Chapter 9: Watchers on the cliff

Four beings stood on the top of a cliff overlooking the Calm Lands; their job from the council was to ensure them safety without revealing themselves if possible. The one in charge, Jool Noret, carried a portable Holtzman shield, two maula pistols, two fully automatic submachine guns and his father's pulse sword. The two women were from Dante's past: Trish and Lucia. God knows how the council got them to work together. And the final member of the party, Seig Warhiet. They watched as Roland stared off into the night. Suddenly he stood, unholstering his revolvers. Jool tightened his grip on the pulse sword. Trish drew her pistols and Lucia drew her cutlasseers. Seig lift his soul blade, which steals the soul power of enemies for use with the Chaos Legion, a gift of the Council.

Roland stepped back, hearing the steps of the face-huggers on the ground. Then he saw them. He took aim, and then waited. Then, one came out of the tall grass and Roland shot, splattering its burning blood all over the place. Three more burst out of the tall grass and his pistols went off, smashing these. Two more erupted from the grass and he took these out and holstered his revolvers, not quite spent. Before he could react, a final one lunged at him, grasping his neck and fighting at his hands to get to his face.

"Time to move." Jool Noret said in a calm tone. The four jumped off the cliff and land on their feet, about a hundred yards from the campsite. The four raced across the grass, surrounding Roland in seconds. Then they backed up, leaving a half dead Roland and a dead face-hugger. Dante sat straight up behind them and yelled, "HILE! VIRGIL, DEATH IS YOURS!" They all looked at him as he began to grasp reality. He looked around, calm, until he saw Trish and Lucia. He reached for his pistols, not finding them; he leapt to his feet looking around. He spied his coat folded up with his holstered pistols and his assorted Devil Arms next to it. He leapt at them, grabbing Ivory and Cerberus. He lunged at Trish's throat, using Cerberus like a bludgeon. Trish dodged and stifled a laugh. Dante turned towards her and raised his pistol to her face, and collapsed. Alarmed, Roland grabbed one of Dante's arms and helped him into a half standing position and walked him over to his bedroll. "Now sleep." Roland said peacefully.

The next morning they let Dante sleep and Yuna cooked them rabbits that Roland had hunted. Jool Noret seemed to be the leader of the four, and made the introductions and stated their purpose. "The Council of Elders has decided that you are to help us with a quest to destroy a creature known only as the Juggernaut. It is shaped like a man and has the strength of a thousand. He absorbed the power of a certain dark mage known as Lulu, making him the most powerful mage of all time. He is especially skilled with a sword, prefers to use a katana and is suspected to be half demon, the brother of your sleeping companion."

"What did Virgil do wrong this time?" Dante asked, walking slowly to the breakfast circle around the fire. "Has he killed anyone lately? Raised any ethereal or evil towers from the bowels of Hell?"

"He has slaughtered four entire cities, five farms, and destroyed thirty-four road signs. And a partridge in a pear tree." Trish said as a dry attempt at humor. Noret glared at her before answering, "He killed four thousand men, seven thousand women, and twenty-four children."

"I can take care of him." Dante said in his cocky tone that often got him in trouble at bars, police stations, and once at a city hall.

"Sure… whatever. You can't even hit Trish with a weapon designed for speed." Rikku said comically.

Dante challenged Trish to a sparring match and she accepted smiling. He chose Agni and Rudra whilst she chose Sparda, the sword of Dante's father, just to smite him. They walked into the crater that Dante's Devil Trigger had caused. Roland fired a shot into the air and they all watched as the two former lovers lunged at each other. Trish did a stinger that Dante dodged and did a running attack that ended in a crosscutting move that knocked Trish back twenty feet. She leapt to her feet and raised Sparda, refusing to let him beat her. Rikku walked away for several minutes and returned with a battery-powered boom box with Audio Slave pounding away. It was "Set it off", and they both lunged when the words, "Set this fucker off!" came on. Trish leapt and did a vertical slash that Dante sidestepped. He pivot and did a double thrust into her side, which was also dodged. Trish countered directly after with a three hit combo that he had taught her, launching him to the ground, bleeding. Dante jumped up, double jumped, and did a crossed vertical slash that smashed into her left shoulder, and Dante tried to pull them out. Agni remained, trapped by a bone that Rudra had slid out of place. Trish cried in agony as Rudra slid out and Agni stayed. Dante grinned and bent Agni to the side and heard a beautiful cracking sound, and then twisted the other way. And then he used it as a lever and threw her to one side, then the other, and so forth until the bone broke and she went flying. Dante kept a firm grip on the blade, laughing as she hit the ground with a dull thud.

Trish grimaced as she stood with only one functioning arm. She pulled Sparda off of her back, and began to spin with it, one handed. She let go and it plunged into Dante's lower chest, slipping between two ribs and puncturing his lung. Dante grabbed it by the blade and pulled it out, unfazed. He threw it into the air and pulled his scimitars out and ran towards Trish with them spread out to either side of him. As he reached her, he brought them together, making a shallow cut along her stomach. He leapt and did a wall hike off of her face, flipped and caught Sparda in midair. He fell deftly to his feet before Trish hit the ground, unconscious. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" Jool Noret bellowed as Rikku killed the music. Lucia ran out and supported Trish's head. Yuna ran down and checked her pulse. Yuna cast a healing spell and Trish's eyes fluttered open as they watched her bones, cartilage, tendons, a the rest of her shoulder regenerate.