//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Macho Men 
// Story: X and Zero in Equestria 
// by Acclamations 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 6: Macho Men 

“Who the hell are you?” The red one said. He drew his sword and pointed it at Zero. The blue one with the swept back hair observed both the robots. Zero pushed the sword away and unsheathed his saber. He looked up menacingly at his new found enemy, ready to attack at any given time. The blue one stepped in, pushing away his brother.
“I apologize for my dolt of a brother. I am Vergil, and he is Dante.” Vergil said. Dante put his sword away and pouted. “Why do you always gotta get in my way, bro.” Zero also put his sword away, but still cautious. X walked toward Vergil and extended his hand. 
“Nice to meet you, Vergil. My friend Zero and I, X, are here from another dimension, as you can see, we are not from this place.” Dante looked intrigued and popped in between Vergil and X. 
“Well, well, another runt from another dimension. Sorta reminds me of you.” Dante turned his head around, only to get stabbed by Vergil’s katana.
“Hey, hey! Careful there, you might scare the guests.” Vergil withdrew his sword, wiped the blood of his blade and slid it back into its sheath. X and Zero looked unphased, which surprised Dante.
“I guess you’re used to see people getting stabbed and live, right?” 
“We died a couple of times, so it’s nothing we’re not familiar with.” X said. He shrugged and turned to Zero, who was rubbing his chest.
“Except, we usually don’t fall on our faces. Or meet demons who are so nonchalant about getting pierced.” 
“Ho ho, how’d you know I was a demon? Did my charming good looks give it away?” Dante put on his best smile, only to get one of his fingers chopped off.
“Stop goofing off, we have some business to do.” Vergil said. 
“Well, I can’t do the damn business if you chop off my limbs you lunatic.” Dante reached to pick up his finger, only to have another chopped off. “Damn you.” 
X and Zero looked around, taking in the room they were in for the first time. It was like a bar, only without the bar. A pool table was in a corner with pool sticks in their respective racks, a dingy table in the center with a few swords hanging about, a stairway leading to the upper floor, a drum set, a lone guitar and a jukebox that looked smashed to oblivion.
“Wanna come with? If you don’t hurry, the party’s gonna start without you.” Dante asked. He put on his red trench coat and Vergil stood up. They both exited the building, leaving Zero and X in the building. Zero was reluctant, but X grabbed Zero and they both went outside. 

Meanwhile, in the city, Dante and Vergil were already a few meters ahead of them. X and Zero dashed, catching up to them. They turned a corner and entered a narrow alleyway, various ruined buildings lay across the block.
“Where did you robots come from?” Vergil asked. Dante was also interested but kept a solid poker face. 
“We came from the time of 21XX, where Humans and we, Reploids, are scattered across the Earth. Well, what used to be it. Humans are rare to come by since a handful of Reploids became rogue, also known as Maverick, and wiped out a large number of them.” X explained solemnly. 
“That’s some Terminator stuff right there. Tell me, did Skynet create your kind?” Dante joked. His fingers were safely re-attached and he cracked his knuckles. Suddenly, a Hell Spawn appeared in front of them. It had dark robes, emitting black lights from itself. It's body, thin as bone, since it was bone and soulless blue eyes followed, giving them the impression of Hell on Earth. Several more popped out, and soon there were a few or so of them. 
"What are they?" X inquired. He felt disgusted looking at such abominations.
"These are Hell Prides, the lowest of the low out of the Seven Deadly Sins." Vergil said. He pulled out a red book and flipped through the pages, searching for their entry. Vergil's face changed when he found them, and gave it to X. Vergil took the book back after a few minutes, and turned to face the Hell Spawn. Dante and Vergil walked pass them, and X and Zero followed along, before being stopped. A scythe came down upon their heads, but a quick slash obliterated the group. Vergil put his sword back into the sheath and continued ahead. X and Zero were confused. How fast was this guy to be able to kill such creatures at such speeds? Their question were soon answered when Vergil stopped. 
“I am a master swordsman, alongside with the red imbecile with me. I use the style of Iaido, but use my abilities to put a blend onto it.” X and Zero nodded. 
“And I’m just a wild cat. Rawr!” Dante spun around and crouched like a cat. Vergil then proceeded to smack him with his scabbard. 
“I use my buster, which I suppose is similar to Dante’s Ebony and Ivory.” X said. Dante raised an eyebrow.
“How’d you figure that? I knew robots were smart, but you are the smartest one around!” X pointed to his red gem. 
“This wonder lets me analyze things at high accuracy. Your biological structures are different from each other and I can see that you have wings.” X nodded at his skills, which raised more questions.
“You can see our Devil Forms? That’s a first.” Dante said. “Typically, I have to beat the snot out of something to show my Devil form.” Dante scratched his head and sat quizzically. Zero then felt a glare from afar. He saw more Hell Spawns come from the buildings, and one in particular was bigger than the other. 
“Look who decided to show up, Vergil.” Dante said. He brought out the sword from his back. “C’mon Rebellion, it’s time to rock!” Dante charged into the mess of enemies and Vergil shook his head.
“What a fool... Let’s go Yamato, we can’t let that idiot get all the credit!” Vergil charged into the group also, X and Zero sitting in the sidelines.
“We’ll show them our stuff later, X. Let’s see how they fare.” Zero said. X sighed and leaned back. He felt something hard press against him and looked up. One Hell Pride snuck behind them and was about to attack, when X shoved his buster into its mouth. The demon’s mouth exploded and turned into sand. X sighed, and shook his head.
“Looks like we can’t have that luxury today...” Many Hell Prides appeared, this kind were different. They were bloody and it seemed to freely move about their pasty white bodies. X and Zero took a glance behind them, seeing Vergil and Dante fight.
“Let’s hurry, we don’t want to leave them in the dust.” Zero said. X nodded.

The fight on both sides exploded with the sounds of metallic clangs and booms. X and Zero were decimating their enemies in front of them, X being support. Dante and Vergil ruined their enemies, all of which died as soon as they came out. The Vanguard looked from above and let out a howling scream. Dante and Vergil ended their last opponent and Zero and X did the same, taking noticed to the Vanguard’s war cry. It slammed on the ground, making a crater. Dante sighed loudly. 
“Are we done yet? I need to pay Lady back after that massive debt.” Dante whined. The Vanguard turned around and appeared in front of X and Zero. It swung its massive scythe sweeping up the dust off the ground. X and Zero leaped out of the way, air dashing next to Dante and Vergil.
“Not only are you robots, you basically have the same moves as us! Impressive little weasels.” Dante praised. Zero punched Dante, only to have Dante retort with an uppercut. Dante and Zero glared at each other.
“You’re starting a fight with the wrong person, Dante.” Zero warned. Dante shrugged it off with a similar insult.
“It takes two to tango, but one to win a mango.” Dante said. 
“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?” Zero asked. Before Dante could say anything, Zero socked him in the face. Dante jabbed him in the head and soon they both had a fight.
X and Vergil looked at the two idiots quarreling with each other, before turning back to the Vanguard.
“Anyway, we should probably deal with this Hell Spawn first” X said. He retracted his hand and pulled out his buster.
“Truer words have never been spoken.” Vergil said. He readied himself and put his hand on the hilt of Yamato.


Boss Fight: Grim Reaper
Statistics: 5 Attack, 5 Defense, 10000 HP

READY?

The Vanguard moved first. It teleported into a black mist and reappeared behind them. It swung its scythe but X countered with his own Saber. The Vanguard attacked again but swung too wide, getting hit by Vergil’s Yamato. A white 20 came from the Vanguard, showing that it’s taking damage.
“What is this, Final Fantasy?” 
The Vanguard teleported again, spawning a few Hell Prides. Vergil and X took care of it with ease until one of the Hell Spawns had a giant orange growth on its back. X shot the orange sack and it exploded, destroying its allies. The Grim Reaper showed again, and tried to ambush X again but Vergil punched it using a shiny white pair of gauntlets. The Vanguard tried to run away again, but Vergil was determined not to let that happen. He jumped into the air and took out the Force Edge, slamming it on top of the Vanguard. It howled in pain and screeched as Vergil took out Beowulf. He did a spinning kick and did a diagonal kick towards the Vanguard’s stomach, making it kneel over. It’s scythe spun out of its grip and landed by X, who was startled by how massive it was. Vergil continued to pummel the beast, switching weapons to provide variety. White numbers flushed out as the Vanguard continued to get beaten over and over. The Vanguard howled loudly this time, and three more Grim Reapers came out, aiding its downed comrade.
“Insolent fools, power is all that matters. Numbers won’t do you good if they’re not strong.” Vergil said. His eyes resonated with a pulsating blue and grabbed his Yamato. He crouched and in a flash, sliced up the Vanguards in an instant. It was like a blur to X, one moment Vergil was surrounded, the next, he was outside the group, sword extended. Vergil slid Yamato back into its scabbard. As soon as it made a *click* sound, the Vanguards disintegrated into the meaningless dust it was. 

The scythe remained, however, which confused X. So if it’s not in their possession, it can’t be destroyed... X thought. He committed it to memory and saw Vergil coming towards him. X grabbed the scythe to prop himself up and sighed.
“I couldn’t do anything...” X said. Dante and Zero started to run over, apparently done fighting each other. 
“Relax, X. This is a new dimension, after all. Enemies are different from where we came from.” Zero said reassuringly. X perked up a bit and remembered the scythe.
“What do we do about this?” X said. The scythe was massive, bigger than X. It had a white smoke coming off of it and had decorations that looked like screaming skulls. The blade looked like someone decapitating everything in sight, without a care in the world. It had an inscription carved into it.
“God’s Servant and Life’s Master, Redeem the souls for everlaster, quick and swift, silent in the night, Strong and justified, forever right.” X murmured. The scythe suddenly moved. It shook the ground, being lodged in the concrete and the skulls started to cackle. It sent shivers down X’s “spine” , making him back away until he hit something. Something hard. And invisible. X looked back. He saw a red ring surround the area. From the outside, X’s figure vanished into a black sphere, enveloping his body. Zero dived in but was denied and was spat back out. X turned around and saw that something was trying to get in. 
“What in the- a force field?” X sputtered. The scythe started to cackle loudly and the ground shook more violently, until it popped out of the ground and floated in the air. A harsh voice shot out of the scythe, dampening the mood.
“Are you the one who called me?” It rang out. X was stunned. It can talk? The F- 
“Answer me, or you’ll face the wrath of the Almighty!” It screamed. It’s voice wasn’t a normal voice. It changed, from a woman’s voice to a child’s voice.
“I suppose so.” X said calmly. He was gathering his wits by how frightening this world was, when the scythe spoke again.
“Alright then. Prove to me that you called me by defeating my minions. Then I will recognize your strength and have my master fight you.” It said. The voice echoed and a sudden boom erupted from within the circle. Pits started to open up and Hell Spawns popped out, and soon swarmed X. X readied his buster and started to charge up, but was interrupted as one of them swung downward, making X lose concentration. X started to charge again, but as soon as another Hell Pride swung, he dodged, maintaining the charge. The Prides started to rush X as he jumped over or crouched under each swing. The Prides started to tire out and X released his Charged Shot he has been holding for a while. It lit up like a lightbulb and enveloped the enemies, being over in a few minutes.
“Impressive, now let’s see how you fare against my master!” The scythe turned black, tendrils coming out of it. It grew bigger and bigger, more powerful and intense until it took the size of a 15 foot building. 
“Ha ha ha! Prepare to meet yo-” The scythe stopped. It looked confused, if it had a face. “Wait a moment... Where is my master?” The scythe said. It scanned (seemingly) the area, looking for traces of its master but it knew it was time. Its master faced the inevitable. Death himself died. The scythe started to shrink, back to normal size, and wailed.
“What do I do!? My master isn’t here anymore! Waaah!” It sobbed. X stared at it. For a weapon made for taking souls, it’s surprising to see it have feelings. X thought. He started to walk away when the scythe cried out.
“Wait, come back!” The scythe whimpered. X took a glance behind him and saw that the scythe started to levitate towards him. “Since my master isn’t...here...anymore, would you become mine?” The scythe asked. X’s mouth was agape. 
Me, carry a freaking scythe!? That would damage my reputation, think of what Alia might say about me!? X screamed in his head. On the outside, X smiled but inside his brains’ cogs started to jam, coming to a grinding halt.
“Uh... fine... I guess.” X mumbled. The scythe lit up and it resonated a passionate blue.
“Thank you so much!” The scythe said happily. X smiled and all, when his back started to tug. The scythe moved toward X’s back, and smacked onto X. X tried to pull it off but it was stuck there. X sighed, and the force field was let down. Zero was sitting down on the cobble floor while Dante and Vergil were duking it out, polishing their swordsmanship. X’s figure came to view and the black circle vanished. Zero saw X come out with something attached to his back.	
“X, are you alright?” Zero asked. X nodded and pointed to his back. X turned around and Zero saw the scythe. 
“What’s this?” Zero asked. He ran his finger across the blade when the scythe retorted by swinging at Zero. Zero jumped out of the way and it detached from X’s back, trying to take another swing, when X grabbed it. The scythe calmed down and looked at X, who nodded and the scythe went back on his back.	
“Would you mind explaining why your scythe tried to kill me? On its own, nonetheless?” Zero said. The scythe popped off and circled X, who rubbed his neck.
“Well, the scythe here was that giant Vanguard that Vergil and I fought. It landed next to me and Vergil finished off the others.” X said. “Then, the scythe summoned a bunch of enemies inside and I had to take care of them or else I couldn’t get out.” Zero nodded, rubbing his chin. “So then, it tried to call upon its owner but it turns out, Vergil killed him, so now I’m it’s new owner.” X stated flatly. The scythe shook happily (I guess) and spun around. X looked up at its weapon, scratching his head. The scythe started to wrap around in black, absorbing all the shadows from the ruined buildings and such, and released a similar black smoke. As soon as it dissipated, a girl was in the scythe’s place. 
“Ok, this is just too much.” Zero said. The girl wore a blue scarf and black dress. It had long brown hair and black stilettos. The girl smiled and leaped at X, bear hugging him.	
“Let go. Please. I can’t breathe.” X spoke between breaths. The girl let go and X dropped to the floor. “And who are you, anyway?”
“Silly Master, I’m the scythe!” It spoke cheerfully. The girl leaped again but X raised his hand, stopping the girl.
“Drop the honorifics, I don’t need a girl calling me Master like we’re in a BDSM relationship.” X said. The girl nodded and tried to leap once again, getting X’s hand to her face.
“And please stop the hugging, at least the lunging ones.” X said again. The girl nodded again, and returned back to original form, going back to X’s back. The scythe purred and seemingly enjoyed the company of X’s back. 
“At least tell me what your name is. It’ll be less awkward that way.” X said. The scythe thought for a second.
“Cheryl.” The scythe said. 
“Er, ok. My name is X. Nice to meet you... Cheryl.” The scythe grew warm, which X assumed was its way of expressing happiness. Zero slapped himself awake, witnessing an intimate scene of weapon and robot, not a common thing you see. X and Zero walked toward Vergil and Dante, who stopped fighting after a good bit and sat on the floor. 
“Not bad, you sloth.” Vergil said.
“Same here, you no good bum.” Dante retorted. Dante got up when he saw X and Zero, as did Vergil. 
“Check out the sweet ride.” Dante said. He looked at the scythe, and looked back at X. “How did you manage to get a Devil Arm?” Dante asked. “Typically, demons are the only ones capable of getting Devil Arms.” X shrugged.
“I got lucky.” He said, and Vergil smirked.
“Interesting enough, we need to hurry.” Vergil said. He turned and started to exit the alleyway. X followed, and Zero and Dante didn’t have much choice.
“Where are we going?” Zero asked. 	
“We’re going... to hell!” Dante said. A pit opened from under them and the group fell into the fiery pits of the Underworld.


Author's Note: Hope this is enjoyable to viewers. Enjoy the chapter!