Welcome back to Gensokyo's Heart. Last time, a Tal'Darim warrior with a Siege Breaker tank found his way to Gensokyo, following Abathur and Aya on their way back after meeting with Kerrigan. Abathur also got more Zerg for his cause (specifically, an Infested Terran, an Overlord, a Swarm Host, an Infestor, and two Vipers, plus a Raynor's Raiders Hercules Dropship). The Overlord should make things moderately easier on him.

Also- the promised Eientei is here. Let's get started, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: Touhou Project belongs to Team Shanghai Alice, and StarCraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.

…

Abathur awoke in an environment that initially seemed terrifying and alien, before realizing that it was his new home.

He rose and crawled over to the cockpit of the Hercules Dropship, somewhat annoyed that he had to press a button in order to get through.

"Leader," the Infested Terran at the helm gurgled.

"Land," Abathur commanded, somewhat groggily. This feeling of grogginess confused him, as the Zerg were not generally groggy creatures. It may have something to do with his pet project, but he dismissed that thought. If it did have to do with that, it would only happen once the project was complete, and that wouldn't be for a long time.

"Gladly," his servant gurgled, pulling the steering wheel towards him in order to lower the dropship.

Abathur returned to the main hall of the Hercules. Most of the Hercules's space was taken up by this hall, covered in computer screens spouting data he didn't understand. The only other rooms were the cockpit in the very front and the engine room in the very back (along with a bathroom that only Vampire Ultralisk or Kappa Leviathan ever used).

When the ship landed, Abathur pressed a button to open the main doors. The main doors were massive, spanning the length of most of the hall, and about twice as tall as a Terran, still managing to be slightly taller than Abathur himself.

The leader of this miniature Swarm crawled off of the Hercules, a very tired Vampire Ultralisk and Kappa Leviathan following him.

"Urgh… Kappa Leviathan didn't get enough sleep last night, Evolution Master…" she yawned, stretching. Somewhere along the line, she managed to change into pajamas, even though there were no pajamas aboard the Hercules. He suspected that Sanae may have given them to her.

"I 'gree with K-L," the other slurred in agreement. "I need my beauty sleep…"

"Have plans," Abathur reminded them. "Must not miss meeting."

"And you've just barely made it on time," said Remilia Scarlet, walking out from behind a tree. "Are you sure you couldn't have brought any of your other subordinates? They both look pretty tired."

"Kappa Leviathan, Vampire Ultralisk, only Zerg capable of Danmaku," Abathur sighed. "Must have them for own protection. Other Zerg, must not be used."

The pair of Zerg stretched, Vampire's bony wings buzzing slightly and Kappa's tentacles expanding slightly before retracting.

"Well, I guess my plans for today aren't too difficult," Remilia sighed. "We're just going to visit doctor Yagokoro. I need to pick up a prescription, and I figured that it would be a good reason to introduce her to you. After all, you're public, now, and it'd be a good idea to have the best doctor on Earth take a look at you."

"Best doctor on Earth?" Abathur asked. If he could, he would quizzically raise his nonexistent eyebrow.

"Yes, even though she's, eh, not technically from Earth," Remilia clarified. "But she's also the best doctor on the moon, too…"

"Evidence suggests lack of life on Earth's moon in 26th century," Abathur argued. "No civilization on Luna."

"They're really good at hiding," Remilia shrugged. "Or, maybe they finally got wiped out by that point in the future. Who knows?"

"Well, why don't we go see this Yagokoro now?" asked Vampire. "I mean, that's why we're here."

"Exactly!" Remilia grinned with a snap of her fingers. "Sakuya."

With a pop, Sakuya appeared. "Yes, mistress?"

"We're ready," Remilia answered. "Find Fujiwara. We need her help getting through the Bamboo Forest.

"Of course, mistress," Sakuya answered, and she disappeared again.

"While she's bringing the fire-bird back," Remilia grinned. "I need to talk to you. Have you heard the rumors?"

"Rumors?" Abathur asked.

"Yes," answered Remilia. "There have been rumors of great cracking sounds not unlike thunder, accompanied by a large metal creature, ever since the resolution of the Zerus Incident. As in, the creature is like a giant metal block with wheels and another, smaller metal block on top. People say that it's very blue."

Abathur wracked his memory. The description sounded like a Terran Siege Tank, likely associated with the Raynor's Raiders given the blue color scheme. The cracking sounds were likely the cannon of the tank. The problem was, there was no reason for any Siege Tanks to exist in Gensokyo. They were a Terran machine, but they weren't invented until the 25th century, not to mention that they weren't a machine that existed outside the Koprulu Sector. The only way to go back in time was to go through the portal, and to be fair, he visited Koprulu just after the incident, but he, Aya, and Kerrigan were the only ones around. They had eliminated all of the Tal'Darim on the planet, which were a Protoss group anyways, and no Terrans had ever even set foot there.

"Abathur?" Remilia asked. "Gensokyo to Abathur."

"Sorry," Abathur apologized. "Was contemplating. Description, sounds familiar."

"Siege Tank?" asked Kappa. Abathur nodded. "But it's impossible for a Siege Tank to be here!"

"Oh?" asked Remilia. "What's a Siege Tank?"

"Terran vehicle from Koprulu Sector," Abathur answered. "Transforms between two modes. Tank mode, can move around. Siege mode, loses ability to relocate, but gains ability to shoot powerful, spreading projectiles across large distance. Can freely switch between two modes."

"They're probably the most useful part of the Terran armory," Vampire agreed. "And that's saying a lot, when they've also got electronic armor, giant robots, and space battleships."

"Terrans are humans, right?" asked Remilia. "Interesting. They've certainly gone far in just under five hundred years. That's nearly my whole lifespan. That's still not as advanced as what the Lunarians have, I don't think, but it's pretty close, and just as useful."

"Terrans, still not as technologically advanced as Protoss," Abathur reminded. "Can still go… 'toe-to-toe' with them. Advanced, not necessarily better."

"I suppose you're right," Remilia smiled. "In any case, Sakuya should be here soon."

At that moment, Sakuya walked through, a white-haired girl wearing baggy red pants following. Sakuya looked mildly annoyed.

"It took me four hours to find her, mistress," Sakuya groaned. "Gensokyo is a big place, and Fujiwara isn't that easy to find when she doesn't want to be found."

"I wasn't hiding or anything," the girl retorted. "I just decided to take a different route to the tavern today."

"In any case," Sakuya ended the argument right there. "Abathur, this is Fujiwara no Mokou, an immortal human. She can escort us through the Bamboo Forest of the Lost."

"Intimidating title," Abathur noted.

"It's earned it," Sakuya agreed. "If you don't have a good guide, you can get lost no matter how good of a navigator you are. That's why we've got Mokou with us."

"I can get you through the forest pretty easily," Mokou agreed. "You're going to Eientei, right? I'll leave you at the front door. It'd be a bad idea for me to go in for… a lot of reasons."

She turned to Abathur.

"You're Abathur, right? I'm a friend of Keine's. Nice to meet you. I heard you watched Cirno and Daiyousei for her once."

"Did," Abathur confirmed. "Explained history of Koprulu Sector."

"The Koprulu Sector's where you're from, right?" asked Mokou. "The folks at Eientei might be interested in that. Excepting Tewi and her rabbits, they're fond of astronomy. They might know where it is."

"Correct," he answered. "Might have something in common with them."

"Well, we need to be going," Mokou finished. "You can talk about astronomy when you get there."

And so, the group followed the immortal.

…

When the group arrived at a large Japanese-style home, Sakuya sighed in relief. It seemed like she was exhausted.

"Wow…" said Kappa Leviathan. "Kappa Leviathan is impressed!"

Mokou pointed out a door on the building, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"There's the customer entrance, since the place doubles as a pharmacy and clinic. There's no way in hell I'm coming in with you. I wouldn't be able to control myself, and I'd end up wrecking the place with Kaguya. We've got a… history."

And with that, Mokou turned around and walked off, placing her cigarette in her mouth.

"Well, let's go in," Remilia suggested. However, she and Sakuya both paled when they heard an explosion within.

"Thought Mokou left to avoid this possibility," Abathur mused. "Apparently happened anyway."

The front door opened, and four figures exited. The first was a small girl with rabbit ears, about the size of Cirno, wearing a pink dress. She held part of that dress up to her mouth and had her eyes held closed. She was soon followed by a girl with pink hair and more obvious rabbit ears. Her eyes were also shut closed, but she was coughing. The fourth wore an alternating red-and-blue dress with constellations all over and wasn't showing symptoms of breathing in smoke like the other two. The final one was Nitori, who held a hand to her mouth with her eyes open. Smoke poured out the door.

"Nitori?" asked Kappa Leviathan. "Kappa Leviathan wants to know why you're here!"

"Not now!" came the muffled voice of Nitori. "Need to get out, first!"

Abathur turned to the door of Eientei. Just what had happened in there?

…

And that's the beginning of the fourth arc! Something happened in Eientei, and Nitori had something to do with it! And where's Kaguya? How am I going to characterize the Eientei crew? What's going on with the Siege Tank? What's the name of that Tal'Darim guy?

Every single one of those questions will be answered in the next chapter, and there's still more than one chapter left in the arc! Remember to review!