Match 2-4: Dadallent vs. the American Vigilantes
Author's Notes: Three new arts (Strider, Kirina, and Cranky) have been added to the website. They'd look better if they hadn't been rush jobs, but meh, whatever.
Osaka, Japan
Three days have passed
Stalking around the lounge like an angry mother bear deprived of her cubs, Blake Wallis struck his right fist into his palm in utter frustration. "I don't believe this! Practically everyone has vanished within the space of three days! Blast it, isn't there anything we can do?!" Blake kicked the floor with vehemence. The latest disappearance had been reported just a moment ago; Chan Yoruyamatiha had been filched from right under Strider Hiryu's eye. Even Regina could no longer detect any trace of her soul. Hiryu sulked in a corner of the room, still unwilling to believe that his girlfriend had been taken from him practically under his nose. Within the space of the preceding few days, so many people had simply vanished without a trace.
"Calm down and try to think of something," Captain Commando advised.
His timing could not have been worse. Blake rounded the table and seized Commando by the shirt collar. "Calm down?! You want me to be calm when our friends are being abducted left and right?! Get that investigation going, now!" Blake roared, shoving Commando back into a chair. To his credit, Commando did not respond, only brushing off his shirt front with his right hand. Blake resumed his restless pacing around the room. "I promised Mitsu, Scott, and Kenneth that I'd take them to go cow-tipping when this was all over. There was so much that I wanted to show them ..." Blake sighed and ran a hand through his disorderly crop of hair. His father had tried to raise him free of dirty language and the IDC code of conduct strictly forbade any sort of profanity, but Blake felt a nearly irresistable urge to break those particular rules. Before joining with the IDC, he had been a legend on the streets of L.A. for being able to swear five full minutes without repeating a single word.
"Do something constructive," Charlie advised.
"Sure. Hold still." Blake rolled up his sleeves as he stalked to Charlie's seat. He swung, but it was a half-hearted punch that Charlie easily ducked. Sighing, Blake shook his head wearily. "Any new leads, captain?"
Commando frowned. "Full test results are still returning, but already none of them look good," he answered. "You already know all of this, but Edgar went to use the men's restroom and never came out; Mitsukake went to call on an old friend but didn't arrive; Balrog vanished en route to the United States while in a private Shadowlaw jet; Chun-Li showered for five hours before Kirina finally became suspicious and couldn't find her; Maki boarded a commuter train for the Tokyo airport and vanished in the jam; and Zangief hasn't been heard from since the Russian government contacted him two days ago. Mason Storm is training out in the back with Juli right now. Vega hasn't vanished, he's in Spain. Sean Matsuda is still safe with the Masters family, but ... Eliza was not impressed when Ginzu went to break the bad news. Bad statistics, aren't they?"
"At least we've narrowed down the culprit to only one possibility," Charlie offered. He glanced sideways at Regina, but the goddess did not respond. She only stared miserably at the floor.
Captain Commando brought out one of McGrath's binders and laid it on the table in front of him. By common consent, McGrath's investigation was kept in the lounge where any fighter could access it at leisure. He flipped open the binder to a bookmarked and well-worn leaf, where a scrap of crumpled and resmoothed notebook paper lay pressed and taped upon the page. Commando had found it only yesterday when he and the Phantoms combed Sakura's room for any trace of hints on how she or Ken might have vanished. It was in Sakura's unsteady Roman hand, but legible enough. And moreover, Commando had instantly recognized it as the scrap of paper that Sakura had shown to McGrath. "Fin d'Âme Interdite. Care to explain, Gill?"
"I find it most difficult to believe myself," Gill replied heavily. "Yet the evidence is overwhelming."
"The question is, what do we do with it?" Commando stated. Commando wasn't fluent in French, but even he could guess at what the phrase meant. Ruby Heart had confirmed his suspicions earlier. Fin d'Âme Interdite? It means Forbidden Soul Theft - forbidden, as in a prohibited technique. Armed with this knowledge, the Neo Commando Squad had confronted Gill together. And Gill reluctantly confirmed what they had already guessed at - only a god or goddess could use such a technique, and Regina was automatically ruled out. This, of course, left only one other possibility, and Regina had been most unhappy to learn of it. I don't want to believe this of my dear sister, but ... it would seem that she is behind this, after all. She created this ability herself - it works by forcing a target's soul out of his body, where it can then be locked within hers. For each soul that she imprisons, her own power rises slightly. And then Regina had fled the room weeping, crying out, Didn't you seal away Eldrin for this very same sin? How could you be doing this, dear sister? Tell me that it isn't true! Answer me!
"And apparently, there's no place on Earth that a person can run to after losing a tournament battle," Commando continued. "Practically everyone who's been eliminated has also vanished. Even the noncombatants are gone: Karin, Ibuki, Rose, Gen, Zeku. Face it, none of us are safe."
"Then what do we do?" Blake demanded.
"Stick with someone who hasn't lost a match yet, perhaps?" Charlie suggested.
Blake shook his head. "We need something better; that won't work. Hiryu and Chan were always together after their match - heck, they even shared rooms in the end - and look what happened to Chan. Hiryu turns around for half a minute and she's gone. Not even a sound. Same with Cody and Juni - nabbed from right under their bodyguards. I mean, what kind of person can pull that sort of kidnapping? There's got to be a better way, but what?"
"Don't lose your next match, is all I can say," Commando replied.
"That's not good enough!" Blake shouted. "I don't know what is up with this whole tournament, but I want Marin to come down here where I can see her face-to-face and fight!"
Regina blanched and instantly turned as pale as a sheet. Gill rumbled, "Do not presume to challenge a goddess, foolish mortal."
"Challenge?" Blake demanded. "Whose side are you on, anyway? I'll have you know, two-face, she's the one who's challenging us! Papa Wallis didn't raise his boy to be some goddess' salad course. I know that I can't defeat Marin, but that won't stop me from fighting my hardest when the time comes!" He swung at an invisible target to vent his frustration.
"I'm certain that my sister has only good intentions," Regina said, but she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Blake threw a pitying glance at her. "That's wishful thinking, Regina, and you know it."
"So, what?" Ryu asked. "Do we simply sit here and quietly wait to be picked off?"
"It's not like we can do anything else," Blake snarled. "Blast it, I've never felt so helpless before in my whole entire life! This is even worse than watching Dr. McGrath fighting the guy who wears his balls around his neck." Still fuming, Blake paced restlessly around the floor. He abruptly skidded to a halt and announced, "I can't take this anymore. I'm going to vent my emotions on a wooden practice dummy." So saying, he stormed from the room muttering dark threats under his breath. Regina watched him leave with tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Don't blame yourself, this isn't your fault," Charlie told her.
"I feel useless," Regina answered miserably. "I'm a goddess, and yet all I can do is watch as my friends are picked off one by one. My sister won't talk to me. I'm so confused!" She buried her face in her hands and wept aloud. This led to an awkward silence, until Charlie and Hiryu stood up and left the room. Gill took a seat next to Regina and tried to comfort her.
"Something's bothering you, Commando," Ryu observed at last.
"Yes. Read these entries." Ryu stood up and came over to where Commando pored through the last binder, the one in which McGrath had stored all of his most critical information. McGrath had been meticulous with his work - Commando suspected that it was a habit bred from his academic years - and he had penciled some of his thoughts down amongst the entries. Commando pointed out the ones that had caught his eye. An opponent who cannot be seen cannot be fought. Who do I dance with? Is it an old enemy in a new form? Or is it something else? Farther down the page, in an entry timestamped one day later, McGrath had written, It is natural for humans to prefer the evil they know to the evil that they do not. Whatever happens, the identity of the culprit must be revealed. Only then can action be taken. The next page was mostly blank, but McGrath had written something at the bottom under a newspaper article. Sakura holds a small but critical piece of the puzzle. Someone is trying to deter me, but who? That last game of Fortune Special was a warning and now I think I know who the agent behind these kidnappings is. Tonight, if my guess is correct, I may not be able to avoid a confrontation. Sadly, it seems that I will not have the luxury of waiting until my enemy is vulnerable. I should write a farewell letter.
Ryu shook his head in amazement. "So, he really knew. Or at least he was one step away from solving the entire mystery ... but why did Akuma come for him on that day?"
"That wasn't a coincidence," Commando stated. "Look at the timestamp on this entry. He made it just an hour before his battle against Akuma - he thought he had until that night, but Akuma preempted him. And not just Akuma; Marin also had a hand in it. She knew that she had to eliminate him immediately."
"Buy why?" Ryu persisted. "That's the part I don't understand - why did she have to do that without waiting for him to lose a match?"
"Because he very nearly caught onto her - one more day, perhaps, and he would have, and we would know about it too." Commando studied the haphazard journal with a critical eye. "Marin began by moving discreetly and picking off the Darkstalkers, then Karin and Ibuki, but even those actions managed to awaken McGrath's suspicions." In hindsight, moving so soon had been a mistake on Marin's part; with the disappearances of Demitri and Morrigan, and Jedah still absent, Makai had nearly fallen into chaos. Only the timely intervention of Galnan Voshtal, the last remaining lord of Makai's three great houses, had prevented total anarchy from breaking out. And the news of Karin and Ibuki disappearing had been on the news for weeks. "So she lay low and resorted to deceit until she took him; only after doing that did she consider it safe to begin kidnapping the others with impunity. Not that it matters since we can't do anything about it," Commando added sourly. "At least we know for certain that Marin is kidnapping all the tournament contestants. What I don't understand is how Marin could feel so threatened by McGrath that he had to be eliminated immediately; was she afraid of the night's confrontation if it came? It seems that McGrath knew something that we don't. Look at this - it's like he's hinting at a weakness of Marin's, but that's all he does, hint. Without more information, I can't piece together what he was thinking. We need this knowledge."
"A weakness of Marin's ...?" Ryu repeated.
"I'd give an arm and a leg to know," Commando stated. "It's this sort of information that could prove priceless in the end. Hey, Gill! Isn't the winning team in this tournament supposed to face Marin in the finals?"
"This is so," Gill answered. "The Lady Marin will appear once a winning team has been decided."
"Thanks."
"Look here," Ryu said, pointing out one of the entries on the binder page. "McGrath mentioned that he should write a farewell letter. I know you asked me about it earlier and I said that he didn't leave it with me, but someone else, perhaps? I wonder if he ever wrote it?"
"I've asked around, but no one seems to have it," Commando replied. "Either that, or whoever had the letter was also caught by Marin. That isn't likely, though; the IDC has been very thorough about searching through the belongings of the missing contestants, and I haven't heard of anyone finding a letter." Commando drummed his fingers together. "I highly doubt that he wrote it, but I'm hoping that I'm wrong. In the meantime, we should be thinking of what to do with this information. Regina, can I ask for your help?"
"I will do my best," Regina promised. "What can I do for you?"
Commando called Regina, Ryu, and Gill together into a huddle where they held a whispered conference.
San Francisco, United States
Two days have passed
Breathing in the morning air, Charlie paced around slowly on the world famous Golden Gate bridge, the site of the next scheduled battle. Further back behind him Guile and Scott Wagner were busy warming up with push-ups and sit-ups, the latter blazing through with twice the speed of the former. Wagner finished his set and sprang up. "You're getting out of shape, major!"
"Bah, easy for you to say," Guile grunted. "I haven't kept up since I left the military eight years ago."
"Results, not excuses," Wagner admonished.
"Cut the chatter," Charlie ordered, "our match is about to begin. Let's do it. I'm the tactical leader on this side, refs." Gill and Jedah nodded acquiesence and backed off to the sidelines where the view was clearer. The sun was still on the eastern horizon, so Charlie and his opponent both cast long shadows. Sunlight illuminated the bridge at a slanted angle, mixing red and gold for a brilliant orange effect. The bridge itself had been cleared for the day's event; it was very long but not particularly wide. Fog lay low over the bay, but the morning air was cool and very crisp, not at all humid - ideal for combat, in other words. Charlie met Dadallent in the center of the battleground and spoke first. "I've heard many rumors about you, Dadallent. I don't know if they are true or not, but I want to hear from you directly: who are you?"
"Who I am is unimportant," the Chaos Prince answered flatly. "We fight."
Begin!
A bright flash of light shone down from above and both combatants became all business. Charlie flung a Sonic Boom off his left arm and Dadallent dove into a roll, avoiding the attack and emerging practically underneath his opponent. He lashed out with a spinning ankle sweep that Charlie avoided by jumping; this, however, turned out to be a mistake when Dadallent completed his spin faster than the eye could follow and used his momentum to propel himself to his feet. Before Charlie could regain the ground, Dadallent seized his shoulders and pulled him hard to the side, slamming Charlie into the asphalt on his back. Charlie barely avoided a follow-up stomp attack, rolling to the side as Guile threw a Sonic Boom to cover him.
But Dadallent parried the Sonic Boom, dissipating it harmlessly into empty air even as he ruthlessly tracked Charlie. Dadallent swung a swift blow from the side that Charlie blocked and the Air Force pilot felt his arms numb from the attack. Again, almost more swiftly than the eye could follow, Dadallent dropped and rammed his fist into the ground, shaking the bridge a little beneath them. Charlie jumped to the side as a wave of fire came streaming past.
Half a world away, Kyosuke Kagami held forth his steady commentary on the battle unfolding through the giant holoprojector. "Good evening and welcome back to the World Collision tournament! Right now, the Chaos Prince is rapidly turning his fight with Charlie into a one-sided battle. My colleague Jin Saotome is currently monitoring the fight at the battle site itself. Jin, if you would explain to the viewers how the two sides stack up -"
"- while Dadallent beats the living daylights out of Charlie -!" Jin screamed.
Kyosuke muffled his ears and hit the volume control on his dashboard. "We apologize for that. Anyway, normally I would ask Master Gen to do a detailed analysis of the teams, but he is currently unavailable. So here's how I see it. Considered as individuals, the American Vigilantes are roughly equal to the Police team, only with slightly better teamwork. However, the Police team quickly lost a battle of attrition in its last fight against Dadallent. All things considered, Dadallent has a greater chance of winning than his opponents. If you look closely at the fight, he also has a heavy tactical advantage at the moment; Charlie still hasn't recovered from their initial encounter and assists from Guile aren't enough to relieve the pressure on him. Dadallent is slowly working his way in to a point where he'll be able to strike directly at Charlie. Charlie has to - great move by Dadallent, five hit combo! He's moving in for the kill - no, Charlie flung a Sonic Boom right in his kidneys! Excellent retaliation!"
Staggering from the blow, Dadallent clutched his stomach for a moment. Impact from Charlie's Sonic Boom felt like having dry ice shot into his belly and he could feel the energies seeping out from the point of contact, debilitating him. He hadn't seen it coming at all. But at least he was still better off than Charlie, who was bleeding from his shoulder and his left arm. Charlie switched out and Guile jumped into the fight, ready for a brawl. The former Air Force soldier opened with a backswing as Scott Wagner came in to throw an anti-air assist. Dadallent walked straight into the attack without flinching; even as Guile's eyes shot open in surprise, Dadallent seized him by his shirt front and kicked both of his knees out, then knocked him onto his knees with a fierce knife-edged chop into the shoulder. Scott's Rising Kick landed both attacks right into Dadallent's chin, but the Chaos Prince simply flinched as though the attack were no more than an annoyance.
"Unreal ..." Charlie whispered. Nobody could take damage like that.
Dadallent struck again, his fist shooting out like a bullet and right into Guile's nose before the other man could block the attack. Guile tumbled backwards over the pavement as blood began to seep out of his face. Clutching his broken nose with one hand, he staggered upright to his feet while keeping a wary eye on Dadallent. The Chaos Prince had made no move to exploit the opening, merely waiting until Guile had regained a solid footing before moving in to attack again. Scott Wagner once more showed up with an assist as Guile flung a Sonic Boom. Dadallent vanished, blurring out instantly only to reappear practically atop Guile as he dropped down from the sky, aiming a vicious stomp at the back of the air force pilot's neck. Had it been only him and his opponent, the attack would have gone through; instead, Scott intercepted Dadallent halfway and knocked him out of the Ninja Twirl.
Dadallent landed lightly on his feet as Guile tried to rush him down. "Here we go ... Somersault ... Somersault -!" Guile left the ground in a flash, twisting himself upside down in a move that seemed to defy gravity. He brought his rear leg up with punishing force and while the first attack whiffed entirely, he'd covered enough distance to hit Dadallent squarely in the stomach with his second attack. The Chaos Prince was knocked into the air, but when Guile came around for the final attack - "Strike!" - Dadallent twisted himself to the side and avoided the worst of the impact, taking only a glancing hit off his arm. He reached with both hands and caught Guile just as the air force pilot was upside down; in a moment, Dadallent had his opponent locked in that position as gravity began to reassert it. There was no time for Guile to call for help and barely any to think; Dadallent rammed him into the ground neckfirst and rolled away, leaving his opponent to take all the impact from the attack.
"Kicked his ass like a sack of meal!" Jin shrieked, his eyes bulging as he thrust his face right into a camera.
Guile slumped on the bridge, the attack having nearly broken his neck. As he was whisked out, Scott Wagner jumped in to continue the fight. "I'll get you for what you did to Guile!" he called out, and with that he charged straight at Dadallent. The Chaos Prince made no reply, only sinking his fist into the ground again and sending a wave of fire at Wagner. The youth vaulted over the attack, throwing himself into a flying kick at Dadallent. That turned out to be a mistake when the Chaos Prince backflipped and Wagner's attack missed completely. In a moment, Dadallent was laying into Wagner and got through on the third blow, knocking his opponent into the air for a brutal close-range chain. "Eight hit aerial-rave!" Jin screamed. Charlie belatedly entered to throw a Sonic Boom but it was over by then.
Rolling to soften his impact, Scott came upright again and wiped a trickle of blood away from his mouth. He was faring no better than Charlie and Guile had done and he knew it. Dadallent wasn't moving, though; instead, Scott realized that the Chaos Prince was waiting for him to recover. Well, that could turn to his advantage; Scott reached out with the power that Bison had imbued into him. No trace of metal anywhere on Dadallent's body itself, but behind him ... Scott made a grabbing motion in the air. The Psychisaber and its sheath flew off Dadallent's back and to him. Scott drew the sword, noting with some surprise how light and short it was, but it glinted in the morning sun with a decidedly bitter looking edge.
"Do you know how to use that weapon?" Dadallent asked slowly, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"I lop off your head with the sharp side," Scott replied fiercely. He dashed forward and swung at Dadallent's neck; the Chaos Prince reached out with his left hand and caught the swing as it passed Scott's shoulder. A moment later, he had ripped the sword right out of Scott's grip and struck Scott under the chin with his other palm. Scott staggered and saw stars for a moment. Dadallent pulled the sheath out of his other hand, too, and rapped the side of his head with it before resheathing the blade and replacing it on his back. Scott pressed a hand to his temples, trying hard to hold on to some semblance of consciousness. That sheath was made of metal and significantly heavier than the sword itself.
Battered and rapidly becoming fatigued, Scott pulled himself to his feet again. Once more he snatched the sword off Dadallent's back, the shrouded ninja making no move to prevent this. This time, he unsheathed the weapon in midair and sent it hurtling at Dadallent with fatal accuracy. The sword cleaved through the Chaos Prince's skull like an arrow through a haystack. Scott could scarcely believe what he saw next. With blood and gore dripping down his face, Dadallent calmed began to stride forward in a threatening manner, the Psychisaber still impaled through his forehead. Scott scrambled backwards; a moment later, a blistering cloud of iron fragments whirled into life around him as he desperately tried to raise a defense. What kind of man could survive a blade right through his brains?
Kyosuke Kagami couldn't believe it either. "Am I really seeing this, ladies and gentlemen? Reports indicated that Dadallent could withstand even the most devastating attacks, but I had no idea he was capable of this ... well, the Chaos Prince is rapidly narrowing down the distance on Scott Wagner. Scott's surrounded himself with his Magnetic Crucible, a veritable whirlwind of iron filaments guaranteed to shred through anything that comes into it. Here comes Dadallent - oh my gosh, he's walking right into the storm! Unbelievable!" Scott ran, but Dadallent caught him as he turned and in one motion pulled the sword out of his head. He brought the pommel of the weapon crashing down on Scott's exposed neck and the magnetic storm died down as the airman slumped to the ground.
Charlie stepped back into the fight very warily, trying to avert his eyes from Dadallent. But the long ingrained habit of tracking one's opponent, coupled with morbidity, forced him to look. Dadallent had resheathed the sword onto his back and it looked like the only part of him which was still intact. The Chaos Prince was a gruesome sight with blood running down his body in torrents. Scott's Magnetic Crucible had shredded away much of his flesh, leaving it hanging down his body in tattered, bleeding strips. His whole uniform was punctured and bloodstained and there was a gaping hole in his forehead. Despite this, Dadallent had lost none of the fluid grace that marked his movements. Charlie contented himself with launching a Sonic Boom, but Dadallent countered with another Ninja Twirl, striking Charlie on the shoulder as he dropped out of the sky.
Charlie retaliated by throwing a Sonic Boom off his leg and into Dadallent's. This caused the Chaos Prince to lose his balance and drop to the asphalt, but he rolled away and avoided a second Sonic Boom. When Charlie tried to track Dadallent with a third Sonic Boom, the Chaos Prince jumped up and blocked it. Then he was steadily narrowing down the distance again, relentlessly working his way in to Charlie. He pulled a Ninja Twirl right as Charlie flung a Sonic Boom from a backhand attack. It was a trap, as Charlie alpha canceled the move right into a Somersault kick intending to knock Dadallent out of the air. Once more he had underestimated his dangerous opponent, however, and Dadallent let the kick slide harmlessly off his gashed sides as he stomped his heel into Charlie's stomach. Charlie went down heavily, landing hard with a gasp.
He was rapidly losing this fight and he knew it. He also finally understood what Ryu had said to him only yesterday. You and I fight at nearly the same level, training to become better. The Chaos Prince is different. When you fight him, within the first half minute you realize that you cannot defeat him regardless of how well you fight. It is not possible, he is simply that skilled. He fights on a higher level that you and I have not yet reached. Charlie had been more than a little skeptical at the time - he and Guile had, after all, defeated the dreaded M. Bison - but Bison was different from this man. For one, Bison couldn't take damage that would sink a battleship and yet keep fighting like nothing had ever happened. "I can't ... defeat you ..." Charlie rasped out, still disoriented from the last attack.
Dadallent straightened, his expression still hidden behind his bloodstained blindfold. "That is not true. Not until you believe that you are defeated - and once you have convinced yourself, it becomes inevitable."
"What do you mean ...?"
"Enough talk. Prepare yourself." Dadallent stalked towards Charlie and the American man readied a token defense, but he barely parried Dadallent's first strike and the second one caught him squarely in the chest. Charlie reeled back, off balance, and it was all that his opponent needed. Dadallent blurred forward, slid past him making a sharp knife hand motion ... and Charlie sank to his knees before collapsing into the bridge. Dadallent straightened and turned around, offering a last bow to his opponent.
"The Chaos Prince advances!" Jin screamed.
Author's Notes: Three new arts (Strider, Kirina, and Cranky) have been added to the website. They'd look better if they hadn't been rush jobs, but meh, whatever.
Osaka, Japan
Three days have passed
Stalking around the lounge like an angry mother bear deprived of her cubs, Blake Wallis struck his right fist into his palm in utter frustration. "I don't believe this! Practically everyone has vanished within the space of three days! Blast it, isn't there anything we can do?!" Blake kicked the floor with vehemence. The latest disappearance had been reported just a moment ago; Chan Yoruyamatiha had been filched from right under Strider Hiryu's eye. Even Regina could no longer detect any trace of her soul. Hiryu sulked in a corner of the room, still unwilling to believe that his girlfriend had been taken from him practically under his nose. Within the space of the preceding few days, so many people had simply vanished without a trace.
"Calm down and try to think of something," Captain Commando advised.
His timing could not have been worse. Blake rounded the table and seized Commando by the shirt collar. "Calm down?! You want me to be calm when our friends are being abducted left and right?! Get that investigation going, now!" Blake roared, shoving Commando back into a chair. To his credit, Commando did not respond, only brushing off his shirt front with his right hand. Blake resumed his restless pacing around the room. "I promised Mitsu, Scott, and Kenneth that I'd take them to go cow-tipping when this was all over. There was so much that I wanted to show them ..." Blake sighed and ran a hand through his disorderly crop of hair. His father had tried to raise him free of dirty language and the IDC code of conduct strictly forbade any sort of profanity, but Blake felt a nearly irresistable urge to break those particular rules. Before joining with the IDC, he had been a legend on the streets of L.A. for being able to swear five full minutes without repeating a single word.
"Do something constructive," Charlie advised.
"Sure. Hold still." Blake rolled up his sleeves as he stalked to Charlie's seat. He swung, but it was a half-hearted punch that Charlie easily ducked. Sighing, Blake shook his head wearily. "Any new leads, captain?"
Commando frowned. "Full test results are still returning, but already none of them look good," he answered. "You already know all of this, but Edgar went to use the men's restroom and never came out; Mitsukake went to call on an old friend but didn't arrive; Balrog vanished en route to the United States while in a private Shadowlaw jet; Chun-Li showered for five hours before Kirina finally became suspicious and couldn't find her; Maki boarded a commuter train for the Tokyo airport and vanished in the jam; and Zangief hasn't been heard from since the Russian government contacted him two days ago. Mason Storm is training out in the back with Juli right now. Vega hasn't vanished, he's in Spain. Sean Matsuda is still safe with the Masters family, but ... Eliza was not impressed when Ginzu went to break the bad news. Bad statistics, aren't they?"
"At least we've narrowed down the culprit to only one possibility," Charlie offered. He glanced sideways at Regina, but the goddess did not respond. She only stared miserably at the floor.
Captain Commando brought out one of McGrath's binders and laid it on the table in front of him. By common consent, McGrath's investigation was kept in the lounge where any fighter could access it at leisure. He flipped open the binder to a bookmarked and well-worn leaf, where a scrap of crumpled and resmoothed notebook paper lay pressed and taped upon the page. Commando had found it only yesterday when he and the Phantoms combed Sakura's room for any trace of hints on how she or Ken might have vanished. It was in Sakura's unsteady Roman hand, but legible enough. And moreover, Commando had instantly recognized it as the scrap of paper that Sakura had shown to McGrath. "Fin d'Âme Interdite. Care to explain, Gill?"
"I find it most difficult to believe myself," Gill replied heavily. "Yet the evidence is overwhelming."
"The question is, what do we do with it?" Commando stated. Commando wasn't fluent in French, but even he could guess at what the phrase meant. Ruby Heart had confirmed his suspicions earlier. Fin d'Âme Interdite? It means Forbidden Soul Theft - forbidden, as in a prohibited technique. Armed with this knowledge, the Neo Commando Squad had confronted Gill together. And Gill reluctantly confirmed what they had already guessed at - only a god or goddess could use such a technique, and Regina was automatically ruled out. This, of course, left only one other possibility, and Regina had been most unhappy to learn of it. I don't want to believe this of my dear sister, but ... it would seem that she is behind this, after all. She created this ability herself - it works by forcing a target's soul out of his body, where it can then be locked within hers. For each soul that she imprisons, her own power rises slightly. And then Regina had fled the room weeping, crying out, Didn't you seal away Eldrin for this very same sin? How could you be doing this, dear sister? Tell me that it isn't true! Answer me!
"And apparently, there's no place on Earth that a person can run to after losing a tournament battle," Commando continued. "Practically everyone who's been eliminated has also vanished. Even the noncombatants are gone: Karin, Ibuki, Rose, Gen, Zeku. Face it, none of us are safe."
"Then what do we do?" Blake demanded.
"Stick with someone who hasn't lost a match yet, perhaps?" Charlie suggested.
Blake shook his head. "We need something better; that won't work. Hiryu and Chan were always together after their match - heck, they even shared rooms in the end - and look what happened to Chan. Hiryu turns around for half a minute and she's gone. Not even a sound. Same with Cody and Juni - nabbed from right under their bodyguards. I mean, what kind of person can pull that sort of kidnapping? There's got to be a better way, but what?"
"Don't lose your next match, is all I can say," Commando replied.
"That's not good enough!" Blake shouted. "I don't know what is up with this whole tournament, but I want Marin to come down here where I can see her face-to-face and fight!"
Regina blanched and instantly turned as pale as a sheet. Gill rumbled, "Do not presume to challenge a goddess, foolish mortal."
"Challenge?" Blake demanded. "Whose side are you on, anyway? I'll have you know, two-face, she's the one who's challenging us! Papa Wallis didn't raise his boy to be some goddess' salad course. I know that I can't defeat Marin, but that won't stop me from fighting my hardest when the time comes!" He swung at an invisible target to vent his frustration.
"I'm certain that my sister has only good intentions," Regina said, but she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Blake threw a pitying glance at her. "That's wishful thinking, Regina, and you know it."
"So, what?" Ryu asked. "Do we simply sit here and quietly wait to be picked off?"
"It's not like we can do anything else," Blake snarled. "Blast it, I've never felt so helpless before in my whole entire life! This is even worse than watching Dr. McGrath fighting the guy who wears his balls around his neck." Still fuming, Blake paced restlessly around the floor. He abruptly skidded to a halt and announced, "I can't take this anymore. I'm going to vent my emotions on a wooden practice dummy." So saying, he stormed from the room muttering dark threats under his breath. Regina watched him leave with tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Don't blame yourself, this isn't your fault," Charlie told her.
"I feel useless," Regina answered miserably. "I'm a goddess, and yet all I can do is watch as my friends are picked off one by one. My sister won't talk to me. I'm so confused!" She buried her face in her hands and wept aloud. This led to an awkward silence, until Charlie and Hiryu stood up and left the room. Gill took a seat next to Regina and tried to comfort her.
"Something's bothering you, Commando," Ryu observed at last.
"Yes. Read these entries." Ryu stood up and came over to where Commando pored through the last binder, the one in which McGrath had stored all of his most critical information. McGrath had been meticulous with his work - Commando suspected that it was a habit bred from his academic years - and he had penciled some of his thoughts down amongst the entries. Commando pointed out the ones that had caught his eye. An opponent who cannot be seen cannot be fought. Who do I dance with? Is it an old enemy in a new form? Or is it something else? Farther down the page, in an entry timestamped one day later, McGrath had written, It is natural for humans to prefer the evil they know to the evil that they do not. Whatever happens, the identity of the culprit must be revealed. Only then can action be taken. The next page was mostly blank, but McGrath had written something at the bottom under a newspaper article. Sakura holds a small but critical piece of the puzzle. Someone is trying to deter me, but who? That last game of Fortune Special was a warning and now I think I know who the agent behind these kidnappings is. Tonight, if my guess is correct, I may not be able to avoid a confrontation. Sadly, it seems that I will not have the luxury of waiting until my enemy is vulnerable. I should write a farewell letter.
Ryu shook his head in amazement. "So, he really knew. Or at least he was one step away from solving the entire mystery ... but why did Akuma come for him on that day?"
"That wasn't a coincidence," Commando stated. "Look at the timestamp on this entry. He made it just an hour before his battle against Akuma - he thought he had until that night, but Akuma preempted him. And not just Akuma; Marin also had a hand in it. She knew that she had to eliminate him immediately."
"Buy why?" Ryu persisted. "That's the part I don't understand - why did she have to do that without waiting for him to lose a match?"
"Because he very nearly caught onto her - one more day, perhaps, and he would have, and we would know about it too." Commando studied the haphazard journal with a critical eye. "Marin began by moving discreetly and picking off the Darkstalkers, then Karin and Ibuki, but even those actions managed to awaken McGrath's suspicions." In hindsight, moving so soon had been a mistake on Marin's part; with the disappearances of Demitri and Morrigan, and Jedah still absent, Makai had nearly fallen into chaos. Only the timely intervention of Galnan Voshtal, the last remaining lord of Makai's three great houses, had prevented total anarchy from breaking out. And the news of Karin and Ibuki disappearing had been on the news for weeks. "So she lay low and resorted to deceit until she took him; only after doing that did she consider it safe to begin kidnapping the others with impunity. Not that it matters since we can't do anything about it," Commando added sourly. "At least we know for certain that Marin is kidnapping all the tournament contestants. What I don't understand is how Marin could feel so threatened by McGrath that he had to be eliminated immediately; was she afraid of the night's confrontation if it came? It seems that McGrath knew something that we don't. Look at this - it's like he's hinting at a weakness of Marin's, but that's all he does, hint. Without more information, I can't piece together what he was thinking. We need this knowledge."
"A weakness of Marin's ...?" Ryu repeated.
"I'd give an arm and a leg to know," Commando stated. "It's this sort of information that could prove priceless in the end. Hey, Gill! Isn't the winning team in this tournament supposed to face Marin in the finals?"
"This is so," Gill answered. "The Lady Marin will appear once a winning team has been decided."
"Thanks."
"Look here," Ryu said, pointing out one of the entries on the binder page. "McGrath mentioned that he should write a farewell letter. I know you asked me about it earlier and I said that he didn't leave it with me, but someone else, perhaps? I wonder if he ever wrote it?"
"I've asked around, but no one seems to have it," Commando replied. "Either that, or whoever had the letter was also caught by Marin. That isn't likely, though; the IDC has been very thorough about searching through the belongings of the missing contestants, and I haven't heard of anyone finding a letter." Commando drummed his fingers together. "I highly doubt that he wrote it, but I'm hoping that I'm wrong. In the meantime, we should be thinking of what to do with this information. Regina, can I ask for your help?"
"I will do my best," Regina promised. "What can I do for you?"
Commando called Regina, Ryu, and Gill together into a huddle where they held a whispered conference.
San Francisco, United States
Two days have passed
Breathing in the morning air, Charlie paced around slowly on the world famous Golden Gate bridge, the site of the next scheduled battle. Further back behind him Guile and Scott Wagner were busy warming up with push-ups and sit-ups, the latter blazing through with twice the speed of the former. Wagner finished his set and sprang up. "You're getting out of shape, major!"
"Bah, easy for you to say," Guile grunted. "I haven't kept up since I left the military eight years ago."
"Results, not excuses," Wagner admonished.
"Cut the chatter," Charlie ordered, "our match is about to begin. Let's do it. I'm the tactical leader on this side, refs." Gill and Jedah nodded acquiesence and backed off to the sidelines where the view was clearer. The sun was still on the eastern horizon, so Charlie and his opponent both cast long shadows. Sunlight illuminated the bridge at a slanted angle, mixing red and gold for a brilliant orange effect. The bridge itself had been cleared for the day's event; it was very long but not particularly wide. Fog lay low over the bay, but the morning air was cool and very crisp, not at all humid - ideal for combat, in other words. Charlie met Dadallent in the center of the battleground and spoke first. "I've heard many rumors about you, Dadallent. I don't know if they are true or not, but I want to hear from you directly: who are you?"
"Who I am is unimportant," the Chaos Prince answered flatly. "We fight."
Begin!
A bright flash of light shone down from above and both combatants became all business. Charlie flung a Sonic Boom off his left arm and Dadallent dove into a roll, avoiding the attack and emerging practically underneath his opponent. He lashed out with a spinning ankle sweep that Charlie avoided by jumping; this, however, turned out to be a mistake when Dadallent completed his spin faster than the eye could follow and used his momentum to propel himself to his feet. Before Charlie could regain the ground, Dadallent seized his shoulders and pulled him hard to the side, slamming Charlie into the asphalt on his back. Charlie barely avoided a follow-up stomp attack, rolling to the side as Guile threw a Sonic Boom to cover him.
But Dadallent parried the Sonic Boom, dissipating it harmlessly into empty air even as he ruthlessly tracked Charlie. Dadallent swung a swift blow from the side that Charlie blocked and the Air Force pilot felt his arms numb from the attack. Again, almost more swiftly than the eye could follow, Dadallent dropped and rammed his fist into the ground, shaking the bridge a little beneath them. Charlie jumped to the side as a wave of fire came streaming past.
Half a world away, Kyosuke Kagami held forth his steady commentary on the battle unfolding through the giant holoprojector. "Good evening and welcome back to the World Collision tournament! Right now, the Chaos Prince is rapidly turning his fight with Charlie into a one-sided battle. My colleague Jin Saotome is currently monitoring the fight at the battle site itself. Jin, if you would explain to the viewers how the two sides stack up -"
"- while Dadallent beats the living daylights out of Charlie -!" Jin screamed.
Kyosuke muffled his ears and hit the volume control on his dashboard. "We apologize for that. Anyway, normally I would ask Master Gen to do a detailed analysis of the teams, but he is currently unavailable. So here's how I see it. Considered as individuals, the American Vigilantes are roughly equal to the Police team, only with slightly better teamwork. However, the Police team quickly lost a battle of attrition in its last fight against Dadallent. All things considered, Dadallent has a greater chance of winning than his opponents. If you look closely at the fight, he also has a heavy tactical advantage at the moment; Charlie still hasn't recovered from their initial encounter and assists from Guile aren't enough to relieve the pressure on him. Dadallent is slowly working his way in to a point where he'll be able to strike directly at Charlie. Charlie has to - great move by Dadallent, five hit combo! He's moving in for the kill - no, Charlie flung a Sonic Boom right in his kidneys! Excellent retaliation!"
Staggering from the blow, Dadallent clutched his stomach for a moment. Impact from Charlie's Sonic Boom felt like having dry ice shot into his belly and he could feel the energies seeping out from the point of contact, debilitating him. He hadn't seen it coming at all. But at least he was still better off than Charlie, who was bleeding from his shoulder and his left arm. Charlie switched out and Guile jumped into the fight, ready for a brawl. The former Air Force soldier opened with a backswing as Scott Wagner came in to throw an anti-air assist. Dadallent walked straight into the attack without flinching; even as Guile's eyes shot open in surprise, Dadallent seized him by his shirt front and kicked both of his knees out, then knocked him onto his knees with a fierce knife-edged chop into the shoulder. Scott's Rising Kick landed both attacks right into Dadallent's chin, but the Chaos Prince simply flinched as though the attack were no more than an annoyance.
"Unreal ..." Charlie whispered. Nobody could take damage like that.
Dadallent struck again, his fist shooting out like a bullet and right into Guile's nose before the other man could block the attack. Guile tumbled backwards over the pavement as blood began to seep out of his face. Clutching his broken nose with one hand, he staggered upright to his feet while keeping a wary eye on Dadallent. The Chaos Prince had made no move to exploit the opening, merely waiting until Guile had regained a solid footing before moving in to attack again. Scott Wagner once more showed up with an assist as Guile flung a Sonic Boom. Dadallent vanished, blurring out instantly only to reappear practically atop Guile as he dropped down from the sky, aiming a vicious stomp at the back of the air force pilot's neck. Had it been only him and his opponent, the attack would have gone through; instead, Scott intercepted Dadallent halfway and knocked him out of the Ninja Twirl.
Dadallent landed lightly on his feet as Guile tried to rush him down. "Here we go ... Somersault ... Somersault -!" Guile left the ground in a flash, twisting himself upside down in a move that seemed to defy gravity. He brought his rear leg up with punishing force and while the first attack whiffed entirely, he'd covered enough distance to hit Dadallent squarely in the stomach with his second attack. The Chaos Prince was knocked into the air, but when Guile came around for the final attack - "Strike!" - Dadallent twisted himself to the side and avoided the worst of the impact, taking only a glancing hit off his arm. He reached with both hands and caught Guile just as the air force pilot was upside down; in a moment, Dadallent had his opponent locked in that position as gravity began to reassert it. There was no time for Guile to call for help and barely any to think; Dadallent rammed him into the ground neckfirst and rolled away, leaving his opponent to take all the impact from the attack.
"Kicked his ass like a sack of meal!" Jin shrieked, his eyes bulging as he thrust his face right into a camera.
Guile slumped on the bridge, the attack having nearly broken his neck. As he was whisked out, Scott Wagner jumped in to continue the fight. "I'll get you for what you did to Guile!" he called out, and with that he charged straight at Dadallent. The Chaos Prince made no reply, only sinking his fist into the ground again and sending a wave of fire at Wagner. The youth vaulted over the attack, throwing himself into a flying kick at Dadallent. That turned out to be a mistake when the Chaos Prince backflipped and Wagner's attack missed completely. In a moment, Dadallent was laying into Wagner and got through on the third blow, knocking his opponent into the air for a brutal close-range chain. "Eight hit aerial-rave!" Jin screamed. Charlie belatedly entered to throw a Sonic Boom but it was over by then.
Rolling to soften his impact, Scott came upright again and wiped a trickle of blood away from his mouth. He was faring no better than Charlie and Guile had done and he knew it. Dadallent wasn't moving, though; instead, Scott realized that the Chaos Prince was waiting for him to recover. Well, that could turn to his advantage; Scott reached out with the power that Bison had imbued into him. No trace of metal anywhere on Dadallent's body itself, but behind him ... Scott made a grabbing motion in the air. The Psychisaber and its sheath flew off Dadallent's back and to him. Scott drew the sword, noting with some surprise how light and short it was, but it glinted in the morning sun with a decidedly bitter looking edge.
"Do you know how to use that weapon?" Dadallent asked slowly, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"I lop off your head with the sharp side," Scott replied fiercely. He dashed forward and swung at Dadallent's neck; the Chaos Prince reached out with his left hand and caught the swing as it passed Scott's shoulder. A moment later, he had ripped the sword right out of Scott's grip and struck Scott under the chin with his other palm. Scott staggered and saw stars for a moment. Dadallent pulled the sheath out of his other hand, too, and rapped the side of his head with it before resheathing the blade and replacing it on his back. Scott pressed a hand to his temples, trying hard to hold on to some semblance of consciousness. That sheath was made of metal and significantly heavier than the sword itself.
Battered and rapidly becoming fatigued, Scott pulled himself to his feet again. Once more he snatched the sword off Dadallent's back, the shrouded ninja making no move to prevent this. This time, he unsheathed the weapon in midair and sent it hurtling at Dadallent with fatal accuracy. The sword cleaved through the Chaos Prince's skull like an arrow through a haystack. Scott could scarcely believe what he saw next. With blood and gore dripping down his face, Dadallent calmed began to stride forward in a threatening manner, the Psychisaber still impaled through his forehead. Scott scrambled backwards; a moment later, a blistering cloud of iron fragments whirled into life around him as he desperately tried to raise a defense. What kind of man could survive a blade right through his brains?
Kyosuke Kagami couldn't believe it either. "Am I really seeing this, ladies and gentlemen? Reports indicated that Dadallent could withstand even the most devastating attacks, but I had no idea he was capable of this ... well, the Chaos Prince is rapidly narrowing down the distance on Scott Wagner. Scott's surrounded himself with his Magnetic Crucible, a veritable whirlwind of iron filaments guaranteed to shred through anything that comes into it. Here comes Dadallent - oh my gosh, he's walking right into the storm! Unbelievable!" Scott ran, but Dadallent caught him as he turned and in one motion pulled the sword out of his head. He brought the pommel of the weapon crashing down on Scott's exposed neck and the magnetic storm died down as the airman slumped to the ground.
Charlie stepped back into the fight very warily, trying to avert his eyes from Dadallent. But the long ingrained habit of tracking one's opponent, coupled with morbidity, forced him to look. Dadallent had resheathed the sword onto his back and it looked like the only part of him which was still intact. The Chaos Prince was a gruesome sight with blood running down his body in torrents. Scott's Magnetic Crucible had shredded away much of his flesh, leaving it hanging down his body in tattered, bleeding strips. His whole uniform was punctured and bloodstained and there was a gaping hole in his forehead. Despite this, Dadallent had lost none of the fluid grace that marked his movements. Charlie contented himself with launching a Sonic Boom, but Dadallent countered with another Ninja Twirl, striking Charlie on the shoulder as he dropped out of the sky.
Charlie retaliated by throwing a Sonic Boom off his leg and into Dadallent's. This caused the Chaos Prince to lose his balance and drop to the asphalt, but he rolled away and avoided a second Sonic Boom. When Charlie tried to track Dadallent with a third Sonic Boom, the Chaos Prince jumped up and blocked it. Then he was steadily narrowing down the distance again, relentlessly working his way in to Charlie. He pulled a Ninja Twirl right as Charlie flung a Sonic Boom from a backhand attack. It was a trap, as Charlie alpha canceled the move right into a Somersault kick intending to knock Dadallent out of the air. Once more he had underestimated his dangerous opponent, however, and Dadallent let the kick slide harmlessly off his gashed sides as he stomped his heel into Charlie's stomach. Charlie went down heavily, landing hard with a gasp.
He was rapidly losing this fight and he knew it. He also finally understood what Ryu had said to him only yesterday. You and I fight at nearly the same level, training to become better. The Chaos Prince is different. When you fight him, within the first half minute you realize that you cannot defeat him regardless of how well you fight. It is not possible, he is simply that skilled. He fights on a higher level that you and I have not yet reached. Charlie had been more than a little skeptical at the time - he and Guile had, after all, defeated the dreaded M. Bison - but Bison was different from this man. For one, Bison couldn't take damage that would sink a battleship and yet keep fighting like nothing had ever happened. "I can't ... defeat you ..." Charlie rasped out, still disoriented from the last attack.
Dadallent straightened, his expression still hidden behind his bloodstained blindfold. "That is not true. Not until you believe that you are defeated - and once you have convinced yourself, it becomes inevitable."
"What do you mean ...?"
"Enough talk. Prepare yourself." Dadallent stalked towards Charlie and the American man readied a token defense, but he barely parried Dadallent's first strike and the second one caught him squarely in the chest. Charlie reeled back, off balance, and it was all that his opponent needed. Dadallent blurred forward, slid past him making a sharp knife hand motion ... and Charlie sank to his knees before collapsing into the bridge. Dadallent straightened and turned around, offering a last bow to his opponent.
"The Chaos Prince advances!" Jin screamed.