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Tryout Fic 7: VillageThe mood inside the heroes haunt was a light one. As always, there was the usual lone wolf figures, sitting by themselves, there was of course a table where many of the swordsmen fought, now only populated by Squall, and the blond haired warrior everyone had gained a new respect for, after winning last year. Several newcomers we're in the bar, some standing, looking lost, some sitting, acting as though they had been here their whole lives, and last, but not least was the poker game, which had three figures standing up, all pointing their pistols at the other man at the table. "Damn it Vercetti, we saw you cheat!" growled Max Payne, a former cop in his old world. He held his gun in a tightly closed hand. It rested barely 4 inches from Vercetti's head, after Max kicked his chair away, and stood up. The other two did not say anything, however, merely held their guns to Vercetti's head. Both of them veteran's in combat, Samus Aran and Solid Snake had been here since year one. Last year, the two had developed a relationship, nothing serious, or even noticeable at first glance, but any who knew the two could tell by the way they acted around each other. "Hey, hey, cool it guys, I didn't cheat!" pleaded Vercetti, the mobster in his old world. He was not what you would call an idol citizen, constantly breaking laws just to gain a few extra bucks. Vercetti was a guy who would do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. A laugh drifted to the poker table, which sat in the corner of the bar. The laugh had all four poker players look in the corner, the three with guns still held them to the mobster however. A familiar face greeted the four, as Dante, their old poker buddy walked out of the corner, to beside Vercetti. Dante was a half demon, half human, demon hunting, gun wielding, swordsman. He wore his red trenchcoat, as he used his sword to neatly trim the sleeve of Vercetti's shirt. As nearly ten aces fell out, the three with guns pushed them closer, as Dante laughed once more. "Gentlemen, and women, is this the welcome I get, not even a hello?" laughed Dante, in his cocky voice. He sheathed his sword, and began to finger his two self-built pistols, ebony and ivory. "Welcome back Dante, glad to see you made it again" said Samus, extending her free hand to shake Dante's. After a firm shake, Samus once again concentrated on Vercetti. Snake just looked at Dante, and nodded, which was all Dante needed to know that Snake too, was a least somewhat glad to see him return. The former cop smiled at Dante, and nodded, not wanting to take his concentration of the cheater. "Well then, I'm gonna' go catch some fresh air, maybe see if I can work on my sword skills some more. Don't get me wrong though, I'm lookin' forward to beatin' you all again at poker this year too, just not yet" said Dante, with a chuckle to himself, he walked towards the table which was in use by Squall and Cloud. "Evening gentleman, either of you up for a duel, I know you guys don't want to be shown up, so I'll go easy on ya'" said Dante, with a smile. Not two seconds after he finished his sentence did both swordsmen stand up, weapons in hand. "Woah, easy tigers, how about it Squall, you up for a spar or two?" asked Dante, taking a step back to get out of reach of the swords. Squall nodded, as he followed Dante to the training grounds. "Alright, you ready Squall?" asked Dante, as he pulled his sword Sparda out of it's sheath. With a nod from Squall, Dante rushed forward. Squall had his gunblade in hand, ready to block Dante's first attack. He remembered that he had though the same thing, as his rival, Seifer Almasy, gave him the scar that was still on his face. He remembered the look in Seifer's eyes, one of madness, but also of grim satisfaction. Squall most likely would have lost then and there, if Dante had not hollered, to snap Squall back into the fight. With cat-like reflexes, Squall raised his gunblade, blocking the first attack. In one fluent motion, Dante raised his foot, kicking the low gunblade's dull edge. The gunblade moved, and it's block faltered, as Dante was able to get a weak slash on Squall's hand, just deep enough to draw blood. He drew his sword back again, ready for a swipe at Squall's legs, when he saw Squall cast a spell of some sort on himself. Dante, not accustomed to much magic, stared in awe, as his opponent began to glow a golden yellow. Squall smiled, and raised his gunblade, as he charged at the demon hunter. "Ah hell" muttered Dante to himself. He had heard of this earlier, the Renzokuken, Squall had nearly destroyed Samus with a weak one last year. Squall slashed, but to his surprise, he caught only air. With a glance up, he saw Dante twirling upwards in a jump. To his displeasure, he saw Dante sheath his sword, and pull out his pistols, Ebony and Ivory, Squall remembered. With a smile, Dante emptied a round at Squall, knowing well enough that the SeeD could dodge the bullets. As his opponent was rolling away from the bullets, Dante began to sink, as he had already used his two jumps in mid air, quickly putting away the guns, and re- drawing Sparda. As he hit the ground, his trenchcoat came down behind him with a whoosh sound. Squall, upon hearing this, lunged at the sound, not even looking up, hoping to catch the demon hunter by surprise. His attack, however, was foreseen by Dante, as he quickly parried the attack, and took a step back. His hand holding Sparda darted out, stopping just before Squall's neck. Dante nearly laughed, but quickly saw the gunblade touching his neck. "Well fought Dante, keep it up, and you've got a shot at making the sweet sixteen" Squall said, lowering his gunblade. "Right back at ya' Squall, right back at ya'" replied the demon hunter, as he, to, lowered his sword. As he watched Squall walk away, he smiled to himself. "You don't know the half of it Squall, you don't know the half of it" laughed Dante, happy that Squall seemed to be unaware of his Demon form. With a smirk, and a quick sheathing of his sword, he set off at a run back to the bar, eager for a hand of poker. Battle: Dante vs Bomberman "Fuse is Up"A polite applause swept the crowd, as a large headed figure stepped into the arena, who was aptly named bomberman. He held a bomb in his fingerless block of a hand, and puller another bomb from nowhere with his other hand. This was recieved with slightly more applause from the crowd. The applause for that little show, however, was nothing compared to the applause that swept the crowd as Bomberman's opponent stepped in. Dante, the demon hunter, stepped in, brandishing his two pistols, giving slight waves and nods to the crowd. Dante, who was always one for being slightly cocky, eventually laughed, and began waving to the crowd, beckoning them for more applause. As Dante did this, he heard a slight 'Clang' sound, thinking nothing of it he continued to wave. However, when something tapped his foot, he looked down to see a bomb, with a short fuse, resting against his left foot. "Oh ****" growled Dante, as the bomb exploded underneath him, sending him flying into the air in a cloud of dirt. Bomberman, thinking he had won, began waving at the crowd. Some, slowly, began to clap, thinking the 13th seed had pulled out the upset. Clearly, Dante's charisma had been his downfall, as slowly most of the spectators began to clap. In the crowd, however, several did not clap. Samus, Snake, Max, and Vercetti all looked astonished. Cloud, Sephiroth, and Link did as well. Squall, however, was quietly laughing to himself, staring into the cloud of dirt. Gunfire. Gunfire was all Bomberman heard. He jumped, but was hit in the leg. He collapsed with a sickening thud. The crowd fell silent, as an angered Dante jumped out of the cloud of dirt, pistols still in hand. Dante knew that range would be the key to this battle. Bomberman, hurt, but not beaten, rolled another bomb towards the demon. With a smirk, Dante shot at the bomb just after Bomberman let go of it. The sound of an explosion, and another sickening thud was all that could be heard. Dante, who was bleeding on his arms and face, walked towards the cloud of dirt. As he reached the edge, he suddenly jumped back, barely avoiding a hard punch aimed at him. Bomberman, who had barely survived that last explosion, knew it was now or never. He lit a fuse, and rolled the bomb towards Dante, it reached his feet, with a still half full fuse. Dante smiled, a smile that was not often seen on his face. It was a sadistic smile, one of victory. He chuckled to himself, as he kicked the bomb back towards it's owner. Bomberman, who was on his stomach, propped up by one hand, looked grim as he saw the bomb slowly approach him. He thought about all the times he had used bombs to his victory. He did not expect this to happen, the bombs should have been more than enough to kill this thing. What was it inhuman! He looked at Dante, barely able to keep his eyes open due to the scratches, cuts and bruises. "Your just lucky these bombs can't completely kill you!" shouted Dante, with a smirk. The look bomberman gave was a questioning one, and Dante continued with, "because the fuse is up now" With that, Dante smiled, and mouther the word Boom. The bomb exploded, and sent Bomberman into the air. After Bomberman landed, victory was declared in the name of the demon hunter. Dante, doing the polite thing, carried Bomberman to the portal leading out of the Potra Dei. "Oh, and just so you know, I really am inhuman, although I didn't use it against you" laughed Dante. Bomberman was left to wonder how Dante knew he thought that, and what he meant. Next Entry Back |