Volulan

This unnamed species comprised of intelligent light energy invaded Earth after misinterpreting a satellite's time capsule for a declaration of war, taking on the appearance of classic 1980's video game characters.

Biology
The true form of the aliens is unknown, but it is known that their bodies are comprised of cubes of intelligent light energy, which can hover and remain active even if detached from the rest of an alien's body. While they appear to have mass, following most laws of physics, and can physically touch objects, their cubes go haywire if objects of regular matter attempts to pierce them, causing them to levitate and rapidly bounce around. However, physical force is still capable of making smaller aliens shatter or flatten, although this does not truly harm them, and they quickly come back together. Additionally, the aliens are capable of destroying regular matter, including living tissue, by converting them into similar energy cubes upon a successful strike to the target's body, and they appear capable of reverting these cubes to what they were originally. While the fact that regular matter cannot pierce their bodies and physical force does not do permanent damage makes the aliens impervious to bullets and other conventional weaponry, supercharged light particles are capable of destroying them, making them explode into tiny, non-living light cubes that fade away. Aliens can also rearrange the cubes in their bodies into a variety of forms, such as humanoids, animals, robots, and insects. While usually appearing "pixelated" due to being made up of cubes, they are also capable of "smoothing out" their appearances to not be as blocky, even capable of creating a perfectly Human-like appearance. Strangely, despite their inorganic energy-like nature, they are capable of producing offspring with Humans. Due to their shapeshifting abilities, the aliens can take on many forms of locomotion, from walking to hovering and flying, and can be many different sizes, from the size of a dog to heights comparable to multi-story buildings. In addition, the aliens can replicate a number of abilities, such as those pertaining to specific video game characters.

Culture and society
The society of this species is usually one of peace and harmony, but they are very quick to carry out preemptive strikes against perceived threats. They know very little of Earth's culture, and presumably have no equivalent to common video games, at least any with violence, as they assumed that footage of 1980s video games and other relics of the decade were a declaration of war. If another power declares war against this species, this species is known to abide by any and all rules supposedly presented by the other power, such as following the patterns and mechanics of video games, only using what assets are permitted by the rules, and even changing their appearances and the design of their vehicles to fit into the rules, displaying fairly polite manners during broadcasts to enemy powers. However, if the enemy power were to break the established rules they presented, the aliens will immediately turn to deploying their entire forces in a direct assault. Additionally, while the aliens are sapient, many are known to take on seemingly non-sapient or animalistic behaviors to fit in with the appearance they take, especially when said appearance is of an animal or machine.

Technology
The technology of this species is highly advanced, with military spacecraft capable of crossing the Milky Way resembling Boss Galaga. These spaceships are equipped with weaponry capable of rendering matter into light cubes, and they are also capable of generating constructs of light cubes, such as the mushroom-like obstacles of Centipede. The aliens are also able to beam members of other lifeforms to their ships by converting their bodies into energy cubes and then reforming them within the ship. Additionally, they are able to reconstruct dissolved body parts of individuals who were harmed by alien attacks.

History
Alien society thrived for some time before 2015, when they encountered a satellite launched from Earth, which carried a time capsule holding videocassettes of various aspects of Earth's culture until 1982, the most prominent being an arcade championship game and other examples of classic video games. The aliens misinterpreted the images of the video games as a declaration of war, and set off to attack Earth, adopting strategies and appearances based off of the various game characters. They prepared to face Earth with a "three life" system, based off of the games: a series of battles against Earth forces, each modeled after a different video game, where the loser would lose one life and have a member of their respective species turned over to the winner as a prize. If Earth loses all three lives, they would be subjugated, while if the aliens lose three lives, they would withdraw. Arriving on Earth, the aliens began by attacking the Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, taking the form of Galaga, easily overwhelming the unprepared Human soldiers and abducting a survivor as their prize. Shortly afterwards, the aliens interrupt Earth's television broadcasts, using manipulated footage of classic 1980s TV characters to tell the Humans that they had accepted "the declaration of war" and relay the rules of the challenge, along with the fact that Earth has lost one life. The aliens then launch their next attack on the Taj Mahal, in the form of Vaus from Arkanoid, destroying the monument and abducting a male bystander as their prize, rendering Earth to only having one life.

An alien light cube from one of the attacks was secured by the US government, allowing the military to develop light particle cannons that could actually harm the aliens. After the US military was trained and equipped with the new weapons, helped by video game enthusiasts Sam Brenner and Ludlow Lamonsoff, the aliens launched an assault on Hyde Park, London, taking the form of creatures from Centipede, even generating mushroom-like obstacles in the sky. British and US soldiers were already waiting for them in the park, and managed to damage some with their new weapons, but could not follow the proper patterns of Centipede that the aliens were using, resulting in many casualties. However, Brenner and Ludlow intervene, grabbing the light cannons and using their knowledge of the game's patterns to quickly destroy many aliens, although one centipede managed to escape, tearing its way through the city while chased by Brenner. The alien briefly stopped in the apartment of an elderly woman who was exercising, deciding to mimic her movements before it was shot at by Brenner, prompting it to jump off the balcony to the street below, where it nearly landed on a child before being destroyed by Brenner. The aliens then broadcasted another message using 1980s TV characters, congratulating Earth on its victory and sending one of their members to London as a trophy, who took the form of the Duck Hunt dog, materializing in the damaged apartment of the exercising elderly woman and happily playing with her.

The aliens then planned to attack New York City, deploying an especially large soldier modeled after Pac-Man. To fit in with the game's rules, the Humans modified cars colored like the game's ghosts to hold light particle field generators, sending a team of drivers led by Brenner, consisting of Lamonsoff, former arcade champion Eddie Plant, who won the championship game against Brenner that the aliens saw, and Toru Iwatani, the creator of the Pac-Man game. The group, now designated as the Arcaders, met the Pac-Man alien in the street as it ate its way through other cars, although Iwatani could only see the alien as his own creation, refusing to believe that a character made to spread joy could have been twisted into a killer monster. Against the judgement of the others, Iwatani exited his car and attempted to reason with the alien, only for the alien to bite his hand when he attempted to touch it, dissolving Iwatani's lower arm before Pac-Man fled down the street to start the challenge, chased by the remaining Arcaders. The Pac-Man alien continued to destroy vehicles in its way, always faster than the cars due to the game character always being faster than the ghosts, forcing the Arcaders to resort to outmaneuvering it. Eventually, the Humans managed to corner the alien, and Eddie rammed it with his car, destroying it. However, as Pac-Man has three lives in the game, another Pac-Man alien was deployed four streets away. Additionally, in order to reach the alien, Eddie somehow moved his car at extremely high speeds, although this was first unnoticed by the aliens.

When the Arcaders reached the second Pac-Man alien, they found they already had it cornered, but the other aliens had generated a Power Pellet-like object next to the Pac-Man alien, which it promptly ate, sending out a shockwave that painted the cars blue and disabled their light particle forcefields, giving the alien 10 seconds where he could eat their cars. The alien first went for Lamonsoff, eating his car, although the Human managed to bail out and attempted to run from the alien on the street. However, the alien didn't realize that its 10 seconds were up, and just as it was about to eat Lamonsoff, Eddie used his superspeed tactic again to ram the alien in the side with his forcefield restored, destroying it. The last Pac-Man alien was then deployed right where the last was destroyed, chased by Eddie and Brenner, but managed to turn right before Eddie could ram it, making Eddie crash into the East River. Now chased by Brenner alone, the alien went right for a Power Pellet, managing to consume it and render Brenner vulnerable. However, Brenner goaded the alien into chasing him, counting down the seconds as he drove in reverse to a parking lot, timing it just right to have the effect wear off just when the alien's jaws clamped down on his car, meaning the alien bit right into the forcefield, destroying it. In recognition of the Human victory, the aliens were down to one life as well, and sent a member of their species modeled after Q*Bert to the city, where he was found by Lamonsoff and brought to the other Arcaders.

Shortly after the battle with Pac-Man, Q*Bert began to bond with the Humans, especially with Matty Patten, the son of a US military officer and new Arcader named Violet van Patten, although the violent modern video games Matty played frightened Q*Bert. To calm him down, Brenner fed him cheese puffs and had him play with Matty on a trampoline, although Q*Bert fell off the trampoline and was smashed to pieces from the fall, but reformed and excitedly asked to jump again. Later, Q*Bert, wearing a suit, joined the Humans in a celebratory party, as the other aliens figured out that Eddie had somehow cheated during the Pac-Man battle, presumably by overclocking the engine in his car to gain speeds much higher than that of the Pac-Man alien. The aliens broadcasted this to the population of Earth, declaring that the challenge, and Earth, are forfeit as a result of the cheating, taking Matty hostage and preparing for an invasion that followed no game rules. Meanwhile, Q*Bert remained with the Humans, figuring out that the "declaration of war" was just game footage. When questioned by the Arcaders, Q*Bert told them how his homeworld used to be a happy place, and that the alien leaders do not recognize the truth of the footage, also adding that the aliens were fashioning their army aboard their mothership. As Q*Bert said, the aliens promptly sent their mothership over Washington, DC, where it deployed an army of aliens with the appearances of various video game characters, indiscriminately attacking civilians and infrastructure. The Arcaders, now minus Eddie and joined by Q*Bert, rushed to meet the invasion force, as Q*Bert told them that the only way to access the mothership was from under it. One alien, modeled after the frog from Frogger, nearly jumped on the Arcaders, but was caught in mid-air by a crane operated by Will Cooper, childhood friend of Brenner, where the alien seemingly reverted to animalistic instincts and ate another passing alien modeled after a Galaga.

Cooper, who was serving as President of the United States just before the invasion, managed to secure light cannons for the Arcaders, allowing them to start destroying aliens, with Violet repeatedly blasting a relatively docile alien modeled after a Smurf. Lamonsoff went off alone to free a school bus from a group of aliens modeled after ninjas, managing to kill them all, but then, an alien modeled after Lady Lisa, protagonist of Dojo Quest, confronted Lamonsoff, smoothing out her appearance to look perfectly Human. Lamonsoff, who had a crush on the character since he was a child, dropped his gun while telling her about how much he wanted her to be real, but Lady Lisa wordlessly drew her swords and began attacking Lamonsoff, who refused to fight her, telling her how much he loved her and that even if she killed him, he would die happy. Intrigued by his words, and even willingness to die if it was by her hand, Lady Lisa dropped her swords and pulled Lamonsoff up for a kiss, before the two were interrupted by Eddie, who wished to make amends for his cheats by saving the planet. Lady Lisa decided to join the Humans, taking up her swords again and helping Lamonsoff and Eddie fight the other aliens. Meanwhile, Brenner, Cooper, Violet, and Q*Bert made it under the mothership, where an alien addressed them in the form of Max Headroom, telling them that their leader wished to combat them personally, willing to give them one last challenge for the fate of Earth. The messenger told the Humans that if they could best the alien leader, Earth would be saved. The Arcaders, minus Eddie and Lamonsoff, were then teleported up to the mothership, where they found the alien leader had modeled the interior after the last game footage in the time capsule: Donkey Kong, with the leader taking on the form of the titular Donkey Kong, with the abducted Humans in place of Pauline atop the platforms.

As Eddie, Lamonsoff, and Lady Lisa fended off the alien forces on the ground, being pushed back by the overwhelming numbers, the Arcaders aboard the mothership started making their way up the platform as the alien leader began throwing barrels down at them. A barrel ran over Q*Bert, flattening him, with the Humans presuming him dead as they reached the second-to-last platform, with Brenner lamenting the fact that the alien leader was not following the Donkey Kong patterns, making it harder for him to progress. The alien leader continued throwing barrels at the Arcaders as Matty told Brenner that Eddie had cheated in the championship game, restoring Brenner's confidence. Brenner managed to grab a light particle hammer from a platform, using it to smash through several barrels before dropping it to get to the highest platform, where the alien leader nearly hit him with a barrel. Then, Q*Bert popped back to normal, prompting Violet to go down to help him, managing to toss him back up to the higher levels, but Violet then got trapped by fireball-shaped aliens while the alien leader kept throwing barrels at her. Brenner charged at the alien leader, slid under him, and grabbed another hammer, allowing him to smash his way through fireballs and barrels until he reached Violet, pulling her up before making it back to the end of the platform. Staring down the alien leader, Brenner threw the hammer right at the leader, breaking clean through a barrel and striking the alien leader in the chest, destroying him.

With the alien leader's destruction, all aliens still on Earth, minus Q*Bert and the Duck Hunt dog, froze in place and exploded, including Lady Lisa, whose particles returned to the mothership as the Arcaders, captives, and Q*Bert were returned to the surface, in the backyard of the White House, joined by Lamonsoff and Eddie. While Lamonsoff complained that Lady Lisa was gone while Q*Bert remained due to being a trophy, Q*Bert suddenly began convulsing before transforming into Lady Lisa, possibly infused with the particles of the original Lady Lisa by the mothership, as it is possible the other aliens recognized her sudden wish to stay with Lamonsoff. Whatever the case, Lady Lisa and Lamonsoff began kissing, much to Brenner's confusion, as he pointed out that Lady Lisa was made from Q*Bert. The alien mothership then departed, but not before restoring Iwatani's dissolved arm. Additionally, some time later, Lamonsoff and Lady Lisa got married, and the two somehow produced children, who were all comprised of light cubes and all bore Q*Bert's appearance.

Appearances

 * Pixels (2015)