Yamato Gun III (A Digimon/CardCaptors/Sailor Moon/StarCraft Crossover
fic)
By the Reanimated Raynor (Reanimated_Raynor@interactive.rogers.com for
a quick response, Ryn0r@hotmail.com for a long, more thought-out
response/explanation)
Notes:
Lemon Alert: This fic contains a lot of adult material, so if you're not
whatever the legal age is (18+, usually) where you are, then you should
leave.
Copyright Alert: This fic contains characters and/or themes from Sailor
Moon, Digimon, Starcraft and Card Captor Sakura (Just CardCaptors in the
North American Version). I do not own any of these characters and/or
themes from the games/shows themselves; however, the plot and any
original units/characters are mine. But if you want to steal them, be my
guest. Just email the Reanimated_Raynor address with a "I'm just going
to yoink this character" type email.
Timelines: The CardCaptors universe is basically set in part 2 of a
Lemon entitled the Clow Card Booster Pack (Because I'm using the yuri
card in this fic... ^_^;) by Erica Friedman, the Sailor Moon universe is
set sometime after Super S, and the Senshi are 16, the Digimon universe
is set about two years after 02, and the Starcraft universe is set after
Yamato Gun II (Another fic of mine). All you have to know is that the
DigiDestined can travel into the StarCraft universe at will, Sora has no
memory, and that both Duran and Kerrigan are dead. The rest gets
explained in the fic itself. Speaking of, I'd read the first fic entitled
"Unusual Mornings" to have any hope in Hell as to what's happening.
øøø---_______Yamato Gun III_______---øøø
CafŽ, the Hyperion II--1800 hours, May 16, 2503
All six girls walked in to the Hyperion CafŽ at the same time,
causing a little bit of commotion among the crew that was there--90% of
them being male. "Why do I have the feeling this is going to be an
ongoing thing?" Ami said.
"Because there's only maybe 90 or so females out of about 900 crew
abord the Hyperion II." Raynor said, walking in behind them.
"Sorry, boys. We're taken." Sakura said playfully, throwing an arm
around Tomoyo as she did.
Three-quarters of the people in the room said "Aww." Some of them
female.
"Ah well. Shall we? I hear the Zergling steak is excellent today.
Fresh, too."
Only tomoyo didn't turn pale from that statement. "I always
figured they'd be good as a meal. Almost like cows, only a little
deadlier." Tomoyo said.
"Nope. It was a joke anyway. Their muscles are saturated with
their version of adrenaline, which to us humans stops blood from
clotting at all. So well, in fact, that one drop on a papercut will
allow you to eventually bleed out." Raynor replied.
"Oh. Never mind."
"Not to mention the only antidote to the adrenaline's effects,
which has to be added to the steak itself before cooking, gives the
steak the taste and texture of your average tire."
"Yuck." Kari said.
"Yuck indeed. No, Guardian meat is where it's at. The only problem
is that getting to the good stuff is almost like getting blowfish meat."
"Ooh. Not good."
"And the acidic stuff the meat's surrounded by could easily melt
your teeth."
"Oh no. I just got these fillings." Usagi said.
"It's alright, Guardian meat's a delicacy. More of a Christmas
thing. I think we've got bengalaas on the menu. Bengalaas is a species
that looks like it's related to a cat, and it's natural habitat is the
Protoss' homeland, Aiur. Somehow a few bengalaas made it through the
warp gate during the evacuation to Shakuras, and they've adapted to the
environment well. So well, in fact, that we're having bengalaas every
other day just to keep the population down. Don't worry, it tastes just
like chicken."
"Everything tastes like chicken." Yolei said.
"Not on this planet it doesn't, not by a long shot. And bengalaas
really does. You can't tell the difference."
"Whatever you say."
"Alright, you girls go sit down, I'll order. Oh, any preference
for dessert? ...Right, guess you don't know what we've got. Uh, there's
the Cloud parfait, which is usually for people who stuff themselves so
full they don't want dessert. Basically all taste, no actual substance,
hence the name. Comes in the usual chocolate, vanilla and strawberry...
there's the Mercury pie--"
At that point both Sakura and Tomoyo started blushing furiously.
"You'd think I'd do that, given that I am Sailor Mercury, but I don't
get the reference anyway." Ami said.
"Don't ask. Just a reference from a lemon called 'Evening at
Lita's'."
"Oh..." Then Ami's whole head almost glowed red as she realized
exactly what "Mercury Pie" could mean in a lemon. "Oh my."
"Uh...yeah. What was that called? Evening at--ow!" Raynor said as
Kari smacked him upside the head.
"Hentai." Kari said darkly.
"What, the bed remark didn't give it away?"
"Actually, I hoped it was an isolated incident." Yolei said.
"Not by a looong shot. Anyway, moving on, there's my personal
favorite, the Dark Templar Black Forest cake, which is your average
black forest cake with a couple of Protoss spices. I think that's it for
what's on today."
"I think I'll have one of those strawberry Cloud thingies." Kari
said.
"Seconded, only make mine vanilla." Yolei said.
"Does that black forest cake have the cherries on top?" Tomoyo
asked.
"Yeah." Raynor replied.
"Ooh, I'll have a slice of that, then."
"Just a slice? It's only about the size of a CD-ROM. People
usually order a whole cake."
"That works too."
"Your time still uses CD-ROMs?" Ami said. "I'd have figured they'd
be obsolete long ago."
"They are. I got a CD-ROM of StarCraft from Matt in--"
"Don't tell us. Kari's timeline." Sakura said.
"--Yeah."
"I think I'll have one of those cakes, too." Sakura said.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Raynor, but I wouldn't mind a
slice of that Mercury pie, assuming it's blueberry. Unless it's really
small too." Ami said.
"Nope. Full size. And yeah, it's blueberry."
"Mmm, my favorite." Usagi said. "I'll have a slice too."
"Interesting...you three are in perfect pairs with each other, you
know. Not only that, we've got Sailor moon here eating Mer--ow!" Raynor
said as he was again hit, this time by Usagi and Ami. "Sorry. Just too
good an opportunity to pass up. I mean, it's not every day that kind of
perfect opening shows up through the nearest warp rift. Anyway, you six
can go to that corner booth. I think it'll be big enough. I'll be right
back."
The six walked over to the booth sat down, from left to right,
in the order Ami, Usagi, Sakura, Tomoyo, Yolei, Kari. There was a space
beside Ami for Raynor to sit.
"I can't believe he didn't notice! Ami said. "I mean, it's still
there, isn't it?"
"I know!" Yolei agreed. "Hold on. What are you talking about?"
"The symbol of Mercury is glowing on my forehead, isn't it? and
the Moon's is on Usagi's forehead."
"Yeah, it's still there." Usagi said.
"Uh, no it's not." Yolei said. "But my crest should be on my
forehead." Yolei said.
"Nope."
"Are my eyes at least a purplish color?"
Tomoyo leaned in and looked right into Yolei's eyes, squinting a
little. "Oh yeah...only a little, though. Mine are pink, right?" She
said.
"Yeah, they are. Any idea what made your eyes glow pink?"
"The yuri card." Sakura answered flatly.
"Oh." Yolei said. "I must have missed that episode. Funny, most of
the Lemons I've seen that involve cards has the Create card in it."
"The TV show doesn't have the yuri card in it? Jeez, it's just not
a show if it doesn't have the Yuri card. Tomoyo, you've got the video,
don't you?"
"What, here?" Usagi said. "I mean, in the show you're a little
obsessed with Sakura, but this is rediculous."
"Well, the yuri card capture is special. It was when we ended up
professing our love to each other, among doing other things..." Sakura
explained.
"And yeah, I've got the video." Tomoyo replied.
"Good. Maybe we can get the replicator to make us a small-screen
TV to play it on."
"Or we could just go to the holodeck." Raynor said, walking up and
placing trays down in front of Ami and Usagi. "I'll be back with the
rest." Raynor said, walking off again.
"...How much did he hear, do you think?" Tomoyo said.
"Far too much, I think." Ami said.
"Hoeee.... He'll probably want a copy of it." Sakura said.
"More than likely." Usagi agreed. "So everyone's got some eye
thing now? I mean, there's Tomoyo, Sakura and Kari, who's got pink
eyes..."
"They're a different shade, though. Sakura's and Tomoyo's are more
a light red than pink." Kari said.
"Oh. At any rate, they've got some version of pink, Yolei's got
purple eyes, Ami's are blue and I've got yellow eyes."
"I don't know why it's not obvious." Tomoyo said, looking into
Sakura's eyes. "It's a vibrant pink glow."
"To you maybe. I don't know, maybe you two can see each others'
eyes better because you're both from the same universe or something."
"Maybe. I can barely see Usagi's, for example, but Yolei's is
pretty bright." Kari said. "By the way, did any of you four get
something between when we went into our respective quarters?"
"I would have thought you all got some." Raynor said, coming back
with five more trays--holding two, and balancing the other three on his
forearm. The six girls sweatdropped. "Although I don't think that's what
you meant."
Raynor carefully placed trays around the table, being careful not
to drop any of them.
"No, it wasn't." Kari said. "Me and Yolei got these necklaces out
of nowhere."
Kari and Yolei each brought out their necklaces as the rest
started to eat. They quickly followed suit, trying the Bengalaas meat,
which looked exactly like a chicken breast. "You're right, Raynor, this
does taste like chicken." Yolei said.
"Could use the StarCraft equivalent of Shake 'N Bake." Sakura
commented.
"We've been trying to find the recipe for that, but it's the one
thing not in our massive cooking archive."
"Tough luck." Usagi said with her mouth full.
"Mm. The weird thing about these necklaces is that they turn into
actual weapons. Like full size sharp could-kill-you-easily-just-by-
looking-at-it weapons." Yolei explained.
"That's interesting." Raynor said. "Not that blades and arrows
will be that much help against the Zerg, but still, they look cool."
"Don't be too sure. I mean, this doesn't...I don't know, _feel_
like it's a normal thing. Like it's something extra, only not. Enchanted
or something."
"Enchanted. Riiight."
"Hey, you try not believing in magic at the same time that a
yellow stuffed animal is telling you you've got to go capture all these
cards with different powers running amok." Sakura said.
"Counterpoint: You're in my universe now. Besides, I have yet to
see this stuffed animal of yours. Not that I'm doubting you or
anything."
"Oh yeah, right. Kero's almost as big a hentai as you are. Do you
really think we'd let him within a kilometre of us while we're taking a
bath?"
"True."
"As to your original question, Kari," Ami said, "no, Usagi and I
never got anything, let alone a weapon of some sort. Granted, we're sort
of walking weapons ourselves."
"I saw that from the episodes I was able to find of Sailor Moon."
Raynor said. "The only thing is--and this is just a question, don't get
mad at me--while you transform, are you naked at some point?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Because there are two different versions of the show, one in
Japanese, the other in english. There's some major editing for the
english version, including taking out all the nudity and most of the
ecchi stuff."
"So they took all the good stuff out of it?" Yolei said.
"Basically."
"Question." Tomoyo said, looking at Raynor. "Are my eyes pink?"
"Are they _pink_? A little, why?"
"Let's just say it's an aftereffect." Sakura said.
"Ok. An aftereffect of wh--never mind. Any idea why?"
"The Yuri card."
"...Card? What do you mean?"
"One of the cards I captured. When I capture a card, I get its
powers. Each is a different power--The fly card, the water card, et
cetera. There just happened to be a Yuri card."
"I think I was a little too right when I said this could get
real interesting, real fast. So is it just you two?"
"No. Me and Yolei have our signature colors." Kari said.
"And me and Ami have our colors, too. and our symbols on our
foreheads." Usagi added.
"Symbols?"
"Of Mercury and the Moon." Ami explained.
"Ah. So all six of you have some eye thing, Kari and Yolei get
weapons, and we have no idea why the six of you are here in the first
place. Somehow I knew I should have stayed in bed, this morning--"Raynor
said before starting to blink rapidly. "Ow."
"What?"
"I don't know, my eyes are itching a lot all of a sudden..."Raynor
said, rubbing his eyes. "I have no idea what could be caus--wait. It
just stopped." Raynor said, opening his eyes.
"Whoa, cool!" Usagi said. "Your eyes are green!"
"They are?" Raynor said. "Speaking of, everything else is a sea
green too. Is it the same for all of you? In your colors, I would
imagine."
"Yeah, it's the same. For us at least." Sakura replied.
"Same here." Ami added.
"Well, it's unanimous." Kari said.
"The plot thickens...I think I just got included in whatever is
happening."
"Seems like it, anyway. Welcome to the club. Actually, since we
were kind of interrupted by noticing the eye thing, we had some time to
experiment. Not only do we have the weapons, we can use them, well at
that, and we've got night vision now. Everything's like a black-and-pink
version of the standard green NVGs."
"Guess we'll have to do some experiments to see just what each
person's capable of after dinner." Raynor said.
"Good. I don't know about you four, but I've got all this energy
coursing through me for some reason." Ami said, finishing the rest of
her dinner and starting on the Mercury Pie.
"Leftover adrenaline?" Raynor suggested.
"I'll let that slide just because it was the first thing that
crossed my mind. No, it feels different than the usual hormone/
adrenaline mix. Like the pure energy the Negaverse is always trying to
steal."
"Oh."
"This is really good, although it does taste a little different."
"The blueberries are grown hydroponically."
"Yeah, we've got an energy rush too." Sakura said. "Although the
first time I used the windy card by accident I felt the same thing, but
it subsided really quickly. And it's also an aftereffect of the Yuri
card, though it usually goes away in 10 minutes or so."
"We kind of feel the same thing when our digimon digivolve, but
it's only about three seconds long." Yolei said. "It's like it froze in
mid-digivolution."
"So you've all got some experience with this feeling. This could
mean something." Raynor said.
"Yeah, I felt the same thing when the rest of the inner Senshi
and I were killed at D-point...when we were adding our power to the
Princess'." Ami said.
"I kind of feel the same thing when I transform into Serenity."
Usagi said. "Only a little more...I don't know, watered down. It's a lot
stronger right now. Man, that was a good dinner."
"Yeah, I have to admit, it was, considering we just ate something
from a different planet, on a starship, in an alternate universe." Kari
agreed.
"Yeah. Anyway, no rush. As soon as you're all done we can go to
the holodeck and see about all your powers. And maybe that video?"
Raynor suggested innocently.
"That can wait another day, Raynor." Tomoyo replied flatly. "I
think the whole thing with the powers is just starting to warm up."
øøø---___
Holodeck #2, The Hyperion II--1845 hours, May 16, 2503
A whole lot of targets were set up, both long-range and short-
range. "Ok. I assume Ami and Usagi need to--ok." Raynor started. "You're
already transformed."
"Yeah. I think that could be a new thing. The transformation only
needed a mental command to activate." Mercury said, her visor around her
eyes. "No idea why I'm wearing my visor, though. Though it's got more
sensory input than it had."
"Maybe that's your 'upgrade'." Kari suggested.
"Maybe. Although I don't think so, somehow. At least not all of
it."
"At any rate..." Raynor interjected. "When a target gets destroyed
it'll automatically regenerate. some of them will stay in one place,
some will move back and forth, some will move randomly, and some will
try to dodge your attacks. They'll have a number in blue on them--that
shows what level it is. Level 1 is when they stay in one place, and
level 4 is dodge mode. Guess this is where I say go, right?"
Sakura pulled out her key, and flipped it into the air. It spun
around and lengthened, and slowed to a stop, floating in the air. Sakura
was about to catch it when the head kept moving, and lengthened into a
scythe. "Whoa!" Sakura said, picking her new Staff out of the air.
"That's a new one."
"Seems like, but--hey, look at that!" Tomoyo said, pointing to
where the staff was floating in air. There was a ghost-like image of
the original staff.
"That's weird..." Sakura said, reaching out to touch the old
Staff. It went right through Sakura. "Hmm. Why is it here?"
Tomoyo's eyes seemed to glow a brighter pink than usual. "Come."
Tomoyo said in a voice that sounded like it echoed before she said the
words, and the old Staff flew through the air, Tomoyo carching it and
twirling it around a few times. Then her eyes returned to their usual
brightness. "What--why do I have your staff now?" Tomoyo asked.
"Maybe you can use the Cards now?" Sakura suggested. "I don't
know, maybe I passed some of my power down into you."
"Well, this is the perfect atmosphere to test that..." Raynor
commented.
"Good point. What card do you want to try to use?"
"Let's see if I can use the Windy card." Tomoyo said. Then she
suddenly reached into her Hammerspace and pulled it out. "Guess we both
have access to the Cards now." Tomoyo said, looking at the Windy card.
"Windy!"
Tomoyo flipped the card into the air and hit it with a broad swing
of her staff. The card exploded, then coalesced into a yellow-and-white
girl. Tomoyo glanced at one of the targets, and Windy turned into a gust
of wind and sped off in the direction of the target. There was a loud
crack as the gust of wind split the target in half. The Windy card
rematerialized in the air in front of Tomoyo and she picked it up.
"Impressive, to say the least." Raynor said.
"Yeah." Sakura said. "No calling our shots, either. That's kind of
cool.
"Our turn." Kari said, her eyes now glowing pink. Her bow, arrow
and quiver enlargened and Kari picked them up, putting the quiver over
her back. "All I need is a pink Robin Hood cap and I'm all set." She
joked.
Yolei's sword enlargened also, and she picked it up. "uh...purple
tunic?" She said. "Anyway, you need the pointed ears. I've got you
pegged as more of a Legolas type."
"Oh. Good enough." Kari said, picking an arrow out of her quiver
and shooting it at a target, the arrow sticking into the bullseye. Five
arrows later, six targets were painted by Kari's arrows. "Good
shooting." Raynor said.
"That's nothing. watch this." Kari said.
Kari extended her hand towards the targets, and then made a fist.
All six arrows exploded, leaving six small black craters in their wake.
"Uh...yeah." Yolei said. "You can make those things explode?"
"If I infuse them with energy when I shoot them." Kari replied.
"Don't worry, our room's not in pieces."
"Oh, good." Yolei said before turning her attention to a level 4
target close to her. "Let's see how I do here..."
The target was shifting left and right rapidly, waiting for Yolei
to make a move. When she did, the target seemed undamaged. "I think you
missed." Raynor said.
"Did I?" Yolei said. She walked up to the target, which had
stopped moving, and elbowed the top half, knocking it off where it was
severed.
"Or not."
Then Yolei looked at a level 4 target down at the other end of the
holodeck. She took aim, and threw the sword, keeping her right arm
extended. The target dodged, but with a simple flick of Yolei's wrist
the sword changed trajectory and went through the target's bullseye.
"Damn." Raynor said.
Yolei retracted her arm, as if to pull out the sword from the
target, and it flew back to her. "Well, that seems to be working
nicely." She said.
"Seems like. Ok...let's see what we've got." Mercury said.
"Mercury..."
Her voice went into the same reverse echo Tomoyo's voice had. "Ice
Dagger!"
Mercury drew an 8-inch vertical line in the air, and it appeared
in blue. It fattened into a dagger, made of ice, and lengthened slightly
to make the handle. it had the symbol of mercury engraved on both sides
of the ice blade. "Cool. But I don't think this could be that good a
long-range weapon."
"Only one way to find out." Moon said.
Ami took aim and went to throw the dagger at a target. The blade
split apart into ice slivers and they all hit one of the level 3
targets. Then the slivers exploded, taking out three other targets in
the process. "Wow." was all Mercury could say as she watched another ice
blade, this one looking slightly different, shoot out from the handle
she still held.
"Not bad for a mainly defensive senshi." Moon commented.
"Not anymore."
"Apparently." Raynor said.
"Ok, my turn. Moon..." Sailor Moon's voice reverse echoed.
"Rapier!"
A large thin sword was thrown through a small wormhole in front of
Sailor Moon, handle first, and she caught it. "Cool." She said,
examining the alabaster blade. "This looks wicked!"
"I wonder if you could use that as a long-range weapon." Kari
said.
"Like I said..." Moon said as she took aim at a target.
She made an exaggerated slice in the air, and a curved beam of
light shot out from the blade. It hit the target she aimed for, then
curved around and hit another couple of targets before detonating on the
fourth, destroying three more in the process.
"I think it's safe to say you can use that long-range." Raynor
said. "Jack-of-all-trades, you four, now."
"not really." Kari said. "I mean, I've only got the ranged
attack."
"Look at your bow again."
Kari looked at the bow. She noticed that the string was ghost-like
while the rest of the bow was normal, and only where her hand naturally
fell to hold the bow was an actual handle. The rest made up a pink
scimitar. "Oh. Never mind."
"Yeah. Anyway, it's nice that all you have new or different
attacks and all, but I can't help that we're being set up for something.
How's about you six come with me to the conference room and we'll talk
to Zeratul, see what he's figured out."
"Good idea." Mercury said.
She flipped the dagger into the air and it dissolved into a cloud, which
started to snow lightly. "The next priority probably should be figuring
out why this happened. Unless we get attacked and have to fight or
something." She said, watching Moon throw the Moon Rapier back into the
wormhole that reappeared in front of her.
"Don't even think of the possibility. Where we stand, there's not
much that can attack us except 'Emperor' Mengsk, and he's still
rebuilding his empire. Operation Omega wasn't cheap, from what I heard."
"Operation Omega?" Kari asked as her bow and Yolei's sword shrunk
to normal and reattached to their respective necklaces.
"It was a joint effort from the now-defunct UED, that came from
Earth about three years ago to take over the Koprulu sector--They almost
did, too, taking control of the Zerg's Overmind and most of the planets,
but Kerrigan, the self-titled Queen of Blades, eventually destroyed the
Overmind, took control of pretty much everything, and kicked everyone's
ass into the next sector--anyway, the UED, The Sons of Korhal, led by
Arcturus Mengsk, and the Protoss, led by Artanis. All three converged on
Kerrigan, and she beat the three fleets with one 'fleet' of her own. It
was rumoured to have cost each of the three fleets a couple of hundred
thousand in minerals and gas, the resources of the planets in this
sector."
"Oh. Thanks for the history lesson again. I think I could do
better on a StarCraft history test than a regular one."
"Probably. Hey, you ask, I tell." Raynor said.
"And we're thankful. Who knows? Maybe it'll come in handy someday,
when we really do have to defend the sector from some new threat with
you. I mean, right now our universes are pretty much intertwined beyond
repair, aren't they?"
"Yeah, they are." Raynor said, watching Sakura and Tomoyo shrink
their staves back into keys. "Thanks for the alliance. Lord knows once
Mengsk gets his army back in order, we're going to have a hell of a time
keeping alive."
"You sound like a tired old man." Tomoyo said, mimicing
Raynor's voice.
"Don't let the fact that I am three hundred and sixty-eight years
older than you dull your impression of me, Raynor," Raynor returned,
mimicing Fenix. "I can still--how do you Terrans say it--'Throw down
with the best of them'."
"I stand corrected."
"Speaking of which..." Raynor said. "Let's see if I've got any new
skills. Computer, create one Raynor's Gauss Rifle."
The computer blipped and a Gauss rifle appeared on the floor in
front of Raynor. "Lock and load." He said, flipping the safety off.
There was a blur of movement and a thunderous noise for about five
seconds, and then nothing. Raynor looked in awe as all the targets in
the room had their bullseyes shot out of them.
øøø---___
Conference room, The Hyperion II--1930 hours, May 16, 2503
"Zeratul here. Ah, En Taro Adun, Raynor."
"En Taro Adun, Zeratul. I've got some news about the DigiDestined
and the others, but that can wait a little. Have you found anything else
about the rift?" Raynor replied.
"We have found out that it somehow originated from Braxis."
"Braxis? You mean, like, a probe on Braxis opened a warp rift to
Shakuras?"
"Precisely. That means that those six were on Braxis for some
amount of time before coming to Shakuras."
Raynor turned to the six girls. "Any of you remember being on a
snow world or hearing the word 'Braxis' before you got here?"
All six girls said no. "They don't remember being on Braxis."
"I cannot blame them, given their activity." Zeratul replied. At
that point all six girls turned bright red, Ami and Kari seemingly more
than the rest.
"Hey, you finally got a sense of humour." Raynor said cheerily.
"...I was merely stating a fact. It was not meant as a joke."
"Well, it certainly was funny. Anyway, about the girls. All six of
them, and myself, have had some discoloration and luminescence of the
eyes, as well as some other skill or ability that we've never had
before. For instance, I have a sea green tinge to my eyes, and my
accuracy with a Gauss rifle has improved to almost inhuman levels. Kari
has a pink tinge to her eyes, and has received a bow and arrow set from
somewhere. Yolei has a purple tinge to her eyes and has received a sword
from seemingly the same place Kari's was from, since their 'put away'
form is on a necklace. Ami and Usagi have some new blade, Ami an ice
dagger and Usagi an alabaster sword, and they have the symbol of their
planets on their foreheads in addition to their eye colors."
"We've got our crests on our forehead, too!" Kari interjected.
"Right. Anyway, Sakura originally had a Staff she used in
conjunction with a set of 'magic' Tarot cards with special powers. Now
Sakura has a Staff that looks like a scythe, and Tomoyo, who couldn't
use the cards to begin with, has Sakura's old Staff."
"This is interesting. You say Sakura has these 'cards'? May I see
one?"
"I guess. Sakura?" Raynor looked at Sakura. She picked the Shadow
card out of her pocket and slid it across the table to Raynor. He took
the card and held it up to Zeratul.
"These cards are...familiar. There was an old form of
prerecognition, last used over 500 years ago--which would place it at
your time, Sakura--called Mind Reaving. It featured cards that looked
exactly like the one you hold in your hand, Raynor, and they were said
to be the thoughts of the ancient God manifested in a physical form.
Hence their name, the Memories of Nexar."
Raynor winced at the name Duran supposedly was behind. "I know
that Duran could not have anything to do with those cards, Raynor,
because the technology for interdimensional travel has not been figured
out by any race we have come across."
"Hold on. I thought the Digivice had--"
"The Digivice had information relating to the transportation of
matter as digital information, but nothing in relation to
interdimensional travel. It seems the Digivice acts as a beacon when it
is in a different universe, and that is why the Digital World picks it
up and transports the person or people to it."
"Oh. So if you were to create a Digivice for, say, me, would it
work?"
"No. That is the puzzling part. The Digivices only seems to react
with a select few individuals, which is likely why they were named the
DigiDestined--they were the select few chosen to wield this power. But
you had been able to go into the Digiworld yourself, after you defeated
Duran, correct?"
"Yes. Does that mean I'm some DigiDestined too?"
"Possibly. You could be the one case in this entire universe that
is able to use a Digivice."
"Weird."
"I guess that means welcome to the club." Yolei said.
"I guess."
"The fact that your eyes are undergoing the same thing as the
girls are seems to reinforce this theory also." Zeratul added.
"Any Digimon looking for an owner in the Digiworld?" Raynor asked
the DigiDestined.
"Not that I know of." Kari said.
"Me neither." Yolei added.
"Great. The only DigiDestined without a Digimon."
"I suppose 'Gauss Riflemon' wouldn't be it, would it?"
"Funny. No, I don't think so, somehow."
"At any rate, I hope this information has been helpful. Thank you
for the update on the girls' condition."
"No problem."
Zeratul severed the connection. "Me as a DigiDestined. That's
weird."
"Yeah. Not to mention that you're the oldest DigiDestined we've
come across." Kari said.
"Let me guess. They're all about your age."
"Most of them."
"One more reason I feel older than I should..."
"Being in the middle of a war-torn sector of the galaxy isn't
going to help much, is it?" Ami said.
"Not at all. Speaking of...Zeratul taught me a little of that
Protoss Tarot reading. I know mostly what the cards mean by themselves,
but the more cards drawn the more accurate the reading supposedly is.
The thing is, the Shadow card is supposed to represent a growing
danger...a 'shadow slowly being cast over our way of life', as Zeratul
put it."
"So we get to field test these new powers soon, if I get you
correctly." Sakura paraphrased.
"If it's right. Which, and I've seen quite a few of these, it
usually is."
øøø---___
Chemistry Lab, the Hyperion II--1000 hours, May 17, 2503
"Hmm...curious..."
Magellan had requested tests on the new weapons and staves to see
if any of the various acids and venoms produced by the Zerg would have
any effect on them. He started with Kari's Scimitar Bow, and he
replicated some of the material for testing. Hydralisk spine venom hadn't
done anything, nor had Mutalisk Glave acid. Even Guardian acid wasn't
making so much as smoke from contact with the staff. "Guardian acid is
the strongest acid the Zerg have," Magellan said, moving the piece of
material--now free of acid--under a microscope to see if anything had
been damaged at the subatomic level. "Even as small as 3 million X
there's no damage."
"Well, this is certainly a vote of confidence." Raynor said flatly.
"Makes what we call armour look like we're protecting ourselves with
paper."
"You managed to make the exact tone Usagi's voice made during my
study session with her."
"Uh...I thought when you came through the Warp Rift you two were--"
"We were," Ami interrupted quickly, "But she happened to earn that
through a bet with me over a question from a unit in Math she was having
difficulty with."
"I wish it were that easy with half the girls I met."
"Well, she didn't exactly explicit say _that_ when she made the
bet. She said she wanted to try something with me. We never really
thought we loved each other until a day ago, less 2 hours, our time."
Ami said, looking at the wall clock.
"That's odd. In our universe, it's been exactly a day. The last
time I remember was about 10 AM, just before we got into the tub."
Sakura said.
"Wha--? It was about 6 for the two of us." Kari said.
"And it was noon when you all transported here. So either there's
one mother of a memory gap for the six of you--not that can't happen,
mind you, I've read more information on Amnesia than I ever thought
possible--or the universes have different cosmic clocks."
"I'd guess the latter." Yolei said. "From what I can remember, I
was--well, you know--then there was this rush of wind and suddenly I was
on Shakuras."
The others agreed. "Ok, so it's the latter. Good, that's one
thing that could be catastrophic I can check off the--unless..."
"I can hear the gears squeak around in your head, Raynor." Kari
said. "What are you thinking?"
"You six aren't too averse to a little pain, are you? All in the
interest of the safety of the universe as we know it?"
øøø---___
The Nexus, New Encampment in New Antioch, Shakuras--1200 hours, May
17, 2503
"Remind me again why we agreed to this?"
"All in the interest of the safety of the universe as we know it."
Kari replied to Usagi.
"Yeah, but that was before we heard the part about feeling like our
head is turning itself inside out!"
"Hey, you want to back out, it's up to you." Ami said. "I agreed,
and Raynor said he only needs one person from each universe."
"Oh. Good."
"But I don't think Rei and the others would appreciate knowing that
even in 'the interest of the safety of the universe as we know it' you
wouldn't act like our leader and endure a little pain."
"What?!" Usagi squeaked, her eyes doubling in size. "You'd do
that?!"
"Yep. I can hear it now. 'Ami! Usagi! What happened?'" Ami said,
mimicing Rei's voice. "'Oh, nothing, just us saving this alternate
universe with a couple of others from different alternate universes and
Usagi shirking as much responsibility as she could, just like usual.'"
"This is for yesterday afternoon, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Not that I'm usually patient, but that's when my right
brain's in domination over my left."
"Whatever that means...Oh, alright. But only to avoid another
fight with Rei."
"Thanks, Usagi." Ami said, hugging the blonde. "And it means when
I'm not aroused past the point of no return. You don't know how long
those five hours were to me, since my left brain never fully took control
again until...well, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I was there."
"Just out of curiosity, either of you want to send me a 'Wish you
were here' postcard?" Raynor interjected from behind them.
"No." They both said, slightly indignant and blushing.
"Just a thought. Alright, Kari, Zeratul wants you and Yolei in
the room first. I guess he feels it'd be best to start with the universe
we're most familiar with, or something."
Kari and Yolei walked in behind Raynor into the room in the Nexus.
Zeratul and a High Templar, dressed in a yellow-and-blue robe, were
waiting for them. "Hello, Kari, Yolei. This _was_ Raynor's idea, not
mine." Zeratul said. "I do not think that anyone should have to be
subjected to any more pain than necessary, but Raynor seems to think
there is a chance this will work better for you six than it did for
Sora."
"We already went through that." Raynor said. "Amnesia is strictly
chemical. There is really no way that a psionic storm could work. Manual
suppression is different. It involves the mind itself, not the brain. So
if these girls were hypnotized to believe that they suddenly went from
their respective rooms in their respective universes to here, a Psionic
Storm would jolt the real memories back to the fore."
Zeratul growled. "You are the expert on memory loss, not I."
Raynor stepped back a little. Zeratul nodded at the High Templar.
"Go."
The High Templar tried to shoot out a Psionic Storm, but made it
too powerful and held the Lightning in a ball in front of it, struggling
to keep it under control. "Get...out...NOW!" It telepathed.
Raynor and the two girls barely had time to get out the door
before everyone heard the High Templar grunt and a small explosion.
After a few seconds, Raynor poked his head back into the door. "Uh,
Zeratul? Was that supposed to happen?"
"No. The Templar misjudged the intensity of the Storm at first,
and could not power it down safely. As you Terrans say, it 'happens to
the best of us'."
"Great." Raynor said. "Is he going to do that again?"
"There only about three Psionic Overcharges recorded per standard
year. No, it will not happen."
"...Alright then." Raynor looked back at Kari and Yolei. "Still
want to go through with this?"
"If it'll help...besides, you heard what Zeratul said. It's an
isolated incident, not unheard of, but rare." Kari said.
"Yeah, we're still a go. Dunno about them, though." Yolei said
at the other four girls' slightly pale faces.
"We'll Psionic Storm that bridge when we come to it, I guess."
Kari and Yolei walked back in to the room, which seemed untouched.
"Uh, Zeratul, why aren't you brain-dead?" Kari said. "You never moved."
"The Psionic Storm is a little like what you Terrans call Treble
sound. It is directional. I am standing to the right and behind the High
Templar; therefore, I was not in harm's way." Zeratul replied.
"Oh."
"The High Templar can use its power in 360 degrees, but it is very
weak, and is almost ineffective to most psionic people, such as other
Protoss and the Terran Ghosts. It could still do damage to normal
Terrans, however."
"That's comforting." Raynor said.
"Are you again ready?"
"Yes." Came the reply.
"Go."
Again the High Templar attempted to use a light Psionic Storm, but
the resulting ball of lightning was even larger than the last one. This
time, Raynor, Kari and Yolei needed no warning, and bolted out the door.
Another, louder, explosion was heard. "What are you girls doing to that
poor templar to make him lose that much control over his powers?" Raynor
asked jokingly.
Again Sakura and Tomoyo blushed. "Another Lemon? A Digimon one this
time?"
"No, it's another Sailor Moon Lemon...it involves Ami being lovers
with someone who can control the weather, and, uh, she can make him
create a thunderstorm..." Tomoyo explained.
Again Ami turned bright red. "It's a huge fic, too. three and a
half megabytes."
"Been a while since I heard the term Megabyte. How much is that
again?" Raynor asked, looking a little confused.
"Let me put it this way--You know The Hobbit?"
"Ah, the classics...Yeah, I know about it."
"It's threatening to pass it in length. And it's still not done."
"Oh."
"Uh, shouldn't we be going back in, maybe for take 3?" Kari asked.
"You still want to go through with this? You've got a lot more
guts than I do."
"Yeah, well, being unceremoniously dumped onto an island in a
different universe with the only humans around being your brother and
several people you barely know tends to toughen you up a bit."
"So you couldn't go back for a while?"
"Well, they couldn't." Yolei said. "We just kinda got our D-3s and
were able to DigiPort from one universe to the other with relative ease."
"Yeah. I watched those episodes you sent back with Matt and Sora,
by the way, and not only do they kind of cut off the second season, which
is just before our time is at, the rest of the series doesn't even have
us in it! We get turned into a TV show in the rest of the seasons!"
"So you're an anime inside an anime. And I thought alternate
universes is complicated."
"Yeah. Anyway..." Kari said. "You'd think we'd be gluttons for
punishment with the way we're trying to get all this pain to shoot
through us, but I guess it's 'all in the interest of the safety of the
universe as we know it'."
"I think I'm regretting saying that." Raynor said as he walked
through the door again. "Oh, sh--" He started before regaining his wits
and slapping a comm panel on the wall. "Medics to Psionic Room Three, we
have Zeratul and a High Templar unconcious, possibly because of a
Psionic Overcharge."
øøø---___
Heal Wing, The Nexus, New Encampment in New Antioch, Shakuras--1310
hours, May 17, 2503
Zeratul woke up feeling like he just pissed off a Torrasque. His
entire body ached, and--
He remembered. The two Psionic Overcharges. That fully woke him up.
"Easy, Zeratul. You just took the brunt of a Psionic Storm." Raynor
explained.
"I remember that." Zeratul replied, getting up. "What I don't
remember is why the Daik'Sha that Templar couldn't control himself. He's
an expert."
"Whoa. I don't think I've ever heard you swear at anyone since I've
met you."
Zeratul sighed. "It is not something I do, only when I do the
equivalent of 'blowing an agression inhibitor'. We Protoss, by nature,
are usually emotionally reserved people in times of peace. But even we
have our breaking points."
"Totally understood. Just out of curiosity, would you know the
English translation of that one word you said?"
"I cannot repeat it in front of the girls."
"I see."
"That should have not happened. I need to have a conference with
the Templar, to see what went wrong."
"He's here." Raynor said, moving out of the way of the Templar.
He started telepathing to Zeratul, in Protoss, but even so it only
sounded like static to the rest of the group. There was a pause, then
more static. "That is Interesting." Zeratul said after a while.
"What is?" Ami asked.
"The High Templar says he felt something...a presence, perhaps...
with him when he was about to release the Storm. Apparitions and psychic
ghosts are fairly uncommon, but every Templar is able to block out all
forms of distraction, including those of the psionic nature. But this
particular entity seemed to be...he was not sure, but he said something
about it overriding the mental restraints he put on his powers."
"So something basically stepped on his psychic foot, which was on
the psionic Gas pedal?" Raynor paraphrased.
"Essentially. So neither of the Overcharges were entirely his
fault. The second, however, was the entity forcing him to release the
Storm in 360 degrees."
"So...what, this was some assassination attempt?" Kari asked.
"No, whoever had the knowledge to override a Templar mind was not
after me, for they would know a 360 degree Storm would not damage any
Protoss mind. It seemed it, or they, were after at least Kari and Yolei,
if not the rest of you as well."
"Or maybe..." Raynor said. "Maybe it was that someone was trying
to see if they could do something like this. See if they could
essentially use the weapons of the enemy against themselves."
"What are you saying? There are other Protoss here on Shakuras that
are turning against the Dark Templar who have saved them? That there are
survivors from Aiur looking for answers?" Zeratul said, sounding none
pleased.
"I don't know what I'm saying, right now. All I do know is that
someone out there has the ability to hack into the strongest mind ever
conceived as if it were nothing, and they've got a vendetta against
either you, the DigiDestined, the others, or me, or any combination of
the four. All I'm saying is we should start watching our backs a little."
"And we need to come up with a plan." Kari added. "I mean, surely
we can't just ask thousands of High Templar to leave, or worse kill them
just because they could be used against us, correct?"
"You have a bright mind, child." Zeratul said. "We do need a
solution, and one that would work quickly and on a large scale."
"You said the Templar said that he felt like his mind was being
overrided?" Yolei said. "Could he possibly give a description or draw
a mental picture for you or something?"
"He may."
Again quiet static filled the minds of everyone present except for
Zeratul. "you know what this could be?" Tomoyo quietly asked Sakura.
"The Hybrid. You know, that bonus level I unlocked?"
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that." Sakura quietly replied.
"What else could it be? Besides the other Protoss, I mean."
Zeratul's expression visibly darkened--literally, as his face
turned increasingly darker grey, stopping just before black. "The Templar
has telepathed a picture of the entity that attacked him." Zeratul said.
"I shall get him to telepath it to the rest of you, as well as another
mental picture."
There was a click in the minds of Raynor and the girls and then
a mental picture started forming. Slowly at first, but then it came in
quite clear. After it was ingrained in the everyone's memories, a second
picture came through. It was of the first entity, only trapped in a
green cylinder of some sort and submerged in a jell-O like substance.
"The first picture is what the Templar saw." Zeratul said. "The
second, however, is mine."
"Yours? You mean you saw this before?" Raynor asked.
"Yes. It was about the same time Artanis was beginning the long
and fruitless campaign that was Operation Omega..."
øøø---___
I had been drawn here since we had left with the Khalis crystal.
I took a band of Dark Templar and took over a terran encampment, with
three Stasis cells--the cylinder you saw was one. Something seemed to be
calling me, psychically screaming out...it seemed to be in so much
pain...but something was troubling me. I did not realize it at the time,
but the voice was Zerg. The voice was calling out to me through Protoss
means, yet was not Protoss.
The first stasis cell I came across was of a Zergling. It was in
stasis, vital signs stable despite going into a seperate dimensional
pocket--similar to the Hammerspace you girls use to keep your weapons
and artefacts in. Only visible.
The second cell was of a Protoss, a Zealot. I am still wondering
how he managed to be subdued enough to be disarmed and placed in Stasis,
unless someone was able to tap into the psychic supression collar all
Zealots wear to focus their energy into their blades.
The third, however...it was the picture the Templar telepathed to
you. When I walked up to it, Duran telepathed me from an unknown
location, possibly not even on Braxis, explaning what exactly what I was
staring at actually was.
øøø---___
"The creature in the Stasis cell was the Hybrid creature, created
with both a--"
"Purity of form and essence." Tomoyo finished for Zeratul. "The
best of both worlds. Created with the Zerg ability to adapt coupled with
the Protoss power."
"Yes."
"One last paraphrase, just so I can be sure of what you're saying."
Raynor said, rubbing his temples. "You're saying that there is a super-
being out there with both Protoss and Zerg characteristics that just woke
up from being in Stasis, possibly coming here and sure as Hell trying out
its psychic powers?"
"Correct."
Raynor looked into the cup of coffee he held. "I'm going to need
something stronger than this, the way things are going. It's going to be
one of those days..."
øøø---___
Great Hall, New Antioch, Shakuras--2000 hours, May 17, 2503
"This session has been called to order as an Emergency meeting to
discuss a recent turn of events involving me, the Terrans banding with
Raynor, the guests that arrived yesterday through the warp rift, and
quite possible every other being in the universe." Zeratul began to the
crowd of mostly Protoss. The Senior Staff of the Hyperion, with Raynor
and the six girls, were in the front row, right side.
"About a standard year ago, during the failed Operation Omega, a
small band of Protoss and I ventured to Braxis to answer a psychic call
for help. What we found, however, was not a settlement of Protoss, but a
the unthinkable. We found what the Zerg Overmind had planned for each of
us from the beginning of the bloody campaign on Aiur--the Zerg/Protoss
Hybrid creature. It has been created."
The tension in the air seemed to triple at that point, but nobody
said a word. "7 hours ago, I had arrainged a meeting with our top
medicinal Stormer, Sol, and the six girls, to see if there were any
suppressed memories they possessed about why they were brought here.
During an attempt to create a low-energy Storm, however, Sol seemed to
experience an Overcharge and was able to tell Raynor and the two girls
that were in the room to get out before releasing the storm. It was a
focused storm, and I was standing behind him, so I was not harmed. That
time. On the second attempt, Sol seemed to experience a second Overcharge
in a row, and again Raynor and the two girls were able to get out before
he released the Storm. However, this Storm was unfocused, and both he and
I were knocked unconcious.
"During a Meeting with Sol, he telepathed a picture of an entity he
believed overrode his mental restraints on his power, forcing him into an
Overcharge, to me. Sol, if you will."
Sol, who was sitting in the front row, left side, stood up and
telepathed the picture to the audience. "This is what I saw on Braxis."
Sol telepathed the next picture and the tension further increased. "The
hybrid has awoken, and it may be preparing to attack."
A moment pause. "There is another problem I need to introduce. The
High Templar mind is the strongest mind of all the Protoss, having spent
decades in meditation to sharpen its skills past the concepts of reality.
But the Hybrid was able to simply 'hack' into our strongest Templar's
mind and essentially attempt to kill the girls and Raynor without any
struggle. Since only the mind of the High Templar is strong enough to
push past the boundary between mental and physical, and are the only
psychokinetic form we Protoss have, we must find a way to keep their
powers under their control and not that of the Hybrid's. Aurus," Zeratul
made eye contact with a Protoss in the audience. "I must call on you once
again to create a one-way psychic block strong enough to keep the Hybrid
at bay."
"I shall dedicate every Engineer and resource to it." Aurus
replied.
"Thank you." Zeratul said, and walked off the platform, ending the
meeting.
All the Protoss filed out of the Hall, some telepathing, some
talking, all wondering again about the future of their race and way of
life.
øøø---___
Conference Room, The Hyperion II--2100 Hours, May 17, 2053
"Alright. You were all at the Great Hall, you know why we're here."
Raynor said. "We've got to help somehow. Anything at all that could be of
help, just throw it out there."
"The material." Magellan said. "The stuff Sakura's staff is made
of. It can be replicated into armour. Strangely, it's remarkably similar
to standard armour, only with a few common elements like Nitrogen and
Hydrogen in there too. I should have the ability to get plates and armour
mass-replicated in a day or two, the new units and equipment made in
another day, and the existing units and movable buildings we have in
storage retrofitted in about two days."
"Good Is there anything special to consider with the new material?
Like its weight in relation to the standard Tritanite."
"We've been doing extensive tests on that. It has a melting point
of about 3700 degreed celcius, is rated to minus 130 for cold protection,
is rated up to about its melting point for heat protection, is slightly
lighter than Tritanite--A cubic metre of Tritanite being 50.3 kg and a
cubic metre of the material being 30.7 kg--and can easily be shaped while
in a half-melted state. It's slightly stronger than the usual Mineral
Glass we use for visors, too, and at the same thickness turns clear
instead of being a pink color."
"So basically it makes absolutely every physical piece of equipment
on this ship obsolete."
"A couple of centuries worth of obsoletion, yes."
"At least you can get this stuff replicated with relative ease.
Anyone else want to contribute anything?"
"Some of my men are experiencing a faint discoloration of their
eyes. They all have a color that is closely related to them, in some
cases their uniform, in others their squad name." Schezar said.
"I want to see them as soon as possible, this room. The same things
happening to your men, Kazansky?"
"Yep." Kazansky said. "Though I have to add that the cases in my
group have been the cream of the crop. They are the top 5%--exactly--and
have gotten an almost inhuman accuracy, speed and reflex augment now."
"Ok. Same with you, Schezar?"
"I never thought to check. I'll report you my findings as soon as I
get them."
"Fine. What about you, Walters?"
"The Medics have had anticoloration of the iris, sir." Rebeccah
Walters, Chief Med Officer, replied. "Everything except their pupils are
white. They also seem to have better hand-eye coordination and could
retain more knowledge the first time through something than normal."
"Thanks. I'll be willing to bet your men are better with the Rifle,
Schezar."
"No bet. I'm still trying to live down the last one."
"Oh, don't be a spoilsport. Besides, we let you get the tattoo
removed. Anyway, anything out of the ordinary I'd like in the daily
report. Anything. I want to know if someone orders something different at
lunch."
"Yes sir." The senior staff replied.
"Dismissed."
øøø---___
Conference Room, the Hyperion II--2120 hours, May 17, 2053
"Ok, you're all here because of a slight physical mutation you've
all had. I have undergone the same thing, and so have the girls that
transported here. Now I'm going to do a little poll. Please raise your
hand if you've not, repeat _not_ had a psysical, psychological or mental
augment since your eyes changed."
Not a single hand went up. "Please raise your hand if you have not
developed a greater proficiency or efficiency at the field of expertise
you are in."
Again, no hands. "Please raise your hand if you have not seen a
reduction in a negative characteristic you possess--scars going away,
a blackout in memory returning, anything like that."
No hands. "Thank you for your time. Dismissed."
øøø---___
Engineer Lab, New Antioch, Shakuras--2130 hours, May 17, 2053
"I assume you have been able to create a psychic block?"
"Yes, Zeratul. It has been able to withstand a level 2 psionic
burst, which is the strength of most High Templar."
"We are not dealing with High Templar, Aurus. We are dealing with
something completely new. We need the block to withstand a level 6
burst."
"Level 6? Such a thing could be next to, if not impossible, given
all known materials! The--"
A comm signal beeped. "Aurus."
"This is Raynor from the Hyperion II, Aurus. We're sending over a
hunk of material stronger than anything we've ever seen. Maybe it can
help your block, I don't know. At the very least you can replicate it
for armour."
"Thank you, Raynor." Aurus said before severing the link.
A cube of material transported in onto a table. Aurus held it up.
"Do you hear that, Zeratul?"
"No."
"That's what I thought. This material is telepathically resonating.
This could mean something, since the only other material we know of that
resonates telepathically is the Khaydarin Crystal."
øøø---___
Captain's Quarters, the Hyperion II--2200 hours, May 17, 2503
"Raynor here."
"This is Aurus from Shakuras. We have done tests on the material
you sent us. It telepathically resonates at the same level as the minds
of the High Templar. You just gave us our psychic block."
"Cool. Glad I could help. You're able to replicate it, right?"
"Correct."
"Good. Raynor out."
øøø---___
Captain's Quarters, the Hyperion II--0430 hours, May 22, 2503
"Gnh..."
"Adjutant to Raynor." The adjutant repeated a little more
forcefully.
"Wh...Oh." Raynor said, finally waking up enough to be coherent.
"There's a transmission from both Zeratul and an unidentified
source."
"Alright. Give me about five seconds to get out of bed, then patch
it through to the comm panel on my desk." Raynor said as he got up.
"And another thirty to fix your hair?"
"Very funny."
"Yes sir. Adjutant out."
Raynor had enough time to order a cup of coffee from the replicator
before sitting down. "Zeratul here."
"Raynor here. What's the good word?"
"Installed. All of the units, old and new, have been equipped with
the new material."
"By the way, any idea what we want to call this stuff?"
"I think it is best left to its discoverer, of sorts. Let Sakura
name it."
"Good idea. Yeah, we just finished installing all the new armour on
the buildings last night."
"Excellent. That way if the Hybrid does attack, we'll be ready."
"Alright then. That's it for the morning, I assume."
"Yes."
"In that case, I have another person on the other line, so I'm
going to have to take that one. Goodbye."
"En Taro Adun."
"En Taro Adun." Raynor said as he severed the link and opened the
other channel.
And immediately went pale as a ghost.
"Hello, Raynor. Long time no kill."
øøø---___
fic)
By the Reanimated Raynor (Reanimated_Raynor@interactive.rogers.com for
a quick response, Ryn0r@hotmail.com for a long, more thought-out
response/explanation)
Notes:
Lemon Alert: This fic contains a lot of adult material, so if you're not
whatever the legal age is (18+, usually) where you are, then you should
leave.
Copyright Alert: This fic contains characters and/or themes from Sailor
Moon, Digimon, Starcraft and Card Captor Sakura (Just CardCaptors in the
North American Version). I do not own any of these characters and/or
themes from the games/shows themselves; however, the plot and any
original units/characters are mine. But if you want to steal them, be my
guest. Just email the Reanimated_Raynor address with a "I'm just going
to yoink this character" type email.
Timelines: The CardCaptors universe is basically set in part 2 of a
Lemon entitled the Clow Card Booster Pack (Because I'm using the yuri
card in this fic... ^_^;) by Erica Friedman, the Sailor Moon universe is
set sometime after Super S, and the Senshi are 16, the Digimon universe
is set about two years after 02, and the Starcraft universe is set after
Yamato Gun II (Another fic of mine). All you have to know is that the
DigiDestined can travel into the StarCraft universe at will, Sora has no
memory, and that both Duran and Kerrigan are dead. The rest gets
explained in the fic itself. Speaking of, I'd read the first fic entitled
"Unusual Mornings" to have any hope in Hell as to what's happening.
øøø---_______Yamato Gun III_______---øøø
CafŽ, the Hyperion II--1800 hours, May 16, 2503
All six girls walked in to the Hyperion CafŽ at the same time,
causing a little bit of commotion among the crew that was there--90% of
them being male. "Why do I have the feeling this is going to be an
ongoing thing?" Ami said.
"Because there's only maybe 90 or so females out of about 900 crew
abord the Hyperion II." Raynor said, walking in behind them.
"Sorry, boys. We're taken." Sakura said playfully, throwing an arm
around Tomoyo as she did.
Three-quarters of the people in the room said "Aww." Some of them
female.
"Ah well. Shall we? I hear the Zergling steak is excellent today.
Fresh, too."
Only tomoyo didn't turn pale from that statement. "I always
figured they'd be good as a meal. Almost like cows, only a little
deadlier." Tomoyo said.
"Nope. It was a joke anyway. Their muscles are saturated with
their version of adrenaline, which to us humans stops blood from
clotting at all. So well, in fact, that one drop on a papercut will
allow you to eventually bleed out." Raynor replied.
"Oh. Never mind."
"Not to mention the only antidote to the adrenaline's effects,
which has to be added to the steak itself before cooking, gives the
steak the taste and texture of your average tire."
"Yuck." Kari said.
"Yuck indeed. No, Guardian meat is where it's at. The only problem
is that getting to the good stuff is almost like getting blowfish meat."
"Ooh. Not good."
"And the acidic stuff the meat's surrounded by could easily melt
your teeth."
"Oh no. I just got these fillings." Usagi said.
"It's alright, Guardian meat's a delicacy. More of a Christmas
thing. I think we've got bengalaas on the menu. Bengalaas is a species
that looks like it's related to a cat, and it's natural habitat is the
Protoss' homeland, Aiur. Somehow a few bengalaas made it through the
warp gate during the evacuation to Shakuras, and they've adapted to the
environment well. So well, in fact, that we're having bengalaas every
other day just to keep the population down. Don't worry, it tastes just
like chicken."
"Everything tastes like chicken." Yolei said.
"Not on this planet it doesn't, not by a long shot. And bengalaas
really does. You can't tell the difference."
"Whatever you say."
"Alright, you girls go sit down, I'll order. Oh, any preference
for dessert? ...Right, guess you don't know what we've got. Uh, there's
the Cloud parfait, which is usually for people who stuff themselves so
full they don't want dessert. Basically all taste, no actual substance,
hence the name. Comes in the usual chocolate, vanilla and strawberry...
there's the Mercury pie--"
At that point both Sakura and Tomoyo started blushing furiously.
"You'd think I'd do that, given that I am Sailor Mercury, but I don't
get the reference anyway." Ami said.
"Don't ask. Just a reference from a lemon called 'Evening at
Lita's'."
"Oh..." Then Ami's whole head almost glowed red as she realized
exactly what "Mercury Pie" could mean in a lemon. "Oh my."
"Uh...yeah. What was that called? Evening at--ow!" Raynor said as
Kari smacked him upside the head.
"Hentai." Kari said darkly.
"What, the bed remark didn't give it away?"
"Actually, I hoped it was an isolated incident." Yolei said.
"Not by a looong shot. Anyway, moving on, there's my personal
favorite, the Dark Templar Black Forest cake, which is your average
black forest cake with a couple of Protoss spices. I think that's it for
what's on today."
"I think I'll have one of those strawberry Cloud thingies." Kari
said.
"Seconded, only make mine vanilla." Yolei said.
"Does that black forest cake have the cherries on top?" Tomoyo
asked.
"Yeah." Raynor replied.
"Ooh, I'll have a slice of that, then."
"Just a slice? It's only about the size of a CD-ROM. People
usually order a whole cake."
"That works too."
"Your time still uses CD-ROMs?" Ami said. "I'd have figured they'd
be obsolete long ago."
"They are. I got a CD-ROM of StarCraft from Matt in--"
"Don't tell us. Kari's timeline." Sakura said.
"--Yeah."
"I think I'll have one of those cakes, too." Sakura said.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Raynor, but I wouldn't mind a
slice of that Mercury pie, assuming it's blueberry. Unless it's really
small too." Ami said.
"Nope. Full size. And yeah, it's blueberry."
"Mmm, my favorite." Usagi said. "I'll have a slice too."
"Interesting...you three are in perfect pairs with each other, you
know. Not only that, we've got Sailor moon here eating Mer--ow!" Raynor
said as he was again hit, this time by Usagi and Ami. "Sorry. Just too
good an opportunity to pass up. I mean, it's not every day that kind of
perfect opening shows up through the nearest warp rift. Anyway, you six
can go to that corner booth. I think it'll be big enough. I'll be right
back."
The six walked over to the booth sat down, from left to right,
in the order Ami, Usagi, Sakura, Tomoyo, Yolei, Kari. There was a space
beside Ami for Raynor to sit.
"I can't believe he didn't notice! Ami said. "I mean, it's still
there, isn't it?"
"I know!" Yolei agreed. "Hold on. What are you talking about?"
"The symbol of Mercury is glowing on my forehead, isn't it? and
the Moon's is on Usagi's forehead."
"Yeah, it's still there." Usagi said.
"Uh, no it's not." Yolei said. "But my crest should be on my
forehead." Yolei said.
"Nope."
"Are my eyes at least a purplish color?"
Tomoyo leaned in and looked right into Yolei's eyes, squinting a
little. "Oh yeah...only a little, though. Mine are pink, right?" She
said.
"Yeah, they are. Any idea what made your eyes glow pink?"
"The yuri card." Sakura answered flatly.
"Oh." Yolei said. "I must have missed that episode. Funny, most of
the Lemons I've seen that involve cards has the Create card in it."
"The TV show doesn't have the yuri card in it? Jeez, it's just not
a show if it doesn't have the Yuri card. Tomoyo, you've got the video,
don't you?"
"What, here?" Usagi said. "I mean, in the show you're a little
obsessed with Sakura, but this is rediculous."
"Well, the yuri card capture is special. It was when we ended up
professing our love to each other, among doing other things..." Sakura
explained.
"And yeah, I've got the video." Tomoyo replied.
"Good. Maybe we can get the replicator to make us a small-screen
TV to play it on."
"Or we could just go to the holodeck." Raynor said, walking up and
placing trays down in front of Ami and Usagi. "I'll be back with the
rest." Raynor said, walking off again.
"...How much did he hear, do you think?" Tomoyo said.
"Far too much, I think." Ami said.
"Hoeee.... He'll probably want a copy of it." Sakura said.
"More than likely." Usagi agreed. "So everyone's got some eye
thing now? I mean, there's Tomoyo, Sakura and Kari, who's got pink
eyes..."
"They're a different shade, though. Sakura's and Tomoyo's are more
a light red than pink." Kari said.
"Oh. At any rate, they've got some version of pink, Yolei's got
purple eyes, Ami's are blue and I've got yellow eyes."
"I don't know why it's not obvious." Tomoyo said, looking into
Sakura's eyes. "It's a vibrant pink glow."
"To you maybe. I don't know, maybe you two can see each others'
eyes better because you're both from the same universe or something."
"Maybe. I can barely see Usagi's, for example, but Yolei's is
pretty bright." Kari said. "By the way, did any of you four get
something between when we went into our respective quarters?"
"I would have thought you all got some." Raynor said, coming back
with five more trays--holding two, and balancing the other three on his
forearm. The six girls sweatdropped. "Although I don't think that's what
you meant."
Raynor carefully placed trays around the table, being careful not
to drop any of them.
"No, it wasn't." Kari said. "Me and Yolei got these necklaces out
of nowhere."
Kari and Yolei each brought out their necklaces as the rest
started to eat. They quickly followed suit, trying the Bengalaas meat,
which looked exactly like a chicken breast. "You're right, Raynor, this
does taste like chicken." Yolei said.
"Could use the StarCraft equivalent of Shake 'N Bake." Sakura
commented.
"We've been trying to find the recipe for that, but it's the one
thing not in our massive cooking archive."
"Tough luck." Usagi said with her mouth full.
"Mm. The weird thing about these necklaces is that they turn into
actual weapons. Like full size sharp could-kill-you-easily-just-by-
looking-at-it weapons." Yolei explained.
"That's interesting." Raynor said. "Not that blades and arrows
will be that much help against the Zerg, but still, they look cool."
"Don't be too sure. I mean, this doesn't...I don't know, _feel_
like it's a normal thing. Like it's something extra, only not. Enchanted
or something."
"Enchanted. Riiight."
"Hey, you try not believing in magic at the same time that a
yellow stuffed animal is telling you you've got to go capture all these
cards with different powers running amok." Sakura said.
"Counterpoint: You're in my universe now. Besides, I have yet to
see this stuffed animal of yours. Not that I'm doubting you or
anything."
"Oh yeah, right. Kero's almost as big a hentai as you are. Do you
really think we'd let him within a kilometre of us while we're taking a
bath?"
"True."
"As to your original question, Kari," Ami said, "no, Usagi and I
never got anything, let alone a weapon of some sort. Granted, we're sort
of walking weapons ourselves."
"I saw that from the episodes I was able to find of Sailor Moon."
Raynor said. "The only thing is--and this is just a question, don't get
mad at me--while you transform, are you naked at some point?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Because there are two different versions of the show, one in
Japanese, the other in english. There's some major editing for the
english version, including taking out all the nudity and most of the
ecchi stuff."
"So they took all the good stuff out of it?" Yolei said.
"Basically."
"Question." Tomoyo said, looking at Raynor. "Are my eyes pink?"
"Are they _pink_? A little, why?"
"Let's just say it's an aftereffect." Sakura said.
"Ok. An aftereffect of wh--never mind. Any idea why?"
"The Yuri card."
"...Card? What do you mean?"
"One of the cards I captured. When I capture a card, I get its
powers. Each is a different power--The fly card, the water card, et
cetera. There just happened to be a Yuri card."
"I think I was a little too right when I said this could get
real interesting, real fast. So is it just you two?"
"No. Me and Yolei have our signature colors." Kari said.
"And me and Ami have our colors, too. and our symbols on our
foreheads." Usagi added.
"Symbols?"
"Of Mercury and the Moon." Ami explained.
"Ah. So all six of you have some eye thing, Kari and Yolei get
weapons, and we have no idea why the six of you are here in the first
place. Somehow I knew I should have stayed in bed, this morning--"Raynor
said before starting to blink rapidly. "Ow."
"What?"
"I don't know, my eyes are itching a lot all of a sudden..."Raynor
said, rubbing his eyes. "I have no idea what could be caus--wait. It
just stopped." Raynor said, opening his eyes.
"Whoa, cool!" Usagi said. "Your eyes are green!"
"They are?" Raynor said. "Speaking of, everything else is a sea
green too. Is it the same for all of you? In your colors, I would
imagine."
"Yeah, it's the same. For us at least." Sakura replied.
"Same here." Ami added.
"Well, it's unanimous." Kari said.
"The plot thickens...I think I just got included in whatever is
happening."
"Seems like it, anyway. Welcome to the club. Actually, since we
were kind of interrupted by noticing the eye thing, we had some time to
experiment. Not only do we have the weapons, we can use them, well at
that, and we've got night vision now. Everything's like a black-and-pink
version of the standard green NVGs."
"Guess we'll have to do some experiments to see just what each
person's capable of after dinner." Raynor said.
"Good. I don't know about you four, but I've got all this energy
coursing through me for some reason." Ami said, finishing the rest of
her dinner and starting on the Mercury Pie.
"Leftover adrenaline?" Raynor suggested.
"I'll let that slide just because it was the first thing that
crossed my mind. No, it feels different than the usual hormone/
adrenaline mix. Like the pure energy the Negaverse is always trying to
steal."
"Oh."
"This is really good, although it does taste a little different."
"The blueberries are grown hydroponically."
"Yeah, we've got an energy rush too." Sakura said. "Although the
first time I used the windy card by accident I felt the same thing, but
it subsided really quickly. And it's also an aftereffect of the Yuri
card, though it usually goes away in 10 minutes or so."
"We kind of feel the same thing when our digimon digivolve, but
it's only about three seconds long." Yolei said. "It's like it froze in
mid-digivolution."
"So you've all got some experience with this feeling. This could
mean something." Raynor said.
"Yeah, I felt the same thing when the rest of the inner Senshi
and I were killed at D-point...when we were adding our power to the
Princess'." Ami said.
"I kind of feel the same thing when I transform into Serenity."
Usagi said. "Only a little more...I don't know, watered down. It's a lot
stronger right now. Man, that was a good dinner."
"Yeah, I have to admit, it was, considering we just ate something
from a different planet, on a starship, in an alternate universe." Kari
agreed.
"Yeah. Anyway, no rush. As soon as you're all done we can go to
the holodeck and see about all your powers. And maybe that video?"
Raynor suggested innocently.
"That can wait another day, Raynor." Tomoyo replied flatly. "I
think the whole thing with the powers is just starting to warm up."
øøø---___
Holodeck #2, The Hyperion II--1845 hours, May 16, 2503
A whole lot of targets were set up, both long-range and short-
range. "Ok. I assume Ami and Usagi need to--ok." Raynor started. "You're
already transformed."
"Yeah. I think that could be a new thing. The transformation only
needed a mental command to activate." Mercury said, her visor around her
eyes. "No idea why I'm wearing my visor, though. Though it's got more
sensory input than it had."
"Maybe that's your 'upgrade'." Kari suggested.
"Maybe. Although I don't think so, somehow. At least not all of
it."
"At any rate..." Raynor interjected. "When a target gets destroyed
it'll automatically regenerate. some of them will stay in one place,
some will move back and forth, some will move randomly, and some will
try to dodge your attacks. They'll have a number in blue on them--that
shows what level it is. Level 1 is when they stay in one place, and
level 4 is dodge mode. Guess this is where I say go, right?"
Sakura pulled out her key, and flipped it into the air. It spun
around and lengthened, and slowed to a stop, floating in the air. Sakura
was about to catch it when the head kept moving, and lengthened into a
scythe. "Whoa!" Sakura said, picking her new Staff out of the air.
"That's a new one."
"Seems like, but--hey, look at that!" Tomoyo said, pointing to
where the staff was floating in air. There was a ghost-like image of
the original staff.
"That's weird..." Sakura said, reaching out to touch the old
Staff. It went right through Sakura. "Hmm. Why is it here?"
Tomoyo's eyes seemed to glow a brighter pink than usual. "Come."
Tomoyo said in a voice that sounded like it echoed before she said the
words, and the old Staff flew through the air, Tomoyo carching it and
twirling it around a few times. Then her eyes returned to their usual
brightness. "What--why do I have your staff now?" Tomoyo asked.
"Maybe you can use the Cards now?" Sakura suggested. "I don't
know, maybe I passed some of my power down into you."
"Well, this is the perfect atmosphere to test that..." Raynor
commented.
"Good point. What card do you want to try to use?"
"Let's see if I can use the Windy card." Tomoyo said. Then she
suddenly reached into her Hammerspace and pulled it out. "Guess we both
have access to the Cards now." Tomoyo said, looking at the Windy card.
"Windy!"
Tomoyo flipped the card into the air and hit it with a broad swing
of her staff. The card exploded, then coalesced into a yellow-and-white
girl. Tomoyo glanced at one of the targets, and Windy turned into a gust
of wind and sped off in the direction of the target. There was a loud
crack as the gust of wind split the target in half. The Windy card
rematerialized in the air in front of Tomoyo and she picked it up.
"Impressive, to say the least." Raynor said.
"Yeah." Sakura said. "No calling our shots, either. That's kind of
cool.
"Our turn." Kari said, her eyes now glowing pink. Her bow, arrow
and quiver enlargened and Kari picked them up, putting the quiver over
her back. "All I need is a pink Robin Hood cap and I'm all set." She
joked.
Yolei's sword enlargened also, and she picked it up. "uh...purple
tunic?" She said. "Anyway, you need the pointed ears. I've got you
pegged as more of a Legolas type."
"Oh. Good enough." Kari said, picking an arrow out of her quiver
and shooting it at a target, the arrow sticking into the bullseye. Five
arrows later, six targets were painted by Kari's arrows. "Good
shooting." Raynor said.
"That's nothing. watch this." Kari said.
Kari extended her hand towards the targets, and then made a fist.
All six arrows exploded, leaving six small black craters in their wake.
"Uh...yeah." Yolei said. "You can make those things explode?"
"If I infuse them with energy when I shoot them." Kari replied.
"Don't worry, our room's not in pieces."
"Oh, good." Yolei said before turning her attention to a level 4
target close to her. "Let's see how I do here..."
The target was shifting left and right rapidly, waiting for Yolei
to make a move. When she did, the target seemed undamaged. "I think you
missed." Raynor said.
"Did I?" Yolei said. She walked up to the target, which had
stopped moving, and elbowed the top half, knocking it off where it was
severed.
"Or not."
Then Yolei looked at a level 4 target down at the other end of the
holodeck. She took aim, and threw the sword, keeping her right arm
extended. The target dodged, but with a simple flick of Yolei's wrist
the sword changed trajectory and went through the target's bullseye.
"Damn." Raynor said.
Yolei retracted her arm, as if to pull out the sword from the
target, and it flew back to her. "Well, that seems to be working
nicely." She said.
"Seems like. Ok...let's see what we've got." Mercury said.
"Mercury..."
Her voice went into the same reverse echo Tomoyo's voice had. "Ice
Dagger!"
Mercury drew an 8-inch vertical line in the air, and it appeared
in blue. It fattened into a dagger, made of ice, and lengthened slightly
to make the handle. it had the symbol of mercury engraved on both sides
of the ice blade. "Cool. But I don't think this could be that good a
long-range weapon."
"Only one way to find out." Moon said.
Ami took aim and went to throw the dagger at a target. The blade
split apart into ice slivers and they all hit one of the level 3
targets. Then the slivers exploded, taking out three other targets in
the process. "Wow." was all Mercury could say as she watched another ice
blade, this one looking slightly different, shoot out from the handle
she still held.
"Not bad for a mainly defensive senshi." Moon commented.
"Not anymore."
"Apparently." Raynor said.
"Ok, my turn. Moon..." Sailor Moon's voice reverse echoed.
"Rapier!"
A large thin sword was thrown through a small wormhole in front of
Sailor Moon, handle first, and she caught it. "Cool." She said,
examining the alabaster blade. "This looks wicked!"
"I wonder if you could use that as a long-range weapon." Kari
said.
"Like I said..." Moon said as she took aim at a target.
She made an exaggerated slice in the air, and a curved beam of
light shot out from the blade. It hit the target she aimed for, then
curved around and hit another couple of targets before detonating on the
fourth, destroying three more in the process.
"I think it's safe to say you can use that long-range." Raynor
said. "Jack-of-all-trades, you four, now."
"not really." Kari said. "I mean, I've only got the ranged
attack."
"Look at your bow again."
Kari looked at the bow. She noticed that the string was ghost-like
while the rest of the bow was normal, and only where her hand naturally
fell to hold the bow was an actual handle. The rest made up a pink
scimitar. "Oh. Never mind."
"Yeah. Anyway, it's nice that all you have new or different
attacks and all, but I can't help that we're being set up for something.
How's about you six come with me to the conference room and we'll talk
to Zeratul, see what he's figured out."
"Good idea." Mercury said.
She flipped the dagger into the air and it dissolved into a cloud, which
started to snow lightly. "The next priority probably should be figuring
out why this happened. Unless we get attacked and have to fight or
something." She said, watching Moon throw the Moon Rapier back into the
wormhole that reappeared in front of her.
"Don't even think of the possibility. Where we stand, there's not
much that can attack us except 'Emperor' Mengsk, and he's still
rebuilding his empire. Operation Omega wasn't cheap, from what I heard."
"Operation Omega?" Kari asked as her bow and Yolei's sword shrunk
to normal and reattached to their respective necklaces.
"It was a joint effort from the now-defunct UED, that came from
Earth about three years ago to take over the Koprulu sector--They almost
did, too, taking control of the Zerg's Overmind and most of the planets,
but Kerrigan, the self-titled Queen of Blades, eventually destroyed the
Overmind, took control of pretty much everything, and kicked everyone's
ass into the next sector--anyway, the UED, The Sons of Korhal, led by
Arcturus Mengsk, and the Protoss, led by Artanis. All three converged on
Kerrigan, and she beat the three fleets with one 'fleet' of her own. It
was rumoured to have cost each of the three fleets a couple of hundred
thousand in minerals and gas, the resources of the planets in this
sector."
"Oh. Thanks for the history lesson again. I think I could do
better on a StarCraft history test than a regular one."
"Probably. Hey, you ask, I tell." Raynor said.
"And we're thankful. Who knows? Maybe it'll come in handy someday,
when we really do have to defend the sector from some new threat with
you. I mean, right now our universes are pretty much intertwined beyond
repair, aren't they?"
"Yeah, they are." Raynor said, watching Sakura and Tomoyo shrink
their staves back into keys. "Thanks for the alliance. Lord knows once
Mengsk gets his army back in order, we're going to have a hell of a time
keeping alive."
"You sound like a tired old man." Tomoyo said, mimicing
Raynor's voice.
"Don't let the fact that I am three hundred and sixty-eight years
older than you dull your impression of me, Raynor," Raynor returned,
mimicing Fenix. "I can still--how do you Terrans say it--'Throw down
with the best of them'."
"I stand corrected."
"Speaking of which..." Raynor said. "Let's see if I've got any new
skills. Computer, create one Raynor's Gauss Rifle."
The computer blipped and a Gauss rifle appeared on the floor in
front of Raynor. "Lock and load." He said, flipping the safety off.
There was a blur of movement and a thunderous noise for about five
seconds, and then nothing. Raynor looked in awe as all the targets in
the room had their bullseyes shot out of them.
øøø---___
Conference room, The Hyperion II--1930 hours, May 16, 2503
"Zeratul here. Ah, En Taro Adun, Raynor."
"En Taro Adun, Zeratul. I've got some news about the DigiDestined
and the others, but that can wait a little. Have you found anything else
about the rift?" Raynor replied.
"We have found out that it somehow originated from Braxis."
"Braxis? You mean, like, a probe on Braxis opened a warp rift to
Shakuras?"
"Precisely. That means that those six were on Braxis for some
amount of time before coming to Shakuras."
Raynor turned to the six girls. "Any of you remember being on a
snow world or hearing the word 'Braxis' before you got here?"
All six girls said no. "They don't remember being on Braxis."
"I cannot blame them, given their activity." Zeratul replied. At
that point all six girls turned bright red, Ami and Kari seemingly more
than the rest.
"Hey, you finally got a sense of humour." Raynor said cheerily.
"...I was merely stating a fact. It was not meant as a joke."
"Well, it certainly was funny. Anyway, about the girls. All six of
them, and myself, have had some discoloration and luminescence of the
eyes, as well as some other skill or ability that we've never had
before. For instance, I have a sea green tinge to my eyes, and my
accuracy with a Gauss rifle has improved to almost inhuman levels. Kari
has a pink tinge to her eyes, and has received a bow and arrow set from
somewhere. Yolei has a purple tinge to her eyes and has received a sword
from seemingly the same place Kari's was from, since their 'put away'
form is on a necklace. Ami and Usagi have some new blade, Ami an ice
dagger and Usagi an alabaster sword, and they have the symbol of their
planets on their foreheads in addition to their eye colors."
"We've got our crests on our forehead, too!" Kari interjected.
"Right. Anyway, Sakura originally had a Staff she used in
conjunction with a set of 'magic' Tarot cards with special powers. Now
Sakura has a Staff that looks like a scythe, and Tomoyo, who couldn't
use the cards to begin with, has Sakura's old Staff."
"This is interesting. You say Sakura has these 'cards'? May I see
one?"
"I guess. Sakura?" Raynor looked at Sakura. She picked the Shadow
card out of her pocket and slid it across the table to Raynor. He took
the card and held it up to Zeratul.
"These cards are...familiar. There was an old form of
prerecognition, last used over 500 years ago--which would place it at
your time, Sakura--called Mind Reaving. It featured cards that looked
exactly like the one you hold in your hand, Raynor, and they were said
to be the thoughts of the ancient God manifested in a physical form.
Hence their name, the Memories of Nexar."
Raynor winced at the name Duran supposedly was behind. "I know
that Duran could not have anything to do with those cards, Raynor,
because the technology for interdimensional travel has not been figured
out by any race we have come across."
"Hold on. I thought the Digivice had--"
"The Digivice had information relating to the transportation of
matter as digital information, but nothing in relation to
interdimensional travel. It seems the Digivice acts as a beacon when it
is in a different universe, and that is why the Digital World picks it
up and transports the person or people to it."
"Oh. So if you were to create a Digivice for, say, me, would it
work?"
"No. That is the puzzling part. The Digivices only seems to react
with a select few individuals, which is likely why they were named the
DigiDestined--they were the select few chosen to wield this power. But
you had been able to go into the Digiworld yourself, after you defeated
Duran, correct?"
"Yes. Does that mean I'm some DigiDestined too?"
"Possibly. You could be the one case in this entire universe that
is able to use a Digivice."
"Weird."
"I guess that means welcome to the club." Yolei said.
"I guess."
"The fact that your eyes are undergoing the same thing as the
girls are seems to reinforce this theory also." Zeratul added.
"Any Digimon looking for an owner in the Digiworld?" Raynor asked
the DigiDestined.
"Not that I know of." Kari said.
"Me neither." Yolei added.
"Great. The only DigiDestined without a Digimon."
"I suppose 'Gauss Riflemon' wouldn't be it, would it?"
"Funny. No, I don't think so, somehow."
"At any rate, I hope this information has been helpful. Thank you
for the update on the girls' condition."
"No problem."
Zeratul severed the connection. "Me as a DigiDestined. That's
weird."
"Yeah. Not to mention that you're the oldest DigiDestined we've
come across." Kari said.
"Let me guess. They're all about your age."
"Most of them."
"One more reason I feel older than I should..."
"Being in the middle of a war-torn sector of the galaxy isn't
going to help much, is it?" Ami said.
"Not at all. Speaking of...Zeratul taught me a little of that
Protoss Tarot reading. I know mostly what the cards mean by themselves,
but the more cards drawn the more accurate the reading supposedly is.
The thing is, the Shadow card is supposed to represent a growing
danger...a 'shadow slowly being cast over our way of life', as Zeratul
put it."
"So we get to field test these new powers soon, if I get you
correctly." Sakura paraphrased.
"If it's right. Which, and I've seen quite a few of these, it
usually is."
øøø---___
Chemistry Lab, the Hyperion II--1000 hours, May 17, 2503
"Hmm...curious..."
Magellan had requested tests on the new weapons and staves to see
if any of the various acids and venoms produced by the Zerg would have
any effect on them. He started with Kari's Scimitar Bow, and he
replicated some of the material for testing. Hydralisk spine venom hadn't
done anything, nor had Mutalisk Glave acid. Even Guardian acid wasn't
making so much as smoke from contact with the staff. "Guardian acid is
the strongest acid the Zerg have," Magellan said, moving the piece of
material--now free of acid--under a microscope to see if anything had
been damaged at the subatomic level. "Even as small as 3 million X
there's no damage."
"Well, this is certainly a vote of confidence." Raynor said flatly.
"Makes what we call armour look like we're protecting ourselves with
paper."
"You managed to make the exact tone Usagi's voice made during my
study session with her."
"Uh...I thought when you came through the Warp Rift you two were--"
"We were," Ami interrupted quickly, "But she happened to earn that
through a bet with me over a question from a unit in Math she was having
difficulty with."
"I wish it were that easy with half the girls I met."
"Well, she didn't exactly explicit say _that_ when she made the
bet. She said she wanted to try something with me. We never really
thought we loved each other until a day ago, less 2 hours, our time."
Ami said, looking at the wall clock.
"That's odd. In our universe, it's been exactly a day. The last
time I remember was about 10 AM, just before we got into the tub."
Sakura said.
"Wha--? It was about 6 for the two of us." Kari said.
"And it was noon when you all transported here. So either there's
one mother of a memory gap for the six of you--not that can't happen,
mind you, I've read more information on Amnesia than I ever thought
possible--or the universes have different cosmic clocks."
"I'd guess the latter." Yolei said. "From what I can remember, I
was--well, you know--then there was this rush of wind and suddenly I was
on Shakuras."
The others agreed. "Ok, so it's the latter. Good, that's one
thing that could be catastrophic I can check off the--unless..."
"I can hear the gears squeak around in your head, Raynor." Kari
said. "What are you thinking?"
"You six aren't too averse to a little pain, are you? All in the
interest of the safety of the universe as we know it?"
øøø---___
The Nexus, New Encampment in New Antioch, Shakuras--1200 hours, May
17, 2503
"Remind me again why we agreed to this?"
"All in the interest of the safety of the universe as we know it."
Kari replied to Usagi.
"Yeah, but that was before we heard the part about feeling like our
head is turning itself inside out!"
"Hey, you want to back out, it's up to you." Ami said. "I agreed,
and Raynor said he only needs one person from each universe."
"Oh. Good."
"But I don't think Rei and the others would appreciate knowing that
even in 'the interest of the safety of the universe as we know it' you
wouldn't act like our leader and endure a little pain."
"What?!" Usagi squeaked, her eyes doubling in size. "You'd do
that?!"
"Yep. I can hear it now. 'Ami! Usagi! What happened?'" Ami said,
mimicing Rei's voice. "'Oh, nothing, just us saving this alternate
universe with a couple of others from different alternate universes and
Usagi shirking as much responsibility as she could, just like usual.'"
"This is for yesterday afternoon, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Not that I'm usually patient, but that's when my right
brain's in domination over my left."
"Whatever that means...Oh, alright. But only to avoid another
fight with Rei."
"Thanks, Usagi." Ami said, hugging the blonde. "And it means when
I'm not aroused past the point of no return. You don't know how long
those five hours were to me, since my left brain never fully took control
again until...well, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I was there."
"Just out of curiosity, either of you want to send me a 'Wish you
were here' postcard?" Raynor interjected from behind them.
"No." They both said, slightly indignant and blushing.
"Just a thought. Alright, Kari, Zeratul wants you and Yolei in
the room first. I guess he feels it'd be best to start with the universe
we're most familiar with, or something."
Kari and Yolei walked in behind Raynor into the room in the Nexus.
Zeratul and a High Templar, dressed in a yellow-and-blue robe, were
waiting for them. "Hello, Kari, Yolei. This _was_ Raynor's idea, not
mine." Zeratul said. "I do not think that anyone should have to be
subjected to any more pain than necessary, but Raynor seems to think
there is a chance this will work better for you six than it did for
Sora."
"We already went through that." Raynor said. "Amnesia is strictly
chemical. There is really no way that a psionic storm could work. Manual
suppression is different. It involves the mind itself, not the brain. So
if these girls were hypnotized to believe that they suddenly went from
their respective rooms in their respective universes to here, a Psionic
Storm would jolt the real memories back to the fore."
Zeratul growled. "You are the expert on memory loss, not I."
Raynor stepped back a little. Zeratul nodded at the High Templar.
"Go."
The High Templar tried to shoot out a Psionic Storm, but made it
too powerful and held the Lightning in a ball in front of it, struggling
to keep it under control. "Get...out...NOW!" It telepathed.
Raynor and the two girls barely had time to get out the door
before everyone heard the High Templar grunt and a small explosion.
After a few seconds, Raynor poked his head back into the door. "Uh,
Zeratul? Was that supposed to happen?"
"No. The Templar misjudged the intensity of the Storm at first,
and could not power it down safely. As you Terrans say, it 'happens to
the best of us'."
"Great." Raynor said. "Is he going to do that again?"
"There only about three Psionic Overcharges recorded per standard
year. No, it will not happen."
"...Alright then." Raynor looked back at Kari and Yolei. "Still
want to go through with this?"
"If it'll help...besides, you heard what Zeratul said. It's an
isolated incident, not unheard of, but rare." Kari said.
"Yeah, we're still a go. Dunno about them, though." Yolei said
at the other four girls' slightly pale faces.
"We'll Psionic Storm that bridge when we come to it, I guess."
Kari and Yolei walked back in to the room, which seemed untouched.
"Uh, Zeratul, why aren't you brain-dead?" Kari said. "You never moved."
"The Psionic Storm is a little like what you Terrans call Treble
sound. It is directional. I am standing to the right and behind the High
Templar; therefore, I was not in harm's way." Zeratul replied.
"Oh."
"The High Templar can use its power in 360 degrees, but it is very
weak, and is almost ineffective to most psionic people, such as other
Protoss and the Terran Ghosts. It could still do damage to normal
Terrans, however."
"That's comforting." Raynor said.
"Are you again ready?"
"Yes." Came the reply.
"Go."
Again the High Templar attempted to use a light Psionic Storm, but
the resulting ball of lightning was even larger than the last one. This
time, Raynor, Kari and Yolei needed no warning, and bolted out the door.
Another, louder, explosion was heard. "What are you girls doing to that
poor templar to make him lose that much control over his powers?" Raynor
asked jokingly.
Again Sakura and Tomoyo blushed. "Another Lemon? A Digimon one this
time?"
"No, it's another Sailor Moon Lemon...it involves Ami being lovers
with someone who can control the weather, and, uh, she can make him
create a thunderstorm..." Tomoyo explained.
Again Ami turned bright red. "It's a huge fic, too. three and a
half megabytes."
"Been a while since I heard the term Megabyte. How much is that
again?" Raynor asked, looking a little confused.
"Let me put it this way--You know The Hobbit?"
"Ah, the classics...Yeah, I know about it."
"It's threatening to pass it in length. And it's still not done."
"Oh."
"Uh, shouldn't we be going back in, maybe for take 3?" Kari asked.
"You still want to go through with this? You've got a lot more
guts than I do."
"Yeah, well, being unceremoniously dumped onto an island in a
different universe with the only humans around being your brother and
several people you barely know tends to toughen you up a bit."
"So you couldn't go back for a while?"
"Well, they couldn't." Yolei said. "We just kinda got our D-3s and
were able to DigiPort from one universe to the other with relative ease."
"Yeah. I watched those episodes you sent back with Matt and Sora,
by the way, and not only do they kind of cut off the second season, which
is just before our time is at, the rest of the series doesn't even have
us in it! We get turned into a TV show in the rest of the seasons!"
"So you're an anime inside an anime. And I thought alternate
universes is complicated."
"Yeah. Anyway..." Kari said. "You'd think we'd be gluttons for
punishment with the way we're trying to get all this pain to shoot
through us, but I guess it's 'all in the interest of the safety of the
universe as we know it'."
"I think I'm regretting saying that." Raynor said as he walked
through the door again. "Oh, sh--" He started before regaining his wits
and slapping a comm panel on the wall. "Medics to Psionic Room Three, we
have Zeratul and a High Templar unconcious, possibly because of a
Psionic Overcharge."
øøø---___
Heal Wing, The Nexus, New Encampment in New Antioch, Shakuras--1310
hours, May 17, 2503
Zeratul woke up feeling like he just pissed off a Torrasque. His
entire body ached, and--
He remembered. The two Psionic Overcharges. That fully woke him up.
"Easy, Zeratul. You just took the brunt of a Psionic Storm." Raynor
explained.
"I remember that." Zeratul replied, getting up. "What I don't
remember is why the Daik'Sha that Templar couldn't control himself. He's
an expert."
"Whoa. I don't think I've ever heard you swear at anyone since I've
met you."
Zeratul sighed. "It is not something I do, only when I do the
equivalent of 'blowing an agression inhibitor'. We Protoss, by nature,
are usually emotionally reserved people in times of peace. But even we
have our breaking points."
"Totally understood. Just out of curiosity, would you know the
English translation of that one word you said?"
"I cannot repeat it in front of the girls."
"I see."
"That should have not happened. I need to have a conference with
the Templar, to see what went wrong."
"He's here." Raynor said, moving out of the way of the Templar.
He started telepathing to Zeratul, in Protoss, but even so it only
sounded like static to the rest of the group. There was a pause, then
more static. "That is Interesting." Zeratul said after a while.
"What is?" Ami asked.
"The High Templar says he felt something...a presence, perhaps...
with him when he was about to release the Storm. Apparitions and psychic
ghosts are fairly uncommon, but every Templar is able to block out all
forms of distraction, including those of the psionic nature. But this
particular entity seemed to be...he was not sure, but he said something
about it overriding the mental restraints he put on his powers."
"So something basically stepped on his psychic foot, which was on
the psionic Gas pedal?" Raynor paraphrased.
"Essentially. So neither of the Overcharges were entirely his
fault. The second, however, was the entity forcing him to release the
Storm in 360 degrees."
"So...what, this was some assassination attempt?" Kari asked.
"No, whoever had the knowledge to override a Templar mind was not
after me, for they would know a 360 degree Storm would not damage any
Protoss mind. It seemed it, or they, were after at least Kari and Yolei,
if not the rest of you as well."
"Or maybe..." Raynor said. "Maybe it was that someone was trying
to see if they could do something like this. See if they could
essentially use the weapons of the enemy against themselves."
"What are you saying? There are other Protoss here on Shakuras that
are turning against the Dark Templar who have saved them? That there are
survivors from Aiur looking for answers?" Zeratul said, sounding none
pleased.
"I don't know what I'm saying, right now. All I do know is that
someone out there has the ability to hack into the strongest mind ever
conceived as if it were nothing, and they've got a vendetta against
either you, the DigiDestined, the others, or me, or any combination of
the four. All I'm saying is we should start watching our backs a little."
"And we need to come up with a plan." Kari added. "I mean, surely
we can't just ask thousands of High Templar to leave, or worse kill them
just because they could be used against us, correct?"
"You have a bright mind, child." Zeratul said. "We do need a
solution, and one that would work quickly and on a large scale."
"You said the Templar said that he felt like his mind was being
overrided?" Yolei said. "Could he possibly give a description or draw
a mental picture for you or something?"
"He may."
Again quiet static filled the minds of everyone present except for
Zeratul. "you know what this could be?" Tomoyo quietly asked Sakura.
"The Hybrid. You know, that bonus level I unlocked?"
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that." Sakura quietly replied.
"What else could it be? Besides the other Protoss, I mean."
Zeratul's expression visibly darkened--literally, as his face
turned increasingly darker grey, stopping just before black. "The Templar
has telepathed a picture of the entity that attacked him." Zeratul said.
"I shall get him to telepath it to the rest of you, as well as another
mental picture."
There was a click in the minds of Raynor and the girls and then
a mental picture started forming. Slowly at first, but then it came in
quite clear. After it was ingrained in the everyone's memories, a second
picture came through. It was of the first entity, only trapped in a
green cylinder of some sort and submerged in a jell-O like substance.
"The first picture is what the Templar saw." Zeratul said. "The
second, however, is mine."
"Yours? You mean you saw this before?" Raynor asked.
"Yes. It was about the same time Artanis was beginning the long
and fruitless campaign that was Operation Omega..."
øøø---___
I had been drawn here since we had left with the Khalis crystal.
I took a band of Dark Templar and took over a terran encampment, with
three Stasis cells--the cylinder you saw was one. Something seemed to be
calling me, psychically screaming out...it seemed to be in so much
pain...but something was troubling me. I did not realize it at the time,
but the voice was Zerg. The voice was calling out to me through Protoss
means, yet was not Protoss.
The first stasis cell I came across was of a Zergling. It was in
stasis, vital signs stable despite going into a seperate dimensional
pocket--similar to the Hammerspace you girls use to keep your weapons
and artefacts in. Only visible.
The second cell was of a Protoss, a Zealot. I am still wondering
how he managed to be subdued enough to be disarmed and placed in Stasis,
unless someone was able to tap into the psychic supression collar all
Zealots wear to focus their energy into their blades.
The third, however...it was the picture the Templar telepathed to
you. When I walked up to it, Duran telepathed me from an unknown
location, possibly not even on Braxis, explaning what exactly what I was
staring at actually was.
øøø---___
"The creature in the Stasis cell was the Hybrid creature, created
with both a--"
"Purity of form and essence." Tomoyo finished for Zeratul. "The
best of both worlds. Created with the Zerg ability to adapt coupled with
the Protoss power."
"Yes."
"One last paraphrase, just so I can be sure of what you're saying."
Raynor said, rubbing his temples. "You're saying that there is a super-
being out there with both Protoss and Zerg characteristics that just woke
up from being in Stasis, possibly coming here and sure as Hell trying out
its psychic powers?"
"Correct."
Raynor looked into the cup of coffee he held. "I'm going to need
something stronger than this, the way things are going. It's going to be
one of those days..."
øøø---___
Great Hall, New Antioch, Shakuras--2000 hours, May 17, 2503
"This session has been called to order as an Emergency meeting to
discuss a recent turn of events involving me, the Terrans banding with
Raynor, the guests that arrived yesterday through the warp rift, and
quite possible every other being in the universe." Zeratul began to the
crowd of mostly Protoss. The Senior Staff of the Hyperion, with Raynor
and the six girls, were in the front row, right side.
"About a standard year ago, during the failed Operation Omega, a
small band of Protoss and I ventured to Braxis to answer a psychic call
for help. What we found, however, was not a settlement of Protoss, but a
the unthinkable. We found what the Zerg Overmind had planned for each of
us from the beginning of the bloody campaign on Aiur--the Zerg/Protoss
Hybrid creature. It has been created."
The tension in the air seemed to triple at that point, but nobody
said a word. "7 hours ago, I had arrainged a meeting with our top
medicinal Stormer, Sol, and the six girls, to see if there were any
suppressed memories they possessed about why they were brought here.
During an attempt to create a low-energy Storm, however, Sol seemed to
experience an Overcharge and was able to tell Raynor and the two girls
that were in the room to get out before releasing the storm. It was a
focused storm, and I was standing behind him, so I was not harmed. That
time. On the second attempt, Sol seemed to experience a second Overcharge
in a row, and again Raynor and the two girls were able to get out before
he released the Storm. However, this Storm was unfocused, and both he and
I were knocked unconcious.
"During a Meeting with Sol, he telepathed a picture of an entity he
believed overrode his mental restraints on his power, forcing him into an
Overcharge, to me. Sol, if you will."
Sol, who was sitting in the front row, left side, stood up and
telepathed the picture to the audience. "This is what I saw on Braxis."
Sol telepathed the next picture and the tension further increased. "The
hybrid has awoken, and it may be preparing to attack."
A moment pause. "There is another problem I need to introduce. The
High Templar mind is the strongest mind of all the Protoss, having spent
decades in meditation to sharpen its skills past the concepts of reality.
But the Hybrid was able to simply 'hack' into our strongest Templar's
mind and essentially attempt to kill the girls and Raynor without any
struggle. Since only the mind of the High Templar is strong enough to
push past the boundary between mental and physical, and are the only
psychokinetic form we Protoss have, we must find a way to keep their
powers under their control and not that of the Hybrid's. Aurus," Zeratul
made eye contact with a Protoss in the audience. "I must call on you once
again to create a one-way psychic block strong enough to keep the Hybrid
at bay."
"I shall dedicate every Engineer and resource to it." Aurus
replied.
"Thank you." Zeratul said, and walked off the platform, ending the
meeting.
All the Protoss filed out of the Hall, some telepathing, some
talking, all wondering again about the future of their race and way of
life.
øøø---___
Conference Room, The Hyperion II--2100 Hours, May 17, 2053
"Alright. You were all at the Great Hall, you know why we're here."
Raynor said. "We've got to help somehow. Anything at all that could be of
help, just throw it out there."
"The material." Magellan said. "The stuff Sakura's staff is made
of. It can be replicated into armour. Strangely, it's remarkably similar
to standard armour, only with a few common elements like Nitrogen and
Hydrogen in there too. I should have the ability to get plates and armour
mass-replicated in a day or two, the new units and equipment made in
another day, and the existing units and movable buildings we have in
storage retrofitted in about two days."
"Good Is there anything special to consider with the new material?
Like its weight in relation to the standard Tritanite."
"We've been doing extensive tests on that. It has a melting point
of about 3700 degreed celcius, is rated to minus 130 for cold protection,
is rated up to about its melting point for heat protection, is slightly
lighter than Tritanite--A cubic metre of Tritanite being 50.3 kg and a
cubic metre of the material being 30.7 kg--and can easily be shaped while
in a half-melted state. It's slightly stronger than the usual Mineral
Glass we use for visors, too, and at the same thickness turns clear
instead of being a pink color."
"So basically it makes absolutely every physical piece of equipment
on this ship obsolete."
"A couple of centuries worth of obsoletion, yes."
"At least you can get this stuff replicated with relative ease.
Anyone else want to contribute anything?"
"Some of my men are experiencing a faint discoloration of their
eyes. They all have a color that is closely related to them, in some
cases their uniform, in others their squad name." Schezar said.
"I want to see them as soon as possible, this room. The same things
happening to your men, Kazansky?"
"Yep." Kazansky said. "Though I have to add that the cases in my
group have been the cream of the crop. They are the top 5%--exactly--and
have gotten an almost inhuman accuracy, speed and reflex augment now."
"Ok. Same with you, Schezar?"
"I never thought to check. I'll report you my findings as soon as I
get them."
"Fine. What about you, Walters?"
"The Medics have had anticoloration of the iris, sir." Rebeccah
Walters, Chief Med Officer, replied. "Everything except their pupils are
white. They also seem to have better hand-eye coordination and could
retain more knowledge the first time through something than normal."
"Thanks. I'll be willing to bet your men are better with the Rifle,
Schezar."
"No bet. I'm still trying to live down the last one."
"Oh, don't be a spoilsport. Besides, we let you get the tattoo
removed. Anyway, anything out of the ordinary I'd like in the daily
report. Anything. I want to know if someone orders something different at
lunch."
"Yes sir." The senior staff replied.
"Dismissed."
øøø---___
Conference Room, the Hyperion II--2120 hours, May 17, 2053
"Ok, you're all here because of a slight physical mutation you've
all had. I have undergone the same thing, and so have the girls that
transported here. Now I'm going to do a little poll. Please raise your
hand if you've not, repeat _not_ had a psysical, psychological or mental
augment since your eyes changed."
Not a single hand went up. "Please raise your hand if you have not
developed a greater proficiency or efficiency at the field of expertise
you are in."
Again, no hands. "Please raise your hand if you have not seen a
reduction in a negative characteristic you possess--scars going away,
a blackout in memory returning, anything like that."
No hands. "Thank you for your time. Dismissed."
øøø---___
Engineer Lab, New Antioch, Shakuras--2130 hours, May 17, 2053
"I assume you have been able to create a psychic block?"
"Yes, Zeratul. It has been able to withstand a level 2 psionic
burst, which is the strength of most High Templar."
"We are not dealing with High Templar, Aurus. We are dealing with
something completely new. We need the block to withstand a level 6
burst."
"Level 6? Such a thing could be next to, if not impossible, given
all known materials! The--"
A comm signal beeped. "Aurus."
"This is Raynor from the Hyperion II, Aurus. We're sending over a
hunk of material stronger than anything we've ever seen. Maybe it can
help your block, I don't know. At the very least you can replicate it
for armour."
"Thank you, Raynor." Aurus said before severing the link.
A cube of material transported in onto a table. Aurus held it up.
"Do you hear that, Zeratul?"
"No."
"That's what I thought. This material is telepathically resonating.
This could mean something, since the only other material we know of that
resonates telepathically is the Khaydarin Crystal."
øøø---___
Captain's Quarters, the Hyperion II--2200 hours, May 17, 2503
"Raynor here."
"This is Aurus from Shakuras. We have done tests on the material
you sent us. It telepathically resonates at the same level as the minds
of the High Templar. You just gave us our psychic block."
"Cool. Glad I could help. You're able to replicate it, right?"
"Correct."
"Good. Raynor out."
øøø---___
Captain's Quarters, the Hyperion II--0430 hours, May 22, 2503
"Gnh..."
"Adjutant to Raynor." The adjutant repeated a little more
forcefully.
"Wh...Oh." Raynor said, finally waking up enough to be coherent.
"There's a transmission from both Zeratul and an unidentified
source."
"Alright. Give me about five seconds to get out of bed, then patch
it through to the comm panel on my desk." Raynor said as he got up.
"And another thirty to fix your hair?"
"Very funny."
"Yes sir. Adjutant out."
Raynor had enough time to order a cup of coffee from the replicator
before sitting down. "Zeratul here."
"Raynor here. What's the good word?"
"Installed. All of the units, old and new, have been equipped with
the new material."
"By the way, any idea what we want to call this stuff?"
"I think it is best left to its discoverer, of sorts. Let Sakura
name it."
"Good idea. Yeah, we just finished installing all the new armour on
the buildings last night."
"Excellent. That way if the Hybrid does attack, we'll be ready."
"Alright then. That's it for the morning, I assume."
"Yes."
"In that case, I have another person on the other line, so I'm
going to have to take that one. Goodbye."
"En Taro Adun."
"En Taro Adun." Raynor said as he severed the link and opened the
other channel.
And immediately went pale as a ghost.
"Hello, Raynor. Long time no kill."
øøø---___