I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.

Chapter 22: The Dark Templar

It had been a few hours since Kerrigan sent Zerg-Verto out, or in this case he sent himself out. He was close to the Garm Brood's main Hive cluster. Not surprisingly, nothing had slowed him down. Kerrigan scanned the rest of the planet as best she could with her mind, noting a few Terran squadrons that had gotten stuck without a ride home after what Verto did to the Dominion's fleet. She then crossed over an area that once had many mountains until Verto had blown most of them up with his power. It was back when he ran into Raynor and those strange aliens that were allergic to light. Oh crap, Jim! She rescanned the area of his ship, spotting that some of the Garm Brood's forces were getting close to it, then sensing Raynor coming out with his trusty machine gun.

Kerrigan's eyes snapped open, "I've got to go save him, now while the Overmind is pacified!" She exited her Hive and called several dozen Zerg flyers to her and a transport Overlord. I just hope I don't get there too late!

-

Zerg-Verto grinned as he finished off the rest of the outer constructs of the Garm Brood's main Hive Cluster. He hadn't gotten to the center of the large base yet. A few of the flyers were erratic and a little wild in their attack against him, but it didn't matter. I wonder if the Cerebrate's eye will still be around somewhere so I can have a trophy! He blasted at a few stray flyers and groundlings before crossing another mountain range to get to the main base. When he got there though, well he expected some sort of resistance. Instead he saw nothing but receding creep on the ground and what used to be buildings, fallen apart everywhere on the ground. The fresh blood in the air told him an enemy might still be around, so he descended slowly and trudged through the soft but solid creep, glancing around. He came upon the broken hive cluster and floated down to the underground portion of it. When he reached the bottom of the hollowed out ground, he lit a ki ball to light up the area a bit more. Ahead of him the dark chamber of the Cerebrate Zasz lay open. He strode inside, spotting that the creature had definitely been killed. There were slash marks all over its form and it was leaking orange blood, or at least what he thought was blood.

"Strange creatures even in death," he noted before a gust of wind went by his ear. He dodged aside and reversed his position into a fighting stance, ready to tear apart whatever created that wind. He saw nothing, but his other senses told him different.

"Come out, I know your in here somewhere. You cannot hide from me!" Verto said. The air in front of him seemed to shift just a bit, like there was an extreme heat coming from directly below him.

"Fine, if I have to flush you out I will!" Verto said, gathering a ki ball and getting it ready to fire.

"Wait!" a groggy, hissing voice said. Verto didn't release the ki ball, but he kept it lit anyway.

"Come on, I'm waiting!"

"We only reveal ourselves to those we deem worthy of sight. I sense the evil in you, but you will not succeed in destroying us!" the voice said again.

Verto rolled his eyes slightly, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that a tiny child scared so many. I'll calmly tuck away the evil and find that pacifistic weakling in me somewhere, might take awhile. Go ahead and try to beat me while I'm at it, you won't even touch me!"

"You underestimate me, a foolish decision!" Another eye roll as Verto fired his ki blast straight ahead. He saw something move away quickly and shot at it as well, resulting in both blasts hitting a wall. Suddenly a long and sharp blade seemed to materialize right under his throat just as someone grabbed him from behind. Whoever it was, they were strong, he figured that out quickly. The blade seemed to shimmer with a dark green energy that seemed to tell him not to mess with it.

"Yield child!" the voice said again. Zerg-Verto laughed slightly, powering up in the process. At first his added energy didn't blow his opponent back like he thought it would, but his increased strength was going to have an impact. When he felt the figure's gray arm's lighten slightly, he ducked and grabbed the arm. He pulled and threw the figure over his back and in front of him. When the figure arose again, Zerg-Verto took in his features. The figure was definitely Protoss, his long and grayish head gave it away. However he was not wearing any armor, he appeared to be only wearing a raggy cloak. The blade Verto saw was similar to that of a Psi blade that he remembered seeing in the battles before, but the blade was longer and dark green in color. The figure seemed to prefer the shadows, but apparently didn't have a problem with fighting in the open. Verto scanned the being's energy, getting a bit of a surprise in return when he noticed a clear-cut ki signal along with a Psi signal. Both were coming together and out in the form of the green blade. Despite his surprise at the new type of Protoss warrior, he hid it well.

"Another Protoss weakling I take it? You a friend of that old prune Aldaris?" Verto mocked.

"Aldaris you say, one of the Judicators if I remember correctly. What do you know of him?" the Protoss figure asked.

"Just a few little clashes, I'm surprised that he managed to find a little bit of potential in that frail body of his. I would gladly go destroy him now if I knew where to search, he fled like a little girl after I trashed him last time!" Verto smirked very Vegeta-like, even though it wasn't truly him that dueled with Aldaris.

"And what exactly are you little Terran? Some new form of Zerg we haven't encountered before?"

"Wow, it took a full two minutes before you called me a Terran! Seriously I'm impressed! And no, this Zerg thing is just temporary until that big octopus is killed. Once he is out of my hair I can start my universal domination!" Verto grinned even more now.

"Such a creature will never rule a planet, never mind the universe. I do not know what you are little Terran, but rest assured, we will meet again!" the figure said, walking towards the exit.

"Hold on, I never gave you permission to leave!" Verto said, charging another ki blast in his hand, aiming at the figure's head as he had his back to him.

"I do not require permission to leave, child. You are fortunate that I have delayed our quarrel for another time!" the Protoss said, continuing to walk. Verto fired the ki blast and smiled as it sailed towards his target, he was sure it would kill him on impact. The figure turned ever so slightly before slashing the ki blast with his energy blade. The blast didn't even try to resist, and instead bounced straight back at a surprised Verto. He dodged aside and watched his blast hit the dead Cerebrate. He growled slightly and turned to face his opponent, only to discover he was already gone.

"Argh, Where are you Protoss? You can't hide from me!" Verto snarled, flying fast into the opened hive cluster. He searched every nook and cranny with his eyes and energy senses, not picking him up anywhere. He growled some more as he looked around the destroyed base, not seeing any movement anywhere, nor sensing any energy. What a tricky customer, he will be a worthy opponent to defeat!

-

Kerrigan practically leapt out of the Overlord and started in a dead sprint towards Raynor"s ship. Some of her brood's companions trotted along with her on the ground, others stayed on guard behind. Kerrigan gasped slightly for breath as she ran as fast as she could, getting to the ship's entrance as quickly as possible. She noted at least eighty to one hundred dead Zerg on the ground, with several bullet holes in each.

Well that's not a surprise. He wasn't the Dominion's best soldier for nothing, even if he did get a bit trigger-happy. She scanned with her senses first, picking up nothing alive inside the ship. She followed the trail of Zerglings inside, as that was all that would successfully make it through the door before it would be shot at. Inside there was nothing but bullet holes and dead Zerg lining the hallways as she stepped over a few of them. She followed what appeared to be Raynor's main stand all the way into the cafeteria. Lots of tables and chairs were tipped over and pushed about. Dead Zerglings were everywhere, bullet holes in them and the walls. She scanned around for any sign of Raynor, finding none. She glanced over at the furthest walls, spotting more human looking blood on the walls. She put a finger up to it, feeling it was still fluidic, therefore fresh. On the ground was the Zergling that must have clawed him. Its claws had broken the armor on his leg, which was stripped off five feet away.

Up a little further she spotted his machine gun discarded on the ground, and then some more armor being dropped and or ripped off. She followed the trail all the way to what must have been his former crew's bunks. There was his own bloody handprint on the walls pushing the door open, more Zerglings dead. All of the bunks were tipped over, so she walked around so she could see what happened a little better. The maze of beds and Zerglings told her that Jim got himself backed into the farthest corner. His body should be close...right around here. She spotted a green armored boot tossed on the side of the last bunk along with a small puddle of blood, and prepared herself for the worst. She turned and opened her eyes.

"Huh?" All she saw was an empty corner, along with a discarded pistol and six Zerglings sliced in half and piled up nice and neat.

"How did he do it?" Kerrigan asked herself wide eyed. She shifted into determination to find out and placed her hand on the top Zergling to read its memory on the battle. Luckily for her she would only need to read one as all Zerg in a brood share memories, despite being a little out of control. She closed her eyes as the image blurred into a black and white view. A loud machine gun went off in front of her, the user pulling his gun up and smoking a cigar in the process. Raynor was outside fighting the renegade Zerg that had come for him.

"You want me, come and get me!" Raynor shouted, ripping off another round of ammunition into several Zerglings and Hydralisks. He spotted another small herd of lings coming at him from the side and heard his gun click sharply when he pulled the trigger.

"Shit," he said, pulling a grenade from his backpack. He launched it like a football at the head Zergling, hitting the receiver and watching them all go down in a ball of fire.

"Haha, I love the smell of toasted Zerglings in the morn'in!" he shouted as he smacked another clip into his machine gun and fired away. The numbers of Zerg quickly increased and he backed off and ran to the door of his ship. He dodged several hundred green needles shot from the Hydralisks as he jumped inside and rolled over. Zerglings charged in and he opened fire, downing them all quickly. Kerrigan recalled seeing a lot of dead Zerglings there. The battle continued into the café where several drink machines got involved in being tipped over either by Raynor himself or by Zerglings jumping on them and tipping them over before they pounced. Raynor smacked his last clip of ammo into his gun and unloaded on them, but no matter how many died, more kept coming. His gun clicked sharply again, signaling it was empty.

Only a few Zerglings remained in front of him, but no more machine gun ammo. A Zergling leapt at him, biting through the armor on his leg. He yelped in pain as he fell to the ground right out of the other entrance to the café, kicking if off with his good leg. He pulled a sidearm pistol from his backside and pumped five shots into the Zergling's head, killing it. He limped as his leg trickled blood from the bite wound. The Zerglings followed him, about ten or so in all. He got into the crew's bunkroom and started knocking over bunks to slow their progress. It worked to an extent, and he was able to down four of the Zerglings before his pistol ran out. Five lings stood in front of him, the one Kerrigan was reading had hidden itself in the debris of the bunks. It became ready to strike outward but waited on its comrades to do the job instead. Raynor reached behind and pulled out a knife, his last defense aside from his own fists. The first Zergling charged forward and Raynor kicked it in its side before stabbing in the side of the neck. It went down whimpering but got back up and stepped back, licking at the wound. The other four jumped at him and overpowered him to the ground, tearing at his armor with their sharp claws.

"Get off of me!" he shouted, to no avail. He punched at a few of them, only to get his armored arms bitten at in response. His armor stood up to their claws and teeth, but not for long, and his right arm soon felt like his bad leg now, armor stained with red. The fifth and wounded Zergling jumped on his chest as the other four held him down.

"Go ahead, get it over with you sorry little insect!" he shouted at the orange Zergling. The Zergling leaped to bite off his head, only to stop as it heard a whooshing sound nearby. The Zergling stopped dead in its tracks and sat there motionless. Jim spotted what appeared to be a crack along the head, slowly tracking downwards as the creature cried out in pain. Kerrigan gasped slightly as the Zergling broke in half very cleanly, separate ends straying to the sides. The four chewing at Raynor's armor stopped and looked slightly fearful. Then they jumped up at the empty air right ahead of him, landing and growling, looking for the new presence. The presence moved in the highly lightened air like a mirage, and the Zerglings did not take notice long enough to see the blade it used to slice them all up. One slash apiece came across their heads, leaving a deep enough wound to kill the brain.

Raynor jumped up next, seeing nothing as they had, holding his arm slightly in wonder. The Zergling in the debris then jumped out at him and latched onto his injured arm, biting and swinging as he tried to shake it off. Kerrigan felt along with the Zergling, it being pulled by the legs from Raynor. Whoever it happened to be was very strong, and hurled it across the room, hitting the wall very harshly at a high speed and sliding as its insides spilled out a bit. Kerrigan felt the Zergling dying, but stuck around as Jim was now up and looking quite surprised. Then she felt the air shift a bit and saw as four figures suddenly appeared out of thin air, all of them out of some sort of cloaking shield like she could use. She saw they're grayish green heads, knowing they had to be Protoss.

Raynor thought the same thing, "Protoss, here?" The four newcomers did not bear much of any armor that Kerrigan could see, looked like mostly rags for clothes. The large sword-like blade at the leaders side did not appear to be completely based on technology, as the sword seemed to only emerge from a wristband like device. The energy sword the leader used glowed with dark green energy of some sort, and it was large and long.

"Well my friend, Protoss is close enough. We are the Dark Templar, how can we be of assistance?" the leader asked in a groggy voice. The vision then stopped abruptly as the Zergling had finally died and the last image had been burned into the back of its small brain. Kerrigan's eyes opened sharply, looking around at the same surroundings. She glanced and scanned every single shadow of the ship on her way out the door, not wanting to be caught off guard. Her Zerg outside stood guard, looking about as aware as they ever get.

"So, they were the beings I sensed the other night. They will be formidable." She whispered to herself as she boarded her Overlord transport, heading back to her Hive cluster.

A/n: I'm sure some folks can see where this is going, especially if they know the SC storyline well. It will be different though, as you might imagine.