Welcome to Paradise (EatEoT)

**Welcome to Paradise** is the first chapter of Everywhere at the End of Time

## Plot

 A young woman wearing a pink t-shirt and cargo pants ran through the city streets in a hurry. Her metal chain around her hip shuffled with her movements. As she turned the corner into an alleyway she saw a hideous-looking clown.

 “It’s over bozo. Just come quietly. I really don’t wanna have to fight you,” the woman ordered.

 “It’s ZOMbozo. Rude of you to not get it right. Young people today have no manners,” the clown replied.

 The woman rolled her eyes at the crook as she tapped the screen of a device embedded in her left palm. The press activated the dial hourglass to change into a diamond. She scrolled it to the left a few times before clapping her hands together as she transformed in a flash of green light.

 Blue rocks exploded from the watch growing up the woman’s arm. Soon the rocky armor was all over her body. Her eyes close and opened up in a flash of pink fire. Her hair became flames as her magma hands and feet exploded from the rocky armor. Her magma limbs began to spread forming cracks in the armor. A grey circle formed on her chest as a green hourglass appeared on it.

 Zombozo covered his eyes from the flash as it died down. He looked over to see a firey monster replace where the girl once was.

 “Care to rethink the situation?” the woman asked.

 “Really? No fire puns? No quips? You are the most unfun superhero I’ve done this with,” Zombozo replies.

 “I…. whatever”, the woman retorts.

 As she goes to attack, Zombozo presses a button on his glove and his shirt flower begins to spin. Water shoots out to dose the woman, but it isn't enough to do the job. Zombozo’s smile soon fades as he realizes it didn’t work.

 “Shit..” he mutters.

 The woman punches him in the face and he falls backward. Once he is down for the count, she places cuffs on him and calls it in.

 “Director? Yeah, this clown was a piece of cake… already dealt with. Taking this one back to HQ…” she said a bit annoyed.

 “Good work, Nicole. Come see me when you are back at base,” the Director said.

 Nicole sighs and hangs up. She pulled Zombozo up and got into a truck as she transformed back into her human form.

 The truck arrives back at HELIX, a government facility to deal with abnormal threats. As Nicole gets out of the truck, she handed Zombozo to a masked agent as they saluted her and hurried away to put the criminal in a cell.

 Nicole groaned as she put her hands into her pockets and started walking to Director’s office. As she walked through the halls other agents saw her and started to whisper to each other. Nicole heard their remarks under their breaths as she kept moving along.

 She comes along to the Director’s door and knocks hearing a muffled noise and going in. The director turned around and adjusted his glasses.

 “Excellent work today, Nicole. You are definitely getting better at using the device,” the Director complimented.

 “Yeah, whatever…” Nicole scoffed.

 “Why is it that every time you report back you have this attitude? Like you aren’t pleased with your work?” he replied.

 “Every time we have this same conversation and you act like it’s solved at the end of it. I am tired of being forced to use this thing, and when I do use it, it’s for easy-as-hell tasks. I complain about getting more out of it or the world that I save so often. You say there will be time for that later, but later never comes. It’s the same shit on a different day,” Nicole burst out.

 “Are you sure we have had this conversation before?” he asked.

 “Yes, nearly every day for the past almost year,” Nicole bitterly responded.

 “Glad we could solve this issue, dismiss,” he said with a smile.

 Nicole scoffs and walks out of the room in anger, slamming the door behind her. She walked the halls of the base and stepped into the mess hall. She grabbed a burrito and a soda and scurried back to the hall.

 She got down another hall and finally got to a door. She opened it to find her cramped broom closet of a room with a small cot and a shitty poster on the wall. She was fortunate enough to have a screen in the wall for what little shows she was allowed to watch. She took off her shoes as she entered the room.

 She unwrapped her burrito and began eating in silence, her thoughts running wild with anger, frustration, and loneliness. No one here was her age, all government people. No one to talk to, She looked at the poster on her wall, it was a flyer for Paradise University. It was torn up and crumbled badly, but the sight of it gave her some joy in this miserable place.

 She had no real idea what she’d major in, but maybe being around people her own age would make her less depressed. Something to do than sit around waiting to clean up Helix’s mess.

 After finishing her meal, Nicole crumbled up the trash and threw it into her overflowing trash bin. She completely missed the can as it hit the wall next to it and fell to the floor.

 She slumped into her cot as she fiddled with her hands before trying to get comfortable in her attempt to sleep before the next shitty assignment from Director Rayne.

 She slowly passed out only to be awoken a few hours later by a summons from Rayne again. She bolted up and saw the alert as her body slouched down in despair at being called into work again.

 She got her shoes back on and headed out the door to Rayne’s office. She barged in this time instead of knocking. Her wave of consciousness was flickering due to just waking up.

 “Congratulations, Nicole! You got accepted into Paradise University!” Rayne exclaimed.

“What?” Nicole asked staring blankly at his face.

“We got you into Paradise University, with your own dorm and everything,” Rayne explained.

“Finally, something I ask for happens. Only took three or so years..” Nicole smiled half-heartedly.

“Pack your things, you are set to move in three weeks,” Rayne instructed.

“Done,” Nicole said after emptying both her pockets inside out.

The three weeks slowly passed, almost as if Nicole’s anticipation was making it go even slower. Once it was finally time, she raced to the van to be dropped off. She had been given an allowance so she could buy dorm stuff herself and seem like a normal person.

She arrived in her dorm with all of her stuff waiting for her. On top of her stuff was a box she didn’t remember purchasing. She picked it up and found gloves and a note. The note was from Rayne instructing her to wear them when she is not in her dorm. She scoffs and throws the box to the side as she unpacks and decorates her room

After about ninety minutes, there was a knock at Nicole’s door. She rushed to find the box she threw and put the gloves on. Once she did, she answered the door to see a tall, athletic, tanned guy at her door.

“Uh… hello?” Nicole asked confused.

“Hey there! I’m Jason Malone, your RA. Just need you to sign this paper saying you moved in and to let you know there’s a mandatory floor meeting on Tuesday night,” Jason explained.

Nicole read through what she was supposed to sign and put her signature down, she handed the paper back to Jason and began to shut the door.

“One more thing! There’s a first years mixer Wednesday night. You should totally go to it and meet some people!” Jason smiled and handed Nicole a flyer.

Nicole took it and shut the door. She felt a little weirded out by how strong he came off. She wondered if she seemed that lonely at first glance. She looked at herself in a mirror. Her eye bags were nearly as dark as her hair which was messy as can be. Her face was covered in blemishes.

“Shit… I need to start taking better care of myself…” she commented.

She found a brush and she started to brush her hair. She stared at the flyer Jason gave her and let out a sigh. She took out a pushpin and hung the flyer on her wall as a reminder to go to it.

She sat in her bed and let out a relaxing sigh, while not the softest bed ever, it was far better than her cot. It practically put her to sleep instantly. She woke up the next day and got ready for the first class of her college career.

She arrived at her first class and sits down, ready for class. The professor walks in and begins writing his name on the board. He was a bald bearded man with a scar over his right eye. He wore brown overalls with a green shirt underneath.

“Welcome all, to Biology 101. I am Professor William Gastrov. This class will go over the basics you will need should you be pursuing a Biology degree, the rest of you will see this as a one-off class for credits,” he introduced.

The professor started a slideshow and began to lecture with everyone taking notes.

“This isn’t so bad,” Nicole said to herself.

The class went on and eventually ended. Nicole still had some free time before her next class so she decided to grab some food. Inside the dining hall, she silently ate her food in the corner observing the people around her. She noticed friends eating, couples talking cutesy to each other, and gossiping about everyone.

“Aside from the PDA… I need all of this… maybe Jason had me clocked right away…” she muttered to herself.

Nicole finished her food and tossed her trash. In her new class, she meet a weird-looking professor who seemed to have had better days.

“Welcome, students. I am Doctor Aloysius James Animo. I shall be teaching you all basic chemical science. It is pretty straightforward stuff, so here is a quiz to get us started,” Dr.Animo announced.

The class groaned as the test was passed out. Nicole looked at the questions she was amazed at how simple they were. Maybe Gutrot’s powers were staying with her after all the practice with him she had. She eased her way through the test and turned it into Animo.

“Finished already, are we?” Animo asked.

“Yeah… Wasn’t that hard…” Nicole replied.

Animo looked over the quiz and was in shock. He hid his face as he dismissed Nicole for the day. Nicole shrugged it off and went on her way.

She got back to her dorm and sat down. She was a bit confused about what to do with her free time.

“This is way too easy… Maybe... I didn’t think this through?” Nicole questioned.

She looked over and saw she had four hours until the little mixer thing, so she decided to take a nap. She set an alarm just in case and then laid in bed slowly drifting into sleep. She woke up about half an hour before the mixer and got up. She brushed her hair a bit more before heading off for the event.

Nicole arrived at the quad the event was taking place and checked in. Once inside, she mingled around trying to pick who to talk to. While standing trying to decide who to talk to, someone came up to her instead.

“Hey there!” they said with a smile.

Nicole jumped, she hadn’t realized someone had walked up to her. She turned to the new potential friend and looked them over. They had messy blonde hair, freckles, and hazel eyes. They wore a white t-shirt with a short sleeve button-up as an outer layer, grey jeans, and red canvas shoes. They also had a metal bracelet around their arm and a red necklace.

“Uh… hey….” Nicole replied.

“Noticed you were standing alone, thought you could use a friend. I’m Grey,” they continued.

Nicole sighed, Jason was right she did look like she had no friends. Nicole took a deep breath and shook Grey’s hand.

“I’m Nicole..” she responded.

“Where are you from?” Grey asked.

“All over, never really settled until now,” Nicole answered.

“I see, what about picking Paradise? Why come here and major in something?” Grey questioned.

“It was just the escape I needed. Don’t have a plan much further like a major,” Nicole answered.

“Changing the subject to something more fun then, have you ever seen Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?” Grey asked trying to find common ground.

“I’m going to be honest, I have never heard have that before,” Nicole replied.

“What? You never heard of one of the best anime ever?” Grey asked.

“I’ve never heard of anime either…,” Nicole added.

“What? I am going to make a list of animes you need to watch. What about Ghostbusters or Spongebob?” Grey went further.

Nicole shook her head confusing Grey further.

“Are you telling me you have next to no media experience?” Grey asked.

“Next to no life experience as well, to be honest,” Nicole admitted.

“Nicole, you met the right person for all of that. This is the start of a beautiful friendship,” Grey smiled.

Nicole smiled back a little weirded out, but maybe that was because she didn’t have a friend before. She decided she will test it out for now.

Their attention was drawn to the stage as the lights flashed signaling the band was about to start. Nicole walked closer to the stage with Grey as they started cheering for the band. Nicole had no idea who it was but just joined in on the surrounding vibe of the crowd.

As the band got into position and ready to play, static was heard over the speakers. The crowd and band looked confused as smoke filled the stage and a new figure appeared. A helmeted and cloaked figure, with a purple glow from his helmet screen.

“Sorry, amateurs. Lord Decibel has the stage tonight. Now get lost!” he threatened.

The guitarist walked up to him thinking this was just a stunt and pushed him.

“Man, fuck you. You are messing up our gig,” he said.

The cloaked figure was not having this and shot him back with a sonic blast, his body crashed into a speaker as he twitched barely holding onto life. The crowd realized this was a real threat and not a show and started to panic. Nicole freaked she needed someplace to hide.

She ran away into one of her school’s buildings and went into a gender-neutral bathroom. Once free from prying eyes, she removed her glove and quickly made her alien selection. She clapped her hands together as she transformed in a green flash of light.

She had turned into an alien pterodactyl and quickly flew out of the bathroom and back to the stage where she fired a blast at the villain.

“BAWK off, dude!” she cried out landing in front of him, “You don’t wanna do this, trust me.”

“I trust that I do, you prehistoric abomination!” the villain screamed shooting sonic blasts at Nicole.

Nicole skillfully dodged the attacks with her flying. Once she had an opening she formed an energy whip and wrapped it around the dude. She floated back in and pulled him closer.

“What’s your damage?” Nicole asked.

“My music deserves to be heard! Not this garbage from…” he starts before looking at the drum kit to see the band’s name, “Loded Diper…. What a stupid name.”

“Okay and? There are ways to get your music out there, not attacking random bands you don’t even know. Also saying their music is shit without listening to it is gross,” Nicole remarked.

“My music is the best there is. If producers won’t release it, I will make people listen to it,” the man threatened.

“Well look where that got you, arrested by a fucking alien. Now no one will hear your shit,” Nicole joked.

A HELIX truck pulled up as Director Rayne came out of the passenger side and walked over to Nicole and the crook.

“Daniel Punster, you are hereby under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” Rayne stated.

Daniel was taken away as Rayne extended his hand for a handshake to Nicole. Nicole took it.

“Thank you for your help, alien. Always a pleasure working with you,” Rayne said for any public eyes watching.

Nicole nodded and took off into the night sky. She soon returned to her dorm room in her human form and took a deep breath.

“God, the more public showings are a drain….” Nicole commented.

The next day, Nicole was walking around campus when Grey approached her. They were holding out their phone to show her something.

“Nicole look! There’s a blog post about the alien sighting from last night. Apparently, someone here was writing about them and found a bunch of sightings all over the country. Some in Palm Springs, some in Minnesota, and more in Florida! She even connected the dots that they all work together from the badges they wear!” Grey exclaimed.

Nicole took their phone and read through the article. Sure enough, there were mentions of her badge. She made a mental note to be extremely careful about where and when she transforms going forward.

“Pretty cool, I wanted to know more about that thing I saw last night,” Nicole lied.

“You were able to see it last night?! Some of us were evacuated already, I need to try and stay around when stuff like this happens,” Grey planned.

“Doesn’t seem safe… just be careful? Wouldn’t wanna lose my first friend at Paradise,” Nicole jokingly said.

## Noteworthy Events

### Major Events

* Nicole starts at Paradise University
* All Characters and Aliens in this chapter debut

## Characters

* Nicole Du
* Director Rayne
* Jason Malone
* William Gastrov
* Doctor Animo
* Grey Kingsley

### Villains

* Zombozo
* Lord Decibel

## Aliens Used

* Heatblast (debut)
* Astrodacyl (debut)

## Trivia

* The band that was supposed to play on stage was Loded Diper, the band of Rodrick Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid