----- Capn -----
Like before, I've made the suggested changes, and touched up things here
and there. The final version will be uploaded to FFN. Thanks for all
your help!
----- /Capn -----
MORE
Akari's brown eyes were wide and pleading, tears falling down
her cheeks. He was being held upright, but she was on her back... a >
table of some sort. They moved around, making that awful noise of >
theirs, like insects chewing on leaves, but one stood still. Ryouga >
couldn't see the face, but he could feel its mind, slowly boring into >
his own. It already had a measure of control - he couldn't move, not to
save his own life. Not even to save hers.
That last sounds like a classic can't move/breath nightmare, or
like classic Abduction stories. The preceeding narration is a bit
jagged, but almost not jagged *enough,* IMO, if you're trying to convey
nightmarish qualities.
----- Capn -----
I redid this a bit. Check out the version I'll upload on FFN later
today. I think you'll find it sets the mood a bit better.
----- /Capn -----
MORE
Ryouga struggled, still. It had his body subdued, but his
mental > barriers were still up, just as they had been most of his life.
He > repeated mantras that helped focus his ki. There was still the
chance > that, if he was subtle enough about it, he could get off a
shishihokodan > and free himself. The other mind invaded him, feeling
out his defenses, > looking for a means to force entry.
Sooo... a martial artists of Ryouga or Ranma's level probably
*can* defend themselves against at least one alien teep (Ethereal? My
X-Com-fu is weak), if they have some forewarning.
----- Capn -----
Yes. This is 'Hollow Eyes,' the same Ethreal that confronted Cologne in
the first chapter. Ethreals are the leaders of the alien expeditionary
force, and they are the most powerful psionics. Even a common Ethreal
soldier can psi attack someone. Ranma and Ryouga have some inherent
defense against psionic attack, because of the mental discipline that
comes from martial arts, but they have no experience with these sorts of
attacks, so they're still vulnerable. The ki/psionics stuff will become
clearer as the story progresses.
----- /Capn -----
HARVEST
...oh, *shit.*
On the table, he clearly heard Akari whimper.
Brutalizing one of the most inoffensive cast members is often a
cheap authorial trick, but in this case I think it works -- it's
essentially SOP for the aliens, IIRC, and it looks like they literally
stumbled over Ryouga and Akari by accident. So it's not gratuitous as
much as it is just a stroke of really bad luck, and a logical catalyst
for what follows.
Unable to blink, unable to turn away, he saw it all;
remembered > it all.
Okay, you have definitely achieved nightmare status. I'm not
sure I want to know how much of Ryouga will be left after this...
----- Capn -----
It isn't like I enjoyed doing that to poor Akari. I don't hate any of
the main cast (though some minor characters were annoying), but these
aliens ARE like that. She was just a poor, regular girl... of no
particular use to them. So they harvested her. That ship (as will be
clearly pointed out later) was a Harvester, and its main target was
Akari's unusually large and intelligent pigs.
----- /Capn -----
chains attached to his wrists and ankles. Slowly, he recognized the >
room. Not that there were many hospitals that used chains to hold >
someone down, anyway. So he was in Tofu's Clinic? That was just fine. >
He'd been lost for two days in large city hospitals before, and wasn't >
keen on a repeat performance.
He was lost for two days in more than one city hospital? Okay,
this *is* Ryouga, granted, but...
----- Capn -----
Ryouga seems to have much more trouble in new places than ones he's been
in many times before. In the manga canon, he gets around his house
without much trouble, and several times he's shown that he can navigate
the Tendo home without getting lost. Sometimes, in Nerima, he gets where
he's going in the same time frame as a normal person. Then, like in the
Saffron arc, he's gone for less than an hour and ends up in Moscow
(meaning he somehow traveled at high mach speeds on the Kinjakan).
Ryouga's ability to get lost is usually exaggerated for comedic effect
in fanfiction, just like Akane's mallet-love, Ukyou's overuse of the
megaspatula and cooking nothing but Okyonomiyaki, etc... This isn't
always a bad thing, but this is not primarily a comedy fic, and the
occasionally (hopefully) funny moment will be more predicated on
personality, not archetype. I think.
----- /Capn -----
He flexed his hands and arms, and tried to get a feel for the
chains.
They were tough: probably steel. Most likely, they were some
of > Mousse's old chains, which ended up strewn around town every time
he and > Ranma ended up in a fight. He had three loops around each wrist
to deal
Heh. That makes sense. Gotta wonder how Mousse affords all
that iron...
----- Capn -----
He's often seen hanging out at the Home Depot. Or Walmart's 'hooks and
chains' department.
----- /Capn -----
other arm, and then reached down and destroyed the chains around his >
ankles.
So he can do the BP w/o using his fingertips? He's improved.
----- Capn -----
A little improvisation on his part. The finger is probably used as a
focal point for the ki used in the technique, but he's been using it for
a long time, and we see him (in the anime at least) able to vary the
affect of the technique. I don't think it is extreme to think that he's
good enough with it to control how he applies it, too.
----- /Capn -----
Rolling off the table and onto his feet, he paused.
He had to warn the others. If he was right, then all Nerima's
martial artists were in danger. The Kunos were out of town, so that
left > the group at the Tendo Dojo, at the Nekohanten, and at Uuchans.
There > were other Dojos and the like in the area that Ryouga had heard
of, but > he didn't have the foggiest idea where they were. Which meant,
hopefully, that the aliens didn't either.
Of course, this being Ryouga, they shouldn't have been able to
figure out where *anything* is from his memories. Then again, if they
can access human databases, "Nerima" and "Nekohanten/Ucchan's/Tendo" is
probably enough to get them where they want to go.
Ryouga's getting very mission-oriented, here -- he must be
shoving his memories of Akari waaay down. I *like* seeing Ryouga be
mission-oriented, but a hint of the effort he's putting out to manage it
might not be amiss. OTOH, maybe he's having a bit of hysterical amnesia
-- couldn't blame him.
----- Capn -----
Exactly. While they don't do it in the game, it is often associated with
Alien Abductions and the like (electronics going screwy). So, in this
fic, the aliens can hack nearly any unshielded database.
In the final version of the above, Ryouga 'reminds' himself that all
this is happening because he led the aliens to Nerima. But yes, he's
getting very mission oriented, and he is trying not to dwell too much on
exactly what happened to Akari, instead trying to focus on what he can
do now to get her revenge. I based this somewhat off of his behavior in
the Saffron arc, after everyone thinks Akane died turning off the hot
water tap. Ryouga suddenly became very 'mission focused' in mentality
(Must Protect Ranma for Akane, Must Get Ranma Going For Akane, etc...)
----- /Capn -----
After opening the wrong door, the lost boy found his way out
of > the small clinic, and jumped up onto the roof. Tofu stood
motionless. > Walking out, he watched as Ryouga jumped to the next roof,
and then the > next, heading towards... towards a bright light, around
where the Tendo > Dojo was. The doctor shivered, and not because of the
cold night air. > Behind him and to the west, he heard something explode
with a distant > rumble.
Given how sensitive Tofu seems to be in canon, I'm a bit
surprised he didn't sense anything before this.
----- Capn -----
He's an acupressure/acupuncture/herbal medicine doctor. Plus, he was
asleep just a moment ago, and this isn't something he's had experience
with before. Ryouga had some heads up, because he's naturally rather
paranoid, and because the aliens had been flying around the area for a
while before they hit the Unyru farm. Only Cologne really picked up what
was happening right off the bat, and that's because she's sort of a deus
ex mechina when it comes to things.
----- /Capn -----
Creeping over the roof of one of the taller buildings, he
stole > a look out towards the Dojo. He could see part of it, now. Not
the Dojo, > but the ship. It looked like it was settled between the koi
pond, and > the next-door neighbor's house. It was two stories in
height, as large > as the Tendo house at least, and oddly serrated, with
jagged corners. > The outer stonewall that Tendo-san always had to
repair had been nearly > demolished by the landing, but at least the
Dojo and main building were > intact.
And no one is noticing? No cops showing up? That blanket hypno
effect must cover quite an area.
----- Capn -----
Cops don't seem to hang around Nerima very often to begin with. Plus,
many alien abductions occur in cities without attracting police
attention. In XCOM, police are generally absent, even from Terror Sites,
though they do show up in the novelization. The problem is that cops
aren't very subtle in their approach to things, and they don't have the
firepower to take on the aliens, so they get slaughtered. If a single
shot from a medium plasma rifle can total an automated tank, what do you
think it'll do to a wailing police car?
----- /Capn -----
The lost boy was contemplating a plan of action, when he felt
a > rising ki.
Looking back, behind him, he felt it more acutely: rippling >
waves of energy in the flow of the earth. It was strong too, which meant
one thing. Cologne. The same ancient Amazon who had taught Ryouga the
bakusai tenketsu, and who had given Ranma the katshu tenshin
amaguriken > and hiryu shoten ha, was herself fighting these creatures.
Even after > Ranma and Ryouga had gotten stronger, and incorporated
other special > techniques into their styles, Cologne had remained
stronger than either > of them.
Or just craftier. Old age and experience beats youth and
vigor... usually.
I note that here you've parsed out the attack names, but earlier
you used "shishihokodan" as one word. Deliberate?
----- Capn -----
Hope. A little mistake on my part. SSH should be in two parts.
----- /Capn -----
He wished her luck.
The assembled aliens seemed to tense up, before five started >
running. Ryouga could only assume they were headed for the Nekohanten, >
where Cologne was putting up unexpected resistance. He hunkered down, >
and watched them go, careful to keep out of sight. He remembered how >
they had caught him twice before, how he had hesitated after first >
coming face to face with one of them.
They got him twice? That doesn't bode well. Although, he seems
to have his head more together this time.
----- Capn -----
Twice that he can remember, yes. Once at the Unryu Farm, and again when
he got lost without finding Nerima.
----- /Capn -----
didn't issue a battle cry, or any other 'honorable warning.' The alien
Well, no. This isn't martial arts. This is *war.*
----- Capn -----
Ryouga is very vengeance driven. For him this very much is a war in
Akari's name. It is a level of viciousness Ranma showed against Saffron
when Akane's life was at stake. Except that even then Ranma knew that
Saffron would 'rise again' so killing him was only a temporary solution
to getting Akane some cold cursed water. This is an aspect of things
Ryouga and Ranma will differ on as the fanfic continues.
----- /Capn -----
Ryouga silently prayed the door wasn't locked.
From what he had been able to determine, he could neither
break > through it nor blast through it. If the door was locked, he was
(as the > Americans said) "well and truly fucked." He couldn't even hear
or see > what was on the other side. Cracking his knuckles, he pressed
his palm > to the door. Nothing. He nodded, expecting that. Tensing his
body, he > pulled back his hand, and the door quickly slid open.
Consistent behavior of technology. Good.
----- Capn -----
I'm a bit of a technie nut myself, and the scifi angle will be fun to
write. I will try and be both consistent and realistic in my portrayal
of advanced alien, human, and alien-human hybrid technology. There'll be
more of that in the next chapter.
----- /Capn -----
Two large oval eyes stared at him.
Ryouga acted without hesitation. The alien's hand passed by
its > sidearm, and reached for the larger weapon on a nearby table. It
was a > foolish mistake. Ryouga lashed out with his belt sword, and with
a > flash, severed the limb. Undeterred, the creature seized the weapon
with > its other hand, spun with remarkable quickness, and took aim. Why
it was > so obsessed with that particular weapon the lost boy didn't
know.
Mmmm... Sectoids don't feel pain, do they?
It doesn't blink when he slices an arm off, but cries when he
breaks some bones? That's kind of inconsistent.
----- Capn -----
True. I've made an adjustment to the final version. Sectoids do feel a
sensation like pain, but they don't express it very well. All the aliens
are sort of sensory deprived in that respect. Sectoids, remember, are
very 'cut down' forms of life. All their senses except for sight are
atrophied, and I doubt they have any sense of taste at all, for example.
----- /Capn -----
Uh oh. This could turn into flashback city.
-----
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with blood...
<shudder>
----- Capn -----
I'm sorry, 'pig loving girl!' Civvies always have a hard time in XCOM.
But at least she didn't run into a Chryssalid. That's a pretty horrible
way to go, too.
----- /Capn -----
He shook his head, forcing back the memories. It wasn't >
something he wanted to remember. It wasn't something he wanted to see >
every time he closed his eyes and fell into a nightmare-wracked sleep. >
He looked at the headless alien corpse, and kicked it swiftly in the >
gut, spending a new fountain of gore out of the neck.
"Bastards..." he hissed. "Bastards!!"
Sectoid: "Actually, my genetic donor material was mixed quite
properly under the auspices of the Cloning Authority."
----- Capn -----
"And I have the paperwork to prove it!" (takes out a hundred thousand
pages of paper) "See?"
----- /Capn -----
of the ship here seemed darker, because there was more open space. >
Still, the ambient orange light from several nearby cylinders helped >
mitigate that disadvantage. In the long deep shadows cast around this >
part of the ship, Ryouga could see his foe.
The alien seemed to be reloading its weapon, or something.
A one-shot rifle? Odd.
----- Capn -----
The alien stun grenade launcher is one shot only, which is odd. But it
works on everything, from humans, to other aliens, to artificial life
forms (like Cyberdisks and Sectopods), in an atmosphere and out. One
shot is usually all it takes.
----- /Capn -----
It didn't even bother to reach for its sidearm.
Orders to keep the samples alive?
----- Capn -----
Exactly!
----- /Capn -----
Ryouga examined the glass... or crystal, or plastic, or >
whatever.
No breaking points.
Geez, those alien materials are tough. He's going to need to
update the BP, somehow.
----- Capn -----
Alien materials are incredibly tough. Alien ships do, remember, survive
direct impacts with tactical nuclear warheads (the 'Avalanche' AAM), and
tomahawk-sized nuclear SAMs. Conservatively scaling for size, those are
warheads in the 200 kiloton range.
----- /Capn -----
"Well, here goes..." he reached out, grasped the handle, and
"Besides, if it kills him, it's just Ranma..."
----- Capn -----
I was actually thinking about having him say that.
----- /Capn -----
"Oh kami!" Ranma twisted, and looked behind him. "They didn't
anal probe me, did they?"
<ROTFL>
"I don't know, and I'm not checking."
----- Capn -----
Ranma: "Don't tell my mom!" Nodoka: "Being probed is unmanly!"
----- /Capn -----
"This way." Ranma indicated left. A few meters later, they saw
that it ended in a dead end, with some writing on the walls. Getting >
closer, Ryouga put his hand up against an indented part of the wall, and
pulled his hand back. It slid open, revealing a weapon locker. Not
that > either boy had any experience with firearms, much less alien
ones.
Without another word, they headed back and went left.
Wouldn't have been a bad idea to smash up those guns, just in
case.
----- Capn -----
Perhaps. But its usually best to err on the side of caution when it
comes to weird alien technology. You never know what might explode, leak
radioactivity, or open dimensions full of tentacle rape monsters.
----- /Capn -----
And around.
Finally, after walking around half the inner circumference of
the ship, they came to a door that obviously led to the middle portion
they had been trekking around. The two martial artists looked at each
other, nodded, and got ready to break in. They'd fought together
before > numerous times, and knew each other well enough that gestures
alone > could convey their plans of attack. The aliens obviously
suspected they > were loose, since they had set up an ambush at the
lift. There was no > reason not to suspect that opening this door
wouldn't lead to another > surprise attack.
You know, you could probably take over most of Asia with the
Wrecking Crew, if you could them them all pointed at the same enemy at
the same time...
----- Capn -----
Which is usually the hardest part of the whole endeavor. Its easier
here, in many respects, because I'm using everyone post-vol38. That way
you have the fiancees fighting, but not Ranma and Ryouga as much.
----- /Capn -----
Ryouga reached for a bandanna.
When suddenly a numbing pain shot into the back of his mind
like > a railroad spike. The alien, not even one of the horrible cloaked
ones > Ryouga remembered, but just one of the so called 'gray' aliens...
held > up its other hand, and a powerful telekinetic force hit him
square in > the chest, and caused his lungs to seize up. It wasn't a
physical blow, > like being hit by air pressure or a vacuum wave, it was
like an > invisible intangible hand had reached through his chest and
started > squeezing the air out of him.
Damn. If a Sectoid can do this, then an Ethereal might be more
than they can handle.
----- Capn -----
High caste Sectiods are not to be underestimated. They are among the
most dangerous of the psionics-based aliens.
----- /Capn -----
Oh, that's not good.
"Kill it, Ranma!" Ryouga snarled, clutching his chest. "KILL
IT > NOW!!"
It could keep a grip on Ryouga while blocking Ranma? That's
very not good.
----- Capn -----
I've beefed up the telekinetic (TK) powers of the aliens. We know
Ethreals have them (it is how they float, and how they can survive
despite having 'dead' bodies), so I gave them to the Sectoids too. And
yes, you can mind fuck someone AND physically attack at the same time. I
used to do it all the time in XCOM.
It was always fun to mind control an alien, toss him a primed grenade,
and order him to pick it up and put it in his inventory. Then, the next
turn the MC wears off. So he runs back to his buddies... and BOOM!
Whahaha!
----- /Capn -----
It was disconcerting.
"Rest in Pieces," Ryouga spoke up, his voice laced with
hatred.
Technically that pun only works in English, but what the heck.
----- Capn -----
True. But it's a good'un.
----- /Capn -----
An endless expanse of tiny stars against a black background,
and > below it: the curvature of a familiar blue and white planet. The
two > martial artists, just eighteen, exchanged worried looks. Then
Ranma > looked down at himself, and back up as his companion and long
time > rival.
Darn. I was afraid of that. Next time, make sure to wreck the
engines first.
----- Capn -----
Only way to do that would be to knock out the Anti-matter Reactor (the
orange pulsing thing Ryouga saw earlier). And those always go up in a
nice big boom. Antimatter is bitchy like that.
----- /Capn -----
"Hey, Ryouga."
"What?"
"I'll fight you for your clothes."
<ROTFLMAO!!!> That is just *so* Ranma.
"...I don't think so."
<snicker>
Well, Our Heroes are in a pickle now. If they're on autopilot
to an alien base, they're in real trouble. If they're not, they've got
no way to get back to Earth, unless X-Com finally shows up and rescues
them.
----- Capn -----
Yep. I'll have the next chapterette out shortly.
----- /Capn -----
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