2599

1 month after the capture of Daniel Davidson

Capital City of Lysopilis

Port world of Pugulis, Ransei system

The two lifelong friends sat across from one another in a high-end Simprey restraunt. Many of Ransei's inhabitants were specialized predators that could not survive without consuming other Ranseiian species. To prevent mass cannibalism, the legend Deoxys designed machines that wove the desired food, using a complex cloning process, into a brick, and then coated it in a tasteless waxy cuticle that obscured its true color, so as not to offend other diners. The friends were locked in heated conversation about the massive alien colony ship in the sky above them. One, an impressive adult female Machokese, ate with her bottom pair of hands while emphatically gesticulating with the other two. The other was nowhere nearly as physically imposing as the Machokese, in fact it was scarcely a third of her height, but as an adult male Mawhilian, it was not to be trifled with. Enormous horns, shaped like immense steel jaws, jutted from the small biped's skull. They were connected to the mawhilian's digestive tract, and thus he ate with them.

"Whatcha havin'?" The Machokese asked.

"Machokese," came the gruff reply.

"Oh come on, that's just rude!"

"What're you eating then?"

"Bewear."

The mawhilian, whose name was Slek, pointed to a Bewear couple sitting a few tables away, and continued eating.

"Rhoda, it's better than eating the real thing, and you guys are very rich in protein."

"Still rude."

"Machokese is basically a staple food on Nymphia. Besides, I'm sure you've had mawhilian at some point."

"Hmph."

Their argument was interrupted by a series of quakes that rattled the restaurant. Glancing out the window, Rhoda glimpsed a cluster of what appeared to be meteors streaking toward the surface. Several had already impacted, their smoke trails scarring Lysopolis' skyline. As the unnaturally slow-moving meteors impacted, she heard the chattering of what sounded like ancient ballistic small arms and the deeper, throatier vibrations of magnetic mass drivers. It was an invasion. Bursting out the cafe's door with Slek in tow, Rhoda quickly scanned the street. Traffic was at a standstill, and as she continued to search, she saw the reason.

"Arc help us all."

An enormous alien armored vehicle had just emerged from one of the "meteors". Instead of being chunks of space rock, they were in fact Orbital Droppods. The vehicle hovered off the ground with a menacing buzz. Atop its armored, and likely shielded, chassis was a huge cannon, likely a Magnetic Mass Driver, with smaller cannon mounted around it for point defense. Two more pods landed beside it, depositing squadrons of the little aliens themselves, armored and carrying their tiny ballistic rifles. The vehicle began to emit a sinister electrical hum, its MMD powering up. Meanwhile, a Lucarian exited its own vehicle and stood directly in front of the MMD's barrel. The comparatively diminutive ranseiian discreetly shifted its stance, and evidently seeing this as a threat, the MMD discharged, its payload thumping into the ground where the lucarian stood. The lucarian's vehicle vaporized, and its neighboring vehicles were thrown to the sides. The remaining commuters panicked, some leaving their own vehicles, some swerving and crashing into one another. But the lucarian was far from dead. The thing that once stood in front of the AV never existed in the first place. It was an illusion, a trick of the light that lucarians created by manipulating Aura. The real Lucarian stood on top of the AV's cannon, clutching an orb of pure kinetic energy between its paws. Its shout of pure fury and hatred penetrated the minds of all beings within a hectawailord radius.

"NICE TRY, SQUISHY."

The orb tore straight through the AV's armor and shielding, exploding inside. The AV appeared to bulge outward before imploding into a very heavy scrap heap. Landing beside the wreckage, the blue-and-black canid summoned a glowing staff. Surrounded by very surprised alien soldiers, she once again broadcast to all who could hear.

"WANT THE SYSTEM? WHY DON'T YOU JUST TRY AND TAKE IT."

Meanwhile, in the penthouse of the single tallest building in the system, Shinka Inc. CEO Aze Shinka spit out her 100% illegal Slowpoke Tail extract tea as the Lucarian's message reached her. "What in Arc's name?" she muttered under her breath. Was it all of that valesin she had had last night? She tried to shake away the midmorning haze. "Hey, Roj, you hear that?" Her shorter, much heavier sister entered the room, looking just as perplexed as she. "Sure did. Whatcha think it's all about?" both of the jitsuish had prominent accents that alluded to their countryside upbringing. All jitsuish, blue and red, had very hard childhoods. An estimated 35% of all children survived to adulthood, and those that did had permanent, black ceremonial scars crisscrossin their bodies. Aze and Roj, however, had ditched the stark white robes and black belts of life in a jitsuish dojo and moved to the city, where a combination of tournament winnings and big gambling scores led them to start Shinka Inc., a booming stone megacorp that essentially owned the entire planet. They also led double lives as notorious crime bosses, but due to an army of very good lawyers and a sprawling network of bribery and graft no authorities could touch them. They were living the good life, at least until some idiot in a droppod punched through their expensive pane-glass window and killed Roj's favorite secretary. That secretary was a hunk of a Conkeldurr too. Shame.

"Holy mother of Verizion's left leg! What the…"

"SON OF A HEJUECE!"

Aze started and instinctively flicked her arm so rapidly that a vacuum was created, causing a chain reaction that sent a wave of force into the pod, knocking it off course and killing its inhabitant.

"What is that? Is this the invasion the legends warned us about? If so they're gonna pay for that window, with interest," said Aze, knuckles cracking.

"Looks like it, sis. Hear those MMD's?"

Anyasa Bellic reloaded her carbine. The weird, stuffed animal-like bear staggered and fell, blood soaking its fur.

"Tango down, Over."

She called over her squad comms.

"Copy that, Matryoshka 4."

"Next task is to find a suitable command post for General Stravinsky."

Her second-in-command, Benjamin Cohen, replied. "How about that really tall one?"

He pointed to the tallest building around, a massive skyscraper with a big logo on the side, a red and blue semicircle.

"Ok, let's see if we can't lock it down."

Oh boy, it's gonna go down. Sorry for time skips.