"Man. I usually suspect Nefarious for this stuff, but even I think that this is beyond him." Ratchet remarked as the group approached San Andreas. They too were tasked with making sure the GTA province was safe, but unlike Shadow's group, they weren't sidetracked. Of course, they didn't know about that, simply believing themselves to be way ahead of schedule.
"Well, we know that he's allied with some very powerful people. Who knows what he could be capable of?" Clank replied. "You're probably right. Still, doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to take care of it."
Dan Hibiki was practising his sparring poses, though they made him look ridiculous, he insisted that it helped. His rival, Johnny Cage, was shaking his head in disapproval. Sure, he was fairly prideful as well, but Hibiki demonstrated levels of vanity that would have put a cat to shame. Of course, he was full of hot air. Johnny wiped the floor with him. But that was a matter for another time. All that mattered was that no one died.
Fat Princess was there too, with her seemingly never ending supply of cake to keep herself occupied. Her guards protected her like she was a goddess or something. They also brought along the Parappa and Ethan, although they only had one leader.
"Just remember that I'm the leader here. I know these streets like the back of my hand." CJ took out an assault rifle and readied it. "We're gonna be flanked from anywhere and everywhere once we get in, assuming they're already here. I don't wanna have to be responsible for tellin' that Kutaragi guy one of you got killed doin' some stupid shit like runnin' off on your own." Big Daddy groaned. "That goes for you too, big fella." His eyes turned red.
"It's okay Mr. CJ. We'll be careful, right Mr. B?" The creatures eyes turned green again as he groaned in approval. CJ was really on his own here, with no one he was really familiar with. Even those he got to know, such as Kobe, Kellan and his estranged rival, Jacket, were all off doing different things. Kobe was off with Messi in some real world cities attempting to restore some order. Kutaragi figured that since people knew who they were, they would be trusted more than any other All-Stars by the public. Jacket and Kellan were off in San Francisco, fighting for control of the city, last he heard of them. Were they still fighting? Who knew? He hoped they were ok, although knowing how giddy his rival got when fighting was involved, he really should have been more concerned for the other side. He put the assault rifle on his back, satisfied that it was functional, and moved on to his home town.
Arriving in San Andreas, things were obviously not okay. The Black Arms were everywhere, just sort of resting, as all their work was seemingly done.
"Well, looks like our work is cut out for us." CJ muttered, cocking a shotgun. Then he turned to Fat Princess. "You got those little garden gnomes with you?" She scowled. "Well if you must know, my guards are always with me, you ruffian." CJ ignored the insult. "Ethan, Dan, Johnny, you guys come with me. Cat-guy, Kung-fu dog and Big fella can do as they please. Same goes for you too, princess." They split up into two groups and went about trying to clean up the city in some way.
"Alright, Stahl. You'll stay in this room for the duration of the flight, you'll find everything you need in here, and if the flight is long, we will provide you with food." Kellan explained to his prisoner. "Why are you siding with them, Radec? You know we have much more in common." Stahl was trying to get under the colonel's skin. "If you want to talk about loyalty to the Helghast, I think hiring an army for your own personal gain and siding with someone pledged to our destruction gives you a disadvantage." Radec responded. "Oh Radec. Was it not you who helped me for many of those deeds?" Danner laughed as Stahl said that. "What's so funny, merc?" Radec leered. "He's right. I hate to admit it, but he is spot on." Kellan was about to chastise the mercenary for trying to incite violence, but Radec stopped him, having a knife pointed at his neck. "Don't try and fight me, merc." Then there was the sound of guns clicking.
John Marston had two revolvers pointed at the futuristic soldiers. "I don't think we can afford any skirmishes between ourselves boys. Let's not fight." Stahl laughed. "You must be John Marston. Edgar Ross told me about you." John didn't lower his guns, opting to listen to Stahl.
"He sent his men to kill you, yes?" John remembered. Ross wanted his old criminal gang dead, so he sent John to kill all his old friends. When that was done, only one member remained, that member being John himself. Trapped in a barn with his wife and son, he gave them the only horse he had and faced Ross' men alone.
Of course, he died. But that wasn't how John remembered it. In his mind, one stick of dynamite through the top window of the barn got rid of most of them, and he was able to finish off the rest. So what happened then? Well, he knew he was a wanted man after that stunt, and a threat to his family's safety, so he ran, and set up a quiet life for himself, until that day, where a portal opened up and took him to Black Rock stadium. You know the rest.
"After he killed you, he assumed that was that from your gang. But there was one stone left unturned. Your boy, Jack, three years later went off looking for Ross, after his mother killed herself in grief. So Jack decided to settle the scores with Ross. Tied up his wife and son, then locked them inside the house and burned it to the ground. But no, he wasn't satisfied. He found Edgar, and killed him too. Or so he thought."
John tried to keep his cool. His wife was dead. All that hard work for nothing, because of that bastard, Edgar Ross. "Polygon Man found him in the nick of time, healing him, and giving him the necessary power to find your boy, and send him off to his mother and father. A family reunion."
John by this point was struggling to keep both guns steady. "If you ever see Ross again, tell him I'm gonna skin him alive and make him eat it." He snarled. More people came into the room. "You seriously think you have a chance against him?" He laughed. "You'll end up just like-" Edward Kenway punched him. "That's enough!" Then he noticed his rival aiming his guns at Stahl. "No!" He tackled his rival to the ground, knocking the guns out of his hands. "Are you mad?! We need him alive!" He was promptly shoved off by John. "Hell yeah I'm mad! Mad that this bastard here is the one to tell me my family is gone!" He screamed into Edward's face. "Get a hold of yourself!" Edward got back up. John threw a punch at his face, which Edward avoided. "Get a grip!" He yelled. "Can't you see that he's trying to get himself killed?!" Another voice entered the room.
Jacket. He had taken off his mask, opting to just go in unarmed. "I've seen this tactic before." They all stopped. "He's not going to crack easily."
"Why don't you fulfill his death wish?" Jacket looked around. Oh no. The room had become much darker, with lights hanging above everyone's heads. One man caught his attention. The man in a rubber chicken mask. "He's an old man. Help him on his way." Jacket looked around. Everyone else was wearing a rubber chicken mask, as they all stared at him eagerly, as if they were anticipating something. "I thought I told you to piss off!" Jacket hissed. "No. No, you didn't." The man responded. "Why would you do that though? You need me, Jacket. Though you won't say it, you are completely dependent on me." He taunted. Jacket felt his hand tighten into a fist.
The other All-Stars just stared at him. Even more had come into the room, including Lara, Nathan Hale and Drake, Aiden and the Chimera. "Is everything ok?" Drake asked as Jacket stared down an empty corner of the room. "Last chance! What?! What do you mean none of this is real?! It's pretty fuckin' real to me!" He yelled. Then he turned to Kellan. "Goddamn! I said to leave me alone!" He launched an almighty punch to the Shadow Marshall's face, prompting all hell to break loose. Danner and Radec started fighting, as well as Edward and John, while the other All-Stars in the room tried unsuccessfully to separate those who were fighting. Stahl didn't bother trying to get up, noticing only one All-Star paying attention to him.
Arc walked up to Stahl, sword in hand. "You know what has to happen, right?" Stahl nodded. Arc readied his sword, and plunged it through Stahl's throat. The fighting stopped as quickly as it had started.
They all stared in silence as Arc slowly retracted his blade, leaving Stahl's lifeless body on the chair. He walked away, untouched.
"What the hell?" Nathan Hale was confused. "Idiot!" Radec cursed. "Now what are we going to do for intel?!" He stormed off.
Jacket had taken one hell of a beating. After all that, the only thing he could do was sit against a nearby wall as he struggled to remain awake.
As more All-Stars poured out, only a few remained. "I blame you, okay?" Nathan Drake informed him. "What do you think he saw when he just started screaming at the wall like that?" Lara asked. Drake shrugged. "Beats me. We should go after that sword guy, before another fight breaks out." He suggested before turning to Jacket. "Sleep tight." He left the room along with Lara.
Jacket slipped into unconciousness as he sat against the wall. If only they knew about what that guy had made him do. At least one person believed him. Though they weren't here.
He remembered sitting at a table at one of the lounges on the deck where everyone slept. Just minding his own business until two cats walked up to him. One white and one black. Jacket ignored them until the white cat started speaking to him. "Jacket-san!" The white cat mewed. Then he held up a notepad with a sketch drawn on it.
It was him. Jacket looked at the cat, wearing the exact same chicken mask as he was sketched wearing. "What's this?" Jacket asked. "I drew this after playing your game, Jacket-san! Easily one of the best games of 2012, and that's saying a lot!" Jacket was still coming to terms with the fact that he was a video game character, but already being slightly crazy did help soften the blow of finding out. "I thought you hated violence." His friend reminded him. "That's water under a bridge! The top-down arcade style gameplay was fantastic, along with the retro graphics and catchy soundtrack!" The white cat explained.
"Your girlfriend was-" The black cat started, before Jacket gave him an icy stare. He was really tempted to beat him to death, but he remembered it was just a cat, and that on the airship, that was impossible. "Kuro! You mustn't talk about such things in such a casual manner!" The white cat scolded his friend. "Please may I have your autograph?" The white cat asked, handing Jacket a pencil. Jacket obliged, signing as 'Jacket' and handing the stuff back to the white cat. He seemed over the moon with what he had gotten. "Thank you, Jacket-san!" He mewed, leaving with Kuro.
He sat there for only a few more seconds before someone else walked up to him. A man in a black leather jacket, jeans and a white shirt, with short black hair. "Hey man." He greeted Jacket. "Do I know you?" Was Jacket's response. The man laughed. "Uh, I guess not." He sat down opposite Jacket. "Look, I saw you drive in Twisted Metal. You were pretty good." He said. Jacket still kept his mask on. "What of it?" He asked.
"Well, it's my belief that someone who drives that well has something that drives them. Something that makes them good." The man explained. "I want to know what your drive is." Jacket wasn't prepared for that. "Huh?"
"Why did you enter Twisted Metal?" The man asked. Jacket shrugged. "Just happened to be there." The man looked at him as if he had three heads, but said nothing. "What were you doing there?" He asked.
Jacket thought about telling the guy his entire story. Was it a good idea? Probably not. But if this guy wanted to know, what bad could it do?
"Well. That's a long story, but to summarise, I killed a lot of people. I kept getting these phone calls, telling me to do trivial shit, like babysit, or DJ at a nightclub. But every time I got to the address, it was filled to the brim with russian mobsters. The instructions were always clear; Kill everyone inside the building. First time I did it, I was literally sick, but as I did more and more, I even started to like it. It drove me mad, to the point where I couldn't tell what was real anymore. But eventually, all my crimes caught up with me, and I was given the death sentence."
He remembered the day he was supposed to die, which, come to think of it, wasn't that long ago.
He sat there as the officer stared him down. Jacket remained largely unfazed. He had finally been caught for everything he did. "What's the death toll?" He asked. "1,453." The officer responded. "Best in the business by a fucking country mile." He spat. "I'd ask you why you did it, but you don't even know yourself, do you?" Jacket said nothing. His attention had been turned to a phone on the table. Oh God. It was ringing. "The phone's ringing." Jacket said as he observed the device. It looked a lot like his phone. "There's no phone in here." The officer told him. Jacket shook his head. "It's right there." He pointed to the spot on the desk. "Won't you answer it?" The officer shook his head. "You're gonna fry for what you did." He stood up. "Please. Answer the phone." Jacket was getting increasingly desperate, knowing who was on the other end. "You've gotta answer it!" He demanded. "Look buddy, I know you're a little fucked in the head, but there is no phone in this goddamn room!" He went to the door, to unlock it and step out.
Jacket couldn't take it anymore. He answered the phone. "You know what to do." The voice said. Jacket looked over to the corner of the room. It was a man in a chicken mask. His chicken mask. His letterman jacket. His jeans. He was grinning wildly at Jacket, with the phone up against his ear. "Look at him. He's just asking for it. Who are you to deny the man his dying wish?"
Jacket stared at the officer. He got up from his chair, walking over to the officer. He still hadn't noticed. "KILL HIM!" The masked man ordered. Jacket launched a punch to the back of his head, sending the door flying open, knocking down the guard on the other side of the door as well. Jacket snatched his truncheon from him and came down on his skull, going further and further into his fear induced rage.
The next thing he knew, he was standing in front of the warden in his office. The warden's eyes were glazed, as his head hung loosely from his neck over the back of his chair, exposing everything that would have made any other person pass out. But not Jacket. He knew what was outside. He knew he would have to face it.
Stepping outside into the bloodbath he had created, with nothing but the occasional drip as blood came off his once orange prison jumpsuit, or the small splash as he stepped in a pool of blood. The prison was well lit, allowing Jacket plenty of time to reflect on what he had done. Then he heard footsteps. "Well done." The guy in the chicken mask.
It didn't scare him. It didn't anger him. It upset him. That person wearing the chicken mask, it was him. The monster which he had become. He could no longer look himself in the eye and call himself Richard. He was Jacket. The Miami Mutilator. "Leave me alone." Jacket growled, stepping forward. The man showed no signs of any emotion, other than joy. "I just wanted to say goodbye." Jacket was confused. "What do you mean?"
"This dream here Jacket." He clicked his fingers, causing all the blood and dead bodies to disappear. "I wanted us to have one last adventure together. Before you went away." Jacket took a step back. "You go out with quite the bang." The man laughed. "But you need your sleep. For your big day, of course." Before Jacket could ask any more questions, or make any more remarks, the man was gone.
The entire prison was dark, except for one light source. Jacket followed it, leading up to the only open prison cell, probably in the entire prison. It was his prison cell. All his belongings were exactly where he left them, his Bible, his journal, his other books. He himself was lying down on the bed, fast asleep. Of course. It was all a dream. Today was the day he was to be executed by electric chair. Jacket got into bed, lying down in exactly the same position as his body.
That was when he woke up. Looking around, it was still very early. All the other inmates on death row were still fast asleep, and the guards were not yelling at him to wake up. There was a clock hanging above the door at the end of death row which all prisoners used to tell the time. Looking at it from behind the bars, Jacket noticed it was 5:38 AM. Not due to wake up for another hour and a half. But he wasn't going back to sleep. Getting up, he wondered why he was up so early. It wasn't that he liked to sleep in, as he generally woke up at around the same time as he did in prison, but never this early.
Then there was the sound of planes flying overhead. Jacket went over to his window to see what it could be. There were five planes, four fighter jets, and one bomber. Weird. Those planes never flew over Miami like that. Even stranger, there were flags on the side of all five planes, not the star spangled banner, but the hammer sickle. The bomber waited until it was over the city, and dropped its bomb. When it hit, the explosion was massive. He doubted whether or not anything could survive such a devastating blast, as he had seen before-wait. He had seen it before. Oh no. That was a nuclear bomb.
He stood back from the window. Even though he was already supposed to die today, it looked like someone decided the electric chair would be too generous. He looked around at all the other inmates, still asleep. Perhaps things would be better if left that way. So they could all die peacefully. Those were Jackets final thoughts as the blast consumed him, blinding him, sending pieces of the prison flying in his face as he was buried underneath the rubble.
Of course, what actually happened next was that he did die, and he was brought back in Paris. But that wasn't how he remembered it.
"When I woke up, I knew them bastards were responsible for what happened. So I found out where they were headed next, some place in Paris, so I went there, and that was where I met the All-Stars."
Mr. Ash listened. "So no one else can see or hear this guy." He said, attempting to understand. "What about the phone calls? They were real, from what I understand." Jacket nodded. "That was all real. A lot of other people got them too. Spoke to some of 'em, now they're all dead." Mr. Ash nodded. "You got the guys responsible, yeah?" Jacket nodded. "Died in Paris with that Calypso guy's competition." Mr. Ash thought about it for a second. "Seems to me like a guilt complex. You don't like murder. But you feel you need to do it anyway, so you create an alter ego, someone to take the blame for what you do. In this case, many."
Jacket was surprised. That was exactly what had happened. "How did you-" "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Jacket. I may look only thirty-one years old, but really, I'm four hundred and ninety-four years old." Jacket was skeptical, although given what he had seen so far, it probably wasn't that farfetched. "Eh? Care to elaborate?" He asked. Mr. Ash produced a newspaper from his jacket. It was worn, torn, and faded, very hard to make out, but Jacket could read the date. '15th August, 1545.'
Mr. Ash explained his story to Jacket, from birth up until that point, as Jacket listened. "I see. So you're the devil-" "Well, no. I just happen to be friends with the guy who used to rule hell. Not the devil, by the way." Mr. Ash corrected him. "Calypso, the guy I spoke to, stole your powers, and now he wants you eliminated for good." Mr. Ash nodded.
"Well, I don't know. Seems farfetched, but...honestly, with all the shit I've seen so far, I can't really say I'm completely unconvinced." Mr. Ash smiled. "Good. Give it time to set in, and it'll make more sense. Now, tell me about how you got that far, but in more detail."
Jacket then started talking with Mr. Ash, up until the point where he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, and bumped into Zeus. You know the rest.
Jacket did eventually come around to the idea that Mr. Ash was someone that powerful, if not only for his display against Zeus
As he finally came around, Jacket had to wonder where he was, and how he was doing.
"Oh Jesus kid, I'm not gonna hold your hand. If she's still mad, let the cat die." Delsin shot him a glare. "Alright, I apologize for that last part. But seriously, she seems okay, so I don't think she'll try and kill you." Mr. Ash explained. "Besides, her friends seem pretty cool with you." Delsin sighed. "Fine, if you're sure." He walked off towards Kat's quarters. "Let me know how goes, okay?"
Delsin had no idea what he was doing. He was standing outside the door like an idiot, trapped in thought. Should he just leave the photo and the antidote there, or should he go in? Maybe she was still upset, but...Delsin thought. He was pretty down when she came to him. He made up his mind. He knocked. Surprisingly, she opened the door, looking pretty much the same as when he last saw her.
"Uh...hi." Delsin awkwardly raised his hand. "I…..uh….I got you some stuff." Kat took it. "Mind if I come in?" Delsin asked. Kat had already disappeared back into her quarters, leaving the door wide open. Delsin took that as a yes, walking inside the jungle that was Kat's bedroom. "Mr. Ash told me about what you were doing." Kat explained. "Sorry I lashed out at you. I was just...upset." Delsin waved it off. "It's okay. I understand. Y'know, from what I hear, you're pretty popular around Hekseville. You and your protégé." Kat turned to face him. "Raven?" Delsin nodded, taking out his phone. "Got a nice photo with her. You know, she really misses you." Kat snatched the phone out of his hands. "Raven...did you meet anyone else?" Kat asked. "Gade. He's pretty weird." Kat laughed. "Yeah. Gade is strange. But nice." Delsin almost forgot the antidote. "Here." He said, handing the antidote to the gravity shifter. "Give this to Dusty and he should be better instantly." Delsin explained. Kat took a teaspoon and tried to give Dusty the medicene. He was in a fragile state, barely alive. He couldn't provide much resistance at all in his weakened state, as all the medicene seamlessly fell down his throat. The two waited in silence for a reaction.
They didn't have long to wait, as Dusty started coughing profusely, eventually sitting up and trying to wipe the awful taste off on his paws. "Dusty!" Kat exclaimed as she picked the cat up and held him above her head, earning a confused 'meow?' from him. She pulled the cat into her chest, although he wasn't too keen on it, eventually escaping back into his basket. Kat then turned her attention to Delsin, in another one of her bone shattering hugs, pinning him up against a wall between ten million thank yous. She lifted her head, staring into his eyes with that glow only she had. Delsin didn't really know what to say. Her eyes were captivating like that. He could have stared into them for ages. But that wasn't what happened. Instead, something Delsin had no idea would ever happen.
She planted her lips on his. Wait, what? Delsin's eyes went wide. What was happening? Did he push her off? Kiss back? As all those thoughts ran through his mind, Kat slowly opened her eyes and realized what she was doing. She quickly pulled away, eyes as wide as Delsin's as her cheeks flared bright red. "Oh! I-I-Sorry-I wasn't thinking-I just wanted to say thanks for saving Dusty!" She blurted out, trying and failing to hide her blush. Delsin was equally as stunned, with no idea how to respond to that. It wasn't like he could just pretend it didn't happen, but where did that leave him? "Uh-yeah, I should get going-I mean, nice talking to you and all, it's just that-" He tried to come up with something as he walked to the door. "O-of course! See ya!" Kat disappeared into her bathroom as Delsin opened the door, walking out into the hall. Going back to his quarters without telling Mr. Ash, he had a lot to think about.
"Well, can't say I expected things to be easy." Ratchet remarked as he smashed another robot with his Omniwrench. They were recognizably Dr. Nefarious' robots, in that they looked like them, and that they were easily destroyed by Ratchet. The other three All-Stars to deal with the Black Arms while he moved on, not that if mattered too much.
"Ratchet! Look out!" Clank warned the lombax as he barely managed to avoid a laser that was fired at him. "Oh, hey Doc!" Ratchet waved. "So Ratchet, you finally show your face!" The doctor laughed, landing in front of Ratchet. "Well, I haven't really been hiding, so-" "Silence! I will end you here, with my Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler!" He proclaimed, as the contraption made came down from the sky. "Hey, I think I remember this thing!" Ratchet threw his Omniwrench and managed to blow it up in one hit, leaving Nefarious to have a temper tantrum. "Curse you Ratchet! I'll be back, and I will have my revenge!" He pouted as he was 'forced' to retreat. Little did he know there was another villain watching him from not too far away.
"Pathetic." He shook his head. "Guess I'll have to do it myself."
CJ fired with the minigun, decimating the hordes and tearing through everything else in plain sight. Ethan Mars was responsible for finding anyone left in San Andreas and telling them to get out while they still could. There were soldiers there, though they weren't friendly, firing back at CJ. Johnny had a gun too, using it to take out unsuspecting enemies, while Dan...what was Dan doing? He was trying to get an energy blast to fly from his hands towards the soldiers, though the results were extremely underwhelming. He somehow hadn't been hit, maybe because the soldiers didn't view him as a threat.
"Well, I can't say I'm disappointed. But I am a little underwhelmed. I thought Nefarious would be much better than that." Ratchet remarked, looking for something else to fight. "It is perhaps possible that Doctor Nefarious underestimated our abilities, or more fittingly, overestimated his own." Clank suggested. "Guess you're right. But still, if this is the best we have to deal with, we'll probably be done with the All-Stars soon."
"I wouldn't reccomend getting your hopes up." Clank advised, pointing to something behind Ratchet. "Why's that?" Ratchet turned. Doctor Nefarious? Didn't they just...? "Clank, didn't we just take care of Nefarious?" The Lombax asked his robotic companion. "It appears not."
Metal had been told Shadow would show up here, though he had yet to see him. This tag-team would suffice for target practice. Maybe there were some abilites he could use. Scanning the two, there was nothing special. No matter. Metal wasn't too fussy, he was more than happy for just target practice.
"Well, that looks like everyone." Ethan dusted his hands off. "Sure does. But the sky's still red." CJ noticed something else on the horizon, but he was immediately cut off by someone who had arrived at the end of the street. A woman, with short hair and a blue trench coat. "Everything okay down there?!" CJ called out. In response, she fired something from her hand that narrowly missed CJ's head. Obviously a bad person. Then there was an explosion in the near distance. "What the hell was that?" The woman laughed. "That would be the least of your worries." Johnny was first into action, firing his assault rifle at the woman, not yielding too many positive results.
One of the All-Stars was on a completely different page. Dan Hibiki was rushing in to do the talking with his fists. "What the hell are you doing?!" It was Ethan Mars. "Get out of the way of the gunfire!" He yelled. Dan wasn't listening, getting ready to use a Dan-Kuakyaku on the woman with concrete powers.
As Brooke Augustine stopped as the man in the pink gi with a simple concrete shield, he fell to the ground ungracefully, rolling around and holding his kicking foot. "It's okay, I'm good!" He shouted up to the other All-Stars. Dan looked anything but okay. "That was pretty stupid." Augustine remarked, bringing up a concrete shield to block a heat seeking missile from CJ. "Ngh! It...usually...goes...much...better." He managed to get out between heavy breathing as he tried to take the pain.
"I somehow doubt that." She laughed as concrete shrapnels started to come out of Dan's legs and arms, causing him to scream in pain. Brooke ignored him and moved on.
The other All-Stars were horrified. "Drop your weapons boys! Or you'll end up like your friend here." None of them did, continuing to fire at her.
As Dan lay there writhing in agony, he thought about everything again. He had told Sakura and Blanka to look after his dojo, which they gladly did, though that might have been a mistake. He could've really used some help now. Though the help he was going to get was something much better...
As Augustine fired more concrete shrapnels at the All-Stars, and got closer, they began to regret not dropping their weapons. "Any last words?" She asked them as she blew away anything they could use for cover.
"DIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
The kick was incredibly powerful, knocking Augustine face first into the road. She got up and turned around to see Dan Hibiki, only this time with a dark purple aura surrounding himself, along with glowing red eyes. "So you've recovered? Alright, guess I'll have to try harder than that!" She readied an attack, surrounding herself in conrete, rolling up into a ball and charging at Dan. "GADOUKEN!" He yelled as a massive energy blast reduced the concrete ball to dust. She most certainly wasn't expecting that. Trying to get another attack in, she launched conrete shrapnels at Dan, only for him to roll under the attack. "SHORYUKEN!" He yelled as he jumped into the air, uppercutting Augustine. As she rose into the air again, Dan readied one last attack, to finish the fight. "DAN KUAKYAKU!" He yelled, connecting perfectly with his flying kick, and sending Augustine flying far away from San Andreas.
Realizing his target was gone, the enraged Dan punched the ground, causing the whole city to shake, or whatever was left of it. That seemed to do the trick as Dan had stopped glowing purple.
The other All-Stars were stunned. Where the hell did that come out of? From Dan Hibiki, it took him less than 30 seconds to completely obliterate Augustine without sustaining so much as a scratch. But right now, the destruction had opened the view for the group quite a bit, to the point where they could see another fight going on.
Fat Princess missed Metal once again, landing on the ground as Metal launched another attack at Big Daddy, with each attack hurting him, but not enough to keep him down. "This guy's tough. There's no way he could be Nefarious!" Ratchet exclaimed as he took out his RYNO V and started firing, though the imposter was agile enough to avoid every single shot. Then a blinding golden orange light shot through, tackling the Nefarious imposter all the way to the other side of town. His disguise faded as he hit the ground, relatively unscathed.
Metal turned to face Shadow. "Again?" Shadow walked up to him. "I'm here to challenge you." Shadow answered. Metal understood. "So you finally got all the chaos emeralds. Well done." Shadow got into a fighting stance. "I won't fight you now." Metal answered. Shadow smirked. "You afraid I'll beat you into a pulp or something?" Metal walked up to Shadow. "The time is not now. You'll have to get much closer to Polygon Man." Shadow wasn't buying it. "No, Metal. You'll pay for wha-" "Oh don't start. I have neither the time nor the interest required to listen to you. But I do want to fight you. I had hoped for an easy victory over you at first, but after seeing how easy I could've had it, I realized I wanted to beat you at your best. Right now, you probably couldn't keep that up for more than a minute. Now listen closely! Here's a few hints on how you can get far enough to challenge me. You need a teleporter, any standard one will do. The tricky part comes with programming it to open the portal to Polygon Man. One of us knows how to do it, and it's not me. You also need the power to allow the portal to travel between dimensions. The Chaos Emeralds would suffice, but you would need those to fight me as well. So you need another source of equal power, and I think you know where you'll find that. As if that wasn't enough, you'll also need to set it up in another dimension, as with your limited power, as well as the power of Polygon Man, you couldn't make that far of a dimensional leap. Only then will I fight you." Metal explained.
"Tch! That's it? Not much help, I'm afraid." Shadow spat. "It's all the help you're getting. I've given you too much as it is, without actually walking you through it." Metal countered. "I went through a lot of work to find out that much, so consider yourself thankful that you have a lead. I could have simply left you to run around in circles, but I didn't. Don't disappoint me, Shadow."
With that, he took off. San Andreas was slowly returning to normal. The sky changed back to a nice blue, the aliens were gone, and it seemed like only a matter of time before San Andreas would be rebuilt. But there was a wall about a mile away, rippling like water, only it extended beyond the clouds. On the other side, the sky was darker. It looked artificial, synthetic, like the world on the other side could be plugged out.
Shadow shrugged it off for now, looking to find the rest of the group. His super form had faded, but still, before long, he found them all waiting to go at the outskirts of the city.
"So what now?" Isaac asked. "Right now, we head back. Decided what to do there." They all agreed on that. "Just one issue. How are we gonna get back to the airship?" Spike asked. "The ship is docked just across the continent. Shouldn't take more than a few days walking to get back." CJ said, rather nonchalantly.
They had a lot to get through once they got back.
Author's Note
I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far. I initially had 2 chapters I was too lazy to finish, so I mashed them together and finished one chapter instead.
As for where I intend to complete the story, I'm not entirely sure, but I'm definitely over halfway by this point, perhaps approaching the three quarters mark.
Do I ship? Not often, truth be told. This is definitely a first for me.
I orignially wanted the Ratchet vs Nefarious fight to be longer and more serious, but I decided the chapter was long enough as it was. So Metal is providing some help as well, only because he wants a fight. Strange, isn't it?
I figured I should say who I have winning in every rivalry, so here it is.
For the first game, first.
Kratos beats Sweet Tooth
Parappa the Rapper beats Spike
Cole MacGrath beats Raiden
Fat Princess loses to Evil Cole
Big Daddy loses to Sackboy
Dante loses to Nariko
Toro Inoue loses to Heihachi Mishima
Ratchet and Clank beat Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper beats Nathan Drake
Sir Daniel Fortesque loses to Colonel Radec
Isaac Clarke loses to Zeus
Kat beats Emmett Graves
Then for my fanfic
Crash Bandicoot loses to Knack
Taterazay beats Deviants and Lemmings
Kratos beats Nariko
Nathan Drake loses to Lara Croft
Dart Feld beats Spyro the Dragon
Sackboy beats Iota
Cole MacGrath loses to Colonel Radec
Zeus loses to Shadow the Hedgehog
Jak and Daxter lose to Ratchet and Clank
Aiden Pearce beats Sly Cooper
Pyramid Head loses to Ethan Mars
Chimera Hybrid loses to Lucas Kellan
Cloud Strife beats Ico
Sweet Tooth loses to Deadpool
Nathan Hale loses to Arran Danner
John Marston beats Edward Kenway
Sir Daniel Fortesque loses to Raiden
Mega Man X beats Isaac Clarke
Geralt beats Sir Galahad
Heihachi Mishima loses to Juan Aguacate
Delsin Rowe loses to Kat
Joel and Ellie beat Lil and Laarg
Lionel Messi beats Kobe Bryant
Traveller loses to Toro Inoue
Emmett Graves loses to Yu Narukami
Parappa the Rapper beats Death Jr.
Dante beats Sacrifice
Pupuru beats Fat Princess
Abe beats Big Daddy
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger beats Rayman
Spike beats Kutaro
Dan Hibiki loses to Johnny Cage
Zero loses to E-123 Omega
Jacket beats Carl "CJ" Johnson
Mr. Ash beats Nightmare
What were the best games of 2012?
Off the top of my head:
1. Spec Ops: The Line
2. Hotline Miami
3. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
4. Gravity Rush
5. Driver: San Francisco
(Never played TWD)