Forever To Say Goodbye: Part 2

Forever To Say Goodbye: Part 2 is twelfth episode of Tech 10: Rebooted's second season, the twenty-fourth episode overall, and the final episode of the series.

Episode
Tech slammed open the portal door he had created, exiting back into his own time through the EarthCo. Gift Shop’s front door and detransforming. Aquadilus, Moranna, Napoleon, Igneoux and Azmuth were still standing there, looking at the spot where he had disappeared. Upon hearing him barge through the door, they turned their heads to look at him.

“Tech?!” Moranna exclaimed. “What just happened?!”

“Yeah, one moment you were getting sucked through a rift over here, and now you just came through the door over there!” Napoleon said.

“Timeline hopping and time travel.” Tech explained. “Picked up some new aliens. It’s been a hell of a day.”

“Well, it ain’t over yet!” Igneoux interjected, pointing towards the sky. “We still gotta deal with that!”

“Right, but how do we find the Entity?” Aquadilus pointed out. “It could be anywhere on the planet.”

“I suspect it would be at the south pole.” Azmuth said. “It’s remote and hostile enough for Prelude to summon it without being interrupted.”

“Well, if he thought he could get away from us by traveling somewhere that anyone unprepared freezes to death, he’s got another thing coming!” Tech snapped, reaching for the SpecTrix. “...Speaking of preparedness, uh, what form would be the best suited to a cold environment?”

“The form you call ‘Overtide’ should suffice.” Azmuth sighed.

“Oh, right. Thanks.”

Tech transformed into Overtide and began fiddling with the SpecTrix dial.

“Everyone ready to go?” He asked.

“I’ll be staying here, if you don’t mind.” Azmuth said. “I’m too old for this kind of work.”

Napoleon clapped his hands together in front of him, changing his light shirt into a heavy parka. Igneoux reached for the Ultimatrix and transformed into a thin, ice-blue alien known as Chiller. Moranna simply nodded in affirmation.

“Alright then, we’re off to fight a multi-dimensional being of unspeakable power!” Tech proclaimed. “Wish us luck!”

With that, Tech pressed down on the SpecTrix dial, causing the four of them to vanish in a green flash. Aquadilus and Azmuth stood in place for a few moments.

“It’s times like these I actually miss Tennyson.” Azmuth grumbled. “At least he has experience.”

“You think it really would’ve helped in this scenario?” Aquadilus asked.

“...I’m afraid I don’t know.”

The four appeared onto the Antarctic tundra with a green flash. A heavy blizzard had whipped up in the area, smashing into their bodies like a large wave.

“Uh, Moranna?!” Tech yelled over the howling wind. “Shouldn’t you transform or something?!”

“Implants, remember?!” Moranna yelled back. “My blood has anti-freeze properties!”

“That’s kinda weird!”

“Pretty useful, though!”

“Hey, guys?!” Napoleon interrupted. “Shouldn’t we start moving?!”

“Yeah, we should!” Tech replied. “Let’s just go...uh...”

“You don’t know how to find Prelude, do you?!”

“Not so much, no!”

“Okay, you know what?!” Igneoux yelled. “This blizzard is getting really annoying! I’m gonna get rid of it!”

“What do you mean, ‘you’re going to get rid of it’?!”

Instead of replying, Igneoux reached for the Ultimatrix symbol and began fiddling with it, causing it to blink momentarily, then display a hologram of a different alien. He pressed down on the symbol, causing him to transform in a green flash. Once the light faded, his body had changed to a somewhat more slender, grayed-out shape, with Chiller’s shoulders, lower legs, and chest spikes still intact.

“AirChiller!” Igneoux yelled, striking a pose.

As soon as Igneoux had transformed, the blizzard suddenly began to die down, swirling away from the group in an orb-like area of effect. Soon, the area around them was completely still, causing the snow to fall straight onto the ground.

“Wait, you can combine aliens?” Tech asked.

“Yep!” Igneoux replied with a thumbs-up. “What, you can’t?”

“No, I can, it just doesn’t turn out that well for me.”

“We still have to figure out how to find this thing.” Moranna pointed out. “It’s not like Prelude has any DNA I can track.”

“No, but he does have a mana signature!” Tech snapped his fingers. “Anyone here have experience with mana?”

The other three all stared at him with flat expressions. After a few moments, he suddenly had a realization.

“Oh, right.” He pulled up the SpecTrix. “Me.”

Tech rotated the dial and pressed it down, transforming into Golurth. He raised his arms into the air, his eyes and hands glowing with Dark Mana. After a few seconds of this, he swiftly turned to the right.

“Prelude is this way!” He declared. “Let’s move out!”

The group began walking, with Tech taking the lead. Igneoux carefully kept the bubble of calm air around them as they moved, keeping them safe from the storm. The snowy tundra stretched out for what seemed like forever, but they kept going. After what seemed like forever, Moranna motioned for everyone to stop.

“What is it?” Tech asked.

“Look at the snow falling outside of our air bubble.” Moranna explained. “I know I’m not too well-versed on how this planet works, but unless you have special, anti-gravity snow, that shouldn’t be happening.”

Tech took a closer look at the blizzard raging a few feet in front of him. It was somewhat difficult to tell with how fast it was moving, but the snow was falling upwards instead of downwards.

“Okay, that’s a bit disconcerting.” He admitted. “We should probably keep moving.”

They continued onwards, with only Tech’s mana to guide them. After a few more minutes of walking, the blizzard slowed down, as if time itself was gradually slowing. It eventually reached the point where they were walking through clouds of snowflakes suspended in mid-air.

“This just gets weirder and weirder.” Tech remarked. “I’m not sure whether to be impressed or scared.”

“Both is probably a good reaction.” Igneoux replied.

Before Tech could reply, the group noticed a glowing pillar of what appeared to be green light in the distance. They began to pick up the pace, dashing towards it. As they got closer, the suspended snowflakes seemed to gradually fade away, eventually disappearing from view entirely. Once they arrived near the pillar of light, Tech immediately noticed Prelude standing in front of it, chanting a strange incantation while green energy swirled around his hands. Before the group could react, Prelude stopped chanting and turned towards them.

“I could feel your presences as soon as you arrived in the south pole.” He said. “Fortunately, I was about done anyways.”

The green pillar of light suddenly exploded with another layer of intensity and brightness, forcing the group to shield their eyes.

“In mere minutes, my master will arrive in his physical form!” Prelude declared. “After that, the universe will end, and all of your effort will have been for nothing!”

“PRELUDE!” Tech roared, charging at him.

Prelude simply raised his right arm and created a field of mana in front of Tech, who smashed right into it.

“You’ve never been able to defeat me, child.” Prelude chided. “Even if you succeeded in that endeavor, it wouldn’t change anything.”

“Maybe not,” Tech growled. “but it sure would be cathartic!”

Before Prelude could reply, a sudden buzzing sound came from nearby. There was a flash of white light, followed by five figures appearing in the area. Once everyone’s eyes had cleared, the new arrivals were instantly recognizable.

“Hey, kid!” Magister Blue said. “Looks like you could use some help!”

The three synthetic Magisters, along with Alpha and Dethrouge, had teleported down from the Plumber’s orbiting HQ.

“Interesting.” Prelude commented. “I must admit, this was somewhat unexpected.”

“Shouldn’t have been.” Magister Red replied. “As soon as we saw rifts opening up all over the place, we tracked their source here and teleported right away. Not exactly rocket science.”

“Point taken.”

“We’re not here to talk.” Alpha chided. “We’re here to stop you.”

“As I was just explaining to this group over here, I’m afraid you’re a bit late for that.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true.” Dethrouge remarked.

Before Prelude could react, Dethrouge launched a light beam at him, neatly carving a hole straight through his chest. Prelude simply shook his head.

“Now what were you expecting to accomplish with that?” He asked. “You destroyed my body once before, so you should know by now that you can’t-”

He was interrupted as a mass of light wires suddenly materialized and stabbed through every part of his body. With a swift tug at the origin point, the wires snapped together and cut his body apart completely, leaving only his mana form intact.

“As I said, we’re not here for talk.” Alpha said, dissipating the light wires. “Tech, your current form has mana abilities. Take care of this.”

“Uh...how?” Tech asked.

“Carefully.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Tech charged up a blast of Dark Mana and shot it at Prelude’s mana form, which quickly darted out of the way and started forming another body by dragging earth up through cracks in the ice. Tech ran to try and catch it, but it darted out of his way again, sending him careening past it on the ice.

“This is the guy that beat you.” Magister Red remarked to Dethrouge. “That must be embarrassing.”

“Hey, this might be a good time to try out a combiner form!” Igneoux yelled. “Just saying!”

“Alright, fine.” Tech grumbled, reaching for the SpecTrix dial.

After messing with the dial for a few moments, he pressed down on it, transforming into a somewhat smaller, though still large, alien with varying shades of blue and purple. He had Golurth’s overall shape and spikes, but with the features of Overtide.

As soon as the transformation finished, he wasted no time rushing forward, using his power over the ice to give each step a boost. Prelude’s mana form attempted to dart away again, but Tech’s new transformation was too fast, able to swiftly catch up with the glowing mass. He quickly used his Dark Mana-infused right hand to snatch Prelude out of the air and hold it in place. Ice exploded up from the ground, wrapping around Prelude until it had fully encase him in a frozen cocoon, which was promptly dragged underground.

“What did you do to him?” Napoleon asked.

“I infused the ice I trapped him in with Dark Mana.” Tech explained. “If all goes according to plan, he ain’t getting out until the ice caps melt.”

“Considering what we did to those Piranha Spiders, that might be sooner rather than later.” Igneoux remarked.

“So, what’s this thing?” Magister Blue asked, gesturing to the pillar of green energy.

“Scans indicate it to be made of an unknown energy.” Magister Red replied. “Highly reactive and amorphous in form. I don’t know exactly what would happen if you touched it, but it definitely wouldn’t be good.”

“Apparently it has something to do with summoning the Anti-Life Entity’s physical form or whatever.” Tech said. “That’s what Prelude said, at least.”

“And how exactly would we verify that?”

Before Tech could reply, the pillar of green light suddenly exploded into a flurry of swirling beams. The explosion created a shockwave that sent everyone flying backwards. The energy began to fold in on itself as a humanoid shape began to form in the center of the maelstrom. The energy created one last shockwave, then died down, allowing the group to see what was happening. The humanoid figure descended gently to the ground, its body wrapped in what appeared to be green flames. It had a slim, muscular body made of green energy, and was wearing similarly green armor. Its eyes appeared to be sunken in slightly, and it gave off an unexplainable feeling of dread.

“I’m guessing like that.” Magister Yellow said.

The newly arrived figure silently observed the group around it for a few moments.

“Interesting.” It remarked in an unsettlingly flat tone. “There usually isn’t anyone around other than Prelude, and he seems to be absent. What has happened here?”

“We kicked his ass is what happened.” Tech pulled himself off the ground. “Am I right in assuming that you’re the Anti-Life Entity?”

“You are.” The Entity replied. “I admit, I have never come across a transformation such as yours before. It appears as though you’ve merged one of my Animam Creari with a water creature of some sort.”

“You know this is a transformation?”

“I have faced many transformation matrix wielders in many different timelines. They have all perished, of course.”

“Then I’m not going to waste any time with pleasantries!” Tech slammed down on the SpecTrix symbol, transforming into Rockoustic, then pressing it again to become Ultimate Rockoustic.

He rushed forward faster than the eye could see, preparing to strike with all his might. As he was about to punch the Anti-Life Entity, it suddenly moved its arm, casually stopping his blow with an open palm. The shockwave created by the stopped blow created a huge crater around them, sending everyone else in the area flying.

“Only enough force to break a planet?” The Entity remarked. “Disappointing.”

The Entity used its other arm to smash Tech away, sending him flying into the wall of the crater and cracking Ultimate Rockoustic’s chest. Rifts in space-time suddenly began exploding into existence all around them, each leading to a separate place in the universe, with the ones that led into space creating a powerful vacuum effect.

“But that’s not all there is to you, is it?” The Entity said. “No, you have Void Energy. Annoying, but not a threat. All it means is that once this universe has collapsed in on itself, you’ll be left floating alone in inter-temporal space for all eternity, unable to move or think.” It paused for a few moments. “Come to think of it, I cast you out of the universe before my physical form arrived, didn’t I? How did you get back?”

“Let’s just say I’m friends with an insanity demon and leave it at that.” Tech replied forcefully, pulling himself out of the side of the crater. “All that aside, I’m not going to let you destroy the universe.”

“How do you expect to stop me? With help from your little group up there?”

“Actually, that’s exactly what I was thinking!”

Tech flew up and out of the crater, trying to find where everybody had landed. Spotting them on the ground below, he quickly flew down and devolved into normal Rockoustic.

“Okay, so he’s invulnerable to the physically strongest thing I’ve got.” He said. “Any ideas?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna open a rift of my own and give him a piece of my-” Napoleon began, attempting to open a rift. “Hey, uh, this isn’t working.”

“Of course it’s not working.” Magister Red said. “With that idiot opening rifts all over the place, creating rifts of your own is going to be extra difficult. Space-time naturally resists artificial tampering, and the more rifts there are, the more energy it takes to create them.”

“Which means TyMR and SPAse are off the table.” Moranna concluded. “Tech, you’re going to need something other than just high power to beat this thing, assuming beating it is even possible.”

“High power is really all I’ve got.” Tech shrugged. “I don’t really know what else to do.”

“What about that new transformation Azmuth gave you?” Napoleon suggested.

“What, the Delta Human? How useful would that even be?”

“Hold on a second, Azmuth gave you a DNA sample of a Delta Human?” Magister Blue asked. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Hey, this is a nice conversation and all, but I have one question real quick.” Igneoux interjected. “Where’s Dethrouge?”

Tech and the others suddenly took notice of Dethrouge’s absence. Before they could say anything about it, a light beam suddenly fired upwards from inside the crater. They rushed to the crater’s side, finding Dethrouge standing in the center of it, directly in front of the Anti-Life Entity.

“After all this, you’ve still decided to approach me?” The Entity commented. “You must have a death wish.”

“Though I may not have anything to live for in these times, the only death I find myself wishing for is yours.” Dethrouge replied in a deathly calm voice. “I have committed many atrocities in the name of stopping you, and I don’t intend to give up now!”

“How naive.” The Entity sighed. “Let’s just get this over with then, shall we?”

Before Dethrouge could react, a spike of green energy suddenly exploded out of ground in front of him, cutting straight through his armor and impaling him through his torso and lifting him a good ways off the ground, leaving him to hang there above the blood-stained snow.

“I don’t know why you humans bother with trying.” The Entity remarked. “It grates on my nerves.”

“...Then...let me...show you!” Dethrouge choked out, barely clinging to life.

He moved as quickly as he was able, knowing he had mere seconds left before he lost consciousness for the last time. He ejected the Light Drive powering his suit and gripped it in his right fist, clenching down with all of his remaining might.

“This is for my family, you son of a bitch!”

Before the Anti-Life Entity could react, Dethrouge smashed the Light Drive to pieces, creating a massive explosion of light energy that slammed into its body at point-blank range. The energy disintegrated everything it touched, carving a new hole into the bottom of the crater and forcing the group watching from above to quickly move back from the side. After a few moments, the light faded. Napoleon, still wearing his shades, was the first to recover his eyesight and look over the edge of the crater. Practically everything the energy had touched was gone without a trace, including Dethrouge. All except for one thing.

“Holy crap, the Anti-Life Entity’s head got blown off!” Napoleon exclaimed.

Indeed, the force of the explosion, though not strong enough to destroy the Entity entirely, had ripped its head from its body and sent it flying to another part of the crater. Suddenly, a thin line of green energy sprouted from the base of the head and connected itself to the Entity’s body.

“Nonono!” Napoleon snapped. “Moranna, give me a whirlwind!”

Moranna nodded and transformed into Briiz, creating a whirlwind and aiming it at the Entity’s body. Napoleon thrust his arm into the air, signaling the nanobots surrounding him to enter the funnel of air, sending them careening directly into the body. Mere seconds later, the Entity’s head snapped itself towards the body, locking back into place with a green glow.

“That was...unexpected.” The Entity’s normally calm voice began wavering with anger as it stood up. “Not that it will be of any consequence, I suppo-”

The Entity was suddenly interrupted by its own arms suddenly turning against it, twisting themselves around and grabbing its head, trying to forcefully cave it in on itself.

“What the-?!” It looked up to find Napoleon standing at the top of the crater, directing Swarm 1’s nanobots through its body. “What is that human doing?!”

The Entity stopped and focused for a few moments, carefully scanning through its own body and discovering the nanobots in its arms. Grinning in realization, it created an explosion of energy around itself and absorbed it back into its own body, destroying the nanobots and giving it freedom to move its arms again.

“Did you really think you could kill me with that little trick of yours?!” The Entity mocked. “I am invincible!”

“No, but I definitely distracted you!” Napoleon yelled back.

“Distracte-”

The Entity was interrupted by a fist suddenly slamming into the back of its head, sending it flying face first into the snow. It quickly flipped itself back up, finding Tech standing behind it in a battle stance. The SpecTrix was gone from its normal place on his arm, with the dial in place on his chest.

“What is this trickery?” It hissed. “You should be freezing to death right now!”

“I think you’re confusing me with a normal human.” Tech replied. “See, at the moment, I’m actually a Delta Human.”

“A Delta-”

The Entity was interrupted again by Tech pulling out a bottle of glitter and throwing it into the Entity’s eyes, blinding it and sending it stumbling back.

“What is this infernal matter?!” It screamed. “It won’t get off me!”

“No being, god or man, is immune to the annoyance of glitter!” Tech proclaimed. “And I can always get more where that came from!”

“Where is something like this even made?!”

“Right here on Earth!”

“Well, in that case...” The Entity hissed. “Let’s move this somewhere else!”

Before Tech could react, the Entity snapped its fingers and teleported them to a strange red planet littered with the ruins of what appeared to have once been a grand civilization.

“A dead planet for you to die on!” The Entity laughed, its calm facade fully breaking down. “Very fitting, if I do say so myself!”

“Joke’s on you, buddy!” Tech replied. “As long as I’ve got the SpecTrix, I’m pretty much guaranteed to never stay dead!”

“Interesting.” The Entity suddenly charged forward and punched Tech in the gut, knocking him over and causing him to skid across the ground. “Of course, killing you multiple times is fine by me!”

Tech was sent flying as yet another blow from the Anti-Life Entity slammed into his chest, causing him to cough up some blood on his arc of descent. His body roughly slammed into one of the many ruined buildings dotting the landscape, smashing right through its wall. Before he could recover, the building was swiftly blasted away by the Entity, who walked over and picked him up by the throat.

“I may not be able to simply wipe you from existence,” It spoke. “but I can still destroy that device of yours and kill you permanently!”

The Entity slammed Tech into the ground.

“Every universe, every timeline I destroy, humans like you try to fight back, refusing to accept the pathetic limitations of your species!” The Entity picked Tech back up and hurled him into the air, flying after him. “It’s sickening, sickening, sickening, sickening, sickening, sickening, SICKENING!”

It punctuated its last yell by slamming its fist into Tech’s gut, sending him flying again. He hit the ground with a sickening ‘crunch’, skidding and rolling across the ground like some macabre ragdoll. The Entity wasted no time landing and assuming a battle stance.

“I was once human, you know!” The Entity scowled. “I fought every day of my life to survive, and everywhere I turned was nothing but suffering, all caused by man’s selfish desire to live!”

The Entity’s clenched fists slowly unfurled.

“The rest of the universe was no different. The rest of time itself was no different! But I wasn’t alone in my thoughts. Eventually, all mankind collectively decided to end the suffering, end the pain! We merged our bodies together, evolving into a being of pure Kunenga energy, and united as one to end every timeline that had evolved to the point where peace was possible, but still lived in conflict!”

The Entity’s fists clenched back up.

“We accepted our limitations and rose above them! Why couldn’t you have done the same?!”

Kunenga energy began to swirl around the Entity’s body.

“Where there is life, there will always be pain, and where there is pain, true peace and strength can never be achieved! That is the truth of this world!”

The Kunenga energy surrounding its body suddenly flared up in intensity, taking on a fire-like appearance.

“If you want to defend this worthless universe so much, then let the universe itself be your downfall!”

The Entity cast its hands into the air. Rifts in the sky began appearing at incomprehensible speeds, each one opening to reveal a star of some sort. The sky swiftly filled with these rifts, the starlight shining from them coalescing together into one large, blinding light that made it impossible for Tech to see.

“Let’s see how that ‘Delta Human’ body of yours fares against the power of every star in your universe!”

The Entity threw its hands down, causing each star to shoot a high-energy beam directly towards Tech. The beams slammed into his body, the sheer combined heat and light throwing up a veil so intense that even the Anti-Life Entity itself could not see through it.

“And that is the end of that.” It declared. “Now, to destroy the rest of this univer-”

The Entity was interrupted by the light beams suddenly shimmering. Some of the light began to drift upwards, and it was slowly becoming tainted by a strange blue energy.

“What?!”

The blue energy expanded and swirled into an orb, then exploded outwards, pushing away the light and kicking up a massive cloud of dust. The energy wave forced the light back through the tears in space-time, closing the tears behind each individual beam. Every rift was swiftly sealed, after which the blue energy dissipated. The Anti-Life Entity stared into the cloud of dust, trying to spot what had just happened. It spotted a brief flash of movement from inside the cloud and quickly fired a beam of destructive energy at it.

The shockwave from the energy beam blew away the cloud of dust, revealing Tech standing tall, unharmed, and blocking the beam with crossed forearms. He was surrounded by an aura of blue energy rippling like flames into the air, his clothing having changed to a blue and black jumpsuit. His hair had become spiky, his canines enlarged, and he had gained a bit of muscle mass. The SpecTrix symbol emblazoned on his chest had grown four metal clamps, signifying the evolution of his transformation.

“Impossible!” The Entity snapped. “How are you still alive?!”

“I’m alive because you were wrong!” Tech replied. He began walking forward, forcefully pushing the energy beam back with each step. “The pain we experienced yesterday...” He began walking faster, causing the energy waves rolling off of him to grow in size. “...Gives us the strength today...” As he drew near the Entity, it took an instinctive step backwards. “...to work for a better tomorrow!”

Tech threw down his forearms, bouncing the energy beam back at its user and knocking the Entity off-balance, giving Tech ample opportunity to swoop in and deliver a massive punch to its gut, sending it reeling backwards.

“THAT is the truth of this world!”

The Entity stumbled backwards a few steps, teetering over. As it was about to fall, it instead threw itself backwards into a standing somersault, using a kick as it flipped over to fire an energy shot at Tech, catching him off guard and knocking him back. The Entity swiftly stood upright and began charging energy.

“That is the ideology of a fool, blinded to the world by his own naive optimism!” It snapped. “You will soon regret your ignorance!”

The Entity finished charging its shot, but instead of firing at Tech, it fired an energy beam into the ground, causing it to explode into massive chunks of rock and earth. The Entity flew into the air and began hurling the chunks of debris at Tech, charging them with energy as it struck them so that they turned into grenades, exploding upon contact. Tech dodged each shot expertly, using the blue energy around him to weave through the hail of rock. The Anti-Life Entity narrowed its eyes.

“So, that’s how you reversed my attack!” It snapped. “You’ve somehow managed to make the power of Kunenga energy your own!”

“What did you think was gonna happen?” Tech replied haughtily. “That an evolved version of the most adaptable thing in the galaxy wasn’t going to tap into the massive power source just laying around?”

“I can’t believe it!” The Entity exclaimed. “I just can’t believe...you’re really this mind-numbingly stupid!”

“What?”

The Entity dropped the debris he had blown into the air, instead surrounding itself with an aura of its own green Kunenga energy. Tech suddenly felt himself being pulled towards the Entity, whose aura had started to become more intense.

“You may have the ability to manipulate Kunenga energy now, but I’ve had that same ability for hundreds of times longer than your universe has even existed!” The Entity gloated. “You’re in my realm now, child!”

Tech struggled to escape the Entity’s pull, to no avail. He kept being pulled further and further into the air.

“Try all your transformations, use all your strength!” The Entity laughed. “Call every one of your pathetic allies, if you even can! None of it will matter! I WIN!”

Tech stopped struggling, trying desperately to think of a plan. Nothing was coming to mind. This really was the end.

“And to think,” The Entity continued gloating. “you might have even held out a bit longer if you hadn’t evolved yourself in some misguided attempt to save the universe. Deliciously ironic, don’t you think?”

As soon as the Entity finished speaking, something clicked in Tech’s brain.

He had an idea.

“I’m willing to concede that you actually managed to use the word ‘ironic’ appropriately.” He replied as his body was pulled within arm’s reach of the Entity. “But there’s one thing you’re forgetting.”

“Is that so?” The Entity asked. “And what would that be?”

“I may have evolved myself to save the universe or whatever,” Tech’s eyes flashed with a renewed confidence. “but you know what? YOU DID, TOO!”

Before the Anti-Life Entity could react, Tech reached for the SpecTrix dial and, clamping onto it as hard as he could, ripped it off his own chest and smashing it into the Entity’s, causing it to flinch back in surprise.

“What the-?!” It exclaimed. “What are you doing?!”

“Azmuth warned me that this power of ours could be too great for anyone to wield!” Tech snapped, pulling back his right arm. “I think he was right!”

Before the Entity could stop him, Tech propelled his arm forward, slamming his fist into the SpecTrix dial.

“Warning: Matrix core damaged.” The dial’s AI kicked in. “Continuous operation of the device will create a large radius of effect, and may cause fatal injury. Proceed anyway?”

The Entity’s eyes widened as it realized what was about to happen.

“NO!” It exclaimed, desperately trying to fire a blast of energy.

“YES!” Tech yelled. “NOW!”

“Operations will proceed as instructed.” The SpecTrix’s AI spoke. “Have a nice day.”

As soon as it finished speaking, a blast of green energy exploded out from the dial, wrapping around Tech and the Anti-Life Entity. The energy field warped and twisted momentarily, then slammed into the two. Tech’s body began changing, devolving back through millions of years into his normal Delta Human form. The effect the field had on the Entity, however, was far more profound.

Since the Anti-Life Entity had spent almost the entirety of its existence hibernating and waiting, it had evolved relatively little during that time. The de-evolution wave caused it to spasm momentarily before it began changing it back into its original form:

An alternate human race.

Energy filled with what appeared to be thousands of screaming souls exploded outwards from the center of the Entity’s back. Its body twitched and spasmed as the lives of those who had formed it so long ago were finally released into the void, finally providing them proper closure to the twisted saga of their lives. Kunenga energy began pouring from the Entity’s body, blinding Tech. After a few moments of this, the SpecTrix had finally worked itself past its breaking point, exploding into a final violent burst of evolution-reversing energy.

Tech was thrown to the ground by the explosion, having been fully devolved into a normal Delta Human. After the sound from the explosion subsided, Tech shakily sat up, trying to force his eyes to stay open. He looked up, trying to spot the Anti-Life Entity, but instead found what appeared to be a large, bearded man wearing caped armor standing nearby where the Entity would have landed.

“...So, this is what it felt like before I merged the souls of my brethren into my body.” The man spoke after a few moments, holding his hands up to examine them.

The man put his hands back down, instead looking towards Tech, who instinctively flinched backwards.

“I find myself unable to decide whether to thank you or to curse you.” The man said. “Of course, I suppose all that would matter now is ‘farewell’.”

The man’s body began turning to dust and blowing away in the wind. Before his body was completely gone, the man showed what appeared to be an accepting smile, and was then blown away, dissipating into the breeze. Tech stared at the spot he had been for a few moments, trying to process what had just happened. After a few moments, he simply sighed and flopped back to the ground.

“You know what, screw it, I don’t have to deal with that anymore, I give up.” He grumbled. “It’s finally over.”

After saying these last few words, sheer exhaustion fell over his body, causing him to black out.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Watch it, give him some breathing room!”

“You people worry too much. He’s going to be fine.”

“It’s not him I’m worried about, believe me.”

Tech slowly started to stir, awoken by all the commotion around him. He begrudgingly forced open his eyes, finding himself lying on the floor of his office, surrounded by Aquadilus, Moranna, Napoleon, Igneoux, and Azmuth. Upon seeing him wake up, Aquadilus breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank sweet, merciful god!” He exclaimed. “Tech, if you ever permanently die and I have to tell your parents, I swear to all that is holy, I am somehow going to find a way to get to you in the afterlife and bitch-slap you like you wouldn’t believe!”

“Assuming you survive my mother flipping out.” Tech snarked wearily.

“Exactly!”

Before Tech could make another snide remark, he was suddenly snatched upwards and pulled into a bear hug by Moranna.

“Ow, ow, still sore as hell!” He snapped, prompting her to let go of him. “What was that?!”

“You are the only thing on this damned planet that I can make heads or tails of,” Moranna explained. “and as much as it pains me to admit it, it was really uncomfortable to have you fight that thing alone.”

“Eh, I wasn’t worried.” Igneoux interjected. “We are kinda the same person after all, and I know I kick ass!”

“Probably would’ve been easier if I was there, though.” Alvono spoke up from the Ultimatrix.

“How would you have contributed in any way?” Tech asked.

“...I retract my previous statement.”

“How did I get back here, anyways? Last I remember, I was blacked out on that weird abandoned planet the Entity dragged me to.”

“Oh, that was me!” Napoleon explained. “Once you beat the Entity, all the screwing around it did with space-time vanished, and I was able to make a rift to go get you!”

“Tell me, Tech, how did you end up defeating the Anti-Life Entity?” Azmuth asked.

“Well, he kinda kicked me around a bit, but then I evolved and ended up using the SpecTrix to...” Tech’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh man, the SpecTrix. It, uh...kind of exploded.”

“Did you detransform before it was destroyed?”

“Well, I got devolved, but...come to think of it, I don’t think I did.”

“In that case, I’m afraid you didn’t come away from that fight without any permanent effects.” Azmuth sighed. “From now on, your default form is going to be as a Delta Human. The same sort of incident happened to my former assistant, though admittedly under...different circumstances. I might be able to fix it, but it won’t be easy.”

“Hold on a second, how is this a bad thing?” Tech asked. “I’m a super-powered superhero all the time now? That’s great!”

“You forget that the Delta Human still has weaknesses in combat the average human does not. In ancient times, these were not so easily exploited, but nowadays, they could be a dangerous liability.”

“...Oh.”

“Of course, I suppose I could combine the DNA of a Delta and a modern human, then set that as your permanent form.” Azmuth mused. “It would take a while, even for me, and you wouldn’t be nearly as strong, but you certainly wouldn’t die as easily if the SpecTrix ever ran out of power.”

“Uh, sounds great, but I destroyed the SpecTrix, remember?”

“And the last time that happened, I simply printed up a new one, remember? I should still have the backups, so I can simply transfer all the data from the one you destroyed onto the new one. No new model this time around, but I suggest you count your blessings anyways.”

“Uh, right. Thanks, I guess?”

“You’re welcome.”

With that, Azmuth pulled out what appeared to be a small remote and pressed a few buttons, teleporting away. The room was silent for a few moments.

“So, what now?” Napoleon asked.

“Now we wait.” Tech replied.

“And after that?”

“After that, we keep saving the world!”

“Actually, I think I’m going to go home.” Igneoux interjected.

“...Say what now?”

“Look, all this ‘end of reality’ stuff really got me thinking back to the last time this happened to me.” Igneoux elaborated. “After all that went down, I did save reality, but I still felt like a failure, so I left my timeline. I guess I thought it would help somehow, but it really didn’t. All this stuff going down just drove that point home. I’m going to head back and try to fix things.”

“Take it from me, that’s probably the best thing you could do.” Napoleon said. “Good on you, man.”

“I’m guessing you probably want to stay with these guys.” Igneoux asked Alvono, looking down at the Ultimatrix.

“Depends.” Alvono replied. “What’s the main thing I gotta do if I stick around with the Ultimatrix?”

“Uh, just kinda sit there, I guess.”

“Tech, I’m quitting my job.” Alvono said. “I just found a better position.”

“Well, goodbye and good riddance.” Tech replied jokingly. “Not that you were of much help anyway!”

“Sounds like that’s all settled.” Igneoux said, standing up. “I’ll come back to visit sometime. Make sure you aren’t slacking off on your training.”

“What, I still have to train after all that?” Tech groaned.

“If you don’t use it, you lose it!” Napoleon interjected.

“Exactly!” Igneoux said, walking out the door. “See you guys later!”

“See ya!” Tech replied.

As Igneoux walked out the door of the shop, Tech flopped down in his office chair and rubbed his temples.

“Man, this Anti-Life Entity stuff sure has been one heck of a journey, huh?” He chuckled. “I start out this whole mess with just Aquadilus helping me, and by the end of it, I end up with a former assassin and an over-the-top nanite-controlling weaboo.”

“Actually, I believe the western term is ‘fandom trash’.” Napoleon replied jokingly.

“...Do I really want to know what either of you are talking about?” Moranna asked.

“Probably not.” Tech shrugged.

“This planet is weird.”

“Eh, I dunno about just the planet.” Tech leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “After everything I’ve been through, I have to say...”

A small grin formed on his face.

“The entire universe is weird.”

' THE END... '

Well, that’s what you’d expect to read at the end of the story, at least.

But life doesn’t really wrap up like a story, does it?

The world keeps turning.

Friends are made and lost.

Those you never thought you’d see again may return.

Life goes on.

Tech’s battle may be over for now.

But his battle is hardly going to be the last.

Eventually, a new generation appears, with all-new threats.

And all-new heroes.

Join me for the next chapter of this never-ending tale, in:

TECH 10 ✩ STAR SPIRIT

Coming soon!

Protagonists

 * Tech
 * Moranna Ceres
 * Napoleon Eldridge
 * Igneoux
 * Magister Blue
 * Magister Red
 * Magister Yellow
 * Alpha
 * Dethrouge

Antagonists

 * Prelude
 * The Anti-Life Entity

SpecTrix Aliens

 * Abstract
 * Overtide
 * Golurth
 * GoluTide
 * Rockoustic (Tech 10: Rebooted)
 * Ultimate Rockoustic (Tech 10: Rebooted)
 * Tech Delta
 * Ultimate Tech Delta

AemuTrix

 * Briiz

Ultimatrix Aliens

 * Chiller
 * AirChiller