Chapter Thirty Two: Kevin's 18th Birthday, and a horrible event.

"no proverb today. sorry!" :P
-emperorwolf.

kevin sat at the dining table, around him were Oriado, Benson, Carl and Syrus, his father- Ronaldo, and Aeon.
standing on the table were Lily, Patrick, Verona, Collin, and 999.

a large white cake lay in front of kevin, the number '18' written on it in icing.
everyone shouted jovially
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!"
kevin took the knife and sliced into the cake
oriado laughed "touched the bottom!"
kevin smirked and gave him a kiss on the cheek "happy now, ori?"
"very."
everyone laughed out loud and benson proceeded to divide the cake up for everyone.

not having to eat, and having a dislike for trifle, 999 sat at the edge of the table while everyone else ate.
collin padded over to him "sure you don't want any?"
"no thanks, i don't like trifle."
collin shrugged "suit yourself" and walked back across the table.
999 held his golden crown in his paws, and sighed
he turned his head back to the group "i've got to go. sorry."
Aeon sighed "if you really have to..."
999 put on his crown, changing into the emperor, snapped his fingers, and vanished.
the party continued on for three more hours, notable events being patrick getting drunk and teleporting all over the place at random, crashing into a wall every so often, and lily recieving a call from Amelia about Ian's return.
other than that, the party flowed smoothly until everyone left.

kevin and oriado pulled down the streamers and sweeped up the confetti, and picked up all the scraps.
"nice party?" oriado asked him
"great party." kevin answered happily
"and," oriado said excitedly "we're going to be married tomorrow!"
"yeah! it's great that virada supports gay marrage between 'giants', isn't it?"
"definitely!" oriado smirked "now, how about a proper kiss?"
"oh, wait 'till tomorrow!"

they looked longingly at each other, and kevin shuffled up to the wolf
"or... i suppose we could get some practise in..." he said nervously as he hugged him.
oriado smiled.

they closed their eyes and went to kiss...

and oriado's phone began beeping.
they stepped back awkwardly
"well... that's kind of a mood killer..." kevin complained
"don't have to tell me twice."

oriado took out his phone, which had begun making an urgent noise.
a message popped up.
"to all citizens of virada: the president and governor are about to adress the nation, please tune in to 99.65 FM."

oriado pushed a few digital buttons and the radio app on the phone activated.

an elderly voice began speaking
""my fellow viradans, great and small... i, your national presedent, have grim news...
this morning, at approximately 0400 hours, we recieved a communication from the planet known as 'earth'.
we are unsure how they breached the distortion, but after we decoded their message, they had this to say to us...""

a click was heard, and an adolescent voice spoke, accompanied by minor static.
""people of the barrier-shielded planetoid, i am military colonel jenneson parks of project legion. as your planet is covered by an unknown distortive field, it has taken us a year to send you this information.
we have detected some type of travel between our two worlds, and the giant being who entered onto our planet from your own has destroyed many major cities around the world.
if you do not stop more from coming, or send aid to stop this creature, we WILL be forced to take military action, and will consider this invader an attack against our planet.
failure to comply with our request... will be deemed an act of war. we will then be forced to kill the invader, and send our military forces to attack you ourselves.
i repeat: remove the invader from our planet, or face destruction.
there is a scientific 'probe' of sorts on your planet we sent some decades ago. we have known of your existance for some time now, but we've kept it secret from the government.
the probe has the appearance of a bipedal brown wolf with green eyes wearing a golden crown. goes by the name of 'subject nine hundred and ninety nine'. have him sent back to us, and we will consider this your compliance with our request.
that is all""

the message ended with a slight click.
a middle aged-sounding woman's voice spoke up
""from this point on, our entire planet is under martial law.
we ask all citizens of virada to search for the being mentioned: subject nine-hundred and ninety nine, and bring him to the capital of virada; relzenevot.
we know he is likely to be in virada due to recent sightings of a wolf with odd powers and a golden crown over his left ear, given to us by members of the police force there, and witnesses who claim to have seen him in buki bero/giki kero's bordertown early yesterday... we ask for your full cooperation""

the transmission ended

kevin and oriado stared at each other.

"nine-ninety-nine."

---

999 turned off his phone, and looked up at the giant shiba, whoose face showed worry.
"i'll go... i'll turn myself in."
the shiba nodded sadly, his ears flattening against his scalp.
999 snapped his fingers, and the world around him changed to the library he knew one of the heartrow sisters worked at.
he went to knock on the door, but hesitated.
(i know she isn't particularly fond of me... but i...)
the door opened, interrupting his thought.
amelia stood in front of him, eyes wide.
"shouldn't you be on virada?"
he hung his head "i've come to turn myself in... i know exactly who the 'invader' is..."
she eyed him suspiciously as he walked inside "who?"

he turned around slowly, tears in his eyes.
"me... i'm the invader..."
she stared "h-how? why?!"
"... it's because... i wasn't sent as a 'scientific probe' like they said..."
she stepped back, covering her mouth
"i... am a biological weapon, in a line of one thousand. i was sent here to 'cleanse' this world of its populace, and ready it for earth-human colonisation."
she retreated even more.
"but... once i arrived, i was amazed at the way this world is... i decided to cut off communications to earth, and live here, instead. i was chased here by subject #998; Isello Shay."
"so... that's why... you...?"
"that's why i formed the order. to protect myself from my own world..."
"so... why do they want you back?"
"there is no 'invader' on earth, they lied, they merely want me to return so that i can give them information, which they will use to declare war upon this planet."
"n-no! that can't be!"

he turned away "it is human nature on earth to fear that which we don't understand... and if we think that which we don't understand is a theoretical threat... we destroy it... no 'we only wish to learn about you' or any of that crap... the only thing that project legion thinks about is... just... destroy."

ian dropped from the top of a bookshelf.
"so what do we do?"

999 took a deep breath.
"take me... to the capital... i will explain everything to your world there."

---

-five hours later-
999 stood in front of a massive crowd on virada, composed of humans, gikis and bukis...
the cameras focussed on him, and he cleared his throat.
"my name is subject #999, and you have been lied to.
there is no 'invader' on earth.
i am not a scientific probe, i am, at the core of it, a genetically cloned human from earth.
and i was sent here... as a weapon.
my orders were to exterminate all life on this planet, and ready it for colonisation.
after i arrived, i cut off all communucation to my superiors, and abandonned my mission.
the one you know as 'the masked genocist: Isello Shay', was in fact another weapon, sent to retrieve me.
over my time on your world, i descovered a power called 'gliloutation' which turned me into the wolf you see before you... if i return to earth, they will use the information i have on this world to prepare a first strike on your world.
nine hundred and ninety seven other weaponised humans would come, and kill all of you.
at your planet's core lies a gemstone, which generates the distortion field around this planet, you do not know this, but without that stone, you would not only be vulnerable to attack, but any human coming from earth would become unbeatable, even to a giant.
however, if i do not return to earth, there will be a war between our worlds nonetheless.
the event you call 'the great co-collision' was your planet nearly colliding with earth, and this is when you were noticed by us."

an elderly bull, the presedent, turned to 999 "but... what are we supposed to do?"
999 sighed "in one month, i will return to earth, and take a team of my choosing with me. we will destroy the facility used to control the legion... however... once we do this, i will die."
"why?"
"this body you see... it is not my true body... in truth, i am laying in suspended animation in the facility... while my mind manipulates this body. if i destroy the facility, my true body will be killed, along with one thousand others like me. you will all live... but at a cost."

someone in the crowd shouted out "so what do we do now?!"

"go about your normal lives. one month from today, i will carry out the 'mission' ... but, go about your days as you would any other time... i will-"

there was an explosion, and blast of blue light on the stand, and when it cleared, a long red haired human man wearing a shiny black body suit stood a few metres from 999.
999 snarled "subject # 1000..."
"subject # 999... you will return to earth before the end of next month. you are becoming more trouble than you are worth."
the police and security trained their guns on #1000.
999 growled "number one-thousand... we cannot do this... they are sentient life!"
"they are beasts."
"there are humans among them, and they are more than beasts!"
"you are incorrect. these ... anthropomorphic creatures are beasts. the fact that there are humans is completely irrelivant."
the crowd cowered in fear.
"1000, i will not tolerate this! i know no-one on earth approves of project legion!"
"irrelivant. our commander does what is needed. public opinion is useless."

suddenly, a flaming bullet hit #1000 in the shoulder, he screamed in pain, and spun around to see a winged human above the crowd.
"An Angel?!"
"i am kenziel, guardian watcher of this planet." he announced "you will leave now, or i will kill you."
1000 glared, then began glowing "as of today, planet earth's project legion officially declares war upon your world!"
the light exploded again and he was gone.

999 picked up the microphone "leave them to me... i will not allow them to attack. project legion is not approved of by 99.99% of earth's people, they are a rogue group run by a team of paranoid, musclebound idiots. they are acting independently from the earth's people, who do not wish you harm like PL do."

a disturbed hush fell over the crowd.

"but... it is true... we..." 999 looked toward the governor and presedent.
they stepped forward, and finished the sentence "...are at war."

*(author note: now that the morons of project legion have declared war, against the wishes of earth as a whole, the people of planet Xlen are in danger.
they will resume their daily lives until the day 999 returns to earth.

dun
Dun
DUN!

ps: the harbinger actually works for PL.

next chapter, we flash back in time to a point during the ravaging, to see what it was like. and in chapter thirty four, kevin ghast gets married, dispite the declaration of war.)*