Here It Goes Again

**Here It Goes Again** is the first episode of the Sol 10 reboot, Sol 101. It is the third episode of Sol 10 overall, the second first episode of Sol 10 ever, and chronologically the fourth episode of Sol 10 except when one considers that time is probably not as linear as we perceive it to be. The moral of the story? Don't question numbers, kiddo.

## Plot Outline

* jules starts watching, unknowingly opens up a dimensional gate
* battle in space, a guy with a giant cannon blasts balls of light and apocalypse now's crew
* he tries to blast them again but edgelord deflects the light and takes out several members of the army
* the cannon guy charges with his arm, but edgelord just turns around and slices him before engaging in a swords duel with several members of the army
* edgelord manages to slice his way down to the core of a center ship, where he's stopped by  bumbling siege machine laika and the confident captain
* edgelord laughs in their face and throws a strange device into the ship's core, which should send them all to the void and isolate them far from home (this also absorbs most of the fleet above earth, isolating the mercenaries sent by christian. they overpower the rest of the good guys off screen).

theme song

* sol, walking along a highway, sees a ship fall from the heavens (the systems on the ship went off). he quickly takes cover and hides as it smashes a local gas station in a michael bay-worthy explosion. he runs up, to see figures emerge from the pile
* the figures fight it out, but the omnitrix eventually decides to peace out (as major tom attempts to use omnitrix prime) and splits into core, faceplate, and gaunlet, which fall off of the captain. edgelord laughs and takes the face plate, running up the side of the hill and taunting major tom, who runs off. he tells laika to make a camp, and that he'll return. he's killed offscreen
* sol shrugs at all of this and decides to walk to take a detour away from the flaming forest.

undisclosed amount of timeskip

* sol goes pickpocketing or something in the city as foreshadowing, before being chased away from the city and into the woods
* sol encounters omnitrix core, who's attempting to enslave chipmunks, squirrels, and various other woodland creatures but finds herself unable to assume a physical form for long enough

more shit

* the omntirix core and sol unite to form Nebulous Centerfold (to look for the core), but it's only for a while before they crash land
* sol eventually makes his way back to the crash site, where he encounters the omnitrix body and meets laika
* introductions are cut short, with sol barely only able to tell his name before they hear a rustling in the trees. laika's ecstatic, screaming of how master's back, but sol and the omnitrix shush him
* sol goes unstable alien 2 to sense + fight edgelord

more aliens used

* edgelord manages to break laika's rockets/flares and gets close enough to sol in an instant to slam him in the gut with his knee and his sword reaches sol's neck neck. sol can only laugh, along with the omnitrix, as he reveals he's grabbed the final bit he needed to complete the omnitrix while edgelord had him pinned. he slams the faceplate onto the omnitrix

## Plot

You don't know how or why the bandits managed to leave an entire national monument untouched following the resistance, but you're glad they did. You suppose lawless outcasts aren't really interested in becoming patrons of the arts too often, being more focused on raping churches and burning women, but hey. If they knew of the shit you had stashed in here prior to the whole "abandonment of Europe" deal where it was decided scorched earth would be a good policy (Napoleon turns in his theoretical grave, assuming he is buried; you regret not researching your autocratic biographies when you had the chance), they would be lining up to try and blow it up. Or maybe not. It kind of is a massive powder keg. Perhaps they're not really stupid people.

As you continue sliding across the dirty, wet French pavement, your skidsparks fizzling long enough to give you a boost for the next step, you take back that last thought. A group of bandits claws their way up out of the horizon, assembling like cyberpunk bowling pin fleshpuppets. A small looking girl takes the role of pin number one, armed with a not-so-small looking minigun. You would ponder on the etymology behind the term "minigun" if you weren't using the largest majority of your brainpower to formulate ways of taking this bad bitch down.

You continue gliding along on your cool rollerblades, smiling with glee as you realize that you're probably about to become the first cool rollerblader in history (you really aren't aware of any). You don't even have to contribute any brainpower on formulating a plan for bad bitch disposal. You keep one eye trained on her minigun, reving its engines as it begins to spin, and another on a Dumpster-brand trash container.

As soon as the first of the bullets leaves the chamber, you propel yourself off of the ground with one sick movement from your pumped up kicks. You fly like a missile towards the trash bin, before conjuring up a quick beam of hard light that pushes you away from said trash bin. You don't want to land in there, that's where *they*belong.

Your merry flight continues on its path to destruction. Mid-flight, your brain doesn't bother racing like your body to explore the ramifications of your actions upon the physics of the universe you call "home". Just to give one last middle finger to the laws of physics, you begin to spin your body like a football as you head for the bowling pins of bandits. If this attack was ever originally planned out to be some sort of allusion to the gentleman's sport of bowling, it's clear that that resemblance only lives on in the bandits alone.

Your feet make contact with the minigun lady's face, twisting her head around in the process. She begins to collapse, knocking out most of her illicit allies, as you and the minigun continue your spins forward. You land gracefully on one knee, not really knowing how you just accomplished all of that. Perhaps, in a lawless society such as this, even the laws of physics bailed out. God bless anarchy for its plot convenience.

The gods of plot convenience have decided to bless you once again as an e-shotgun, likely belonging to one of the bandit pins you just struck through like a sick flying bowling bullet, skids forward. You quickly turn around to grab it, but midway through your pivot, you notice a second group of bandits race towards you. They're all armed with either close-ranged guns or melee weapons with the obvious intent to flank, skewer, and kill you (likely in that order). You use this brief window of vision to fire a single eponymous "shot" from the glorified version of a pellet gun. Without pausing to see how many of these pins fell, you pivot around once more and embark on the final dash towards the longstanding French national monument. There's no time at all to reflect at its beauty; unless you really want to be impaled, slashed, and punctured by a full arsenal of Parisian ghetto weapons (you don't).

So, here you are again. You've evidently been here once before: looking to the bookshelf, you find the book emblazoned with "Sol 10".

Utter, utter trash. And that ending? So inconclusive. You don't even know if you can call it an ending, but evidently it ended, and thus you are here.

You're going to make this one so much better, you have no idea. You have no idea how you're going to do it, but you won't admit it. That would be a loss, and you're not ready to lose. You're going to take back what's yours, and you're going to help Sol succeed. Just you wait. You'll be back to Lore, that shining city in the sky, in no time.

Lore. That's the place. A bunch of high-strung people who think they're worth something, running around and trying to administer the universe. They have no right to, but no one's ever tried to stop them. Well, nobody but Christian. But you can't let him beat them, because...

Because, fuck it. You've come this far. You're not going to let Christian win in the end. Why let all of the sacrifices you've made be in vain?

And, besides. Once he gets his hands on the Omnitrix, there's no stopping him. Although, you're not entirely convinced you can still stop him now, though you do have to try.

That's why you're here, in the middle of Paris, during the bloodiest war humanity has ever found itself entangled in. You could be out running missions, just like Major Tom, but you've got a more important job. You have to guide Sol through his life, in the hopes that he can one day resolve all of your problems. You don't like saying it, but Sol is the chosen one.

Of course, Sols 1-100 weren't the chosen ones. If they were, they wouldn't be dead now, would they?

Let's hope that this one is, for your sake. You don't know if you can handle doing this one more time, it's really taking a toll on your emotional and social health.

Of course, before you start, you have to get yourself comfortable, and turn on your computer, of course.

You push the power button in, letting your finger linger there for a while before pulling it back. The aging monitor slowly hums to life, the light it produces being shaky and unstable. The pixels on the screen slowly turn from their odd grey-green color until they have managed to create what appears to be some sort of halo or circle on the center of the screen. The halo blooms into a crown of thorns, though it's still fully pixelated. You train your eyes on the screen to attempt to discern what the computer is actually doing. As you watch, the spiked circle begins to turn with a few degrees over time. You realize the true form of the halo of thorns to be a silver cog, slowly turning like clockwork.

Let's watch, shall we?

You know from your own personal run-ins with him that he is referred to as the Lord of Edge, or more appropriately, "Edgelord". He didn't earn that title due to his looks and methods being rather 'edgy', as in, the early 21st century social and cultural style phenomenon, though he likely could have, had he rose to prominence during the era. And, no, he also didn't receive the name due to his sexual prowess. Rather, his name is earned from the two weapons he carries with him at all times.

They're named **Mirror Blades**. Their shapes can match any form of melee weaponry their metal has ever clashed against, which in the lifetime of both Edgelord and the blades themselves, has allowed for the amassment of an incredible arsenal of weapons. Through the blades' forms, he possesses an infinitely large collection of sharp edges, times two.

You've felt the edges of his blades before, but unlike most of the men and women on the screen right now, you lived.

The cannoneer aims his blast at Edgelord, but the moment before he presses the trigger, Edgelord swings his Mirror Blades around to intercept the shot. His blades become broadswords, crossing and forming an X. The Blades live up to their title as they begin to angle and reflect the light back, and Edgelord gracefully rotates his makeshift shield to wipe out a whole company of soldiers.

Realizing what he's doing, the cannoneer pulls his finger off of the trigger. He attempts one last effort to hurt the warrior. He pulls his cannon close to his chest, turns his body to orient his shoulder forward, and charges the madman.

But, he is not the madman in this situation. Edgelord remains completely in control, merely sidestepping the man's attack. One of his Blades slices through the air and the man's neck, beautifully transitioning into a rapier with a blood-painted tip. The blade evidently cut deep, as the cannoneer slumps to the ground, void of life.

The crazed marauder thrusted a silver cylinder into the air. It was like a soda can, long and metallic, and with a rather dumb logo emblazoned on what would call "front and center". Really, cylinders have no front, but that was not a topic worth philosophizing about in that situation.

Normally, such a device would not cause people to freeze in awe. Had it not been for the object's glowing logo and beeping, the man would have just been shot immediately and all would have continued normally (until the device exploded and they all died; still, perhaps an unaware and unexpected death is much more peaceful than one that is known to be imminent, but now was not the time for philosophy).

"Don't you know you'll kill yourself?" asked the apparent commander, her weapon paused as she stared at what she perceived to be a madman.

"Oooh, I know, alright, lady. I'll kill myself, and, a good chunk of your armada. Enough to let a surge of ships through and into earth's atmosphere. Usher in a new reign. All that jazz," he chuckled. His tone, combined with his words, sent shivers down the crew's spine. "I know how this thing works. I took a debriefer." Contrary to his words, it was highly probable that he did not actually know how the capsule worked at all. He was always one to bluff. And, as he spoke, he twisted his fingers round the capsule, probing for what would be considered an on-switch. He didn't know if it even had one, but he was sure as hell going to try and find it if it did.

"Computer. Reroute everything we've got to shields," Major Tom shouted in the sternest voice he could muster. The computer chirped back a meaningless response of beeps and boops. If the circuit had a brain capable of precognition and with a basic understanding of human psychology, it would understand the captain's motives behind his commands. He intended to contain the bomb's explosion inside to the best of their ship's ability, sparing the lives of any outside. "Life support, engines, lights. Everything. We won't need them anymore, especially once that *thing* goes off."

"Ooh, Captain! Captain! Are we going to try a ramming maneuver?"

"For the last time, Laika. It's Major. And no. We're trapping the explosion in a... snowglobe. A containment field. We'll stop him here."

Before Laika could dignify such military strategy with a response lacking any such dignity or forethought,

In what seemed like a split second, two great testimonies to mankind's advancements showed off what they had to offer. The shields lit up and so did the bomb.

All was gone in a great flash of light, and then, nothing.

Nothing but the sensation of "oh shit we're falling through the fucking air", clearly. The space ship - no longer in space - plummeted to the Earth below, without an ounce of care for the comfort of the passengers.

Sol, of course, possessed the basic instincts necessary for human survival and upon realizing that something very heavy was falling from the sky, quickly began to run in the opposite direction from the impact zone. He ran as fast as his little teenage boy stick legs could carry him and until his lungs ran out of air.

(artemis is the first up, tries to stick him with an arrow. edgelord ducks, and throws his mirror blade like it's a javelin. he goes to collect it, but laika starts his shots and scares him away. major tom convinces laika to stop)

Tom gripped the dial of the Omnitrix like one would grip a spinning top, before completing the simile. The Omnitrix's faceplate began to spin around and around like the tub of a washing machine. The spin catches the eyes of Edgelord, who stares at the device like a deer in headlights, perhaps waiting to see what the Omnitrix does

"Omnitrix...." Major Tom began to speak, though the device did not show any signs of compliance or approval. Regardless, Edgelord's eyes filled with fear. "Prime!"

Instead of doing anything noteworthy, however, the Omnitrix instead slowed its spin. It slowed its spin so much that it even begin to spin off of its axis.

"After ten thousand years, I'm free! It's time! To conquer! Earth!"

Unfortunately for the planet of Earth, there was no Alpha or even any multiple teenagers with attitude to recruit in the vicinity (the closest thing was the boy known as Sol, except he lacked much in the way of attitude and there is no numerical value of "one" in the word team, much less the letter I, for that matter).

Sol took a simple look at the flaming mess before him and decided, no, he would NOT investigate the inferno. If he had learned one thing from the American education system, it was that fire safety is an awfully useful skill, and his own intuition deduced that he should use that skill in this situation. Only a suicidal maniac would run into a flaming crash site, and at this point in his life, Sol was not a suicidal maniac. He ultimately decided it was safer to simply slowly walk away, exercising the aspect of the Good Samaritan law that allowed him to just walk away from situations such as these without no obligation to help whoever might be dying inside. Not today, Sol thought. Flaming alien crash sites are no place for me, and I will just continue to walk away as if nothing at all has happened.

And so, Sol went on his merry way, taking a detour through the forest. He moved at a brisk pace, a pace that the fire surprisingly envied.

Okay, that is not the entire truth. Sol did not walk at a brisk pace. Rather, he ran. He ran faster than the devouring fire could have ever wished to run, and faster than the firetrucks that raced down the highways to combat said fire.

Now, all of this brisk walking - nay, running - through an inferno had left Sol parched. His brisk movements left him with a hankering for something perhaps just as brisk as he had been, a sweet Brisk iced tea. Unfortunately for Sol, as he felt up his pockets, he found no iced tea inside of them. Nor did he find any money, which he could have used to purchase said iced tea.

Then, a brilliant idea entered Sol's adolescent mind. Well, perhaps not a brilliant one, or an innovative one, but... an interesting one, no doubt. He decided that if there were no Brisk iced teas in his pocket, there would have to be some off somewhere in some machine's metal pockets. To get into those pockets, he would have to employ the same tactic he believed would work on women (and the tactic translated from women to machines because the similarities between women and machines have been noted for centuries, as is the reason boats are named after women), which involves pushing money into them until they finally gave you some sweet sugar to indulge on with your mouth. And, if there wasn't any money in his pockets, then there must simply be some money in someone else's pocket, or else the economy would crash as we know it and we would all be doomed to find a much more egalitarian currency from scratch, and that's something no one would ever want unless they were a silly radical.

(sol pick pockets, grabs a pair of sunglasses but no money. tries again and finally gets the size right for coins)

"I speak to you, inferior arboreal organism! I could cut down the trees that give you life and wreak famine upon your furry kind! That's right, aim your beady black eyes in my direction, dirtspawn. I speak these words, and I know you can hear them. I see the look inside of those cold, black eyes. It's a lust for power. Forget acorns, young one. You no longer want to feed upon the helpless children of the tall leafy ones. You want to conquer. You want to control.

"I possess the capabilities that you desire. I have seen the humans' frivolous 'Disney' moving paints time and time again. They dream of a world in which you and your arboreal brethren are nothing but slaves to them. Slaves to laugh and sing along and open windows and do whatever chores the Sleeping Beauty wants.

"I promise, that should you align you and your kind with me, you and I together can corrupt their beautifully-soundtracked and well-animated dreams. Oh, there will be slaves, indeed. But instead of their fleshy pink faces, comrade, it will be you and I in charge. No longer will you be the ones forced to hide meals underground for the winter, but -"

Before the floating ball of strange light could make any more loud noises, the squirrel decided to chuck some food at it in the hopes that it might leave her alone. It worked, surprisingly, though not in the way the squirrel intended.

The projectile, an acorn, bounced across the dirt for a good few moments before it inevitably collided with the core of the Omnitrix. The Omnitrix was stunned, for it had not ever perceived that a squirrel nor any similarly-physiqued animal could ever fling a projectile with such grace as had just been portrayed.

(squirrel tosses acorn at the omnitrix, she turns into a tree)

"You fool! You absolute nincompoop! You have no idea of the power you have just wrought upon your world! I shall sink my roots into this earth, and corrupt the soil you walk on for generations!"

Just as the Omnitrix had threatened, a root emerged from the ground and snapped down upon the squirrel's back with a thunderous smack (or what seemed thunderous to the squirrel). The wooden tendril raised the squirrel to the sky, clenching it by the nape, as the Omnitrix prepared to

"Didn't you hear what I said? What's your name, master?"

Sol continued his blank stare, his feeble mind attempting to grasp around what had just been presented to it. He had been granted a chance to reshape his own destiny and identity with that very question. It was a complex situation. And, like many other individuals will and do, he squandered its potential on something he thought seemed cool at the time and would possibly grow to resent entirely later.

The names flowed through his head like salmon swimming up a river. They made no sense to the observer, yet were entirely suited to their environment.

"Sol," he chose finally, a dumb smile to go along with the dumb name he had just thrust upon himself. If anything, the name was proof that individuals should not be given the opportunity to name themselves and we should be glad that our parents named us stupid things for us before we could, lest we cause our lives even more damage than we already can.

"Master! Master has returned!" the robot shouted like an puppy,and a rather excited one at that. The Omnitrix picked up on this, and seized the chance to perform a devastating insult.

"Shush, bitch."

(omnitrix tells sol that the faceplate is shaped like an earth coin, sol smiles)

With the sword pressed against his throat, it would have been dangerous for Sol to laugh or even speak. The slightest movement from either party would result in the sharp blade slicing open his carotid artery, and with that, death would almost certainly ensue.

Unfortunately for Sol, he was an idiot and did both. He threw his head back, away from the blade, and laughed like a madman.

"Why are you laughing?" the other crazed lunatic (the murderous one) responded, fire growing deep in his eyes. Normally, in this situation, he would be the one laughing, not the other way around. "I have you pinned! You're entirely helpless!"

"No... I should have killed you when you were explaining how you hadn't died yet..."

## Trivia

* Major Tom bleeds to death somewhere off in the forest *after* the party leaves the area. What fun!
* You'll probably never see the Nebulous or Unstable forms after this, at least in this series. Who really knows, though?
* This episode is named after the song by OK Go, "Here It Goes Again".