I'm back, and I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! I now have renewed inspiration, because I save my money and bought a new PS2! YEAY! ^__^ I know it took forever to get this written. School's been busy and I've been out sick for the past week on and off. I've got essays and crap to write, along with my computer class work. (You'll get way behind on computer work when you're sick. . .) I'm a bit better now, with only a throbbing headache, so I think I can write this, even with the writer's block I've developed.

Chapter 18 Midnight Fight

"Don't be stupid. . . control your damn anger, before you screw up. . ." Kaos thought, trying to calm his nerves. Another side of his mind growled viciously.

"Kill the sorry son of a bitch! Tear his smirk right from his face!"

Kaos shook his mind clear, glaring at Dante maliciously, his fists clenched so tightly that it felt as if the skin around his knuckles would tear. "What're you so pissed about?" The calming side of Kaos's mind piped. "He didn't say anything THAT offending."

Kaos took a deep breath and held it for a moment, letting his rage subside. He wasn't at all infuriated about Dante calling him names, he was used to that. It was more the fact that Dante had accused him of killing the villagers. "It wasn't me. . ." He reassured himself, turning his eyes to the ground. "You know that. It was that damned wench Isra. I wish Dante would listen to me."

Why bother explaining? It didn't matter what Dante thought, so long as he knew the truth. There was no point. . .

"Ahem." Dante coughed softly into one hand. Kaos snapped his eyes up at Dante and glared at him.

"What?" He grunted.

"Um. . .I was just wondering if you planned on actually carrying out your little death threat, because if you aren't, I'd really like to go get some sleep."

Kaos blinked, realizing he'd been standing there for a least a minute. He was lucky Dante hadn't attacked him yet.

"If you're done fuming, let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

"F-fuming?" Kaos blinked again. He apparently wasn't quite all there yet.

"Yeah, what the hell do you call it? You sure were staring at me hard enough. I didn't take you for a-"

"ENOUGH!" Kaos yelling, cutting him off. He sighed, letting Dante's accusations bounce off of him. He closed his eyes and opened them moments later to let them rest on Dante again, this time on a bright glimmer from his side.

The wind grabbed at Dante's coat, pulling it back to reveal his holstered pistols, glimmering under the azure light of the holy water. Guns. Kaos was a close range fighter; a swordsman. He knew if he went against Dante with guns, it would be no contest. Kaos had to get the guns off of Dante.

"Hey, why not make this a fair fight?" Kaos suggested with a small smile.

At this, Dante cocked his head. "How would you say we do that?"

"Well, we each get rid of something of ours that the other wouldn't want to deal with. Go on, name something you don't want me to use."

Dante considered this for only a moment before he spoke. "No biting."

Kaos nodded, understanding why Dante would want that omitted. However, Kaos's bite was far from harmful. It wouldn't make the demon hunter a vampire, but he didn't realize that, now did he? "Fair enough. My turn." Kaos extended his arm and pointed his finger at Dante's side, where Ivory could be seen plain as day, gleaming brilliantly. "No guns."

With a shrug, Dante nodded, agreeing to these terms. Even without the guns, Dante always had his DT for a trump card.

Now both men began to prepare for their battle. As Kaos readied his sword, his heart pumped furiously. This was going to be a wonderful battle, just the challenge that Kaos had been wanting for some time now.

"Heh," Kaos laughed softly. "last time your friends saved your ass. Let's see how well you do alone, hunter."

Dante didn't show it, but a small feeling of tension squirmed menacingly in the pit of his stomach. Kaos had a point, if Schala hadn't shown up when she had back at the village, he'd have met quite the untimely end.

But there was an advantage to Dante. Last time, Kaos had been wearing a cape, which had been part of Dante's problem. This time, Kaos was bare- footed and merely wore a pair of baggy pants, tied off at mid calf. He obviously hadn't prepared for this fight . . .he looked more like he was preparing for bed. However, that could give him a speed advantage. . .

"Bull shit!" Dante thought to himself. "He defiantly didn't need a 'speed advantage' last time! This guys faster than a cheetah with a hot poker rammed up his ass!"

Now it was Kaos's turn to become impatient. He tapped one foot on the ground, signaling that he was ready to go.

With a proud smirk, Dante gripped his sword tightly.

"Let's dance!"

Before Dante could make a worthy move, Kaos streaked down at him from his side of the roof. Just as Kaos was within Dante's sword length, Dante did the only thing he really could. He jammed his sword forward, but it met with only air. Dante's eyes caught up with his movements and he looked above his sword to see Kaos standing on the tip of the blade, smiling deviously.

"You'll have to move much faster than that to beat me." Kaos teased. Dante moved his sword to knock Kaos from it, only for Kaos to hop from it gracefully and jump behind him. As Dante turned, the side of his face met with the side of a foot as Kaos spin-kicked in the air. Dante was sent only a few inches as he fell.

"DAMN IT!" Dante grunted loudly as he broke his fall to the ground. He quickly jumped back up and looked around, trying to find his assailant. Finally his eyes rested on Kaos, who seemed to be waiting a few yards away and to his right.

Dante readied his sword and began a charge toward Kaos.

"This again? He should know it won't work. He can't charge me it's too slow." Kaos thought and as Dante came close, he shifted smoothly to the side to dodge the passing sword.

BAM!

Suddenly, Kaos found himself on the ground, holding his throat and gasping for air, his sword dissipated. Dante stood past him a few feet, a rather pleased smile across his lips. Kaos hadn't expected Dante to clothesline him.

Quickly, Kaos tried to scamper up from the ground, but Dante wouldn't permit it. Dante swept down on him and did a down ward thrust, barely allowing Kaos the time to move his body as the large sword pierced into the stone part of the ground next to his arm. Dante took no mercy time and used his sword like a pole to launch his body forward and double kick Kaos in the chest and face as he tried to stand again. Once again, Kaos was put to the ground, but this time he rolled away from Dante and suddenly bolted up with great force. His feet touched the ground softly and he remade his black blade.

Now they were on even terms again and Kaos took the dash. He flew forward quickly and as he reached Dante, he jumped into the air and over the hunter. Instead of landing, however, he hovered in the air over Dante, who looked up at him angrily.

"DIE!" Kaos yelled as he let his sword fade away and concocted two fireballs in his hands. He hurled them down at Dante, who seemed to be frozen.

The flaming orbs hit the ground and exploded violently, sending fire and smoke across the rooftop. Unable to see the damage, Kaos formed more. He hurled a continuous barrage of the explosive balls onto the rooftop, until he'd thrown about four-dozen or so.

Now Kaos floated in midair, watching the smoke and dust clear. The only sounds in the area were Kaos's heavy breathing and the cool wind rushing gently. As the wind blew the smoke from the rooftop, Kaos searched desperately for Dante's figure.

"Where is he? Did I blow him away?" Kaos thought franticly as he scanned the area, unable to see Dante. He could see that he had blown a large hole in the grating, leaving a huge gap to the holy water lake.

"Maybe he fell down there?" Kaos asked himself. He floated down to the ground and came over to the gap, staring down into the bright water. There wasn't a speck of red within it.

"Then where-"

There was a sudden whooshing sound behind Kaos and he dropped to the ground, flattening himself a well as he could. The sound passed over his head, and Kaos watched Dante's sword swirl by. He blinked once and turned his head in the direction the blade had come from, only to see Dante half way on the roof, hanging off the edge.

"God damn you. . ." Kaos thought roughly. He'd spent most of his energy on that barrage, he'd have to resupply himself with new energy. "Get the caplet, you jackass!" His mind hissed at him. He hopped up quickly and reached one hand into his pant pocket, but Dante snapped his eyes onto Kaos closely, taking this as a threatening gesture. He dashed forward before Kaos could react and rammed him with his shoulder, sending Kaos stumbling backwards.

Kaos attempted to regain his balance, but felt the grating he stood on give way. With a loud yelp, Kaos reached out as he fell, grabbing hold of a piece of mangled grating. He swayed in the air for a moment, and then got a good grasp on the metal. He took a glance below him, only to see the glowing, beauty of the holy water. It was a mesmerizing color, but Kaos knew better than to be fooled by its beauty. That brilliant water meant sudden death to him or most other demons that may fall in.

"THIS FUCKIN' SUCKS!!!" Kaos's mind yelled. He began to panic some, for holy water was one of the most painful ways for any demon to die. He held onto the grating tightly, but felt too weak to pull himself up. If only he hadn't wasted his energy trying to fry Dante, he might not have been in this predicament.

Kaos moved his attention above him, where Dante was leering down at him. A smirk of triumph was pasted across Dante's face, which only made Kaos feel heated and inferior.

"Dante!" Kaos grunted. "Help me up!" Kaos pleaded, panic still running through him. Even if Kaos wanted to die, he didn't want it to be like this.

Dante laughed from above him. "Help you? I ought to kill you. Maybe I could just give you a little kick into the water, you could maybe use the bath."

"Dante!" Kaos growled.

"Nope. I'm just gonna leave you there. Maybe you'll figure out how to get out of there. When you do, we'll fight again." Dante turned with this. "I'm going inside for some shut eye. See ya."

"No, no what the hell, no!" Kaos growled angrily as Dante's figure disappeared.

Now he felt horribly alone, holding on for dear life. . .his mind cursing Dante viciously.

Huh. . .I'll leave it here because I can. I feel like crap, so sorry if this chapter seems to suffer because of it.

Oh, and would someone please tell me if Sonic Heroes is worth buying, because I want to get it, but I need to know if it sucks or not!!