Chapter 9: Desperate Alliance
Kakashi threw a barrage of kunai at the mutalisks flying overhead. Several struck one all across side, and two tore through its wing. The flying worm shrieked in pain and sped away towards the trees. Kakashi repeated the process twice more, each with similar results. Just when he thought he was making progress, the first one flew back, spitting a vile looking worm thing at him. He moved to the side, and the worm hit the ship's hull.
"Kakashi," one of the stalkers looked over at him, "Mutalisks have very quickly regenerating tissues that allow them to heal much faster than normal. If you do not kill them within the first few attacks, they'll leave and return fully healed within a few minutes."
"Yeah, I noticed," Kakashi called back to them.
Another mutalisk spat yet another one of those worms, hitting a stalker right on its shield. The wurm bounced off and struck a second stalker that was fighting nearby.
"The mutalisk attacks with what is known as a 'glaive wurm'" a high templar told him, "When it hits something, it will ricochet off the target and aim for another one that is nearby. It is best to avoid them whenever possible."
Kakashi nodded. If that was the case, he was going to have to use something a little stronger than what he was using currently.
"Fire style, fireball jutsu!" Kakashi sent a massive fireball towards a knot of the flying creatures hovering over the stalkers. A few of them managed to fly out of the way, but the rest burned to a crisp in seconds.
With shrieks the rest turned and fled.
"Nicely done," the high templar told him.
Kakashi nodded his thanks at the floating alien.
In Konoha….
Naruto looked at the swarming mass of bodies that surrounded his beloved village. Their numbers seemed limitless; the massive horde stretched to the horizon. His shinobi all looked nervous. He didn't blame them; these things were unlike anything they had ever faced before. The Ten-Tails had been bad, but it was only a single massive monster, not a massive swarming horde of deadly monsters. And the big armored ones, roaches, and the snake-bodied hydralisks were easily twice as tall as they were. They hydralisks especially towered over even the Protoss.
"Templars, can you use your psionic storms to thin them out?" Xelios asked the floating Protoss next to him.
"We expended all our energy during the fight with the shinobi earlier, and any remaining energy was spent trying to stem the Zerg tide when they attacked. We will need some time to recuperate before we can do so again," one of them told him.
"I see," the Praetor looked back at the Zerg swarm closing in around them, "Rest for now, and regain your strength. The moment you are capable, we'll need your support."
Xelios moved over to where Naruto and his lieutenants were standing.
"My templars are unable to use their abilities to stop the Zerg currently. They must regain some of their strength before they will be able to aid in this fight," the scarred alien told the shinobi.
"Okay, it's like us with our chakra," Naruto looked over at him, "makes sense. We'll have to make do without them for now."
"Their psionic storms are powerful enough to break the Zerg's numbers with a single volley, but they need time to gather the energy needed to do so."
"Then we'll hold off the Zerg until your templars are ready."
Xelios nodded. These shinobi were brave to say the least. The only other human he had fought alongside with such bravery and determination was James Raynor, back on Char, and Aiur.
"Thanatos, take the zealots and make a line at the gate. If the Zerg break through it is your responsibility to keep them out of this settlement."
"As you command," the young zealot nodded at his mentor.
"Stalkers, support the shinobi on the walls; stop the Zerg from gaining entry."
"It shall be as you say," the stalkers nodded, joining the shinobi on the walls.
"Here they come!" a shinobi called out, pointing at the Zerg.
The Zerg swarm was charging towards the walls of Konoha at full speed. The stalkers opened fire, their particle disruptors cutting into the ranks of the charging aliens. The shinobi's jutsus and weaponry joined the stalkers' volley, doing even more damage. But there were too many for just one volley to stop; the Zerg continued their charge without slowing down at all. The defenders on the walls were only able to fire one more volley before the Zerg reached the walls below them.
A shinobi leaned forward to throw a kunai into the horde of aliens, but something hit him, throwing him backwards. A serrated spine, at least 30mm long, had punctured straight through his throat. Shikamaru looked out at the swarm. The serpentine hydralisks were to blame; flaps of muscle in their chests had pulled apart, leaving the upper carapace open and exposed. He had to duck quickly as volleys of serrated spines were shot straight out of the alien's chest at him. Okay, these aliens had achieved a whole new level of disgusting.
"Careful," a stalker told him, "Those spines are poisonous."
Shikamaru nodded.
The only good thing going for them was the fact that they had the advantage of a wall. They had a perfectly good view of the enemy below, but the enemy had difficulty reaching them. The shinobi on the walls simply had to duck a little after throwing something to avoid the volleys of spines that flew up at them in retaliation.
Naruto looked down at the zerglings underneath them. The vicious little beasts were throwing themselves at the wall trying to break it down, completely indifferent to any harm it caused them. A stalker moved forward to shoot the zerglings down, but after 2 shots a large glob of green goo hit the metal machine dead center. The machine's shields absorbed the glob of stuff, but the stuff that hit the ground started to sizzle. These armored roaches spat out globs of acid saliva apparently.
Through the throngs of Zerg, Xelios saw a group of green things heading towards the front line. A group of at least 20 luminescent green spheres were rolling through the Zerg swarms, heading straight for the main gate.
"Banelings!" he yelled a warning to his warriors, "Kill them all, quickly!"
Obediently, all the stalkers focused all their fire at the green monsters. One by one they were killed, acid exploding from their bodies as they died. Many of their fellow Zerg died with them, covered in the acid of the dead banelings. There were too many of them for the stalkers to decisively stop though, and Xelios watched in horror as they collided with the Konoha's main gate. The baneling's acid ate away the large gate, and by the time the last of the banelings slammed into it, the acid had disintegrated nearly the whole thing.
Thanatos and his zealots activated their psionic blades, prepared to keep their bitter foes out of the village at any cost. They all charged forward, and met the Zerg at the acid-destroyed gate. As the two races clashed, another battle started to get underway.
Sasuke looked up; a flock of those winged worms had joined the battle, and were swarming above the village. The remaining stalkers were forced to switch targets as the mutalisk flock descended upon them, spitting their glaive wurms at them. The shinobi turned to aid the stalkers in their battle against this new aerial enemy. Sasuke had to jump out of the way as one of the wurms split off after hitting one of the stalkers and headed for him. The wurm missed him, and gave the shinobi behind him a cut across the ribs.
Angry, Sasuke turned back to the flying worms; these things were possibly the ugliest bird things he had ever seen. Such ugliness couldn't possibly be allowed to live.
"Chidori!" Sasuke concentrated his chakra into a handful of lightning.
He launched himself high into the air, right towards the mutalisk whose attack had nearly hit him. His hand plunged straight through the worm's center, cutting it clean in half. He watched in satisfaction as the worm's lower half separated from the wings and fell to the ground. It was also slightly amusing to see the monster's wings continue to beat for a few seconds after being bisected before finally stopping and dropping to the ground after its other half.
He turned to see the rest of the flock heading straight for him. He blocked or dodged wurm after wurm as he descended back to earth. One of the mutalisks got too close, and Sasuke cut off its wing as it flew past. With a defiant shriek the dying alien spat one final wurm at him; a wurm that was too close for him to dodge. He watched in slow motion as the glaive wurm sped towards him, but an inch from hitting him, the air around it became distorted, and the wurm vanished.
"You're welcome," a voice told him.
Sasuke looked to see his old sensei, Kakashi, standing on a roof nearby. He was so surprised he nearly lost his balance when he landed. Sasuke immediately understood what had just happened: Kakashi had activated his Mangekyō Sharingan in order to use the Kamui technique to send the wurm into another dimension. He nodded his thanks to his sensei, and turned back to the mutalisk flock. He was just about to make another jump to engage them again, but Kakashi put his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't bother," Kakashi told him, "They've already been covered. We're needed here on the ground more."
Kakashi looked at the battle raging below them. The Protoss and shinobi were putting up a good fight, but the Zerg's numbers seemed limitless. Another mutalisk turned and made a beeline for the pair of them as they surveyed the situation. Sasuke looked over at his teacher, but Kakashi didn't even bat an eyelash. As the flying thing sped towards them, 2 beams of light intercepted it, blasting it into pieces. As chunks of mutalisk rained around them, a sleek, blue and gold machine blazed overhead. This machine was definitely bigger than the others Sasuke had ever seen, much more streamlined, and it even looked a bit like a flying bird. As another sped past, Sasuke saw a Protoss pilot through a glass canopy up in the front.
"Sha'zul du Templari!" the pilot saluted the shinobi before engaging the mutalisk flock. The pair of them were swiftly joined by 9 more just like them, along with around 20 smaller ships.
"Those are Protoss air fighters; they're called phoenixes. The smaller ones are automated robots created and launched by the carrier itself, called interceptors. They'll deal with the mutalisks, don't worry," Kakashi told Sasuke.
The pair of them jumped down from the roof, and rushed in to join the ground battle. Naruto, Shikamaru, and the others were already there, assisting the Protoss. Shikamaru was working in tandem with a pair of zealots; immobilizing the Zerg using his shadow stitching, and the zealots making short work of their helpless opponents. Lee was nearby, fighting a hydralisk all by himself. As Sasuke neared, Lee gave the hydralisk a crushing uppercut, breaking the huge monster's neck. The towering alien crashed to the ground, dead, but 2 zerglings simply jumped over the fallen hydralisk at him. Sasuke drew his sword and leapt over to help Lee take on the 2 aliens.
"We'll keep things locked down on this side," Sasuke told Kakashi, "You go help Naruto and the others."
Kakashi nodded, and started cutting his way through the battle.
Naruto used his shadow clones yet again to help even the odds. The combined weight of his shadow clones, his shinobi, and the Protoss they were actually pushing the Zerg back a little; the battle was actually outside Konoha's walls now. He looked over to where Thanatos and his zealots were battling.
A zergling rushed towards Thanatos, but he impaled it through the top of the head, pinning it to the ground. As another came at him, he cut off one of the monster's claws, then slashed the thing across the mouth with its own claw. A single blow from his other blade finished it off. A roach scuttled over to try and take down the young zealot, but it was no good. Thanatos jumped onto the roach's armored back, and hacked away at the armor until there was a large hole in it. With that he plunged a psionic blade into the massive gash he had created, stabbing straight through the roach's heart. He jumped off and attacked yet another enemy the minute he was sure the thing was dead.
Naruto marveled at the zealot's ferocity; it was even greater than that of his mentor. Xelios was a fierce fighter, but Thanatos exceeded him by far. As he watched, the zealot's attacks became more and more savage.
Thanatos stabbed a hydralisk with one of the blades, then stabbed with the other right next to the first. Naruto wasn't sure what he was doing at first, but Thanatos made it abundantly clear; he ripped through the hydralisk with both blades, splicing it clean in half. Yet another zergling tried to tackle him in retaliation, but Thanatos cut off its leg before stomping on it, crushing its skull. He looked up, and Naruto saw the zealot's face; there was nothing but cold fury and burning hatred in those eyes of his. They reminded him of how Sasuke once was a little.
Behind the battle Xelios surveyed the situation calmly. The defenders were doing quite well against the Zerg's sheer numbers, but he'd fought the Zerg enough times to know they wouldn't stop until every last one of them was dead. He turned to the high templars resting behind him.
"Are you ready?" he asked them.
The five of them nodded.
"Then it's now or never. Let's finish this."
"For Aiur!" the high templar focused all their strength into one final round of psionic storms.
Sasuke looked at the huge webs of lightning that were suddenly frying the Zerg where they stood. He was astounded by the raw power the templar's lightning jutsus had. The monstrous aliens turned and fled, as the lightning bolts tore them apart. By the time it was over at least 80% of the Zerg's attack force had been wiped out, more than half of which was done by the psionic storms alone.
"I can't believe it!" a shinobi said, relieved, "We actually won!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Thanatos told him, "This was no victory."
"What makes you say that?" Naruto asked him.
"Some of the Zerg survived," the zealot told him bluntly, "So long as a single Zerg on this planet still breathes, there is no such thing as victory."
Naruto looked at the zealot.
"I think you owe us a few explanations. I want to know how and why these things are here; everything was going perfectly fine before you showed up."
"Fine, whatever."
The two of them walked off, talking.
Kakashi strode over to where Xelios was standing.
"Your student reminds me very strongly of my own," Kakashi said, "Disrespectful to just about everyone, but eager to prove himself, and ambitious."
Xelios folded his arms.
"It is only to be expected. The boy is young; he only reached his 67th year 2 months ago."
"Only 67?" Kakashi asked incredulously, "I'm only 32, and I'm getting to be middle-aged already."
"Well, understand that the lifespan of a Protoss is exponentially longer than that of a human's. It is not uncommon for us to live 900 or even a thousand years. For us, 67 is considered very young, especially for a royal zealot in training."
"I see. How old are you then?"
"I? I am 409 years old."
"Wow."
The two of them were going to continue their conversation, but a call stopped them.
"Kakashi, Xelios, the leaders of both races are convening onboard the Gantrithor. You are expected to attend; make your way here as quickly as you can," Executor Selendis's voice echoed in their heads.
"As you command."
On the Gantrithor Bridge…
"Okay, what exactly are those things, and how did they get here?" Naruto demanded, "They threaten this village, so I need to know everything I can about them."
"These aliens are known as the Zerg," Selendis told him, "They have been our bitter foes for years now."
"Okay, now what's the story? How did they get here?"
"The same way we did," Xelios spoke up.
Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kakashi looked at the scarred alien.
"Do explain."
"We'll have to start at the very beginning."
Everybody nodded and sat down, waiting for the Praetor to continue.
"A few weeks back, one of our phoenix patrols detected a small Zerg hive on a barren moon a few star systems away from our current homeworld of Shakuras. We assumed the hive to be made of feral Zerg; a brood that did not return to the Zerg Swarm when it was reunited. However, we learned that these Zerg were being driven by a single overriding directive: to destroy all living Protoss in the galaxy. We originally thought a small force would be able to clean out this hive, and that would be the end of it, but we were wrong. What we thought was a small hive was actually just the surface part; what we hadn't realized was that there was a massive hive cluster in a large cavern underneath it. To deal with this threat, the Gantrithor II was dispatched to deal with it, but we weren't enough. We were joined by the fleets under the command of Dark Prelate Mohandar and Hierarch Artanis before we were able to penetrate deep enough into the hive. Once inside, we were able to exterminate the entire hive, and every living thing inside it, at a great cost."
"That doesn't exactly explain how you or the Zerg got here though," Shikamaru pressed.
"I was getting there. After we exterminated the hive, the ground force made its way back to the surface for extraction. Just as we were preparing to return to our ships though, the entire brood descended all around us. Caught unawares, the battle turned chaotic, and hundreds on both sides died. In the end, it became clear even the combined might of the Gantrithor and the two fleets would not be enough to defeat them all. In order for us to escape, Hierarch Artanis ordered his ship to engage a mass recall, linked with a psionic matrix to teleport us back to the safety of Shakuras. Just before the recall could be activated though, a group of flying Zerg, known as corrupters, managed to break through our lines and attack the Hierarch's ship. The psionic matrix must have been disrupted by the damage, because instead of recalling us, it created a worm hole, which pulled every occupant in the battle into it. The Gantrithor was on the edge of the battle, protecting our flank, so we were the first to be sucked in. That's how we ended up here, and that's how we're assuming the Zerg arrived here as well."
"Okay, now how do we stop the Zerg for good this time around?" Naruto asked.
"We need to destroy their hive clusters, down to the last structure. Doing so should throw the remaining Zerg into disarray, and we should have little trouble tracking down and killing the rest," Selendis told them.
"All right then, how do we do that?" Kakashi asked.
"Normally we would simply glass the infected area from orbit; burning out all traces of the Zerg. But we can't do that if the Gantrithor is grounded. Right now the only way to cleanse this land is to physically lay siege to the hive, and burn it all to the ground."
"Then where is their hive? Let's just get rid of it now, while they're weakened!" Shikamaru suggested.
"Before spore crawlers shot down our observer, we were able to see a fair portion of the hive, which lies east of here," Xelios pulled up a holographic map on the table, "They have constructed their hive upon a plateau, giving them the advantage of high ground."
"Okay, now let's go destroy it" Naruto said.
"Unfortunately it's not that simple. See those tentacle things at the entrance to the plateau?" Xelios pointed to a dozen tentacle-like creatures burrowed into the ground at the top of the hill up to the base, "Those are spine crawlers; they might not look too dangerous, but they can penetrate through even thick armor to impale hostiles. A dozen of them block the way up; we would die in droves before we breached that barrier."
"Well then what do we do?"
"If we can hold off the Zerg long enough, our engineers can repair our robotics facilities onboard this ship, giving us the technology we need to break the Zerg's defenses. All we need is time."
"I sent word to nearby villages to lend us aid," Naruto said, "The shinobi of the Sand and their Kazekage are on their way; they will be here in three days. With those reinforcements, plus whatever your engineers can come up with, we should be able to pull this off."
Xelios and Selendis nodded at him.
"Then it's decided," Selendis declared, "We will hold the Zerg swarm back until your friends arrive, and when they do, we will purify this world of the Zerg scourge together."