Michel and Annette learned of the general's demand. The two quietly gazed at each other. The two were monitoring the situation.
They were the special team that dealt with the relationship between Perim and Earth, when it came. This was something under their supervision.
Annette asked, "What do you say about it? You can protest and prevent this."
The black man sighed. He put his fingers on his face, "We cannot do anything big right now. We were preparing everything. I was sure it would be my successor who would deal with this situation… and under a less catastrophic situation," he put it on his desk, "Still, they are the one handling this situation. I won't oppose this."
The woman asked, "Are you certain about it?"
"We are also curious if you are certain about this decision," Codemaster Crellan asked through the speakers of the room.
"Yes. It would break out sooner or later," the man replied. He crossed his fingers, "I already see a lot of people talking about it on the internet. I guess this is time. Once the reveal is done…" he was about to say more power, but it wasn't the case. He felt like he would turn evil if he spoke those words. Plus, it wasn't that way.
"We act as direct liaisons between worlds," she went on.
"And become diplomats in a way," the Codemaster replied. He then went on, "What will come of us?"
"If we can fix Chaotic, I think the game must remain," Michel replied. He added, "And we will always need you."
Chapter 128: Declaration Of True
At the military base, Tom, his friends and their families watched the television, as they waited for the moment the president would give his speech. They knew the moment this came out; everything would be more than different for both Earth and Perim.
Tom had a thought on the matter. Especially when he gazed at his best friend's mother, "What would you do when everything is over?"
"Well… I guess I'll have to meet this Maxxor. He is a friend of yours," Annie replied. She added, "And watch what you do and say in Chaotic. If I knew a part of you was there, I would have made sure you were impeccable," she added as a joke.
Her son didn't see that joke, "Come on mom. I'm almost seventeen."
"And still no driver's license," Kaz replied with a small smirk.
"Wish I saw that epic escape when you pulled some awesome moves bro!" Peyton replied.
"Making me drive in a race where everyone uses dirty tricks wasn't something that I was prepared for. Still helped when we escaped home," he admitted. The red-haired boy crossed his arms and gazed to the side. He remembered that his code was gone now. He wouldn't know what happened before he was killed in Chaotic. He knew he protected Chaor, but his hero implied that more happened between them. He had to ask Chaor, but the creature probably wouldn't answer that. Still, he wished to know.
"It's beginning," Sarah told them. Everyone watched the news.
On the television, they saw the president walking towards a podium.
The man prepared to give his speech that would change the world.
The teenagers ignored the unimportant part. The man didn't sound interesting and he danced around the subject.
"Why do every politician need to do things like that?" Tom groaned in annoyance.
"Because this is the definition of their jobs," his mother replied to him with the same annoyance.
"Can he just go straight to the point? Will fewer people listen to what he has to say?" Sarah complained.
"Would be better to see the cut version on the internet later. No that many people watch TV now or the news," Kaz replied.
Remi came in, "I heard what was going on. Is it serious?"
"Yeah. The president is supposed to give a speech. And he is giving a long one. Still not to the point," Cassandra replied.
"And he's not at that point? I know I'm a few minutes late," he crossed his arms.
"How did it go with them?" Tom asked.
"They wonder what Milla'iin is thinking. They don't know what their plan might be. Mostly, I got a warning that they might be doing something else, but we don't know. If you have a spy, you have to find a way to give false information and cause confusion to the enemies."
"Two plans at the same time?" One soldier who was with them asked.
"Yes."
"We are trying to find out what else they might plan, but we have nothing so far. Despite the speech coming soon, we continue to observe them."
"That's good," Kaz muttered.
The Codemasters watched the speech, but focused on their task at the same time, "Still not to the point," Hotekk grumbled. He gazed at the others, "You know what is great with the creatures? They often go straight to the point, unless they have something else planned."
Imthor nodded as he focused on his task, "I still don't see anything standing out. The cross-referencing is progressing. I'll be done soon."
Maxxor asked, "What is a president?"
The Mipedian king nodded, "He sounds like a ruler to me. The ruler of the humans?"
"Yes and no," Crellan replied. He put his hand over his face for a few seconds, before he dropped it at the side, "Yes, he is technically a ruler, chosen by the people."
"Not ruler by birth?" Chaor asked, surprised by such a weird system. He raised his hands, "And not even by stealing the throne?"
"No. They elect their leader and if they are treasonous, they have the power to take him out by force. It is in their rights to get rid of an evil president. They don't just deal with it or by revolution. It is also only one country. To make it short," he raised his hand when he saw a question in their mouth, "Each country could be compared to a tribe. Except that everyone is a human. You understand that?"
The creatures nodded. They couldn't really understand that much of a tribe subdivided into smaller groups. They were all the same. In Perim, there were vast differences between each tribe. For them, humans were just the only tribe in the Cothica. That was something impressive and scary to imagine.
The Codemaster continued his explanation, but it didn't go farther than that in their mind. He was mostly making sure they got it by reexplaining it in a different way. He sighed and gave up, "I don't think you will understand more than that. It is a really different world. Humans made many fictional words in books, so it might be easier for them to grasp it."
"They come from the Cothica, they understand more than we do," Theb-Saar replied.
The Codemaster was about to reply, when Maxxor prevented him, "They know more if they can reach out our world."
"Right," Crellan sighed.
In the military base, Annie pointed at the screen, "It looks like he's finally getting to the point."
Sarah raised her head and her hands, "Finally! We wasted like 10 minutes babbling before-" her brother put his finger on her lips and stopped her rant. The girl grumbled as she crossed her arms. She hated when her brother just cut her short like that. Still, she let out a small smile.
"As you are all aware, there have been many strange events at Summer Vale for a while. Many of you lost contact with friends or family. The strange evacuations that have been ordered even today by your mayors. Words spread around that the cause of this are the creatures of a game called Chaotic. There's been videos online showing those. As President of this beautiful country, I can confirm that those creatures are indeed real. There is no point in going around the subject any longer. Those creatures come from a tribe called the M'arrillians and are here to invade and control the Earth. We are doing everything we can to repel this invasion, but knowing their ability, there is little we can do for now. Countermeasures are in preparation and rapidly advancing. If you see a M'arrillian, beware. They have the power to control your mind and turn you into slaves. When you see one, run away as quickly as you can. When the mayor orders the evacuation, you must quickly evacuate. It means that the M'arrillians are approaching," the president continued by explaining what the tribe is and what they looked like.
The group didn't listen anymore, as they already knew that.
"That's a really big declaration," Tom admitted. He wondered what the impact would be. They wouldn't know until they were back home or see another town's reaction.
Peyton chuckled, "That will be a big conversation when we are back at school. Like: 'Hey dude. Did you survive the M'arrillian invasion on Earth?'"
Kaz sighed, "Or dealing with people who have been traumatized by being mind-controlled and under supervision?"
Cassandra told them, "We won't know until we reach that point. For now, we should focus on what we can do."
"Which isn't a lot," her son sighed.
Justine, Tom's grandmother, suggested, "The best thing we can do is stay out of the creatures and the soldiers' way. We cannot give them more problems than they need."
They couldn't disagree.
Sarah sighed quietly. She wondered what was the first reaction from the news. The fact that everyone knew about the invasion of the M'arrillians might cause a chain reaction. One that no one could see the consequences of. She wondered if it was for the best or not.
The Codemasters quietly sighed as the message was finally given. They put their focus on their mission and didn't listen to the rest of the speech.
"The progress on the portal is going quickly. The crystal is almost ready to be brought to Chaotic," Hotekk told the others. He checked on Imthor, "They finished cutting it and will bring it back soon. There are a few things they need to check before they can proceed forward."
"Good. We are done with our search. I noticed that a few M'arrillians are missing. A few fluidmorphers and Chieftains aren't with the others," Imthor said.
The leaders of the four tribes heard that.
Maxxor was the first to voice his thoughts, "You think they have another squadron for another plan?"
"Obviously they have something else," Chaor grumbled.
"They left Summer Vale unattended. The humans are gone too," Crellan told them.
Theb-Saar asked, "Think they are attacking another city while we aren't watching or something else?"
The Danian queen frowned, "If they all went south, then there is another path they could take. The place where Tom's grandparents lived. The squadron is too small to conquer a city, if most of them are here."
The others were taken aback at that possibility.
"And the invasion could be used as a distraction, if this is their plan," Maxxor agreed with her.
"They we have to hurry up and get to the Cothica already!" Chaor growled.
"The portal won't be ready yet. For them to capture the humans, they need to follow their tracks. They left by helicopters long enough for any tracks to be gone. Stench and other ways to track. They'll need to be in control of the humans satellite or manage to somehow pass the securities put in place. No one in Summer Vale is that qualified as hackers."
"Ha-ckers?" The creatures asked.
"It's like when you have a safe containing vitals, important or unimportant information, battlegear and etc. Hacking means to force a safe to open, but not with the fist," Imthor tried to explain.
Aszil asked, "Any ideas if there are some competent enough where the M'arrillians are?"
"None. We will only know when they try to hack into the security. Still, since we found everything, I'll be ready to defend the system."
Hotekk added, "It's called counter-hacking."
"What?" The creatures were lost, as the previous explanation made them more confused than before.
"Hotekk. You explain that in detail," Imthor grumbled as he put his hand on his face.
"Fine," the Codemaster grumbled as he tried to explain what it meant.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: Tracking The Guides.
The M'arrillians are trying to find traces of the four humans.