I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(

Chapter Ten

Inner-Demons Invading Hell

This path was all new. The monsters were the same, though. The Dark Corridor led them to a strange room with floating blocks that they had to jump to and from to reach the large door above them. Why the hell that room was there, neither of them had any idea why and didn't even care to waste the time finding out. The next room was the Tri-sealed Antechamber. Dante choose to go up the first stair case that led them to the Trial of Skill. In here spikes ran through the floor and walls as they came closer to the duo, giving them only seconds to gun through and get out of the way of the holes before they came back out to stab them. At the end there was a Pitch Black Void that sent the to the Midnight Mile at the top of the Temen-Ni-Gru where they had first ran into Vergil in what seemed to be days and days ago instead if just a few hours.

As they walked through the path a strange, static-like noise made them stop.

"Well, you always know that's never a good sign." Ryona sighed. She then got a strange feeling before turning to see that the static noise was coming from her shadow as it pulled away from here. Her skin ran cold as Dante's did the same.

"I know why you're here." Dante smirked. "You're here to ask us some questions." They watched as the two Dopplegangers stared at them for a moment. Their skin was black as their eyes glowed a static-like blue. "Well too bad. We've already answered them ourselves so we don't need you anymore." When the two of them drew their swords Dante got in his ready stance. "Come on, you poser."

"Wait a second!" Ryona jumped in his way. "I want to fight this one." She grinned.

Dante looked surprised. "But why?"

"Because I wanna know what it feels like to kick your butt before all of this is over." She gladly told him with a mischievous smile.

Dante began to object before an idea dawned on him and he obtained his own idea. "All eight, I'll gladly play with yours."

Ryona shot him a look. "What do you mean, 'play'?"

"Well you can beat the hell out of my shadow all you want, but I'm afraid that I won't to yours." He told her.

"Then just what are you going to do with it?"

Dante shot her a perverted look. "I'm gonna pound it."

Ryona knew instantly what the silver-haired half-breed meant and screamed at him as her face turned into a fiery red while he laughed at her reaction. Ryona didn't even dare think about letting him even try to do that and ran at her Doppleganger, leaving the laughing half-breed to deal with his own. Of all the fights this evening, this one had to be the hardest that Ryona had taken place in. Wasn't there a 'fighting yourself is the hardest to win' tale or something like that? Well if there was, it was true. Ryona1 was getting her ass kicked by Ryona2. Even Dante was having a few problems of his own but in the end they were the winner and the Dopplegangers both melted back into their shadows.

"Huh, I thought I lost my shadow for a sec." Dante sighed, looking at his hands. He then moaned at the shock hitting him and looked up to see himself in front of him before they both ran forward to hit the others. Ryona was staring at herself as well. Both of them got ready to fight again but the original Ryona shrugged her shoulders and shoved her hands in her pockets. Her shadow did the same and both of them turned to watched the silver-haired man fight himself before both returned to their original forms.

"You know, sometimes I worry about you." She told him.

"Worry about me? Why?"

"You head gets a little bit too big for me not to worry sometimes, Dante."

"Gee, thanks."

"Well, it's true. Just mature a little bit and you'd be perfect!" Ryona told him. "Don't change the way you are just get a little…smarter."

Dante glared at her. "So now you're saying I'm stupid?"

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying at all!" Ryona waved her hands in defiance. "How do I explain this without getting you mad?...You go off of your emotions before thinking things through. You need to be a little more…"

"Subtle?"

"Yeah, something like that!" Ryona nodded. "Don't change who you are just be a little more laid-back."

Dante thought for a moment as they walked outside. "I think I can do something like that."

"It's more of a time thing, Dante," Ryona giggled. "But I'm sure you'll get there."

The sky was covered in smoky clouds and there was a large, flaming circle in the sky above them as they walked amongst the demonic bells.

"Well then," Dante grinned as they stepped into the bloodied circle from before. "Let's wrap up this crazy party, shall we?" A force began to drag the two of them up into the sky; no doubt that this was where Arkham had gone. "Gotta clean up the mess father left behind."

"Stop whining," Ryona told him with a grin of her own. "Just remember the prize; pizza and alcohol." The man's face lit up like Christmas lights.

Unsacred Hellgate was grey and silver, beams, and columns broken and shattered as the two of them hurried down the path as broken platforms led them to what appeared to be a chess set of their size. The moment that they stepped onto it the Damned Pieces all began to move.

"Oh my God," Ryona cried. "It's Harry Potter all over again!" She glanced at Dante. "Do not be the Knight, Dante! Stay away from the Knight!"

(LOL)

"Aww," Dante grinned. "And that's my favorite piece!" Dodging around the board the pieces of the set were in a rage as they moved after the two of them.

"Come here, Queenie," Ryona summoned. "Let me teach you what a real bitch can do."

The moment the King fell everything else crumbled and the two devil-hunters gave eachother high-fives before continuing on with the final road of the night's events. They were now on the Road to Despair and ended up in an area full of stairs that led all over the place. Ryona quickly found herself dizzy. Annoyed as well when they found out that they had to fight just about every single major bad guy from before. Cerberus was there (too bad Micheal wasn't to take care of him again), The Gigapede was a pain in the ass just like last time, Agni and Rudra's attitudes hadn't changed at all, The Heart of Leviathan had returned just for Ryona to slash that thing in half again as Dante took his turn with Nevan since Micheal, again, wasn't there. Geryon returned for another Gladiator match with Ryona while Beowulf tried to smash Dante again and the finals were the two Dopplegangers again from before.

Ryona paused before the final doorway as it appeared in the form of a bright light. Dante stopped beside her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just…just wondering what is going to happen after all of this with…with us and…"

"My brother?" Dante finished. The look on her face told him he was right. "I'm not too sure on that one either but we'll come to it when we come to it. Don't worry about it."

"How can I not worry about it, Dante? I-"

He placed his hands on either side of her head and lifted her face to look at him. "Listen, you don't have to worry about anything that will happen. It's all between me and Vergil, no matter how long it takes nor how hard it's going to be. I will fight him for you for as long as I have to, Ryona."

"I know you will, Dante," Ryona told him. "And that's just it. I don't want you to get hurt because of me. Either of you! Both of you mean so much to me. I've had you since we were kids. I-"

Dante cut her off with another kiss. "Don't worry about it," He told her again with a soft smile. "In the end, everything will work out in the right way for all of us. I promise." Ryona nodded to him and he continued to smile as he grabbed her hand and led her through the light to the final stage of the tower.

A rather short chapter but the next is the final!

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