Chapter 9 - Close Encounters of the Ninth Kind

SKIP'S POV

This is life…

For a long while, I've always wanted to be in there, up there like I am a king, and now that I am, it feels so good!

I may be acting like a kid who just got his christmas wish came true, but that's the way I feel like I am supposed to feel!

I've finally got my wish to invade Earth.

And I don't ever wanna let this miracle go.

I lie down on the king sized bed, sighing like I am some sort of teenage girl.

I know, I don't usually act like this, but still, it feels like heaven.

My unusual emotions change into this sudden desire, I roll out of the bed, and look out the window, smirking to myself.

"Look out, Humans…. Here we come." I say, laughing evilly.

TAZER'S POV

"I'm back!" I said to no one in particular as I entered my home.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in!" Fornax was the first to chirp up. "Dude, you were amazing at your interview!"

"I hate to admit it to someone like you, overly excited about this and all, but you did pretty well for your first ever shot at an interview." Therma explains.

"Ha! I knew your advice would help me out!" I said.

"Yeah…. Don't come running to me if you wind up exploding into a billion pieces and wind up with a dead body in the end."

"Therma!"

"What? It happened to snipers before, Fornie! This ain't a new thing!"

"Well we'll see who's exploding once I show you a dead human body with it's flesh still fresh!"

They cringe at the image in their head.

"Oh, no way dude. I mean, don't get us wrong, we wanna see the humans suffer…" Therma explains "But seriously, you don't really need to show us the body, just the bodies being enslaved, if that's okay!"

I just sigh in slight disappointment.

"Oh, alright…. But you two are gonna regret it once they go extinct!"

"We shall see about that." Fornax says.

RAZOR'S POV

Finally, after miles and miles of taking a well-needed walk, I return to the mansion.

I open the door, a maid is here to greet me.

"Welcome back, Mrs. Razor." She speaks as I begin to walk into the place. "So, how did the whole integration thing go? I bet it went great, my master!"

"Well, it went fine, I suppose. We didn't really do all that much, just got the info on the mission by Plex, and he took us to the interview."

"I know about it! I saw you there, and you were amazing, master!"

I blush. "How kind."

"Anyway, is there anything in particular you would like for dinner?"

"Eh, just the usual. Extra salmon this time around."

"You got it m'am!"

My usual dinner? Mainly just some sushi. I actually am a huge fan of candy myself.

I just sigh, and go off and prepare for what the night has to bring onto me.

SPARKS' POV

It's been a long while since Libra came around, and now i'm just lying there in my new room.

I do have to admit, it looks pretty good, especially since this is supposed to be a minka and everything is supposed to be Japanese-Oriented, but they really did go all out and tried their hardest to make it all modern.

I really am lucky I did manage to get my stuff in the end, otherwise, i'd be sleeping out completely nude.

I mean, I will admit, I mainly just pull a pair of pajama pants and a long shirt, but that is besides the point.

I just sigh, thinking about today, how my life has changed drastically. Sure, I may have an amazing friend now, and I might begin to trust in optimism that things will turn out okay, but I still feel like at some point in time, I might wind up alone.

I don't know why, but I really do feel that way.

So, with all the thoughts in my mind, plus the fear of a ghost probably killing me in my sleep, I quickly grab Jupiter, and just sit there, looking at him for a few minutes, before finally clinging onto him like he was my security blanket.

I am full-on aware that I am kinda being childish, being 204 and all, but I do still feel like I am 24 at times. A child if you may say.

An extremely nervous wreck of one if you may say.

All I am hoping for now is that I get replaced before the invasion even begins.

But then, a thought came into my mind. 'You are not alone.' Libra's voice still rings into my ears.

She told me she'll always be there for me, even if I get banished, even if I get stranded on Earth, even if I was kidnapped by a hu-man, Libra will always be there.

She even said this whole thing is a mess, she knows about the culture of the planet we're invading, and she even thinks I am different with how my emotions are.

I smile, as my negative energy disappears. I did say to her directly that she was special from the moment I met her, so I bet with her knowledge on engineering so far, she might replace me to save my own life.

It may be a sacrifice I may not wanna see, as I already feel the urge to protect her like I used to do to my own children, but in the end, if she does something extremely drastic, it'll all be worth it.

I lie down, still holding onto Jupiter, and let myself drift off to sleep, with that hope in mind.

SKIP'S POV

Beep, beep, beep!

"SHUT UP!"

I slam the clock with the pillow, I don't really know if I smashed it, oh well! Day one of training is about to begin!

I stretch and yawn, and begin my usual routine, it is way better than a cramped space like in my parents home. I can actually get things done way faster without the shower breaking down every 5 minutes and the closet being crammed with stuff my family could never get rid of.

I put on my suit, get my stuff, open the door, and there were the guards with the limo set up.

"Gentlemen." I greet them. "Pleasure doing business this fine morning."

Rubkin, the taller guard, grins. "Same to you, Skipper."

I handed them over the cash, and they allowed me to get in. The drive took a little while, it was no big deal, until who do I see when I get there but Sparks. He just standed there for a while, until right from the very moment I arrived, he took notice, and looked down, just looking at his feet.

Meanwhile, as I got out, I just took one look, and…

"Well, i'll be damned. He may be ignoring me, but at least he will accept the fact he's going to kill people."

I walk over to him.

"Woah! Usually I'm the early bird!" I speak up, I think he is still a scaredy cat a bit, since he panicked a bit when I spoke up. But he tries to cool it all off.

"O-oh…! Commander…! Reporting for duty, sir!"

Despite him being a total mess, even messing up a salute you'd usually give to soldiers, I brush it off. It's only his first full day here!

"Of course you are." I said while checking him off. "You don't really need to say it out loud."

I could've sworn when I was walking off, he began to mumble, but I didn't care less.

"Alright…" I speak to myself again, "Lettme guess, Tazer's gonna be late as per usual?"

"OH, COME ON!" Speak of the devil. "I'm right here!"

"Bout time you show up when needed for training."

He then does his salute. "I won't disappoint you, sir!"

I check him off.

"One minute." I say. "Razor? Is she like, doing girly stuff, or-"

All of the sudden, a gust of wind brushes through all 3 of us, as a girl looking body, wearing uniform, a denim jacket, biker boy cap with a chain, shades, and a mask around her mouth arrives, doing all sorts of stunts. Even at one point going through a wall to another, straight to the military base.

"Wow." I say bluntly.

"Ooookay…." Sparks says awkwardly.

"YES!" Tazer says in total excitement.

Right after all of that, she then sticks the landing, clearly showing herself off.

"Razor." I say. "I can clearly tell by your suit that is you."

She then reveals herself as just that.

"I literally had to practice all night just so I can get this routine correct!"

As she speaks, she takes off her glasses, mask, hat, and jacket. "Besides, I didn't wanna take any more interviews after what went on last night anyhow!"

"Okay then, I guess everyone's here." I say. "Now we can either go through with training for the bravest thing we've ever agreed to, or the stupidest."

All the sudden, out of the blue, I hear a certain voice talk to himself.

"Yeah, here's hoping it's the latter…"

I then go over to the engineer, snapping a bit at him.

"EXCUSE ME?"

"I-I mean…. The former sounds nice too…"

As he falls to his knees, like he just became the prey of bullying, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Jeez, you really are going to be a hassle, huh? Well it's no wonder you even ran away! Look at you! You're begging on your knees after one whole day!"

"Hey, commander? I think you need to take a look at this." Razor says as she goes over to me. "I got it from the postman on the way there, says it's for you."

I open the letter, and read it.

"Dearest Squadron 9B, AKA Team 9.2B of Zirkonia, I am from the past, but I am full-on aware that come the day before the invasion, we'll be fighting each other. I am a humanoid creature with the name of Addison Hepburn, and I am being sent here by a secret organization that is completely none of your business nor your concern. I don't know who any of you are, nor what your purpose of killing each and every single one of us is, but I wanna let you know we kill people like you for a living. Why are you even invading Earth when we should even celebrate our freedom in the USA? Are you taunting us or some shit like that? But no need to even worry, once I am done with you four, or just the commander, it'll depend, I will send the others to destroy Zirkon. The arsenal attacks will be more violent, explicent, and deadly than any other attack you've seen before, all 4 million of you, dead! We're going to show you no mercy. We will show you what true misery feels like. Rotting in hell with Satan as somebody's whippersnapper. So I just wanna say this… Have fun while you still can, and good luck with your training if you are just beginning this. But just remember, when you and I cross paths…. Your gonna regret ever choosing Earth as the objective of your plans that seem irredeemable to every single human, even to the fucking atheists."

As I finish, I laugh at this letter's stupidity.

"This is a prank, right? It's got to be a prank!"

Razor and Tazer join in.

"Is that person serious?" Tazer says through his laughter. "They really think they're going to do that!"

"That letter was so boring!" Razor says, calming down a bit. "I bet that was from the one stalker! Throw it out before I die of laughter! Throw it out!"

Still laughing, I do so.

"What about you Rookie?" Tazer turns to Sparks, wanting his response. "Is this the funniest fake out letter, or what?"

Sparks just get up, let out a sigh, fists shaking, almost like he was going to punch any single one of us.

That would be the case if we had gone way too far, but not here.

"Y'know what? This almost gave me more motivation to do this job."

We all gasp.

"A-are you serious?" I say. "Is this because you actually believe in-"

Almost immediately, he interrupts me.

"I don't believe in this letter, okay? I just feel like doing it! Vengeance will be our's right? I mean, it's already becoming a weird week, so might as well!"

"Oh…" I start. "But, you're serious right?"

He just smirks at me. "Deadly."

We soon arrived at our first training session.

The Close Encounter of the Ninth Kind.

Or, the close encounter of the third kind, as the humans like to call it.

The person who is supposed to train us is already awaiting. He seems to be a young adult male, a possible NEET as well, with earphones, and a lazy outfit, with a swear jacket, shirt, and baggy pants with sneakers. I have absolutely no idea how he got the job, but Plexus told me he is an expert on the training business, and even a techie, so I guess I can trust him.

"Yo dudes. So, you're the guys that will be invading the Earth and won't quit till everyone of those tall men are dead? You're in luck, you're here with me. Nova. I'll be your mentor, your sensei, your guidebook, your only chance at survival!" He says. "And you are? I didn't really get your names."

I facepalm, I still cannot believe people like him and Libra even got special treatment jobs here… It's ridiculous, but instead of calling him out on his stupidity, I just sigh and just go with the flow.

"Let's just make this all short and sweet. I'm Skip, the main commander of this group." I tell him.

Sparks went next. "My name is Sparks, I'm the newest engineer." he then goes up to shake Nova's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

After that, Razor went to him. "My name is Razor. You might have heard of me? The assassin?"

He just shrugged. "Maybe once or twice."

She just sighs and walks back.

Then, Tazer, as per usual, shows off.

"I'm the sniper, Tazer! I am an unstoppable freak of nature who now wields the Blazer 6.0! The most powerful and deadly weapon to ever control a human in all of the universe!"

Somehow, this caught Nova's interest.

"Duuuuude! I thought it wasn't supposed to be out until the day I die! You're gonna own all of the people out in the battlefield! Make sure you show me their bloody guts!"

"Oh, I will!"

As they talk, I just roll my eyes, and speak up after one whole minute. "Alright! The Blazer is great! Can we GET ON with training already?"

Nova sighs.

"Fine, fine, fine. So basically, welcome to the training ses. I just wanna remind you, this ain't like your other missions. This is real shiza. Serious business. We always fail this, but you guys cannot fail me. Not this time. So Skip."

"Yes?"

"Please… For the love of Mokusei…. Get these three into good shape… MAKE SURE THEY DON'T FAIL ME, KAY?"

As he all of a sudden begins yelling, I flinch a bit, but remain confident.

"Always do, sir."

"Alright, Tazer?"

"Yes sir?" Tazer says.

"Fight like it's your last night alive. Show them who's boss! DESTROY EVER LAST HUMAN ON SIGHT! DON'T DISAPPOINT ME!"

"No need to worry about a thing!"

"Ahem… Razor?"

Razor just moans. "Just great…" she whispers, but me and the other members seem to be the only ones who heard her. "Yes Nova…?"

"Use those nails to give the remaining humans, the ones who are alive, enslaved, permanent scars, scars they will never, and I mean EVER forget! DON'T YOU FREAKING DARE TAKE THE L! WIN THIS!"

"Okay, okay! You win! I'll do it, sir!"

"And make sure you send me pics. Sparks?"

He gulps. Whatever happened the serious Sparks from a few minutes ago? "Y-yes sir…?"

Nova takes a deep breath.

"I WANT YOU TO LIVE UP TO OUR EXPECTATIONS! I DON'T WANT YOU PRANCING AROUND IN A MCDONALDS NOR BEING LURED IN BY A HUMAN BY CANDIES, I WANT YOU TO CLIMB THE LATTER, THE CONFIDENT WAY! BE SURE TO BE THE BEST ENGINEER EVER! KINDNESS IS NOT AN OPTION, ALRIGHT?"

All Sparks can do is just look at him, not scared like, but a serious type of look.

"Understood." he says.

Nova calms down and smiles. Clearly he just really wanted someone to yell at. Did he get dumped?

"Perfect!" He exclaims. "So… This baby is what I like to call The Close Encounter of the Ninth Kind! You guys are about to get human robots. What I want each of you to do is greet them in your own special kind of manner. Then kick their asses one by one! Process them, scratch them! Shoot 'em down! Do whatever you please!"

"Excuse me, Nova?" I ask.

"Yes?"

"Why can't we just, Oh. I don't know? Do it all together? Isn't that what a team is supposed to do?"

"Oh, right. I forgot. Sorry, I was up all night binge watching again. Got into a pretty tense fight with my father, about what I want to do, always hanging out with the dudes at the st-"

"Let's just do this…"

"Okay. So, Skip, I think it's for the best that you handle human contact."

This could not go any faster.

While me and Razor did things perfectly, Tazer just wanted to shoot people, while Sparks struggled to fight, despite him claiming he is staying true to his words about wanting to actually participate in the battle, rather than run.

Well, I guess Razor's skills did get even better than last time, i'll give her that, it's amazing how things have changed since the last mission.

"Okay, okay, dudes. That was cool and all…" Nova spoke to us. "But…. I say that was like, way too weak. You all need to do better. Like way better. We're gonna try this baby one more time, kay?"

We all stand up in agreement.

"Yes sir!" we all say in unison.

"Alright! Let's do this one more time!"

The robo-human army is coming near us. They have the weapons all across their hands, with Sparks giving me the book with a English translation.

I try my best to speak it.

"Hello, humanoid beings! We come in pieces in the name of Zirkon!"

Nova clears his throat…

"FOR THE LAST TIME, SKIP! IT'S PEACE, NOT PIECES! IT'S PEACE! P. E. A. C. E! NOT P. I. E. C. E. S!"

Sparks just sighs.

"Let's just get this done and over with."

"Now, for pleasures of your specimen, can I ask you kindly turn?"

I still cannot believe I am speaking English. I suck balls at it.

But the robots turn, and...

"Good…. ATTACK!"

We go in for the attack, Tazer, this time listening to Nova's advice, aims the gun at one robot, and uses him to beat the others, Razor uses her nails to attack the ones who have yet to be taken down. While Sparks just tackles some of the bots, occasionally relying on his inventions to take the bots getting close to him. I just get tired of just watching.

"Yo! Tazer!" I yell at him. "Mind if I get a shot at the controller?"

"You got it sir!" He replies, and throws the baby to me, I use it to continue what he was doing.

We continue to attack for a while, until we wind up finding the last human bot.

We then all the sudden begin to argue for some reason. All because Razor wanted to be the main one to get it.

Sparks, on the other hand, begins to grab an arm from the robot, and with a battlecry, stabs it in the main core.

"Well i'll be damned." I say. "He actually stayed true to his words."

"Impressive." Razor says.

"Fine, I guess." Tazer exclaimed.

"Nice going… Never thought you were gonna do it." I say to him.

We then are approached by Nova.

"Nice work, guys! Never thought you can pull it off, well, after 70 attempts, that is… We gotta continue this in the next week or so!"

"You think?"

"I know."

"Heh… We can do without the argument part, but other than that, we did amazing!" Tazer exclaims.

"America… Brace yourselves! We're coming for you!" Razor says.

"That…. Felt…. So good!" Sparks says in total excitement.

The three chat. All saying how good they were and all.

I look back, smiling at the scene. So good to see them not arguing, for once.

"You guys wanna go to a bar? My treat?" Nova asks us as he approaches us.

Sign me up. I nod, while Tazer and Razor gain interest.

"Oh yeah!"

"Just get me a cocktail if you want me to come."

"What bout you, Sparky?" Nova asks the aforementioned Sparks. "You're in the legal Earthling age to drink!"

"O-oh..! Sorry, can't really do it tonight…" he says. "I gotta do some training at home, so… Hehehehe… Bye!"

He leaves. I just grin.

"Engineers… I was right when I once said they get better in the new millennium."

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, that was a long baby to write! I was originally gonna publish this around the end of January, but I got a bit side-tracked afterwards.

But here it is! It's been a long time coming, trust me when I say the next chapter might even be just as long.

Read and review!

I do not own anything except for some of the places and characters! Everything else belongs to 20th Century Studios, Regency Enterprises, and Disney!