Chapter 11: Zero Hour Day 2
Naruto looked out from the top of the Hokage building, looking out over his village. Everything was fully repaired; the village looked normal as ever. But the atmosphere of the place was radically different; the place seemed charged with tension and apprehension. The entire place felt like it was holding its breath, just waiting for some imminent occurrence.
A sound made him turn around. Thanatos joined him at the balcony, staring out over the village as well.
"Nothing still huh?" Naruto asked him.
"Nothing still," the zealot replied, "It's starting to worry the Executor. It's not like the Zerg to be late to a fight. They should have been attacking our position nonstop all this time."
"Kakashi and Xelios believe they're preparing something new to overwhelm us with."
"Hmph. Let them try; I will slaughter them all no matter what they come up with," Thanatos glared out to where they knew the Zerg hive lay, "I hope they bring their entire brood; I don't want to waste time tracking down any survivors."
Naruto looked over at the zealot; the hatred in his eyes – he had seen it before.
"Thanatos, why do you hate the Zerg so much?" Naruto asked him, "All your people do, but you seem to hate them more than any of them. Why?"
Thanatos looked at Naruto.
"If you are familiar with our history with the Zerg, I would think the answer would be obvious," he replied.
Naruto looked at the zealot; he had heard the story of the fall of Aiur from Executor Selendis. The Protoss had lost so much; at least he still had a home.
"Thanatos, what was your home like?" Naruto asked, "I know of it, but nothing about it."
Thanatos paused for a while.
"Our homeworld was a beautiful one; full of lush jungles and oceans. Temples to our ancient gods, the Xel'Naga, dotted the land. My people built a great civilization there, with gleaming cities that shone like beacons," Thanatos recollected, staring off into another time.
"It sounds like a lovely place."
"It was."
"What about your home? What was it like growing up for you?"
"My family lived near the Province of Scion; my father didn't want us to grow up in the city like he had, so he built a large manor on a hill overlooking the province's main city. It was a beautiful place; seven levels, not including the 3 spires that towered at least 4 levels above the top level's roof. My parents designed the whole building, from the exterior, to the power systems, to the entire interior design.
My mother was a templar archivist, so an entire wing was dedicated solely to her archives. The whole place was an open tower, stairs leading up from level to level all the way to the dome that covered it. I would spend hours just reading, balancing in a spot in the rafters at the edge of the dome. She also had a botanical garden covered in a glass canopy outside, where she grew all sorts of plants.
My father was a commander of one of our fleets, so he wasn't home a lot, but he still had a large 2 level study above the kitchens. I was never allowed in there though, so breaking in was a favorite pastime for me and my brother. It was the best home one could possibly ask for."
Naruto whistled a little. If that was how grand his home had been, how grand were the biggest and most impressive buildings on that planet? Captain Yamato would have had a seizure from sheer awe if he ever saw the planet's cities.
"So, did you always want to be a zealot, or did you become one because of the war?" Naruto asked him.
"I've always wanted to be a zealot, since my father was one when I was growing up; I wanted to be just like him. For years before I actually became one, my entire day was devoted to training for the day that I would become a true zealot. My brother and I would spar in the field behind our house, at the edge of the province's jungle. When I wasn't training with my brother, I was meditating. I had my own private meditation area; there was a river flowing through the property, right at the edge of the forest. I found a flat stone just big enough for me to meditate on, right in the middle of that river, at the very top of a waterfall. I used to love watching the sunset when I finished my daily routine."
Thanatos's eyes darkened, and that hatred came back into them.
"Then the Zerg invaded, and ripped every bit of that away."
"What happened?" Naruto looked at the zealot again.
"The province of Scion became a heavily contested battleground during the Great War. When the Zerg first invaded, my uncle led me, my brother, and our cousins to defend our home. By the time it was over, only me, my brother, and 2 of my cousins remained. For all our efforts, we were forced to flee, and my home was lost to us. By the time we retook the area, it was too late; our home was destroyed. Its spires had collapsed, caving in large sections of the roof. My mother's archives were decimated; almost everything in there that we could still access had been burned or ruined when we searched the place. Not even my mother's garden survived, there were still signs of fighting all around the shattered glass building. Out of the great construct what hadn't collapsed was destroyed beyond repair by fire or battle. Even if we could retake Aiur, we would never be able to remake it the way it was; my home is lost forever, save in my memory."
"I'm sorry," Naruto told him, "What did you do after that?"
"My cousins, my brother, and I joined Executor Tassadar in their fight against the Zerg. Both of my cousins fell in the assault against the cursed Overmind."
"What about your brother? Why isn't he here with you?"
"During the evacuation of Aiur, he shoved me through the warp gate to Shakuras, and stayed behind with Praetor Fenix when the Zerg attacked. He was not amongst the ones that returned."
"What about the rest of your family?"
"The Zerg raided the refugee camp they were camped in just before the battle against the Overmind. None of them were amongst the dead, but we never found a trace of them. My brother and I searched for them as we guarded the evacuation, but we never found them. I would like to believe they are out there somewhere, h iding, but the chance of that is slim."
"So, out of your entire family, you are the sole survivor?"
"I believe I am, though I am hoping it is not truly so."
"I am really sorry, dude," Naruto told him.
Man, this guy could swap stories with Sasuke about this sort of thing. If they got into an argument over it he might even win.
The 2 of them stared out across the village again. It seemed so peaceful from up here, not as tense as it felt on the ground. A patrol of 3 phoenixes flew overhead, ensuring the skies of Konoha stayed free of the menace of mutalisks. The whole day, flocks of mutalisks had been wheeling around on the horizon, probing the village and the Protoss base's defenses for weaknesses. So far they hadn't been foolish enough to directly engage their defenses yet, but it was only a matter of time before they did.
"Any sign of the Zerg?" Shikamaru walked over.
"Nothing. This is starting to make me uneasy; something should have happened by now," Thanatos replied, "Why aren't the Zerg attacking?"
"No idea, but at least it gives us more time to set up extra defenses for when they do get here," Shikamaru said, "We've managed to thicken the walls and gates, and we've got patrols all across the village now. When they attack, we'll be ready."
"Don't be so sure," Thanatos warned, "The Zerg are notorious for being unpredictable, as well as numberless. They adapt to situations very quickly."
"So I've been told," Shikamaru nodded.
2 hours later, deep in the main hive….
"Broodmother, your forces are assembled as you ordered," a Zerg queen told her leader.
The Broodmother turned away from the experiment the other queens were working on to look at them.
"Are the mutations for all of them completed?" she asked the queen.
"They are."
"Then we strike now, before the Terran reinforcements arrive. We will overrun the city's defenses, and begin taking this world for the Swarm!"
The queen bowed, and left the hive. It was time for the Swarm to make their move.
1 hour later
A shinobi burst into the Intelligence Headquarters, causing Shikamaru to look up in surprise.
"Sir! None of the north scout teams are reporting in; the whole northern side has gone dark!"
Another shinobi ran into the room.
"None of the scouting teams from the eastern or southern fronts are reporting in either. We've lost all communication with the front lines."
At that moment, the zealot tasked with relaying communications was given a message.
"Our scout teams have come under attack as well," he reported, "The Gantrithor's scanners are detecting Zerg biosignatures in the thousands."
Shikamaru told the shinobi to sound the alarm, and to prepare the city's defenses.
"Why didn't your observers warn us the Zerg were on the move?" Shikamaru asked the zealot.
"I…. have no idea. The observers should have detected any Zerg the second they moved out of their hive cluster, no matter whether they attempted to conceal themselves or not."
Shikamaru pondered this as he raced to alert Naruto and the others. He found his friend on the outer wall, next to a slumped Ino.
"You've heard?" he asked him.
Naruto nodded.
"Ino's using a hawk to scout the Zerg forces right now," Naruto explained the reason Ino was slumped against the wall.
Her eyes flew open, and Shikamaru helped her up. As he did, Sasuke and Sakura ran up, followed by Choji, Lee, and Hinata.
"What did you see?" Naruto asked Ino.
"The Zerg are massing all around us," she told them, "We're completely surrounded. The Protoss are in a similar situation. Strange though…."
"What's strange?" Sakura asked her.
"I saw zerglings that were bigger than the others, with big things that look like they could be wings. And some of the hydralisks are bigger too. I also saw banelings, but the odd thing is, there's not a single roach in the entire force."
Praetor Xelios and Thanatos ran up in time to hear that last part.
"Are there any new strains in the horde?" Xelios asked.
"None that I could see," Ino shook her head.
Xelios's eyes narrowed; that was the exact opposite of what he was expecting. No, they had something – the Zerg just hadn't revealed it yet.
The defenders lined the walls, Protoss and shinobi alike. Naruto looked around at the people defending his village; the number of stalkers had dwindled to almost none. The village's ranged defense would be relying almost solely on his shinobi. Hopefully Tenten and the engineers had come up with something by now.
Tenten was tinkering with a Protoss machine when she heard footsteps running into the robotics bay. She looked down from her perch above the machine to see a shinobi messenger skidding to a halt, panting. She and the engineers looked at him inquisitively.
"The village …. and the base – they're under attack," the shinobi told them panting, "The Executor and the Hokage…. are ordering all available war machines into the fight."
Tenten looked at him aghast.
"No! No! No!" she shook her head, "It's too soon; the experimental models aren't ready yet!"
"Then send whatever you do have; we need any extra firepower we can get."
Tenten looked up at the towering machine that stood behind her. The engineers looked at it too, knowing what she was thinking.
"They'll just have to be sent out the way they are," one of them said, "There's no time to do anything more to them now."
Tenten bit her lip and nodded.
"Okay, bring them online. We're cutting our way through the Zerg to Konoha with them," she ordered.
The huge towering machines lit up, beeping and clicking in their robotic language. Tenten still marveled at the sheer size of the metal robots; the Protoss really knew how to build things, especially weapons. She jumped up onto a small metal spot between one of the legs and its pivotal waist.
In Konoha, the defenders prepared for the inevitable Zerg charge. But it didn't happen; the Zerg just stood there, snarling and screaming at those on the walls. Naruto wondered what they were waiting for; they could just attack any time, so why weren't they? The answer was made clear soon enough.
Without warning, a huge flock of mutalisks was suddenly overhead, spitting their vile glaive wurms indiscriminately at them. The shinobi and Protoss were caught completely off-guard, and the defenders were in chaos trying to defend against the flying horrors. Without a significant number of defenders truly capable of fighting against them though, the mutalisks wreaked havoc almost completely unhindered.
This is what the Zerg on the ground had been waiting for – with savage screams the huge masses of them charged at the walls. Naruto and the others weren't worried about them as much at first; they couldn't reach them up on the walls, and the mutalisks were more of a threat at that point. Naruto paid them little attention until a shape flew past him. He turned to see what it was, and saw a zergling on the wall next to him. He kicked it off, and sent it plummeting to the ground below. Another zergling leaped, leaped, up the wall, catching a shinobi as it sailed over, sending them both to the ground below.
"Since when do zerglings jump?" Naruto yelled.
"They don't," Xelios said grimly, "This is the first time I've ever seen it."
The Praetor punched a zergling leaping at him without even activating his psionic claws, sending it flying off with a broken neck. A quick spin, and he shot another one mid-jump with his photon cannon, causing it to sail parallel to the wall before knocking into a third zergling that just jumped.
"Still, it matters little," he continued more calmly, "We will prevail either way."
The fighting escalated as more and more zerglings leapt onto the walls to engage the defending shinobi and Protoss. It wasn't long before the whole wall was engulfed by a huge mass of thrashing bodies. In the middle of it all, Sasuke and Naruto fought back to back against the seemingly endless horde of the monsters. All the while, the hydralisks fired their spines into the huge crowd, hitting friend and foe alike without mercy. A group of phoenixes arrived from the Protoss base, having cut their way through the Zerg lines, just as the sun began to set.
"It's going to be a long night isn't it?" Sasuke commented to his friends.
Naruto and Sakura nodded grimly as they fought on. Slowly, the sun slipped away over the horizon, leaving the embattled city in darkness.