999.

999. [Part 1]

It all started about 15 hours ago.

I was out on the battlefield, with my Wasp and Railgun, blasting enemies left and right. Suddenly, I got a video message. I opened it up.

"Hey Commander, need any help?"

"We need your help right away Lose," he said, "we can't hold out much longe-"

The rest of the video went black, I could hear explosions and the Commander yelling defiantly.

I quickly left the battle I was in and went to Commander's battle. The only thing I knew was what the battle was called, 999.

I joined to see chaos.

The map expanded beyond the horizon, further then I could imagine anybody could see, with explosions and screaming everywhere. Shots were flying everywhere, people getting hit, people missing, people hiding.

I quickly noticed a shaft, and loaded up my Railgun. I plugged my ears as my tank's turret shot, sending a laser beam straight through the tank. I looked out to hear an explosion and a scream as somebody jumped out of their Shaft and Hornet tank right before it exploded.

"Nice work, kid, but there are more of them," said a voice behind me.

I turned my tank around, getting ready to shoot. When I realized it was Commander, I quickly put it off as trying to shoot somebody behind him.

Commander was not impressed.

"Alright, kid. Listen. This is a Capture The Flag battle, you understand? Ok, what's so special about this CTF battle is that it takes 999 flags to win."

I had to make sure I heard him correctly.

"Sir, you just said... 999 flags to win?"

"That's right," he said, "and we need your help."

I straightened up, determined to impress him. "I will fight to the end, if there is an end to the fighting."

"Good boy," he replied, "just watch out for your friend."

I stared at him, confused, until I heard my friend Claudia's voice.

"Hi, Lose!"

I whirled around so quickly my tank almost split in two.

"What are you doing here?!", I demanded.

"I'm here to help," she said, "what can I do!"

I looked at the little Smoky and Wasp.

"You can do whatever you think is right. Just be careful."

"OK," she replied, "I'll be careful."

So we went to help with the war.

It was a couple of hours in, maybe 2-3, and I had made a friend. His name was Death_And_Horror, and he was a pretty cool guy. Was.

It happened about 15 minutes later.

We were fighting a Titan and Smoky that was giving us a particular amount of trouble. I was distracting him, peppering him with shots, and Death_And_Horror snuck up from behind with his Hunter and Firebird.

He was about to shoot when I saw a red laser secure find his tank.

The words "LOOK OUT!" came out as just a terrified squeak.

I watched in horror as Death_And_Horror turned his Firebird to the sound of the 4 rockets leaving its barrels.

Time seemed to slow down. The rockets hit him, one by one, slowly, each explosion setting more grief in my heart. The second rocket hit, and I was dreading the noise of his tank exploding. The third rocket hit, his tank was still standing. As the fourth rocket hit, time seemed to nearly stop. If it seemed slow before, now it was slower. The explosion of his tank brightened the whole sky, hurting my eyes. The smoke cleared, showing Death_And_Horror's tank charred and destroyed. I knew he didn't make it out. I shot the Titan and Smoky again, destroying it. Then I went to the Striker and Hunter, determined to give him a slow and painful death. But then a noise filled the air.

It sounded like a tornado siren, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky, well I thought there wasn't, as for the sky was filled with smoke.

That meant the siren meant something far more important.

The gold box would drop soon.