Series 1 Episode 9: Angel-Dante
I Am My Own Grandma
Screen Written by Mr. K
Opening Scene:
Vison of brother dying at the hands of Stephan VonSchneider. Alexander, the hero of the VonDraken family walks up to the VonDraken Keep and challenges Duke Stephan VonSchneider to a one on one duel. VonSchneider accepts his pathetic challenge. Stephan walks out to the drawbridge along with his minions and faces off with Alexander. They stare at each other, focusing, focusing, focusing, and finally Alexander strikes, but he misses along with Stpehan. That is when Alexander strikes again, but miraculously he misses (damn those DP). Unfortunately, Stephan is not so fortunate and strikes down Alexander. Not being dead, nor out, but definitely down (-40 LP) Stephan decapitates his head.
The last thing she sees is Alexander's head on a pike and Stephan gloating about his trophies (the ancestral sword and panzer hand of the VonDraken family, the only things that could actually kill him permanently!)
Act 1:
'Asia' stares out wildly talking to herself. Then suddenly she tells the party that Tasha's brother is dead and he was killed by Stephan VonSchneider in Redemption, Germany. She wants them to come with her and enter a dueling competition against Stephan and his minions. They agree, reluctantly, but they agree. So they grab some airline tickets, pack some equipment, and catch the first flight to Berlin, Germany. After the flight they get a van and head on out to Redemption.
Prior to arriving 'Asia' informs them about the rules of the duel and the real reason she is here, to avenge Tasha's brother. They arrive in Redemption. Then they head off to the saloon (it is an old west type of town with saloons, hotels, general store, etc...) Once in the saloon they ask around about he duel. Mason immediately signs up, Tash, Crystal, and Sylvia all attempt to sign up they are refused entrance due to the rule that states women are not allowed to enter the duel.
While there they learn some of the main players which include the Kid, the General, Dog Face, Bob, Jack, Ace, Stephan, Tamiki, and others. The party ends up talking a lot with Tamiki. He is from a different dimension, Rokugan. It seems Tamiki did not become a Kami, but instead learned how to become immortal and has been traveling the universe and some how ended up here on Earth 2525. Tamiki informs us of how the duel works. He even teaches us some of the basics. It seems ‘Asia’ and Mason is the only two capable of understanding even the rudimentary stances from Tamiki. They even learn a little about Rokugan customs.
Later that evening Stephan walks into to the saloon. He brings with him a priest of Evan, who he accuses of deserting him and hiding behind the false god, Evan. He announces to the saloon patrons “Its time for a good old fashion hanging, boys!” With that he throws a rope over the rafter, pulls out a stool, and forces the priest up on to the stool and wraps a hang mans noose around his neck. Stephan says “Now you ready to see a hanging?” With that he steps back and pulls out a gun and says “One”, click bang a stool leg is blown out, “Two”, click bang a second stool leg is blown out, “Three”, click bang a third stool is blown out, and the priest is barely able to stand. Finally, he says “Four”, click, suddenly a violent thug sounds out and a knife severs the rope from the rafters and Stephan is looking directly into ‘Asia’ face to face. He says “Well, I think we will now allow women to enter the duel, and you” points to Asia “You, have to pick your opponent by sun down. I expect you to survive to see the end and me!” With that Stephan and his goons leave and the rest of the saloon seems to go back to normality.
That evening a number of strange occurrences happen throughout the hotel that the party is staying at. Mason goes to his own room, ‘Gabriel’ asks to share a room with ‘Asia’, but she refuses and joins Sylvia and Crystal. She even jumps into the same bed as Crystal. Later that evening, Mason has an extraordinary dream and he ends up screaming out in pleasure so loud he ends up waking the entire floor. Asia, Crystal, and Sylvia go rushing to Mason’s room to investigate, but the encounter a locked door. ‘Asia’ decides to break in and they encounter Mason lying in bed by himself, soaked in sweat, and naked. He says it was nothing but nobody believes him.
Act 2:
The next day the duels began:
Mason vs the Kid. Both focus and the Kid flinches. Mason missed and the Kid missed, but Mason finally strikes the Kid in the flurry of melee. Mason wins.
‘Asia’ vs the General. Both focus and the General flinches. ‘Asia’ miraculously hits the General and the General misses. It never even makes it to melee. A classic duel, too bad Mason didn’t learn his lessons as well. ‘Asia’ classic victory.
Crystal vs Jerry. Both focus and Jerry call flinches. Crystal missed and Jerry missed, but Crystal manages to strike Jerry in melee. Crystal wins.
Sylvian vs Dog Face. Both focus and Dog Face flinches. Sylvia missed and Dog Face missed, but Sylvia manages to strike Dog Face in melee. Sylvia wins.
Tamiki vs Bob and Bob flinched. Tamiki decapitates Bob immediately in a single strike and before the head even falls to the ground he cleans and sheathes his blade in a single action.
Ace vs Jack. Both focus and jack flinched. Ace kept on bragging about his great victory.
Later that evening, everyone went to bed as usual. Mason had some type of weird dream he won’t talk to anyone about. Some how Crystal ended up in Mason’s room again, and even she had a very intense dream. ‘Asia’ thinking something is weird is going on goes to barge in on ‘Gabriel’, but there is nobody home. She searches the room but doesn’t find anything incriminating. Wanting to find out what is going on she stays in his room laying in his bed, somehow she fell asleep. During her sleep she had a terrifying dream about Stephan and some unique ‘dreams’. She wakes up lying next to ‘Gabriel’, so she decides to make good on those ‘dreams’. Lets just say that what happens next ends up being taped by Sylvia unknown to both ‘Gabriel’ and ‘Asia’ who were way to engrossed in what they were doing (can we just say grosse/kinky), but throughout their entire ‘encounter’ they both keep on yelling out “Caleb” and “Tasha”. Now everyone who has seen ‘Asia’ knows she looks exactly like Tasha, but Gabriel doe not even look similar to Caleb.
Act 3:
The next day, the duels continue:
Stephan vs Ace. Both focus and Ace flinches. It wasn’t even a warm up match for Stephan, Ace lost so badly it wasn’t really even a duel, more like a murder. Stephan wins.
Mason vs Sylvia. Both focus and Mason flinches. Sylvia missed so badly she lost her sword barely missing Mason’s head and impales the sword into the building behind him (30’ away), but Mason comes back in a furious blow and strike Sylvia, but barely scratches her. Maybe he is better than he looked during the first match. ‘Mason’ wins.
‘Asia’ vs Joe. Both focus and Joe flinches. It wasn’t even close, ‘Asia strikes him and practically kills him in a single blow. ‘Asia’ wins.
Crystal vs Smith. Both focus and Smith flinches. Crystal wins.
Tamiki vs Stephan VonSchneider. Stephan is standing outside, but Tamiki does not show up, so ‘Asia’ goes to his dojo and finds him meditating and praying to some of his ancestrors (Shiba, Zahra, and Abba). He informs ‘Asia’ that it is important to pray even to your enemy. They both head out, during the walk ‘Asia’ says “Tasha would be honored if you would honor her by avenging her brother’s death.” Tamiki says “I do this not for honor, glory, or even revenge, I do this to duel, and send this ‘Oni’ back to were it belongs, Jenkoku.” They both stand before each other and focus, focus, focus, focus, and Stephan flinches. With blazingly fast speed Tamkiki moves past Stephan and it looks as if he missed, but Stephan does not seem to be moving. Stephan is standing perfectly still, ‘Asia’ walks up and gives him a nudge, but his head falls off. Tamiki then walks away and says nothing.
The tournament is called, because nobody was interested in the money, except for Tamiki?
Later they call Dante back in the states. He answers and as they are talking they notice that TV station has an interruption. The TV station says “Whats that” “Dante says, what are you talking about” in the background and on TV. Suddenly the TV goes black and a different channel announces “At the Parker industries headquarter a jumbo jet crashed in to the building destroying the entire building and everyone in it.”
Finale:
‘Asia’ goes to castle to find family, but finds nothing. She does manage to get Tasha’s ancestral Sword and Panzer Hand from Tamiki. On further investigation of the castle grounds she is killed by an unknown assailant. Afterwards, she is caught in the after life by Humungus. During a very long and very similar conversation (it seems she had a similar conversation with Lephisto) she is sent back to the past with the Philosophers' Stone. She meets her ancestral grandmother the wife of Nicholas VonDraken Tasha’s grandfather. She needs the stone to save him and finish her invention (Humungus makes a deal with her, the invention explodes). She gives her the stone and goes back to the future. When she gets there all is not right and she ends up going back, to a burnt out castle, most likely after the invention exploded. She goes back to the future, to find Humungus asking strange questions. During her conversation with Humungus she gets a call, from the little boy Tony threatening to kill her sister? ‘Asia’ takes Humungus to meet Tony. When they all get together ‘Asia’ finds out that she is Tasha, but not Tasha VonDraken IV. See Tasha is actually Tasha VonDraken, the first, the original. Tasha never died, she was never killed by the Faeries, she didn’t die later, and she never died. Her memories were erased and replaced by Humungus every time, none of them actually real. She keeps on dying and loosing her memory before she finds out her full memory, but when she went back this last time history was changed and now she knows her full self, she is her own mom's mom and grandma's grandma. She is roughly 900+ years old!
Next Week’s Preview:
Read, I do mean read, the second part of this adventure, Gabriel's journals. All I can say is 'WOW!"