First weekend of his Summer Vacation. Dante rolled over in his bed and smiled, no more alarm clocks and crabby bus drivers for three whole months. All sounded so perfect to him. He hugged his pillow and scratched his head, then burried his face in his pillow. The heavy black curtain over his window gave his room an erie dark feeling, which he liked, especially for sleeping.

Just then the door swung open. The bright light from the hallway lit up his messy room. Dante growled and turned his head, only to see Tellix standing in the doorway with a wide grin on her face. He glanced over at the clock and sighed. 7:45.

"Tellix, it's Summer Vacation and you're waking me up THIS early?" He growled as he sat up from his bed. "What do you want?"

"Best get up, you'll be late for Summer School." Tellix said as she turned around and headed for the stairs. Dante's eyes grew wide, and his face turned red. As soon as Tellix was out of view he picked up his pillow, burried his face in it, and screamed as loud as he could.

He grabbed his trademark red shirt and pulled it over his head and started down the hall. He stopped in front of the bathroom and tilted his head. A small twitching creature sat in front of five rolls of toilet paper, seeming very confused. It resembled a small cat, but it sat up straight and used it's front paws like hands. A pair of small bat-like wings protruded from it's back and a scaley blue crest stretched from it's nose, up it's forehead and down it's back, ending at the base of it's tail.

The creature stared up at Dante and twitched it's ear, then continued examining the rolls of toilet paper. Dante shook his head and continued on down the hallway. Obviously the creature was a demon, which also meant that Tellix was fully aware it was here.

He stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Tellix was sitting at the table, reading the morning paper. Dante raised an eyebrow, Tellix never read the paper. What's going on..? She looked up at him and smiled as he sat down.

"If you haven't noticed, I was kidding about the Summer School thing." She said, smiling mockingly. Dante shook his head and put his hand on his forehead. "You should've seen your face!" She continued, now laughing.

Dante wiped his face with his hand and glared at Tellix between his fingers. "So...Have you given any thought to my question?" She asked, seeming eager for his answer. He fiddled with the side of the table and nodded slightly, then looked out the window.

"So you DO want to be a demon hunter? Why's that?" Tellix said, still staring at Dante intently. He looked down at his lap and stared at the picture he had produced from his pocket. The picture of his mother was faded and the edges had been folded multiple times in all directions. He thought about the last time he saw her and winced.

Tellix put her hand over his and smiled. Dante looked up and smiled slightly, then stared back at the picture. "I promised her.." He looked back up at Tellix and showed her the picture of Eva. "The day she died, I promised I would hunt down the demons that did this to her."

He sank down in his chair and stared at the picture. Tellix nodded slightly and stood up. She went into the living room and took Rebellion down from the mount, then turned towards Dante, who had turned around in his chair to see her. Tellix held Rebellion out to him and smiled. "Are you ready to start hunting those demons?"

Dante looked up at Rebellion, then glanced over at Tellix and smiled. "If you'll show me how." Tellix smiled and beckoned him over. He stood up and made his way over to her, but as he came close she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pointed to the floor. The red carpet twisted and shifted into a swirling red portal. Tellix handed Rebellion to Dante and pushed him into the portal.

Dante stepped out of the portal and into a wide courtyard. Various obstacles were spread around the courtyard. He turned to face the portal as Tellix stepped out behind him. She grinned and walked over to one of the obstacles. A square brick wall rose about nine feet off the ground, and at the top of the wall was a white flag tied to a pole. Dante stared up at wall and tilted his head.

"What's this for?" He asked. Tellix grinned and pointed to the flag, "You have to bring the flag to me." Dante looked at her with wide eyes and laughed, "How am I supposed to get that? It's way up there, and I'm way down here.." Tellix smiled and replied, "You'll have to run up the wall." Then started towards another obstacle.

She stopped in front of two platforms that resembled bike ramps. That were elevated at least three feet off the ground, and the gap between them was about seven feet long. Above the pit was another white flag tied to a pole stuck in the wall. "After you learn how to run up walls, you'll need to learn how to run across walls." Tellix said, then pointed at the black sludge at the bottum of the pit.

"What is that?!" Dante shouted. "It's used to help your training. You want to run across the wall and not fall in the sludge." Dante covered his nose and gagged, the smell errupting from the sun-baked sludge was overwhelming. "Ughh! What is that stuff?"

"It's a mixture of water, mud, sewage, and tar." Tellix replied and headed towards another obstacle. "That's disgusting!" Dante exclaimed and started after Tellix. She looked over her shoulder at him and replied, "All the more reason you don't want to fall in it."

They spent another thirty minutes going over all the obstacles, and what they were used for. Dante stood before the nine foot wall and smiled. He thought about how he would be able to run up the wall, like he were running up a hillside. He looked over his shoulder at Tellix and smiled, then started towards the first obstacle to begin his training.