I hope that people enjoy this, and I also apologise for the messed up quotes in places. (Haven't played through in ages...)
Either way, hope you like it :)
Movement in the Dark
As Sabata passed through the wall separating San Miguel from the outside, he almost immediately felt as if he'd walked into a wall. In fact, he was starting to burn. "Typical. Someone puts up a Sun Barrier, and I'm bonded with Dark Matter. Just typical." Cursing slightly, he ran on past, and, abusing Zero Shift once more, managed to get through the gate house before any serious harm was done. He was lucky it had been at night. Cheering himself up by calmly shooting a Bok in the back, turning it into a cloud of dust, he pressed on towards the East, where he could see the tip of the Remains. Might as well move quickly, as it was nearly dawn. He wasn't risking that anytime soon.
After walking past the Boks on patrol around the small street, Sabata found a very unfamiliar sight. A spiky tentacle in the ground was blocking the path to the Remains. It looked a bit like a plant root, albeit unnatural. Seeing as it was in his way, and he couldn't get close enough to use Zero Shift to pass through it, he had to try shooting the blasted thing. And if it was resistant to Dark Matter, this could be a waste of time. "Oh well. Worth a shot," Sabata sighed, levelling the Gun del Hell at the plant, before calmly shooting a Dark Shot at it. Much to his surprise and satisfaction, the plant root was thrown off of the hole it was on, before it sealed up with the Dark Matter he shot. "Huh. Useless guard if it can't stand up to Dark Matter," and laughing, he followed the road down to the Remains, nonchalantly shooting the bats that tried to swarm him.
The Remains were rather spectacular for an ancient ruin, compared to the ruins that had become part of Istrakan when Hel started her plan. The residents must have had a deep respect for history of the city. Or…it was the power of that Shadow he'd felt when he arrived. Sighing at all this thinking he had taken to doing recently, he pressed forward, taking the left path, shooting a Clay Golem on the way past. He didn't have time to think about all this. He'd told Django about the presence in San Miguel he'd felt, so his little brother should be dealing with it. 'I really hope I don't run into anyone. I'm not here to make friends. Ha. Like I can make friends, when I sacrificed the only person who had mattered to me for the sake of power…why on EARTH am I still thinking about it all? Is it because of Carmilla?' sighing in exasperation at all this, he kept walking, ignoring the Undead while he tried to find a path. The locked door earlier didn't help. Well, if he knew Immortal's, they would hide a key on the other side of their domain.
"HELP! SOMEONE, ANYONE HELP!"
Running to the screams, Sabata managed to reach the scene quickly, just as the Sun appeared over the horizon. In front of him was another of those root-things, but it was currently trying to grab at an afro-haired young man, who happened to be dodging an older man in a hat and reddish coat. The older man had blue-skinned hands. Taking up the Gun del Hell, Sabata shot the plant again, and ran past the afro-haired man, shouting at him to run, before shooting at the man in the hat. "A Vampire! Go crawl into the Sun and die! Your not having your way anymore, Immortal scum!" Sabata shouted at the vampire, who just dodged his shots, before retaliating with…
"THE GUN DEL SOL?! WHAT THE…?"
Doing his best to avoid the Solar Shots, Sabata chased after the Vampire, which had used the distraction to fly down the staircase behind it, with Sabata close behind. Firing shot after shot after it, it just kept dodging them, while returning fire all the more precisely, utilising a skill only a gunslinger could have developed, all the more dangerous with the heightened reflexes afforded a vampire. "Stop moving!" Sabata shouted angrily at the Vampire, which just laughed at him while sending more Solar Shots his way. Dropping to the floor to avoid them, Sabata sent a Nightmare Grenade at the Vampire, but, much to his frustration, was dodged like his shots, and leaving him out of grenades too. Getting back on his feet, the Vampire rushed through the door that Sabata had seen earlier, and, taking a chance, ran through it, just before it closed and locked again. Waiting at the other end of the room, the Vampire stopped, blocking Sabata's path out.
"TAKE THIS!" roared the Vampire, firing a large volley at Sabata. Jumping to the side, Sabata, managed to get behind a pillar, before jumping over it and launching his own counterattack. Finally, the shots hit their mark, causing the Vampire to drop a lens, which flew through the air, leaving Sabata to deftly catch it. 'One less thing to worry about' he thought, before realising the Vampire had manoeuvred to be at point blank range, and, before Sabata could pull out the Gun del Hell or even Zero Shift out of the way, the Vampire laughed as it fired the Solar Gun. Thrown backwards into the wall behind him from the force, making Sabata suspect it must have been the Javelin frame this time, Sabata fell to his knees, too stunned by the Solar Shot to move. But, the Vampire left through the doorway that it had blocked a moment ago, leaving Sabata to recover from the blow. Cursing rather vehemently, Sabata waited for the effects of the Solar Shot to wear off, but, due to the proximity, he would probably be here for at least ten minutes. And, with that thought came into his mind, Sabata started to plan out just what he would say to Django if he saw him, as the last time he'd seen the Gun del Sol, it had been in Django's hands. 'Unless he wasn't able to stop it being taken. He could be dead if that Vampire has the Solar Gun. Great. Maybe I'll have to save this lousy city.' and, stewing, Sabata kept grumbling to himself for the next twenty minutes, as the Solar Shot STILL had to wear off.
About an hour later, much to Sabata's annoyance, he was still stunned as the Dark Matter in him hadn't been replaced yet, and he was bored looking at the opposite walls. However, the door on his right opened, and in walked Django, along with Otenko, Messenger of the Sun. 'Well, I guess he's not dead then.' and as Django got halfway through the room, Otenko finally noticed Sabata.
"Sabata! What are you doing here?" Otenko sounded more surprised at Sabata being in San Miguel, rather than him sitting there unable to move.
"I'm trying to recover from my injuries, if you must know."
"Why are you injured? I thought most Undead couldn't hurt you?" the sunflower almost sounded smug.
"Because a Vampire shot me with the Solar Gun. Happy?"
"A vampire! Are you sure?" (Sabata was seriously tempted to blast Otenko at this point with Dark Matter. If he could move.)
"Yes. I doubt I'll ever forget the burning power of the Gun del Sol, thank you very much," Sabata coldly replied, looking at Django at this point, who looked just a little embarrassed at the moment. "Thanks to this loser." Django acted like he didn't hear anything. 'I miss the days when I scared him when I spoke. Oh well, he is family I guess…what's WRONG WITH ME?!' Sabata quietly reminded himself to pay attention, as Otenko and Django were busy discussing what to do.
"If your going to chase this vampire, you'll need to use this," and, gesturing to the Cloud lens in front of him, Django picked it up with a rather impressive metal gauntlet, before Sabata continued. "and be careful. This vampire's skill, it's higher than anything I've ever seen. Even I could only get one lens off of him. Now, get going Django. You need to have the Sun behind you if your going to purify this one." Nodding, Django walked out the room after Otenko had given him a stern 'time to go' look, even though Sabata could see Django wanted to help him. 'Oh well. I can move again soon.' Sabata mused to himself.
Finally, after about an hour and forty minutes since being shot, Sabata felt his energy completely restored, which meant he could leave this blasted room. Standing up and retrieving the Gun del Hell from the corner of the room, he went outside, and looked at the desert before him. Sighing, Sabata looked ahead, just as a large building rose out of the sand in the middle of the desert. Sensing the same darkness he had felt even all the way in Istrakan, Sabata ran towards the ruins, with a sense of foreboding. Ignoring the Sun, he found his way inside, and ran to the end of the corridor, down the stairs, and reached the bottom, just as he heard the Vampire's voice, as well as Otenko's voice, before being cut short by another voice, which made Sabata really worried. Entering the room, he saw Django just standing there, as the Vampire came towards him. Knocking him aside, he pulled out the Gun del Hell, and shot the Vampire in the side to get it's attention.
"Django, worry about Otenko later! For now, we have to beat this guy! I'll summon a Black Hole so we can hit him!"
"Right!"
Taking out a sword, Django ran to hold off the Vampire's attacks, while Sabata pooled his power to form a Black Hole. While preoccupied, Sabata had to say he was impressed Django could get to grips with weapons other than the Gun del Sol, which meant that they might just be able to get it back. After what seemed forever, they had managed to trap the vampire in the Black Hole, allowing Django to attack it properly.
"We make a good team, huh Sabata?"
"Pay attention! I can't keep this going all day! Hurry up and finish him off!"
"Sorry!" and, striking the Vampire cleanly with the Solar-charged sword, broke the Black Hole as the Vampire collapsed to the ground, as his hat fell slowly to the floor.
Putting away the Gun del Hell, Sabata moved to get a better look at the Vampire, while Django prepared to summon a coffin over it. They didn't expect the vampire to speak.
"Django! And surely not…Sabata?"
"How do you know my name?"
"Father?" Django tentatively asked, but was taken by surprise as the Vampire which must be none other than Ringo, launched itself at him, biting him and taking his blood, while infecting him with Vampire Blood in the same moment. Sabata rushed forward and shot the Vampire, but, dodging, the shot missed.
"D…Django…." and, exploding into a cloud of bats, Ringo vanished, while Sabata fired after him.
"Django! Django! Come on, get up!" shaking Django slightly, Sabata could see the final trace of Dark Matter entering into Django's bite. "Damn. He's been hit by Vampire Blood. The Lunar Child Blood should be suppressing the change, but it's not working. Why…the Undeading must be advancing. I'll have to purify the blood, or he's going to die. Yes. The Piledrivers the only way." and, summoning the coffin Django had prepared for the Vampire, he sealed Django inside. "You'll be safer in there. Now, wait a moment. I just need to check something."
Checking the room beyond, Sabata found what appeared to be a broken seal, and, by the looks of it, an Immortal's crypt beyond it. "Huh. I guess only Immortals can be resurrected here." Leaving the room, Sabata ran to grab the chain on the coffin, as Django had somehow managed to start moving it towards the stairs. "Django, I'll get you to safety. Now, just stay still, and fight it, you hear me? Now, we're getting you out of here." Speaking calmly, Sabata began pulling the coffin out of the ruins, and made use of all his strength to get Django to the Piledriver as quickly as possible; the sooner he got Django there, the less risk of him dying in the Piledriver. If Sabata could last that long.
After what seemed an eternity, Sabata pulled Django into the city centre, as Lita and a bubblegum-pink haired girl ran towards him, just as his energy was running out, combating the Sun.
"Sabata! Where's Master Django?" Lita seemed terrified.
"He's in here. He's been bitten. We need to use the Piledriver or we'll lose him."
"But who's going to use it? If Django's out, no one else can use it. I might be the all famous Sunflower Girl Zazie, but, I'm not capable of something like that."
Sabata looked at both of them as if it was obvious. As far as he was concerned, it was. The responses he got from the two girls almost ruptured his ear drums.
"Master Sabata, you can't! You could die!"
"The Dark Matter in you will make you fry like a lobster if you use the Piledriver!"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" and, after the two girls stopped, he continued, "I'm frying right now, and, if I can get some sun block, then I might last longer. Now, get him to the Piledriver, and watch him while I restore my energy so we can do this. Every minute we stand here is another minute that Django risks turning into a Vampire. So move!" After trembling slightly, Zazie nodded and used her staff to force the coffin towards the Piledriver faster than if they had pulled it, and Lita ran into her shop, before coming out and handing Sabata a small tub of sun block. Nodding, she ran after Zazie, who had already passed the Solar Tree, while Sabata stepped inside the Inn.
Shouting "ANKOK", Sabata summoned Dark Matter to him, restoring his energy as the Moon Bugs restored his health. 'Carmilla, if my lie of a life remains, I'll give you my body. I will make you human again. I promise.' Sabata remembered when he had said this. Right before she was purified by Django. Clenching his fists and screwing his eyes shut, he punched the wall next to him. "I am not loosing my brother like I lost you Carmilla," and, with these words, he ran outside, forgetting the sunblock he placed on the table.
Standing on the Piledriver a few minutes later, Sabata nodded once to Zazie, who had summoned a little cloud to follow Sabata around, shielding him from the sun, but blocked out too much light for the Piledriver. Disappearing it with her staff, she put her hand on Lita's shoulder as Sabata activated the mirrors. "Relax. We may be risking it that he may die anyway, but, if we don't try, we might as well give up anyway. That Sabata, he understands that, and that's why he's doing it."
"But, if it goes wrong, we could lose both of them…"
"That's the risk. Sabata is definitely determined." and, as Zazie said this, Sabata had set the mirrors, and activated the Piledriver. And as the plaza was bathed in white light, Zazie could only admire Sabata's bravery.
As Sabata activated the Piledriver, he realised he had forgotten the sun block, and instantly felt the sheer concentrated power of the Sun. "Gah, can't stop now." Then, much to his surprise, a large shadow erupted from the coffin, which meant the Dark Matter had been forced out of Django to try to defend itself. Firing at it with the Gun del Hell, Sabata kept it in the centre of the mirrors, while aware that this close he ran the risk of passing out. Gritting his teeth, he kept manoeuvring the Dark matter back, each time getting more and more draining on his own energy. But, as he felt the last of his energy ebb away, he heard the sound of Django's voice as the Dark Matter had been defeated, and, as the Piledriver ended, Sabata, stood up, looking at the coffin with apprehension, along with Lita and Zazie.
As the lid opened, and Django stepped out, none of them could hide their shock. His clothes had turned black, his precious Crimson Scarf had turned into wings, and his headband covered his face, looking like a mask. To top it all, his skin had turned blue.
"Guess we couldn't stop him turning into a vampire……" Sabata spoke painfully, and, falling forward he saw faintly everyone running to him as he collapsed, almost as if time was slowing down. And as his body finally made contact with the floor, one last thought came to him before he knew no more;
'I'm sorry, Carmilla…'
Review's welcomed :)