Dear god. This was a pain in the ass to finalize. Sorry it took so long. I wanted to have the designs and specs for the new weapons done but also settle on what to do next not only for the next chapter but the second arc to this story. I also didn't want to make this too long for certain readers. Vergil and Nero will be getting new weapons in this since I felt it was kind of unfair Dante kept getting new weapons and these two were left out. Chapters featuring new weapons will take a bit longer so I'm giving you a heads up now. For now let's jump on in.

It was now his turn to find his costume piece. Vergil and Dante had alerted Nero about getting their costumes and the encounter with both Bob and Pop Fizz. "Okay. Vergil got the Sabertooth costume and Dante has the Archer. They also came across Bob and Pop Fizz who helped attain their gear and an item for a new weapon. If we are following by video game rules… then I should be finding a costume only a specific character can get for me and has to be the ones I know of, which are Jailbird and Samurai." Nero spoke to himself.

Pet Shop was still watching the skies and set a perimeter so none of them could get ambushed by those Glitches, which was the name they settled for the undead character monsters. Nico was going to have a field day with this story and the Fire Crown they'll be bringing back. After a bit of walking, Nero found the area where he would find his costume. It looked parts of a haunted Mansion were merging with scenery from broken staircases, floating chairs, tables and chandeliers, peculiar paintings and a screen of familiar darkness around the area.

"Holy shit. This looks like a Luigi's Mansion level! And if it is...then I bet Luigi will be the character I have to find." Nero stated looking at the strange paintings. His light blue orbs landed on a painting of a very familiar samurai armor. "That's the Samurai Armor. If I remember correctly, I need the Dark light from the Poltergust 5000 to free the costume just like in the game. Knowing Luigi, he's terrified of ghosts which should give me a chance to find him." He spoke to himself.

Being a quarter demon had it's perks with night vision being a good trait to inherit. Though Nero needed to find Luigi quickly for a good reason. Luigi Mansion ghosts can only be revealed when stunned by light and Nero's weapons aren't exactly effective either. The ghosts can only be defeated by the Poltergust and nothing else. "Come on Luigi. Where are you?" Nero whispered too himself.

"Aaaaaaaah!!!! Marioooooo!" A raspy male voice screamed as Nero couldn't help but smile. "Found ya!" And with that, Nero took off like a bullet to the source of the scream. He found the brunette mustached plumber in green shirt, blue overalls, brown boots, white gloves, green hat with an L and the all too familiar red souped up vacuum the Poltergust. The 3'3 plumber however was faced with a boss that creeped Nero to no end in his first playthrough of Luigi's Mansion.

It was a purple almost slime like ghost with haunt orange eyes and glowing mouth that reminded the quarter devil of a Halloween shadow and surrounding it were shadow duplicates of different sizes that were chasing the plumber. "You have to be shitting me. That's Bogmire, the second main boss of the first Luigi's Mansion but something's wrong. Luigi can suck up his shadows to materialize Bogmire so the Poltergust can work on him but why isn't Luigi doing that?" Nero spoke to himself.

His eyes widened when getting a good luck at the Poltergust. It was missing it's nozzle piece! "Shit, that's why. The Poltergust is missing it's nozzle. Without it, Luigi can't use the vacuum function and fight Bogmire. Though where is the nozzle now?" Nero spoke looking around for any sign of the vacuum piece. His eyes spotted a familiar gray to the far left. The piece was in the hands of peculiar green ghost that reminded narrow of a puppet with glowing white mouth and eyes.

It was tossing the piece around with two other ghosts who looked exactly like it. "Those are Greenies. I'll need a sudden bright flash if I want to spook them into dropping the piece. And I have just the thing." Nero spoke to himself before running at the three Greenies. "Hey dimwits!" A shout called out as the three verdant ghosts turned to see Nero charging straight at them. "Say cheese!!" Nero shouted as bright light blue flashed from his body manifesting into blue feathered and hand like spectral wings.

The light had blinded and spooked the Greenies into dropping the nozzle as they flew away from the scene. Nero quickly grabbed the nozzle and turned to Luigi who was being cornered by Bogmire's shadows. "Luigi!!! Catch!!" Nero shouted before tossing the nozzle at the plumber. Luigi turned to see Nero and the missing nozzle flying towards him. "Okie-dokie!" The younger brother shouted jumping up high and grabbing the nozzle with perfect precision.

He twisted the nozzle onto the Poltergust and smiled seeing it was now working properly again. "You ain't making a fool out of Luigi again! Have a taste of my Poltergust 5000!" Luigi shouted turning on the Poltergust's vacuum. It pulled the shadows towards him as each clumped together to form a very large black sphere. The New York Plumber didn't miss a beat in aiming at Bogmire and giving the evil ghost butler a taste of his own medicine.

The ball slammed into the spirit fully making it visible and tangible to the Poltergust. It let out a terrified cry as Luigi turned up the suction and began vacuuming the spirit. Grabbing a rock, Nero placed it in his clawed hand. "Take this asshole! You don't mess with underdogs!" Nero shouted as he tossed the stone at Bogmire with all his strength. The ghost being too distracted couldn't avoid the hit and was pummeled in the face. The hard hit had stunned Bogmire allowing Luigi to suck the tricky specter into the Poltergust with no issue.

"Yeah!!! Luigi number 1!" Luigi cheered jumping with joy. "Great job Luigi! You showed that nasty specter whose boss! I bet Mario couldn't do the things you can!" Nero said as he walked up to the plumber. "You believed in Luigi. No one but my big brother Mario and Professor E. Gadd ever did that for me. Couldn't have done it without you." Luigi said offering a high five. "Name's Nero. Us Underdogs should always stick up for each other." Nero answered returning the high five. "Would you like some help Nero? This place isn't safe without proper protection. Luckily I stored away that armor I found earlier!" Luigi answered with a grin.

Both of them had walked back to where Luigi had stored the Samurai Armor. Using the dark light function, Luigi was able to pull the armor out of the painting perfectly. "Here. This armor should protect you. It's nice to have visitors again. This place used to be happy and bright where everyone got along from real people to us characters." Luigi stated as Nero's eyes widened. "Really?! But how?" He had to hear this.

"The Graveyard Arcade of course. Despite the spooky name, it was more special than any other arcade. Gamers could interact with us and have great fun while playing our games! The arcade owner was very nice and unique. He could commune with us despite the barrier that keeps our worlds separate. Every game in the arcade are ones that others tossed away like garbage. Our code stored away or left to rot. Then Mr. Smiley found us! He built the arcade and we were able to entertain others again!" Luigi explained as Nero was shocked.

"Wow. He sounds like a really cool guy but what led to the arcade shutting down? If I remember correctly, a little girl was killed overnight." Nero stated as Luigi frowned. "Annie. She was Mr. Smiley's granddaughter. A very nice girl who would talk to us whenever we get lonely from time to time. Despite Mr. Smiley being the kind man that he was, he was old and dying. Annie was supposed to inherit the arcade once she turned 14. That's when he came. A man who had been trying to take the arcade from Mr Smiley, Bishop." Luigi explained.

"Bishop? I heard he was some sort of business tycoon. Ran a huge monopoly on tons of businesses." Nero spoke. "Bishop wanted to tear the arcade down and by any means necessary! He...took Annie from us that night. All of us were forced to watch unable to save her in time but it didn't mean we let him get away scott free either! It was stupid of him to have a game app on his phone. Through that app, we were able to pull a lot of information that landed the jerk in jail for good. Yet we couldn't save the arcade. Mr Smiley passed away from depression and the arcade was forced to close. Then that creepy tree came and caused all this havoc slowly fusing our worlds together and creating those creepy monsters." Luigi explained as Nero finished putting on the costume.

"Luigi. What you and friends did for Annie was the best you could do. If you killed Bishop, then you wouldn't be any better than him. Annie and Mr Smiley are no doubt proud of you all. I promise not only will I fix this mess but try and get your friend's arcade up and running once more." Nero said as Luigi looked shocked. "Really?! You'll do that for us?!" Luigi questioned. "You got it! Some of my friends have enough resources to not just fix the arcade but make it better than ever! They grew up playing games and in fact their parents met each other because of video games. I'm pretty sure they'll be happy to help." Nero said with a big smile on his face.

Luigi began to fidget before crying and latching onto the quarter devil's leg. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Everyone would be so happy!!" Luigi cried as Nero couldn't help but sheepishly rub his head. Luigi got off of Nero before taking out what looked like an old Gameboy.

"Take this Gamehorror. You can use it to make a very good weapon with some help from Anne! You'll find her by the boss gate up ahead. I need to warn you though. There's a dangerous monster behind that gate and I think it's responsible for this big mess! Beating it should fix everything but listen. It can only be harmed by weapons created from game fragments like this Gamehorror. Anything else will do nothing but make it stronger. Once you take it, look for an SD card inside the Switch. All my friends had evacuated there and with it should help get the arcade up faster." Luigi explained as Nero took the device.

"You got it Luigi. I'll see you soon! And stick up for yourself more! Underdogs should always stay proud!" The quarter devil shouted before taking his leave as Luigi waved goodbye. All three hunters had come across the very gate mentioned by the 3 video game characters they had encountered. It was large and twisted as fragmented data form the blockade with spiky reds, hazing purple and bubbly yellow coding. At the center was a door locked with a giant demon looking keylock. To the side front of the towering wall was a small tent with a shop sign in front.

"I guess you both got your costumes? Didn't expect Verg getting the tiger rug." Dante joked earning an eye roll from said brother. "Did you guys get any items from those characters you met? That cave raccoon mentioned we'll need weapons made from them." Vergil questioned. Dante showed them the bottle Pop Fizz gave and Nero pulled out the Gamehorror.

"I found one of the characters, Luigi, and apparently he knows what really happened to the arcade. He also told me that our current weapons are useless against what's behind that gate. We need weapons made from actual game code to hurt it." Nero explained waving the handheld. "Huh? Guess we're lucky. You can tell the rest of the story once we're done here. Now let's go see this Anne and get some new weapons." Dante spoke as the three men walked into the small tent.

Within the confides was a peculiar chest of some sort with a slot machine at the center, a few stocked burlap bags and a counter you often see in shops or stands. Amongst the mess was a redhead in a particular yellow and red almost trickster like outfit with brown eyes that remind anyone of a fox and stood around 5'7. She looked a bit distressed. "Um, are you Anne?" From Nero had grabbed her attention quickly.

"Oh! Sorry for not noticing you folk! It's been quite some time humans manage to get even close to this mess." Anne stated as the three looked at each other. "You must be talking about those soldiers posted to guard this deadzone?" Dante said as the redhead nodded. "Yeah. None of them listened to my warnings and ran into the gate willy nilly. Reason why I put that Boss Lock there so no more fools get themselves killed. If you know my name then you must have run into a character?" The redhead asked only to smile seeing the 3 items that the group pulled out.

"Perfect! With these I can make some powerful weapons for you three. Normally I would ask for payment but if you get rid of that pest past the gate then it'll be a wonderful substitute." Anne giggled gingerly taking the three items from the Sparda males. "Do you have any information about what's behind that gate?" Vergil questioned as Anne gave him an impressive look. "Finally someone smart enough to ask the right questions. What I can tell you is the first Glitch is behind there." Anne started tossing the three game fragments into the chest.

"When that demon tree showed up it began messing with specific characters from the consoles. These characters fall into two categories. Boss and Parasite. You know Boss characters are the strongest per level but amongst them Parasite bosses can be quite a doozy. They can infect anything they touch from nearby enemies to the environment around them. I think something from that tree was being absorbed into these specific enemies. The First Glitch can be considered the Final Boss amongst those things. I was there when it began infecting the place." She explained as the chest began to shift.

"So some sort of video game parasite created from the Qliphoth is the cause of this mess? Shit." Dante sighed. "Yes. It began converting the weaker ones into this infection but also locking a lot of us in the arcade ruins. It knows we can hurt it so it has almost everyone locked up. Pop Fizz, Bob, Luigi and I were the only ones to escape. However the fact you guys made it this far and got the very last fragments we could grab… I just know you can squash the virus for good!" Anne exclaimed with a determined look in her eyes.

The box had stopped shaking as a big smile came to her face. "Alright. It looks like your weapons are finished. I'm glad Bob could grab this Crafting Table before bolting. Blue coated gentleman, come up to receive your weapon." Anne said as Vergil walked up to her. "I present to you the weapon forged from your Ancient Fang, the Primal Orbitars!" She said as a weapon shot forth from the box and floated behind Vergil.

It looked like a metallic beastly raccoon head bearing razor sharp fangs, paw like hands with gold sharp talons, a robotic raccoon tail with a bristle fur shell that reveal a large segmented stinger and two floating crystalline panels shaped like the eyes of a predator with yellow iris and red slit pupils. They dainty floated behind Vergil almost as if they were alive.

"The Primal Orbitars are a powerful long range with two separate modes of attack. For Melee, it strikes using these special claws that has a chance of paralyzing targets and the tail that can pierce through any type of protective barrier. Long range is where the fun is really at. The eyes and mouthpiece is capable of firing electrifying blasts but if you charge it, the beast head's charge shot is a sonic roar capable not only paralyzing your opponent but also a chance of weakening them. A thought is all you need to use these." She explained as Vergil couldn't help but smirk hearing the weapon specs.

"Next is the red casanova!" The redhead giggled as the devil hunter smiled hearing the nickname. "So what you got babe?" He asked only for her to give him something quite big. "For you sugar, created using the Bottle Magic, is the Fizzy Frenzy!" Anne chuckled as Dante held up a giant axe. The axe had a pink and purple spiralling hilt with a pink jewel at the bottom, two glass blue fangs at the top and a badge of Popfizz but with red and yellow crazed eyes at the center, the axe blade was serrated with a purple outline and the inside a hot pink with three pairs of eye like marks from aqua green, orange and dark violet, a potion bottle with a light blue magic insignia held the blade as 4 bubbles floated around it.

"The Fizzy Frenzy is a very powerful mid range weapon. It's magic can have it act like a boomerang and always return to you after being thrown. The really good stuff is in this little badge. Every successful strike will fill the bottle meter where the axe blade is at. When it has some charge, the blade can swap into three different modes of attack. An Acid Swing that leaves hazards that will only harm your enemies, summon little bottle minions that fight for you or an explosive gas bomb with a large range. However if you fill it completely, you can use the Beast Out option. It grants a temporary transformation that boosts your every attack and an included unique attack set." She explained as Dante's smile got even bigger.

"I love the sound of that. Fizzy didn't hold out on me." From Dante made Nero roll his eyes. "And for you handsome devil, a weapon created from Gamehorror Brave." Anne spoke handing Nero his weapon. It was a large cannon shaped like a ghost dog with green eyes and a familiar black moustache, it's ghostly tail had a green flame burning at the end, two floating paws, and on top was a Poltergust with airplane wings, a black circle with a green L linked to a light blue hose and gray vacuum nozzle.

"This is the Polterdog's Undergust and probably one of the most powerful weapons from the Cannon class. It can suck up any long range attack and fire it back at your opponent with double the force. The Darklight can be used to reveal secrets or weak spots but it's unique abilities is where it's at. It has two abilities. The first is creating a goo like replica of yourself. This copy is alive and can be a powerful ally on the field however it'll dissolve from water and will have to recharge. The second is when you are on your last legs. This weapon's power will double and every successful attack summons a Polterpup ally." Anne explained as Nero looked very pleased.

"Nico will eat her heart seeing these." Nero said holding his weapon. "Now. I do have the key to that gate but I must warn you. Once you enter, you can't leave until you destroy that monster. The area within the gate also crafted its own set of rules just like any boss battle in actual video games. You must follow these rules if you hope on defeating the Glitch and getting out alive. All three of you must use your weapon's full potential to win." Anne explained.

"Got it Red? Anything else we need to know?" Dante questioned. "I can't tell you what monster your facing because of how I was programmed but I can give you an important hint to what your up against. "The ground is where it preys, like serpents equally restless as it's void gaze. The Coffin hold its heart, be warned, stray too close and true evil strikes from the innocent haze." Anne quoted earning confused looks from Dante and Nero.

Vergil however seemed to understand what she meant. Though he needed to see the monster for himself before jumping to a wrong conclusion. However, he had a feeling that whatever Glitch this was, it was going to bite him back in the worst way it could.

And that's it! Our gang have gotten some answers to the events going around the Graveyard Arcade. Next chapter is going to be a doozy and a bit longer than previous ones for personal reasons. Until next time folks.

(I couldn't skip having a Luigi's Mansion segment in this since the new game came out Halloween. The repeated Boss Warnings are meant to be there considering these are videogame characters despite being pulled into reality. Plus Nero just seems to be the type to play videogames in his spare time.)