Beginning of the End

Beginning of the End is the second episode of the second season of 40: The Last Splixson and the 17th episode of the overall series.

Plot
The episode begins with the Osmosian Flagship flying slowly in space surrounded by hundreds of other, smaller ships. Necropolix is seated on his throne with a large screen in front him showing both Azeroth and Inbenton reporting their progress to him.

Necropolix: Azeroth! Inbenton!

Inbenton/Azeroth: Yes, your lugubriousness.

Necropolix: It's incredible, all this time and not a trace of him! He couldn't have vanished into thin air. Are you sure you searched everywhere?

Azeroth: The Splixson was last seen in the Anur System, but it appears he has long since left there.

Inbenton: We captured one of his friends, but he refuses to talk.

Necropolix: Show him to me.

Inbenton: We’ll teleport him right away, sir.

Necropolix gets off his throne and walks towards the teleporter pad. In a flash of blue light, an injured and weak Van Helsing is teleported to Necropolix.

Necropolix: Oh come now, why so melancholy?

The menacing look in Van Helsing’s eyes did not change. He gave no sign that he understood Necropolix’s words, or even heard them.

Necropolix: If that’s how you’re going to be then I'll make you writhe. I'll see you wriggle like a worm on a hook! Tell me where the Splixson is!

Van Helsing: I would rather die.

Necropolix: So be it.

Van Helsing bites off at Necropolix’s arm.

Necropolix: Ah! Little trog!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix attacks him with an unusually strong and powerful wind blast, which knocks him to the wall. He begins absorbing Van Helsing’s abilities and Van Helsing screams in pain and agony, while Necropolix looks all the more pleased. Van Helsing’s corpse rapidly evaporated to skeletal remains, then to nothing at all.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Azeroth! Inbenton! Go, find Fred, and do not fail me.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Azeroth/Inbenton: Consider it done.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The large screen fades to black.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Oh, they’re hopeless.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Sixty six years ago, the Osmosian Armies attacked Planet Hathor and seemingly exterminated the Splixson race, and the DNA Force were searching for survivors ever since. I am Fred Blake. It has been Six years since my friend Willie and his family have found me in a statis pod. This year, I found this cool watch that allows me to transform into other species. And after my friend Blank sacrificed his life to save me, I have decided to set out in the world alone, to bring over peace and harmony.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">We see Metarid, Marcus and Willie in the G.P. Brisk with Professor Paradox.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Paradox: If Fred hasn’t told you where he went, then he doesn’t want you to know. But I wouldn’t worry about him, for he is not alone.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie: And you had him go on that crazy mission knowing that things would end up like this!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Paradox: It is the work of the Fates, Willie. What Fred is going through, Blank’s death, were all meant to happen from the start.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Paradox takes his pocket watch from his jacket.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Paradox; Oh my, look at the time. I really should get going. Until we meet again.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Paradox teleports out.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie: Wait— He left…

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: Fred should have said something! Why does he always do this?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie: Idiot! Why didn’t he say anything?! I could be backing him up right now. All he had to do was ask.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marcus unearths a sandwich from a pile of papers.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marcus: Come on guys, the Professor said Fred would be alright. He’ll come asking for our help eventually.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The scene cuts to shot of Planet Hathor. Cuts to the shot of Fred walking alone through the overgrown forests of the planet.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">A deep chuckle echoes from nearby.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: So… it truly is you…

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: But of course, it could only be you… it had to be.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Just as the Wind had told…

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: The Wind?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Yes, the Wind… Your Wind.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: My Wind? I’m sorry, I don’t underst-

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">A light flashes from a distance.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: The Wind tells everyone’s story. Carrying their words, taking them away...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Though the words are taken away, their echoes remain. Echoes in the wind...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Make up your Wind. If you can hear the echoes, the whispers of that Wind, then you can hear the bearer of that Wind...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Wait... you're saying you can hear everything I or anyone ever said concerning myself?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: No... Not everything. Some things, but not everything...Too much sound, too much noise…

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Like the noise of a storm. The wind blowing through many, many leaves of trees. A choir’s many voices...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: ...all come together to make a song yet every voice is distinct and different, no matter how small a difference...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Like a busy tavern lively in the night. Only the loudest of things said, those said again and again or said by many can be heard easily.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: The stronger echoes.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Ok... and what does my Wind say?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The voice lets out another deep chuckle.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Very many echoes... A storm unlike others. A great strength but not simply in terms of skill.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Hailed “hero” from as far as the Milky Way reaches Andromeda…

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Many good a word, praise, thanks and cheers said to your name... Willed or not, a friend to many. The many different.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Caretaking of many souls both big and small.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: The burden of caring for them but not being able to save them all.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: ......

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: But not all echoes... ring so well.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Oh?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: An absence felt... painfully… Questions... cries of misery, despair, indignation...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Where have you gone? Why have you gone? Why are you not helping us? Protecting us? Defending us?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">???: Why did you leave us? Why did you forsake us? Why... Why did you abandon us?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: ......

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor appears from the light.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor: Now indulge me, Fred… Just what are you doing here?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I haven’t gotten over it. Last night, I kept having nightmares about Blank’s death. I hardly slept at all. I saw his face right before he died. I heard his voice, his words. I don’t think I’m ever going to forget what happened.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor: That’s how it should be. There are things you shouldn’t forget; the significance of losing someone close to you. Once you accept it, you will find closure.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor: Your story may not have such a happy beginning... but that does not make you who you are. It is the rest of your story... who you choose to be...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor: Blank would want you to put all this behind you and go back, child.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred’s eyes narrow as he is filled with a new determination.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor: You know your path, child.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Lady Hathor vanishes in swift flash of light.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I wish I had some help right now. I wish I had the Gilded Knight.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred suddenly realizes something.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I do have him!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The spirit of the Gilded Knight appears before Fred.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Gilded Knight: You are right, Fred.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: So, tell me, what do I do now? Lady Hathor says I have to accept what happened back on Anur Phaetos and go back. But I don’t think I can do that.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Gilded Knight: Lady Hathor? It has been a while since I have heard that name. Then again, it has been a while since I heard any old names really.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred clears his throat to get his attention.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Gilded Knight: Oh, right. I see you are lost in more ways than one, young Splixson. Young one. It pains me as well to see that your friend is no longer among the living. But it pains me even more to see that you don’t understand the meaning of his sacrifice. Blank Speedity was a warrior, a hero, who lost his life willingly so you could tread your path once more. But, young one, your goal is to save the whole universe. And the way I see it, abandoning your comrades is not the answer. Unless you wish to die meaninglessly attempting to fight off your enemies alone, you must return to them.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I don’t care if I die.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Gilded Knight: You want to fight alone and die alone. Is that what you’re saying?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Yeah, I was always supposed to die alone.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Gilded Knight: You’ve got it all wrong. There is no dying alone. It’s not that simple. When you die, you leave a hole in all the people whose lives you were a part of.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Even if lose, even if I die, no one can blame me for what I did. You want to help? You want to carry this burden with me?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Gilded Knight: I assure you your scruples are quite ill-founded. I give you this wisdom, Fred. You must return.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The Gilded Knight fades away.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I guess I have no choice then.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Scene cuts to Necropolix's ship. Necropolix is standing before Van Helsing's corpse, smoking from absorption.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Another one bites the dust...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">He sits down on his throne.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Although... it pains me... Is this really necessary? Revenge needs its own sacrifices... but again... my mind asks the question once more... Is this really necessary?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Suddenly, a loud explosion is heard and the whole flagship quakes. An Osmosian soldier quickly enters Necropolix’s throne room.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Soldier: Gunfire in Deck C!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Red alert! Seal off the deck!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Alarms are sounded throughout the whole ship.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Converge all security on Deck C! Deadly force authorized! Fire on sight!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The flagship shakes once more, and a screen materializes in front of him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Soldier #2: Sir, we have identified the genetic makeup of the attacker. The DNA indicates a Splixson.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Splixson! Only one remains! That means...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix himself gets up, throwing off his robes. He unsheathes an energy sword.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Soldier: Sir...!?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: The fool has attacked my own ship. I shall deal with him with my own hands!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">He dashes through, hacking down a door. He stops in front of the deck's walls, dust gathering around him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: Come at me, old fool! I shall have my revenge on you!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The wall begins having dents, as it suddenly explodes, with a figure appearing through the smoke.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix, taking a step back: You... are not Fred...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The figure moves in in a blinding speed, and grabs Necropolix by the neck, lifting him up.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Splixson: You are horribly misinformed. *starts laughing*

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: What's so funny?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Splixson: The thing that you clearly do not know. It is time you learned the truth... before I vanquish you like I did your grandfather and his father before him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: You... killed my grandfather?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Splixson: Arcmaster... all great and mighty... but he was weak. Just like you...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Splixson: And you know what else...

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The rest of the conversation is unheard. But Necropolix's eyes widen as he has an epiphany brought about by the Splixson's words. The Splixson rapidly jabs various points on Necropolix's body, paralyzing him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Splixson: Hasta la bye bye.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The scene cuts to the Splixson in space a fair distance away from the flagship. He snaps his fingers and the spaceship simultaneously blows up.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Splixson: Everything is working according to my ultimate design.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The scene cuts to Fred tampering with his Novatrix.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I remember Metarid telling about this feature. To use it only in case of an emergency.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred rotates the Novatrix faceplate clockwise then counter-clock then presses it down. It sends a beam of blue light into the sky.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: That'll do the trick.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">After a while...Fred is sitting on the grass, taking a nap. He is woken up by an abrupt sound. He looks into the sky and sees the G.P. Brisk preparing to land.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The scene cuts to Fred inside the G.P. Brisk reunited with the rest of his team.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie punches Fred straight in the face.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Ow! That hurt!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie: Good! Don't ever do that again!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Yeah, yeah.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: I'm actually surprised you used the feature I told you about. R.O.B. successfully received your coordinates.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marcus: Fred, how could you leave your old buddy Marcus behind? Gimme a hug!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marcus leaps for Fred, but stops when Metarid announces something urgent.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: Take a look at this.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid shows them a video of the Osmosian Flagship's last moments.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: This was captured not too long ago by an eyewitness.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie: Necropolix was on that ship. Does that mean he-

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: No being could have survived a blast that powerful and destructive. Chances that he survived are very slim.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marcus: Hold on, zoom in on that video.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid zooms in and a silhouette of the Splixson moments before the explosion.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Is that a... Splixson?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marcus: Sure looks like it. Same shape and size as you.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: I knew it! I knew I wasn't the only one!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Willie: But why would he destroy the Osmosian Flagship? Does an ordinary Splixson even possess that kind of power?

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Who cares? I'm not the Last Splixson after all! We have to find him!

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: Don't get your hopes up too much. This could be just a trick of the light.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Fred: Well, we won't lose anything if we look for him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Metarid: Okay then, we'll head to the site of the explosion.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The scene cuts to Necropolix, barely breathing, making his way through the wreckage and to the nearest planet.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix: *cough* I don't plan on ending this way. I have to find Fred. He has to know. *growls in pain*

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Necropolix makes his way to Khoros' atmosphere and begins to crash to the ground. Necropolix crashes headfirst into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">After an unknown amount of time,

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Close-up of Necropolix as he slowly opens his eyes. He gasps in awe as he beholds a young Anodite, who stares at him, in relief, with deep pink eyes. Her hair sways in the wind.

Characters

 * Fred
 * Willie
 * Metarid
 * Marcus
 * Professor Paradox
 * Van Helsing (deceased)
 * Lady Hathor
 * Gilded Knight

Villains

 * Necropolix
 * Azeroth
 * Inbenton
 * Unknown Splixson