"Even if the unit is destroyed, the program will continue."
Man against monster. Monster against self. The story is as old as time. Even in the empires of the ancients, they existed in one form or another: the proverbial 'spirits of the night'. One culture, the Mayans, may have found the first successful defense in history against the plague known as the Darkstalkers.
DARKSTALKERS: DAWN OF THE HUITZIL
CHAPTER ONE: MANIFESTATION
GERDENHEIM CASTLE, GERMANY
The walls were silent except for the wind creaking around corners. The laboratory was dark and damp: decadent from many years of neglect. Against a red chair in a corner of the room laid the skeletal remains of Professor Schloss Von Gerdenheim, still dressed in his trademark lab coat and plaid pants.
Just then, a figure thundered through the gate. He was large. He was loud. He was Victor Von Gerdenheim, eternal sentinel of these halls. Victor smiled to his creator and gave a thumb up, "Father I am strong! Tell me you are proud of me!"
"Brother, he cannot hear you", a small voice pleaded from the shadows.
"Emily", Victor smiled as his sister, far smaller than him by frame and built to resemble a teenage girl instead of a hulking brute, floated into the room.
Emily looked at her brother with pity, "Oh Victor, but that you could understand: the shock that gave you life is the shock that made the doctor silent."
Victor sat down and scratched his head, "Life makes death?"
Emily shook her head, "No, electricity makes death, and you must always use yours to help others around you. Only electrocute those who cause violence and death."
Victor nodded silently, believing he understood her wise words.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling buzz was going overhead. Emily pointed up, "Look Victor! Jet pl- those are not jets!"
She was exactly right. The creatures which now were beginning to dominate the sky above were much too small to be a jet, as could be proved by the fact that they were lower in the sky than even a helicopter at this point and details could be made out.
The strange things were still immense by comparison to most creatures and resembled nothing so much as moving suits of exotically crafted silver armor. However, the notion that they were simply armor for something else would be incorrect, as proved by the strange conjunction of the limbs, not so much into rivets, but into distinct limbs, and also the jet stream fire erupting from the back of their hollow legs.
As the sky began to slowly blacken with the creatures, all moving in a close aerial phalanx, yet another strange thing began occurring. Explosions were going off on the ground in and around the village just below in the valley. The village, known as Krutstrich, had been a small town for many years before including a new factory to bring in more business, more population, and a better living for all.
As the village began to burn with the explosions, Victor focused his vision and soon recognized the horrible truth; these 'bombs' were dropping from under the bellies of the bizarre creatures that were flying over the town.
Emily looked to Victor, "We had best hide ourselves brother."
Victor narrowed his pale eyes, "Go inside, Emily. Go now."
As several of the things landed outside the castle, roughly five in all, Victor was there to greet them. He took a stance and narrowed his eyes, "Get away from my house: you are not welcome here."
One of them stepped forward, its' red, eye-like structures built into its' head blinking twice with a light from within. "No permission requested or required", the creature said in a hollow, mechanical tone. No sooner has the thing spoken when a strange compartment opened in its' midsection, firing a single missile.
Flung off his feet by the missile, Victor was launched through a wall. A loud explosion went off, rocking the castle but surprisingly not tearing it down much more than it already had been. As the smoke from the missile escaped the pores of the broken fortress, a figure walked forward, silhouetted by the mists.
Victor ran forward, shouting in rage as a fist charged with a massive dose of lightning and rammed itself through the metallic skull of the thing that had fired the missile at him. His hand reached back, pulling out the contents: broken wires.
As what now appeared to be a headless machine fell to the ground in a clanging heap, the other four surrounded the sentinel. Victor was in a mid- stance.
As the machines moved in around him, Victor noticed a bizarre buzz of a chant emitting from them. They were repeating the same phrase over and over. His eyes grew wide with fear as he began to make out the exact words:
"Omega Inevitable: Extermination sequence imminent."
YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA
Quatos yawned great big and stretched his strong arms. Guard duty was boring sometimes, but somebody had to do it: you never know when trouble could strike!
He leaned against his tent and looked up at the sky. It was cloudy as usual, and he thought he saw a plane overhead. Then another, and another. Strange as it seemed, these 'planes' were filling up the entire sky. What was going on??
The horrendous buzz began to frighten the children of Sasquatch Village. Quatos came running in to tell the others the news, but he was already too late. The 'planes', which turned out to be strange metal things, were landing in pairs. Already there were eight pairs landed on this area alone.
Quatos squared off with the machines, "Get out or I'll beat you out!"
The machines began marching forward, four of them grabbing him by the shoulders and holding him fast. Another walked forward and held up an arm, which switched some gears and pistons around, transforming into a javelin- like weapon pointed directly at Quatos' forehead, "Immediate termination necessary."
"Terminate this!" The machines and Sasquatch alike looked up to see a figure standing atop a high hill. The figure was Aulbath. Aulbath crossed his arms in a sign that was intended both as a curse to the machines and as a trigger for one of his best signature moves: Ocean Rage. A gigantic tidal wave rose up behind him.
As the wave rolled down over Sasquatch Village, the ice-dwelling Sasquatch easily skated their way to safety while the machines were frozen fast.
Aulbath flipped forward off the mountain and landed beside Quatos, giving him a helping hand to his feet, "Are you alright my friend?"
Quatos nodded slowly, "The ice should hold them for awhile. How many?"
Aulbath looked up at the sky, still filled with the machines, "There's no telling at this point. I was on my way home when I saw them all headed this way, destroying things as they went. Now I see they are still headed north."
"Quatos!" a gruff voice called. The Sasquatch King, a large bellied old Sasquatch with a beard and a skull crown approached the guardsman, "I am sending you on a mission with our friend Aulbath. Find out what is happening and stop it."
Aulbath and Quatos both nodded, "Yes Sir."
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
Felicia dived from atop a dumpster, slicing the head clean off one of the machines with a claw, "yeeeeeeeeow!!!" She landed the dive beside Jon, who was busily fending off several machines of his own with various Beast Cannon attacks.
To say the two heroes were deadlocked in a war with the strange invaders was a massive understatement: this was a gang-up, roughly two thousand to two. In larger cities like this, the machines were more frequent for some reason and the sky was black with them as they rained down in squads, attacking the city itself.
Talbain rammed one of them into a wall with a hard-edged Beast Cannon, disabling it, but just as he did another was right there to take its' place and knock him into the very same wall with a large metal claw.
The machine never saw the sword blade as it impaled it through the back and tore it to bits from within. As the machine fell, there stood Donovan Baine and a small girl.
Another machine struck out at Donovan, but as the little girl gave it a threatening glare with her cold eyes, the machine was flung as if by a bizarre forcefield.
Several machines were surrounding Felicia at this point, square fields of electricity in front of them that were closing in on her. She was stanced and ready for whatever was to come, but she really hoped it wouldn't come to her death.
Luckily, two figures flipped over the machines and stanced at her side. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling double stanced and grinned, "Let's do this!"
As the machines closed in Felicia struck out in a few lightning fast claw attacks, shocking her paw as she broke the barrier and blasted the machines into rubble.
Hsien-Ko looked to Mei-Ling, who nodded, placing a hand to her forehead and turning herself into a Chinese charm, which flew to Hsien-Ko and landed on her hat. Hsien-Ko ran at the machines, her body glowing white as she began to calmly and methodically chop them apart at the seams.
Between Donovan's sword attacks, Talbain's Beast Cannon, and the little girl's mystical powers, the machines were being forced back from them in no time.
Soon enough, the entire group was back to back, fending off the attackers with incredible ease despite the seemingly impossible odds. After long enough of this, one of the machines ordered, "All units retreat to configure new strategy", and as quickly as the plague of mechanical locusts had come, they were gone.
Felicia looked to the sky, "What a wicked bunch of whatchamacallits", she looked to the newcomers, "Good thing these guys showed up."
Talbain looked to Donovan, "I guess that's two I owe you now."
Donovan closed his eyes, "It is I who owe the world all my life."
The little girl looked up at him, "You speak too harshly of your blood."
Hsien-Ko's eyes closed as well, her voice now the calm voice of Mei- Ling, "The dhamphir's blood is tainted with the evil poison of the vampire, but all the same, he has a human heart in the end."
Donovan turned away, "My personal struggles are not the concern of this group. We are united here to discover the nature of the threat that ensnares our world: a world that I have vowed to protect from the dark, and all evils, with my life."
Talbain nodded, "I agree. We should be worried about where the hell that many mechanical soldiers could have come from, and we should prepare for future attacks."
Felicia grinned, "Sounds like we're in need of a detective."
Donovan looked to Hsien-Ko, "This is where the twins specialize. What they lack in physical powers they more than make up for in their knowledge of the dark and its' roots in all cultures: they have been in the business since the 1700's."
Hsien-Ko's eyes opened and she scowled, now speaking with her own voice, "Hey! Whadda ya mean 'lack in physical power'? We've saved your butt!"
Hsien-Ko's eyes grew calm again as she spoke with Mei-Ling's voice, "Please sister, be calm: he only meant to imply we are most useful as the brain of this group."
The charm detached and Mei-Ling appeared again.
Hsien-Ko frowned, "Oh alright, but no more smart-ass comments, A'ight?"
Felicia giggled, "Well then, let's get to work!"
DARKSTALKERS: THE SERIES WRITTEN BY REGIS A WELCH DARKSTALKERS © 2004 CAPCOM
Man against monster. Monster against self. The story is as old as time. Even in the empires of the ancients, they existed in one form or another: the proverbial 'spirits of the night'. One culture, the Mayans, may have found the first successful defense in history against the plague known as the Darkstalkers.
DARKSTALKERS: DAWN OF THE HUITZIL
CHAPTER ONE: MANIFESTATION
GERDENHEIM CASTLE, GERMANY
The walls were silent except for the wind creaking around corners. The laboratory was dark and damp: decadent from many years of neglect. Against a red chair in a corner of the room laid the skeletal remains of Professor Schloss Von Gerdenheim, still dressed in his trademark lab coat and plaid pants.
Just then, a figure thundered through the gate. He was large. He was loud. He was Victor Von Gerdenheim, eternal sentinel of these halls. Victor smiled to his creator and gave a thumb up, "Father I am strong! Tell me you are proud of me!"
"Brother, he cannot hear you", a small voice pleaded from the shadows.
"Emily", Victor smiled as his sister, far smaller than him by frame and built to resemble a teenage girl instead of a hulking brute, floated into the room.
Emily looked at her brother with pity, "Oh Victor, but that you could understand: the shock that gave you life is the shock that made the doctor silent."
Victor sat down and scratched his head, "Life makes death?"
Emily shook her head, "No, electricity makes death, and you must always use yours to help others around you. Only electrocute those who cause violence and death."
Victor nodded silently, believing he understood her wise words.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling buzz was going overhead. Emily pointed up, "Look Victor! Jet pl- those are not jets!"
She was exactly right. The creatures which now were beginning to dominate the sky above were much too small to be a jet, as could be proved by the fact that they were lower in the sky than even a helicopter at this point and details could be made out.
The strange things were still immense by comparison to most creatures and resembled nothing so much as moving suits of exotically crafted silver armor. However, the notion that they were simply armor for something else would be incorrect, as proved by the strange conjunction of the limbs, not so much into rivets, but into distinct limbs, and also the jet stream fire erupting from the back of their hollow legs.
As the sky began to slowly blacken with the creatures, all moving in a close aerial phalanx, yet another strange thing began occurring. Explosions were going off on the ground in and around the village just below in the valley. The village, known as Krutstrich, had been a small town for many years before including a new factory to bring in more business, more population, and a better living for all.
As the village began to burn with the explosions, Victor focused his vision and soon recognized the horrible truth; these 'bombs' were dropping from under the bellies of the bizarre creatures that were flying over the town.
Emily looked to Victor, "We had best hide ourselves brother."
Victor narrowed his pale eyes, "Go inside, Emily. Go now."
As several of the things landed outside the castle, roughly five in all, Victor was there to greet them. He took a stance and narrowed his eyes, "Get away from my house: you are not welcome here."
One of them stepped forward, its' red, eye-like structures built into its' head blinking twice with a light from within. "No permission requested or required", the creature said in a hollow, mechanical tone. No sooner has the thing spoken when a strange compartment opened in its' midsection, firing a single missile.
Flung off his feet by the missile, Victor was launched through a wall. A loud explosion went off, rocking the castle but surprisingly not tearing it down much more than it already had been. As the smoke from the missile escaped the pores of the broken fortress, a figure walked forward, silhouetted by the mists.
Victor ran forward, shouting in rage as a fist charged with a massive dose of lightning and rammed itself through the metallic skull of the thing that had fired the missile at him. His hand reached back, pulling out the contents: broken wires.
As what now appeared to be a headless machine fell to the ground in a clanging heap, the other four surrounded the sentinel. Victor was in a mid- stance.
As the machines moved in around him, Victor noticed a bizarre buzz of a chant emitting from them. They were repeating the same phrase over and over. His eyes grew wide with fear as he began to make out the exact words:
"Omega Inevitable: Extermination sequence imminent."
YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA
Quatos yawned great big and stretched his strong arms. Guard duty was boring sometimes, but somebody had to do it: you never know when trouble could strike!
He leaned against his tent and looked up at the sky. It was cloudy as usual, and he thought he saw a plane overhead. Then another, and another. Strange as it seemed, these 'planes' were filling up the entire sky. What was going on??
The horrendous buzz began to frighten the children of Sasquatch Village. Quatos came running in to tell the others the news, but he was already too late. The 'planes', which turned out to be strange metal things, were landing in pairs. Already there were eight pairs landed on this area alone.
Quatos squared off with the machines, "Get out or I'll beat you out!"
The machines began marching forward, four of them grabbing him by the shoulders and holding him fast. Another walked forward and held up an arm, which switched some gears and pistons around, transforming into a javelin- like weapon pointed directly at Quatos' forehead, "Immediate termination necessary."
"Terminate this!" The machines and Sasquatch alike looked up to see a figure standing atop a high hill. The figure was Aulbath. Aulbath crossed his arms in a sign that was intended both as a curse to the machines and as a trigger for one of his best signature moves: Ocean Rage. A gigantic tidal wave rose up behind him.
As the wave rolled down over Sasquatch Village, the ice-dwelling Sasquatch easily skated their way to safety while the machines were frozen fast.
Aulbath flipped forward off the mountain and landed beside Quatos, giving him a helping hand to his feet, "Are you alright my friend?"
Quatos nodded slowly, "The ice should hold them for awhile. How many?"
Aulbath looked up at the sky, still filled with the machines, "There's no telling at this point. I was on my way home when I saw them all headed this way, destroying things as they went. Now I see they are still headed north."
"Quatos!" a gruff voice called. The Sasquatch King, a large bellied old Sasquatch with a beard and a skull crown approached the guardsman, "I am sending you on a mission with our friend Aulbath. Find out what is happening and stop it."
Aulbath and Quatos both nodded, "Yes Sir."
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
Felicia dived from atop a dumpster, slicing the head clean off one of the machines with a claw, "yeeeeeeeeow!!!" She landed the dive beside Jon, who was busily fending off several machines of his own with various Beast Cannon attacks.
To say the two heroes were deadlocked in a war with the strange invaders was a massive understatement: this was a gang-up, roughly two thousand to two. In larger cities like this, the machines were more frequent for some reason and the sky was black with them as they rained down in squads, attacking the city itself.
Talbain rammed one of them into a wall with a hard-edged Beast Cannon, disabling it, but just as he did another was right there to take its' place and knock him into the very same wall with a large metal claw.
The machine never saw the sword blade as it impaled it through the back and tore it to bits from within. As the machine fell, there stood Donovan Baine and a small girl.
Another machine struck out at Donovan, but as the little girl gave it a threatening glare with her cold eyes, the machine was flung as if by a bizarre forcefield.
Several machines were surrounding Felicia at this point, square fields of electricity in front of them that were closing in on her. She was stanced and ready for whatever was to come, but she really hoped it wouldn't come to her death.
Luckily, two figures flipped over the machines and stanced at her side. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling double stanced and grinned, "Let's do this!"
As the machines closed in Felicia struck out in a few lightning fast claw attacks, shocking her paw as she broke the barrier and blasted the machines into rubble.
Hsien-Ko looked to Mei-Ling, who nodded, placing a hand to her forehead and turning herself into a Chinese charm, which flew to Hsien-Ko and landed on her hat. Hsien-Ko ran at the machines, her body glowing white as she began to calmly and methodically chop them apart at the seams.
Between Donovan's sword attacks, Talbain's Beast Cannon, and the little girl's mystical powers, the machines were being forced back from them in no time.
Soon enough, the entire group was back to back, fending off the attackers with incredible ease despite the seemingly impossible odds. After long enough of this, one of the machines ordered, "All units retreat to configure new strategy", and as quickly as the plague of mechanical locusts had come, they were gone.
Felicia looked to the sky, "What a wicked bunch of whatchamacallits", she looked to the newcomers, "Good thing these guys showed up."
Talbain looked to Donovan, "I guess that's two I owe you now."
Donovan closed his eyes, "It is I who owe the world all my life."
The little girl looked up at him, "You speak too harshly of your blood."
Hsien-Ko's eyes closed as well, her voice now the calm voice of Mei- Ling, "The dhamphir's blood is tainted with the evil poison of the vampire, but all the same, he has a human heart in the end."
Donovan turned away, "My personal struggles are not the concern of this group. We are united here to discover the nature of the threat that ensnares our world: a world that I have vowed to protect from the dark, and all evils, with my life."
Talbain nodded, "I agree. We should be worried about where the hell that many mechanical soldiers could have come from, and we should prepare for future attacks."
Felicia grinned, "Sounds like we're in need of a detective."
Donovan looked to Hsien-Ko, "This is where the twins specialize. What they lack in physical powers they more than make up for in their knowledge of the dark and its' roots in all cultures: they have been in the business since the 1700's."
Hsien-Ko's eyes opened and she scowled, now speaking with her own voice, "Hey! Whadda ya mean 'lack in physical power'? We've saved your butt!"
Hsien-Ko's eyes grew calm again as she spoke with Mei-Ling's voice, "Please sister, be calm: he only meant to imply we are most useful as the brain of this group."
The charm detached and Mei-Ling appeared again.
Hsien-Ko frowned, "Oh alright, but no more smart-ass comments, A'ight?"
Felicia giggled, "Well then, let's get to work!"
DARKSTALKERS: THE SERIES WRITTEN BY REGIS A WELCH DARKSTALKERS © 2004 CAPCOM