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allstarsstorymode867 · 1 year

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All-Stars -Story Mode- [REWRITTEN] Chapter 1 [Part 3]

[Second Part]

Cowrittened by @sampoststuff

Special thanks to Sam for helping out and enjoy reading!

Through the frozen forest…

He climbed up a tall pine tree that overlooks the forest covered in snow and ice around him, looking out in his binocom to see if his friends and the inspector are anyway out there where he was.

“Man, it’s nothing but forest out here. Are we in the forests of France or something?”

“You are telling me,” Another voice came from his hat and a head that poked out of it was Al-Zalam looking down at him, “these are nothing like the ones in France, my raccoon friend. Look at the spinels, they are glowing like shiny rocks!”

“Yeah, I want to know what fertilizers the gardeners are using for the trees.” Sly jokes. He looked around, seeing nothing but forest around him at first. It was especially hard to see anything at first because of the snow. “Not to mention the cold here.” Al-Zalam then covered his arms, “It is getting colder as the night progresses!”

“Yeah, we best find some shelter soon. Preferably in a village, with warm blankets, a five-star hotel with a buffet, but I’m not too picky.” He thought for a moment, thinking about his friends, and Carmelita. “...Wonder if those guys are okay.” He said more towards himself.

“Not to forget mine as well, my friend.” Al-Zalam spoke up again as he put both his hands on Sly’s fur on his head to lift himself up and looked around before pointing to where he was pointing at. “Look! Shelter!”

Sly turned to look with his binocam and sure enough, there was a log cabin with three Wolf Furthers coming inside to seek shelter from the cold. Just their luck would have it when he saw it.

“Well, let’s just hope these guys don’t mind a couple of stragglers, eh?” He looked up at Al-Zalam. He noted the direction the log cabin was in, and climbed down a few branches before gracefully doing a backflip off the tree. “...And that they’re friendly.”

“Let’s do so please but don’t let them hit you on the hat, I have everything already set up when you let me use your hat for shelter from the freezing cold.” He then slinks back inside under his cap as Sly puts away his binocam and then jumps off the tree branch and then releases a paraglider.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine, Jiminy Cricket.” Sly laughed at his own joke, maneuvering his paraglider to make sure that he wasn’t going to hit any of the other trees as he got closer towards the cabin. The paraglider ripped to pieces as he landed on his two feet and his cane spinning onto his backpack’s holster with ease. He then started to walk towards the cabin with a little hesitation.

“Hello?” He called out, walking up towards the door, knocking on it with a small rhythm. “We’re kinda lost out here, we’d like a place to get warm and figure out where we are and where our friends are.” He waited silently for a response. Wolves turned to look at him and then one of them titled his head, “Who are you? Most of your people here make themselves scarce when it's night.”

“I consider myself a night owl, not afraid of anything. The name’s Sly Cooper. I'm with a friend-o mine, Al-Zalam. We’re just looking for a little help.”

“Are ye sure?” Another wolf said as she undid her hood to look at him with yellow eyes, “There are snow crawlers out here and they will eat anything that fell into their snow pits if you are not too careful.”

“And we don’t see your friend anywhere.” The other said as he looked behind Sly, before looking back at him, “Was he eaten?”

“Nah, he’s right here.” He lifted his hat with one hand, showing Al-Zalam to the wolves. “It’s warm under my hat, is all.” before Al-Zalam yelped at the sight and then chuckled nervously as he waved his hand at them.

“So small.” One of the wolves muttered to see him this small, “Huh… I wish we were the size of a mouse like him, Cooper.” A father wolf looked at Sly Cooper with a little bit of suspicion but concern.

“So, we’d really appreciate it if we could get some sort of help or a chance to recuperate to find our other friends.” Sly said.

Wolves looked at each for a moment before turning to him and said “Only for the night.” together and then one wolf piped up again. “But, around tomorrow, they could be heading for the festival of the Cathedral.” He said as he opened the door and everyone headed inside as they felt the wind was blowing more tensely than before.

The cabin was small enough for people to be cozy inside with a fireplace with a pot meant to be use to cook meals, fire poker and stack of firewood on the left and right sides of the fireplace, there were bags filled with hay lay on the floor, table with four chairs on each side of it with one cabinet behind it.

“It looked so small.” Al-Zalam spoke up as he stuck his head out of Sly’s hat as Sly looked around the place, one female wolf walked over to the fireplace and then feels around on the top of it and found a pair of matches while one of her fathers tossed in a few logs before she lit a match and then tossed it in, setting the logs ablaze as its light shines on the place better than a lone lantern at the window still.

“Thank you. Nice little cozy place you have here.” Sly looked over at the wolves. “What’s this festival that’s going on?”

“It was in celebration of the Broken’s defeat,” One of the wolf fathers answered, “And this cabin is not ours, it’s something for weary travelers like us we could use to fight the cold and be safe from predators out there.” before going over to the left end of the cabin and then kneeled down and then pulled over the latch of the floor, pulling out four blankets and then a few boxes. “Devil Dogs had often refilled each cabin after its use.”

“Devil Dogs?” He asked, vaguely recalling that the Germans had called the marines ‘Devil Dogs’ in the first world war.

“Have you at least heard of these soldiers when your father had told you about them?”

Sly’s face was a bit sadden a little but then maintained it.

“No, yeah they sound familiar…” Sly cleared his throat. “Anyway, those Devil Dogs-” Al-Zalam suddenly leaned forward on Sly’s head, clearly wondering who they were.

“Who are these Devil Dogs? I surely never heard of them.”

“The Devil Dogs are what the soldiers are referred to as.” The father wolf explained. “These cabins would be a safe space for the Devil Dogs when they’re fighting something, or someone. Once they’re done, they made sure it was just as the way they left it in case other groups of Devil Dogs or travelers needed it. As a whole, Devil Dogs are enforcers of peace, never wishing to engage in violence unless absolutely necessary. Members of the Cathedral often hold them in high regard.”

“Aah, how nice of them.” Al-Zalam nodded, looking around the cabin once more. “What about this Broken character you mentioned?” Al-Zalam continued asking the wolves questions.

“This “Broken” is more of a “Great Destroyer” is what we call her.” Daughter wolf answered the question with her hackle raised but her other father wolf placed his paw on her shoulder, getting her to look at him before lowering her hackles. “The Broken was the entity once of the Fiji race before envy had crystallized her being… Literally. She was the one that tore the Original apart.”

Sly sat down on his stack of hay as first father wolf walked over to them with the boxes that were small to medium chests made from dark oak wood before opening them up to reveal the cabin’s rations; meat, fruit and vegetables that Sly and Al-Zalam has never seen before going back to the hole and pulled out somethings that is at the size of a car battles as there are four of them. He undoes the string and then pulls the sheet off of what they now know is a block of ice and hands it to his daughter.

“Place this in the cauldron please, Filly?” as he placed it in her paws, Filly nodded and then walked over to the metal cauldron and placed the ice block inside with a clang and then gently placed it over the fire.

“We need to eat before heading out in the morning when the storm has passed.” First wolf father suggested as he poked at the fire to stoke the flames to heat up the cauldron, “Unless one of us wanted to die out there because we were to get impatient.”

Sly Cooper looked at the window and sure enough, a snow storm was happening outside as he found himself wondering how weather is happening inside a place that is called the Cathedral, impossible with the thought the ceiling made from stone blocks is sky high that can’t be seen had happened here.

“Geez, there's a snow storm here and we still don’t know where we are. Are we in a regular cathedral or in a mental asylum.” He half joked at Al-Zalam. “I don’t think that this is a normal cathedral but there might be magic at play here, Sly Cooper.” he suggested as they watched outside as snowflakes flowed across the horizon while their newfound acquaintances prepare dinner.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back to Ratchet…

Devil Dogs are singing a song as Ratchet and Haru walk inside their group circle as they head out of the village, it was southern but dark.

Lord explain what I'm seeing Now I'm down on my knees Devil's been in the backwoods Came to whisper to me

The Dog Furthers are howling gently to hide a good atmosphere as others continue to sing as they are heading to their trusted dragons they used to travel around the Cathedral.

I need to get back Mother Mary protect me Into the black Cry your heavenly tears Is my confession loud enough

For you to hear?

“Why is the festival happening today? What makes it so special?” Ratchet asked as he looked around him, taking in the sights. Haru is wearing his own Devil Dog uniform as he listens to the song before turning to Ratchet.

“The festival is in celebration of Knight and the five human warriors' victory over an entity we referred to as The Broken, Ratchet,” he said as the canine Furthers in the front had hopped onto their dragons. “The Broken that caused the Great Calamity over an eon ago.”

You gotta have FAT🕇H To deliver from evil You gotta have FAT🕇H In the shadow of death You gotta keep pace Looking over your shoulder You gotta embrace

Your final breath

They are the third ones to hop onto the dragon that they will share together as the Devil Dog Soldiers continued to sing as they talked. “They said the Broken used to be Knight’s friend when it happened, stories had said she was consumed by her own envy so much that it had crystals growing all over her form.” Haru explained more as he extended his hand out for Ratchet to take.

Ratchet takes his hand, and hops on behind him, sitting anxiously, but also excitedly at the thought of riding the dragon.

“How was The Broken defeated, did it have anything to do with those crystals?”

You gotta take up Your sinner's burden

To wear it on trial Like a crown of thorns

You need to hold tight Like a man on a mission

You gotta cut off These devil's horns

“Those crystals, one that you have right now, are the very ones that those warriors had submitted themselves to use to encase her in her own prison and its current location is unknown as we speak.” he replied as he gotten their dragon to stand up and then started to run with the other Devil Dogs with their dragons towards the edge of the ranch before they all started to jump off. Haru looked down with Ratchet holding on tightly.

The wings deployed and they are flying back up and going towards where the other dragons are going.

“Woah…!” Ratchet looked around at the view below him, the wind loud against his ears. “Why do you think I have one of the crystals, it seems that it was originally from here?” He talked loud enough for Haru to hear.

“When the Original was somewhat still whole before that happened, yes!” He shouted as he pulled his dragon up to avoid the broken pillar as possible, “They were created before the Great Calamity happened, internally to be weapons in case there is ever a war! Well, they are well-used now!” he said loudly as they were flying towards a hole, big enough to let a group of dragons enter.

Ratchet was building up a yell as they reached closer towards the hole and screamed as they entered and the next thing he knew: they are flying around in the a kingdom within the Cathedral, made out of stone with brigades leading into four sections of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter as he looked around with wind breezing across their furs.

“There are four sections to the Cathedral?” He asked in wonderment, looking at the area around him. Haru nodded as he turned to look at him.

“We have been living here to recognize each sector like it was on the back of our paws, my friend.” He said as he looked towards the Autumn section with its inhabitants coming out and noticed something among them: It was a giant, cooked chicken. “Look at that!” He pointed, Ratchet looked and saw it in awe and a bit hungry upon seeing that.

“Wow, that’s gotta be the largest piece of meat I’ve ever seen.” Ratchet stared in awe. Haru nodded as he turned to look at him with a thought in mind.

“It could be that bird-dragon that terrorized Pumpkin Valley for a while,” He said his thought aloud, “Maybe someone there had finally taught it a lesson.” As he turned to the dragons who are now going down for a landing at the Starville Town��s ranch. “Better hang on tight, we are coming in!” He warned as he turned their dragon over downwards towards which Ratchet yelped.

Somewhere far from them, they are leaving the Summer Section in a van that can now fly thanks to Tails and Bentley repairing it in no time. Tails had tagged along to help with the search for their friends and as a two-tailed fox of his word, he had made a locating device with the Square gem as a pointer so as of right now, the three colored dots of red, blue, and green are on the rader as he pushed the buttons of the locator in.

“If these readings are accurate, it means the crystals the warriors had used are here…!” He spoke under his breath, excited with anticipation. Bentley turned to Tails as he took his headphones off. “I had to take the time to thank you for repairing our van, Tails.” He said and then he turned over to Clank who is making sure the device that makes the van stays up in the air. “And thank you for providing air travel for this, Clank.”

“You’re welcome, Bentley.” Clank responded. “Are any of the crystals nearby, Tails?”

“I am picking them up right now,” Tails looked back as Murray and Jak were looking in the backseat to see. “It seems like the other three are heading in the same direction, possibly where the festival is happening as we speak.”

Murray is still trying to adjust what is happening right now but he is excited to see what the festival is about.

“Ooh! We’re going to attend the festival then? Do you think we have time to do that, Bentley?” He asked excitedly.

“If we could have time, Tails had said Knight will be performing when the bells ring for the festival to start.” Bentley answered as he adjusted his glasses as he looked up more on the screen as he continued to type it all down. “Knowing Sly, he will hold onto that gem until he finds us. Like he always does.”

Murray smiled a little, for a pink hippo to Jak; he is a goof, goof but strong.

“And if we find Sly,” Clank added as he showed the hover monitor screen showing the four crystal gems on it, “we have to explain that the reason we are here is because of the gems and this place.”

“Something here must've triggered them,” Tails typed in on the locator, “Maybe something from the Original’s past had done to summon them to gather here but for what?”

“Do you have any theories on what that could be?” Jak asked. “Any from The Cathedral’s past that might clue us in on why we were brought here?”

“Well, there are types of machinery that the Fijis had created to battle the Broken during the Great Calamity,” Tails places his hand on his chin as he pondered on the thought, “Someone must have turn them on to bring the gems back here, could be to use them for something that Knight wants to forget what happened a long time ago.”

“What purpose would the crystals serve? The Broken is trapped away in another crystal, yes?” Clank asked.

“Not sure.” Tails looked concerned as he looked at the locator, hand shaking slightly, “I hope nothing bad would happen.” “Well, let’s stay on our guard.” Jak said. “And keep an eye out, both for our friends and for threats.”

On hoxes they rode from the Pumpkin Valley, the inspector looked at the triangle gem with suspension as she rode next to Sir Daniel and Daxter, both of whom shared one as the orange and yellow ottsel looked over from Dan’s left shoulder.

“Inspector Fox,” Daxter called out, getting her attention as she looked up to see him with a tad bit irked. “What do you think those crystals are the reason that we are in the Wonder-Cathedral-La-la-la-land or somewhere?”

“I think that’s a likely possibility we need to consider.” Carmelita said thoughtfully, eyebrows furrowed. “We need to take this seriously if that’s the case. Being brought here by some otherworldly force is unnerving, not to mention we are separated from our respective…friends.” She hesitantly added that last part, since Sly’s group are far from her friends. Quark suddenly barged up from out of nowhere, appearing next to Carmelita and Daxter.

“Well, there’s no need to worry. If your friends are as half as brave, strong, and cunning as me, and my friends I suppose, then they should be fine!”

Sir Daniel is a little bit distrustful of Captain Qwark, he could be worse than he was when he was alive….And had skin, organs and anything that resembles flesh on his bones. “Were you a knight, Captain?” Dan asked as he gave him the eye with Daxter going over to sit on his right shoulder to observe this further.

“I’m a hero! Captain Qwark! I guess you could call it being a knight, if they go around saving the day by defeating villains and caring for the citizens.” Qwark responded. Fortesque just stared him down a little bit, “If you calling a knight a hero, we only have a sword, a shield and a crossbow to serve the king and justice and just to make sure that no evil necromancer that will raise the dead and bring nighttime eternal. I hope you don’t end up getting an arrow in the eye in the process.” he stated as he placed his right gloved hand to his empty eye socket as he recalled his death that cost him his eye.

They were riding next to a cart with the children, including Cinder as she was eavesdropping on this conversion with her head resting on her hand. “Being a knight sounded quite an interesting type of a hero,” She mumbled, the four yelped to see the black kitten with the red bow once again.

“Devil Dogs are heroes around here too besides you guys.”

Another cat, a munchkin black cat with golden eyes with a crooked witch hat and dress was riding next to the group, seemingly a mute but she spoke up “You killed bird-dragon.” after monotune crypticity.

Captain Qwark had to peek over Dan and Daxter to see her after she said that.

“Why, yes, we killed that bird-dragon, with my leadership we were able to take it down.” Qwark said, reaffirming what happened yesterday.

“Triangle gem found, bird-dragon dead, Broken come.” She spoke again in a broken sentence, not looking at anyone but staring straight ahead as they rode, they were not ready to hear that coming from her as they looked at her in sight of confusion.

“Oookay,” Daxter started first as he raised a brow at this, “What is this cat talking about?” He looked at Qwark and Carmelita who were just as confused as them.

“She was talking about the Broken,” Cinder answered first, four of them looked at her once again, “Kin has an odd way of seeing pieces of the future’s remains, the story of the Broken had started in the Original before that entity was corrupted and tore it apart, starting the event that we called the Great Calamity. Our leader, Knight, had selected the best warriors to yield those gems like what Inspector has right now” She points at the green triangle gem in Inspector Fox’s hand, “They all but Knight had died of course but in the bright side of things; they were able to trapped Broken inside a crystal. She is saying that the Broken might escape now.”

Captain Qwark was looking pale but he shook his head at this and put on the tough guy act.

“W-well, the future, isn’t always set in stone.” He began. “And if this Broken character is trapped in a crystal then it should be impossible for The Broken to escape, right? Of course I’m right.” He answered his question before anyone else could. “Anyway, the sooner our friends get here the better…because larger numbers are better.” He stuttered. “I mean, if The Broken were to escape, which seems unlikely, I would protect everyone and put an end to this entity…But having more people to help…helps.”

Cincer only smiled at this answer, her head still being supported by her arm.

“That’s what Otis had said.” She said with a smile, making Qwark looked at the kitten with dubiety.

“Who’s this Otis?” Qwark asked.

Cinder said nothing but she looked somewhere else, which caused them to look to where she was looking at; a graveyard, among the tombstones was one tombstone named “Otis” with a fedora hat on it. A bell tolls somewhere anonymously to add the atmosphere.

“Anyway,” She spoke again as she still looked at the graveyard as Captain Qwark quietly gulped at this sight, “Can I have your green suit if you end up dying on us, Captain?” she asked as she now looked at Captain Qwark who seemed to snap out of his supper.

“Uh…” Qwark noticeably stuttered, before clearing his throat and laughing loudly, mostly to cover up his fear. “It…may be too large for you to wear. Plus, we’re not going to die.” He gave a forceful grin at Cinder, hoping secretly that someone would speak up for him. Fortesque said nothing as he and Daxter looked at him. “He’s going to end up like me,” Dan thought, “If not by the Broken, these Furthers will most likely burn or decapitate his head.”

Sly Cooper, Al-Zalam traveled with these three wolves as dwellers of the winter forest had seemed to have woken up and were getting ready to head wherever they were heading.

“I had never seen more people being up, awake, bright and early, Cooper!” Al-Zalam said as he poked his head out from under his friend’s cap, “Look at how many there are!”

Sly Cooper looked around as dogs, winter foxes, bears, squirrels, birds and deer were heading out of their shelters and willing to risk catching the cold to go where they wanted to go.

“It’s almost like…we’re heading to a festival.” Sly grins as Al-Zalam did an eye roll. “In all seriousness, since this festival is big news and everyone seems to be going, we should be able to find our friends.”

“Indeed!” Al-Zalam said as he shields his eye from the blinding light of the stained glass, “With all good spirits they could be in one piece right about now. And already there!”

Three wolves ahead of them are focused on going towards the exit and the feeling of warmth on their furs was intoxicating to say the least.

Starvile Town, the day of the Crystallized Hope Festival.

Icefir is pushing through the crowd with Nicholas in tow, “Move out of the way please!” She said as she pushed through a crowd of Furthers, Avians, Reptilians, and Marines and Bugs, “The crystals could be here any moment now, Nicholas!” She breathed out an excited yelp, “We need to hurry before it’s too late!” as she ran ahead of him as he tried to catch up as he caught his glasses.

Icefir walked onto a tree that bridges another side of a cliff overlooking another street below them as Nicholas is being very careful.

“How can we be certain that the crystals are even here?” Nicholas asked, looking around. “I have hope that they will be here! Now come on!” She rushed past the marketplace as she used the bracelet’s powers to separate the horde of dog Furthers who were trying to enjoy their day as Nicholas smiled sheepishly with a wave as he goes across the street, mumbling apologies to any he came across until he ran into unusually tall Raccoon Further.

“O-oh, I’m really sorry! I need to watch where I’m going.” He mumbled the last part towards himself as he ran off after her, Sly Cooper watched the brown hedgehog run off towards here with a raised brow.

“This town is something straight out of a nonsensical story book…!” Bentley said breathlessly as he looked around, he had picked up Sly’s signal finally but the festival was in full swing as Jak looked around with Tails by his side and he had a chest holster to carry, none other than Clank on his back.

“Clank,” Tails said as he looked over his shoulder to him, “That Lombax and the captain you talked about, are you able to pick up their location yet?”

“I believe I’m getting faint signals, but from different locations. It’s not clear what their exact locations are, unfortunately.” Clank answered after a moment, and he continued to scan for Ratchet and Qwark.

“Where are they, Clank?” Jak asked as he looked over his shoulder as they all walked down a stone brick path slowly being taken over by moss, passing by many villagers who were looking at them, gossiping and talking quietly as they walked by and shifted their gaze.

“...I found where they are. However, they appear to be separated. There are signals coming from both the east and west sides of the town.” Clank said. Tails checked the locator again and Clank is right, the triangle shape is in the east of Starvile while the circle shape is in the west side.

“Looks like we need to split to cover more ground,” Tails strategize as he looked at the group, “Jak, you go to the east part where the triangle is, me and Clank will go to the west and Bentley and Murray, make sure you find Sly, looks like he is in the north part of town as well.” before pointing at the locator as he held it up to show them where to head to.

Pink square shape is in the center of the rader, so they are in the south of the town.

“Understood, I’ll go on ahead to find it. As a precautionary measure, all of you need to be on the lookout for anyone wearing a large gas mask, especially if you have a crystal with you by the time you see him.” Jak warned the others as he started to take off east, keeping an eye out for the crystal and his surroundings.

“We will, Jak!” Tails yelled after, he then turned to look at Clank with a little smile, “Best to hang on tight, we are running in style.” as Clank looked at him before two tails spread apart and then they started to spin, slowly but soon going so fast they started to act like propellers to an airborne vehicle and then soon took off, leaving Bentley and Murray to eat their dust as they coughed.

“He can act like a sailboat?” Murray asked stunned at first before turning into excitement as he yelled “That was cool!” as Bentley had to take off his glasses to clean them as he groaned irritably. “Murray, what am I gonna do with you?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ratchet looked around the festival in the west part of town, Haru is not wrong, it is large enough to party freely here with a large crowd!

“Huh, makes me almost forget I was transported here and separated from Qwark and Clank.” He looked around at the citizens talking merrily. “Qwark loves the attention of the crowds, maybe I’ll be seeing him soon. Or hearing him. And Clank is likely already tracking the both of us, knowing him.”

He walked around the place as he looked at an alleyway, which was surprisingly dark compared to the rest of the town around him. He thought for a moment, looking off towards the side, unsure whether he should go down there. But it looked so out of place, and he unnaturally felt drawn to it. So, he started to walk towards the alleyway, looking behind him once more before going further in.

Ratchet looked around the alleyway as it was quite deserted compared to the town’s bright atmosphere as he scanned the away around him, why is he doing this? A shortcut, maybe but this creepy alleyway. He remembers that people would die doing this in horror halovid movies he watched.

He kept walking until he heard footsteps coming up behind him, he turned and saw him; the man with the gas mask.

“Hallo, Ratchet.” He spoke gently at first with the same accent.

Ratchet was taken aback by this man’s sudden appearance and he already acknowledges his name, he had never known this man as he had just met him.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” He asked. Man shook his head at this question, shrugging him off purposely as he turned his head from the Lombax a little but he felt his eyes inside that mask was still on him.

“You don’t but I know you, the last of his kind in your own universe,” He explained a bit more but he took a few steps forward, “I had anticipated your arrival here in Starkville Town, Ratchet.”

“What do you mean?” He took a step back instinctively, somewhat getting ready in a fighting stance. “How do you know that much about me?”

“Not much, my Lombax friend,” He answered as he got out a book from behind his back, it looked ancient and it had strange symbols on the front cover as it appears to have two locks on, “I had been reading too much lately when I stumbled onto your life.” and then he placed it back in his bag behind his back. “Tell me, how much have you learned about zis situation so far?”

Man wearing a gas mask seemed to stop himself for a moment, waiting for an answer.

“Why should I tell you when I don’t know you? What’s your role in all of this?” Ratchet eyed him down, his suspicion unwavering.

“I have no role but to make sure you would know vhat is best for everyone here, you just don’t know vhat is at stake here.” He answered, “Like you have zhat crystal in your hands.”

Ratchet placed his hand on the pouch that held the circle gem as he took another step back, the Stranger seemed to notice this and took at least a few steps back. “I am not after it, ve are already vell past zhat point.” he explained himself as he held his hands up before letting them drop.

“But you, ze ozhers und zhat girl had no idea vhat vill come next if you could just-” He was cut off mid-sentence as he yelled in pain by a wrench suddenly appeared out of nowhere and struck him in the forehead, covering it with his hand as sounds of a propeller tails are heard from above.

“Ratchet!” A voice was heard from above, making him look up and saw a yellow Further Fox flying downward and landing on his side, getting another tool out: a gun that the kid puts it onto his arm, looking like his arm is a weapon.

“Are you alright?” He said as he ran over to him and got between him and the stranger, Ratchet was surprised to see Clank was on his back. Stranger recovered to see the fox pup was pointing a gun at him.

“Ze doctor can’t keep taking any more surprises.” He mumbled to himself at first. “Ah, good to meet you, Miles ‘Tails’ Perhour, and Clank as vell.” He greeted, unphased by the gun, quickly swooping up his hat that fell onto the ground, and double checking to make sure that his mask was still fully on.

Tails and Clank were a little stunned for a moment and then Tails spoke up finally. “Who are you and how do you know our names?” he said as he was trying to be intimidating. Ratchet walked over to Clank and asked “Hey, Clank, where’ve you been?”

“Been places.” Clank joked as Tails spoke up again, “Ratchet, you have a similar hoster as me, right? Take Clank off my back…!” as he can’t take his eyes off this man to make sure Clank was taken off his back.

“It’s so good to see you again, Ratchet.” Clank said as Ratchet quickly took him off of Tails hoster. Ratchet smiled as he gently placed Clank in his hoster, making sure he was secure. Tails stood in place and said as Ratchet stood beside him “You must be an odd feline Further breed.” in a lighthearted joking manner.

“Very touching reunion und meet up but, I believe ve have more pressing matters to attend to.” The stranger spoke up, catching their attention. Ratchet had gotten out his omni wrench as he looked at the stranger, intent on questioning him further as they watched him get back on his feet.

“No more vague statements and riddles, Mr. Mask. You’re going to answer our questions as straightforwardly as you can!” Ratchet glared at the stranger. “Firstly, you were talking about something that was going to happen. What is it, and why are we involved?”

The Stranger seemed unfazed “It is Doctor mask to you, Ratchet,” He replied sarcastically back, bells in the distance were heard, the three turned their heads towards the sound of heavenly bells tolling.

“Vell, I think it’s time I bid you all ‘Verabschiedung’ for now.” The stranger pulled out a weird looking…toy? Contraption? They couldn’t exactly tell to be quite honest- out from behind his back and began winding it. It looked like a regular cymbal monkey, but stuck to it looked like…”Danke for your time.” He tossed the monkey in front of them.

Monkey toy began to play, slamming the cymbals loudly as it danced around on spot after it was thrown as Ratchet, Clank, and Tails began to painfully realize what this toy is strapped to.

“Get down!” Tails shouted as he, Ratchet and Clank jumped away from the toy, hitting the ground with a grunt and then covered their heads, ducking as a loud BOOM was heard from behind them. Bits of pebble spewed in smoke.

Ratchet and Tails coughed a little, he lifted his head towards Tails and shook his shoulder a bit, getting the pup to look at him

“Should we follow after that guy? He couldn’t have gotten far, right?” Ratchet went over to where the bomb was, but he saw the stranger was already gone. Only a black scorched mark where the monkey bomb is was right there.

Tails looked over and noticed, “He’s gone…” He muttered in shock, “How…?”

“We don’t know how far he’s gotten at this point then…” Ratchet looked back at Tails and Clank. “Maybe we should just regroup for now, look for the rest of our friends.” He suggested. “Yeah but Ratchet, you, Clank and Captain Qwark are not the only ones to come here. Fremde must have something about you guys being here?”

Ratchet was confused, what is Fremde?

So, Ratchet asked him.

“Fremde? What’s that, Tails?”

“Oh well,” Tails answered with a smile, “This guy could be German and the word ‘Fremde’ or ‘Fremde(r)’ are German for stranger so this a name I could come up with.” he the puts away in weapon and looked at Ratchet as Clank looked over his friend’s shoulder.

“Well, I’ll keep ‘Fremde’ in my database for now, until we learn more about him. He seems to be ahead of us, as he knows our current situation. It would be nice to get some answers out of him. But first, Ratchet.” He glanced back more at his friend. “Tails is right, there have been several others that have been transported, each of them coming into contact with a crystal from this realm. I agree with you, Ratchet, I think it’d be best to regroup and make a plan from there.”

Ratchet glanced over to his friend then nodded, taking the circle gem out to look at it, he wondered for a moment if this one must’ve been sending out a distress signal from the station.

“Okay, Clank, So uh… Tails, right?” He looked to the two-tailed fox, “I am with you, can you lead the way?”

“Of course! Let’s get going.” Tails smiled as the three of them walked out of the alleyway and back towards the festival.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Music is playing softly as Daniel had one of the guitars to play with the minstrels as the crowd are listening to this while Captain Qwark is talking to a group of Devil Dogs.

“...And with that final blow, Emperor Tachyon was defeated. A very heroic feat on my end, a near impossible victory mind you, but I preserved.” He grinned. “...I did happen to have two of my friends with me there but! They were there for emotional support, which helped me defeat Tachyon in the first place. He was then banished to a far off dimension where he could do no more harm.”

Dog Furthers’ tails are wagging, impressed by this.

“That was a long and crazy story!” One commented, pointing his finger at the captain, “You were very heroic! But still, did your friend ever find his people after that?” the other asked as his ear was down as the other was still semi-pointed upward.

Captain Qwark frowned a little by this.

“I…want to say that he doesn’t, but let’s not worry about him and his people at the moment! Because more battles and victories were to be had, and only I could make it happen.” He straightened himself up, hoping to regain the audience's attention with his own stories of heroism. That succeeded as more people gathered, citizens and more Devil Dogs while Daxter slicked by them with effort back to Dan with a donut in his mouth, hopping onto his left and then across his armor chest plate and then onto his right shoulder.

The ottsel took a bite out of it to hold it in his hand.

“Man! The food’s really good here, but the crowds are large.” Daxter sighed. “The town surely got one heck of a festival going on here.” He looked around the crowds and Qwark telling his story, not really listening to it. “Whaddya think about this town, Dan?”

“It’s like I am back to the middle ages if you asked me,” Dan replied, “I can’t remember the last time I played an instrument.” with his upper jaw forming a smile.

“Must be nice though!” Daxter took a bite out of the donut. “Middle ages sure know how to party I guess.”

Fortesque lets out a giggle as his eye looked at somewhere else, yes, he recalled partying but he can’t for the life of himself recall the last time he had partied before he was sent to war. “You could say that right, Daxter.”

Then a thought came to him: Where is Carmelita Fox during this? So he turned to Daxter after he finished eating.

“Uh, Daxter.”

“Yeah pal, what’s up?” He said in between his chewing.

“Do you know where Carmelita is right now?” Dan asked as he looked at Daxter now.

Daxter’s ears went up.

“Uhh…if I had to make an educated guess.” He hummed. “...She’s probably looking for the Sly guy and that gang she said she was after when she was transported here.” Daxter shrugged. “I mean, a lot of people are here so, they’re probably gonna show up soon too, so, seems kinda obvious that she would go ahead and search for them.”

Dan looked at Daxter now with widened eye sockets. “She has that gem with her,” he started to say, worried until someone came into the bar, the crowd turned to look to see who it was, Captain Qwark, Daniel and Daxter included. Daxter let out a shocked, but excited gasp, nearly choking on his remaining donut. He quickly hopped off Dan and ran over to the person who entered the bar.

“JAK!” Daxter climbed up on him, hugging him tightly. “It’s so good to see you again!!” Jak chuckled lightly, “Good to see you too, Dax.”

Dan put down the guitar and then stood up a little, smiling a little as Captain Qwark looked over to them.

“Another member that’ll be joining my team!” Qwark exclaimed. “Yes it’s important as a leader to make sure you have reliable team mates and, knowing the little ottsel fellow, this strapping young man Jak will be able to help protect us and stop any impending dangers…with my leadership of course.”

Jak raised an eyebrow at this but by the looks of his friend and… This literal skeleton behind Qwark, each had a look of “This man is not going to be the leader, just you please.” but Daxter soon looks over to Jak and does a “Cuck-o-choo” gesture that brings a smile from the man a little during the captain’s talk.

Sir Fortesque walks over to him and then takes his skull off and then tolls it a little, making a hat gesture with his own head before placing it back on his neck with a chuckle. “You must be Jak that Daxter was talking about, my name is Sir Daniel Fortesque.” He introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you…Daniel.” Jak was still taken aback by the fact he was talking to a skeleton, but he pushed the feeling down. “And the man in the green suit?” He pointed at him.

“Captain Qwark.” Both Dan and Daxter said his name at the same time with bored but irritated looks, “This guy is bragging about how awesome he is, Jak,” Daxter said as he looked at Qwark who is still talking to Devil Dogs, another one of his tales of “heroism” and “bravery” he has going for him. Daxter then looked at Jak.

“You would not believe what happened to me while you were gone! It was crazy!” He climbed onto his friend’s shoulder and then sat down, “It was a crazy story no one is going to believe.”

“I’ll believe you, Daxter. I mean, we’re here, aren’t we?” Jak shrugged, offering a smile. Daxter nodded but then thought came to mind. “Jak, how did you find me?” He quickly asked him if he would like to know that for himself.

“We, that being me and a few others that were transported here, met with a fox named Tails, who’s an inventor. He created a device that allowed us to locate you using the crystals that we had at the time.” He sat next to him. “We’re split up now to look for our respective people, and Tails may be interested in looking at these crystals.”

“So you're telling me that Tails had made a locator to find other gems and not only that, they got them too?” Daxter said as he tilted his head back, “Talk about another trouble we are running into now, eh, buddy?” he gently elbows him as Jak laughed.

Moments before they heard a faint boom from afar, everyone in the bar looked towards where it came from but Dan had a good idea what it was. “That was a bomb,” he spoke up.

That ‘boom’ had came from the west, no idea why but they knew that it had come from there.

“We should go.” Jak grew focused and stern, looking back over to Daxter, Dan and Qwark, who were all on alert. Qwark nervously chuckled.

“W-well…a hero’s job is never done!” Qwark gave a thumbs up towards the crowd, and walked over to the exit, making sure he was the last of the four to leave the bar.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sly Cooper is a bit enjoying the town’s calm astrosphere when something had exploded somewhere in the west that caught his attention and Al-Zalam’s.

“Did you hear that too, Al?” Sly asked as he looked around, Al-Zalam poked his head out of his cap again and nodded. “I am only hoping that it is only children playing with a firecracker or maybe a staff being a little too careless today.” he spoke nervously and even laughed nervously but Sly knew better, it’s a bomb and it just went off in the west side of town.

“It sounded like a big firecracker to me,” He disagreed sarcastically, looking at where the sound was from below the town’s lower level. “Seems like it’s coming from down there. Whaddya say we see how we can liven the festival more than it already is?”

“You mean you will get to pull off more ninja-inspiring moves, Cooper?” He looked him in the eye, “Do you do this in your home realm often when it comes to being a thief, eh?” as he petted his forehead a little.

“It’s my lifestyle, always has been.” Sly began jogging over to where they heard the explosion, preparing himself up for whatever would come their way. “Like I have ever a choice, my friend.”

Sly ran towards an edge of the street, a cliff made from stone bricks and moss going between before he leaped off and then hurled down before he grabbed unto the straps of his backpack and then soon, a paraglider popped open from his pack, the paraglider even had his trademark on it as he gently flies across the town and into the west side.

He landed on his two feet gracefully as the paraglider he was using had suddenly ripped itself to pieces as he walked into the western side.

“Never gets old.” He grinned. “You all good up there, Al-Zalam?”

“I am still here,” He answered from the raccoon’s cap, “I would still fly with you however I thought I could enjoy the view.”

“Hope it was a good view.” He looked in the direction where the explosion was from. “Well, no time like the present.” He took confident strides as he placed his cane over his shoulders.

He walked for a little bit before hearing a shot being fired, he tossed himself out of the way and an electricity hit the ground, right where he stood, he looked up as a few bystanders were gasping and running in a bit of shock and fear.

There she is, Carmelita Fox who had a smile on her face and a shock pistol in her hands.

“Ah, Inspector!” He laughed. “What uh, shocking turn of events I must say.” Sly jokes.

“You could say,” She said as she was standing on a roof made from straw and wood, “I came to get back that gem you stole.” she confronted as she hopped off the roof and landed perfectly on her own two feet as the bystanders looked on.

Sly’s cap moved slightly, “Sly, what is going on?” Al-Zalam whispered, “I heard another explosion…!”

“Ah nothing to be worried about, this one came from the Inspector here from the gun she tried to shoot me with-” Sly says casually, as if it were normal before being interrupted by Inspector Fox.

“Cooper, it’s still the issue between you and me in this town but where did you put that gem?” She interrupted, making Sly Cooper look at her with surprise before he looked at his backpack. It’s where he hid the X gem for safekeeping for later before turning back to her again.”We need to form some sort of…truce or another…because that gem could be very dangerous. It’s how we ended up here in the first place.”

“So, you want it back because what I am holding is potentially dangerous?” Sly tilted his head with this, “And it might be the reason why we are here now?” as he settled on his cane on his shoulder. Cap moved slightly again.

“And do remember, I came here with that stained glass!” He whispered softly again from inside his cap as Sly looked at it again.

“It’s the truth, I swear on it.” Carmelita began. “After that light engulfed the van, I woke up in the Fall section of the ‘Cathedral’, and I found three other people who were transported here like us.” She began to walk back down out of the west area, with Sly and Al-Zalam following suit. “And what’s worse, someone who came here, likely without a crystal, is looking for them as well. We’re not sure what for, but by his description given by one of the two people that encountered him, he seems dangerous. At the very least, we’re unsure of his motives.” She looked back over to Sly. “We need to be careful, is all I’m saying.”

Sly Cooper was a little taking in for a moment as he looked at her before looking at his cap and Al-Zalam popped out again, “Do you know what he even looked like?” Sly Cooper as they walked down the street that has been populated with Furthers and Bugs and over-populated with flowers and plants.

“The person, Daxter, who gave us his description said that he was wearing some sort of mask. He said that “The mouth was connected to some container, and we couldn’t see his eyes.” I’m thinking it was a gas mask, like the ones worn in World War I. His outfit was that of a big coat and boots, along with a hat I believe. By those deductions, he may be German, though I can’t say if he’s from our world or not. The people that have been brought here seem to be from various universes, if you can believe it. I mean, there’s no consistency in what we know to be true in our world and how they describe their worlds.”

“Huh.” Sly’s ear folded a little, “You think that he could be after the crystal I have right now?” he asked as Al-Zalam looked over from within his hat.

“That’s likely the case Sly. I’m not sure whether he knows exactly who has the crystal or not, but we must make sure that it doesn’t fall into his hands. For safekeeping, I’m keeping one of them as well.” She held out a small pouch and carefully opened it, revealing the triangle crystal. “And I’m showing this to you because A. If this goes missing I at least have one other suspect,” She half joked. “...but B. If he gets his hands on the crystals, I can at least…count on you to try to steal them back. This isn’t me condoning your lifestyle by the way.” She added quickly, as she sealed the pouch up.

Sly smiled at this, “An officer wants me to steal them back from another bad guy just in case? I never thought this would be possible.”

“Is there a way to steal them?” Al-Zalam finally spoke up for her to finally notice. And she was genuinely surprised to see a one-eyed genie in his cap. She then looked at him with a raised brow at him.

“...I’m guessing that’s another being that came here too. I’m Inspector Carmelita Fox, but please, refer to me as Inspector or Inspector Fox.” She quickly reintroduced herself in a professional manner, but was in minor awe at his appearance. Al-Zalam smiled as he looked at her, his one light green eye beaming and his buck-teeth showing.

“It is nice to meet you, Inspector Fox, I am Al-Zalam, a glorious genie of the Sultan Prince Razeem the Ribald!”

Carmelita looked at Sly Cooper again once again after he had introduced himself.

“We should get back to the others, and see if our friends-your friends, are here too.” She looked back at Al-Zalam remembering that Daniel had said that name before. ”Al-Zalam…are you friends with Sir Daniel?” She asked.

“Am I- ha! I know Sir Daniel Fortesque! A coward in life and a hero in death but really, he died a coward and then came back as an undead hero to fight the evil wizard with me acting as guide and became friend.” He answered as he lifted his raccoon friend’s ally's cap up a little. “But yes, I am friends with him so do you know where he is by chance?” He finally sat down after a few seconds of holding Sly’s cap up and had to lay back down with his head poking out of the blue cap.

“Yes I do, he should be inside a bar with others who came here, and the locals. He’ll be glad to see you, I’m sure.” She smiled warmly. “I can only hope that we all get together by the end of the day, it’ll be better in the long run to make sure that everyone is here and accounted for.” She said, more as a comment out loud to herself.

“Just so you will be able to put in cuffs when this is over.” Sly remarked and laughed a little as she smacked his chest a little so he wouldn’t be hurt but enough for him to feel it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The puppet show was a little accurate with a puppet with brown yarn hair, magenta eyes and was dressed as a knight. “There will be peace afterwards, she will not destroy everything we love now that we are here.” The Mage puppet had been provided with a voice of a puppeteer as another puppet, a girl one with purple fabric for the skin, light purple for the yarn hair with yellow button eyes as she is holding a purple rock made from wood as the pups, kittens, and hatchings of different types besides just birds are watching this go down.

“Look out behind you!” “She’s going to crush you!” “Watch out!” They all started to warn the magenta puppet that doesn’t seem to noticed until he suddenly turned to look at his attack as she threw the wood rock crystal at him as someone had poked it with a stick to make it seem like she had actually threw it but the piece of wood attached to the stick was hold in place when he looked at it before it was tossed back to the enemy with a smack, knocking the purple puppet out of the theater with an “ow!”.

The children laughed and cheered as the puppet bowed down to the audience while Murray and Bentley watched on.

“Haha, oh man I haven’t seen a puppet show in ages, this is fun!” Murray watched intently. “This festival is pretty fun.”

Bentley smiled as he looked over at the puppet show, “It seems so, they had their own culture here to celebrate what happened here but we are here to find Sly, remember?” as Murray looked at his friend.

“...Oh yeah!” Murray perked up. “Sorry Bentley, yeah let’s continue walking around.” They continued onward, looking around the numerous crowds of people carefully in search of Sly. “Well, at least we know that Sly will stand out among the crowd.” Murray jokes. “Think he’ll be on his best behavior while he’s here?”

The turtle chuckled at this, “I hope so,” Bentley said as he rechecked his built-in laptop and then he noticed that they finally got him. “I found him and it looks like he is going towards the center of town. That’s where the performance is going to be held.” as excitement but cautiously optimistic toned his voice a little. Murray looked over his shoulder to see the screen.

“Oh, he isn’t that far from us. Hey, maybe we can all watch it together if there’s time!” Murray suggested.

Bentley nodded before the sound of two repellars are heard from above, they looked up and they see Tails, and Ratchet gently floating down to the ground, the repellars are on the Lombax’s back as they touched the ground and then three groups of each three repellar blades had contracted back and then Clank hobbed off as Perhour’s two tails stopped spinning.

“Guys, I’m glad we ran into you two!” Tails walked up to them as he said this, “Me and Clank managed to find Ratchet. Any luck on your end?”

“Hey Miles! We managed to track Sly, he’s heading into the middle of the town.” Murray explained. “We haven’t seen that stranger that Jak was mentioning, what about you?”

“We saw Ratchet had run into him himself,” Tails explained in detail, “He had a bomb with a monkey toy acting as a dentator whenever it stops playing,” as he pulled out the locator once again and then pressed the buttons again to locate where the gems are again. “He had used it as a diversion to get away but we are okay and had to regroup with you two.” Tails finished up and then the screen reloads to see both the blue X and a green triangle heading towards the center of town together. “Hm…” Tails’s ear twitched a little as Ratchet looked at him again.

“What is it?” Ratchet can’t help but ask what is up now.

“Both the X and triangle crystals are heading towards the center of town,” Tails answered slightly, curiously looking at the screen, “I think he must’ve ran into someone from a different dimension that had it already.” as he held the screen for the group to see.

“Hey, that’s where we just came from.” Ratchet said as he pointed at the screen, “That is where I was in.”

“Well, I guess we should go back over there then?” Murray suggested. “Don’t worry, now we’ll have a larger team in case that guy comes back around again.” He smiled reassuringly. Ratchet looked at them and said “Tails had filled me in on what you guys are for a living and that Inspector Fox is going to be looking for you guys too if she’s here.”

“Point… Taken.” Bentley paled a little by that.

“Ooh…fun.” Murray grew slightly concerned by that thought as well. Clank looked at the two with a little reassurance.

“I think she’d be willing to set the grievances aside, given our circumstances.” Clank said.

“Hey, I’m sure it’ll be fine guys. Look at it this way, she technically can’t arrest you guys right now since you committed crimes on a different planet. Not this one.” Ratchet lightly jokes.

“Anyway, at least the two crystals are in closer proximity to each other, and away from the Fredme.” Clank said. “That does make sense,” Tails stated, walking over to them, “Jak might be with them right now, we have to meet them there.” as he turned to where the center of town’s direction was. Murray and Bentley looked at each other and turned back to Clank as they said at the same time. “Fredme?”

“It’s a long story on that name,” Tails said, waving his hands slightly in a gesture. “It’s the name I had come up with in case you need to refer to him as.”

The two looked at each other and then nodded in agreement.

“Well, as long as we’re by Sly’s side, we’ll be safe from the Inspector, if she found him first.” Murray shrugged at Bentley.

“We know Sly well, Murray, he often gets away.” He interjected, and the turtle looked at him, “He always does.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I’m not finding anyone that stands out, Icefir.” Nicholas looked around the crowds of the different types of species normal to The Cathedral, all of them blending in. “We can’t give up now!” Icefir said as she walked towards the stage as the night time, despite having only been five hours, began to set in as the bell tolls around them.

“I know but, it’s getting dark out, they might not be out all night, you know?” He said. Everyone from each part of the Cathedral were there, they gathered around the stage as one lion walked on the stage, a mayor of Starvile Town, came to the edge of the stage to make an announcement.

“Cats and Dogs, Fishes and birds, Reptiles and Amphibians of all kinds, this is the first time Knight will perform in the lovely town of Starvile as we all high-anticipated this all year now but now it’s going to happen tonight.”

Everyone cheered all around them as Icefir looked up at the stained glass ceiling as she spotted a lot of stars slowly but surely aligning from four sides pointing towards a small, purple-ish red star and once perfectly aligned. The star quickly vanished, no light shows or explosion, just suddenly faded into obscurity.

Icefir rubbed her hands out of anxiety and fear but tried to calm down as Nicholas noticed this as he looked at her as the mayor.

“Now, after hard work, Knight will be proud that we were able to organize the festival and now, call out the fanfare, let the celebration begin!”

The crowds began to cheer and talk in excitement as music began to play from several musicians, drawing the crowd's attention. The first firework launched loudly into the sky, and with a sudden ‘pop’, everyone was riled up again, clapping and cheering surrounded everyone in the middle of town, that no doubt could be heard by the entire Cathedral. Several more fireworks launched in succession with one another, as the fireworks show fully began. Many broke off into smaller crowds to dance with one another to the music, and some chatted amongst themselves about the festival and today’s significance.

“Now, it’s time for Knight to dance!” Lion mayor announced as the curtains were lifted upwards and then suddenly as it started, the music, the cheering, and fireworks suddenly stopped as a few scattered gasps were heard. The mayor looked confused as he opened one eye to notice this and then looked at the crowd with worry and then turned to where their ruler supposedly could be standing but that spot on the stage had remained empty. “Ooh boyo…” Icefir thought as she stared into the empty stage where her mentor was meant to perform. “Where is she…?” Mayor muttered with sudden anxiety as one Devil Dog, the same German Shepherd Dog with red eyes, came up and said “Hold on, we’ll find her.” as several Devil Dogs are on the stage now and then goes behind the scenes.

Somewhere in the crowd, Jak, Daxter, Sir Daniel and Captain Qwark are there, unaware that others had made it to the same place as Daxter whispered to Jak.

“Hey… What’s going on?” Daxter whispered to Jak, unsure that this was part of the performance while he kept his eyes on the stage far from where they were.

“I’m not sure.” Jak eyed the stage. “It seems that the one who was supposed to perform on that stage is missing.” Based on everyone’s growing uncertainty and confusion, he could only guess it was “Knight” that Tails had told them about. “Maybe we should look around for her, something could’ve happened to her.”

Captain Qwark looked over to Jak and with a nervous but trying-to-be-brave-and-reassuring smile, spoke up.

“Knight could be fine, she could be performing hide and seek tonight!”

The German Shepherd Dog came out with his pack, “She’s gone…!” he said with a worried but calmed look as the crowd now looked very concerned about what had happened to her as Captain Qwark laughed a little as Jak, Daxter, and Daniel turned to look at him as if they would say “As you were saying?” while he laughed nervously. “She must’ve been very good at it?”

“That settles it, let's head out and search for her.” Jak said.

The ground rumbled a little that startled them, it felt like waves that came from… Strangely the stage itself as they turned to look at it.

Mayor and Devil Dog pack seemed to be looking around before they felt another wave again that caused them to look at the spot that their leader was supposed to be standing and then suddenly two pairs of four fingers poked through the fabric of reality as it crackled and creaked like glass and then tore through into pieces of broken shards like something had broke through the protective but it just big enough for something to come crawling out of the hole it had just made with pitch-black eyes with yellow pupils vertical and shaped like slits stared out into the startled and panicked crowd before something below those eyes cracked and black line zigzag formed a smile as a voice came from the purple galaxy with the mouth moving.

“Hello, Cathedral!” with an excitement as the crowd took a few steps back as others began running while others more stood there standing with bewildered but scared expressions as they gasped, screamed and talking among each other as the eyes and mouth poured out as they were on a crystal that formed into a head before its whole body came out, forming and shaping into somewhat a body of a woman due to the polygon crystals combining and forming before the that same colored galaxy portal behind it latched onto the top of her head, effectively forming into what appears to be forming into a flowing hair as some of it surrounded her upper and lower body.

Lower purple mist turned into a blue skirt that reached her knees as feet cracked and formed into boots that reached them as well as she was fitted with white dress gloves with the spiked cuffs. The upper mist then formed into a light purple scowl that covered her chest and collar folded down as she laughed a little.

Few Furthers, Avians, Reptilians, Marines and Bugs ran into buildings and market stands or fountains to hide as the entity laughed “Oh! How I love a good welcome! It makes me feel a little honored!” As she twirled around a little.

“Is that…?” Jak looked up at the figure. If he had to guess, this was The Broken, the one Tails had brought up in his story. Daxter stared in shock, along with Dan, who could feel his bones slightly shaking. Meanwhile, Qwark let out a scream that caught the three's attention, but he quickly coughed and tried to make a more manly shout, like he was asserting dominance, but he faltered. And even then, it wasn’t convincing the three.

She looked around the place with a smile, “It feels good to be free again after so long.” As she gently brushed through her hair between her fingers.

“W-who…” Mayor began to speak up out of stunned silence, “Who are you?!” he finally uttered out of courage as she turned to him and then turned her head slightly with a sad look. “What?” She spoke up as she went for her skirt and then she pulled it off and then covered her entirely and then it floated down, the leader of his Devil Dog pack approaches the skirt that is actually a fashionable thin blanket and then pulls it off and stands there in shock to see she was actually gone.

Jak looked surprised before he felt a hand placed on his shoulder before another one had pointed up under his chin and before he knew it, that same entity had reappeared behind him.

“Don’t tell me that you all had forgotten little ol’ me.” before she went back and disappeared behind him before he could turn to confront her.

Two blue bird Avians attempted to exit center street before the entity suddenly appeared again again from where the road had a turning point. “You know, the very thing that caused the Great Calamity?” she spoke as she floated towards them (And thankfully, has that same blanket she is wearing as a skirt again) as two Avians backed up from her to gain a healthy distance.

“Back when your precious leader has taken all the fame and love for herself while I got nothing?” she raises her hands upward as if to strike and then she suddenly does a flip and within a second she vanishes.

She then walked onto the stage, right where she was standing again as the Devil Dog pack leader and mayor backed up and then jumped off the stage as she picked up the blanket she had ditched. “The Original’s life of a party!”

“Oh no…” Dan’s bones shook. “That’s the Broken, isn't it?” Dan wasn’t really expecting an answer. “She is!” A voice came from the crowd, the crowd turned to Icefir and Nicholas who now stood near the stage with a confident look in her eyes.

“Oh.” Broken started to say as she looked at this being with a witch’s hat, “At least someone remembers me,” She smiled with her head tilted to the side as her hair was down but flowed gently. “That’s right!” Icefir spoke up as she pointed at her, who seemed unfazed by this, “This festival is not for you, it’s for my teacher that helped the four knights kick your butt into the void!”

The Broken seemed to be surprised to hear this as she lifted her head back upright, “Oh really?” She asked as she placed her hand on her chest but the other was still holding the blanket, “Well… This is awkward.” She spoke with a little difficulty, “I should be on my way then.” She turned as if she was ready to leave but someone else spoke up in the crowd.

“Everyone who was brought here has the crystals that stopped you.” Clank stated, as he unlatched himself from Ratchet to face her directly. “And we know that was your downfall in the past.”

The Broken looked at the small robotian with a slight stare.

“You were defeated by the crystals. If you were defeated by them before, you can be defeated by them once more.” Clank stood firmly, confident in what he was saying.

Broken turned to the two, an unamazed look, “Do you even know how to use them?” she asked with that same look, calling their bluff. She was right and he knew it.

“Well…not yet. But that’s the thing: We will learn, and we will stop you and the chaos that you’re inflicting on The Cathedral.” Clank said after a moment.

She then hopped a little and floated upside down but they cringed as her head didn’t roll with her body, it just stayed in place as her body had its back facing the floor.

“Then you know what I will end up doing?” She bluffed again as she stared still.

“...” Clank remained silent for a moment, in all honesty he couldn’t decipher if she’d continue with her last plan, or worse. “We won’t let that happen.”

She smiled at this as she turned her body right again as her head was spun a little before making her face on it face forward like a normal human body should be as she planted her feet back to the ground. She is going to show this robot what she will be doing.

“I think that what I do is in order.” she said with a smile as her hair flowed upward to view something that Cathedral has never seen before, two universes appeared, red and blue as they turned to see two glowing spheres of the same color are in her hands.

Without warning or nigh-say from anyone, she raises them up and then clashes them against each other at first before sparkles crackle and then next thing they knew: Two spheres collided and merged together into one, as well as two universes that light blinded everyone.

Icefir and Nicholas hugged each other as they closed their eyes tight to shield them, Jak, Daxter, Daniel and Captain Qwark had their hands to their faces to keep the light out, Sly Cooper, Carmeltia and Al-Zalam had to turn away from the sight with cover themselves from the blinding sight, Ratchet and Clank had to shut their eyes tight while Bentley and Murray had to turned away from it.

When the light show was done, Broken shouted “Ta-daaaah!~” as she spread her arms out as she looked up at her handiwork. The crowd had to turn to look at what she had done.

What there were two universes had been smashed and merged together to form a whole new universe that was a mix of red and blue, they all stared at this in awe and stunned as everyone muttered amongst themselves again but with terrified and shocked.

“What…did she make?” Clank tried to perform an analysis on it, but the information couldn’t be deciphered. The Broken hopped off the stage and did a perfect tip-toe standance with her eyes closed before she opened them to look at everyone. “Impressed?” was the first thing she asked towards them.

“I… I guess.” Ratchet said, almost speechless as he continued to look at the universe in complete shock. The Broken had that smile on her face, “Oh… I had forgotten to mention that both of those universes are, indeed, inhabited currently, just so you know that.” before she laughed a little with glee sadistic as it sounds.

“Zoni…she has no idea what she caused for both universes…!” Ratchet muttered, glaring at her.

“Now you know what I am going to do, now?” She looked at Icefir as they both recovered from the stunt she had pulled off. “You will… You’ll…” Icefir was trying to find the words to say but they left her mouth the moment as she felt her heart racing inside her chest as the Broken laughed.

“Now, the new Original will happen, Fijis will have to bow to me even.” She stated as she placed her hand on her check as she tilted her head to the left as she stared at the audience, “But, I do need a few hands, a group of willing volunteers.” She continued to say as she laid the blanket down as the stage now has growing purple polygon crystals for everyone to see. “I know that no one wants to but ready to make history…!?” She said as she lifted the blanket so fast suddenly that something else had appeared.

A creature made from flesh and metal had appeared, a dog that had been cyberborg-ized with the normal canine head was growling with the two, robotic heads roaring as well.

One head on the left was angry with eyes red as alarm blaring while the other third head on the right appeared to be sad and crying from its blue eyes while the middle head glared daggers at the panicked crowd with its green eyes filled with the mixed feelings of its two other heads.

“Of course you all are…” Her voice echoed out as Icefir Windbreaker stared at the creature before them and uttered “A Grief…”

It roared before it lunged out at the crowd who now started running and crystals on the stage broke apart and soon, more creatures were made from them. Bodies a hybrid of dog and raptor as antennas are long and crooked as they hopped off the stage and heading right for the inhabitants as they ran around screaming.

Hallows managed to grab one or two before they vanished into a flash of light as they all were running for their lives while the Grief Mania goes for a few, the middle head managed to get one Wolf Further, one of the Devil Dogs that were trying to fight it and then played around with him like a dog toy before turning its attention to Icefir and Nicholas who was being protected by his friend.

The middle head growled as it opened its mouth slightly for the dog to fall down onto the ground with a grunt but at the same time, he didn’t sustain any injuries. Wolf Further checks himself all over before a smile appears on his face and shouted “I’m okay…!!” out of glee.

The metal paw of the Grief suddenly came back down onto the wolf Further, seemingly crushing him but strangely his voice was still heard.

“I’m still okay!”

“Nicholas, get out of here!!” Icefir shouted as shoved the brown hedgehog to start running which he had to as he got out of what is now a battle area by this point.

The monster before her roared with all three heads together.

⚠ WARNING ⚠

Grief Mania

Icefir Windbreaker stood there as it roared, in a moment of panic, she picked up a rock and then tossed at the monster, it hit the right head and that made it stop just a moment, all heads looked at her.

Icefir gasped a little as she now realized that she had ticked it off as it now roared again and then charged at her. Icefir was scared for a moment before her eyelids of the mask shifted to an angry and determined gesture as her bracelet’s gem’s color hand turn from aqua cyan to bright red as she had her hand graced over her right hand and then soon an holographic red ax was formed in her hands and then she jumped into battle with a cry.

She managed to land a hit on the left head as it yowled in pain while her feet are planted firmly on the ground as she twirled her weapon with her eyes fixed on the beast as she took another swing but the right head managed to take a bite of it before she was swept off her feet after she tried to pull it out of its greedy maul.

She was tossed around while she was yelling at which toss before she was then slammed back onto ground with a breath-escaping grunt of pain with her eyes wide opened in shock. She held her side in pain as her eyes shut tightly.

“Oh… It packed a good punch…” She muttered to herself as she pressed onto her left side, certain that it’s going to bruise for a good while after this before her eyes lifted opened slightly before snapping back open wide to see the middle head lounging out for her own. She was gasping and scrambling on the ground as her bracelet’s gem color changed back to cyan and then soon in a minute she flew quickly out of there as a piece of her pants leg was torn off by that head, only getting a piece of rubber material instead.

“Can you guys see what’s happening?” Jak asked, trying to get a good look at the Grief. “I am watching, Jak…” Daniel mumbled, even with a jaw if he still had it, “And I can’t believe what I am seeing right now…”

“Uhh…” Qwark began. “Maybe that one’s already taking care of the monster?” He gestured over towards Icefir, who although was fighting the monster, might as well have been by the teeth of her skin.

Icefir handed on her feet and hand as the gem’s color reverted back to bright red color as soon she was holding onto another holographic weapon: a curved, single-edged blade with a handle with a knuckle guard and wide enough for both hands to hold onto as it was over her hand.

“I gotta find a weak spot…!” She said as she ran towards the monster again as the Grief stood upright on both hind legs as the three heads roared with a natural and mechanical mixture of anger and sadness. She then started to hack and slash at them, getting a few good slashes on the leg and stomach area as it screeched in pain as it dropped back down its legs.

Icefir had a good look at the furnace part of this monster, the chest of this beast, for a brief moment, it flashed before her, the inside of the furnace.

Its flames were replaced with a black spot with a white line surrounding it, even the same, smaller white lines were spiraling towards into the spot; like a black hole.

“There you are!” Icefir whispered to herself as she spun the sword in a twirl and then had to dodged another attack from the Grief Mania as it swiped its arm at her, making her tuck and roll away from it.

She stood in a stance like a samurai warrior before she made a running start with her head lowered down as its three heads howled loudly into the air.

“What’s it doing now!?” Daxter shouted loudly as he covered his ears from the noise as well as the others around him and Jak.

“It’s getting ready to attack.” Jak said. “But she may have just found its weak spot…”

“Look!” Bentley shouted as he pointed at the ground and something was emerging from it like phantoms rising from the dead.

Smaller but single-headed cyber-hounds came out of the ground as they were foaming grayish white substance from their mouths, they all growled and ran towards Icefir as she spearheaded into the pack. She hacked at the first few hounds before they surrounded her, there were just too many for her to attack as she thrown down onto the ground by one that caught her by her cape as they barked and bit at her as she lets go of the sword she was holding and it dissipates into the air as she was trying to wrestle a few of them off of her.

“Oh no, the heroine!” Murray shouted as he, Bentley, Ratchet and Clank were watching helplessly at this scene. “There’s too many of them!”

“We have to help her!” Jak yelled, aiming his blaster as he began to run towards her direction, attempting to shoot at the cyber hounds. He stopped for a moment, turning towards Dan whilst shooting a cyber hound without looking. “Dan, try making a barricade using your shield so we can reach her!”

“O-okay!” Dan held his shield out, holding it with one hand as he unsheathed his sword in his left hand. He got in front of Jak as he started to push away the cyber hounds that tried to pounce on them, meanwhile Jak kept shooting at the hounds that came from the side as they started to rush over to Icefir.

As Icefir was pinned down, one of the steampunk cyber hounds came up from the ground and jumped on her. The dog made a growl sound, and launched itself at Icefir’s neck, ready to bite down. However, a blaster hit it in the eye, blowing itself off Icerfir. Several more shots were fired at the dogs biting her, and she could see Jak and Dan rushing towards her. Dan slashed his sword at the dogs at her legs, and Jak blasted the dogs near her arms. When they were down, he reached out his hand, and he pulled her back onto her feet. They formed a small circle, back to back, eyeing the cyber hounds that were eyeing them down. Jak began firing rapidly, not missing a shot, while Dan kicked at a dog that tried to bite his leg, stabbing it with his sword.

Icefir closed her eyes as her bracelet’s gem glows brighter, charging up her power as Dan and Jak turned to look before she let out a burst of power, knocking their foes away from them as she turned to the Grief Mania as it growled at the group.

“Stay here.” She said as she had gotten what appears to be a knife after she pulled it out of her hip pouch and then threw it at the ground and bedded it into it before she jumped out of the way and soon, a magenta colored forcefield surrounded Jak, Daxter and Dan as they watched the blade’s handle opened up and they were now engulfed in it.

Icefir’s bracelet once again formed the red holographic ax and she made a second push as she rushed towards the Grief as the three heads while they did the same thing as her. “Take…” the ax was charged up with the same aura as her bracelet, “THIS.” She swings at it as hard as she could at the monster’s middle from below and bringing upright uppercut and it fell onto its back before she surrounded herself in the cyan aura and then flew upward thanks to gravity and then she lets out a yell as she brought the blade down onto its furnace and then bits of ember and flames shot out of it as the ax was buried deep into it, causing the monster to roar in agony.

Icefir was thrown by the Grief as it thrashed and thrived on the ground in pain as fires inside of its chest begins to die out before the roar was mixed with mechanical whimpers and then whining of a dog from all three heads before it went limp and then soon its flesh decomposed and rotten away to leave behind a skeletal remains with bits of its metal castings still remaining.

The steampunk dogs had done the same thing all around Jak, Daxter, and Dan after being left inside the forcefield. Dying and dead as their alpha leader.

Bits of white sparkles appeared as Icefir felt the wind breeze by and then soon appeared a diamond-shaped crystal filled with pitch-white with orange static flowing inside of it as well with a headband and a bag of small crystal shards as they floated onto Icefir’s hands as her reward. Behind her, the forcefield flickered and faded away, allowing the three to be let go.

“Everyone okay?” Jak asked, looking between Dan and Icefir. They nodded as they looked at him. Jak then looked at Icefir with a little concern and curiosity. “What just happened?” He asked.

“We all saw what happened,” She answered softly, “And that monster I had just killed was a Grief.”

“A grief?” Daxter said as he hopped off Jak’s shoulder and then walked over to her, “Last time I checked, a metalhead does not define grief, lady. And that thing was a freaking beast of a monster!” He gestures his hands at the remains.

“Not ‘a,’ ‘the’ Grief.” She corrected, “Grieves are demons born from the hearts of darkness after one soul was consumed by dark corruption of a Corrupted Crystalline,” She further explained as she bagged the bag of shards as she held the crystal and headband in her right hand. “And you saw the results of it right now.”

“Do they all come in that form, or are there other types we need to be worried about?” Jak asked, wanting to gain further knowledge on Grieves.

“There are two types actually, Grief and Anguish, they belong in the same “man-eating metalheads” family if your friend was going to say that even when I had no idea what that is.” Icefir answered as she took the crystal and held it in her right hand which was where her bracelet was resting on her bracelet.

Jak then noticed something on the ground where the corpse is, “What’s that?” He pointed at an object on the ground and it’s a small, flat, round object with a strange symbol glowing softly in blue as Jak was just walking towards it but he jumped back when a glowing green ball of plasma was shot in his direction, taking a step back.

Footsteps approached them slowly before stopping and then soon a familiar gloved hand reached down and then grabbed the coin object and then Fremde took a good look at it before looking at the four who stood firm as they looked at him, ready to fight back if he did attack them by now.

“I don’t have long but I vant thank you four for doing ze vork for me.” He spoke gently as he observed them as he got out the cube from his pocket, a small square button opened up and a golden yellow light was shining through such a small hole. Small coin-pin object’s glowing symbols glowed a little brighter and suddenly three blades contracted out and it began spinning upon letting go so it could float on its own before the blades recontracted back inside the coin and zipped right on inside the hole and it closed itself up once again.

Fremde then pressed the button on and a portal behind him opened up within seconds and then walked into it as Jak ran towards it as he cried out “Who are you…?!” as he reached his arm out to grab him but it was already too late as the portal closed itself up with the Fremde inside as he ran into the metal shell of the Grief instead, he growled before he slammed his fist onto it.

Icefir didn’t notice that everyone had begun to gather, she turned to see them stopping near the scene of the fight. Nicholas, Tails, Cinder, Haru, Lois, the same Devil Pack leader, and others from different sections had taken a few steps towards them before stopping.

Others from their respective realms had gathered as well to observe what had transpired over the mutters of fear and uncertainty of the events.

“Most of us had been taken.” Lois uttered first as he looked at them as he held one of his many kittens, “I had never thought this is how the festival would start.” Haru was the second to speak up. “This is what Kin means, what are we going to do?” Cinder questioned them as she looked a little bit worried.

“Did she come back?” Someone in the back questioned further, knowing they must’ve heard what had happened just now.

“Yes, it appears so…” Jak said, after a moment. He looked over at Icefir, “This was always going to happen, wasn't it, like some prophecy, right? Is that why we were summoned here, to fight and defeat her?” Jak asked. “That is the prophecy all right,” She answered truthfully, surprising many one of everyone in the ground, “But it was only to recreate the fifth one.”

“What is she saying?” Someone asked amongst each other, “She’s saying that she brought them here?” and soon it turned to anger. “She was the reason that the Broken was set free!” “It was all her fault! She is the reason Knight is missing!”

They turn and see that they are becoming an angry mob as Icefir took a few steps back a little from the sight unfolding right now. “Burn her! She’s a wicked witch!”

Cinder pushed through the crowd as she looked at the adults spouting out curses and cried out “I’ll get her hat!”

They were about to run when Captain Qwark stepped in between them and the angry mob.

“Listen to yourselves! Jumping to conclusions!” Qwark shook his head in disappointment. “You can't pin this on her just because she caused a cataclysmic event to bring us all here- I know that sounds bad but hear me out! If she were really responsible for The Broken being set free, she wouldn't have tried to gather us to help! What kind of villainous backward logic is that? Not only that, but she killed the cyberhound too. If that isn't heroism and bravery then I don't know what is. She's taking a chance on us to help out, so I'm willing to take a chance on her. You wanna oppose that then be my guest!” Qwark crossed his arms, then quietly added. “But please not in… an angry mob form, you guys look frightening right now.”

The crowd looked at him for a moment as Daxter is the second one to speak up on her behalf.

“Yeah! Like, okay guys so The Broken was set free, trashed the festival, and will do the same thing to other universes and that sucks, alright?” Daxter looked around with his arms up, clicking his tongue realizing that it may have come across more mean spirited than he meant to. “But! We can all do something to make up for what happened, like…beating up The Broken again or throwing another festival, probably after The Broken has been defeated!” He suggested. “Point is this animosity isn’t good, and it certainly should not be directed as an angry mob.” He pointed at Qwark. “Qwark is right guys.”

“Thanks Daxter…” Qwark readdressed the crowd. “It's not right to go homicidal like a bunch of wild animals.” He realized the species of crowd he was addressing. “N-no offense of course… I mean you are animals but- My point still stands!”

Everyone just looked at him as one Further, possibly a cheetah, proceeded to scratch behind his ear for a little bit as there were now a few murmurs of agreement and acknowledgement.

“He is right, killing the Knight's apprentice can’t undo what happened but by defeating the Broken, we could have some hope.” Mayor said as the crowd listened to him and there were murmurs of an agreement spread as Mayor Lion continued.

“We all know what we need to do now;” he announced to the large crowd as Captain Qwark is now standing tall with that smile on his face, it's the smile that Ratchet and Clank knew all too well. “Yes, we all know what we need to do.” Qwark repeated. “We form a posse!” the mayor announced again. “We will form a possum!” Clank shook his head, covering his eyes, while Ratchet gave him a thumbs up, grinning. Icefir shook her head at this and then whispered under her breath “A posse.” as she opened her one eye to look at him.

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