Disclaimer: I do not own Darkstalkers. Um, that's all.

Zabel tapped his fingers on Le Malta's rubbery head in dissonance, much to our poor sidekick's chagrin. The two had landed quite easily for the most part, the majority of space being a large expansion of water, inciting Le Malta to puff up his size to that of a small raft. Back into the human form, no point in looking all ferocious and cool for your chainsaw. Bored bored bored bored bored goddammit he was bored. Le Malta stared at the increasingly angered Lord of Raptors uneasily. Just stay still, he knows you're more valuable dead than alive but he's shown that logic isn't his best strength hasn't he? he thought, wondering with every breath if Zabel wouldn't just as soon kill him out of sheer boredom as he would, well, just about anyone really.

Just when Zabel was all good and ready to shout for Le Malta to take him back to Makai, seeing as how fruitless this endeavor was so far, a voice rang out that he recognized immediately, and he knew well enough that he would not leave unless it was gone.

"You down there, the blue guy with the white hair, up here!" it shouted. Zabel eyes turned upwards until he could see the nearby bridge, and the two girls on it. He had a big smile on now, his pupil-less eyes shining bright. Le Malta realized in horror what and who it was, but by then it too late.

"Hsien-Ko! 3" Zabel shouted in joy. "It's me, your love zombie! 'Course, now you can be calling me your love emperor of the whole bloody afterlife, if you want!" he finished with his typical guffaw, thumb pointed at himself in show of his undiluted awesomeness.

To the later sadness of Zabel, however, Hsien-Ko nor her sister Mei-Ling could remember him. After Pyron's defeat, the two were reincarnated, and with only the dimmest awareness of who they were previously, their powers were reawakened with Jedah's universal message of unity. For now, Zabel was content to woo the heart of the Chinese ghost with his, well, smooth-as-he-can-be moves.

"Please, please stop. Listen, if we hurry now we can get back for you to have the traditional emperor crowning ceremony!" Le Malta said, not wanting to go through another experience involving Zabel's, ugh, libido. Even thinking about those two words together made his body/head ache.

On top of the bridge, the two sisters were confused, to say the least. Mei-Ling, the sister clad in yellow, looked at her sister with a troubled look. Obviously this Dark One knew her sister, and worse, seemed to have some sort of unholy attraction to her. Hsien-Ko was not sure how this evil thing knew her name, but was determined not to let that get in the way of her main goal: defeat these Dark Ones, and return home to her normal life. She shook her head, trying to remain focused.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, or who you think I am, but are you supposed to be the guy I'm supposed to fight?" She asked, wanting to get done with this fight as soon as possible.

This did little more than to aggravate Zabel's passionate monologues. "Aw, you don't remember me, your zombie love machine! We go back, back when I was just that dork Ozom's exceedingly handsome yet ruthless killing machine! You think you can forget chiseled abs and biceps like these!" he shouted, flexing his undead yet still quite lean muscles.

Hsien-Ko looked on with a mix of emotions including disgust, unsureness, and contempt. She scoffed. Luckily, before our Casanova-esqe hero could successfully work his mojo, a third character enters. He is large, also undead, and can be very mean under certain circumstances, this being a prime example.

He lunged at Hsien-Ko with his massive fist, although being the Darkhunter she was allowed her to gracefully dodge out of the way. She now knew her opponent was, and she was looking straight at him. She signaled to Mei-Ling, who started reciting the ancient prayers of her ancestors. The piece of paper that signified her sisterhood appeared in front of her, attached to her hat. She charged at her attacker, leaping up and giving a strong kick which was blocked by her opponent's huge arms. Finally utilizing her powers as a kuang-shi, she back-flipped over the beast, gaining additional height thanks to her claw-and-chain appendages. Once behind him, she was able to catch him off-guard and deliver a hard blow from her make-shift "arms". She lept into the air, her right claw now a swinging flail, and prepared to give the final attack. Suddenly, what appeared to be a hologram of a young girl appeared before the crouching behemoth, begging Hsien-Ko to stop. Hsien-Ko fell to the ground unsure as to how to handle the situation.

Likewise, our protagonist wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. Basic instinct told him to go up there and give Victor a nice hello with the Le Malta Saw. Then again, things had gotten really weird since that young girl appeared. He scratched his head and decided to wait it out, pondering what he would do under different scenarios.

While our hero was thinking about how to react, our heroine listened intently about the tragic tale of one Victor von Gerdenheim, a golem who had lost his creator upon his birth, and now only had a faint relationship with his apparent sister, Emily. After laying Emily in her bed, he made his way into the Devil Dimension seeking a way to bring to life the only person he had left. He finished saying that all he wanted to do was live his life in peace with his sister away in the eastern European countryside. He clinched his fist, and said in a somber tone that if the only way to get this was through violence, so be it.

He got to his feet and charged at Hsien-Ko and slammed his two gi-nourmous fists into the ground, an electric quake surging towards her. The shock reached her first and she was rendered helpless against the following earth split. To finish his combination, he gave a destructive left hook which sent our heroine flailing like a rag-doll.

Zabel now knew what to do. He gritted his teeth and got pumped the hell up with a combination of spectator frustration and general contempt for anything not named Hsien-Ko. "Top of the bridge, NOW!" he yelled at his frightened assistant. Le Malta immidietly swallowed Lord Raptor, and the two disappeared in a flash.

Hsien-Ko held onto the side of the bridge for dear life by one claw. Victor lumbered to the side of the bridge and squatted down, arm and fist cocked back for one final blow. "Stay still, it will be quick." He said solemnly. He didn't enjoy doing it anymore then Hsien-Ko did, but showing pity now would cost too much for him to afford. He would have to act as emotionless as possible.

Hsien-Ko braced herself, eyes closed tightly as she readied herself to be vanquished. She didn't want it to end like this, gone in the first round and helpless like a small puppy to boot. She'd never have her old life back, not now anyways. She squenched her eyes shut and braced for the coming doom.

"You know how jealous I get when you're with other guys, babe." The voice spoke with a quiet, warm if raspy Austrailian voice. Hsien-Ko opened her eyes, half of her expecting what she thought it was, the other half thinking that half was insane.

Standing before her was that same weird guy with the blue skin and white hair, standing on top the unconscious golem with his arm outstretched for her to grab hold of. She remained speechless, wondering if this was another trap or if he was being actually sincere. She paused for a second, just looking at him, before grabbing ahold of his hand and being lifted up.

Zabel broke his cool and started celebrating his victory in both suaveness and over the suprisingly knock-outtable monster. He began stomping on his fallen opponent, a giant smile hung on his face as he thought about how cool he was just a few seconds ago. He stopped before snapping his left middle finger and thumb together and pointing his thumb at himself triumphantly. "Ha! The Makai Emperor laughs at such pitiful attempts to vanquish his loved ones!" he shouted, "'Cause I'm the Ayatollah of Rock 'n Rollah, the sexy bea-", just then, he was cut off by a rather monstrous tidal wave knocking him, Victor and Le Malta on the ground, temporarily dased and confused. Lucky for Le Malta and Victor, however, as both were already out and therefore didn't know what was going on. Hsien-Ko was fortunate enough to have reached to nearby pole to jump on top of, leaving her safely out of it's reach. From behind the three rose a curiously fish-like man who spoke with a curious mix of British and Spanish accents, "It seems you've gotten noticebly weaker since our last fight, you wicked monstrosity. No matter! Rise now, and accept your fate against...Rikuo, king of the sea and it's inhabitants!" and with that, he struck a bizzare yet strangely graceful pose.

Zabel lept to his feet at the word "weaker", although he heard little else save for the rather loud ending. His eyes burned with bad intentions, although Rikuo remained unfazed and still defiant towards Zabel's attempt at silent intimidation. Upon seeing his attack, though; Zabel relaxed a bit, even smirking at him.

"Jeez, I really got the lucky end of the stick, huh? You know what they call people like you in wrestling, mate? Jobbers. Jobbers, hah!" he said, letting loose a hearty guffaw, "You know what those are, friend? People who lose continually on the basis of making people like me look good. Alright, enough with the formalities, I'm good and well and ready for some slaughtering, let's GO!"

With that, Zabel tapped his boot the ground, a pillar of light shooting out and enveloping his now drastically changing figure. His skin stretched itself tightly over his muscles, growing outward as callouses began forming all over it. His stomach caved in, leaving only the extremely sharp and pointed tips of his yellow ribs; the mark of the devourer appeared on his chest. His hair spiked and grew upwards, his eyes turned pure black, save for two burning red pupils. His face underwent the greatest change, however. No longer the face showing his self-proclaimed mix of boyish good looks and rugged masculinity, it was now that of a lecherous skull; a grisly joke. Zabel's new form spasmed for a moment, getting used to new surge of power and energy.

Much to Zabel's suprise, Rikuo had grown suprisingly fast. Before Zabel could find his familiar rhythm, Rikuo had charged at him with no small ferocity. His face showed that of a man willing die for his mission, for the mission was all he had for his own at the moment.

"You think you can waver my emotion with your mockery, land walker! You think your talk will somehow impede my desire! What a fool will die with you!" He shouted as he performed a curious modification of a drop-kick. His body was near diagonal, a move that gleefully showed the type of person Rikuo was: uncannily graceful, and with a desire to succeed matched by few. All this was lost on our dear protagonist, as all he really cared about were the two feet that smashed against his face.

Zabel shook his head and prepared for a counter-attack. By then, however, Rikuo had already backed away a great distance, and was send a small stream of shin high water. Zabel felt somewhat relieved at this, as he assumed quite reasonably that that little of water could certainly do little damage. He then heard two words that changed all of that.

"WATER PRISON!"

Zabel braced himself, and sure enough a pillar of surging water rose up from beneath, making him immobile for the time being, and annoying him greatly. He hated being lagged on anything, especially in the heat of battle, and now he was forced into the infuriating tomb of goddamn h2o. He grimaced, then snarled "You goddamn pansy!" which Rikuo did not seem to notice at all. If he did, then he masked it very well.

Rikuo's head changed instantly and quite noticebly, somehow longer and more reptile like. A long, pink tounge shot from his gaping maw, a Cyclopean worm serving under it's amphibian master. The tounge wrapped itself around the helpless Zabel, flinging him into the air and smashing him into the hard rock ground. More disoriented than actually hurt, Zabel thought about how lame he must look against the now actually vicious Rikuo. Somebody had lit some kind of fire under his ass, he theorized, and now Jedah's watching me be an example. It was a grim zinger, it was.

Rikuo's head was back to normal, although now his forearms had somehow changed themselves into that of huge crab claws. He charged towards Zabel and landed two good sized blows from each claw, the force of which easily knocked our greatly confused hero across the battlefield. Rikuo's face had not changed at all since the very start of battle: that knowing look of cold and bitterness that showed a lifetime of setbacks and bummers. The face that Zabel now desperatelly wanted to smash into a pulp.

"Am I of worth to you now, you pathetic wretch! Do I recieve your esteemed permission to rescue my own son now, you beast! Let it be known that until my final breath is pulled from my lungs, I will not stop trying."

Fantastic, Zabel thought with a great deal of sarcasm, I'm getting beat by a goddamn dork of a hero case. Why couldn't I be fighting somebody who's at least cool when it comes to beat downs, like Batman or somebody?

Hsien-Ko's thoughts were now heavily concerned with the battle. Not only for the fighter's sake, but for the sake of her very beliefs. The two fighting, and there reasons for fighting all contradicted any sense of there being only pure white or pure black. She watched intently as the two squared off, it now not being a battle of just competition but now one that had the weight of her values resting heavily on it's shoulders.

Rikuo had once again backed a good deal away from his opponent, although now he was prepared for a far more devastating attack then a mere holding spell. Zabel was actually quite curious as to what he had in store, and our previously unconscious Le Malta had awakened with a large headache and the question of why Rikuo had positioned himself as far away from Zabel as he did. He thoughts trailed: Why didn't I tag along with Felicia when I had the chance, huh? Because I'm a moron that's why! Felicia doesn't get into battles if she can help it, and she's a total hotty to boot! That's it, as soon as this stupid tourney thing is done I am so totally hooking up with her. IT WILL BE DONE.

The fruit of Rikuo's planning and training took shape in the forming of the rapidly receding water below them. This confused and intrigued both Zabel and Le Malta; a rare agreement of emotion and feeling between them. Just when all that remained was the loamy soil and sea weed, Le Malta had already realized what was happening, and he was totally helpless. He panicked.

"Comeoncomeon get OUT of the way you moron! OUT! Don't you see it, get OUT!" He shouted in rapid fire, his words falling as deaf ears as Zabel still hadn't figured out what Rikuo was doing. This both infuriated Le Malta and caused his Danger-Meter to go on full power.

"Now, prepare yourself for the pinacle of the deep, I give you, OCEAN RAGE!"

To describe Rikuo's wave is impossible in English or any other language. The first word that comes to mind is HUGE, but that does little to convey the enormity of it. It was far larger then anything Zabel could possibly relate it to, except for perhaps a skyscraper, although it was at very least five times the width. He was quite certainly caught off guard, although it would have made little difference if he wasn't. He much less than a second to react, and he did nothing in light of that.

The wave crashed with sheer force not yet known to the Human World, and very rarely happened in Makai and it was only thanks to the alien materials with which the bridge was built that it escaped unscathed. Thanks to Zabel's design, he only experienced one of the greatest mixes of disorientation and surprising clarity of the situation, resulting in what can only be described as a straight edge trip of utmost potency. Every bone in his body cracked and instantly reformed itself at least once, his body being flung around like a rag doll by an angry child. To make matters worse, Rikuo was now in his element, meaning that now he was fighting in a place that he didn't have to deal with akwardness of walking, or the melancholy of gravity.

Using her natural acrobatic skill complemented by her being a kuang-shi, Hsien-Ko had escaped relatively safely save for her clothes being soggy now. This was the least of her worries now as she began pondering more and more the people fighting. Even the biggest fool could see quite plainly that Zabel was evil, and going on personality and what they aspired for, one could easily draw the conclusion that both Victor and Rikuo were good. But going on actions, it seemed quite the polar opposite: one saving a life, while two were out to end one. It seemed that this tourney switched peoples personalities, although Hsien-Ko felt very much like herself; or at least as much as a person could given the circumstances.

Not too far away from, her sister; the yin to her yang as it were, watched uncomfortably as her sister looked on at the battle. She feared greatly for her sister, and hoped that they both would escape this horrid place and go back to living their normal, good lives. Unlike her sister, however, she viewed all three of the fighters as being Dark Ones, plain and simple. There were no good intentions in any of them, in her view, and thusly deserved whatever fate they were handed.

Meanwhile, Rikuo was charging at Zabel again, only thanks to his natural adeptness in water, the intensity, speed, and force of the tackle was nearly twicefold. Suddenly, Zabel got what he was looking for: a 'Eureka!' moment. He smiled he lecherous smile that he does, and he got back up to his feet.

"You know what the cool thing is right now? That for all your kicks and waves and stuff, none of it matters any. Y'see, I got this one move that'll kill you, and there's nothing stopping me at all. KO, with one blow, ain't that something?" He said smugly. Go ahead, let him hear the last things he'll ever hear. "You wanna know why I'm lettin' you in on this, mate? It's 'cause when you die and Jedah takes your pathetic soul, I want you to remember precisely who did you in and how he did it. You wanna know what it's called, friend?"

Rikuo didn't know, and he didn't care, either. He charged at Zabel once more, only this time, Zabel was not suprised, nor was he disoriented. He had it planned, and Rikuo was unknowingly going along.

Just before he performed his move, Zabel said quite quickly, "It's neat, it's called-" he stopped and paused for a second. Rikuo was a mere foot away from delivering a brutal tackle that might have damn near ended the feud. Zabel smirked, then continued.

"DEATH VOLTAGE!"

The Death Voltage technique was one of Zabel's favorite moves to use. It was quite literally a Jack-of-all-Trades move that could be done near anywhere with lethal potency. The fact that they were both in the water only added to it's effect.

Zabel's body only immedietly transformed into a kind of deranged top; a Gothic rendition of a child's toy. His body spun rapidly, the spiked rim of which caught Rikuo and made a very nice and large gash on his chest. The worse was yet to come, however, as the coup de grace was a brief surge of electricity emenating from the very core of the emperor of Makai.

"Yeah!" Zabel shouted triumphantly as he lept from the water, much to the suprise of Hsien-Ko, who had seriously doubted Zabel's survival after Rikuo's catasclysmic 'Ocean Rage' attack. She was stunned, no doubt, even more so by Zabel's smug, downright cheery, demeanor.

Zabel looked back at the water, standing quite satisfied as he watched Rikuo limp and charred body float to the top of the river, then disapper inexplicably. He then began throwing fast jabs at the air, in some sort of shadow boxing routine, all the while reciting what was apparently a celebration of the life and times of Zabel Zarock.

"I'm too fast, I strike too hard, and, dammit, I'm too pretty to be beat. Yeah!"

He stopped with his impromptu celebration and turned to Hsien-Ko, who met him with a cross look of fret and shock. Zabel laughed at this, as if the very thought of his defeat was the pure hysterics. "Oh come on, you weren't actually worried about me, were ya babe? Hah! Don't worry, I'm going to be sticking around for a long, long time. Yo Le Malta, wake up...Le Malta?" he said, giving the tranquilized Makai beast a good kick to wake him up. Le Malta woke up with a throbbing head ache, made worse by the foot of his supposed new 'master'.

"Oh, by the way, I think Sparky over there is getting his second wind and stuff. Might want to check on that." He said relaxed. Hsien-Ko looked at him perplexed, wondering who it was he was talking about.

"Hsien-Ko, look out!" cried Mei-Ling, spotting the mountain of a man rising, a mean look in his eyes. Hsien-Ko's head ripped back, and soon she cursed herself for not knowing about it sooner. Of course! Victor was still alive, as Zabel's suprise attack had only knocked him out, not done him in. She back-flipped quickly to get out of the way of his huge wrecking ball-like hand, and was able to land in a very hard, very fast kick to his head. Victor didn't seem to notice, as he locked his two fists together, and slammed them just slow enough for Hsien-Ko to get out the way. They both knew that one blow would be all that was necessary for her to lose, and so Hsien-Ko was in the unfortunate position of being put on defense against who could possibly be the most physically powered individual in the world; demon nobles and Night Warriors be damned.

Zabel watched on with a spectator's interest: he had faith that Hsien-Ko could and would win, and he also had the knowledge that should things look down for her, one Death Voltage would be all that it would take to at the very least shift the momentum, if not stop the show. He lit up a cigarette and changed back to his human form, not really expecting any combat at the moment. There was also a distinct observational aspect to it; like a self-professed pro of the sport checking out the rookies to dissect their movements and tendencies for future reference. Le Malta stood (although I suppose the correct term would be laying down, as of the moment he retired himself to be little less than a purple half-sphere with a large central eye) by Zabel, watching alongside him but with more of a spectator's fancy.

Hsien-Ko turned her head to her sister, a cocky smile fixed on her face. Mei-Ling returned the smile with a nod. Zabel and Le Malta were curious as to what they were planning to do, although Le Malta had a general idea that it was obviously a signal for some attack. The two were joined in their eagerness to see what her next move be.

"Stop flying AROUND!" Victor bellowed, and with, his arm suddenly grew to cartoonishly large proportions, electricity dancing around it in much the same way it did with Zabel's attack. It was the equalizer, the thing to use when all you needed was to end the battle. Unstoppable force to very movable objects.

Hsien-Ko shouted angrily, "My name is Hsien-Ko...and I will not be denied!" and with that, the talisman hanging from her hat glowed intensely, as Mei-Ling's chantings grew louder. This is going to pretty cool, Zabel thought.

A near wave of very large, very beautifully designed swords erupted from the bridge, an awe-inspring look of grace and power captured in a move. Victor, because his arm had taken so much strength and energy to control, was forced to remain motionless with arm in a two-second window of sustained hook punching. If it were not for the electricty generated by the attack, it would look as if someone had taken a picture of Victor punching something.

The point of Victor's defeat looked much like that of a samurai movie: both had attacked at nearly the same time, with one fighter being slighty fast with her attack, thus the winner of the battle was obvious. A sword plunged through Victor's chest, pulling out just as fast. His face showed all the vunerability, unsureness, and depression of a young child forced into a situation he's unfamiliar with. He collapsed on the ground, struggling to get up. It was just then that Hsien-Ko realized what she had done: she had killed a generally good person.

"Em...ily" Victor said slowly after much struggling, his head hanged down low in shame. Hsien-Ko looked on, sadly. Zabel turned his back in disinterest, leaving the fighters to their own business. Le Malta and Mei-ling both looked on curiously.

"I have...failed you...this girl, she is stronger than me, and I am sorry for that...I am a weaker fighter then her, and now I have to go away, because I lost. Hopefully...one day we be together again, and we'll be happy..." he finished as he, like Rikuo, disappeared. Another flame, extinguished.

Just as soon as this happened, he appeared. Yes, it was the orchestrator of all these happenings, Jedah. He stood before them, floating in the sky. He grinned proudly and benevolently at the two victors, pleased with the results. Zabel turned to face the master of Majigen, scowling.

"Ah! My champions have emerged at last! Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling, my twin sisters of hope and light!" Jedah shouted triumphantly, turning his eyes to Hsien-Ko, looking miserable. Jedah's gaze then turned to Zabel, who was trying his best to death stare the leader. "And of course, my little Giant Killer! You fell our physically strongest fighter and the king of all the oceans with one blow each, did you not? How glad am I to be the one to congratulate you!" he finished with a hearty laugh. As Zabel thought about it, he noticed that he really liked the sound of that. Zabel Zarock: Giant Killer.

"I must say, though, that we still have one fight remaining in the opening battles, come, and join the other winners in viewing of this epic battle!" He said, and with that, the group of five vanished.

end of chapter 3

Check back in next time, sports fans, where we find out who's fighting and who wins!