Tower of Mist: Doppelganger Part I
After fighting his way through the Marble Gallery, and slashing past flying Gorgon's Heads, Alucard entereda small room with a rune engraved circular door in the center. All of a sudden, huge stones bricks dropped behind him, and at the exit on the other side of the room. This reminded him of his battle the day before with the demons Slogra and Gabon, which was a memory completely forgotten until now. His train of thought was abrubtly interupted by a bloodcurdling scream, followed by a burst of pain in Alucard's chest. He saw a shining green orb burst through his body and fly into the crevace in the door. It suddenly turned blue, and acted as a key. The door spun as it split it two, revealing yet another door. That one two spun and split, accelerating to unbeleivable speeds until the final door opened, revealing a bright light. When the light died away, he a saw a sinister duplicate of himself. It was a mirror image down to the finest detail, yet so different. It didn't take long for Alucard to realize what it was: Doppelganger. He had fought it before hundereds of years ago along with Trevor Belmont, Grant DaNasty, and Sypha Belnades. It was a creature of pure evil who duplicated it's enemy's physical structure, fighting style strengths and weaknesses, but had no mind or true form of it's own. It was always waiting it's demonic chamber in a form completely consisting of energy and evil, waiting to be summoned by anyone powerful enough to control it. In this case, that someone was his the dark piest Shaft: his fater's only active ally who's powers had that kind of potential. Shaft was also the man Alucard suspected to be the head of the plan to ressurect Dracula. Alucard stared into the demons pitch black eyes and waited no longer. He unsheathed his blade and charged at it. Someone might have called it reckless, but there were many precautions to be taken, and Alucard was taking all of them. In the mid-charging point he changed his strategy entirely, knowing that it was the best way to confuse the Doppelganger. Rather then charging, he started darting from side to side. As he was moving, he pulled out an axe he had picked up from an Axe Lord that he had felled earlier and threw it at the demon. As it cleanly sliced away a chunk of it's arm, it, rather than screaming, it roared. It roared more as a beast would roar. "Strange," Alucard thought to himself. "I don't remember it being like this." Alucard moved in close for an attack with his sword, but when he backed the beast into a corner, he realized his obvious error. He knew it was too late, so he slashed and stabbed repeatedly while he still could. The Doppelganger did exactly as Alucard anticipated, but that wasn't going to help him. The demon slammed into his ribcage with his shoulder, and jammed a throwing knife into Alucard's gut. This combination of blows sent Alucard flying into the back of the room, and the impact of the huge stone bricks against his back didn't help him very much either. Before he could stand up, the demon approached him and prepared to finish it with one last stab to the heart. Alucard normally would have executed an attack he had never done before, to confuse the thing, but in his present situation, he had no time for that. So he tried to knock to sword out of the demon's hands with his own, but failed. He could only resist it's attack by holding it off, but it still gave him the opprotunity he needed. He raised his knee and slammed it into the Doppelgangers's crotch, and kicked him in the jaw with the other foot. After suffering both attacks, the shapeshifting demon landed on the floor, making it vunerable for another attack. It would appear that he was using the same strategy that the Doppelganger was using before it got caught off gaurd, being that he was walking towards him with his sword unsheathed. But before the Doppelganger could counter the attack it was anticipating, Alucard once again changed his strategy, and jumped into the air to throw another axe. As it flew downward, it lopped off one of the Doppelganger's fingers as it was standing up. But the demon just stood up and lunged at Alucard with his sword ready. It would have severed his head if he didn't sheath his sword and block the attack with his bare hands. As he was trying to deflect the blade, he could feel it engraving deep gashes on both palms. The blood trickled down his forearms rapidly, and Alucard knew that he couldn't continue this way. he lifted his left leg and kicked the Doppelganger in the gut, sending it flying backwards. With his hands free, Alucard unsheathed his Sword with one hand and his Basilard with the other. They charged at each other and continued to slash and stab at each other. They seemed as if they were going to destory each other. The Doppelganger slit open Alucard's throat and blood gushed out quickly. He knew he had to finish the match very soon if he wanted to make it any farther than this. The fight continued until something equally good and bad happened: the Doppelganger's blade got stuck in Alucard's shoulder bone. By that point, every part of Alucard's body that wasn't stinging from the wounds was aching from the long battle. His body had almost had as much as it could handle, but he was a dhampire, and dhampires keep on going long after their bodies take all they can handle. But nonetheless, Alucard had to finish the match as soon as possible.The sword stuck in Alucard's bone gave him not only extreme pain, but also the advantage. His demonic duplicate was now unarmed. They started battling with the usual potential, until Alucard saw Death enter the room. He then started slashing ruthlessly at the Doppelganger. He was complately tearing it apart, not giving the thinnest chance of survival. Alucard stopped to see the demon's mutilated body disintegrate into the air. The particles of his remains were then swept by an unknown force back into it's chamber. The doors again closed and another mysterious bottle materialized. This time, he had no time for tests. Death was still approaching him, so he immeadiately grabbed the bottle and drank all of it to the last drop. Luckily, it turned out to be another elixer, and Alucard's many wounds completely healed. He could barely see the disappointed look on Death's skinless faceas he floated away. Alucard then realized how close to his end he was. As he continued on confidently, he asked himself, "Why would Father send a beast so powerful this early in my expedition?"