Anton's Palace, Metaverse
Afternoon
"...When I'm done with you four, I'll might go pay Jean and Little John a visit at the hospital..." Sagittarius Anton gloats smugly to the Persona users, seemingly having the upper-hand on them and feeling very confidant in himself. "Particularly an intimate one-on-one session with Jean~"
"Hey!" Cognitive Tatiana suddenly whips around to him from her fighting with Sly alongside a change in demeanour more akin to the real Tatiana as did the cognitions of Monica and Patty, all three giving him angry glares. "You went too far with what you did yesterday and for that, we ain't serving a snitch such as you like blind dogs anymore!"
Sly blinked when he saw the sudden shift in their alignment, then grinned at the sight. "Okay, now that's the freedom-loving Tatiana Tiger I know and love. Atta girl! You tell his ass off!"
Avatar concludes that Anton himself must have just found out about what's happened with Tatiana, Monica and Patty; hence the cognition clones turning on their boss because of it. Whatever the cause may be, it's their seven to Anton's two now and he's not feeling smug now.
"You ungrateful bitches!" Sagittarius Anton snarls at the three's betrayals as did Cognitive Fiona. "I'll whip you three good for this—AGH!"
The cognitions of Tatiana, Monica and Patty proceeded to attack the chairman with the four intruders jumping in to give him a good walloping. With the extra manpower of the three Shadows, the advantage is now back in their favour and they weren't going to waste it now. Sagittarius Anton wails as the seven were attacking him at once.
Forced to fend off their superior numbers with only his clone of Fiona to help him against them and taking a lot of damage from the combined assault. Eventually, he'd start to pushing back against the group by killing the Cognitive Monica first with his Flamethrower. Said Shadow dissolving into nothing.
"That's it, I'm pulling out the Showstopper!" Sagittarius Anton said as Cognitive Fiona tosses him a microphone she pulled out of her top and starts roaring into it. "~Hey you! The name's Anton! If you got a complaint, I'll knock your lights out!~"
When Sagittarius Anton roared those words into the microphone at the attacking party, they all got blasted by an explosion of sound-waves he calls the Showstopper that sends the four boys flying in the air while obliterating the cognition copies of Patty and Tatiana. The letter letting off a loud shriek before getting vaporised.
"Agh!" Avatar cried as he hits off a wall and landing on his feet, looking up to see Sagittarius Anton tossing aside his now-broken microphone. "O.V.I! What's our status?!"
"You took all taken serious damage from his equivalent of an Almighty spell." O.V.I reported through his phone, the other three party members getting back up from the heavy attack and healing themselves with medical items. "You must stop him before he gets another chance to do that attack again."
"Right!" Avatar nodded, healing himself with Dia. Knowing they need to bring down Sagittarius Anton soon before it's too late and he can also feel the exhaustion starting to kick in.
"Fiona Babe, I need some more sugar!" Sagittarius Anton panted to Shadow Fiona, feeling a little worn down from the earlier assault. "Give it to me now!"
"Two of you stop her!" Avatar commanded to Rogue and Seeker. "Don't let her heal him again!"
"Got it!" Rogue and Seeker nodded before rushing off to intercept Cognitive Fiona. Keeping her separated from her boss.
"Sly, you're with me!" Avatar orders the hedgehog. Him and Sly took on Sagittarius Anton themselves, going on the offensive again. Cognitive Fiona glares at the two, becoming distracted by them as she pulled a MAC-11 machine pistol and fired at them to try and keep them away.
Sly on the other hand casted more Earth spells at Sagittarius Anton, though he was using his mid-tier attacks since he was running low on energy for them. Avatar calls upon the strongest Personas in his arsenal as he and Sly attacked Sagittarius Anton, dishing out more damage against him in their assault.
Meanwhile Rogue and Seeker dodges Cognitive Fiona's gunfire before closing in with the latter able to smack the gun out of her hands. The two fought the crimson vixen for a bit, the Shadow putting up a good struggle against them. Doing some spinning kicks, hand-chops and other physics-defying attacks in spite of her attire.
Rogue doesn't remember who this vixen is nor recall her being among Anton's people but in any case, she must be stopped and he'd blast the last two rounds of his submachine gun onto her with aid from his mask's bullet-time effect; landing good damage onto her. When the vixen saw her boss in danger from Avatar and Sly's relentless attacks on him, she quickly hops up onto Rogue's shoulders before jumping off them to go rush over to his aid despite being heavily wounded herself. She'd dedicated to her boss through and through.
"Oh no you don't!" Seeker summons Guardian to use a Bless spell while Cognitive Fiona raced towards Sagittarius Anton, both within his line of fire. "Makouha!"
The copy of Fiona screeches as Seeker's spell kills her into oblivion and wounding Sagittarius Anton some more. Leaving Sagittarius Anton alone once again with all four focusing their attacks on him, assaulting him a good amount til they got him knocked down.
"Let's do it!" Avatar called out as the four performs an All-Out Attack on the large Shadow, dealing massive damage upon him and the Palace Ruler cries out in pain. Avatar, Seeker and Rogue tried to rush at him but he swats them all aside into a wall with his chain whip in defensive desperation before grabbing a new microphone that the clone of Fiona had left behind upon her demise.
"Sly, stop him!" Avatar yells over to Sly, the nearest person to Sagittarius Anton as he was getting ready to perform his mighty attack again. "Hurry!"
"On it!" Sly replied as he quickly runs up to Sagittarius Anton and leaping at the microphone to grab it it, trying to pull it away from the Palace Ruler with all of his might. Adrenaline running through him right now.
"Oh no you fucking don't you fucker!" He shouted as he pried it out of the Shadow's grasp finally. The other three would get up to inflict further damage on Sagittarius Anton while leaving Sly with the job of finishing him off.
"Kyaaaaaaahhhh!" Sly cried out as he dealt the final blow to Sagittarius Anton, striking with his tonfa in doing so.
"AHHHHH!" Sagittarius Anton roared out his last cry of pain as he stumbles backwards before collapses onto the floor on his face with a loud thud. The Palace Ruler would revert back to his smaller suited form on the floor.
"We've kicked your arse fair and square..." Rogue says to the defeated Shadow Anton. "Give it up now. You're done love."
"T-That's what you all think!" The bruised Shadow Anton sat up on the floor as he pulls out his phone again. "Tod! Get your ass in here now!"
A large reptilian figure bursts through a wall in the office bearing the face of Tod Veruca to the shock and horror of the four Persona users; thinking they're going to have to fight him too. "I-I'm here boss..."
"Make yourself useful moron and go deal with these pieces of garbage in my office..." Don Chairman Anton barks at his brother/muscleman. "Now!"
Hooligan's Hideout, Geno City. Mobius
Afternoon
Anton stopped his paranoid episode for a moment when he got a phone call and goes to answer it without really looking at the contact ID. "What is it now!?"
"I-It's your brother Tod calling..." Came the voice of Tod Veruca. "I've just been cleared to leave the hospital and I-I rang to let you know that I won't let myself be your punching bag anymore!"
"You listen to me you dimwit—"
"No, you listen to me!" Tod yells at him for the first time in his life and startling his older brother with his pushback. "You've treated me like dirt for so long and I have just had enough of your abuse. Both you and our mother only kept me around for my DLA money. So, I've told the social services about it. Expect a letter from them brother. Have a nice day."
He then hung up on Anton before the latter could get another word in. The letterman jacket-wearing gangleader yelled loudly as he threw his phone at the wall, breaking it into pieces while everything in his life unravels.
Cyber City Medical Ward, Cyber City
Afternoon
"...Did I really have to do that to him?" Tod looks to his left, handing the phone back to his twin sister Migu whom took it and pocketed it. "I feel bad for it..."
"Tod... You did the right thing." Migu assures him, hugging her twin outside the hospital entrance. "If they're taking DLA money from you and abusing you like that, then they're no family of yours."
She then leads him away from the hospital with a kind smile to her brother. "Come on, let's go get a gelato. A nice lady told me about this parlour at the Dynamo Galleria."
"I'd love some sis..."
Anton's Palace, Metaverse
Afternoon
"...Do it yourself. I'm not going to be your punching bag for every failure of yours' no more." Shadow Tod retorted harshly. "I quit. Goodbye.
The large Shadow then leaves the way he came in while Anton's Shadow calls out to him; "Hey! Get back here useless and do as I asked! I'll have your ass for this if you don't come back! Tod! TOD!"
"Well, would you look at that?" Seeker remarks to Shadow Anton with a smug, mocking grin. "Even your punching bag has had enough of your bullshit."
"Grr, I am not—"
"You are finished Anton..." Avatar curtly cuts off the Palace Ruler, pointing his pistol down at the trembling lizard. "It's over for you and you may as well give it up. There's no point in disputing this anymore. The results are plain as day."
"Yeah..." Sly added, stepping forward towards Shadow Anton. Accept your defeat like a man. That's what you'd say to others' dude."
He aimed his submachine gun at Shadow Anton, though didn't fire. "It's funny. This situation here if you remove this Metaverse stuff, it's the kinda thing I used to dream about. But now... I dunno anymore. I mean, you are a piece of shit. That's already an established fact about you but I now know why you are the way you are, how you became the way you was and the things you did to get to where you are now. However, you stepped on and hurt a lot of people to do so. And that is unforgivable."
"I don't want your damn sympathies!" Shadow Anton yells at Sly, down on the floor and looking up to him. "I've always despised you from the day we first met. How insufferable happy you were with your father and how successful your little band was while I grovelled away trying to get any respect on the streets. How full of yourselves people like you can be and doing whatever you want without any consequences and I knew the only way that'll ever change is to put you in your place!"
"Excuses, excuses..." Rogue said with a disgusted expression. "Have you ever owed up to anything without blaming it on someone else?"
"It's so easy for you to judge when you've never had to grow up in a place like Hedgehog Town where being the only reptile in elementary school full of mammals and poor to boot makes you a favourite target of bullying by those hellish brats. Any time I fought against the other students, I always get into trouble for it while those bastards would get away with everything; even when they're the ones instigating it..."
Avatar listened intently as did Sly. Seeing as this is new information Anton's Shadow is giving them regarding his past.
"The staff including the principal would ignore the bullying even right in front of them until I raise a hand to the bullies..." Shadow Anton clenches his fist. "They titter themselves. They would gossip and spread rumors about me behind my back. They would exclude me from their activities and only ever bring me in subject me to a razing. They would sabotage me in school competitions to make me a loser. They all wear those damn smug grins on their faces whenever I'm the one getting in trouble and making fun of me without any of them being checked for their behaviour..."
He slams his fist on the floor. "I'm forced to follow their unfair rules while they don't have to. But I showed that town what for by becoming their worst nightmare and getting payback on them. It felt so good to be the one to give those racist shitstains their long-deserved punishment that their parents weren't willing to give out after all those years of being their favourite victim. I was the Number One Hooligan in town!"
"Until Sonic came along and showed you up. Becoming yesterday's news overnight by the very town itself and the world at large when he became famous for his first major victory against Dr Robotnik." Avatar interjected. "No one there were afraid of you anymore and they proceeded to pressure your family into leaving the island. You moved to this city and tried to start over but no one took any heed of you then."
"I got mugged on my first day in the city and Mama told me off later that day for letting it happen to me..." Shadow Anton looked up to Sly with a sneer. "Letting him get the better of me."
Sly was silent, his expression hard to read. It was as if he knew something about what the Shadow is saying.
"He may have forgotten that day as a young lad then but I sure haven't. I made a vow to make his life as miserable as possible."
"So you tormented him out of pettiness for all these years because of that one little incident? You took his friends, his family, his girlfriend and even his life just to get back at him." Avatar tutted at the lizard. "You really are a pathetic guy if you're doing all that because he nicked essentially pocket change from you."
"Interesting comment coming from someone who ain't too fond of his crowd."
"...I'm not the one who murdered another person's parent and let his own grievances override his moral judgement." The red wolf replied sternly. "Even if your mother is to blame for all this, you still chose to murder a living being and harmed others with little to no remorse for what you've done. What about your father?"
"What about him? Compared to all the other dads, he's a total loser!" Shadow Anton screams slams his fist at the floor again. "A complete loser who gets pushed around by Mama and he's barely around the house half the time when you actually need him. He only got the job as the Mayor's head chef because of me! Tod's always weighted me down, Mad was never right in the head, Hud takes after the worst aspects of our moms including her hatefulness and Migu's like an unwanted child that eats away at Mama's expenses because she's not a boy like the rest of us!"
"It's envy, isn't it?" Rogue spoke up. "You've always been jealous of others and you envy Manic the most because of his father. His father was a respected member of his community in his life while yours' a failed chef who got overshadowed by the more distinguished cooks in the kitchen. Green-eyed monster indeed."
"...If you take away the difference between our fathers, me and Manic are very much alike. More than he'd like to admit." Shadow Anton grimaces. "He'd use his friends to get what he wants and he hurts his loved ones just as much as me while he loooves to go on about how bad I am like a hypocrite. In another life, he'd be the one to terrorise Geno City and mistreat his girl Tatiana all the same. So why's it okay for him to do wrong but not when I'm the one doing it?"
"Because the similarities between you both are superficial at best and a very arrogant assumption of you to think that you're both anything alike. Wanna know the big difference between you both?" Avatar says to Shadow Anton, pointing to Sly and glancing over to him. "He has a conscious and never lost sight of what truly matters in spite of everything that's happened to him. He never forgot his father's teachings to provide empathy to others. Whatever mistakes he's made in his life, he's at least willing to acknowledge them rather than deny their existence and learn from it."
Then points at the defeated Palace Ruler and looking to him. "You? You just gave up years ago. You threw in the towel and took the easy way out without even trying to improve yourself. Trading in your morals, values and relationships for money, power and influence that's only temporarily yours' for a time before they all leave you behind. The greatest mistake you ever made is taking the life of someone's family, letting your life spiral out of control into utter debauchery and sin, treating your loved ones as burdens instead of as people to care for and thinking they won't come back to haunt you but then I'm not the one who lost a father to you..."
Rogue added "Or me..."
"Or me." Seeker finished as the three stepped back away from Shadow Anton, the swordsman badger gesturing over to the grimacing Manic. "However, there is someone here who has lost a father to you and he's the one thing you can never get one over no matter what you did to him. If you weren't so focused on making him suffer as much as you can, you would have done the smart thing and do away with him years ago. Today; you'll get to regret that choice..."
With Manic the only person close to Anton's Shadow, Seeker tells the hedgehog; "He's all yours. Finish this feud as you see fit. His victims will appreciate it all the same regardless."
Manic nodded, walking up to Shadow Anton to stare him down a moment and then smacked him in the nose with the butt of his submachine gun; aiming to break it rather than kill him. "Here's what's gonna happen... You're gonna go and confess to every crime, every sin, every single bad thing you've ever done; no matter how small or big. Even if it's something as insignificant as stiffing a waitress on her tip at a diner or restaurant, it doesn't matter. You'll confess everything. And most of all... You will confess to my father's killer. And in addition, you and your gang are to leave me as well as my people the hell alone for the rest of your miserable life. Is that clear?"
"Crystal... But why?" Shadow Anton uttered, propping himself up after getting smacked by Manic's weapon. "I killed your father, stole your life and hurt your family for so long. You should be killing me instead."
Manic shook his head, taking off his mask to show the Shadow his face. "Because if I killed you, then I'd be just like you. I would rather die than to ever stoop to your level or go down the path you went. I'll never be anything like you."
"...Heh." Shadow Anton chuckled softly to himself as he sat up straight, smiling sincerely to the green hedgehog that's very different from the ones he's known to give him for the first time since they originally met all those years ago. "I think I finally get it now. All this time I've been trying to win this long-bitter feud between us, you were already the winner and it took me this many years to acknowledge the truth."
The purple suited lizard stood up to his feet. "Very well Manic. I agree to your terms as a loser's punishment. You really are the better man between us."
"One thing I have to ask Anton." Avatar spoke up. "What did you have to gain from killing Farrell and why would it make your career forever anyways? An act like that would have made you an enemy of the people in his side of Cyber City if people knew you were the one behind it."
"It wasn't my idea. I just simply carried out a task on someone else's behalf in exchange for getting me set up with a few connected individuals as the middleman for their businesses to help me start earning a good income for my family and Farrell's execution is for trying to upset the natural order of things in the criminal underworld." Shadow Anton answered as the Palace Ruler started to glow. Indicating that the Shadow is in the process of returning to his host.
"Middleman?" Avatar questioned. "If murdering Farrell wasn't your idea, then put you up to it?"
"Captain Krouch." The answer shocked the four boys. "In case you're wondering, Jean lost her job because she had uncovered the link between us and your father's death while she was in the middle of trying to get evidence to prove your innocence on the false drug charge. The drug plant idea was—"
But Anton's Shadow never got to finish his answer as he disappears from their presence, returning to his host once more. Gone before they could get any more info from him.
"...They're all assembled and waiting your orders boss." Johnson said to Anton in the real world at the Hooligans' Hideout. The green lizard having been pacing around in his office while a squad is being assembled to go hunt after the four deserters of his gang and the stolen files.
Anton replied instantly; "Good. Tell them to hunt them down an—"
The lizard suddenly clutches his chest with one hand with wide-eyes plus a quivering mouth to the concern and confusion of his men in the office. "Actually, belay that order. Cancel the hunt for Manic's gang and cease operations in Soucie Street."
Huh?" Johnson voiced his bafflement. "Wait, are yo—"
"You want to end up like Craig!?" Anton snapped at Johnson, making the jerboa back up in fear. "Belay the order. Call off the search parties for Manic's gang and halt the extortions in Soucie Street as well as other areas tied to him. Get to it at once unless you wish to join him in the dumpster."
"R-Right, right..." The jerboa replied nervously, not wanting to agitate his boss anymore than what he needs today for his own sake and relayed the new orders to the guys on the phone. Anton on the other hand started walking out of the office with a hand on his head.
"Brother. Are you... Are you feeling alright?" Hud stops Anton on his way out for a moment to ask him. Less out of brotherly concern and more for the odd shift in his behaviour that could affect him personally.
"I'm fine Hud... I just need to go home and rethink my life..." Anton replied vaguely before walking off. Feeling strange for some reason...
"It all makes sense now..." Avatar muttered. "It all makes to—"
"We need to leave the Palace ASAP." O.V.I warned the whole group just as Sly slips his mask back on.
"Huh?" Seeker raises a brow. "W—"
He immediately got his answer when the whole building started to shake, the lights suddenly going out and cracks forming up on the ceilings as the top corners of the walls with a few pieces of it falling to the floors like crumbling pastries. The items in the office shook til a bunch of them fell to the floor that broke into pieces on impact and cracks appeared on the windows prior to them shattering, wind whooshing through the office.
Even the tall golden statue outside the building was crumbling to pieces. The entire Palace was collapsing in on itself.
"GO! GO! GO! GO!" Avatar yelled frantically to his party as they rushed out of the office and towards getting out of the now-collapsing building alive before they get buried in the rubble...
Gazebo Street, Geno City
Afternoon
"...You have returned safely to the real world." Akira's phone said out aloud to the group, said group panting and breathing sighs of relief in having escaped the collapse of Anton's Palace. "Location no longer available."
"Holy moly, that's a close one!" Akira beats Manic to the punch in expressing the group's sentiment towards what had just taken place. "I figured the Palace would have went down after we took the core away but not to that extent!"
"Me neither!" Cortez added. "Woo!"
"Jeez, what a rush that was..." Manic said, hands on his knees. "Now I kinda know what it's like to be Dark Bat in any of his adventures."
"It's over now..." Akira breathes a sigh of relief. "I hope it is. If he admits to his crimes, he'll bring both his gang, Krouch and maybe even Mayor Fumfer will go down with him too. Geno City will finally know the truth."
"And Jean had known the truth as well..." Johnny looks over to Manic. "She lost her career because she came upon the connection between those two and Farrell's murder rather than his death be the result of a break-in."
Manic nodded. "I suppose time will tell. We'll just have to wait and see."
"You mentioned that you knew him for a long time but you never told us it all started because of that one day." Cortez runs a hand over his ears. "That guy went on about how bad you were then."
"That's just Anton to invoke the 'you're no better than me' card on him but he never had any right to call anybody out when he did murder, rape, drug-pushing and snitching himself. If it was Anton standing over Manic in his own Palace, he would take the other option." Akira said with a head-shake. "Killing Anton wouldn't be such a bad option but letting him live? That'll help the city in the long run."
"Although, was it right of us to change his heart like that? He may have been a bad dude but what we did to his Shadow is just as questionable." Johnny pointed out.
"I've thought about it and you make a good point there. However, think of it this way; would bringing Anton down in the real world with the evidence we had have really do anything to him?" Akira brings up his point. "Jean lost her job because she was trying to bust him for that murder, Krouch has made probably a lot of cases against Anton go cold over the years and we know Fumfer has a stake in the extortion schemes. Even if we did it the legal way without us changing his heart and the events of yesterday, the most punishment Anton would have gotten out of it is a slap on the wrist along with a pardon from the Mayor."
"You make it sound like the law in Cyber City is corrupted or something." Cortez says with a whistle. "Grime and filth beneath the clean paintwork."
"If the law was doing it's job properly, people like Anton and Krouch would have been behind bars years ago. Jean would still have her job while Krouch's cronies loses theirs'. Manic would have been found innocent of the bogus drug charge. The truth behind Farrell's death would have been out long ago. The people who called for his death would have been exposed and on record by now..." Akira crosses his arms. "Geno City would been considered a safer place to go to. Maybe what we did isn't right but with us being between a rock and a hard place, it seems like the most logical decision to take at the time under those circumstances. Just hoping we made the right choice."
"Yeah... But I don't agree with our real world investigations doing nothing against him." Johnny sees the valid points in his statement along with his own disagreements before looking down; "Hey, look at this..."
Johnny picks something up and shows it to the others in the form of a black acoustic guitar. "Wonder where this came from."
Akira checks his pockets for the statuette he had in the Palace, then looks to the guitar. "That's his Treasure. The source of all of his distorted desires."
"A guitar, huh?" Manic mused, looking it over. "Didn't he have a guitar in one of his memories back in the Palace?"
"He did. I think this might be the same guitar from that memory even..." Johnny looks over the black guitar, his eyes widens. "No, it can't be!"
"What?" Akira asks. "Can't be what?"
"Guys. This is a Sharp S. Chicken acoustic guitar!"
The other three looks at him funny before Akira shook his head and said to him; "Okay Johnny. We're a bit lost here, think you can explain what's going on?"
"Oh okay. Well, you ever heard of the guy?"
"Sharps of the Forget Me Knots?" Cortez raised a brow.
"No. That Sharps Parakeet is actually the younger cousin of this guy and even named after him." Johnny corrected him. "Sharp S. Chicken would have been a popular rock musician in his day up to and during the Great War before quietly retiring from the music scene. He used to do tours and one of them brought him to South Island, Hedgehog Town."
"But what's so special about this guitar?"
"The thing you must know about Sharp S. Chicken and as someone who knows his guitar history is that he builds his own acoustic guitars during his heyday because he wasn't satisfied with the standard sets. Every instrument he uses for his songs and tours, they're one of a kind as well as some of the best crafted acoustics back then." Johnny explains to the group. "One of the cited theories for his retirement from the industry is because his manager as well as the record label he had a contract with kept trying to pressure him to stop putting his expenses towards crafting each new acoustic and buy a pre-made one for his next concert tour but he refused, so he retired from playing music as soon as his contract expired with the label."
He held up the black guitar in his hands. "This? This is the holy grail of his acoustics because when he sold off his own collection of them to a music hall museum for an undisclosed amount, this was one of the few that wasn't among the lot sold to the museum and the only stage-used guitar of his' whose whereabouts is unaccounted for. With what we saw in his Palace, we know what happened to the original."
"How much would one of his custom guitars be worth?" Akira asks.
"That depends on which guitar you're talking about. The few that were ever sold at auctions, they would range from about seven million up to thirteen million mobiums but that's because of the bidders being die-hard fans of the musician." Johnny taps his chin in thought. "This guitar's value is estimated to be about in the fifteen to nineteen mark. It's the guitar he had used the most during the peak of his career and the guitar that shows up the most often in the merchandising. Said merchandising as another cited theory he had retired because of a legal exploit in his contract the label used against his wishes."
"Wow... What a history lesson." Akira whistled at all that. "Although, how did Anton even get ahold of the original in the first place if it's that rare?"
"Yeah, good question." Manic added in agreement. "He wasn't earning millions yet when that guitar got destroyed and stealing it from a rockstar probably would have landed him in serious legal trouble."
"I think I know how. Sharp S. Chicken once told a story in a magazine interview when they asked about the fate of this guitar in him meeting this fan backstage during his South Island Tour and how impoverished he looked." Johnny recounted. "How he got bullied often for being poor and told he'll amount to nothing in life. He was so moved by the fan's story that he gave him his prized black acoustic guitar and encouraged said fan to go prove all those people wrong."
The rabbit then remembers something; "In fact, the next recorded song he made after the tour and often considered one of his most popular songs of all time which you may have heard of once at some point is even about that troubled fan. The name of that song? Number One Kid."
"So then..." Manic said, thinking about it; "The 'Number One Kid'... That was Anton, wasn't it?"
"...I think I now get what this Treasure is to him. It isn't the guitar itself that matters to him." Akira spoke up after thinking the subject over in his head with the new information and Doctor adding his own views on the matter, the others looking at him. "It's what it represents to him. For all his life, he's been told he'd amount to nothing with his mother making the loudest points and the guitar belongs to someone who made it in life. When Sonic made him destroy his own guitar, he may have indirectly told him he'll live and die as a nobody without realising it..."
Looking over to the guitar in Johnny's hands. "He hated Sonic for overshadowing him and viewing him as the embodiment of all his doubters by being the cause of his guitar's destruction. When he came into this city, he really was a nobody and he resented that fact greatly. Whenever the offer came to bring him out of that pit of obscurity, he took it without hesitation if only to prove his mother wrong."
The wolf looked up to his friends. "We all wished to be successful and to be remembered rather than forgotten. So did he. What Anton Veruca represents however is the dark side of that desire to be remembered by leaving behind negative memories for all those he had terrorised. Bad experiences get remembered more than good ones and history is full of such examples."
Manic nodded in agreement, thoughtful of the revelation. "...I know how this might sound but that guitar could sell for a lot, don't you think? I mean technically it's a priceless antique, right?"
"The original doesn't exist anymore but it seems like even that fact has been forgotten by everyone alongside Anton's reign of terror on South Island and we're probably the only ones to know of it's destruction. What we have now is a uncanny replica of it and one that technically never exist before until now." Johnny pointed out. "A perfect replica of the original I might add and we could earn a profit for it despite it being a copy. If it manages to pass the inspections, we're looking at a really good payout. I think you and Little John should get this one pawned off."
"That is unless you wanna keep it." Akira said to Manic. "A reminder to yourself."
"I think it would be better for me personally if Little John and I sold it. Maybe then we could use the cash to buy ourselves a new place."
"Then we'll leave the task over to you." Akira said as Johnny hands over the custom acoustic guitar over to Manic. "Be sure you sell it to a passionate fan rather than a speculator."
"Why his fans?"
"Because they're the ones who'll pay the most for it as they have an emotional attachment to it. Speculators wouldn't be as willing to buy it as they are when they don't have any personal feelings towards it beyond it being a financial investment and would probably hoard it. I would personally never buy a guitar for that much unless it means something to me."
Manic nodded, seeing his point. "I figure Little John and I could find a buyer for it once he's out of the hospital. Until then, I'll keep it in the rented storage locker that we own at this storage facility on Phix Street."
"Make sure no one sees it." Johnny hands him an empty duffel bag as Manic covers it up, turning to Akira. "Where shall we meet up later?"
"My place. We'll bring the girls over. Geno City might still be dangerous to roam around in with Anton's gang on the prowl."
"Right. We'll see you both later then." The jacket-wearing grey rabbit then discreetly heads off with Cortez, quickly leaving the alleyway.
Manic went with Akira, slinging the duffel bag with the guitar on his back as they left the scene. "We'll stash this in storage first. After that, we'll meet with the girls."
"We're also going to check in at the watch-shop over in 48th Street on the way over, see how the repair work on the old watch is going so far." Akira told him. "You did the right thing at the Palace. You proved him wrong in you both being alike."
"To be honest, it'd kinda leave a bad taste in my mouth if I wasted him there. He may be a piece of shit but he doesn't deserve that."
"And I doubt your father would have wanted that on your conscious either."
"He was an honorable man. He instilled that sentiment in me at an early age."
"Anton never had someone like that in his life growing up. That's why you'll never be anything like him, even when you were at your worst." Akira said, hands in his pockets. "What he is to you though is how not to handle your hardships and being a living cautionary tale. Assuming his gang would even chose to stick around for him, they'll might as well just abandon him for someone holding bigger cash cheques and to save their own skins. They proved their level of loyalty before with you."
"Well, those that left me, stayed with Anton and chose to willing partake in his crimes can pretty much stay with him as long as they want because I don't want those scumbags back in my crew. As for whoever left Anton's gang after this and still have a moral conscious; well, I'll more than happily welcome them back."
"You mention having a friend that was a bit like me. Don't think I ever encountered him at the hideout."
"Yeah... He uh... He got out... He didn't leave to join Anton's gang but rather, he went straight and got into game design. He always wanted to make video games like the ones we played back at the first hideout, so he saved up as much dough as he could and then went off to some tech school over in Soleanna. I haven't gotten letters from him but I have seen his work online." Manic smiled, looking down. "He made probably one of the best-selling indie gaming franchises to date called 'Code Fantasy'. There's been five games in the series and there's a new one coming out in the fall."
"Last time you mentioned him, you made it sound like a major betrayal."
"Yeah, well... To be honest... Him and I kinda left on a bad note... In fact, I kinda pushed him away when he said he wanted out when I got out of juvie since he felt that things weren't the same anymore and we exchanged some real harsh words to each other when we got into a bad argument. Called him an unfaithful buster like those traitors in the heat of the moment." Manic frowns. "I probably shouldnt've done that... But then again if I hadn't, a bunch-a best-selling award-winning indie games might not have been made and ones that I admittedly played to support him. I might have also indirectly saved his life from Anton by alienating him."
"And you did the same with some of the others."
"Yeah... But I shouldn't dwell on the past too much. Right now, I gotta rebuild my gang's future."
"As you should. What about the other things he mentioned at the Palace?"
"Well, I'd rather not dwell on them right now... I'd rather be focusing on the future at the moment..." Manic sighs, knowing he'll be thinking it all over later on. "We should check on the girls. Make sure they're okay."
"They're not hanging around with Anton anymore, that's for sure..."
To Be Continued...