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.
..... that has got to be one of the most misplaced hopes i have ever heard.... phracking Hilarious thou.
6134065 Agreed. Hopefully AJ isn't putting too much hope in it. It would be very sad to see her heart-broken from false hope.
This will be a lot of fun XD.
How much stronger did she get?
Well the future looks boring for her.
Ajs to op now i mean i may have a op oc but i have him flawed like if i go to powerful i go insane and psychotic
In the words of a Sontaran:
"This isn't a war, this is sport!"
6134161
While you might have a point normally...
If you take into account everything in the plot and backstory of the Devil May Cry series, Applejack is no more powerful than Dante at this point, and Dante is no more powerful than he was in canon at this point in the timeline. The only difference between this story and the games as far as power is they kept the Devil Arms they acquired previously...and several of the Devil Arms have the power to physically manifest for combat. Which actually isn't that much of a battle advantage or power boost, just a change in how battles play out.
Devil May Cry canon puts Sparda on a high pedestal, power wise. It's heavily implied that Dante inherited that power, and is nearly as strong as Sparda was. Virgil is implied to be equal power with Dante. And Sparda was stated flat out in canon to be strong enough to take the entirety of hell - and its entire demonic population - single handed.
Is Applejack OP as compared to how she was originally? Yes. Is she OP relative to the story she's presently in? Not even close. Is this increase in power without drawbacks? No. Most of her power comes from syncing up with her Devil Arms, especially Nevan and Sparda. Not to mention the social and emotional drawbacks that will come from now being part demon (extended lifespan, see Who Wants to Live Forever on tvtropes).
6134512
Those little tanned potatoes-mole hybrids.
But the are tight, with AZ at Dante's side, they don't go to war, they go "sport-hunting".
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Crush Zeus
Freeze him
Blow him away
Am I right?
Such a great ending , I can't wait for more.
She needs to fight her Grandpa at full power. I'm sure that with six versions of Twilight, including Rachet's daughter, working together they could find a way to send her back in time to spar with him... and tell him exactly how he needs to set things up so Canon is preserved.
Heh, we're here in... which game? I always get the numbers mixed up or something in places...
Anyway, pretty awesome, as well as Applejack getting some memories back~ We're about to come full circle.
Also, new harem member obtained, despite Dante being a father, he's still Dante, heh.
Also, you know that game DMC? A far back prequel to the Devil May Cry series? Is anything from back then ever going to be addressed?
6135359
Wait...
Do you mean Devil May Cry: DMC?
That thing is non-canon. It's a different continuity.
...and I just realized I missed the chance to make the joke I was going to make about it in story.
Nero was going to find it and bring it over to play during the family reunion, as "A game made based off Dante's story".
So Dante of the original four games was going to react to his portrayal as a half demon/half angel in that game.
...that was going to be fun...
6135359 DMC 2, the last game to be gone through as i understand it
6135385
You can still make an Omake man, come on, cheer up...
Man, it's awkward comforting someone over the internet.
6135385 You still have a chance, man! Use it while you still can!
...
...
...
WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN SHE ISN'T SPARRING WITH DEMON GOD DUMPLIN?!
img08.deviantart.net/41bf/i/2015/091/0/f/so_what_are_you_doing_there_by_afteel_nifty-d8nxr5g.png
6135075 i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/903/458/f7b.gif
moar plz i love this fanfic :)
6142790 ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.7z226gHWOL291tUAknzf9w&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0
My childhood right there, watched it all the time growing up.
Ah, this will be boring, maybe she should limit herself to just a single weapon?
6161277 oohhh maby just hand to hand, or is it hoof to hoof combat
6904364 still too op
There was so much hype for... uh... FAST? Well, it's not FART. Will the Tourney be in the side stories? Probably not; I did not read the blog post.
7113179 maaaaaaby blind fold?
7372956 He said it's going to be in a side story later, once he's finished up some of the current PWNY stories and the side story with AJ going to school. He wants time to do the proper research on all the teams that are participating.
7417141
Let's not forget all of the other stories he's currently working on.
Celestia, Luna why?
Here's a theory! ~A GAME THEORY!~
Every DMC game, Dante did something to hinder himself in order to challenge himself. Maybe he used some ritual to subtract from his actual power, or maybe a psychological Power Limiter or some other form of Weighted Clothing. It would explain why Dante would have relative trouble and challenge against any other demon, but still be able to defeat Mundus's fragment and stop a hundred-ton statue's fist from crushing him. It would also make sense, since otherwise he'd get bored, not to mention the eventual muscle atrophy if he kept going at the same day-by-day rate without properly working out his entire body's muscles in a healthy manner by regularly bench-pressing mountains or something. And before you say, 'oh, they don't need to do that cause of magic or something', your could also argue that his magic in itself is a muscle as well.
Unless somehow Goku turned up I doubt there would a challenge here
8941679 well Goku has been to hell multiple times it may happen