Sandbox / Hotman X 32 Pantheon Vault

Here consists of folder for trope pages focused on Pantheon stories.

At Year's End

"Well, here we are. This is the end. What a drag."

— Shikamaru Nara

The final tale of the Year One set of Pantheon stories.

After a great deal of shake-ups and near total-catastrophes, it seems that the Pantheon has finally begun to stabilize, but unfortunately, it is not so. There are still enemies to fight, and the foe that has appeared now may be the one that finally ends it all...

At Year's End consists of the following:

• Big Bad: Nekron and the GUAD take this role.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The Grand United Alliance of Destruction

Homunculus Theory

The second story of the Ouroboros Chronicles Trilogy, taking place three days after the events of Rainbow Rivalries.

Shortly after Team Rainbow Rocket's defeat, Lust, Gluttony, and Envy obtain a Philosopher's Stone never discovered before. With Giovanni now out of the competition, King Bradley is now clear to plot his first move with his newly established High Command, having gained new allies in their malicious quest for power.

The story is still in progress, though what's been finished can be read here.

The tale contains the following tropes:

• A Day in the Limelight: Both Edward Elric and Jin Kisaragi each narrate a character that has been featured in Act Zero, initially separate from the heroes' adventures in the main story:
  • The Fullmetal Alchemist tells the brief adventure of Vegeta, who is searching for Future Trunks after the Rainbow Rocket Incident.
  • The Hero of Ikaruga covers the story of Vergil, who's trying to find a way get Kat and himself stronger.
• Aesop Amnesia: Zig-zagged hardcore. Vergil, with Kat in tow, accepts Albert and Alex Wesker's invitation to help retrieve a power source connected to their Ouroboros research, despite this type of thing having gone badly for him before. However, it's implied part of his motivation was to help Kat get stronger, not just himself, and it's revealed that he didn't trust the Weskers' intentions anymore than she did and fully intended to destroy this power source rather than use it if it existed. But even that was not enough to spare them, as they were not prepared for Albert and Alex to act the part of Playing Both Sides in order to render them helpless at High Command's mercy. When Kat naturally protests Albert calling Vergil a fool blinded by his lust for power, Bradley proceeds to viciously lampshade how Vergil had thought he could outwit a natural schemer even back then on Temen-ni-gru, making this failure no different from Devil May Cry 3.
• Ascended Extra: Everything Sloth does in this story is as Father's Herald. He only officially ascends to his own throne in the epilogue. Similarly, Pepper Potts, Iron Man's obvious and important second, sees plenty of screen time similar to her role in Rainbow Rivalries, despite officially being a mere follower of an unrelated deity. Said deity later turns her over to Tony's temple officially as his Herald, allowing her to operate at Stark Tower full time... also in the epilogue.
• Ascended Fanboy: Liz Lemon, a massive Star Wars fangirl, gets to meet and befriend Ahsoka Tano to the point of receiving lightsaber lessons from her.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: By targeting Olivier pre-ascension as part of his mission and stating that he's been told about Greed's Ultimate Shield, Raditz gives them both the clue they need to very quickly deduce The Homunculi's involvement in assigning him to attack Republic City.
• Batman Gambit:
  • The Homunculi and High Command expect that Vergil Sparda would one day come back after them, so they expedite the process to control the situation along with Albert and Alex Wesker. The Wesker "siblings" approach Vergil about a potential source of power they need his help to retrieve, all the while gradually leading him towards an ambush from Azula. However, Kat spies on them from Limbo as they speak of their plans and tells it to Vergil, neither of whom trusted the Weskers to begin with, leaving them prepared for the other shoe to drop. Vergil attempts to break off the alliance only for the Weskers to tip him off about when Bradley would be vulnerable, coming off as Double Agents as Vergil prepares to go after Bradley. This too was a setup. Azula, Bradley, and even Esdeath and Lady Dante all had their temples jury-rigged in case of Sparda, and just in case Vergil had a Plan B, the Weskers were on the Ouroboros' side; meaning even if he called upon his brother and illegitimate son they might've been snared too. The only reason this isn't a Xanatos Gambit is because there was one secure way he could've avoided all this — which was to stop completely and reject either of the Weskers' offers, whether it be searching for the power source in the first place or going after Bradley. As this is pre-Character Development Vergil, though, his personal ego and quest for power simply wouldn't allow this.
  • Noob devises a plan to trick Ragna. Place a recording where Envy, taking the form of Jin, slices a pillow with a picture of Noel, someone the real Jin hates with a passion, announcing intent to eliminate her. Then Envy, in the form of Batman in the second Frozen Blade Campaign, approaches Ragna with the footage of 'Jin', provoking him to go after his brother, pitting the two against one another.
  • Using the Saiyan's lust for battle, Raditz lures Vegeta to the House of Magic, letting the latter knock him into his destination. This enabled Ultimecia, the Time Sorceress, to help Raditz defeat and capture his former leader.
• Behemoth Battle: Selena Recital, working for the heroes, pilots her Real Robot Humongous Mecha, the AS Alegrias. Annie Leonhart, working for the villains, controls the Female Titan form via the Power of the Titans. One intercepts the other at work, and of course fighting ensues.
• Big Good: The first one, of course, is Van Hohenheim, who is trying to find notes in order to look for a way to counter Father's new plan. The second, Josiah Bartlet, forms a military command team to fight against the Ouroboros.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Five of the characters Hunter J turned into trophies in Rainbow Rivalries are freed only to be mind-controlled for High Command's purposes with the use of Starro-Tech spores. Of these, HK-47 is the first to be revealed attacking Jin and Sub-Zero with Noob; Kimberly Ann Hart is turned into the Ranger Slayer; Smoke and Kula Diamond are effectively reverted to cold assassins; and Gill is Not Brainwashed but still agrees to lead the other captives due to his shared agenda with Vandal Savage.
• Brick Joke: Act Zero has two consecutive fight scenes of Wrath ready to kill someone only to get shot in the back multiple times by an enemy he didn't account for. The first time Solidus Snake stops him from killing Satsuki Kiryuin, the second time Kat stops him from killing Vergil.
• The Bus Came Back: Jin Kisaragi, the main character of the very first Tales of The Alliance story, makes a return after a long absence.
• Cain and Abel: Noob Saibot tries to kill Sub-Zero (again), and part of Raditz's motivation for helping to trap Vegeta is to lure Kakarot/Son Goku. Surprisingly averted with Jin and Ragna the Bloodedge, as Jin is not trying to kill Ragna for once.
• Call-Back: A triple dose. First Vegeta credits Raditz for getting strong enough to give him a good fight for awhile, lampshading how the same scenario back in their Frieza Force days was what convinced Vegeta to have him recruit Kakarot instead of simply dropping Raditz from the team, a detail revealed via Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle. While before, Raditz' resolve to get stronger ultimately changed the future for the Saiyans, this time Vegeta can only reward Raditz by showing him one result of the change, transforming into a Super Saiyan 4. Secondly, in order to do this, Vegeta once again creates a Power Ball^*the "artificial moon" sphere of condensed Blutz Waves created by mixing one's ki with the planet's atmosphere like he did in the Saiyan Saga to turn into a Great Ape. However, this time he creates the Power Ball within himself, engulfing himself in an expanding light through which his Golden Great Ape form briefly manifests. This is the third point, as the image and the roar of a Great Ape was also a part of Goku's iconic transformation where he revealed the Super Saiyan 3 form in the Majin Buu Saga.
• Call-Forward:
  • Kat suggests to Vergil that he get his brother Dante and Nero to help him when he decides to go after High Command for their attempt to deceive him with the Weskers. He turns the idea down out of sheer demonic pride. However, this ends up being exactly what V does in Devil May Cry 5 when he sees that the fission between his human and demon sides created the monster he calls Urizen.
  • The way Vegeta transforms into a Super Saiyan 4 involves creating a Power Ball within himself. In the Universe Survival Saga of Dragon Ball Super^*for Dragon Ball characters, the Ouroboros Chronicles trilogy takes place between the Future Trunks and Universe Survival arcs, Goku will also have a new power unlocked by taking his own move. In order to survive the singularity caused by his Spirit Bomb being pushed back into him by Jiren in the Tournament of Power, Goku's Autonomous Ultra Instinct will trigger for the very first time.
• The Cameo:
  • Many characters make cameo appearances in Act Zero, Envy's narrated extended prologue explaining how the Homunculi got to this point.
    • Melkor gives the order to Raditz for the initial attack on Republic City.
    • Saikhan and Mako, Lin Beifong's Heralds, appear during both her ascension and said attack, returning to the scene after successfully evacuating the citizens while Vegeta deals with Raditz. Of Lin's heralds, only Saikhan is a cameo, because Mako later ascends and joins the main party with his brother Bolin.
    • Gul'dan, Master Xehanort, and Dr. Gero are exposed as Father's co-conspirators in ascending Führer King Bradley. Said plan also has a second goal of amassing a collection of merged/clone souls to use as mannequin soldiers; thanks to General Blue's candidacy, the Red Ribbon Army would provide the perfect palette of goons to continue this part of the plan well past Wrath's ascension.
    • Satsuki Kiryuin and her Elite Four, complete with Ira Gamagoori's Swampert, try to attack Bradley and the Homunculi in Father's lair. Solidus Snake joins in later, helping Satsuki turn the tables and corner Bradley after he had her dead to rights.
  • In non-Act Zero cameos:
    • Kif Kroker finally shows up next to his follower Pepper Potts and her actual boss/occasional boyfriend Tony Stark in their introductory scene at Stark Tower. Kif even offers to help investigate the disappearance of Oerba Yun Fang, which Tony declines, instead having him call Riza Hawkeye to tell her about the discovery of Envy back in Rainbow Rivalries.
    • Nappa appears via hologram to talk to Raditz while the latter is training in the gravity machine that was built for him by the GUAE. This takes place prior to Nappa's ascension, while he's still a follower of Sabrina.
    • While reading Vergil's memories, Kat gets a vision of Nero all grown up, though she doesn't seem to recognize him until later, approaching someone who looks like an obvious clone of Dante, implied to be Jeanne, who shares the same color scheme and is rumored to be Nero's mom. While Vergil doesn't know the young man is his son yet, the notion of them being family has clearly been on his mind.
    • Wario, Waluigi, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone appear at Stray Dog, the Pantheon equivalent of Greed's former Devil's Nest from his home series, as friends of the Avaricious himself.
    • Edmond Dantes tips off Jin about the Scarred Man working at the House of Health and Diseases. When Jin goes there, he finds him working alongside Tony Tony Chopper.
    • Retsu Unohana's reiatsu causes Scar to stop his fight with Jin outside the House of Health and Diseases just in time for Scar to be convinced that Jin is strong enough to fight the Homunculi. She arrives to ward off Lust in her attempt to blindside Scar and Chopper, allowing them to visit a certain doctor.
    • After being mentioned both directly by Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano and indirectly by Scar and Chopper, Doctor Strange finally appears, met by both Ahsoka with Charlie Nash's team as well as Scar and Chopper.
• Composite Character: While Vegeta and his Dragon Team allies are generally treated by their original manga and Dragon Ball Super canon selves, the introduction of Super Saiyan 4 reveals that he and Goku at least have adapted abilities from the Dragon Ball GT timeline into their Pantheonic repertoire. Even the transformation itself is a nod to a number of different directions; for more on that, though, see Call-Back, Call-Forward, Mythology Gag, and Shout-Out.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Several scenes during Act 1 and its supporting side stories make note of how Toku Base and other areas of the Pantheon are still totaled from Rainbow Rivalries.
  • During one of the Weskers' conversations, Albert mentions an idea he and Relius Clover once had to implant a trigger device onto someone's metal for an ambush; stating that he thought better of it and opted out over time while Relius proceeded, he notes that both the metal and said device broke in a fight not too long afterward, rendering it fruitless. This is a reference to an Aborted Arc from Year 1 involving Edward Elric. Albert mentions in the epilogue that he renewed his partnership with Relius for unknown reasons.
  • Despite this being round 2 of the Humans v. Homunculi struggle that defined Amestris, the retooling of the Grand United Alliance of Evil to prioritize consolidating power far above petty goals such as revenge can be seen in the fact that revenge is a secondary motive at best to the Homunculi's overall plans, which ultimately involve creating the strongest Philosopher's Stone in history and assembling multiple factions (themselves, High Command, Team Rainbow Rocket) into a single organization. In fact, by the end they consider their plan a smashing success despite killing very few significant enemies.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Raditz delivers one to Greed and Lin Beifong after he's completed the ritual for the sacrifices. Only the interruption of Vegeta saves their lives.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Once Basil describes King Bradley's features, Dawson realizes that they've entered and left the Fuhrer's temple.
• Designated Girl Fight: When the Female Titan intercepts Rashid and attempts to crush him, she's forced to drop him courtesy of the AS Alegrias's energy whip. Thus, the two women controlling giant bodies representing opposing sides naturally find themselves fighting each other.
• Double-Meaning Title: The Exchange chapters are titled as such for a reason. There's Equivalent Exchange, which rules the FMA world whose plot the story most prominently focuses on. The two sides of the conflict are exchanging blows on a heightened scale. And in a meta sense, the narration of the chapters is exchanged back and forth between several characters from scene to scene rather than having the tone set by one consistent voice.
• Downer Ending: The Great Philosopher's Stone is successfully created through the souls and partial powers drained from seven captive "walking crests of blood" passing through the Homunculi (including an unwilling Greed, who unlike the others doesn't get to keep any of the Stone's power) with the help of an avatar of Nyarlathotep, making Father more powerful than he has ever been. With an assist from the lion Scar keeping Mrs. Brisby, Basil, and Dawson at bay, Lady Dante gets to keep hold of the Stone of Nicodemus that Gluttony stole from Mrs. Brisby to try and reverse her Possession Burnout so she can keep Lyra's form undeterred. Lucy and Shinji Ikari are two of said walking crests of blood, giving them each yet another psychological scar (which they don't need, to put it mildly). Thanks to the power of the two stones, Sloth the Indolent has been ascended to his own temple, with Dante pulling strings to add her world's Sloth, Juliet Douglas, as his Herald. On top of that, Giovanni has been broken out of prison, continuing the group's other plan to annex Team Rainbow Rocket into their ranks and turn the Order of the Ouroboros into a full-scale organization per the business model devised by the GUAE. They also Out-Gambitted Vergil Sparda into fighting them on their terms, leading to not only his capture for experimentation by Alex and Albert Wesker, but also Kat's as well, in another joint plot devised by Bradley and Azula; furthermore, this is hinted to be connected to Vergil's grim state at the start of Devil May Cry 5. And finally, Greed, the rebel son who helped kill Father in their homeworld, finds himself boiled down to his stone form again after going through several levels of torment. Aside from their less-than-stellar kill count after creating the GPS, The Homunculi's Evil Plan is more or less successful.
  • A few silver linings, though. Vegeta's resistance and Ragna's attack against Father during the ritual was able to reduce the amount of power they were able to get from it as well as introduce some painful residue in the Homunculi's stones. Lin Beifong is luckily able to save Greed's stone from being consumed by Father again, and though they have no way to restore his body at the moment, Ling Yao has ascended to the Pantheon. Vegeta's words to Raditz during and especially after curb-stomping his former underling post-ritual seem to have rented space in the Saiyan guardsman's head. Furthermore, Street Fighter's classic military/police quartet has made gains in their allegiances; Guile's addition to the Mighty Majors has proven to strengthen their team, Charlie Nash along with Selena Recital were able to recruit suitable members over the conflict's duration to form a coalition as assigned by Josiah Bartlet, Chun-Li now has hope again for the future of the Delta Cops through both Barlet's encouragement and closely working with Beifong, and Cammy is now friends with Storm. Then Liz Lemon realizes Bartlet's goal is to connect all four teams into a larger command unit through the World Warriors, directly countering Vandal Savage as an organizational chessmaster.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Spider-Man comments about how Absol hissed at Batman after it's revealed that the one who talked to Ragna was in fact Envy.
• Fatal Flaw: Vergil's pride in his demondom and lust for power gets him along with Kat captured and turned into lab rats by an otherwise easily avoidable setup that banked on said traits. Even worse, Kat actually suggests he slow down and at least ask his brother and Nero for help but he's too proud to take to the idea. With the later revelation that he resented Dante for supposedly being their mother's favorite (he was wrong, btw), it can also be inferred that he had too much wrath in him to go see his brother for anything other than combat.
• Fire-Forged Friends: How Charlie and Selena form Bartlet's team. Rashīdo already had this with Nash going back to A Shadow Falls, then they happen upon Ahsoka Tano and help her turn back an ambush, and finally Brock Samson miraculously gets back up and fights after having been used as a walking crest of blood, saving Nash's life and working surprisingly well with him.
• Four Lines, All Waiting: The main story has the Mighty Majors and their allies' attempt to fight High Command to take the Stone of Nicodemus from them and prevent the homunculi's plan from succeeding again, with Vegeta looking for his son Trunks after what happened in Rainbow Rivalries. Frozen Blade has Jin Kisaragi looking for allies to coordinate a sneak attack against High Command, Vergil's quest to make Kat stronger, Peter Parker looking for Envy as Tony Stark instructed him back in Rainbow Rivalries, and lastly in the Last Trace of NIMH, Mrs. Brisby, Basil and Dawson infiltrate Bradley's temple in an attempt to find the Stone of Nicodemus and discover any secrets in the process.
• Full-Name Basis: Downplayed in that it's only the presumed full version of a first name, but when Kat first makes her appearance in the story, Vergil's reaction of surprise that she actually attacked Bradley reveals that he calls her "Katherine" instead of simply Kat, instantly showing a difference from how his Nephilim counterpart treats her.
• Good-Guy Bar: Greed's establishment Stray Dog is seen in this story, and very clearly established as a friendly place to heroes and tweeners alike. The 42nd Command Team use the bar as the meeting spot for the heroes as Greed himself is a rebel Homunculus.
• The Ghost:
  • In Act Zero, Korra is noted as being absent during Raditz's initial attack on Republic City, and the "still-shot" of Greed walking out of the party for her seat transfer at Asami's only shows him. She also becomes a topic of conversation for Greed, Lin, Asami, Touta Konoe, and Tenzin in the main story, with Asami and Touta initially planning to try and find her after she was captured by Team Rainbow Rocket in Rainbow Rivalries.
  • One of the motivating factors for Raditz's attack on Republic City is that he hopes for his carnage to lure Son Goku AKA Kakarot there. When he gets treated to Vegeta intercepting his attack instead, the mid-class soldier asks why his former leader is bothering him rather than Kakarot. Goku's name actually gets bandied about A LOT as far as Vegeta and Raditz are concerned. Future Trunks was supposed to meet with both Vegeta and Kakarot before he got captured by Team Rainbow Rocket, and Vegeta later admonishes Raditz to abandon the notion of the GUAE helping him attain revenge against Kakarot or himself. Even Ryu gets in on the act, remembering that Goku and Gohan are training in their own world as part of the reason it's up to him to protect the House of Power while the main party heroes take the fight to the Ouroboros.
  • Seeing all the blood at the barracks, Guile and Chun-Li speculate on whether M. Bison could've ordered this, before agreeing that it was done too precisely for even his assassin Vega's skill level. Shadaloo and the Ze Balmary Empire are mentioned as two of the examples of the kind of threat President Bartlet wants to have a team prepared to fight against when he gives that order to Charlie Nash and Selena Recital, a goal which he states has been on his mind ever since certain machine criminals orchestrated an earlier outbreak. A few characters besides Bartlet mention the outbreak, with Guile himself mentioning Dr. Nefarious, and Narrator Ed noting that Jax helped Motoko deal with the robotic mad scientist. An angry Sub-Zero remarked that Smoke is now a puppet, after he tried to rescue him from Nefarious as well.
  • Tony, Pepper, and Kif express their worry about Oerba Yun Fang, as they haven't seen her since the Rainbow Rocket incident but more importantly, it feels like they should know why even though they don't know.
  • Vergil instructs Kat to see into his memories using what two witches have taught her. Said two witches being Illyana Rasputin and Zatanna Zatara, who entered her world to bring her into the Pantheon specifically so they could mentor her.
  • During the initial Stray Dog scene, Phoney Bone mentions wanting to ascend his cousin Fone Bone to try and get Fone's help with his money-making schemes.
  • Mixed with Call-Back. While lamenting that Gluttony stole her Stone, Mrs. Brisby recalls how Nicodemus gave it to her and it allowed her to save her family. Reference to it being called the Stone of Nicodemus appears regularly throughout the story after that. Before they start the second attempt to reclaim the stone, Basil asks Mrs. Brisby whether or not Ratigan took it. He is surprised that someone other than the rat criminal (who isn't seen amongst the ranks of the Ouroboros) had stolen the artifact.
  • Chun-Li briefly laments the issues dividing her Delta Cops teammates Aqua and Carmelita Fox. Later, President Bartlet encourages her to keep up hope that things will be set right.
  • Noob and Envy's scheme to deceive Ragna the Bloodedge into thinking Jin is in cahoots with High Command particularly invoked by Envy as "Jin" preparing to destroy "the obstacle", which Ragna instantly identifies is their sister Noel Vermillion because Jin always calls her out of her name. Narrator Jin proves the point as well. Noel doesn't appear in the story due to having retired from the military to become a pacifistic nun. Like Korra and Goku, she gets mentioned a lot by those connected to her. Kagura reveals that she's been away from the pantheon for 6 months.
  • When Nash, Selena, and Rashid of the Turbulent Wind decide to get Zia Rashid out of harm's way, Osiris comes up as someone they could leave her with until they realize he's in the same subhouse as Lust.^note This story takes place before he got moved from Body Parts to Body Absence.
  • When Albert mentions the idea of implanting a trap into someone's metal arm, he named Relius Clover as his co-conspirator, but claims that he'd abandoned the scheme while Relius went ahead with it before noting that it went nowhere because the trap device broke along with the metal arm in a fight.
  • During their brief meeting, Solf J. Kimblee mentions to Jin that he met someone like him before after seeing him ride by on an icicle trail. This was most likely referring to Isaac McDougal because of their similar ice powers. Later, when Charlie recalls a period in which he trusted no one and tried to handle his world's criminal monster on his own, Mustang mentions a former good soldier who let that same mistake cost him his life, also McDougal.
  • During his fight with Al, Noob brings up his creation by Quan Chi, whom Narrator Ed remembers in a past incident where the sorcerer, alongside Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn, was beaten by a group of devils. Quan Chi, alongside Shang Tsung, have also been mentioned at different points by Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Narrator Ed notes that he fought the necromancer twice, having never been told about Noob.
  • Several Team Rocket grunts bring up working under Executive Archer, who has taken control of the organization following Giovanni's capture.
  • When Cersei Lannister is revealed to be one of the living Crests of Blood, Narrator Ed wonders why her father Tywin hasn't waged war on High Command to rescue his daughter.
  • Dante Sparda is mentioned first when Vergil calls Alex Wesker insane, citing it as one of the few things they agree on, then when he decides to accept Albert's tip and go after Bradley and High Command for deceiving him. Kat brings up the idea of asking him and Nero for help but Vergil turns it down.
  • During Azula's fight with Spider-Man and Absol, after the failed assassination attempt on Ragna and Jin, the Fire Nation Princess recognized the Disaster Pokemon giving her a hard time is a partner of "that Keyblade Master."
  • The pass for entry to the heroes' gathering at Greed's bar involves a list of ten chimeras, none of whom physically appear in the story: Roa, Dolcetto, Martel, Bido (Greed's former Devil's Nest henchmen), Zampano, Jerso, Darius, Heinkel (Kimblee's former subordinates who defected to join the Elric brothers and Greedling), Milla (Basset), and Nina (Tucker). As Greed explains the list to Lin Beifong, he mentions having passed down some of Ling Yao's techniques to Milla, to which Beifong snarks about how the dog girl is friends with a homunculus yet terrified of Mustang. He also explains how the Elric brothers failed to save Nina from her father's cruel experiment and are still affected by it. And after Winry being taken prisoner by Amon and Greed being boiled down to his stone form once again, Section Nine began working on petitions for Darius and Heinkel (as Ed's heralds) as well as the Devil's Nest crew (to help Asami run Stray Dog in his stead).
  • Cell is first mentioned getting into a fight with Crash Bandicoot (presumably with help from Androids 17 & 18) by Bradley as High Command releases Nitrous Brio back to his temple. Mami Tomoe notes that he once tried to attack and absorb Noel to achieve a higher power level, heavily implied to be a factor in the latter's departure from the pantheon six months ago.
• Heroic Resolve: As one of the seven captives who are forced to relive humiliating memories as well as hear the screams of pain from everyone they've killed while tied to a homunculus for the Great Philosopher's Stone ritual, Vegeta holds tough on the Ouroboros BIG TIME. While the others scream helplessly in pain until their consciousness fades, Nyarlathotep's attempt to further break Vegeta with memories of Goku instead rouse the Saiyan Prince to fight. He grunts through the pain and turns it into power, imbuing his blood souls with ki so they start trying to get in the way of the other blood souls, some forming an unsteady barrier around the central pipes and others even pushing or dragging some of the other souls back. This slows down the ritual considerably and depowers the shield of energy around it, allowing Ragna to make his play for Father's Stone with the Azure Grimoire.
• Honey Trap: Subverted. Lust tries to distract Scarred Man by teasing him in their encounter outside the House of Health and Diseases, but the idea is for him to be momentarily confused due to resonance from their other selves' relationship in Dante's timeline rather than tempted to do anything with her in the present.
• House Fire: As Jim Rhodes flew up in high altitude to look at for a lead on Amon, he sees Vergil's temple burning. As he, Ed, and the Ferret Brothers rush to the House of Philosophy, the Dark Slayer's temple is still on fire with artificial vampires being inside.
• Hypocrite:
  • Envy despises Raditz for making light of his enemies and casually spilling information that let those defending Republic City know who had ordered his attack on the place. Envy has shown to have a bad habit of angry outbursts which have also casually slipped certain details about their plans, being scolded and stopped by Lust in one case and flawlessly trolled by Selena in another. He also tries to be angry at Raditz for his Suicidal Overconfidence and Sadism, essentially playing with his food and being made to pay for it, but can't fully manage it due to being aware of his own tendency to do the same thing.
  • Lust also comes to look down on Raditz when she sees him get trounced by Vegeta after he's recovered from the Great Philosopher's Stone ritual, to the point of referring to Raditz as "weakling garbage" right in front of the Prince. She would hardly stand a chance in a straight fight with Vegeta her damn self, what with Roy Mustang's Flame Alchemy being responsible for both her death in Amestris and her failure to assassinate Josiah Bartlet in the House of Faith.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Post-Character Development Vegeta will beat the piss out of his fellow Saiyans to crystallize a point so they cam improve both personally and as warriors, but woe betide you if you intend to disrespect them in his presence as he does so. Just ask Lust, who denigrated Raditz as being "weakling garbage" as Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta made quick work of him, only for Vegeta to turn around and berate the Lascivious for assuming the right to judge the quality of a Saiyan. He would take his leave after beating Raditz so as to deprive Father of anymore of his power, but made sure to offer parting words advising Raditz to leave GUAE amd get stronger for a rematch.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: As Greed puts it, freely bonded souls are the best type of "possessions".
• Kansas City Shuffle: Vergil and Kat are aware of the Weskers' trap in regards to the Ouroboros 'power-source' thanks to information Vergil's brother Dante got from Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. What the Dark Slayer and his companion don't realize, at least until after the damage is done in King Bradley's temple, is that the Wesker siblings were after his power the whole time.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Once Coyote Starrk is cornered by both Iron Man and War Machine after trying to stop Sanger Zonvolt and Mio Sakamoto from intercepting a missile launched by High Command, he immediately stands down rather than engage the two Armored Avengers in combat. Later, the Primera Espada battles Storm and is already having a slightly difficult time with Ororo when he notices that Unohana is watching; realizing that he's screwed even with Resurrecion, he decides to go down in surrender. This becomes rather relevant in the epilogue conversation that reveals his true role in the story's events.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • At one point, Jin states that Ed has gotten him out of "babysitting" after the latter assembles the Mighty Majors, a nod to the former's long absence and hiatus in the stories.
  • At another point, Jin states that "it's about time" Ragna showed up on the action, ending the latter's longstanding status as The Ghost.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: Obi-Wan Kenobi -> Anakin Slywalker -> Ahsoka Tano -> Elizabeth Lemon. Yes, the director of The Girlie Show gets to partially live out her dream of being connected to Star Wars by virtue of the former Padawan of the Chosen One agreeing to teach her how to use a lightsaber.
• Mêlée à Trois: Jin initially fights Lucy alone in the House of Music. The two are joined by Noob and Warrant Officer Schrondinger distracting Lucy long enough for Envy to crush and capture the Diclonius.
• The Mole: Coyote Starrk (in the GUAC) and Anakin Skywalker (in the GUAE) are this for the good guys. Starrk keeps his communications with Mami Tomoe out of view of the story itself until the very end. Anakin…gets caught and used as a sacrifice.
• Mook Horror Show:
  • Brock Samson, per usual. Unfortunately this comes back to haunt him almost immediately after he appears, with High Command capturing him and using him as a walking crest of blood precisely because of his kill count.
  • The Guardians of the House of Family, plus Yu Narukami and barring Scar, Lady Tremaine, and Ozai, make quick work of the mannequins and artificial vampires, allowing Jackson Briggs to leave the House of Family and be picked up by Guile and Nash.
• Morality Pet: In sharp contrast to his counterpart from her game, Vergil very clearly treats Kat as this, including her in his constant hunt for power to help her get strong as well. This aspect of his decisions foreshadows his kinder side from DMC5.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The shot of Lady Dante standing ominously in Act Zero is taken straight from the "Rewrite" opening of the Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) anime.
  • Gluttony's pursuit of Mrs. Brisby takes cues from her chase scene with Dragon in The Secret of NIMH but with a very different result.
  • Narrator Jin opines at one point that only "witches, psychics, and idiots" could believe in anything depicted by a certain set of paintings Vergil is fascinated with. While certainly typical of Jin, that remark isn't far off from those rumours of Vergil's mother Eva being an Umbra Witch…
  • The Elric brothers' fight with Gluttony, Lust, and Envy near the climax takes cues from their battle clips in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime openings, specifically "Rewrite" from the first anime and "Again" and "Hologram" from Brotherhood.
  • While Vegeta doesn't use a machine to go Super Saiyan 4, the transformation sequence still takes a cue from GT besides the form itself. Thanks to the use of an internal Power Ball, his body is engulfed in light which overtakes the entire area before revealing his transformed state — much like his GT self witnessed with the fusion of Super 17. In addition, the Non-Serial Movie Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! features Goku creating and absorbing a Spirit Bomb in order to strengthen his Super Saiyan powers.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Vergil joining High Command in Act Zero is the first link in a chain of decisions on his part which all somehow or another cause things to get worse, extending past this story all the way up to the final chapter of Devil May Cry 5, where his hometown is categorically destroyed and his family's legacy nearly suffers the same fate.
• Night of the Living Mooks: Mrs. Brisby's first attempt to infiltrate High Command territory and spy on them is averted by Mannequin Soldier zombies detecting her as a potential meal.
• Nothing Personal: When Brock Samson falls unconscious from a sedative drink, Shego mutters to him to not take it personally.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted and addressed in at least two cases.
  • Rashid of the Turbulent Wind and Zia Rashid are friends, fighting off Mannequin Soldiers together in their initial appearance in the story. He's occasionally referenced as Rashīdo to tell them apart when they're both involved.
  • The Lion King usurper and the Ishvalan monk who each bear the moniker Scar are both involved in the conflict, and are both encountered by a character on their respective side during a period said character narrates. Envy thinks Scar is the former's name at birth and mocks him for it behind his back^*it's actually shorthand for Askari, while Jin usually references the latter by the full "Scarred Man" descriptor that the Amestrians codified and then shortened to just Scar.
  • Before the climactic battle in the Exchange chapters, Olivier takes a moment to chat with Jax, telling him she hopes he's been living up to the strength of his name, a clear nod to the fact that her temple is Fort Briggs.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Averted with Scar the lion. Vergil is an acquaintance of his and addresses him by his full name Askari.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Ed is seen wearing the State Alchemist uniform, something he didn't wear once in his home series. Mustang and Greed were surprised by this move.
  • Jin and Ragna fight as usual, but the former is resisting all of his gung-ho temptations to kill his brother when the latter accuses him of being in High Command.
  • Before the story's climax, Greed talks with Lin about his future plans in complete seriousness, without the whole Take Over the World cover that usually annoys her, and she invokes the "Queen" moniker he usually foists on her to get him to cut her in on certain resources. When Tenzin interrupts this conversation and makes a remark dogging Greed's Dublith crew as "people of ill repute", Greed can tell something's wrong with Tenzin because his heart wasn't in the diss.
• Other Me Annoys Me: When Kat attempts to refer to Nephilim Vergil by name in a conversation with the original Vergil, he instantly cuts her off for naming "the weakling" in his presence. She has to settle for calling her old boss "[his] Nephilim".
• Our Presidents Are Different:
  • Josiah Bartlet is still President Personable, but also has shades of Iron and Target, as he's tasked Charlie Nash with assembling a team for the sake of handling threats such as High Command and he knows they'll be coming after him at some point.
  • Speaking of High Command, Führer-President King Bradley is, once again, Action President Evil. Prime Minister Honest is a less important yet more straightforward President Evil who's loosely linked to the group via Esdeath.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Amon and the Equalists kidnap Winry, but have no affiliations with High Command, let alone the Homunculi themselves.
• Poor Communication Kills: Juri brings Bryan to help her deal with Asami and her group, but doesn't tell Lust about the cyborg, causing a distraction and forcing Bryan to leave when her company of Mannequin Soldiers attacks him. She ends up being used as a living Crest of Blood for the ensuing failure.
• Power Crystal: Most Philosopher's Stones tend to emulate this, with Nicodemus's stone being of great interest to the homunculi.
• Pragmatic Villainy: With a few exceptions all taking place after they get the GPS, High Command does not kill any of the heroes. This is so they won't make more enemies than they already have. Examples include:
  • King Bradley frees Dr. Nitrus Brio (and a few other villains) so they won't have Crash Bandicoot opposing them as well.
  • Noob Saibot adivses Envy not to attack Noel, knowing that it won't be just Ragna High Command will be making enemies of.
  • A restrained Esdeath avoids killing the Majors and their allies, knowing this would incite the wrath of the more powerful deities. It doubles as a distraction, preventing them from stopping High Command's newest plan.
  • Amon kidnaps Winry while the heroes were busy fighting High Command. He reasons that if he captured someone like Tony Stark or some other engineer, it would immediately tip off the super hero-community or their friends, who would then connect the dots, so he abducted the automail mechanic instead.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Almighty Saiyan Prince Vegeta is furious with disbelief that a true Super Saiyan such as his son Future Trunks could be captured by a bunch of Pokémon criminals. Furthermore, while he's beating on Raditz during the final battle, Vegeta overhears Lust calling his ex-squadmate "weakling garbage"—to which he instantly tells her off for assuming the authority to judge the quality of a Saiyan in his presence. In fact, one of his points of consternation with Raditz taking orders from the Homunculi is that, even after they took a fraction of power from him in the Great Philosopher's Stone ritual, Raditz is orders of magnitude stronger than all of them put together, so they shouldn't be able to tell him anything. This is similar to how Zamasu thinking he could attain Goku's power via Grand Theft Me pushed a button Vegeta didn't know he had.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Coyote Starrk. This tragically gets carried over from his days under Aizen in Hueco Mundo, as the gunslingers are heartbroken over his betrayal, and Teddie is in shock that he returned to being a bad guy again. None of them, not even the protagonists themselves, realize that this is part of Mami Tomoe's plan to have him spy on the GUAC and GUAE and send information back to the blonde Puella Magi.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:Subverted. While revenge does play a part in the end result of the Homunculi's plans, advancing their power and organization is ultimately the higher priority. Father and Lust simply want their Evil Plan to be successful and will kill anyone who steps in their way, with their past enemies being prime targets specifically because they don't want to be stopped again. Gluttony goes along with whatever Lust wants as usual, Sloth follows orders because it's easier than the hassle that comes with saying no, and they both fight with the even more specific motive of not wanting to die again. Only Envy, Wrath, and Pride have revenge as a primary motive, simply as a matter of course for their personalities, and even they still keep the larger goal in mind. This actually plays back into a larger theme established during Azula and Bradley's meetings with Vandal Savage and Count Olaf in Rainbow Rivalries, in which they begin to maneuver the GUAE's organization into something that eschews Revenge Before Reason to the point of positioning at least one leader in David Xanatos who is completely averse to revenge as a motivation.
• Running Gagged: This story ends the tendency of Ragna The Bloodedge being The Ghost.
• The Scream: The Haunter of the Dark uses his power to pull this out of all the sacrifices by tormenting them with visions and screams of the many souls they've killed combined with some bad personal memories. Subverted in Vegeta's case; he's used to letting out yells of power, and his scream becomes one thanks in part to a miscalculation on the Haunter's part — namely, Nyarlathotep failed to realize that memories of Kakarot have now become good memories to the Prince of Saiyans.
• Sequel Hook
  • Vergil's captive state in the epilogue sets the seeds for what is meant to result in the physical corrosion he's suffering from at the beginning of Devil May Cry 5, essentially setting up the plot of the game. Bonus points for the bad decisions that got him there coming from the exact same philosophical crutch that causes him to turn himself into DMC5's Big Bad.
  • Ling Yao makes his ascension with Fu and Lan Fan at his side, as he collapses of hunger due to traveling on an empty stomach, to which Illyasviel von Einzbern, Toph Beifong, and Hercules also come to his aid. The six are later seen dining togetherwhen Kent Brockman appears with a breaking news announcement that Giovanni has escaped captivity. Their encounter ends up leading into the young Xing Emperor's Spotlight.
• Shout-Out: Vegeta's Super Saiyan 4 transformation sequence in Act V contains numerous shoutouts, including those of the Call-Back, Call-Forward, and Mythology Gag varieties. One unique reference, though, travels beyond Dragon Ball. In order to speed through the Golden Great Ape form straight into Super Saiyan 4 before the light encompassing the area fades, Vegeta essentially turns himself into a live Power Ball. Narrator Ed, the titular Fullmetal Alchemist, notes that this is actually similar to how he turned himself into a one-soul Philosopher's Stone to heal himself from being impaled.
• Spanner in the Works: Mrs. Brisby, Basil, and Dawson infiltrated Bradley's temple, initially to look for the Stone of Nicodemus. After getting chased by Giovanni's Persian, the rodent trio stumbled upon the deities Team Rainbow Rocket caputred in Rainbow Rivalries. After they escape from Bradley's temple and head to Mrs. Brisby's, Basil points this out to Dawson that, despite their failure to reclaim the stone, calling the House of Justice about the trophies would expose the location of the missing deities. The 42nd Command Team (and their allies) decide to Troll High Command despite having nothing do with the rodent trio.
• Stealth Mentor: Vegeta seems more like a displeased mentor than a sworn enemy in Act Zero when he turns Raditz back from his fight with Greed and Beifong while chastising him for his weakened Saiyan pride, bad habits in battle, and mercenary service to Melkor's clientele for the sake of petty revenge against Goku. It's even further hinted when he recalls how Raditz secretly training with Saibamen and becoming strong enough to spar with him led to Raditz being assigned to track his brother, the mission that changed the course of Saiyan history, before showing him Super Saiyan 4. Confirmed when the pattern from Act Zero repeats itself in Exchange, and rather than kill Raditz after stomping him as Super Saiyan Blue, Vegeta not only defends him from Lust calling him weak despite the aforementioned beating being the cause of said judgment, but advises him to drop the idea of ingratiating himself to the remnants of the GUAE. The epilogue shows this finally starting to somewhat sink in.
• The Stinger:
  • Bradley and Azula met with Vandal Savage, Urien, and Kolin at Urien's temple. After discussing matters regarding Vergil and Kat in addition to the Wesker siblings, Vandal Savage, grateful enough to overlook their extracurricular activities, thanks them for retrieving an associate who will help him with his plans in the future, hinting that his Illuminati alliance with Gill will factor into later events.
  • While fighting Ryu and Ken as part of Nappa and Sabrina's bet, Raditz reflects on the events between him and Vegeta, planting the seeds of doubt in his membership within the GUAE.
  • Mami Tomoe and Coyote Starrk discuss the how the latter's Double Agent status could jepordize the Gunslinger Group, how the the events of the story (in addition to the events of the two previous stories) could lead to Noel Vermillion to retract her resignation, and the Primera Espada giving the blonde Puella Magi a question to send to the Gunslingers.
  • As Tony Stark hosts a ball that Mustang, Hawkeye, Armstrong, and a few others attend, the Flame Alchemist reflects on a few things, from how even the dead can ascend, to the events of the story. After the ball was over, he comments that a "certain friend of his is going to owe him one."
• Summoning Artifact: The Abyssals discover the Shining Trapezohedron which is needed for High Command to summon the Haunter of the Dark, an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
• Tame His Anger: The Homunculi, and Noob Saibot in particular, try to suppress Envy's frustration for not killing any of the heroes or harming non-combatants prior to the Great Philosopher's Stone ritual as to not have people down on their heads.
• The Team Benefactor: President Josiah Bartlet. He tasks Nash and Selena to form a team to take on the Ouroboros, then through Guile, Chun-Li, and Cammy, he gives some useful resources to the Mighty Majors, the Colonels, as well as other parties involved against High Command and the Homunculi, including the beginnings of the Vixens and seeds of hope for the Delta Cops.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Kat, hands down. In her source game, throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Hunter demon once is the only time she's ever seen actively partaking in combat, and all hints of her ever being any type of Action Girl come from bits of dialogue and backstory, as well as weapons seen in her concept art. Here she is immediately seen actively using at least one of said weapons to aid Vergil against High Command, even surprising the Son of Sparda himself.
  • Also, Raditz. Last we saw him in canon, he was killed by a Makankosappo from Piccolo Jr. and had a max power level reading 1200 on a Frieza Force scouter. Now, thanks to massive fan support and Dragon Ball Heroes, he is a Super Saiyan. He also later reveals that he gained the ability to go Super Saiyan 3. His tail, meanwhile, has gotten much stronger than it used to be, with its weakness taking much more effort to exploit during his attack on Republic City, then being done away with entirely when he returns to challenge Vegeta.
  • Liz Lemon, while implied in her own series to be capable of going through a Fight Club without too much bodily harm, actively helps defend President Bartlet when Sloth the Indolent comes to kill him. And Ahsoka hasn't even taught her how to wield a lightsaber beyond basic safe handling yet.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness:
  • While Ragna is still the gruff, rude, and sarcastic individual he's known to be, Narrator Jin notes that his brother has been more relaxed since their sister Saya has returned via Noel, and the fact they're not in a world where everyone is trying to kill the Grim Reaper.
  • Liz Lemon is less of a cynical person, given she gets to work for a President she respects and befriend an ex-Jedi instead of having to work with the idiots from her world.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Subverted. Alphonse rejoining the fight in his human form right after Gill destroyed his armored body did generate some shock in the immediate moment, but the explanation that he learned how to bind only part of his soul to the armor would register without much fanfare. In fact, the Section Nine members had learned of this well in advance, allowing them to be quick on the take upon seeing the flip between armored and human Al in person, and Al merely shrugged at their foreknowledge as if it were expected.
• Villainous Breakdown: A subtle one; after the coordinated attempt to eliminate Jin and Ragna failed, Esdeath angrily slams her hands on a desk after Bradley leaves, cursing the brothers (in addition to Spider-Man and Absol) for killing Seryu and Koro.
• Villain Team-Up: King Bradley and Giovanni form an alliance behind the scenes with each other, in addition to Vandal Savage, creating the seeds for The Order of the Ouroboros.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • Greed seems to be this with the Bone crew and the Wario bros. He somewhat dismisses them as troublemaking idiots, but they're still comfortable enough to hang out at his bar, especially given that Wario is the place's main benefactor.
  • This is also seen heavily in Greed, Tenzin, and Lin Beifong's interactions (complete with implied Battle Couple for Greed and Beifong and canon Working with the Ex for Lin and Tenzin). Greed is seen no-selling a comment from Tenzin about his shadiness, but is completely respectful to the airbender. Beifong seems to treat the homunculus as an Abhorrent Admirer, but they're around each other regularly, fiercely defend each other in battle, and are capable of communicating wordlessly. And of course, Tenzin reacts comically to the chief snarking about him being a "scoopbender" at one point, but this is treated as par for the course and the former couple are clearly friends who have each other's backs. Needless to say, all three can discuss serious business and fight alongside one another without issue.
  • Charlie Nash's team, despite their quirks and tendencies, have quickly proven loyal to both him and President Bartlet and have no problem working together. Selena in particular seems to get testy quite often in response to Rashid's lighter moments, but Charlie knows full well that this is due to her stone cold professionalism when she's actually loyal to her team—hence, Rashid would be in trouble if she didn't act like this. She makes this abundantly clear when she boards the AS Alegrias and whips Female Titan Annie to stop her from crushing the Turbulent Wind.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Downplayed. Raditz's tail can still be used to restrain him and slow him down in Act Zero, though actually causing him pain by it requires more effort than just grabbing it like it did in his series canon. Later averted when he returns to challenge Vegeta in the present-time of the story, the tail weakness is entirely rectified and it's even implied that his tail is part of why he's able to maintain Super Saiyan 3 for a longer period of time than, say, Goku in the Majin Buu Saga.
• Wild Card: Vergil betrays High Command in the prologue, but does not work with the heroes. However, he does briefly acknowledge the existence of an opposition force to the High Command before his second fight with Bradley.
• Xanatos Gambit: Esdeath forms a contingency plan to follow up with Envy and Bi-Han's plan to pit Ragna against Jin. If one of the brothers win, Seryu knocks out the other one. This fails; as even before Spider-Man broke up the fight between him and his brother, Ragna realizes that Batman didn't come to help him fight Jin.
• You Have Failed Me: After Juri and Bryan failed to kill Asami and her friends, the former returns to Lust and complains about how the mission went, including the detail that the Mannequin Soldiers went after Bryan as well because she forgot to tell Lust about him. This gets her stabbed in the knees by the Ultimate Lance as Lust coldly reveals that Juri was a perfect fit as a Living Crest of Blood but had failed in her chance to be useful in a non-victim role.
• You're Insane!: How Vergil clearly feels toward Alex Wesker. One of the few things he and his brother agree on to this point.