Hello again! It's been a while! Is everyone okay during this epidemic? Please protect yourself and the others with caution.
Anyway, here's the next chapter!
"Ah, welcome back Kerrigan." Hearing the fleshing wall behind him open, Stukov turns back to see the Queen of Blades walking into the main core of the biggest Leviathan, where most of the times the commands are delivered and meetings are operated. "How was the rescue?" That's just a way to open a conversation, because he has already known how it went.
Obviously the former Ghost knows that too, so she ignores the question. She looks around to see that the Evolution Master is not around yet. "Where is Abathur? Have you contacted him?"
"I did. I'm sending a Hercules to take him here." Stukov replies.
"…He has a Leviathan." Kerrigan deadpans.
"Apparently, whatever he did made it impossible to carry units now." Stukov explains. "I thought that the creature died, but he said that it was a successful experiment, or so he said."
"…Making a Leviathan not being able to transport is not a good sign." Kerrigan is wondering how Abathur could make some strange 'mistakes' like that. It's true that some of his experiments went wrong a couple of times, but to actually changing the whole purpose of a unit… it's definitely not how he works. Something must have gone wrong, but he didn't report to Stukov, or at least that's how she deduced from what she heard.
"I did tell him that." The Infected Commander then looks outside to see a certain transporter coming towards their location. "Ah, there he is."
Watching Hercules heading to the Leviathan, the Queen of Blades waits for the ship to dock on the side of the creature and Abathur to enter Leviathan. However… when she uses her Psionic to detect his presence, she also senses two different creatures walking with him. They have the feeling of the Zerg, and yet not at the same time… 'He managed to create his own Zerg-Hybrid?' The feeling is not like an Infested, so it must be a successful experiment. However, she has ordered him to not perform any infestation…
She decides to stop thinking for a moment, because she has sensed them already on the other side of the door of the core. She turns to see it open and reveal Abathur… with two girls in two strange sets of clothes talking with each other. Turning to Stukov, the former Ghost sees that the Russian commander is also confused at the scene before them. She turns back and notices that the girls have stopped talking and now they're bowing to her. She then turns to Abathur who looks indifferent, and asks with authority voice: "Abathur, what's the meaning of this?"
"Can explain. Want long explanation or short?" Abathur asks back, not intimidated (for a moment) by her commanding voice.
"…Izsha." Instead of answering his question, Kerrigan calls out for the advisor.
"Yes, my Queen?" The Zerg emerges from the ceiling, making herself be known.
"Order the Swarm to head close to Korhal but do not attack yet."
"Yes, my Queen." With that, the Leviathan has also headed to the space, preparing for the invasion with the others of its kind.
"Now… Abathur, I remembered that I ordered you to not infest anything, correct?" The Queen of Blades has to ask once again, in case if she forgot to say it or not.
"Correct. Did not violate that order." Abathur replies.
"Then, who are they?" Kerrigan takes a better look at the girls, and notices a few specific details:
One of them has five horns on her head with one of them positioned on her forehead. Her eyes have purple pupils, similar to the current Swarm's color. There are also two huge blades on her back, which look like Kaiser Blades of the Ultralisks. Also, despite looking small, that girl seems to be extremely strong.
The other has a vertical crack on her forehead, and has tentacles growing from her back. They have spear tips, somewhat make Kerrigan feel like they're Spire Crawlers. The pupils are the same with the others, though the girl looks strangely inactive unlike the others…
Abathur points to the first girl and says: "Ultralisk." Then to the other… "Leviathan."
…A small silence passes.
Raising her eyebrows, Kerrigan grunts: "This is no time to joke, Abathur."
"Leviathan says he is not joking, Queen of Blades." The second girl speaks up for the first time. "This appearance of Leviathan is the result of Evolution Master spinning the Kappa strain into hers. The same happened to Ultralisk."
Kerrigan looks at the girl again to see if she's lying or not… then turns to Abathur and orders: "Report from the beginning. Do NOT hide anything, even if it's just suspicion."
"Planned to."
With that, the two girls stand straight up and step back as Abathur starts his revision of his journey. Kerrigan crosses her arms before her while Stukov rubs his chin with his normal hand, interested of what Abathur has done.
Upon arrival, consumed local aerial creatures. Confirmed biomasses existed in Earth.
Detected a human village. Planned to use scare tactics to chase them out. Encountered reinforcement.
Keine Kamishirawasa. Called herself human, however, found half Terran only.
'Half-Terran…I will ask later.' Kerrigan notes that in her mind.
Fujiwara no Mokou. Former human, now Immortal.
"Wait, immortal?" She immediately stops the Evolution Master. That's something she must know before it could escape her mind. "You mean like that one Protoss did to their soldiers?"
"Negative. Immortal, in Terran term, never die. Saw being decapitated 'accidentally', stood back up like nothing."
"Now that's out of the world." Stukov is surprised. "But, the Swarm is somewhat the same…"
"Swarm, still afraid of mass destruction. Individual, shrugged off like nothing."
"…What is that place? You said the aerial creatures existed in Earth, so they must be birds, right?"
"Correct. Continue."
Marisa Kirisame. A witch. Able to blast Void Ray lasers in term of damage.
'…Of ALL things. Void Ray, being held by a witch…sounds like a combination of destruction. Also, a witch?'
Reimu Hakurei. A Shrine maiden. Ability to float.
"…Float?" Kerrigan has to ask again, which earns him a nod from Abathur. "…Float. You mean fly."
"Again, negative. Able to float out of reality. Teleport and make herself intangible. In short, make herself able to be invulnerable against any physical and Psionic-turned-physical attacks."
That makes Queen of Blades raise her right hand up her face and rub her eyes in disbelief. "…Anyone else in that reinforcement?" It can't be worse, isn't it?
Aya Shameimaru. Tengu Youkai. Able to call tornados on will.
'…High Templar-like creature? Seriously, what kind of land did that portal lead to?'
Suika Ibuki. An Oni. Strain taken from her and spun into Ultralisk. Able to control density.
That makes Kerrigan turn to the girl who Abathur introduced as the creature, who is now sitting down on the floor with a somewhat lazy smile. The other girl just glares at her but says nothing.
"Density control. Elaborate."
"Difficult. Will need visual demonstration. Explain later."
Cirno, no last name. Ice Fairy. Stopped the fight midway.
"A fairy, heh?" Stukov asks this time. "Are they those tiny creatures with wings that send fairy dust everywhere?"
"…Not entirely wrong. Size of a human kid. Wings made of ice. Fairies differ from others."
"Really? Of all people…"
"Hey, those fairy tales are popular back in Earth, Kerrigan."
Managed to form a peaceful conversation. Fight halted. Become allies with them.
"That easy? They didn't know how terrified the Zerg is?"
"Time, in 21st century."
Stukov asks again: "The past? Not only the portal connected back to Earth, it's the Earth in the past? How come was there no records of Zerg in that time?"
"Place, called Gensokyo. An isolated area nearby country called Japan. Not even known by present Terran."
"…Continue. We will return to that later. How many essences did you consume before spinning the strain into the Ultralisk and Leviathan, respectively?"
"A string of hair, each."
That makes the whole core drop in silence again, excluding the noise the Leviathan is making.
"…What?" Now Kerrigan lets out her total disbelief and baffled be known by her voice. "You said it yourself, the Terran…"
"Youkai, not Terran." Abathur interrupts. "Terran appearance, with additions of other species. In short, perfect Hybrid Terran. Also, specific individuals are much stronger than others."
"…All of them are Hybrid?" That's what she could think of. Strength of Void Ray, invulnerability… no mere human could have that.
"Not all. Witch and maiden are human. Magic."
That makes Stukov burst his laugh out, which causes Kerrigan to glare at him. After a few seconds, Stukov says: "My apology, but that's hilarious. If you said Psionic, then I could understand. But magic?" With that, Stukov chuckles again.
"…Confusion, understandable." Abathur is slightly offended, but he knows that human can be… stubborn at some ridiculous points. "However, might be own version of Psionic. Needs more time to research… if allowed to return."
"…I will decide it later." She then turns to the girls and asks: "So, they are Leviathan and Ultralisk… what changed in them?"
Ultralisk, able to change size which also changes weight. Able to fly. Toxic Cloud turned into Danmaku protection field. Won't hurt allies of any means, deflects attacks. Kaiser Blades used like a sword.
Leviathan, lost capacity to carry units, in exchange for increased movement speed and smaller hit areas. Previous traits remained but translated into Danmaku.
"What is this Danmaku?"
"Non-lethal projectiles."
"…Abathur…"
"Only in Gensokyo, bound by the Maiden's rules. Now, in battlefield, equal or stronger than Terran's guns. Depends on which traits being translated." The Evolution Master quickly explains before he gets burnt by Kerrigan's glare.
"…At least they're not completely paperweight." Kerrigan closes her eyes, then reopens it. "Anything else needed to mention?"
"Kappa, named Nitori, built a generator similar to a nuclear silo."
"…And you destroyed it, or not?"
"Couldn't even if wanted. However, not related to Terran weapons. Mere coincidence."
"I think we can trust that." Stukov says his opinion. "Remember, it was the 21st century. Only a couple of centuries later would the nuclear silo be built that easily."
"Hm… we still need to keep an eye of it. Is that all?"
"…Fought one who opened the portal."
"That's…unexpected. Did you manage to get anything?"
"Not much. Purpose: see how Zerg improves with Youkai strain."
"Really?" That's not suspicious at all. "He's the one opened the portal, and he clearly knew what Zerg is." However, she decides to not conclude it yet. She asks the Infested Commander: "Stukov, what do you think?"
"Well… I say we let him be." He answers. "Currently, I see only benefits to the Zerg. IF the person is working for Amon, then why didn't he ruin this isolated area already? Nobody knows that place existed, right?"
"Followed Maiden's rules during the fight." Abathur adds. "Did not deal lethal damages on Leviathan and Ultralisk. Said to be a test."
With that, Kerrigan starts gathering the information she just listened to:
The portal leads to an unknown location in Earth in 21st century. There is no records of said place.
The person who opened the portal wanted to see the Zerg adapting these 'Youkai' abilities, with 'curiosity'. He fought the newly evolved Zerg, but only to 'check' them and nothing else.
Abathur managed to befriend with the local, and… evolved? two of the most powerful Zerg units in the Swarm…
These natives are somewhat… too powerful. Also, if aliens like Zerg and Protoss exist… then the existence of magic is not too farfetched…
"My Queen, we have arrived." Snapping out of her thinking, Kerrigan looks out of the Leviathan's vision, and true to Izsha's words, they have arrived.
"My Queen, our preparation is finished. What…" Zagara enters the core and starts asking Kerrigan, only to stop herself when the Broodmother sees the two 'human' girls in the core. "…My Queen. Who are they?"
"Ultralisk. Leviathan." Immediately Abathur answers.
"Ah, hi Zagara!" Ultralisk breaks the room's entire serious atmosphere by cheerfully greeting the Broodmother.
"Leviathan says her hi to the Broodmother as well." The other one also follows, though she's not as energetic as the Oni-Ultralisk.
Zagara is slightly taken back by how they greet her. Then, she remembers Abathur being here, so she asks him: "Evolution Master, did you kidnap them?"
"No. Ultralisk and Leviathan evolved with Youkai strains."
Zagara turns to Kerrigan and asks for an explanation. The reply: "I will explain later. For now, I need to make a call."
After the briefings
"Our Queen wants us to head in and clear a space for the launch bite?"
"Leviathan confirms it."
"So we're going through the pods, or…"
"Leviathan can travel with FTL speed, remember?"
"I thought that one didn't translate?"
"It did cost Leviathan a bit of energy, but it's nothing too troublesome."
"Then, let's give the bad guys a small surprise!"
…
A few minutes later
"We have a new order! Eliminate anything passing through our AA systems!" A Marine Corporal shouts out to his squad about the newly received mission. "Things are getting hot gentlemen! Settle up!"
Every single unit of the Dominion has moved to their battle positions, weapons ready. All of them are ready to fire their guns towards the Zergs approaching them.
About the ones behind them…
"Leviathan thinks that Leviathan might have screwed up the jump…"
"Nah, I think it's perfect. We can burst out from the middle of them!"
'Miraculously', Leviathan's jumping coordinate messed up, and they ended up in the building factor of one of the Dominion's Factories, where the heavy weapons are made. Normally a Zerg Ultralisk popping up in the middle of them would cause the whole area to burst out in screams of surprised and attack orders. However, the Youkai-Zerg girls are too small compared to the machines around them, so they can at least get out of the soldiers' visions for a moment.
"Hey, can you ride a Thor, Leviathan?"
"Leviathan doesn't believe so. Also, why? That thing is weaker than Leviathan."
"You are no fun."
"Hey, what's that?" One of the mechanics notices a strange noise among the sounds of everything else. He starts heading towards the corner behind one of the Siege Tanks… and finds nothing. "Huh…probably something in my ears." He decides to return back to his position and continues his work on the building Cyclone.
"Wow, almost busted." Whispers Ultralisk, as the two has quickly hidden into said Tank. She then starts looking inside the weapon and stares at the control board…
"Leviathan suggests you don't touch it. Leviathan doesn't like…"
After managed to get pass through Dominion's defense systems, Kerrigan immediately cleared the entire base that she landed in the middle. After making sure that the area was cleared, she ordered the Drones to start making Hatchery and other buildings and gathering as many resources as possible. Izsha then issued that one of the Bile Launchers managed to get through safely, and the Queen of Blades herself brought some units with her to defense it while making the Spine and Spore Crawlers to fend off the Dominion's attacks.
During the fight, she notices that the 'special' units that Abathur made are not in sight, nor being in the close area. She immediately contacts the Evolution Master and asks: "Where are they? They should be in the fight now."
"Confirmed in battlefield. Location… middle of one of Dominion's bases. Missed jump coordinate."
"…Don't tell me they're already dead?" Even though that there are a Ultralisk and a Leviathan, it's basically suicidal to just emerge into the middle of a Terran, much less a Dominion, base without preparations.
"Life signals, still existed. Ultralisk's defense, not down after transformed. Same to Leviathan."
Then, an earthquake happens, causing the other Zerg creatures to turn their heads around in confusion. Kerrigan uses her Psionic power and looks through an Overlord's eyes and finds where the source could be…
And, to her surprise, she sees the Ultralisk-girl now being twice as big as a Command Center, and she's destroying the whole base with her also oversized blades. Anything that tried to kill her ends up with failures, because the Toxic Cloud has been translated well enough to protect the girl. She also sees the Leviathan, her size is not changed, standing on Ultralisk's shoulder while blasting off the annoying aerial units of Dominion with her Spine's laser blasts and thrusts. Occasionally, somehow Mutalisks emerge from her and also start attacking the enemies the moment they're spawned. And because of it, any units that has sights on those two are ordered to gather around and try to kill them, thus giving the Zerg enough space to send Bile Launchers to the ground.
"…Abathur…what did you do?" Kerrigan is completely baffled, although she doesn't show it in her voice nor her expression. Yes, she remembered what he has reported, but she didn't expect it to be this ridiculous.
"Oni, known to be extremely strong physically. Endurance combined with Ultralisk's own. Same to Leviathan, Kappa strain more intelligent in place of strength."
"…Can you put these strains into the others?"
"…No guarantee. Normal Zerg, not much Psionic power. Strains stuck with the essence, can only apply to one. Adjustments… could increase Leviathan's strength…"
"Try on the free ones." Kerrigan gives the last order to Abathur before changing her attention to Zagara's call. After hearing the Broodmother's explanation, she agrees. "Alright, I will blast those gates when I have the chance." She then Kinetic Blast a nearby Banshee which tries to kill her Zerglings. The earthquakes happen again, and through the Overlord's eyes, Kerrigan sees that Ultralisk stomping on the tanks under her feet. "…IF that's just one strain on one unit…how powerful are the people in this Gensokyo?"
"…Maybe it's better if Abathur returns and gets more of these people's power after I kill Mengsk."
Chapter 8 end!
So yeah, the start of Korhal Invasion. I was planning to write all the fights. However, the chapter has reached a certain number of words, and I believed that anymore would cause you boredom, so I held myself back.
So yeah... I can't make the fight between Oni-Ultralisk and Kappa-Leviathan against Dominion be serious. I mean, magical girls versus guns and missiles? And that's just the scratch. If Abathur gains more essences from the Youkais in Gensokyo... oh boy, Amon you better be prepared.
That's it for now guys. See you in the future! And stay safe!