Dante's Little Apple Surprise

Chapters

Ball!
Clowns Can Be Funny
Magic Word
Shut Up!
Shared Fate
New Power Bursts Forth
Ladies Pony
Moving Onward
Love and Hate
The Race
Confrontation
The Final Battle
First Date
Fatherhood
First Mission
An Unwelcome Invitation
Beginning the Quest
Early Hurdles
Family Ties
Teamwork
Talking too Much
Making Up
Promises
Portals
Decisions
Family Values
Summer Break 1
Summer Break 5
This is the Weirdest Day...
Who's Hungry?
Revelations
Castle Crashers
Cooking with Magic
Truth Will Out
Knuckle Up
Bringing Down the House of the False God
Rebuilding
Summer Break 6.5
The First Spardan Tournament: The Welcome
For Old Times Sake
Old Questions, New Answers
The Sky's the Limit
Going For A Ride
Tower
Pursuit
Big Boss Battle
Final Destination
Epilogue: Apple Planning
Watch the Teeth!
Training
The Final Battle...Again
The First Spardan Tournament 1: Spirit

Ball!

The small pony strapped to his back between his shoulder blades, Dante stepped into the cavernous base of the tower, ready to begin ascending. As he entered, he saw a massive figure of ice, resembling a three headed dog, chained to the wall. As he approached, it - and the room - shuddered, the ice breaking off in chunks to reveal an actual three headed dog, coated in ice and chained to two walls like a guard dog. It stalked towards him as he backed away, lunging against its chains before letting off a roar that sent a large chunk of ice towards him. Dante quickly shattered the ice with his sword, momentarily distracted by the happy squealing of his passenger and her rustling with something.

"Leave now, mortal!" the beast commanded. "The likes of you are forbidden in this land! You who are powerless are not worthy to set foot here!"

Dante stepped back. "Wow, I've never seen a talking mutt before. You know in a dog show, you'd definitely take first place." He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to taunt the creature, but it was certainly fun, so he decided to go all out. "And did you mean me or Applejack?"

"You, a mere human, make a mockery of me?" the beast demanded, spitting out a blast of freezing cold, which Dante barely dodged. "If I meant the pony, I would have said hoof!"

Dante smirked as Applejack giggled, apparently having found what she was looking for. "Easy, Fido!" Dante teasingly cautioned. "How about I take you out for a walk?" He clapped his hands teasingly. "Come on puppy, let's go!"

"You'll regret this you-" the beast began, before something small and spherical flew by one of its heads. "Ball!"

The beast promptly lunged after the object, slamming into the wall under one of its chains, causing that wall to collapse on top of it. The ball in question bounced out, heading towards another wall. "Ball!" the beast proclaimed, one of its heads lolling unconsciously as it lunged after the bouncing ball.

Applejack giggled as the beast chased the ball, causing wall after wall to collapse on top of it. Before long, only one head was still conscious, the chamber was wrecked, and the ball bounced back to Applejack, who caught it in her Stetson.

Dante blinked. "Where'd the ball come from?" Applejack pointed into the hat. "Where'd the hat come from?" AJ shrugged.

The beast fell over, landing at Dante's feet and dissolving, leaving a three pronged nunchuck behind, each mystic metal bar having a stylized dog's head at the end. "Ball?" the weapon voiced pathetically as Dante picked it up.

Dante grinned as he started to wield the weapon, only to stare in shock as it spun out of his hands to wrap around Applejack. The filly, for her part, giggled and pet the weapon like it was a puppy. Shrugging, Dante continued onward towards the tower entrance.

Before he'd gone more than a few steps, however, a woman on a motorcycle burst through the wall of ice behind him, nearly landing on him as she came down from a jump. He managed to avoid it by back-flipping over her...not noticing at the time that Applejack fell out of her carry straps to land on the back of the motorcycle.

"Are you going to the party?" Dante asked as he landed. "What's the hurry? Didn't you get an invitation?" He winced slightly as he saw Applejack on the back of the motorcycle. He made a mental note to add shoulder straps to keep her in the carry straps when he flipped.

Without even turning around to face him, the woman lifted her massive firearm and fired a rocket at him, which he proceeded to surf around the room. His cries of excitement were joined with Applejack's giggling and clapping. Kicking off the rocket, Dante landed to see the woman turning to examine Applejack. At the same time, Dante got a good look at the woman.

She had very pale skin, dark brown hair, one blue eye, one brown eye, and was dressed in a tight fitting shirt and shorts. As she looked down at Applejack, the pony smiled up at her, reached up with one hoof, and booped her nose. For a brief moment, a soft smile suffused the woman's face, making her heart stoppingly beautiful.

The moment ended, however, as she turned back to Dante, revved her motorcycle, and shot forward, leaping over him to deposit AJ back in her carry straps, nearly grazing Dante's nose with the wheels as she went by. She launched up into the hole in the roof that Dante's ride had led her rocket into opening.

Dante looked up after her. "This just keeps getting better and better." He then went through the door the Cerberus had been guarding and began his ascent of the tower...after a brief pause to strap AJ in more securely.

As he began the next stage of the climb, Dante found that AJ was rather advantageously placed. Strapped to his back, she was in an ideal position to spot any demon creatures attempting to assault him from behind. While he'd have been fine with her just calling his attention to them, she took it a step further. Leveling the dog heads of the Cerberus Nunchuck, she fired blasts of ice at the demon creatures, freezing them solid long enough for Dante to spin and shatter them with his sword. Normally, this would have been a great advantage...except for the frequency of her firing those blasts of ice, and the fact that the weapon shouted "Ball!" every time it fired a blast of ice, and from more than one head if she fired multiple blasts at once.

"That's going to get real old, real fast," he grumbled to himself as he continued.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long delay, and the relatively short chapter. The early parts of DMC 3 don't really give me much to work with for making the chapters, as Applejack isn't old enough to speak, no major plot deviations have yet occurred, there's little character interaction, and I refuse to include too much of the gameplay. This is a story, not a walkthrough, so I'm not addressing the puzzles or exploration aspects.

Future chapters should be longer and come more frequently as I come across more viable material.

Clowns Can Be Funny

After a good deal of climbing, Dante eventually encountered a massive, flying, centipede like monster. It did not prove to be challenging to kill, merely frustrating due to its habit of hiding inside walls. Even when it started launching balls of electricity, Applejack deflected them by spinning the Cerberus around over her head, one prong clutched in her mouth. The single, stretched out call of "Baaaaaaall!" from the weapon was easier to ignore than the rapid shouts that occurred when she was firing the blasts of ice.

Eventually, with one last scream of pain, the creature went down, falling apart as it crashed into the ground. Dante, for his part, landed lightly on his feet after leaping from the back of the dying creature. Applejack was gurgling happily, apparently having enjoyed every minute of the fight.

Heading into the next room, Dante acquired an artifact, the purpose of which was not immediately apparent. Stowing it, he tried to go back the way he came, only for the door to deny him entry. He attempted to force his way through, but each physical assault was denied. As he drew his guns, though, a sudden call interrupted him.

"Yoo hoo!" the voice called. A clown like figure approached from behind Dante. "There's no reason to resort to violence, devil boy-"

"Ball!" the Cerberus barked as Applejack whacked the clown on the top of the head with one of the prongs.

The jester stared at AJ for a moment. "Don't do that," he said grumpily. As Dante prepared to shoot the door anyway, the jester rushed in front of him. "Wait, wait, wait, better listen to what others have to say, lad."

Dante lowered his weapons, resigned to listen.

The jester continued with a smirk. "This tower is very sturdy, you see." He rapped on the door. "Your tricks will do no good." He lunged towards Dante playfully. "No good-"

"Ball!" Cerberus announced again as Applejack gave the jester another smack on the forehead.

The jester looked crosseyed at Applejack for a bit, before returning his attention to Dante, only to be nose to muzzle with Ebony. "Zip it," Dante ordered, "or I'll pierce that big nose."

"That could be a problem," the jester admitted, before dodging around to Dante's side. "Just hear me out. You've got nothing to lose, right?"

Applejack raised Cerberus again, but Dante grudgingly signaled her not to swing.

The jester stepped back. "My name is Jester, and I know a thing or two about this place. That thing there," he continued, pointing, "is a power generator for this entire sector. In order to open the door, you need to apply a little something to it first. Do you know what that is, kid? Or is that too difficult for you-"

"Ball!"

Jester lunged forward at Applejack. "Stop! Doing that-"

"Balls!"

Jester tumbled over, clutching at the last impact point which had not been his head. "I was just...trying to help..."

"I'm sure-"

Before Dante could finish his sentence, Applejack had somehow unsheathed Rebellion and tried to swing it at Jester. He disappeared, however, and the sword impacted the device by the door that Jester had been indicating. The door slid open.

Taking his sword back, he resheathed it. "Good thinking, AJ," he complimented. Applejack giggled happily. With no sign of the Jester, Dante continued on.

Outside the room, the Jester's laugh could be heard. "Thanks for destroying the lock for me, little pony. Welcome to hell, both of you!" A fountain suddenly started overflowing with blood. "Here's a little gift for you!"

The statues holding the fountain up came alive as they became soaked with blood.

"Ball! Ball! Ball!"

Three shots of ice froze the statue beasts, leaving Dante to smash them. "Is that all? I was expecting something better," Dante gloated. Seeing a portal open, he rushed into it.

The Jester then began his attack. At first he proved difficult to hit, as he was able to easily evade bullet fire and teleport out of the way of physical assaults. However, when he first teleported behind Dante...

"BallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBallsBalls!"

Jester fell over in agony, as the thrown Cerberus returned to AJ's hoof after rapidly delivering blows to a most sensitive target. Dante couldn't help but chuckle. "First time I've ever seen a clown be funny," he taunted.

Glowering, Jester teleported himself away. Dante then went back through the portal that opened.

Back in the main portion of the tower, Dante went back to climbing up, looking for the place he could use the artifact he had acquired. Upon finding the proper point to use it, it opened up a path...back near the bottom. Shaking his head in resignation, he headed back down as AJ giggled away on his back.

Once back down, he acquired another item to open further paths. Thankfully, a jump plate had also activated to let him scale up this section of the tower rapidly. He made use of it as he sought out where to use this new tool.

"This is going to take a while," he mumbled under his breath, feeling Applejack lean against his back as she started to doze off for a nap, cuddling Cerberus.

After a while of searching and fighting - a long enough while, at any rate, for AJ to wake up and start complaining about being hungry - Dante found where he was supposed to use the new tool. He did so after giving AJ a slice of pizza that had somehow wound up in his jacket pocket when he left. Since all the pepperoni had fallen off, he didn't see anything on it that could be bad for a pony (after all, it was just grain, fruit, and dairy). She also seemed to enjoy it, although she did make a mess eating it. He wiped her face with his hand, then let her lick it clean, before heading to grab the artifact revealed.

After collecting the Soul of Steel, though, more demons showed up. He smirked over his shoulder at Applejack. "Ready to work off that pizza?" he asked.

Applejack grinned back eagerly, swinging Cerberus over her head and nearly clocking him on the side of the head with it.

Laughing after ducking, Dante leapt into the fray.

Magic Word

Using the acquired Soul of Steel, Dante was able to progress even further into the Tower, finding an elevator to take him higher. After killing several monsters that leapt down from above as the elevator rose, he carried Applejack further into the tower, privately hoping - but doubting - that things could be more straightforward from now on.

Coming out on the outside of the tower, Dante followed the path to see where this would lead. He was rather unsurprised when it almost immediately led him back inside.

In the new chamber, a large door was chained shut, the chain suspended between two statues. As Dante approached, voices appeared to echo from the statues.

"Look brother!" one of them said. "It's been ages, but we finally have company!"

"I see that!" the other replied.

"We must entertain our guest!" the first added.

"You're right!" the second concurred. "We have to be gracious hosts!"

"What should we do?" the first asked.

"How do I know?" the second demanded. "Quick, we have to come up with something!"

Applejack's stomach suddenly growled loudly

"Brother!" the first statue spoke. "We have two guests!"

"And the smaller one is hungry!" the second replied. "We must provide food! But what?"

"Abbas!" Applejack demanded.

"Abbas?" the first statue spoke. "She wants to eat fathers? I suppose we can provide..."

"Brother!" the second interrupted. "I do not believe she is speaking Hebrew. I believe she is speaking baby talk! She is only an infant."

"So what is Abbas, then?" the first asked.

"I believe it is Apples," the second offered.

"Abbas! Abbas!" Applejack agreed.

"You are correct, brother!" the first statue confirmed. "She desires apples!"

"Of course!" the second agreed. "She is an adorable candy colored pony! Of course she wants apples!"

"And apples we will provide!" the statues say together.

Without warning, Dante finds himself and Applejack buried under a pile of apples that appeared out of nowhere.

"...do you think we provided too much, brother?" the first statue asked.

"Nonsense!" the second countered. "There's no such thing as too much of a good thing!"

A loud munching sound could be heard from the pile.

"I see!" the first concurred. "She does like the apples!"

"Did I not tell you, brother?" the second crowed. "We have pleased our guests!"

"One of them, anyway," Dante grumbled. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not hungry! At least, not for apples."

"He is right brother," the first statue confirmed. "We must please both our guests."

"Then what can we do?" the second inquired. "We cannot please our guest if we do not know what they want!"

"Perhaps we could provide some other food item!" the first suggested.

"But what food item should we offer?" the second inquired.

"Hmm...our pony guest asked for something, and we made her happy," the first pointed out.

"Then tell us, guest, what food would you like?" the second demanded of Dante.

Dante glanced at Applejack, still happily eating her way through the pile of apples. "Well, I should let her finish eating, anyway...got any pizza?"

"Pizza we shall provide!" the statues proclaimed.

A large stack of pizza boxes from Dante's favorite pizza joint landed in front of him. "Sweet!" he said happily, popping the first box open and taking a big bite of a slice.

"But to be good hosts, food is not enough!" the first statue proclaimed. "We must do more!"

"Yes!" the second statue agreed. "We must provide entertainment!"

"But what sort of entertainment shall we provide?" the first inquired.

"Perhaps you can be the straight man for some comedy?" the second suggested.

"A wondrous idea!" the first agreed. "Then I shall inquire about your baseball team! Who is on first?"

"That is correct!" the second proclaimed.

About an hour later, after Applejack and Dante both finished eating and digesting and the two statues butchered more comedy duo routines from all across history - Applejack had the most fun with the second one trying and failing to imitate Mork to the first's Mindy - Applejack began to get restless.

"Brother!" the first proclaimed, interrupting a routine. "Our pony guest is becoming restless! Do you suppose we are being too noisy and desires a nap?"

"If that is the case, we can sing to her a lullaby!" the second offered. "Do you desire a lullaby?"

"Poddy!" Applejack whined, wriggling.

"What is a poddy?" the first inquired. "I do not understand the word."

"I believe it is more baby talk, but I know not for what!" the second conferred.

"She needs to go to the bathroom," Dante pointed out, taking her out of her carry sling. "She did just eat a whole bunch."

"Of course!" the first proclaimed. "We provided food, but no methods for our guests to relieve themselves!"

"An oversight we must correct for both of them!" the second asserted.

"Potties we shall provide!" they proclaimed together.

A grassy sandbox dropped from the ceiling to land in front of Applejack, along with a curtain for her to pull shut for privacy. A port-a-potty dropped down near Dante. As Applejack rushed into her potty area, Dante smirked. "You guys aren't so bad as hosts!" he commented before stepping in to relieve himself.

"Did you hear brother?" the first statue spoke up. "He said we are good hosts!"

"How wondrous!" the second agreed. "Master would be so proud!"

After a time, Dante stepped back out of the Port-a-Potty. Picking up Applejack on the way out of her sandbox, he put her back in her carry straps. "You know," Dante spoke up, "there's one more thing you can do to be good hosts."

"There is?" the first asked eagerly. "Tell us!"

"Name it, and we will do anything in our power!" the second agreed.

"We," Dante said, pointing to himself and Applejack, "want to go through that door there." He pointed to the door held by the chains.

A menacing rumbling filled the room.

"Our job here is to guard this door!" the first statue proclaimed.

"That's right!" the second agreed, both small statues standing up from the top of the large ones they were sitting on, clutching swords with heads at the base of their hilts. It was from those heads the voices originated. "We cannot let you pass!"

"Pweez?" Applejack asked, looking up at them cutely.

The statues paused. "What is pweez?" the first inquired.

"It is more baby talk," the second pointed out. "But I do not know the word."

Dante rolled his eyes. "She said 'please'," he groaned.

Both statues froze. "It cannot be!" the first proclaimed. "They know the magic word!"

"Impossible!" the second denied. "Only Master Sparda knows the magic word!"

Dante blinked. "You know my old man?" he asked, surprised.

The statues gasped again. "You are a Son of Master Sparda?" the first statue demanded in shock.

"He must be!" the second proclaimed. "Look! He wields the Master's sword!"

"This changes everything!" they proclaimed together.

The chain across the door breaks, and the statues holding the swords crumble. The swords themselves fly to Dante's hands. "We are yours to command, Son of Sparda!" they affirm loudly.

Dante stared at the swords, reading the names Agni and Rudra inscribed into their blades, for a while before sheathing them. "You gotta be shitting me," he groaned, heading for the door.

"Shiddig!" Applejack said happily.

"New Master!" Agni proclaimed. "Do not teach the baby pony bad words!"

"That is not appropriate!" Rudra agreed.

Dante proceeded to bang his head on the door.

Shut Up!

Dante made his way further up the Tower, clearing puzzles and slaying monsters as he went. Much to his frustration, Agni and Rudra insisted on giving Applejack a continuous commentary regarding their journey, including the names of various monsters Dante fought, items he collected, and the chambers they went through, until he felt like he was going to scream in frustration. What made it worse, though, was how much Applejack was enjoying their commentary. Every time he tried to tell the swords to stop talking, AJ would punch him in the back of the head, or bite his ear, or swing Cerberus threateningly as he shouted the target he would be aimed at. While he could take those blows, if he tried to push on the subject, AJ would start to cry...and then Agni, Rudra, Cerberus, and - seemingly - even the monsters of the Tower would frown judgmentally at him for making her cry until he relented. As a result, he was stuck with a constant stream of endless narration.

This was not to say their commentary was entirely useless. In the Trial of Technique, they provided cues as to the passage of the spikes erupting in waves from the walls so Dante could more easily time his movements past them. Not that Dante would admit he needed the assistance.

After also clearing the Trial of the Warrior - which was more tedious than difficult, having to constantly pause to reactivate the sigils that disabled the monsters protective auras - he returned to the Mute Goddess's Chamber and placed the three stones he had acquired from the trials in the statue. The first two resulted in the statue firing a beam of energy that cleared the path forward, while the third caused the statue's inner mechanisms to fold it inward, lowering the beam emission point into reach, revealing it to be a demonic gun. Taking it from the statue, Dante examined it for a time.

"This is Artemis!" Agni informed him. "It is a gun of the demon world!"

"It discharges arrows concentrated with demonic energy!" Rudra added.

Dante continued to turn the weapon over in his hands. "Interesting grip," he commented at last. On an impulse, he handed it up to Applejack. "Think you can use it?" he asked jokingly.

Curious, Applejack reached over with her hoof, slipping it into the gun's grip. It promptly molded to fit her hoof. Smiling, Applejack pointed off towards a wall, and Artemis launched a highly charged arrow.

"Impressive," Dante commented dryly.

"That was not just demonic energy!" Agni announced in amazement.

"Indeed!" Rudra agreed. "While Artemis' demonic nature made it shape itself to Applejack's hoof, the mystic uplink to allow shots to be fired based on thought impulse caused its demonic energy to join with her innate mystical energy."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Dante asked.

"For fighting demons? Very good!" Agni announced. "Few will have a defense for the mix of energies!"

"For other targets? Unknown!" Rudra added. "We are unable to fully analyze Applejack's mystical nature.

Applejack, for her part, gurgled happily and started firing off more arrows.

"Well, any advantage is a good one," Dante decided. "At least it doesn't shout something every time she pulls the trigger."

"Pshew! Pshew!" Applejack announced as she fired more arrows.

Groaning, Dante continued along the path.

As Dante stepped outside, he sensed something unexpected. Reaching out an arm, he caught the motorcycle Lady from the bottom of the tower by her booted foot as she fell head first towards the ground. She promptly pointed a pair of revolvers at his chin. "Well, well," he said in amusement. "This is my kind of rain. No wonder the sky looks so funny today," he joked.

"Very unusual!" Agni agreed. "Is not the song, It's Raining Men?"

"She is Man!" Rudra pointed out. "She is merely a female of the species."

"But the song refers specifically to the masculine gender!" Agni argued. "She is Woman!"

"No balls!" Cerberus agreed.

Dante groaned, putting his hand to his face. Applejack giggled, sticking her head over Dante's shoulder to wave at the Lady.

The Lady, for her part, lowered her guns. "You can put me down now," she grimaced.

Smiling, Dante set her down on the platform, letting her get to her own feet. "At your service," he said jokingly.

Stretching out of her carry straps, Applejack reached out and booped the Lady's nose with her hoof. The Lady, for her part, momentarily smiled softly before returning the favor, making AJ giggle happily.

Dante managed a smirk. "Like her?" he asked. "Maybe you might want to take care of-YOWCH!"

Applejack, recognizing what Dante had been about to suggest, had promptly seized his earlobe with her teeth and yanked hard.

The Lady chuckled. "Seems to me she's already pretty attached to you," she joked, turning to leave.

"Now now, what's your rush?" Dante asked, dancing around into her path. "I did just save you from a grisly fate, after all."

"I had it under control," she countered.

"I'm sure you did," Dante teased.

"Brother!" Agni spoke up. "The young Master's pheromones indicate he wishes to mate with the female!"

"You are correct!" Rudra agreed as Dante groaned. "As good hosts, we must facilitate his amorous endeavors! The Old Master would wish that of us!"

"Indeed!" Agni concurred. Privately, Dante agreed that his old man would want them embarrassing him as he tried to get anywhere with a pretty girl. "How shall we facilitate?"

"Perhaps some appropriate music?" Rudra suggested.

"Capitol idea!" Agni concurred. "Have you a song in mind?"

"Indeed I do!" Rudra proclaimed. "Cerberus! You shall accompany us musically!"

Agni, Rudra, and Cerberus then began to perform an acapella of Kiss the Girl. Dante groaned, burying his face in his hands as Applejack bobbed her head back and forth to the tune of the music, clapping out the beat.

The Lady chuckled again. Leaning in, she gave Applejack a kiss on the forehead that made her giggle. "Sorry, my life's crazy enough as is without joining this crazy train," she said, turning to leave. Dante just groaned again in despair.

As Lady left, Agni spoke up. "Do you think we succeeded, brother?"

"I do not know!" Rudra proclaimed. "Applejack, what are your thoughts?"

"Bye Mama!" she called, waving to the door Lady had already left through.

"Success!" Agni proclaimed.

"Indeed!" Rudra agreed. "...young Master? Why are you banging your head against the wall? Ours make much more effective hammers!"

Dante merely groaned in response.

"...Balls..." Cerberus appropriately commented.

Shared Fate

Heading further into the Tower, Dante entered a chamber that went straight up and down, with a few magic circles he could use to launch himself to great heights scattered throughout the chamber. At Agni and Rudra's suggestion, Dante went down to explore the library first. After smashing a few statues, he was able to find a chunk of Orihalcum, which Agni assured him would be important to have.

Returning to the vertical chamber, Dante used the circles to ascend all the way to the top of the chamber. As he progressed, he smashed a few more animated statues. Applejack's wielding of Artemis proved fortuitous, as the mix of magics in the arrows caused the statues to freeze and crumble slightly, allowing Dante to easily smash them.

Entering another chamber, Dante encountered a new type of demonic enemy, that looked like a mummy holding a sarcophagus. The coffin sprang open to release spirits that rose as the scythe wielding demons.

"Young Master!" Agni proclaimed on seeing them. "You must hurry to eliminate that one before you are overwhelmed by sheer numbers!"

AJ attempted to take a shot, but Artemis' arrow was blocked by the sarcophagus as it popped open. Oddly enough, the spirit that came out afterwards was blue rather than a misty gold.

"It appears Applejack's pony magic is interacting with the demons!" Rudra proclaimed.

The scythe wielder that rose from that spirit promptly began attacking the other demons instead of Dante.

"Huh, nice trick," Dante commented. "Keep it up, AJ!"

Gurgling happily, AJ proceeded to do so.

When the demons were all beaten, the ones who had been altered by being raised with AJ's shots dissolved themselves. The unmoving statue in the chamber dropped a crystal.

"That is the Siren's Shriek!" Agni proclaimed when Dante picked it up.

"It will calm the most powerful of flames!" Rudra added.

"...wasn't there a door blocked by flames back in that first chamber?" Dante asked AJ. Thinking, AJ nodded in agreement. "You mean I'm going to have to backtrack all the way back?" Dante demanded of Agni and Rudra in disbelief.

"Of course not!" Agni proclaimed. "There is a lift in the next chamber!"

"It will take you all the way back to that chamber!" Rudra explained. "You just need to activate it!"

"You better be right," Dante growled, entering the next chamber.

Finding the lift, Dante used the Orihalcum fragment to activate it, riding all the way back down the tower. Quickly finding the flame blocked door, Dante used the Siren's Shriek to clear the way and continue onward.

After activating another switch at the end of the passage, Dante broke open a container that dropped from the ceiling to acquire a Crystal Skull.

"Another key to somewhere?" Dante asked.

"Indubitably!" Agni confirmed.

"You're getting the hang of this, Young Master!" Rudra proclaimed.

Groaning, Dante headed back for the lift.

Returning to the split in the path higher up in the tower, Dante used the Crystal Skull to unlock another door. Stepping through, he found himself outside the tower on a wide walkway. Applejack touched his cheek with her hoof nervously. "Yeah," Dante said calmly, "something about this is putting my guard up, too." Feeling her shiver, he turned and smiled reassuringly at her. "Settle down, kid. There's nothing here I can't handle."

Expressing this confidence, he traversed the walkway through the next door. The doorway led him out to a ramp leading up to a wide platform at the top of the Tower...where someone he knew awaited him. "You showed up," the white haired figure said, turning to face Dante as the rain fell.

Applejack let out a curious noise, instantly spotting similarities of feature between the new person and Dante.

"You sure know how to throw a party!" Dante addressed the figure. "No food, no drinks, the only babe just left-"

"Young Master!" Agni spoke up. "That is unfair!"

"We provided refreshments!" Rudra reminded him.

"And the hosts don't know when to shut up," Dante finished grumpily.

"You let them talk, brother?" the man asked in surprise. "You are more permissive than I would be, more than Father was. My sincerest apologies if you haven't enjoyed yourself."

"Brother?" Agni spoke up. "He is also a son of Sparda?"

"Then this must be Virgil!" Rudra confirmed. "But...who are we supposed to assist?"

"I have no need of your assistance," Virgil scolded.

"That is settled!" Agni stated.

"We continue to assist Dante!" Rudra confirmed.

Applejack giggled happily at their interchange.

Virgil finally noticed the pony strapped to Dante's back. "I was unaware this was a BYOP party," he said calmly, teasingly.

"She followed me in and won't let me get rid of her," Dante joked, jerking his head back just in time to avoid AJ's snapping teeth closing on his ear. "Gotcha!" he told her, booping her nose.

"And here I was so eager to see you," Virgil commented, "and you brought guests."

"It's been a whole year since we last met," Dante pointed out. "Some things are bound to change."

"...yes..." Virgil agreed, his hand on his sword, Yamato. "Things will change tonight."

Grinning, Dante drew his gun. "So this is what they call a heartwarming family reunion, huh?"

"You got that right," Virgil agreed, drawing Yamato.

As lightning flashed, the duel between brothers began in earnest. Virgil's fast movements proved somewhat baffling for Dante, although AJ was able to track him. However, Dante cautioned her not to interfere. He would handle this himself. A rapid exchange of blows from both swords and Dante's guns later seemed to indicate that they were equally matched...although Agni and Rudra noticed that Dante was able to twist himself every time so that any blow that would have hit Applejack hit him instead. What was more interesting to them was that he didn't even seem to think about it when it happened, or even be aware he was doing it.

After a time, both brothers pulled back briefly from the clash. "Why do you refuse to gain power?" Virgil demanded. "The Power of our father Sparda?"

Dante chuckled for a bit. "I just don't like you, that's all. "So why would I be more like you?"

With that, they both charged forward, crashing their swords against each other. However, before Dante realized what was happening, Virgil had somehow sent Rebellion flying, and had run him through.

A scream of pain surprised all present. In passing through Dante's chest, Yamato had dragged across AJ's barrel, opening a gash and cutting her carry straps. She fell to the ground, clutching her bleeding side.

"Foolishness, Dante," Virgil scolded. "Foolishness. Might controls everything. And without strength..." He gestured to the bleeding foal. "You can't protect anything. Not even yourself."

With that, Virgil yanked Yamato free, grabbing Dante's half of their mother's pendant as he fell. To his surprise, however, Dante showed no awareness of this...or anything else at the moment. As he fell to the ground, he crawled over to AJ, cradling her.

"Pathetic," Virgil growled, then paused, staring. "What the...?"

As Dante cradled AJ, his blood dripped from the hole in his chest. It fell, made more fluid by the rain, into the pony's wound. Her eyes - and the marks on her flank - briefly flared with a red light, and the wound sealed itself up.

"Now isn't that interesting?" Virgil asked calmly, leaning forward for a closer look at the foal.

Applejack suddenly growled and hissed. Opening her mouth - which was suddenly filled with razor sharp fangs - she lunged forward, latching on to Virgil's neck. With a scream of pain, Virgil pushed the pony away as she tore a chunk of his flesh out. Landing, she spat the chunk out, pawing at the platform as though she were ready to lunge again.

"I don't have time for this," he growled. Seeing Dante starting to get up, he grabbed Rebellion and ran Dante through with it, pinning him to the platform.

As Dante gasped, Applejack screamed, running to his side as Virgil turned to leave. "Papa!" Applejack called out. Running up against his side, she nuzzled him. "Papa...Papa..." Tears of worry and fear fell from her eyes, to mingle with the falling rain. Burying her face against his side, Applejack felt weakness overcome her as she slipped into unconsciousness.

New Power Bursts Forth

Dante awoke slowly, groaning as he pushed himself to his feet from a pool of his own blood. "What...what happened?" he asked, his memory still groggy.

"The devil inside you has awakened!" Agni informed him.

"The power of your father's blood, realized!" Rudra concurred.

"The legacy of the Sons of Sparda...the Devil Trigger!" they intoned together.

Shaking his head, he staggered over to where Applejack was huddled in the middle of the platform. Scooping her up, he saw blood on her muzzle. "What happened to her?" he asked, hiding concern. "Did she get hurt?"

"She has no injuries," Agni pointed out reassuringly.

"The blood is your brothers," Rudra explained. "After you got stabbed, she tore a chunk of the side of his throat out."

"Damn!" Dante said appreciatively. "That takes guts!"

"Indeed!" Agni agreed. "That she has plenty of!"

"Ap-Balls!" Cerberus agreed.

"And it was after she was knocked aside and lost consciousness that the demon inside you awoke!" Rudra pointed out.

"Indeed!" Agni agreed. "It was not until she lost consciousness that Rebellion revealed its true face!"

"And not until Virgil had left that you relaxed enough to change, and then collapse!" Rudra pointed out. "As though it awoke specifically to pro-"

"One word of that sort from either of you and I feed you to Cerberus," Dante interrupted.

"Yes, Lord and Master!" the twin swords replied.

Dante gently stroked Applejack's head, spotting her stetson and putting it back on her head. "Not that I'm denying the possibility," he mumbled to himself, strapping her back to his back, "but I have a reputation to maintain." Walking over to a nearby statue, he slammed his fist against it. The energy from the strike flowed into the statue, and caused the top of it to explode.

The noise woke the unconscious filly. "...Papa?" she whimpered, putting her hoof to Dante's cheek.

Dante smiled, turning back and stroking her cheek. "Things were kinda rough back there," he said easily. "How about something fun to take the edge off?"

Smiling, Applejack nodded eagerly.

Dante grinned widely. "Hold onto your hat!" he said, before diving off the top of the tower.

"Yeeeeeehaaaaaah!" Applejack called out happily.

As Dante dove, several of the bloody birds he'd faced earlier in the tower flew up. He easily dodged and evaded, shooting them down with Ebony and Ivory. Applejack continued to cheer happily, holding her hat down on her head so it didn't fly off. Jumping from one to another, Dante reveled in the sudden surge of strength, speed, and agility he had now, higher than it was before his fight with Virgil just now. He then deliberately slowed his fall enough so that he could be swarmed by them, before spinning like a dervish with Ebony in one hand and Rebellion in the other, ripping them apart.

He then threw Rebellion forward, spinning, watching as it impaled several of the birds. He then fired a bullet to impact Rebellion's hilt, causing it to accelerate downward, shredding the birds impaled on it as well as several others it passed through. Dante raced down the Tower, catching up to the sword as they both accelerated to the point they had heat coronas. He then leapt straight out from the side of the Tower, staring at the shine of the sword's new edge. So this is what it looked like when Pops wielded it, huh? he thought to himself.

He then got eaten by a demonic leviathan flying through the sky.

Coming in for a landing within the beast's belly, Dante shook his head. "Not how I expected that to end, but still fun!"

"Again!" Applejack cried happily, waving Cerberus around in the air.

Dante chuckled. "Sure, why not? Next time we're at the top of the tower, we'll jump off again. But first we've got to get out of here. It stinks."

Applejack held her nose in agreement. Laughing at her scrunched up face, Dante began his explorations of the beast's insides.

At Agni and Rudra's direction, Dante found it easy to open doorways forward within the great beast by destroying glands that held seals closed. Dante did his best to do it quick, as it really did stink inside. He also did his best to avoid stepping in digestive acid.

As Dante entered the Leviathin's heart chamber, he saw his path to the heart itself blocked by a reinforced membrane. "Let me guess," Dante said to Agni and Rudra. "I need to find something to fit in there-" he pointed to a protuberance on the membrane "-to take the membrane down so I can destroy the heart and make this thing crash so we can get out?"

"...a viable conclusion," Agni admitted.

"A distinct possibility!" Rudra agreed.

"You are getting better at this!" Agni complimented.

"Soon you won't need our advice!" Rudra pointed out.

"But we have never been inside a Leviathan before!" Agni pointed out.

"So we have no idea!" Rudra proclaimed.

After glaring at the two swords in silence for a time, Dante let himself be encouraged by Applejack's giggling. Chuckling, he continued onward.

After fighting his way through two monsters reminiscent of the giant centipede he'd fought before, along with numerous monsters that looked to be in various stages of digestion, Dante was able to bring an Ignis Fatuus and bring it back to the membrane wall. By that point, all the adventurers were eager to get out of the beast, as it had become progressively more disgusting as they went through.

"Let's get out of this thing," Dante said, holding the artifact to the membrane protuberance.

The membrane promptly dissolved. Dante then leapt into the heart chamber, attacking the three segments of the heart. Applejack, for her part, attacked with both Cerberus and Artemis, focusing on taking down the monsters that rose to attack Dante from behind. She found a good combination by freezing them with Cerberus' ice blasts before shattering them with a charged shot from Artemis.

"The power of her attacks has improved," Agni commented as Dante swung Rebellion.

"Indeed," Rudra concurred. "Do you think it has something to do with what happened when Young Master was stabbed?"

"A distinct possibility," Agni pointed out. "We should probably mention it when Young Master has a free moment-"

Applejack promptly clocked them both with Cerberus.

"Or perhaps not!" Rudra pointed out.

"Indeed!" Agni agreed. "It is not too important!"

"I am certain if it is it will become apparent in its own time!" Rudra proclaimed.

At that moment, Dante delivered the final blow to the Leviathan's central heart, and the creature began to crash. "Let's see where we come out, huh?" he suggested to Applejack, who giggled happily in response.

Ladies Pony

Once the Leviathan crashed, Dante forced a way out for them the only place he could find; through the beast's eye. Leaping out in a shower of blood, he saw a message in blood on the rocks, pointing inward, saying 'Welcome', and having a jester mark. "So this is the next stage."

Applejack, for her part, kept spitting out blood and wiping at her coat. "Ick!" she complained. Glancing up, she saw someone watching. "Hi Mama!" she said happily, waving to the Lady.

Dante spun around. "Oh, it's you!" He smoothed back his hair, hoping to try and be suave again. "Can I interest you in a date this time?"

"I said I have my fill of crazy," she pointed out. "Besides," she said, drawing a hand gun and pointing it at his head. "I don't date guys who stink like blood."

Dante glanced down at himself, realizing what a mess he was. "Dang. I definitely need a shower." He then pulled out his gun.

They both leaned to the side, taking out the monster behind the other with a single shot. They then went back to back, shooting down the monsters that converged on them, drawn by the dead leviathan.

"So tell me," Dante asked over the sound of gunfire, "what's your name?"

"I don't have a name!" she replied as she continued to shoot.

"Okay, then what should I call you?" Dante replied. "Cause I'm certainly not calling you Mama like AJ does."

"I don't care," she replied. "Whatever you want."

"Whatever, Lady," Dante replied, leaping away. As he came in for landing, Applejack fired off several volleys from Cerberus and Artemis to take out a good portion of the monsters surrounding Lady. "I'll get back to you after I've found someplace to clean myself up!" With that, he turned to enter the tower.

"Bye Mama!" Applejack called out.

"Farewell, Lady!" Agni called.

"When next we meet, we shall serenade you again!" Rudra added.

"Oh gods no," Dante groaned.

"Balls," Cerberus agreed.

Inside the tower, Dante continued onward, searching for both the way forward and someplace to clean himself and Applejack up. Before he found either, though, he encountered a new type of monster: a giant spider with a partially human face.

"Dang, these things just keep getting uglier and uglier," he complained.

One of the creature's heads exploded from a well aimed energy arrow.

"And you keep getting better and better at shooting," he praised AJ.

AJ, for her part, spat out more leviathan eye blood. She then looked up at Dante with a frown, her coat and mane matted with blood.

"I'll find someplace to clean you up soon," he promised, decapitating another spider monster that tried to use the distraction for a sneak attack. Seeing smaller insectoid creatures leaping from the corpses, he quickly targeted them with his handguns to destroy them before they could get on him.

In the next chamber, there was a statue emitting light into a series of reflectors. It didn't take long for Dante to re-angle them to shoot the light into the other statue, opening the next door.

The archer enemies in the next room proved little challenge between Ebony, Ivory, and Artemis. The next chamber's sarcophagus carriers fell to the same strategy of before, with AJ's arrows causing the raised demons to attack the others rather than Dante. A large chamber following with the sound of a waterfall at first seemed like an opportunity to clean up, but they couldn't reach the water.

Heading through another path, Dante picked up a piece of Ambrosia before fighting his way back out. Back in the waterfall chamber, another path Dante hadn't noticed before led them under a waterfall. However, the water was too cold for AJ, so he could only rush through, getting the worst of the blood stains off himself. Passing through the Limestone Caverns behind the waterfall, he eventually reached a relief which revealed a door when he placed the Ambrosia on it.

Behind the door, Dante found himself in a sunken opera house. As he walked in, a swarm of bats converged into the shape of a curvaceous, scantily clad female, her bust concealed only by two hanging tresses of her crimson locks. She laughed as she took shape. "Welcome, sir," she said, her voice an inviting purr. "Is this your first time here?"

"Yeah it is," Dante replied. "You'll be nice to me, won't you?" he asked playfully.

"Of course," she replied. "I'll treat you so nicely, you'll-" She paused, her walk having taken her around to Dante's back, where she spied AJ. "Oh, you poor dear!" she said, lifting AJ out of the carry straps. "So soaked with blood and shivering, you look so miserable!" The bats suddenly brought a basin of warm water and a towel, which the vampiric woman promptly used to scrub Applejack clean. "There now, isn't that better?" she asked, drying AJ off and wrapping her up in the towel.

AJ smiled happily, snuggling into the towel.

"You know, I'm kind of a mess myself," Dante pointed out, gesturing to the blood still stuck to him.

The woman grinned eagerly, setting AJ down. "Oh, I'll clean you up real nice," she said, licking her lips eagerly.

A series of energy arrows erupting from the vampiric woman's body: one through her head right between the eyes, one through the heart, one protruding through each nipple, one through the center of her stomach, one through each joint of her arms and legs, and an additional one pinning each still fluttering bat to the walls. A sphere of ice also froze her crotch. "My Papa!" AJ snapped possessively.

"Oh, how dominant!" the woman moaned around the arrows protruding from her, shivering from the ice. "I like it." Her body suddenly glowed with bright light. When it faded, a purple guitar sparking with electricity rested in AJ's forelegs. "He is your Papa," the woman's voice echoed from the guitar, "and I'm all yours, Mistress."

Smiling, AJ proceeded to play the guitar, rocking out as she headbanged along with the song she played.

"How is she doing the chords with hooves?" Dante wondered.

"Nevan!" Agni proclaimed. "So you have decided to join us!"

"It is good to have you along!" Rudra agreed.

"Agni, Rudra," Nevan purred from the guitar. "So you two are here, too? What made you leave your posts?"

"He is the son of Sparda!" Agni proclaimed.

"We are bound by the Master's will to obey the Young Master!" Rudra added.

"Oh, I can see he's his father's son," Nevan purred. "It makes me want to-"

"My Papa!" AJ barked.

"Of course he is, Mistress," Nevan agreed obediently.

Dante groaned as he picked AJ up. "Great," he mumbled to himself. "Another voice for the peanut gallery, and this one sounds sexy."

"You know it, mister!" Nevan crowed.

"Balls," Cerberus groaned.

"Oh be quiet, puppy," Nevan ordered.

"It is good you have joined us, Nevan!" Agni spoke up.

"Yes!" Rudra agreed. "Now we can surely serenade Lady much better for the Young Master!"

"Oh, that's going to be fun!" Nevan purred again.

As AJ giggled, Dante groaned, hanging his head in despair as he headed back out to climb the tower further.

Moving Onward

Collecting a Stone Mask from behind the sunken opera house, Dante took it back to the waterfall chamber. Agni and Rudra combined their energies at Nevan's direction to dry Applejack off after she got soaked in the cold water again, much to Applejack's pleasure and Dante's momentary amusement. Placing the mask on a statue inscribed with such instructions in the chamber, a path over the water rose up out of it. "I'm starting to get tired of this constant sidetracking for keys," Dante grumbled.

"You should probably get used to it," Nevan purred. "This sort of thing is par for the course when it comes to demons."

"Indeed!" Agni confirmed. "Any Tower or Temple or Dungeon from which demons are attempting to influence the world is likely to have plenty of this!"

"It's traditional!" Rudra pointed out.

"And a pain in the-"

"Balls!" Cerberus interrupted Dante.

Applejack giggled at the by play, booping Dante's nose. Rolling his eyes, Dante continued on.

Crossing the bridge that rose up, Dante picked up a Neo-Generator. He stared at it for a time. "...and this is just to activate the controls on that bridge, isn't it?"

"Highly likely," Nevan drolled.

Groaning, Dante turned and headed back.

On the way back, they encountered a new monster with a face shield with a chainsaw edge. Applejack promptly grabbed Nevan and played a combination of power chords that somehow melted their faces to slag, leaving both shield and demon useless and helpless.

"Brutal!" Agni praised.

"Legendary!" Rudra agreed.

After destroying what was left, Dante continued back the way he'd come. After fighting their way through a few more spider enemies - which, on closer examination, more resembled a fusion of spider and crab (which led to the four weapons performing an acapella of the introductory theme song of Tekkaman Blade for Applejack's amusement) - they returned to the bridge chamber. Once there, Dante did a bit of soccer juggling with the Neo-Generator before kicking it into the proper slot across the room, starting the machinery.

"Excellent shot!" Agni praised.

"Capital!" Rudra agreed.

"Ball!!!!" Cerberus yelled, struggling to escape Applejack's grip to chase the Neo-Generator.

"Wha ih miff?" Applejack asked.

Dante tilted his head. "What would I have done if I'd missed?" Dante asked for clarification. Applejack nodded. "Well...that generator thing was pretty sturdy, right? I could always have grabbed it for another try."

"No, it actually isn't," Nevan pointed out.

Agni, Rudra, Applejack, and Cerberus were all silent.

Dante scratched the back of his head. "Then I guess it's a good thing I didn't miss," he replied as the bridge rotated to the new path.

Continuing into the next chamber, Dante spotted what looked like a dead body. Walking towards it, he heard someone else entering. "Well well," he said happily. "Nice to see you again."

As Lady entered, she paused, staring at the body. "Did you kill that man?"

Before Dante could respond, Applejack was shaking her head violently.

Lady sighed. "...I wanted to do that bastard in myself," she growled.

"No beh!" Applejack said, pulling Cerberus out and throwing it towards the body.

"Balls!" Cerberus shouted as it flew forward. The body jerked back to avoid the impact.

As both Dante and Lady pulled out their guns, the figure growled and warped away. "So who was that, anyway?" Dante asked.

"Jessah!" Applejack pointed out.

"Applejack claims that man was the Jester!" Agni translated.

"Who is Jester?" Rudra asked.

"An annoyance," Dante replied. "So who is he to you?" he asked Lady.

"A bastard obsessed with becoming the Devil," Lady growled. "He killed his own wife and slaughtered countless of innocents towards that goal."

Dante nodded. "And the reason it's personal?"

Lady grumbled under her breath. "He also happens to be my father..."

Dante leaned back. "I guess we've got something in common, then. We both have dysfunctional families."

As Lady glanced towards him, Agni suddenly spoke up. "I can see what's happening!" he proclaimed.

"What?" Rudra asked.

"And they don't have a clue!" Agni continued.

"Who?" Rudra returned.

"They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line!" Agni proclaimed. "Our trio's down to two!"

"Oh."

With that beginning, Agni, Rudra, Nevan, and Cerberus proceeded to sing an acapella of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", Agni as the male singing voice, Nevan as the female singer, Rudra as background chanting, and Cerberus vocalizing music and sound effects. Applejack leaned her head back to listen to the song, swaying to the music.

Dante and Lady both stared at each other in embarrassment. Before long, however, the sheer absurdity of the situation reached them, and they both broke into uncontrollable laughter.

As the weapons finished singing, Dante looked up at Lady. "Say, after we stop your old man and my brother, wanna go someplace for coffee or some pizza?"

Lady finished chuckling and shrugged her shoulders. "Why not?" she offered carelessly.

"Am ih, he hall, ih wuv donigh..." AJ sang. "Ih ca be affume...Hi ebewy bay, wi uf awe hifbowy."

"In short our pal...is doomed!" Agni and Rudra sang together.

Chuckling, Dante added, "I know this one pizza joint that's sure to have something Applejack can eat, too, assuming it's still standing."

Lady smiled. "I wouldn't want you to leave her behind."

"She wouldn't let me even if I wanted to," Dante said, quickly jerking his head as Applejack tried to snap her teeth closed on his earlobe. "Gotcha!" he said, poking her nose with his finger, only for her to chomp down on that. "Yowch!"

"See you further in," Lady said laughingly, turning to head further into the tower.

As the door closed behind her, Agni spoke up. "Did you see that?" he proclaimed.

"We got the Young Master a date!" Rudra agreed.

"Success!" they cried together.

Love and Hate

As Dante continued onward into the tower, the first new obstacle they encountered was an enemy seemingly made of ether. It proved very vulnerable to weapons fire, however, so it didn't slow them down for long. As they progressed, Dante spoke up.

"Say, isn't this place a little...easy to navigate?" he asked Agni and Rudra.

"How do you mean?" Agni inquired.

"Why shouldn't it be?" Rudra added.

"Well, if it's some sort of lock on a gate to hell or something, shouldn't it be a little harder to unlock?" he pointed out.

"You are incorrect!" Agni proclaimed.

"The tower is not a lock!" Rudra informed him.

"The Tower was built by those who wanted the gate opened," Nevan purred. "The seal was added later by your father, and is not part of the tower's design. And while the seal is easy to get to, the keys to unlock it aren't so easy to come by."

"You don't say," Dante commented as he pushed a block into its proper receptacle to make a carved face in a fountain weep blood. "And what are the keys?"

"We do not know," Agni admitted.

"Sparda did not inform us," Rudra confirmed.

"He said it would make them too easy to find," Nevan added.

Applejack batted at Dante's cheek to get his attention, then pointed to his unadorned neck.

"What is it, AJ?" he asked. Looking down, he noticed what was missing. "Wait, Virgil took Mom's pendant?" Applejack suddenly bleated. "AJ, you think the pendant is one of the keys?" AJ nodded affirmation.

"Your mother did play a role in the sealing," Nevan admitted. "Though I'm afraid that's all I know. Still, it is a distinct possibility."

"Either way, I'm taking it back when I find Virgil," Dante growled. "It's mine."

Completing the puzzle, Dante and company then engaged in battle with shadowy, reaper-like enemies. AJ rocked out on Nevan to create a protective field of electrified bats around Dante, preventing the new monsters from approaching to attack him. Dante continued to lunge and strike, the field of bats parting to let his strikes through while also electrifying the enemies he tore into.

"You two are becoming an excellent team!" Agni proclaimed once the battle ended.

"Indeed!" Rudra agreed. "You are working together excellently!"

Dante merely shrugged. "Whatever." While he had to admit Applejack's contributions were effective, he was too used to handling things alone to completely like getting her assistance. He'd have rather gotten through the Tower on his strength alone. However, alongside that original mindset, a new impulse was growing. Every time Applejack showed her skills or took down enemies on her own, he felt the urge to praise her or applaud. The urge was still small...but it grew slightly every time she called him Pa. He wasn't ready to confront this change in his motivations, so he ignored it and continued onward.

Finding some sort of tram, he hopped on and rode deeper into the Tower.

Fighting their way down the track, the group eventually reached the end of the rail and continued onward, entering what was obviously a massive torture chamber. Seeing an artifact he'd obviously need, Dante approached to grab it when a voice interrupted.

"Sparda! Sparda!"

The voice shook the room, and chunks of masonry fell. A bestial creature with four feathered wings crashed through the ceiling, glaring down at Dante and company with a single functioning eye.

"Aww, you poor thing!" Dante taunted. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to use a door?"

The creature seemed to ignore the jibe. "That odor...I know it!"

As Dante sniffed himself to find the odor in question, the creature marched right up to him. "Gimme a break!" Dante complained. "Tell you what, next time I'll try and wear some cologne, okay?"

"It's the stench of betrayal!" the beast proclaimed. "The odor of that accursed Sparda!"

Applejack whinnied her confusion.

"I shall destroy every last blood relation of Sparda!" the beast proclaimed, lunging forward.

Dante fought the beast as best as he was able, dodging around the powerful strikes and the holy element energy attacks, as well as thrown chunks of masonry. However, it was plain that he was outmatched in sheer brute power, even with Applejack's assistance. It was plain it wouldn't be long before he was overwhelmed.

When one punch slammed him right in the gut, it threw him back with more force than expected, and he was unable to twist his body. In desperation, he cast Applejack aside as he slammed back first into the wall, keeping her from being crushed by his own body.

"PA!" Applejack cried out in fear.

"Sparda!" the beast roared. Pulling his fist back, he aimed straight for Applejack.

Dante's eyes flew open. The demon power erupted from his blood. Just before the beast's fist impacted against Applejack, he flew across the room Rebellion first, and in full demon form drove the blade full length into the beast's one glowing eye.

As the beast reared back, roaring in pain, Dante kicked it in the chin hard enough to send it flying back into the roof of the chamber.

The beast roared again. "You have stolen my sight...but I know your scent! I will continue my hunt until I have purged that scent from the Earth!" Turning, the beast withdrew.

Dante landed beside Applejack, turning back to normal before scooping her up, checking to make sure she was alright. For her part, Applejack nuzzled eagerly into his chest.

After a time, Dante spoke up. "What just happened?" he asked of no one in particular.

"Sparda was a powerful warrior," Agni spoke up. "A Devil Knight."

"But that is not why he is known and feared throughout the demon realms," Rudra pointed out.

"When he fought only for himself, his power was no greater than any other demon," Nevan explained.

"His greatest power - a power that shook the foundations of the realms - awoke when he fought for others," Agni explained.

"For his wife," Rudra clarified.

"For his sons," Nevan added.

Dante stared down at Applejack, lost in thought. He remained silent, not entirely ready for what events were forcing him to confront. At long last, after making sure Applejack was unharmed, he strapped her to his back before turning back to the artifact. Lost in his thoughts, he reached for the artifact.

The Race

As Dante reached for the artifact, a voice halted him. "Wait!"

Dante paused. "Did...did Cerberus just say something other than Ball or Balls?"

"That neo-generator does not function properly," Cerberus warned. "If you hold it, it will drain away your soul...but in exchange, it will flood your body with demonic power. You must be careful when holding-"

Applejack swung her stetson, catching the sphere in it before putting it back on her head.

Dead silence greeted that. "Is the nature of her soul incompatible with the generator?" Nevan finally asked.

"It would appear so," Agni admitted.

"A fortuitous advantage," Rudra pointed out.

"Ball!" Cerberus agreed happily.

"Alright, I want answers!" Nevan snapped, rounding on Cerberus. "You've already demonstrated you can say more than Ball, so why do you keep saying it? It's weirding me out!"

Cerberus was silent for a time. "Do you remember being a child, Nevan?" When there was no response, Cerberus continued. "I didn't. I hadn't remembered that time for a long time. But when Applejack holds me in her hooves and swings me around her head...I remember that time. I feel what it was like to be a puppy again. Is it so wrong I want to embrace that?"

More silence greeted that. After a time, Dante reached into AJ's Stetson, pulled out the squeaky ball she had first distracted Cerberus with way back at the start of their journey together, and tossed it up lightly over Cerberus' three heads.

"Ball!" they shouted together, lunging for it.

Dante smirked. "Well then, let's get this ball to where it belongs before it figures out how to drink souls instead of eat them. Pretty sure, like me, it'd love the taste of a good Applejack."

"Excellent jest, Young Master!" Agni proclaimed as Dante raced out.

"Wondrous wordplay!" Rudra agreed.

Unnoticed to them, the Jester clung to the ceiling up above, looking rather freaked out. "Just what is that pony?" he asked in shock and a little fear.

"Balls!" Cerberus shouted out. Clutching protectively at his crotch, Jester warped away.

Racing back towards the bridge, the haywire generator seemed to call swarms of monsters in each room they passed through. At first, Dante was concerned about the time it would take to get through for fear the generator would start to drain Applejack, but somehow holding it greatly amplified the energy output she was able to generate through Artemis, Cerberus, and Nevan. He wasn't sure which was more impressive: Artemis generating a literal swarm of arrows that homed in on every vital point of every enemy in the area; Cerberus literally freezing the entire room solid, causing the monsters to shatter from the force of the cold; or the swarm of electrified bats summoned by Nevan eating the monsters.

"I hope she's not draining the generator to the point of being useless," Dante muttered after the last room clearing blast.

"Actually, the generator appears to be feeding off the destroyed monsters," Agni pointed out.

"A rather clever alternative!" Rudra affirmed.

"As long as it doesn't run out of power, that's fine," Dante grunted, continuing his race.

Returning to the bridge chamber, the orb flew forth from Applejack's hat to embed itself in its proper receptacle. The bridge then rotated, opening the new pathway.

"How you feeling, AJ?" Dante asked, glancing back at her.

She looked up at where the generator had flown, frowning. "No mo big boom..." she spouted.

Chuckling, Dante scratched her behind one ear. "Yeah, I liked the big booms too," he said soothingly. "But it's more fun when there's more of a challenge."

Smiling, Applejack picked up Nevan, strumming a few chords to get ready for a new battle.

The next chamber proved to be a spiral staircase heading deep into the Tower. Dante paused, though, since he sensed Nevan was concerned about something. "What?" he asked.

"The energies of the tower allow for a pocket space gate here," Nevan explained. "By that logic, there should be a portal to a boss chamber in this room."

"Wait, you mean like Jester used?" Dante asked, intrigued. "Doubt he'd face us again."

"Why?" Nevan, Agni, and Rudra asked curiously.

Grinning, AJ threw Cerberus as she had in that fight.

"Ballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballsballs!" Cerberus shouted as he spun through the air before returning to AJ's grip.

Agni and Rudra both winced, but Nevan laughed uproariously. Rolling his eyes, Dante descended the staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase, Dante found himself on a long bridge. Halfway across, a large swarm of monsters started to approach from the other side...and then a ghostly stallion bearing blue fire and dragging a chariot charged onto the bridge, smashing the monsters into nothingness. Dante braced himself, ready to play chicken with it...but as the stallion charged him, its eyes went wide and it swerved, the chariot smashing the bridge and causing them all to fall downwards to a massive arena.

To Dante's surprise, rather than having to brace himself for a hard fall, he landed safely on the back of the chariot, which somehow slowed its descent for a safe landing. Dante braced himself for a fight or any number of things, only to be surprised as the stallion turned to watch him with concerned eyes, the muzzle extending to sniff.

The events quickly made sense as Applejack reached out a hoof to pet the stallion, and he leaned forward to nuzzle her face.

"Geryon?" Agni asked in surprise.

"Is...is she yours?" Rudra asked, shocked.

The stallion merely continued nuzzling the filly. Applejack was plainly enjoying it, but she turned to Dante. "Pa?" she asked, plainly asking for an explanation.

Geryon visibly winced. Pulling back, he stared down at Applejack and took another deep sniff. Pain seemed to fill his eyes. Turning, he stared down Dante, as though demanding something.

Dante stared back into the demonic stallion's eyes. After a time, he nodded.

Geryon whinnied one last time, and his body collapsed in on itself. A strong blue flame infused itself into Dante.

"What...just happened?" Dante asked.

"That was Geryon," Nevan said softly. "He fought alongside Sparda in the war to seal the demon realm."

"He was once a mortal stallion," Agni spoke up, "with the power to speed up and slow down the flow of time in his immediate vicinity."

"He died, giving his life to protect his kin," Rudra continued.

"Sparda was touched at the nobility of his sacrifice, and asked the fallen soul if he would join him in his battle to protect the living from the damned," Agni added his part.

"Geryon agreed, after accepting a promise from Sparda that his family would be alright," Rudra elaborated.

"Sparda informed him that another fate had already marked his kin," Agni pointed out, "and Geryon was content to fight with Sparda as his battle steed."

"Geryon was the name Sparda gave him, though," Cerberus spoke up. "A strong name for a strong demonic steed. His name as written in the annals of the afterlife, though...was Gala."

Applejack nuzzled into Dante. Not sure what else to do, Dante saluted the slowly collapsing carriage, and carried Applejack out of the arena they had fallen into, continuing onward into the Tower.

Confrontation

As Dante continued onward, he fought his way through several monsters before descending deeper into the tower. "So first I had to go all the way up, and now I have to go all the way down," Dante complained. "Who designed this place?"

"Humans who wanted to unleash the power of the demon world on Earth," Nevan replied blandly.

"Right," Dante confirmed. "Crazy people. That explains a lot."

"I know this section of the tower," Cerberus said softly. "I can direct you through."

Dante nodded. "Lead the way."

Following Cerberus' directions, Dante fought his way through more waves of statue enemies before entering another reflector puzzle chamber. Dante thought it would be easy, only to discover that the reflectors broke when struck instead of rotating. Thankfully, Cerberus was able to direct where the light needed to go, and he was able to solve it, opening a gate to acquire a hunk of Orihalcon. "Another key?"

"Indeed," Cerberus confirmed. "Be careful. We are approaching the final gate."

Dante nodded. Absently, he stroked Applejack's ear as he turned and headed back through the passages. Before long, he came to a massive gate. Placing the Orihalcon in the proper receptacle, the gate unlocked and opened.

Entering the gate, Virgil could be heard shouting. "Why isn't this working?" he demanded. "Is there something missing? Must more blood be shed?"

"You seem to be in a bad mood," Dante said casually as he strolled in.

Virgil turned to face him. "Dante..."

"So, my mother's amulet is the key that unlocks the door to the demon world," Dante muttered. He then chuckled. "Good plan, Pop."

"Just the opposite, actually," Virgil explained. "Originally it was the key to the demon world, but was given to humans as a gift."

"It doesn't matter to me one way or the other," Dante shrugged. "More importantly, I've come all this way..." His hand reached back to Rebellion's hilt. "Yowch!" He yanked his hand back as Applejack's jaw closed hard on his hand.

Virgil chuckled. "It seems your little pony isn't as well behaved as you would like."

"Fud up, foopy puupah Unca!" Applejack spat.

Virgil blinked. "...what did she just say?"

"She was speaking baby talk," Agni mentioned.

"We do not understand it fully," Rudra pointed out.

"I understand her perfectly," Nevan spoke up, "though not what she meant. She said, 'Shut up, stupid puppet Uncle'."

Dante blinked. "If I'm Pa, does that mean Virgil's Uncle?"

"Who are you calling a puppet?" Virgil demanded angrily.

"Jetah poo dings!" Applejack explained.

"She says the Jester is pulling your strings," Nevan translated.

"Didn't AJ identify Lady's father as the Jester?" Dante brought up.

"What?" Virgil snarled. "Arkham is using me? But I killed him!"

"He wasn't dead," Dante pointed out. "We came across his body, AJ threw Cerberus at him, and he leapt out of the way."

"From the sound of it, he was trying to turn the three of us against each other," Lady said as she walked in.

Virgil snarled. "What could he possibly gain from that?"

Dante scratched his chin for a moment, then grinned widely. "He'll probably show up soon. Why don't we ask him?"

Virgil stared at him for a time, then returned the grin. "Let's make a warm welcome for him, then."

Jester warped into the chamber of the seal, fully expecting to find Virgil, Dante, and Mary all too weak from fighting each other to put up a fight. However, he was in for an unfortunate surprise.

Virgil was staring him down at full power, several phantom blades took shape from his body, aimed at the clown.

Dante had Ebony and Ivory out, cocked and ready for rapid fire. Applejack sat on his shoulder, Artemis fully charged.

Lady had Kalina Ann aimed at him, braced to fire at the slightest nudge as several other guns were in easy reach for back up fire.

To Virgil's right, Cerberus was in his demon form once more, ice gathered in his mouth for a barrage of deadly projectiles. Nevan stood beside him, cracking her knuckles as lightning gathered from her swarm of bats.

To Lady's left, Agni and Rudra's statue bodies had been summoned, and concentrated spheres of flame and wind were focused in their mouths for launch.

Jester blinked for a while at the array of force aimed right at him. "...well, that just ain't fair," he complained.

"Sorry," Lady gloated. "We don't give a fuck."

The entire group opened fire on him, ripping his body to shreds with bullets, energy arrows, and elemental blasts as he spouted a string of unintelligible curse words, a different one for every impact as his body was torn apart.

When the barrage finished, Dante turned and shook his finger at Applejack. "Don't repeat any of those words until you're much older, got it?" Applejack nodded happily.

"He seems to have lost consciousness," Virgil said, kneeling over what was left of Arkham, who had lost the guise of Jester.

"He's still not dead?" Lady demanded in shock.

"It takes a lot more than this to kill a devil," Virgil replied. "He was halfway transformed into one as is, so he's about as hard to kill as my brother or I."

Lady's eyes opened wide. "You're both devils?"

"They are half-devils," Nevan said as she approached the pool in the center of the seal. "The half human Sons of Sparda, the Noble Devil Knight, whose demonic spirit stands eternal watch over this seal he created to protect the human world from the demon world." She began carefully examining the seal.

"So...Sparda was a devil...and a good guy?" Lady asked in confusion.

"From your perspective, yes," Agni responded. "Though many devils would see things otherwise."

"There is as much variety of motivations in devils as there are in humans," Rudra explained.

"Fuck!" Nevan swore.

"What's up?" Dante asked.

"The seal's been half broken," she replied. "If we leave it like this, it will eventually unravel completely on its own."

"How do we unravel it further?" Virgil demanded.

"You want to break the seal?" Lady demanded, turning Kalina Ann on him.

"I have my reasons for seeking a path to the demon world," Virgil grated. "This is the only path I can access as I currently am."

"Well, that's good," Nevan exhaled. "The only way to repair the seal now is to release it completely, then reenergize it from both sides with the power of Sparda's blood."

"So I energize it from this side while Virgil takes the other?" Dante asked. "Sounds like a plan. How do we unseal it the rest of the way?"

"It calls for blood," Nevan explained. "I can feel it. It needs the rest of Sparda's blood, and that of a pure maiden from the line of the priestess that helped Sparda create the seal. Given willingly, it can control the release of the seal to prevent too much demonic power from escaping into this world."

"So that means my blood, right?" Dante asked, drawing Rebellion. "Where are we going to find the priestess' blood?"

"That would be Lady," Nevan explained as she and Cerberus resumed their weapon forms. Agni and Rudra once more discarded their statue bodies to sheath themselves across Dante's back.

"Alright then," Dante said, stepping up to the pool. Cutting his hand, he let his blood fall in. Energy began to gather.

"You're certain this has to be done?" Lady asked, stepping up to the pool with a knife in her hand.

"Magic can't be left half done," Nevan explained. "That would be more dangerous than undoing it completely. The unraveling might spread beyond the range of the seal, opening the gateway between the demon world and Earth even wider, until one might swallow the other completely."

"Right," Lady said, cutting her hand to let her blood fall into the pool.

The altar in the bottom of the pool slowly rose, the three bloods mingled within it. The roof opened up, and the entire seal began rising towards the heavens, the tower rising with it.

Author's Note

You can thank Leo Archon for inspiring the battle scene, thanks to this comment.

The Final Battle

When the altar of the seal reached the top of the tower, the machinery of the tower shifted to allow the gateway to be opened. As it opened, Nevan spoke up. "Sparda left defenses on both sides of the gate to make sure it stayed closed. We're going to have to work our way through those defenses, disabling them as we go, if we're going to be able to expose Sparda's spirit so we can reenergize him."

"So we both get to go to hell," Dante mused. "This should be fun."

"Just don't slow me down, brother," Virgil drolled.

"Who's going to slow who down?" Dante asked challengingly, his hand reaching for Rebellion.

"So is this rivalry you two being men, being half demons, or being brothers?" Lady asked exasperatedly.

"A bit of all three," Nevan mused, setting Applejack to giggling.

"Lady must stay behind!" Agni mentioned.

"The energies of her blood are incompatible with the energies of Hell!" Rudra agreed. "The portal won't let her through!"

"Perhaps she could keep an eye on her father's body, shooting him in the head any time he starts to awaken to make sure he stays down?" Cerberus offered.

"With pleasure," Lady agreed, reaching for one of her smaller guns, only for one of Nevan's bats to lick the cut on her hand from whence she spilled the blood to break the seal. "What the-?"

"Now that I've tasted your blood," Nevan explained, "I can keep track of you from a distance. Also, as you are aware of it, you can send me a psychic message if you focus. That way you can communicate with us in case anything goes wrong on this side."

"Not a bad idea," Dante mused. He then playfully saluted Lady. "Catch you later!" With that, both Dante and Virgil rose up into the air, passing through the open gate.

As Dante and Virgil began walking down the path through the hellgate, Virgil glanced over. "You brought the pony?"

"If I thought she'd let me leave her with Lady for this part even for a moment, I would have," Dante countered. When Applejack bleated her irritation, he continued, "They'd both have been safer that way."

"I think that filly's starting to make you soft, brother," Virgil replied.

"You try having a tiny pony calling you Pa," Dante countered. "See how soft you get!"

Virgil was silent for a time. If Dante didn't know better, he'd have sworn Virgil was giving it serious consideration. "Why did you bring her with you in the first place?"

"I found her in a wrecked bar, and she said her name was Applejack," Dante explained. "It was hilarious. How could I not take her with me?"

Virgil rolled his eyes and picked up his pace.

The pair of brothers fought their way through the obstacles presented to them. First was a chessboard of demonic pieces, where both chided Applejack for sniping at the King piece as it 'spoiled the fun'. Applejack replied by blowing them both a raspberry.

After passing through another passage, they entered a large chamber with stairwells leading between various monoliths in patterns that wouldn't have looked out of place in a painting by MC Escher. Each monolith had a stone of a different color embedded in it. In the center, a monolith could be seen with a stone of each color embedded in a pattern. The stones in the central monument were all glowing.

"This chamber raises the foes you have fought before to confront you anew," Cerberus explained. "However, this hurdle only presents itself to those who try to force the gate. As the two of you controlled the opening, it does not raise against you."

"That and the fact that you've only actually fought one or two great foes for the chamber to raise," Nevan drolled. "The rest of us joined up more or less of our own will without a fight, so it can't really raise us against you."

"So it's given up challenging us, then?" Virgil asked.

"Something like that..." Cerberus admitted.

Approaching the monolith in the center, a portal opened to allow them to continue onward. Passing through the portal, they slaughtered their way through a wave of hellbeasts rising from a pool of blood, fighting back to back, until another portal opened for them.

"You two fight well together," Nevan commented dryly.

"Maybe," Virgil admitted ruefully.

"But it's more fun to fight each other," Dante pointed out. "Nothing else is as much of a challenge." Applejack giggled at that.

"There may yet be greater challenge further in," Cerberus warned as the pair leapt through the portal.

Arriving in a temple like area, Cerberus instructed them to break the mirrors to stop the hellbeasts from manifesting. After doing so, they made their way through another portal into a chamber with a large hourglass.

"We're seeing a lot of scenery," Virgil mused. "Isn't there a faster way?"

"If you don't mind destroying the seal and having to recreate it from scratch with the two of you standing in place of Sparda," Cerberus countered.

"Spend eternity stuck in one place with him?" Dante asked, jerking a thumb at Virgil as they slaughtered more hellbeasts. "Pass."

"Same here," Virgil agreed.

"Then follow the path," Cerberus instructed.

"I'm beginning to miss you saying Ball constantly," Dante groused.

"Ball!" Cerberus said as Applejack whacked Dante in the back of the head with one of the prongs.

"Never mind," Dante grunted as Virgil smirked in amusement.

Approaching the hourglass after killing the monsters, Dante retrieved a Samsara.

"Now we can take a more direct route," Cerberus explained.

"Has it been like this for your entire trip through the tower?" Virgil asked.

"Constant detours to pick up keys before backtracking to use them, only to do it all over again?" Dante confirmed. "Eeyup." He had no idea what made him give confirmation that way, but it made Applejack squeal happily for some reason.

"I see why you complained about the party," Virgil mused.

"It wasn't all bad," Dante admitted. "It got more fun once I had more friends tagging along, even if they did get annoying at times."

"You say the sweetest things," Nevan purred.

After leaping through a few more portals back into the mirror temple chamber, Dante applied the Samsara to a statue that had a slot for it. The image in the portal then changed, taking them to a new area when they leapt through it. Following a final path, they passed through a great gate.

In this last chamber, they found Sparda's sword. "So that's Dad's weapon, huh?" Dante asked.

"The focal point of the seal," Nevan explained.

"His spirit rests within," Cerberus confirmed.

"So this is what we came here for, huh?" Virgil mentioned, stepping around to the other side of the sword. "This where we need to reenergize him?"

"I believe-" Nevan cut herself off. "I'm getting a message from Lady! Arkham's been drawn into the portal! He's coming this way!"

"Something else is coming to meet him!" Agni shouted.

"Perhaps the demon who gave him the power he's been using?" Rudra suggested.

"Looks like we get one last big fight after all," Dante said with a grin.

"One of us does, anyway," Virgil countered.

As Arkham's body flew into the chamber, a massive surge of demonic power flowed into him from the opposite side of the final seal. "NO!" Arkham screamed. "I will not be your puppet! I will claim Sparda's power!" A massive explosion of demonic power transformed Arkham into a swirling mass of flesh and tentacles, lunging for the brothers. "Give it to me!"

Before either brother could draw their swords, Applejack leaped off Dante's shoulder, snarling defiance. Leaping over Sparda's sword, power flowed into her from the blade and the spirit therein, awakening the full power that had been infused into her by Dante's blood. Orange energy flared from her body.

Her coat expanded, hardening, becoming armor plated scales covering her entire body, interlocking at the joints. Claws sprang from all four hooves, razor sharp edges glinting in the light of hell. Her mane burst free of the ponytail it had been tied in, flowing behind her in an energy form like sunlight's glow. Her tail twisted around itself, hair becoming flesh as it curled over her back to end in a manticore's sting. Her flat teeth turned razor sharp as the scale armor over her face took on the appearance of a draconic war helm. Two horns sprung from her head, one just behind each ear, and scales bound her ears to them. Last of all, the three crimson apples on each side of her flank each sprouted demonic horns and fangs.

The tiny demonic figure slammed into the writhing mass and began tearing it apart with teeth, claws, and tail. Even as the mass attempted to withdraw, she dug her claws into it as she continued to rip it apart. Dante and Virgil stared in amazement.

"When did that happen?" Dante demanded.

"When I stabbed you, Yamato cut her as well," Virgil explained. "Somehow, she must have absorbed a fraction of Sparda's power from you when that happened. She tore a chunk of my throat out with her teeth."

"Why didn't you guys tell me?" Dante complained to Agni and Rudra.

"She didn't want us to!" Agni explained.

"She swore us to secrecy by punching us!" Rudra confirmed.

"BAAAAAALLLLSSSS!" Cerberus shouted as he spun around Applejack's demonic tail as she rocked out on Nevan, blasting the demonic monstrosity beneath her with ice and lightning.

"Looks like she got my style, too!" Dante said proudly.

"Such a shame," Virgil teased mildly. "Are you going to help her any time soon?"

"I got $100 that she doesn't need our help to finish this guy off!" Dante jibed back.

"You're on!" Virgil countered.

Hearing this, Applejack began fighting even more aggressively, slicing chunks off and tearing gouges out of the monster Arkham had become, ripping him to shreds. The beast tried to fight back by lashing at her, but she was too small a target, and her new demonic power enabled her to dodge every strike, leaving the beast hitting itself. When it tried to fire projectiles at her, she shot them down with a barrage from Artemis without even releasing her clamped jaws. It tried to dive into the void beneath to hide and recuperate, calling forth demonic fish like portions of itself to keep her distracted, but she dug her teeth and claws into it as it dove. Locking her tail around the hilt of Sparda's sword, she levered the beast back up, and proceeded to use its bulk to flatten the other summoned beasts.

"Woo!" Dante called out applauding. "That's my girl!"

"This show might just be worth the $100," Virgil mused. "How can such immense power be contained in such a tiny frame?"

"That is the power of Sparda!" Agni proclaimed.

"It is not the strength of body that determines its power!" Rudra agreed.

"Nor of mind!"

"Nor of will!"

"It is the strength of your heart!" Agni and Rudra proclaimed together as Applejack leapt into the air, dragging the beast after her and spinning it rapidly around her before slamming it into the ground and bombarding it with more ice and lightning from Cerberus and Nevan.

Virgil watched on in silence, his face troubled at Agni and Rudra's declaration.

After a while, the beast stopped fighting back. Applejack dropped it, panting heavily. After a time, her eyes rolled up into her head and she slumped over, her transformation reversing itself. Dante rushed forward to scoop her up.

"Is she alright?" Virgil asked.

"Just exhausted," Dante clarified after checking her pulse. "It was a pretty big exertion for such a little filly." Shifting her back into her carry straps, he glanced at the beast. "So who won the bet? It doesn't look like it's moving."

"I...I will not fail..." Arkham's voice echoed.

"But it's not dead," Virgil pointed out.

"Should we deliver the finishing blow, then?" Dante offered, holding up Ebony and Ivory.

"And what of the bet?" Virgil asked, holding out his hand.

"I think we can call the fight - and the bet - a draw," Dante offered, handing over Ivory.

Virgil cocked the gun. "I can accept that. Let's finish him off together."

Dante smirked. "Remember what we used to say?"

Crossing their arms around each other, they leveled their guns at the beast. "Jackpot!" they declared together, pulling the trigger at the same time.

The two bullets flew forward, one surrounded in a red aura, one in a blue one, twirling around each other as they slammed into the beast, eradicating it. As the mass of flesh dissolved, only the two halves of the pendant remained floating in the air. Dante and Virgil each snagged theirs.

"So now what?" Dante asked.

"Now you must both focus your energy through the pendant halves into the sword from either side," Nevan explained groggily. "The boundary-" Her words were interrupted by a yawn. "The boundary will form here."

"You okay, Nevan?" Dante asked.

"Applejack's not the only one exhausted from channeling so much of Sparda's power unexpectedly," Nevan explained. "Not all of that power was hers. Sparda infused her from within the sword for her initial awakening. It was all the three of us could do to stabilize the power long enough for her to burn through it."

"Balls..." Cerberus agreed tiredly, two of its heads already snoring.

Dante chuckled as he stepped to his position. "I'll be sure she eats well," he promised. "You ready for this, Virgil?"

"Almost," he replied. Holding out his hand, he focused. White light coalesced in his hand from his arms and legs, taking shape as a white flame. "A light wielding behemoth with a grudge against our father crossed me before I started releasing the seal. It was rather weak at that point, so I finished it off easily. A weapon was forged of its soul, gauntlets and greaves. I won't be needing it in hell."

"So you're giving it to me?" Dante asked. "Aw, bro, you shouldn't have-"

"It's for my new niece," Virgil interrupted. "Since she fights on all fours, it will fit her fighting style best, and it will be sweet irony that the weapon forged from an enemy of Sparda will be the primary devil arm of the unexpected third child of his blood. Besides, she should have something to remember her Uncle by until we meet again."

"You're going to find your own way out of hell?" Dante asked as the white light coalesced into the gauntlets and greaves of Beowulf around Applejack's legs.

"Eventually," Virgil agreed. "You can count on it. Besides, if I didn't, she'd probably tear the veil open to drag me out eventually."

Dante laughed. "She would."

"Unca..." Applejack muttered sleepily.

Smirking, Virgil ruffled the filly's mane. "Till next time. You I'll be happy to see." He stepped to his place on the hell side of the sword.

"Aw, you won't be happy to see me?" Dante asked. "I'm hurt."

"I won't be returning until I can wield enough of our father's power that I can kick your ass," Virgil pointed out. "I'll be happy to see you kneeling before my blade!"

Dante chuckled. "It's a date!" he promised.

Both brothers held up their pendant halves and focused their energy. Beams of light shot forth into the sword. Ever so briefly before the force of the repaired seal sent them both flying back to their separate destinies, the image of Sparda could be seen floating in the air above his sword.

Neither brother heard the words spoken, but one little filly would always remember them in her dreams.

You make me proud, my sons...

First Date

As Dante came out of the portal, he came across Lady, crying over Arkham's broken body. Based on the smear of blood leading away from him to the center of the seal - which was now closing itself back up - the big hole in his head, and the absence of the red markings that had been moving under his skin last time, Dante could tell that he was really dead this time. He could also tell from the empty gun in her hand that Lady had finished him off. He knelt down beside her. "You okay?"

Lady opened her eyes, blinking away her tears. "I haven't been okay for a long time," she muttered. She slowly pushed herself to her feet. "But I think, for the first time in a long time...I think I will be."

"That's good," Dante said, pushing himself back to his feet. "So about that coffee and pizza..."

Lady rolled her eyes at him. "Really?" she asked snidely. "After all this, you're asking me out?"

"Hey, I asked you out for coffee or pizza once this was finished with a while ago," he countered. "You also said yes. I'm just asking if you're up to it."

Lady shook her head, then shrugged. "Why not?" she said finally. "I could use something to help me unwind."

"I hope you both have plenty of energy!" Agni proclaimed.

"Because it looks like you'll have to fight your way through!" Rudra agreed.

Glancing down the tower, Dante and Lady could both see the swarm of demons gathered at the base, easily numbering in the hundreds. "What's up with all that?" Dante demanded.

"Dregs!" Agni proclaimed.

"What's left of what came through the portal while it was opened!" Rudra agreed.

"Looks like we're on clean up duty," Lady admitted.

"Looking forward to it!" Dante proclaimed, working loose a few kinks. "Applejack's out of it, so she won't steal any kills this time!"

Lady raised her eyebrow. "You really enjoy killing demons?"

"With as good as you are at it," he countered, "don't try to tell me for a moment that you don't."

Lady thought for a bit, then shrugged. "Point," she admitted. Then she smirked at him. "How about we see which of us is better? Winner picks and pays for the meal?"

"You're on!" Dante agreed. "Nevan, you up to keeping score?"

"As long as I don't have to do anything else," Nevan murmured. "I'm still exhausted."

"No demon form for you, though," Lady points out. "Those kills won't count."

"No problem," Dante allowed. "I'll still win." He turned his back to her. "Need a lift down?"

Smirking, Lady took hold of his shoulder and braced herself on his back as he leapt downward.

Finishing off all the demons, Dante and Lady leaned on their weapons as they caught their breath. "Who won, Nevan?" Dante asked.

"By numbers alone, it is a tie," Nevan replied.

"What?" Dante demanded.

"However, you killed far more of the larger demons, and many of Lady's kills came from exploding the bomb skeletons in large groups, so she wins in skill, while you win in power."

"Huh," Dante mused. He turned to Lady. "You pick, I pay?" he offered.

"Sounds good," Lady allowed. "So where's the pizza place with food for Applejack?"

Glancing around, Dante pointed. "Right there. And it's still open."

"Convenient!" Agni and Rudra chorused together.

"Do we get to eat too?" Cerberus inquired.

"As long as you can fit in the restaurant while doing so," Dante directed.

The owner of the pizzeria wished this was his strangest day on the job. First the sky caught fire and demons ran the streets. Most of the businesses around got crushed. A massive order of pizzas and apples was taken and paid for magically. The sky went back to normal, the demons were slain...and the ones who killed all the demons were the only customers he'd had all day to sit down to eat. The two human looking ones had their own table, while the succubus-looking vampire, the sword-headed statues, the tiny pony, and the tri-pronged nunchuku that could somehow eat had another table.

He really wished this was his strangest day on the job. He really did.

As Dante and Lady ate, they tried to find something not demon related to talk about. Unfortunately, neither of them actually had anything in their pasts to talk about that wasn't demon related...or really depressing. Eventually, they settled on the one thing they could talk about that put a smile on their faces; the little pony at the next table.

"So how'd you end up with a pony daughter?" Lady asked curiously.

Dante chuckled. "Found her in a wrecked bar near the entrance to Temen-ni-gru. She bit me, proved a real fighter, and told me her name was Applejack. I figured she could take care of herself, since she'd already bucked a demon all the way across the street somehow, but every time I tried to leave without her, she set up an awful racket." He laughed as he reminisced. "She certainly made the climb up the tower interesting. I still don't know how she got Cerberus to shoot ice. That's quite a bit of power."

Cerberus paused in his eating. "Actually...that was me indulging her," he admitted. "Like I said, she made me feel like a puppy again when holding me, and she was visualizing me spitting ice when she pointed me at things. So...I did so."

"Were you also aiming yourself when she threw you?" Dante asked.

"Well...sorta," Cerberus confessed. "I was the one making me fly back to her hooves each time."

"She's...also not as good a guitarist as you might think," Nevan admitted. "She was actually just wailing randomly on the strings. I...could feel in her mind what sounds she wanted me to make, so I made them for her. She was trying so hard to look awesome for you."

"Oh!" Agni proclaimed. "So that's why she didn't want us telling Dante about the demon power she got from his blood when Virgil stabbed him and she got cut!"

"She must have wanted to save it as a surprise for when she'd look most awesome to Young Master!" Rudra agreed.

Applejack pouted at the twin swords, then turned away, looking embarrassed.

"And even Pops got in on it," Dante chuckled. Reaching over, he tousled Applejack's mane. "Silly filly," he chided, making her smile.

"Her Devil Trigger has awakened much earlier than yours, however," Cerberus commented. "The longer one has such power active, the stronger it can grow."

"However, the earlier it awakens, the weaker it starts," Nevan explained. "Right now, her overall capacity to store magic and demonic power is so low she won't be able to transform for more than about five seconds at a time without forcefully reverting, and she shouldn't do it that much. She'll risk straining her body and magic."

"Like overworking your muscles when you're too young?" Lady offered.

"Exactly!" Agni confirmed.

"A capital comparison!" Rudra added.

"So what about her marksmareship?" Dante asked, joking with his wordplay. "Was that Artemis helping her?"

"Nope," Cerberus denied. "Artemis has no will of its own. It is merely a forged weapon. Nor did I assist her. She just naturally has excellent hoof-eye coordination for such things. It's in her blood."

Thinking about the power he'd felt from Geryon before the demonic horse imbued him with his power, Dante couldn't help but wonder what else was in Applejack's blood.

"So what are you going to do?" Lady asked. "Now that your power's fully awakened, I mean?"

"Take care of Applejack," Dante said. "That and figure out what to name my demon hunting business, and open it. How about you? What'll you do now that you've dealt with your old man?"

"Probably still hunt demons," she stated. "I don't want to let anyone else suffer from a loved one becoming a monster like my father."

"Guess you'll be going your own way, then?" he inquired. He blinked away a tear he couldn't explain.

Spotting the tear, Lady smiled. "Probably. But I'll stop in every now and then." Reaching over, she stroked Applejack's ear. "This little one could use a female role model, after all."

"Mama!" Applejack agreed happily, making everyone chuckle.

"As for your business...I have a suggestion for a name." Dante glanced towards her. "How about...Devil May Cry?"

Dante leaned back in thought for a time. Then he smiled. "I like it."

Author's Note

Some of you may be wondering why I've, apparently, massively depowered Applejack as compared to what she demonstrated in the story.

The truth of the matter is I never intended her to be as overpowered as she came across as. Yes, I wanted her to be able to contribute to the story, and I wanted that moment of awesome with the revelation of her full Devil Trigger form...

But as I got caught up in the story, I kept forgetting something with each of her combat scenes. She's a foal, a toddler. She shouldn't have that much power so young.

Thankfully, the weapons talking the whole time provided an option of how to rebalance things a bit, without taking away from AJ's awesome or breaking the story. After all, the Devil Arms she wielded were actual demons who willingly joined up with her.

Fatherhood

As Dante got Applejack settled into his life, some major alterations proved to be necessary. Dante had long been used to sleeping in most mornings, waking only for the call of his stomach, the phone, or the doorbell, the phone only if it was the third time it had rung and the doorbell only if it didn't stop. Applejack, however, awoke at the crack of dawn and started bawling within ten minutes if Dante wasn't awake to get her breakfast. While Dante was seriously put out with this disruption of his usual sleep cycle, he found it easier to adjust to waking up early than should have been possible. He privately suspected this was Geryon's doing, making subtle changes to his biological rhythms to help him take care of Applejack. As it meant waking at the crack of dawn was merely unpleasant rather than torturous, Dante decided not to look this gift horse in the mouth.

Another adjustment was the matter of breakfast itself. Dante had been perfectly content with a breakfast of cold pizza, beer, and a titty mag. His half-demon physiology was able to metabolize the beer rather easily so he didn't actually get drunk. Applejack, however, was a growing filly and needed more nutritious fare. As such, he had been forced to stock up on quite a bit of supplies he wouldn't normally have bothered with - flour, eggs, milk, spices, seasonings, other baking goods, fresh fruit - and had started learning to bake by trial and error. Despite not talking clearly yet, Applejack's teeth were developed enough that she could easily handle solid foods already, and while she would accept being taken out to eat for breakfast, she showed a marked preference for food Dante made her. While she would accept and enjoy breakfast at someplace like Denny's, the judgmental look she gave Dante all the way there and all the way back quickly convinced him it was worth the effort to learn how to cook rather than face that face every morning. He was rather surprised that he wasn't completely incompetent in the kitchen.

Normally after breakfast, Dante would laze about playing video games, watching TV, or otherwise wasting time until something exciting happened, or until lunch. However, between breakfast and lunch appeared to be when Applejack was most energetic, and required constant supervision to prevent disaster. Major injury wasn't that much of a worry, as she seemed to already have developed the half-demon regeneration rate, and all she needed if she hurt herself was a 'kiss it better' before she was right off to toddling along. The bigger concern with her antics was the damage she'd inflict to his home and place of business if left to her own devices.

Child proofing the place proved an exercise in futility. If she couldn't pull a cabinet open she wanted to look into, she'd kick a hole in the door and crawl in. If something she wanted was out of reach, she'd don Beowulf and climb the walls by sinking the spiked gauntlets and greaves into the wall, damaging both wall and whatever she was trying to get. Trying to take away her Devil Arms didn't work, as she proved able to summon them to her out of her hat, somehow. If he tried to put her in a playpen, she'd knock it over. The same with any fences he put up to keep her in one particular area of the house.

After a few days, Dante discovered that the only way to stop Applejack from destroying the house between breakfast and lunch in an attempt to entertain herself was to play with her. If they were spending time together, she was perfectly happy to behave herself. In an attempt to burn her energy so she would be relaxed later, he did the only thing he could think of and bought a bunch of cat toys and stuffed animals. As long as he was playing with her, this satisfied her.

Lunch thankfully didn't change much. Dante usually had a light lunch, grabbing whatever was in the fridge and chowing down. Applejack was apparently fine with a light lunch as well, and it didn't take much effort to toss a simple salad or make a sandwich.

After lunch, Dante did weapon practice. The major alteration there was having to stay aware of Applejack's location during that time, as she always watched him, following his movements and occasionally trying to mimic them. Dante made a mental note to start her training as soon as she was able to do a spin kick without falling on her tail. Thankfully, she found it hilarious when that happened, as it always made her burst into giggles.

Dinner was usually something ordered in, the leftovers of which had once been the next day's breakfast, now the basis of the next day's lunch. Generally Dante went with pizza, Chinese, or some other dish he could eat while vegging out in front of the TV. While the choice of meals was still easy, the addition of Applejack meant it had to be at the table. For one thing, she tended to tilt back and forth while eating, so she needed a modified high chair to keep her steady. For another, she couldn't handle any sort of utensils, so her food had to be cut bite size for her and placed in a dish she could fit her face in. Then Dante had to wipe her face clean afterwards. He always chided her for being a 'messy pony' when he did that, which set her to giggling. He liked her giggle.

While Applejack's fondness for meat dishes would have raised eyebrows amongst others, Dante didn't know enough equine physiology or behaviors to question. Besides, he liked meat too, and was just grateful for yet another aspect of his normal routine that stayed the same.

Dessert was a new addition, but one that Dante was quite happy to include. Before, if he wanted dessert he'd pull a carton of ice cream out of the freezer and eat it a spoon at a time until he was satisfied before sticking it back in. Applejack's fondness for baked goods had led him to explore other types of desserts. Following her name, he found they both liked hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top. It was up to debate which of them was messier when eating that dish.

After dinner and dessert, Dante usually vegged out in front of the TV, either watching cartoons or playing video games. The only major alteration there was having Applejack curled up in his lap. Thankfully, she took care of her own bathroom needs in the back yard, and it wasn't yet enough to worry about shoveling. At first she didn't really like it when he played video games, as she couldn't handle the controller with her hooves and mouth. Dante settled that by special ordering an arcade control pad for each of the systems he had with the buttons mapped and labeled. The larger buttons and easily graspable control stick made it much easier for Applejack to play, and they both played together until Applejack started to sway from exhaustion.

In the past, Dante would stay up late playing games, listening to loud music, or watching action movies. However, once Applejack went to bed, any loud noise would wake her up. Unlike most infants - as far as Dante knew - Applejack did not cry if she was awakened in the middle of the night. If she needed him for something, she would yell for him until he came. But if it was something he did that woke her up - loud noises and the like - she would climb out of the bed, crawl across the floor until she found whatever room he was in, draw Artemis, and shoot him in the nuts. She would then insist rather vocally on being tucked in again. As a result, Dante began going to bed about an hour after putting Applejack down for the night.

It wasn't until several weeks after bringing Applejack into his life that he realized there was a resource he wasn't utilizing. "Say, Nevan, any chance you could manifest in demon form to help take care of Applejack?"

"Sorry," Nevan purred, "but the demonic energy released by Temen-ni-gru into the world has dissipated. Without that, none of us can assume our demon forms."

"We are limited to functioning in our weapon forms," Agni explained.

"And even then, our own energy is not able to provide much," Rudra added.

"We must rely solely on the energy our wielders can provide us to power our magic," Cerberus pointed out.

"That'll be the case anywhere a major demon isn't trying to manifest," Nevan concluded. "The energy generated by the boundary being warped will allow us to use more of our power, and even manifest as it becomes more pronounced. Otherwise, Earth barely provides enough magical energy to maintain our personas within the weapons."

Dante snapped his fingers. "Nuts," he growled. "I'd have loved to have you manifest a time or two, Nevan." He grinned lasciviously. "And not just to help take care of Applejack."

"Naughty boy," Nevan scolded in a purring voice.

A thought occurred to him. "How come Beowulf never talks?"

"My hatred for the blood of Sparda knows no bounds!" Beowulf proclaimed. "It is to my eternal shame and rage that I am bound to my soul form, unable to bring my vengeance down upon you all and destroy as you so rightly deserve for your fathers'-OW!"

Applejack had pulled the gauntlet the voice was coming from off and begun smashing it with the other over and over while babbling in baby talk. When Nevan cracked up laughing, Dante demanded, "What's she saying?"

"Stop hitting yourself," Nevan translated, setting the others to laughing.

"Saw hibbi yafel! Saw hibbi yafel! Saw hibbi yafel!" Applejack cried with each hit.

First Mission

Around the time Applejack turned five, Dante got the first mission call he felt AJ could handle herself on, one where they could fight as a team rather than her being strapped to his back. This was something he'd been looking forward to, as he wanted to see how far she'd developed, and how she'd do in a live battle rather than practice. If anything, however, Applejack was even more excited than he was, as he'd told her that he'd let her know when he felt her ready to fight demons herself.

It started out as an ordinary day until the phone rang. Bringing his foot down on the desk, Dante bounced the handset into his hand before holding it to his ear. "Devil May Cry," he said into the receiver in a bored tone. "What can we do for you?" He listened carefully to the voice on the other end. "Demon swarm? Alright, describe the demonic creature you see the most of." Dante listened to the descriptions. "Sounds like you've mostly got an influx of Seven Hells. Have you looked over the price sheets?" He listened for a time. "Alright. Then you know how much I charge. We'll be there in an hour." He slammed the phone back down on the receiver. "Applejack! Get your gun!"

"Gonna be strapped to your back again?" she asked morosely. "I'm getting a bit big ta enjoy that."

Dante smirked. "Not this time. It's just the Seven Hells, from the sound of it. I've taught you how to deal with those, and you saw all of them while we were in Temen-ni-gru. So get Nevan and Cerberus, too."

Applejack grinned widely. "Yee-haw! Time to buck some demon hiney!" she shouted, donning her hat before snatching Cerberus up in her tail.

"Just one restriction though," Dante cautioned. "No devil trigger unless you get overwhelmed."

"But Pa!"

"No buts, Applejack!" Dante scolded. "You're still young. Devil Trigger puts a rather large strain on your magic, to the point of exhaustion, and you don't regenerate your magical reserves as fast as I do. No Devil Trigger unless you're overwhelmed, and if you're forced to use it you find me immediately." Seeing Applejack getting ready to protest, he shook his finger at her. "That's final, Applejack. You either promise to abide by this or stay strapped to my back."

Applejack sighed. "Alright. Ah promise."

Dante smiled before reaching out to ruffle her mane. "I'm only so strict because I'm worried about you. I don't want you overworking yourself and becoming demon chow." He glanced to the guitar strapped to AJ's back. "Nevan, keep an eye on AJ's reserves. If they start getting low, make her pull back."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Nevan promised.

"Alright then," Dante concluded. "Let's go!"

Once they arrived at the city under assault, Dante and AJ went separate ways. Dante went straight for the larger concentrations of demons, while Applejack headed for the buildings marked as evacuation points, focusing on taking out those demons approaching civilians. Her preferred tactic was to balance rapidly damaging a large number by spinning Cerberus as she charged through, using Nevan to keep them back from her, using Beowulf to knock them into a tight group, finishing off by sniping Hell Wraths with Artemis, using the explosives on their backs to obliterate entire groups at a time. The strategy proved highly effective.

Taking a quick glance into the first building, she saw that there weren't any casualties yet. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped inside. "Howdy y'all!" she said happily. "Applejack of Devil May Cry demon hunting services. Don't you worry none, we'll have these demons wrastled outta here quicker'n a greased pig can slip through a fence!" Seeing their confusion, she sighed, pushing her hat down. "We'll...we'll get it done right quick."

"Pony..." one of the little girls said, reaching out to pet her.

Smiling, Applejack allowed the caress. "Don't worry little lady," she said reassuringly. "Pa and I have got this." She blinked. There was something familiar about the little girl's hair ribbon...

Suddenly shivering, she turned away. "Gotta get back to work!" she said quickly dashing back outside.

Once outside, she saw that a Hell Vanguard was approaching the building, its reaper-like form enhanced by the glowing blue scythe it wielded. "That wasn't reported," she mumbled, dodging the first sweep.

While normally such a foe would prove exceptionally difficult for a new fighter to handle, Applejack had two advantages that the Vanguard couldn't handle well. First off, she was tiny, barely coming up to the beast's knees, which made her an exceptionally difficult to hit with a sweeping weapon like a scythe. Her second advantage was that one of her primary weapons was a scythe half the time. From training to wield Nevan for combat, Applejack could read scythe combat with ease.

She dodged the Vanguard's first swing by rolling forward under it, coming up inside its swing range. Drawing Nevan, she swept her scythe blade upward, aiming at the Vanguard's wrist bones. As she'd planned, the skeletal hands separated from the arms. She knew that wouldn't last long, but while it did last the Vanguard wouldn't be able to teleport, as that ability came from the energy of the scythe. Putting Nevan back on her back, Applejack primed Beowulf before delivering a rising uppercut to the Vanguard's chin. While keeping herself between the Vanguard and its weapon, she delivered blow after blow to the creature, pushing it further and further back before finishing it off by pinning it to a wall with her forehooves and using both hind legs to buck its head clear off, causing it to dissolve into blue smoke.

Landing back on the ground, Applejack looked around for someplace to catch her breath. Spying a divinity statue, she raced over it to relax. "Wonder what one of these is doing all the way out here?" she asked idly as she lay across the base. She knew she was safe here.

As she relaxed and caught her breath, she felt the demonic essence she'd collected from the monsters she'd slain flow out of her and into the statue. It then seemed to wait, as though asking what she wanted. She glanced down at Beowulf. "Pity these babies can't hit somethin' further away," she found herself saying.

The statue glowed, and the energy flowed back into the gauntlets. Feeling the shape the energy was taking, Applejack grinned widely. She couldn't wait to show Dante her new trick.

As Dante fought his way through the demons in town, a minor worry was constantly niggling at the back of his mind. He'd thought Applejack was ready for this, but he hadn't expected the swarm to be this large. Even as he easily fought off wave after wave as he made his way through town, he kept glancing around, hoping to see the flare of orange that was Applejack's Devil Trigger so he'd know she was still there...and hoping not to see it as it would mean she was being hard pressed.

"You worry too much, Young Master!" Agni spoke up.

"Applejack will be fine!" Rudra agreed.

"I hope so," Dante muttered. "I mean, it's just Seven Hells-" He caught his breath as he saw something he didn't expect. "That's not good."

Three Hell Vanguards were converging on a building marked as an evac point. It looked mostly empty, but they wouldn't be converging on it if there weren't any victims inside. Hoping it wasn't going to turn out to be a bunch of rats, Dante charged forward, triggering his Devil Trigger.

Training Applejack in building up her magical reserves had greatly increased the amount of time Dante spent in Devil Trigger on a regular basis beyond what he normally would. As a result, he could now maintain his Devil Trigger state for quite some time, more than long enough to take down the three Hell Vanguards. As he delivered the final blow to the third, however, he crashed through the wall of the building. "That's going to be problematic," he muttered to himself. He glanced around to see who was inside.

A small boy looked up at him in fear and hope. "Are...are you an angel?" he asked.

Dante scowled in disgust, gesturing at his demonic form. "Do I look like an angel to you?" he demanded angrily.

"Ah dunno, Pa," Applejack said, finally catching up to him. "Ya do kinda look like yer about to say 'Fear Not'!" She smirked impishly up at him.

"You shut up," Dante scolded as he shifted back to human, though he couldn't stop a smile of relief from crossing his face. "How are you handling your first solo battles?"

"Pretty good," Applejack replied. "Managed about a hundred or so Seven Hells, and took out a Vanguard all on mah own."

"Nice!" Dante complimented, holding out his closed fist for her to bump with her hoof. "This isn't a normal incursion, though, if we've already encountered four Vanguards. I'm definitely charging the mayor extra."

"They seemed ta be going somewhere specific," Applejack pointed out. "They're all heading more or less towards the center of town."

"Then lets see what they're looking for," Dante agreed, leaping up to a rooftop. Applejack spun Cerberus like a helicopter blade to follow.

Up on the rooftops, they saw a massive pool of blood seeping up out of the fountain in the town square. Dante easily recognized the demons coming up from the blood pools. "Abyss," he grunted, naming the beasts he had faced within the Hell Gate above Temen-ni-gru. "How did they get up here?"

Applejack blinked. "Wait...they're weak to light, right?"

"Yeah," Dante agreed, "but it's not safe to let you get close enough to them to use Beowulf-what are you doing?"

Applejack had raised herself to her hind hooves, cupping her fore hooves to one side. "Make sure ah say it right, Nevan, like ya told me." She grinned as light energy began gathering between her fore hooves. "Ka...me...ha...me...Ha!" Throwing her fore hooves forward, a beam of light shot out towards the fountain, growing as it accelerated towards the blood pool.

As it impacted, a massive burst of light erupted, cleansing the blood pool and incinerating the Abyss beasts.

"You said it right," Nevan purred as Dante face palmed.

Applejack giggled. "It's a new upgrade ah got from a Divinity Statue for Beowulf," she explained happily. "It's actually called the Ray of Light, but Nevan said it looked so much like that Kamehameha thing from that one show that I should say that instead."

"Beowulf normally has highest damage point at point of impact," Cerberus explained, "with a minor shockwave extending beyond the point of impact. The Ray of Light, however, gathers power to itself as it flies, increasing power and area of effect at point of impact with range."

Dante smirked. "How much demon essence did that cost you?" he asked.

"Uhh...all of it," Applejack replied nervously.

"A hundred Seven Hells and a Vanguard?" Dante asked. "That's pretty che-"

"No, all of it," Applejack explained. "Everythang ah built up in Temen-ni-gru, and what I got here...includin' what ah got fighting that big blue guy in Hell."(1)

"You mean when you fought Arkham?" Dante asked, surprised. When Applejack nodded, Dante crossed his arms. "Well, that's a bit more reasonable."

"Not much use in enclosed spaces, either," Applejack muttered. "Inside a building, ah'm better off with Artemis. ...still pretty cool though, right?"

Dante grinned. "Way past cool," he assured her. Hearing a whistle through the air, he held up his hand to catch the sword flying towards him.

"What's that?" Applejack asked.

"It's...it's Force Edge," Agni gasped out.

"Sparda's sword," Rudra added in awe. "It possesses a large portion of his power."

"Wait, I saw his sword in the portal," Dante pointed out. "It was all purpley."

"That was his mortal remains," Nevan explained. "The resting place of his soul. He hid his blade elsewhere, enchanted to find its way to the son that chose the Earthly path. At least, that's what he told me when he worked the seal the first time."

Dante chuckled. "Can't surprise you, can I old man?" he said ruefully. "Well, this is probably what the demons were after. Now that I've got it, they'll probably back off."

"Yup, they are!" Applejack called out, pointing. The demons that had infested the city were dissolving.

Dante grinned. "I'd call this mission a success. Come on, AJ! Let's go collect our fee."

(1) Yes. the Ray of Light upgrade cost all the red orbs Applejack gathered in DMC3...upwards of a million, bare minimum, including stylish points.
...have to balance that cool new move somehow.

An Unwelcome Invitation

At ten years old, Applejack had easily started to grow into herself, becoming much more physically fit than when she was younger. While she wasn't visibly muscled as one might expect, the demon blood that now ran in her veins made her a much stronger pony than she looked. What muscles were visible under her coat were well toned without being bulging. Her coat glowed with her health, and her mane and tail always flowed neatly, save when they were tied into her preferred ponytail style.

Unlike her father, she always went everywhere fully armed. While she could fight without her Devil Arms, she liked having them close, since it was far easier to wield them than to wield her Devil Trigger, should she be surprised by any demonic incursion. Beowulf garbed her four legs, and Nevan was strapped to her back just over the barrel holster where Artemis hung on her right side. Cerberus was woven into her tail, the ring in the hairband with the three heads braided up towards her rump, holding themselves there so that they could leap free easily should battle begin. Her father had joked that it was like Cerberus was constantly sniffing her rear. She had countered back that that's what puppies did.

Today, Applejack lounged on the desk in the main office. They closed up shop at 9, and Dante was out on a food run. Applejack intended to cook dinner tonight, but a lack of fresh ingredients - plus a rather late running minor demonic incursion - had necessitated Dante's grocery run at this hour. "Ya need to work on having yer nose working in weapon form, Cerberus," she complained dryly. "It should not have taken us six hours to track down a demon possessed rat that was spreadin' sickness to the city."

"Sorry," Cerberus apologized contritely.

Right at that moment, a blonde woman on a motorcycle burst through the door, taking the door clean off its hinges. She then stepped off the motorcycle and strutted forward.

Applejack gave the woman a disgruntled gaze. From her blonde hair, blue eyes behind dark sunglasses, fair skin, curves, and shapely and revealing outfit, she might as well have been designed to get Dante's attention. She even somewhat resembled the picture Dante kept in the office of his late mother. Applejack, however, wasn't impressed. "Whatever else ya came for, I'm addin' $1000 to yer bill ta fix the damn door."

The woman paused, apparently not having expected such an unwelcoming response...or, from the way she was staring at Applejack, a talking pony. "I'm...looking for the handyman?" she asked cautiously, as though trying to establish a script she was working from. "The one who'll take on...any dirty job?"

"That's us," AJ replied. "Devil May Cry. What can we do for ya?"

The woman paused again. "I'm...looking for Dante."

"He ain't in," Applejack countered gruffly. "If ya got a job, ya can tell me. We take jobs together."

The woman growled. "I'm here to talk to Dante."

"Tough horseapples," AJ replied snidely.

Angrily, the woman thrust forward with her hand, sending a stream of lightning at Applejack.

Without even blinking, Applejack whipped Nevan around and began strumming a power chord. As the guitar's magic gathered, the lightning was absorbed into it as a magical charge. "Now that tweren't very nice," Applejack scolded. Twirling her tail, she freed Cerberus, bringing the three heads up to curl over her head, spinning them in a tight circle as the magical charge in Nevan was converted into a large sphere of ice that took shape between the three heads of the demonic weapon.

The woman barely managed to dodge the massive blast of ice, which eradicated her motorcycle. "What the?" she demanded, shocked.

"You ain't gettin' no discount fer that," Applejack pointed out. "You attacked me, after all."

"I don't care what sort of power you have," she snarled in defiance. "I am here for the Son of Sparda."

"Then ya'd best be content with his granddaughter!" Applejack snarled back in defiance. "Ya ain't gettin' near my Pa if this is how yer gonna behave!"

The woman stared in shock. "You're...his daughter?" she asked in surprise.

"Yup!" Applejack replied. "And I ain't lettin' no one try and kill my Pa on my wat-"

"Then I am not your enemy!" the woman interrupted, standing with her hands spread. She removed her sunglasses.

Applejack snorted. "If'n ya came to hire us, ya went about it the wrong way. And if yer tryin' ta get in Pa's pants, yer trying too hard." Applejack looked her over disdainfully. "No need ta show that much skin. It gets him suspicious a lot faster than it gets him horny."

"Unless you count his Devil Trigger," Nevan pointed out. "He'd certainly pull that out for trying to hurt Applejack."

"If you want to share his bed, being nice to Applejack works better!" Agni spoke up from his place on the wall.

"Indeed!" Rudra agreed. "In the past ten years, no less than 30 young ladies have shared the Young Master's bed after squealing over Young Mistress' adorable countenance."

"Pa says it's like I'm his pimp," Applejack joked. "Course, Ma's been a frequent visitor."

"Ma?" the woman asked, confused.

"That's what Applejack calls Lady, a frequent friend and companion of Dante," Nevan explained.

The lightning wielding stranger sighed. "Well...I'm Trish. And I'm here to ask for Dante's - and your - help...to put an end to the Underworld."

Nevan, Agni, and Rudra were silent. Applejack frowned. "Bull."

"What?" Trish demanded.

"An end to the Underworld? What next, a pleasant journey to Rainbow Land?" Applejack spat her scorn into a nearby bucket. "The Underworld is an entire dimension of its own, and Earth's balance relies on its existence. Now what are you really askin' for?"

Trish sighed. "Emperor Mundus of the Underworld seeks to open the gate between this world and the Underworld on Mallet Island."

"Oh," Applejack replied, nodding understanding. "It's the Temen-ni-gru scenario again. This is some demon Sparda beat a long while ago, and now he's trying to break through again, so ya want Dante and I ta go kick his ass back ta hell?"

Surprised at how easily Applejack accepted this, Trish nodded.

Applejack turned to Nevan. "This Mundus fella...would his attempt at manifesting be enough for you ta resume your demonic form?"

"Not for combat unless he fully manifests," Nevan replied. "But for short periods of time outside of combat, yes."

"Good," Applejack replied, grinning. "If we get the chance on the island, I'll ask Pa ta gimme a bath."

Nevan squealed happily.

Trish merely stared. "You...are very strange."

"Said the woman with demon powers to the talking pony with demon powers," Applejack pointed out. "I'd say strange is a relative term here."

"What the fuck happened to our door?!" Dante demanded as he stepped inside, his arms full of groceries.

"We got a new client!" AJ said. "Her name's Trish, she looks like yer Ma, she's got demon power, I don't completely trust her, and she wants us ta kill Mundus, an old enemy of yer Pa!" Applejack grabbed the bags of groceries. "Make sure she stays fer dinner! I'm making Jambalaya!" With that, she pranced off into the kitchen.

"Jambalaya!" all the demonic weapons yelled out happily, Cerberus visibly licking his three sets of lips in eagerness.

Trish looked at Dante in confusion. "She...did hear the part about the portal to the underworld opening, right? The forces of hell swarming out to consume the Earth and all that?"

"It's not her first one," Dante replied. "She was still in diapers - metaphorically speaking - when she dealt with her first hellmouth over Temen-ni-gru. Besides, her Jambalaya's to die for!" Grabbing Trish by the arm, he dragged her to the dining room. "We'll leave in the morning."

Helplessly, Trish let herself be dragged along.

"Yer still paying fer the door!" Applejack yelled at her from the kitchen.

Beginning the Quest

Arriving on Mallet Island, the trio entered through a massive gate Dante kicked open. "The castle is above this cliff," Trish explained. "Come on, let's go!" She then proceeded to leap up the cliff.

Dante stared after her as the gate closed behind them before turning to head up the path. He paused when he realized Applejack was still standing by the door, scratching her chin. "Applejack?"

Applejack frowned in thought. "...Nevan, there enough demonic magical field to manifest?"

"No," Nevan replied. "In fact, there's barely any."

"Then we're still early enough to make a difference," Dante pointed out.

"But then how did Trish know what was goin' on?" Applejack demanded.

Shrugging, Dante began ascending up the path. Growling to herself, Applejack followed.

Passing through a hole in the outer wall of the castle, they stepped inside. The hole then sealed shut behind them. "Well that isn't suspicious at all," Applejack pointed out sarcastically.

"Guess the hosts don't want any guests leaving," Dante replied.

Applejack frowned. "How come ya tried ta leave Agni and Rudra behind?" she demanded.

"In case we picked up other Devil Arms," Dante replied. "I didn't want to lose track of any-what do you mean tried?"

Reaching into the saddlebag that hung opposite Artemis' holster, Applejack pulled out Agni and Rudra.

Dante stared. "How'd they both fit in there?" he demanded, surprised.

"Spatial distortion!" Agni proclaimed.

"It's actually quite roomy!" Rudra agreed.

"Ball!" Cerberus proclaimed happily.

"Just like old times," Nevan added happily.

"Not quite," Dante pointed out, examining a sealed door. "Apparently, we need to gather a certain amount of demon essence just to open doors this time around-"

He was interrupted by a loud crash as Applejack punched a hole around each of the door's hinges, causing the still sealed door to fall to the floor. Applejack grinned up at him. "Nope!" she said happily.

Dante chuckled, mussing her mane. "Silly pony," he teased, before turning to head in.

After wandering through those halls that were open for a time, they encountered a crimson marionette clutching a rusty key. "Well that ain't at all suspicious," Applejack pointed out.

Chuckling, Dante took the key, turning to leave the room. When he heard a sound of a drawn blade and thrown projectiles, he pulled back, but nothing flew by him. Turning, he saw the marionette - knives drawn - pinned to the wall in pieces by glowing energy arrows. "Quick on the draw, partner?" he teased.

Smirking, Applejack blew imaginary smoke from Artemis' business end before spinning it back into its holster. "Ah ain't gonna let some puppet get the drop on ya," she said as she returned Nevan to guitar form and to her back. Her eyes then widened. "Pa! Behind-"

Force Edge seemed to leap into Dante's hands as he spun, splitting the puppet that dropped from the ceiling in half down the middle with an upward sweep. He smirked as it fell to pieces. "You were saying about getting the drop on me?" he teased.

Applejack chuckled. "This ain't gonna turn into a competition, is it?"

Dante grinned back, strapping Agni and Rudra to his back. "Nevan, Agni, Rudra...keep score."

"Affirmative!" Agni proclaimed.

"By your command!" Rudra confirmed.

"This is going to be fun," Nevan purred.

They continued through the castle, killing more puppets as they went. Dante switched between wielding Force Edge, Agni and Rudra, or Ebony and Ivory. Applejack switched between wielding Nevan's scythe form, punching and kicking with Beowulf, or shooting with Artemis. Occasionally the puppets they fought tried to catch one or the other of them on their strings, but they watched each others backs and made sure they weren't held up for long.

After a time, they found a picture depicting a grimm reaper like devil holding a key in a library. Dante took the key without hesitation. Stepping back out, they found a carving of a sword embedded through a woman. Applejack ignored it, as she could smell the demonic power in it but hadn't figured out how to wield a sword yet. Dante, however, approached it.

Applejack watched, bemused, as the carving vanished and the sword pinned Dante to the floor through his chest, sparkling with electricity. She rolled her eyes and nudged him. "Ya gonna get up, Pa? Much longer, and it'll count against your score."

Dante levered himself off the sword, pulling it all the way through his body before the wounds healed, leaving the blade embedded in the ground. He then drew it, grinning. As he lifted it into the air, lightning ripped through the skylight, infusing both the sword and Dante. He then swung the blade around for a time, getting a feel for it.

"Quit showing off, Pa," Applejack scolded. "We need to keep moving."

Chuckling, Dante sheathed the sword. "The blade's called Alastor," Dante explained.

"I'd say pleased ta meet'cha," Applejack scolded, "but he ain't talking ta me."

"He's like that," Nevan growled. The sword seemed to flinch back from her.

"You know him?" Dante asked.

"Ex," Nevan replied.

Silence reigned for a time. "Awkward," Agni and Rudra chorused together.

"Let's just get back to killing things, shall we?" Dante offered.

"Yup," Applejack replied.

After a time of killing more puppets, Dante acquired a Staff of Judgment from a chamber under the floor. This opened a path back into the library, where the painting of the grimm reaper like demon came to life. Three masked shades wielding shears phased out of the wall, floor, and ceiling.

"So who's in the lead?" Dante asked.

"You are currently tied!" Agni proclaimed.

"Tie breaker round!" Rudra threw out.

As the demons approached, they both pulled out their guns and opened fire. Two fell quickly to the shots, one to each of them. They then went after the last with their melee weapons, tearing it to shreds.

"So who got that last kill?" Dante asked.

"Both of you," Nevan replied.

"Dammit!" Dante and Applejack said together.

Exiting the library, Dante used the Staff of Judgement on another carving to open another door.

Early Hurdles

Passing through the new door, they found themselves in a temple like chamber. All doors sealed themselves with white mist. Applejack was the first to speak. "So Alastor," she asked, "what's this place about?"

Alastor was silent in response. Dante nudged the blade. "Hey, talk to AJ!" he ordered.

Nevan sighed. "It's because Applejack's my Master," she groaned. "We haven't...spoken to each other since we broke up. It...wasn't pleasant for either of us."

"How come ya broke up?" Applejack asked in concern.

"We...got into a heated argument," Nevan admitted. "We...both said some things that...I don't think either of us meant, but...well, we're both rather prideful."

"A lover's quarrel?" Agni asked.

"What about?" Rudra inquired.

"...kids," Nevan finally admitted.

"You wanted 'em, he didn't?" Applejack asked.

"...other way around," Nevan replied.

"What?" Dante asked in surprise. "But the moment you laid eyes on baby Applejack you were all over her! Bathing her and drying her and grooming her mane! And you were upset that you wouldn't get to participate in her playful bath times!"

"So it's just my kids you didn't want?" Alastor demanded angrily, his voice words without sound.

"I never said I didn't want children someday!" Nevan countered angrily. "I just said I wasn't ready for any of my own! I was only 900! I'd only just moved out of my parent's home! I needed to be my own demon for a while before I even thought about settling down!"

"But when I asked you-"

"I reacted badly because it felt like you were pushing for them!" Nevan interrupted. "You are a good deal older than me, after all. It was reasonable to assume you were eagerly seeking-"

"Do you know how many demonesses before you dumped me the moment they learned I wanted kids?" Alastor demanded. "How many just don't care about the future? I'd all but given up having children of my own before meeting you! But then you..."

Everyone was silent for a time.

"I'm sorry for making you feel pressured," Alastor said at last.

"Sorry for overreacting," Nevan replied.

"I'm sorry for the things I said."

"I'm sorry for what I called you."

"...is it too late?" Alastor asked at last.

"No," Nevan replied. "It's not. ...besides, you're bound to my Master's father. We're kind of stuck with each other."

Electricity sparked happily between them in a lovely dance.

"So...about this room?" Dante asked.

"Oh, right," Alastor replied. "This is the Trial of the Lion. You must take the Path of Trials to-"

"Rooms of puzzles and obstacles in order to get an item we'll use once to open a single path forward?" Dante interrupted.

"...how did you know?" Alastor asked in surprise.

"It ain't our first rodeo," Applejack replied.

"You were still in diapers at your first rodeo," Dante teased.

"Ah was not!" Applejack countered.

"Only because I didn't have any," Dante countered.

"You should have asked!" Agni proclaimed.

"We could have provided some!" Rudra added.

Applejack groaned, pulling her hat down over her face. Laughing, Dante led the way to the Path of Trials.

Crossing a bridge outside, they came to a lion plaque at the end. They read the description.

Go back the path and thou shalt return from the abyss with thy lionheart, and thou shalt receive the Pride of Lion.

"Wait...the trial is literal backtracking?" Dante demanded in frustration. "That's a bit much."

Halfway back across the bridge, a bolt of lightning shattered it, causing them to fall downward.

Landing in the water, Dante and Applejack held their breaths as they progressed forward. After shredding through an underwater cage of floating skulls, they used a teleporter to return to the bridge, back near the door. Stepping through, they found the lion etched carving no longer shielded by white light. Dante retrieved it. "I take it this is the Pride of Lion?" Dante asked.

"And we're supposed ta stick it in that lion carving we saw a while back?" Applejack added.

"...why do you need me to answer questions again?" Alastor asked.

"Because walkin' in silence is boring," Applejack pointed out. "Talking's much more fun!"

"Not as much as singing, though," Nevan pointed out.

"Oh! Does young master also seek to mate with the new female?" Agni spoke up.

"Should we serenade her as well?" Rudra added.

"...Master Dante, my blade would be far more effective at breaking through that wall than your skull," Alastor pointed out.

At that point, a giant spider made of magma and stone dropped through the ceiling.

"Bah!" it proclaimed as it saw them. "More small ones-"

Applejack let out a scream in surprise from having the creature drop in right behind her, nearly landing on her tail. Swinging her tail, Cerberus leapt free. "Ballballballballballballballballballballballballballball!" Cerberus proclaimed as he spun, striking the beast repeatedly in the face.

"Hey!" it complained. "I was talking!"

"Shut up, Phantom," Alastor said dryly as Dante leapt into the air and brought the blade point down into the beast's back. As Phantom reared, Dante yanked out Agni and Rudra to tear into his unarmored back for a time before leaping away with Alastor as the scorpion tail struck.

Phantom quickly fled, melting through the floor, the hole sealing itself up behind him.

"...did he just run away?" Dante asked in shock.

"The only one who ever did that was Beowulf," Applejack replied. "Think Uncle will take care of this guy, too?"

"Hope not," Dante replied. "I want to handle him myself."

Returning to the chamber Applejack had mentioned regarding the lion carving, Dante used the Pride of Lion to lower a barrier. At Alastor's instructions, he then struck the lion carving a few times. The carving dissolved, revealing a shadowy lion with sharp fangs. It lunged forward to attack them.

Dante and Applejack each leapt to either side, flanking the beast as they attacked with blades and gauntlets. The shadow beast struggled against their two pronged attack, but proved unable to fight back and eventually dissolved.

A new path opened up for them, through a door marked with the face of the lion.

Family Ties

The new path led up a spiral staircase strewn with more marionettes. Disposing of them rapidly, the two demon hunters quickly ascended. Spotting a decorative sword on a platform above the stairwell, Dante leapt up to grab it. Since it lacked a demonic spirit, he concluded it was a key of some sort he'd need later. They went through the door beneath the platform. Using the sword on a statue in that room led to acquiring an orb that was also a key of some sort.

"When did fightin' demons become fetch quests?" Applejack demanded crossly.

"When they started basing in old fortresses," Dante pointed out, resulting in rolled eyes from both of them.

At that moment, Dante's reflection stepped out of a nearby mirror to confront them. After a moment, the image of Dante faded, revealing a blue horned demonic figure.

As Dante prepared for battle, Applejack froze. There was something about that aura that surrounded the demon that was...familiar.

The demonic figure drew its sword and beckoned, leaping through another doorway into a large open chamber. Dante and Applejack quickly followed. However, before Dante and the demonic figure could engage in battle, Applejack's eyes widened as she recognized the demonic aura. "Uncle?" she gasped in shock.

Dante froze in the act of drawing Force Edge. "Virgil?"

The demonic figure froze, staring at them both for a time. It then seemed to relax, not speaking but not moving either.

Applejack walked forward slowly. "Uncle...what happened to ya?"

Alastor was the first to speak up. "What you see before you is nothing but a demonic construct. It is not the one you speak of."

"But it is him!" Applejack proclaimed. "He's got the same aura! That blue light's only Uncle's! And he'd never let nobody take that amulet around his neck!" She pointed to the half of the perfect amulet just barely visible hanging around the demon's neck. "You said so, Pa!"

"Demonic constructs can be powered by any number of things," Alastor explained. "This one appears to be powered by the soul of the one you speak of."

"His soul?" Dante demanded in shock. "How...why would his soul be...?"

"Someone must have killed him, and used his soul to craft and power this demonic construct," Alastor explained. "Nothing can be done for him at this point except free-"

"No!" Applejack cried out. "Ah can save him! Ah have ta try! He...he stopped when we called out to him, so it's still him inside!"

"Applejack," Alastor scolded, "what you speak of is impossible."

"Is it possible to get demon powers from a blood transfusion?" Applejack demanded, knowing the answer from research Dante had done to make sense of her own abilities.

"Of course not!" Alastor scolded.

"Then I'm impossible too, so I'm gonna save him!" Applejack snapped.

"It is true!" Agni proclaimed. "Applejack got demon power from Dante's blood mixing with hers!"

"It was as his sword Rebellion pierced his flesh, triggering the full awakening of his own demon power!" Rudra added.

"Well, that's a rather extreme extenuating circumstance," Alastor pointed out.

"Then I'm the extenuatin' circumstance that's gonna save Uncle!" Applejack proclaimed, laying her Devil Arms aside and yanking Force Edge from Dante's grip.

"Applejack, what are you doing?" Dante demanded.

"No idea!" Applejack replied. "But I have ta try!" She held the sword close. "Grandpa...guide me..." Closing her eyes tight, she shifted to her Devil Trigger form, gripped the hilt in her claws, and began to spin around Virgil in circles, dragging the point of the blade on the ground behind her.

Dante watched in confusion, trying to make sense of what was going on. Every so often, Applejack would lift the sword point from the earth, leaving a gap between lined as he drew. "What is she-"

"It's not her!" Nevan said in surprise from where Applejack had laid her against a wall. "Look close at the sword point next time she skips!"

Blinking, Dante focused, and saw a pulse of black energy push the tip of the sword up at the next lift, and dragging it back down after a gap. He knew his own demon energy was red. Virgil's was blue. Applejack's was orange.

...black had been Sparda's own.

"He is guiding her!" he whispered in shock. He felt something twist inside him. "What the-"

Time around him slowed to a near stand still as Geryon's power flooded forth from within him. Feeling his hand trying to reach towards Virgil, he allowed himself to be guided forward. He watched as he drew runes he didn't recognize on Virgil's demonic form, and in the back of his head went over the facts, trying to make sense of this.

He knew Geryon was Applejack's father before being raised from death as Sparda's demonic steed. Logically, he'd have had the same sort of magic as Applejack, which interacted with demonic magic in ways demons couldn't accurately predict. Applejack was a child raised not in her own world, so she was unlikely to know how to control that magic. But Geryon died as an adult, so he might know.

The only conclusion he could draw was that Geryon was filling in the runes that Applejack couldn't know were needed to complete whatever circle Sparda was guiding her to make. "I'll let this go to help Virgil," Dante scolded the spirit inside him, "but don't go playing puppeteer to me again."

The next rune he drew had an extra flare to the drawing motion, as though to express agreement.

Once he felt no more guidance to make runes, Dante stepped back out of the circle Applejack was drawing, and time returned to normal. When Applejack finished drawing the circle, it flared with black, red, orange, and blue light, the runes Dante had drawn adding a rainbow colored flame at the core. When the light and circle faded, Virgil stood before them in his own body. He opened his eyes. "I...I'm alive?" he asked in surprise and confusion, still clutching the sword he had wielded in his demonic form.

"Uncle!" Applejack called happily, leaping into Virgil's arms to hug him.

Dante grabbed Force Edge as it fell, blinking in confusion. "It worked?"

"Something feels...different," Virgil mentioned, holding Applejack carefully.

"You are still a demon construct," Alastor stated, having analyzed the transformation. "You are just...a demon construct that looks human, can act human, and can assume a demonic form at will."

"So what's the difference between how he was as a human and now?" Dante asked curiously.

Alastor read the magic a bit more carefully. "Well, in normal circumstances, he wouldn't be able to procreate...but apparently Sparda inscribed your two halves of the Perfect Amulet with your genetic codes before giving them to you, and the magic here used that to create Virgil's human form, so...the only difference now is the absence of human life force."

"So I'm basically a full demon who can look human now?" Virgil asked.

"Though presently at the power level of a half demon...but yes," Alastor replied.

Virgil smirked as he sheathed his sword. "I can accept that outcome." He gently scratched Applejack behind one ear.

Applejack let out a happy whinny. "Told ya I'd save him, Alastor!"

"I hang from my sheath corrected," Alastor admitted.

"So where are we?" Virgil asked.

"Mallet Island," Dante explained as Applejack retrieved her gear. "The Demon King Mundus is trying to break through into the human world. We're here to stop him. Care to lend a hand?"

Virgil smirked. "You wouldn't be able to do it without me, little brother."

"Who's the little brother again?" Dante demanded, getting into a battle stance. "Last I checked, we were twins."

"Time is not the only way to measure maturity," Virgil countered, also getting into a fighting stance.

"Pa! Uncle!" Applejack shouted at them both. "Fight each other later! We got actual demons to hunt right now!"

"Yes, Applejack," the brothers replied together.

"If we're measuring who's older by who's most mature," Nevan teased, "maybe they should be calling you Mom."

"Hush," Applejack scolded with a chuckle.

Teamwork

The 'Meandering Soul' Dante had picked up before Virgil had arrived was already starting to lose its power, and under Alastor's instructions, the trio sought the door the orb opened with alacrity. A shadow beast tried to stop them, but the previous one had been undone by Dante and Applejack's two pronged attack. With Virgil making it a three pronged attack, it stood no chance. A quick jump to the bottom of the stairwell chamber revealed the door the Soul opened, granting them passage further into the castle.

Entering the waterways, Virgil glanced around. "This place is rather large," he pointed out. "Perhaps we should split up to explore it faster."

Dante smirked. "Already trying to head off on your own?"

"I like the idea," Applejack spoke up, causing Dante to blink in surprise. "Ah'm goin' with Uncle!"

"What?" both brothers asked in shock.

"That way Uncle and I can get ta know each other!" Applejack insisted. She wrapped her tail around Virgil's wrist. "We'll go this way! See ya soon, Pa!" She then proceeded to drag a rather stupefied Virgil after her.

Dante stared after them for a time, then shrugged and went in a different direction, chuckling all the way.

As Virgil followed along behind Applejack, he searched his mind for some way to make conversation so they didn't stay in awkward silence. Admittedly, Applejack didn't seem to feel the silence was awkward, but she did say she wanted them to get to know each other. "So..." he finally spoke up. "How are your grades?"

Applejack looked up at him in confusion. "Grades?"

"In school," he clarified.

"...school?"

Virgil's eyes narrowed. "Dante hasn't enrolled you in school?"

"What's school?"

Virgil groaned. "School is where responsible youngsters go to learn and study and grow up to be responsible adults." He shook his head. "I should have known better, considering Dante dropped out of high school. But I'm not letting any niece of mine grow up as just a silly pony!"

"But...but ah like being Pa's silly pony!" Applejack pouted. "Pa even wrote a silly song for it that he used ta teach me how to play Nevan!"

"I'm certain he did," Virgil growled. "But that shouldn't be the sum total of your ambitions. If you want to be successful, you need to be able to do more than kill demons."

"Ah'm a good cook, too!" Applejack countered. "Good at cleanin, too."

"And with those skills, you will make someone an excellent maid or housewife someday," Virgil drolled sarcastically. "But I'm not sitting idly by and letting my niece be satisfied with the lowest possible achievements. When we're finished with Mundus, I'm enrolling you in school whether Dante likes it or not."

"But-"

"And whether you like it or not," Virgil added. "I won't see your potential squandered just because Dante's taught you to be lazy."

Without warning, Applejack jumped up to Virgil's shoulders and hugged him around his neck. "Ah love ya too, Uncle!" she said happily.

"Off now," Virgil instructed firmly.

Applejack smirked at him before hopping back to the ground and leading the way further in. Virgil did his best to maintain a firm expression, but Nevan, Cerberus, and Beowulf's laughter didn't help much there.

Before long, the trio reunited to explore deeper into the waterways. A goat skulled wraith wielding a giant pair of scissors attacked them, but proved only a momentary distraction as they attacked it from all three sides. During the fight, Virgil decided to bring up his issue with Dante. "Why isn't Applejack in school?"

"And how exactly am I supposed to enroll a part-demon talking pony in a public school populated entirely by humans?" Dante asked. "I doubt that will go over well."

"Not all demons are raging monsters," Virgil pointed out. "There are quite a few demons and other supernatural creatures that live alongside humans peacefully, just in hiding. Our father was a classic example of that, after all."

"So what? You're saying there's a school somewhere that specifically teaches non-humans?" Dante joked.

"It's called Yokai Academy, and is based in Japan," Virgil explained.

"And how am I supposed to get Applejack all the way to Japan and back every day?" Dante demanded. "I'm not sending her off to a boarding school!"

"By based in Japan, I mean that the school has a Japan based environment and follows Japanese customs," Virgil explained. "It's actually in a pocket dimension. If you enroll her as a non-boarding student, they'll provide you with a warp key so she can get back and forth every day."

Dante stared at Virgil in confusion. "How do you know so much?"

"I was in the process of enrolling my son when the events surrounding Temen-ni-gru happened," Virgil explained.

"You have a son?" Dante asked in shock.

"I have a cousin?" Applejack asked, surprised and pleased.

"His name's Nero," Virigl explained. "However, he and his mother were taken captive. I don't know who by. I was trying to gain access to Father's old library in hell by opening Temen-ni-gru so I could track him down using some of Father's artifacts."

"And you didn't mention this before...why?" Dante demanded.

"You didn't ask," Virgil replied dryly.

Dante groaned, shaking his head. "So what? Now whoever has him has had him for over a decade, doing who knows what to him?"

"He's fine," Virgil replied. "He's within range of Yamato, and part of my demonic essence still clings to the blade. While I can't track the sword down that way, I can feel Nero's demonic aura with relation to it, and he's well."

"He'll be better once we get him back," Applejack growled.

"You will be focused on your school work after this mission," Virgil chided. "Dante and I will handle any investigation into Nero's whereabouts."

"You're damn right we will," Dante growled, only to get smacked in the head by Virgil. "What?"

"Don't curse in front of your daughter," Virgil scolded, causing Applejack and her Devil Arms to laugh.

At the end of the waterway, they encountered a key called 'the Guiding Light'. Inscriptions warned that it drained the vitality of the bearer. However, being a demonic construct powered purely by demon magic, Virgil didn't actually have vital energy, so he carried it back to where it needed to go. On the way there, they encountered Phantom - the magma spider - again, but his assault proved ineffective. Despite the narrow corridor limiting assault options, his obvious weak point inside his mouth was easy enough to exploit. Applejack ducked under his head, pulling his lower jaw down. Virgil leapt onto his back, pulling his upper jaw upwards. Dante then wailed away at the inside of the beast's mouth until he dissolved.

Returning to the bedroom where Dante had found the Meandering Soul, Virgil used the Guiding Light to open a new path for them all.

Talking too Much

Passing through the new door, the trio leapt across the original entrance chamber to the other side. The new door led to yet another large open air arena.

"Incomin' boss fight," Applejack drolled, smashing her Beowulf gauntlets together.

Dante drew Alastor, thinking his speed would prove more useful than Force Edge just now. "Then we'd best get ready."

Virgil drew his own blade, the one he had been armed with before his transformation. However, to match his fighting style, it had reshaped itself into a katana. "I doubt this will prove very difficult."

True to Virgil's word, Phantom, the magma spider, lunged over the wall. "No more games!" he snarled. "I will make you...why are there three of you?"

Dante smirked. "Whatsa matter? Scared?" The trio lunged in.

Phantom attempted to put up a fight, but he was at a serious disadvantage. All of his combat maneuvers were focused for a single target. Whoever he focused on would dance back out of the way, allowing the other two to come at him from behind and above. When he attempted sweeping strikes with his tail, the trio would either leap over it, duck under it, or dance out of the way. He had three opponents with three different fighting styles coming at him from three different directions, and he just couldn't cope.

Before long, his legs on one side crumpled under him, and he rolled onto a skylight that broke under him. Falling down, his unprotected back became impaled on a spire. As he stared up at his killers, his eyes read their auras, and saw a demonic visage overshadowing them all...one all demons knew well. "It can't be...Sparda?"

"No," Dante replied.

"But we are of his blood," Virgil pointed out.

"And we carry his legacy," Applejack added.

"Who...are you?" Phantom gurgled as his life magic bled away.

"Dante."

"Virgil."

"Applejack."

"Take those names to hell with you," the three commanded together.

Seeing Phantom's body dissolve, they turned and left, never noticing Trish watching them in awe from below. "They beat the Phantom," she murmured. "But...I was told Dante's brother was dead?"

I also wasn't told he was cute, she thought to herself, and found herself blushing. Surprised - both by the thought and the blush - she retreated deeper in the fortress.

In the following chamber, the trio came across what was obviously another key, this one in the shape of a trident. Collecting it, they leapt downwards through a hole behind it. Discovering a switch, Dante struck it, causing mechanisms to turn, and a drawbridge could be heard lowering. The trio then sought out whatever else may have changed.

Taking a ladder down, they found the location to use the Trident. This started a flow of water, which activated more mechanisms.

"Ah just had an unpleasant thought," Applejack spoke up.

"What's that?" Dante asked.

"Well, we were told that Mundus was breaking free...but we seem to be activatin' a lotta things to get further in," she explained. "Is it possible...that we're letting him out without even knowin'?"

Dante opened his mouth to respond, then frowned. "I dunno."

"That is a very perceptive thought," Virgil replied. "It is a distinct possibility that we're making it easier for Mundus to escape to our world, leaving him more strength for our eventual battle with him." He then smirked. "But that just makes the battle more fun."

"And here I thought you said we were completely different," Dante joked.

"But now you see why I insist she get some schooling, right?" Virgil countered. "She's got more of a mind than you do."

"Hey!" Dante countered.

Applejack merely laughed. "So which one of us here is the mature one again?"

Passing through another door back into the original Marionette filled tower, they made their way downward to a gate that was slowly dropping over a new path. The three easily ducked under to continue onward.

Crossing the drawbridge that had lowered, the trio were startled as it raised as soon as they all stepped off of it. Moving onward past a gravestone, they descended a spiral stairwell deep into the ground. "What's bugging you, AJ?" Virgil asked when he noticed her pause, scratching her head.

Applejack shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno...I just thought I heard someone familiar complaining about stairs, but I can't quite place it. Any idea what that was about?"

Virgil shrugged. "No idea. Any ideas, Dante?"

"For all we know, her species can hear other planes of reality, and someone she knew in another life is in another reality complaining about stairs as we speak," Dante offered.

Virgil frowned for a bit. "Alastor, any believable suggestions?"

"Hey!" Dante complained.

"Nope," Alastor replied.

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep going," Applejack offered, "and think about it later."

At the bottom of the stairwell, they encountered three armored, lizardman like demons that were easily dealt with, as the armor was not very well made and only took a few hits to shatter. Since they seemed vulnerable to electricity, Applejack rocked out on Nevan and sicced her bats on them. As this technique proved highly effective, the trio continued it as they progressed through more of these demons: Dante and Virgil would focus on breaking armor, while Applejack sicked electrified bats on the defenseless demons with her instrumental solos.

Encountering a power switch, Dante struck it repeatedly to activate it, revealing several platforms floating in the air leading to a glowing pedestal floating in the sky. "I'll investigate," Virgil said. "I'm the better jumper." To prove this point, he cleared three platforms in a single jump, easily reaching the higher platform quickly.

"Show off," Dante grumbled, earning a giggle from Applejack.

A massive fiery explosion from above distracted them. "What the?" they both demanded.

"Must you be such a show off, Ifrit?" Alastor grumbled as Virgil leapt back down, flaming gauntlets on his hands.

"Says the one who tried to impale his new master," Ifrit growled right back.

"I still had to test him," Alastor countered.

"So did I!"

"You did cause a huge storm of lightning to energize afterwards," Nevan teased Alastor.

"...you didn't have to say that," Alastor pouted.

"I think I did," Nevan countered.

"So you and Nevan finally made up?" Ifrit asked. "Thank goodness. If I had to hear one more bad tempered, thinly disguised, love/hate poem about her-"

"Shush!" Alastor hissed.

"You wrote poetry about me?" Nevan purred. "I'm touched."

"So's he," Agni spoke up.

"In the head!" Rudra added, and they banged hilts as they laughed.

"...you've been a bad influence on the Devil Arms, Dante," Virgil scolded.

During their talk, they had been backtracking from where they found Ifrit. A massive storm distracted Applejack from the discussion, though Dante and Virgil continued to argue. A massive demonic thunderbird took shape out of the storm.

"You!" it declared. "Are you the human son of Sparda who challenges Mundus?"

To the thunderbird's frustration and Applejack's amusement, Dante and Virgil continued to argue, ignoring him.

"Stop ignoring me!" it proclaimed angrily, diving down to drop electrified explosive charges on them.

Dante and Virgil dodged them easily, continuing their argument even as they avoided the blasts.

"Pay attention to me!" it roared as it dove downward again.

Dante and Virgil continued to easily evade the attacks, not even paying attention as they continued their debate.

At that point, the thunderbird...sniffled. "You're mean!" he whined, flying off.

Dante and Virgil paused in their debate, turning towards Applejack. "Did we miss something?" Virgil asked.

Applejack shrugged her shoulders, unsure how to explain what just happened.

Making Up

The trio continued onward through the courtyards. They encountered a new enemy that appeared to be a metallic version of the marionettes that breathed fire. A few ice blasts from Cerberus negated their threat, though. After dealing with waves of both marionettes and the new enemies - which Alastor identified as Fetishes, much to Nevan's amusement, Alastor's embarrassment, and everyone else's amusement, in that order - they progressed downward into a large graveyard area. Finding another gate that required demonic essence to open, Applejack once more punched out the hinges.

As the gate fell, Virgil glanced at Dante. "Did you teach her that?"

"Nope!" Dante proclaimed proudly. "She came up with it all on her own!"

Virgil just shook his head in resignation.

Behind the gate was a huge maze filled with mist. A large tablet held instructions about those who 'protect the weak light' finding the right path. Upon examination, a light left the tablet and was sucked into various enemies around.

"So...kill all enemies and follow the light?" Applejack asked.

"Seems like it," Dante agreed.

"Too easy," Virgil added.

As they killed enemies, the light progressed along the path, and the trio raced to follow it, killing any enemies that ate it. None were able to prove an actual challenge. Applejack grew a little concerned that each path division looked identical to all previous ones, and hoped they wouldn't get lost.

Eventually, they reached a large open chamber, and Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't even mind the large stone spiders that looked like they could have been Phantom's kids. Killing both caused a massive gate to lower, letting them move on.

A scythe wielding enemy that Alastor identified as a Death Scythe attacked out of a well, but a few bullets, energy arrows, and phantom swords took it down quickly.

"If I'm the primary firearms user," Dante pointed out, "how come I have the smallest projectiles?"

"Because you're still using the smallest guns," Virgil countered.

"Quit fightin', you two," Applejack scolded.

Out of curiosity, the group leapt into the well to see what the Death Scythe could have been guarding. A brief detour through there allowed them to acquire a new key, the 'sign of chastity'.

"Pretty sure only Applejack should be carrying that," Nevan joked.

"She'd better still be viable to carry it," Virgil stated, glaring at Dante.

"She's ten!" Dante countered. "What do you think this is, Ancient Greece?"

Chuckling, Applejack stuffed the Sign of Chastity in her hat before turning to lead everyone back the way they came.

Entering a chamber filled with water features, Applejack used the Sign of Chastity to lower an energy field protecting a Chalice, which she stuffed back into her hat.

Dante glanced around. "Anyone else think something's supposed to happen right about now?"

"We could always spar," Virgil offered.

"After dealin' with Mundus!" Applejack scolded, hopping up various platforms to place the Chalice in the proper receptacle, opening a new path.

Continuing underground, the trio carved their way through the Marionettes lining the narrow stone passage until they came to a massive ship floating in the water. Finding an underwater passage, they were able to board. There were a few of the lizard like enemies underwater, and most of Dante's Devil arms and firearms weren't functional while swimming. However, Applejack's Artemis and Virgil's phantom swords proved effective.

Clearing out a few more monsters once they were actually on board the ship, Dante found a new gun designed for underwater use. Hefting the Needle Gun, he grinned, glad he wouldn't be dead weight in the water anymore.

When they came to the deck of the ship, however, crying could be heard from somewhere, rather loud crying. While Dante and Virgil each looked around, Applejack looked up, spying the thunderbird from before in the crow's nest, crying his eyes out. Determined, Applejack leapt up into the crow's nest beside him. "What's wrong?" she asked compassionately.

"Why did they ignore me?" he bawled. "I'm big and tough and scary, aren't I? I can fight! I can make storms! But...but they didn't even pay attention when I was trying to kill them!"

"Aw, don't be sad!" Applejack comforted. "Ah was paying attention, and you were a right fearsome beast!"

"But then why didn't they pay attention to me?" he wailed.

"Pa and Uncle can be nice, but for the most part they're pretty self centered," Applejack explained. "Ah'm workin' on that."

The thunderbird let out a loud sniffle. "You think I'm scary, right?" he whimpered.

"Well, certainly fearsome," she allowed. "But my first encounter with demons was in Temen-ni-gru when I was an infant, and most of the big ones were either friendly or died quickly."

"Not me!" Beowulf complained. "I nearly succeeded at killing you-"

Beowulf was interrupted as Applejack punched one gauntlet with the other. "Hush, you, or I take you off next time I cook dinner!"

Beowulf whimpered. While Applejack wore her Devil Arms, they could all taste whatever she ate, despite not eating it themselves. And that jambalaya... "I'll be good," Beowulf promised.

Nevan chuckled. "Maybe you should try throwing your Jambalaya at the Demon Lords we fight in the future," she joked.

Applejack tapped her chin for a time. "Hmm...nah!" she said finally. "Can't go carryin' a crock pot into battle, now can I?"

The thunderbird stared at her. "You...have Devil Arms?" he asked, surprised. "Who are you?"

"Name's Applejack," she replied. "Daughter of Dante, one of the twin sons of Sparda."

The thunderbird lowered his head. "...wow," he said finally. "If they're the twin sons of Sparda together, no wonder they didn't interrupt their argument for my sake. The biggest threat and challenge they're likely to ever face is each other. And there isn't much to threaten the two of them working together. But with three Spardans..."

Applejack chuckled. "Yeah, we make a pretty good team-"

"Take me with you!" the bird begged.

Applejack blinked. "Uh...I don't think I got room for more Devil Arms," she admitted. "All four hooves, mah tail, mah back, and a hip holster are already taken..."

"You could make him a familiar," Beowulf suggested.

"A what now?" Applejack asked.

"Not all demons are capable of wielding Devil Arms," Beowulf explained. "However, they can still anchor weaker demon beasts to themselves as familiars. The familiar takes on a small form and can be summoned and unsummoned at will, and shares its magic with its Master. Both grow stronger as a result."

"I'll be your familiar!" the bird promised. "Just please take me with you!"

Applejack blinked. She wasn't sure how to react to this, but she couldn't say no to the birds watering eyes. "So...how do I go about settin' up this here ritual?" she asked Beowulf.

Two green squares appeared in the air, rotating in opposite directions and heavily inlaid with runes. "Once he takes on a smaller form and steps into two squares, command him to bind himself in your name, and then give him a new one."

The thunderbird shrunk down until it was about the size of a bald eagle, and looking not unlike a Zapdos from Pokemon, but a bit more like an actual bird.

He then happily stepped into the middle of the squares, which began to rotate faster.

Applejack gulped, hoping she got this right. "I, uh, I abjure thee?" she began.

"That's a good start," Nevan whispered in her ear.

Her confidence boosted by that, Applejack smiled with more assurance. "I abjure thee, Thunderbird, obey your Master in the name of Applejack Sparda. I dub thee Griffon."

The squares glowed brightly and were absorbed into the bird. He wriggled as the magic anchored him.

"Did...Did I do it right?" Applejack asked.

"Perfectly," Beowulf replied. "You were born for this work."

Smiling, Applejack turned, planning to hop back down to Dante and Virgil. Right at that moment, however, the ship started sailing and she fell from the crow's nest. Before she even had time to get her hooves under her, Griffon had swooped under her and expanded enough to hold her weight on his back, gliding down to let her land safely. "Thanks," she said with a grin as she hopped off.

"Any time, Master," Griffon replied, shrinking down until he was small enough to sit on the brim of her hat.

Virgil smirked as he saw this. "Interesting."

Dante's response was more emotional. "I want one!"

Everyone else present laughed as they entered the now open Captain's cabin.

Promises

Inside the Captain's Cabin, Dante took the Staff of Hermes from the statue that was holding it. Then the entire ship shook.

"Of course," Dante grumbled as the room then began to flood.

"The ship is sinking!" Griffon squawked in panic. "I can't swim!"

"Unsummon him," Beowulf instructed Applejack.

Green magic surrounded Griffon, and he vanished into Applejack's magical aura. "That's pretty cool," Applejack admitted.

After that, no one could talk as the ship had sunk and they were all underwater. Thankfully, their demonic nature meant that they didn't have to worry about breathing...for some reason. Applejack decided to follow Dante's approach in that regard and not think too hard about it. As Dante drew the Needle Gun, Applejack armed Artemis and Virgil conjured his phantom swords, and they all swam their way out.

None of the monsters they encountered underwater stood a chance against them as they made their way out of the ship and back to the surface. "Hoo-wee!" Applejack called out. "I do not wanna go swimming again anytime soon. At least, not in anything smaller than a tidal pool."

"Some of the sea water is pooled over here," Virgil pointed out, gesturing to a much shallower pool.

Walking over, Applejack examined it for a time, then grinned. "Pa? Did ya bring the soap?"

"Yeah," Dante replied. "Why?"

Taking her hat off, Applejack set it aside as Nevan manifested physically. "I've got a promise ta keep!" she replied happily.

After the funnest bath Applejack had ever had - in addition to Nevan manifesting, Alastor, Ifrit, Agni, Rudra, and Cerberus all manifested to help with the bathing, and Virgil was cajoled to joining in as well, 'if only to make sure she actually got clean', as he put it - the group continued onward.

Eventually, after fighting their way through several monsters, they found themselves in a catacombs like area. Picking up an engraved shield that was obviously important, they then threw a switch hidden in the arm of a skeleton. This opened a gate for them, but also triggered a trap with a rotating path with spikes.

Applejack summoned Griffon. "Can ya grow big enough to carry me on yer back and Pa and Uncle in yer talons while still fitting in the hallway?" she asked.

Griffon thought about it. "I think so."

"But the spikes go up all the way to the roof," Alastor pointed out.

"I'll take care of that," Dante said.

Shrugging, Griffon expanded until he was about the size of an albatross. With his demonic strength, he was able to pick everyone up.

Grabbing hold of Griffon's talon, Dante drew forth Geryon's power, allowing them all to make it through to the open gate without getting spiked.

"Hmph. So your brain does work sometimes," Virgil commented.

"Behave, you two," Applejack scolded when Dante turned to counter.

Back outside, the trio made their way down a cliff, fighting more shadow cats on the way. After fighting them, they encountered an open door frame filled with a red seal. "How do you intend to get past this one without sacrificing demonic essence?" Virgil asked, halfway between smug and curious.

Applejack backed up, primed Beowulf, activated Devil Trigger, and crashed through the perfectly ordinary stone to one side of the doorway, making her own unsealed path. Reversing her Devil Trigger, she smirked up at Virgil.

Virgil, for his part, gave a slow applause at being shown up that way.

After fighting their way through a great many more Marionettes and Fetishes, they came across another sealed stone arch. This time, however, Applejack used Nevan's scythe form to lever the arch off the stone tower it was braced on before throwing it at another Fetish that arose. The seal devoured the demon.

Passing through another door, they came to a huge, familiar area. "Hey, this is where I attacked you guys the first time! ...and you ignored me."

Dante scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

Virgil, unwilling to actually apologize but also unwilling to face Applejack's judgmental glare, nodded.

To one side of the large area, they found two paths leading to either side, which could be unlocked with the Emblem shield. Once again, they decided to take both paths, Dante and Virgil taking one path, while Applejack and Griffon took the other.

Riding Griffon, Applejack was able to explore the trap filled path with ease, acquiring the pair of lances deep within. Meeting back up with Dante and Virgil, she learned that Dante had gotten a new gun, but beyond that there had been nothing of interest.

Using the pair of lances Applejack had picked up, they opened the door to the coliseum.

A magic circle in the center of the coliseum spoke of offering a sacrifice to open the path to the Wheel of Destiny.

"Sacrifice?" Applejack asked. "Any idea what sort of sacrifice we're supposed ta offer?"

"Generally, it means killing a powerful creature," Nevan explained. "Unfortunately, I don't think there is one here to kill."

Dante chuckled. "Maybe you should pour some Jambalaya on the circle," he offered.

"I ain't gonna waste food like that!" Applejack countered.

"Do you have a better idea?" Dante asked.

"We need to energize the circle with a certain amount of power, right?" Virgil offered. "Why not just use some of our blood?"

Dante and Applejack turned to stare at him. "Wut?" Applejack asked.

"We're of the blood of Sparda," Virgil explained. "We saw at Temen-ni-gru how much power our blood holds. And beyond that, my blood is now fully demonic."

Dante and Applejack turned to each other, then shrugged. The trio surrounded the circle and used their preferred bladed weapon - Dante used Force Edge, Applejack used Nevan's scythe form, and Virgil used his katana - to spill their blood onto the circle.

A pillar dropped down from the sky, revealing an elevator platform.

"Told you," Virgil pointed out, leaping upward.

"Hey!" Dante yelled, chasing after him.

Applejack remained behind for a bit, feeling something behind her. "Say...Griffon?"

"Yes, Mistress?" Griffon asked.

"Before you became my familiar...you worked for Mundus, right?"

Griffon was quiet for a time. "Yes, I served Mundus."

"Then you know something about his plans?" Applejack asked.

"Not much," Griffon replied. "Only about his other agents."

"Ah." Applejack turned to where Trish had been trying to be discreet in her entrance. "And what can ya tell me about her?" she asked.

Griffon stared at Trish for a time. "She is a demonic construct," Griffon replied. "Mundus made her to resemble Sparda's wife to play on Dante's human weakness."

"Thought there was something suspicious about her knowin' so much," Applejack replied, turning to face Trish.

"So what now?" Trish asked, struggling to stay calm. "You kill me?"

"Nope!" Applejack replied. "Now you go away, and by the time ya meet up with us again, you'll need ta choose whose side you're on."

Trish looked away. "I can't betray Mundus," she replied. "Whether I want to or not. His magic gave me life. He can...take it away just as easily."

"He could," Applejack replied. "Except...I put some of the crystallized energy Force Edge gives off - the essence of Sparda's power - in the Jambalaya. Been puttin' it in every dish to help stabilize mah Devil Trigger."

"I have been tasting Sparda when I taste the Jambalaya?" Beowulf demanded in shock. "Devouring his essence? ...I am surprisingly okay with this."

"More importantly," Cerberus pointed out, "Sparda's true power came from his indomitable will to help those he cared for. If Trish has absorbed that power into herself...then if she denies Mundus, he won't be able to take his magic back from her."

Nevan seemed to vibrate in excitement over something, but remained silent.

"So you got a choice ta make," Applejack replied. "Whose side would you rather be on...now that you know the choice is yours?" Turning, Applejack leapt onto the elevator platform, following Dante and Virgil.

"What are you so excited about?" Beowulf demanded of Nevan. "You're getting on my nerves!"

"If Trish chooses our side, Dante, Virgil, her, and Applejack being in one place will generate a strong enough focus of demonic energy that we'll be able to manifest for non-combat!" Nevan squealed excitedly.

Cerberus immediately joined her squealing, much to Beowulf's disdain. Applejack pulled her hat down to hide her amusement.

Portals

After acquiring the Wheel of Destiny from the underground chamber, the trio returned the way they'd originally came back to where the bridge had raised behind them, locking them out of the castle. This caused the bridge to lower for them.

"So...all that just to pick up that Staff of Hermes?" Applejack asked, referring to the one key they'd picked up that hadn't been used yet.

"Guess we'll figure out what it's for inside," Dante suggested.

Back inside the castle, they found all the lights out, neither sun nor moon giving illumination. Thankfully, Virgil had picked up a Luminite, a demonic stone that gave off light in the human world, back by the coliseum. It allowed them all to see where they were going. Activating a switch in the back of the main room caused a great deal of rumbling. Lightning struck through the skylight Phantom had broken when he got impaled and struck the statue Phantom had been impaled on. A bat made of lightning became visible.

"One a yours?" Applejack asked.

"No," Nevan replied. "That's a Plasma. It-"

The creature was smashed between one fist of fire and one hoof of light.

"Is a corpse," Virgil corrected.

"...quite," Alastor allowed.

Continuing to explore the darkened castle, the trio came across many more Plasmas, which shapeshifted into various forms to try and combat the trio. One even transformed into a pony shape like Applejack...only to burst apart from the force of Nevan's squeals over how adorable it was. Marionettes also challenged them at various points, but proved ineffective, as before.

Eventually, they reached the chamber where they'd first fought Phantom. There were several puddles scattered around. As they approached, a voice echoed in their heads.

One who knocks on the gate to the Underworld shall borrow strength from the Blue Stone.

A massive black ooze creature leapt forth from the puddle, human bones stuck in the ooze. It let out an unearthly howl.

"It's the Nightmare!" Alastor cried as several glowing circles on the floor began sending energy into the beast. "If you're able to damage its core, you can destroy it. However, the only way to make it expose the core is to activate one of the switches around the room to change the energy it's being fed."

"I'll handle the switch!" Applejack called out. "You two stay close and attack the core when it's exposed!"

The strategy worked quite well. When the core first came out, Dante and Virgil activated their demonic forms, dealing massive damage to the core before it withdrew. They then switched, activating the switch and letting Applejack finish off the core with her Devil Trigger.

With the core shattered, the beast dissolved and vanished, and the group continued on their way.

In the path of the Trial of the Lion, they found a glowing point, reacting to the surge of demonic power.

As Dante used the Staff of Hermes, Applejack spoke up. "So...is the demonic aura strong enough for you guys to fully manifest?" she asked.

"Yes," Nevan replied. "It is quite strong."

"We shall fight again!" Agni proclaimed. "To arms!"

"Not to mention legs!" Rudra added.

"I think I picked the wrong Master," Alastor muttered. "I'm stuck with the crazies."

"Balls!" Cerberus barked happily.

"...maybe I should have waited for Virgil..."

"I don't need you," Virgil countered.

"Harsh," Ifrit pointed out.

"But accurate," Griffon pointed out.

"So is everyone else ignoring the portals I just opened up?" Dante pointed out.

"Yup, pretty much," Applejack replied.

Groaning, Dante leapt through one of the portals, followed by the others.

Following the path opened by a sequence of portals, the trio found themselves confronted by lizardmen that seemed to be made of ice. As they leapt down to attack, Cerberus briefly manifested and ate them before withdrawing back into Applejack's tail. "Yummy!" Cerberus said, smacking his lips.

Applejack looked sick to her stomach. "...you realize I just tasted that, too...right?" Nevan and Beowulf were also gagging.

"Sorry," Cerberus whimpered.

"And I'm suddenly very glad he isn't my Devil Arm," Dante whispered to Virgil.

The trio continued onward, fighting through Marionettes and Fetishes mostly while inside the castle. At one point, they encountered a giant dinosaur fossil that spit fireballs at them. Using their various long weapons of choice - Dante used Alastor, Applejack used Nevan, and Virgil using his katana - the three took turns knocking the fireballs back until the skeleton collapsed. Applejack frowned.

"What's wrong, AJ?" Dante asked.

"Remember when I toldja about hearing that almost familiar voice complaining about stairs?" she asked.

"Yes?" Virgil confirmed.

"Well, now I coulda sworn I heard that same voice shouting 'Furry Curry, Curry Cola' or somethin' like that, every time I used Nevan to whack a fireball," Applejack explained.

Dante and Virgil looked at each other in concern. "Dante, I hope your hypothesis about her hearing someone in another dimension is accurate," Virgil said at last. "Because otherwise, Applejack might be seriously sick in the head."

"I know what you mean," Dante replied. "Furry curry is gross. I should know." At the looks he got, he added, "What? I was short on cash and it was still leftovers!"

"Please tell me you never fed Applejack furry curry," Virgil asked worriedly.

"He didn't," Nevan confirmed.

Defeating the dinosaur skeleton revealed a light emitting mirror. Pulling a nearby crank caused it to rotate until it reflected off several mirrors and concentrated into an orb. Leaping up, Virgil acquired the Quicksilver.

As they retraced their steps, Applejack spoke up. "Actually, Curry Cola sounds kinda tasty. Like a spicy soda pop?"

After a time of head scratching, everyone agreed that it did in fact, sound rather tasty. "I'm going to buy a soda stream so we can experiment with making some," Dante promised.

Following another path, Virgil used the Quicksilver to open a sealed door. Behind the door was a large, cathedral like chamber. "This seems like another good place to spar," Virgil muttered.

"Spar back home!" Applejack scolded. "We've got a demon king to rip ta pieces!"

Chuckling, Dante turned to lead the trio on their way.

Decisions

The trio continued through the portal pathway. visiting areas they'd already been to as they sought out what keys they were being guided towards. This path involved a lot of swimming through locations that didn't used to be underwater. However, underwater combat proved far simpler than above ground combat against monsters they had fought before. The water proved a hindrance to the monsters more than to the trio.

After a time climbing upward, they collected a Philosopher's Egg.

"So...we supposed to use this as a key?" Applejack asked.

"What else would we do with it?" Dante asked. "Hatch it?"

"We'll figure out what to do with it later," Virgil pointed out. "For now, we should keep following the path."

Through a door in the path, they found a basket warmed by flames engraved with an inscription.

Those who seek the truth shall put the egg in the basket and shall warm it slowly with care.
It will become a blue stone and the landmark to the rough roads.

"So...we are gonna hatch it?" Applejack asked, surprised. Virgil buried his face in his hand, groaning.

Chuckling, Dante placed the egg in the basket. As it warmed, another Nightmare arose to do battle with them. They dealt with it in much the same way they did the last one. Despite several new combat techniques on the part of the Nightmare, being able to unleash Nevan, Agni, and Rudra to fight physically drastically accelerated the battle.

Once the Nightmare was beaten, the egg had hatched. A voice echoed in their heads from it.

I am the first key to opening the gate of the Underworld. The second key resides in the mirror dimension.

Reaching into the basket, Dante retrieved the Elixer.

"So now we gotta get into the mirrors for the second key?" Applejack asked.

"Yup," Dante agreed as the Devil Arms resumed weapon form.

"You know, considering how Applejack works with her Devil Arms for the most part, there's another school that might be better suited for her, if things don't work out at Youkai Academy," Virgil pointed out.

"Why wouldn't it work out?" Dante demanded. "You were the one talking about how you were going to send your own son there."

"Students are required to assume a human form," Virgil pointed out.

"Maybe they can teach me?" Applejack offered as they continued onward.

"Perhaps," Virgil admitted.

"And if Youkai Academy doesn't work out, what's this other school?" Dante asked.

"It's called DWMA," Virgil replied. "I...don't know if they actually teach standard academics, though. The curriculum is rather heavy on monster hunting."

"Sounds like my kinda school," Dante joked. "I'll look into it."

Returning once more to the Trial of the Lion, the Elixir responded strongly to the other portal. Through the portal, the Elixir caused a resonance in a mirror. Passing through the mirror led to a distorted reflection of the castle they'd been in.

"I'm guessing this is the Mirror Universe," Dante theorized.

"What was your first clue?" Virgil replied snidely.

"So where's this key we need?" Dante asked.

"I think it's that glowy thing down there!" Applejack suggested, pointing.

Leaping down, all three approached it. Dante reached out and collected the Philosopher's Stone. "That was too easy," he muttered.

At that moment, several demons shaped like a Picasso painting of a human dropped down to surround them.

"You were saying?" Virgil asked.

The trio each took one of them on. At first, it seemed easy enough, but after they took enough damage the monsters donned masks, expanded, and started fighting upright. While at first frightening, they went down easily enough after that, and with each hunter focusing on one, no one got double teamed or flanked.

After defeating the creatures, they took the now open path back into the regular universe, and from there back to the main castle.

Once back in the room where they'd first fought the Nightmare, the primary puddle turned into a portal when it reacted to the Elixir. Dropping through into a large chamber in the mirror universe, they found the gate to the Underworld.

"So..." Applejack began. "Now we're gonna open the gate for Mundus so we can fight him? ...even though we could probably just backtrack and seal the whole thing back up?"

"Magic doesn't work that way," Nevan explained. "Mundus has already gained enough power to break free."

"And fighting this guy is going to be fun!" Dante added.

"Besides," Virgil pointed out, "he's the one who killed me and stuck my soul in a golem. I want a bit of payback."

"Fair enough," Applejack replied, sticking the Philosopher's Stone in the gate.

The gate opened and the trio leapt in.

After passing through the Underworld for a time, they saw Trish. "Dante!" she called out.

As they rushed towards her, they found themselves sealed in by the Nightmare. However, it proved no more difficult in battle than before...especially as being in the Underworld allowed all the Devil Arms - save Beowulf, who wasn't fully trusted - to fully manifest. However, the Nightmare was proportionately stronger to compensate.

However, after they dealt enough damage to the Nightmare, lightning burst forth from outside the barrier...and struck the Nightmare, causing it to explode.

As the shield lowered, Applejack smiled at Trish. "I see ya made yer choice!" she said with a wide grin.

Trish rushed forward. "Don't celebrate just yet. Mundus will rise soon, and the only thing that can deliver the finishing blow to him is Sparda's sword, unleashed in its full power."

Dante pulled out Force Edge. "You mean this one isn't?" he asked, shocked.

"No," Trish replied. "The Perfect Amulet must be applied to the sword to unleash its true form."

"I'm not giving Dante my amulet!" Virgil snapped.

"Well, I'm not about to give you mine!" Dante snapped back.

"Well, someone with the blood of Sparda needs to wield his sword for this battle!" Trish pointed out.

"Then it's a good thing there's one here we both like," Virgil pointed out, taking off his Amulet half pendant and holding it out to Applejack.

"Wait, what?" Applejack asks in shock.

"Not a bad idea," Dante replied, pulling off his own amulet half. "And Applejack has already wielded Sparda's power inside her much stronger than either of us. It's how her Devil Trigger was unleashed, after all." He held out his amulet half and Force Edge.

Trish glanced back and forth between them. "...you're going to trust the fate of the world to this silly pony?" she demanded, surprised.

"Yes," Virgil replied.

"Wouldn't trust anyone else," Dante agreed.

"As long as I don't fight alone," Applejack muttered.

Family Values

Griffon glided gently in to land behind Devil May Cry, both business and home sweet home for Dante and Applejack. As Griffon landed, the back door opened and a surprise guest stepped out.

"Where have you been, Dante?" Lady demanded angrily. "I swung by to see you and Applejack only to find the door torn off its hinges, a motorcycle in the office, and a note saying 'bbl, saving the world again'. You could have at least left details! Or called me to lend a hand!"

"I see that relationship of yours has lasted longer than expected, brother," Virgil commented dryly.

"Virgil?" Lady asked in shock. "I thought you went to the Underworld."

"He died," Dante replied.

"I was turned into a demonic construct weapon," Virgil explained.

"Applejack made him better," Dante finished.

Lady shook her head. "Seems there's a story to tell," she muttered. "Like, why you're riding a giant demon home."

"He's Applejack's familiar," Trish replied.

Lady's eyes narrowed. "Who's this?" she demanded firmly.

"I'm Trish," Trish countered. "I'm a friend of Dante, Virgil, and Applejack's. Who are you?"

"Mama," Applejack mumbled, sliding off Griffon's wing and flopping into Lady's arms.

Lady smiled down at Applejack, but then frowned at Dante. "And what were you thinking letting her get so exhaus-"

As Griffon unsummoned himself to rest, Dante fell to the ground, snoring gently. Virgil landed on his feet, but staggered until Trish helped support him. The Devil Arms returned to their wielders, and Sparda landed point first in the dirt, the eye that was the Perfect Amulet locked on AJ's slumbering form.

Lady blinked. "I take it there's a story to tell here?"

Nevan manifested. "Help me get everyone to bed rest, and I'll fill you in on all the details."

Once Dante and Applejack were put to bed, Lady, Trish, and Virgil sat around the table while Nevan served them leftover Jambalaya she had Ifrit warm up. Cerberus - in a much smaller form - curled up under the table, all three heads turned up eagerly for treats. Alastor leaned against the wall, smiling.

Once everyone had a dish, Nevan sat down and began explaining everything that had happened. From Trish's arrival, the trip to Mallet Island, saving Virgil, Applejack binding Griffon as her familiar, Trish discovering she was no longer bound to Mundus' control and choosing to fight him instead, Sparda being unleashed...

"Wait, Sparda?" Lady demanded. "I thought he was dead!"

"He is," Nevan replied. "But a large portion of his physical power was stored in his sword, sealed into it in its sealed form of Force Edge. However, leaving it concentrated in there for so long caused it to develop its own mind, shaped by Sparda's will. Once awakened by the Perfect Amulet, it resumed its original form as a living sword...and actively chose to use its power to amplify Dante, Virgil, and Applejack."

Lady whistled, impressed. "I'm surprised you were willing to give Dante your amulet half to do that, Virgil," she commented.

"I didn't," Virgil replied.

Lady frowned. "I refuse to believe Dante gave you his."

"He didn't," Trish pointed out. "They both gave their halves to Applejack so she could wield Sparda. She doesn't like the sword, though. Reminds her too much of something called Soul Edge."

Having spent quite a bit of time with Dante and Applejack over the years, Lady knew exactly what that meant and snickered. Glancing over at Sparda, she tilted her head. "I do see the resemblance, I admit. Wonder if Dante should sue Namco on his father's behalf."

Nevan snickered. Virgil rolled his eyes. Trish only looked confused.

"By the way," Lady asked, "how is it you're all able to manifest like this? I thought you couldn't do it outside a large enough concentration of demonic magic."

Nevan smiled. "We have Applejack, Dante, and Virgil here. Each of them generates a good amount of demonic magic. The Sword of Sparda is such a strong central focus that it provides nearly as much ambient magic as an active portal. It alone generates enough magic so all the Devil Arms of its chosen wielder can manifest for non-combat, and Griffon being Applejack's familiar lets me manifest my own lightning powers." She chuckled. "Trish is also a demonic construct that looks human, like Virgil is now. While she's here, there's enough power for everyone to manifest for non-combat. Now, if we can follow Applejack's plan and convince her to stick around to date Virgil, that'd make the arrangement permanent."

"Wait, what?" Trish asked, shocked and blushing.

"I'm not looking to date," Virgil growled.

"Take that up with Applejack," Nevan replied easily, smirking. "But she said Nero would need a mother figure once you found him again, and Trish is both available and unlikely to judge you for no longer being human or Nero for his biology. Where else are you going to find a woman like that?"

"Besides," Griffon added, manifesting as a sparrow on the chandelier, "she already thinks you're cute."

"I never said that!" Trish shouted, her cheeks turning bright red.

"You were feeding me your magic to keep me flying the whole way home," Griffon pointed out. "A few thoughts came through with it." He then quickly took to the air to dodge Trish's thrown lightning bolt.

Lady laughed as she watched Trish chasing Griffon around the room. Virgil waited, eyebrow raised.

"It is time!" Agni proclaimed.

"One, two, three, four!" Rudra added.

All the Devil arms began singing an acapella of Just the Girl I'm Looking For, with Alastor singing the main lead with a surprisingly rich baritone.

Virgil groaned, putting his face in his hands. Lady and Trish burst into laughter.

Later that night, Dante recovered enough to come downstairs for some cider from the fridge. He wasn't sure whether to blame Applejack or Geryon, but he'd come to really enjoy the taste of Apple Cider - hard or otherwise - while also becoming rather finicky about what kind he drank. He joined Virgil at the table, looking over some paperwork. "What's all this?"

"I sent out to those two schools I mentioned for the paperwork to enroll Applejack," Virgil explained. "It's already arrived. However, there's a minor problem."

"What's that?" Dante asked, sitting down.

"Youkai Academy can't budge on the rules about being able to assume a human form," Virgil replied. "Despite the fact that the three founders are all Sparda's disciples."

"Can't even make an exception for their old Master's granddaughter?" Dante asked.

"Actually, it's because they trained under Sparda that they're standing so firm," Virgil explained. "They inherited his integrity."

Dante shook his head. "Well, what about DWMA? What's the problem with that one?"

"While attending there, Applejack has to live either in the city or the student dorms," Virgil replied. "No exceptions. The Headmaster told me so himself when he called."

Dante sighed. "So...you're still going to insist on her getting schooling?"

"DWMA would be best to start with," Virgil replied. "The Headmaster will meet with you personally to discuss her enrollment, residency, and any other issues you might have."

Dante smiled. "I guess I'll be taking care of that tomorrow."

Author's Note

Applejack's schooling will eventually be chronicled in a side story entitled "Apple Far From the Tree". As that will take quite a bit of research on my part to write well, it will be delayed until after this story - and a few others - are completed.

However, there will be one interlude chapter at the end of each school segment Applejack attends here in this story. They will occur at the end of each school segment chronologically, and give details of anything significant that happened in that section. No actual spoilers for "Apple Far From the Tree", just anything important for this story (new skills, etc.).

Hope you all enjoy.

Summer Break 1

Virgil sat back at the front desk of Devil May Cry. At the end of last summer, Dante and Applejack had headed off to Death City to see about enrolling Applejack in DWMA. The only communication he'd gotten back since was from Dante, stating that he would be taking up free residence in Death City - a gesture of respect and honor to their father's blood in his veins from Death himself - until such time as Applejack graduated from DWMA. He would also be doing a few odd jobs for Death that called on his special talents. Apparently, some of the jobs that Death needed doing were too much for even 5 star Meisters and Death Scythes. The message had also promised to come visit for summer.

That had been nearly a year ago. It was now the first day of summer. Virgil and Trish - with occasional help from Lady - had kept the business going. They'd brought in quite a bit of money on their various jobs, and Virgil had also taken the time to research the group that had taken Nero. He hadn't gotten many leads yet, but the few he found looked promising if he was careful in their pursuit. He was almost glad Dante wasn't involved in this part, as his approach would likely have involved breaking down doors and taking names, which would have gotten nothing.

He would have liked Applejack's involvement, though. Not that her strategy was any different from Dante's, but her irrepressible optimism would have been welcome as lead after lead seemed to go nowhere...not that he'd ever admit that out loud.

A knock at the door drew him out of his musings.

"I'll get it," Trish said, sauntering easily to the door. She'd taken over greeting new customers, as she generally made a more favorable first impression than Virgil did. This was a relief, as Virgil didn't like dealing with people...although he refused to admit that her flirtatious manner with potential customers upset him.

"Honey! We're hoo-oome!"

Virgil groaned aloud as he heard that voice, though he inwardly smiled. "Back for summer vacation?" he asked as he approached his brother. Trish had already pulled Applejack into a warm embrace, kissing her on the cheek. "Going to be heading back to DWMA come fall?"

"Nope," Dante replied. "She's already graduated."

"What?' Virgil asked in shock. "But she's only been there one year!"

"According to Death, the only reason she was kept there that long was to help with certain anticipated events and to let her interact with others her own age," Dante pointed out. "Had a positive effect on all involved."

"How did she graduate so quickly?" Trish asked curiously.

"The only requirement to graduate is for a Meister's Weapon to be upgraded to a Death Scythe," Nevan said calmly as she sauntered in. No longer nude save her hair and miasma, she was now garbed in skin tight black leather zipped halfway down to expose her cleavage. Her hair was bound up in a long braid that hung down over one shoulder. "All that takes is 99 kishin egg souls and one witch's soul."

Applejack chuckled. "And those kishin egg beasts weren't much stronger than Seven Hells," she pointed out. "I could kill 99 o' them before breakfast."

"And the witch wasn't even as strong as Arkham was when he merged with that mass of demonic energy," Nevan added, "although she was a better fighter."

"The hard part was learnin' ta fight as a human instead of as a pony," Applejack admitted. "Threw mah balance off."

"You learned to assume a human form?" Virgil asked, glancing at the little pony.

"Yup!" Applejack bragged. "First thing ah learned!"

"Can I see?" Trish begged, setting her down.

Rolling her eyes, Applejack closed her eyes and focused. Her body flared with light.

The top of her head came up to Dante's elbow. Her hair was the same as her mane and tail had been. Her orange coat had become a slightly tanned skin tone, with freckles on both cheeks. She was garbed in a button down white t-shirt that bulged just slightly over the beginning of what would likely one day prove to be a 'bountiful harvest' and blue denim jeans. Beowulf had taken on the form of white, sparkling gloves and cowboy boots, giving her a 'rhinestone cowboy' look. She brought her right hand up to tip her hat down over part of her face as she smirked, showing her even white teeth.

Virgil grinned. "Nice look for you," he said dryly.

"You're adorable!" Trish squealed.

"So you're a Death Scythe now?" Alastor asked Nevan.

"That's right," Nevan replied. "I can even maintain my physical manifestation - complete with combat abilities - all on my own now."

"Impressive," Alastor replied. "But...has your weapon form changed?"

"It has."

"May I...see?"

Smirking, Nevan took Applejack's hand.

In a flash, Nevan had assumed her guitar form. The body of the guitar was still the electric violet it had always been, but the strings were now pitch black, like threads of darkness. The riffs were gold, glittering in the light. The headstock was now a bone white Death's Head skull.

Alastor was silent for a time.

"Why is my shoulder getting wet?" Dante demanded of the blade.

"Coincidence!" Alastor proclaimed as Nevan and the other weapons giggled.

Smirking, Applejack began playing.

Virgil noticed something interesting about the music. When it was dark like a dirge, he felt his power being drained away. When it shifted to upbeat, he felt his energy being replenished. "Your music influences the energy levels of those around you?" he asks in surprise.

"In addition to summoning my bats," Nevan replied before shifting to scythe form. The shaft was the same purple, the arch holding the blade golden, the blade itself a shifting void of blackness. The white Death's head now held the shaft and blade together.

Dante blinked. "Do I want to know why my back is wet?"

Alastor hesitated. "...no, but you might want a bath."

Summer Break 5

After Applejack had spent most of her time at DWMA in the student dorms, Dante had become much more at ease with letting her go off to school, as long as she came back each summer. So when the time came for her to attend Youkai Academy, he sent her off at the start of each school term with a smile, a wave, a promise that she'd return for summer, and parental fretting and worry the moment the warp spell finished. Admittedly, letters were sent back and forth, but it wasn't the same as sitting down every night together for a meal...and even with magical assistance, it was rather difficult and awkward to mail a reassuring hug or a kiss goodnight.

Applejack seemed to handle the situation a lot better than Dante did, though, as none of her letters showed the least bit of stress or separation anxiety. That was probably because Dante had insisted she take Sparda with her, which meant she had a bit of her entire family's demonic aura within reach at all times. Even when her letters mentioned some of the male students trying to make trouble for her in the student dorms, it was written with amusement rather than anger or fear.

Then again, the fact that the average power level of her fellow students was less than that of her familiar at full strength might have had something to do with that. It's a little hard to be scared of somebody when 'sic em' calls in someone stronger.

Virgil, however, was less sanguine about the situation for a number of reasons. First off, Dante became unbearable to be around when Applejack was away. His constant worry over whether she was doing alright, whether the work was too hard, whether she had a boyfriend now, whether she was going to come home with a tattoo and an unexpected baby and a broken heart... If Virgil had to hear that particular tirade again, he was going to start challenging Dante to sparring sessions if only to get his mind off it.

Secondly, Dante was not nearly as good a cook as he thought he was. With no one present able to cook worth a damn - the only ones who could were Applejack and Nevan, Trish and Lady were hopeless in the kitchen - most meals were take out or delivery, making meal time much more unpleasant...especially since Dante moped about how much he missed Applejack's cooking with every other bite.

Admittedly, Dante had been helpful with tracking down Nero. Between their two different strategies, they actually had a good idea finally about where to look, and were beginning to make a plan as to how to address the issue.

As they were laying down the plan, the warp circle appeared and Applejack took shape in her pony form, her Devil Arms on her body and her head hanging.

"Applejack!" Dante called happily. "Did you graduate already?"

"...no," Applejack replied sadly.

"No?" Virgil asked. "What happened?"

"I...got expelled," she replied sadly.

"What'd you do to get expelled?" Trish demanded.

"...accidentally blew up the school."

Ifrit snorted. "How'd you manage to 'accidentally' blow up the school?"

"I was trying ta kill a sex crazed super zombie, and I missed and hit the school anchor with Sparda while in Devil Trigger," Applejack replied shamefacedly.

Everyone present glanced at each other. "Yeah, that would do it," Dante replied.

"Perhaps you'd better start at the beginning," Virgil pointed out. "How did this all happen?"

"Well, it all started this year when a human boy accidentally got enrolled, but managed to conceal being human from everyone but me by claiming to be a ghoul," Applejack replied. "He wound up in the newspaper club with a whole buncha girls who all wanted ta jump him."

Dante raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little inappropriate for a middle/high school?" he demanded.

"It's Japan," Virgil explained. "It's legal for 13-17 year-olds there to have sex with other 13-17 year olds." As Dante opened his mouth, Virgil countered, "And if you ask why Mom didn't send us there for high school, I'm going to smack you."

Dante frowned. "I was going to demand why you would send Applejack to school some place like that. Especially when you were giving me grief over my worries-"

"Because I know Applejack's responsible enough to not act like that, unlike you," Virgil growled back.

"So, how did this lead to sex crazed zombies and blowing up the school?" Trish asked.

"Well, the worst of the lot was this succubus named Kurumu," Applejack explained. "It was like ah couldn't turn around twice without her flashing her goods. I wouldn'ta minded so much if she kept it to club activities and after school activities...but she was going at it during class, and that disrupted the lessons! And I was in that class!" She grumbled. "One day, after one too many panty flashes, I told her if she was going ta show 'em off that much, she shouldn't bother wearing a skirt, and...tore hers off."

Dante spun from his argument with Virgil, his attention once more fully on Applejack's story. "Skirt or panties?"

"Skirt," Applejack replied, pulling her hat down over her head. "Ah...ah ain't proud a that, but everyone's got their breaking point, ya know? And it was during the final exam!"

Virgil groaned. "So...then what happened?"

"Well..." Applejack shuffled nervously. "Apparently, she was in the middle of trying to cast a spell ta get the boy to go after her the way she wanted in private...but mah tearing her skirt off broke her concentration, the spell went awry...and the school suddenly got swarmed with sex crazed zombies."

"What makes you say they were sex crazed?" Trish asked.

"Cause they seemed a lot more interested in tearin' girls clothes off than biting 'em," Applejack replied. "By the time the teachers responded, half the female student body had suffered major wardrobe malfunctions. While some got bit, that Tsukune fellow was the only human, so the only one in danger o' turnin."

"Except you," Nevan added.

"Yeah...cept fer me," Applejack replied. "Dun know what a zombie bite woulda done ta me. I mean, I'm a pony with artificially transferred demon powers taken on a human form. What's a zombie bite gonna do to that?"

Dante shook his head. "Never happened before, so there's no way of knowing."

"Yeah...and Sparda seemed ta wanna keep me away from the zombies," Applejack replied. "Anyway, I managed to figure out that one of the zombies was the focus of the enchantment, and went after it. But...it started absorbing energy from the school's dimensional anchor and got bigger and stronger, so i had to go all out just ta damage it, and..."

Virgil groaned. "One missed swing and the school goes boom," he sighed.

"Sorry..." Applejack mewled pathetically.

Dante scooped her up. "Not your fault, Applejack," he said comfortingly. "You were just doing like you were trained. It just ended badly."

Virgil sighed. "Maybe sending you to a school that's open about its supernatural population is a bad idea," he pointed out. "I've...got a favor I can call in from an...old acquaintance. Our blood has some pull with people over there. Did you like attending school in Japan?"

Applejack nodded eagerly. "It was fun when the entire school wasn't being warped around the antics of sex crazed girls pursuing a boy."

"Well, last I checked this was an all girls school, so you shouldn't have a problem there," Virgil replied. "We've got a lead on Nero which we should be able to resolve before Summer's end...and after that I'll get you enrolled in Kuoh Academy."

Applejack smiled widely. "Ah heard good things about that place when I was off campus," she said eagerly. "It should be fun. Sides...ah really like how the uniform looks. Real fancy like without bein' impractical."

"But first, we bring Nero back for a family reunion," Dante confirmed.

"Speakin' of," Applejack asked curiously, glancing from Virgil to Trish, "when we meet him, do I introduce Trish as a friend or as his new Ma?"

Both Virgil and Trish glanced away from each other nervously as Dante laughed.

This is the Weirdest Day...

Dante, Virgil, and Applejack stared down through the skylight of the church of the Order of the Sword. Dante's original plan after learning what the Order of the Sword actually was involved leaping in, killing Sanctus - who had been experimenting with turning people into demons, defaming the name of the Legendary Dark Knight he claimed to worship - and then killing anyone who got in his way on his way out. However, before the pretty girl's song ended, Applejack pointed out a major flaw in his plan.

"That's Nero," she said, pointing to a white haired young man who had entered late into the song, who was now sitting beside the pretty singing girl. "And if'n I ain't mistaken, he and that girl are members o' this Order, and believers."

"So?" Virigl asked bluntly.

"So, if'n Dante drops in and starts killing everybody willy-nilly, Nero's gonna see him as an enemy," Applejack explained. "That don't exactly fit in with our tryin' to reunite the family."

"We still have to kill Sanctus," Dante pointed out. "If he finishes his plans..."

"No argument there," Applejack pointed out. "But mayhap a different strategy would work better?"

"Like having you drop in, kill Sanctus, and kill only those who have been partially turned into demons?" Virgil suggested. "You're the only one of us with any training in non-lethal combat, and I'm pretty sure a talking pony with a guitar-scythe would throw them off."

"You're too kind," Nevan purred from Applejack's back.

"Ya really think it'll throw them off?" Applejack asked.

"It caught me off guard when I first saw you," Dante pointed out. "And I was used to demons by then."

Grinning, Applejack leapt.

As Nero started to leave, bored out of his skull by the preaching while Kyrie tried to get him to stay, he was startled as his arm reacted to something. Everyone was then caught off guard as the skylight shattered and an orange pony with a yellow mane and tail, white boots, and a guitar strapped to her back dropped to land right in front of Sanctus. "Demon," she said bluntly, pulling a silvery gun from a hip holster and shooting Sanctus in the head with a violet energy arrow.

The worshipers started to flee in fear. Credo drew his sword. "Your holiness!" he called out, enraged and afraid. The other Templars of the Order drew their swords as well.

"So much for off guard," the pony joked, her voice drawling with a southern accent. She then leapt forward.

Nero watched, stunned and confused, as the pony proceeded to mow down the Templars like they weren't even there. The strangest part was how she approached them. As soon as they got close enough, she would sniff them, and then either say "Human" or "Demon". If she said "Human", she would knock them out, either by smacking them upside the head or punching them a few times in the gut until they collapsed, unable to hold their swords anymore. If she said "Demon", however, she killed them, either by beheading them with the scythe her guitar morphed into, smashing their skull in, or another energy arrow to the skull.

As she confronted Credo, she leapt onto his sword as he swung it and sniffed him. "Demon," she said, drawing her gun.

"Brother!" Kyrie called out in fear, reaching for him.

The pony paused, jumping back from the sword as Credo tried to punch her. "Huh. Important demon." Ducking under the next swing, she spun around to balance on her forelegs before delivering a kick to Credo's gut with both hind hooves. There was a flash of light from the white boots, sending him flying across the room to crash into the far wall, dazed but alive.

With all other obstacles removed, the pony slowly approached Nero and Kyrie. Nero quickly pulled Blue Rose from its holster, pointing it at the approaching pony. "Stay back, Demon!" he ordered.

The pony paused, looking up at him disapprovingly. "Now that's hardly polite," she scolded. "That'n up there you lot are worshipping as a Messiah was a demon. Heck, his blood's in yer veins, Nero."

Nero's jaw dropped as Kyrie gasped in shock. "Wait...what? That's not...how do you know my name?"

The pony grinned widely. "Cause I'm here to find ya!" She suddenly blinked. "Oh shoot, where are mah manners? I ain't even properly introduced mahself!" She swept the cowboy hat off her head, bobbing her head in a light bow before putting her hat back on. "Howdy, cousin! Ah'm Applejack Sparda. Yer Pa's mah Uncle Virgil! And that statue up there is our Grandpa Sparda." She glanced up at it. "Not a very good likeness, though."

Nero staggered backwards, struggling to make sense of this news. "Wha...bu...how?"

Kyrie, being human, reacted in a much more human way to news that completely undermined her faith. She fainted dead away.

Applejack glanced over at her. "Sorry about yer girlfriend," she apologized. "Thought she was made o' sterner stuff. She'll need ta be, if she's gonna date someone in our family."

"If you're of Sparda's blood, then why kill the founder of an order dedicated to his worship and teachings?" Nero demanded, finally getting hold of himself.

Applejack frowned, her glare once more disapproving. "Fer starters, they ain't his teachings. He never taught anyone anything. He did what he did cause he chose humanity over the supernatural, and then fought to preserve humanity. But save friends and family, he just wanted ta be left alone, and made sure everyone around him knew it. Second, he hated bein' worshiped. He'da offed that guy for deifying him if he were here himself. Ah should know, I been carrying his sword with me for the past five years, and it's got some of his essence in it still. Talks sometimes, too."

She took a breath and let it out. "And third, that Sanctus fella up there? He was experimenting with turning people into demons with the goal of opening the gates of hell so he could use you and Grandpa's sword to awaken a giant demon statue to 'save' everyone to make their faith stronger."

"How can you say that?" Nero demanded angrily.

"He talks to himself while he experiments," the guitar suddenly spoke up. "I was listening in bat form. I can play the conversation back for you, if you like."

At this point, Nero had taken all he could handle, and decided to join Kyrie in blissful unconsciousness.

Applejack tilted her head. "...huh. Thought he was made of sterner stuff."

Who's Hungry?

When Nero slowly returned to consciousness, he quickly realized he wasn't in the church. He was somewhere outside, in the middle of a forest he didn't recognize. He was laid out near a large campfire, over which a massive cauldron was bubbling. He wasn't the only one near the fire. He saw two older men who shared his white hair and sharp features, Kyrie who was just beginning to wake up, Credo - who was bound and gagged for some reason - and the pony who claimed to be his cousin.

"Good, yer awake," Applejack said as he stirred. "Least ya weren't out of it fer long."

Nero glanced at the cauldron. "Cooking up a spell to make me believe the wild story you told me?" he demanded.

"Wouldn't know where ta begin," Applejack admitted. "Don't know the first thing about spells. Only spell I ever crafted is on this." Reaching into her demonic aura, she pulled out Sparda.

Nero's breath caught, and Kyrie and Credo both gasped. "Is that..."

"Eeyup," Applejack replied. "Grandpa's sword." She laid it on the ground, looking at Kyrie. "The focus of yer faith."

Disbelieving, Kyrie reached for the sword. Before her hand could touch it, the fleshy part of the blade opened, revealing large teeth as it lunged for her.

"Sh'rak!" Applejack commanded, and the blade returned to its quiescent state. "The schools I went to...Sparda was a huge celebrity, and everyone was wanting to touch it, or use it in rituals, or try ta wield it...so I got some witch friends of mine to cast a spell on it. If anyone without Sparda's blood tries to touch it, the sword tries to eat them unless its chosen wielder - that's me - commands it to stop in demonic." Picking up the sword, she admired its glow. "The spell had another effect." Grinning, she tossed the sword - blade first - at Nero.

Without thinking, Nero raised his hand to ward off the sword, which flipped in mid air so the handle landed gently in his demonic arm. He felt his arm pulse in resonance with the blade, and the demonic aura surrounding the blade became tinted slightly pale blue, the same as the light shining from within his arm. "What?"

"When one with Sparda's blood holds it," Applejack explained, "the aura reflects their power." Smiling, she held up her hoof.

Sparda leapt out of Nero's hand, landing in Applejack's hoof. The blade's aura became tinted orange, the same as her coat. She then passed the blade to the white haired man in the red coat. The aura became tinted red. When the last man took it, the tint was dark blue.

Applejack then took the sword back, sheathing it in her aura again. "A lot ta take in, I'm sure." Before Nero could react, she spun to face Kyrie. "Don't."

"I-wha?" she asked.

"You're a true believer," Applejack replied. "I can see it in ya. Ya genuinely believe everything you've been told about how great Sparda was, and ya believe in yer worship of him. Ya knew his sword on sight, and ya can see plainly now how the four of us are his blood, and ya were about ta start worshiping Nero. Trust me, don't. If he's anything like Grandpa, he'd find it offensive, both from being worshiped, and that it's you - the girl he likes - puttin' him on such a high pedestal. He's still Nero, and you're still you. Don't go changin' that."

Kyrie glanced away, blushing. Applejack had apparently read her like a book.

"Introductions now," Applejack decided. "Ah'm Applejack. This here is my Pa, Dante." She gestured to the man in red. "And this is Uncle Virgil, yer pa." She gestured to the man in blue.

"My...father?" Nero asked, shocked.

"Sorry I haven't been around for most of your life," Virgil replied. "After the Order of the Sword kidnapped you, I spent most of that time dead." He jerked a thumb at Applejack. "Though thanks to her, I got better."

A swarm of electrified bats descended, fusing together to form a voluptuous woman dressed in tight black leather. "We're clear," she said calmly, taking a seat. "Nobody's followed us."

"Good," Applejack replied, drawing forth Sparda again and holding it over the cauldron. Energy dripped from the blade in pure white teardrops, falling into the mixture within. Sheathing the blade, Applejack then pulled out a massive ladle and stirred. "Soup's on everybody!"

"Soup?" Nero asked, surprised. "You were making soup?"

Dante grinned as he passed around bowls. "Much better than soup!" he said eagerly. "Applejack's Jambalaya! It's to die for!"

"I can confirm that," Virgil said ironically, holding his bowl out as Applejack started serving.

"If'n yer brother promises ta be civil, you can ungag him so he can have some," Applejack told Kyrie as she gave the girl two bowls.

Curious, Nero took a bite from his bowl.

Moments later, Nevan was chuckling and shaking her head. "Someone missed teaching you manners, boy," she scolded.

"They tried," Kyrie said quietly, apparently still somewhat nervous about what she still viewed as the 'sacred' company she was dining with. "He never listened."

"Are we sure he isn't your son?" Virgil joked, elbowing Dante, who was - if anything - eating even more messily than Nero.

As laughter echoed around the campfire, Applejack turned to Nero. "I get that the tale I've told is rather...hard ta swallow, unlike the jambalaya." She ignored the chuckles of the gathered Devil Arms. "I ain't askin' ya ta just take my word for it, though."

Nero paused in his eating long enough that Kyrie was able to reach in with a napkin and wipe his face, making Nevan chuckle. "You aren't?" Nero asked.

"Nope," Applejack replied. "Just askin' ya ta not close your eyes ta the possibility. We're going in ta shut down the Order o' the Sword's demon experiments. Come with us - all three a' ya - and decide fer yourselves what ta believe, and what ta do about it."

Nero thought about that for a time. "I...I suppose I can do that," he finally replied.

"I shall go as well," Kyrie replied firmly.

Credo groaned around the mouthful of jambalaya Kyrie had just fed him. "As fond of Nero as I am, sister, I'm not about to let you go off alone with him to fight demons any more than I would let you go off alone with him to watch the sunset. You need me as a chaperon."

Applejack laughed. "Well, as long as we're decided-"

"As long as we get seconds!" all three said quickly, startling laughter from the entire circle as they held out their bowls.

Revelations

Once everyone had finished eating, the group made their way to Fortuna Castle, making a brief stop for Nero to pick up his preferred weapon, the motorized blade Red Queen. "Nice sword," Dante commented, slinging Rebellion over his shoulder.

"Bigger isn't necessarily better," Nero countered, hefting Red Queen.

"How did my son grow up to be my brother?" Virgil asked ruefully.

Applejack glanced around nervously. "Well..."

"What?" Virgil demanded.

"Well, based on what I've been getting from the sword..." She shifted nervously as the Eye of Sparda appeared in her demonic aura briefly. "Well...when he wasn't fighting or researching, Sparda was like that too."

Virgil's eyes went flat. "So the attitude is genetic and I'm the weird one?"

"Basically," Applejack admitted, causing both Dante and Nero to laugh.

"And this is the family Kyrie wants to join," Credo muttered under his breath.

"Get used to it," Nevan said in his ear. "Also, get moving."

Kyrie smiled at the interplay, her hand going fondly to the pendant Nero had gotten for her, which now hung around her neck.

As they returned to the city, they found the populace under attack by a swarm of minor demons, creatures of sackcloth stitched together with blades.

"Scarecrows," Virgil muttered, drawing his blade.

"Looks like we've arrived just in the nick of time," Dante joked. "Know what that makes us?"

"Big damn heroes," Nero finished, bracing his blade easily as he revved the motor, the blade glowing with heat.

Virgil and Credo pointedly remained silent.

Grinning, Applejack held up her hoof. Nevan flashed as she shifted to Weapon form, spinning in her hoof. "Let's rock!"

The people of the city could only stand and stare in amazement as the power of four Dark Knights tore through the Scarecrows like kindling. It was hard for anyone to tell which did more damage to the beasts: Dante switching between Rebellion, Alastor, and Agni and Rudra; Virgil wielding his shifting katana and Ifrit; the sweep of Nevan's blade in Applejack's hooves, alternating with shots from Artemis and hoof strikes with Beowulf; or Nero switching between slashing with Red Queen and smashing with his demonic buster arm. It was easy to see, however, that Credo was seriously outclassed by all of them. However, it did leave Kyrie feeling perfectly safe going around the battlefield, tending to the wounded, the panic stricken, and the lost.

"It's alright," she told everyone as she guided them into the safety of the forest. "The Children of Sparda have come to save us. All will be well soon. Go to safety."

While this did get the innocent civilians out of the way, it also resulted in several calls of "Praise to Sparda" and similar such prayers, much to Dante, Virgil, and Applejack's annoyance.

"All the civilians are safe," Kyrie said as the last of the first group of Scarecrows fell.

"The scores currently put Applejack in the lead, closely followed by Nero, with Dante and Virgil tied for third," Nevan said from the bats fluttering overhead. "Credo is far behind in last."

"You're keeping score in the middle of a crisis of this scale?" Credo demanded angrily.

"For you, this is a crisis of unimaginable proportions," Applejack explained. "This is our third."

"These crises are the only time enough demons show up that we can actually keep score," Dante pointed out.

Credo glowered, but then turned back to the matter at hand.

As they progressed through the city, the group took a stop inside a cathedral so Kyrie could rest. While there, Nero found a sphere resting in a skull filled with blue fire. It seemed to be powering something. However, when he picked it up with his Buster arm, he absorbed it, and the machine stopped. "Okay," he said, looking a bit freaked out. "I think I'm beginning to believe what you're saying about the demon research."

With the new power the Evil Legacy awoke inside him, Nero was able to use his Buster arm to drag himself around the city. This would prove useful, as he wasn't nearly as physically fit as the others, and couldn't jump as well.

After progressing through the city towards the Castle, the group reached the Ferrum Hills. Nero paused, as he could see that Kyrie was beginning to get out of breath from struggling to keep up. "Maybe you should wait with the civilians," he suggested in concern.

"No," Kyrie insisted. "I...I need to see the truth."

Applejack chuckled. "Well ain't she determined?" she joked. "Well, there's no need for ya ta walk. Griffon!"

Nero stepped back as the green magic circle appeared in the air before Applejack, expanding to reveal the thunderbird. "Mistress?' Griffon asked.

"Get big enough so Kyrie can ride you," she said, gesturing to the heavily breathing girl. "Also, take orders on where ta shoot from her. That way she can contribute."

"As you command," Griffon agreed, expanding until he was six feet long from beak to tail, with a 12 foot wingspan. "Climb aboard," he instructed.

Smiling in relief, Kyrie clambered onto the bird's back.

Right at that moment, a massive beast of flame leapt out of a massive pillar, setting fire to a score of empty huts. It seemed to be a demonic centaur wreathed in flame, a flaming sword held in one hand, and wings of flame on his back.

"Berial!" Ifrit called out. "Long time no see!"

The beast paused, suddenly looking rather nervous. "Dad?" it demanded. "What're you doing here? I thought you set up shop on Mallet Island?"

"Dad?" Beowulf demanded in shock.

Ifrit laughed. "Mallet Island blew up when Mundus tried to use it to get out of hell again! Sparda's kids here sent him right back."

Berial snorted. "You helped, I see. What could they possibly offer you that is worth betraying the demon world?"

"Three things," Ifrit replied. "One, between the three - now four - of them, they wield more of Sparda's power than Sparda did originally." The nervousness was plain on Berial's face. "Two, these guys are fun! It never gets boring with them!"

"That reminds me!" Agni proclaimed. "We should serenade Miss Kyrie for Young Master's nephew!"

"A capital idea!" Rudra proclaimed.

"See what I mean?" Ifrit pointed out as Nero blanched and Applejack laughed.

Berial scratched the back of his head. "I suppose...but what's the third thing?"

"The best damn jambalaya in any realm, ever!" Ifrit said eagerly. "I've got an extra bowl here still warm. Try it!" Ifrit's flames released a bowl of jambalaya in Berial's hand.

Berial stared down at the bowl for a time, then took a taste. His eyes opened wide, and he began to devour the dish, bowl and all.

"See what I mean?" Ifrit asked.

"Well...I suppose..." Berial allowed. "But...to give up freedom for it-"

"Berial," Ifrit interrupted, "why do demons want to come to the human world?"

"What?"

"What are the three things demons want from the human world that are hard to get in the demon world?"

Berial was silent for a time. "...the food is better...there's more room...and hell is boring."

Dante's eyes went flat. "Seriously?" he demanded.

"Well, the Children of Sparda go all over the place," Ifrit explained. "They are never boring. And do you really think you can find food better than that?"

Berial was silent, plainly conflicted.

"Tell ya what," Applejack piped up. "If'n ya want, I can fight ya first, prove my superiority, and then ya can become mah Devil Arm! I ain't got a fire element yet." She thought for a bit. "Lightning, light, ice...yeah, fire'll round that out nicely."

"Why would I want to be your Devil Arm?" Berial demanded.

"I'm the one who makes the jambalaya," Applejack replied.

"Have at you!" Berial proclaimed eagerly, lunging for her.

The rest of the group sat off to the side of the battle as Applejack and Berial dueled, watching in interest. "Is...is that really all demons want from Earth?" Credo asked.

"Demons strong enough to be Devil Arms, yes," Ifrit replied.

"For the rest, it's because it's easier to grow stronger on Earth than in hell for demons," Alastor added.

"Wait..." Virgil began cautiously. "Does that mean...the reason Sparda was seen as a traitor to demons...was because they thought he was trying to keep all the good Earth stuff for himself?"

The Devil Arms were conspicuously silent.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was an explosion from the battlefield. When the smoke cleared, Applejack stood victorious, Berial on her hip opposite Artemis, a flaming lash. "I got's me a lasso!" she called happily. "Yee-haw!"

A glowing sphere became visible near the gate as its energy faded. Curious, Dante approached it. As he seized it, the light flared, and became a rather frightening weapon strapped to his back.

Dante grinned widely as the arms flared, revealing energy blades. "Come on, let's go," he said.

Virgil stared at him. "You...aren't going to say something wildly inappropriate that I'm going to need to smack you upside the head for?"

"Not when young women and children are present," Dante replied.

Virgil grunted as the group made their way to Fortuna Castle. "Perhaps you're more mature than I-"

"I'm saving that for when I demonstrate this weapon for Lady!" Dante added proudly.

"...never mind..."

Castle Crashers

As the group entered Fortuna Castle, Credo stepped up to Nero to raise an issue. "I find it rather surprising that you have led credence to what these strangers have told us so easily," he pointed out. "It's a rather incredulous tale."

"I don't believe them entirely," Nero replied. "I'm convinced my arm is because I'm part demon, but I'm not convinced yet that means I'm of the blood of Sparda. I'm also not convinced, even if I am, that that means these are the good guys. I don't want to believe Sanctus plans to create an occult disaster just to strengthen people's faith." He saw Credo's face twitch at the very idea. "But the demonic experimentation...I know it's true."

Credo's eyes widened. "How can you say that?"

"Because you told me so," Nero replied, "though not with words. ...Applejack named you a demon. By what they're saying, that means either they have no idea what you're talking about, your demon power is natural like mine, or the result of the experiments. If it were the first, you'd have angrily denied the possibility that such experiments were happening. If it were the second, you would have been proudly derisive, or at the very least deny any knowledge. ...but you were silent, barely reacting, except when they brought up Sanctus' plans regarding the Savior."

Credo remained silent for a time. "...since when are you so perceptive and thoughtful?" he finally asked.

"I'm not, really," Nero replied. "But I had to know you well. I'm dating your sister, after all."

Credo managed a wry chuckle. "I can't refute your logic, or your conclusion," he admitted. "Although why I was told the experiments were being performed - and why I was gifted the power - is very different from what they've been saying."

"Then we'll just have to see who has the right of it," Nero concluded.

"...that's the other reason I'm coming along," Credo admitted.

"You two done?" Applejack demanded. "Pa and Uncle are catching up ta yer score, cuz, and you could use all the bonus points ya can get Credo!"

Nero grinned. "I'm not about to fall behind!" he declared, charging in.

Applejack turned to Credo. "Ya know, you could tap yer demon power."

Credo shook his head. "No. I was given that power to serve the Order. But you tell me the Order is a lie. I will not use it until I know the truth."

Applejack shrugged. "Fair enough. But yer not gonna pull ahead in score with that attitude!" Turning, she lunged into the demons with Berial spinning around her in a blaze.

Credo shrugged as he drew his own blade. "I care not for my score," he muttered, charging in to join the fight.

After a time, Griffon swooped in with Kyrie on his back. "The outside's clear," she said softly.

"There were a couple of new enemies made of metal and ice," Griffon added. "They were tasty."

"Oh, so he's allowed to eat enemies!" Cerberus complained.

"Ah don't taste what he eats," Applejack pointed out.

"...unfair," Cerberus whimpered.

Before long, they encountered a dark skinned woman with white hair, crystal blue eyes, and wearing an excessively skimpy white and blue outfit. She seemed to be having the time of her life as she shredded through several demons.

"Hi Auntie!" Applejack called out happily.

The woman stumbled mid swing, but recovered. "I don't-" she began.

"Nero," Applejack said, turning, "this is Trish, yer new step-mom. But she's currently disguised as a Gloria."

'Gloria' facepalmed. "Dante, didn't you explain to her what an undercover assignment is about?"

"I did explain!" Dante complained.

"Ah just didna give a damn!" Applejack replied smugly. "Sides, we had to change the plan on the fly," she added, pointing to Nero, Kyrie, and Credo.

Trish frowned. "I see."

"Like the new look," Virgil pointed out in a deceptive monotone that set Trish to blushing.

"How did you know it was me?" Trish demanded.

"Yer demon aura's no different."

"You sure you want to join this family?" Credo whispered to Kyrie.

Kyrie was silent for a time. "...I wonder if I could pull off that look," she mumbled under her breath.

Nero turned bright red.

Trish sighed. "Well, as long as we're tossing plans out the window..." Turning, she blasted a demon with lightning instead of attacking it with kicks and her blades. "Hmm...more efficient, but not nearly as satisfying..."

Chuckling, Dante led the way as the group went further into the castle.

On reaching the library, the group was confronted by an armored, winged figure carrying a massive lance and shield.

"A crafted puppet," Virgil stated. "A suit of armor infused with demonic energy, and powered by several demon souls."

"You seem...to know a great deal about such things," Credo murmured.

"It's an imperfect process," Virgil admitted. "The ones who turned me into a construct only needed my soul to power it."

Nero stared at him. "But...you were changed back? Got your own body back?"

"Not exactly," Virgil replied as the armor marched towards him. "Applejack was somehow able to use Sparda's sealed sword to craft a runic circle that transformed the construct body into a form that mimicked my original human body, complete with the ability to return to a demon form."

"It helped that Sparda inscribed your genetic codes on your two halves of the perfect amulet," Nevan pointed out.

As the armor prepared for battle, Virgil grinned. "I suppose it's my turn to offer a show," he said, his body flaring dark blue.

When the light faded, Nelo Angelo faced off against the possessed armor. "Show me what you've got!" he commanded, his voice now deep and echoing.

The armor lunged forward with its lance, but Angelo easily side stepped it, deflecting the weapon upward with his wide blade, wielding it as easily as Virgil wielded his katana. When the knight raised its shield, Angelo, leapt upward to deliver an electrified punch to its helmet, releasing a blast of fire from Ifrit as he struck.

As the armor staggered back, Angelo vanished in white light, appearing behind the armor with his sword reversed, impaling it through the middle. Twisting his blade, he split the armor down the middle, causing it to fall to pieces, revealing the inner workings that contained both the magic and the demon souls, allowing it to function.

Virgil resumed his human form. "That was quick," he muttered.

Three more armors suddenly appeared.

"I call these ones!" Dante proclaimed, activating his own Devil Trigger before charging in. Drawing Rebellion in one hand and Alastor in the other, Lucifer triggering from his back to strike with its own blades at the third as Dante charged full force into the fight.

Kyrie glanced back and forth between the brothers. "Do they always show off this much?" she asked Trish.

Trish sighed, shaking her head. "Always."

When the last armor fell - Dante took much longer per armor to finish them off - they dissolved, and a gate opened, revealing more machinery powered by a blue flame contained in a glass cage.

"Ah don't suppose that's somethin' else to empower your Devil Buster arm?" Applejack asked hopefully.

Approaching it, Nero removed the device from the machinery, and it shut down. "...nope," he replied.

"It's an Anima Mercury," Trish explained. "An artificial soul created with alchemy that brings life to the inanimate."

Applejack twitched slightly. "Ya mean...it's a key?"

"...yes," Trish replied.

Applejack's twitch became more pronounced. Opening her mouth, a stream of vicious obscenity erupted from her mouth in a torrent.

"I didn't teach her those!" Dante and all of Applejack's Devil Arms - save Berial - proclaimed simultaneously. Everyone else stared with hanging jaws.

Cooking with Magic

Applejack managed to calm down from her expressive expletive frustrations, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that," she allowed. "Just...after the whole keys thing with Temen-ni-gru and Mallet Island...I'm getting a little tired of meaningless back trackin'."

"I suppose so," Kyrie allowed, having managed to cover her ears as she had recognized the beginnings of a tirade with the deep breath.

"Besides," Nevan pointed out, "holding it in his possession seems to be passing the animation capability into Nero's Devil Buster. As long as he's carrying it, he can use his demonic energy to activate various mechanisms."

Applejack blinked. "Ya mean...it's a power up? Not a key?"

"Indeed."

Applejack glanced away, blushing. "Aw, horse apples," she muttered. "Now I look like a right ninny, don't I? Feel like a wallow hog in a beauty contest. Where can I put my face?"

"In a bowl of jambalaya?" Kyrie suggested eagerly.

Applejack smirked. "Sure, I'll make some more when we next get to a rest point."

Using the new power, Nero activated a Gyro Blade and made it smash into a sealed door, breaking open a new path. "Let's just keep going for now," he offered.

Gyro blades proved quite useful in further battles with minor demons, as once charged up through rapid weapon strikes, the shredding force released as it blasted forward tore most minor demons to ribbons.

"I wish you'd do that less, Nero," Nevan complained. "It's hard to know how to score it, especially as you aren't the only one charging the blades with weapon strikes!"

"I don't think you really need to worry about that," Alastor pointed out. "If you count Griffon's kills as Kyrie's - which you should since Applejack told him to obey her - she's already tied with Dante and Virgil."

"Still in last, big boy?" Trish asked Credo teasingly.

"I do not care about score," he growled. "I care about protecting those people who look to me for that. I could care less who destroys the demons as long as they don't threaten people anymore."

"It's his first incursion," Applejack explained.

"I'm catching up to you, Nero!" Kyrie called eagerly.

"And she's tryin' to hard ta impress him," Applejack added.

After making their way through the castle for a while and solving a puzzle involving positioning Gyro blades on switches - which Applejack was able to make go much faster by suggesting to Nero he use his Devil Buster to tear gates down instead of taking the roundabout route of figuring out how to open them - they wound up in an interior courtyard filled with snow, wind, and playful laughter.

In the center of the courtyard, two Ruskalas - resembling glowing demonic Yuki-onna - were...well, Applejack told herself they were dancing, although it didn't look like any dance she'd ever seen before.

"Something tells me this is...inappropriate for Kyrie and me ta be watchin," she muttered.

"I'd say so," Credo muttered, covering Kyrie's eyes before the ice maidens got too frisky.

"They aren't real," Nevan said quietly. "They're lures, for a giant demonic angler fish."

An angry snarl greeted that statement as the beast lunged out. It resembled a massive white bullfrog with teeth. The two Ruskala hung from antennae much like an angler fish's light.

"You're smarter than you look!" the frog snarled. "But not nearly smart enough! I am no fish!"

"We might as well be shooting you in a barrel, though," Dante said as he drew Agni and Rudra.

"You dare stand up against Bael?" the beast demanded.

Virgil equipped Ifirt as he worked the kinks out of his muscles to Bael's left. "Won't even be difficult."

Appljeack grinned widely as she swung Berial about to Bael's right. "Time ta really test you out, Berial! Fire beats ice, after all!"

"I shall sear the flesh from the bones of this spineless worm!" Berial proclaimed eagerly.

Nero stood in front, igniting Red Queen's edge with its flame. "I heard frog legs taste like chicken...let's see if that's true."

As Griffon expanded overhead with Kyrie and Trish on his back, Kyrie looked beseechingly to Trish. "Quip, please?" she whispered hopefully.

Trish rolled her eyes as she funneled her electricity into Griffon. "Do you know what happens when a demonic toad is struck by lightning?" she asked.

"Can't say I do," Kyrie replied. Then she grinned. "Shall we find out?"

Credo pouted in the corner, feeling left out.

Bael glanced around at the flame and lightning arsenal surrounding him. "This...this isn't fair!"

Credo's eyes lit up as he stepped up behind Nero and leveling his sword at the beast. "Sorry," he said softly. "We don't give a fuck."

"We did that joke already," Nevan told him.

Credo went back to the corner to pout.

The battle with Bael was quick, brutal, and hot. The flame energy release from all the fire element Devil Arms melted away the snow, while the lightning energy obliterated the gathered storm. While most of Bael's body was torn to shreds, one of the Ruskana was absorbed by Nero's Devil Buster, allowing it to manifest a stronger energy field.

While there were several other demonic frogs like Bael on the other side of the rift in the dimensional fabric at the opposite end of the courtyard from where they entered, they proceeded to run away rather than racing to avenge their brother. The rift sealed itself shut.

Applejack walked up to one of the pieces of the demon where it was still smoking and took a nibble. She licked her lips as she tasted the meat, savoring the flavor. "Hmm...safe for human consumption...tastes a little like chicken...need to use a few different seasonings, but I can do this." Turning to the circle of flame left in the center of the courtyard, she pulled out the massive cauldron from before. "Get comfy, everybody!" she said eagerly. "Demon frog jambalaya coming right up!"

"Demon...frog?" Kyrie asked nervously.

"Meat's meat," Applejack replied. "Once it's dead, what's the difference? It ain't like it's human meat, and I ain't about ta waste it all. I'm runnin' short on shrimp and sausage as is."

Trish chuckled. "Don't worry," she told Kyrie. "Applejack takes her cooking seriously. If she says it's safe for you to eat, then you can trust it will be delicious."

As Applejack cooked up a quick meal - speeding up the simmering of ingredients with gouts of Berial's flame - the others gathered around to warm up and await a scrumptious repast.

Truth Will Out

After the group had finished eating the jambalaya - which proved to be delicious, as expected - Dante noticed a glowing sphere having removed itself from the wall...which was now revealed to be another demon gate. Holding out his hand, the sphere of light flew to him and took shape in his hand as a suitcase covered in runic circuitry. At the center of the front was an emblem of a three eyed demon.

"What's this?" he asked curiously.

"That is Pandora's Box," Virgil replied. "The demonic version. Unlike the old myth, this one is a weapon. It can transform into a number of different forms to inflict massive damage on enemies. The more damage it inflicts, the more powerful the forms grow. When it builds up enough energy, it can be released in a massive destructive blast."

"How do you know so much?" Dante asked.

"Someone has to do the research for our work," Virgil replied snidely. "And Applejack's in school most of the time."

"Valid point," Applejack admitted. Dante grumbled under his breath, and turned dismissively away, making Kyrie giggle.

Continuing onward, the group entered an old graveyard. Cloaked demons began flying around, the only thing visible of them under the cloaks being red insectoid faces with blue eyes and large red claws.

"What're those?" Applejack demanded in confusion. "They look kinda like Hell Vanguards..."

"Mephistos," Credo replied. "They're really only giant insects, but getting their cloaks off-"

There was a swooping sound as Griffon dove, followed by two loud crunching snaps. Griffon settled on a fence as he chewed. "Rather crunchy," he commented, "with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. A bit like cream filled cookies. Would go good with milk or hot cider. Good idea to eat them, Kyrie."

Everyone turned to the woman who had given that order. She blushed. "Well, Credo said they were bugs...and he is a bird..."

Applejack and Dante snickered a bit at that. Nero grinned widely. "Good thinking," he complimented her, making her blush brighter.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Virgil growled. "I'd rather get this over with sooner than later."

"Want to show Trish how much you like her new look?" Dante teased. Virgil promptly backhanded him across the graveyard.

Reentering the castle, the group fought their way through more possessed armors, but they proved little threat, especially with how vastly outnumbered the foes were when they showed up.

"Hey Pa?" Applejack whispered.

"Yes?" Dante replied.

"Next big incursion...could we take it? Just the two of us?" She glanced around at the gathered group. "While family outings like this are nice...fightin' demons just ain't as fun when we outnumber 'em and outpower 'em, ya know?"

Nodding, Dante ruffled her mane. "Promise, AJ. Next big incursion, it'll be just you, me, and whoever recruits us that we leave in the dust."

Smiling, Applejack nuzzled Dante...just as Nero completed a Gyro Blade puzzle that sent the entire group falling towards the basement. They fell very slowly, however, as Griffon simply expanded to catch them all, hovering slowly down to the lower levels.

Once at the bottom, Griffon ate two more Mephistos, allowing Nero to acquire a Wing Talisman, which activated jump plates...which were useless to the group as long as they had Griffon.

"I think Griffon should stay unsummoned for that next trip unless we need him," Dante whispered. Applejack nodded in response as the thunderbird lifted them back to a higher level.

The group continued onward along available paths. With Griffon eating the Mephistos as soon as they appeared, the rest of the group focused on taking down the Scarecrows, possessed armors, and other enemies that showed up. Before long, clues led them to behind a massive painting of Sanctus and into an underground laboratory.

As soon as she saw this, Nevan whispered something in Applejack's ear. Applejack's eyes widened in response. "...Nero? You go on ahead. The rest of us'll catch up."

"Eh?" Nero asked in surprise. The others also turned to her in confusion.

"Ya want answers, right?" Applejack asked. "They're up ahead. Best if ya see them for yerself...without the rest of us around ta hold ya back or push ya onward. Make up yer own mind about what ya learn on yer own."

Nero stared at her for a time, but then nodded. "A-alright," he agreed.

As he turned to continue, he wasn't sure why he was listening to her so willingly. It wasn't that he believed her story completely, not yet. And it wasn't any sense of familial ties. What could possibly make him so willing to do whatever she said? Was it how cute she was? No, Kyrie was breathtakingly beautiful, but never managed to bend him over backwards like that.

...it was the jambalaya. Eating it had filled him in a way that wasn't at all related to food. It had felt warm...like family. Something he hadn't felt for a while. And he could far too easily picture Applejack responding to a refusal by saying, "Do it or no supper."

After a time, Applejack nodded. "Alright. Now we follow him," she said simply.

"Huh?" Kyrie asked. "But I thought you said-"

"I sent him on ahead because Yamato is ahead," Applejack replied. "Nero needs to encounter it first, and alone. It's the only way he'll understand what's really going on. We've given him just enough time to get up there, so now we need ta go meet up with him."

"Why do we need to meet up with him?" Credo asked.

"Cause in all likelihood, Yamato's gonna activate Nero's Devil Trigger," Applejack explained. "And with all the demon power he's absorbed from all of us without any way to safely vent, if he burns himself out the way Pa and I did during our first Devil Trigger, he'll likely die. So we need ta get Kyrie there ta calm him down so he can control himself."

"What can I do?" Kyrie asked.

"No idea," Applejack admitted. "Hopefully, you'll know when we get there."

With those words in their ears, the group quickly made their way downward after Nero, following the trail of destruction he'd left behind.

At one point, they reached a room that required they play some sort of dice game to move a piece representing their group across a board in order to unseal a gate. Applejack used Beowulf's Sacred Light to blast a hole in the wall directly above the sealed door, and the group rode Griffon through the hole.

Behind them, the dice and statue pouted.

On the other side of the wall, they found Nero standing on one side of a broken glass wall to one side, his eyes glowing red. Yamato sparkled in his hand as a blue silhouette of Sparda surrounded his body. Massive wounds across his entire form were rapidly healing. Across the room, a figure that seemed to resemble a humanoid ladybug someone tried to make look angelic by covering it with white feathers huddled, staring at Nero in disbelief as he staggered towards it.

"How?" the figure demanded. "Not even I succeeded in restoring it!"

"From that day forth..." Nero spoke, his voice echoing, not seeming to address anyone. "My arm changed...and a voice echoed...Power...Give me more...power!"

"What?" the creature demanded in confusion, slinking away.

"And if I become a demon, so be it!" Nero proclaimed as power erupted from his body, sending the demonic creature blasting through the walls to vanish into the sky. "I will endure the exile..." His voice grew softer. "Anything to protect her..."

Before anyone could stop her, Kyrie leapt off Griffon's back and rushed to Nero's side as his power started to flare wildly out of control. "Nero, I'm here," she whispered, cupping his face in her hands. "I'm safe...you can stop now...you can rest..."

He stared at her, hearing her voice but plainly not seeing her. "K...Kyrie...?"

Gently, Kyrie lowered Nero's head to rest against her bosom, gently stroking his hair. His arms wrapped gingerly around her, Yamato vanishing into the Devil Buster, absorbed, as the demon power slowly subsided. Nero then slumped into unconsciousness.

Applejack nodded solemnly as she watched this. "Nero's got his answer now," she muttered softly. She then turned towards Credo, who was staring at the tableau, his face unreadable. "Do you have yours?"

Credo turned to look at her. "What...what was that?"

"Realization," Nevan explained, manifesting to lean against a wall. "Sparda explained it to me once. The power of his bloodline - the Dark Knights - is immense...but few of the bloodline could access as much as a fraction of it. In order to unlock the true power, they need to sink beyond the moment of death, entering a state between life and void...and in that state, discover the truth of themselves. In doing so, they will find the answer of why they desire that power. For Sparda, he discovered it when he chose Earth over Hell, fighting to protect the mortal realm from demons who sought to despoil it. For Dante, it was trying to protect Applejack from Virgil." Seeing Credo's confused expression, she waved her hand. "Don't ask."

"For me, it was when the Order of the Sword stole my son away," Virgil said softly, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Mine happened in Hell, when I wanted ta prove myself ta Pa, that I was worthy o' bein' his little girl," Applejack mumbled, pulling her hat down. "Had a bit o' help unlocking it from Sparda himself, so I kinda skipped over the having ta be almost dead step...though I nearly killed myself venting the power before it could kill me."

"And now Nero has had his," Nevan concluded. "And he told you himself what his power is for...to protect Kyrie."

Credo was silent as he took this all in. "And...what does that mean? For Nero and my sister?"

"It means that there is literally nothing Nero can't do, if it means keeping her safe," Dante explained. "And I feel real sorry for anyone who tries to keep him away from her, as long as she wants him near."

"If'n yer worried about 'em getting up ta somethin' they shouldn't, don't," Applejack said, interpreting Credo's hesitation. "I'll keep 'em on their best behavior."

Credo turned to her. "I...have your word on that?"

Nodding, Applejack drew Sparda forth. "On Grandpa's sword," she agreed.

Nodding, Credo's body flared with light. When the light faded, he had changed. Most of his body was covered with white feathers, except for the center of his torso along his sternum, his arms below his elbows, and his legs below his knees. Those areas were covered with blue scales. His feet now ended in eagle-like talons. The sword in his right hand had expanded to massive proportions, and a huge shield was gripped lightly in his left. Angelic wings spread from his back, and his face had transformed into an avian war mask.

Kneeling, he laid his massive blade across Sparda. "And on the sword of the Legendary Dark Knight," he intoned ritualistically, "I so swear my blade is yours to command. Keep your faith with me, and so too shall I with you."

Sparda's eye stone flared brightly as the oaths were recognized.

Nodding, Applejack returned Sparda to the dimensional pocket in her demonic aura where it normally rested. "Ya can return to your human form, right?"

In response, Credo resumed his human shape, releasing the demonic/angelic transformation.

"Good," she confirmed. "Now help us get Nero somewhere he can sleep this off."

Nodding, Credo scooped the unconscious Nero into his arms. "If we go this way, we'll be able to open a path through the falls," he explained, heading for the door. "Griffon can give us a shortcut up there."

Following Credo's directions, the group arrived at the top of a cliff overlooking a vast, primeval forest. With no explanation for the situation - and nowhere safer to rest - the group set up camp until Nero awoke.

Knuckle Up

It was late in the morning by the time Nero awoke. "Kyrie!" he gasped out as soon as he awakened.

"I'm here," she replied, taking his hand as she knelt over him.

He blinked for a time, his mind still out of sorts from the demonic power that had flared inside of him. "Where...are we?"

"On a cliff, overlooking a forest," she replied. "We stopped here to let you rest up and recover."

"What...happened?" Nero asked, shaking his head as he struggled to wakefulness.

"From what I've been told, that was your Devil Trigger," Credo said, stepping up beside him to help him sit up. "The first transformation is, apparently, always rather rough on the body."

"Kyrie!" Applejack called out. "Thought ya wanted to learn how ta cook!"

"Coming!" Kyrie called out. She then turned back to Nero. "I'll be right back. I hope my cooking is half as good as your cousin's." She then turned and raced to where Applejack was preparing breakfast.

Nero sat up and took stock of his surroundings. "So...anything else of interest happen while I was out?"

"Dante decided to explore ahead a ways," Credo replied. "He isn't back yet-"

"Whoo!" Dante called out as he fell from the sky to land heavily on the ground nearby. Biometal gauntlets, greaves, a face mask, and winged back armor adorned his frame as he stood up. "What a ride!" he said happily as he shook himself off, the mask sliding back. "What's for breakfast?"

"Where have you been?" Virgil demanded sourly. "And where'd you get the new Devil Arm?"

"Scouted out our path forward," he replied easily. "Found a hell gate. Killed the demon that came out of it. Got the Devil Arm that was powering it. Broke the gate to pieces."

"Soup's on, everybody!" Applejack called out as she and Kyrie began dishing out some spiced porridge and bacon.

"Tell the whole story over breakfast," Nevan insisted as everyone took their bowls and plates.

Once everyone had their breakfast and was eating, Dante began his explanation. "Well, I was getting bored waiting for Nero to wake up, so I decided to scout ahead. Found a rather roundabout path to where we needed to go, though I made a straight one on the way back. Found a hell gate at the end..."

As Dante approached the hell gate, a massive serpent covered in seeds flowed through the air above, disgorging seeds towards the ground. Since this was obviously a demon, Dante decided to practice with Pandora by shooting the seeds out of the sky. The snake screamed in response as the seeds exploded. "My children!" it screamed in rage.

"Pull!" Dante called back, swiveling Pandora around and switching from PF013: Epidemic to PF124: Hatred as he slung the massive bazooka onto his shoulder.

"How dare you!" the serpent demanded as its head opened up, revealing a strange looking woman in a flower.

Dante looked up. "Well? Aren't you going to fire off some more?"

"You dare treat my children like skeet to be shot from the sky?" the creature demanded.

Dante smirked up at her. "If they're going to be as ugly as you, I'd say I'm doing them a favor."

Roaring in rage, the creature lunged for Dante.

Smirking, Dante shifted from the bazooka form of PF124: Hatred to the laser cannon form of PF398: Revenge. Since the beast was coming right at him and had to swim through the air, the laser hit dead on, and the beast continued to scream in pain as it pulled away, the laser roasting a great deal of the beast's hide as the curve of its body exposed an entire side to the laser.

Grinning widely, Dante changed Pandora into the mobile weapons platform of PF594: Argument, firing a massive barrage of missiles at the beast and unintentionally obliterating a whole swath of the forest leading all the way up to the cliff where the others were still camped out.

The beast screamed in agony as it crashed to the ground. "My forest! My children!"

Smirking, Dante flipped Pandora open, releasing its light to obliterate the snake and a good swath of the demonic forest. Once he snapped it closed, a sphere of light rose out of the hell gate as it closed. Taking it, the new Devil Arm - called Gilgamesh - bonded to him. He then used it to obliterate the hell gate. He then made his way back to the cliff.

Everyone stared at Dante as he finished. "By the way," he concluded, tossing a seed to Nero, "thought this might be useful to you."

Nero caught the seed with his demonic arm, and it was absorbed.

"No idea what it'll do for you, but figured it could help," Dante added.

"You realize the kills don't count for your score if we aren't with you," Nevan pointed out.

"Dammit!"

Many of those around the breakfast rock got a laugh at Dante's frustrations.

With the snake beast - whose name they'd never learned - dead, the forest was dying around them as they made their way through, and no minor demons confronted them, allowing them to make good time. Part way through the forest, however, Applejack spoke up. "Question."

"Yes?" Credo replied.

"Well...there are three o' these artificial hell gates, right?" she asked.

"That's correct," Credo replied.

"So...we've broken 'em all now, right?"

"Yeah," Dante replied.

"So..." Applejack began, "...don't that mean all that's left is confronting Sanctus and whoever he's got left on his side, and then breakin' the 'Savior'?"

Trish nodded. "That's the last stage of the plan, yes."

"Then wouldn't it make more sense to have Credo tell us where their home base is, ride Griffon there, and fight them directly?" Applejack concluded.

Everyone stood in silence for a time. Without speaking, Griffon expanded to large enough to carry everyone as Credo leapt onto his head. "Follow my directions," he said simply.

"Just be sure we deal with the true Hellgate afterwards," Virgil pointed out as Griffon took wing.

Bringing Down the House of the False God

As Griffon flew in towards the Headquarters, Trish raised a curious point. "So...how are we going to divide the targets? We've got quite a few."

"Applejack and I will take Agnus down hard," Dante replied. "We need to stop his research fast, before he can get any more results from it."

"Then Nero and I will go after Sanctus," Virgil replied. "It's about time we had some father-son bonding time without the rest of you interrupting."

"I will establish my authority over whatever members of the congregation remain," Credo stated. "I am still a high ranked member of the Order. They may listen to me."

"In that case, Kyrie, Griffon, and I will deal with anyone who doesn't listen to you," Trish told Credo.

"Now that we've got the teams divided up," Applejack asked, "any idea where the big bads'll be?"

"Sanctus will be near the Savior," Credo replied, pointing to the massive statue visible behind headquarters. "He still seeks to activate it. Agnus is probably in his backup research center, at the old Opera House."

"Drop us off on the way, Griffon!" Applejack ordered.

"Yes, Mistress!" Griffon proclaimed, banking as he passed near the Opera House.

Dante and Applejack leapt off, landing easily on the ground below as Griffon headed towards the HQ. Several demons rose to fight them, but the pair made short work of them with the various Devil Arms they'd brought with. When they were swarmed by a large group, Applejack drew forth Nevan and began to play, the music draining the magical energy right out of the enemies before releasing it back at them in a destructive blast. Between that and Pandora, nothing stood in their path.

As they entered the old Opera House, they found Agnus sitting on the stairs up to the stage, going over his notes, the only light in the chamber a spotlight shining on him. He looked up as they entered. "You arrive...far sooner than ant-t-t-ticipated," he stated theatrically. "However, it was my...as-s-sumption that those demons would prove far inferior in the face of your...tactics."

Applejack thought at first that he was being sarcastic, but became distracted when the spotlight went out, only to illuminate Dante, who was standing near a chair. "You summon and kill!" he proclaimed theatrically as music played from nowhere. He kicked the chair across the room. "You summon and kill. I fail to see the logic here." He spun dramatically. "Is...sanity...the price to pay...for power?"

Frowning, Applejack held up a scorecard reading '4.2'.

Lightning flashed, and the spotlight was once more on Agnus, as he held a human skull. "Humans..." he growled. "They are but stubborn and foolish," he continued, enunciating every word slowly. "It takes a journey to hell for them to accept and praise their God. A fact that tickles-" He crushed the skull. "-irony's judgment." He then blew the bone dust from his hand.

Applejack held up two scorecards. The first read '3.9'. The second read '1.5 point penalty for making Shatner's singing look good'.

"Ha!" Dante proclaimed from where he lay at repose. "And your judgments interest me not!" He stood up quickly. "For I am here!" he proclaimed dramatically. "To bring an end! To the ambitions you've wrought with my family's blood and honor!"

Applejack shrugged and held up '5.3'.

"You are too late!" Agnus proclaimed, flying into the spotlight in his demon form. "Our goal's are almost complete, and you are powerless to prevent their completion!" He posed dramatically, his sword clutched in his arms lovingly.

Applejack held up '1.2'.

"Enough!" Agnus complained, slamming his blade to the floor. "If you feel my performance is so bad, then show me better, mare!"

Dante held up a sign saying '3.9'.

Applejack shrugged. "If ya insist." The stage went dark.

Lights flared, creating a human silhouette that was just barely visible. "What fools you have become, blinded by an empty gift," Applejack spake, rolling her words. "You receive a demon's power and believe yourselves angels, free of the chains of mortality...never knowing that you have merely chained yourselves to something far worse." The lights brightened, revealing Applejack in her human form. "Power comes not from blood, or from God, or demons, or any other source beyond its wielder. Power comes from the heart. And you have sacrificed yours."

The lights dimmed again, and she drew forth Sparda, its pulsing red eye the only illumination in the room. "Do you see it?' Applejack asked, her voice changing. "Do you see its beauty? The power grandfather bequeathed to his children? It was a gift of love...something you will never know, having given up your humanity. For to turn your back on your heart...is to become as nothing."

The light flared, and Applejack stood changed. Demonic armor plates covered most of her body, leaving only a gap bare straight down from her neck to her navel almost but not quite exposing salient attributes, and covering all four limbs. Her hair blazed out like liquid sunlight from beneath a scaled, demonic helmet that anchored to the scales over her neck, leaving her fang filled mouth free to speak, a forked tongue visible between fangs. Her horns grew long and sharp from her brow, nearly touching at their apex as they curved, with magic sparking between the tips. Her scorpion tail glowed as the sting swayed back and forth above Sparda, braced on her shoulders. Demonic wings spread from her back, mantled gently around her.

"You think to make light from darkness..." Applejack continued. "But you fail to understand either. One cannot bequeath the other...but one can choose. Sparda chose to wield his darkness for the light, and so became both...and we, his children, are born of both, and wield them together, carrying on the dream he gave us...peace."

The lights went out again, and Sparda's eye slowly closed. "And for you, lost in the darkness...the light will be forever denied you. All that is left is shadows...and in one stroke-"

There was a brief flash, and darkness returned.

"All that is left is silence," Applejack finished. "The eyes stand eternal witness."

As Sparda's eye slowly opened, the lights came up, and Agnus' demonic body slowly fell apart, neatly bisected from crown to crotch.

Dante held up a sign that read '9.5'.

Smiling, Applejack reverted to her normal pony form and bowed.

Griffon banked over the top of the tower in which the Savior was being built, and Virgil and Nero leapt down to land lightly atop it, staring up at the massive working. Staring up at the creation, a glowing golden light could be seen atop the forehead. Sanctus himself.

"Is it not beautiful?" he asked them casually.

"I've seen better," Virgil replied bluntly.

Sanctus frowned. "You will reconsider...once it is complete."

"We won't be letting that happen," Nero stated bluntly.

Sanctus sighed. "What lies has this man told you, Nero, to turn you against us who raised you? Surely it cannot be so easy for you to turn your back on all you have known for your whole life."

"It's not," Nero replied, flexing his demonic arm. "But blood will tell."

"Ah yes, blood," Sanctus intoned. "Has he told you the whole story? How your mother was only a one night stand? How we took her in when she was heavy with child? How he came after us with vengeance for succoring you when newborn? That he didn't even want you to li-"

"Lies!" Virgil snarled. "While I knew his mother little, I returned to her as soon as I learned she carried my son! I sought what I could do for her, but she was not strong, and carrying Nero stole most of her strength. But in the moment I held him newborn in my hands, and promised her on her dying breath to look after him...he was stolen from me!" He drew his blade, a facsimile of Yamato. "And my demon power awoke to find him and save him!" Virgil shifted into the form of Nelo Angelo once more.

Sanctus sighed. "And how blinded did your power make you," he asked softly, his own form glowing with light, "that it took you so long to find him?" When the light faded, Sanctus stood changed.

He was garbed from head to toe in golden armor that made him appear far more muscular than the helpless old man he had seemed before. He held a single sword in his hand, and gold-white wings spread from his back. "Did you get lo-"

"You!" Virgil snarled, interrupting Sanctus. "I will never forget that visage! You are the one who stabbed me in the back and took Nero from my arms! You are the one who fled beyond my senses with him, forcing me to seek Sparda's library for any information on you by image! And you are the one who killed me, and sold my body and soul to Mundus for materials to complete your work!"

Sanctus chuckled. "And what makes you think this time will be any different?"

Nero stepped up beside his father, his demonic energy flaring around him. "Because this time...he isn't alone." He held out his demonic arm, and Yamato appeared in his hand. He shifted it to his human arm. "Lets see you handle both of us!"

Growling, Sanctus charged in for battle.

Credo and Trish sat slackjawed, staring.

All of the followers who had been so dead set against them, ready to fight and die for His Holiness, were now sitting rapt in the cathedral, gazing up at the spectacle before them. Kyrie had managed to get them all to side with her far too easily, to the point Credo and Trish were left with little to do besides groom Griffon.

All it had taken was two carefully placed cameras, a movie screen, and lots of popcorn.

Rebuilding

Author's Note

I'm sure many of you were hoping for an epic fight scene between Sanctus and Virgil and Nero. I was hoping to write it. However, I couldn't find a single bit of footage on youtube of Sanctus actually fighting in his 'angelic' demon form. Only the boss fight of him fighting looking human, and the boss fight where he's demonic inside the Savior. So...I have no idea how he fights like that.

If anyone can find me footage of him fighting in that form, I'll happily add the fight scene to the start of this chapter.

Rebuilding

As Dante and Applejack reached the HQ to meet back up with the others, they were startled to be greeted by thunderous applause. All the members of the Order were giving them a standing ovation. Despite being confused, Dante happily lapped up the adulation, bowing gracefully. "Thank you, thank you," he told them all. "I'm not sure what you're applauding for, but-"

"Encore, Applejack, encore!" someone shouted out.

Dante blinked. "Wait...they aren't clapping for me?"

Looking up, Applejack saw that her speech in the old opera house to Agnus before dividing him against himself was being played on a large screen on repeat. Letting out a sound akin to a frightened goat, she dove under Dante's coat, climbing up him to hide clinging to his back.

"Bit camera shy?" Dante joked, walking through the applauding crowd.

"I didn't know there were so many watching!" she whimpered in response.

Reaching the front of the room, he nodded to Kyrie, Credo, and Trish. "Are Nero and Virgil back?" he asked.

At that moment, there was a flash from the other screen. Nero and Virgil stood on either side of Sanctus, their swords drawn. Sanctus' demonic form dissolved off of him, revealing his human body. As both Dark Knights sheathed their swords, Sanctus' body split into four parts, perfectly quartered as each piece dissolved into light.

As the congregation gasped in shock and began to mutter angrily, Kyrie stepped up. "The Children of Sparda have spoken in the name of the Dark Knights!" she proclaimed, bringing silence. "The one who was Legend, his message has been warped by those who have claimed to speak for him! But His children bring us a new Revelation! Sanctus was warped in his quest to become more like Sparda, and his heart was lost, warping his mind and his goals! A new prophet comes! A new savior for us, to guide us on the right path! He who returned from beyond death itself for his son! Father and Son in the name of Sparda have cleansed the warp from our faith, and lead us in the new path!"

As the congregation began cheering, Trish leaned towards Credo. "...what just happened?" she asked in a whisper.

"To prevent the entire congregation from descending into madness and mob rule, Kyrie made Virgil into our new leader," Credo replied.

Dante did his best not to burst into laughter. Applejack kidney punching him helped.

"...well, Virgil had been talking about settling down to teach Nero what it really meant to be of the blood of Sparda once we'd reunited," Trish admitted. "Here's as good as any place."

"...I can't wait to see Virgil's face when that gets dropped on him," Dante gasped out through suppressed chuckles.

After a bit, Applejack popped her head out of Dante's collar. "...I kinda wanna see that, too," she added eagerly.

Not long after, the doors swung open, and Virgil and Nero stepped in.

The congregation swarmed towards Virgil. "Your Holiness!" they cried out eagerly, bowing to him, practically genuflecting in some cases.

Virgil twitched. "Dante, did you have something to do with this?" he demanded angrily.

Dante pointed to Kyrie. "She did it!" Applejack nodded confirmation.

"Your Holiness, is something wrong?" one of the congregants asked.

Virgil's eyes narrowed. "Don't call me that," he growled.

"Then...how should we address you?"

"Try Virgil," he spat. "It is my name, after all."

"Our new leader preaches a message of equality!" another member shouted. "That we should call him by name as though he were no more than any one of us...what a glorious message!"

Virgil groaned, burying his face in his hand. Nero did his best not to burst into laughter. He made his way up to Kyrie's side. "Nicely done," he complimented her.

She smiled back happily. "I do what I can," she murmured modestly.

"Sweet Kyrie," Agni suddenly sang out.

"Sweet Kyrie," Rudra, Alastor, and Nevan echoed.

"My Kyrie," Agni continued.

Nero groaned, burying his face in his hands as the Devil Arms continued their barber shop quartet serenade. Kyrie blushed brightly. Dante, Applejack, and Trish failed to contain their laughter. Virgil facepalmed.

"Is this...normal?" Credo asked.

"Yes," Beowulf replied.

"I'm glad I'll be staying here with Virgil, then," Ifrit commented dryly.

"I'm not a very good singer," Berial pointed out.

"Then you can do sound effects with me when it's acapella!" Cerberus said happily.

As Dante stopped laughing, his eyes widened. A large portion of the congregation had pulled out various instruments, and others were obviously preparing to sing. "We're out of here," he said quickly, hopping onto Griffon's back. "Let's fly!"

As the music began to play for serenades, Griffon quickly leapt into the air towards the sky.

"We'll swing by next year for a family reunion!" Applejack called out as they headed for home.

As Griffon slowly flew to home, Applejack leaned up against Dante, laying her head in his lap as she prepared to sleep for a while. "So...we found Nero," she pointed out.

"Yup," Dante agreed.

"That's pretty much been our big goal since Uncle Virgil showed up, right?"

"Yup."

Applejack scratched her head. "So...what are we gonna do with all our free time now?"

"Same thing we always do," Dante replied. "Hunt demons, have home cooked family meals, let the Devil Arms practice their singing, and find a new school to send you to."

"More school?" Applejack whined. "Ah thought it was just Uncle Virgil who kept pushing that..."

"I saw his point," Dante replied. "Not only are you a more effective demon hunter for your education...you seem happier when you're able to be somewhat normal. So I've picked out a good school to send you to."

"Oh?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup. I've even made arrangements to enroll you mid-semester," Dante replied. "It's another school in Japan...but given your problems at Youkai, I decided to pick an all girl's school this time. I mean, you aren't looking for romance anyway, right?"

"Eeyup," Applejack agreed. "So what's the school called?"

"Kuou Academy," Dante replied. "The information I was able to get on it is a bit old...but the Headmaster was happy to enroll you. All the paperwork's cleared through. You start next month."

Applejack smiled. "At least I got a month to rest and brush up on my Japanese," she mumbled, pulling her hat down. "But I'm taking my Devil Arms."

"Just keep them out of sight, okay?" Dante chided, shifting his jacket to tuck her in for the trip home.

Summer Break 6.5

Dante was rather surprised when Applejack returned to Devil May Cry just before the start of Winter. Probably not nearly as surprised as Lady, whom he had assured solitude and privacy throughout the building on a day it was closed and had to rush upstairs when the door unlocked, though. Dante did his best to compose himself as Applejack entered, her head hanging low and her ears flat against her head. "AJ?" he asked, discarding his embarrassment as he saw how sad she was, walking forward to scoop her into his arm while his other held up his pants. "What's wrong? I wasn't expecting you until Summer."

Applejack looked up at him and sighed sadly. "Ah...ah got expelled again..."

Dante blinked at her for a time, then sat down and sighed. "Did you blow up the school again?" he asked jokingly.

"Yes'm."

Dante blinked for a time. "But...that's hardly an unusual occurrence at that school. I mean, you were there for when it blew up two other times that you'd mentioned."

"It was during school hours," Applejack replied. "Lotsa human witnesses. Kinda hard to explain that...especially since I was in pony Devil Trigger form."

Dante sat back, surprise writ large on his features. "Why?" he finally asked.

Applejack sniffled. "Ah...ah didn't react well ta rejection..."

Frowning, Dante's hands went to Ivory and Rebellion instinctively. "Who do I need to kill?" he demanded.

"...'tain't his fault..."

Dante stared down at Applejack's form, sorrow and heartbreak dripping from every pore. Sighing, he relaxed his grip on his weapons and pulled her into a hug. "Tell me," he said softly. He held up a handkerchief to her muzzle.

Applejack blew her nose noisily, then began her story. "Well...remember that boy I told you about who was at that 'all-girls school'?"

"The one you had to talk me out of transferring you because of?" Dante asked. "The pervy devil boy?"

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, him."

"You said he'd become a pretty good friend," Dante pointed out. "Him and that 'household' he was a part of."

"Yes'm," Applejack replied. "He was a bit pervy, but ah could see he had a real good heart. And...well...over the past few months since last summer, I...well..." She blushed brightly.

"You developed a crush on him?" Dante asked.

"Yes'm," Applejack replied quickly. "At first, I was gonna hold myself back, since he had all those other girls chasin' him...but then I heard about how he was tryin' ta become some sorta 'Devil Harem King', having lotsa girlfriends...and the other girls in that household seemed fine with that arrangement...and he certainly seemed ta love 'em all...so I thought, why not me too?"

Dante nodded understandingly, while inside he seethed with jealousy over this young man, wishing Applejack would let him use her heartbreak as an excuse to beat the crap out of him. "Did he feel the same way about you?"

"Seemed that way at first," Applejack replied. "He didn't reject my advances, and he was always happy when I showed affection...but I thought I should show him the truth before things went any further." She shrugged. "He already knew about the whole 'Child of Sparda' thing and all that...so I showed him..." She gestured at herself with her hoof. "...this." She started to sniffle again.

Dante could see where this was going. "And then he got...very polite?"

"Ee-yup," Applejack whimpered. "He...he couldn't love me like this...not the way I wanted him to...and, well...I kinda lost it..."

"Oh, you poor dear," Lady said as she came back downstairs properly dressed. She scooped Applejack up into a tight, warm embrace. "That must have felt so horrible..."

Applejack began to cry. "Mama!" she wailed, burying her face in Lady's shoulder.

Sighing, Dante stood up. Since he'd taken the time to fix his pants, he was able to wrap both arms around them to join the comforting embrace.

Several hours, cups of cocoa, a warm bath, and a potty break later, Applejack had more or less composed herself, and was eating her preferred comfort food...Dante's scratch made apple pie. While it would normally take a day or more to make it completely, Dante had used Geryon's power to take a quantum shortcut to compress the prep and cook time into three hours. Cooling, unfortunately, couldn't be accelerated.

"Feeling better now?" Lady asked as she gently stroked Applejack's mane.

"Yes'm," the young mare replied. "Just had ta get it all outta my system. I'll be okay now. At...at least I can stay friends with them all, and I don't have ta fight with them over his time anymore."

"True," Dante replied. "Rather forgiving of you."

"Can't really blame him," she pointed out. "Ah mean, he was born human, and I was born pony. That kinda relationship won't work if'n he don't find me attractive at all times...and most humans ain't geared ta find ponies sexy."

"Very understanding of you-" Lady's voice froze. "What do you mean most humans?"

"Ah don' wanna talk about it," Applejack replied, quickly and firmly.

Dante and Lady exchanged a glance. "You can take care of yourself?" Dante asked carefully.

"Yes'm."

"Fair enough," Dante replied. "So...now about what school I send you to next..."

"Actually, ah'd rather not go to a new school again," Applejack replied. "I was kinda thinkin' about opening up a restaurant."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Lady replied happily. "Any ideas about locations?"

"Right in front of an active hellgate," Applejack replied.

"I'm...pretty sure we closed all of them," Dante pointed out.

"Ah'll build a new one, then."

Dante and Lady exchanged glances nervously. "I doubt humans would want to eat at a place where demonic invasion is a constant possibility, no matter how good your food is," Dante pointed out.

"Then it's a good thing I sent Berial back to the fire realms with some free samples ta drum up some business," Applejack pointed out.

Lady blinked. "Wait...you want to bring demons to Earth...to feed them?"

"Well, Berial and Ifrit did say that for the bigger demons, one o' the big reasons ta come ta Earth is better food," Applejack pointed out. "Ah figure if one of the conditions of buyin' food from me is swearin' an oath on Sparda that they ain't caused trouble in the human world for the past year. The sword's already enchanted to eat anyone who swears a false oath in its presence, and it'll be hung over the hellgate, and they'll have to swear the oath to get through. Figure that might take a few big steps towards integrating humans and demons peacefully. Ah mean, demons and humans of other mythologies - like those in Japan - manage it. Why can't ours?"

Dante stared at her in disbelief. "You think you can tame demons...with your cooking?"

"Not tame," Applejack countered. "Civilize. I had a lot of fun competin' in the Rating Games, and I - uh, borrowed - the dimensional space technique they use to make the Arenas. Ah figured once a year I could hold a massive tournament where teams of four - human, demon, or other - compete in an elimination style tournament within one o' those spaces, so no one ends up dead, since they can be pulled out and healed before that happens. Since not causing trouble for a year would be a condition for demons to compete or watch, a big reward for any team who defeats the defending champions being advertised, and mah cooking served to spectators and competitors alike...I think it'll be a real huge event."

Dante stared at her, frowning. Lady had already leaned against the wall to steady herself. "So...what's the reward? And who are the defending champions?"

"Well, Nevan told me about this one artifact that - when charged with enough demonic energy - can grant wishes," Applejack pointed out. "Berial will be swinging by Gramps' vaults in the demon world to pick it up. I figure the tournament will provide more than enough energy for it." She chuckled. "And the defending champions...well, the team name's either gonna be 'The Spardans' or 'Devil May Cry'. Which da you prefer, Pa?"

Dante stared at her for a time...and then a manic grin spread across his face. "Genius!" he declared happily, snatching Applejack up off the table and spinning her around, laughing like a loon.

Lady sighed, rolling her eyes. I had to marry a battle junkie, she thought to herself. I wonder if anyone else has to deal with something like this?

Somewhere in Japan, Yukimura Keiko sneezed.

The First Spardan Tournament: The Welcome

Applejack looked around at the gathered teams as they filed into the main dining hall. Some looked rather surprised to see a pony at the head of the massive table. Others had heard of her and were torn between nervousness and squealing. Her smile found its way to those who knew her and waved happily. She stepped up to the podium as everyone settled down.

"Welcome, everyone, to the first annual Great Spardan Tournament!" she calls out. "We happily welcome demons, hunters, monsters, and others from every mythology across the world...and beyond." She glances around at all the many teams. "I'm sure many of you are wondering what the purpose of this tournament is. In fact, some of you are probably here specifically with that purpose in mind." Her eyes glanced towards Team Urameshi before turning back to the crowd. "So I figured I'd lay the purpose right out in front of you all today.

"The goal of the Tournament is peace."

As many of those present began rumbling in confusion, or discontent, Applejack raised her hoof. "I've been on quite a few adventures, fighting the forces of the underworld in its many manifestations throughout the various mythologies. One thing I've discovered from all that...by and large, the Underworld ain't a very nice place to live. Those that try ta leave the Underworld for Earth are trying to live their own lives, for the most part, the only way they know how. So I set up my restaurant, right outside an active hell gate I built myself. From what I hear, one of the biggest draws for demons and the like coming to Earth is the food."

As that statement brought a laugh from many gathered, Applejack continued. "In addition to selling my food to demons - who tell me it's amongst the best they've ever had, which is good for my ego as a chef - I exact an oath from them that they haven't caused problems on Earth for the past year before letting them eat. That's not too much of a trouble for most of ya. Of course, most of the races of the Underworld have inbuilt urges towards violence just ta prove themselves. Heck, so do most other races. That's what the Tournament is for.

"Once a year, a tournament's gonna be held where everyone can vent their aggression, and duke it out full force with other fighters. The best healers in both worlds are on staff, and the battles will take place in a dimensional space that is keyed to prevent death. If a strike would cause a fatal blow, the target will be pulled out before it hits, qualifying it as a knock out. They'll also be pulled out if they're 'down' or outside the ring for a count of ten. However, if both fighters request it, the ring out rule can be voided for a match. This means ya can all go all out and not have ta worry about killing anyone." When a few grumbles greeted this statement, she brought her hoof down on the podium. "Now hang on! What'd be the point o' killing? If ya kill someone, ya never get ta fight them again!"

She saw several of the stronger combatants smirking in response to this statement. As that brought silence back to the room, she went on. "And that's what that fighting instinct is about. Not killing, but in finding a real challenge to push yourself against. And that's the reason for this tournament...giving everyone a chance to prove themselves against each other.

"With an easy place to get great food without having to worry about someone taking it away or going after 'em, and this tournament to strut their stuff in battle against all comers...these become the first steps towards peaceful integration of Earth and the Underworld."

She wasn't surprised that that caused a huge uproar. "That's right!" she proclaimed loudly. "Because if this works out and humans and demons can learn to coexist peacefully...then someday, the boundary between the two realms can come down!" That statement was greeted with absolute silence. "You heard me right," she said firmly. "That boundary my grandpa Sparda put up to keep the worlds separate so Earth didn't get overrun by demons? My goal is to bring both worlds to the point where I can bring it down."

Dead silence greeted this statement. "You've all had ta live in secret when on Earth, afraid of what'd happen to you or those you cared about if word about what you really are got out. Now imagine a world where you didn't have to worry about that. Where you all could walk alongside each other in public without fear, or anger, or hate...where you could get a job as who and what ya really are , and the whole world was just fine with that.

"I ain't saying this'll be accomplished in my lifetime. It probably won't. And most of us probably won't live to see it happen. But our children will...and their children...and their children..." She smiled softly. "Imagine that world. Believe in that world. Strive for that world...with me."

The room was nearly completely silent, though here and there quiet murmuring - or even the occasional sniffle - was plainly audible.

Then Urameshi Yusuke started to clap. It wasn't the polite applause of one who feels it is expected. It was the energetic applause of one who has been moved. His teammates quickly joined him, Kazuma Kuwabara even whistling and shouting, "You tell 'em, pony girl!"

The applause quickly spread, as more and more of the contestants began to cheer. Though only there to support his team, Hyoudou Issei was loud in his applause alongside the other members of House Gremory. Those who had been afraid of showing support for such a radical idea soon joined in, strengthened in their own resolve by the growing tide of support.

Applejack smiled widely at so much support. "Well, now that the speech is outta the way..." Holding up a pot lid, she banged a ladle against it. "Soup's on everybody!"

To be continued when The Spardan Tournament is addressed again.

Author's Note

Regarding the tournament...

Please see this blog post.

Next chapter will skip to the events of DMC 2.

For Old Times Sake

It had been a few months since the last Tournament, and the last family reunion. Applejack's restaurant had made so much money that she'd had to hire a good portion of the Order of the Sword as staff just to keep up with demand. Not only that, but the Tournament and related events had drawn so much attention that a small city had sprung up around the Hellgate, where demons, humans, and everything in between interacted peacefully, living side by side. Surprisingly enough, there were quite a few demons who specialized in cooking, and were happy to learn her recipes under oath of sticking to the rules of peace she had established, and Applejack was now actually able to take time off from the restaurant and spend time with Dante again.

"Thought you'd forgotten about me," Dante joked as he ran his hand gently through her mane.

Applejack chuckled. "Knew chasing the dream would take a lot o' work...just never thought I'd have ta do so much of it."

"And now you know why I always take it easy," Dante teased.

At that moment, Nevan raced up the stairs from her position at the secretary's desk. "I've just received a report of a minor incursion," she told them. "Minor demons are converging on a museum. We've been called in to assist."

Applejack grinned. "We should be able to handle it ourselves, right Pa?"

Dante chuckled. "Should be easy."

Dante and Applejack crashed through the skylight of the ancient building right into a cloud of puias, bird like monsters that resembled a fusion of bald eagle and vulture. As Dante drew both his guns and began firing, Applejack pulled out Berial and began whipping their wings off with the fiery lash. After a time, the harpies were down.

Once there were no more harpies to fight, Applejack glanced around. She quickly noticed someone watching them carefully. She was a slim built, dark skinned woman with long red hair tied in a braid, piercing brown eyes, and dressed in form fitting battle attire. She held two long blades in her hands, ready for battle.

As a rune inscribed coin rolled to Dante, he picked it up and flipped it over to the woman. "You called?" he asked teasingly.

She caught the coin, watching them both coldly. After walking past them, she hurled a knife at a nearby wall, embedding it in a map of the area. "Til next time, Son of Sparda," she said coolly, turning to leave.

"...well, that was rude," Applejack commented dryly.

"I like her," Dante joked, grinning.

"I'm telling Ma you said that," Applejack countered.

"Hush you," Dante growled teasingly.

After resting up, the pair began exploring the new area the following morning. From what they could tell, it was an abandoned, mostly ruined city. At first it seemed like there wouldn't be any more demons to fight, until they came to a bridge from which three skeletons chained in thick metal hung. They swung in the breeze, creaking ominously.

Applejack stared at them. "...that's just creepy."

At that moment, blue fire erupted from the skeletons, and they fell to the ground, rising as metal clad skeletal warriors.

"...less so," Applejack pointed out, spinning Cerberus around her tail as she twirled Berial.

"Got a plan for this one?" Dante asked curiously.

"Thought I'd try some new techs I got recently along with my physics lessons," Applejack replied with a grin.

Spinning Berial like a lasso, she flicked the lash to send rings of fire at the three armored skeletons, super heating the metal holding them together. Once the metal was red hot, she flicked her tail, hurling Cerberus forward into the center.

"Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll!!" Cerberus shouted as he spun, the three heads at the end of each nunchuck spewing intense cold in the form of an icy mist that covered the skeletons.

The armor - rather shoddily made to begin with - crumbled from the quick change of temperature from super heated to ice cold. As Cerberus spun back to Applejack, he smashed through the three skeletons, shattering them.

Whistling appreciatively, Dante applauded. "Nicely done!" he praised.

"Guess education did help me be a better Devil Hunter," Applejack teased, blushing in pleasure at the praise.

"Don't get cocky," Dante scolded. "I'm still in the lead from those puias."

Shortly down the path, several more Puias appeared out of the air. As Dante reached for his guns, though, energy arrows pierced each and every one of them, ripping them to bits. Applejack grinned as she blew non-existent smoke from Artemis' barrel. "Now who's in the lead?" she asked teasingly.

As they continued onward, they only encountered more of the same for a time as they leapt through the city, the buildings in progressively better condition as they continued. "So...who called us in, anyway?" Applejack asked.

"It was an unsigned letter," Nevan explained. "But I considered it relevant since it appeared in magical fire."

Applejack froze. Dante looked back at her. "You okay?"

She shook her head. "Ah'm fine," she insisted. "Just...somethin' about that delivery seems...awful familiar..." She shook her head again. "Can't fer the life o' me figure out why I'm picturing a belching dragon when ya mention it, though."

Dante shrugged. "Maybe it has something to do with stairs and Curry Cola?" he offered.

Applejack chuckled. "More extra-dimensional perception?"

"Or past life memories," Dante replied. "Virgil did say it was a possible interpretation."

"He said it was preferable to the conclusion that I was stark raving mad," Applejack corrected as they continued onward.

Further along, a pillar of red light became visible in the distance. As she saw it, Applejack sighed. "Some idjit human's tryin' to gain demonic power again," she groaned.

"How do you know it's human?" Dante asked.

"Cause it's thicker at the bottom than the top," Applejack pointed out. "If'n it were demon work, it'd be thicker at the top with clouds gathering around."

At that moment, several monsters that resembled shambling, undead monkey/dogs closed in on them. "Zombies!" Applejack shouted out, drawing Nevan in her scythe form.

"Actually," Dante pointed out, "I'm pretty sure they're called-"

"Ah know what they're called," Applejack interrupted. "But callin' 'em zombies is more fun."

Dante grinned as he drew Agni and Rudra. "Zombies!"

"We shall burn them!" Agni proclaimed.

"We shall blow them away!" Rudra added.

Despite their vast numbers, the monsters went down disappointingly quickly. Applejack wiped Nevan's blade before returning her to her back. "Ah hope there's more of a challenge later on."

Dante glanced over at her. "Applejack...Urameshi Yusuke is one of the most powerful demons of his mythology, and orders of magnitude stronger than most of what we've faced in the past. Rias Gremory is the Princess of Destruction, capable of firing blasts of demonic energy that can damage planets. Since the first Tournament, they've been your sparring partners. What, exactly, do you think is going to be a challenge on this trip?"

Applejack kicked her hoof. "One can hope?" she offered wistfully.

Old Questions, New Answers

As the pair approached an old church, they found the woman they met in the museum about to enter the church. As she turned back to face them, however, the church exploded. The blast knocked her back, but Dante leapt to catch her and place her safely on a high ledge, away from the explosion.

Applejack moved up behind Dante, ready to throw her two cents in if the woman got clingy over 'being saved'. She needn't have bothered, however, as she immediately moved towards the destroyed church. When the smoke cleared, she began racing around the rubble. "Where's Matier...?" she asked desperately. "Matier! Matier!"

Applejack glanced around, then pointed to a staircase leading down into the ground, just as an old woman slowly climbed the stairs. "Good grief," the woman - Matier, presumably, by how relieved the other woman appeared - said as she climbed, "they really made a big mess, didn't they?" As the woman approached Matier's side, she continued to muse. "It sure took him a while to find this place." She looked up and spotted Dante. "Oh? You have arrived, Son of Sparda."

As Matier sat down, Applejack looked away. "What am I, horse feathers?" she grumbled, then blinked, confused at her own words. She'd meant to say 'chopped liver'.

Matier looked closely at Applejack, and then began to laugh. "So...Geryon's daughter has joined the blood of Sparda? He did say a great destiny had already laid its hand on you." She took a closer look. "But it is not this one...that destiny is calling you back."

Applejack looked between Matier and Dante. "I...I don't understand..."

"You had another life before this one," Matier explained. "Bits and pieces...flashes of memory...they've come through at times. More and more are coming back now. Words you don't expect to use...flashes of emotion...your soul knows you will soon return, and is slowly preparing your mind and heart."

Dante blinked in shock. "Then...do you know how she got here in the first place?"

"Regret!" Matier replied firmly. "Geryon regretted that he was not there to see his children grow, to be there for them when they needed him most...and his power was to manipulate the time stream. Without even meaning to, he called to the most magical of his blood, and she found her way to you, Son of Sparda." She tapped Dante's chest with her cane, causing him to briefly glow blue-white with Geryon's light. "And through you, to him. And through you, he has and shall finish his business, and one day will be able to rest in peace."

"How...how do you know so much about all this?" Dante asked. "About Sparda, and Applejack? All of it?"

Matier cackled in amusement. "I fought alongside him long ago to protect this land, Vie de Marli. We are its Guardians. And now...we must call on Sparda again, with the magic he gave us to call for him or his children to lend us aid."

"So you sent the letter in magical fire!" Nevan said in surprise.

"Indeed," Matier replied. "A man has transformed this land into a paradise for the lesser demons, those who do not obey the rules of the Spardan Tournament to visit our world. His name is Arius. He is the President of an international public corporation, and he uses demon power."

"Oh," Applejack replied. "Ya mean like that Black Black club Yusuke told me about that ran the Dark Tournament? Humans who used demons and demonic power to gain power and wealth on Earth?"

Matier nodded. "Exactly like that. And now he seeks to use that power he has accrued to bring the demon he has contracted with here...to conquer the world."

"Of course," Applejack replied sarcastically.

Matier smiled. "Please...won't you two deal with Arius and his demon for us?"

Shrugging, Dante flipped a coin and caught it before it landed. He revealed it landed on heads. "Looks like it's your lucky day," he stated.

"Wonderful!" Matier replied as she rose slowly to her feet. "I am very pleased." She indicated the staircase she had climbed up. "It leads to a harbor. If you are successful, I have more stories to tell you about your father, Son of Sparda...and yours, Geryon's Daughter."

Applejack felt quite unnerved as the pair descended down the stairs.

The pair progressed through the waterway carefully, breaking through several stone barriers. However, Dante was quick to notice his pony daughter's disquiet. "What's bothering you, Applejack?" he asked.

She looked up at him, then looked away. "Well...it's just...everything Matier said...about Sparda, and Geryon, and me and you...it's just..."

When she hesitated, he knelt down beside her. "Yes?"

Applejack looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Are...are ya still my Pa?" she whimpered.

Without hesitation, Dante pulled her into a hug. "Of course I am," he replied easily. "I could hardly claim you as my biological daughter, despite my blood giving you the Old Man's power. You were always adopted, Applejack. And Nevan and Cerberus told me that Geryon was the spirit of your biological father way back in Temen-ni-gru."

"We did," Nevan piped up.

"His mortal name was Gala," Cerberus added.

"But..." Applejack began. "But what about what she said...about my old life and destiny calling me back?"

"I'll take you there."

Applejack's eyes widened. "...eh?"

"If you have another world and another life to return to, then I'll take you there...and I'll stick around until you're settled, and however long after that you need me to." He smiled down at her reassuringly. "And that's a promise on Father's Sword."

In her aura, Sparda pulsed in response to the oath. Tearing up, she bruied her face in Dante's chest, crying in joy and relief. "Pa..." she cried, hugging him as best she could as he held her gently.

The Sky's the Limit

After fighting their way through the underground waterway without encountering any monster strong enough to give them a challenge - even the winged Goatlings - goat headed, bat winged minotaurs - proved helpless after Applejack used Berial to lash their wings off - Dante acquired a rune stone that enabled him to fly in his demonic form. ...this proved rather useless, as it was far easier and less draining to ride Griffon, but he decided to hang onto it anyway.

They continued through the city for a time, but before they went far, a glowing red barrier rose behind them.

"Someone don't want us backtracking," Applejack pointed out dryly. Thank the maker, she added silently. Ah'm gettin' sick of it.

"Watch out!" Dante shouted, yanking Applejack out of a spell circle a Goatling had conjured around her.

Applejack smirked up at him. "Thanks, Pa. I got it from here!"

As they made their way forward, the Goatling continued to conjure pillars of green fire from the ground to strike them, even as other monsters rose to attack them. Dante whipped out Gilgamesh for the powerful blows and the minor protection from fire it would give him. Applejack wielded Nevan in her forelegs and Cerberus with her tail, carefully dancing around the flames. She didn't actively strike at the monsters coming after her, focusing instead on keeping up a barrage of blade and cold around her while dodging the flames, as the enemies were all melee range fighters.

It wasn't long before the enemies were all down. The Goatling was last to fall, and went down heavily. Through the next door, they found themselves in a trolley station. They didn't have long to wait before a massive creature that looked like a cross between a lion and a gorilla made of rock dropped down through the skylight, smashing the trolley.

It roared at them, beating its chest.

Applejack whistled. "Well, that's a new one!"

"Bet I take him down before you can," Dante teased.

Applejack clashed Beowulf's gauntlets together. "You're on! Melee only attacks, one Arm."

Dante triggered Gilgamesh. "Deal!"

The pair of them leapt into the fray. The lion-ape seemed to share their idea of combat, as it lunged forward with sweeping arm strikes to counterattack their punches and kicks. While Dante would jump or roll out of the way, Applejack leapt onto the swinging arm. With four legs, she was able to brace herself on the limb as she raced up it to deliver a double hind buck to the beast's face, making it stagger briefly, leaving it open to more attacks from both of them.

The beast also enjoyed leaping upward to hang from the rafters before jumping down atop them. Dante took a cue from Applejack's tactics by leaping up to seize the beast's hanging tail. When it dropped down, the tail flung upward, sending Dante up to head height, where he delivered a rocket powered kick to the back of the beast's head, sending it sprawling.

Though the lion-ape wasn't able to meet their assault well, it took a lot of damage to take it down, making it somewhat challenging. When it fell, it dropped a key to open the gate to the harbor.

"That was fun!" Applejack panted, wiping her brow. "Limiting myself like that made things a lot more interesting. He nearly snagged my tail a couple o' times."

Dante chuckled. "Nearly got backhanded a couple times myself. Who laid the finishing blow?"

There was silence for a time. "Wait, was I supposed to keep track of that?" Nevan asked.

Groaning, Dante and Applejack made their way to the harbor.

As the pair fought their way towards the harbor, they quickly discovered that - even with artificial weapon limitations for challenge - the low level monsters that littered their path were boring. Even switching weapons every strike soon lost any entertainment value. They decided to ignore them for the most part and only smash those that got in their way, as once the incursion was stopped there wouldn't be enough demonic energy in the area for them to survive long. With no civilians to protect, there was no real point in hunting down every last one. They already had funneled more than enough demon essence into all their Devil Arms to unlock their full power, and the God Statues had nothing else to offer them.

Oddly enough, some of the lesser monsters actually took note of this change in behavior on their part, and began to avoid the Devil Hunters as they approached. Applejack actually found that rather amusing, idly altering her path so that those monsters that did try to avoid them had to scamper up the sides of the buildings to get away.

Once actually at the harbor, Dante acquired another rune stone. This one allowed Dante to run at high speeds while in Devil Trigger...which meant he actually stood a chance against Applejack in a foot race for as long as his Devil Trigger lasted. Applejack could sustain her ground eating gallop for hours, though.

Striking a switch at the harbor opened a gate for a short period of time, not enough to get there at a normal walking speed. After seeing exactly how long the gate stayed open before closing, Dante grinned at Applejack. "Race you!"

Applejack's grin split her face. "Yer on!"

Applejack struck the switch as Dante activated his Devil Trigger, and they both started running at the same moment. Dante made it through the gate fine, but Applejack had to slide under it as it shut, reaching back at the last moment to snag her hat before the gate crushed it.

"I finished first!" Dante bragged.

"I finished cooler!" Applejack huffed back.

Dante thought about that for a minute. "Can't argue there."

Behind the gate, they found themselves facing a massive, dark green and bright blue, demonic octopus...or possibly squid.

Applejack grinned. "So what's the challenge this time?" she asked.

Dante thought about that. "Hmm...lightning only." He drew forth Alastor.

"It's been a while since you wielded me," Alastor complained.

"It'll be fun to double team again," Nevan purred as Applejack spun her about.

The four tendrils acted as a barrier, blocking Dante and Applejack from getting close. When they did get close enough, the beast spewed poison gas. Dante had a more difficult time dodging the poison than Applejack, but Dante also was able to do more damage per strike due to his greater physical strength.

After the beast had taken a good amount of damage, it wrapped all of its tentacles around itself, generating a shield that pushed them back. It didn't stay up long, though, and the lashing attacks with the tentacles simply opened further opportunities to attack.

As lightning did a great deal of damage to the beast, the fight didn't last long...and Applejack got the final blow, as she discovered she was small enough to slip between the tentacles to attack.

"I win!" Applejack said proudly as a gate opened.

Dante whistled as he saw the motorcycle behind the gate. "But it looks like I get the prize!"

Applejack pouted. "But I can drive a motorcycle in my human form!"

"But you don't have a license," Nevan pointed out.

"Pa didn't need ta know that!" Applejack hissed back.

Laughing, Dante patted the side car. "Hop in, AJ. This cycle needs a gunner."

Perking up, AJ hopped in, drawing Artemis. "Time for lotsa shooting?" she asked hopefully.

Dante grinned as he revved the engine. "Fire away."

Going For A Ride

After clearing a wide gap on the motorcycle to the next area, they drove into a tunnel area. Magical barriers forced them to abandon the motorcycle as two white wolves of supernatural origin attacked them.

"Dagnabbit!" Applejack snapped. "I didn't even get ta shoot anyone!"

"We barely rode at all," Dante grumbled right back.

The wolves took a lot of damage and moved quite fast. Dante used the speedy strikes of Alastor to keep up with his, while Applejack lassoed hers with Berial while siccing Cerberus on it from her tail. It wasn't long before they went down.

However, before the wolves went down completely, Applejack paused. "Waita minute...I recognize you two! Geri, Freki, it's me! Applejack!"

Both wolves froze and took a closer look at Applejack. After sniffing her for a bit, they both proceeded to lick her mercilessly, making her giggle.

Dante blinked. "You know them?"

Applejack nodded, scratching the wolves ears. "Yup. These two work for Odin. Met 'em back while I was going to school at Kuou Academy. Nice fellas."

"So...what are they doing here?" Dante asked.

The two wolves growled at Cerberus for a time. "They're here as part of the contract Odin signed," Cerberus translated. "Since Applejack signed it too as a witness representing the House of Sparda, the other mythos who signed it are bound to help maintain the stability of the world. Since this is a human manipulating demonic power, that falls under Spardan authority, and these two are here to help us."

"And they attacked us...why?" Dante asked.

"Because they'd only ever seen or smelled Applejack as a humanoid," Cerberus explained. "They didn't recognize her as a pony. Of course, now they're a bit worn out from fighting you both."

Applejack chuckled, scratching their ears again. "It's okay," she replied easily. "It was fun sparring with ya both."

The two wolves panted happily before going to curl up in a corner to recover.

Back up at street level, Dante and Applejack once again fought their way through a wave of lesser demons, still finding nothing a true challenge. To try and spice things up, Applejack decided to see if she could beat the demons by swinging Cerberus with her tail while hopping around on one forehoof. It was rather disappointing when she discovered that she was strong enough to actually do that. Between the propeller effect of Cerberus' spin taking her into the air to the level of the demonic birds and the strength of her tail slamming him into the demons, they went down far too easily.

"I'm bored!" Applejack complained.

"You're not the only one," Dante countered. "Hey Agni! Rudra! Nevan! Cerberus! How about some background music?"

Nevan began to sing, only to be quickly cut off by Dante.

"Some other background music?" Dante begged over Applejack's giggles.

As Nevan deliberately went through more and more embarrassing or inappropriate songs for background music, the pair went back down into the tunnels.

At the other end of the tunnel, they encountered another giant lion-ape blocked their path.

"So, are we going to do a challenge this time?" Dante asked.

"Just kill it,"Applejack grunted. "It's only fun doing that the first time."

Despite the lion-ape being more durable this time around, it went down even faster with the two of them not holding anything back as they tore through it. At one point, Applejack hauled out Sparda, severed the creature's arm from its body, caught it with Berial, and proceeded to bludgeon the creature repeatedly with its own arm while shouting, "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

When the creature fell, Dante raised his eyebrow. "Not fun, huh?"

Applejack chuckled. "Alright. That was a little fun."

Shortly thereafter, they encountered a tank partially consumed by demonic flesh, a large eye locking onto them as the barrel fired a blast that just missed them, exploding a tanker truck.

"That's a new one," Applejack admitted.

Dante grinned widely. "This is going to be fun!"

Unfortunately, the tank didn't prove to be very challenging. Once they were both on top of it, the only trouble was hacking their way through the thick armor to purge the demonic infection. Between Gilgamesh and Beowulf, that didn't take very long.

"That was...disappointing," Applejack pointed out. "It couldn't move very much at all."

Dante sighed. "I was hoping for more."

The same strategy proved effective against the other two infected tanks they encountered, save for having to evade a machine gun on the cockpit of one of them. Once the three tanks were down, they continued onward.

"So much potential there..." Dante mused.

Applejack paused, her ears twitching. "What's that noise?" she asked. "Sounds kinda like 'whum-whum-wum-whum' with a 'chk-chk-chk-chk' undertone."

It wasn't long before Dante heard the noise too. Turning, they saw an infected helicopter coming down from the sky towards them, armed with machine guns, rockets, and aerial maneuverability.

Dante and Applejack both grinned widely. "Bring it on!" they shouted together.

It was at that point they discovered it was armed with something much more dangerous...competent battle strategy. Staying out of range of their guns, it fired one regenerating homing missile at a time, backing it up with machine guns, making sure neither of them had the chance to get in range with any of their weapons.

"Wasn't expecting it to be smart," Dante muttered as they dodged out of the way.

"Up that parking building!" Applejack suggested. "Get it inside where it can't dodge!"

As they made their way up the tall building, Applejack's plan worked. The chopper followed them inside. However, it also set the lower floor on fire, so they had no choice but to keep climbing and delay clashing with it. The fact that its blades - which were visibly razor sharp - filled the center of the building didn't help.

Getting out the top didn't help, as the chopper continued to pursue them across the rooftops, keeping them in its range but staying just out of theirs. "Pa!" Applejack called out. "Why don't you just pull out Pandora and blast it?"

"I need to charge it up!" Dante called back. "Why not hit it with Beowulf's Ray of Light?"

"Same!" Applejack replied. "If I sat still that long, I'd take a rocket to the face, not to mention the backlash from losing control of the charge!"

Eventually, they reached the top of a tall building with pillars at three corners. "You know what?" Applejack snapped. "I'm sick of this! It wants a dog fight?" She charged her magic and two large green mystic circles in the form of squares appeared in front of her. "Let's give it a dogfight!"

Dante rolled his eyes. "I thought we weren't going to use Griffon unless-"

"We do!" Applejack replied. "I'm pissed! Griffon!"

Griffon appeared in his full sized form. "Your command, Mistress?"

Applejack pointed to the infested chopper as it became visible. "Sic!"

Griffon roared as he lunged forward, hitting the chopper talons first.

As Applejack stared at the carnage her familiar wrought, Dante had to admit it was pretty fun to watch. It was a pity that he didn't get to take the chopper down himself...but it was rather hard to play by the rules when the enemy didn't cooperate.

Tower

Shortly after siccing Griffon on the demonic chopper, Dante and Applejack were confronted by a massive demon that pushed its way out of a building. They evaded its initial assault of a barrage of magic blasts from its mouth before it landed, bracing itself on its hands.

"Think this one'll be challenging?" Dante asked.

"...doubtful," Applejack allowed. "Moves like a turtle with big blasts, and is a giant target? Take it from both sides, and it'll go down like a giant sack of apples."

"So...stand back and pump it full of energy blasts?" Dante offered, drawing Lucifer.

Applejack pulled Artemis out. "Eeyup."

Applejack's assessment of the fight proved to be accurate, as the battle was more time consuming then challenging. After the body of the demon fell apart, the head attacked them separately. Since it could float and fire energy blasts, it was actually more of a challenge than the whole demon had been.

"Now this is more like it!" Applejack shouted happily, ducking and weaving as she took pot shots at the floating head whenever she had the chance. "Like an old West shoot out, but without the cover!"

Dante grinned, glad Applejack was enjoying herself. The fact that the head had to deal with both of them greatly decreased its ability to effectively counter them, but it was still fun. Part way through the fight, however, the head starting conjuring energy waves rather than firing energy blasts, which could target both of them at once, which made things much more interesting for both of them.

Before too long, the head vanished in red smoke. Far above them, a helicopter passed overhead. Applejack raised Artemis.

"What are you doing?" Dante asked.

"Shooting it down," she replied easily. "They're the bad guys."

"Oh, you can see that from here, can you?"

Applejack hesitated. "Umm...but we ain't seen hide nor hair of a civilian. Any people here gotta be either Matier's people and the bad guys. So that means that's the bad guys!"

"Or Matier's people leaving an undercover operation," Dante pointed out.

Applejack blinked as she lowered her weapon. "...ya think so?"

"No idea," Dante replied. "But it's why I don't attack something if I can't see it clearly to be sure I should be attacking it."

Applejack lowered her head. "...sorry...I just..."

Dante rubbed her head. "Just hold back on blasting a bit, okay?"

"Sorry..." She shook herself. "Still a bit frustrated about that chopper...it shoulda been a good fight, but then it went and cheated by not getting in range for an attack..."

Dante chuckled. "Yeah. That wasn't fun. Come on, call Griffon. We'll follow that chopper and find out."

The helicopter came in for a landing on a high platform. Applejack directed Griffon to land stealthily after the one who got out of the chopper had gotten a ways ahead. After unsummoning Griffon, they made their way inside to track whoever it was, but were attacked by a swarm of flaming corpse demons.

"Seems like they are the bad guys," Applejack pointed out.

"Or have some serious anti-demon protection," Dante suggested.

Applejack thought about that as they fought their way through the demons, continuing onward into the facility. She'd been a bit to quick to jump to action this trip. Before, it made sense, because anything they encountered that wasn't human was likely out to kill them. This time, however, any full demons they encountered could possibly be allies, or at least former Spardan Tournament competitors. Even Odin's wolves had been there to help them, but didn't recognize her. She promised herself that she'd work on keeping herself in check from now on.

Not long after that, Dante found another rune to empower his Devil Trigger, this one granting him a flaming aura.

After a while longer exploring the facility, Applejack began to relax. Noticing this, Dante decided to ask, "What's up?"

"Ain't ya noticed?" she asked with a wide grin. "This entire trip's been very straight forward." At his confused expression, she chuckled. "No backtrackin' or key collectin'. Just straight forward kill things and hunt the boss."

Dante couldn't help but chuckle in response. "You're right. A nice change."

Eventually, they reached where the chopper was waiting, catching up to a man who was about to board it. The man had dark brown eyes, black hair that swept back to look somewhat like horns, pale skin, a mustache, and wore a red cape with a white fur collar over a pristine white suit. "Well, well, what have we here..." he began as he turned to face them, his voice dry and monotone.

"Looks like the big bad to me," Applejack muttered.

"...maybe another time," the figure replied, snapping his fingers. A portal appeared between them, and a massive minotaur that seemed to be made of flame and stone climbed up to stand between Dante, Applejack, and the man...who proceeded to board his chopper and fly off.

"Yup, that was the big bad," Dante agreed.

Applejack, however, was grinning widely as the minotaur conjured a massive war hammer. "Finally! A decent challenge!" She pulled out Sparda, but didn't release its demonic energy. "Let's rock!"

Grinning, Dante pulled out Rebellion. "Let's!"

The minotaur did prove a challenge, as it was able to move quite fast and swung its hammer quite accurately. Without triggering either of their Devil Triggers, the only real chance they had to strike was after dodging an overhand swing, which didn't happen often as the minotaur seemed to prefer to use sweeping strikes to try and catch both of them. At one point, the minotaur caught them both off guard when it jumped into the air, releasing a wave of fire when it landed. Thankfully, the Flame Heart Dante had picked up earlier gave him some resistance to fire damage, and Applejack was still small enough to hide behind Sparda. The intense heat also proved a challenge to Applejack, since she was still shedding her winter coat, which meant she was overheating and shedding clumps of hair simultaneously.

Between its high tolerance for damage, the intense heat, and its flame conjuring abilities, by the time they finally took it down, Dante and Applejack were both breathing heavily and exhausted. "Think it's time...to start using...Devil Trigger...on the big enemies?" Dante offered.

"...yeah..." Applejack agreed. Pulling off her hat, she reached in and pulled out two bottles of ice cold apple cider, tossing one to Dante. "But it was fun!"

Dante stared at the bottle. "How the hell did you keep it cold during that fight?" he asked, taking a swig.

"One of the witches at Youkai Academy cast a spell on my hat so the inside would always be as cold as a freezer," Applejack explained, drinking some of her own. "It was a joke, since I was always cautioning her about her temper, telling her ta keep a cool head."

Dante gave her a look.

"I know, I know, I've blown up two schools cause o' losing my temper," she replied. "Never said I was good at followin' that advice." She laughed. "After she cast the spell, I got one of the other witches to cast a spatial manipulation spell on mah hat, so the inside could hold a lot more. It's where I carry all the foodstuffs for cooking while out on an incursion run."

Dante laughed. "Good thinking."

Pursuit

After their brief break to cool off, Dante and Applejack discovered that the facility was collapsing, and likely to blow up at any moment.

Dante rubbed his chin. "The logical thing to do here would be to ride out of here on Griffon," he pointed out.

"The fun thing would be ta try and escape on foot," Applejack countered.

Dante grinned widely. "Fun it is."

After a rather exhilarating race against time through the burning building, the pair made their way back to the motorcycle. "Hoo-wee! That was fun!" Applejack shouted out as she patted her hat out. "Lots more excitin' when there's a sense o' urgency."

"Yeah," Dante agreed. "None of the big demons we've ever faced manages to do that. It's almost like the entire world is happy to wait for us to show up while we gad about, messing around with whatever we might find."

"Kinda weird," Applejack admitted as they sped away. "So...where we goin' now?"

"North," Dante explained. "That's where that guy was heading in his chopper. So that's where we're heading on ours."

Applejack smirked at the word play...then made a mental note to see if it was possible to make a motorcycle that could fly and hover. She was sure she'd read about something like that somewhere...

Before long the pair reached a large structure, the ground before it filled with a crumbling maze of corridors to the sides of the main path, a glowing door the only visible entrance. The door, as it turned out, was sealed with magic, which could only be released by activating two switches a great distance from the door in a short period of time.

Grunting, Applejack decided to handle this seal in the way she had in the past, by attacking the door's hinges. However, when the door fell, the seal remained where it had been, blocking the entrance. "Eh?" she asked in surprise.

"Someone's been watching how you problem solve," Dante joked.

"You know, there are two of you," Nevan pointed out. "And two switches."

"But...but it's not as much fun when we gotta play by the rules," Applejack pouted.

Chuckling, Dante headed off to one switch while Applejack grumblingly headed for the other.

Once the seal was released, a new switch opened a door downward to a stairway.

When they tried to head for the stairs, however, a black portal sucked them both into a large arena filled with demons. Applejack rolled her eyes. "They're really trying too hard, ain't they?"

"They aren't even all that challenging," Dante pointed out.

"It's the same old, same old, situation," Agni sang out.

"It's the same old, same old, ball and chain!" Rudra added.

The pair of demon hunters chuckled as the weapons once more entertained them with an accapella number to detract from the dullness of the combat. When the minor demons were all beaten, however, a massive moth with a bee sting showed up to attack. Despite the impressiveness of the boss, however, it proved relatively easy to beat as it was very slow. Ebony, Ivory, and Artemis were more than enough to take huge chunks out of it. The worm like larva it dropped into the ground beneath them proved more challenging, as those could hide under the ground. Unfortunately, they didn't take anywhere near as much punishment.

Once they were all down, a portal opened that took them back to where they came from, letting them take the stairs.

After a long but uneventful journey through the underground passages, they eventually met up with Lucia, who was holding a blue chalice of some sort. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Dante asked.

"Yes," Lucia replied.

"That an artifact the big bad needs to complete his goal?" Applejack asked.

"Yes," Lucia replied. "Now we can stop Arius's ambition."

"...how?" Applejack asked.

Lucia was quiet for a time, then handed the chalice to Dante. "Bring this to Matier for me," she stated softly. "Please. I...have something I need to take care of-"

"Is this the part where you try to take Arius down alone, end up captured, and then we gotta trade the artifact to him for your safety, resulting in him accomplishing his goals and us having to fight him at full power, probably in the demon world?" Applejack asked.

Lucia was silent for a time. "...I do not intend to get captured."

"Fair enough," Dante replied, taking the artifact.

"Eeyup," Applejack replied.

Lucia blinked at them for a time, then left.

Shortly after, a large, iron clad beast arose. It was slow moving, could only attack at range in a straight line or a close sweep, and lumbered around like a beast three times its size. It did not last long. Even the lasers that crossed the room and the smaller beasts it summoned didn't help it.

Returning to the surface, the pair found Matier waiting for them. "It seems you have obtained the final Arcana," she observed calmly.

"It's from your daughter," Dante pointed out.

"She's gone off to face Arius solo," Applejack added.

Matier's eyes widened. "She told you this?"

"I guessed and she didn't deny it," Applejack replied.

Matier groaned, shaking her head. "Please," she asked, handing over two other artifacts, "take these and save Lucia."

Dante smirked. "If it's heads." He once more flipped his double headed coin. When it landed in his hand, he smirked. "Your lucky streak continues, Granny."

As Dante turned to go, Matier leaned in to Applejack. "Going to tell him he isn't fooling anyone?" she asked the pony.

"Nah," Applejack replied. "Let him think he looks badass and cool. For the most part, he is."

Big Boss Battle

Arius smirked as he stared up at where his magic held Lucia captive. "Kill me!" she demanded of him, making him smirk.

"That man and his pony are going to bring me the Arcanas," he gloated. "And you will live to-" He stopped talking as a loud revving filled the air. "What is-"

A motorcycle with side car burst in through the window, flattening Arius as it landed atop him. "We're here!" Applejack shouted happily. She then glanced around. "Uh...where's the big bad?"

Staring dumbly, Lucia glanced down to under the motorcycle.

Dante looked down at the undercarriage. "We...landed on him?" He turned to Applejack. "I told you we should have used the front door. Now we don't have a boss to fight!"

"Well how was I supposed ta know he'd be so squishy?" Applejack demanded. "He seemed a lot tougher when he was summoning demons! Yer the one who landed on him! I just said take the chopper through the window!"

As Dante and Applejack continued to argue about whose fault it was that Arius went squish, the villain they were discussing used his magic to warp out from under the motorcycle, filch the Arcana, and blast the pair - and Lucia - out of the tower. In reaction to the blast, Dante jerked the chopper up to take the majority of the blast for them, while Applejack summoned Griffon to carry them a safe distance away to plan the next assault. Neither stopped arguing the entire way, leaving Lucia somewhat stupefied.

"W...what is with you two?" Lucia demanded. "Why would you risk everything to save me?"

"Ya mean why would we go so far to save someone from being destroyed by the maker they were defying?" Applejack asked, causing Lucia to gasp. "Yeah, not that big a surprise. I read the artificial Devil Trigger in your aura, and we keep finding Devil Trigger related runes in Arius' facilities, and he's the one tryin ta raise a demon. Ain't the first time that's been done."

"The last two times we encountered that were my resurrected brother and sister-in-law, respectively," Dante added.

Lucia stared back and forth between the pair of them as they turned to head back towards the tower. "Is this how Sparda saved us? By breaking everyone's brains with illogical behavior?"

"Quite possibly," Applejack joked.

As Arius' ritual was beginning and the sun was being eclipsed, the human world and demon world were slowly blurring together on the island. Thankfully, the strength of the occult energies of the island kept the effect from spreading beyond it at this point, but it was only a matter of time before that failed. As such, Dante and Applejack acted to speed things up so they could get into the demon world to fight the demon Arius was summoning before the occult strength of the land failed.

Upon successfully opening the gate, however, they came under attack by Phantom. "I may have lost to you before!" he proclaimed. "But there are only two of you now, and-" His words, and his life, were cut off rather abruptly.

"Griffon!" Applejack complained. "We were gonna fight him!"

"But...but lava spiders taste so good!" the thunderbird whimpered. "And I haven't eaten since the demon helicopter!"

Groaning, Applejack unsummoned him. "Welp, so much for that."

"On the bright side, the portal's open," Dante pointed out.

On the other side of the portal, the pair climbed up the demonic tower to the sky, making their way towards the focus of the eldritch energies. Though monsters faced them at every turn, none were able to prove a real challenge.

"You know," Dante pointed out, "maybe it's time to retire."

"Why do ya say that?" Applejack asked as she casually bucked a demon out a window to plunge to its death, screaming in agonized terror.

"Without any challenge...demon hunting isn't fun anymore," Dante explained as he spun another demon over his head, trying something different to desperately spice things up.

"Know what ya mean," Applejack replied. "This ain't an adventure...it's a grind. We need somethin' new."

Dante paused, releasing the demon he was swinging and sending it flying out the window. "Did you just get the feeling of incredible foreboding? Or was that just me?"

Shrugging, Applejack led the way up.

As they approached the top of the tower, a reality distortion flung them into an arena with a large demon that appeared to be a large, shrunken head made of gold with too many eyes and mouths.

"The granddaughter of Sparda," the creature began.

"Wait!" Dante interrupted. "Since when did I get second billing?"

"Since I came of age?" Applejack suggested playfully.

Dante glowered. "...just kill it," he growled, making her giggle.

The creature attacked them with fire, ice, and lightning...all of which they deflected with their Devil Arms of the same element, amplifying the blast as it returned. The battle didn't last long.

Back in the demonic tower, they found themselves in an echo of Arius' office, where they'd rescued Lucia from. As a portal opened to take them further, they charged in.

Reaching the top of the tower, they saw the eclipse about to become total as Arius completed the ritual, drawing the energy from the four Arcana to open the gateway. He cackled madly. "Now, I'll absorb his power! I...will become an all powerful immortal!"

However, the ritual began to go wrong...because Dante had switched his double headed coin for the Medaglia, the coin shaped Arcana. "A false coin," he called out, flipping the Arcana in his hands, "for a false god."

As the coin was reclaimed, Dante and Applejack prepared to fight. "Showtime!" they proclaimed together.

Final Destination

The battle against Arius was suitably intense for Dante and Applejack. Not only did he conjure large numbers of some of the more difficult to fight monsters - the smaller, faster ones, not the bigger, stronger ones - he also utilized fast cast spells with large radius of effect and fast damaging effects. The conjured demonic spikes were especially difficult to avoid for Dante...and fun for Applejack to dance between.

"Yee-haw!" she shouted out happily as, not for the first time, she leapt off the spike nearest Arius to kick the wanna-be immortal in the face.

Of course, that was one of the few times either of them was able to land a blow on Arius, since he seemed to have learned from his minions' mistakes and kept his distance. He also used several spells that homed in on the target, as well as a fast teleport spell if either of them got two close to him.

"Face it!" Arius proclaimed. "I have watched your progress, studied your combat methods, and prepared! I know all your tricks! You cannot defeat me! Against you, I am invincible!"

Dante and Applejack both froze...then grinned widely. Dante hauled out Pandora, while Applejack hauled out Sparda.

"...what are those?" Arius asked, confused.

As last words went, they weren't much. At least they were better than the string of curse words most foes who'd encountered this strategy threw out.

Returning outside to where Arius' body fell, Dante and Applejack found Lucia waiting for them. "You defeated...Arius..."

"No big," Applejack replied. "He claimed invincibility, after all."

"There's just one thing left..." Lucia continued.

"If this is the part where you ask us to kill you, skip it," Dante growled. "You did hear what we said about you not being the first human-shaped demon we've encountered who was created to be a weapon but rebelled against their maker, right?"

"But...I thought-"

"You were a full blood member of Matier's clan?" Applejack interrupted. "Does it look like Pa sired me?"

Lucia glanced back and forth between Applejack and Dante. "But...I could become a monster at any time...and attack the humans..."

"So could any of us," Dante countered. "Demons, by nature, are living weapons. Same with their descendants who aren't full demon. Same with those created with demon magic."

"But they all got a choice ta make," Applejack added. "Who they fight. Matier made you a member of her clan. Will you shame her with this foolishness?"

At that moment, the door to the demon world opened within the tower.

Applejack sighed. "Figured that would happen," she grunted. "Three Arcana might not have been enough to let Arius absorb Argosax, but it sure was enough energy to draw Argosax to the boundary. With the barriers down, it would be child's play to open a portal."

"Wait...the barriers are down?" Lucia asked. "But what about the ancient boundary spells to keep the most powerful demons from invading the Earth?"

"The modern most powerful demons police their own for civilized behavior these days," Dante pointed out. "You can thank Applejack for that development. A treaty was made between demons and demon hunters at the Third Spardan Tournament. The barriers went down, and the strongest beings of each mythology police their own troublemakers."

"Then...then why has no one stopped Argosax?" Lucia demanded.

Sighing, Applejack braced Sparda in her teeth. "Cause he's from our mythology."

Lucia blinked. "Oh...I see."

"So trust the experts," Dante said as he revved the motorcycle up.

"While we're gone, keep an eye on Arius' body," Applejack requested as she hopped into the sidecar. "He absorbed enough of Argosax' energy, he might just get back up again as some sort monstrosity."

"But...but how will you both get back out of hell?" Lucia asked.

"The hell gate by Applejack's restaurant," Dante replied easily.

"Then why can't I go?" Lucia demanded.

"No passport!" Applejack called back as Dante sent the motorcycle into a leap through the portal.

Argosax himself was a chaos demon, and it showed. He was an amalgamation of various other demon shapes, and had a huge amount of demon magic to battle with. Deciding that this wasn't the time to hold anything back, Dante and Applejack both went into battle in Devil Trigger.

Despite Argosax' chaotic appearance and seeming to have several heads, however, he seemed just as helpless as any other demon at dealing with a multi-pronged attack. With the outside destroyed, the core freed itself, revealing the form of a satanic flame beast...which, despite teleportation abilities, also couldn't handle a multi-pronged attack.

With Argosax' final destruction, a sphere of power flowed up from his remains, shooting off into hell. "After it!" Applejack called out as she hopped back into the motorcycle side car.

Dante nodded as he gunned the engine.

As the pair raced after the glowing sphere, the world around them changed. Hell became less grim and stark and more...pastel. As they traveled, Applejack found herself clutching her head. "...hurts..." she moaned.

"Hurts?" Dante asked in concern. "What hurts?"

"Thoughts...memories...filling my brain..." She groaned, pulling her hat down over her head. "'Memberin' things...that I didn't live through...least, not as me..."

"You mean like how bits and pieces of that 'other destiny' Matier mentioned were coming back?" Dante suggested.

"But a lot faster...hurts..."

Dante thought for a bit. "Stop fighting it," he instructed. "Matier said the other destiny was calling you back. I think that's part of what this is. You're remembering the other life you lived."

"But...but ah don' wanna stop bein' me..." Applejack looked up at him with pained, tear filled eyes.

"You won't," Dante assured. "And that's a Father's promise." Geryon's magic pulsed within him in agreement.

Applejack managed a smile...then slumped forward in slumber.

The quiet, happy, pastoral energies of Ponyville were torn asunder as a glowing gold sphere of light burst out of the sky, closely followed by the roar of some unknown beast.

Dante landed the motorcycle on the dirt road, driving along steadily as he took in the surroundings. He'd lost sight of the golden sphere, but he was sure he'd find it again eventually. For now, he was trying to figure out where he was...and why it felt strangely familiar.

Pulling up to a stop before a farm, realization washed over him. Geryon remembered this place, and Geryon's memories were his now, too. "Wake up, AJ," Dante said softly. "We're home."

Groaning, Applejack hopped out of the side care, shaking her head as she awoke. "It's Sweet Apple Acres," she said with a smile. "I...I didn't even remember, but I still missed this place."

"Applejack!"

Turning, both devil hunters were caught off guard as a small yellow filly wearing a red ribbon cannoned into Applejack's side. "H-hey Apple Bloom!" Applejack gasped out, holding her close.

"Where ya been the past three days?" Apple Bloom demanded. "We were worried about ya, sis!"

Chuckling, Applejack ruffled the filly's mane with one hoof. "Had to go on a bit of an adventure, lil' sis. I'll tell ya about it later."

"Ya could have told us before!"

"Well it weren't exactly planned!"

Dante's chuckle drew Apple Bloom's attention. "...sis?" she asked. "Why is Pa a human?"

"Because magic makes things crazy," Applejack responded firmly.

"Fair enough!" Apple Bloom promptly leapt up and hugged Dante. "Welcome home, Pa! Where ya been all these years?"

Dante awkwardly hugged the little filly. "...fighting demons," he answered honestly, unable to think of anything else to say.

Apple Bloom gasped. "Pa's a demon hunter? Ah gotta tell the Crusaders! We got a whole new kinda Cutie Mark to crusade for!"

"Now wait-" Before Applejack could get another word out, Apple Bloom had raced off. Applejack could only groan in frustration. "...don't let her play with yer guns, Pa."

"Not a chance," Dante agreed.

"You head on into the house," Applejack said, taking hold of the motorcycle. "I'll put this in the barn and get started on my chores."

Nodding, Dante went into the house, ducking a bit to get under low doorframes.

"It's about time ya came home, Gala!" an elderly green mare called out. "Sparda said ya'd be gone awhile, but not this long!" The mare turned to face him. "...huh. New body? New person in it? Any chance a new gal ta gimme new grandkids to go along with it?"

Dante blinked several times. "Umm...yes?"

"Good!" Granny Smith - Dante wasn't sure how he knew the name so suddenly - stated firmly. "Then sit ye down and get some good Apple cooking in ya!"

Unsure what else to do, Dante sat down, ready to eat. This was going to take some getting used to.

"And when yer done eatin', you can catch up on yer chores!"

...definitely take some getting used to.

Smiling, Discord caught the golden sphere and reabsorbed the fragment of himself he'd split off so long ago. Turning, he crossed his mismatched arms. "There," he said firmly. "Now we're even for way back then."

Nodding with a smile, the spirit of Sparda faded back into the ether.

Author's Note

Now all that's left is the epilogue.

Been a good run on this one, huh?

Epilogue: Apple Planning

Applejack walked down the road from her family farm to Ponyville, smiling happily as she let the warm wind blow through her mane as it bounced on her back. Beowulf clopped against the dirt of the road with every step. Berial hung at her hip, and Cerberus kept his usual position braided into her tail. Nevan and Sparda rested in her ether space, ready to be pulled out at a moment's notice if need be.

It wasn't that she expected trouble. Here in Ponyville, she really didn't expect to encounter anything that would require her to wield her full power. It was just that years hunting devils - and fighting those who were friendly rivals - had left her with a habit of going everywhere fully armed. Besides, she thought the combination of Beowulf and Berial with her hat looked quite nice.

However, today she walked with purpose. She hadn't actually gone back into Ponyville proper since she'd returned to Equestria, and she needed to show her friends how she had changed. Hopefully, Rarity and Rainbow wouldn't be too upset about what had happened with the CMC. (Having been unable to find a demon to hunt, they had decided to try Dragon Hunting. Spike had been most unamused.)

The one she really needed to talk to, though, was Twilight. She needed to figure out what materials were available here to build a hellgate, whether it could be done on a smaller scale than what she had outside her restaurant back on Earth, and how to make sure it would connect through the same Hell. After all, Twilight knew the most about that transdimensional stuff from her time going through that mirror portal, so she would know what Applejack would have to do to get the whole Apple Family to her farm for the next Family Reunion.

...then again, maybe the mirror portal wasn't the best choice to base the new hellgate off of. It would be very awkward for Dante if Lady came through a pony instead of her human self. Although now Applejack was curious about what the rest of her human/demonic relatives would look like as ponies.

As she was lost in thought on this, she failed to notice several things as she entered Ponyville proper. The first was the dead silence of the town, save for a few ponies here and there, lying on the ground groaning, their colors faded and their Cutie Marks missing. The second thing she missed was those ponies lying here and there, groaning from weakness.

The third was the giant red centaur that she walked right into.

"Oops!" she said, backing up. "Sorry, didn't see ya there. Heh, guess ah was wool gathering a bit." She smiled up at him, though only received a frown in return. "Mah name's Applejack. Ya new ta Ponyville?"

The red, horned centaur looked down at her, nearly double Dante's height. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Applejack felt a tickle on her magic, but it was barely noticeable. The centaur frowned. "You have a great deal of magical strength...for an Earth Pony."

Applejack frowned. "Ah don't like your tone," she complained. "Or yer implications. Just who do ya think ya are?"

The centaur drew himself. "Fear me, foolish pony, for I am Tirek! I have escaped from the bowels of Tartarus to resume my conquest of Equestria! I shall devour all of its magic, from every earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, and alicorn! And there is nothing you can do to stop-"

"Does that mean yer a demon?" Applejack interrupted.

"Come again?"

Applejack chuckled, deciding not to use one of many bad taste jokes Dante would have used in this situation. "Ya said ya escaped from Tartarus. Does that mean yer a demon?"

"Well..." Tirek scratched his skull between his horns. "I suppose technically..."

"And yer eatin' ponies?" Applejack asked for clarification.

"Well, their magic," Tirek clarified, a bit confused.

Applejack smiled. "Good!"

"Good?" Tirek looked at her in consternation. "How is that good?"

"It means I ain't gotta be polite to ya!" Applejack stated, grinning eagerly. "Cause I get ta kill ya instead."

Tirek laughed. "Foolish pony! Do you truly think you can-"

"But I'm kinda in a hurry, so I ain't gonna play fair," Applejack replied, hauling out Sparda.

"What the-"

Further speech was cut off as Applejack began slashing away at Tirek with Sparda. He staggered back as he took massive damage, but he eventually was able to send a bolt of red lightning that sent the sword out of Applejack's grip, sending it flying into the air. "And without your sword, you are-" A black, gold, and electric purple scythe cut him off as it sheered the top half of his left horn off before entering a whirling blade dance. "Oh, come on!"

After spinning Nevan around for a time, slashing chunks out of Tirek, Applejack realized he was regenerating himself with the magic inside him. Jumping back, she switched Nevan to guitar mode and synched her magic with the Devil Arm Death Scythe completely, performing her Dirge of Despair, draining the magic right out of Tirek. She then smacked the now wizened Tirek into the air with the flat of Nevan's guitar form, and released the stolen magic in a single blast sending Tirek shooting up into the air.

Putting Nevan away, Applejack charged Beowulf's energies and released the Sacred Light. As the beam punched through the sphere of magic that Nevan had released, it burst into rainbow colors, scattering across Equestria. The blast also exploded on Tirek...but wasn't enough to finish him off.

Grinning widely, Applejack triggered her Devil Trigger, leaping into the air to catch up to Tirek before he started to fall. Yanking out Berial and Cerberus, she began delivering blows of heavily charged ice and fire magic, alternately freezing and burning him, before smashing him down with a double over-hoof strike to the back of his head. She then blurred back to the ground.

As Tirek came down atop her, she spun...causing him to impale himself on the manticore sting of her demonic tail. He gasped, blood pouring from his mouth as he stared at her in disbelief. Then, as the sword came down, he recognized the power. "S...Sparda..."

It was his last word. Catching her grandfather's sword in her teeth as it came down, Applejack spun and beheaded the demonic centaur.

Achievement Unlocked
SSStylish Kill!
This achievement is required to unlock the My Little PWNY New Game + storyline.

Applejack put her weapons away as she shifted back to pony form. "...what did he say his name was? Tea-rekt? He ain't dissolving...hope he wasn't important..." Shrugging, she picked up his severed head by the hair. "Twilight'll know who he was. Great way to tell her about mah demon hunting, and everything else."

Whistling happily, she marched up to the Pony Oaks and knocked.

End

Watch the Teeth!

Dante grinned widely as he walked up 13th street, the piles of dust that had been demons until they crossed his path littering the street behind him until the wind blew them away. He was right about this being a great party, and he hadn't even made it to the tower yet! With his sword slung over his shoulder and his guns in the back of his red trench coat, he was completely relaxed as he made his way forward. As he saw the statue of the God of Time and Space, he knew he could relax. Hostilities were forbidden within the vicinities of such statues, enforced by the Will of Time and Space, which brooked no opposition and had no mercy...although it did, on occasion, grant gifts of power to those who offered the essence of their fallen foes in tribute.

As he approached the statue, however, he heard the roar of one of the scythe wielding minor demons he had been fighting on his way here. "Huh," he said, grabbing his sword Rebellion by its hilt. "Pretty bold to make trouble this close to the statue." Seeing energy fluctuating around the statue before flowing in the direction of the roar, he sighed, releasing his sword. "And it's being dealt with. Pity, I was looking forward to more fun."

A loud, high pitched whinny caught his attention, followed by a meaty thunk of a heavy impact against flesh. The demon he had heard roaring earlier came flying through a nearby wall in an abandoned one story building to crash into the statue of the God, where it was instantly incinerated. Noise still echoed from inside the building, the sounds of something small scrambling around.

"Well, that could be fun," Dante said with a grin, gripping one of his handguns, Ebony, in one hand as he entered. He didn't think he'd need both. Noticing movement behind a table that had fallen on its side, he rushed over. He kicked the table aside just in time to see the tail end of something scampering into an empty box that had formerly held bottles of beer.

He kept hold of his gun, though he now held it behind his back. While being small didn't mean whatever this was wasn't dangerous, it did imply that it might not be hostile. "Come out, come out, whatever you are," he whispered, approaching the box. Seeing it shake, he kneeled down near it, reaching in with one hand to grab whatever was inside.

Feeling teeth close around his fingers, he yanked his hand out. "Yowch!" he cried out, trying to shake whatever it was off his hand. When the pain persisted, he brought Ebony up to shoot whatever it was off his hand, only for his gun to be kicked from his hand.

Ignoring the pain, he held up his hand near his face to examine whatever had hold of his fingers. When something slammed into his eye, he brought both hands up instinctively to cover his face. However, in doing so he only succeeded in braining himself with the pony latched onto his fingers...although this did have the added bonus of making the tiny creature release his fingers.

As he rubbed his fingers, he heard the creature giggling in amusement, and he turned towards it to examine it. He discovered his first impression - that it was a pony - was mostly accurate, although it was the smallest pony he'd ever seen, about the size of a house cat. The extra large head and hooves relative to the rest of the body told him it was a baby, and something about it looked feminine. She was a bright orange in color, with a blonde mane and tail, both tied in a ponytail style. Her eyes were bright green, and she had white freckles. There was also what appeared to be a branding of three red apples on each side of her rump.

He stared at the creature for a time. "...that's a little pony," he said finally.

The pony in question babbled back at him with nonsense sounds.

He blinked. "That wasn't horse noises. That sounded like baby-babble. So...you aren't an animal of Earth, whatever you are." He scratched his chin. "But you don't appear to be a threat - didn't even damage my fingers - and I'd feel bad about killing a baby in cold blood, so you're free to go wherever. I've got a party to get to." Turning, he swirled his trench coat as he prepared to leave.

As soon as he took a step away, however, the infant pony began to wail, an ungodly noise that grated on Dante's ears.

Spinning, he grabbed Ebony from the ground and pointed it at the foal, holding it millimeters from her face. "Shut up!" he roared, covering one ear with his other hand.

The foal promptly stopped crying and proceeded to nom on the barrel of the gun.

Dante stared for a while, then put his gun away after wiping the barrel. He turned to leave again, but the foal immediately began wailing again. He spun back to face her. "What?" he shouted in exasperation.

She lifted her forehooves towards him, waving them, plainly telling him to pick her up.

He blinked. "Seriously? You want to come with me?" When she nodded eagerly, waving her arms again, he sighed. "Alright. So what's your name?"

"Abaja!" the pony said happily.

"Abaja?" Dante asked, scratching his head. Glancing around, he spotted a discarded bottle which proudly declared its former contents on the label. "Applejack?" he asked.

The foal nodded eagerly, waving her forelegs at him.

"Alright," he said, grabbing a discarded jacket and quickly reworking it into a carry harness. Picking her up, he plopped the foal into it, where she could cling to his back and look over his shoulder. "Just watch the teeth, okay? I'll have enough demons trying to bite me without worrying about you. If you really want something to bite, I'll give you some food."

"Abas! Abas!"

"...apples?" he asked. When she nodded, he sighed. "Alright. I'll see if I can't find you some apples." With any luck, he thought to himself, I'll find someone else to take her or at least somewhere to stash her.

Training

Once Applejack started talking more clearly, her coordination proved good enough to begin weapons training. Since Dante knew she'd be tagging along whether she could fight or not - the few small jobs he'd been on, she'd insisted on being strapped to his back while she sniped with Artemis, if nothing else - he decided to begin training her right away. Besides, it had been three years since he'd taken her in. He was pretty certain she was ready.

However, since she was so small, he didn't want her training with magical weapons. For one thing, the last time she tried to play Nevan, the discordant sounds of her banging on the strings had caused the bats summoned to turn themselves inside out, so he didn't want to see what would happen if she tried to wield Cerberus, not to mention what would happen with Beowulf actively fighting her. For another thing, her magical reserves weren't very large, so he didn't want to risk her burning herself out during training.

Towards that end, he had crafted non-magical copies of Cerberus, Beowulf, and Nevan's scythe form for her to train on, as well as getting a pair of electric guitars to teach her to play on. And today was the first day of training.

"Alright," Dante said, kneeling in front of Applejack. "What do you want to start training with?"

"Puppy!" Applejack said happily, pointing at the nunchucks.

Smiling, Dante handed her the ordinary metal nunchucks while he picked up Cerberus. "Alright. I'm going to show you a few movements, and you try to mimic them." When Applejack nodded, he spun Cerberus around a few times, keeping the movements simple.

Applejack attempted to mimic his movements, and promptly smacked herself in the head, knocking her hat off. As she fell on her back, she giggled. "Oops!"

Dante helped her back to her hooves. "Let's try that again," Dante suggested, "only without hitting yourself this time."

Applejack made the attempt, only to promptly smack Dante in the nuts.

"Why do you like that target so much?" Dante asked, clutching at himself.

"Can't reach no higher!" Applejack complained, reaching as high as she could. Without weapon assistance, she barely reached Dante's knees.

"Fair enough," Dante admitted, sitting back to think.

Applejack glanced down at the nunchucks in front of her, her tail waving back and forth.

"Could you pass me an apple?" Dante asked. "I think a snack will help me think."

Applejack reached into the basket beside her, pulled out an apple, rolled it down her back, and launched it into his hand with a flick of her tail.

As Dante caught it, an idea occurred to him. "You're pretty good with your tail," he pointed out.

Applejack shrugged. "I like spinning it," she said, waving her tail around.

Stepping over, Dante took the ring of the metal nunchucks and slipped it under the band holding her tail tied the way she liked it. "Try it now," he suggested.

Blinking, Applejack hunkered down as she lifted her tail and began twirling it. The nunchucks spun, spinning around the ring in response to her movements. She grinned widely as she shifted her body weight, making the nunchucks change their angle of spin and shift around her. Reaching back, she caught one prong attempting to go into one of the strikes she'd seen Dante do, but a second prong struck her in the head, knocking over.

Dante rubbed her head gently. "Pretty good," Dante said reassuringly. "A good start as far as how to wield it. When your magic is strong enough, Cerberus will respond to your magic to shift arrangement to your fighting style. That should work quite well."

Applejack grinned widely. "Ah did good?" she asked happily.

Dante chuckled, finding her inexplicable accent adorable. "You did good. So what should we train with next?"

Smiling, Applejack pointed to the scythe. "Slashy!"

Chuckling, Dante picked up the full sized scythe and the pony sized one. "Like with Cerberus, once your magic is strong enough, Nevan can shift herself around in weapon form in response to your magical impulse, so lets focus on just teaching you scythe combat."

They went through a few basic stances and passes, just enough for Applejack's muscles to get used to the movements. Once she was able to do each one, they went through it a few more times.

"Alright," Dante said at last. "Now let's see how you do with Beowulf." He handed her the duplicates while pulling on his own copies.

Before he'd even gotten his on, Applejack was already throwing punches with her forelegs and kicks with her hind legs, striking the wooden dummy he'd set up as a target.

Dante smiled. "Seems Virgil was right about those being well suited to you," he muttered. He sat back to watch her handling herself. She certainly seemed to know how to throw punches and kicks. Eventually, she started to breathe heavily. "Okay, that's enough for today!" he called out to her.

She looked up at him with a huge grin. She was plainly enjoying herself, but the way her coat was matted with sweat showed she was plainly exhausted.

"First a bath," Dante said, scooping her up and setting the weaponry aside, "then a light snack. Then I'll start teaching you to play guitar."

Bathing Applejack was always a treat and a half. She didn't fuss about bathing, and Dante was careful enough not to get soap in her eyes. It was after the washing was done that made it fun, though, as Applejack would splash Dante as best she could the instant the soap was washed off her, which then quickly devolved into a splash fight.

"I think my biggest regret is that she'll have grown out of this before I get a chance to manifest and join in," Nevan murmured as she watched Dante and Applejack splash each other, laughing the whole while.

"I want to splash fight!" Agni pouted.

"Me too!" Rudra agreed.

"Ball..." Cerberus whimpered.

After drying her off, Dante and Applejack each had an apple before Dante pulled out the electric guitars. "Alright. Let's see what we can do about teaching you to play-" He paused, seeing what she was doing. "Why are you putting Beowulf on?"

Smiling, Applejack showed Dante the claws at the end of the foreleg gauntlets, which she could manipulate with minimal magic. "Gots ta have picks!" she pointed out.

Chuckling, Dante rested his guitar in his lap. "Alright. Watch how I hold the strings."

They spent the rest of the evening till dinner doing their best to make sweet music together.

The Final Battle...Again

Applying the complete perfect amulet to Force Edge, the sword became unsealed, taking on its true form. A sword that was equal parts metal and flesh, that shifted between being a sword, a spear, or a scythe in shape depending on how it was held or swung. It glowed with the combined energies of the blood of Sparda.

Applejack stared at the living sword in her hooves for a time, looking somewhat nervous.

"What's wrong, AJ?" Dante asked.

"It's...well..." She shrugged. "Ah know this is Grandpa's sword...ah can feel his power in it, responding to mah own and yours and Uncle's...but, well..." She shivered. "Seeing a sword that's half metal, half flesh, ah can't help but think of Soul Edge!" She pointed to the glowing red circle in the fleshy part of the blade. "And that eye looking thing ain't helping!"

The red circle squeezed in at the middle and the flesh part of the sword rippled.

"Now don't you start laughin' at me!" Applejack scolded the sword. She slung it over her shoulder. "Come on, let's get a move on!"

Dante suppressed his own laughter, ignoring a glare from Virgil. Trish glanced back and forth between them. "Is...is it always this crazy?"

"Should we be serenading her now?" Alastor asked.

"Wait until we figure out who we're supposed to serenade her for," Nevan scolded.

"Never mind," Trish added.

The four of them made their way through the living cave, fighting the strange humanoid demons. While Sparda proved to be an effective weapon, Applejack preferred to wield Beowulf. She decided to save Sparda for when they actually confronted Mundus.

However, given that they were actually in the Underworld now, all the Devil Arms were able to fully manifest. Griffon flew overhead, sniping with lightning alongside Nevan and Alastor. Ifrit, Agni, and Rudra flanked the group, Ifrit with his flaming fists, Agni and Rudra with their sword heads. Cerberus stalked behind, gaurding their rear and shooting a blast of ice anywhere he could find a hole.

Before too long, the seal upon the massive gate was broken, and the group passed through.

Entering a massive cathedral, the group approached a gigantic statue.

"Again I must face a Sparda," the statue spoke without moving its lips. "Strange fate, isn't it?"

"Not just one this time," Virgil pointed out.

"Indeed...and two traitors," Mundus growled. "Your punishment will be great for your betrayal...Griffon...Trish..."

Applejack rolled her eyes as she drew Sparda. "So...how long are we gonna keep jawing?" she asked. "Can we fight now?"

"You have no patience for-"

Applejack interrupted Mundus rant by smacking the face of a statue with an apple pie.

"Son of a-! Yes!" Mundus roared.

The statue stood up, stone flaking off as it broke apart to reveal the true form of Mundus.

Applejack grinned as she placed her hoof on the hilt of Sparda. "Come on, everybody!" she said with a grin. "We've got a demon king to spank!"

Grinning, Dante added his hand to the hilt. Rolling his eyes, Virgil added his own. All three drew forth Sparda's power, unleashing the true might of the Devil Trigger.

As Dante's Demon form sprouted wings to carry him into the air with Rebellion, Agni and Rudra's stone bodies transformed into gargoyles, spreading their own wings for flight. Nevan, Alastor, and Ifrit levitated themselves in their own elements. Trish climbed onto Griffon's back as he expanded to his full size, and they combined their lightning.

Clutching Sparda close, Applejack flew into the air in an aura of pure demon magic. "Let's end this!" she snarled, and battle was joined.

Griffon swooped around Mundus, blasting away with lightning amplified by Trish's magic, easily evading the large blasts Mundus sent at them. Agni and Rudra darted in close, slashing away. Alastor and Nevan attacked from above and below, while Ifrit attacked Mundus' wings with giant fireballs. Applejack, Dante, and Virgil circled in and around the fight, delivering magically charged blasts as they built up demonic energy to attack.

When their shared energy reached a peak, they flew together, seizing hold of Sparda together as the three took on the form of a demonic dragon that tore massive chunks out of Mundus' body. While Mundus reared back from every attack, this seemed to be the only way to cause real damage.

After a time, Sparda was no longer able to maintain the trios shared Devil Trigger, and the group withdrew to a lava strewn field to recover strength. Mundus followed to engage in further battle...but left himself open for further assault. A glowing light in the center of his chest was plainly an obvious weak point, and Applejack hopped onto Griffon's back to swing in close and attack with Sparda, now energized by her own Devil Trigger when she had enough magic built up to do so. Everyone else focused on drawing Mundus' attention away from her while she was charging.

After enough damage had been done, Mundus reared back in pain. Leaping into the air, he let out a despairing, "Nooooo!" as his body slowly dissolved.

The group found themselves once more in the cathedral as the entirety of Mallet island began to collapse. "We need to get out of here!" Dante shouted, but staggered. Virgil and Applejack weren't in much better condition. Sharing Sparda's power had left them all drained.

"All aboard!" Griffon shouted, landing full sized to pick them all up.

Once everyone was on his back, Griffon took to the air, diving through the gates and blasting any demons that attacked with his lightning bombs. Once they exited the underworld and mirror world, Griffon shouted, "Hold tight!"

As they all did, Griffon borrowed some of Trish's power and blasted the roof open with a blast of lightning that resembled a laser. Once the dust cleared, Griffon took to the skies.

As they took to the sky, Mundus leapt after them from a portal. "You won't get away!" he roared.

Griffon attempted to flap away, but began to flag. "Applejack's too weak," he said. "I...I can't maintain full manifestation..."

"We'll help you," Nevan proclaimed.

Each of the Devil Arms resumed their weapon forms. Cerberus wrapped around Griffon's neck, supporting his head. Nevan and Alastor each supported a wing. Agni and Rudra braced his legs. Beowulf and Ifrit braced all six talons between them. On his back, Trish once more poured all the lightning she could gather into Griffon.

The combined power blasted out of Griffon's mouth, driving Mundus back. With a pulse from Sparda, the blast punched through Mundus, shattering his manifestation.

"Jackpot," everyone said together as the blast punched through.

Mundus screamed in agony as he was banished back to the Underworld anew. "I will return!" he screamed out. "I will rule this world!"

"When ya come back, I'll solo ya!" Applejack yelled back as she started to sway.

As Mallet Island collapsed, Griffon winged for home.

The First Spardan Tournament 1: Spirit

Urameshi Yusuke sighed as he stared up at the massive stadium. It had been a long time since he had even considered entering a tournament. Several years, in point of fact. He had thought he got the last of that out of his system after the massive tournament in Hell to determine who would make all the decisions back when he was still a teenager. He'd actually passed on fighting in the tournament in hell when it had been held again four years later. As much as he'd wanted to compete again, he had more important things in his life.

His hand slipped into his pocket as he felt that reminder he'd kept of just what things were more important to him than fighting now. He couldn't believe Koenma's gall at calling him in again after so long. And he hadn't made it an order, since Yusuke wasn't a Spirit Detective any more. He asked it as a favor from a friend.

Gods, how he hated that pretty boy, formerly pacifier sucking bureaucrat.

And then Keiko had heard about it, and caught him completely off guard.

He walked along, grumbling and muttering under his breath, on his way to meet Keiko. It was their anniversary of becoming an official couple, and he wanted to make things special. The purchase in his pocket - he'd saved for months for it - was a constant reminder both of how much he'd changed, and - oddly enough - how much he hadn't. He punched a building as he passed it to bleed out some of his frustration. He didn't want to upset Keiko.

As he reached her, they smiled happily at each other. As they walked on, however, she glanced up at him. "What did Koenma have to say?"

Yusuke had flinched. He knew he had a terrible poker face, but maybe he could play it off. "W-what makes you think I talked with Koenma?"

Keiko pointed behind them. As Yusuke turned, the building he had punched - thankfully empty and scheduled for demolition - teetered over and slowly collapsed inward as it fell to pieces from the delayed force of his punch. "You always lose control of your strength when he's involved," she pointed out calmly. "So what's going on?"

Yusuke sighed. "Someone's starting up another Dark Tournament on Earth," Yusuke explained. "You remember that?"

Keiko shuddered. "Yes," she whispered. She still had nightmares about how Yusuke had been, after he thought Kuwabara had died.

"Same deal as before," Yusuke replied. "Elimination tournament with teams. Humans, demons, and any other sort of supernatural being. Winning team gets a wish granted. He wants me to talk Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei into reforming our old team to enter and check it out."

Keiko sighed sadly. "So when do you go?" she asked sadly.

"I told him no."

Keiko looked up at him in surprise. "Really?"

Yusuke nodded. "I'm done with that. I've got a day job, and a life to live...right here with you." He put his arm around her shoulders.

They walked together for some time like that, Keiko lost in thought, Yusuke at war with himself inside. She could see it in his eyes. You could take the warrior out of the battle...but it was always there inside him. She knew him too well. "You should go," she said finally.

"Eh?" he asked, shocked.

"You should go," she repeated. "I can tell you miss it. The struggle. The combat. You're trying your best to be civilized...but it isn't just your demon blood calling you to it, and you know it."

He sighed. She knew him far too well. "But..."

She turned to face him, putting her finger to his chest. "Just promise me you'll come back, and that it won't take so long this time."

Smiling, he nodded. "I promise. And it'll be the last-"

She put a finger to his lips. "Don't promise that," she whispered. "It would kill you to keep it."

Sighing, he nodded. She then took the opportunity to slip in for a quick kiss. He smiled in response. Pulling out the black box in his pocket, he placed it in her hands. "Open it when I get back," he told her as her eyes went wide.

And now here he was, staring up at the tournament. In his pocket, the ring he'd slipped out of the box remained, a reminder to himself of why he was really fighting, so he didn't get lost in the battle frenzy again. He had managed to assemble his old team again, he wasn't sure how. Kuwabara and Kurama were easy enough. Both were actually pleased for the excuse for them to act as a team again. Hiei had shown up out of nowhere just as they were going to go looking for them. He told Kuwabara he was looking forward to seeing the big idiot get his ass handed to him. He'd told Yusuke and Kurama that Yukina had asked him to make sure Kuwabara came back in one piece. (A few years back, Yukina had figured out that Hiei was her long missing twin brother...but had continued to pretend ignorance of it around Hiei, while using it to innocently guilt him into any number of things. Yusuke and Kurama both found that absolutely hilarious.)

Kuwabara glanced around at all the demons, humans, and other beings swarming into the tournament grounds. "Whoa..." he breathed. "This is even bigger than the Dark Tournament was. How is anyone supposed to keep this all under control?"

Hiei made a disgusted sound through his clenched teeth. "The name of the hosts is all it would take to keep anyone from causing trouble," he stated bluntly. It was hard to tell if you didn't know him, but he was clearly nervous. The black flames of the hell dragon danced back and forth around him of their own accord.

Kurama nodded in agreement. "This is not a bloodline a demon crosses and lives to tell the tale of."

"Oh?" Yusuke asked, plainly interested. "Tough are they?"

"Raizen, Mukuro, and Yomi allied together...would have still stepped carefully around the strongest of the bloodline," Hiei replied.

Yusuke whistled appreciatively. "Now I'm looking forward to this!"

"Of course you are," Kurama replied with a chuckle.

As they stepped up to the entrance, a voluptuous woman in skin tight black leather with a braid of crimson hair hanging down across one shoulder glanced at them over the registration desk. "Names?" she asked.

"Team Urameshi," Yusuke replied proudly.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

Yusuke deflated slightly. Hiei and Kurama both chuckled. "Spirit World representatives," Kurama explained.

"Ah," the woman replied. "You're the second team to claim affiliation to that mythology. I'm Nevan, and I'm in charge of registration. Who is your captain?"

Yusuke swelled his chest and pointed at himself with his thumb. "That's me! Urameshi Yusuke!"

Nevan smirked. "Ah. So that's what they meant." She showed him a sheet of paper. "Team Rival - the other team from your mythology - asked me to show you their lineup when you arrived."

The four names of Team Rival were:
Toya - Captain
Jin
Chu
Rinku

Yusuke crowed happily. "Hey, we'll be seeing those guys again!" He flexed his arms. "Wonder how they've improved?"

Nevan held up her hand to Yusuke. Both hand and eyes glowed. After a time, she nodded, and put his name down. She then turned to the rest of the team. "Names?"

"Kurama." Another scan, another nod, another name put down.

"Hiei." Another scan, another nod, another name put down.

"Kazuma Kuwabara!"

Nevan frowned halfway through the scan. "Hold out your sword arm," she said bluntly.

"Eh?" Kuwabara asked, doing so. "Why-EEYAGH!"

Lightning had flashed from Nevan's finger, inscribing a seal around Kuwabara's wrist. It had apparently been quite painful.

"Dimensional techniques are forbidden during the course of the tournament," Nevan replied calmly over Kuwabara's howling. "Your Second Energy Sword technique will be unsealed when the tournament ends." She jotted down the last name. "You're all registered. You can go right in."

As they entered, they glanced around at the massive gathering of both competitors and spectators. They saw teams and groups of all sorts, everything from hulking demons, shambling ogres, silent ninjas...and even a group of four schoolgirls in matching uniforms, much to their surprise.

An announcement played over speakers. "Would all competing teams please report to the main dining hall for the welcome feast? Repeat, all competing teams report to the main dining hall for the welcome feast. Thank you!"

Yusuke blinked in surprise. "Wasn't that Koto?" he demanded in shock.

No one seemed interested in answering him. Everyone was making their way towards a massive building behind what looked like a restaurant built up against a massive stone monolith. Shrugging, he walked with his team to see what was coming.

Author's Note

I will be taking suggestions for teams to enter the tournament. There are three rules regarding the suggestions.

None involving a series I've already drawn from for team members. Addendum to this rule: a single team must draw entirely from one series.
None involving worlds from my other Adopted Displaced Fics.
The suggestion must include four members, along with the name of the captain marked, and a Team Name.

The series so far off limits for selection:

Devil May Cry
Yu Yu Hakusho
Highschool DxD

Suggest away. Any team selected will get their own chapter introducing said team, as well as the submitter being mentioned in the Author's Note.

Note: Please include the name of the series the team is drawn from.