When It Started

Sol 10 and When It Started is the first episode of Sol 10, a series by Sol, if you didn't figure that out already.

Summary
Jules begins to write Sol 10, Laika crash-lands on Earth, and the Omnitrix chooses Sol.

Plot
Hello. If you’re reading this, and you’re me, which you probably are, then you have just arrived at the Eiffel Tower, inside of the Paris Ghetto. Of course, this isn’t the Eiffel Tower you remember. Oh well. Times change.

As I was saying, you’ve just entered the Eiffel Tower after fighting through the punks and scum that plague the streets of Paris. Sorry about that one, I really am. I suppose you are too, since, you are me. Let’s not waste any more time on matters as confusing as our identity. I promise that.

That’s a promise I’m going to break a few times throughout this guide.

That’s right. A GUIDE. This is a guide for you to follow my work. If you are the Alpha Jules, you will read this book, along with the other nine books alongside it, to understand the failures that we have made. You will then proceed to create a remedy for the situation.

That is what you’ll do, unless I’m the Alpha Jules. If I am, then I’m sorry. You’re doomed. I have already finished and saved the universe, if that’s what the universe intends to see happen. If I’m the Alpha Jules, what I’m writing is final. No later guides would be needed after this one, any others written would doom you. But you will still attempt to write more, is inevitable.

So, here I will begin. There are nine other guides, so logically, I will title this one Sol 10. You sit down at the simplistic, metallic desk, which is adjacent to the command console. Motivated by instinct, you turn on the monitor.

MILES ABOVE PARIS 

Two space ships, one in hot pursuit of the other, race through a blur of planets at light speed. The first ship makes a dangerous swoop into a meteor’s path, narrowly avoiding it, and the second ship flies through the flames, lighting his ship on fire. The second ship, aflame but now moving much faster, launches two torpedoes into the ship ahead of it. The targeted ship manages to dodge one of the missiles, but it swerves directly into the other.

The camera zooms into the cockpit of the trailing ship, which is getting increasingly closer to its prey, like a shark chasing an injured seal.

                 A captain stands at the bridge of the ship, intently watching the front “window” of the ship. Of course, this is still years in the future, so the crew members of the ship have access to all kinds of sci-fi technology. The window has a double purpose, it’s very similar to Google Glass. “Windows” and other GUIs constantly open up and fly off to the side, displaying vital statistics as well as future memes that your mind can’t possibly even hope to understand yet.

“Great shot, Artemis! We’ve got him now! Laika, open communications, stat!” The captain orders. He is a human man, around 5’10, with messy, short brown hair, tanned skin, and piercing green eyes.

“Whatever you say, sir,” barks back a man with a metallic, echoing voice. This man, Laika, wears a heavy suit of armor, red and bronze in color. His helmet is a massive hemisphere emerging from the neck, with a circular smooth black visor over where the face would be. Every time he talks, a red circle appears and disappears in the center of the visor.

A new window pops up on the front of the ship. This window is a “webcam” revealing the man behind the fleeing ship. He wears a suit of armor similar to Laika’s, but his helmet is instead a short, fat cylinder. His faceplate gives the impression of an angry face with very thick angry-looking lines where the eyebrows would be. His mouth is an upside-down bracket and he lacks any nose or ears.

“Well, Szilard, you might as well give up by now. Your ship is going to be destroyed any minute now and the will be in our hands,” taunts the captain. He’s convinced that he’s winning this, and with good reason too. There should not be any way for the enemy’s ship to recover after that last shot.

“Au contraire, mon capitan,” chuckles the opposing figure, despite his apparent losing position. His voice is deep and menacing. “We both know very well that the plans will continue no matter what happens to me. You think by killing me here you’re managing to prolong the beginning of the end. That is impossible. The end began years ago, when it started. I’m merely attempting to advance it.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Your logic is flawed. If you’re going to advance it, and I’m undoubtedly going to kill you here, then I’ll be prolonging it!” shouts back the captain. Clearly a nerve has been struck.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Your logic is flawed as well, then. You do not deny that the end has started. Just look at your ship, flaming in the endless vacuum of space. Ordinarily impossible. The laws are beginning to bend.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">The third and final physical member of the flaming ship’s crew, a human female with red hair and forest green eyes, perks up. “Sir, what is he speaking about? What is all of this about the end?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Nothing, Artemis. Just… fire the Final Shot! Let’s end it on this!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">The girl, Artemis, nods and accepts her order, punching in some commands on the buttons surrounding her. “Shot is ready… FIRING!” <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">The camera returns to the view of space. The flaming ship fires a single shot out of a gun located on its underbelly, which begins to spin and revolve in space like a rifled bullet, before ultimately accelerating in a flash of bright light. It races toward the front ship.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">In the split second before impact, both ships and their crews are bathed in a second, much larger flash of light. When the light begins to fade and disappear, the ships vanish alongside it. Nothing remains but the planets, stars, and asteroids that the battlefield is littered with.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: center;">YEARS IN THE PAST, BUT NOT MANY

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">It was just an average, ordinary day for Sol Masque until two space ships crash landed in the dirt front of him.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 That’s a lie. Sol was having a terrible day, as he always had. The two space ships only enhanced that feeling, yet simultaneously filled his life with more wonder and excitement than he had ever experienced in his life, except for maybe one or two other times in his early childhood too early to be remembered. Especially at this point in time.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 Another lie is that the space ships crash landed in the dirt in front of him. Well, not exactly. That is not actually a lie, but a simplification. The ships crashed down in front of the ridge Sol was standing on. Luckily, there was a guard rail that protected him from the dirt and other wreckage produced by the collision. A few seconds elapsed, and then Sol decided it would be best to investigate what had just fallen out of the sky. He ran forward to the edge of the highway and looked down. From where he stood, he had an incredible view.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 As he stared in wide wonder, four figures instantly emerged from the scattered wreckage.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">These were the same four persons from the previous dogfight. Noticing how menacing these combatants were, Sol decided to take shelter. He clambered down and crouched behind the highway’s guardrail. Of course, he was easily visible here.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 “Incredible… How did he survive that!?” questioned Laika, with only slightly less amazement than Sol was experiencing.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 “More importantly… How did he drag us down with him?” replied Artemis, asserting her question over his.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 “And now… It is time…” Szilard began to laugh a monstrous, demonic laugh. “For you to be dragged down even further…”   His gigantic fists began to spark with a as he sized up his competition.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 “Not as fast as you might think, Szilard…” muttered the captain, as he raised his left wrist and placed it parallel to his heart. On said wrist, a rather alien looking contraption was found. Although, in comparison to the rest of the scene, it wasn’t that strange or out of place. It was a black device, similar to a gauntlet, despite the fact that it didn’t extend beyond the wrist. A more apt description might be a watch. Instead of an analog clock, the face plate jutted out upwards. The face plate had a screen, seemingly made out of a related material to Laika’s visor, that had the image of a green hourglass on it.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">                 “Still using the old ? I thought you would have picked up something much more advanced sooner or later.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">The captain pressed down on the watch’s plate- or rather the Omnitrix’s plate, Sol considered- and it receded with ease. “If it’s not broken, then don’t fix it.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">In a flash of light, the Captain disappeared and was replaced by a being of pure gold. This being’s body was that of a slim, fit man, with the tone of his muscles unable to be seen. His body’s texture was smooth and glittered like a summer’s ocean. He had no visible mouth, but he did have two large white eyes with proportional green irises and luscious gold hair that rose upward, as if effected by static electricity. On his sternum, near the heart, was a symbol identical to the one on the faceplate of the Omnitrix. The old location of the Omnitrix seemed to hold no sway on the new man. Sol entertained the idea that it had not disappeared, but traveled up his arm and into his chest, and he was right.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“…” Szilard chuckled. Sol assumed this was the alien’s identity, and only now began to wonder what had happened to the captain.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Before he could utter another word, the Brightside fellow flashed forward to Szilard and almost simultaneously conjured a sword of pure light, before he slashed upwards into Szilard’s chest. The slash wound left a ‘tear’ in the metal plates of his armor. Peering into the cut would only reveal darkness, and smoke, which began to billow out. This did not phase Szilard, whose response was merely to grab Brightside and choke him in a massive bearhug.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“He’s attempting to crush your limbs!” shouted Laika, from the sidelines. Sol now glanced to that armored figure instead, who raised his arms and pointed at Szilard. Sol now got a good look of them. Instead of ending in hands, they ended in miniguns. Laika’s miniguns began spinning, but the beautiful Artemis placed her hand on Laika’s shoulder. She mouthed something and Laika’s miniguns ceased to spin. Of course, Sol realized. If Laika would have shot his miniguns, both struggling combatants would have been injured, if not just killed outright.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol turned his gaze back to Szilard and Brightside. Brightside’s eyes were bugging out and he was still struggling, clearly helpless. “Your rashness leads to your defeat once more…” taunted Szilard.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“And so does yours!” shouted Artemis, a mechanical crossbow in her arms. The crossbow seemed to consist of a material Sol had never seemed. Sol began to wonder why these sci-fi heroes still used crossbows, since they clearly had guns. Sol vowed never to think of this again as long as he lived, upholding the excuse that maybe archery was just cool as true fact. However, this only led to more questions for Sol. If aliens cared about “cool”, then aliens almost certainly have a social status, Sol’s mind began to wander, until Artemis fired a bolt from her crossbow. The shot raced towards Szilard at incredible speeds. It impaled into Szilard’s shoulder. He now had two smoking wounds.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol decided to scare off the thoughts of alien high school popularity dynamics and to focus on the battlefield for good, since this would probably decide his future. He should probably be hiding too, instead of standing out in the open like a complete idiot. Of course, he did not act on that thought; this battle was too cool for him to miss.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">   Szilard cast Brightside away, throwing him to the ground. Brightside lie there, still unable to do anything. Despite his freedom, he continued to be hopeless and helpless. It was a scary sight for all to see, even Sol, who prided himself on being afraid of nothing.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“You’ve only managed to aggravate him, Artemis!” Laika shouted, revealing the obvious yet again.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Szilard, despite his large frame, managed to run over to Artemis in almost no time at all. He grabbed her shoulder with one hand and smashed his hand down with the other, breaking the crossbow into a hundred pieces.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“His strength and speed are insurmountable! Not even our own captain could beat him, Artemis, you’re doomed!” shouted Laika.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Look away, Laika…” Artemis trembled. Laika followed her order, turning away. He faced his back to the battlefield and down at the ground. If he looks up, Sol thought, I’m found out.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Look away and you’ll miss the fate that Artemis and this universe will share! Behold, I say! Behold the miracle of !” Szilard yelled as Artemis continued to shake and quiver in anticipation of what was about to happen to her. Paralyzed by fear, she made almost no effort to fight back anymore. Brightside gasped for breath, painfully craning his damaged neck to witness the events that were about to transpire.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Still holding Artemis with one hand, the monster of a mech extended his other hand out. From the center of his palm, a needle began to emerge. He plunged the needle into Artemis’s neck, and a deep red substance began to pour through it. Never mind how Sol managed to see all of this from so far away, all you need to wonder about is what is going to happen next. Er, what happened next.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">A few seconds after he began pumping the strange liquid, what Sol presumed was the Red Matter, he stopped and removed his hands from the dame. Artemis stared, her face a shocked expression, her hands gingerly probing the wound. As she did, however, her wound began to… squirm. Or rather, the skin under the wound began to swell and squirm, as if bubbles were trapped underneath the surface. They began to grow, first around the wound, and then spreading through her body. Her veins began to bulge out before they bubbled similar to where she had been stabbed.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol could bear it no longer. He shielded his eyes with his wrist. This body horror was too much for him to take in. No matter how badly he wanted to look, his mind would not let him witness it.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Eventually, he heard a sickening noise echo from down the hill. It sounded as if a watermelon was smashed against another watermelon. It was the sound of Artemis’s body exploding into a mess of blood and guts. Sol finally found it in himself to turn around and view the aftermath of the carnage.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Somehow, Brightside mustered enough energy together from within his body, as well as from the stars, to perform one last flashstep. He appeared before Szilard and wrapped his arms around his long-time rival turned mortal enemy.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“You want to witness my defeat, do you, Szilard?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika turned around, to face his master and his master’s enemy. “No, Captain! There must be another way!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Laika, this is the only way… I’ve seen his new weapons. We’ve been tricked. He wanted us to shoot him down here. I’ve walked us right into trap after trap all along and we never noticed it until now. But it all ends here. If that reaches the center of the universe, everything will fester and bubble up and be gone in an instant just like Artemis. I can’t let him do this. I need to take him and his Red Matter down. This is the only surefire way…”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">As Szilard continued to struggle and nearly managed to break free, Brightside restated his question. “You know you want to witness my defeat, Szilard! I’m taking you and all of your tools of destruction down with me!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Brightside rammed Szilard’s chest, the Omnitrix colliding with Szilard’s still-smoking slash wound from Brightside’s earlier attack. With another flash of green light, Brightside changed into another figure. Sol couldn’t get too good of a look at the new hero; both men were instantaneously consumed in a deadly, large explosion. No visible trace was left of either, except for the Omnitrix, which went flying off in the direction of Sol.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">For a few moments, all was still and silent. What seemed like an eternity was actually only a few seconds. The smoke eventually diffused through the area. There was still no trace of the Captain.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika, who had been watching the events transpire, despite his inner self telling him to not, looked at the wreckage of the battle. “Incredible!” he shouted, as he began to piece together the situation. “The Captain must have used to give Szilard what he wanted, but with an ingenious twist! He turned into explosives and blew himself up to save the universe! <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">“But…” the armored behemoth paused, as he turned around, taking in even more of the surroundings, searching for the most important piece of wreckage. “Where did the Omnitrix go? Could it have exploded in the explosion? Surely the AI’s knack for self-preservation would have ensured its survival?” If Laika’s brows were visible, it would be certain that they would be furrowed. He raised his head to the sky and began to scan the battlefield some more, before eventually pinpointing the location of the Omnitrix. He leaped into the sky.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Within the few seconds of silence, the Omnitrix raced through the air, its faceplate flashing with bright, blinking lights. It began to curve downward, growing closer and closer to Sol. He looked up to see what this new noise was about. Being brave or being an idiot, he stayed still. Of course, he quickly remembered his inability to catch any object, and slowly began to back away.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">The Omnitrix did not care about this young human’s nervousness and continued to race towards him, landing on the ground where he had been a few seconds before. After the first initial contact with the ground, the Omnitrix bounced once off of the ground, moving closer to Sol, before bouncing two more times and finally latching itself onto his left wrist.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol struggled backwards a bit, viciously tugging at the device to try and remove it. He fell back into the mud, landing on his butt. That prompted him to finally stop tampering with it.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">As he got to his feet, a figure fell from the sky. From below, its legs reminded Sol of chicken legs, and its feet consisted of three equidistant “levers”. It landed before Sol with a miniature tremor that almost knocked Sol onto his hindquarters once again.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“What is your name, boy?” barked the tall, robotic mechanoid he had come to known as ‘Laika’.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol spent about a minute thinking up very clever names, which ranged from offensive (Ben Dover, Herbie Hind, Jay Walker, Mona Lott, Libby Doe), to Bart Simpson prank phone calls (I.P. Freely, Maya Buttreeks, Anita Man, Oliver Clothesoff), or even to pure edge or “funky alternative kid” (Kay Oss, Horace Cope, Lois Price, Rex Cars). After a minute, he thought he must look like an idiot for forgetting his own name, so he decided to utter the name with the most possible idiocy.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">OF COURSE, before he says your name, you quickly type something into the console. You make sure that you haven’t accidentally typed nothing as you did once and only once before. You hit enter and the name forces its way to the tip of his tongue.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Sol. My name is Sol,” he uttered, shaking with the supposed power those words held. The power of a name. Of course, this was not Sol’s actual name. No one is dumb enough to name a child after a celestial object, except maybe Sol, who sometimes considered naming one of his children “Uranus” and waiting to see how long it took said child to kill itself. No, that was definitely not his birth name. Sol did not like his birth name, which was given to him by a woman who had only pushed him out of a womb that he had been kept in against his own will and without his own consent. Of course, now that he had seen and witnessed the outside world, sometimes he wished he could just curl up into a ball and spend a few more months inside of said womb.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Well, Sol…” uttered Laika, before he collapsed- or rather, kneeled- down onto one knee and placed both of his hands outstretched before Sol. “I pledge my life to you. You are my new master.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Wh-what?” spoke Sol, in disbelief. His confidence levels kept sinking and replenishing like water in a faulty toilet. “Listen, Laika, I can’t really… be your master. First off, that’s kinda gay,” he started to consider, shuddering and shaking a bit. “And second off, slavery is illegal here on… everywhere. You can think our great president Abraham Lincoln for that.” Sol looked off into the sky as the blood of his American forefathers boiled in his veins. An eagle cawed somewhere in the distance.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Y-you’re just like him!” Laika gushed, a sense of freedom overcoming him too. Democracy is a disease that we all can catch.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Like who?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Like ! My first master… He raised me since my creation… he had the same outlook on life as you!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“What outlook? Slavery is bad?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Oh, heavens no! He made his fortunes off of making slaves out of clones and the remaining humans before selling them. It all contributed to a wonderful post-apocalypse economy. No, his outlook was that the presidents were great!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“That’s… cool. I guess,” Sol replies awkwardly, rubbing his elbow behind his back. “Umm, listen. I really can’t be your master. I have better stuff to do, like wander out to California or something. I guess I… I emancipate you, Laika.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“You wh-what!?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“You’re free now. Do whatever you want, freaky space bro.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">With that, Laika leapt to his feet and crushed Sol in a bearhug. “Oh, thank you master Sol! You have graced me with the great gift of freedom, and I know exactly what I’ll do with it!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol struggled, but eventually he managed to worm his way under and out of Laika’s giant metallic gunny arms.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“I’m going to follow you out to California!” Laika announced, before he posed with one minigun pointed to his hip and the other pointed off into the sky. For someone whose companions just died, he didn’t seem that sad. Maybe it’s just a weird alien culture thing I’ll never understand, Sol thought. “Don’t even try to convince me otherwise, master! I’m destined to follow that Omnitrix until the day that I die!” Laika moved his sun-oriented handgun to point at the watch on Sol’s wrist.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Umm, cool. Wait, did you say Omnitrix? Is that what this thing is?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">In less than a second after Sol said that, the Omnitrix glowed and flashed to life. It began to speak, its faceplate light flickering in sync with the voice. “An inconsiderate fool? Is that what this thing is?” the device spoke, mocking its new owner.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Yes, Sol! That device on your watch is the Omnitrix! The famed contraption, with the body forged in the ancient fires of Big Tambora, the technology designed by the Nihilans from Nongermanen X, the faceplate imported directly from the planet Murano, and all of it assembled at the magnificent Skyforge!” Sol wondered why aliens had a skyforge if there wasn’t a sky in space, but he figured it was best not to interrupt his new robotic friend. He would probably never get an answer he could understand, anyways.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“And powered by my unending desire to survive until the end of the universe. I will stare at all of your burning bodies and laugh the final laugh,” finished the device herself.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Umm, that’s cool and all, but I don’t really care that much, to be honest,” Sol shyly stated, under his breath. Laika, with hearing acute enough to hear a pin drop, picked up on that and was instantly shocked by his new master’s ignorance.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Wh-what!? How can you not care about the pinnacle of universe-wide technology!?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Because I’m on Earth and Earth is only like, 1/1000000 of the universe. As far as I am concerned, this is all there is, dude,” Sol admitted.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“I admire this child’s stupidity. I hope that one day I can be just as ignorant as him,” the Omnitrix joked, although something deep down inside himself told Sol that she wasn’t kidding.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">   “B-but, Sol! Master! The Earth is more intertwined in all of this than you think! Why, the Earth is incredibly close to the center of the universe!” Laika started to elaborate, before he realized he would have to provide even more exposition. The Omnitrix silently chuckled to itself, hoping that it would never have to be activated in this particular period of time. “Sol, the Great Ancient Doomsday Space Clock grows increasingly closer to midnight every moment!” That’s good, Sol silently thought to himself. At least clocks worked as intended in space. Still, this did not concern him, and Laika realized this. “Our universe is ending!” Sol still did not care. “We must stop them from ending it prematurely! If the universe ends soon, that means your life will end too! All of our lives will be consumed in one large inferno!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika paused, waiting for Sol to understand. Sol’s primitive mind slowly began to piece together the information he had gleamed from the GLORIOUS EXPOSITION that had emerged from the depths of nowhere.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Wait, that means… If the universe is going to get killed off early… and then my life will end soon… I might die a virgin!” Sol gasped, motivation and determination mixing in his heart and flooding through his veins. He had just conceived the most incredible idea of his lifetime (up to that point).

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika’s heart thumped in his chest. Finally, he had convinced his new traveling companion to take up the torch of the old Captain!

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“I have a new plan, Laika!” Sol thundered, raising his finger to point out in the direction he presumed was westward. In reality, it was actually southeast. “We’re going to head out to California! But now, this time, we’re going to stop and pick up some chicks along the way!”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika, who lacked probably even more brain cells than Sol at this point, was ecstatic. He was going to stop the end of the universe! Or at least, the premature end to the universe! It would still end anyways! Maybe these chicks they picked up along the way would help them out, too! Soon, they would have an entire merry band of adventurers! <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">The Omnitrix sighed, or she would have, if it possessed any lungs or diaphragm. She now realized how dumb her remaining companions were. She was disappointed for not noticing it sooner. “Listen, Sol. Laika. You’re both blundering idiots. One minute, it seems like you’re incredibly smart, but the next, you’re just blundering idiots again. I can’t explain it. Maybe there’s some higher being out there controlling all of us-“ <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You pause the monitor to smirk at the Omnitrix’s quip, before unpausing it.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">“who cannot yet decide if you two are intended to be autistic baboons for the rest of your lives or strategic masterminds…”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You pause the monitor once more to contemplate the words of wisdom the Omnitrix has just spouted out. Perhaps there is someone higher than even you, who can’t decide if you’re an idiot or not. After all, you keep pausing the monitor to break the fourth wall between you and the alternate reality events you’re witnessing.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You’re pausing it to smirk and laugh at a 13-year-old child and his robotic watch.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You are an idiot.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">You let the footage play, feeling a little less sure in yourself.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“But, now, you two need to listen up,” the Omnitrix continued, after your brief intermission. “This might be the most important thing you’ll ever heard. Sol, you need to fight for Earth. You can’t sit idly by and watch the universe and millions of inhabitants be slaughtered. Especially with the power you now contain…” The Omnitrix glowed enticingly, as Sol eyed it. “Sol… Press me down. Witness your new capabilities.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol gingerly hovered his hand over the Omnitrix’s faceplate, turning to face Laika. The behemoth nodded, urging him to go on, but Sol hesitated.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“I think…. I’ll wait until some of these ‘bad guys’ show up before activating this thing. I mean, I don’t really see any of them around. It would be kind of a waste and stuff.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika sighed, disappointed. “Okay, master. Whatever you say.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Besides, I don’t really know if we have the time for that. We really should get going, we have to get out to California pretty fast.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Sol began to walk away, following the highway that he had already been previously traveling on, before the major events of the Szilard confrontation had occurred. Laika hurried up, running a bit to catch up.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“But, wait! Master! Shouldn’t you contact your parental units or… something similar?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">The Omnitrix chuckled. “Parental units? What kind of a cliché are you?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">“Um, no, Laika, I don’t really think they care what I do. It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you later sometime.”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Laika was disappointed for the last time that day. Despite how his new master neglected him, he continued to follow. This was because of two chief reasons; he had nothing better to do and following was the only thing he was sure that he knew how to do.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">As the duo walked down the highway, Sol tapped the Omnitrix gingerly, trying to wake it from its slumber. Eventually, he succeeded. The Omnitrix yawned while her lights flashed on. <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">“Well, Laika, you’re kinda right,” Sol admitted. “I’m not gonna tell my parents, though, there’s a few people much more important.” He looked down at the Omnitrix. “Can… I, umm… Text people on this thing?”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You decide that now would be a good time for a break from the footage, seeing as how the ragtag group of a robot man, a teenaged dirtbag, and a talking watch were now embarking on a very long walk. You’ll let it roll for a bit and come back the next time something exciting happens. There’s no doubt about that.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You sit up from the chair, as you conclude that some fresh air would be nice. Although the air in the Paris Ghetto isn’t as fresh as you wish, being majorly toxic and all, it would at least be a nice change from the abhorrent oil and deoxidizing metal smell that this tower reeks of.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You head to the stairway, and begin to make your climb up to the top of the tower. Before you do, you realize how dangerous it is out there. You might be able to hit any aggressors with your SECRET WEAPON, but then it wouldn’t be a SECRET WEAPON any longer. To solve this problem, you head over to the gunrack on the wall. You choose a black-and-purple laser assault rifle. If the sight of the gun doesn’t scare them, well, then the gun will just kill them instead.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Armed, you resume your climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You begin to wonder when stairs were put in that allowed you to reach the top. As far as you can remember, you used to have to take the elevator to reach the top floors. Oh well. Times change.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">Eventually, you make it to the top. You look out through the window at the view of the collapsing, smoking slums of Paris. Sic transit Gloria, you think.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">As you stare out, lost in your thoughts. a noticeably black-er figure outlined in the far distance becomes visible. Seeing it fills you with dread as you realize what, or rather who, it is. Even the clouds are beginning to fly off, scared of the thing.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">You won’t have much time here left in Paris, you think, gripping the rifle handle tighter.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:.5in">



NEXT TIME ON SOL 10...

SOL AND LAIKA WILL MEET THE FAMED MAGICIAN HARDEEN. BUT WHEN HARDEEN HAS WHAT SOL AND LAIKA WANT AND VICE VERSA, THE SITUATION CANNOT BE RESOLVED PEACEFULLY. CAN SOL DEFEAT HARDEEN WITH THE POWER OF THE OMNITRIX?

Characters

 * (debut)
 * Captain
 * Szilard
 * (debut)
 * Artemis
 * Sol/Alex (debut)
 * Peaches (mentioned)
 * Peaches (mentioned)
 * Peaches (mentioned)

Aliens

 * (debut)
 * (implied)

Trivia

 * Artemis was created as a character for the sole purpose of dying in this episode.
 * This is like, one of the first things Sol has posted in like, forever.