16 Chapter 16: Leaving Earth

I fly around the world for a couple of days, hoping that I would find anything… Anyone I could make it up to… anyone I could apologize to… Someone with whom I could project my feelings.

'If only I can just find anyone… Just a single person… At least I can help them as atonement for my failure… In the end, I need them. I just want someone that I could spend atoning to but, I know better… It never is going to be the way I wanted it to be. I told her I'd try… But still, I'm just tired… So tired…

Anyways the search is over. I'm not going to find anyone on this planet… It's over. Sigh, what to do next? I'll go to Galvan Prime first and find Azmuth. I need to see why he never checked up on me all the time I was imprisoned. Hope he has a good reason… For his sake…'

I fly straight above and look at my home planet for one last time before leaving it, knowing that I won't go back there for a long time if not ever. 'Omnitrix set a course to Galvan Prime and give me directions on how to get there.'

'Acknowledged, the user will be guided to Galvan Prime'

I start flying in the direction given to me, speeding up progressively until I feel like I reach an appropriate speed, and then with a boom and sudden push forward I enter hyperspeed. I then leave the rest to the Omnitrix as I relax and look into the space around me.

'This looks beautiful. The first and only other time I've gone to hyperspeed I was so focused on reaching the destination as fast as I can that I didn't even notice my state and didn't take a look at my surroundings.

Thousands of lights pass by me in an instant while I accelerate ahead of them. Planets, stars, asteroids, and everything else. All of it looks stunning… Relaxing… Julie, I wish I could show this to you… You always loved sights like these. Heh, could've been a date in itself… You in your ship spacesuit, holding on to me while we fly around… Just admiring the sights and enjoying our time alone together…

Why did you all have to leave me alone…'

I smile bitterly as I close my eyes and recall better times. Only to open them again and see Julie, right in front of me, begging me to save her… To save her parents and our friends… Only to then fade away and join the pile of bodies following me around.

'No escape, Huh? Well, nothing I don't deserve. I'm just going to stop thinking and wait till I reach my destination. At least I'll confront Azmuth soon.'

After flying for an unknown period of time I start slowing down while approaching a planet. The planet appears from space as a pale green world with a giant crater and a large dark green area around it.

I approach the surface of the planet and descend, breaking through the atmosphere until I start seeing the silhouette of a village and a huge tower with a symbol similar to the Omnitrix's that I recognize as Azmuth's tower and lab.

Something looks off, however, and as I approach instead of the technologically advanced society, I am greeted with death and destruction all around. 'No… Not here too… Not again… Damn it…'

I fly over to Azmuth's tower and enter it from a giant hole that is on the top of the tower. As I land, I see a bunch of bodies on the ground. I keep walking and all I see is the slaughter that has ensued. I finally reach Azmuth's lab, and I see it all destroyed with his body lying in the center of the room, impaled by what seems to be either a sword or a spear.

'Azmuth… So that's why you never contacted me… Something happened. You were attacked by someone. I'm sorry I couldn't be here for you buddy. I gotta figure out who attacked them and slaughtered their people.'

A piece of technology in the lab then starts beeping suddenly, followed by the Omnitrix mirroring the same beeping. Then the beeping speeds up until it suddenly stops, and a hologram appears from the watch. A message sent by Azmuth…

The hologram starts speaking, "If you're seeing this Ben, this means that I'm dead and you've escaped your captivity. I know why you've come here. You probably thought that I abandoned you in your time of need. You're probably holding a lot of hostility, regret, and anger. It seems that we will never meet again, unfortunately.

I noticed what happened to you after the watch failsafe was first activated. I made it so that if you ever reached the worst-case scenario, then I would receive an alert informing me of the danger that you've gotten into.

I received a report of roughly the events that you experienced, and I was planning on teleporting you out of there and to me. The wizards, however, already had some magic set up to stop teleportation in the area you were in. Nothing I couldn't handle, as even magic can be conquered with technology. The problem arose while I was working on that…

An unlikely team of Khyber the hunter, Malware the incomplete Galvanic Mechamorph, and Dr. Psychobos the inferior Cerebrocrustacean that is deluded to think his intellect exceeds mine started attacking Galvan Prime…"