Chapter Thirty-Five
Sweet Tooth just looked at those around him. "W-what? Are you… Are you all seriously considering axing me in favor of who I used to be?! Come on now! Getting rid of me won't bring back your family, and you know that well!"
Marcus glared at him, which surprisingly intimidating the demented clown. "Don't lie to not only me, but yourself. I know very well… You failed to kill my daughter, and corrupted my son into 'carrying the torch' for when you actually die for good!"
"Yeah, but Sophie committed suicide!"
"Goddamn… You really are behind… Sophie is well alive, you freak! The Calypso I'm working with told me very well that his parallel brought her back. But now she's… She's just like you!" Sweet Tooth felt his eyes widen, and a small smile grow from under his mask.
Jak lowered his blaster, looking down at his communicator. "Jak… You have something in mind, right?" Keira asked. "Sweet Tooth is clearly a murderous psychopath, but will getting rid of him solve anything?"
"That's just it Keira… We can't decide on our own. But considering what Marc just said, I think we know who to get for help." Sliding off to another room in hopes of being unseen, Jak cleared his throat. "Ratchet? You there?"
"— Jak?! This is a really bad time you know! Make it quick!"
"Is Calypso there?"
"Uh…" Ratchet turned around, seeing the man with the scarred face. "Yeah, he's there, just sitting around being unproductive. Why?"
"Tell him to get over here, now!"
Not wanting to delay further, Ratchet turned to Calypso. "William! You gotta get outta here. Jak needs you for something back at the basilicom! Sounded urgent enough!"
Summecante was weakened greatly. Looking over to his fallen comrades, he limped over to Sprimiglione's body. "I hope you're ready for this, then! Because I made sure to learn the same fusion our originals did!" With that, the deity exploded into a harsh, burning light.
Harsh winds and the icy water fused with him, along with roots from the corpse. Murray got up, seeing that Falliccia was no longer underneath his body. "Oh man… This doesn't look good Sly!" Bentley attempted to get a proper reading on what the enemy was doing, but the computer seemed to have no information on what was going on.
Furry arms spawned. A dark-skinned torso connected to a crimson head with gleaming eyes. Old tree branches protruded from the shoulders, while the rest of the body had a golden mane. It began carrying both a scimitar and a shield, all while towering over everyone in the cavern.
"Behold! The Malevolence of the Four Seasons! We are…" The voice which belonged to Summecante paused. "Er… Noy…Noyreg!"
"Noyreg?! That's the best you could come up with, you pup?! That's not intimidating at all!" Whinazzo snarled.
Rather than arguing with the wolf's voice, the beast slammed down his weapon onto the group. Blue Heart glanced at the monster, then at Purple Heart and Sister. "You two… Help me… The rest of you, run!" Confused, the majority listened to her.
"Leave you behind?! For what purpo— Gah!" Isaac was instantly tugged by Joel, while Kratos and Zeus remained.
"Kratos! You and Zeus need to run so Bleu and I can hold this thing off!" Purple Heart yelled.
Cracking lightning bolts into his hands, Zeus cackled. "It won't be an easy feat with just three goddesses, you know… Let the King of the Gods and my son handle this with you!" The monster had a furious look due to it missing the targets, and letting the majority flee.
Just as Kratos and Zeus were about to strike the monster, Blue Heart floated in front of them. "Cease yourselves first…" She stared at Neyrog's eyes. "… You aren't… Really bad, are you?… Just envious, that you can't be in the same world as your counterparts."
It froze in place, as if gears in its head were turning slowly. "I don't want to hurt anyone!" Falli's voice cried. "The pierrot told me we would be free! As long as I don't screw up and get rid of my counterpart, I could walk this world freely!" Purple Sister gave a puzzled look.
"But what stops you from roaming around without getting rid of the originals?" She asked.
"We… We'd vanish within less than a year completely!" Upon hearing that, Purple Sister couldn't help but feel pity for the four, and it seemed her older sister was in agreement.
Placing a hand on the beast's torso, Blue Heart spoke to them. "And… What if we found a way around that? You could live… A happy life here… Without worrying about your originals or vanishing… Surely, we would all find a way… Right, Neptune?"
A nod came from her. "Of course we would! When there's a will, there's definitely a way! And if we get the 'New Game Plus', maybe we could make it so you both live normally!" It then glanced at Purple Heart.
"Y-you would do that… For us?" Falli tried to hold back a sob. No one had ever offered them real help besides the other doppelgangers, and even then, they were quite cruel at times.
"Oooooh!~ I'd like that!~" Sprimiglione giggled.
"Hmm, I'm not so sure… This treat sounds too good to be true." Whinazzo grumbled.
"What?! Why are you all giving in to such a petty attempt to try and lure us?!" Summecante shouted, making the Noyreg flail about, pulling the scimitar out of the earth. "These fools would never be able to help us! The pierrot said no one but her could!"
Knocking Blue Heart back with the weapon, she was sent into the cavern walls, making a small crater with her own body. "… You really are far more stubborn and arrogant compared to your original… He at least gave the benefit of the doubt." Coughing, the goddess was pulled out of the rubble by Zeus.
"Very well then… Let us destroy this hideous monstrosity!" He bellowed. Purple Heart was more than ready to go first, striking the beast with multiple elemental attacks. She grunted as Hot, Ice, and Blast Edge did not seem to have any effect. It seemed only electric-based moves were working on it.
As she took aim, Blue Heart fired harsh spouts of water, which were merely brushed off upon impact. "I… Think I see now… Neptune, they combined their strengths… Which means, they are all but immune to what they were based around… Cold, heat, winds, water, nature, earth… All of that is worthless."
"Then that means Zeus and Kratos will have no trouble at all with this!" Purple Sister exclaimed. Kratos lunged, constantly piercing the beast with a spear in his hand. Zeus landed a harsh, lightning-filled punch from above that crashed down on Noyreg.
Merely swinging its arm at the girls, a gust of wind sent them flying. Purple Sister took the chance to fire a laser from her gunblade as Kratos began slicing Noyreg's hands with the Blades of Chaos. As hairs were sliced off along with flesh, the monster howled.
Blue Heart flew in front of Noyreg's view and withdrew her revolvers. "Falli… You and the others need to stop being afraid of Summecante… And whoever has been ordering you to do all of this!… There is a better option!"
Once again it leapt at her, only to miss and be shocked from multiple bolts tossed by Zeus. "H-how would you know?! A goddess like you doesn't have to worry about this kinda crap!" Whinazzo retorted, making Blue Heart flinch.
"Y… You really think I haven't gone through something similar?… What do you think I have been doing for the past year?!… I wanted revenge on Noire for so long, along with the others… Not just for me… But others who had fell!… Then… The All-Stars said they finally understood my motives! And they did want to help not only me, but the ones who died… They could do the same, for all of you!"
Noyreg stopped. Kratos was clutching onto his bow just in case the monster tried to attack once more. "Is… That what happened? Is that all true?" Falliccia asked, while Whinazzo could be heard whimpering slightly. "W-we knew about the whole thing of you throwing dirt on the others, but—"
"Bah! You're going to fall for this sap story?! Pathetic!" As Summecante took control, he began to swing the scimitar down on Blue Heart, Kratos fired an arrow at Noyreg's eye, blinding it temporarily and allowing the goddess to move out of danger.
"If they cause an inner turmoil enough to fight Summecante… That could easily turn things in our favor." Zeus thought aloud. "But for now… Ghost of Sparta!" Kratos turned to his father, and long-time enemy. "Let us work together! One last time, for this!"
Slowly nodding in agreement, Kratos used the head of Helios to blind Noyreg even further so that the rest could get free hits. Purple Heart and Sister constantly swiped their blades at the monster. "Give it your best shots… You should still be able to charge AP around here, after all…" Blue Heart murmured.
Right when she said that, they all had a blue aura glowing around them. Kratos glanced at Zeus, thinking he would want to use the Level One, but instead the King of Gods went on with shocking Noyreg with lightning. Similarly, Planeptune CPUs continued their usual combos.
"Blizzard!" The monster yelled, with a unison voice. Harsh winds and snow struck all five of them… But then stopped within just a couple of seconds. "What?!" Summecante gasped. "Why did you all stop?!"
Falliccia then chimed in to the five gods present. "W-we can't seem to break free of this form even if three of us four resist! You'll have to separate us on your own!" Purple Heart gave a cocky smile, activating her Level Two without any hesitance.
A shot fired out multiple glowing particles that scattered. But upon hitting Noyreg, it just merely flinched. "I… Don't think that was enough, sis." Purple Sister pointed out.
Mr. Grimm cornered his copy along with Morrigan, and did not stop what he was about to do…
With just the swift movement of his scythe, Grimm sliced off the hand of the doppelgänger, who shouted before trailing into small grunts of pain. "You think this is the worst you can do?… I've gone through much, much worse!"
"I know… Don't worry. It will all be over, and you won't have to worry about taking my place anymore." Grabbing onto what he considered to be his mirror by the collar, Mr. Grimm could hear screams of agony come from the war veteran.
Morrigan simply watched on as the scene progressed. "T-tell me… Will I see Benny again?" The other Grimm's breath became heavier, his body weakening rapidly.
"Well… What is it that you want? Do you want to share my spot as the reaper like you intended? Or rejoin your friend? I had a lot of time to think this over, you know… Sweet Tooth told me all about who you are. And like how I was helped by my wife… I want to help you; my counterpart, without anymore of this nonsense."
Blood becoming cold and going limp, the other Grimm trembled, removing the skull on his head. "T… Take care of all… I have left of Benny." With that, the reaper absorbed the entirety of the doppelgänger, until he became a skeleton, just like the original.
Approaching slowly, Morrigan looked over the bones, which quickly turned into dust. "My, quite the powerful soul-stealing ability you have, even mine isn't strong enough to make a human into mere dust… What happened to the rest of his friend though, if that's all he has?"
Hesitant, the reaper coughed. "They were right in front of you… Well, were, when he was full of flesh and organs." Morrigan felt her eyes widen for a moment, understanding what Grimm meant. "Morrigan, did I do the right thing? I promised myself to not take another soul and absorb it, but… I just felt like that was a proper solution." The succubus merely grinned, patting him on the shoulder.
"I see it as a mercy kill. End his suffering, and grant the wish he wanted, so that way he wouldn't harm you or your family… Is that what was going through your mind?" She asked.
"… That was my intent. I just hope my addiction for souls won't come back."
Being held down on the floor, choked and with a dagger against his neck, Sweet Tooth tried to shove Marcus off. "Will you give it up?!"
"Never! You ruined my whole life! I want you out of mine, especially when they reach the 'New Game Plus'!"
Cobar had grown impatient, taking out a rifle. "Enough! Madame Plutia is resting, and you choose to fight! How about I kill the both of you right here?!" Both Marcus and Sweet Tooth glared at the colonel.
A voice began laughing. "No need for anymore violence… Elf-boy, the tiger-alien told me you wanted me for something. Was it this?" Calypso snickered, while Jak shook his head, not amused by the comments.
"Yeah, you brought Sophie back or something… We want to use her as a 'decision' tool."
Daxter jumped, climbing on Jak's shoulder. "Jak, are you crazy?!"
"No… But I think she is, currently. William! I wish for you to summon her!"
He smirked. "Well, you did all help me a few months back, so… Granted!" Snapping his fingers, smoke filled the room. Lilith used her wings to fan it out of the room so everyone could see…
There stood a young clown girl, with a flaming head.
((This chapter was hard to write cuz I haven't played PSASBR in a while… Thankfully, I remembered most of Kratos and Zeus' movesets well enough.
This is gonna get even harder near the end, ugh.))