Alden's Tower
"Alden's tower? We're in Empire City. But how? It was destroyed by The Beast before I stopped it." Clank took in Cole's words as he studied his surroundings. "Perhaps the overlapping of the worlds are not only affecting space, but time as well." Joel wasn't buying it. "You sure about that? How do we know that the 'Gamer' isn't just doing this to mess with us, and made the threat up?" Sora and Quark were wondering along with, as they were the only ones who weren't there during the time of the first events. Nathan quickly spoke in Clank's defense. "No, he may be up to something. Back when this first started, I recall fighting some of the others in this place. And this was before The Gamer came in." Toro was jumping up and down. "Yeah, the first time it was Polygon Man, who was doing it to try to destroy us! What if this continuing overlapping was a fail-safe if he failed to beat us himself?" The others started to grow concerned by Toro's words, which only strengthened their resolve to end this. "Alright, since we're in my world, I'll take the lead. Everyone group up in a way that makes the best at climbing. We've got a long way to go."
Everyone was having better luck getting up the tower than they anticipated. Ratchet and Clank were quickly going up and across with the Heli-Pack, with Jak and Daxter following on their jetboard. Nathan and Sly put their treasure-hunting skills to the test as they made a race over who could get up first. Sackboy was flying up in his jetpack while Toro, Sora, and Joel combined their skills to help each other up. The only ones who were lagging were Cole, Quark, and Fat Princess. Fat Princess was the only one who was not good at climbing, so Quark had to carry her while Cole gave assistance with his telekinesis. "Oh, why did I have to be cursed with such handsome muscles? Cole? Are you helping me or not?!" Cole was quickly blasting something when his attention was grabbed. "Sorry Quark, but various objects from another world keep popping up, so I'm taking them down before I forget. The others must have missed them from having too much fun." Quark could only groan as Fat Princess threatened to break his back under her weight.
At the top, Cole told Sly about some of the objects he saw, as they reminded him of Sly. "A safe? And a symbol that looks like a raccoon? That does sound like stuff from my world. If it is, then the threat must be one of my own enemies, but who? Paradox? Muggshot? Of course, if the threat comes from the time overlap, then we could even be facing Clockwork, Neyla, or even-?"
"FREEZE CRIMINALS!" Sly froze, but not at the threat, but at the voice. He turned around in shock to see a certain Fox pointing a shock pistol at his team. The others were readying for a fight with Sly jumped between them. "WAIT! DON'T ATTACK! I KNOW HER!" He quickly turned around. "CARMELITA! IT'S ME! AND THESE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMIES! THEY'RE NOT EVEN THEIVES! THEY'RE HEROES!" Carmelita lowered her gun, curious at what Sly meant, but she jumped down on the tower, with pistol still in hand. "I'm willing to listen, but if I don't like what I hear, you're all going down."
Explaining things to Carmelita was difficult, but she was able to understand most of it. "Normally I would think you're crazy, but from where I have gone to here I will believe you." Sly was happy to see her believe him, as well as see her here. "Maybe you can come with us! Your skills will be most helpful, and you'll be keeping the peace! Also, you'll get to meet all my new friends." Everyone around Sly nodded their heads, happy for the extra pair of hands. "OK, let introduce you to every-" A sudden flash cut Sly off and blinded everyone. When the light cleared, Carmelita was gone. "What?! Carmelita! CARMELITA!" Sly's words went unanswered as the glow came to take Team 3 away.
"I didn't want to do that, but it was getting slow and uneventful." The Gamer gave pause as he looked at his readings. "But, I did say they had to stop the threats, and that's what they did. Just in a different method. Besides, there is much more to be done, and they will see Carmelita again. As will everyone else..."