"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 THREE: AFFIRMATION
GIZA, EGYPT
What would first appear to be an army perched in waiting amonst the sandstorm was actually the surviving remnants of the greatest dynasty to ever rule over Ancient Egypt. These were the flock of the pharoah whose powers were so great that the tombs could not hold him in the afterlife. Responding to the call of his people, he had been ressurrected to fight for their freedom. This charismatic king was Anakaris-Ra.
And at the front of them, barring the way of the coming clouds of black, was none other than the formerly mentioned. Anakaris had taken his more human looking form: a form that was most resembling what he looked like in life but much stronger. A tall, well built Egyptian male in the garb of the pharoah. After all, he was a god now.
Pharoah had used his magic to scan the area for a hundred thousand miles around his desert oasis: the oasis of his people. He had felt many lives fading, most of them in groups that passed on all at once. Some sort of mass genocide was taking place, and it appeared to be heading for them next. Such a thing would not be permitted here.
As the sun began to set, the people cried out in terror as the cloud began to hum with a mechanical buzz. One of the elders reached out, "Oh Pharoah, but that you could spare us an untimely death once more. This is not the way a mortal should die!"
Anakaris looked on at the building scene of doom, surveying the oncoming invaders with his glowing white eyes, "Fear not, old one, for I am not among the mortals anymore. I am Pharoah, and I will live forever."
With this said, the Pharoah dashed forward, assuming his true form: the Mummy Pharoah. He reared his head back, inhaling a huge gust of sand, and blew it forward for several miles in a storm-like wave at the advancing beings. All was a roar and a howl for the longest time. Then, as the stormy wall of wind and dust cleared up, the horrible truth was revealed: though some of the things had ceased movement, just as many were moving forward to take their place and so the war machine had been undaunted.
With another mighty roar, Anakaris attempted the same move again, and again to the same effect. His eyes widened as one of them came within studying range and he saw that these were not creatures at all, "This is not of the gods!"
The machines surrounded him and outstretched their right claws simulaneously. One of them spoke from its verbal unit, "Subject "Pharoah Anakaris-Ra", you have been found guilty of promoting and leading the construction of a man-made empire. Necessary sentence has been decided upon as immediate termination."
The machines eyes blinked bright red once, then faded, as the crystals on their foreheads began to beam brightly with a shimmering light. The light focused itself into into single penetrating beams and fired, all at once. Anakaris never had a chance.
MAYA, SOUTH AMERICA
As the boat pulled into the harbor, a crowd of people began pouring off of it. Now that the northern hemisphere was freezing over, everyone believed they could survive the disaster by going south. Among the more calm yet most disconcerting by appearance of the travelers was a group that consisted of a tall, muscular man with a large sword, a small girl with large cold eyes, two oddly dressed girls who appeared to be twins, a green fish-man, a giant white sasquatch, a catgirl wearing jeans and a loose pink button up, and a lean young man with silver hair dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans with his favorite pair of brown leather boots.
Talbain looked towards the pyramids leering at them from just over the mountains, "This is it. Anyone who doesn't think they have what it takes to handle these things should turn back now. As for me-", and that said, he bounded off.
Felicia immediately took off after on all fours. Donovan looked deathly serious as usual, and as he walked off after them, Anita followed like she always did. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling looked to each other, nodded simultaneously with an equally synchronized "tough girl" grunt, and walked off fist clenched and smirks pasted. Aulbath looked to Quatos, "As so it begins my friend." Quatos just smiled, "Ready when you are."
VILLAGE JUST OUTSIDE THE MAYAN RUINS
It was a ghost town. The kind that reminded you of that final scene in some John Wayne movie where there was nobody in sight but the hero (in this case heroes) and whoever was about to square off. The dusty tumbleweeds even rolled across the ground as the eight travelers began to investigate.
Felicia sniffed the air, "If anyone's around I can't smell them: there's too much dust." Mei-Ling was already on the case, her scrutinizing eyes searching for any clues. Finally, her eyes closed and she spoke calmly, "One thing is certain. Whatever happened here was not the work of the Huitzil. The buildings are intact."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, that is, until a haggard man came running out in torn up clothes, his eyes wide with terror. He fell to his knees in front of Felicia, who let out a slight scream as he clung to her leg, "Ya gotta help me! He's coming!"
Felicia's eyes widened, "Who? Who's coming!" The man tilted his head a bit, shaking unstably with mortal fear, "Get me outta here!!!"
No sooner had he uttered those final words than a rot-yellow rib pierced upwards from the ground, impaling through his heart and out his back before flinging him into the air and dropping nothing so much as a bloody shell. The rib retracted into the ground.
Everyone took a stance, ready for anything the bizarre entity could conjure up, but nothing appeared to be happening. However, just then a scream was heard from what appeared to be an old churchtower down the street and to the right.
Hsien-Ko ran off in that direction, "I'm taking care of this and nobody try and stop me. Besides, you guys have a mission to complete!"
"Don't be a fool", Talbain started to run after but was stopped by a large hand. Donovan looked towards the girl steadfastly, "Let her go Jon Talbain. She can only be taught firsthand. And she is technically right. We must deal with a problem on a much larger scale than this town with or without her assistance."
Talbain growled slightly and pushed his hand away. He turned toward the pyramids and kept walking, "You heard the man, let's get going!"
The others simply followed, no questions asked. When Talbain got that determined glare he always meant business, and no matter how bad things got, if there was a way to come out on top he would find it. They all knew it. They all believed it. Jon Talbain, without a doubt, was the leader of this pack.
Hsien-Ko walked into the church tower, not sure what to expect but sure she should expect anything. She looked around the scene, which was mostly hidden in shadows except for the dim light shining through from the hot sun. It seemed to be mostly wood with some hay, but there were ropes in the middle that seemed to extend up into nothingness while dragging on the ground below.
She narrowed her eyes. The fool had obviously climbed the ropes in order to hide out and surprise her later at the top. The only problem was she was trouble on two legs and in this tower you could only go so far up before you had nowhere else to go but back down again. He had slipped up big time and she was going to 'make lemonade' of it.
As she began walking toward the rope, she felt a sudden breeze, or what she thought was a breeze, chill through her bones. She looked up and muttered, "You can't scare me you piece of trash 'cuz I don't scare so easy."
No sooner had she said it than one of the ropes came alive, circling around her with amazing speed and tightening around her in an inescapable knot. Two other ropes joined in, tying her tighter and pulling her upwards into the loft of the tower perched high, high above the ground level.
As she was pulled from her feet, she was deafened by the sound of bells. Loud, brass bells rang wildly in her ears, making her want to scream in agony. Even as loud as it was, she could distinctly hear a twisted snicker through it all.
Finally, when she thought her head would at last explode, the ropes threw her onto the top level of the tower and released, gradually ceasing the noise of the bells. Hsien-Ko stood and looked around, still holding her ears and cursing low now.
She saw him in the shadows beyond her. A gangly silhouette with spiky hair and red eyes glowered out at her. "Does it hurt baby", the creature spoke in a raspy, spattering tone, "I've felt worse. How d'ya think I ended up like this?" The creature walked out, revealing his horrific form. Thin albino skin stretched over clear bones and haggard violet trousers barely supported by the black leather belt. Even for the self-professed "Zombie King", Zabel Zarock looked pretty bad off.
Hsien-Ko's look of terror quickly composed into a confident smirk at seeing this would be an easy kill, "In that case I'll be glad to relieve you of the pain of existence!" She charged forward, slicing vertically upward with her metallic claw weapon. Zabel simply backflipped, narrowly avoiding the slash and landed on his back, but rolling into a decent crouch stance. It was pretty obvious to Hsien-Ko that this guy was, or had been at one time, a pretty good fighter, but now his techniques were as sloppy as a drunk.
He lunged at her, "Here's somethin' fer ya!" As he half-swung his fist, she turned her head to the side, dodging the blow. He staggered back, raising the skin where a brow would be and panting, "I can't hack it no more. Jes' do it already: finish me off. If I can't even beat the likes of you I'm in pitiful shape I am."
At first, Hsien-Ko was more than willing to comply and raised her claw for a coup de grace, but as she looked again at this tragic thing wasting in a cumbersome crouch before her, she came to a very odd realization. Once upon a time, this 'thing' had been someone. Once upon a time it had to have been a genius in its' own right to be this intelligent as a ghoul. Not only that, but if it could be reasoned with, there was chance it could be brought to fight alongside her against a common threat.
She lowered her claw and glared, "No." Zabel glowered up at her, "What is this, some kind've bad joke!? You're a darkhunter now hunt me!" Hsien-Ko turned away, smiling confidently to herself, "Not a chance: you're too much of a weakling."
Zabel was enraged. Too weak to win a fair fight was one thing, but too weak to be worth the kill was just plain insulting. He rushed the hunter hard, screaming bloody murder as his eyes flashed with rage only to end up smacked against the wall and held firmly in place by his adversary who had pinned him their with her own body.
She leaned in and narrowed her brown eyes at him, "That's a nasty temper you've got there bud. Too bad all of that rage is going to waste. Instead of wasting away here like a loser, why don't you try joining the winning side for once, hm?"
Zabel was speechless. He had received innumerable taunts and derogatory insults in his unnaturally extended life, but only once before had anyone dared, or even bothered, to speak to him on this level. His pride had been shattered that day and he had been in a sullen retreat since, especially since all of his favorite feeding grounds were mysteriously being leveled and kicked to the curb just like him. His head hung low.
Hsien-Ko's eyes narrowed even more, "Fine. You think about it. I've got to go and help my friends." With that she threw him aside like a rag doll and dived downward from the loft, landing in a crouch and exiting the tower.
MAYA RUINS
The golden pyramids shone brightly in the sunlight. Up to now they had never been so radiant. The occurrence had been most befuddling for the officials, and now that those officials were busy handling the sudden increase in panicked tourists, it was a perfect opportunity for the darkstalkers to enter the ruins and do some research of their own into the exact cause of the sudden invasion.
The doors, having been absent for centuries, were obviously wide open and so entry was easy enough. Once inside, Mei-Ling took out a glowing stick-like instrument and held it out in front of them as a crude flashlight to lead them down the dark corridors of the structure's interior.
After multiple 'wet finger' checks for air they came upon a spot where more air was rushing in and knew they had found a larger room. They entered, expecting to be attacked by a barrage of robots, but were not expecting to hear a vaguely humanoid echo of a scream followed by a flash of electric waves fired in their direction.
The party successfully dodged the majority of the lightning, sustaining minor burns, and looked on into the darkness to see what was waiting there. A hulking figure, wreathed in chains, was glowing blue with electricity and screaming in agony.
Quatos clenched a large fist, "I'll handle this guy." Donovan placed a hand out in front of him, "No, I have met this one before. He is generally peaceful if left alone."
Talbain stepped forward, "Sorry, but if he's as peaceful as you say, I can't just leave him like that. I'm going to get him out of this place."
Felicia nodded, "Me too! He looks pitiful like that!"
The two of them walked forward and began attempting to tear away at the chains with their claws, but were only shocked back several feet. Felicia blew on her burned paws while Talbain assumed his wolf man form and tried again, gripping the chains tightly and pulling with all his might. It was just too much and he was thrown back against a wall with a howl that was silenced as he smacked against the hard stone.
Felicia ran over to help him up, "Jon!" She had just barely sat him up when his eyes snapped open, "I can do this!" He slowly stood and limped over to the creature in chains, who was still trembling wildly with the voltage and wailing with rage and terror.
As he reached out to try again, a finned hand stopped him. "Wait", Aulbath said with a smile, "You're going to need some help. Maybe four hands can handle the voltage better than two?" Donovan stepped forward, "How about six." Felicia stood up and walked beside Donovan, "Eight ought to do it." Finally, Quatos bounded up to the creature as well. The others looked to him with surprise and he flushed, "Well hey! I have big hands right? More cushioning!"
They closed their eyes, breathed in, breathed out, and grabbed hold at once, yanking as hard as they could. The shock was still intense, but with some work and some real elbow grease, the chains began snapping inside of five minutes. The group let go and was thrown onto their backs as the creature stood up.
The creature in the chains struggled, bursting free of his prison at long last and tossing the horrible metal aside. Panting heavily he looked to the others with his now dull white eyes, "You helped me. Why?"
Donovan slowly raised himself to one knee, "Victor Von Gerdenheim, I must request your assistance in a quest to destroy these automaton invaders before they permanently deface the Earth." The large man closed his eyes, and passed out.
Victor walked over to him and lifted him up slowly in his arms, looking towards a wall and narrowing his eyes almost into slits, "As you wish, holy man."
DARKSTALKERS: THE SERIES WRITTEN BY REGIS A WELCH
DARKSTALKERS © 2004 CAPCOM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED