I just stood there, not daring to move for fear this was a dream. I was home. I looked at the clock, I was only gone for an hour and a half, but in the movie world I was gone for a little less than a year. I looked blankly at the cloaked Man and began to yell at him.
(I still wanna smack the guy for leaving me like that.)
"Where the hell were you? I can't believe you left me there alone! I thought you were going to come with me and help! But NOOOO you had to scare the crap out of me and make me think was stuck in the movie forever!"
He stopped me before I could continue and said,
"I had to see if you were really ready to have these powers. You can think of that as a test to see if you were responsible enough."
"A test, why the fuck did you let me think I wasn't going to be stuck in there! And why didn't you come to help?"
"I had to see what you would without knowing you were being watched. By the way, I have made my decision."
He said scratching his head and looking blankly at the ceiling with his blood red cat eyes.
"Ok? What now? Do I keep them or get them taken away? What happens?"
I said, still irritated that I was stuck in there for so long. My body had gone back to the same age like he had said it would. I knew this because I was about six inches shorter then I had been. I could tell this because my spider suit was too big on me.
"Well there were lots of times were I could see you wanted to tell them the things that you knew, but you stuck to the rules even after you gave up on going home. So you pass."
He said acting a little more childish than he first seemed. It was like he knew exactly what I was going to say.
"So I get to keep them, ok what now?"
"It's up to you. The powers are all yours to do what you see fit with. Well, it's time for me to go. Any last questions you got before I leave?"
He asked, getting up to walk to the TV.
"Yeah I do… I forgot to ask before, but who are you and how will I find you if I need you?"
I questioned, still not knowing who he was.
"You will find out in time, I don't want to ruin the surprise. Just know you don't have to worry, not yet at least. Just don't break any of the 'you probably shouldn't / should rules, ok? And when you truly need me, I'll be there."
He said before attempting to leave. I stopped him to ask
"Wait what's your name?"
He paused for a moment and answered
"You can call me Trace. See you in about three."
He muttered before leaving. I wondered about what he meant by three and the name seemed to be easy to remember and somewhat familiar. Then he disappeared into the TV. A glaring red cat eye was the last thing I saw of him. I still had questions for him, but he was gone. I was overwhelmed still so I did what seemed to calm me down the best when I was stressing in the movie, sit on the ceiling and think. Then it hit me. I was still Spider-man and I had to get a new costume. My scarlet spider suit from the movie was ruined, so I thought for a little bit and came up with the idea. All that time in Spider-Man and I never saw my favorite character Venom. I had wanted to try the alien suit out to see if I could control it and there was my answer for new cloths. The venom's suit from the spider-man comics.
After thinking about it for a little while, I just got a picture of a black blob and wrote what it was. One of the few things the man taught me before I entered the movie that I could make stuff depending on my creativity. I had to write what I wanted so it wouldn't just be a black blob when I took it out of the picture. Now if you don't know what the venom suit is an alien symbiote that acts like an all in one utility suit. It was good idea but I would have to tweak it so it would be safe.
I wrote for the first line. I continued to write down more specifics. I read out what I had written to double-check it,
"It is living suit that is very similar to the one in Spider-man. It differs from the alien suit in Spider-Man in the fact that it does not have a mind of its own and is driven by the need to live. Its reason for helping you is it needs a body to live on because it needs one to survive. The suit has the power to raises your abilities such as strength, speed, agility based on your physical traits and mental personality. Your senses like hearing sight and smell are also increased but not to super human. It also makes you much less vulnerable to physical injury by taking much of the blows like a bullet proof vest. It lives on your body and can change to any color and form that you want it to mimicking any fabrics texture and look. It will bond to your body and live with you as part of you."
I looked at what it said and decided to give it another power that it didn't have before.
"As an added ability it can take certain traits or powers from people by physical contact. Whether they be physical or magical attributes."
I know this would make me a little over powered but hey it was my life I had to protect, but I didn't make it's a invincible super armor because well to be quite honest I'm a cock bastard I was really specific so that I didn't get an evil venom suit. Then, when I was finished, I reached into the picture and pulled out the ooze in my hand. It felt like a writhing mass of slime as it sped around my body. It engulfed my whole body, cutting off all my senses. I couldn't see, smell, hear, or even breathe. I started to panic, but I couldn't move I thought I was going to suffocate.
'Shit what have I done to myself!'
I thought as I struggled to break free. But suddenly, the suit started breathing for me. I still couldn't move or anything else, but I wasn't going to die now. It was about 15 seconds before I started to regain my sight little by little. I felt relieved that I was gaining control of my body. It took about a minute before I had full control of my body again. I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror.
I was basically naked but covered in black ink, even my eyes were covered up. It felt as though I was wearing nothing at all. I just imagined myself in the black and white Spider-man suit. It looked really cool, but I didn't think it would work in anything but the Spider-man stories so I thought of some other costume ideas. I just messed around with it, making me wear different clothes. I was able to make it any shape, texture, color, and even change my outward appearance like eye or hair color. It reminded me of the line from the movie Men in Black.
'The last suit you will ever wear.'
I was looking around my room for ideas on a costume when I saw the Devil May Cry poster with Dante standing in his red coat. I thought of how most anime and video game heroes wear a red trench coat (Dante, Alucard, Ed and Al Elric, Vincent, Vash, Auron and many others) but wanted to have a little twist on it. I made my suit do a variation of Dante's suit with black at the bottom and red like his at the top. It changed to what I had envisioned and it even made my hair nice and neat though I quickly screwed it up after seeing it made me look like a girl. I walked around with my new clothes and looked at myself in the mirror.
"Very nice, a little flashy for the real world, but it will be perfect for most situations I will get myself into."
I marveled at my costume to myself as I flexed and posed in my mirror. Giving it a little more minor details here and there such as pockets and straps.
'I'm such an attention whore'
"Stuart, what are you wearing?"
My mom asked as she walked into my room.
"Um, it's a costume for this thing."
I blurted out, not expecting her at all.
"What? Never mind come down, dinners ready?"
She told me as she walked downstairs. I followed her down and had dinner. I was too tired to go anywhere else, so I went to bed. I had a crazy dream I was still stuck in the Spider-Man world and had become the Man-Spider. I awoke to find I still only had two arms thankfully. I was very energetic the next day with my new suit boosting my powers. It seemed to slow the world down for me (Which sucks for a long day of school). Having powers was potently dangerous without control. I could feel that the suit was enhancing nearly every aspect of my powers and abilities, some more than others. I was worried about getting too much power, like my speed. For some reason I had at least quadrupled my speed, I even thought faster so I could control myself at high speeds. I would have to make sure I didn't try to move fast, even though it made me feel like I was walking in slow motion.
I would have to be very careful so I didn't let anyone find out about my secret. It was great to be home and see all my friends even though in real life it was only a day since I saw them last. They were very confused when I came up to them and gave them all hugs and told them I missed them. I was feeling at home and starting to get bored again with everyday life. I really wanted to try my suits powers out though I was in California so I didn't have any were to web swing. It was a week and a half later that I decided it was time to have some fun in another story.
"You're acting kinda weird today Stuart. You know that?"
Tyler said as he sat with me at lunch. Aaron still hadn't come back to school.
"Really?"
I said, as if I hadn't been daydreaming about where I should go next.
"I guess I'm just tired."
I mumbled quickly, because that's the fake excuse I always use. A day had never gone by so slowly in my life. I finally had gotten home, but I still didn't know where I was going to go next. It didn't take me long to decide that I would go into Devil May Cry, seeing as my clothes already matched the story. I needed to get weapons for future adventures and I always wanted Dante's guns and one of his swords, because he always had some of the coolest weapons. (Talking swords, triple nunchucks, ) So I put the game in, and hopped in as soon as the intro movie started.
There was a problem though I didn't appear outside of Dante's shop Devil May Cry. I looked around and realized that I was in what looked like New York again. It wasn't really the place was just called City of Devils I would find out later. My first thoughts were
'Hey cool everything is realistic. It doesn't look like the game at all.'
This meant that everything I went in would look like the real world does. I wondered what cartoons would be like until I realized I didn't know where I was.
'Hey where's Dante's shop?'
Was my second thought as I walked down a street. I had no idea what went wrong. I sat and thought for a while and came up with conclusion that I had entered when it was showing a view of the city. I was angry that I had so impassioned. I had no idea where or when I had entered the game. I should have waited, and now I was going to have to find his shop and hope he was there.
It took a long time before I found any one who even knew about Dante's place but even they were useless. I continued to ask around, until after about five hour of asking, I got irritated and had to stop.
"Why the fuck doesn't anyone know where Devil May Cry is?"
I said out loud to myself as I sat in an alley, after the second day on the street looking for it not wanting to get any ones attention. But I wasn't alone in the alley. A man dressed in a suit came out of the shadows and said with a smug smile,
"So you're looking for Dante, are you?"
His voice seemed to hiss with every word. I perked up at his words getting excited, and replied,
"Yeah I am. Do you know where he is or maybe where his shop is?"
The man looked at me and smiled before he said,
"Yes I do, it's about several blocks down and three to the left."
I stood up and began to thank him when my spider sense made the back of my neck tingle. I looked around but I couldn't see any danger. I was very confused I couldn't help but wonder what would be making my Spidey sense go off like this. Was I losing control of my powers from being in a new story or something? Then the man started to snicker, and then he spoke.
"You can stop thanking me now… It doesn't matter that you know where it is, because you'll never make it there. Not in one piece at least."
I looked at the man in disbelief as his skin began to stretch and tear. I stepped back as the last of his skin fell to the ground.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing; where the man stood was a seven-foot tall scaly monster with two heads. It had an over sized jaw to fit its enormous teeth. It smiled a wicked smile as drool pored out of its mouth.
'Man, I gotta stop going into back allies.'
I thought as it leaped forward, its razor sharp claws out stretched. I leaped back onto the wall behind me, several feet above the monsters head. But when I jumped off, the monsters long, scaly tail hit me into a fire escape, making the whole thing come crashing down on me. I was winded from the blow, but I couldn't stop because it was coming at me again with its twisted smile. I barely managed dodge it, but luckily this time its claw got stuck in the wall, which gave me enough time to catch my breath. I covered it a thick sheet of web, but it didn't work. The monster broke the bindings with little trouble and stood there with its evil smile. With another leap it tore at my chest leaving claw marks and knocking me against the broken wall. I really wished I had more experience fighting super villain t this time.
"So you have a few tricks. It's too bad they won't stop me devouring your flesh!"
It sat there and cocked its heads at me. It was kinda like a cat playing with a mouse. It crouched down then jumped for me. The cuts on my chest were still open even though my suit tried desperately to heal me. I closed my eyes and grabbed the closest thing to me that I could use as a weapon and raised it up. Everything went quiet. I sat on the ground with my arm raised for a few seconds, not realizing what I had done. Warmth then stared to cover my hand then my arm.
I looked at my hands, which held a steel pipe from the fallen latter of the fire escape. It was piercing the monsters head through one of its mouth's that dripped a mixture of its and my blood. Its teeth had just barely made it through my suit. I pulled my hand out of its mouth and it dropped to the ground with a thud. I stood there, my heart racing as my suit began to heal the bite marks and cleanse my clothes of blood.
It took me a little while to calm myself down and regain my composure. I looked back at the monster that lay in a pool of its own blood. Seeing it dead shook off any fear I might have had left. I turned to leave, but I heard a gargling noise. It was the other head. It was moving a little, but blood was pouring out its eyes. Not sensing any danger, I walked up to it and got right next to it.
"Thanks for the directions, but I got to go."
I growled before tearing the pipe out of its head, only to stab the other head. I set off to the directions the monster had given me. I swung from building to building until saw the bright neon sign.
"Devil May Cry."
I read out loud as I landed on the street in front of the building. It was bigger than I thought. I walked to the door to knock, but the door opened as I touched it.
"Hello, any one here?"
I said into the empty room as I peered inside, but there was no answer.
"Um... Dante, you there?"
I said as I walked in, but I still got no reply. I looked around the room and saw what a mess it was.
'I guess no one's here…'
I thought to myself as I sat down at the desk, wondering what to do next. After about an hour of waiting I grew bored and decided to look around. First I looked into the two rooms in the very back, which ended up being just a bathroom and a back exit. Next I walked up the small set of stairs to the left and entered a door, which led to a hallway. There were two more doors, one that led to an even messier room that had Dante's bed, and the other had a rather large room that seemed like it hadn't had any one in it for a while. Plus it was the only clean room in the place, which made it even stranger.
I walked in and turned on the lights to see a wall of weapons, which included multiple swords including Rebellion, Agni and Rutra, one rocket launcher, two double barrel sawed off shot guns and a older looking set of Dante's trademark duel Desert Eagles, Ebony and Ivory. The only weapon I didn't see that I liked was Nevan, the demonic guitar scythe, but it really didn't matter because I wanted a sword.
I looked around the room and saw all kinds of other items, but I didn't know what they were. It was a long room with a wall separating it. Then I realized that I was in a firing range, and the reason it was so clean was Dante must never need to come in there. I looked at the shelf of weapons and decided to have a little fun while I waited.
I looked at each weapon trying to decide what to try first, and the pair of white and black guns jumped out at me (not literally). I reached out and grabbed them. They were much lighter than I had anticipated, and they seemed to fit my hand perfectly. I twirled them, mimicking what I had seen Dante do, but I nearly dropped them so I stopped. I walked over to the firing range and squeezed the trigger. The gun clicked, but nothing happened.
"What?"
I said as I raised the gun to look for a clip, but I could not find one or even a place where one would go.
'Why won't this work?'
I wondered I suddenly felt my head start to buzz as my spider sense went off. My body ducked on its own just as a bullet whizzed past my head.
"So what do we have here, a burglar messing with my stuff or a demon with a death wish?"
I turned to see Dante, who was pointing his guns straight at me.
"I'm not a demon!"
I said rising, my hands that held Ebony and Ivory; but doing so made Dante shoot at me again.
"Yeah right, I can smell demon all over you."
I dove behind a crate away from his bullets.
"I give up just don't kill me. It's not me you smell."
I said as Dante stopped firing, so I put the guns down just outside of the half demolished crate.
"My name's Stuart and I have been looking for you. You weren't at the front desk so I came in to look for you."
I said from raising my hands not wanting to stick my head out.
"Oh really now, then why do I smell fresh blood in here?"
Dante said, but before I could reply the shadows seemed to jump out and swallowed him up. He couldn't get out of the bubbling blackness. He grunted as he tried to escape, but it had removed his pair of guns and his sword and thrown them to the ground. It was a nightmare demon that sucks you into it until you die or you can break free. I ran for the gun shelf but it cut me off, nearly catching me in it. I was right next to Dante's weapons on the ground. I reached for Alastor, but as I was about to touch it, time seemed to freeze and a voice came out of nowhere.
"I am Alastor. The weak shall give their heart and swear their eternal loyalty to me. Only one has proven worthy of wielding me."
And all of the sudden the sword shot up from the ground at my chest but I grabbed it in mid-air. I held it by the blade. It was cutting deep into my hands. The only thing stopping it from cutting my hands in half was the venom suit. I could feel my warm blood pouring down them, but I couldn't let it go because it continued to try to pierce through my chest, as if someone was holding it. I gritted my teeth and forced it into the ground, grabbing the handle and swinging it at the nightmare that had nearly reached me. The sword didn't seem to want to let me wield it until I finally sliced into the monster.
It was cut in half, releasing Dante who was extremely pissed off. He took his father's sword, Rebellion from the shelf and started to cut away at it. I backed up, still holding Alastor my blood dripping down it as he finished it off. Dante stopped and looked at me for a second, raised his gun and fired. I didn't move, but nothing happened to me. Then a thud came from behind me. He shot the demon from the alleyway that apparently had not been killed. The demons bodies slowly deteriorated into dust.
"You ok kid?"
Dante asked to me as he put his hand on my shoulder. I then had an idea to use the suits power to take copy powers from people. I could use it to get a little of Dante's strength. As he touched my shoulder I focused and I felt my suit changing my body in some way. It didn't hurt, but I could feel something happening inside of me, like my blood was warming up. My suit, being a sentient, being spoke to me threw telepathy. The symbiote said that to acquire Dante's power it gave me the half demon blood of Sparda, (Dante's devil father) which is what gives Dante his powers.
"Kid, are you ok? How are your hands?"
Dante repeated.
"Um, I'm fine but what do you mean my hands…"
I said, confused. But when I looked at my at them I saw that they were covered in my blood. Holding the sword back from killing me had left two huge gashes in my palms, but I had not noticed because of the adrenaline. My blood was trickling down the blade, and I heard the voice once again.
"You have proven yourself to be worthy of wielding my power… My strength is now yours to command. May it serve you well… master."
It was the sword talking to me, or rather, the demon that lived inside of it. It tingled in my hands that had just started to heal themselves.
"You gonna be ok? Need a Band-Aid or something?"
Dante asked looking at my bleeding hands that had already half healed themselves. They stung but I didn't wanna seem like a wuss.
"No I should be fine in a couple of seconds."
I muttered as I showed him they were healing. My suit was pouring into the wound using its self to replace my skin. He looked at the sword in my other hand.
"Looks like that's yours now."
Dante said as he walked into the main room.
"What do you mean mine?"
I asked as I followed Dante into the next room.
"It chose you over me, didn't you hear it? It's a very particular sword and I really don't feel like getting stabbed in the chest again just so I can use it. It really doesn't matter to me anyways, keep the thing. I got enough swords."
He yawned as if nothing happened.
"Oh thanks but sorry I think I broke your spare guns. When I tried to shoot them it didn't shoot and I don't know how you load these things."
I told him apologetically.
"It won't work because you need devil blood for it to work. It's complicated, but essentially the bullets are made from my demon powers. But if you like them so much you can keep em. They are my old pair and I don't need them either. Think of those and the sword as me paying you back for me shooting at you."
He said as he walked to his desk. I thought he must have felt bad for shooting at me but later on I found out he's not the most responsible guy in the world when it comes to safety. It was either that or he didn't want to get sued. What Dante didn't realize was they would work now because I had the same blood as him. I was surprised because within a few days I had gotten my own sword and guns just as planned. Though I had no experience using them and would need to get some training from Dante, because he is the only one I know of who is good enough to teach me and have me look cool doing it. I honestly thought it would take at least a week of asking Dante for some of my own weapons after I got him to help me… if I could get him to help me. I guess I got lucky because I didn't even really have any idea what I was going to say to Dante when I met him in the first place.
"Anyway, what was so important that you had to break in my shop for, as you can see, I'm a busy man?"
Dante replied casually sitting in his chair and putting a book over his face to take a nap. I looked at the sword and wiped it off with a dirty towel I found on the ground. I felt accomplished because I had won the sword's respect instead of having it just be given to me. It was much lighter than I had expected for such a large sword.
"I came to talk to you actually."
I said, not really sure what to say.
"Well obviously kid, what is it that you wanted to talk about? And before you start, don't tell me you can't pay. I don't work for free ya know."
"Ok I won't tell you I don't have any money. Actually I was going to see if you could … um how do I put this? Teach me how to fight."
This caught Dante's attention, but in a bad way.
"I'm no teacher kid. I paid you back for almost killing you, even though you are the one who broke into my place. And now you're asking for more free stuff. Find someone else. I don't have time to baby sit some kid."
Dante complained as he put the magazine over his face again.
"But you…"
"I said no kid. Now stop wasting my time. You can't even pay me, now get out be for I make you. You caused me enough trouble already. Plus now you're interrupting my nap."
Dante sat up and looked at me coldly.
"Fine, fine I'm going but I'll be back."
And I left the shop hearing Dante say.
"You better bring me money if you expect a different answer."
I went to the top of a building across from Devil May Cry and stood there, watching. I took Alastor off my back and swung it a few times. Electricity issued from the blade as it cut through the air.
"Hehe cool."
I said as I watched the light show. I put it away and pulled out Dante's old pair of Ebony and Ivory. I pulled the trigger and this time the muzzle flashed with a loud BANG. The guns would now work now that I had Dante's power.
But I was stumped when I tried to use my other new powers. I couldn't turn into a devil like Dante, no matter what I did. Even my suit couldn't help me. It was able to take the powers not tell me how to use them. That's the down side of having it have not mind of its own.
"So what you doing all the way up here?"
It was a women standing behind me. I turned to see Trish standing there. Trish is a devil made by the bad guy in this game, but she ends up becoming good. The only question now was weather she good or bad right now.
"I could ask you the same thing babe."
I snickered, cockier than normal as I kind of posed to try to make myself look cool. It seemed that I picked up a little of Dante's arrogance along with his power.
"Ha, your cute kid, but don't call me babe. If you must know, I was going to visit Dante, the owner of that shop. Now then it's your turn."
Trish smiled as she walked to the edge. Until now I still had no real idea what part of the game I was in, so I thought I would find out.
"You know Dante or you have a job for him too?"
It was a second before she replied.
"I know Dante very well…. We kinda work together until a few days ago when we split up. I assume you know what he does if you have a job for him."
I must have entered near the ending scene of the game.
"So what is this job you have for him?"
Trish went on.
"I was looking to have him teach me how to fight. I'm a devil hunter in training, but I still need practice. I'm still not use to fighting such vicious enemies. But when I asked him he said no because I couldn't pay him."
I shrugged
"You a devil hunter, aren't you a little young kiddo?"
"I've killed two already."
I boasted proudly even though Dante technically killed the both of them.
"Wow two, that's impressive."
Trish said mockingly.
"Hey, I didn't have any weapons at the time so it was a little hard especially since it was my first time."
But as I finished my sentence my spider sense went off as a reaper came out of nowhere and swung his scythe at us. I flipped over it kicking it in the back of the head causing it to fall. I landed next to Trish who had her guns drawn, as a half a dozen more reapers appeared screaming at us.
"It looks like we have a few uninvited guests. Let's see what you got kid."
Trish said as I pulled Alastor from my back. It tingled in my hand. I had never used a sword before other than playing with toy light sabers.
"Ok why not I was getting bored anyways."
I was ready this time and was actually excited for the fight. Two reapers came charging at me but I jumped over them landing on the reaper I had just kicked. It was getting up but before it could stand I sliced it into pieces. The next one came at me from a portal behind me. I parried its scythe then stabbed it in the head. My blade sparked with every swing. I was having fun, even though I was putting my life on the line.
"Come on, what's the matter?"
I taunted the remaining reapers. I had already been a smart ass when fighting in Spider-man, but it seemed to get worse because of taking Dante's power. I landed on the ground in front of the closest Reaper, trying to anger it into charging. But before I knew it one came from behind me and stuck its scythe threw my back. I looked down at my chest and saw a blade sticking out of it. It was strange having something go through my chest and having it not kill me. I felt one of my lungs collapse and it hurt to breathe. I still hurt like a bitch but I couldn't stop now.
I put Alastor away on my back having my suit hold it there. The way I put it away cut the scythes blade off. It was starting to sting more and more so I pulled it out threw my chest and watched as the wound healed twice as fast as normal, even though I should have died. But I had no time to wonder how I was alive. I threw the blade like a boomerang cutting another reapers arm off. I began to play with the remaining reapers jumping off of them and making them hurt each other making sure not to stand still any more. I pulled out my new guns and grinned at the three remaining reapers.
"Trish you want to join me? You look pretty bored just sitting over there watching."
I said to Trish, who had gone to another building to watch me. She jumped to my building again and said,
"How thoughtful of you."
By now the left most reaper had started to charge, but I raised my gun without looking and squeezed the trigger, shooting it right were its eye would be and making the skull explode.
"Look now there's one for each of us."
I said still not looking away from Trish.
"What you only give me one? I could take them both out at the same time."
"Really? Then go right ahead."
She turned and jumped behind the two demons, making them turn to follow her, but she raised her arms and shot two huge bolts of lightning threw the reapers heads, making them fall to the ground. I was amazed at her power of electricity and I wanted it.
"Nice job."
She said as I walked up to her.
"Likewise."
I replied.
"So what's your name kid?"
She asked me.
"I'm Stuart."
I raised my hand offering her a handshake so I could take the power of lightning. I focused on the thought of having her lighting and it seemed to work. Once again, the suit told me what it was taking. But unlike Dante, my body didn't change; it just imbued me with the power of lighting so I wouldn't have any of her personality.
"I'm Trish. You got talent but you are right you do need training. But I think I can help you with Dante. I think know a way around this no money problem of yours."
"Thanks, but before you tell me that could you tell me how your power work?"
I asked.
"What? You mean my lightning? I just will it to happen."
So I imagined shooting a bolt of lightning out of my hand and it happened but not quit as strong as Trish.
"You mean like that?"
After explaining that I can sample people's powers, she then went on to tell me what she meant by helping me with Dante, but before we could go back to his shop he came to us.
"I thought I'd find you hear kid, but I didn't expect to see you any time. What was the gunfire about? You weren't having fun without me were yeah?"
Dante said looking at the dead bodies that began to smolder.
"No, they were just small fry."
Trish replied.
"So did you have to save the kid too?"
Dante asked as he looked at me.
"No he did most of the work. Looks like your weapons helped him quite a bit."
Trish said walking over to me, patting my back.
"Really now? Hmm… Guess the runt has a few tricks up his sleeve."
He said as if I wasn't standing right in front of him.
"Dante I was just talking to Stuart and I heard he's looking to become a hunter himself. Why don't you teach him a few things?"
"No way babe, like I told the kid, I'm no teacher. I got enough to worry about without some kid. Anyways I'm still busy trying to pay Lady's debt off and this kid can't even pay me."
Dante argued as he turned to leave, seeing that the fun had ended. I wasn't just going to leave the game with weapons I really had no skill with and new powers I didn't entirely understand. I had to say something
"Dante,"
He turned and said,
"Yeah kid?"
"Instead of teaching me how about you give me a job. I won't take any profit and you could get twice the work done. And I can learn from experience. I will take all the crap jobs without complaining either."
Dante seemed interested.
"What's the catch?"
Dante said suspiciously.
"I need a place to live. I'm homeless, but I can also help around the shop. All I ask is that you let me go on a few missions with you first to see how it's done."
"Come on Dante help the kid out."
Trish added in giving Dante a pout. Dante stopped to think for a little while then said,
"Fine, I can see you won't quit, so you can stay at my place and I'll let you work for me, but if you start to cramp my style you're out. Got me? Now let's go, there are a few things we need to go over before I take you on a mission and have you staying at my place."
Dante said as he reached the edge of the building.
"Later babe."
He waved to Trish before jumping off the side.
"See you later. Have fun."
Trish said before disappearing into the night.
"Thanks for the help."
I said to Trish before I jumped down and walked to the shop. Dante was sitting in his chair waiting for me.
"So your name is Stuart. 'Kay Stuart, I have a few rules you will have to follow if you're going to be staying here. Rule one; don't wake me up unless it is an emergency…I mean it. Rule two, don't go in my room. Rule three, and this one is very important, no complaining about work I make you do. Follow those three rules and we will be fine. Oh yeah, and I get first dibs on the last slice of pizza."
Then the phone rang, so Dante did his little kick to the table, making the phone pop up into the air. He grabbed it and answered
"Devil May Cry… Yes….. Yeah…. Got it. Well it looks like your getting your first job a little earlier than expected."
So Dante and I left the shop to some place in the city were we met a man who was having problems with a group of demons that had been terrorizing the building. Dante and I spent the night in a nice room of the building. We took care of the monster, but destroyed the hotel room in the process. It went on like this for months, getting jobs, me learning to use my weapons. Dante even showed me how to use my devil powers after finding out I had the same bloodline as him. I learned the trick to the devil trigger and how I could survive most injuries, although if you cut out my heart or tore off my head it would still kill me instantly. I felt a little overpowered with healing though it did have its limits. I couldn't re-grow anything that I might lose and every time I used the healing part my energy would be sapped as if I ran a marathon.
He also taught me some of his special techniques (Gunslinger, Sword master, Royal guard, and Trickster). I mastered my favorite of the four tricksters. I loved being able to dance around the monsters with little to no effort while taunting them. Dante had changed too, he become less antisocial and even started to call me by name. I was just walking around one day when Dante was out on a mission with Trish somewhere in the countryside when I saw a ball of fire being shot into the air, knocking a hotel to the ground. I ran to the spot that people were running from. I heard lowed voices that sounded inhuman.
"Where is the one who killed our father!"
One voice shouted shaking the buildings around me.
"Where is the son of Sparda!"
Now I knew what they wanted and knew I would have to clean up his mess.
"Bring us Dante!"
I arrived to see three giant spiders that looked familiar. I realized that they must be related to Phantom, the boss Dante killed at the island.
"My, my, my, what have we here? Don't you know it's rude not to say please when asking for something? How can you expect anyone to listen to you if you act so inconsiderate?"
I shouted at the spiders as I took a bite from my pizza, making the three spiders stop the rampage to find who would dare to insult them. I was standing on top of a flagpole waiting for them to see me, but they couldn't seem to spot me. They were obviously not too bright.
"Yo, up here!"
I yelled, getting irritated, making them look at me. All eighteen eyes glared at me.
"So you say you're looking for Dante, well that's too bad because he's not here, but I would be happy to play with you… that is if you can catch me."
I looked at them, then jumped on an abandoned crotch rocket and sped off. I could only see one of them following me, but it could barely keep up. I was leading them to an old condemned building sight that had no surrounding structures, so no one would get hurt. The spider that was chasing me was soon joined by a second when we reached the building. I ditched the bike and climbed half way up, sticking my sword in the side to have something to stand on. They, however, stayed on the ground and looked at me.
"What's the matter? Can't climb? Or are you just afraid of heights?"
I laughed to the monstrous arachnids as they sat there, looking at me. It shot a ball of fire at me but I leaned back a little to avoid it.
"Come on! Is your aim really that bad?"
I said to the spider, which seemed to be getting more and more frustrated, when all of the sudden a crash came from above me. The third spider had climbed from the other side and jumped down at me, but the reason my spider sense did not go off was a rocket had hit it in mid-air, knocking it aside. I followed the smoke trail to see a silhouette of a woman with a rocket launcher.
It was Lady, whom I had met when she came for money or help with a job. She was on her bike racing towards the fight. The third spider got back to its feet and came back up the building. I kicked down on my sword, which made a crack crawl up the wall. The side of the building started to crumble and fall on to the spiders below. I jumped from piece to piece, getting higher and higher until an enormous chunk of the building came down, taking the advancing spider with it. It was crushed beneath it nearly half of the building, which Lady used as a ramp to get to my level. She landed in the exposed room I stood in and got off her bike.
"Hey Stu you know where Dante is?"
She said as she looked at me.
"What's up Lady? Yeah he went on a job a little while ago. By the way thanks for the assist."
I said as peered over the side of the building.
"Looks like you made them mad."
Lady said as she and I quickly stepped back to avoid the fireballs that were coming up at us.
"What's the smaller one doing?"
Lady asked as the smaller of the two spiders abdomens started to expand until it finally split, unleashing about fifty dog-sized mini spiders, which started to climb the building.
"Hahahaha go my children devour their flesh."
The smaller spider said as it lay down dieing.
"Wait… You're a girl spider? Why do you have such a deep voice? You sound manlier than I do."
I called down to the spider as Lady and I jumped down, raining down bullets on the spiders climbing up. The two main spiders then spat flames up at us, but before they could reach us, Dante and Trish jumped and grabbed onto our arms, taking us away from the flames. They had killed their own children, and we were on the ground safe. There was only one spider left. It looked scared, and for good reason. All of us grabbed our guns and Dante and I said at the same time,
"Jackpot."
And we started to fire. We riddled the body with bullets until the entire front side was just a pile of goo. After a little reunion between Dante and Lady, and by reunion I mean she asked for the money he owed her again, we all went back to the shop and celebrated with pizza and ice cream. I had been working for Dante for a year and I missed home and all my friends so that night I decided it was time to leave.
"Hey Dante, thanks for the training and all but I think it's about time I started my own business someplace where they don't have three devil hunters already."
I said to Dante the next morning.
"So that means you're leaving then."
He yawned lazily back to me.
"Yeah I have a train to catch soon, but I wanted to say bye before I left."
I said packing my sword and my old ebony and ivory
"If you're leaving I have something for yeah. I made them because using those old things just won't cut it. So take these."
And he took the old pair of guns from me and handed a metal suitcase to me. I opened it slightly confused because Dante never had given me something without having me work for it first. I looked inside and saw a brand new pair of his custom guns. Engraved on them in gold where the words 'Good bye, you persistent little pest'. I wasn't sure if the good bye was for me or the creatures that would on the receiving end of them.
"Did you make these for me?"
I marveled at the new guns.
"Yeah I got bored, so I made them for when you left. Those old ones just don't cut it for a real devil hunter, so take these."
Dante said as he went back to his normal seat at the front desk.
"Thanks."
I said still shocked that Dante actually made them for me.
"No problem (Yawn) now you better get going."
Dante said sleepily as he leaned the chair back and put a magazine over his face like he always did.
"Later."
I said as I left the shop I walked ten feet, and then turned to get one last look at the shop before I left.