"For you, my friend, they are the angels of death."
-Man against monster. Monster against self. The story is as old as time. Living above us, below us, and among us, they assimilate themselves into our culture, and us into theirs. To the common man, they are simply known as night terrors, but to the initiated, they are the Darkstalkers-
EPISODE FOUR: THE RESSURECTION OF ANAKARIS-RA / PT. II
Aulbath, Talbain, and Felicia stood before a set of golden double doors that seemed to be designed to make you feel small. Ornately carved within every section of the doors was a square in which a particular hieroglyphic symbol lay dormant, as if to ward against something. Naturally, the trio was surprised when the massive gates to the room behind merely slid open like electric doors at a supermarket, allowing them entry.
The room inside was completely alien to everything they had just experienced, or perhaps anything they had ever experienced. A bizarre art form that merged the cultures of Ancient Egypt and Modern America decored the room in the form of marble carved into modern furniture, electronic devices lined with gold and other precious metals, and of course the oversized desk with the lime colored lamp on it.
The most imposing features of the room were a toss of the coin. On one side of that coin, a network of security monitor screens that were far too advanced for an ancient pyramid lined the back wall of the room. On the other side of the equation was the room's inhabitant, the behemoth Anakaris-Ra.
The tyrannical pharaoh eased back in his chair, viewing the insurgents through those honey shades of his. He raised those two sickly decayed hands and applauded, "I congratulate you. Few have made it this far among the living. You simply must be mine: gather at my knees and I will forgive all that you have done, for you are like unto myself. Born strong and proud, with a will of tempered steel."
Aulbath was the first to step forward, "Do not fool with me. I know what you did to my home and I am going to take every natural life your pyramid in Brazil took directly out of your mummified hide."
"You mean there are MORE of these things?" Felicia shouted at Aulbath with a screech to her voice that resembled a nagging Latino mother from the inner city.
"Yessss", Aulbath cringed in response, "They've apparently been rising everywhere I guess. Who knows what this maniac intends to do with them."
Anakaris laughed, "Fool! You should be wondering what I've already done!" The monstrous pharaoh stood, outstretching his hand.
All three fighters stanced in preparation for a possible assault, but what they got was a bizarre green flame that appeared before them and focused into a holographic screen. Upon the screen, clips of pyramids rising worldwide began to play.
"As we speak", the mummy continued while motioning to the screen, "My grand ceremony is being set into motion. Soon, all seven pyramids shall be risen, one for every continent, and the precious energy I need for my revival will be at my fingertips!"
"Revival?" Talbain quirked a furry brown, "Start talking, Band-Aid."
Anakaris walked around to the front of the desk, leaning back against it as he turned his head to the screen, "It should seem like so very long ago, but to the immortals time is nothing. Thousands of years have passed since my demise; my departure from this life, and the humanity that it brings.
I was among the more fair and just of the rulers of Egypt, and my people loved me. However, the tribes from the north saw fit to invade and pillage my kingdom, and a war was imminent. Many fought bravely, myself included, but in the end those who were not destroyed were conquered and enslaved. Being among the slain, I was in absolutely no position to help my people.
However, I had a backup, and this is where the revival comes into play. I was placed by my final orders before the grand battle in a tomb by the bravest of my scouts. There the magic of the gods, and the prayers of my people, worked upon me, restoring my soul to its rightful body and endowing me with superhuman strength.
Sadly, this body will crumble as dust in the wind with time, and so will all of my powers if I am not TRULY resurrected as the God I was intended to be. And so you see, I must complete this ceremony if I am to free my people and rule as I was destined to rule from the day I was born. My blood is the blood of Osirus."
Talbain had heard enough, "You're strong, I'll give you that, but you are not a God, Anakaris-Ra. Not anymore than the three of us, and you have no right to rule this world or treat innocent lives like your playthings. Stand up straight and fight old man."
Anakaris-Ra did not budge, "Brash, even arrogant, just as I would expect from a younger fighter, especially one as primal as yourself. You seem to be oblivious to the fact that I hold sway over everything here. This is my world now, and I am the only god mortals need concern themselves with for I represent the higher ones flawlessly, or so I shall once my rejuvenation is completed and I ascend to the rank of a deity."
Felicia narrowed her eyes, "That's not going to happen. It's dark ones like you who make Darkstalkers like us look bad. We struggle our whole lives to show people we're not all bad, and you go and pull something like this. How dare you!"
Anakaris did something unexpected at this point, and reached up to his own face, removing the sunglasses and throwing them aside to reveal two piercing white eyes that could incite fear in the bold and cowardice in the courageous. His voice echoed through the walls of the pyramid as he spoke, "I DARE BECAUSE I AM OF IMMORTAL BLOOD AND ROYAL LINEAGE. THOU CANST NOT COMPARE WOMAN."
Without hesitation, the evil pharaoh's jaw opened wide through his bandages, which unraveled to reveal a mouth of decadent, disgusting brown teeth. Over those teeth escaped a bizarre green vapor on which trailed the moan of a curse. The emerald fog surrounded Felicia and POOF! In her place stood a white cat. More confident than ever, the pharaoh picked up the kitten in his big strong arms and laughed hardily.
Talbain could no longer contain his rage, "You monster!! I'll show you!!" In a blind fury, the wolf burst forth in his Beast Cannon, hurling himself with a sharp howl and all the energy he could muster at his opponent.
The technique hit Anakaris square in the forehead, knocking him for a loop. The mummy king slowly rose from his face and clenched his fist, uttering another mummy's curse: this time directed at the martial artist werewolf.
No sooner had his voice silenced in an elongated echo than the room began to shake violently. A large piece of stone fell from the ceiling, battering Jon over the head before he could dodge and knocking him unconscious under its weight.
Felicia quickly scratched at the pharaoh's eyes and jumped from his arms, rushing over to Jon's side and mewing pathetically as she was helpless to dig him out.
Aulbath stanced between the evil mummy and the primal pair, his eyes narrowing into slits, "Give me all the fire you've got. I can take the heat."
Anakaris simply laughed at first, then nodded, "If it is fire you desire, then far be it from me to disappoint you, oh Hero of the Deep!" The mummy raised his arms into the air, as if in a pose to claim his victory already won, and then slowly began to rise off his feet, chanting in a strange tongue all the while.
Anakaris-Ra's eyes lit up with the bizarre magic that was his very life force, an equally bizarre sphere of pure flames appearing before him. He launched the fireball down at his opponent, laughing at the idea of the execution being 'asked for'.
Aulbath was ready. As the fireball made contact with his body, it began to completely dissipate into steam vapors. The merman only smiled as the steam cleared away, revealing him to be unscathed, and launched himself in a jumping flip towards his undead obstacle: the dark pharaoh himself.
Anakaris' eyes widened as the merman developed spiked where they logically should not have been able to protrude and sliced through him like a carpet knife to canvas material. Aulbath excreted one more strange attack to even the score before diving out the back of the monstrous Anakaris: a poisonous, and highly flammable, purple mist.
Aulbath was not sure if he had managed to destroy the enemy yet, but he felt he should check on the others. When he looked over, he was surprised to find Felicia restored to her normal self, holding Jon Talbain in her safe arms.
Puzzled, the merman tilted his head, "What gives?"
Felicia grinned that kitty grin, "The magic must've worn off. Here, you hold Jon", she dragged the still unconscious Talbain over to him, "I'll handle this guy."
Aulbath's eyes widened, "You're insane!"
Felicia simply grinned again, "Maaaaaybe, but this time I've got a method to my madness!" She winked at the still confused fish guy, narrowed her eyes at Anakaris, and ducked into a spinning dash roll, moving at the pharaoh with superhuman speed and striking his already poison saturated bandages on fire with the friction she generated as she grazed by him.
Anakaris caught flame immediately, his haunting howls of pain echoing through the walls hard enough to begin cracking and crumbling them.
Aulbath slung Talbain over his shoulder and looked to Felicia, "I think it's time we were going from this place, don't you?"
Felicia nodded, "M'hmm!"
The trio managed to make it all the way up the stairs, but things were falling apart all around them. At one point on the top floor things appeared to be getting dark and swirlish, as if they were being caught up in an abstract vortex. That vortex finally swallowed them up, and spit them out just as the huge structure exploded, crashing them down not so gently onto the pavement of the city outside.
Felicia couldn't believe her eyes, "The fireworks are beautiful!"
Aulbath looked to the sky with keen eyes, "To think they were so deadly."
~
Talbain groaned as he awoke on the couch. He looked around. Felicia's place: what had happened? Where was she? Was it all a dream?
He didn't have to wait long. Felicia came in wearing a pink apron and bearing a bowl of soup. She smiled as she saw him, "You're awake!"
As she hugged him tightly, she accidentally dropped the hot soup in his lap. He yelped and jumped off the couch.
Felicia's eyes widened, "Oh Christ! I'm sorry Jon! I'm so klutzy! Here, let me help you clean it off." She rushed over and took a rag to his pants very carefully.
Jon winced as she was cleaning, "Good thing I'm not the beast or this would never come out of my fur, but thank you: I appreciate you making me dinner."
Felicia slipped again, this time landing in his lap. She looked up at him and blushed, but he only laughed this time. She laughed too.
DARKSTALKERS: THE SERIES WRITTEN BY REGIS A WELCH DARKSTALKERS © 2004 CAPCOM
-Man against monster. Monster against self. The story is as old as time. Living above us, below us, and among us, they assimilate themselves into our culture, and us into theirs. To the common man, they are simply known as night terrors, but to the initiated, they are the Darkstalkers-
EPISODE FOUR: THE RESSURECTION OF ANAKARIS-RA / PT. II
Aulbath, Talbain, and Felicia stood before a set of golden double doors that seemed to be designed to make you feel small. Ornately carved within every section of the doors was a square in which a particular hieroglyphic symbol lay dormant, as if to ward against something. Naturally, the trio was surprised when the massive gates to the room behind merely slid open like electric doors at a supermarket, allowing them entry.
The room inside was completely alien to everything they had just experienced, or perhaps anything they had ever experienced. A bizarre art form that merged the cultures of Ancient Egypt and Modern America decored the room in the form of marble carved into modern furniture, electronic devices lined with gold and other precious metals, and of course the oversized desk with the lime colored lamp on it.
The most imposing features of the room were a toss of the coin. On one side of that coin, a network of security monitor screens that were far too advanced for an ancient pyramid lined the back wall of the room. On the other side of the equation was the room's inhabitant, the behemoth Anakaris-Ra.
The tyrannical pharaoh eased back in his chair, viewing the insurgents through those honey shades of his. He raised those two sickly decayed hands and applauded, "I congratulate you. Few have made it this far among the living. You simply must be mine: gather at my knees and I will forgive all that you have done, for you are like unto myself. Born strong and proud, with a will of tempered steel."
Aulbath was the first to step forward, "Do not fool with me. I know what you did to my home and I am going to take every natural life your pyramid in Brazil took directly out of your mummified hide."
"You mean there are MORE of these things?" Felicia shouted at Aulbath with a screech to her voice that resembled a nagging Latino mother from the inner city.
"Yessss", Aulbath cringed in response, "They've apparently been rising everywhere I guess. Who knows what this maniac intends to do with them."
Anakaris laughed, "Fool! You should be wondering what I've already done!" The monstrous pharaoh stood, outstretching his hand.
All three fighters stanced in preparation for a possible assault, but what they got was a bizarre green flame that appeared before them and focused into a holographic screen. Upon the screen, clips of pyramids rising worldwide began to play.
"As we speak", the mummy continued while motioning to the screen, "My grand ceremony is being set into motion. Soon, all seven pyramids shall be risen, one for every continent, and the precious energy I need for my revival will be at my fingertips!"
"Revival?" Talbain quirked a furry brown, "Start talking, Band-Aid."
Anakaris walked around to the front of the desk, leaning back against it as he turned his head to the screen, "It should seem like so very long ago, but to the immortals time is nothing. Thousands of years have passed since my demise; my departure from this life, and the humanity that it brings.
I was among the more fair and just of the rulers of Egypt, and my people loved me. However, the tribes from the north saw fit to invade and pillage my kingdom, and a war was imminent. Many fought bravely, myself included, but in the end those who were not destroyed were conquered and enslaved. Being among the slain, I was in absolutely no position to help my people.
However, I had a backup, and this is where the revival comes into play. I was placed by my final orders before the grand battle in a tomb by the bravest of my scouts. There the magic of the gods, and the prayers of my people, worked upon me, restoring my soul to its rightful body and endowing me with superhuman strength.
Sadly, this body will crumble as dust in the wind with time, and so will all of my powers if I am not TRULY resurrected as the God I was intended to be. And so you see, I must complete this ceremony if I am to free my people and rule as I was destined to rule from the day I was born. My blood is the blood of Osirus."
Talbain had heard enough, "You're strong, I'll give you that, but you are not a God, Anakaris-Ra. Not anymore than the three of us, and you have no right to rule this world or treat innocent lives like your playthings. Stand up straight and fight old man."
Anakaris-Ra did not budge, "Brash, even arrogant, just as I would expect from a younger fighter, especially one as primal as yourself. You seem to be oblivious to the fact that I hold sway over everything here. This is my world now, and I am the only god mortals need concern themselves with for I represent the higher ones flawlessly, or so I shall once my rejuvenation is completed and I ascend to the rank of a deity."
Felicia narrowed her eyes, "That's not going to happen. It's dark ones like you who make Darkstalkers like us look bad. We struggle our whole lives to show people we're not all bad, and you go and pull something like this. How dare you!"
Anakaris did something unexpected at this point, and reached up to his own face, removing the sunglasses and throwing them aside to reveal two piercing white eyes that could incite fear in the bold and cowardice in the courageous. His voice echoed through the walls of the pyramid as he spoke, "I DARE BECAUSE I AM OF IMMORTAL BLOOD AND ROYAL LINEAGE. THOU CANST NOT COMPARE WOMAN."
Without hesitation, the evil pharaoh's jaw opened wide through his bandages, which unraveled to reveal a mouth of decadent, disgusting brown teeth. Over those teeth escaped a bizarre green vapor on which trailed the moan of a curse. The emerald fog surrounded Felicia and POOF! In her place stood a white cat. More confident than ever, the pharaoh picked up the kitten in his big strong arms and laughed hardily.
Talbain could no longer contain his rage, "You monster!! I'll show you!!" In a blind fury, the wolf burst forth in his Beast Cannon, hurling himself with a sharp howl and all the energy he could muster at his opponent.
The technique hit Anakaris square in the forehead, knocking him for a loop. The mummy king slowly rose from his face and clenched his fist, uttering another mummy's curse: this time directed at the martial artist werewolf.
No sooner had his voice silenced in an elongated echo than the room began to shake violently. A large piece of stone fell from the ceiling, battering Jon over the head before he could dodge and knocking him unconscious under its weight.
Felicia quickly scratched at the pharaoh's eyes and jumped from his arms, rushing over to Jon's side and mewing pathetically as she was helpless to dig him out.
Aulbath stanced between the evil mummy and the primal pair, his eyes narrowing into slits, "Give me all the fire you've got. I can take the heat."
Anakaris simply laughed at first, then nodded, "If it is fire you desire, then far be it from me to disappoint you, oh Hero of the Deep!" The mummy raised his arms into the air, as if in a pose to claim his victory already won, and then slowly began to rise off his feet, chanting in a strange tongue all the while.
Anakaris-Ra's eyes lit up with the bizarre magic that was his very life force, an equally bizarre sphere of pure flames appearing before him. He launched the fireball down at his opponent, laughing at the idea of the execution being 'asked for'.
Aulbath was ready. As the fireball made contact with his body, it began to completely dissipate into steam vapors. The merman only smiled as the steam cleared away, revealing him to be unscathed, and launched himself in a jumping flip towards his undead obstacle: the dark pharaoh himself.
Anakaris' eyes widened as the merman developed spiked where they logically should not have been able to protrude and sliced through him like a carpet knife to canvas material. Aulbath excreted one more strange attack to even the score before diving out the back of the monstrous Anakaris: a poisonous, and highly flammable, purple mist.
Aulbath was not sure if he had managed to destroy the enemy yet, but he felt he should check on the others. When he looked over, he was surprised to find Felicia restored to her normal self, holding Jon Talbain in her safe arms.
Puzzled, the merman tilted his head, "What gives?"
Felicia grinned that kitty grin, "The magic must've worn off. Here, you hold Jon", she dragged the still unconscious Talbain over to him, "I'll handle this guy."
Aulbath's eyes widened, "You're insane!"
Felicia simply grinned again, "Maaaaaybe, but this time I've got a method to my madness!" She winked at the still confused fish guy, narrowed her eyes at Anakaris, and ducked into a spinning dash roll, moving at the pharaoh with superhuman speed and striking his already poison saturated bandages on fire with the friction she generated as she grazed by him.
Anakaris caught flame immediately, his haunting howls of pain echoing through the walls hard enough to begin cracking and crumbling them.
Aulbath slung Talbain over his shoulder and looked to Felicia, "I think it's time we were going from this place, don't you?"
Felicia nodded, "M'hmm!"
The trio managed to make it all the way up the stairs, but things were falling apart all around them. At one point on the top floor things appeared to be getting dark and swirlish, as if they were being caught up in an abstract vortex. That vortex finally swallowed them up, and spit them out just as the huge structure exploded, crashing them down not so gently onto the pavement of the city outside.
Felicia couldn't believe her eyes, "The fireworks are beautiful!"
Aulbath looked to the sky with keen eyes, "To think they were so deadly."
~
Talbain groaned as he awoke on the couch. He looked around. Felicia's place: what had happened? Where was she? Was it all a dream?
He didn't have to wait long. Felicia came in wearing a pink apron and bearing a bowl of soup. She smiled as she saw him, "You're awake!"
As she hugged him tightly, she accidentally dropped the hot soup in his lap. He yelped and jumped off the couch.
Felicia's eyes widened, "Oh Christ! I'm sorry Jon! I'm so klutzy! Here, let me help you clean it off." She rushed over and took a rag to his pants very carefully.
Jon winced as she was cleaning, "Good thing I'm not the beast or this would never come out of my fur, but thank you: I appreciate you making me dinner."
Felicia slipped again, this time landing in his lap. She looked up at him and blushed, but he only laughed this time. She laughed too.
DARKSTALKERS: THE SERIES WRITTEN BY REGIS A WELCH DARKSTALKERS © 2004 CAPCOM