Been a while since I wrote a fanfic. Been trying to work on one based on the anime Lost Universe, but after playing Portrait of Ruin some, I felt like either drawing something or writing something. I can't draw very good, so I went with the story. I think it's the first fanfic here based on Portrait of Ruin.

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Vincent Dorin, the Priest who happened to have set up shop in Dracula's Castle, was reading some books he had brought with him. His only customers being A young male and female set out to destroy the evil within the castle, he didn't have much to do. Plus, there was a blue ghost outside the room he was in. He just stayed in the room, hoping the ghost would go away. He also hoped the male and female were OK.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard. He looked up and saw one of the vampire hunters. The male, Jonathan Morris.

"Greetings," Vincent said. "Is the girl doing that hidden magic trick thing again?"

Jonathan shook his head. "No, not this time."

"No, don't tell me that girl was..."

"Relax, she's probably fine. We split up a little while ago."

"Oh," Vincent said. "But isn't it a bit dangerous to wander around separately? Or did the monsters separate you?"

"The monsters had nothing to do with it," Morris said. He then started to recall the events of an hour ago.

---

"I say we should go this way!"

"I think this way!"

Jonathan and his partner, Charlotte Aulin, stared at each other, frustrated. On an end table next to them was a piece of the castle map.

"Look, this is the direct route to where we need to be!" Jonathan said, pointing to the map at a room that was two rooms left of their location.

"Yeah, if we could get past all the monsters! We should go this way. There might be a shrine we can rest at, and a safer path to our destination," Charlotte said, pointing to another nearby part of the map above their current location. This was a staircase, and a few hanging platforms.

"Safe?! Hello, we're in Dracula's Castle. There is no 'safe' path. Everything is out to get us! Or at least me," Jonathan responded, remembering Zacchino, a demon in the City of Haze that tried to give Charlotte a rose, but attacked Jonathan with a sword.

"Look, let's just go. If we see more monsters my way, then we'll come back and go your way," Charlotte said. She then jumped up and tried to land on Jonathan, so she could jump higher. However, Jonathan moved to the side. Charlotte fell to the ground and rolled for a bit. "Why did you move?" she asked, annoyed.

"We already know the double jump ability. Why don't you just use your broom and double jump up there?" Jonathan said, arms crossed.

"Because it's still out of reach with just the double jump."

Jonathan tried a few times using his double jump, but the next platform was just out of reach each time.

"See?" Charlotte said with a slight smile. "Now let me jump off your shoulders. Then I can double jump off you and get even higher."

"As long as it is my shoulders. You keep stepping on my head!"

"Oh please, that was only once or twice."

"Once or twice?" Jonathan said, surprised. "You've stepped on my head at least fourteen times! And with three of those, the heel of your shoe went into my mouth! I swear I can name every bread and cheese you stepped on in the shops in the City of Haze.

"Well, then you shouldn't mind. Heck, the way you eat sometimes, I'm surprised you didn't try to eat my shoe!"

"That's no problem. Remember when we fought Behemoth? You thought the little worm things that came out of him were icky and tried to squash every one you could find with your heels? Not to mention the pot of green goo we fought, pieces of skeletons we fought, and the sand in that desert area. I've probably got all of that on my tongue."

"Fine, I'll try to make sure I step on your shoulders," Charotte said. Jonathan sighed, agreed, and got into position. Charlotte jumped up, and did land on his shoulder. But her other foot accidentally hit him in the head, and he fell backwards. This caused Charlotte to lose her balance, and she couldn't get as high as she needed. She landed, and looked around for Jonathan.

"Owww..."

She looked down at the direction of the painful sounds, and saw she was standing on Jonathan's chest.

"What happened?" she asked, not caring if she was causing him pain or not.

"This time, you managed to kick me in the head!" Jonathan said. "By the way, why do you have to carry all those heavy books? You realize two of those weigh as much as you, right?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere. Let's try again." Charlotte said.

"No. I'm not doing that again. I'm going the way I suggested in the first place, whether you come with me or not."

Charlotte got really angry at this. "Fine, I'll find my own way!" she yelled at him. The then walked down his body, and stepped right on his crotch with her heel. As she disappeared down a hallway, Jonathan curled into a fetal position, and fumbled to get a bottle of potion open.

---

"So you went your way and fought the monsters?" Vincent asked.

"No," Jonathan said. "I only had the one potion. Charlotte's carrying the rest. I came to rest and buy some more."

"I hope she wasn't carrying all the money, too."

"...Aww crap!"

---

Meanwhile, Charlotte had returned to the room where she and Jonathan split up to get the map they left there. She saw he wasn't there, and did wish he was OK. She then saw the map on the floor next to the knocked over end table. Picking up the map, she dragged the end table to beneath the platforms, and climbed on it. She looked down at the table. It was creaking some but it was holding. She jumped up, then used her broom to jump again, and managed to get to the platform. Looking at how far the table was below her, she smiled and started going up the stairs.

Opening a door at the top of the stairs, she almost gasped at what she saw. A whole lot of Jerajies. "I see you!" they all yelled, and aimed right at her.

Charlotte let out a yelp, and ran past them, using the Tome of Arms as a type of shield. She got to the other side, ran through the door, and slammed it shut behind her. She then used a chair to jam the door closed. Looking around, she found a potion to restore Magic Points.

And that was it, except for another door, but it was locked.

"Ok, this was a bad idea," she mumbled.

---

Meanwhile, Jonathan was now in the same room as the end table. He was fully healed, and had talked Vincent into letting him have a few potions with the promise of a later, larger payment. He opened the door, only to find two Axe Armors and a Persephone vacuuming. He dodged an axe, defeated one of the Armors, and jumped over the returning axe. He defeated the other armor just as the axe hit Persephone's skull-shaped vacuum cleaner. When the loud machine stopped, she saw Jonathan.

"You ruined my favorite vacuum!" she yelled. She ran over and tried to kick Jonathan in the head.

Jonathan backed up in time to see her foot just miss his nose. "Sorry, but I've already let one girl walk all over me today." He took out his sword and defeated Persephone in one blow.

"Speaking of which, I wonder if Charlotte's OK," he said while putting his sword back in its holder, and went up some stairs.

"Raging Fire!"

Fire flew from Charlottes hand at the door, but it had no effect, just like the last five spells.

"Alright, let's try...Gale Force!"

Still the door did not budge.

"What's this door make of, steel?"

The door she came through earlier started to shake, as the Jerajies were still trying to get her. Charlotte let her MP build up and planned on hitting as many as she could, although she most likely wouldn't survive.

Then the door behind her opened.

She turned around and started charging her Raging Fire, intent on hitting this new threat.

The new threat turned out to be Jonathan.

"Jonathan, you came to save me!" she said, forgetting about the Raging Fire. It went off and hit Jonathan.

"Oww...nice to see you too, I think."

Charlotte ran up and hugged him, then licked her fingers and pinched out a small fire in Jonathans hair.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Jonathan said, and ran to the other door and pushed the chair out of the way.

"WAIT! Don't open that..." Charlotte started.

The door burst open, and the Jerajies flooded in.

"...that door," Charlotte just slapped her hand against her forehead.

Jonathan backed up and stood next to Charlotte. They looked up at each other and smiled. Then they raised their arms next to each other.

"Holy Lightning!" They yelled together. Electricity flew around and killed most of the gun-wielding monsters, and severely weakening what was left. Jonathan and Charlotte each dashed for opposite sides of the room and easily defeated the few remaining Jerajies.

"You know, I think we work much better together," Jonathan said.

"We sure do," Charlotte said.

With that, they went through the door and continued their journey to defeat Brauner and the Vampire sisters, working in perfect harmony.

"Come on, Jonathan! Just let me jump off your shoulder, or face, or whatever you prefer, so I can get up there!"

"I'd rather face all those Catoblepas up ahead! I don't want to eat anything else you've stepped on in this castle."

Well, almost perfect.

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And that's the story. Jerajie is the enemy that has a laser-sighted shotgun. Also, Catoblepas is the bull that can turn your character to stone with it's breath. The green blob mini-boss is Keremet.

Originally, the picture I thought about was Charlotte jumping off of Jonathans head instead of his shoulders. It kinda looks like that in the game. If anyone draws this, or sees a pic like this, let me know. I'd like to see it.

Oh, and the ghost Vincent is afraid of is Wind, but he doesn't know that he's a good ghost in my story.