Independence Day: Chapter 1, They Come.
by
Rebecca Ann Heineman
Based on the film "Independence Day" By Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, Ranma 1/2 and the characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. 801 T.T.S. Airbats characters created by Shimizu Toshimitsu.
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or invade my planet. It's mine! I found it first!
July 1st, Morning.
The endless hum that permeated the mothership wavered and quieted down as the faster than light drive was finally disengaged, signaling the end of their long trek across the vastness of space. The computers ran the sequence to allow the massive ship re-enter normal space, raising the expectations of a new life among the countless beings contained within.
The journey was about to end for the billions of beings in the hive. The blue planet they were going to was only two million kilometers away from their mothership and getting closer with each passing moment. The pilots oversaw the sequence for settling the ship into a simple orbit around the big blue ball orbiting a small yellow star, the planet they would soon call home.
The collective was happy to finally once again be able to walk under a blue sky and feel the soft air flow over their bodies. They remembered the last time they stood on the beach of an ocean watching the waves crash at their feet. The mass remembered the rustling of the wind through the Nacta trees blowing the blue flower petals across the blue sand of their last world.
Alas, their world finally gave out and slowly died around them. The travelers had consumed all the precious oxygen and proteins from the ecosystem until the planet could no longer sustain their way of life. It was not an unexpected event. The travelers were accustomed to this tragedy since they had already moved from world to world in the hundreds of thousands of years of their existence.
Their scouts had scoured the nearby star systems for a suitable new world in which to live on and were successful. The search had yielded a star system that was less than one hundred light years away and was teeming with life. It was one of the best worlds they had encountered in over three hundred thousand years. The system had nine planets and orbited a single small yellow star. The third planet from the sun had a single moon and plenty of oxygen and proteins to last them for thousands of years. It was ripe for the taking.
They sent several scout vessels and studied the indigenous life for one hundred years. They were shocked at the violence the intelligent species that was native to this world was capable of. The hive hoped that the apes of this world would do them a favor and wipe themselves out, but it was to no avail. The 'humans' as they call themselves always seemed to wise up at the last minute every time they were to unleash Armageddon onto their own kind.
They took captives and studied their frail bodies. They studied the human languages and cultures by intercepting their radio and TV transmissions. They studied and found the weaknesses in the human defenses. The travelers created the weapons and countermeasures needed to nullify any threat the humans could possibly pose to the hive.
Their current world died. The ecosystem went past the point of no return and the temperature rose as the hothouse gasses clouded the atmosphere of what was once a beautiful and colorful world. Now the world was barren and desolate with only patches of moss and micro-biotic life remaining. In time, even this life would be extinguished, as the greenhouse effect would raise the surface temperature to rival that of the planet Venus. The world was dead.
The travelers had gathered all of the population and boarded the mothership preparing for the six-month journey to take them to their new home. They bid farewell to the world that had given them life for several thousand years. They left orbit and engaged their faster than light drive to a new world.
It was a new home.
It was a beautiful world, full of life, food, warmth and hope.
It was a new beginning.
A shining blue planet the current inhabitants called "Earth".
A planet that needed fumigation before it would be ready for its new tenants. It was a process that according to plan would only take a few days to accomplish.
The travelers could wait for the clean up crew to dispose of the vermin before they took up residence. After all, what could these evolved apes do against a civilization that had existed for almost a million years?
What hope do the humans have at all to a race that traveled the stars? Who could possibly stand up to them?
"RANMA!" Akane screamed as she went looking for her missing fiance. "Get in here now!" She held her mallet over her shoulder in preparation to send him to dreamland once she found him.
Ranma was lying on the roof of the dojo looking at the early morning sky. He had totally forgotten that he had promised Akane to spar with her before he did his morning sparring session with his father. Ranma loved to lie on the roof just before sunrise and watch the sun lift above the clouds. It was one of the only few times in his current existence that he could actually get away from the chaos that encompassed his life right now.
Ranma turned his gaze away from the horizon and peeked over the lip of the roof. He waved down at the raven haired girl. "Yo Akane! Up here!"
Akane glanced upward and banged her head on the head of the mallet. "Ouch!" She rubbed her hair and mumbled something about moronic martial artists. She looked upward again avoiding the mallet this time. "Ranma! You're supposed to be in the dojo remember?"
Ranma's brain fired the neurons that had somehow not activated this morning and flooded his mind with what he had forgotten. He turned to the sunrise and turned back the very irate girl below. "I'll be down in a minute!"
"A minute? What are you doing up there that's so important huh?" Akane stowed her mallet and climbed the ladder that rested on the side of the house. The ladder was a permanent fixture since it was the only way for Kasumi and Nabiki to visit their somewhat reclusive relatives.
Akane got to the top of the ladder and paused at the sight before her. Ranma was sitting cross-legged facing away from her as the sun began to rise before him. The red and orange bands expanded and filled the sky with bright color. Ranma sighed. He felt at peace with the world. Peace in a world that offered little peace to him during the rest of his waking hours.
Akane forgot for a moment why she was angry with him. She got on the roof and sat a few meters away and watched the sunrise with him. A minute passed and the sun was in full view before the couple. Ranma slowly got up and turned to his fiance. "Ready to spar Akane?"
"How often do you come here Ranma?" Akane asked without turning from the horizon. She was lost in the beauty in front of her.
"Not often enough I'm afraid. C'mon, we don't have too much time before Kasumi makes breakfast." He walked to the edge of the roof and jumped off and walked to the entrance of the dojo.
Akane sat for a moment and then got up to climb down the ladder. She stopped at the lip and saw how far it was to the ground. "Hmm... Doesn't look it's that hard to roof hop." She gritted her teeth and jumped down.
SPLAT! She hit the ground hard and twisted her ankle. "OW!" She fell into a crumpled heap.
"Akane!" Ranma ran from the dojo doorway and rushed to her side. "Stupid! Why did you do that for?" He examined her leg and saw it wasn't broken.
"Maybe if you actually spent time teaching me to fight instead of dodging me, I'd know how to roof hop like all of your other fiances!" Akane sat up and rubbed her ankle.
Ranma sat back. "You stupid tomboy! You shouldn't do things you're not trained to do!" Kasumi came out of the back of the house attracted by the sound of Akane's scream.
"Listen you pervert! I've been ready to roof hop before you showed up here and if you were a halfway decent teacher, I'd be as good as you!"
That statement pushed just the right button in Ranma's psyche. "Oh yeah! I've been training you for months now and you simply suck Akane!"
"I suck? Why you insensitive jerk!" WHAM! The mallet of chi found its mark and Ranma went flying into the back wall.
Kasumi rubbed Akane's foot. "Now Akane, stop being violent with Ranma. He is only doing what he thinks is best."
"What's best? That jerk has no clue on how to be a teacher!" Akane started crying. "He never takes me seriously!"
"Now now, he does, but he does it in his own way." Kasumi moved Akane's ankle and saw that the injury was very minor. Kasumi looked up to the roof and judged the distance that Akane had fallen. "Akane, you seem to be getting the hang of falling from the roof. You didn't injure yourself much at all."
Akane cheered up a little. "I didn't?" She felt her ankle and found that her sister was right. She had only bumped it and suffered no real injury. Kasumi stood up and helped her sister to her feet. "Wow!" Akane took a step on her bum foot. "It hurts just a little but I can walk on it."
Kasumi beamed. "See, it looks like you're improving. Ranma's training with you is paying off."
Akane grew cold at the mention of Ranma's name. "I'd improve faster if that idiot would only fight back."
"Don't worry Akane, just give it time." Kasumi went back into the house to finish making breakfast.
"Yes, give it time she says." Akane looked at the flatted outline of her betrothed still imprinted on the wall. "How much time will it take? How much time do we have?" She followed her sister to the kitchen. She wasn't in the mood to train anymore.
Hiroshi was playing with his HAM radio set. He had taken up the hobby several months ago since Daisuke spent more time chasing girls than hanging out with his buddy. Hiroshi needed something to do in the mornings and talking to people halfway across the world sounded like fun and helped improve his English skills.
He constantly impressed Miss Hinako with his English vocabulary. He never bothered to tell her it was because he was pirating HBO and Showtime from American satellites with help from his American friends he met over the airwaves. He smiled as he installed his newest addition to his little pirate satellite signal decoder. The Playboy channel was only a few minutes away.
He stopped his work and slid over to his bedroom door and shut it. He checked the lock and secured his room from prying eyes, namely his parents. He went back to his workbench and turned on the decoder. He flicked on the TV and got snow. He changed channels several times and got more static and interference. "Drat!"
He pulled up the instructions again and compared the settings to what the book said to do. He slapped himself on the forehead as he turned off the decoder and inserted the missing CPU chip. He turned it back on and saw an ESPN broadcast on his TV. "Oh boy! Ladies, here I come."
Hiroshi jumped on his bed and hit his remote control. He flicked the channels until he reached the object of his desire. The Playboy channel was showing a commercial for a men's cologne. He rolled his eyes and waited patiently for something actually interesting to come on the screen. The screen flickered and had vertical bands of distortion that threatened to impair his enjoyment of the flesh he anxiously awaited to see. He banged on the decoder box and the screen went blank.
"Great! That's just great!" He pulled out the probes of his oscilloscope and began to work on the decoder box once again. He would not be denied the Playboy channel.
"Hey you lazy boy! Time for training!" Genma peeled his son off the wall and threw him over to the koi pond. Ranma squirmed back into a human shape and twisted himself to avoid the cold water.
"Try again pops!" He lunged at his father who leapt over him and kicked Ranma in the back sending him flying.
"Your defenses are slipping. Have you learned nothing boy!" Genma felt good at getting a blow in so early. He pressed his advantage and bounced off a rock to follow up with another blow to the back of his son.
Ranma grinned as he heard his father fall into his trap. At the last possible moment, Ranma ducked to the side and punched his flying father and sent him straight into the side of the dojo. Genma landed with his hands and feet on the wall and bounced effortlessly off. "Try again boy!"
"You're the one who's slipping pops!" Ranma feigned an attack and tried to kick his father from below. Genma blocked and threw a punch at Ranma's chest. The two took the fight to the rooftop and exchanged numerous blows that were all deflected or dodged.
The combat lasted for over ten minutes with neither opponent giving any ground. Ranma landed next to the koi pond and focused his attention to a shiny object on the ground for a split second.
Genma lunged for the one hundred yen coin and just before he could snatch it, Ranma kicked his dad into the koi pond. "Fooled you!" Ranma picked up the coin he had intentionally left on the ground as bait. "As you once said pop, one bright shiny object and you lose your concentration." He clenched the coin in his raised fist in triumph.
SPLASH!
A drenched Ranko stood where Ranma once was. She spun to see who would dare interfere in her moment of glory.
Nabiki held an empty bucket and smirked. "You can thank me later." She turned and went into the house.
"What do you mean by that you jerk?" Ranko grabbed one of the many buckets that conveniently lay about the backyard and filled it with water from the pond. She stormed into the house dripping water behind her. "Nabiki! Get back here so I can give you my proper thanks." She marched down the hall and turned the corner right into her mother.
Nodoka was startled at the angry expression on Ranko's face. Ranko quickly hid the bucket behind her back and gave a girlish smile. "Why Auntie Saotome! It's so nice to see you!"
"Hello Ranko." Nodoka gently bowed toward her favorite member of the Tendo family. She noticed that Ranko was soaking wet. "Were you bathing in the pond outside again? You shouldn't do that, it's very unladylike."
Ranko took a step back and slid her bucket around the corner of the hall. She kept up her smile and cute face for her mother. "I like to bathe outside Auntie!"
"Ranko, you need to learn how to act like a lady. Come with me." She gently took Ranko's hand and led her up the stairs. Outside, a panda got out of the pond and tip toed to the back gate in anticipation for a fast escape.
Ranko started to get worried as she noticed that her mother was leading her to the bathroom. She started to sweat and made mental notes of the fastest way to leave the house. She thought, "If I touch hot water, I'm a dead man."
Nodoka knocked on the bathroom door. "Is anyone in there?"
Nabiki opened the door. She finished brushing her teeth and rinsed out her mouth. "Why hello Mrs. Saotome. It's so nice to see you again."
Ranma's mom bowed and asked, "I'm going to give Ranko a bath. Please excuse us." She led her daughter to the door the led to the furo.
Nabiki wanted to laugh as she saw Ranko being dragged to her doom. She whispered to Ranko. "I'm adding this to your tab." She went back to the sink she was at and brushed her hair.
Ranko made a silent prayer and hoped that her mother would forgive her and not ask her to remove her internal organs. Nodoka stopped and let go of Ranko's hand. "We'll have to do with cold water for now Ranko."
Ranko spun around and saw that a tape was draped across the furo marked 'Broken, don't use' across it. Ranko knew this was going to inflate her debt to the bank of Nabiki but at least she didn't need to face the tanto today.
"Now young lady, please undress out of those filthy clothes and get you cleaned up."
"Yes Auntie Saotome." Ranko sighed as she did what she was told.
Akane and Nabiki had to use super human effort to keep from laughing their heads off. Ranko was sitting at the breakfast table in a Furinkan High School Girl's uniform and had a white bow in her pretty ponytail. She had a light application of makeup and just the hint of lipstick. She glared at the Tendo sisters every time they held back a laugh.
Nodoka asked Akane. "Is there something the matter dear? You seem to have difficulty breathing."
Akane choked back a laugh as she shot a glance at her 'cousin'. "No Auntie, I'm perfectly, he he, fine. He he."
"You don't sound fine to me. Are you such you're not choking?"
Akane stifled her laughter and sat up straight. "I'm perfectly fine Mrs. Saotome." She looked away from Ranko to remove her temptation to laugh out loud.
Nodoka shook her head. "Now Ranko, I expect you to be a perfect lady at school today."
Ranko sat sulking. "Yes Mrs. Saotome." She took her rice bowl and ate at high speed.
"RANKO! That's not how a lady eats!" Her mother slapped Ranko on the thigh as punishment.
Nabiki couldn't control herself. "You called her a lady! Ha ha ha!"
Ranko's mother was not amused at Nabiki's behavior. "What's so funny Nabiki? Ranko obviously hasn't been brought up properly and I'll see to it that she becomes a beautiful wife." Mrs. Saotome smiled at her favorite Tendo.
Akane spat out her tea and gagged.
Ranko whimpered. "Beautiful wife?"
Nabiki couldn't take it anymore. "I'm late for school!" She wasn't late but she darted out of the house before she could blow Ranko's cover. The moment she was out of earshot, she keeled over in hysterical laughter.
"I've got to go to school too." Akane got up and ran upstairs to get her things.
Ranko whimpered again. "Beautiful wife?"
Nodoka adjusted Ranko's ponytail and gazed at the red haired beauty in front of her. "I think it's time for you to go join your cousins Ranko."
Ranko took one last bite from her rice bowl and planned in her mind how she was going to sneak back into the house to get her male clothes, wipe off the makeup, change back and dart off to school without her mother finding out. She felt oppressing waves of doom as her plans in her mind kept meeting dismal failure. She contemplated places to hide to avoid going to school altogether.
Akane came down the stairs and waited for Ranko at the front door. "C'mon Ranko, I've got everything you need here!" She patted a large shopping bag that she never carries with her to school.
Ranko took the hint and joined Akane out the door. Nodoka watched the two girls run quickly down the path and out the front gate to Furinkan. Kasumi approached Nodoka and heard her say, "Those girls seem to be inseparable."
"Yes Auntie, they are. They fight a lot but they do care for each other."
"Now Kasumi, can you tell me when Ranma and Genma will be home?"
Kasumi sighed.
Akane walked alongside Ranko with a smug look on her face. "You know Ranma. I should let you go to school like that. It would serve you right."
Ranko shot a hateful glare at the dress she was wearing. It was one of Akane's dresses that she had grown out of and it didn't quite fit right on Ranko either. "I'm NOT going to school as a girl and I'm certainly not going in a DRESS!"
"Well then, you'd better apologize to me!" Akane pulled out Ranma's red shirt from the shopping bag just enough to show she had it but not enough to actually remove it from its safe place.
"Gimme that!" Ranko lunged forward to grab the object of her salvation.
"Uh uh! Not until you say you're sorry!" Akane hid the bag behind her back.
"Sorry for what you stupid jerk! Give me that!" Ranko darted left and right trying to grab the clothes.
"What did you say?" Akane raised her battle aura. "Here I am trying to help you and all you can do is insult me! Commit seppuku for all I care!" She spun around and threw the bag over the fence toward the canal.
"AHHH!" Ranko ran toward the fence into the waiting arms of Tatewaki Kuno.
"Ah my pig tailed god..." Ranko kicked the Casanova over the canal. He flew into the shopping bag and both landed on the far side in a heap.
"Well, finally that pervert was good for something." Ranko jumped on the fence and jumped across the canal where her prize lay.
Akane stuck her nose into the air. "Fine! See if I help you anymore you jerk!" She stormed off to school.
Ranko approached Kuno who was lying in a shallow crater. The bag was underneath him. Ranko gently lifted Kuno and reached under him to get the clothes. She held the bag tight and gave it a pull. Kuno lifted an arm and grabbed Ranko's hand and held it to his face as if to kiss it. "Ah my lovely vision in red, I see that you have followed me here to spend time with me. I am but touched." Kuno cleared his throat in preparation to recite some romantic poetry to set the mood.
"Touch this you pervert!" Ranko pulled her hand away from Kuno's approaching lips and brought her other fist down on his head. She snatched the bag and kicked him into the canal with a splash marking his departure.
"Man, will Tatewaki ever amount to anything?" Ranko ran off to find a place to change. She would deal with the hot water when she arrived at school.
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and prevents me from targeting a death beam on your house.
P.S. Arno Nym, you dared me to do this. This is all YOUR fault! Prepare to DIE!
Last edited on December 31st, 2007