THE YEAR IS 9000

  “Boss! The Zorros are coming!” a soldier shouted.

  The captain responded with a serious face. “Code Ghost.”

  The soldier ran as fast as he could to the laboratory.

  Meanwhile, outside of Planet Zorros:

  On a spaceship, multiple Zorros soldiers surrounded a control panel.

  “Captain, the beam is ready to fire!” said a commander.

  The captain’s face formed a sinister grin. “Haha, excellent. Get ready to fire. We will finally destroy SEN once and for all!”

  The wind was howling, the world was crumbling, and the birds were screeching. The planet was about to meet its end in a few seconds.

  A soldier named Mark ran into the laboratory and yelled to everyone in the facility, “CODE GHOST!”

  Everyone quickly packed Project SEN into the backup ship. They all knew what had to be done. In order to protect the information on Project SEN, every researcher and scientist had to die on the planet—except for the boss, because he was the one to take Project SEN to a much safer location.

  “Mark,” the captain said, “do you know what's so special about Project SEN?”

  Mark replied, “Sure, sir! I would like to hear the secret behind this creation!”

  “Very well. Let me tell you the entire story of the creation of SEN,” the captain said, looking at the ceiling.

  “It was the year 900. This story was told from generation to generation. It all started when my great-great-(x5) grandmother was on an expedition away from Planet Kazo—this planet, our planet, before the Zorros took over and changed its name. When she returned to the planet, a huge Planet Eater appeared. These Planet Eaters were only myths, as they had only been seen on rare occasions.

  My great-grandmother was about to witness the planet being eaten right before her very eyes. In a futile attempt, she launched a rocket at it. The Planet Eater stopped, looked at her, and then lifted its arms and swung at the ship she was on.

  But right as the hand was about to hit, a bright light appeared out of nowhere, and a being within the light spoke:

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  “We are the light that shines bright. We are Kyuusen, and you are none.”

  A bright beam of light obliterated the Planet Eater. After that, my grandmother decided to create a similar being, one close to the power of a Kyuusen, and named it Project SEN.

  But an alien race known as the Zorros found out about the project: they heard a being was being created so powerful it could destroy universes and multiverses. That is what they believed.

  My grandmother said in the story that SEN wouldn't know his limits, and when he wakes, he will try to understand himself and the space around him. The first thing he will sense will be broken memories of everyone in the Kazo family, and he will try his best to make it back to us. The story ends there, and the part where it says he will look for us makes me question if he will find me after I’m dead.”

  The ship finished charging its beam of overwhelming destruction. The beam released its energy on the planet, engulfing it in light and turning it into nothing but void.

  Meanwhile, in the Zorros ship:

  “We did it! We destroyed the project!” said some random Zorro.

  The captain made a dramatic entrance as the automatic doors opened. An evil grin appeared on his face. “We are not done yet.”

  Everyone looked at the radar. The Zorros captain then said,“We have a person that is escaping. Hehehehehe… GET ’EM!”

  The Zorros pointed out that the ship they were chasing had strange power flowing out of it, a power that no one could sense except through special radar.

  The Zorros captain stood up, a mad look on his face. “That must be where Project SEN is being kept. FIRE UP THE BEAM CANNON!”

  One of the Zorros told the captain why he hated the project so much. The captain looked at him and said:

  “When the previous leader of the Zorros found out about the project, it was said that the creation had crazy amounts of power—one that could rival us Zorros. We also heard stories, legends, and even myths about something called Kyuusen, whose power knows no bounds and is beyond the understanding of the living and the dead. Other galaxies started to hear about it, even though the project was highly confidential.

  The one who leaked this information was a monster from Planet Keku, a planet specializing in spying and gathering information. We know this because we caught one in the year 745, before SEN was in the making.

  Now, in the present day, I am king of the Zorros, and I also joined a group of destruction known as the Shigatsu.”

  “THE BEAM IS READY, SIR,” a Zorro said.

  “FIRE!” said the King of the Zorros.

  In the last few seconds of the boss's life, he said his final words to the capsule holding SEN’s body and placed something on it that would awaken memories of all the people of the Kazo family.

  At that moment, the Kazo found a strange box hidden in the ship, inscribed with: “To anyone who survives in the future.”

  Kazo was shocked. Before reading the message, he said,“I, Rontaro Kazo, will die reading my great-[x6] grandmother’s final words.”

  He read the letter. With mixed emotions of happiness and sadness, he grabbed the object said to be given to her by a Kyuusen to cut off that point in time. Nothing and no one could reverse that state. The object was made of Kyuusen energy, and nothing—no one—could change anything when it was activated. This meant no one could change fate, reality, time, or space to stop this event from happening. By the rules of the universe, this moment had already happened and cannot be changed, not even through the multiverse.

  Rontaro then smiled and pushed the eject button just as the beam hit the ship and destroyed it.

  Rontaro and Mark were no more....