Assassin Drones: The original saga
Interlude: The first date. De Arimasu!
By Alex Young
The Hinata residence, 8:00 am. April fools day, 2002
Fuyuki had this strange dream about he and someone else confronting what looked to be a god-like creature. Fuyuki and his unnamed partner were near the edge of death, with the god entity about to deal a death blow to both of them when he woke up with but a short yelp. This left him wondering; is there someone or something trying to do him in? Just then, the door slowly creaked open, it was Natsumi, and she was just checking up on her little brother. She noticed that he was still clad in his undershirt and underpants.
"What's wrong, Winter?" She pondered out of concern. "I just had this dream that I was up against a sort of god. I was also with a man that I don't exactly know. His hair had a tail like a scorpion, and he was dressed in Chinese martial arts garb. That about all I know about him, so far. I also have a sinking suspicion that this instance won't be the last." Fuyuki elucidated. After listening to his dream lecture, they immediately began their preparations. "Best tidy up." Natsumi reminded her brother as she turned and broke out some dress clothes from his closet. "Okay, sis." Fuyuki replied as he proceeded to take a bath and brush his teeth.
After Fuyuki combed his hair down, he put his underwear back on and returned to his room. Natsumi would help dress him up, given that she had blindfolded him as soon as he entered his room. As soon as his blindfold was removed after a while, he couldn't believe what he was wearing as he looked into the mirror; his light blue dress shirt from last year, a navy slim tie, a pair of light gray dress pants, a black dress belt, and black dress shoes. He even had his shirt tucked in military style courtesy of his sister for that clean look that also kept it all together. This would be the formal outfit for his first date with Momoka for the year.
"Let's see now, shirt's tucked in, tie's all straight, no wrinkles. Oh! I almost forgot." Natsumi mused as she stuck a breath mint in Fuyuki's mouth to be certain that any bad breath doesn't get between the young lovebirds. "Looking pretty sharp for your first date." Natsumi quipped citing the fact that Fuyuki was dressed in his shirt and tie for that special someone in mind. "Gee, thanks sis." Fuyuki replied before heading out for the door. Aki was there to watch him go out accompanied by his sister. "Bye, honey. Remember what I told you about not letting girls get in the way of your schoolwork!" Aki called out to her son because she knew that it was no April fools joke that he was in love with Momoka, and that no one was ever to deny that.
Fuyuki headed out the door with Natsumi for a chaperone in toe, clearly the whole family must have planned this one out, at least the human element of the family. "Keeeeeerokerokeroooo" Keroro giggled creepily with eyes squinted as he retreated to his room to report this finding to his squad mates. "From what I could tell upon watching Fuyuki, he is going out on what the Pekoponians refer to as a 'date' for the first time." Keroro debriefed. "He must really love Momoka if he's willing to go that f-" Tamama was interrupted by Natsumi as she drop kicked the door in and just pummeled the amphibian aliens without any warning whatsoever. "...and THAT WAS FOR WHAT YOU DAMN FROGTARDS DID ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY!" She screeched as she stormed her way out of the aftermath.
With all that, the sarge immediately put whatever invasion plan he was going to execute based on this recent discovery, along with any subsequent invasion plans for the day on hiatus until he declares otherwise, or did he? Our return to the front yard found Fuyuki standing at the gates, awaiting the moment that his first date begins, and his sister for a chaperone's return. She made it out the door just in time as the still distant Nishizawa limo approached the Hinata residence. "Whew, sorry I'm late. I just got caught up in dealing with those stupid frickin' space frogs back there." Natsumi panted as she was quite winded from the smackdown on the sarge and company.
Lo and behold, the limo had arrived in Fuyuki's presence. The door was opened, beckoning for the both of them to come in. "Come to think of it, Momoka did mention to me sometime after school that she was going to wear a fairly formal kimono with 'an extra special dye' for our first date." Fuyuki mused to himself as he peered into the shadow that is Momoka. As to exactly what color palette the kimono she was wearing had for this occasion, Fuyuki had to find out for himself. With that, the siblings obliged to her cordial invitation, and sat down in the rear passenger seat of the limo, with Natsumi closing its door. When Fuyuki took a gander at her kimono upon entry, he found himself needless to say, totally stunned for words.
Her kimono had whole swaths of dark blue and gunmetal gray running up the shoulder blades, with small splotches of jet black and white along its lower skirt. This design continued into the obi, this time with curving streaks of blue and white running across the obi, black and light gray as the primary colors. The obiage and obijime were a dark blue with geometric outlines in light gray. The motif itself was a rhombus pattern running vertically around the kimono and horizontally across the obi. As a matter of fact, the kimono had dark blue for its main color.
"You're at your most beautiful when you wear a kimono." Fuyuki applauded enamored by this simple beauty. "You're too kind, really." Momoka teased in response. The limo, with Paul Moriyama behind the wheel, revved up, turned around, and cruised off to its destination. "Stealth camo engaged, initiating shadow op." A mysterious young man mused behind the wheel of an invisible GT supercar as he followed suit and shadowed the limo from a good distance away.
Keroro's top secret invasion headquarters, 10:30 am
Keroro was walking on the top most access catwalks towards a huge, cylindrical spire with a ring surrounding the center. That spire was the invasion supercomputer, with geothermal energy as its main power source. Rivers of molten lava converge on the spire as it helps it to generate its own magnetic field, which acts as an antenna providing a connection to the outside world. That meant that the sarge is somewhat cleverer than anyone, especially Natsumi would ever give him credit for. "Kerokerokerokero! Little do they know that the invasion plan of love is still very much underway." The Sarge chuckled in his throat as he typed in the pass code.
When he ran a planetary scan, however, his eyes froze up in horror. He discovered that there was an intricate network of highways, flight routes, tunnels, and cables spanning planet Earth in its entirety. All the pathways lead to at least 1 out of 60 TransLoDefCom (Transportation, Logistics, Defense, Communication) hubs across the globe called "nerve centers," with the very last 5 nerve centers established in Antarctica. All the nerve centers were established and controlled by the very organization that thwarted their invasion back in Afghanistan; EX.W.A.T.I.!
It was at that very moment that Keroro realized the fullest extent to which humanity was prepared for any alien invasion. This info was just so vital that he had to report this finding straight to Keron high command. Of course he could always use the beacon at the drop zone that the Garuru platoon were ousted from back in St. Patrick's day, which he did. The beacon received the signal and shot it out into space.
Aboard the Rapier, 11:00 am. From Aoryuzen's POV
Just what was that sudden surge of energy I felt? It was as though I felt it before. I can remember when my family had come to planet Earth out on holiday. I was an assassin drone in training under my father's auspices, when I was only 100 years old out of the mechadrone's average lifespan of 3000 years. As I approached a grassy area, I had felt a similar sensation, albeit much weaker than what I felt from the Rapier. As weak as the signal was, I could tell where it originated, and what was generating it.
It looked to be a large, spire like structure of mechadrone origin, and it was located a few body lengths southwest of my position. I feel as though that our family vacation wasn't the first time that any mechadrone made contact with planet Earth. Now that this new signal got me thinking about those humans, I felt that it was time to train in the cyberscape. With that, I had completely enveloped my whole world in total darkness.
The Nerima playground, 1:00 pm. From Reader's POV
A dark cloud had hung over the lost boy Ryoga as he sat moping in the bosky area at the playground. He had been so deeply traumatized by Akane's public humiliation at the aged hands of Happosai that he would never live it down as long as he had his affections for her. Ryoga's ears perked up after a while, and he proceeded to listen in. It was Ranma taking a break from his longer-than-usual walk. Ranma leaned against the short chain link fence.
"Jeez. Now I know how Ryoga must've felt when he gets lost all the time." He lamented as Ryoga just discovered that he wasn't the only one unable to stop thinking about the erotic travesty that had unfolded back there. "Yo, Ryoga. How you've been?" Ranma called out blandly as he approached the lost boy. "Not too good, I'm afraid. Wanna talk about it?" Ryoga invited to his rival. "Sure, why not." Ranma returned as he joined the lost boy.
"Man, can't believe the old letch would do that to me." Ranma informed citing his Jusenkyo curse. "Hmph, you must've had it easy compared to me seeing Akane in distress. It pissed me off so much that Happosai would do something like that. Worst part of all, I as powerless to stop it as he hog tied me as well, and left me there in the darkness of the backstage. It was all pure hell."
"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD! Ye fiendish Ranma Saotome, I SHALT SMITE THEE WITH MINE DIVINE BLADE!" Tatewaki Kuno bellowed out in a distance. "Noh for the love of, I'm outta here!" Ranma hissed as he leapt out of the playground homeward bound, Leaving Ryoga to deal with a still very irate Kuno. "Art thou in league with that Ranma Saotome?" Kuno growled in between bokken thrusts. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Ryoga snarled back as he fought back with a breaking point attack. This one bout between the two among Ranma's most recurring rivals would be one to go on for 4 long hours.
Just outside the Hinata residence, 3:00 pm
Momoka's first date with her beloved Fuyuki was but a limo tour across Inner Tokyo. The date reached its final stage at the Hinata home, where Paul picked up Fuyuki and Natsumi. "Ladies first." Fuyuki insisted citing his occasional common courtesy. Natsumi was the first to have stepped out of the limo, followed by Momoka, whose kimono would change color upon its exposure to sunlight: from jet black to candy apple red, from gunmetal gray to hot pink, from dark blue to burgundy. Fuyuki also stepped out surprised at this color change.
"So, do you like it? It's a Yume Korozome dye." Momoka piped up. "Oh, so that's what you meant by ''an extra special dye,' then." Fuyuki realized with a grin on his face as he joined his girlfriend for a photo op. The first picture taken by Natsumi was of the two hugging and facing the camera. The next would be of them just before they kiss each other, a third would be during the half way mark of their near 10 minute long kiss, then the fourth would be of them facing each other after their kiss, with eyes open of course.
"Now, then..." Someone hiding in a bush mused as he took a fifth picture of the dressed up couple "What the!?" Natsumi exclaimed in surprise at the sudden camera flash. "Huh? Wait! Wait! Wowowowowo YOW!" The young man who took said picture with his camera yelped as he tripped on his feet and collapsed onto the lawn. "Ahh. Oh man! Don't scare me so much!" The young man whined to Natsumi. "Sorry about that, I though you were some perverted stalker." Fuyuki said in slight embarrassment. "I almost forgot to introduce myself, the name is Ryota Shirotabi." Ryota introduced.
"Hey Ryota, the name's Fuyuki, and that's my girlfriend, Momoka." Fuyuki replied. "Hi there, Ryota." Momoka chimed with a smile. "A-Anyways, as a journalist working for the school press, I would like to know as to what you think of your relationship with Momoka?" Ryota offered. "How would I put it? Ah yes! It's like that me and Momoka were meant for each other somehow." Fuyuki replied confidently. "That's all I wanted to know, thanks for your time." Ryota hollered in a hurry to get on with his other business.
Ryota was tired from the running as he stepped inside the invisible car. Little did Fuyuki and company know that Ryota was actually an alias created by the Hitman who was behind the wheel of this very car earlier; enter Radon the Hitman. "Being friendly with the indigenous population and getting to know those who are a part of it are but the first steps in blending in with a civilized environment." Radon remarked as he knew that he is never in a rush to get at his prey; The Don Viper.
In Fuyuki's room, 5:00 pm. From Fuyuki's POV
I was coming into my room to sit down on the bed. Then, I got up and looked into the mirror to see that I was still wearing my shirt and tie. Man, I can only wish that I spent a little more time with Momoka. In so thinking about her, I procured a khaki dress shirt with chocolate brown pinstripes, an olive green tie, and a pair of ivory dress pants. "I'm wearing that for my next date." I declared to myself as I put my next date outfit away in the lowermost drawer within my dresser. With that, I decided that from now on, I'm gonna look my best for her for all my dates.
Aboard the Rapier, 11:45 pm. From Reader's POV
It was rather dim inside the communications room as Kamikase (a Velociraptor type drone) sat at her post skimming the vast array of signals with a glazed look in her eyes. She had just intercepted another, much more directed signal originating from Earth via the communications room aboard the Rapier some 15 seconds later. Decoding the signal upon which was no trouble for her given her background in working on and tuning relay stations to their appropriate frequencies across the galaxy.
"Yo big sis, you might wanna check this out." She urgently queried to her older sister, Raikoume (another Velociraptor type drone), who was lying down on her back reading some space comics. "Whatever it is, lil sis, it had better be important." Raikoume warned as she approached the screen with a leer in her eyes. "If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say that this signal is packaged for what the messenger calls 'Keron.'" Kamikase deduced from her findings with the signal. "Maybe we should wait until the boss is done with his cyberscape training." Raikoume suggested. "Agreed." Kamikase concurred as the sisters went about their usual business before this strangest of signal interceptions.
The Earth's moon, 3:05 am. April 5, 2002
The moon was just as desolate as it had always been, even with the Amblypygid creature roaming its surface. It came equipped with a rebreather system designed for deep space exploration. It was Gial, the very same metallic meteorite spotted by Kululu a while back. "Gial, why have you stopped?" Moaghen, Aoryuzen's second in command, queried through the intercom. Moaghen had temporarily taken over for Aoryuzen on account of their leader's prolonged training session in the cyberscape.
\Allow me to explain; first and foremost, I have stopped upon having read the message that Raikoume and Kamikase had intercepted earlier. The message itself tells of a so called TransLoDefCom network spanning the entire surface of planet Earth. A network designed to help humanity thwart any alien invasion. I do mean any alien invasion, because we are alien invaders after all. Second off, I am stopping to establish a relay device to amplify the effect my of my EMP transmitter via the Rapier. Lastly, I need to rest up so as to conserve energy, because I will need it all if I am to generate a shield strong enough to withstand the resulting impact./ Gial elucidated through his translation computer given that he isn't one for words himself. "I see, thanks for the tip, Gial." Moaghen replied as Gial immediately began preparations for building the relay device on the moon.
How do the beacons affect Aoryuzen's invasion?
What terrifying new power did Ranma attain in his bout with Kuno?
Is Fuyuki's strange dream part a subliminal message directed to him?
How far will his relationship with Momoka go before Baio and Oka Nishizawa find out and take action?
Read the next arc to find out.