User:Nighthawkifikation/My Own Worst Enemy

Summary
After his Pyrrhic victory for Apocalypse Now, Jules goes searching for the nameless ninja he helped to create. Meanwhile, Sol finds himself fighting a team of children with a menagerie of superpowers. Can they help him defeat a strange reflection of himself, created from the NeGate MacGuffin?

Plot
Eventually, your world stops spinning.

ol arrives in town with the others are hitchin a ride on a train. while in town, gadsio hears of mysterious disappearances across the great plains-midcontinental usa and suspects something. while in town, sol encounters NegaLaika. Firebomb Fritz, who calls himself an antihero, arrives and the two battle each other and also negalaika. poison lady (or someone else) arrives and talks them down, as sol learns he's in the same town as the orphanage.

                 “Omnitrix… Can you match that thing’s form?” Sol asked, preparing to slam down on the MacGuffin once again.

                 “Of course I can, Sol. I’m a biologically shapeshifting transformation device. There’s not much I can’t do when it comes to mimicking living beings,” she replied.

                 “Good. Then, let’s do this!” Sol shouted confidently as he lowered his hand with undeserving intensity. As he pressed downwards, his puny teenage nerd muscles began to ripple and vibrate with raw power. Black fur exploded from hair follicles embedded in his skin all over his body, covering him an insulating coat. His face lengthened out, resembling an angry terrifying wolf monster (precisely what the Omnitrix had hoped to replicate)



                 “You didn’t even hit me,” Fritz smirks, dusting off his cosplay. “You mock my outfit, but it turns out my persona’s much more



                 “An island!?” Sol asked, rather upset due to his knowledge of geometry. “Listen, we’re nowhere near the ocean. Where is there going to be an island?”

                 There can be islands in lakes and rivers, nitwit. The Omnitrix thought to herself. You just encountered one last episode.

                 “In the sky, dude,” was all she answered, probably hoping that it would explain itself. It did not. That answer would have boggled almost anyone. Luckily, Sol was an idiot, and didn’t even think to consider that maybe it was a metaphor. He took it literally and correctly. Still, it served as a muse for his poor, overstressed and tormented brain. ''A sky island? That’s totally breaking the laws of physics, I think. I don’t actually know those. But there’s definitely gravity here on Earth, unless someone decides to break that law too.''



                 “Gimme Shelter? That’s the secret pass code?” Sol laughed, eager to mock his new friend’s customs. _____ was not so eager to respond.

                 “This place was built on the ruins of the Gimme County Shelter. They were an orphanage for children displaced by loyalist children

                 “Really? I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that at all…” Sol responded, quickly apologizing. “I had no idea, really… That’s terrible.” In truth, Sol did not care about loyalist children, as their families had opposed the noble cause of freedom. Still, he did not like being on the bad side of a hot girl, who as far as he was concerned, was single.

                 “Nah, I’m just messing you to see how you’d respond. I mean, c’mon? George Washington? He’s practically an American saint. The passcode is just a tradition. It’s pretty much useless. The Governess keeps a lever in her office. Whenever someone she trusts wants in, she just lets them in.”

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “Really?” Sol asked, feeling rather embarrassed. To hide his shame, he quickly looked around for cameras. “How?”

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “She just knows.”

<p class="MsoNormal">                 That was all the explanation she or Fritz would give.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">                 Laika stays at the orphanage because he wants to “protect it from harm in case any other Negabeasts emerge”, in actuality the kids just love having him there and want to paint his armor and stuff

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 As Sol stared out across the field, searching for what he expected to look like a rift or a tear in space our time, he found himself chuckling. No, there was nothing here. Nothing but a ton of fog, for no apparent reason (it had been a clear and sunny for the past few hours, along with it being the middle of the day) and a gothic-looking gate. Sol began to realize the implications of his surroundings and couldn’t help but laugh.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “Haha, hot damn. It’s an actual gate,” he laughed aloud. He thought it was simply too funny to whisper about. “It’s not a wormhole or anything. It’s just a gate. All I have to do is just smash it with Crunch Punch or something and we’re all good here. Case closed.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 As he approached the gate, he paused.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:normal">There was a rustling in the grass.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:normal">There were footsteps other than his own in this very field. Realizing that this meant someone else was here with him, almost definitely uninvited, he raised his rest and assumed a combat-ready stance.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:normal">After a few seconds of nervous glances from side to side, the footsteps and rustling not stopping, Sol dropped his stance and sighed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “Fritz, you can come out now. I know it’s you,” Sol paused to continue looking around the field. “This is a job for me, not you.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 The footsteps stopped as a trail of flames quickly raced into view. They grew in height until they resembled a form familiar to Sol; that of Fritz. He spoke, his voice like someone walking across thin ice as it buckled beneath him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “Um, dude. Those footsteps weren’t mine. I was in fire form the whole time.” That was all he could say, despite his desire to continue arguing about how it most definitely was a job he could employ himself in, before both of the boys heard a final set of footsteps in the empty field. Two sets of eyes turned to the gate, where they stared into a third.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 At first, the boys could make out naught but the piercing blue eyes and a silhouette which wrapped itself in blankets of fog like a child on a snowy winter’s night. The silhouette slowly placed its right hand on the NeGate, as both boys looked on in terror. Now visible was a teal beacon, pulsating in the darkness, found on the figure’s left wrist, exactly in the same spot as where Sol kept his Omnitrix.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 Both Sol and Fritz realized the implications of this.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “Is there another Omnitrix?” Fritz asked, looking at Sol with fear in his eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “As far as I’m aware, no, this is the only one… Right, Trixie?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 Trixie did not respond. ''Why is this thing always so suspenseful? ''Sol thought, silently cursing the MacGuffin. All he needed was a yes or no answer.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 The gate slowly creaked open. If Laika was here, his thoughts would have made a comment about the gate needing oiled.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 As the gate open in its entirety, a brilliant flash of light appeared and sparked for a second, before assuming a humanoid form. Something else has come through that gate, Sol realized, raising his arm even closer to himself in anticipation of events to come. The two figures creeped closer to the boys, until their features became distinguishable enough to make our their “identities”.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “S-Sol… W-what do you think the opposite of fire is? Ice… or water..?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">                 “Uh… I don’t know. Aren’t they the same thing?” Sol asked. His mind was split on the decision of fight-or-flight, but something deep down inside of him (likely a gross amount of testosterone) told him that combat was the best choice. “Fritz… You take me; I’ll take you.” Fritz nodded, as the two children rushed forward. The two opposite children rushed forward to meet them, before all four of them inevitably collided in the center of the field for battle.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “Ha, he’s nothing but a puddle!” Sol laughed, looking at what his opponent had turned into. He idly pondered ways of mocking him. ''Piss on him? ''he considered. ''No, NegaSol will probably use that opportunity to slice off my manhood… Pour gasoline on him? Spit at him? Get him all muddy? ''None of those seemed particularly interesting to Sol, so he decided instead he would splash about in the puddle like a little kid, just to aggravate his defeated foe.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 However, as soon as his juvenile splashing began, it came to an end. NegaFritz quickly reformed back into a human, entrapping Sol in a headlock under his left arm. Sol struggled for a bit, until he thought up a new plan. However, NegaFritz wasn’t planning to just hold him in a headlock for time eternal. He quickly morphed his right hand into a long, sharp blade composed of ice, and held it over Sol’s head like a guillotine.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “Don’t try anything funny,” he warned Sol, eyeing the Omnitrix. “Listen, kid, I know what that thing on your wrist does. I’ll let you go if you just let me… slice it off,” he whispered, careful to not let NegaSol overheard. This was most definitely not the reason the two of them had arrived here.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “Funny?” Sol asked aloud, still brainstorming. I can’t really maneuver my arm that well to transform right now… But, if I can aggravate him and get him to strike me with that blade, I could make him hit the Omnitrix instead… “I can think up a few things funny. Like, if I have Firebomb Fritz, what are you? Waterbomb Fritz?” Sol snickered. It wasn’t that funny, yet he still found it hilarious.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “N-no…” NegaFritz admitted, blushing. “It’s Water Balloon Fritz.”

<p class="MsoNormal">                 Sol found that hilarious and could contain his laughing no longer. “Seriously? Water Balloon? Not Hydropump or Waterfall or something else? Water Balloon?”

<p class="MsoNormal">                 With that, NegaFritz had enough of Sol. He quickly sliced his blade downwards, hoping to do a good deed for all and slay the foul beast he had trapped, but the monster was two steps ahead of him. He had shielded himself with the Omnitrix, and now NegaFritz had struck it instead.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 Now here we go, Sol thought, anticipating the Omnitrix to transform him into something good. However, nothing came. At least, not on Sol’s end. A wave of white energy was released from the impact, traveling up NegaFritz’s arm. His arm quickly found itself subject to a transformation instead, as it changed and morphed into a rather out of place purple tentacle. Sol and NegaFritz both stared at each other for a few seconds, before Sol took the opportunity to roll free.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 ''That’s never happened before. Apparently, we both have some secrets…'' Sol thought, as he pressed down on the Omnitrix himself this time.

<p class="MsoNormal">(dry ice transformation, then Sol freezes NegaFritz and Crunch Punches him back into the NeGate)

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops:432.75pt">Fritz shows up, both of them get their asses kicked immensely. Sol kicks NegaFritz’s ass

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<p class="MsoNormal">“My predictions are never wrong. They’re not even predictions. They are the future, undeniably, and the future is bulletproof. The aftermath is secondary.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I see a blanket knit for you, the needle still locked deep within. All of the magnificent crimsons and scarlets fly and mix in a whirlpool of red. It flows through the stars, like Aladdin’s flying carpet, contorting and twisting and looping eternally.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“And you… The unbeliever… In your future, I see the place where the land ends to birth the constellations… The Gemini hangs above, bleeding. Bathed beneath in its starlight, entwined in the stones, lies two snakes, dancing and devouring each other.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“The ourobouros?” asked Sol, intrigued.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Listen, I don’t know. Predictions don’t really mean anything unless you know exactly what it is you’re seeing, and I don’t. They keep telling me to do my studying, but you know, screw them, man. The foggier the predictions, the better, I say. Keeps you guys on your toes. If I just told you, ‘Oh by the way Sol, you’re going to get kicked in the nuts next episode’, it doesn’t half the same feeling as, ‘I see the nutcracker emerge from the shadows of the sunset, doing an acrobatic pirouette directly across the horizon. You are the sun.’, now, does it?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I guess not. I mean, still, it would be much more convenient…” said Sol, still not having learned the heavily guarded secrets of storytelling that were on full display before his poor illiterate, prepubescent eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Buddy, I’m telling you how you guys are gonna die. It doesn’t get more convenient than this. Count your blessings. Now, do you wanna know or not?” the boy asked, rather impatiently. Sol did not have much time to make up his mind.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Do I wanna know?” Sol asked, not needing much more time to make up his mind (obviously, he quite clearly had time for redundant questions). “Sure, I guess.”

<p class="MsoNormal">                 As much as he wanted to complain about how this was not a matter of guessing, the oracle stayed silent and focused on the daggers plunged deep in his eye sockets. Once he saw nothing but pure, raw, pain, he was able to understand how exactly others would feel it, and through even more acrobatic loops of knowledge, how people would die. Their fates.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 “Sol…”

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops:432.75pt">

<p class="MsoNormal">Sol goes to see the governess, who tells him of his powers. She tells him that while the universe is his friend and that he manipulates time, the power of heart lies in another. The power to change oneself. Sol says the omnitrix, but she says there’s another and it spooks even the omnitrix. Sol leaves

<p class="MsoNormal">“Uhh, yeah,” you state, kind of awkwardly but still kind of cool. You think it’s all thanks to the shades you put on.

<p class="MsoNormal">Campfire bit where Gadsio tells his abridged epilogue to Mark of the Universe

Trivia

 * Don't even ask where Jules was for this episode.
 * I have no idea what the shades lines even means, or where it came from, or who's saying it.