DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Chapter Five: Planet Burning
Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue
(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)
As Talbain rounded a corner, Felicia in his arms, and sprinted down the bricked alleyway, his incredible lupine speed was quickly overcome by one of the Phobos, who cut him off from the front.
Wasting no time, the desperate warrior channeled the whole of his ki into a single potent backflipping kick, tearing the menacing robot in two without ever letting go of the still-unconscious catgirl.
Running through the explosion with blinding speed, he used the lights as a diversion for the pursuing units, giving him just enough time to duck into a manhole, pulling it over him less than a second before the smoke from the blast faded and crashing into the sewer water below.
As he ran aimlessly through the dimly lit passages of the town sewers, he would occasionally glance down at Felicia to see if she was coming around. "You're still as green as a clover, kid", he muttered with a grin to her, "But that's ok. I'll look after you."
As Talbain, the mighty warrior turned fugitive from his own destruction, knelt into a lightless tunnel and waited for the inevitable, he began to wonder who was going to look after him.
A mighty simian fist slammed through the virtual landslide of rocks that had closed off the makeshift tunnel. Quatos climbed out slowly from the wreckage of the mountainside, followed by Aulbath.
"I wonder what's next", Quatos observed as he brushed himself off and had a look around the sunny mountainscape.
"My thoughts precisely", Aulbath nodded.
Just then, the merman's keen senses locked onto something that made him spin hard to the east, "Behold! A monstrous power this way comes!"
Before Quatos could even turn to look, it was upon them. Radiant beyond normal comprehension, the golden God that would call Himself Pyron hovered in the air, arms crossed, illuminating the land for hundreds of miles around.
"What is that thing!-?", Quatos cried out, his eyes burning from the intensity of the light.
"For you, I am a scientist", Pyron began, His form dimming to a tolerable golden hue, "And today My field of study is battle. Experiment Beta begins now. Be ready!" With the merest effort, the cosmic conqueror flung His fiery form down at them, a scorching wave of centrifugal force preceding Him.
Reeling to the side, it was all they could do to dodge the harsh attack, which left yet another sizeable crater in the mountainside, blasting rocks in every conceivable direction.
Backflipping from the blast and springing off his hands to presumed safety in the air, Aulbath sent a telepathic message to his furry friend, "I can distract him. Do that ice breath thing you do. It should cool this hothead down!"
Skidding to a stop on his large feet, Quatos nodded smugly and puffed a little steam out his nostrils for effect.
"They separate themselves to divide My attention, Pyron noted, "An amusing, if ineffective, strategy. I am not limited to close-range combat."
Bringing His hands together, Pyron began to form what appeared to be a miniature sun at His fingertips. When the ball had grown to nearly the same size as Himself, he pulled His hands apart, splitting the thing in two and launching one at each of His opponents.
Inhaling deep, Quatos let out a mighty roar, freezing the ball, which dropped to the ground, shattering into large crystals of ice.
Meanwhile, Aulbath's eyes flared a sky blue color as the attack meant for him was belted away by the unseen force of his psychokinetic will.
"We will not fall as easily as your usual prey…", Aulbath began, but was cut short as the enemy vanished in an instant, and appeared with the crackle of an elbow to the back of his neck in another. Eyes wide with shock, the noble green warrior fell face-first in silence.
Charging forward with a snarl, the fuming Quatos took his best shot at the God of War, putting everything he had into a single blue-haloed right hook.
As his fist made an impact, moving deeper and deeper in, Pyron's body melted back to accommodate, and then stopped at a rigid stalemate; the mighty sasquatch could move forward no further, struggle though he might.
Grappling the white ape round the shoulders with His wrestler's arms, Pyron lifted Quatos in a flaming embrace and headbutted him with a cruel laugh, releasing His now unconscious victim to fall helplessly down the side of the mountain, a trail of smoke behind him.
Lifting into the air, Pyron's eyes were once more to the horizon, "These warriors are no match. When will the true champion of this world make itself known to Pyron?"
Through a crystal ball, Demitri watched the conclusion of the battle from the sanctity of his darkness, "All too soon, my worthy opponent. All too soon."
"Ready my zeppelin!", he ordered as he stood, motioning dramatically to his servant in the corner.
"Our destination, Milord?", the elderly vampire dared.
"Athens, of course", Demitri leered, "Where else would one expect to meet the God of War?"
"So, you have uncovered the identity of our enigmatic guest then?"
"So I have, my good man", the vampire managed a vicious smile, "It was predicted long ago that Mars would make Himself known to this world. If this is His incarnation, who better to prove my strength to? For if I can defeat a God, then a God am I!"
It was an old-fashioned desert settlement: the kind reminiscent of a spaghetti western. As a tumbleweed or three rolled across the dusty streets and whipped around the corner of a long-abandoned building, one might have expected a showdown at any moment.
One would have presumed correctly. The sisters Lei-Lei and Lin-Lin walked cautiously through the streets, their eyes on the numerous broken windows of the ghost town's near-dozen buildings and their ears open for any strange noises in the wind.
Their intuition would serve them well, giving them just enough time to dodge a massive creature as it tore through the wall of a nearby building with its' razor sharp claws and leapt out into the street. Highlighted by the noonday sun, one could make out the black-furred thing as a hideous cross between a rat and a standing bear.
Her hands flying into a practiced gesture on the spur of the moment, Lin-Lin vanished in a flash, appearing as a golden charm over her sister's forehead.
Twisting her neck back and forth with audible cracks, Lei-Lei narrowed her eyes and whipped up a smirk, "Alright, let's go Smoky!"
With that, she took her fighting stance, claws raised and ready. The creature followed suit, its' eyes burning with an unholy yellow light and its fangs dripping a green venom. The fighters stood quiet, each awaiting the other's first move.
Then, without warning, a shape darted out of the long shadow of the nearest building, knocking the beast asunder with a surprised grunt and taking it to the ground in a matter of seconds. As the roar of a chainsaw preluded a bloodbath that virtually obscured the true gore of what was happening, Lei-Lei crossed her arms and scowled, knowing damn well what she was witnessing.
Tapping her foot, she waited impatiently for the noise to quiet enough that she could talk, "Hey pal, what's it gonna take to get rid of you? And… eh…", she winced as she saw her ghoulish admirer eating his fresh-fallen prey, "Is that really necessary?"
Zabel looked up almost childishly, a bit of raw meat clinging to the bone in his mouth, "Well I'm hungry!"
"You're dead. You don't need to eat. And I'm getting tired of you following me. Piss off, will ya!-?"
Zabel turned his nose up, indignant now, "Well! Some thanks to the bloke what saved your life an' all!"
Lei-Lei couldn't help a laugh, "Answering once and for all the question 'do dead men dream?'…"
But Zabel's attentions were elsewhere at the moment. Leaping to a rooftop in a single bound, he motioned with a thumb to the flashes on the horizon, "Oi! Get a look at 'is!"
As Lei-Lei glanced in the direction of the distant explosions, each brighter than the noonday sun, her casual glance became a horrified stare. "Oh no", she whispered to herself, "What if we're too late sister…?"