Hahahaha! You honestly thought I was gonna leave this idea behind for good!? Well, despite this being a solo act now, I will never forget the old story. And for those of which that want a story that isn't confusing. Welcome, to the story that will actually have a plot that with every action and decision the characters make will have consequences, and this is not going to be a rehashing of the last story. I actually drew out a plot tree for this one, and I did not add any of the old events into this one. Anyway, that's enough blabbing. Go and quickly read the disclaimer and start reading this extremely long chapter that I had drawn out on two sheets of graph paper that was about eight by eleven. give or take a quarter of an inch. Great. I'm blabbing again...JUST GET OUT OF THIS AUTHOR NOTE AND READ THE BLOODY STORY! Also, for those of you wondering where Chapter 5 of There Is More To Know About That Hybrid is...I'm in a small hiatus with it, but I do plan on writing Chapter 5 soon. So, start reading now and enjoy the first chapter which is filled with drama, action, mystery, humor... ... yeah. You guys get the idea.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own creations.
"Welcome, All-Stars to your temporary home where you will be staying at between each of your own battles. Enjoy your time here with all you can eat buffets, free games, and make friends, or enemies of those you fight on the arenas of Battle Royale!"
Shortly after, invitations were printed out and sent to the intentional people, some answers came almost immediately, some answered after a few days, some never replied back to the invitations, but those that came...came with no idea with what would happen during their time at the tournament.
Chapter 1
New Friends, New Enemies, and New Problems
"Hey, Clank?"
"What is it, Ratchet?"
"What did I say when I finished agreeing to that invitation to come to this place?"
"You stated that you were going to turn Mr. Zurkon onto Qwark if he showed his green rear face at this place."
Ratchet sighed as he sat back against the seat with his eyes closed and his index finger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose.
"No, I'm pretty sure I said that before I signed the invitation contract."
Clank sat across the small table between the cushioned seats of the almost train like transportation that carried so many people to this strange and new place known now as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, which according to history, this was to be the first Battle Royale for the quoted, "Video Game Characters exclusively owned by Sony inc." Whatever the heck kind of company that Sony is, they might be bad decision makers...sometimes. A few moments of silence passed as the robot searched his data banks for any statement that his Lombaxian friend said after the signing of the invitation and legal acceptances agreement contract.
"You stated that if there were any reasons to leave the very instant you entered the building, you would first go around and kick every male in the groin and female dog slap every female good bye just before you jumped into Aphelion and flew back to Kerwan."
"Yeah. I thought I said something like that."
"What on Earth did I agree to?" Sly sighed as he watched the sun setting on the horizon through the light blue tinted window he grew slightly acquainted with due to simply staring out it for possibly seven hours now...Surprising how long one could go staring out a window of this...Train? Sly puzzled over this fact since if this were a train, it would be much louder than what the transport' volume was at the very instant. The raccoon shook his head as he decided to no longer dwell on such a silly study. Why would someone wonder why a train was almost dead silent as it moved on the inside of the train?
"Sly, it's just a stupid train...Don't think about why it's so quiet. Maybe the guy who's running the Battle Royale is wanting to make sure that the train can't be heard by the armies of fan girls...Great. Now I'm talking to myself."
"THIS PLACE SUUUUUUUCKS!" Jak sighed and pinched his nose as his orange and loud mouthed friend shouted into the air vents so that the surrounding rooms could hear his screaming.
"THIS PLACE SUCKS SOOOOOOO MUUUUUCH!"
"SHUT UP, MORTAL!"
Daxter fell backwards away from the vent as a large blade stabbed the air where Daxter's face was just mere milliseconds before. Jak only chuckled at his scared friend who started a screaming match between him and the man that almost killed him a few seconds ago.
"SKIRT WEARER!"
"ZEUS WORSHIPER!"
Daxter shouted out in alarm again as the Blade of Chaos came to a stop to just lightly tap his nose and have him jump up almost to the ceiling in surprise before the blade went back to it's owner.
"Dax. That's enough."
"Come on, Jak! I can take 'em! Just let me unleash my fists of fury at him!"
"No. Just...I don't know...Take a nap if you're bored. Don't make any one else mad at you or you're going to have everyone be your enemy before you even know their names." Jak sighed as he propped his feet up on the table and watched the last few rays of the sun fade away into the dark sky that was almost immediately filled up with billions of stars in their own unique and beautiful pattern.
"Attention all passengers. The train will arrive at the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale All-Stars Resort in twenty minutes. Have a nice day!"
"You're death will be arriving in twenty seconds. Have a nice day!" Ratchet mocked the PA in a high pitched voice with a message he's heard for almost fifteen years of his life now. The Lombax sighed as he picked up some honey bread that was in the shape of an odd looking, but nostalgic controller.
"Something seems so two thousand and two about this controller...thingy." Ratchet mumbled before he bit off the left handle.
"OOOOOOOH SAY CAN YOU SEEEEEEEE-EEK!" Jak sighed as gun fire echoed through the ventilation system and the large blade that almost ended Daxter's life a few minutes ago reappeared in the vent again along with what sounded like angry... meowing? "Man, this train messes with one's head. I'll bet the other people on this train will mess up one's head even more."
"You have got to be kidding me..."
"A floating purple head... A. FLOATING! GIANT! PURPLE! HEAD! How does someone explain that? Seriously...How?" Ratchet screamed in his head as he walked beside some human that wore a necklace with a ring on it for some reason and a burlap sack with button eyes on his left side.
"I don't like that sack... thing... Whatever the heck that creepy thing is."
"Let's see... A giant purple floating head... A guy who looks like he wants to kill every single person here with chains attached to swords... A giant creepy robot... A cat looking thing with a robot on it's back, an ACTUALL cat that's walking on his hind legs, a dog with a skate board, how much more should I point out to state that this place is going to be covered in blood in the morning.?" Sly rambled in his head as he joined the small crowd of twenty four people walking to the building.
"Welcome, fighters! My name is Polygon Man and I am the one who has brought all of you here. You will be taking place in a tournament like no other, and no, you will not have your heat ripped off by a man in a yellow Gi. That's a franchise owned by a different company."
Ratchet sighed as the now named, "Polygon Man" spoke on and on about "PlayStation" and it's greatness and incredible feats, detailing that this whole building complex was theirs to run around and live in as long as they didn't break any of the expensive items and or deface any walls with graffiti, and to not blare loud music at two in the morning and a heck of a lotta other boring rules.
"Now, for you to have rivals. You will be sharing a dorm with your rival wether you like it or not. There are twelve total dorm rooms and when I call two names up, I will give you the dorm key and the dorm number. Dorm 1: Kratos and Sweet Tooth."
Sly almost squeaked in fear as he saw Kratos and Sweet Tooth stand up out of the crowd and Sweet Tooth's...fire hair? I don't like those two.
"Dorm 2: Fat Princess and Evil Cole McGrath."
"Gods NO!" Ratchet's fur stood on end as he saw the said Evil Cole throw a red lighting bolt at the floating purple head to only see the bolt crackle against a force field that was around Polygon Man.
"I knew some of you would not be pleased with some of the rival choices, but you will have to get used to it." A few characters either laughed at Evil Cole's misfortune of having to share a dorm with a cake eating princess while some silently prayed that they wouldn't get rivaled with some other lousy charter.
"Dorm 3: Sly Cooper and Nathan Drake."
Human, male...duh, short brown hair, fair skin, looks to be about...Five ten...ish? Mid- Twenties possibly even thirty years of age, looks to be around a hundred and ninety poun- Hello...What's up with that pure silver ring? And why do you wear it on your neck? Sly continued to check every visual appearance of his new frenemy as he stood beside him to pick up the dorm key just before Nathan could grab it.
"Well, well. That was pretty Sly of you, Cooper."
"Just keep in mind that I'm a master thief, pal. I've got a feeling that you don't want that ring of yours to disappear off your neck one day."
"And I'm sure you don't want to lose that cane of yours that you're carrying around."
"Least my cane does something more useful than just hanging on a rope."
"Ohhh! Get wreked!" Ratchet couldn't help but laugh as he heard someone shout out a MLG pun.
"Alright. Enough. Sly and Nate, go and sit back down. Dorm 4: Colonel Radec and Sir Daniel Fortesque."
There was very little complaints from Sir Dan, since he doesn't have a lower jaw and Radec simply went up, picked up the dorm key, shook hands with the undead knight and went back to his seat.
"Dorm 5: PaRappa and Spike"
"PaRappa?"
"Spike?"
"Where have you been?"
"Dorm 6: Big Daddy and Sackboy."
"Holy crap..." Jak heard Daxter whisper as the two saw a gigantic robot with a drill for his right hand stand up with a little girl who was happily skipping along with the mentioned Sackboy in her arms who was happily smiling.
"Dorm 7: Hieihachi Mishima and Toro Inoue."
"Short cat and guy in a Gi with a tiger on the back. Alright then." Ratchet sighed as he propped his right elbow on the arm rest of the seat next to him.
"Dorm 8: Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank"
Ratchet froze as he looked to his right to see a long eared man with a orange rat on his left shoulder who was holding his hand over his eyes as if he were looking across a desert for the rivals. The Lombax gave a silent sigh as he stood up beside the elf and walked up to the podium to receive the dorm key.
"I must tell you that there was a day of old where older character's shared the same room that you two do." Both rivals gave a confused look as the purple head whispered to the two before they were ushered back to their seats by Polygon calling out the next rival set.
"This place is insane." Ratchet whispered before he took a bite out of a small white bread roll. "You can say that again." Daxter spoke at indoor volume with a mouthful of what was possibly sushi.
"NARKIO! I LOVE YOU!" The whole mess hall went dead silent as everyone looked up at Dante kneeling to a shocked Nariko. Moments seemed like eternity until someone shouted a sentence that would further destroy the blossoming relationship.
"Nariko loves Jak more!"
"Oh shi-"
"WHY WOULD SOMEONE SHOUT THAT!?" Ratchet shouted over Dante's screaming of hatred to the twenty year old elf.
"Someone who just doesn't like me all that much. Which I honestly have no idea who." Jak stated as he shot a Peace Maker at the demon hunter.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!"
Ratchet's blood ran cold as he heard a bone snap and Dante screaming in agony. The Lombax flattened his ears against his head as he slowly rose up to have the table meet his nose so he could look at what happened. It was not pretty.
Dante's left shin bone was clearly broken due to it bending in the very center of his shin to the right. Yeah. Adding nanotech to that was probably going to do Jak squat. Pun intended.
"Thank you for ending this fight, Kratos." Jak cursed silently as he saw Polygon heal Dante back to perfect health within the blink of an eye. "Now,wha-"
"I'M GONNA KILL THAT ELF!"
"SHUT UP, YOU EMO!" Jak shouted as he shot Dante in the knee with a lucky blaster shot.
"Be glad you didn't take an arrow to the knee." The purple floating head stated as he immediately threw a force field up after the shot landed on Dante. "Now, that is enough of the fighting anyone but your rivals. Go back to your recent activities and if there is another fight in here again, then the fighter's will pay the consequences." The field went down as Polygon Man healed Dante's knee and left the fighters to their dinners.
"Man. Meathead Dante is giving you guys problems already?" Jak swallowed another bite of his chicken parmigiana as Nathan Drake sat down in front of him with Sly sitting in front of Ratchet.
"Dante's a little on the punk side now since he quit being a white haired emo that he used to be." Nate shrugged as he stated the clear fact about the punk now sitting all by himself and pouting over his dinner. "Raiden used to be the same when he first showed up in PlayStation history."
"What is this PlayStation everyone keeps talking about?" Daxter asked as he threw a crumb of bread at Nathan's face. The treasure hunter sighed as the crumb flew right past his left ear and onto the floor.
"PlayStation is a gaming console that was first being produced by two of the major three mega-companies. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Nintendo and Sony were and are still headquartered in Japan while Microsoft was and still is headquartered in the United States. In late '94, Nintendo pulled out of the PlayStation project and went on to it's own work while Sony Computer Entertainment continued working on the PlayStation. In 1995, the PlayStation hit the shelves. Six years later, the PlayStation 2 came out and along with it, you three."
Everyone but Nate froze in shock as they realized that they were just... Characters in a videogame. A complex string of code. Forced to run around in circles and die and just simply entertain players who could simply tap a button and have them shove their butt in the face of their recently defeated enemies. Ratchet mostly found out why he would squat over a fallen enemy while Jak and Sly found out why they would jump off a cliff for no reason.
"Yeah. I had the same reaction when I learned about the PlayStation 3 that was released ,again, six years later which actually introduced Cole, Sackboy, myself and several others. It actually brought forth your improved look, Ratchet. Almost didn't recognize ya there in High-Def. Does that make more sense now, Ratchet and Clank."
"Don't talk like that! You might make Clank's head explode or something." Ratchet burst out as he placed his hands on the sides of Clank's head as the robot had just sat down on the table with a small can of oil. "What did I miss, Ratchet?"
"Confusing crap and Nate being a freaking Cooper."
"Uh, no. I'm a Cooper."
"WHATEVER! SHUT UP!"
"Dorm ... What number was it again?"
"Eight."
"Yeah, I knew that, Jak. Didn't I know that, Clank?"
"No, you did not."
Ratchet sighed as he flopped his ears down in defeat as he dragged his duffel bag of clothes behind him and shuffled his feet behind new room mate who dragged a back pack on the polished floor on his right side as he looked for the eighth dorm.
"Five... ... ... Six... ... ... ... Se- Ya know what!? I DON'T EVEN CARE ANY- EIGHT!" Daxter screamed as he snatched the dorm key out of Jak's hand and jumped onto the door knob and tried to fit the key in the knob upside down, thus, the key wouldn't fit.
"Jak. It's not workin'. Jak! I think you grabbed the wrong key! It's broken. It's completely broken! AGH! WE'RE GOING TO BE SLEEPING IN THE HALLWAY IF WE DON'T-" Jak chucked as Daxter dropped the key and flopped down onto the ground shouting in defeat. Ratchet sighed as he watched Daxter lie on the ground as Jak picked the dorm key up and unlock the door with a simple turn to the left.
"You seem to be slightly dull... Perhaps we could sharpen him?"
"Nah. Not worth the time." Ratchet smiled as he grabbed Daxter by the tail and dragged him into the dorm and shut the door to explore the dorm. At first, Ratchet thought that it was going to be barren, but when he turned around and saw Jak staring intently at the opposite wall, the Lombax remembered what Polygon said when the two of them were getting the dorm key. Two others had lived their before. A purple dragon with yellow spikes and some orange creature with jeans by the looks of the photos and a rotting fruit on the left desk with a gigantic red dog paw over it and a cartooned moon on the opposite wall.
"What... the..."
Dead silence filled the next ten minutes as the four of them looked on the two ancient desks to observe what and who lived here before. Two books were all that they could really find besides pictures of other dragons and orange creatures similar to the two people that lived here before.
"Check the very last entry. Maybe they'll tell us what happened to the two..." Ratchet stated just before he opened the dragon's book to the last entry.
"November 4th, 2002
I am on my way to become a true All-Star. I know of my future fate, but I am not afraid of it. Crash seems a bit nervous, and he's always wondered why I had asked him if we could write separate journals, but I know exactly why I had that strange feeling to write everything down in this book. Insomniac Games's next IP has now hit the shelves of game stores in the real world and the PlayStation 2 has already been put on the map with Crash's descendent, and I am nervous, yet excited for my gaming descendent. I know that he will bring a lot of fame to the next PlayStation after the 2, and maybe to even the PlayStation 4, if that ever comes in the future.
This is to my descendants, Ratchet and Clank. If you two ever read this, I want you to know that I am so proud of what you have done for Insomniac's legacy. I hope that you will always enjoy the stars that Insomniac has let you explore, and I will always be proud of you. Even if one day I come back as something other than my old self. Continue having fun being something I couldn't be. Greatness.
Spyro the Dragon"
"What is going on?" Jak asked as Ratchet finished reading the last entry of Spyro's journal.
"Read Crash's last entry." Jak sighed as he turned to the last entry.
"December 4th, 2001
My time is up. Jak and Daxter are going to carry my legacy and become hopefully the first mascot for the PlayStation 2. I'm going to go to the All-Star dorms...I do hope that Spyro will join me soon.
To my descendants: I honestly can only say that I am happy to finally be at rest from running around gathering fruit. This end is bittersweet, but the road always is bittersweet. Always has been and always will be. Jak and Daxter. I hope that one day you will join me in greatness, but you may go on and on like that Italian plumber...You'll never know until later on in the distant future. I wish for the best for the two of you.
Crash Bandicoot"
"Crash and Spyro...Hmm...Yeah! I remember them now! They were crazily awesome. Really caring for their friends too."
The following mourning for Jak and Ratchet was filled with asking Spike and PaRappa about the two ancestors of them to figure out why they were no where in sight. They would have asked Daniel, but... well...he didn't have a jaw, and Sweet Tooth was just way too creepy.
"Yeah! Spyro and Crash! The ones who made PlayStation a bash!" PaRappa smiled as he remembered the dragon and Bandicoot from his earlier days.
"What happened to Crash?" Jak asked a bit urgently since the man practically lied awake in his bed for about three fourths of the night before thinking of questions to ask Crash when he could see the Bandicoot.
"Oh...Well...After Crash Team Racing in 1999, his rights were sold from Sony to Universal Interactive Studios in 1996 to 2003 and then to Konami in 2001untill 2006 and then the rights wen to Vivendi Universal Games in '03 to '04, and then to Sierra Entertainment in 2005 for three years until Activision got a hold of him in '08 and has had their greedy hands on him ever since." PaRappa growled as Spike mentioned Activision which only had Jak and Ratchet raise a questioning eyebrow.
"Activision's the reason why Crash isn't here. He's basically being held prisoner by them." PaRappa sighed as he looked out the large windows at the grassy plains outside of the complex.
"And where is Spyro?"
"Activision owns him, but in Japan, Square Enix owns him, but he had a similar past like Crash, and sadly, Activsion's the reason why Spyro's not here either." Spike answered Ratchet's question with a sad sigh before he stood up and stated, "I'm really sorry you guys can't meet your ancestors. I know Sly must be suffering the same."
"How...NATHAN DRAKE!" Sly shouted as he threw down a old book of his gaming ancestor...Rocket, the Robot on Wheels. Who was actually from the Nintendo 64.
"Wait, you're gaming ancestor was a Nintendo character!?"
"AND HIS ANTAGINIST LOOKS JUST LIKE ME, BUT HE'S BROWN WITH BLACK STRIPES!" Sly screamed into Ratchet's pillow as he was trying to recover from seeing the picture that Rocket took when he defeated Jojo the Racoon. A brown and black racoon with a yellow hat. A legit spitting image of Sly if one photo shopped the colors correctly.
"I thought I was going to have some PlayStation ancestor! Not a Nintendo!" Sly stated with shock on his face as he removed the pillow from his face and took off his hat.
"So?"
"SO!? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT!?" Sly screamed again, but this time into Ratchet's face as he held the Lombax by the collar of his shirt with fear, anger, and shock all in his body language.
"Sly, calm down. So what if you had a Nintendo character as your ancestor? It makes you the first Sucker Punch on PlayStation." Jak stated calmly as he pulled the two furred animals apart and held Sly up by the scruff of his neck. "You have Cole to continue your legacy."
"Cole dies in the good ending of inFamous 2."
"But still. Cole started out on the PS3. Sly had a legacy."
Sly took a few deep breaths as Ratchet and Clank somewhat argued over Sly's gaming legacy of one character.
"Sly got Cole from inFamous, I got... I think his name is Joe from Resistance, and Jak has Nathan Drake from Uncharted."
"And Joel and Ellie from The Last Of Us." Jak corrected Ratchet's mistake that he got three characters to take his legacy. Ratchet shrugged his shoulders and corrected his statement and sat down on the bed beside Sly.
"You're still our friend and a PlayStation 2 mascot no matter what." Ratchet said with a sympathetic smile as he placed a hand on Sly's left shoulder.
"Attention All-Stars, The Rival Battles are about to begin."
"Well. That's one heck of a case of déjà vu." Daxter mumbled from Jak's shoulder.
"WEASLE CREATURE!?"
"Okay, so maybe getting Daxter mad to cause the rival fight was a bad idea." Ratchet bared his teeth as he hit Jak in the arm with his wrench to gain action points to at least get to his Level 1 attack. In all honesty, Ratchet had no idea Jak could put up this kind of a fight. And it was a sudden death with both of them having two kills with a three kill limit.
"LEVEL TWO!"
"Woah, wait, when did you-"
"RAGH!"
"VICTORY!"
"TIMBER!"
"Nate. You're gonna have to try harder than that."
"Glad to help!"
"VICTORY!"
"Rematch!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No, I'm- what in the name of the Precursors are you doing?" Jak asked as Ratchet gave the man... puppy eyes? Really, Ratchet!? Jak burst into laughter as he got the image in his head of Ratchet's face on a crocadog's body.
"Alright. We'll rematch again sometime soon." Jak sighed as he sat down in the chair at Crash's old desk. After the rival fight, the two decided to at least clean up what needed to be cleaned up, such as the rotting Wumpa fruit. A few moments of somewhat silence passed, the somewhat being Daxter singing in the shower, until Ratchet spoke up.
"Did you ever have posters created?"
A questionable raise of a green eyebrow was the only reply Ratchet got for the question. "I...well...Nevermind...I was-"
"Shut up." Ratchet blinked as he stopped talking as soon as Jak calmly stated those two words.
"Take a minute to think of how to form the question, and ask me what you were trying it ask."
Ratchet took what words he wanted to ask and added what he needed to form exactly what he wanted to ask. "Did you have any posters made for public distribution?"
"No. Why?"
"I saw pictures of Daxter and I think a younger you around the Bogon Galaxy. And you had longer hair, and your eyes looked...Well, angry. More angry than you do now. But back in the arena. I saw those angry eyes just before you got your third kill... Why did you look so furious?"
Jak sighed and turned his eyes down the the floor before he mumbled, "It's not important."
"I just want to know-"
"You don't need to know why!" Jak looked back up at the Lombax with the very eyes from the pictures Ratchet saw back in the Bogon Galaxy as he snapped at the Lombax.
"No one needs to know why I was so angry back then. It's my business and my problem. No one else's. Not even Daxter's."
Ratchet relaxed when he saw Jak sit back and sigh and the Lombax picked up Spyro's old journal and flipped to the very first entry.
"September 10th, 1998
My name is Spyro the Dragon. Created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
Well... It's pretty quiet around here since there's only PaRappa, Lara Croft, Cloud Strife, Sweet Tooth, Crash Bandicoot and myself here. Actually, there is one other, but he doesn't show his face much...purple though...A lot of purple...I honestly can't remember his name that very well... He's pretty bossy, and he's only a floating head... He says that PlayStation has a lot planned for us, but he won't tell us what.
I get this strange feeling about this place...but maybe it's just my mind being uncomfortable about this place...I'll adapt to it soon and that feeling will go away.
Spyro the Dragon"
Ratchet sighed as he shut the book and put it back on the desk and to wake up to find Daxter and Clank asking each other questions of mostly of their interests of how smart they were.
"Thirty six thousand two hundred and eighty two times thirty five thousand six hundred and forty two?"
"One billion two hundred ninety three million one hundred sixty three thousand and forty two. Common government style?"
"Democracy. Thirty three times eighty seven?"
"Two thousand eight hundred and seventy one. Most common music taste?"
"Music snobs and head bangers... Classical to rock. Final digit of pi?"
"Six. Your taste of music?"
"Rock. You're taste of music?"
"Classical. Jak's taste of music?"
"Nu Metal mixed with Punk rock on some days. Ratchet's?"
"Just about the same thing." Ratchet tilted his head at Jak's general direction with the strange coincidence of the two having some what similar tastes in music.
'Band Jak listens to?"
"Green Park. Ratchet's?"
"Three Days Romance."
"So...What music you listen to?" Sly raised his eyebrows as he looked over at Nathan Drake who had several CDs of different genres.
"Punk? Classic? Screamo? Jazz? Indie? Latino? Rap? ...Anything?" Nate shrugged with a nervous smile on his face.
"... ... Rock." Sly sighed as he surrendered to the treasure hunter, placing his cane down and pulling out a bottle of cane polish and a polishing cloth.
"Punk? Classic rock? New rock?"
"Nate...Just pick a stupid CD from, oh...I don't know...Pink Sabbath?" Sly sighed as he mindlessly picked a band off the top of his head...Bad choice for the head ache he was starting to get, but a good choice at times when he doesn't have a headache.
"Um...Nope. I don't see any Pink Sabbath...Black Zeppelin any better?"
"Knock yourself out."
"Who the heck are you?"
What a great way to make new friends, Ratchet! How about you point the RYNO V in a girl's face and say, I like you, can we date? Ratchet shouted in his head as he regretted asking this... Lighting Ninja guy who just sat down in front of him for no reason.
"Raiden. And I won't be sitting here long. Just be glad for what I'm going to inform you two with. Dante hates the both of you and Polygon Man has set his sights on Jak. Watch the floating head or he might do something."
"What?"
"That's what only Polygon knows... Good luck." And like déjà vu, Raiden left the two to think about what he informed them on, but just as the two were starting to relax back into their morning meals, Dante slammed his hands down on the table in front of Jak.
"Me and you. Ten kill limit. Sandover Village. No items. No hazards. Be there in thirty minutes."
"Fine." Ratchet almost stood up and smacked Dante in the face if Jak had stayed quiet for just two and a half more seconds to Dante's fight proposal. Dante left with a snob look on his face to walk over to where his rival and love interest sat next to Little Sister, Kat, and Fat Princess.
"Dante is a punk and he'll get cocky if he thinks he's got the upper hand in the fight. Don't leave yourself too close or too far from him and don't get into a corner of the area." Sly followed beside Nathan who was informing Jak of Dante's short and far distance. Despite Dante stating Sandover Village, the actual areana's were high advanced virtual reality. The background hazards are legit codes that just make a fighter feel pain. No actual harm is done to the fighters. The only pain that could actually be inflicted was by physical contact of fist to face, or in some rare cases, foot to groin depending on who the fighters were.
The different layouts of the arenas were controlled platforms that will fold or unfold out of the wall or the floor. So, in simpler words, the platforms in the arenas are real, the background hazards, item drops, and some super attacks are not.
"Jak!"
"That was not Kratos." Daxter whimpered as Jak entered the virtual reality arena to see Dante standing where the entrance to Samos's room would be if the arena were activated.
"Good luck." And with that, Jak, Daxter and Dante were the only ones on the arena as Sly, Ratchet and Nathan joined the rest of the All-Stars to watch Dante and Jak fight.
"Do you think you can beat me?" Dante asked as he pulled his jacket off to show off his muscular arms to mostly Nariko, and to have every other guy flinch in fear that the jacket was probably going to have the tank top shirt to join it.
"Why the heck are you stripping for Nariko with several other guys and might I add, children watching!?" Daxter screamed as he jumped off Jak's shoulder and pointed an accusing finger at the man.
"Enough of this!" Jak sighed as Nariko jumped down into the arena and faced Dante.
"Nariko-"
"Enough of this, Dante." Daxter gaged as the two started talking about their relationship in front of every single fighter to finally end Dante's hate for Jak with Nariko stating that she wasn't interested in anyone and Dante should just leave her alone and just go back to fighting and relaxing when he can.
"FINNALY SOMEONE TOLD THE GUY THAT I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH NARIKO!" Jak shouted as Nariko gave Dante a hug.
"DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW CLOSE I WAS TO SHOOTING MY BRAINS OUT WITH THIS STUPID DRAMA!? THANK THE FREAKING ZONI,PRECURSORS, OR WHATEVER THE HECK THE REAL RELIGION OF THE WHOLE FABRIC OF EXISTANCE IS!" And with that, Jak simply walked out of the place as if he were a walking zombie.
"I thought that Dante was going to kill the both of us!" Daxter slammed his fork into a sushi roll as he stated how brutal he thought Dante was going to be in the fight.
"Excuse me, but I would like to have a word with Jak, if you do not mind." The small group almost jumped thirty feet into the air as Polygon Man seemed to just appear out of thin air. Ratchet and Sly almost started growling at the purple head as Jak left the mess hall with the abandoned mascot for PlayStation.
"I do not trust Polygon."
"You're power during your fight with Ratchet showed supreme skill and talent. Almost as good as my own skill."
"He wants me for some unknown reason...I can't trust him. Not now, not ever."
"I could make you as powerful as I am. You could quickly climb through the ranks to become my right hand fighter. My ace up my sleeve if you could. Any power that you have and I can give it to you for unlimited use."
Jak kept silent as he walked beside the floating head with the answer clearly in his head.
"I could even bring people you care about here to keep you feeling comfortable...Keria...Perhaps? I do know of your interest to her."
"Great...You had to hit me there?"
"What do you say?"
"... ... You drive a difficult bargain, but I refuse." Jak set his jaw firm as he stated his denial to become a minion for Polygon. He set his determination to not let anything make him bend to Polygon's will.
"Oh... That is a shame... Oh well... Maybe you could sleep on this offer and maybe your decision will change?"
"I said, no!" Jak almost growled at Polygon as he turned around and started walking back to the mess hall.
"My answer is final."
Polygon simply watched Jak walk away, and when the long eared man finally disappeared, the purple head smiled with a evil glint in his eyes. All the pieces were starting to fall together into his favor... and besides... he's had older mascots fall into his hands the exact same way.
*Bows* This whole chapter is the longest one I have ever published! I feel so accomplished.
So... Tell me what you guys think of this first chapter and I hope that you people out there stay as warm as possible if you're local area is getting several inches of snow and single digit weather, and pray that your electricity won't go out anytime soon, and I'll see you guys soon!
Oh, and I almost forgot about this.
Green Park: Green Day & Linkin Park
Three Days Romance: Three Days Grace and My Chemical Romace
Pink Sabbath: Pink Floyd & Black Sabbath
Black Zeppelin: Black Sabbath & Led Zeppelin
~Jak Cooper the Lombax