*During the time Steve was fighting against Hydra*
Pov: General
In an overlooked sector of the galaxy, on a planet somewhat larger than average, a human girl is hard at work.
She appears intensely focused on a mixture of green liquids simmering inside a container made of intertwined branches.
This girl is, unmistakably, Mariko, and whatever she is doing right now is some kind of… well, frankly I have no idea, I'm not a botanist.
What is clear is that Mariko intends to give that liquid to the local plant-folk to trigger a second evolutionary stage.
Yes, you heard right, that's how far she's advanced the biotechnology of this world.
Though honestly… in a world full of talking plants, the only real requirement for innovation is being a gardener with making skills.
And that, precisely, is what Mariko has been doing ever since she took it upon herself to grow Planet X technological Tree.
And frankly… it's much harder than she expected.
Don't judge her, In her past life she didn't know how to raise plants either.
In fact, she barely knew how to walk (Translator:…Wait, WHAT?? 🤨)
But to understand what I mean, we need to visit her past, or better yet
Do you know the anime Elfen Lied?, If not, allow me to summarize (Translator: .... Oh boy... She's THAT Mariko)
Elfen Lied revolves around the interactions, emotions, and discrimination between humans and the Diclonius
A mutant species that look human but have horns and invisible, high-speed "vector" arms capable of slicing through basically anything.
That's a general summary, if you want the rest, go watch it, it's a great animé (Translator: …You are the most demonic furry I know 😶)
Now then, how is it possible Mariko isn't questioning why she woke up in a new world? And why didn't she remembered anything??, Simple.
She wanted this (Translator: Honestly she'd be happier without any of her memories 😓)
According to the little information she was given, or rather the little she still remembers, her name is Mariko, her mission is to recover her memories, and she surrendered them willingly.
To whom? To the one who reincarnated her on this planet, with pathway included.
And why would she want those memories back?Simple, because if she doesn't recover them, she suffers constantly (Translator: … what THE HELL did you do this time?? 😡)
Yes. She is tortured relentlessly within her own mind, what type of torture??, well...
A sensation like frozen needles burrowing through her brain anytime she tries to stop her research in the pathway.
And as if that weren't enough, she feels phantom layers of her skin being stripped away, her eyelids torn open, and a burning cold flooding her vision like liquid hydrogen.
And then, because torment loves sequels, she feels an acidic fire pour down her throat, hollowing her out from within.
All of it, Every. Single. Second. Until she continues her work.
So yes, that's one way to explain how she climbed the evolutionary ladder so quickly (Translator: Hell is empty because the devil wrote this, I hate you 🤬🖕)
Honestly, if it weren't for Mariko's suffering, I'd have forgotten that the protagonist of this story is actually the villain....
But anyway, that don't have anything to do with me, I'm just the General pov
Back to the present... Mariko finishes the final adjustments to the green liquid and calls over a… uh… Treant? Tree-man? Groot-thing?
"Take this and absorb it."
Mariko says indifferently to the… plant-dude? Seriously, what are these things called?, hey, Writer, what am I supposed to call them?
Writer: "Hmm… Just stick with Treant."
Alright, Treant it is.
The Treant absorbs the green liquid immediately.
And then the changes begin.
At first they look minor, but over time they become more and more noticeable.
After two hours, the Treant no longer resembles… well, a Treant.
Instead, it looks like a humanoid version of Mariko, if the humanoid in question were a five-meter-tall being carved from living wood.
"YES! I DID IT! FINALLY!"
Mariko shouts, euphoric, because It wasn't her first attempt at this experiment, so she celebrates for several minutes before forcing herself to calm down.
"…Okay, okay, I'm calm now, let's do what comes next."
She focuses again and commands the Treant:
"First, speak."
"…I am Groot? (…What would you prefer I say, my Goddess?)"
The Treant replies nervously, absolutely terrified, and honesty, I'm amazed she could understand him
"Say anything other than "I am Groot" you pile of dead branches."
Mariko snaps, instantly breaking off one of his limbs.
"…My Goddess?"
The Treant finally manages to say, and Mariko, who was furious seconds ago, enters a state of pure ecstatic bliss, ignoring everything else while she celebrates wildly.
The other Treants just freeze, confused, because even after all the time spent with her, they still don't understand half of what she wants.
Still, they're happy their Goddess is pleased, so they join her celebration.
At least until she inevitably goes back to perfecting her formula.
The time passes on that planet once again, a time during which Mariko experiments on the Treants, and the Treants do whatever she commands.
But unbeknownst to all of them, her experiments will become the key reason this race eventually forms one of the most powerful factions resisting the human invasion of the universe in the name of the Emperor
So powerful that..... Well.... that's a story for another chapter.
(Translator: I'm done. I quit. I hated the torture part 😡
Writer: At least I kept it somewhat light so I don't get banned 😋
Translator: Still quitting 🖕)