H1CENTERChapter 1: Invasion/CENTER/H1
I Invasion: T-0 years/I/P
Through the void of space, they came./P
A huge vortex sat in a region of space near Earth. It spun, like a massive tornado, spewing matter and energy. It's green-yellow coloring flashed and dimmed in random patterns. Once the vortex was fully formed, the leading elements of the alien armada emerged./P
Orange worm-like monstrosities with purple wings created a defensive perimeter around the outer edges of the hole in space. They were followed by small white winged balls of protoplasm. Brown things that looked like a combination of a wingless beetle and a worm were close behind. Next came hundreds of purple aliens that looked like mutated jellyfish. The final elements consisted of swept wing aliens with deadly acid sacks, which, even now, were bulging in preparation for the attack. As one body, they organic horde turned and flew towards earth./P
But not alone./P
Almost right on top of the alien armada appeared dark hole in space. Surrounding it was a ring of blue lightning, which waxed and waned around it's circumference. Small yellow ships with splashes if blue, red, or green were coming through the portal. Some were nothing more than shuttles, others were massive spacecraft carriers, while others were powerful strike craft, but they all had two things in common./P
One, all were surrounded by the multicolored shimmering of powerful forcefields, and two, they wanted to destroy the organic horde before them. Orienting themselves, they moved to attack the enemy fleet./P
The war for Earth had begun./P
BR
"Ranma! Ranma wake up! Wake up, Ranma!"/P
Ranma jerked awake and to full wakefulness. "Akane! Don't...wha-"/P
"Ranma, I've been trying to wake you for five minutes! We're missing the news!"/P
"If I had to wake up to your face every morning, I think I'd rather be dead!" came the automatic retort. Then what she said sank in. "What's so important on the news?"/P
"Aliens are coming! There's already one group in orbit and another on the way! They were spotted last night by some American astronomers./P
Ranma groaned. "You woke me up for a half baked story like that? (Not that you could bake to save your life.) If I'd known that you liked reading tabloids, I'd have bought you some. Leave me alone." Ranma rolled over and went back to bed./P
"Ranma get up! I'm serious!"/P
"Tell it to someone who's stupid enough to believe a story like that. Maybe Kuno." "RANMA...!" Akane picked him up and threw him out the window./P
Ranma-chan managed to extract herself from the pond fairly quickly. "I hate this stupid curse," she muttered./P
"Well, it's your own fault for getting cursed to turn into a girl," replied Akane, who had just come down the stairs./P
Nabiki's mouth twitched. "She's kind of like instant ramen. Just add water."/P
"Maybe I should throw you into the Spring of Drowned Man so you can change into a guy when splashed with cold water instead of a girl! How'd you like that?"/P
Kasumi brought Ranma-chan a kettle of hot water. "All right, that's enough you two. We're trying to watch the TV." Ranma-chan poured the hot water on herself and changed back into a man./P
"Our top story: Aliens have appeared and are in orbit around the planet. A second group is close behind and should arrive within the hour. Military forces have been mustered, and the President is pleading for the populace to be calm."/P
The picture switched to the President talking to a large group of reporters./P
"I strongly urge everyone to remain calm. Panic will not serve us and can only do us harm. Every means of attempting to communicate with the aliens is being attempted. Our military has been alerted and is ready to counter any possible threat. We are at the beginning of the greatest moment in the history of man as a species."/P
"Wow," said Ranma. He looked at Akane. "You weren't kidding!"/P
"I told you so!"/P
"So what do we do now?" asked Kasumi./P
"There's not much we can do except wait," replied Nabiki./P
"This just in! The aliens are descending into our atmosphere. I repeat, the aliens are entering Earth's atmosphere."/P
"Let's go outside to see if we can see them!" said Akane./P
They went up to the roof and looked into the blue sky. Around them several of their neighbors were doing the same. They waited./P
Nabiki pointed up. "There! They're coming!"/P
Through the sky blue of the atmosphere, hordes of the orange worm aliens and small white winged creatures dove down to the Earth. Right behind them were the large wing swept purple aliens, followed closely by the bulbous bodies of the jellyfish shaped aliens./P
An interceptor flew in for a closer look, and was blasted to pieces by the orange worms. An intense air war began, human planes fighting the aliens. The interceptors were better armed and armored, but the monsters outnumbered them ten to one. While the worms and the humans fought, the alien bombers and jellyfish creatures moved past them towards the ground All around them they landed, disgorging monsters that might have come from a sci-fi horror movie. Overhead, the alien bombers blew buildings apart with balls of acid./P
"Uhh...guys, a plan would be a really great idea right about now!" urged Nabiki./P
"I know what we can do!" declared Soun. He and Genma prostrated themselves before Happosai. "Master, we submit ourselves to your wisdom."/P
Nabiki rolled her eyes while Kasumi shook her head. "Dad! This is serious!" yelled Akane angrily./P
"Forget them, Akane," said Ranma. "Let's get out of here."/P
"But where are we going?"/P
"I know!" declared Happosai./P
Before he could speak, however, a thunderous boom flattened them all. It sounded like someone was tearing a hole in reality. When they recovered they saw in the distance a blue energy field surrounding a building several blocks north west of their current position. A bomber alien approached to investigate, and a bolt of lightening detached itself from the shield and tore through the creature. Even from this distance they could hear the thing's squeal of pain before it fell apart, cut in two. Ranma shook his head in amazement./P
"The Nekohanten."/P
BR
They leapt from rooftop to rooftop, devouring the distance between the Tendo compound and the Cat Café. Those who could not make the jumps were carried, Kasumi by Soun, and Nabiki by Genma. They raced just barely ahead of the main armada, which was also converging on the Nekohanten. Acid balls hit buildings all around them, and a couple of times they just barely managed to get off a roof before the building was blown out from underneath them./P
They dropped off a roof into an alley below. The worms flew past, their shots ricocheting unpredictably./P
"We can't stay up on the roofs," said Ranma. "We're too open."/P
"We'll have to use the streets then," replied Genma./P
The streets were no safer than the skies. Aliens swarmed through the city, tearing through buildings and killing the inhabitants./P
"Ranma, look!" bellowed Genma./P
Fifty yards in front of them, a jellyfish alien landed and released six monstrosities. Their bottom half was shaped like a snake, a writhing mass of slimy tissue. Their top grew outward into a bony exoskeleton, with skull like faces. They formed a line and advanced, slithering towards them quickly. Once in range, they spat venomous spines at their targets. The assembled martial artists leapt above the lethal barrage. A low cry of pain revealed that not all of them had managed to evade the attack. Ranma looked back and saw Soun fall to the ground, Kasumi tumbling from his arms./P
"Daddy!" cried Akane. She landed and rushed the aliens. Rolling under another volley, she rammed both her fists into one of the aliens. Both fists punched through the creature's exoskeleton, and with a jerk, she tore the creature in two./P
Ranma followed her up by attacking two of the aliens simultaneously. Unleashing the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, he quickly broke through the monsters armor, and tore their soft flesh into a pulpy mass./P
Genma, in the meantime, dropped Nabiki so she could help her older sister drag their disabled father from the fray. Crushing the skull of one alien with a jump kick, he sent another crashing through a stone wall with a viscous backhanded punch./P
Happosai watched calmly as the remaining alien approached him. Eyeing it thoughtfully, he then threw his pipe at the creature. It hit the monster, burying itself in its head./P
"Well, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" said Ranma./P
"Don't be so quick to boast, youngster," retorted Happosai grimly. The battle with the aliens gave time for the air support to catch up with the fleeing martial artists. Their shots bounced around the tiny alley, ricocheting off walls, forcing the martial artists to scatter. One ball hit a house and flew towards Kasumi, Nabiki, and an unconscious Soun. Both sisters fell to the ground, and the ball broke through the wall, bringing it down on top of the helpless trio./P
Ranma appeared as though he had been teleported. He stopped a section of wall from falling on the girls, by catching a large stone slab and using it like a small roof to cover them. He strained against the massive weight, his entire body shaking with the effort. /P
"C'mon, get out of there!" cried Ranma./P
There was some movement in the darkness. "Kasumi and Dad are stuck! They can't get out!" replied Nabiki./P
"Ranma!" Akane called. "In front!"/P
Ranma looked up. Three bombers were flying towards them. He watched as their acid sacks bulged in preparation for an attack. He could not wait any longer. With one hand, he held the concrete wall up. With the other he grabbed Nabiki by the arm and pulled her out of the hole. Unable to hold the wall up with only one hand, he was forced to drop it. Pulling Nabiki into his arms, he leapt up and back, moments ahead of the acid balls that splashed into the ground. Ranma's nerves chilled to ice as he heard a female shriek of pain below him. He landed and looked at the source of the sound. What he saw filled him with horror./P
Akane had run to Ranma and her sister's aid, and had been caught by the acid balls. Her body and clothes were smoking and falling off revealing burning flesh beneath. By the way she moved, Ranma could tell she could not see. She was stumbling about, blinded by the acid and the pain. Her hair was mostly eaten away. Akane fell to her knees, screaming in pain./P
Ranma went berserk./P
Forming a blue energy ball in his hands, he hurled it at one of the aliens. It did not even scream as it broke apart into a shower of flesh and blood. A part of Ranma's mind noted that Happosai and Genma were dealing with the other two./P
Ranma ran towards Akane. His shoes began to smoke and whither away as he ran over the acid on the ground, but he did not care. All he wanted to do was to get to Akane./P
Halfway there, the street collapsed./P
Ranma reflexively leapt up out of the hole. Twisting around, he landed on the opposite side of the pit, facing Nabiki, who had just reached the opposite edge./P
"Akane!" screamed Nabiki. She danced almost comically at the edge, physically unable to do what she most wanted, which was to jump in the hole after her sister. She looked frantically at Ranma. "Help her! You've got to help her!"/P
Just as Ranma was about to comply, a small horde of aliens that looked like something from the movie Aliens climbed over the remains of the wall and charged Nabiki. Ranma jumped up over the pit again, lashing out with his Moko Takabisha attack. He cut a semi-circle section around where Nabiki was standing. The monsters screeched to a halt./P
Nabiki's shriek of terror was cut short as Ranma picked her up in his arms. He repeated his first jump back to where he started, away from the monsters on the opposite side of the hole./P
The creatures pulled up short, looking at the two almost curiously. What kind of creature could do this? They looked around at each other, as though conferring. Apparently coming to a decision, they were about to charge around the pit, when two large blue and gold spaceships came down from the sky and hovered over the group. Ranma and Nabiki clung to each other in frozen horror, the disturbances caused by their thrusters blowing bits of debris around them./P
The monsters, however, were acting very agitated. They hissed up at the strange crafts, and swiped at it with their claws as though they could scare away the hateful objects./P
Blue white energy flared into existence beside the pit, between the two humans and the monsters. An alien figure, wearing gold body armor with blue trim appeared from within the small energy storm. Ranma's eyes watered as he watched the figure materialize. It appeared to be surrounded by some sort of energy field, which caused its form to distort slightly. Similar electrical disturbances appeared around the pit. Eight humanoid aliens materialized four on each side of the pit. They wore gold armor with blue trim, and were surrounded by energy fields similar to their ships./P
The monsters hissed louder, their actions becoming more agitated. They backed away from the armored figures, and the zealots activated their psi-blades, blue psionic energy extending from their forearms./P
They charged, tearing into each other with amazing ferocity. The humanoids did most of the damage, their psi-blades cutting through flesh and bone with ease. The monster's strikes, more often than not, bounced off the humanoids energy shields. But like a wave, more and more of them came over the ruins of the wall. The shuttles turned and flew away, presumably for reinforcements./P
Just before it looked as though the humanoids were going to be overcome, large armored humans broke through from a side alley and began firing their weapons into the monsters. The tide was held back, as the enemy casualties mounted. One man disengaged and moved to the stunned couple. Pressing a button, his faceplate slid back into his armor./P
"My name's Col. Mumuro Takagi. I have orders to evacuate any civilians. Come with me," he ordered./P
"But my sister's down there!" cried Nabiki./P
Takagi's faceplate covered his face again, and Nabiki and Ranma could see lights flashing against the inside. Genma and Happosai returned, having finished fighting the bombers./P
"The only humans I'm reading are you four and two buried underneath the wall."/P
"Sir! We have another group coming!" said on of the soldiers./P
"Prepare to fall back!" Takagi ordered. "Let's go," he said to the others./P
"No! We're not leaving!" cried Ranma. He moved to engage the horde, but Happosai touched him on the back of the neck. Ranma's eyes glazed over, and he fell to the ground, unconscious./P
Nabiki ran to Ranma's side. "Why?" she demanded. "He could have saved them!"/P
"And the rest of us would have died in the process, trying to save him," responded Takagi. Removing a small pole from his suit, he touched Nabiki. There was a flash, and Nabiki collapsed on top of Ranma. Picking her up, he ordered his men to retreat. He looked at Genma, who had picked up Ranma. "I'm sorry. Were they family?"/P
Genma, tears in his eyes, said, "No. We'd hoped...but, no they weren't family. Just close friends."/P
The remaining soldiers fell back to a shuttle in a field a short distance away. They took off, leaving the ruined city behind them./P
"Who are you guys anyway?" asked Genma./P
"We're X-Com: Japan division. We're a paramilitary organization set up by the UN Security Council to deal with the growing UFO incursions."/P
"You knew about all this!"/P
"We weren't expecting an invasion! Up till now the aliens were merely probing our defenses. We thought we were keeping them at bay but..." Takagi sighed. "I guess we were wrong."/P
Happosai looked down at the burning city below. Crying, he said "I-I'll never get to see Akane in a bra ever again!"/P
Enraged, Genma bellowed, "Don't you think about *anything* else?!" Genma kicked him out of the shuttle, back into the arms of the aliens./P
End Chapter 1
I Invasion: T-0 years/I/P
Through the void of space, they came./P
A huge vortex sat in a region of space near Earth. It spun, like a massive tornado, spewing matter and energy. It's green-yellow coloring flashed and dimmed in random patterns. Once the vortex was fully formed, the leading elements of the alien armada emerged./P
Orange worm-like monstrosities with purple wings created a defensive perimeter around the outer edges of the hole in space. They were followed by small white winged balls of protoplasm. Brown things that looked like a combination of a wingless beetle and a worm were close behind. Next came hundreds of purple aliens that looked like mutated jellyfish. The final elements consisted of swept wing aliens with deadly acid sacks, which, even now, were bulging in preparation for the attack. As one body, they organic horde turned and flew towards earth./P
But not alone./P
Almost right on top of the alien armada appeared dark hole in space. Surrounding it was a ring of blue lightning, which waxed and waned around it's circumference. Small yellow ships with splashes if blue, red, or green were coming through the portal. Some were nothing more than shuttles, others were massive spacecraft carriers, while others were powerful strike craft, but they all had two things in common./P
One, all were surrounded by the multicolored shimmering of powerful forcefields, and two, they wanted to destroy the organic horde before them. Orienting themselves, they moved to attack the enemy fleet./P
The war for Earth had begun./P
BR
"Ranma! Ranma wake up! Wake up, Ranma!"/P
Ranma jerked awake and to full wakefulness. "Akane! Don't...wha-"/P
"Ranma, I've been trying to wake you for five minutes! We're missing the news!"/P
"If I had to wake up to your face every morning, I think I'd rather be dead!" came the automatic retort. Then what she said sank in. "What's so important on the news?"/P
"Aliens are coming! There's already one group in orbit and another on the way! They were spotted last night by some American astronomers./P
Ranma groaned. "You woke me up for a half baked story like that? (Not that you could bake to save your life.) If I'd known that you liked reading tabloids, I'd have bought you some. Leave me alone." Ranma rolled over and went back to bed./P
"Ranma get up! I'm serious!"/P
"Tell it to someone who's stupid enough to believe a story like that. Maybe Kuno." "RANMA...!" Akane picked him up and threw him out the window./P
Ranma-chan managed to extract herself from the pond fairly quickly. "I hate this stupid curse," she muttered./P
"Well, it's your own fault for getting cursed to turn into a girl," replied Akane, who had just come down the stairs./P
Nabiki's mouth twitched. "She's kind of like instant ramen. Just add water."/P
"Maybe I should throw you into the Spring of Drowned Man so you can change into a guy when splashed with cold water instead of a girl! How'd you like that?"/P
Kasumi brought Ranma-chan a kettle of hot water. "All right, that's enough you two. We're trying to watch the TV." Ranma-chan poured the hot water on herself and changed back into a man./P
"Our top story: Aliens have appeared and are in orbit around the planet. A second group is close behind and should arrive within the hour. Military forces have been mustered, and the President is pleading for the populace to be calm."/P
The picture switched to the President talking to a large group of reporters./P
"I strongly urge everyone to remain calm. Panic will not serve us and can only do us harm. Every means of attempting to communicate with the aliens is being attempted. Our military has been alerted and is ready to counter any possible threat. We are at the beginning of the greatest moment in the history of man as a species."/P
"Wow," said Ranma. He looked at Akane. "You weren't kidding!"/P
"I told you so!"/P
"So what do we do now?" asked Kasumi./P
"There's not much we can do except wait," replied Nabiki./P
"This just in! The aliens are descending into our atmosphere. I repeat, the aliens are entering Earth's atmosphere."/P
"Let's go outside to see if we can see them!" said Akane./P
They went up to the roof and looked into the blue sky. Around them several of their neighbors were doing the same. They waited./P
Nabiki pointed up. "There! They're coming!"/P
Through the sky blue of the atmosphere, hordes of the orange worm aliens and small white winged creatures dove down to the Earth. Right behind them were the large wing swept purple aliens, followed closely by the bulbous bodies of the jellyfish shaped aliens./P
An interceptor flew in for a closer look, and was blasted to pieces by the orange worms. An intense air war began, human planes fighting the aliens. The interceptors were better armed and armored, but the monsters outnumbered them ten to one. While the worms and the humans fought, the alien bombers and jellyfish creatures moved past them towards the ground All around them they landed, disgorging monsters that might have come from a sci-fi horror movie. Overhead, the alien bombers blew buildings apart with balls of acid./P
"Uhh...guys, a plan would be a really great idea right about now!" urged Nabiki./P
"I know what we can do!" declared Soun. He and Genma prostrated themselves before Happosai. "Master, we submit ourselves to your wisdom."/P
Nabiki rolled her eyes while Kasumi shook her head. "Dad! This is serious!" yelled Akane angrily./P
"Forget them, Akane," said Ranma. "Let's get out of here."/P
"But where are we going?"/P
"I know!" declared Happosai./P
Before he could speak, however, a thunderous boom flattened them all. It sounded like someone was tearing a hole in reality. When they recovered they saw in the distance a blue energy field surrounding a building several blocks north west of their current position. A bomber alien approached to investigate, and a bolt of lightening detached itself from the shield and tore through the creature. Even from this distance they could hear the thing's squeal of pain before it fell apart, cut in two. Ranma shook his head in amazement./P
"The Nekohanten."/P
BR
They leapt from rooftop to rooftop, devouring the distance between the Tendo compound and the Cat Café. Those who could not make the jumps were carried, Kasumi by Soun, and Nabiki by Genma. They raced just barely ahead of the main armada, which was also converging on the Nekohanten. Acid balls hit buildings all around them, and a couple of times they just barely managed to get off a roof before the building was blown out from underneath them./P
They dropped off a roof into an alley below. The worms flew past, their shots ricocheting unpredictably./P
"We can't stay up on the roofs," said Ranma. "We're too open."/P
"We'll have to use the streets then," replied Genma./P
The streets were no safer than the skies. Aliens swarmed through the city, tearing through buildings and killing the inhabitants./P
"Ranma, look!" bellowed Genma./P
Fifty yards in front of them, a jellyfish alien landed and released six monstrosities. Their bottom half was shaped like a snake, a writhing mass of slimy tissue. Their top grew outward into a bony exoskeleton, with skull like faces. They formed a line and advanced, slithering towards them quickly. Once in range, they spat venomous spines at their targets. The assembled martial artists leapt above the lethal barrage. A low cry of pain revealed that not all of them had managed to evade the attack. Ranma looked back and saw Soun fall to the ground, Kasumi tumbling from his arms./P
"Daddy!" cried Akane. She landed and rushed the aliens. Rolling under another volley, she rammed both her fists into one of the aliens. Both fists punched through the creature's exoskeleton, and with a jerk, she tore the creature in two./P
Ranma followed her up by attacking two of the aliens simultaneously. Unleashing the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, he quickly broke through the monsters armor, and tore their soft flesh into a pulpy mass./P
Genma, in the meantime, dropped Nabiki so she could help her older sister drag their disabled father from the fray. Crushing the skull of one alien with a jump kick, he sent another crashing through a stone wall with a viscous backhanded punch./P
Happosai watched calmly as the remaining alien approached him. Eyeing it thoughtfully, he then threw his pipe at the creature. It hit the monster, burying itself in its head./P
"Well, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" said Ranma./P
"Don't be so quick to boast, youngster," retorted Happosai grimly. The battle with the aliens gave time for the air support to catch up with the fleeing martial artists. Their shots bounced around the tiny alley, ricocheting off walls, forcing the martial artists to scatter. One ball hit a house and flew towards Kasumi, Nabiki, and an unconscious Soun. Both sisters fell to the ground, and the ball broke through the wall, bringing it down on top of the helpless trio./P
Ranma appeared as though he had been teleported. He stopped a section of wall from falling on the girls, by catching a large stone slab and using it like a small roof to cover them. He strained against the massive weight, his entire body shaking with the effort. /P
"C'mon, get out of there!" cried Ranma./P
There was some movement in the darkness. "Kasumi and Dad are stuck! They can't get out!" replied Nabiki./P
"Ranma!" Akane called. "In front!"/P
Ranma looked up. Three bombers were flying towards them. He watched as their acid sacks bulged in preparation for an attack. He could not wait any longer. With one hand, he held the concrete wall up. With the other he grabbed Nabiki by the arm and pulled her out of the hole. Unable to hold the wall up with only one hand, he was forced to drop it. Pulling Nabiki into his arms, he leapt up and back, moments ahead of the acid balls that splashed into the ground. Ranma's nerves chilled to ice as he heard a female shriek of pain below him. He landed and looked at the source of the sound. What he saw filled him with horror./P
Akane had run to Ranma and her sister's aid, and had been caught by the acid balls. Her body and clothes were smoking and falling off revealing burning flesh beneath. By the way she moved, Ranma could tell she could not see. She was stumbling about, blinded by the acid and the pain. Her hair was mostly eaten away. Akane fell to her knees, screaming in pain./P
Ranma went berserk./P
Forming a blue energy ball in his hands, he hurled it at one of the aliens. It did not even scream as it broke apart into a shower of flesh and blood. A part of Ranma's mind noted that Happosai and Genma were dealing with the other two./P
Ranma ran towards Akane. His shoes began to smoke and whither away as he ran over the acid on the ground, but he did not care. All he wanted to do was to get to Akane./P
Halfway there, the street collapsed./P
Ranma reflexively leapt up out of the hole. Twisting around, he landed on the opposite side of the pit, facing Nabiki, who had just reached the opposite edge./P
"Akane!" screamed Nabiki. She danced almost comically at the edge, physically unable to do what she most wanted, which was to jump in the hole after her sister. She looked frantically at Ranma. "Help her! You've got to help her!"/P
Just as Ranma was about to comply, a small horde of aliens that looked like something from the movie Aliens climbed over the remains of the wall and charged Nabiki. Ranma jumped up over the pit again, lashing out with his Moko Takabisha attack. He cut a semi-circle section around where Nabiki was standing. The monsters screeched to a halt./P
Nabiki's shriek of terror was cut short as Ranma picked her up in his arms. He repeated his first jump back to where he started, away from the monsters on the opposite side of the hole./P
The creatures pulled up short, looking at the two almost curiously. What kind of creature could do this? They looked around at each other, as though conferring. Apparently coming to a decision, they were about to charge around the pit, when two large blue and gold spaceships came down from the sky and hovered over the group. Ranma and Nabiki clung to each other in frozen horror, the disturbances caused by their thrusters blowing bits of debris around them./P
The monsters, however, were acting very agitated. They hissed up at the strange crafts, and swiped at it with their claws as though they could scare away the hateful objects./P
Blue white energy flared into existence beside the pit, between the two humans and the monsters. An alien figure, wearing gold body armor with blue trim appeared from within the small energy storm. Ranma's eyes watered as he watched the figure materialize. It appeared to be surrounded by some sort of energy field, which caused its form to distort slightly. Similar electrical disturbances appeared around the pit. Eight humanoid aliens materialized four on each side of the pit. They wore gold armor with blue trim, and were surrounded by energy fields similar to their ships./P
The monsters hissed louder, their actions becoming more agitated. They backed away from the armored figures, and the zealots activated their psi-blades, blue psionic energy extending from their forearms./P
They charged, tearing into each other with amazing ferocity. The humanoids did most of the damage, their psi-blades cutting through flesh and bone with ease. The monster's strikes, more often than not, bounced off the humanoids energy shields. But like a wave, more and more of them came over the ruins of the wall. The shuttles turned and flew away, presumably for reinforcements./P
Just before it looked as though the humanoids were going to be overcome, large armored humans broke through from a side alley and began firing their weapons into the monsters. The tide was held back, as the enemy casualties mounted. One man disengaged and moved to the stunned couple. Pressing a button, his faceplate slid back into his armor./P
"My name's Col. Mumuro Takagi. I have orders to evacuate any civilians. Come with me," he ordered./P
"But my sister's down there!" cried Nabiki./P
Takagi's faceplate covered his face again, and Nabiki and Ranma could see lights flashing against the inside. Genma and Happosai returned, having finished fighting the bombers./P
"The only humans I'm reading are you four and two buried underneath the wall."/P
"Sir! We have another group coming!" said on of the soldiers./P
"Prepare to fall back!" Takagi ordered. "Let's go," he said to the others./P
"No! We're not leaving!" cried Ranma. He moved to engage the horde, but Happosai touched him on the back of the neck. Ranma's eyes glazed over, and he fell to the ground, unconscious./P
Nabiki ran to Ranma's side. "Why?" she demanded. "He could have saved them!"/P
"And the rest of us would have died in the process, trying to save him," responded Takagi. Removing a small pole from his suit, he touched Nabiki. There was a flash, and Nabiki collapsed on top of Ranma. Picking her up, he ordered his men to retreat. He looked at Genma, who had picked up Ranma. "I'm sorry. Were they family?"/P
Genma, tears in his eyes, said, "No. We'd hoped...but, no they weren't family. Just close friends."/P
The remaining soldiers fell back to a shuttle in a field a short distance away. They took off, leaving the ruined city behind them./P
"Who are you guys anyway?" asked Genma./P
"We're X-Com: Japan division. We're a paramilitary organization set up by the UN Security Council to deal with the growing UFO incursions."/P
"You knew about all this!"/P
"We weren't expecting an invasion! Up till now the aliens were merely probing our defenses. We thought we were keeping them at bay but..." Takagi sighed. "I guess we were wrong."/P
Happosai looked down at the burning city below. Crying, he said "I-I'll never get to see Akane in a bra ever again!"/P
Enraged, Genma bellowed, "Don't you think about *anything* else?!" Genma kicked him out of the shuttle, back into the arms of the aliens./P
End Chapter 1