Chapter 2: Devil May Cry
"Well Einstein, any clues on what to do now?" modesty has left the young girl – two hours of floating does that to a person. She no longer tried to cover herself, but made damn sure he wasn't trying to look by keeping an eye on him, ensuring he doesn't turn around. This, of course, gave her an opportunity for a show of her own.
"You know just as much as I do. I guess we wait," neither wanted to admit it, but by now, they've both accepted that something went horribly wrong with the new equipment, placing them in Kensuke's computer somehow. Sarcastically, Asuka claps her hand in applause of his lack of effort. Only two claps pass before they're once again dropped onto solid floor.
"Not again…" the girl quickly stands up and takes in her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that she was no longer naked – though only barely, "Well, this is trampy," he gazed down at her torso, only barely being covered by a black corset with a lightning bolt going straight down the middle, showing off just a small amount of cleavage. Three inches of flesh separated the end of the corset and the beginning of black leather pants, all topped off with high heel boots. She made a mental note that her chest looked a hell of a lot better in a corset. 'I'm so buying one of these…'
"Who dresses like this?" she looked over at Shinji and had to restrain herself from laughing at the pathetic wardrobe he was offered. A large, red trench coat rested on his shoulders, with no under shirt – only what appeared to be a gun holster shot across his chest. A pair of military style brown pants and boots topped off the 'ensemble'. Two things surprised her, though; his physique, for one. Either the game added muscles, or he is way more fit than she though. Two, his hair turned completely white, almost silver. 'Thank God my hair is the same…'
"Oh! I know this game! It's… um… Something Something Cry. I can't remember, but Kaji used to play it when I was younger. You're Dante, and if I remember correctly, I'm Trish. Or something like that, I don't know," she looked down at her hand with a smile that sent a shiver up Shinji's spine, "Think fast!" in a swift motion, she snapped her fingers with an outreached hand, sending bolts of electricity through the air.
"Ah!" though he may have sounded like a child, out of an instinct unguided by him, his hand rose up with a large sword, taking in the brunt of the shock, "Whoa…" now wearing a smile of his own, he looks at the massive sword, "Where did this even come from?"
"Your dead father. In this game, you're Dante, the son of Sparda, who was a legendary knight of Hell. I'm Trish, who was made by Mundus – an evil demon – to look exactly like your mother. So, in essence, we're both demons… though you're only half demon, since your mother was human," to Shinji, it seemed as if she knew just a little too much about this game, even if Kaji did play it. 'Is she a gamer? I wonder…'
"Great, so you know where to go. Lead the way," Shinji made a mental note that she had an entirely new way to physically hurt him.
"There's been like, five games based on this series. I have no idea which one we're in. Just follow your own logic, Genius. Video games are linear – just keep walking and you're bound to run into something. You're the strong one here, you take point," Shinji questioned how she could wield lightning, he had a giant sword, and yet he was the strong one. Something screamed shenanigans to him.
"Fine, but you better have my back," he walked across the Devil May Cry building and, in good fashion, slowly opened the door only to have it crash down in front of him, "Jesus!"
"Oh, yeah, it always does that. I don't even think this thing has hinges. People are always just kicking it down or riding in with a motorcycle," seeming to come up from the dirt in the cobblestone road, what looked like Grim Reapers holding comically large scythes rose up, forcing another scream from Shinji, "And those are Hell Prides. Bye, bye!" with a simple snap of her finger, all three Prides burst into dust, "You really gotta loosen up Ikari, these are the weakest enemies in the game. Just wait until Vergil comes around, he'll freaking kill you," with a strutting walk, she moved right past him, snapping her fingers at anything that moved – including birds.
"Who's Vergil?" to that, she only laughed, "It wasn't a joke…" reluctantly, he followed her as he held a shaking sword in his hands, "All you have to do is snap. I have to lug around a massive sword that I don't even know how to use."
"Actually, you're ten times what I am. You have two guns with ammo that never runs out, insane acrobatic skills, not to mention Devil Trigger," he noticed the guns on his belt, but the latter two were completely foreign to him, "But you'll just have to learn them on your own. I can't really tell you how to do it unless you have an L1 button on you somewhere."
"So what you're saying is that I can do all of this stuff, but I can barely pick up a sword. That makes a lot of sense," once again acting on instinct, he thrust the sword behind him the instant he felt a breath on his neck.
"There you go! Now just do that on purpose and we'll be fine," the Hell Pride melted behind him, only furthering his freak-out-meter, "Get ready, here comes Hell Vanguard," only flashes of black smoke caught his eye in the distance as something randomly teleported, though getting ever closer to them, "You go high, I'll go low."
"High?"
"You're so stupid! Aim for the head! I'll get it from below, and you get it from above. Is it really that hard to understand? Honestly!" through all her yelling, the Vanguard managed to teleport behind the raging German without her noticing, "And another thing," the high-pitched yelp she's learning to embrace escaped her throat as she felt a strong gust of wind behind her. Ready for a fight, she whips around only to see an extremely handsome man in a blue leather coat with swept back, silver hair. For a moment, she was taken aback by his looks. But only for a moment, "Shinji! That's him! Kill him! I'll leave you two brothers be," knowing the extent of power this game offered her, she ran past Shinji and back into the building. The bathroom would make a fine hiding spot.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, brother?" Shinji frantically waved both hands in the air, dropping the sword on the ground.
"No! You're mistaken! This is just one big accident! Listen, why don't-" while Shinji certainly did react to Vergil lunging at him at blind speed, he definitely wasn't aware of it. Just as quickly as his 'brother' came at him, Shinji picked up Rebellion and blocked the sword's attack, sending a shower of sparks in the air as the two legendary blades met, "Whoa!"
"So I thought," just as fast as before, Vergil back stepped to his original position and stylishly sheathed his sword with closed, confident eyes, "Dante, I come to you with a proposition. In return for a favor, I will ensure that we meet again and finish what was started years ago. Decline, and I'll send this world to Hell without a second thought. Do you accept?"
"Depends on the favor," at this point, Shinji was just playing along.
"My son, Nero, is to be born at midnight tonight. Because of our blood, several high ranking demons wish to see him, along with my wife, dead. All I ask of you is to keep him safe. My matters lie elsewhere, as you can see," Vergil motions to the massive tower in the distance.
"Hey Asuka! He's having a son! Is that bad?" without breaking eye contact with Vergil, Shinji yells to 'Trish'.
"No, he turns out to be a good guy. And a cute one, too," though it was clearly safe outside, she still refused to exit the bathroom, "Tell him we want Yamato as collateral!"
"Try and take it," using his thumb, the son of Sparda in blue pushed Yamato from the sheath just enough to show blade, "I'm growing impatient. Do you accept?"
"Fine, fine, we accept. Where's your wife?" for no more than half a second, Vergil disappears and reappears in his exact same position and pose, though now with an extremely pregnant woman standing by his side.
"If anything happens to her or Nero, I promise your death will be a slow one," and with that, the man in blue vanished, leaving his wife alone. To Shinji's surprised, she looked shockingly similar to Vergil – almost enough to be his sister – with white hair and all. Without a word and a hand on her stomach, she walked past Shinji and sat in the building.
"Great, now I have to protect a baby and myself. This is just so not going to go well, I know it," hanging his head and whining, the now-half demon followed her inside just as Asuka was exiting the bathroom.
"So, this is going to be the famous Nero, huh? You know, he turns out to be quite the charmer. Just stay out of the way lady, we'll protect you," Shinji couldn't help but remember how she ran off at the mere sight of Vergil, "I hope you learn to use your powers real quick Shinji, because your bother didn't seem to be joking."
"He's not my brother, and you know that. This isn't even real," with a smirk, she snapped her fingers, sending a small shock onto his right eyebrow.
"You felt that? Then yeah, it's real enough. Now be careful, he said high ranking demons were coming. And it's only six at night, so we have awhile before the brat's born. Better get comfortable," just as Asuka put her hands behind her head and began walking to the loveseat across the room, what sounded like a flock of bats roaming just over head echoed through the silent streets, "Great…" annoyed she falls back onto the chair.
"What? What is it?" by this point, Shinji's already seen enough to be terrified of every little shadow that doesn't look quite right, let alone thousands of bats. Asuka motions her head towards the door, and Shinji quickly realizes a woman – a notably half naked woman – standing in the doorway. Nothing exactly obscene could be seen, due to her long, straight, red hair covering the gist of her bosom, and from her waist down was covered in flying bats and a black aura as if it was a dress. Certainly a sight for the young man, but not something he didn't fear.
"I heard Sparda's passing on his line, is this right? If his grandson is half as handsome as that devil then I'd be happy," she floated over to Shinji and placed a finger on his chin, bringing him just close enough to where he could feel the utter coldness of her body, "And you, I presume, are one of his sons. You're no Sparda, but you're definitely above that scum Vergil."
"They're twins you twit," Asuka yells from the other side of the room, still in her relaxed position, "Shinji, kill her, you get an awesome weapon."
"You wouldn't want to hurt me, would you?" she leans in as if to kiss him, but keeps on traveling past his lips and to his neck. The instant Shinji felt a single lip on his skin, a massive sword flew up between her face and his flesh.
"Asuka, telling me how to use that Devil Gun thing would be great right about now," and with that, the sword flew down, creating no more than a paper cut sized wound on Nevan's stomach as she leaped back.
"For one, it's called Devil Trigger," a stream of bats and black aura flew out of Nevan's hand towards Shinji, "And two, I told you, I don't know how. You basically release your devil blood… so release, already," he flew to the side, avoiding all bats, "Don't forget, you have guns. See all those bats flying around her? You need to either shoot or slash them all," he lunged at Nevan with a sword held high in the air, bringing it down as if a child would on a strong-hammer game. Nevan, not about to be done in by some kid, simply holds up a hand and catches the sword, licking the side of it with a smile.
"Feel free to jump in and help any time!" Asuka simply casually looked at her nails, as if they're somehow more important than a devil woman, "Asuka!"
"Fine, quit your whining," without looking, she snapped her fingers and dismembered every bat surrounding Nevan, making her jump back with a scream, "There, now have at her," displaying all the coordination of a Muppet, Shinji blindly swung at the woman as she lazily dodged each and every swipe he made at her.
"This is the great Dante? Sparda's blood has been spoiled over the years."
"For the love of Christ," just getting annoyed with the naked woman in the room, Asuka finally stands up and decides to finish this as quickly as possible. Lightning is a damn hard thing to dodge, "Was that really hard? You're supposed to be the successor to the strongest devil ever!" Nevan lied on the floor, letting out the random twitch every few seconds, "Pathetic. Now, turn into that guitar thing, I want it," with a shaking finger, Nevan pointed to Shinji.
"Only he can wield the weapon, and a guitar is only an option if he can play it. I give my defeater the instrument they're most talented in."
"Most talented…" Asuka scratched her head for a moment before going wide eyed, "No, wait!"
"Hey… that's pretty cool," where the vampire beauty once laid now resides a cello of masterful artwork, of the devil kind of course. Jet black was the body, with dark purple trim surrounding it. The same aura that covered Nevan now surrounded the body of the cello.
"No it's not! What are you gonna do? Serenade devils to death? That's stupid!" with a slammed foot, Asuka put a hole through the body of the artwork, "You were supposed to be a guitar, damn it! That was the only cool weapon in the whole game, and you go and replace it with a freaking cello!" all Shinji could do was stare with a disappointed face as Asuka reduced the instrument to rubble before his eyes.
"That was a little uncalled for, wasn't it?"
"No! This was cute for about five minutes, but now I'm just annoyed! Do they seriously not realize what happened? Hell, even you figured it out!" Shinji kept his mouth shut, but thought, 'I figured it out long before you did!'
"I'm sure they're working on getting us out right now. Relax and try to have fun until that happens," he might as well have called her a whore – the look she gave him would have been the same, "Well yelling isn't going to help anything."
"Whatever," she threw her arms into the air as she began to leave the building, "I'm going to keep an eye out for any other devils, I'll tell you if I see any. Don't talk to me," with that final snap, she went out of Shinji's line of sight.
"Why do you allow her to treat you in such a demeaning manner?" the pregnant woman on the chair finally spoke up through all of the commotion, "No one deserves that lack of respect," Shinji was a little taken back by the sheer beauty of this woman's voice. She wasn't particularly attractive, but certainly not ugly by anyone's standards. She was somewhat like a white dove; nothing amazing to look at, but the way her body worked together simply defined elegance. Her voice, though… regardless of the fact that she was speaking, it was as if he was listening to a highly trained vocalist. There was no doubt in his mind that she had a wonderful singing voice.
"Asuka has her way of showing she cares. Trust me, behind all that hatred and physical abuse, she's not that bad of a person," his joke made her smile ever so slightly, "And she's just a little freaked out at the whole situation," surprising him, she didn't ask what situation he was talking about.
"She does care for you, though. She's built walls all her life to protect herself, but you two spend far too much time together for you not to grow on her. I know you care for her, too," Shinji raised an eyebrow at her, "You're far from the only half-devil, hun. Not all devils have powers of destruction, just most of them. Devils like me are able to tune into the thoughts of humans. More powerful ones can actually read thoughts – me, on the other hand… I just read emotions, you could say."
"Interesting… so will your son have that?"
"Depends. Vergil is half demon himself, so there's a fifty-fifty chance our son could be just as human as the next person, or more of a devil than you. Chances are, though, that he'll have somewhat a mix of humanity and devil in his blood. The angry and violent devils tend to have stronger genes than devils like me, so he will likely take after Vergil," she went on to continue speaking, only to be cut off by Asuka running in the house.
"Shinji, I'm not dealing with this guy. He's annoying," strolling in right behind her was the caricature of a typical court jester.
"So this is where you've been hiding! I must say, you're quite the elusive one, bride of Vergil. Now be a good girl and just hold still," in his first act of bravery that didn't come out of pure instinct, Shinji held the large sword in front of him and glared at the clown, "Yo ho! I don't believe we've met before! Nice to meet you, young one," he bowed in a comical stance, "The name is Jester. I have no gripe with you, Devil Boy," in a speed much slower than Vergil's but still impressive to Shinji, he dashed behind him and placed both hands on his shoulders, "Just stay out of the way, will you?" finally using the firearms, Shinji pulls out Ebony and holds it under Jester's nose.
"Feel free to leave any time. Unless you fancy nose piercings," Asuka couldn't help but enjoy his show of masculinity for once, "I'm in no mood to fight, but I will if I have to."
"I'm not here to fight, don't you worry your pretty little head. What I am here to do, however, is to help a poor little wannabe devil out of this hell," Jester flicked the jet black gun, making a flag pop out with the word 'BANG!' on it, "You see, I know your secret. You and little Miss Thang over there don't belong here, do you?" Jester finally got their attention, and Shinji lowered both weapons, "Good boy."
"How do you know that about us?" Jester let out a wicked laugh as he jumped and clapped his hands.
"I knew it! I can smell false devil blood from a mile away! Let me help you out of here so I can get back to work," continuing the laugh that was beginning to get on the trio's nerves. With two simple claps, Jester summoned two black portals bearing a blue aura, and the two humans were quickly sucked in, landing hard on an unfamiliar room. They were both out of the gear presented to them from the game, leaving them, once again, nude.
"Again? Damn it!" the room they were in appeared to be a large office with the walls completely lined with file cabinets. A single desk and computer sat in the middle of the large room, but Shinji was completely oblivious to this. There were much better things to be looking at than cabinets.
A/N – Great suggestions guys! As per the request of Sperance and 1337, Assassin's Creed and Resident Evil are on the list. Chances are I'll be doing Resident Evil 4 next time, but I haven't quite decided yet. I'll just have to brainstorm a bit to come up with ideas. Keep the suggestions coming! I'm not too good at recalling all the games I've played, so you guys help out a lot. And by the way, I haven't done it yet, but there will be games I cover that weren't ported to the PC… doesn't matter. They're in the future – they probably have a decently working emulator! Thanks for reading this far, keep on keepin' on!