1:2 - Beyond the Gates of Infinity ->
Symphony 1: Requiem of an Undead Queen
First Movement – Overture
-| Cue: Unknown artist – Requiem - Requiem Aeternam |-
Requiem aeternam
Requiem aeternam
The river water made a quiet, soothing sound as it flowed gently downstream. Tranquil moonlight was displayed beautifully on its reflective surface, as was also the face of a weeping young woman. The young woman looked at her reflection and wiped a tear from her face. She blinked the last one from her blue eyes and then rubbed them gently. Standing back up, she ran her hands through her short blonde hair in frustration. She then looked up at the moon and sighed.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (dona eis, Domine.)
Dona eis, Domine
“Three-hundred,” she muttered to herself. She shook her head and sighed again in frustration. Her short, green vest and skirt began to blow in the wind as a breeze swept through. The sword-sheath and the whip attached to her belt made clanking noises as they rattled against her legs. “Three-hundred men and not a single one made it through the castle gate. How the devil are we supposed to defeat Shais if not even three-hundred men can get past the gate?”
This young woman, named Crystal Graves, threw herself on the ground again. As she sat down, she straightened her skirt out of habit, even though she wore beige pants and leg guards under it. She pulled the whip from its resting place on her belt and examined it. It appeared to be just a normal whip, yet she knew its significance. It was the Legendary Whip of the Belmont clan; the choice weapon for slaying Dracula and his many incarnations.
“Too bad this thing isn’t very good against Shais.” Crystal continued speaking to herself. “It did little for Chrétien and Markus when they used it. Heck, if it did anything, most of the remaining Belmonts wouldn’t be dead.”
Et lux (Et lux)
Et lux perpetua
perpetua
luceat eis.
Suddenly, a voice spoke from the shadows. “Perhaps it is time to try a new weapon against the vampire queen.” Crystal shot to her feet and brought the whip into a pre-strike position.
“Who is there?!” she yelled into the darkness cast by the trees. As an eerie night wind blew, a man stepped forward just far enough to make his dark cloak and long grey hair visible. Crystal growled, “Answer me!”
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
The man made a grunt. “Don’t you recognize me from the pictures? It is I, Alucard.”
“Alucard?” Crystal asked, “As in, the son of Dracula who worked with Trevor Belmont and saved Richter Belmont from the Dark Priest Shaft?”
“The same,” the figure replied. Crystal was taken aback. She looked closely at the shadowy figure whose details were hard to discern in the night’s light.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
“Prove it!” she called, not really sure she could believe the potential adversary.
The man made an amused chuckle. “I do not have time to deal with an impatient relative of the Belmonts. Do you want my help or not?” Crystal growled and swung the whip at the man.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Zion,
Et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem
(votum in Jerusalem..)
“Liar!” she yelled as the whip cracked toward the man. The shadowy figure, whose eyes began to gleam, grabbed the whip with his fist. He then pulled with all his strength and yanked it out of Crystal’s hands. The man then stepped further into the moonlight.
“If you actually hope to fight anyone with that,” the man began, “You’d best improve your skills with it.” Crystal took a step back and reached for her sword. “Do not waste your time, child. I thought I made it clear to you that I am here to help you.”
Crystal didn’t flinch. “And just how are you going to help me?”
Exaudi! Exaudi!
Exaudi orationem meam
Ad te omnis caro veniet.
The man answered by throwing what looked to be a watch on the ground. “Here. This device is something someone gave me. They claimed it was created by someone in another dimension. With it, you can travel to that dimension and find the weapon that will destroy Queen Shais.”
A confused expression crossed Crystal’s face. “Dimension? A weapon that can destroy Queen Shais?”
Kyrie, eleison! Kyrie, eleison! Kyrie, eleison!
Kyrie, eleison
The man nodded in reply. “The Vampiric Queen Shais is rumored to be from another dimension than your own. For that reason, your typical anti-vampire weapons that may have worked on Dracula, may not work on her or her minions.” At this point, he threw the whip down at the young woman’s feet.
Crystal stood down from her defensive stance. “So, what is this weapon you claim will kill Shais?”
Kyrie, eleison! Kyrie, eleison! Kyrie, eleison!
Kyrie, eleison
“It is a giant robot of sorts,” the man replied. “The coordinates on that watch will take you directly to the place where it is being built. All you need to do is steal it and take it to the place you appear in when you get there.” He threw a gas mask on the ground next to her. “Oh, and steer clear of the green crystals on the ground when you get there. Tiberium is hazardous to your health.”
Reaching over to pick up the gas mask, Crystal frowned. “Explain to me how you know all of this? And how am I supposed to steal a giant robot? Do I look like a Trigundam Bebop character?!”
Crystal was answered with the music of crickets. Somehow, the man had managed to disappear without a trace or sound. Perhaps that was all the proof she needed that he was indeed Alucard. Still, how the son of Dracula was awoken without the vampiric queen Shais noticing was perplexing. Crystal turned around and looked at her reflection in the river once again.
Christe, eleison!
Christe, eleison (eleison)
“We don’t have many men left.” Crystal said to herself. “Most of the Belmonts are dead. Queen Shais built her castle over where Dracula’s own is supposed to appear, so we can’t even rely on the family enemy to help us.” She then peered up at the moon. “There are only a handful of us vampire hunters left.” Looking at the watch that the man left, Crystal shrugged. “Well, there is only two buttons on here, a red one and a green one. I suppose the green one is ‘go,’ or something?” As she placed the watch on her wrist, she accidentally put too much pressure over the green button and pushed it. The sound of an energy signature charging up was heard.
Kyrie, eleison! Kyrie, eleison!
“What the?!” Crystal yelled as she looked around. Then, above her, a large white tornado of sorts formed. The tornado began to pull up on her, and her body appeared to break apart like glass. The shards went flying into the funnel as she screamed in terror. After a few seconds, all of her was sucked in, and the funnel disappeared.
Kyrie, kyrie,
As the light dimmed, the shadowy figure returned to the clearing and chuckled. “With that, everything has been set into motion. Soon, the last piece will fall into place.”
Kyrie, eleison...
*****
The shifting sands of the desert blew freely across the baked dirt. Cracks could be seen weaving intricate patterns into the ground. The sun beat down heavily on the ground as a small lizard of an inconsequential breed scrounged for some food. It was then that this lizard suddenly perked to life as it heard something rumbling over the ground. The noise got louder . . . then much, much louder. The lizard finally became frightened enough to run for cover in the abandoned spider hole that it called home. Just as it scurried by, the noise developed into an explosion. Broken pieces of Terran Vulture scout bikes went flying across the terrain. A couple of GDI APCs then rolled over the hole, but the sudden cry of a turbo laser reduced it to ashes.
-| Cue: LucasArts - Force Commander - Imperial March Rage Mix |-
As the APCs drove as fast as they could, a trio of Imperial AT-AT walkers pursued them. The Turbo-Laser batteries continued firing with brutal accuracy at the APCs as another one exploded into a large ball of gas. As the last APC went flying over a hill, the sound of air craft filled the sky. Protoss Scouts flew overhead and began firing their photon blasters at the walkers. As fan-service would have it, though, their armor was too strong for photon blasters, so the trio of walkers simply raised their heads up a little and started firing at the Scouts. Continuing on their forward march over the hill, the walkers’ pilots could finally see their target: A Favutech forward command base.
The walkers stopped on the hill. What appeared to be a full sized white van drove up between the legs of the foremost walker. The driver-side door opened and a young man stepped out wearing black robes, under which he wore a suit of black storm trooper armor. Dust was still blowing from the walker’s footsteps, throwing about the man’s short, spiky hair and his dark cloak, which featured a lightning pattern on the bottom of it. As the man’s red eyes narrowed, a beep went off on his watch and a hologram of an imperial AT-AT Pilot appeared on it.
“My lord,” the Pilot began. “We have the Favutech base in range. Shall we commence firing?”
“Not yet,” the cloaked figure replied. “Against Vergil, we’ll have to coordinate this attack carefully. Wait for the TIE Bombers and Y-wings to start shelling the base. Then, when his power plants are damaged, we’ll run in with the Clone Trooper Transports and you guys can focus on the important buildings.”
“Yes, my lord,” the pilot replied as his hologram faded.
The cloaked figure looked around. “Now where are those bombers anyway?” Closed his eyes, he tried to sense the world around him. He could feel his pilots, several Favutech operatives in the base, and a host of warriors nearby... but for some reason, the Force didn’t tell him where his bombers were. In frustration, the man pushed a few buttons on his watch.
“This is The Dominion to Evil Minion #1,” He said into the watch. “Where are TIE Bomber Gamma and Y-wing Gold Squadron?”
“Um.. D-sama,” A woman’s voice replied over the channel. “I’ve got some bad news...”
-| Cut off Track and Interrupt with: Westwood - Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - Nod Crush |-
The relative peace of the scene was broken by the sound of Lockdown guns firing. The Dominion looked around and saw a small team of Terran Ghosts de-cloaking. Drawing his Lightsaber, The Dominion ignited it, and threw it toward the ghosts. Guiding it with the force, he was able to cut down all the Ghosts in seconds, but not before they managed to lockdown his AT-AT walkers.
“That punk!” The Dominion yelled. “Evil Minion #1! Begin orbital bombardment!” The Dominion then jumped into his van, called the ‘Mobile Command Center,’ and drove away from the base as fast as he could. Looking at his scanners, he noticed that his AT-ATs were getting shelled by Siege Tanks that were being hidden by a Protoss Arbiter’s cloaking field.
Letting out a smug chortle, The Dominion pushed a few buttons on his dashboard and a large missile launcher appeared on the top of the vehicle. A huge stream of missiles then shot out of the launcher, all of which then auto-tracked to a siege tank and blew one up.
“You won’t get the drop on me, Vergil!” The Dominion cried, “I am already wise to your plan!” He pushed another button and the missile launcher was replaced with a satellite dish of some sort. Spinning to life, the dish then contacted one of his starship’s sensor branch and revealed all of Vergil’s cloaked units in the area. He then flipped another switch and a large anti-starship energy cannon, like those used by the Clone Troopers, appeared on the top of the van. The weapon fired, slicing through the Protoss Arbiter and its shields like a hot knife through butter.
As the Arbiter plummeted, a team of Protoss Carriers and Terran Battlecruisers appeared, their cloaking field lost. Flooring it, The Dominion drove the Mobile Command Center under their formation, firing his cannon at each ship until each exploded or crashed. The Protoss Carriers launched their swarms of interceptors at the van, hailing a rain of photon blaster shots. As The Dominion expected, their guns were too weak to penetrate the armor. The Battlecruisers tried their Air-To-Surface Laser Batteries, but they only left dents. Finally, one of the battlecruisers fired a Yamato Cannon blast at the van and it managed to blow a chunk off the rear corner armor.
“That’s it!” The Dominion yelled. “NOW I KILL YOU . . . WITH DEATH!” He hit another switch and more guns and launchers than could be counted appeared on the chassis of the van. Like a Battle-Mech on Alpha Strike, the van turned around and opened its full ordinance into the capital ships. It was not too long before the entire battle group crashed into the ground in a glorious blaze of flames.
However, as the Dominion started driving back toward the base, a bright beam of light appeared before him. Even with his Sith reflexes, the Dominion couldn’t turn the Mobile Command Center fast enough. The Orbital Ion Cannon blast impacted the vehicle head on and sent it flying into the air. Landing on its top, the van careened across the desert sand into a near by sand dune.
As the dust and sand cleared, The Dominion stood outside of his crashed van. It was, of course, perfectly intact, but something else had drawn the Sith out. He stood, perfectly straight, eyes closed, hand on his belt, focusing. He stood this way for several minutes before suddenly snapping to life. Drawing the lightsaber from his belt, the Dominion ignited the blade and shoved it into the sand below him. The sound of a Zerg in pain was heard as the Dominion pulled out his blade and a dying Zerg Lurker crawled out of its hiding place.
As he brought his arm up, he dealt the killing blow to the foul creature, and then ignited the second end of his light saber. The Dominion swung the blade around and started parrying the incoming spines being shot by the twelve Zerg Hydralisks that leaped out from the ground behind him. The Sith parried each shot effortlessly, then leapt high into the air, landing in the middle of the large snake-like creatures with double jaws and scythe-like arms. Before the Hydralisks could change target, the Dominion became a whirl of spinning energy blades and chopped them to pieces.
When the last Hyrdalisk fell, the Dominion stood up and caught his breath. The sound of someone clapping their hands together made him turn around.
“I see you find this amusing.... Vergil.”
The Dominion faced a young man clad in blue jeans and a white shirt, over which hung an un-buttoned Favu-Print shirt. The man ceased clapping and re-positioned his transition-lens glasses on his face. Normally, glasses’ darkened state would obstruct one’s ability to see the wearer’s eyes, but Vergil’s glowing purple eyes made an exception. His light brown hair blew freely in the wind, along with his shirt. As the shirt billowed, the custom-made Caster Gun could be seen resting in its holster on Vergil’s belt.
“Amusing?” Vergil replied. “I hardly find the massacre of a number of human, Protoss, and Zerg warriors that you just committed just by yourself ‘amusing.’” Vergil pointed to the decaying Zerg corpses at The Dominion’s feet. “Still, I cannot deny skill when I see it, and, as always, you have done an excellent job of displaying yourself as a lightsaber god once again.”
“Give it up, Vergil,” The Dominion chuckled. “My forces are currently bombarding your bases from orbit. It’s too late for you to call your Tiidan or Kushan fleets to stop them as well.” He made an arrogant smirk. “I am pretty sure your precious Ion Cannon Satellites are being taken care of as we speak.”
“They are machines. Machines serve their purpose and then break, unlike lives.” Pulling out a holo-projector from his shirt pocket, Vergil attached it to his glasses and continued speaking. “Actually, Dominion, your assessment of the battle is quite inaccurate. Your orbital bombardment has successfully destroyed an Allied Decoy base, while your orbiting fleet has been under fire from my Ion Cannons ever since you dropped the first bomb. Not to mention the fact that a well placed team of Tau Missile destroyers and Terran Goliaths dealt with your bomber force before it knew what hit them.” Frowning, the Dominion opened himself up to the Force. Sure enough, Vergil spoke the truth. His forces were under attack from all locations by enemies that were previously undetectable.
“I don’t know how you managed to hide your forces from me, Vergil,” The Dominion replied. “But somehow, you did. You know it doesn’t matter, though. At the touch of a button, I could blow up this whole planet and your victory would mean nothing.”
Vergil made a curious smile at The Dominion. “Oh really?”
The Dominion could definitely still sense the presence of the Death Star that he brought just in case. “Indeed,” he replied. “And I know how much you care for your men’s lives, so why don’t you just abandon the planet so that they are spared?”
Vergil smirked in response. Suddenly he drew his caster gun and pointed it at the Dominion. “Because I am calling your bluff.” He then squeezed the trigger slightly and allowed the gun to power up. “I know you won’t blow up the planet, because you need it more than I do. For me, this is simply a staging point to communicate with my new Tau allies.” Vergil smiled. “I know full well that with this planet, you can mass your forces and begin a full scale invasion of Tau space using the rift in orbit.”
The Dominion growled. “What’s your point?!”
“That we change the terms of the agreement.” Vergil replied, smirking. “You leave while I finish working out negotiations with the Tau. Then, when I’m gone, you can have the planet.”
The Dominion stood firm. “I need not negotiate with you over something I can take.”
“Then hurry up and take it.” Vergil replied. “I have work to do, people to see, and songs to sing.”
An uneasy silence fell over the pair as the Dominion pondered this. Finally, the Sith righted the Mobile Command Center with the Force and walked inside it. “You win this round Vergil, a well-fought one at that. Next time, though, your precious little traps won’t save you.”
“See you next game.” Vergil replied. The Dominion smirked and then drove off.
*****
Crystal came to in a lot of pain. Sitting up slowly, she grabbed her head and rubbed it. Not that her head hurt any more than the rest of her body. The gesture was simply a reflex to being in a new sort of pain. “Wow... I feel like I just went tripping through a blender.” Crystal then looked around in an attempt to figure out where she was. Clouds that couldn’t be discerned from smog obscured the sun in a green sky. The ground all around her was plain dirt; there wasn’t a blade of grass in sight.
“Wow.” Crystal commented to herself. “Looks like one of Chrétien’s failed attempts at gardening.” She then stood up and brushed some dirt off her skirt. “Only my dear late brother’s gardening didn’t turn the sky green...” Suddenly she broke out into violent coughing. Crystal hunched over on the ground and covered her mouth as she managed to get control of herself again. Looking around, she noticed an odd plant on the ground with green crystals growing out of it. “Alucard’s” warning replayed itself in her mind as she looked at the plant.
“Whoops!” she said, “Time for the gas mask!” Quickly, Crystal threw the gas mask that the man had given her on. She breathed deeply as the air seemed to clear of whatever spores made her feel awful before. Not that this dealt with the pain she had when she woken up with.
“I guess I made it. The different atmosphere, the pain, the plants . . . I must be in another dimension.” She then checked her equipment; all of it, including the bizarre watch, made it through the trip. “Well, with that I suppose I should start looking for this Giant Robot...”
Just then, the ground began to shake. Looking up, Crystal noticed a large bipedal machine walking over the next hill. The thing was certainly tall enough to count as a “Giant Robot.” It had gold-colored armor, with a bit of a desert-camouflage paint scheme on top of that. The Giant Robot had the legs and arms of a Gundam and the torso of Metal Gear Rex’s head. Slung over the shoulder of the mecha was what appeared to be a giant railgun. Suddenly, the mecha came to a stop and sat down on all fours, its arms and legs converting to legs like the Mammoth MK2 from Tiberian Sun. The railgun then shifted to the middle of the mecha’s back and pointed in an upward firing arch. The top and bottom halves of the railgun separated. A low hum could be heard from the cannon.
As the new sound of a loud engine rumbling was heard, Crystal looked up to where the cannon was pointing, revealing a large space ship flying toward the mecha at high speeds. Unleashing a high-pitched cry, the railgun fired a projectile so quickly that only the blue light trail could be seen behind it. Not but a second later, a white flash went off that would have blinded Crystal forever had she not had on the gas mask. She felt herself go flying and she landed on her butt about a hundred yards away. When the flash cleared, a mushroom cloud could be seen where the ship had been. There was no trace of the ship anywhere.
Crystal quickly stood back up. “Wooow . . . Ignoring the fact that if this were real life, that nuclear explosion would have killed me, I think it is time to steal that big explody mecha!” Without hesitation, Crystal ran as fast as she could for the mecha. It started converting back to its bipedal mode when she reached it. Reaching for the Belmont Whip, she managed to latch onto one of the servos connecting the arms. Riding the raising arm up, she managed to pull herself up and onto the arm and find a maintenance hatch on the side of it. Quickly opening the hatch and jumping in, Crystal found herself inside the mecha before it finished its transformation.
Somehow finding her way into the air vents of the mecha, Crystal crawled her way towards the cockpit. The cockpit was actually quite large for a mobile suit cockpit, featuring a pilot’s seat and a secondary pilot’s seat that sat at a bunch of computer consoles facing the cockpit glass. Crystal hoped to herself that the mecha could be driven by one person, and then cracked open a bottle of Holy Water, preparing to do the dirty part of the job. She threw the bottle in at the primary pilot. When the bottle contacted his skin, it burst into blue flames, which proceeded to burn the pilot immediately. Frantically jumping out of his seat, the pilot started trying to move about without catching the equipment on fire.
As the other pilot tried to help his companion out, Crystal kicked out the vent guard that was keeping her out of the cockpit and crawled into the back. Before the two pilots noticed her, she had already thrown the “Open Cockpit” switch. The cockpit glass rose. Distracted by the raising glass and the fires, the Pilots couldn’t stop her from hip-checking them out of the cockpit. Crystal then walked back to the switch and closed the cockpit glass once again.
“Alright, now that I have this ‘Giant Robot,’” Crystal commented to herself, “it is time to get the heck out of this weird place.” Sitting down at the pilot’s seat, Crystal examined the controls of the Mammoth Gear Rex MKII Prototype. “Now, if only I could figure out how to get the heck out of this weird place...”
*****
“Son of a #$&%*!!!” a young man with a long, black braided ponytail screamed. His long white button-down t-shirt with a black dragon on it flowed as he stood up. “That is bull @#&^!”
“Hahahaha, you are no match for the Vergil System!” Vergil cried as he quickly tapped up on the d-pad of his Gamecube controller, causing Link to taunt. Vergil was dressed in the same outfit he wore in battle with the Dominion, only it was a newly cleaned set.
“Watch it, Vergil!” The Dominion, clad in shorts and a Gundam Wing T-shirt, warned. “Roy’s comin’ for you!”
“And Kirby’s gonna eat you, Dominion!” Another young man, with a much shorter and cleaner pony tail and light brown hair, spoke. He was wearing an outfit much like The Dominion’s, only he had on a black Sailor Moon shirt instead.
The first young man stood up in frustration. “This ALWAYS HAPPENS! By the time I get good at one game, you guys go off and buy another one!”
“Calm down, B’harroth,” Vergil replied, “I really am sorry it works out that way, dude.” B’harroth continued to grumble under his breath.
“It doesn’t take that long for someone to get used to Smash Brothers Melee from Smash 64,” The Dominion commented.
“Yeah, for someone who has a Gamecube!” the young man identified as B’harroth replied.
“You’re fault for picking up the Playstation 2,” Vergil replied, “Although, I’m already regretting not having one for FFX and MGS2.”
“What amazes me,” the other young man started, “. . . is that he has both games and he doesn’t play them... OH NO! -AhhhH!” Just then, the young man’s character was taken out of the game for good.
“Hahahah! A winner is me!” The Dominion cried, “Now Vergil, Roy will see to it that I get revenge for earlier today!”
Vergil laughed. “And Link says you can bite me!”
“So, Void?” B’harroth asked the other young man. “What’s D-man over here talking about?”
Void sat up straight and took a sip from his Sobé bottle. “I guess the battle between Vergil and The Dominion continues over Tau’saeara 23. Apparently The Dominion lost the game because Vergil used sneak tactics.”
B’harroth scoffed. “Yeah, because Vergil’s a pissant little @#*!# coward!” A Caster Gun flew out of Vergil’s shirt and pointed at B’harroth’s head as Vergil waited for his character to respawn.
“Now, now,” Void commented, “You don’t want the surrounding twenty-five miles to be destroyed because of what B’harroth said, do you?”
“Yeah, pay attention to the game!” B’harroth replied. Vergil wordlessly put the gun back and resumed playing.
“Besides,” The Dominion chimed in. “We know we can’t kill each other. Why Vergil and B’harroth continue to physically threaten each other is beyond me.”
“’Cause it’s fun!” B’harroth replied, bashing Void upside the head with his fist. Void growled and tried to hit back, but B’harroth blocked. As Vergil and The Dominion continued playing, Void and B’harroth broke out into a Capoera Roda right in the middle of Vergil’s bed room. Finally, after 5 more minutes of game play, Vergil leaped up in victory as The Dominion cried out in defeat. This lasted only a second before a stray kick from B’harroth belted Vergil in the head and knocked him over.
“That’s it!” Vergil yelled as he leaped back up to his feet and broke out his caster gun, charging it. B’harroth stood still as a dark daemonic aura surrounded him. Just as a fight was about to break out, Vergil’s glasses began to beep. Vergil lowered his gun and tapped the side of the glasses frame and one of the lenses displayed a white Favu with a headset on. “Yeah, Favmar, go ahead.”
“It seems someone is trying to steal the Mammoth Gear Rex MK II Prototype again,” a voice on the other side of the line replied. “It doesn’t look like the work of any our guests right now, so I am not sure who did it.”
Vergil threw his R&D friends/competitors sideways-glances. After each of them shrugged, he returned to talking with Favmar. “Is it that Raven punk again?”
“Raven?” Void asked.
“Yeah,” Vergil replied in a scoffing tone. “There’s this odd ball who’s been leaving me messages and making weak hit and fade attacks on my bases for a couple of months now.” He then walked over to his PC look-a-like that was actually a gateway to ‘The System’ and reached into his messages. “Here,” he said as he played one.
“Greetings, Vergil.” One message spoke in a voice becoming of a bad-ass. “You should know that I, Raven, son of Shais, master of darkness, will come to claim your soul and your organization. Prepare yourself for my coming!”
Vergil then played another. This time the voice was slightly cockier and less controlled. “Ha! So it turns out you caught the Battletoads reference! Well, we’ll see how well you handle the gauntlet!”
Then another played, this time the voice filled with anger. “Make your day today, Vergil, for tonight, I will spill you blood myself!!!”
B’harroth struggled hard not to laugh. “And let me guess what happened, incineration?”
“Actually,” Vergil replied matter-of-factly. “I usually reserve mitochondrial control for repeat offenders and people I can’t stand, although, if he’s behind this event, I will be pulling some Parasite Eve references tonight.” Vergil then tapped his glasses frame again. “Alright, Favmar, I’ll get this one personally. Prepare the Chronosphere for immediate transport.”
“Go ahead, Vergil,” Void commented. “We know the way out.”
Vergil then nodded to his guests. “Take care, guys. Nice having you over!” There was a bright blue flash of light and Vergil was gone.
The Dominion paused as he and the other started walking out the door. “You know, guys, this will sound dumb, but I sense a disturbance in the Force from this Raven guy.”
“If that foolish Tau-loving moron Vergil can handle him,” B’harroth said, “then I am sure he’s nothing to worry about.”
“Still,” Void replied, “let’s be considerate to the poor mutant and not bug him until he deals with him.” The rest of the R&D masters nodded in agreement.
*****
About 20 minutes later, Crystal had finally figured out how to drive the Mammoth Gear. She had a hard time getting it to do any more than walk though, so she was lumbering quite slowly away from the base she picked up on the mecha’s radar. As the mecha walked forward, she tried playing with the watch she had received to figure out how to get back home.
Suddenly, a warning klaxon sounded. Crystal looked up at the HUD and noticed it was pointing to a base in the distance. The HUD read “Enemy Non-FavuTech Nod Base detected.”
“Enemy what?!” Crystal asked. She franticly searched the controls to try and get a feel for her weapons in case they attacked. “Oh man, I am not prepared to fight with this thing yet!”
She then noticed the computer started acquiring targets in the base. She flipped a switch in her frantic motions and the computer acquired a lock on the base’s Construction Yard. Crystal noticed a display animated the massive rail-gun moving from its idle position on the back of the mecha and into a forward shoulder-mounted position. The HUD displayed the words “PRESS FIRE.”
“Um, okay, if you say so . . . ” She found a trigger on the largest control stick and pressed it. The mecha suddenly came to a halt and the sound of clamps hitting the ground was heard. Before she could notice any other changes, the rail-gun fired and the words “Nuclear Launch detected,” appeared on her HUD. She covered her eyes as the blast hit in. When the flash cleared, there was little to no trace of the base.
”HAHAH!” Crystal laughed in victory. “With this, there is no way Queen Shais can stop us!” Just then, she noticed more blips on her radar. A trio of Favutech Aircraft appeared to be closing in on her position. “Oh no, the owners want their giant robot back. What am I going to do?!” She then noticed a strange little icon of a white ball with blue round eyes, round red feet, and a pair of antennae sticking out of its head. Next to the cute thing was a question mark. Shrugging, Crystal pressed the button.
“Help system activated,” a voice chimed in, “Please state how badly you need help.”
“I have no $%*&ing clue what I’m doing,” Crystal replied. Suddenly her controls moved away from her seat and into the sides of the cockpit. Then, a single Nintendo Gamecube controller came out and rested before her.
“Welcome to the emergency Mammoth Gear Rex MK II Prototype beginner’s training program,” the computer voice chimed, “Please grab the controller before you...”
About five clicks away, two GDI Orca fighters and an Orca Transport flew towards the Mammoth Gear. Vergil approached the pilot of the Orca Transport he was in. “Any sign that our thief knows how to operate the Mammoth Gear?” Vergil asked.
“Yes, sir,” the GDI solider replied. “The Mammoth Gear just destroyed a Nod Base we’ve been trying to deal with for some time now with the primary rail gun.”
Vergil frowned. “That’s not good. Last I checked, I haven’t evolved immunity to nuclear strikes yet...”
“The good news, sir,” the pilot continued, “is that the Prototype’s rail gun doesn’t have a very efficient cooling system yet. You have at least five minutes before it can fire again.”
“That’s good,” Vergil replied, patting the tan-uniformed pilot on the shoulder. “But if they can fire the rail gun, I bet they’ve activated the ‘for-dummies’ system on it I had installed for plot shortcuts.” Vergil walked to the back of the transport and suited up in some GDI Jump-Jet Trooper armor. “I want you to bring me within two clicks and then let me out... I don’t want the anti-air systems on that thing blowing you guys out of the sky.”
”Copy that, boss,” the Pilot replied.
A few minutes later, Crystal finished the driving tutorial. “Okay, I think I get it. Now, I’ll just turn around and auto-acquire targets on those aircraft...”
On board the Orca Transport, Vergil finished suiting up as one of the pilot let out a frantic cry. “Sir! The Mammoth Gear as a target lock!”
“Get yourselves out of here guys! I’m going in!” Vergil yelled as he threw open the transport door and leaped out. About one second after he jumped, the Orcas changed direction and Vergil activated the jets on his armor. Flying straight at the Gear, Vergil’s body began growing warm.
”What the?” Crystal exclaimed. “They dropped off one man and flew away? How cocky is this guy?” She held down the L-button and used the control stick to acquire lock on Vergil’s armor. When the crosshair turned red, she pushed down the A-button to fire the head-Vulcans. Each shot made their mark, but somehow disappeared just before they struck their target. Growling, Crystal hit Z to switch weapons and then hit R to fire the anti-air missiles. They impacted their target with a perfect hit, but when the explosions cleared, it looked like the armored warrior had taken no damage.
Vergil then brought himself to a halt and pulled out his Caster gun. The gun began to glow, and then it fired, nailing the mobile suit in the torso. The Mammoth Gear came to a sudden halt.
“Warning! System malfunction! Activating counter measures. The suit can act again in 1 minute and counting!” The HUD klaxons read. Crystal looked all around the cockpit in fright to notice sparks of energy leaping from computer console to computer console. She started to get up out of her seat when she noticed her adversary had flown up to the cockpit glass and was waving at her.
“Why, you-!” Crystal cried angrily at the suited warrior. Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out a pair of cards; one of the Roman God Mars and one of the creature Serpent. Using the Dual-Set-Up-System, she placed the two cards next to each other and then threw her arm out toward the cockpit glass. A blazing sword formed in her hand and she broke through the glass and into her adversary’s armor, knocking off the cockpit glass.
Crystal got out of her seat to look and see if he’d fallen to his death, but he wasn’t on the ground below her. As she searched the ground visually for the warrior, an orange ooze began to pour in through the ventilation system for the cockpit. By the time crystal had noticed, the ooze began to pile onto itself and took the form of the armored warrior.
Crystal drew her whip and gritted her teeth. “Who... WHAT are you?!”
The armored warrior took off his helmet. “That’s odd,” Vergil declared. “You’re not Raven. Do you work for him?”
“What are you talking about?” Crystal replied.
“Raven,” Vergil explained. “He’s a tall, pale man with light blue hair and likes to speak dramatically. I was hoping to punk him today, but you’re not him.”
Just then the Mammoth Gear came back to life and started walking forward on auto pilot. “What... what do you want?” Crystal asked.
“Well, my prototype mobile suit, for one,” Vergil replied, “and secondly, the reason why you’re trying to steal it.”
”You can’t take it back!” Crystal cried, preparing to attack. “I need this to save my people!” The whip cracked toward Vergil, but impacted an invisible barrier that emitted a bright orange glow when the whip hit.
“You know,” Vergil said, folding his arms, “Someone as attractive as you need only ask me for help instead of stealing my new toy.”
Crystal was startled by this and couldn’t stop herself from blushing. Coming back to her senses, she growled and then activated her cards, attacking Vergil with the flaming sword again. This time, the crafty NMC dodged the sword by side stepping it and then grabbing Crystal by the arm. He then spun behind her and grabbed her other arm and put her in an arm hold.
“Explain to me why you want my new toy!” Vergil said, holding her in the lock.
Crystal growled in between yelps of pain. “Alright, alright!” she cried. “A vampire queen named Shais has taken over my world and is slowly killing off my fellow vampire hunters.” She struggled, but Vergil held her firmly in place. “We’ve tried everything we can to stop her, but she’s too powerful, even for the powerful Belmont clan!”
Vergil thought for a moment. “Okay,” he started after thinking for a bit. “I’ll make you a deal. If you give me back my prototype and go out on a date with me, I’ll take care of this Shais for you.”
“You pervert!” Crystal yelled out. “I’m not some ‘thing’ for you to bargain with!” At this moment, the Ref Power “No Hentai Comment” light turned appeared in the upper corner of the screen.
“HEY!” Vergil yelled. “I said a date!! Nothing more, nothing less! Now get that infernal thing away from me!” In another moment, the sign disappeared. He released Crystal. “So, do we have a deal, cutie?”
“Stop it,” Crystal replied angrily. “And what exactly do you think you’re going to do to Shais without your giant robot? Are you even a vampire hunter?”
Vergil gave her a confused glance. “Girl, I just took back a state-of-the-art-Metal-Gear-mixed-with-Mammoth-MKII-referenced-Mecha from you by myself, and you question whether or not I can handle a vampire?” He then laughed a little and admired his handiwork. “Trust me, no undead hag is going to get the best of me.”
Crystal gave Vergil a frustrated look. She had to admit, he was right. She didn’t quite understand how he pulled it off, but he did manage to cancel out much of the firepower of the mecha. If that was what he could do alone, maybe he was just what she needed to tip the scales in their favor.
“Alright,” Crystal replied at last. “But I am down-grading the date to a kiss, that’s it.”
“Hey, no problems here,” Vergil replied, stepping closer.
Crystal shook her head. “Payment on delivery. You kill Shais, you get your kiss.”
“Oh, come on!” Vergil yelled, but Crystal shook her finger at him. After mumbling to himself about getting a raw deal, Vergil got serious. “Alright, so where did you come from, and how did you get here?”
“Actually,” Crystal trailed off a little embarrassed. “I kind of wound up here on accident due a device on this watch. I can’t figure out how to get back home.” Vergil walked up to Crystal and took a look at the watch.
“OH!” He cried in excitement. “An authentic The One personal dimensional portal watch! I’ve always wanted to tweak with one of these! Let me see it!” Crystal took off the watch and handed it to Vergil who began playing with it like a kid with a new toy. “Okay, this should be the memory key, and here’s your last departure point. So if I set that as the target and push the green button...”
