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July 28th, 2003Preshow Dante strolled into the Hero's Haunt at around noon, walked in and asked for his usual drink. Unlike most days he was not carrying his two guns Ebony and Ivory. He simply wore his Ifrit gauntlets, and his sword Alastor. "Thanks, pops." Dante said, pushing over a few bills and some coins as the scruffy old bar keeper gave him his Vodka Stinger. Dante turned around to survey the Hero's Haunt, it was pretty much empty at this hour, a few of the more moody people came there to get peace and quiet during the day, while the training center was in an uproar. He saw Cloud at one table chatting with Squall, they were having lunch, only a few people ate at the Hero's Haunt when the cafeteria served free food. He looked over to the back corner and saw Snake sitting back in his chair immersing himself in a game of Solitaire. Dante walked over to the table and helped himself to a seat. "You look bored." "Don't you have a match today?" Snake asked not looking up from his card game. "I do, but I'm not too worried about it," Dante said cracking his trademark smirk. "If you don't prepare for your matches your gonna get beat." Snake pointed out, moving a three and a four over to a row from a king down to a five. "Yeah, and you'd really hate that," Dante sneered, finishing off his drink and beckoning to the bar keep for another one. Snake flipped three more cards over from the draw deck and then looked up at Dante, "Is there some reason you're here, kid?" "I guess there isn't," Dante said getting up and moving over to the bar for his second drink. "Snake, come to the match, and you'll see what you're up against." He drank his vodka stinger in one gulp, slammed his glass down on the table, and walked out of the tavern. "I already saw what I'm up against, and it isn't you." Snake said to himself, as he got the last ace he needed and put it aside from the other cards. ---- Ryo Hazuki was in his locker room preparing. He had finished his stretching exercises and was now doing 50 one-handed push-ups on each hand to loosen himself up. He had fought lots of tough people but this would be his first experience with the supernatural. He finished on his right arm and moved over to his left. This guy Dante hasn't really been training, at least not in the training center, that means he's over confident. Or that he's been training elsewhere. Ryo himself had been training outside the training center. He had found a nice vacant parking lot that seemed to be used for the overnight crew that repaired the numerous damages to the stadium and set up the gunfighters maze only. only, he had gone there once at night and the lot had been full. Ryo was looking back on it now and beginning to think that he should have requested the gunfighters maze. Sure Ryu hadn't used it against Duke Nukem, but he had long range attacks. Oh well, not the time to be questioning my own skill, I've just got to do this. Ryo said getting up and heading for the field. The Battle Dante strolled out onto the field 30 minutes late, or fashionably late as he liked to say. He was met by an uproar, half of approval, half of relief to see that he actually came. He waved, and began to walk towards the center of the ring. His opponent Ryo Hazu-something or other, was waiting in the center, he seemed to be a little pissed. "Sorry, I stopped by the Hero's Haunt for a quick drink or two. Hope you don't mind." Dante said a stupid grin coming across his face. "Hmph," grumbled Ryo stepping backwards into a defensive stance. The announcer gave the signal to begin, Ryo beckoned Dante to attack. "Ah, going on the defensive, eh? I guess you could use a little bit of an advantage," said Dante removing the sword from his back and tossing over to Ryo. "You do know how to use a sword right?" Ryo looked down and then picked up the sword, it was heavy, much heavier than the man across from him made it look. But he was no slouch, he picked it up and perfromed a few quick manuvers, and then went into a defensive position. Dante smiled and started laughing, "I must say I'm impressed, but lets see what you can do." Suddenly he stopped laughing and jumped towards Ryo. He drew his fist back, and a demon flame engulfed the gauntlet. Ryo moved the sword up in a slash and deflected the attack and spun around and planted a side kick right in Dante's stomach. He connected, but it didn't seem to affect the crimson-clad warrior. Dante swung his body around and extended his leg, the heel of his boot connected with Ryo's rib cage. Ryo slid sideways, but bounced back with a hard downward slash. Dante reached up, crossing his arms, and blocked the attack with his gauntlets. He kicked towards Ryo's stomach but Ryo anticipated his move and let go of the sword, dropping under the kick and sweeping Dante off of his feet. Continuing his spinning motion, Ryo got to his feet and kicked Dante in the stomach. Dante rolled backwards and then sprung onto his feet. With a yell, a wave of flame pulsed off of his body and hard black skin resembling cooled magma covered his body. Ryo picked up the sword and took a defensive stance. The new being stood up strait, stretched its neck, and a fiery grin spread across its face. Slowly he raised one hand, palm facing towards the sky. Soon above it a ball of fire began to materialize. Then he raised his hand high in the air and flung the ball at Ryo. Ryo braced himself and held the flat side of the sword forward. The fire ball slammed into the metal blade and drove Ryo back against the ground. The pressure from the blast was incredible as was the heat. Ryo clenched his teeth for the pain and put his forearm up against the blade. He was still being pushed back, his feet sliding along the ground. With a great yell he pushed the blade up and the fireball was deflected up towards the stands. Oh no!!! thought Ryo. Dante saw the fireball go up above the sword and head towards the crowd. "Damn," he whispered under his breath. And then with demon like speed he broke into a run, he passed right by Ryo and leaped up in the air, so that he was slightly under the fireball. Then he performed a backflip and kicked the fireball right back at Ryo. Ryo watched what happened but barely had enough time to react before the fireball impacted into the ground and exploded. Ryo was flung backwards but managed to keep his balance. He landed backpeddaling and was able to stay on his feet still holding the sword. He ran into the cloud of smoke that had been raised by the explosion. Dante landed on the ground, removed himself from demon status, inspected the crowd to make sure noone was hurt, and returned to the battle. There was a large cloud of dust and smoke that had been raised by the explosion. Ryo was inside the dust cloud, he had heard Dante land so he knew where he was. He began to spin the sword around like a hammer throw, and released it. It flew through the cloud and emerged from it leaving a swirl of dust behind it. Dante started to react but then stopped as the sword flew through the air. It hit him directly in the chest, he flew back a few feet, and then skidded along the ground not moving. "Is it over?" said Ryo looking at the motionless body of Dante. He looked over at the announcer who seemed just as puzzled as Ryo. Slowly the announcer began, "It....it...looks.....IT LOOKS LIKE DANTE IS DOWN. RYO IS THE WIN-" "Don't be so fast to say that," said a voice from Dante's direction. Dante rose to his feet his sword sticking out of his chest. He began to walk towards Ryo who seemed quite scared. "I really do hate making speeches with a sword hanging out of my chest, it restricts air flow from my lungs," he removed the sword from his chest. "That's better." Ryo looked on in horror the color fleeting from his face, "You're not human." Dante looked at him, with a perplexed look on his face, and then said, "No, I'm a demon. Didn't you know that, its not like I've been trying to hide it." "But....but....." "Here, lets make it a little more even," said Dante. Dante picked up the sword with ease and without effort flung it the 60 yards between him and the entrance, leaving it sticking out of the wall less than a foot away from the guards head. The guard proceeded to piss himself and faint. He then took off both of the gauntlets and tossed them to the side. "Let's go kid." Alright thought Ryo, This is exactly what I needed to pull of a win here today. Ryo had watched Dante's moves, and they were slow, much more focused on power than speed, he shouldn't have any problem with someone as slow as Dante, just so long as he didn't make any mistakes. Dante burst toward Ryo. Ryo noticed that his speed had diminished even more since losing those two gloves. Ryo easily ducked under a round-house but was suprised by Dante continuing the motion with a low spinning punch. Which caught Ryo right in the sternum. Ryo rolled back and performed a handspring to get to his feet. He looked over at Dante who had jumped back and was now dancing back and forth in his fighting stance waiting for Ryo to make his move. That was way too powerful to be a normal person's punch. He must still retain his demon powers even without his weapons. Just more of a challenge. Ryo went back on the offensive with a spinning heel kick, Dante put up his arm and stopped it in his tracks. Ryo switched back with a reverse side kick, but Dante managed to catch his foot and pushed him backwards. Ryo began to lose patience. He threw a strong, but sloppy punch at Dante's face. Dante read the move and punched Ryo's fist with his own, jerking Ryo's arm back dislocating his shoulder. He just got quicker, a lot quicker Dante was jumping back and forth just taunting Ryo. Ryo popped his shoulder back into place and went back on the offensive. Ryo came in with a flying kick, Dante blocked the attack by crossing his arms in front of the kick. As Ryo came to the ground Dante tried a chop attack to the side of Ryo's neck. Ryo ducked under it and planted both his fists into Dante's stomach. Dante grunted, stumbled, but then came right back slamming his knee right into Ryo's stomach. Ryo staggered back and fell to the ground. Ryo was on his knee's clutching his stomach, Dante walked over and stood above him, "Come on kid, you don't stand a chance, just give up." Ryo drew his breath and then said, "I'll never give up." Dante sighed and began to walk away, Ryo yelled after him, "This isn't over!!!!" Dante stopped looked back at Ryo over his shoulder and turned around. He began walking toward Ryo slowly. Right as he reached the fallen warrior he drew back his foot and slung it forward, a black arc stretched from the original position of Dante's foot to Ryo's face. Ryo flew up four or five feet in the air, and landed on his back, completely unconcious, a small trail of blood leading from his cheek. "DANTE DEFEATS RYO HAZUKI!!!!!" yelled the announcer. Dante stood in the center of the arena taking his bows for a few moments. He then walked over to pick up his gloves, which happened to be by the players booth, gave a quick wink at Snake, a nod at Ryu and then returned to his locker room. Aftermath Dante rose from his crouching position, straightening up slowly, reverting back to his human form. The white-haired swordsman looked around him and smirked. He was in the training center, standing at the very center of a massive circle of debris. This is why I didn't use this place...these dummies are far too fragile. I rather pity the one who has to clean up every night...but it's none of my concern. There was a rasping sound from behind him as two slots on the wall opened up, and suddenly ejected a series of four clay pigeons apiece at an extremely high velocity, almost too quickly for the naked eye to see. The naked eye of a pure human, that is. Dante spun around, drawing his two pistols in an instant. Ebony and Ivory barked, spitting fire. The slots had ejected a total of eight of the ceramic discs. Dante had fired eight shots. Without even pausing for an instant, the half-demon holstered the weapons as quickly as he had drawn them. Sparta's son turned, the his red coat billowing, and smirked as the remains of the clay pigeons clattered to the floor of the training center. A flicker of motion caught his eye, and Dante turned to see the kid he had beaten earlier walking away down the hall. Probably just got out of the med center... thought the demon hunter to himself. "Kid, you fought good," called the elder warrior. Ryo Hazuki turned, and laughed softly to himself. "Not good enough, though. I guess I never had to worry about fighting demons in Hong Kong. Bouncers, thugs, criminals? No problem...but the supernatural's another story." Dante shook his head again. "Hell, kid, ghosts and goblins and all that **** that are just fairy tales in your world...they're a pain in the ass for me to fight, and I'm half-demon. But you? You're just a human. And you're barely an adult...how old are you, kid? Sixteen? Seventeen?" The young martial artist met the demon hunter's crystal blue gaze. "Eighteen." "Not much of a difference. But hell...you didn't back down from the fight, even when you knew I was more than human. You didn't give up. Kid, you got talent, but more importantly, you've got guts. I respect that." Dante reached down to his belt, grabbed his Ebony pistol, and popped a single round from the magazine before reholstering it. The red-clad fighter tossed the bullet to his younger opponent, who caught it easily. "It ain't much, kid, but keep it. You've earned my respect." The Japanese boy looked down at the bullet in his hand, back up at Dante, and then back down to his hand. A small smile found its way onto his face, and Ryo pocketed the gift. "Thanks. Now...if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find the man who murdered my father, and kill him." Dante chuckled softly. "Somehow, I don't doubt it." Next Entry Back |