Cheater

Sparda had never really gotten the hang of video games. He could just about understand the concept of them but when it actually came to playing the blasted things he was completely useless. Not only that, but he did so love to pick holes in things and point out how half of what the characters on screen were doing was completely impossible. He would go on about how long it took to slash at things to take them down while in the real world one small cut in just the right place would have them dead within a few seconds. And why didn't people bleed, he wondered, why didn't the little health indicator keep falling as they wore out through injury and exhaustion? And it was at this point Dante and/or Vergil would tell him to be quiet or leave the room because he was distracting them. He would then complain that the games were painting an incorrect picture of the truth about combat and warfare and that his boys should take no heed of them…and would then indignantly retreat to the garden with a book to read.

But he couldn't stay away from the games console forever, as it was one of the things his boys' loved to play on and he did like joining in their games. A good few times they had asked him to join in with them and he agreed only to fail miserably the second he picked up the controller. He refused to play sometimes and they would call him a sore loser.

Today it was Dante alone playing Dead or Alive 2, thumbs dancing over the buttons in such a way as to cause his character to fly about the screen in a flurry of physically unrepeatable moves that trounced his computer controlled opponent in ten seconds flat.

"Winner!" the game told him in an excited electronic voice and he chuckled in response.

He looked around and spotted his father leaning on the doorframe and watching him. "Wanna play?" he asked.

"Alright." He conceded after a long pause for thought. Unbeknownst to his cocky son, Sparda had been playing on the console the previous night and had worked out a way that he could win for sure. 'Hahaha, now we'll see who's the sore looser' he sniggered to himself.

He sat down on the floor cross legged in front of the TV and picked up the second controller. The two of them went about the process of selecting their characters and choosing the arena and then allowing the match to load.

"You're gonna lose so bad." Dante said with a smile and shake of his head.

"Mmm." Sparda mumbled, as if he wasn't actually paying any attention at all.

Looking over Dante could see that his father seemed somewhat distant…as if he was looking through the TV rather than at it. Ha! This was going to be so easy! His dad wasn't even paying attention!

"Get Ready!" the game said. "Fight!"

Wanting to show off Dante rapidly pressed the code required for a backbreaking manoeuvre that no one had ever been able to avoid before. He grinned expecting to see a huge dent in his father's life gauge but…

The opposing character flipped out of the way then came in for the attack with a move Dante had never seen that character do before, hurling his little man across the screen and where the wall provided a hard landing.

"How did you…" Dante gaped, mashing the buttons on his controller to get his character up again.

For once in his life Dante was finding it hard to hold his ground on this game which he was a pro at because his father was calmly pulling off moves that his character didn't even have. There were attacks and defensive positions that Dante had never seen in any game before, let alone this one.

Glancing over at his father again he noticed that he wasn't actually pushing any buttons even though his character was causing chaos on the screen…there was a glassy look in his eyes and a vague smile on his lips.

Dante finally knew what was going on and threw the controller on the floor in annoyance. "Mum! Dad's cheating! He's possessed the PS2! Make 'im stop!"

End

Author's Note – (crawls into a corner and huddles up into a protective ball) I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! I know this is late and short and it was supposed to be Jackpot 2 but he's being uncooperative and so I had to whip this up instead. Pleasedon'tkillme! Be patient for a little while longer…I'm nearly there…and the Halloween one is giving me more trouble than expected but I promise that they will both be ready soon.

Please take muffins and not my life, I need it to liiiiiive!

GryronInferno46 – Oooh, school trip…I must think more on that subject. Thank you for the review and the idea…and if you have any more you are willing to throw my way than please do.

Bustahead – Calpol! Brilliant! I never thought of that! I was considering doing a second half to Bless You…such as the effects of medicine on a devil and more of his effects on the surrounding environment. Entertainment for hours, yay!

As for everyone else who reviewed, thank you so much! You make writing this thing all worthwhile. I would have done a reply like those two (points to above replies) for you all but I was in a rush to post this.

I will go now and apply myself fully to Jackpot 2, so for now goodbye and I hope to see you at the next update.