All Star Cosmic tossing the Entity further out into orbit. The Entity took a moment to right itself, glaring at his opponent with hateful eyes.

"This is ridiculous!" The Anti-Life Entity spat. "After all the suffering you've been through, you still wish to oppose my vision for the future?!"

"Your vision has no future!" All Star Cosmic yelled. "You're just trying to make everyone give up as you did! That's not a future anyone wants but you!"

"And what of it?!" The Entity began tearing open cracks in reality around itself. "My ideals are righteous! Even if I stand alone, I will put an end to this world's misery!"

"No, you'll just increase it even more!" All Star Cosmic glowed white, sealing the cracks as fast as the Entity could make them. "Everyone's hopes...everyone's dreams...everyone's happiness...erasing everything won't protect any of that!"

"What happiness?!" The Entity said incredulously. "Look around you! You watched everyone you love die in front of you, with their survival now only being granted by a slim miracle! You can't possibly expect something like that to happen every time misery presents itself!"

"We don't need it to!" All Star Cosmic shot back. "The thing is, you're right. The world can be a cold, dark place, where horrible things happen, and there's nothing we can do to get rid of that misery entirely."

"Then why defend it with such vigor?!"

"Because that's not all there is to it!" All Star Cosmic began glowing even brighter. "The world may be dark, but there's good in it you couldn't even begin to imagine!"

Space began warping around All Star Cosmic's body, directing light from hundreds of stars directly into their core.

"That good is what we fight for!" All Star Cosmic yelled. "We'll protect it with everything we have! Even in the face of tragedy, we'll keep on moving forward! That ability to continue life against all odds is what gives us our strength! That perseverance..."

All Star Cosmic charged at the Anti-Life Entity, who responded with a charging attack of its own.

"IS OUR STAR SPIRIT!"

"IF THAT SPIRIT IS WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING, THEN I'M GOING TO CRUSH IT BY FORCE!" The Entity roared. "SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR WORLD, CHILDREN!"

All Star Cosmic braced for an attack from the Entity, but were caught off-guard as it flew right past them and slammed its palms together. Before they could react, the moon and Earth shot towards each other at an impossible speed, colliding in the center of their trajectories.

The moon was completely shattered, while a large chunk had been taken out of the Earth where the impact had occurred. A shockwave spread across the Earth as its atmosphere disappeared, ripped away by unnatural solar winds.

"There!" The Entity declared, turning to face All Star Cosmic with a wild look in its eyes. "What is your 'perseverance' going to do for you now?!"

All Star Cosmic roared with a pained fury and grabbed the Entity by the throat, yellow energy beginning to crackle from their fingertips.

"Your fury is impressive but ultimately useless." The Entity laughed. "What are you going to do now? Try to strangle me? Throw me against what remains of the Earth, perhaps? You're out of your league!"

"Bomb 2 Hell." All Star Cosmic muttered quietly.

"What?"

All Star Cosmic let go of the Entity and kicked it aside. In that moment, every atom and energy wave contained in the Entity's body detonated all at once, not allowing him any time to counter the attack, if he even could have.

With that, the Entity was gone, leaving All Star Cosmic floating alone in the void of space.

"Wow, great job saving the world, you guys." Attai's voice sounded from behind them, dripping with sarcasm. "Real outstanding performance."

All Star Cosmic turned to find Attai and the rest of their group preserved in a force field created by Divara, who approached them holding a golden fob watch.

"The Celestial Clock?" All Star Cosmic said. "Can you use it to rewind time?"

"If I did, I'd only be bringing back the Entity along with your Earth." Divara replied apologetically. "And I think one revival is more than enough."

"So what now?!" All Star Cosmic choked. "The Earth...everyone is gone!"

"What are we, chopped liver?" Scorpio remarked, promptly being elbowed by Aquarius.

"I can use the Celestial Clock's Reset function in a limited manner to set the universe back ten years and change what happens." Divara said. "This time, no interference from me."

"What's the catch?" All Star Cosmic asked.

"None of you will remember what happened in this version of events." Divara continued. "Some of your lives may be significantly different. Even having Void Energy won't preserve your minds, but...you'll still have your souls."

All Star Cosmic looked towards the group.

"What do you think?" They asked.

"I say go for it, your timeline's fucked." Attai snorted.

"From an outside perspective, I have to agree with that." Mig said.

"Do I get to keep my money?" Isaac asked.

"I...don't think anything would change regarding your financial situation." Divara replied.

"Fuck, what are we waiting for then?"

All Star Cosmic sighed and looked back to Divara.

"Alright." They said. "Fix this."

Divara nodded solemnly and pressed a button on the top of the fob watch.

Everything went black.

It was a bright, sunny summer afternoon.

The sun was shining, birds were singing, and two teenagers were lazily sitting up against a tree in the downtown park.

"Theo, do you ever feel like there’s something we’re missing?" One of them said. "Something out there that we should be involved in, but just aren’t?"

"Do you ever get tired of thinking about that stuff, Nova?" Theo chuckled. "There's always something big going on, but that doesn't mean we should be in on it."

As the two light-heartedly bickered with each other, Attai scanned the conversation from a nearby park bench with the CataloGun.

"I can't believe this counts as a key event." He huffed. "Seems trite."

"There's nothing wrong with a conversation being a turning point for people." Millennia said, leaning against a nearby tree. "It may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but it's a bit more grounded."

"I'm just glad they get another chance at life." Divara noted, standing next to Millennia in more casual wear that blended in with the environment.

"Yeah, why are you here, anyway?" Attai grunted.

"I ruined their past lives." Divara sighed. "I think...it's only right that I try to look out for them in this one. That's how I feel about it, anyway."

"I think it's a good idea on paper; just don't get weird about it." Millennia laughed. "I'm gonna head out, but I'd like to stop by and talk with you more another time."

"I think I would like that." Divara nodded with a faint smile.

Millennia grinned and teleported away, leaving the universe. Shortly after, an orange-skinned winged alien resembling a goblin landed nearby, reverting to Mig in an orange flash.

"No good." Mig reported. "No sign of Terox anywhere."

"Dammit." Attai tsked. "Guess we'll have to deal with him later."

"Yeah, that's usually how it goes." Mig noted wryly.

"Alright, we should probably get going too, then." Attai stood up. "You want to kill Terox and I want to kill Terox, so how about we team up for a bit to go kill Terox?"

"Do I look like I have anything better to do?" Mig snarked.

"Not really." Attai sniffed. "Well, here's hoping I actually can teleport other people."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Right..." Mig raised an eyebrow. "Though speaking of Terox, I have to wonder where the hell he went."

Terox suddenly materialized into Ubermensch's office, panting heavily from shock and exhaustion

"FUCK that universe!" Terox snapped. "Fuck that universe so hard!"

"I take it you had a rough time of things." Ubermensch tsked, standing up from his desk.

"Don't sass me right now you German bitch, I'm not in the mood!"

"Unfortunate."

Ubermensch summoned a card out of the air and pulled up the Gewehrlogger.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Terox growled.

"I hate to inform you of this right after a clearly embarrassing experience, but the Reich no longer has any need of you." Ubermensch said, running the card through the Gewehrlogger's slot.

"Don't fuck with me." Terox hissed. "I know you don't have the authority to make that decision."

"No, but I'm sure the Fuhrer will agree with it once I show him what I found."

Ubermensch pulled the Gewehrlogger's trigger. In a bright flash, he transformed into a red copy of the Anti-Life Entity's revived body, towering over Terox by about a foot.

"...You gotta be shitting me." Terox breathed. "When did you get that?!"

"I followed you into that Earth to see what you found." Ubermensch said. "As it turned out, what you found is exactly what the Reich needed."

"You motherfucker!" Terox ground his teeth together. "You won't get away with this!"

With that, Terox teleported away, leaving the Unendlich Reich's fleet. Ubermensch tsked and reverted to his human form, putting down the Gewehrlogger.

"Now, for that meeting with the Fuhrer."

Ubermensch approached the Reich's command office with no small amount of trepidation. The Fuhrer was not well known for his compromising skills, and if the meeting went south...well, there wasn't any point worrying about it now.

As he reached the doors to the chamber, the pair of guards stationed there gave him a salute, which he acknowledged with a slight nod.

"My Fuhrer." Ubermensch saluted as he entered the room, closing the doors behind him.

"Ubermensch." The Fuhrer replied curtly. "Where is the alien? I explicitly ordered you to bring him in for this report."

"I have news regarding that, actually." Ubermensch cleared his throat. "We no longer need Terox."

"Excuse me?" The Fuhrer hissed.

"I have obtained a reality-warping form capable of affecting an entire universe of timelines at once." Ubermensch explained. "We no longer need to destroy entire universes in the name of our ideology; only the undesirables. The lives of the Aryan people can still be preserved."

"Are you mad?!" The Fuhrer yelled. "Preserve a people that were unable to overcome the Untermensch of their worlds?! That is a foolish endeavor!"

"With all due respect, my Fuhrer, you realize that we only overcame our enemies in this world due to outside intervention?" Ubermensch pointed out, bewildered by this reaction.

"SILENCE!" The Fuhrer yelled. "We overcame our enemies through pure Aryan ingenuity!"

"But-"

"Do not test me, Reichmarschall!" The Fuhrer's face was turning red, with spittle flying everywhere as he yelled. "I am your Fuhrer, and you will listen to me!"

Ubermensch fell silent for a moment.

"I am indeed the Reichmarschall." Ubermensch muttered. "To wit, that means I am your successor when you die."

Ubermensch summoned the Gewehrlogger and transformed into the Anti-Life Entity, prompting a shocked expression from the Fuhrer.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The Fuhrer demanded. "You were created to serve me!"

"I was created to serve the Reich and the German people, both of which you have continuously betrayed with your incompetence."

Before the Fuhrer could react, Ubermensch made a clenching motion with his hand. The Fuhrer began to gasp and clutched at his chest, dropping dead within seconds.

Ubermensch reverted to human and dispelled the Gewehrlogger, running over and bursting through the doors of the room.

"Guards, fetch a medic!" Ubermensch ordered, his expression hidden beneath his helmet. "The Fuhrer has suffered a heart attack!"

The guards nodded and ran off, heading towards the nearest medical center. Ubermensch stood in the doorway for a moment before turning to look at the Fuhrer's corpse.

"I will succeed where you failed, 'my Fuhrer'."

Several hours later, a press conference had been called to announce the death of the Fuhrer. Cameras focused in on Ubermensch as he stepped up to a podium in the conference room, taking a moment to clear his throat before he motioned for the broadcast to begin.

"Citizens of the Reich, I regret to inform you that our Fuhrer has passed away." Ubermensch said, pausing a moment to let the news sink in. "Given his age, this was inevitable, but it is still a somber moment for Germany, and indeed, the world."

Ubermensch allowed another moment of silence before continuing.

"As Reichmarschall, I am the Fuhrer's successor in leading our country." Ubermensch continued. "As the next Fuhrer, I swear to lead the Aryan people into a glowing era of prosperity. Long live the Unendlich Reich!"

Salutes and cries of "Sieg Heil!" rang out across the nation as Ubermensch finished speaking, with the dawning of a new age upon them.



Major Events

 * Earth-83 is removed from Quantum Flux and partially reset.
 * Millennia debuts the Cross-Timer armor.
 * Miguel Rivers is revived and begins accompanying Attai to find Terox.
 * Ubermensch kills the Fuhrer and takes over the Unendlich Reich.

Protagonists

 * Attai Zehn
 * Theodore Logical
 * Theodore Logical (Imaginate) (Post-Reset)
 * Nova Eldridge
 * Nova Eldridge (Imaginate) (Post-Reset)
 * Theo-4
 * Orion
 * Pyros
 * Reaper
 * Herc
 * Ryan Fenrir (CataloGun Summon)
 * Shane Vidar (CataloGun Summon)

Neutral

 * The Jester
 * Millennia
 * Divara
 * Zetium
 * Scorpio
 * Aquarius

Antagonists

 * Terox
 * Ubermensch
 * Lord Kucorbian
 * Prelude
 * Anti-Life Entity

By Attai

 * Ridejacker
 * Gesamtkunstwerk
 * Big Chill (CataloGun Summon)

By Theo-4

 * Clockwork

By Theo

 * Bomb 2 Hell (StarTrix Projection)

By Technova

 * All Star Cosmic
 * Rolling Stone (Ability)
 * Holy Diver (Ability)
 * Unravel (Ability)
 * Yo-Yo A Go-Go! (Ability)
 * Silver Mt. Zion (Fusion)
 * Bomb 2 Hell (Ability)

By Mig

 * Bedrock
 * Momentum
 * Fright Height

Trivia

 * This episode is named after the David Bowie song 'Starman', referencing Star Spirit's tradition of song-based titles.
 * The conversation Theo and Nova have at the end of the episode is the same as their first conversation in the original Star Spirit.