First Impressions of Earth

← None | **First Impressions of Earth** | Lucky Star →

**First Impressions of Earth** is the pilot episode to Starlight's Soliloquy.
Next episode: Lucky Star

rename episode to Kill V Maim? First Impressions of Earth?

## Summary

Two alien hunters arrive on Earth, in search of an impending Omnitrix that's going to land in Alice Springs, Pennsylvania. Otis Perry heads out to find it, leaving his sister alone at home. She doesn't stay there long.

## Plot

**Appalachian Wilderness. 7:49 PM.**

A coltish figure clambered to the edge of the forest, pausing to place a hand against the skin of one of the native species of tree he had found here on this planet. His eyes combed the groupings of lights down in the great earthly trench below, ultimately trying to discern what they could be and of what importance they were. They were not the only lights on this planet, no. The stars above lit the way, so they must have had some other purpose.

Still, they seemed to call to him, like the light of a port bringing a lighthouse back to shore. Of course, this land had never been his home, but the lights down below still seemed so familiar, so welcoming. He wanted to crawl down the hill and wrap himself in their warmth.

He removed his hand from the tree's brown skin and slowly inched across the planet's green floor. He wanted to make his way down the rocky slopes and join the lights below him. Maybe he could forsake the lights in the heavens once and for all.

However, before he could place his foot on the first rough grey stepping stone, the stars made one last effort to entice him back. He heard a deep rumbling growl and looked up towards the sky, watching a familiar black shadow narrowly pass over the tree tops, just yards above his head.

Another hunter.

The ship headed off in the opposite direction of the hearth below, and within seconds, he was following it. He ran, his feet pounding against the strange green and brown carpet, dodging the wooden pillars and clouds of leaves. He managed to keep up with the black crow of a ship as it decelerated. The shadow slowly began to descend into the forest, flushing the leave clouds away into smoke and chipping the wood into nothingness. The knight knew that now would be the optimal time to strike, and thus he slammed a blade into the ground and catapulted himself up and into the air.

He hit his first target, gracefully catching and grabbing onto one of the wooden pillars. His muddied feet stood parallel to the trunk, while one hand wrapped around the branch like it was a spear. He remained their for a mere moment, long enough only to weave a blade from the light around his hand. It sparked as the energy came into formation, but he spent no time investigating it. His creation's purpose was not to pique his own curiosity. He slammed the tool into the tree, discarding it already and using the momentum it provided to propel himself further.

He pirouetted through the air, flying up higher and closer to the black metal skin of his rival's bird. Another blade was unsheathed and promptly slashed against the hull of the hawklike ship. The two materials collided, and sparks flew until debris took its place instead. The knight's sword proved superior, and the ship's hulls began to crack and shatter down the side. The engine was revealed, and Xiphos finally had his chance to strike down his opponent once and for all, though it might mean sacrificing himself in the process.

Due to his knack for self-preservation, he neglected this opportunity. He used the last of his momentum to launch himself down into the dirt below, rolling into a ball. Slamming his blade into the solid mud, he managed to stop his momentum. He carefully got to his feet, turned his head to investigate the area, and, once he was sure he could have a moment to recuperate, leaned up against one of the burnt charcoal pillars. From afar, he could watch the "crow" collide with the forest top. A roar of heat was unfurled onto the poor forest canopy, and instantly the knight knew he too was unsafe here. He wiped the static from his hands, dispersed his blade into glimmers of light, and continued on his run through the strange new arena in the opposite direction from where he had came.

**Ithaca, Pennsylvania. 5:15 PM.**

"C'mon, dude, don't fumble. You're just messing us up," Otis reprimanded his little sister once again for swinging too hard and letting the baseball bat fly out of their hand and over the fence. Talia had never been particularly skilled at the game, nor any other sport - aside from track, but her brother insisted that it was not an actual sport. Regardless, she enjoyed spending the time with her brother and so she put up with his general... bullshit.

Talia sighed and kicked the ground, heading around the side of the fence to go and fetch the bat she had slung out of the yard. She looked down at her dirtied feet, her white sneakers stained green from the freshly-cut grass. She eventually made the turn around the neighbor's fence and sadly tossed the bat over the top of the fence, dropping her head to stare at her feet once more as she dejectedly headed back to their own yard.

Luckily enough for the "demotivated" side of Talia, she heard the familiar sound of the car door slamming from the driveway. She quickly dismissed herself from the field, running around the side of the house. She smiled when she saw her mother pulling groceries out of the car, and quickly approached her.

"How was your day at home, Tal?" her mother asked, a smile on her face. She pulled a brown bag teeming with groceries out of the back seat of their Chrysler Voyager, and set it on the top of the car.

"It was good, mom," Teresa smiled to her, heading over and grabbing the bag of groceries. She took it and gladly headed up the sidewalk and in through the front door.

Now that her daughter was gone, Mrs. Perry felt as if she could safely react to what was going on in her backyard right now. She grimaced and walked the opposite way Teresa had gone, before being accosted by precisely who she was going to see: Otis.

He didn't get the chance to even say hello - not that he was going to - before being gunned down by the accusative words of a veteran mother.

"Otis, what did I say about having friends over while I was out of the house?" she asked, pointing at him with an accusatory finger. Her other hand was clenched into a fist, balling up her car keys by the side of her hip.

"You said Teresa could bring her friends over today..." Otis grumbled, turning his head to the side and attempting to avoid eye contact. He didn't want to be a part of this conversation.

"Exactly. She can have her *friends* over. Whenever you have your *friends* over, my backyard becomes a block party. A block party for horny, angry, and hungry teenage boys and girls," she paused, keeping her finger raised to point at him. The kids in the lush green yard stared at her, watching her with the look of a herd of deer staring at a fierce alpha wolf. She stared back, licking her lips to wet them before continuing. "No, not even my backyard, Otis. My whole HOUSE."

Otis merely looked to the side and shuffled his feet, wondering when the rant was going to end.

His mother evidently did not like this behavior. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Otis. I want this place cleaned up."

"Mom, it's not even that bad. I just had a few friends over. We had a cookout," he says, gesturing towards the porch, where a group of girls were sitting, licking orange creamsicles and staring back as Otis mentioned them. Behind them was a dirty grill, still slightly smoking. Perhaps not the best thing to bring attention to, but Otis didn't care. "We played baseball. Hell, Teresa even played with us. Nothing bad happened, I watched."

"Oh, I know that. Nothing bad happened now. That's exactly what you said the last few times. It all starts off nice and peachy with you, doesn't it, Otis? But then, I'll turn around, and oh, guess what? I'll lower my guard. I'll let you have friends over some night. But then you'll screw up. You always do. You get cocky with your power. Let me tell you, Otis, it wasn't so bad when your sister would go with me or be over at a friend's house. But you know I'm worried about her now. A bunch of teenage boys, not with any cares in the world, and there's your little sister looking as sweet and innocent as can be. You know that I **do not** want her to make the same mistakes as me, right, Otis?"

Otis said nothing, other than turning his back on his mother and the house altogether, stomping off in the direction of the back door. A few of the kids began to disperse, getting to their feet and turning behind to look at the stragglers or the two familial combatants. Their mother headed back to the car, freeing her youngest (who had been lucky enough to go on today's grocery trip) from his carseat prison and carrying him to the door.

REWRITE:

Teresa sighed, feeling adequately "entertained" by the drama going on in her front lawn. She couldn't help but feel like she lived an authentic Greek lifestyle like her ancestors before her, being able to attend such wonderful performances everyday, she thought with a bit of a smirk. She moved away from the window and went back to putting away the groceries.

**Appalachian Wilderness. 8:11 PM.**

He continued running through the forest, hoping to outrun his rival before he inevitably caught up with him.

He heard the first gunshot, and managed to dodge. He disappeared and reappeared within a flash of light. Unfortunately, while it did save him, it was an easily predictable movement and one that revealed his location. The second gunshot hit him in the calf. It wasn't too much of a pain, but Xiphos decided to hit the ground and play dead. The more Enzaeon shot, the more likely he was to actually damage him, and so Xiphos decided it was best to let him stop shooting.
Xiphos laid on the strange ground for a while, for what seemed like an eternity. Part of him was resting, the other part was sizing up the arena and his opponent. At least, that's what he told himself.

Enzaeon eventually reached him, looking down on the opponent. He couldn't help but feel mixed emotions and debated mixed truths. Questions filtered into his mind. Had he truly won? Was his foe vanquished? Had it really been that easy?

No, it wasn't. He knew that. As he continued his condescending inspection, he noticed that the only injury his foe sustained was a blackened mark on the back of his calf. He unsheathed his trusty gun once again, adjusting it so that it resembled a handgun instead of the sniper rifle it had been moments before. He pointed the gun down at his rival, but before he could register what had happened, the gun was spinning up in the air.

In a split moment, Xiphos had kicked the back of the ground and propelled himself forward and up into the air. His foot had kicked Enzaeon's gun out of his unprepared hand.

Midair, he summoned another ethereal blade and slashed at his enemy's cloaked figure. Sparks, debris, and cloth flew for a split second; Enzaeon's armor had been torn away. The tissue of his enemy was visible, sparking with a violent green in the night air. His flesh almost immediately erupted into flames, but luckily managed to calm itself down with a rasping hiss.

Xiphos landed on the ground again, and prepared to swing the sword again. This time, he aimed for the head. However, Enzaeon had wisened up to his enemy's facade. As Xiphos's blade swung, Enzaeon raised his hand and merely caught it. While one would expect a severe pain on his part, the blade instead unfurled in his grip. It disassembled into mere fragments of light that quickly sputtered out like dying fireworks.

The two hunters were now at a standstill. Xiphos could easily create a new blade, but while his rival stared him down he realized that Enzaeon could just easily disassemble the blade as before. Still, while his own eyes were trained on him, Enzaeon was unable to retrieve his own weapon. The two carefully backed up, still maintaining eye contact and stalling to introduce their own new asset to sway the tides of battle.

Xiphos knew he could easily dash to the side or even above while Enzaeon's eyes were locked onto his position. Unfortunately, by the time he had rationalized a plan of his attacks, said plans were dashed by the familiar roar of Enzaeon's beast.

A gunmetal grey dragon tore through the forest, its wings cutting through the branches of trees like flying timber axes.

As the beast reared its lizard-like mechanical skull, Xiphos noticed that the beast had lain itself down on the ground not for intimidation, but for its master. Enzaeon slowly approached from behind. He leaned forward, placing his hands onto its back. Gripping tightly onto the metal armor of his mount, he managed to pull both of his feet onto the beast. The hunter was now mounted; on an aerial beast, no less. It was an intimidating sight.

Xiphos was practically staring down the barrel of a gun. One would normally be compelled to act, but he strangely refused the opportunity to strike or flee. Enzaeon thought that his foe might be paralyzed in fear; he really should have known brave Xiphos better than that.

The beast's "jaws" were overcome with flashes of green metal behind it, illuminating the faded black metal that composed the creature's skeleton. The green lights wavered like will-o-the-wisps, before uniting into a singular deadly emerald flame. The wispy embers curled into one singular ball, building itself up in the mouth of the machine.

However, before his wyrm of a weapon could unfurl its flames and destruction onto the figure before it, Enzaeon looked down to his foe and noticed that he wasn't focused on his impending doom. Rather, the other hunter's head was cocked slightly to the west, deep in the woods where the trees brushed the stars. One of these stars seemed to be growing closer and closer, faster than the ball of emerald blaze was growing bigger and bigger.

Enzaeon gripped his mount's frame, ready to take off before the falling object smashed into the ground and everything around it. However, as he noticed his rival's actions more and more, he was able to piece together what the object was. It was the Aegis.

Trusting in his belief that the celerity of his own Omnitrix surpassed Xiphos's, he now made no effort to leave but instead continued along with his assault.

Enzaeon was moments off, however. Within a singular moment, the deadly emerald "flames" of Enzaeon's *Typhon* raced towards Xiphos, eager to lick at his skin and burn it away. Before they could get a taste, though, the Aegis arrived. Xiphos had raised both of his forearms parallel, ready to receive the celestial discus. It latched onto his arms, and when Typhon's green breath collided with this new object, the shield fought back. It projected a thin wall around itself, one that consisted of purple light. The Aegis acted as a shield, protecting Xiphos from harm and even reflecting some of the power back at Enzaeon and his Typhon with a red laser.

The few seconds seemed like an eternity to the two titans, standing off against one another and waiting for the other to either relent or fall. Xiphos's legs were the first to quiver, as he was slowly but surely ground backwards into the dirt. His feet dug into the terrain, trying to find steady ground to keep him alive. He soon found his footing, and it was now Enzaeon's turn to falter.

He rolled to the side. The dragon's breath burnt nought but dirt. Before Enzaeon could react, Xiphos conjured another sword - this one even more powerful, radiating and pulsing with crackling lightning along its length - and lept at him. The blade struck his torso and proceeded to tear through layers of Enzaeon's armor, but before it could cause any mortal damage, Enzaeon swung his hand and gripped his assailant by the neck. He slammed Xiphos downward, intending to push him back to the earth.

Xiphos was no amateur, however. His grip remained constant, even while he was being choked. He spun the blade around into his hand and stabbed it downward, first searing into Enzaeon's thigh, and then plucking a wing of the dragon. Enzaeon forced his body down again, and Xiphos finally felt to the ground, but the damage had already been done to the dragon.

Enzaeon thrust his forearms into the dragon's metal body and twisted. The transformation process begun, as the drake's form soon merged with Enzaeon's body to become a metal cocoon.

The cocoon suddenly burst like a fragmentation grenade, with thousands of individual fragments flying across the forest. It was a cloud of smoke.

Upon closer inspection, Xiphos could tell that they were not shrapnel, but instead clouds of insects, and they were growing closer.

enzaeon vs xiphos

(enzaeon uses alien ant farm)

They moved forward in a spiral, like some sort of whirlpool or drill destined to dig through Xiphos and make him one with the dirt.

Xiphos swung and slashed his blade, but no matter how many tiny creatures he thought he killed, it seemed as if the swarm was impervious to the attacks. For each bug he sliced in half, hundreds more took its place. They buzzed forward, devouring the corpses of their own fallen comrades. It wasn't long before the bugs found his grip and forced his blade to the ground in their stead.

The "insects" swarmed over Xiphos's body, crawling up his legs and working to strip his flesh off of his very own skin. Xiphos instinctively recoiled, and realized that if there was any way he was going to make it out of this confrontation alive, he would have to activate an Omnitrix transformation of his own.

By the time his hand reached the dial of his Omnitrix, however, the bugs were already beginning to bite at his arm. He could feel their teeth having already devoured his steely natural armor, and

The bugs gnawed away at his armored face and began pouring into his eye sockets. They would find nothing but darkness and death, however, as the transformation finally began to shift Xiphos's body from the very inside.

The scarabs swarming his face surely must have noticed the smoke emanating from their bodies as they were being cooked alive, but clearly they were not being exterminated fast enough for Xiphos's pleasure. Their smoke turned to heat, as roaring jets of orange fire erupted across Xiphos's head. It wasn't long before his whole body was erupting in searing hot flames. His damaged armor turned to orange bandages, like the wraps of a mummy, before an almost cottony clouds of grey smoke emerged to cover the final sensitivities of his new form.

Thousands of scarabs fell to the floor, shrieking as they were roasted from the inside out by this new transformation. Those who were not immediately incinerated scattered to the winds in self-preservation, heading off to some other place out of Xiphos's reach where they could regroup.

~~The swarm had finally managed to cover his face, but by that time, it was a Pyrrhic victory. Xiphos's body had vanished under his enemy's cloak, before revealing his new form with a roaring burst of flame. Thousands of insects shrieked as they were consumed by fire. Some stayed to hopelessly subdue the orange mummy emerging from beneath them, while others scattered to the winds.~~

(xiphos uses pyrocumulus, roasts alien ant farm)

While it was now apparent to Xiphos that he had the upperhand at the moment, he knew that it was only a matter of minutes before Enzaeon recollected himself and retaliated with an even stronger alien form. That alien form would, most likely, be a perfect counter to Xiphos's, and so the alien swordsman decided to strike first.

(xiphos turns into centerfold to fly away)

The smoky wraps that clung to his body unfurled from his body, becoming a much more soft, lighter form of tissue. In a matter of a blink, the bandages became feathers that could lift him away.

(xiphos looks behind him and sees speed demon)

The angel's body raced towards the earth. However, just before his feathers could plant themselves in the fertile ground, the alien Omnitrix hunter was bathed in a flash of red and blue light. Enzaeon knew what this meant: he had transformed again.

When Enzaeon looked down at the angel's falling form a second time, all he could see was a shrinking square. His target evaded him.

**Alice Springs, Pennsylvania. 8:13 PM.**

Following what had transpired earlier today

Teresa's phone was resting on her lap while the episode's plot stretched on further. She was texting a good friend of her's, Rosemary, who had gotten her into this damnable show in the first place. While the show had been going on for months, Teresa had only gotten into it a week or so ago thanks to her friend's insistence and her wonderful descriptions of the plot.

Every now and then, Teresa would have to open her phone back up and investigate the conversations they'd already had about the show. The plot was interesting, if not a bit contrived. From what Rosemary had said, and was still saying, the recent plotline revolved around a man who had "fallen in love" with a local girl. However, after going home and meeting her parents, as well as her sister, he realized that he should have fallen in love with the sister instead. What's worse was that his love's little sister was much better at reciprocating his love, leaving him in quite the predicament...

The show was interesting, but it certainly drew ire out of some. For example, Otis had just passed into the kitchen, having made a comment about the rubbish his sister was watching on television. Like a bitter aristocrat, he claimed that it was nothing substantial and would end up rotting her mind. Teresa could only smile at that, for it wasn't as if what he was watching was much better; over the course of the last few days he had been binging alien and other supernatural "documentaries" that his conspiracy nut of a new girlfriend had been prescribing. Teresa was having a wonderful time making fun of him for it, so she might as well let him have his time in the sun.

(Talia feels on edge, like she's being watched)

It was the sensation that she was being watched... The deep, primitive instict that an even stronger predator was watching her, judging her moments, waiting for the ideal moment to strike... Her eyes slowly shifted from the television, moving around the room, heading to look at the window... There was a knock at the door... Her heart raced... Otis answered.

"Oh, hey, Halley. I didn't know you were planning on coming over."

(Halley shows up)

Talia could hear their conversation.

"Yeah, umm, just give me a second to grab a jacket. I didn't know you were coming over."

"Yeah, I know. I should have called. I don't know, it's just..." She paused, long enough to think. "Have you seen the sky tonight? It looks awfully pretty. I just wanted to go out with you and spend a whole night under them with you, boo," she sweetly sang to him.

Taking the place of dread, sickness now washed over Talia. She never really was a fan of her brother's girlfriend.

For starters, the girl loved her NASA apparel. Talia generally tried not to mind people who wore flashy brands like *Supreme* or *Vans* to school, since she was a bit of a closet *Champion* fan herself, but Halley's devotion to NASA went a bit further than a mere fashion afficionado. Every day she wore NASA apparel, flaunting it like it wasn't a government agency but instead a classic rock band.

Today's pick was a particularly nasty offender. It was a plain white t-shirt with your classic NASA blue meatball, though the shirt seemed a size or two too small for her. She was a rather tall girl, after all. Talia wondered how she could even handle moving around in something that constricting and observably uncomfortable. Every time she moved, her midriff flashed.

On any other girl, something like that wouldn't bother Talia. But on Halley?

Her skin was always just a little too fair and flawless, her legs too shapely and perfectly hairless, her brown hair always too perfectly wind-blown and conditioned. The lengths she went to look good must have been incredible. She was like a mint-condition doll ripe from the factory. Talia often doubted how she could find time for both Otis and whatever maintenance her perfect appearance required. Overall, to Talia, she seemed just too fake and suspicious to be genuinely involved in her brother. Their relationship felt manufactured: she, the pretty mean girl, and him, the award-winning jock.

Otis returned

Teresa turned around, looking in the window and expecting to see her brother and his girlfriend. Instead, she saw something much stranger, and it saw her back.

On the other side of the glass stood a strange figure, armored in a mix of aviator's gear and skater's gear. It would have been a creepy sight for anyone to see through a first-story window, and Teresa was no different. She stared the figure down. The longer she looked, the more it began to enter the uncanny valley. She couldn't be sure what was staring back at her was even human, alive, or if it was even noticing her back.

"Wait, where are you going? Did we come at a bad time?" the girl asked, looking up at her friend with an innocent yet hopeful look in her eyes. It wasn't every day she got to come over and hang out with her friend.

"Uhh... No, not a bad time at all,"

NO BABY

~~"Wait, you can't do this!" Adam protested, turning around to face Tessa before she could leave the house once and for all. She turned around, and he was now the center of her attention. He bit his lip, not wanting to screw up his words. "Just... leaving us alone in your house," he continued on. "It's... weird. It goes again the... like, laws of home ownership," he joked, attempting to find a better word. Hospitality? Regardless of that was it, or if there was a good word here, he continued on. "We can't just stay here when no one in your family's here."~~

~~"The baby is," Rose stopped her brother there, not wanting to inconvenience Teresa this evening. "We can stay because the baby's here. Right, Tess?" Tessa bit her lip, just like Adam, and slowly nodded. It made sense to her, she supposed.~~

~~"No, listen. It's not *that*. It's just that... You know... What if our parents stop by? What do we explain? We won't be allowed to come over if it's just us, and no one's home... Isn't Otis here? To be like, our chaperone at this, uhh... Sleepover?"~~

~~Teresa's teeth released her lower lip, allowing her mouth and mind to work in tandem and form a reasonably witty response. "You want Otis? Go ahead and find him," she let out, perhaps a bit too spunky with her tone. Maybe siblings do take after one another, though the Perry's would certainly never admit to it. "I... Don't mean to sound rude, believe me. But if you want to go on a little quest of your own, go find wherever he and his girlfriend went and chase them down. Tell him to come home. He just ran off with her and..." She stopped there, letting out a dissatisfied grunt. "Ugh. You know what his car looks like? Go find it. Bring him back here."~~

~~Before either of them could say something else, Teresa turned away from them. Neither of the siblings interrupted here, understanding her frustration. "I've gotta go find mom," was all she said, before her legs propelled her out of the doorway, down the sidewalk, and into the night, with her jacket and hair flowing after her.~~

~~Rosemary stayed inside, more focused on the baby, but Adam was more focused on the less-behaved sibling. He followed her for a brief second, taking two or three steps down the front porch's concrete steps. It was already too late to interrupt, but he really couldn't help himself. "Wait, Teresa!" he hollered, but it was clear she wasn't going to turn around and stop for him. She was a woman on a mission.~~

~~"Where'd mom go?" Otis asked, his feet pounding through the halls of their house following the slamming shut of a door. Teresa sighed, knowing her brother was up to his usual teenaged boy brooding.~~

~~"She has double shifts today, remember?" she answered, her voice a higher or cheerier contrast to her brother's moody tones. "She left about an hour or two ago."~~

~~"Oh, yeah," he replied, his tone suddenly indifferent as he made his way over to the coat rack. He grabbed one of his black and white hoodies, tossing it on over his current outfit.~~

~~"Are you going somewhere?" Teresa asked, jumping to her feet and following her brother around like a lapdog. Unfortunately for her, Otis wasn't in the mood for being followed.~~

~~"Don't worry about it."~~

~~"Mom doesn't want you to go anywhere when she's not around. Especially not at night," she reminded her brother. She didn't enjoy pestering her brother and making him obey, but she figured she ought to remind him so he didn't get in trouble. Part of her knew that he knew, though, making the entire point moot.~~

~~"Mom doesn't want a *lot* of things," Otis sighed, turning to his little sister and raising an eyebrow. "Listen, sis, I'm practically an adult. Hell, I have a car and a driving license." Perhaps it was actually called a drivers' license, he couldn't remember and frankly he didn't care. "I can do what I want, and mom can't stop me," he announced. He trusted in his sister enough, believing it beyond her to tattle on him.~~

~~With that, he gave his sister a rather condescending pat on the head. "Don't do anything that will get me in trouble, alright?" he instructed, turning back to the door.~~

"Sorry, babe, but we might have to cancel our date," Otis commanded his companion, looking into her eyes. Her violet eyes reflected back with a look of understanding, but quickly ignited with the flames of

((Halley tells a fib about how she knows a spot that could help))

(Enzaeon tries to track Xiphos?)

Talia ran. She ran until she felt a burning in her chest and an ache in her jaw, and then she ran some more. She ran down the empty streets, as the pale nocturne above draped a cold, black blanket over her new domain. The cold raced after her, lifting her jacket from her back as she raced through the night and hopped over the fences of her neighborhood. The grasping cold was the sole thing she knew that she was running from; she had no concrete idea of what she was looking for.

She had ran away from the house on a whim, just as her brother had, though she continued to lie to herself and deny the similarity in her head. The figure in the glass had came and went, with no indication of where it was going or what it was. Those doubts began to nag at her mind just as the cold did to her skin, urging her to slow down and perhaps to just give up entirely.

Still, she kept running. The flames of hope ignited deep inside of her, promising a strange connection between the figure in the glass and the vision of her father on the screen. Something deep inside of her still refused to believe in the world "coincidence". Odd happenings simply had to have a deeper relationship, and she was going to find it. There was no basis for it, but still, she clung to her beliefs like an otherwise frightened child with a stuffed bear in the dark.

And, just as the flaming hope fought off her chilling pessimism, her muscles burned and helped to stave off the coarse frost. Resting was a goal in her mind, but she was confident that there would be time for it once the night was over.

(stuff)

As she rested on the park bench, she decided that it would be best to just look like her mother like she had told her friends when she left. As she thought about it and considered it more, she realized

(she resolves to find her mother)

Her running slowed to a stop.

Off in the distance, an alien warrior approached. His movements were staggered

(xiphos approaches)

The strange creature stared at her, his ocular input devices searching the curves and shapes of her body for a sign of an Omnitrix. Teresa, like mostly all humans, found this behavior peculiar and rather unsettling, and as it continued with no sign of it ending, it disturbed her even more. She believed him to be staring at her in the same way she was staring at him, but unlike her, the creature had no visible eyes to stare back into. The closest things he had were black ravines receding into his face, like the slits in a radiator, and a shining metal skin that reflected the beauty of the stars above. Still, she did not respect their beauty, instead choosing to see past them and instead gazed at the unsettling, unearthly creature before her.

She tore her eyes off of him, hoping that the creature would mimic her behavior. He did not. His face remained pointed at her body, as he continued to scan her.

Eventually, the oddity of the situation overwhelmed her emotions, and she began to run once more. Her body was still a tad bit exhausted from her earlier running, and her legs felt like jelly before her - perhaps due to the fear - but nonetheless, she kept running. She didn't pause to look over her shoulder, as the fear that motivated her rendered her incapable of such an action. Looking at the thing would be to accept that it was there, and she was not prepared to do that.

(fight, Xiphos kills mom, Teresa sees her shocked expression, grabs a shotgun from under the counter, they battle some more, Teresa kills him at the overpass)

"Honey... Don't be alarmed, but... What's that thing behind you?"

Talia turned around and aghast. It was the creature from before.

The sound of shotgun shells being loaded into a shotgun behind her brought her back to reality. Her mother had grabbed the shotgun under the counter.

When Teresa turned back to her mother, she saw that she had brought up the shotgun from underneath the counter. It was likely that the silent alarm had been pressed, too, though it wasn't going to help any of them.

The alien warrior just turned his head quizzically, trying to understand what was going on.

"Honey..." Talia's mother ushered,

He didn't understand this strange weaponry, but he could tell that it was a weapon intended to hurt.

The creature swept to the left. The bullets all missed.

His retaliation followed immediately. In the blink of an eye, he somehow flashed across the room.

His blade had torn a cleft right out of Talia's mother, from abdomen to armpit.

She knelt down by her mother, holding her dying body - the body that had given her life, slowly losing its own - in her far too young arms.

"Mom, please... Speak to me..." Talia wasn't even aware that she had started to cry until the salty, stinging hot evidence broached her upper lips.

"Talia..."

"Mom, please... Don't go, please..."

Her mother didn't comment on that. Death seemed inevitable to her by now, more inevitable than it had ever been. Talia, Otis, and (baby) were going to lose their mother, and she was going to lose her children and all she had ever known. But perhaps Talia wouldn't have to.

"Otis, he's still out there, Talia. And your father might be, too. Please, don't give up. Get away from here, find out what happened to them... You don't have to be alone, Talia. They need you as much as you need them..."

(Enzaeon swings in and decapitates Talia's mom, but Talia recoils just in time to save herself)

(back at the house, Adam tracks Otis down using his social media activity, or hacking into their data)

"So, she just kinda left us, huh?"

(back to teresa vs xiphos)

* Xiphos corners Talia on the overpass
* she sees a truck coming
* she shoots the shotgun
* he jumps backwards + down, and into the truck

(series outro song here?)

She located his body following a few minutes of reluctant searching. She really wanted to wipe her hands and be done with him, but there would remain the lingering possibility that the warrior would resurface and retaliate.

Of course, the sparks of fear and curiosity regarding his death were not the only

His grave was down in the gutter of the underpass.

The girl stared down at the knight's vacant, expressionless mask of a face. She knew that had the being possessed a true face, one of emotion, a look of pain and desperation would be spread across it. She felt a twinge of sorrow and regret over what she had done to the poor creature, an alien combatant perhaps unaware of his actions. He was an outcast, a scared deer, millions of miles away from home and perhaps never having seen a friendly face for years. She felt pity on the thing, deep down inside.

Yet she needn't forget what the thing had done. On the other hand, while he was a foreign beast, maybe confused, she could not dismiss the possibility of him being fully aware of his actions. Perhaps he reveled in them. Maybe he was a killing machine.

As the girl looked down on the knight's dying body, pondering the the morality of black space against the peppered white stars, she thought she saw his hand move. Pausing for a second to confirm it, she saw the thing trembling. She followed his gaze, turning her face on the body for a split second. His hand was twitching wildly in death, using all of its remaining energy for one last grasp of his sword.

The object of his desire lay a few feet away, embedded in a crack in the concrete. She didn't know if it had created the canyon it had found itself in, or if it had found a nature sheathe from the earth. Ultimately, it wouldn't matter. The sword's state was no better than its' masters. The thing was beginning to unravel, resembling more of a feather than a tool used for violence. One sharp edged remained to the northeast.

His hand continued to twitch, and her mind began to wander and wonder. Why was he still moving it, struggling in his last few moments instead of "closing his eyes" and dying peacefully as he could? Was he trying to pull it in to end his own suffering? Or was he going to fight to the end? Did the alien have a sense of honor? What would be the more honorable choice? Accept futility or reject it?

She picked up the sword, gingerly feeling around the blade to acquire a sense of where to grip the odd tool. It was still hot to the touch, but she managed to stave it off, as she was too. Her body was fueled with a hot, undying passion. This passion came in the form of desire; more specifically, the desire to mercifully conclude the fight and the desire to have her revenge. Revenge on what, she did not know yet, as it wasn't too clear in her head. But something did echo deep down inside of her that told her to seek out this revenge, like north star supernova illuminating the otherwise tranquil skyscape of her mind.

She pooled her might together, remembering those days playing baseball with her brother. Those days were gone now, passing away with the murder of their mother. Those memories had been forever spoiled by the bastard beneath her, whom the stars had rejected and cast down to tremble beneath her feet.

She swung the sword straight at his neck and the starlight ceased.

outro song: Doctor? Even in Death?

## Plot Outline

So basically, if you're a dummy like me who can't keep track of himself while he's writing, you might need a little help following the plotline of this episode. Or maybe you just don't have time to read it or this is in the future after I've written tons of episodes (fat chance, I know). Anyways, here's a little outline of all of the plot points in this episode:

* Xiphos, an Omnitrix hunter arrives on the planet Earth.
* Xiphos plays pinball with some trees in the forest canopy. While up here, he sees another hunter arrive in his jet black space ship. Or, more accurately, crash his space ship into the ground. Oof.
* **SCENE CHANGE:** The Perry mom arrives at home with baby in tow. She's angry at Otis, her son, for inviting the boys over. Teresa smiles as Otis rages off.
* **SCENE CHANGE:** Enzaeon takes out the rage of his bad day by shooting Xiphos in the leg. Enzaeon and Xiphos are both Omnitrix hunters with the goal of collecting Omnitrices, because if they didn't there wouldn't be a point to the story, would there?
* Xiphos plays dead for a while and uses it to get the upper hand on Enzaeon. Enzaeon uses his upper hand to catch Xiphos's blade. Turns out Enzaeon has a magic hand that can undo alien abilities (chalk it up to dumb-for-fun sci-fi biology 101).
* Enzaeon calls up his black/green dragon Typhon, which is actually an amalgamation of all of the Omnitrix Sentinels that Enzaeon has captured. Before Typhon can waste Xiphos, Xiphos gets his own red/blue shield Omnitrix weapon (the Omnitrix-Aegis, or just Aegitrix for short) in on the action.
* **SCENE CHANGE:** Back at the Perry household, Otis and Teresa are alone again. Their mom is at work.
* Otis's strange new girlfriend Halley Travers shows up at the house.
* Otis sees an image of their long-lost father on the television. Halley tells Otis that she knows a spot that could have some correlation with these disappearances.
* A mysterious future figure shows up in Teresa's window. He was the one beaming the images onto Teresa's TV.
	+ This is actually because this scene shows up first narratively before it happens chronologically. You'll see.
* Teresa calls her friends over to watch her baby brother. She runs off in the night, though she's not sure why yet.

## Characters

* Xiphos (debut)
* Enzaeon (debut)
* Otis Ulysses Perry (debut)
* Teresa Maisie Perry (debut)
* Mom Perry (debut)
* Halley Travers (debut)

### Aliens

* Alien Ant Farm (debut, by Enzaeon)
* Pyrocumulus (debut, by Xiphos)
* Centerfold (debut, by Xiphos)
* Speed Demon (debut, by Enzaeon)
* Longview (debut, by Xiphos)

## Trivia

* This episode's title is a reference to *The Strokes* album of the same name.

### Production

* This episode was rewritten six months after its original creation. If anyone wants, I could post the original script, but there's not much there.
	+ Actually, don't ask, because I don't think I know where it is. Oops.
	+ Just so you know how long it took me to write this, I started in June 2017. Yeah. Yikes.
* This episode is the first time Sol used a logical format where he wrote planned all scenes *before* typing up the episode. It really helped, too.
* This episode's name during production was "The Beginning of All Things to End, Part 1".
	+ That was naturally a result of Sol googling "the beginning of it all" into Google to look for cool edgy titles.
	+ It later moved to the title "Take Me Out", which might end up being another episode's title. I don't know.
* Albums listened to while writing this episode, if you were wondering:
	+ she - Electric Girl
	+ Superorganism - Superorganism
	+ Vök - Figure
	+ Yellow Days - Harmless Melodies
	+ MGMT - Little Dark Age
	+ Pinback - Summer in Abaddon
	+ This lovely little compilation right here.
	+ Covet - Currents
	+ Arcade Fire - Funeral
	+ Girls - Broken Dreams Club
	+ Andrew Wyatt - Descender
	+ This playlist, which I find resonates with the tone of the series pretty well
* Songs listened to:
	+ Hat in Time OST - Peace and Tranquility
	+ TLOK OST - Greatest Change
	+ Game of Thrones OST - Light of the Seven
	+ Grimes - Genesis
	+ Grimes - Kill v Maim
	+ Dude York - Life Worth Living Part 2
	+ C418 - Stranger Think