Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

THE PLAYSTATION MULTIVERSE.

A multiverse filled with fantastic worlds, worlds of peace, of war, of gods and monsters, worlds where fantastic beings live, from simple humans to gods, coexisting in good and evil.

Even they are all connected, none of them truly know of the existence of the other worlds, at least most of them, since they have had very little contact with each other.

But, unknown by most, a dimensional event occurred long ago that caused a handful of people to be trapped in an unknown world, forced to fight each other.

The one responsible was an evil being consumed by vengeance, hatred, envy, and abandonment: Polygon Man.

Polygon Man was created by the High Command, a group of divine beings of whom only he was aware, who created the multiverse. He was created to be a symbol, the symbol of the multiverse, an honor he was ready to accept, but apparently, he last short, causing his very short legacy to be cut short, leaving him sidelined, abandoned.

During his time in his forgotten world, he saw how more people from other worlds took what he believed he deserved by right, some even daring to betray them, and yet, despite everything, they were still loved by the High Command. That was the final straw.

Enraged by this lack of respect, he, using all his power, kidnapped most of the 'Icons' from other worlds and trapped them in his world, leaving them to kill each other and eliminate the remaining ones.

But don't get the wrong idea, he didn't do it to conquer the multiverse or kill his creators. In truth, despite everything, he revered them and only wanted to show them that he was worthy of being the symbol of his world, he deserved to be the champion of the gods, he deserved to be the most important.

Well, we can say that his plan didn't go well. Because of his pride and resentment, he underestimated them, and once the kidnapped people understood the plan, they united to defeat him, trapping him once again in the unknown world. Despite this humiliating defeat, he was far from giving up, formulating his next grand plan of revenge, becoming stronger than ever.

What the Resentful Being doesn't know is that his plans were about to change radically.

IN THE FORGOTTEN DIMENSION.

In a universe of polygons, where everything was meaningless and all that remained was a harsh loneliness that would have driven anyone mad.

"Damn it... What could my next grand plan be?"

In the middle of nowhere, a being of purple polygons with the appearance of a giant head was lamenting, since nothing was working out for his plan of revenge.

"I can't kidnap them again, they won't fall for that trap again. An invasion? Not bad, but nah, I don't have enough strength for something like that, especially with my lackeys who depend on it too much. Reshape the Multiverse in my image?...No, they've already taken that—FUCK!" The being screamed furiously and, in a burst of rage, launched an attack that flew some distance, where it caused an explosion as large as the Milky Way.

"UNBELIEVABLE! I have the power to destroy universes and I can't even use it! Why does life spit in my face!?" He screamed in despair, which turned into anger in seconds. "I could have been the greatest! BUT NO! I was replaced by a blonde bitch! And then by other damn dogs who weren't even worthy of their title!" He screamed furiously, until he finally calmed down.

"No... Getting angry is becoming pointless. I have to plan my strategy." He said this and just started looking around. This is what he has: an empty world. Yes, he's a damned god here, but he would throw it all away if it meant finally being loved by his creators.

"Oh mighty High Command, Creators of the Multiverse, it is I, the Renegade. Please hear me, please, I beg you to give me one more chance. I don't know if you were upset about that battle royale issue, or disappointed by how it ended. So I ask you, give me one last chance. I will proved to you that I deserve to be your champion, I deserve it! I was born for this!" He shouted into the void, receiving only a deathly silence. "I KNOW YOU'RE HEARING ME! SAY SOMETHING!.....Please....."

Suddenly, he began to notice cracks opening, where a portal opened.

Polygon Man was surprised by this event; nothing like this had ever happened before. "Kutaragi?"

From the portal, he saw a colossal space ship emerge, resembling a battleship. This left him confused, even more so when he saw more portals open, from which more ships emerged.

"(What... What does this mean? A test from the High Command?... No... It seems I have invaders in my Kingdom... I knew some of those bastards would come here to finish the job... I won't let them.)"

With surprise turning to rage, Polygon Man simply approached the invading battalion.

"ALT! Who dares to enter my Kingdom? Unidentifi-"

Immediately, the battleships began firing at the Being, who only began to retreat from the impacts.

"Hey! HOW DARE YOU!?" He shouted, furious and surprised by this repeated attack, which only angered him further. "Stop!... I said STOP!" He let out a shout that created a shockwave, sweeping away the entire battalion in seconds.

"By High Command, they were quite a nuisance," he said, and before he could understand what was happening, more battleships appeared in greater numbers.

"Oh... Those bastards aren't finished yet... Finally, I can vent." He said with a smile as he conjured up purple hands.

The warships began firing at Polygon Man, who simply stopped all the attacks with his powers and redirected them back at the ships, destroying most of them.

Extending his hands, he began to grab the remaining ships, crushing them effortlessly. As more ships appeared, Polygon Man began firing laser beams from his eyes, exploding every ship they hit.

"Ha ha ha! This is fun!" he shouted and, out of spite, began generating identical warships made of polygons that started crushing all the enemy ships.

Unbeknownst to Polygon Man, all of this was part of the invaders' plan.

From a portal, a ship emerged some distance from the divine being's view, with an enormous cannon that began to point at the polygonal being, who didn't notice it due to the euphoria of the massacre. The cannon began to charge.

"HA! Is that all you know how to do?!"

An immense pain immediately paralyzed him. In his agony, he watched as his creations began to fade, while his kingdom, the only thing he had left, began to crumble.

I HAVE TO ADMIT YOU'RE STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, POLYGON MAN, BUT IT SEEMS YOUR PRIDE IS STILL YOUR GREATEST FLOW.

"Who...Are...YOU?"

"ME? I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU. I CAN ONLY TELL YOU THAT YOUR PATHETIC CAMPAIGN OF REVENGE ENDS TODAY."

"END?...OVER MY BODY..."

HOW IRONIC. YOU'RE GOING TO DIE NOW. AND WITH YOUR 'KINGDOM' IN MY HANDS, THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE WILL BE DESTROYED.

"DESTROYED?!"

BYE.

The ships began firing at Polygon Man, who this time was taking the brunt of every blow.

"No... I can't end up like this, I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!" he shouted, trying to respond.

Suddenly, a portal opened behind Polygon, swallowing him whole.

IN THE IMAGINSPHERE.

A very colorful universe, where the imagination and positive thoughts of people become reality.

The universe is full of many worlds, especially one: the Artisan World, a peaceful and paradisiacal place, homeland of the Sackpeoples, one of the most peaceful and caring races in the entire multiverse.

In a town called Loom, lived this fantastic race, especially one of them.

Sackboy, the hero of imagination.

A simple brown doll, possessing within him an enormous power: the power of imagination. He used it to save his world from the clutches of Vex, a horrible agent of chaos who wanted to consume it. Thanks to a kind lady named Scarlet, the little Scakling was able to save the world, becoming a knitted knight.

Near the village, Sackboy was exploring the area, searching for a birthday present for his dear mentor, Scarlet.

During his search, he found a pretty flower. The little boy thought it would be the perfect gift for her, so he went to pick it.

Just as he was about to pick it, he noticed a shadow begin to form around him, and when he looked up, he saw something falling toward him.

Frightened, the doll ran for safety. Luckily, he managed to get out of the way just before the object fell, though he couldn't save the flower.

A little dazed, the Doll simply stood up again and, noticing the newly formed crater, decided to investigate its source.

Once close, Sackboy peered in, noticing a purple blob that gave him a strange and chilling sense of déjà vu. Believing it to be a survived creation of Vex, he prepared to approach the blob even closer, until he noticed it rising.

"Cough...cough...What just happened?"

Sackboy froze, only now recognizing the stranger, as a flood of memories began to wash over him. It was the same diabolical being who had trapped him long ago with strange creatures. That experience had been both bizarre and horrifying, as he had never enjoyed fighting, though he had enjoyed spending that time with that strange, pale-skinned girl.

Polygon Man simply stood up, beginning to look around, noticing that he was in a place far more alive than his own kingdom.

"Where am I?.....This isn't my-" He stopped when he noticed Sackboy, who was just staring at him. He did the same, and they stared at each other for a while.

"YOU!" Polygon Man yelled furiously, seeing not only one of those bastards who had humiliated him, but the very one who had delivered the final blow.

Sackboy was startled and dodged a polygonal fist that had tried to crush him.

"I killed you!" he shouted and prepared to attack, noticing his hand had vanished.

Seeing his attacker confused, Sackboy summoned a cannon and fired, forcing him back.

That attack terrified Polygon Man; such a pathetic attack shouldn't even tickle him.

Sackboy started firing at him, hoping to defeat him.

"That's enough!" Poligon screamed and began charging laser beams, which suddenly shut off, further confusing Polygon Man.

Sackboy simply generated a hammer and leaped toward him, striking him squarely and stunning him.

Polygon Man, already exhausted from the earlier fight, simply collapsed to the ground.

"Ugh... ugh... Is this the best you got?"

Sackboy just stood there staring at him, unsure what to do.

"Stop! There's no need to fight!"

A voice confused them both, until a portal opened, from which emerged a kind of tiny, white, flying robot.

The other two were bewildered by what they had just witnessed.

"The multiverse is in danger, and we need all the help we can get," said the stranger.

"And... you... Who are you?" asked Poligon Man.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Astro Bot, Astro for friends. An assistant to the High Command, at your service."

While Sackboy remained confused, Polygon Man just remained silent.

"You... Do you know the High Command?"

"Yes, they created me to help the 'Consumer.' And now I'll help them to save the multiverse."

Sackboy simply pulled out a scroll with a question mark drawn on it.

"The multiverse is in danger; someone wants its destruction."

"Wait... Does that attack I received have anything to do with all this?" the polygonal being asked, getting to his no-existent feets.

"Yes, an unknown force is planning an over-the-top attack on the entire multiverse." Astro said. "Whoever is behind this, doesn't yet have the strength for something like this, but now, with your power, they're are one step closer to completing their plan."

Sensing this, Polygon Man remained motionless.

"No... It's not possible..." he told himself, until he noticed that he didn't have his original power, but was even weaker.

"Yes, whoever is behind all this stole your power. Since it won't be easy for them to control your power, we still have time to call the others."

The other two were confused by the last part.

"The others?"

"Yes, Polygon Man. With the power the High Command gave me, i will give you the mission of forming the group to save the multiverse with the same people you have fought against." Astro said. "Do you accept?"

Polygon Man remained speechless. Had the High Command finally decided to give him a chance? He shouldn't let him get away with it, even though the idea of ​​working with those bastards disgusted him. He had no other-

"Wait! What do you mean I have to ally myself with these bastards?!" He scream.

"You don't have many options. The only reason we've given you this mission is because of your experience with dimensional travel. Don't worry, it hasn't changed so much during all your time in exile. Besides, your knowledge of your stolen power could be very useful."

Polygon Man grunted. He didn't want to work with those guys, but an order was an order.

Astro just looked at the doll. "And you? Can you help us with our problem?"

Sackboy just stared at the robot. Everything he'd just felt seemed overwhelming, but he immediately nodded. If all the worlds—his and those of his other "colleagues"—were in danger, he had to do something. So he just nod.

"I'm glad you've agreed to put your differences aside for the common good."

"I never said I was going to let go of my grudge." Polygon man said, looking at Sackboy. "When will we be done with all this... You'll be the first to feel my wrath."

Sackboy just backed away.

"Now, now, hold back your thirst for revenge for now... Do you still have the power of interdimensional travel, or have you lost it?" Astro asked.

"Hmm... I haven't used it in a long time, but..." Polygon man said, and, concentrating all his strength, opened a portal.

Before they could say anything else, someone stepped out of the portal. It was a blond human dressed like a warrior with a huge sword on his back.

"My head..." The blond man groaned as he opened his eyes, finding the trio in front of him.

"Hmm... Hi?"

The blond man was startled and vanished his sword.

"Who are you? Where am I?" he asked, taking in his surroundings. this was too 'alive' for be Midgar.

"Don't worry, Soldier Cloud, we don't mean to hurt you," the robot assured him.

"Is that Cloud? I remember him differently..." said Polygon Man.

"How do you know my name?"

"Well... I am your god! With a divine mission for you," said Polygon Man, earning glares from Astro and Sackboy. "What? I wanted to see how it felt."

The boy just stood there, not understanding what he was seeing.

"Forgive him, he's a bit self-centered. Soldier Cloud, you were chosen to save the multiverse from a powerful threat that wants to destroy it. Someone like you could really help us," said Astro.

Cloud just stared at the robot. What on midgar had he gotten himself into? Just seconds before, he'd been falling from a great height, and now he was in an unknown world, about to fight in other, different worlds. He had a strange sense of déjà vu. He didn't know if he should accept, but a part of him said he had to. If this threat truly wanted to destroy his world, he wasn't going to let them.

"(I'm going to regret this.) I don't know if I should believe them, but if my world is in danger, I'll accept."

"Good! We have another warrior in our ranks. Things are going well now." Said Astro happy.

Sackboy simply approached Cloud and greeted him, who reluctantly exchanged.

Suddenly, the robot's visor turned red.

"Oh no, I've received an alert. An enemy battalion is heading toward another universe. You have to leave right now." He said, and charging a sphere, fired a beam that opened a portal.

"You must hurry before they arrive." He said, and opening another portal, he left through that last one.

"Hey, wait—Damn it." Polygon Man growled as he glared at the others. "Okay, listen up, I hate you guys and you hate me."

"I don't even know you," Cloud muttered.

"I don't give a damn. We have a mission that's way too important, and since every fiber of my being wants to commit seppuku just thinking about it, we have to work together..." He said, clearly trying not to throw up. "Okay! We've wasted too much time. Let's go!" He shouted, and, summoning two hands, threw them both toward the portal. "This is going to be quite an odyssey..." He said and stepped into the portal.

ON PLANET SARGASSO.

On a planet in another universe, there was a desolate area, resembling a prehistoric era, filled with dinosaur-like creatures. In a ahother desolate area, a group was having a picnic.

"So this is Sargasso from your dimension? It doesn't look that different, except that there are those Kerchum and not the Morts," said a gray-haired Lombax girl, sipping lemonade.

"If so, I'd like to meet those Morts. I hope I'm not allergic," said another male Lombax with yellow and brown fur.

"The chances of you being allergic to them are 50%, Ratchet," said a small gray robot next to Ratchet.

"I hope so. I think you guys could learn a lot," said another yellow robot.

"Yeah, Kit, maybe he'll learn how to make lemonade." The Lombax girl laughed.

"Well, since I tried it, it wouldn't be so bad to learn, Rivet," said the robot.

"Clank, how can you taste organic food?"

"I have my secrets."

Rivet finished his lemonade. "Getting back to the topic, will we really be able to see the other Lombaxes?"

Ratchet nearly choked on his lemonade. "Well, after everything we've been through, it might be best to wait a little longer, until we can be sure that...nothing bad happen..."

"Ratchet's right, the battle with the Emperor ruined it. I could use a few more cycles to fix it, and also add some defensive devices to save us from another Emperor Nefarious." Said Clank.

"Or a Emperor Quark." Ratchet shudder to think of it.

Rivet was about to say something when portals opened, startling the four of them.

"Portals? But I thought we fixed them," Ratchet said, grabbing his Omniwrench.

"I don't know, but I don't seem to recognize them," Rivet said, summoning a burst-gun in his hands.

The two robots simply moved behind them.

From the portals emerged war robots and strangely dressed individuals wearing masks. They looked horrifying, almost glitched, but were lock N load.

"Um... Hi?"

The strangers opened fire on them, and they narrowly escaped, taking refuge behind a rock.

"Who are those guys?!" Rivet shouted, returning fire. "Someone who wants you dead?!"

"Well, there are Nefarious, Blargs, Kechums, some Space Pirates, Thug-4-less if they're paid to do it, Captain Quark sometimes, that crazy Quark fanatic... I could go on for 2 hours and 23 minutes." Clank said.

"Is there a day that goes by without someone trying to kill us?" Ratchet lamented, and, drawing a grenade, he throw it at the group, eliminating many of them.

"Whoa! Give me five!" Rivet said, and the two high-fived, until a grenade landed behind them.

"Oh dear."

The four of them left cover, just in time to escape the blast.

Ratchet and Clank, affected by the explosion, simply collapsed to the ground, right in front of a robot that pointed a gun at them.

"This is going to hurt."

Suddenly, the robot was crushed by an anvil, confusing the two, until they saw a doll on top the anvil that waved at them.

"Sackboy?" Clank asked, recognizing the doll.

Rivet was fighting a group of enemies, with Kit on her back.

"Come on! Is that all you can do?!" She sneered and began tearing through the enemies with a Punisher, not noticing a robot behind her.

"Rivet! Behind—" Kit couldn't finish before the robot was ripped in half.

Rivet immediately saw someone jump behind them and, with a swift movement, sliced ​​the remaining enemies in two.

"Be more careful, Cait," said a blond young man of a race Rivet hadn't seen before, though he reminiscent the Quark and Quantum's race. "Hey, who are you—"

Cloud charged toward the other enemies, who only fired at him. Luckily, Cloud was very fast and, with another clean strike, killed the last remaining enemies.

Ratchet and Clank just got up as Sackboy approached them.

"Oh, Sackboy, I didn't expect to see you—" Ratchet stopped when he saw someone else approaching them.

"Furball, robot," Polygon Man said in a hateful tone. Ratchet and Clank just got ready to fight, until Sackboy stepped between them.

"What's he doing here? What HE's doing here?" Ratchet asked, very confused, until Sackboy showed him a drawing of himself and Polygon Man holding hands. Then he pulled out another one depicting some kind of enemies attacking a planet.

"What?"

"Apparently, a multiversal threat is endangering not only our universe, but the entire multiverse. So, it seems Polygon Man decided to create an alliance to stop it," Clank said.

"The robot is right. As much as I hate you all, whoever is behind all this wants to destroy the multiverse, and I can't let them do it. So, I've decided to form a group of the best warriors in the multiverse to stop them. Unfortunately for me, you guys fall into that category," Polygon Man said hatefully.

"Wait, multiverses?" Kit and Rivet asked as they approached them, along with Cloud.

"Damn, there are two more of them," Polygon Man lamented. "Is the area clear?" he asked Cloud.

"I managed to eliminate them all."

"Like so? I was told they were a batal-"

Suddenly, a massive warship appeared in the sky. Everyone was speechless at what they had just seen.

"A flying ship?" Said Cloud.

"That's the biggest ship I've ever seen," Kit said.

"In comparison, the Emperor's ships are like bus-ships," Rivet said.

Polygon Man was just annoyed. He was just like those ships that had attacked him. He wanted retribution, but he knew he didn't have the strength to do it.

"We have to go. We can't fight that in these conditions."

"Wait, we can't leave the planet defenseless," Ratchet said.

"Is it inhabited?"

"Not by intelligent beings, but..."

"I don't care. We have to gather the other bums as soon as possible." Polygon said, and, taking a step back, used all his strength to open another portal. "If you want to help us, come. If not, gtfo."

Ratchet and Clank just looked at each other. Just when they had gotten out of one dimensional adventure, they were about to enter a new one. Well, when duty calls, they have to go.

"Rivet, Kit, are you coming with us? A few extra hands would be useful," Ratchet asked.

"And you ask? I've never backed down from an adventure." Said Rivet. "What about you, Kit?"

"Me?.....Right, if the other universes are really in danger, we have to do something." Respond Kit.

Suddenly, an explosion was felt in the distance, startling everyone.

"That ship is attacking us!" Cloud shouted as the ship began an orbital bombardment.

"Get in the portal now!" Polygon Man yelled, and everyone entered the portal, ready to continue their adventure.

OH OH, I SEE EVERYTHING IS GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN, EXCELLENT.

Chapter Text

IN MIDGARD.

In a remote area of ​​an unknown world, shrouded in an eternal winter that was slowly killing all life, stood a house in the middle of nowhere. Some people were sleeping there when a noise startled them awake.

"Father! What's going on?!" a young boy asked his father, a muscular man with ashen skin and a red tattoo.

"Take the bow," the old man said, grabbing his weapon, a magical axe.

Ready, the two headed toward the doors, prepared to fight the intruder.

"Damn! This's worse than those dimensional travels!" a female voice shouted outside.

"Believe me, he could be worse, Remix," said another voice, one that the old men sound familiar.

Once the two opened the door, they were met with a strange scene: a group of strangers, but nothing like what they were used to seeing. Only one was a human with unusual hair; the others were a pair of humanoid felines with metal protrusions on their backs; one was a kind of doll; and the last, which took them by surprise, was a huge, floating purple head with an appearance they didn't understand—except for the old man, who recognized it immediately.

"Okay, where have we—" He couldn't even finish before Polygon Man was struck in the head with an axe, knocking him to the ground.

The others were surprised by this, even more so when a man tackled Polygonn Man with extreme violence.

"I knew you'll come back," the man growled as he mercilessly beat down Polygon Man.

"Get off me, Baldy of Sparta!" Polygon Man howled, and before Kratos could continue, someone grabbed his arm.

"Kratos! Calm down! He's an ally now!" Ratchet shouted as he used all his strength to stop the Spartan's fist.

"Ratchet?" the man asked, surprised to see an old ally from that strange adventure. He also noticed Sackboy, who, after witnessing his powers, seemed to respect and even fear him.

"What's going on?" the Spartan asked again, confused.

"If you let me, I might be able to explain," Polygon Man murmured, receiving Kratos's glare. Kratos hated him for kidnapping him and trying to kill him, yet despite everything, he had decided to let him.

"Explain yourself." He orders as leave him, like Ratchet at this arm.

"Well, we can say that the entire multiverse is in danger. A dark force, which isn't me this time, wants to destroy it, so I need you bastards to save it and thus conquer—I mean, to bring peace to the universe." Polygon Man answered.

Kratos was perplexed, unsure if what he'd just said was true or not. However, noticing his former allies, he saw nothing strange about them; they didn't seem to be controlled or anything like that.

"Is he telling the truth?" he asked at Ratchet.

"Yes, we too were attacked by an unknown enemy, even worse than Polygon Man's henchmen from a while back. Even Sackboy can confirm that," Ratchet replied, and Sackboy simply nodded.

Kratos just gave a stoic look as he began to observe the new faces, who were silent.

"New warriors, I see," he remarked.

"Yes, these two ladies are Rivet and Kit, versions of us from another dimension, and the boy's name is Cloud, a soldier, a powered-up warrior," Clank said as Rivet greeted Kratos some nervous.

Kratos remained silent as he looked at the three, who were beginning to feel uneasy, especially Cloud, who could sense a warrior's aura from him that he had never felt before.

"Father, what's going on?" the young man asked, confused by what he was seeing.

"Oh, who is the boy?" Ratchet asked.

"It's Atreus, my son," Kratos replied, surprising those who knew him.

"Brother! What's happening outside?" a voice asked from inside the house. Kratos simply looked at his son, who, understanding the message, went back inside and, in seconds, came out carrying a horned man's head.

"Good heavens! Is that a living head?" Kit exclaimed in disgust, as did the others.

"Not just a head, I am Mimir! The wisest man in the Nine Realms, at your service, Quine." The head introduced itself. "Brother, are they the people who were with you on that strange trip you took that you don't like to talk about?"

"I don't blame him, we'd rather not talk about it either," Ratcher said, with Clank and Sackboy nodding in agreement.

Before they could say more, portals suddenly opened.

"Oh no, they found us!" Polygon Man shouted, as the others prepared to fight, including Kratos and Atreus.

From the portals emerged the soldiers from before, along with some kind of robotic knights and some rather enormous soldiers.

"Oh, that's new," Mimir remarked as Atreus put him on safety.

The enemies began firing at them, and Ratchet, summoning a Void repulser, created a shield that protected his companions. Rivet began returning fire with a Lightning rod alongside Atreus and his bow, and Sackboy used a cannon he summoned.

Kratos and Cloud fought the big ones, destroying them without mercy.

Cloud watched as the Spartan effortlessly destroyed those heavy enemies, even seeing him throw one and disembowel others without breaking a sweat—something he only witnessed with…HIM.

Suddenly, Kratos's axe whizzed past him, and turning around, he saw it strike a heavy enemy behind him, and immediately it returned to its owner's hands.

Polygon Man was trying to eliminate the enemies, though his powers weren't at their maximum and he was having trouble activating them.

"Work, damn it." Polygon Man tried to summon some weapons, but it was useless, and he was met with enemy projectiles.

Seeing him in trouble, Sackboy summoned a shield and defended him.

"I don't need your mercy!" Polygon Man shouted angrily.

"Watch out, kid, you need to stay behind me." Rivet said as she fired at the soldiers. Atreus only fired one arrow, which ricocheted and killed five soldiers in a single hit.

"Not bad..." Kit said.

The battle continued for a while, with the heroes gaining ground as the invaders began to retreat, until more portals opened, from which ninja-like robots with swords emerged.

Kratos and Cloud took up the defensive position and blocked some of the attacks, while the others engaged the rest.

Rivet began aiming at them and fired, surprised when the ninjas started deflecting the bullets with their swords.

"Ninja robots... Go figure," Ratchet said, and, switching his weapon for a Ricochet, fired at one of the ninjas. The ninja managed to stop the bullet, but was taken by surprise when it returned and destroyed his head.

Atreus tried to eliminate the ninjas from afar, but he couldn't in time. Once they were close, they tried to cut him down, but he easily dodged.

Cloud, seeing the young man in trouble, went toward the ninjas and destroyed them with a vertical slash.

Polygon Man, wounded in his pride at being unable to do anything, tried to use his power.

"Come on, damn it... Come on!" He began to use everything he had and, without realizing it, opened some portals, from which a cyborg with gray hair and a katana emerged.

"Where am I?!" He shouted in confusion, until he stopped a ninja's surprise attack. "I don't know who you are, but you're going to regret this."

He didn't wait for a response, and with a clean cut, he sliced ​​the ninja to bits.

"Hmm, looks like there are more of them, I see." He said, taking in the battle, and noticed some familiar faces, especially one.

"You..." He growled at the sight of Polygon Man, believing him responsible, and, with his katana, prepared to attack, until his blade met another's.

"I see you're different from the others," Cloud remarked.

"I say the same, but it doesn't matter. If you're a lackey of that bastard, you're going to die anyway," the cyborg said, and the two began to fight.

Cloud attacked with a series of rapid strikes, which Raiden easily blocked and tried to attack him from the side, which the young man parried with speed.

"You're strong, I see, but you're nowhere near my level." Raiden started moving heavier, which began to cause Cloud problems.

"Ratchet, Cloud's having trouble with a... Isn't that Raiden?" Clank said, making Ratchet turn around and see another familiar face, though a punch to the face sent him sprawling. Dazed, Ratchet tried to get up, giving the ninja the chance to eliminate him, but before he could, someone behind him tripped him and finished him off with a clean blow.

"Hey Ratchet, it's been a while." A voice said, and looking toward the source, Ratchet saw a humanoid being resembling a gray raccoon wearing a blue thief's outfit and carrying a cane.

"Sly Cooper, glad to see you and that you saved me." The Lombax said, getting to his feet.

"Hello Mr. Cooper, how's Bentley?" Clank asked.

"I don't know, the last thing I remember is falling into a time portal and now I'm here... Is that Polygon Man?" Sly asked.

"It's a long story..."

The battle between Cloud and Raiden was going in Raiden's favor, and although he put up a fight, Cloud couldn't defeat the cyborg.

"Die!" the cyborg shouted and prepared to finish him off, until a hand on his neck stopped him.

"Enough, Raiden, he and Polygon Man are allies," Kratos said coldly.

"The Spartan, I've always held you in high regard," Raiden greeted him, and Kratos, unfazed, simply let him go.

"What's going on? Are we finished yet?" Polygon Man asked, noticing that all the enemies were dead, but then he noticed the two newcomers.

"Oh, Sly Cooper and Raiden, I see you arrived here through some portals i opened by mistake."

"Hey Poligon, I see you managed to escape your prison," Sly greeted. "Ratchet told me all about it. So, are we in some kind of multiversal war?"

"A multiversal war? Don't tell me I'll have to fight in another war," Raiden lamented.

"I'm telling you, I'm not exactly thrilled about this either, but an enemy force wants to destroy the multiverse, so we're all in danger, and with no other options, we have to assemble a group of... Heroess to save it," Poligon Man explained.

"So, we're going to reunite the old crew? And I see some new faces..." Sly glanced at those he didn't recognize. "And I see a pretty one here too," he said, winking at Rivet, making her blush slightly.

"Hey!" Ratchet shouted.

"That's it!" Poligon Man howled. "Are you going to help us or what?!" he demanded of the two.

"Well, if it's true that our worlds are in danger, I'll join you." Raiden agreed.

"From time travel to universal travel, I can say I have a pretty lively life. Fine, I'll join this odyssey," Sly said.

"And you, Kratos?" Poligon asked Kratos, who, as much as he didn't want to be involved in this, knew he had to do it to save his son.

"I'll go." He turned to Atreus. "Atreus, get ready, we're going on a long journey." He told his son, who just nodded, excited inside to visit unknown places.

"Brother! I hope you won't leave me here alone." Mimir called from his hiding place, where Atreus pulled him out, surprising the newcomers a little.

"Please, I'd never forgive myself for not going on an adventure like this." He pleaded, and, sighing, Kratos took him and put him around his waist. "Thank you, brother."

"Okay, if we're finished, we can go. We still have a lot to do." Polygon Man, concentrating his energy, created another portal, through which they all entered.

Unbeknownst to them, they had been spied on the whole time

"Interesting, all very interesting," murmured an old man with an eyepatch.

"Father, what do we have to do?" asked a very robust man, who couldn't believe what he had just seen.

"We have to discover more about this 'Multiverse.' It could be very useful to me," the old man mentioned.

"And the Spartan?"

"He became a lesser evil. If that threat wants to destroy our world, we can't let him do it, although i could learn a lot about it." The old man was excited by the possibility of obtaining wisdom he didn't know existed.

"And how can we obtain it?" the other asked.

Immediately, a warship appeared in the sky, much to the surprise of the two men.

"I see you got your answer... We need to prepare our forces for this invasion. In the meantime... Have fun, and if you can, bring one of them back alive to get something out of them." The Old Man vanished in a storm of ravens while the other, with a weary look, simply summoned his hammer, ready to smash that flying ship.

ON AN ISLAND.

On a land in another universe, on an island in a remote part of the planet, stood a house where a group of people were celebrating something.

"A toast!"

At a table, three people took their things and clinked them together.

"And why a toast?" asked the woman of the three.

"Well, I like making toasts," a man with short hair said with a smile.

"Nate's right, making toasts is really cool," said an elderly man as he smoked a cigar.

"Besides, Sully, it's because of the new boat I bought," Nate said proudly.

"And here we go again..." the woman muttered.

"Oh, come on, Elena, I had to do some serious somersaults to get it. You and Cassie will love it."

"I hope you didn't leave us on land this time to go on an adventure," Elena replied.

"Oh, come on, that was decades ago," Nate said as Sully laughed.

A young blonde girl appeared on the scene.

"Dad, Mom, when are we going to that grotto you mentioned?" the girl asked.

"Soon, honey. We'll finish drinking with Grandpa Sully first, and then we'll go," Nate said, receiving a look from Sully.

Suddenly, they noticed a light outside their house, taking everyone by surprise.

"What's going on?" Cassie asked, startled, as Elena approached her.

Nathan and Sully, terrified by what was happening, went to a wardrobe which, once opened, was full of weapons. Grabbing some, they prepared to defend the house.

"Go to the bunker!" Nathan ordered, and the girls, without a second thought, headed for the panic bunker.

"You have a bunker?" Sully asked.

"When you've angered half the world, it's better to be safe than sorry," Nathan replied.

Outside, the group of heroes emerged from the portal.

"Nice place, feels like I'm in Pokitaru," Ratchet said, admiring the panorama. "What are we doing here?"

"We're here to find someone, I don't know who," Polygon Man answered.

"Didn't you know? Don't tell me you're just wandering around blind," Raiden snapped.

"Hey! It's already a lot that I can create a portal! I want to see you do it."

While the others argued, Sully and Nathan were confused and amazed by what they were seeing.

"Nate, tell me those cigars you bought were good quality," Sully asked, as Nathan's memories of that strange adventure began to return.

"Hey, what are you looking at?"

A voice startled the two, and their carelessness caused Nathan to shoot the roof, surprising everyone else.

"Nathan Drake, how's my favorite rival doing?" asked Sly, who was behind them.

"Is that...a talking raccoon?" asked Sully.

"Sly Cooper...So that wasn't a dream..." Nathan said, puzzled.

"Hey Drake, good to see you," Ratchet greeted as the others approached.

"Could you tell me what's going on?...And what are HE doing here?" Nathan asked, noticing Polygon Man.

"That's a long story."

MINUTES LATER.

Once everything was cleared up, everyone started discussing the matter, with Sully, Elena, and Cassie surprised to see this strange group that seemed to have stepped out of a video game, at least from Cassie and Elena's point of view.

"An invasion? So this purple-headed guy isn't responsible?" Nathan said, still in disbelief.

"He is. Our worlds are in danger. Although I don't trust him, we've seen the enemy force firsthand. Even though they weren't much of a threat, my instinct tells me that was just the beginning." Kratos said, holding a glass bottle of beer nothing bad, he found it more comfortable than drinking from a kylix. "That's why we're forming a group to stop them, so..."

"Wait, I'm not a hero. I'm just an explorer, someone who only looks for treasure... Well, that's what I used to do, since I'm retired now." Drake said. "Besides, I'm just an ordinary human. Yes, I've had some crazy and deadly experiences, though I have to admit I got out of them by sheer luck. And plus, you have other heavy hitters, like Kratos and... Sackboy." He murmured, looking at the doll, which was afraid of him after their first encounter, where he had been massacred by him.

"If I weren't so weakened, I would have already eliminated them myself, but those guys took my powers. Who's to say they won't do the same to the others? So we need someone whose powers they can't take, like someone like you," replied Polygon Man, who, because of his height, was outside.

"I don't know if you just offended me or what..." Drake muttered.

While the adults chatted, Atreus stood to one side with a kind of metal container filled with a very sweet liquid that the woman had given him. He had to admit, it was very good.

"Hey, what's your name?" Cassie asked him, since she also felt so out of place with all this.

Atreus just looked at the girl, a little nervous. It was the first time he had spoken to someone his own age, especially a girl.

"My name is Atreus... Nice to meet you." The boy introduced himself, a little nervous.

"Nice to meet you too. My name is Cassie Drake, Nathan's daughter. So you're from ancient Norway?" the girl asked.

"Ancient Norway?" the boy asked, confused.

"Yes, it's the era when the Vikings lived in Europe in..." She stopped when she saw the boy just staring at her, even more confused.

"Forget it. Do you want to come to my room while they talk?" the girl asked. Atreus, who had wanted to ask his father for permission first, but noticing he was busy, decided not to bother him and simply nodded. So she accompanied her to her room.

"We really need all the help you can get. You could be very useful," Clank said.

"I don't know... I don't want to leave my family alone. Besides, what if they get here? It's not like I can just tell the UN to enlist for this, and even if they do, I don't think they're ready for something like that," Nathan said.

"According to my calculations, the enemies are probably attacking the strongest universes right now. In theory, they won't attack your universe, seeing it as weak or something." Clank said.

"The Metal Dwarf has a point. It's very likely our enemy will want to eliminate the big fishes first, so your world will be safe, for now," Mimir said.

Nathan just thought, "Could you leave me alone for a second?" He asked, and the others, except for Elena and Sully, nodded and went outside.

"Nate, when you mentioned that really weird dream, I thought it was the craziest thing you'd ever told me... Now it's turned into the craziest adventure you've ever had," Sully said seriously. "So, are you going with them?" he asked.

"I don't know... Well, I know our world is in danger, but I can't leave you alone. What if they actually come here?"

"I understand you're worried, but the multiverse is in danger, and even you're just an ordinary human, they want you to come with them to save it. It's not something I could refuse if i was in you shoes, and thanks god i am not." the old man replied.

"And you, Elena?" Nathan asked his wife.

"To be honest? I don't know. Everything I just heard is surreal. It seems impossible, even though I saw it firsthand. Part of me doesn't want you to go on a dangerous adventure, but another part, if they need all the help they can get, it's better if you go with them."

Nathan just remained silent, thinking. He knew this was a difficult decision, and although he didn't want to leave his loved ones alone, deep down he knew he had to help them save the multiverse.

"I've made a decision. I'll go..." Drake said, standing up, surprising them both.

"Honey, are you sure?" Elena asked worriedly, as Drake went to the closet and opened it.

"I know, it seems like suicide, but it's my duty to protect you, Cassie, and Sully, Sam, Chloe, and the others. We might be able to save the day before they get here." He said, grabbing whatever weapons he could bring it.

"Nathan, you're the most fearless and insane man I've ever met." Sully said, getting up, and, face to face, he placed his hand on Nathan's back. "Good luck, son," he simply said, and Nathan just smiled.

MEANWHILE.

In her room, Cassie was showing Atreus a modern marvel, which he, admittedly, found amusing.

"So, do I have to move those things to move that weird orange werewolf?" he asked, struggling with a PS1 controller.

"Yes, and now you just have to—" She couldn't even finish before the door opened.

"Cassie, come out, we have to—" Elena stopped when she noticed Atreus in the room. "Oh, I see you two are already making friends. You'd better go outside now."

OUTSIDE.

Everyone was getting ready to leave, with Nathan waving goodbye to his family.

"Elena, Sully, Cassie, I love you all so much. If I don't come back... Please be strong," he said, hugging his family and trying not to cry.

"Don't say that. You've always come out of situations like this, although this seems more surreal, but I know you'll get out of this alive." Elena said tearfully, while Drake simply took her chin in his hand.

"I promise you, I'll come back, and once the world is saved, we'll go on the best trip you could ever dream of," he replied.

The others watched the scene with varying reactions; some were moved, while others were indifferent.

"Come on, Drake! The longer we wait, the more whoever is behind all this will be one step closer to destroying everything!" Polygon Man shouted.

Drake, leaving his family, simply prepared to approach his old and new companions, until he was stopped by his daughter.

"Dad, before you go, I want to give you this," she said, handing him a pendant with a ring. "This is for you. You always said that having something from your ancestor brought you luck, and since you lost the one you had, I asked Uncle Sam to create a new one for you as a birthday present. I want you to take it."

Drake remained speechless. Although it wasn't ancient, it was identical to the one he had lost in Yemen. Moved, he took it and placed it around his neck.

"Thank you, Cassie. This is the second best thing you've ever done for me. The first was coming into my life." He said, giving his daughter one last hug.

After a while, he left her and rejoined with the group.

"Leaving family is always a very difficult step to take," Kratos said.

"What's the next step?" Nathan asked.

"We still need a couple more. After that, we'll find a base, and from there we can plan counterattacks against the invaders."

"Tell me you didn't think about it in two minutes," Raiden muttered.

"Okay! Let's go!" Polygon Man began to concentrate his powers, and another portal opened. Everyone started to enter it, with Drake glancing at his family one last time, waving as he stepped through, just as the portal closed.

"That kid, he always knows how to surprise you," the old man said as he stubbed out his cigarette. "Now, how do we explain this to Sam?"

"I think Uncle already knows," Cassie said, pointing.

Elena and Sully turned around and saw Sam, along with two women—one of whom they recognized as Chloe—on a boat, speechless at what they had just witnessed.

"Well, this is going to be a hell of a story to tell." Murmured Sally.

Chapter Text

In a universe, on a planet, there was a walled city where its inhabitants lived in peace.

Well, that was before they arrived.

A massive, unknown warship launched a brutal attack on the city, taking its inhabitants, humans with long ears, completely by surprise.

In the streets, chaos reigned. Civilians tried to escape the massacre while the enemies, who had the appearance of humans but twisted, fired upon them.

"OPEN FIRE!"

The city's defensive force, the Freedom League, attempted to stop them, but their efforts were largely ineffective due to the sheer numbers and strength of the invaders.

Among the invading horde, a very large and powerful figure charged toward a group of League members. Unable to stop him, they were overwhelmed by the giant, shattering the defensive line.

The giant enemy just laughed at the sight of the survivors trying to get up, one of them trying to escape by crawling. He decided to end his suffering.

Just as he was about to crush him, a hole in his stomach stopped him, causing him to fall to the ground.

Through the smoke, a flying vehicle emerged, charging toward the enemy force.

The enemy soldiers opened fire on the vehicle, from whose roof a turret emerged and began firing at the enemies, destroying them.

"Eat this, tin men!" yelled a weasel-like creature that was firing wildly at the enemies.

"Daxter! Be careful, you might hurt our allies!" shouted the one at the wheel, a twenty-year-old human with green hair.

The massacre lasted a little longer, until the last enemy soldier fell to the ground.

Although the vehicle was damaged, it forced the two of them to get out.

"Are you alright?" The human approached the surviving members of the League team.

"Thank goodness you arrived, Jak. These guys are worse than the Metal Heads and Darkslayers. We don't know if we can repel them," a guard said.

Jak growled. Who the hell were these guys? Why did they attack them?

"Don't say that! We've fought worse than them, haven't we, Jax?" his companion said beside him.

"Any news from the other sectors?"

"We've lost the civilian and market sectors, and those bastards destroyed the industrial zone."

Jak just growled again, things getting worse. "Regroup in the areas still under our control. I'll try to buy you some time."

"But sir, they could be dangerous."

Daxter smiled. "Don't worry, we can handle a few simple-"

Immediately, more enemies rained down from the sky, this time heavyweights armed to the teeth.

"Mom..."

"Go!" Jak ordered as the soldiers, with all their might, began to retreat.

With his blaster, Jak began fighting the heavynauts, who opened fire on them.

With a few clean blows, he shattered the heads of some heavynauts, while those closest tried to crush them with their weapons, though it was useless against the human's agility.

"Behind! To your left! To your right! In front! Ab-"

"Shut up, you're distracting me-" He couldn't even finish before a heavynaut grabbed Jak by the neck.

"Let him go, iron face!" Daxter tried to free his companion.

As he tried to break free, Jak noticed that behind the horde of enemies, the Heavynauts began to fly, as if something was launching them effortlessly.

A flying axe destroyed the head of the Heavynaut holding him, freeing him.

"Behind!"

Jak looked behind him and saw more Heavynauts, plus a few leaner ones with swords.

A very burly human leaped behind him into the enemy horde, easily tearing it apart.

"I don't know who he is, but I'd give him a kiss," Daxter said, until someone offered Jak their hand.

"Good to see you again, Jak," Ratchet said. It didn't take long for the human and the weasel to recognize the furball.

"Ratchet, I thought I'll never see you again." He replied as he stood up.

"Well, we wanted dp a reunion more... Relaxing." Clank said.

Daxter started scratching his head. "Oh, hello, metal man! If you're upset about the dimensional thing, I—IS THAT MASTER POLYGON?!"

Jak was surprised and, looking closer, saw the being who had kidnapped them fighting against the enemies.

"It's Polygon Man, and no, he's not responsible this time... Do you want the short story or the long one?" Ratchet asked.

"The one that makes more sense?"

"Dimensional war. Behind it all is someone worse than Polygon Man. Apparently, they want to destroy the multiverse, and we're forming a group to stop them."

"This doesn't make any sense..." Jak said.

A Heavynaut tried to attack him, but Sly stopped him.

"Hey Jak, Daxter, I see we've finally reunited, since...you know."

The five of them felt a chill run down their spines at the memory of that 'adventure' they'd shared.

"Some help would be useful!" Drake shouted, fighting off some Assaulters who were giving him trouble with their katanas.

Just as they were about to stab him, Drake was saved by Cloud and Raiden, who easily dispatched them.

"Get out of here, Treasure hunter, we'll take care of these guys." Raiden got ready to fight, as more Assaulters appeared. "Don't let me down, kid, this is getting more fun."

Cloud said nothing.

"Oh, I see some new faces." Daxter said, looking at Cloud and Atreus, and also Rivet and Kit. "Do you know that girl's number?"

"Jak, answer me!" Someone called to him on his radio.

"Ashelin, what's the situation?" Jak answered.

"Horrible! Enemy forces are pushing us toward the palace! We need—" He couldn't finish before the call ended with an explosion.

"Damn it, I have to get to the palace!"

Polygon Man approached them, ignoring Jak and Daxter's hateful glares. "Oh, too bad... But screw it, Doll, furball remix, cannon fodder! Go with Knife-Ears and Weasel for some aid!"

"Am I the cannon fodder?" Nathan asked.

"NOW!"

Abandoning what they were doing, they approached Jak and Daxter.

"Oh, hey babe, are you free?" Daxter flirted with Rivet.

"I'm in the middle of a war, so no." Rivet answered.

"Hey Jak, it's good to see ya." Nathan saluted, and Sackboy just waved.

"Thanks for helping us, we have to get to the palace, hurry!"

The group headed toward the palace.

Polygon Man just grunted, part of him hoping they'd all die there. His attention focused as even more enemies began to arrive.

"Damn, how many of those idiots are still there?" he thought to himself. He knew they came from that warship because of the orbital launches they were coming from.

"We need that ship out of the fight..." He started thinking of a plan, until he saw Sly and an idea came to him.

Oh, Sly..."

AT THE PALACE.

At the palace, all the remaining defense forces were trying to hold their position while civilians were being evacuated to Spargus.

"What's the situation, soldier?!" shouted a man, the league's leader.

"Horrible, Chief Torn! The enemy has us surrounded! Those damn Flythings won't stop bombing us!" Explosions could be heard outside the palace.

"Torn! We need help evacuating the civilians!" shouted the village leader.

"We can't, Ashelin! The second we leave, we'll be toast!" shouted Torn. "Where the hell are Jak and Daxter?!"

"I don't know. I warned them about half an hour ago, and then I lost the signal..." she replied, inside hoping they were alright.

Torn just groaned; the situation was getting worse.

Suddenly, from one of the gaps in the palace, he saw a strange kind of balloon that, surprisingly, was shooting down the helicopters with ease.

"Whoo! Eat this!" Rivet yelled, firing a headhunter at the helicopters.

"God! This is fun!" Drake shouted, firing at the enemy with a Warmonger borrowed from Rivet. "It's like lifting a pillow."

"That weapon uses a material that's both strong and lightweight, Mr. Drake," Kit told him.

Those below were confused by what they saw, until the balloon landed in the entrance, which had just been cleared of enemies.

The soldiers came out of the palace and aimed their weapons, noticing a kind of hairy creature, a human without long ears, and, what surprised them most, a small, living doll.

"Lower your weapons! They're with us," a voice said, and the others saw Jak and Daxter getting out of the balloon.

"Jax!" Ashelin went to him and hugged him.

"I'm okay too, if you were wondering," Daxter said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm happy to see you're okay too... But who are they?" she asked, looking at the others.

"Um... Do you remember that story I told you a while back about the time we were kidnapped and teleported to another universe?" Jax said.

"Which one? The one where you don't want to talk, or the other one that you really don't want to talk?"

"The first one," Daxter said.

Ashelin remained speechless, always believing the story was false, and simply approached the new faces.

"Thank you for helping us, strangers. We really appreciate all the help we find."

Rivet, Kit, and Sackboy simply greeted the woman, with Drake feeling a bit nervous about her revealing attire.

"(You're a married man, Drake, married.) You're welcome, miss. I have to admit, it was a piece of cake..."

"Oh, you think so?"

A distorted female voice was heard, and from the sky, they saw an enemy floating, this time with robotic tentacles robot instead of arms and legless. It also had a kind of poncho made of rags covering its chest and head, from which a red light could be seen.

Everyone went on the defensive upon seeing the new enemy.

"Let me ask... Are you their leader?" Daxter asked.

"My name is Scyla, the lieutenant of this army. You must be the heroes who want to stop us..."

"Well, you want to destroy the multiverse, so we owe it to you to stop you," Drake replied.

The robotic being just laughed. "Really? I don't think you understand our objective: We want to free you."

That confused everyone.

"Free us? What do you mean by that?!" Rivet shouted.

"I'm not going to waste my time with some corpses."

Immediately, Scyla fired beams from her tentacles, which struck the League group, killing some of them.

"No! You son of a—" Torn started firing at her, but she dodged the shots and, with superhuman speed, stabbed the human in the chest with her tentacle.

"Torn!" Jax and Ashelin shouted.

Without hesitation, Rivet fired at Scyla, who this time took the projectiles, causing her to retreat a little.

"Bad decision." Scyla charged at the heroes, thus beginning the battle.

Ashelin, Jak, and Daxter went to Torn, who was bleeding.

"Torn! Hang on!" Ashelin yelled, trying to staunch the wound.

"You guys, get out of here, we'll take care of her," Jak said.

"But I can't leave you like this. What about the city?"

"Don't worry, I have more 'friends' who are taking care of them. Go now." Jak said, and Ashelin, with no other options, grabbed Torn from behind with the help of a soldier and left with the others.

"If I don't get out of this! Tell Tess I loved her!" Daxter shouted.

Jak just turned to Scyla, who was causing trouble for his friends. He just growled and readied his blaster.

ELSEWHERE.

The others were still fighting the enemies, who seemed to have concentrated their forces on them.

"Atreus, behind you!" Mimir shouted to Atreus, who dodged a Assaulter's katana and responded with lightning birds that tore it apart.

"There are too many of them." Kratos destroyed a Heavy with his fist.

"Bring them all on! I'll destroy them all!" Raiden shouted, tearing through more enemies.

Cloud launched fireballs at the Soldats, who were defended by others using shields.

Frustrated and tired, he delivered a single heavy blow that wiped out the group.

"There are too many of them... I don't know how long we can hold out," he said as he noticed more enemies approaching.

"The ship! They won't stop coming until it's in the sky!" Clank shouted as he saw the ship relentlessly launching enemies toward them.

"Don't worry! I've already got someone on their case," Polygon Man shouted.

ON THE SHIP.

Inside the warship, some Soldats were patrolling the area, unaware of the intruder.

Thanks to Polygon Man's teleportation, Sly was able to enter the ship, grateful he didn't end up on the moon or something.

"Luckily, they don't have X-ray vision," Sly said, until he started to feel a headache.

"Raccoon, it's me, Polygon Man. I just established a connection with your mind. Are you close to the command post yet?" a voice said in his head.

"No, not yet. It's not like I have a map of this place or anything."

"I have something like that... When I've been attacked, I can recreate the ships, and, being someone who notices the smallest details, I remember a little of what they're like inside."

"Photographic memory, I see..."

"Especially with grudges... Go straight ahead and then to the right. You'll find the command post there. Hurry up, we're starting to get tired and they keep coming.

Once the 'signal' was off, Sly set off towards the location, dodging and hiding from the guards.

After a while, he finally reached the outpost, where he saw a few enemy soldiers in some vehicles. One of them, wearing a military hat that made him look like the commander, was giving orders, or so it seemed, since the raccoon couldn't understand what they were saying; he only heard whispers coming from them.

"Okay, this doesn't speak our language, this is really something." He said sarcastically and, with his sharp cane, attacked the commander, sending him flying towards the window.

The others just dropped their things and looked at Sly. "Excuse me, was he your friend?"

Thus began the fight, with the raccoon kicking them all they ass, bringing the orbital bombardment to an end.

DOWN.

Although exhausted, the heroes rallied as they defeated the remaining enemy soldiers.

"The ship has stopped firing." Kratos noticed the flying ship had ceased launching enemies, though there were still too many, especially some Berserks and Heavynauts.

"Cool, though there are still a few more." Ratchet said, spotting another enemy horde behind them.

"Let them come... I still have strength." Raiden said.

"Don't worry." Polygon Man said. "I just called some more friends."

Before they could ask him anything else, the sound of a car horn was heard, and behind them, a brightly colored truck leaped over them and rammed the enemies, easily destroying them and firing weapons mounted on it.

The enemies were helpless; even the berserkers fell like flies, and the driver seemed merciless, running them over again and again.

In two minutes, the enemy horde was wiped out, the truck stopped, and the driver got out.

The heroes were speechless at the sight of the driver, a overweight man wearing only pants, a disturbing clown mask, and a head ablaze, which didn't seem to affect him.

Only the veterans among them recognized the stranger, especially Kratos.

"Neddle, I see you had fun," Polygon Man greeted.

The man just looked at the others. "Hello... I see we meet again. Polygon Man explained everything to me... However much I'd be interested in the chaos of this war, I can't let my world be destroyed... Only I can." The Clown pointed his machete at Kratos. "You still owe me an ice cream, Ashes."

That nickname ignited flames within Kratos, ready to hurl him to the other continent.

"Calm down, Spartan. We need all the help we can get. So you're going to join us?" he asked Polygon.

"If I can kill as many people as I want and cause chaos, I'm in." Needle laughed.

"Perfect. I wish I hadn't had to work with psychopaths," Ratchet lamented.

ON THE SHIP.

Once the enemies were occupied, Sly began planting the bomb Ratchet had given him.

"And... there. Luckily, Bentley taught me a thing or two about explosives," he said to himself and activated it, just as reinforcements arrived.

"Oh, you're finally here. As much as I'd like to stay, I have to go. Bon voyage!"

Sly jumped out of the broken window, parachuting into the sky and dodging enemy bullets.

Just as he jumped, the bomb's timer reached zero.

AT THE PALACE.

The battle against Scyla was difficult, though the heroes managed to hold the line.

"Damn cockroaches! I'll kill you all!"

The robot began attacking Drake with her tentacles, which he dodged with some difficulty.

"Worst weekend ever." Once she finished with her tentacles, he pulled out his pistol and shot her, only stunning her.

Creating a rather enormous cannon, Sackboy fired at her, forcing her back.

Rivet and Jak also began firing at her, until Jak ran out of ammunition.

"Damn it-"

"Jak, take this!" Rivet threw him one of his weapons, the buzz blades.

"Oh, I want to try it out!" Daxter grabbed the weapon and immediately began firing blades at Scyla, who was surrounded by them and began to suffer damage.

"No... You can't stop the Horde, you can't!" She began firing more beams from her tentacles, causing the others to flee.

Although they didn't have to escape, an explosion suddenly halted Scyla's fury. She watched in terror as the warship began to fall in flames. Luckily for the heroes, the ship was far enough away not to affect the city.

"NO! I had recently received it!" She screamed and glared at the heroes, angrier than ever. "You damned bastards! We wanted to save you! NOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE BRUTALLY!"

Behind her, the remaining soldiers marched toward the palace.

"Well, it was an honor to fight with you," Daxter said.

"This is bad," Kit said.

Just when they thought the situation was getting worse, everyone began to hear a rumble, specifically the sound of a drill, followed by a roar.

Immediately, something began to tear apart the last invading army, mercilessly shredding them.

"Oh god, don't tell me that—"

"Not him…"

"Who is he?" Rivet asked, seeing his allies frozen with fear, especially Sackboy.

Immediately, a gigantic being resembling a deformed diver with a drill in its right arm appeared, tearing through the remaining soldiers as they fired at it, without any effect.

"You! Who are you?! Damn-"

She couldn't even finish before Scyla was pierced through the chest by the drill from the Monster, who threw her against a wall where he began to massacre her.

Everyone watched the carnage in horror, with Rivet and Kit the most terrified.

"Question... He's one of us, right?" Kit asked.

"Big Daddy," Nathan said.

"You have strange tastes," Rivet replied.

"No, that's what he's called. We've never understood why, and we prefer it that way. Do you think he still remembers us?" Jak asked, and when Big Daddy finished with Scyla, he looked at Sackboy, who immediately roared with rage.

"I think he's more reminiscent of the doll," Daxter replied as Sackboy, terrified, began dodging the attacks of an enraged Big Daddy, who was firing drills and thunders from his left arm.

Before the others could do anything, a purple hand slammed him to the ground, halting the chase, though the Diver continued to fight.

"Too bad, we got there in time."

Polygon Man and the others arrived, and the rest were surprised to see the Bouncher.

"Look, we have Big Daddy too. He doesn't seem to have changed much," Ratchet said.

"The monster still seems to have that fury... Although I don't see the girl," Kratos remarked.

" "Really?... Apparently, she didn't arrive with him. This explains the thing's behavior... Let's see if I can..."

With his other hand, Polygon Man began touching the Boucher's head, and immediately the red lights went out, along with its rage. Once free, it no longer attacked Sackboy, although it seemed to be in a trance.

"Well, at least it didn't destroy the rest." Jak noticed Needle's presence. "I see that psychopath is here too."

"Cut out the tongue, knife-ears, or I'll make a scarf out of the weasel." Needle raised his machete, which nearly knocked Daxter to the ground.

Without them noticing, Scyla, still alive, tried to escape.

"Look, an enemy is escaping." Cloud warned them, and as they prepared to finish her off, Scyla was already airborne.

"You're all idiots! You're delaying your own doom! THE MULTIVERSE WILL FALL BEFORE THE HORDE!" the Lieutenant shouted, and with one of her still-functioning tentacles, she opened a portal and escaped through it.

"Well, another victory for me!" Polygon Man yelled, drawing the stares of the others.

IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE.

In Poligon Man's universe, a man sat on a throne in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by soldiers who served him. Suddenly, a portal opened, and Scyla emerged.

"My lord, may I explain my presence—"

"Silence!" the stranger said, silencing the robot. "I want to save myself a headache. I already know everything. I saw how miserably you failed to destroy a world." The stranger took a sip from his cup.

The robot was terrified. "I swear, sir, the situation was in my grasp, until—"

"I know, Poligon Man and his lackeys. I knew that idiot was a tough nut to crack." He took another sip. "Although I should eliminate you for your failure, I can't afford to lose one of my smartest and strongest lackeys, especially when I still have to perfect the powers from Poligon that I stole."

The robot was relieved to have been forgiven.

"I want you to go with Tartaros legion on another mission. If you fail, you will become my servant." He threatened her, and terrified, Scyla merely bowed and, opening another portal, left the universe.

"Grrr... From bad to worse, it doesn't matter, that good-for-nothing can't do anything. The multiverse will be destroyed, and we will be free." He prepared to drink more, until he noticed his cup was empty. In a fit of rage, he threw it to the floor, startling his servants.

"BRING ME MORE NECTAR!"

Chapter Text

IN THE PALACE.

Once the battle was over, the heroes decided to rest in the palace while the League evacuated the remaining civilians.

"So you expect us to stop this...Invaders?" Jak said, sitting at a long table laden with food with the others, Big Daddy off to one side of the room in 'rest' mode.

"The enemy is bigger and strong than you think. If we don't stop them, our worlds will be doomed," Kratos said.

"That's why we have Mr. Purpley Grumpy with us. He's the only one who knows how to travel between worlds." Nathan said.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I can't do this alone," Polygon Man growled. "My powers, which I wasted years trying to improve, have been almost completely taken away. The worst part is that they have them, and when they figure out how to use them, we can say we've be screwed."

Jak bit his lip.

"Please, we're not scared of an army of freaks, right Jak?" The weasel asked his friend somewhat confidently, until he noticed his colleague wasn't saying anything. "Jak?"

"You need help, right? I can't, my world needs me, my people need me, my friends need me." Jak finally answered.

"Jak, I understand you don't want to leave your friends defenseless, but you have to understand that, even though we're strong, the enemy will be even stronger. We need everyone else's help, and even more." Ratchet replied.

Jak just lowered his gaze. "I don't know, I'm more than a hero to my people, I'm the successor of our leader and founder, it's my duty—"

Two purple hands slammed their fists on the table, break it.

"Damn it! I care THAT much about your people!" Polygon Man shouted. "You have no idea how messed up the situation is! My powers have improved in this time, to the point where they're almost godlike, even more!" He glared at Jak with hatred. "And when they learn how to use them, it doesn't matter if you have all your ancestors behind you ya ass! It'll be useless against an infinite army and, in the worst-case scenario, the destruction of your world in a snap! So you better pull out your balls and come with us if you don't want your pathetic world destroyed."

Jak and Daxter started to back away. The others just drew their weapons. The veterans were ready to fight; they still didn't trust him.

Suddenly, a small portal opened above.

"Polygon man, how are things?" Astro asked, stepping out of the portal. The others were surprised to see the robot.

"And what's that?" Drake asked, pointing his rifle at the robot.

"Calm down, it's one of us." Polygon Man spoke calmly, and the others lowered their weapons, especially Cloud and Sackboy, to acknowledge him.

"This is Astro, one of our allies. He asked me to regroup you," Polygon Man explained.

Astro approached Poligon Man.

"(Should we tell them about the High Command?)" he asked at Polygon Man in an unknown language.

"(It's best not to. It could cause them an unpleasant existential crisis.)" Polygon Man replied in the same language.

The others just stared at them, confused, not understanding.

"Clank, do you recognize the voice?" Ratchet asked his colleague.

"No, it's a language I've never heard before," the robot replied.

"Ditto." Mimir said.

"Hello everyone, I'm Astro, one of the many who control the multiverse," the flying robot introduced himself.

"Wait, if you're the one who is defending the universes, why aren't you doing anything against this army?" Rivet asked.

"This horde is bigger than you think. They've already attacked other universes not exactly suited for fighting. We managed to push some of them back, others are still putting up a fight, and it doesn't help that our numbers are limited. Not even in the thousand years since we thought an attack like this would happen."

"That's why you asked Poligon to gather a group of powerful people to save the day," Sly said. "And Nathan."

"Says the humanoid raccoon!" Drake replied.

"Enough!" Polygon Man shouted. "So, what are you doing here? Do you want to congratulate me on my work?"

The others gave him annoyed looks.

"I swear I'll kill him..." Raiden muttered.

"No, but I'm glad to see you were able to reach a good point. I'm here to warn you of an attack by the Horde."

"So we're going to call them the Horde?" Atreus asked.

"More or less." Replied Astro. "The point is, they're sending a battalion toward a universe with a unique resource that could be very useful to them, so we have to stop them—or rather, you have to."

"Good. I want to kill more of that scum." Needle laughed, thinking about the massacre he was about to unleash.

"Um... So we have to go or what?" Daxter asked.

"Oh yes, you'll come. You have no other choice." Polygon Man threatened them.

"Enough," Kratos said, standing up. "He and the talking fox have the right to decide whether to come or not. They just want to defend their home."

Polygon Man growled at him, though he hated them all, especially him; he knew his condition made him too weak to fight.

"Fox who?!" Daxter shouted, offende

"Okay, I'll go," Jak said, receiving the others' stares.

"Jak, but we can't leave the others alone. They can take away our fa—I mean, they won't be able to do it without us! Look what happened when they exiled us!" Daxter told him.

Jak just looked at his companion. "If it really is only a matter of time before the situation becomes impossible, we have to stop them."

"Good, if you've already agreed, I'm going to give you the coordinates to that world. Hurry before the attack starts." Astro approached Poligon and took out a slip of paper, which he handed to him.

"Good luck, everyone." Astro waved and left through another portal.

"Will we have to ask ourselves questions about the origin of that robot?" Kit asked.

"First, let's solve the biggest problem," Rivet replied.

"Okay, let's go. I want to eliminate more of this scum! And I'm not talking about you."

Polygon Man and the others got ready to leave, until someone entered the room.

"Jak, are you going with them?" Ashelin asked.

"I knew you were snooping," Jak said. "I'm sorry, but—"

"Don't worry," Ashelin interrupted. "I understand you want to go. If the enemy really has that kind of power, it's best to stop them as soon as possible. Don't worry, we'll warn everyone about the invasion. Next time, they won't be able to take us by surprise."

"Are you sure you can manage on your own?" Jak asked.

"It's not like we can always depend on you. Even though you're a descendant of Mar, you've already given us so much, considering how we've treated you because of the Dark Eco. I think we can manage on our own."

"I guess so. Torn would rather get stabbed again than admit that without us, this world is screwed." Daxter joked, earning a look from the other two.

"Will he be okay?" Jak asked.

"Torn will be fine, don't worry," Ashelin said, placing a hand on Jak's shoulder. "Take care."

Jak smiled at the woman. "Thanks, I'll be back if you're in trouble. Tell Keira I love her." Jak said, and Ashelin just smiled back, hiding a grimace.

"Let's go!" Polygon Man yelled.

"Just a minute!" the weasel yelled back.

Jak and Daxter approached the group.

"Welcome to the band. We're going to save the universe, or die trying," Sly said.

"Is it too late to refuse?" the weasel asked.

"Portal open! Let's go!" Polygon Man opened a portal and everyone entered, with only Jax giving Ashelin one last look before stepping inside.

"That guy knows how to surprise you." The woman smiled.

NEW MARAIS.

In a universe, on a planet Earth, there was a city in the United States, a city that, despite its lax security, possessed something that made it incredibly beautiful.

Or so it was before the plague arrived, infecting a large portion of the population and causing a pandemic.

And that wasn't worse; the city was also affected by the invasion of a monstrous being called the Beast, a Conduit, a human with powers, who was destroying the city to 'awaken' other dormant Conduits.

The city's police, along with a group of rebels and the local militia, tried to stop it, failing.

At the top of a building, a group of people—two women and two men—were arguing.

"Cole! This is crazy! There must be another way!" shouted a pale-skinned Asian woman.

"Don't listen to this coward!" yelled the other woman with the red skin. "This bitch just wants to save her own sorry lil'ass! We have to kill that son of a bitch!"

"Brother, this is crazy," said a fat man with glasses. "But we have to save the day, Cole, and you know it."

The last one, a bald, thin, and well-trained man just began to think. Nix and Zeke were right; the beast had to die. But Kuo also had a point. They would die too, along with a few poor Christians whose only fault was having powers they didn't even know they had.

"(Conduit or humans? My life or theirs? Die or save myself?......Why can't it ever be easy?)" Cole thought. He knew that something like this was a decision that would change the world.

Suddenly, an explosion startled everyone, even the beast stopped at the sound.

"What the-Holy Molly." Zeke froze, staring at the source of the explosion.

The two women did the same, speechless.

Cole finally turned around, and what he saw left him speechless: It was a ship in the sky, shaped like a UFO, as big as the city itself.

"Chi Chong, please tell us that's the government's secret weapon or something," Nix asked the other woman.

"No... It's not..."

Suddenly, two giant robots, as big as the beast itself, fell from the ship, and before it could process the situation, the two giants attacked it. It let out a yell of annoyance, and they began to fight.

The scene was watched by everyone with horror and surprise.

"I knew aliens existed! My cousin Hal owes me a forty!" Zeke yelled. "But are they with us?"

Immediately, the ship launched its troops throughout the city, with some Assaulters landing on the same building, with their weapons pointed at the group.

"I don't think so." Kuo grunted, taking a defensive position, like the others.

Cole just grunted and ignited the sparks; his luck had turned against him again.

Before the battle could even begin, the Assaulters' heads popped off like champagne corks, falling dead to the ground.

The group was speechless, even more so when a kind of cyborg with gray hair appeared before them. Only Cole recognized him.

"Cole McGrant, glad to see you again," the cyborg greeted.

"Raiden... So that wasn't a dream." The man murmured, drawing the gaze of the others. "I don't think you're here for a rematch, are you?"

"No, but I'd like another round with you," Raiden admitted. "We're at war, the entire multiverse is in danger."

"Is that flying head responsible?" Cole asked.

"No, but I'm your ally, unfortunately," a voice said.

Everyone saw a giant purple head approaching it, much to the astonishment of Kuo, Zeke, and Nix.

"I knew that chill pill was expired," Zeke said.

"So he is with us now? This day is getting better." Cole said sarcastically. "Is it just you?"

"No. We have a few of our own to deal with them." Polygon said.

Before Cole could reply, the others saw some Berserks hurtling down from the sky.

"But a little help from the locals wouldn't hurt."

IN THE CITY.

The city's remain defense forces, made up of the police, rebels, and the remaining militia, were fighting fiercely against the invaders. Lacking sufficient strength or weaponry, they were able to hold them off, thanks in part to the Corrupteds who were also attacking the enemy troops.

One group of the defense force was fighting fiercely against a group of Soldats and heavynauts.

"Keep fighting! We won't let these damn aliens conquer us!" "He shouted the rebels' leader, Laroche, the only leader the group had to guide them.

Some Berserks approached the group, seemingly unaffected by their bullets, and panic began to consume the defenders.

Then they heard roars, and from an alley, a kind of massive diver appeared, with an active drill and red lights emanating from its head.

Big Daddy attacked the enemy group with blind fury, tearing them apart.

"What in Saint Pete's name?" Laroche said, unable to believe what he was seeing, even more so when he saw a child with a bow dressed like someone who lived outside of society.

"Kiddo! Get out of here—"

Atreus throw arrows at some Soldats, killing them with a single blow. An assauter tried to stab him, but Atreus dodged the attack, grabbed the man's arm, broke it, and threw him toward two more.

Laroche and his men watched the scene in surprise.

"(The Conduit are truly full of surprises.)" Laroche thought, his thoughts interrupted when a man with ashen skin appeared before them.

"Are you alright, warriors?" Kratos asked.

The soldiers pointed their weapons at him, though his warrior aura made them tremble.

"Who the hell are you? A Conduit?" Laroche demanded.

"No, but I am an ally, like some others. You are fighting valiantly, but it would be best if you took a more suitable position." Kratos said that although he knew this world was more advanced than his own, he could offer some advice on warfare.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you for your help," Laroche said.

Suddenly, something fell from the ship in front of them—a very heavy armored tank.

"Go, we'll take care of this," Kratos ordered.

The tank fired a projectile at the group, which Kratos blocked with his shield.

"Now!" Kratos commanded, and drawing his axe, he hurled it at the cannon, causing the armored tank to explode.

"Sir, do we have to listen to him?" one of his men asked their leader.

"This guy was able to destroy a damn tank with his axe, and besides, I noticed he has a head on his waist, so we'd better agree with him," Laroche said, and the others simply went to help their comrades.

ELSEWHERE.

On one street, the enemy horde was wreaking havoc, until an ice cream truck appeared, mowing down everything in its path.

"Wooooo! I love driving through crowded streets!" Needle howled, driving like a maniac, much to the misfortune of his two unlucky passengers.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Daxter yelled, trying to escape from the truck.

"Damn it! You'll get us kill!" Jak shouted, stopping his colleague.

"And you think I care?" Needle retorted, extending his left arm and hacking at enemies with his machete.

"I already regret agreeing to come here!" the weasel lamented.

"Shut up and kill something!" Needle yelled, activating the truck's machine guns.

Jak grunted. Of all of them, he had to be the one to control this madman so he wouldn't kill civilians.

In the cleared streets, the civilians who had been hiding tried to escape, until more soldats appeared and pointed their weapons at them.

"No, please!" cried a mother, hugging her child.

Before the soldats could open fire, someone cut off his head.

The civilians were shocked by this, even more so when they saw a young blond man with spiky hair wielding a huge sword.

"Go to the church! You'll be safe there!" Cloud shouted as more assailants appeared.

The civilians didn't need to be told twice before they started to escape, with the blond man preparing to fight.

IN THE CHURCH.

"...And that's how we ended up here."

A church became a refuge and defensive stronghold, with heroes and defense forces fiercely battling the horde.

Luckily, Sackboy was able to create some walls and defenses to aid them.

"Damn it, all I needed was a freaking war between worlds," Cole lamented as he unleashed lightning at the soldiers.

"Believe me, this is just the beginning," Raiden said, slashing vertically at the Raiders.

"Die! This is what happens when you mess with me!" Polygon Man shouted, firing a machine gun he had created.

Sackboy was firing at the troops with a crossbow.

"Cole! This is insane!" Zeke yelled at Cole. "Why didn't you tell me you traveled to another world?"

"I thought it was a dream or a hallucination, I didn't think something like that had actually happened," Cole replied. "Where are Nix and Kuo?"

"I don't know, they told me he was going to 'call for backup' or something." Zeke answered, reloading his revolver, until a coughing fit forced him to his knees.

"Zeke!" Cole rushed to his friend's aid. "The plague is killing you, you need to take shelter."

"Cough... And leave all the fun to you? Nah, I don't want you stealing all the chicks." Zeke began coughing even more violently.

Suddenly, an explosion nearly hit them.

"Warplanes arriving!" Ratchet shouted, seeing some spaceships.

"Don't worry! I've got it!" Polygon Man said.

In the sky, a different plane was flying, piloted by Sly and Nathan.

"Do you know how to fly this thing?!" Nathan yelled to Sly behind him, readying his machine gun.

"I've single-handedly defeated some of the best pilots in Europe in a deadly tournament! You're safe with me!" Sly replied and began accelerating toward the enemy ships.

The ships began firing at them, with Sly dodging the projectiles with professional skill and returning fire.

"I going to puke!" Nathan groaned.

"Stop groaning and shoot!" Sly yelled back, noticing some ships behind them.

Suppressing a wave of puke, Nathan began firing at the enemy planes.

Other ships were bombarding the Beast, which didn't help it much in its fight against those Titans.

the spaceships began exploding by Ratchet and Rivet.

"Whoever destroys the most spaceships pay the dinner!" Rivet shouted, firing at some spaceship.

"Deal!" Ratchet replied, shooting down another spaceship.

"Guys, I remind you that we're in a very serious situation," Clank said.

"Oh, come on, you talk like it's the first time!" Ratchet yelled.

Seeing that the bombardment had stopped, the Beast grabbed the head of one of the Titans and violently ripped it off, finishing it off with a blast of energy that reduced it to dust.

The Beast just growled and began fighting the other Titan.

ON THE MOTHERSHIP.

Inside the UFO, the entire battle was being observed by someone. He had a humanoid appearance, dressed in a legionary military uniform with a vest, and he watched the battle with stoicism.

Someone entered his office.

"Edwin, we're in trouble," Scyla said.

The man just kept looking down. "I know, sister, the heroes are here. I knew those death squads weren't enough." The general looked at the robot.

"Seeing how they're tearing through my forces, it seems obvious they were able to defeat you."

"Don't even mention it," the female robot muttered. "I was humiliated, and the King almost reduced me to servitude, even though I had my own ship."

The man approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault. We underestimated the enemy, but not anymore. Sometimes, we have to make mistakes to learn where we went wrong. Though I'm glad to see you alive."

Though she couldn't, Scylla smiled at him. "Thank you, brother, but what do we do? We're not gaining much ground."

"The objective isn't the conquest of this world, nor even its extermination." Erwin turned and looked out the window, specifically at the Beast.

"Our objective is him."

Chapter Text

The battle was beginning to turn in favor of the defenders. The church was being heavily defended by the heroes, who were tearing through the enemy horde.

A berserk tried to attack, until a purple hand grabbed its head.

"Forgive my rudeness." Polygon Man crushed the brute's head. "But causing chaos between worlds IS MY JOB!"

Another berserk tried to attack from behind, until it began to levitate on its own and was crushed by the polygon being's destructive power.

Immediately, Laroche and his group arrived, where they saw a group of strange characters fighting the aliens.

"I knew that chill stress pill was expired," Laroche said to himself, scratching his head in confusion.

"Um... Orders?" one of his men asked.

"The usual: we kick this scum out of our city," he said.

Without them noticing, an assaultes prepared to attack them from behind, until he was frozen in place.

The group noticed and saw that the culprit was a kind of white soldier dressed as a lieutenant, with chunks of ice growing on him

The group immediately recognized the soldier, one of those 'ice men,' South African mercenaries transformed into guineas pigs by Bernard, who infested a part of the city after their release. They hadn't expected help from one of them.

Suddenly, a berserk attacked the lieutenant, who didn't seem to have a good grasp of the situation.

"Rpg! Fire at the alien!" Laroche ordered, and, readying their weapons, those with rocket launchers fired at the berserk, destroying it.

The lieutenant, seeing himself saved, looked at Laroche and simply nodded, with Laroche returning the gesture.

Polygon Man watched the scene with a sneer. "When there's a greater evil, your lesser enemy becomes your friend... A classic."

More troops from Vermaak 88 began to arrive, aiding the defenders.

Cole was surprised by the scene.

"Cole!" Kuo shouted, approaching the man.

"Kuo, I see you managed to convince those mercenaries to help us," Cole said, seeing what had once been his enemies now fighting alongside them against the enemy horde.

"It wasn't easy, considering their new leader was more pragmatic... But a few kind words with the government and some help with their mutations finally convinced them to help us," the woman replied.

"BUT YOU WEREN'T THE ONLY ONE TO FIND HELP!"

From all sides, abominable humanoid beings of all sizes and appearances began to appear.

This surprised the defenders, especially the natives, who recognized them and thought things were going to get worse.

They were greatly surprised when they saw that these monsters began attacking only the invaders, even defending them.

"Do you like my little gift, love?" Nix asked, appearing before Cole.

"Were you able to control the corrupted ones?" Cole asked, surprised.

"It was easy... They just needed a new 'mommy'..." she said with a smile. "Maybe they need a daddy too..." She approached Cole seductively.

"I envy you, brother," Zeke mocked before coughing again.

"We don't have time for this!" Kuo yelled at him.

"Calm down, Kuo, it's not like the situation could got worse-"

From the UFO, a beam struck the Beast, who had just defeated the last Titan, trapping him.

The Beast tried to break free, until a violent electrical discharge began to torture him, until he started to revert to his human form and, once knocked out, he was dragged toward the ship.

"Um... Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Zeke asked.

"I think he was the reason we came here," Raiden said.

"So they want John, it's not good at all," Kuo said.

Immediately, the bombardments intensified with the arrival of more enemy troops.

"Shock troops! They're coming in heavy this time!" Polygon Man shouted as the enemies began charging toward them, until someone landed on top of them, creating a shockwave that pushed them back.

Kratos simply got up and, activating his Spartan rage, let out a battle cry and charged toward the enemies.

"We can't let them get away with that one!" Polygon Man yelled, beginning to use his telepathic powers.

IN THE SKIES.

Sly and Nathan seemed to have the situation under control, or so it seemed until more enemy airplanes began to arrive.

"I'm about to throw up!" Nathan lamented, referring to the many flips Sly was performing to dodge enemy attacks.

"Less lamenting and more bullets!" Sly answered while trying to dodge the enemy rockets, until he started to feel his head pounding.

-Racoon... Are you still alive?-

"Yes... Polygon, although more airship keep arriving and-"

-Don't care, didn't ask. The point is that it seems the enemy kidnapped that giant; he was their target. You have to go inside the mothership and free him.-

"And why don't you ask us to steal the moon too? That's crazy!" Sly replied, dodging a rocket.

-Grrr... WAIT!... FURBALL!-

Ratchet stopped, feeling that. "Who spoke?" he asked, confused.

-You have to create a hole in the mothership so that Raccoon and Cannon folder can get in and save that energy giant before they leave!-

"Ratchet?" Rivet asked, seeing him distracted.

"I'm fine... We need to create an opening in the mothership so Sly and Nathan can get in," he replied.

"Easy to say, we don't have the weaponry for ships like that."

Clank started thinking. "I might have an idea, though it could be dangerous."

"Pfft... You talk like we haven't done this before," Ratchet retorted.

"If I can modify the Negatron Colliders to fire at full power and use them at the same point at the same time—"

"—They could not only destroy the ship's shields, but even create an opening for them to get in," Kit continued. "Oops, sorry."

"That's a good plan," Rivet said. "What's the chance of success?"

"45%. If it fails, the weapons could explode and wipe out a quarter of the city," Kit replied.

The two Lombaxes looked at each other. "It's the best we usually get," Ratchet said, pulling out his Negatron Collider. Rivet did the same.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Polygon Man yelled, throwing a punch at a heavynaut.

Clank started modifying the weapons. Luckily, it didn't take long, and the weapons were ready, though they looked like they were about to explode.

"Um... Is it normal for them to do this?" Rivet asked, grabbing his weapon.

"Let's just pray they work," Ratchet replied.

The two Lombaxes simply aimed their weapons and, once ready, fired the beam, where they merge into one that could be seen for miles.

The beams struck the mothership, which, despite its shields doing everything they could, couldn't withstand the combined attack, creating a hole large enough for Sly and Nathan to enter.

"Whoa!" Sly yelled at the explosion. "Looks like we've got our way in," he said, even though they still had too many enemy airship on their tail.

Suddenly, an enemy airship was shot down by a missile, and jets appeared, engaging the enemy aircraft.

"Finally, the cavalry has arrived!" Nathan shouted.

The American army began arriving in the city, with armored vehicles, helicopters, tanks and all the artillery they had available.

In one of the Black Hawks, a group of marines prepared for battle.

"Okay, ladies, listen up!" the sergeant of this unit shouted. "The day has finally arrived! Some fucking aliens want to invade us! As if the Conduits and the plague weren't enough!" The man started watching the battle raging outside. "But we won't be intimidated! We're fucking marines! The best of the best! That's how we'll defeat them, FOR FREEDOM!"

The marines only gave a battle cry, and once the helicopter landed, the soldiers went out to fight.

What they saw outside left them stunned: a giant purple head, a living doll, a cyborg ninja, Conduits, and abominable beings fighting fiercely against the aliens.

"I knew that chill pill was expired," the sergeant said.

"Sir? Who do we have to shoot?" one of the marines asked.

In front of them, Kratos approached with a Soldat.

"Shoot the corrupted ones!" he shouted, slamming the Soldat to the ground.

The marines just looked at each other, and without a second thought, the sergeant shot the Soldat, and the other soldiers began fighting the horde.

Polygon saw the scene. "Looks like we'll also have the support of this world's army... But they won't be enough."

He needed to call for more allies.

ON THE ROOFS OF SOME BUILDINGS.

The battle between Cloud and the assaulters reached the rooftops, where the soldier still held the upper hand.

Cloud began unleashing lightning attacks on the assaulters who fell from the blows, though they kept coming.

Cloud just grunted as he began to retreat, until he bumped into someone.

"Oh, you're Cloud, right?" Atreus asked, nocking an arrow.

"And you must be the Spartan's son," Cloud replied. "Your father is a real warrior."

"And you never even saw him fight seriously." Atreus fired an arrow at a assaulter.

The two began fighting the assaulters, but they kept coming, almost overwhelming them.

"We have to go, there are too many of them." Cloud started thinking of a plan, until he saw Sly's plane approaching them. "I have an idea, follow me!"

The soldier left, followed by the boy, and in turn, pursued by the assaulters. The two began leaping across rooftops, the assaulters hot on their heels.

"What's the plan?!" the boy asked.

"JUMP NOW!" Cloud ordered, and once they reached the last rooftop, he jumped, along with Atreus.

The rassaulters stopped, except for a few who fell from the roof, and began looking down, checking if the fall had killed them.

A plane flew overhead, where the two heroes were.

"Oh, new faces, welcome aboard my plane." Sly greeted them. "Want to participate in a special mission?"

"What mission?" the soldier asked from atop one of the plane's wings.

"We have to free that giant guy from the UFO." Nathan answered. "Suicide? Yes, but I don't want to know what they plan to do with him."

"So, we're going to get into that strange flying ship like this?" asked Atreus, clinging to the other wing of the plane.

"YES! And it's not going to be very pleasant!"

Sly started pressing the accelerator, heading for the UFO's opening, just as its shields were being repaired.

Praying to all his predecessors, Sly was able to enter the opening, just as the shield was fully activated.

DOWN.

Although the fighting was concentrated at the church, enemy soldiers were still in the streets, hunting for survivors.

A little girl was walking aimlessly down a street.

"Mom?" she called, not knowing where her mother was, and the sounds of the battle frightened her.

Immediately, she noticed an adult in front of her and, since adults always know everything, she approached him.

"Excuse me?" She touched his leg. "Do you know where my ma-"

When the man turned around, the girl froze at his horrible appearance.

The soldat just looked coldly at the little girl and pointed his gun at her; the orders were clear.

But before he could pull the trigger, a flying car hit him, killing him.

The girl was surprised, even more so when she saw a very large diver approaching her, staring at her with its green lights.

"Um... Do you know where my mommy is?" the girl asked.

Big Daddy continued to look at her and simply raised one hand, pointing in a direction.

"Thank you, sir..." she said simply and went in that direction.

Big daddy just stayed there; she wasn't his little sister. He couldn't find the little girl he was supposed to protect until his dying day, and this only depressed him, leaving him with an emptiness impossible to fill without her.

A squad of the Horde targeted Big Daddy, who, noticing this, prepared to fight.

But before he could activate his drill, red barbed wire grew above them, trapping them in its thorns.

Big Daddy was confused, even more so when a massive sword decapitated them all with devastating precision.

Once their heads hit the ground, the wire vanished, and before Big Daddy stood a man with an enormous pyramid-shaped helmet on his head, which didn't seem to bother him, and a sword even larger than his lean frame.

Big Daddy looked at the stranger, and the latter did the same. Although neither said anything, they both understood that they were in the same boat, or so it seemed.

More enemies began to arrive, and the stranger simply readied his sword, while Big Daddy activated his drill.

ELSEWHERE.

On a street, a man dressed as a cowboy began to wake up, confused.

"What the hell happened?" he wondered, looking around at the towering glass buildings, metal cars, and general chaos.

"Where am I? It looks like a war happened here..." The man sat up, disoriented.

From a distance, he began to see a person, then a lot of people.

The cowboy started approaching them. "Hey! Can you tell me where we-"

A bullet nearly hit him, causing him to immediately take cover behind a car.

"What in tarnation?!" he yelled, pulling out his revolver. "Is there ever a fucking day when someone doesn't try to put a bullet in my head?!"

The man took aim and, with a few clean shots, killed six of them. But more soldiers started arriving.

"Oh shit," the man managed to say as he reloaded his revolver.

Suddenly, an ice cream truck arrived, ramming into the enemy group.

The man was surprised by this, especially to see a truck moving on its own, like one of those infernal machines.

From the truck emerged a somewhat deformed fox-like creature.

"Earth! Sweet, lovely earth!" Daxter began kissing the ground, occasionally spitting out small rocks.

A young man with green hair and long ears also emerged. "I swear this is the last time I set foot in that box of horrors," the young man said, holding his head.

And finally, a rather fat man with a disturbing mask and flames on his head appeared. "I took that as a compliment," he said with a sick laugh.

The cowboy just watched the scene in utter confusion. "I think I drank too much." He told himself, though his last memory was of trying to buy his wife and son time to escape, and then... he died.

"Hey! Are you alright?" A voice pulled the man from his thoughts, and he saw one of those strangers, the one with long ears, approaching him.

Instinctively, the cowboy pointed his revolver at the stranger, who raise this hands.

"Calm down, I'm not your enemy." Jak tried to defuse the situation. "I just want to help you, sir-"

"John Marston." The cowboy introduced himself. "If you want to help me, tell me where the hell I am?"

The three heroes looked at each other.

"Looks like this lamb got lost." Needle said, approaching, which made John pull out his other revolver and point it at him as well.

"Hey, calm down, I think you were dragged into this war by Polygon Man too." Jak said.

John looked at him, confused. What on earth did he mean by that?

From a rooftop, an enemy soldier began aiming a sniper rifle at Marston, something Daxter noticed.

"JAK! Sniper!"

Jak saw him and, without a second thought, pushed Marston out of the way, saving him.

The sniper, pulling out a flare gun, fired a shot into the sky, calling for reinforcements.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" John asked, more confused than ever, though he readied his revolver.

"There's no time to explain," Jak said, cocking his blaster. "All I can tell you is that we're now in a universal war."

"The real fun is just getting started." Needle cocked his shotgun.

John, not understanding anything, just snorted. This was hell.

ON THE MOTHERSHIP.

Inside the ship, the group consisting of Sly, Nathan, Cloud, and Atreus were heading toward where the giant was being held.

"Okay, guys, the plan is to find that guy, free him, and blow up the ship. Easy," Nathan said.

"Easy to say, easy to do?... Well, we have the Spartan's son with us, and from what I've seen, he can fight just as well as his father," Sly said.

"Do you know my father?" the young man asked, having wondered about this since joining this adventure. "What was he like? He almost never talks about his past before arriving in Midgard."

The two veterans just grew nervous. They had witnessed Kratos's temper firsthand, especially in battle, and, to be honest, he wasn't someone they wanted as an enemy.

Cloud was simply surprised to hear "Midgard," though it confused him. The Midgard he had seen was very different from Midgard, though it seems cities in different worlds can be quite different.

"Well, kid, we can say he was... more emotional than he is now," Sly said.

"So he was more aggressive and furious?" Atreus asked.

"We can say that." Nathan answered. "I've seen him fight a couple of times, and damn, he could fight hard. But with that said, let's focus on our search. He should be in-"

"Is it him?" Cloud pointed at something, and the others looked where he was indicating, seeing a Black man curled up in a fetal position, floating inside some kind of energy cell.

"Yeah, it's him," Sly said.

"That poor guy, judging by his skin, you can tell he took a lot of damage," Atreus said.

"Um... Kid, that's his natural skin," Cloud corrected him, somewhat annoyed.

"Oh, so he also had some trouble with some minerals or-"

Nathan interrupted him. "It's best not to ask those kinds of questions, kid. Now we just have to-"

A laser struck the group, taking them by surprise.

"I knew there were rats here."

From above, Scyla descended, radiating a murderous aura.

"Not you again." Nathan aimed his weapon at the robot, as did the others.

"Don't think I've forgotten the beating you gave me last time... You took me by surprise, I admit, but this time it won't be your day... IT WILL BE YOUR END!"

She began firing beams at the group, which split up.

Nathan started shooting at her, though it did nothing, and she attacked him with a tentacle.

Cloud stepped in and stopped the attack with his sword, then counterattacked, slashing it.

Scyla let out a cry of pain as she began firing beams from her eye.

Atreus tried to damage her with his arrows, but it wasn't enough, and Scyla grabbed him with a tentacle.

Atreus tried to break free, until Sly jumped on top of him and pulled him away to safety.

"Are you alright, kid?" the thief asked.

"Yes... I'm fine..." the young man said, catching his breath. "Thanks."

"It's nothing. Besides, if anything happens to you, your father will make a scarf out of me, like..."

"A little help, huh?!" Nathan shouted as he dodged a tentacle.

The battle was being watched from above by Edwin, who wanted to help his sister. But, as a Maestro of this army, he had to be aware of the battlefield below, though he hoped his sister could handle them.

BELOW.

Despite the reinforcements, what seemed like an endless enemy army showed no signs of stopping, beginning to wear down the defenders.

Sackboy tried to hold the fortifications, though they continued to be destroyed.

The mercenaries tried to freeze them, but the appearance of pyromaniac troops was causing them problems, as were the corrupted ones.

"Leave my babies alone!" Nix shouted, unleashing waves of fire at the enemies.

An ice titan attempted to attack, until the pyromaniacs, the Stifters, began to concentrate their fire on it, forcing it back.

An electrical discharge struck the pyromaniacs, causing their fuel packs to explode.

"Cole!" Kuo yelled to Cole, firing ice spears. "There are too many of them!" She summoned a wall of ice to defend some soldiers from the enemy barrage of fire.

"I know, Kuo, but I have no idea." He responded by unleashing thunder from the skies.

Another group of enemy troops began charging toward the defenders, until they noticed something falling from the sky. It wasn't a bombardment from the ship, but a black comet, like fiery ash, with a very dense red glow. Before they could react, the comet crashed down on them, obliterating them.

The defenders were shocked, especially when, from where the comet had landed, they saw a young human wearing a vest with a hood and some red on his other garments.

The young man just stared at the defenders, confused and somewhat annoyed.

"Where the hell am I? Is this another D.U.P. trap?" he asked, not hiding his annoyance, until he noticed Cole. "Wait... You're Cole McGrant? I thought you were dead."

"Wait, dead?" Cole asked, very confused.

"Yes, you're the man who saved the world from the Beast, dying and killing the rest of the Conduit."

This took Cole and the other two Conduits by surprise.

"His name is Delsin Rowe, and he comes from the future," said Polygon Man, approaching and startling the young man. "Specifically, an alternate timeline. That way, won't cause problems in the main timeline if he dies or something."

This news took the trio by surprise even more.

"So... we're dead." Kuo started trembling. "But how can you be still Conduits?"

The young man just snorted. "It seems the Conduit gene survived, creating a new generation of Conduits, but not as powerful as me." He said in a superior tone.

Cole started to look at him unfavorably.

More enemy troops began to arrive.

"We'll talk about it later," said Cole. "Now, help us with these guys."

Delsin just stared at the enemy horde. He didn't know what the hell he'd gotten himself into, but he was happy to fight something new. The D.U.P. men had gotten so boring.

"Fighting alongside the Saint of New Marais? It would be an honor," Delsin said, activating his smoke powers.

Cole just snorted. They made him a saint? Now his parents should be so proud of him.

ON THE SHIP.

The heroes were having trouble with Scyla, now the robot fueled by vengeance for their previous defeat.

Cloud was cutting off her robotic tentacles, though she always regenerated them immediately.

"Falk lio!" Atreus summoned electric hawks that struck the robot, paralyzing her, and Nathan started firing at her.

Hidden away, Sly was plotting a plan to defeat Scyla and free the man.

"(Okay... We need a plan. That woman seems like a tough nut to crack, and I wouldn't even know where to begin with freeing the prisoner...)" Sly started looking around, noticing what appeared to be generators powering the cell, or at least that's what they looked like to the thief.

"(Those look like some kind of generators... If we destroy them, we can free him, although the problem is I don't know how to destroy them...)"

Sly saw Scyla firing beams at Nathan. They seemed very powerful, and this gave the raccoon an idea.

"DIE!" Scyla fired a beam at Nathan, who, with no other escape, braced himself for the attack, until Cloud stepped in and stopped it with his sword, despite having fought to contain it.

"HEY, METAL FACE!"

That comment made the robot stop and turn around, seeing the raccoon atop a generator.

"Do you wanna know a thing? I was the one who destroyed your ship! Exactly! A mere raccoon humiliated you all by himself!"

That was the final straw, and Scyla, focusing all her attention on Sly, her eye beam ready.

"You... YOU!"

Without a second thought, Scyla fired a beam at him, which Cooper dodged, hitting the generator instead.

Sly began leaping toward the other generators, which the robot, in her blind fury, didn't notice, and continued firing.

The other three were watching the scene.

"We have to help him!" the young man shouted.

"Wait," Drake stopped him. "It seems this is all part of his plan."

Sly continued until he reached the last generator, and with his final blow, Scyla fired a blast that destroyed it.

Her blind fury stopped when she began to hear the alarms and, to her horror, saw that the target's containment cell was shutting down.

Once the shields were down, the Beast awoke and collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

"I don't know who you are..." the Beast said, catching its breath. "But you made a grave mistake... A grave mistake."

The man activated his powers, beginning to absorb the ship's energy, regaining his strength.

Terrified, Scyla simply opened a portal and escaped through it.

The heroes were too preoccupied with the scene to worry about her.

"Do we have to go?" the boy asked.

"Well, it's not like we're in for a surprise if we stay, so LET'S GO!" Nathan shouted.

The heroes began to escape, with the beast almost ready to unleash its most powerful attack.

Edwin, who noticed the alarm, just watched the scene unfold.

"Damn, Father won't like this," he thought. This operation has cost him too many soldiers. "All units, immediate retreat!" He ordered and opened a portal, which he entered and left.

DOWN.

The battle still raged, although the horde began to weaken.

"Take this!" Needle fired a shotgun blast at a heavy, dodged a slashing attack from a raider, and decapitated him with his machete.

Jak and John continued fighting alongside the other soldiers.

"Let me get this straight. There are other worlds, some bastard wants to destroy everything, and some kind of annoying semi-divine being is forming a group to defeat him?" Marston asked as he killed the sniper with a clean shot.

"Yes, and now you're one of us." Jak reloaded his weapon. "Welcome to hell."

John grunted. "Always better than the real hell."

Suddenly, an explosion was heard, making everyone stop. Looking up, they saw the UFO falling to pieces in the city.

Behind the enemies, portals opened, and the latter began to move toward them.

"What? Are they escaping?" asked the weasel in surprise.

"Go back, cowards!" Needle started firing at the troops, who didn't even bother to counterattack.

"Just leave them alone! It looks like they're retreating," said Jak, making the clown just grunt in annoyance.

IN THE CHURCH.

The battle was interrupted when, from the sky, the mothership began to explode and fall, and the Horde halted its attack.

"What's going on?" Cole asked, seeing the ship exploding.

"Looks like they succeeded in their attempt," said Polygon Man.

The enemy troops immediately began to retreat through portals that opened behind them.

Kratos just watched the ship fall and, now with a clear mind, began to notice that he couldn't see his son.

"Atreus? ATREUS?!" the Spartan shouted in panic.

"Calm down, brother," said Mimir. "The boy will be alright, I'm feeling it."

From the sky, something began to fall slowly, and they saw it was Sly and the others in a parachute.

"Luckily, Bentley made a really strong parachute," said the raccoon as he felt the other three tighten their grips on him.

Once they touched down, Kratos approached the boy.

"Atreus! Are you okay?" he asked Atreus, his voice trembling.

"Yes, Father, I'm fine." The boy reassured him.

While the heroes chatted, the natives were gathered on two sides, one of Conduits and the other of humans. None of them knew what to do. Even the Corrupteds stood still, awaiting an order from their mother. They knew they had won, but what were they to do now? Continue fighting amongst themselves?

Despite being exhausted, the soldiers on both sides were on high alert, gripped by paranoia.

Cole and his friends, along with Delsin, were in the middle, also on guard, unsure of what to do.

And the situation worsened when the Beast himself appeared, exhausted from the explosion and the torture he endured in his brief imprisonment.

Polygon Man saw everything and, knowing the situation could spiral out of control, made the first move.

A hand appeared above the American army sergeant, grabbing him and dragging him away.

"Hey! What the hell—" The sergeant tried to break free, but it was no use. Once he finally let go, he found himself face to face with the Beast.

"Okay, I think we need to talk about this," the polygonal creature said. "I know you have a... record..."

"THIS SON OF A BITCH KILLED MILLIONS!" the sergeant shouted, receiving support from his men and the city's resistance.

"I didn't want to kill all those people..." the Beast defended himself. "I only wanted to save as much possible. This plague is condemning humanity, and there's no remedy, no salvation for them."

"That's not true," Cole said, approaching. "The RFI can save humanity... in exchange for killing all the Conduits."

This information scandalized the other Conduits. The mercenaries felt used, again.

"Humanity is doomed. The Conduits are the ultimate evolution," the Beast said, now receiving support from most of the Conduits, including Kuo and even some from Delsin.

"And condemn many poor Christians for the lives of a few? Don't make me laugh..." the sergeant mocked.

The two groups seemed about to start another fight, until Clank approached.

"Excuse me, would it be too much trouble if you showed me this device? Being from a more... 'modern' universe, I might be able to fix it," the robot said.

Everyone looked at him, confused, until Cole, the only one of them who knew him, albeit only slightly, handed him the RIF.

"I still remember you and your abilities from when we were kidnapped. I hope you know what you're doing," Cole told him.

Clank took it and, opening a compartment, began tinkering with it until he finished and handed it back to Cole.

"Here it is. Now this device should cure this plague."

Cole just looked at him, somewhat surprised. It was easy.

"Really? Should I trust a robot?" the Beast wondered.

"Sir, I understand your distrust, but I don't want to harm anyone. Besides, the Conduits have demonstrated tremendous skill with their powers, and with what's coming, this world needs the combined strength of Conduits and humans."

The Beast remained silent. Although still distrustful, he was weakened, and even though he seemed to have the support of the Vermark 88, he knew it wouldn't be enough. And before he could say anything else, Cole was already starting to charge it.

Hoping it would work, Cole simply began activating it with his powers, causing an aura of energy to be released in the area. Unlike last time, it didn't negatively affect the Conduits.

Everyone stood there in surprise, even the Corrupted, frozen on their 'mother's' orders. Finally, a beam shot across the sky, creating a pulse that covered the entire planet.

Once it was over, Cole opened his eyes, discovering he was still alive, and looked at Zeke, who was standing.

"Cole, I'm fine now. THE GREAT ZEKE WILL LIVE!" Zeke shouted into the air.

He also noticed the mercenaries were starting to look healthier; they no longer had chunks of ice on their bodies.

On the human side, a few people started feeling strange, until they realized they had powers—they were now Conduits.

"What did you do?" the Beast asked, surprised.

"Oh, I just modified the device so that it not only didn't kill anyone, but also activated the 'Conduit' genes in the people who have them," the robot explained.

"See? Problem solved," said Polygon Man, and he started to fly higher.

"Listen to me!" he shouted, drawing everyone's attention. "I know there are a few problems between humans and conduits, but that's the least of it. This attack is just the beginning, the start of a great war that threatens not only this world, but more and more worlds."

The natives began to look at each other.

"That's why you have to put aside your differences. Even though there are still open wounds, you have to cooperate, because whoever is behind all this will have no problem destroying you all! Do you want to defend your loved ones or your very lives? You have to work together! Otherwise, you will only find death!" Polygon Man finished and went back down.

The Sergeant and the Beast looked at each other. If this was truly the beginning, they had to work together.

Suddenly, a military helicopter began to descend nearby, and once on the ground, a person got out, to the astonishment of the natives.

"Mr. President," the sergeant said, looking for the President of the United States himself.

"There's no need to explain," the President said, approaching the Beast.

"I've heard everything, and if this is truly the beginning, we'll need all the help we can get."

The Beast was shocked to hear that.

"As much as I wanted your head on a silver platter for what you did, your skills would be far too useful to waste."

The president looked at the soldiers, the military, and the local militia. Although they fought valiantly, he knew the Conduits would be useful.

"Listen, I'm willing to work on this alliance. I'll even speak to the UN myself, though it won't be easy." He told Winters.

The Beast just lowered his gaze. "I did all this just to save people from the plague. And now, I see that everything I did was useless."

He looked at the other Conduits. Now that the plague was eradicated, they could coexist with humans, though he knew that, through his own fault, he had to make amends for his mistakes.

"I know my actions won't be forgiven, but I'm willing to defend this world as atonement."

The two men simply extended their hands, clasping them together.

The Conduits and humans began to shout in celebration, though he knew it wasn't over yet. They knew that, now together, they could win.

Kuo and Nix just looked at each other and smiled. They had managed to save humanity and the Conduits.

The heroes began to gather, including the newcomers.

"I see we have some new faces," Ratchet said, noticing Marston and Pyramid Head, the latter making him uncomfortable.

"Yes, welcome to my team," said Polygon Man. "Now we'll have to save the multiverse together."

John just scratched his head. "I don't think I have any other choice," the cowboy said, though deep down he knew that if this threat was real, his family was in danger, and he was going to defend them again.

Pyramid Head said nothing, but he could sense that these invaders were responsible for this suffering and that they should be punished.

Cole and Delsin approached them. "Let me guess, I have to go too?" asked the older man.

"I know, I'm not a fan of this myself," said Polygon Man. "But I have no other choice."

Delsin just smiled smugly. "Causing chaos and death on other worlds? I like it."

Neddle just laughed.

Kuo, Nix, and Zeke approached Cole.

"So you're going with them?" Kuo asked.

Cole just sighed. "Looks like my hero duties aren't over, but if they come back, I'm coming right back here."

"Nah, maybe that won't be necessary. Humans and Conduits are going to work together to kick alien butt," said Zeke. "And to think we were massacring each other just a few days ago."

"Don't worry, love," Nix said, approaching him. "My babies and I will be fine. I'll miss you terribly." She touched Cole's chest.

Kuo rolled his eyes as he pulled Nix away from the man. "Good luck, Cole. I hope you'll be alright."

The Beast and the President approached Cole.

"So you're the great McGrant?" the President asked. "Thank you for your service, boyo. The city, the country, and all of humanity are indebted to you."

"Cole..." the Beast said, sounding somewhat displeased. "...You have proven to be a better man than me. You saved both the Conduits and humans. For that, you have my respect."

Cole just snorted. "I just hope you can work together, because it seems those invaders won't leave this world in peace."

"Okay, we have to go," Polygon Man announced.

"And where to this time?" Raiden asked, "Do we have to liberate another world?"

"Nah," Poligon replied. "We already have enough men to finally counterattack; we just need a base, and I already have an idea."

Chapter Text

IN THE POLYGON MAN UNIVERSE.

What were once the domains of the Renegade, now have become the domains of the Horde, where factories for the army's weaponry, war machines, and even the troops themselves have sprung up.

In the middle of it all stood a palace, visible for miles around due to its height.

The universe's usually sterile atmosphere was disturbed by lightning emanating from the palace.

"COWARD! THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE!"

Inside the palace, Scyla was being brutally tortured by ligthning emanating from the leader of the Horde, who was punishing her for the failure of New Marais.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR BRAVADO COST ME?!" the Horde Lord screamed, continuing to unleash purple lightning from his hand. "YOU COST ME A FLEET! AN ENTIRE FLEET!"

Scyla was backing away from the horrific punishment. "Sir... Stop... I'M SORRY!" she screamed in agony.

"A SIMPLE 'SORRY' DOESN'T DO ANYTHING TO ME!" he replied with even more rage, intensifying the shocks.

Witnessing this barbarity, Edwin stood there, wanting to help his sister, but he also knew he couldn't do anything, and he knew it would be suicide to try.

After what seemed like hours, the leader left Scyla on the brink of death.

"I REALLY needed this..." he said calmly. "Since I'm feeling more merciful now, you won't be destroyed, but this doesn't mean you're completely saved."

Edwin helped his sister to her feet.

"Edwin, what's the estimated number of remaining troops?" he asked his best Master.

"Well... According to my calculations, the army suffered very heavy losses, especially with the failed plan to capture the Beast, and the fact that we still haven't recovered from the attack on Polygon Man has left us very weakened. Continuing on the path we've taken will only lead to total defeat," he replied.

The Horde Lord only growled.

"A tactical suggestion would be to change course: go on the defensive in the worlds we've 'conquered,' abandon the campaigns on very powerful worlds, and we can still continue attacking the weaker universes."

The Lord only considered it.

"You've convinced me. This is a good plan," he admitted. "But I know that purple face and his lackeys are going to launch counterattacks, so I want the forces on high alert and the defenses as fortified as possible. Furthermore, I want the Ragnarok and Babylon Legions to defend the most important universes."

Edwin simply nodded. "It will be done, sir."

"Good, now go, and take this excuse for life with you."

Edwin remained silent and began to leave, with Scyla on his back.

"Thr...yu...Br...other." The robot said, her body repairing itself despite the brutal punishment.

"Don't speak, let your body heal." He replied, and the two left.

Once alone, the Lord took a long sip from his cup. "Damn it, I underestimated the other universes. I thought what remained of my army would be enough until the factories were finished." He looked at his hand, from which flowed a power capable of submitting gods. "It doesn't matter, my plan will continue and we will no longer be slaves..."

He looked outside, seeing the factories under construction, the troops and fleets ready to fight in his name and in the name of all the inhabitants of the multiverse, though they didn't know it.

IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE.

In a room, Drake began to wake up.

"Man... That was a dream... I thought that purple face had returned..." He groaned as he got up and went to the window. "Luckily it was just a bad-"

Once he opened the window, what he saw left him paralyzed: outside there wasn't the sea, but a kind of blue expanse, where blue and white auroras were in the air in a spectacle that would make Galileo weep; it was as if he were in sterile space.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

A voice startled the man, who turned around and saw the raccoon at his door.

"So it wasn't a dream..." Drake muttered. "...That's good."

"Come on, the others are eating," the thief said.

Without a word, the human followed the raccoon down a white hallway.

As they walked, Drake began to recall what had happened yesterday, or what he thought was yesterday, how they had ended up in another universe, but a special one, as it was the base for that little robot. Polygon Man, in addition to receiving the coordinates of Cole's universe, had also received the coordinates of this universe, which they could use as a secret base to plan attacks against the horde.

Thinking about the Horde, a bad feeling came over him. He feared they would attack his world, that they would harm innocents and his family. This made him think it was a terrible idea to leave them alone, although his more practical side reminded him that he wasn't like Kratos, Sackboy, or McGrant. So he knew he couldn't have done anything alone against all that enemy force, hoping that working with this group helped him protect his family.

The sound of the door opening drew Drake out of his thoughts, where he saw they were now in a sort of dining room, complete with strange kitchen appliances and a huge table where the others were eating.

"Whoa, these are delicious," Atreus said, eating a bowl of cereal with milk. "What did you say they were called?"

"Corn flakes with milk," Cole said, sipping from a cup of coffee. "They're as healthy as they are good, second to the brand."

"Father, don't you want to try some?" the young man asked his father.

"No, Atreus, I'm fine like this." He replied, holding up a plate of stuffed olives. He has always feel nostagic for this food, one of the few good things about his homeland.

"Hey, Drake!" Ratchet greeted, making the others look at him.

"Good morning," Nathan replied. "How do I get my breakfast? Do I have to order it or—"

"None of that," Sly interrupted. "Just go to that machine, press a button, order what you want, and that's it." He pointed to a kind of microwave oven.

Intrigued, Nathan approached the machine and, pressing a button, a voice came from it.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO EAT?"

Somewhat surprised, he simply cleared his throat. "A full English breakfast."

The machine made a few noises and, in seconds, a plate full of food appeared in front of him.

This surprised the man even more. "(Like in Star Trek...)" he thought, and, taking the plate, went to sit down between John and Jak.

"So you guys have already had contact with Polygon Man?" Cloud asked Raiden.

"Yeah, that bastard kidnapped us for God knows what reason. We were forced to fight each other for his amusement." The cyborg answered, playing with his food.

"And how did you get out of that situation?" Marston asked, eating a bowl of beans.

"It wasn't easy," Kratos continued. "We, and even more trapped people, fought each other for a long time, almost without rest, until Polygon Man appeared and tried to kill us all at once. He underestimated us..."

Sackboy pulled out a sign with a picture of Polygon Man being punched by a boxing glove.

"You should have been there," Daxter interjected. "We whoop his no-existing ass! And you should have seen him cry like—"

The sound of the door opening silenced the weasel.

"G'day, you bunch of losers." The polygonal being greeted everyone as he arrived on the scene, holding a mug that read "The Most Powerful Being."

The veterans looked at him with disdain, while the "new faces" regarded him with suspicion after hearing his story.

"I see you hate me... You know that contempt is reciprocated."

"Tell me, Mr. Polygons..." Kit asked, trying to lighten the mood. "What's the plan now?"

Polygon Man just snorted. "It's simple: We begin to counterattack." He approached the group, causing some of them to take a defensive stance. "According to what Astro told me, it seems the enemy has gone on the defensive. They're still attacking some universes, but they've withdrawn their forces from key locations."

"The enemy is wounded, so, like an animal, it retreated defensively to recover," Kratos said, eating an olive.

"Those olives look delicious... Seeing all this strange food makes me wish I had a stomach," Mimir lamented at the table.

"So, we'll start attacking the enemies who are still operating?" Rivet asked.

"Yes, the problem is we don't know where or when we can attack, because Astro and the others are busy defending the weaker worlds. But we already have a solution. Follow me."

The others, somewhat puzzled, simply got up and followed the polygonal being.

IN ANOTHER ROOM.

The group arrived at a very large room, where, in addition to Big Daddy and Pyramid Head, there were some very modern devices. But what drew the most attention was a kind of machine in the middle of the room, which looked like a table from which a white light emanated.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Eye of the Multiverse, a state-of-the-art computer capable of mapping all the universes that exist. Astro had it built so that we could use it to learn the Horde's movements and devise a plan."

This surprised everyone, especially those from less technologically advanced worlds, who didn't believe that something like this could exist.

"It's like a fusion between IRIS and the Obsidian Eye," Ratchet said, approaching the machine with Clank.

"But how does this supercomputer work?" the robot asked.

"Astro told me that all it takes is putting someone in the device, and they'll be like our 'eyes' to learn enemy movements. And I already have a candidate." Polygon Man began to look at Mimir.

"Oh, me?" The head asked, "Despite being afraid of that devilish scheme, it would be honorable to be of help."

"And why not Clank?" the male Lombax asked.

"Clank, as that version from another universe, would be more useful on the battlefield, since they could help you with the enemy machines," Polygon Man replied. "Spartan, put the head there." He indicated the kind of table.

Kratos, though still wary, simply approached the machine. "If something happens to Mimir..."

"Don't worry, brother, I don't think it will be painful." The head scratched him.

The Spartan just sighed and finally placed Mimir on the machine, where he was immediately levitated into the air.

"Oooh, that is very strange..." the levitating head said to itself. "Maybe it's not so-"

"Oh, I forgot, the process might be painful."

"Wait, what—" He couldn't even finish before the light began to turn blue, making his head scream.

"AARGG! Hell's bells!" Mimir screamed in agony.

"Mimir!" Atreus shouted, trying to help him, but his father stopped him.

The others remained silent, and what seemed like hours passed before the screams stopped. Mimir hung suspended in the air, his eyes glowing a luminous blue.

"Whoa... This is..."

In front of him, windows appeared displaying data.

"...I have no words to describe what I'm feeling..."

"Mimir, are you alright?" Kratos asked.

"Yes, brother, I can only tell you that now I'm understanding the reason for Odin's unhealthy obsession with knowing everything. So many things I didn't know, so many worlds and cultures I didn't even know existed... Ha, something like that, that All-jerker would even be willing to lick my—"

"MIMIR."

Mimir fell silent. "Oh, sorry, brother..."

"So Mimir now has knowledge of the entire multiverse," Clank said. "I have to admit, I'm a little envious of such an honor."

"Yeah, me too." Daxter leaned against the robot's head. "Imagine all those chicks in all those worlds..."

The only women just rolled their eyes.

"Okay, so what do we do now? I'm getting bored," Delsin asked restlessly.

"Head, do you see any enemy movement outside their territories?" Polygon Man asked.

"Yeah, one second... I still have to get used to this..." Mimir started analyzing some data. "I'm not finding much... It seems the enemy is entrenched in worlds of the universes they've conquered."

"They already have worlds under their control, it's not a good sign," Cole said.

"Wait, I'm picking up some signals..."

From one of his eyes, Mimir conjured an image of a kind of enormous spaceship.

"According to my data, an enemy flying vessel, or rather a 'spaceship,' is flying toward a universe under enemy attack."

"I've never seen a spaceship like that," Ratchet said. "Is there any more data on it?"

"According to what Astro was able to find, this ship is a 'bomber' class, capable of firing explosive bombs powerful enough to turn half a planet into a desolate wasteland."

This took many by surprise.

"Does such a weapon exist?" John asked, speechless.

"Just imagine the chaos we could cause with a weapon like that..." Needles said, euphorically eating his ice cream.

"Well, we have a lead. We can finally attack them." Polygon Man muttered and turned to face the group, who were starting to feel uneasy under the polygonal creature's gaze.

"Cowboy, Remix, Ninja, and Sonnie, you're the ones who will steal that spaceship."

These words made the others look at each other.

"And why only them?" Jak asked.

"And who chose you as the boss?" Raiden asked.

"Okay, 1. Rot in hell, 2. I'm the boss because I'm the one who started it all, so rot in hell again, and 3. You never know if there will be other enemy activity, and I 'prefer' to have them available just in case." Polygon Man replied. "And rot in hell three times over."

Sensing this, the others just remained silent; he had a few points.

"Damn, I'm getting bored here." Delsin lamented, crossing his arms.

"Look, you're coming too, Sonnie," Polygon Man replied.

"Wait, I'm Sonnie?" the conduit asked, confused. "Why?"

"I don't think you'll understand why." Polygon Man conjured some keys and gave them to Rivet. "Remix, you'll be the leader of this group. Here are the keys to a spaceship built specifically for missions like this in the garage. You can use them to reach the objective thanks to the coordinates. I'd say good luck, but you know I wouldn't say that in a million years."

The selected group left on their own, since Rivet knew where the garage was.

"Good luck, Rivet and Kit," Ratchet said, making the Lombax and the robot turn around and smile at him before leaving.

"And what about us?" Cooper asked.

"Go train. You'll need a lot of strength and skill to win this war." Poligon Man answered.

The group remained silent and simply went off to train.

Once they were gone, Poligon Man just grunted. He never thought he'd be working with all those 'Usurpers,' but he knew that safeguarding the multiverse was more important than his vendetta.

"Polygon Man," Mimir said. "Is all this outburst of behavior toward them necessary? From what they've told me, they don't even know why you kidnapped them and hate them."

Polygon Man remained silent, not even deigning to look at him, and just snorted. "You can't understand me, Head. Even though you now have knowledge of the multiverse, there are things you still don't know, and believe me, it's better for you that you don't." He simply left.

Mimir simply said nothing; he knew there was something very profound about this subject, but he also knew that there are things it's better not to pry into, so he returned to his new job, wanting to know more about the multiverse.

IN A CONDUIT.

Dimensional conduits are a mystery, connected to universes, where a single universe could have thousands upon thousands of them connecting to other universes. These conduits can only be used with dimensional technology to travel through them in a more 'direct' way, which can take hours to reach another universe. Only beings capable of creating multiversal portals are able to travel faster.

In one of the conduits, aboard a spaceship, the group of heroes was heading towards the bomber.

"Whoa, just whoa..." Marston said, sitting in his seat, looking out at the spectacle like a child from a window.

"These 'conduits' give me a bad feeling," Raiden said.

"Hey." Said Delsin.

"Don't worry, Mr. Raiden," Kit reassured him. "As long as we're here in this spaceship, nothing will happen to us."

"How much longer? I'm getting bored..." Delsin said, fiddling with his chain.

"Stop whining," Rivet said, piloting the spaceship. "According to radar, we should see the target between..."

From a distance, a large, contorted-looking spaceship began to appear, flying overhead.

"...Now." Rivet began to accelerate. Luckily, the enemy spaceship didn't notice them because their ship had a cloaking device. "Okay, guys, get ready. We're going to have to assault a spaceship," she announced.

"Finally," Delsin said, ready to fight.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Marston asked, readying his revolvers.

"Simple. This ship has a device that will make us, like us, invisible and intangibles, so we can enter the spaceship from the hangar," Rivet explained, readying her weapon.

"This doesn't seem like a safe plan to me," Raiden said.

"You trust me," Rivet simply said and activated Phantom Mode.

The ship became transparent and, thanks to some data provided by Polygon Man, entered the small hangar of the starship.

Once inside, the starship was immediately surrounded by the Soldats, who seemed confused by the sudden appearance of one of their own ships, which put them on high alert.

The starship's hatch opened and, before they could react, their heads flew off, their bodies falling lifeless to the ground.

Raiden just snorted. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm not too harsh on the weak."

"Well done, ninja," Rivet said, exiting the starship along with the others. "Okay, team, we need to head to the control room; from there we can take control of the starship."

"But where can we even begin our search?" Marston asked.

"We'll just have to look for it on our own, plus we'll have to kill all the enemies there. Easy-peasy..." Delsin smiled.

Three assaulters appeared, drawing their swords and attacking the group.

Delsin simply smiled and, wielding his chain, attacked the three. Only one was fast enough to parry the attack, the other two being disintegrated by the smoke blast.

The other assaulter tried to engage him, but the young Conduit put his hands to his face, and in seconds, the robotic being turned to ash that vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind.

"Your power isn't bad at all, kid," Raiden said, not a little surprised. "You seem to have mastered it quite well."

The young man's smile began to turn somewhat arrogant. "And that's not even my only power. I have many others capable of causing death and destruction to all my enemies and even more..."

Those words only worried the others, especially Raiden, who, seeing that lack of morality, brought back bitter memories.

"We'd better move," John said, breaking the tension, and the group began to head for the control room.

LATER.

In the control room, the bomber captain, along with his colleagues, was on high alert. Not only had they received an alarm about a spaceship that had entered the airspace, but he also began to sense, thanks to his neural connection, that the other troops were being eliminated at an alarming rate, until only he and those in the room remained.

It didn't take him long to realize there were intruders, and he knew that, being in a conduit, he couldn't warn his brothers of his situation. He knew he was in deep trouble, but he wasn't going to die without a fight.

He and his remaining troops were aiming their weapons at the only entrance the intruders could use, hoping they could at least kill some of them before perishing.

They waited for what seemed like hours, until he, thanks to his enhanced senses, began to sense something, a kind of timer ticking. Before he could warn his men, the door exploded, causing confusion among the group.

The assaulters were the first to react and rushed toward the entrance, only to be sliced ​​in two and disintegrated by neo-beams.

The soldiers opened fire, but an energy shield stopped the bullets.

Behind the shield, Marston aimed his revolvers and, with precision, killed all the soldiers with a single blow to the head.

In a panic, the captain pointed his weapon at the heroes who had him cornered.

"Surrender," Rivet ordered, pointing his weapon. "There's no need to—"

She couldn't even finish before the captain simply pointed his weapon at his own head and fired, killing himself.

"What happened?" Kit asked in a panic.

"Nothing... Nothing..." Rivet replied, somewhat surprised.

"He preferred death to capture... They must be very loyal to their faction," Raiden said, lowering his katana.

"And I think that was the last one," Marston said, lowering his weapons too. "Or so I hoped."

"I'll go in search of survivors," Delsin announced. "I'm still not satisfied." He went in search of survivors.

"That kid gives me a bad feeling," the cowboy said.

"You're not the only one," Raiden said.

"Okay, Kit, now do your part," Rivet told her partner, who, ready, simply separated from her and went toward what appeared to be the command post. Thanks to what Clank had taught her, she was able to take control of the warship.

"Okay, we've got control," the robot announced. "Hmm, it seems this ship was heading to a universe on a support mission to 'eradicate' the local forces of a world."

Immediately, an idea struck Rivet. "Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked the two men, who just looked at her, confused. "It's time to test this toy."

Chapter Text

IN THE WORLD OF PATAPON.

A few days ago, an enemy squadron had settled on the planet, where they began constructing fortresses across the globe.

The enemy battalion believed this world would be easy to control.

How wrong they were.

The local population, despite being small and relatively undeveloped, was giving them trouble thanks to their numbers and tenacity, which even led to the destruction of some bases. Although they managed to win a good portion of the battles, the sheer number of natives made the soldiers' work difficult.

At one of the main bases, a Maestro was analyzing the reports. Recently, a depot had been destroyed by the natives. No matter how many times they were defeated, they always returned.

And with the new order, requesting reinforcements and resources was nearly impossible. Fortunately, the high command was finally able to give him something: It was still a prototype, but its immense firepower was staggering. With something like this, they could finally rid themselves of this plague.

Suddenly, alarms began to blare throughout the base, taking everyone by surprise.

The Maestro, startled, looked at the computer, which displayed an unidentified aerial vehicle in the airspace, followed by a heavy flying ship approaching.

Upon seeing it, the base commander calmed down. It was one of their own, and it was also the prototype that was going to be used to eradicate the local population. Although he was somewhat confused, since they hadn't been notified of its arrival and he couldn't contact the ship's captain.

Immediately, the alarms intensified, and he saw the cameras showing the ship aiming its weapons at them. Before he could give any orders, the ship fired, destroying the entire base with a single blast.

"Yooho! Eat this!" Rivet shouted from the command post.

"Holy cow," Marston said, speechless. "That was quite an explosion."

"Nice toy we've got ourselves," Raiden grinned. "It'll come in handy."

Rivet smiled as he settled into the captain's chair. "I want to see Ratchet's face when he sees the ship."

"I think our return will be delayed," Kit announced, examining a nearby outpost. "Apparently, there are a few bases scattered across the planet. I think it's best to eliminate them all to liberate the planet, taking advantage of the fact that they won't be able to call for reinforcements."

"That's a good plan," Rivet said.

Delsin appeared on the scene, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Nothing, I didn't find a single one," the young man lamented. "What do we do now?"

"To liberate an entire planet," the Lombax replied. "Gentlemen, everyone to your positions. We have a long job ahead of us."

The three men just looked at each other, and although they didn't know what to do, they simply sat down wherever they could.

"Kit, put down the coordinates of the other enemy bases. We'll have to do some cleaning up."

The ship began to leave, heading toward its next objective.

Below, among the trees, a group of black beings with one eye watched the ship depart.

They had been fighting these strange giants for weeks, beings worse than the Boneteh and Sasoritan tribes. They had even thought defeating them would be impossible.

But seeing this metal being destroy the invaders' base, they believed that the Almighty had finally heard them.

One of these beings, a kind of priestess, simply looked at her companions.

"Brothers Patapon and Zigoton! The Almighty has finally answered our prayers after so many moons! The giant enemy will finally be defeated!"

The little beings just began to celebrate, happy to see news from the Almighty after so long, especially in such a situation.

AT POLYGON BASE.

In a sort of gymnasium, the others were training a bit, waiting for the next mission.

Only most of them were there; some were elsewhere doing their own thing.

"Damn... They're heavy..." Drake said with difficulty, lifting a rather enormous weight.

"Don't you keep in shape?" Cole asked from beside him.

"In theory, I was retired," Drake replied, lifting the weight. "Although I knew I wasn't going to last long, I didn't expect the reason to be a dimensional war."

Cole just snorted. "At least you got to go on retirement. It seems I was destined to die, or at least that's how it felt."

"That's why being a hero isn't my style." Nathan smiled, replacing the weight and getting up, looking somewhat tired. "For me, priceless treasures and deadly adventures are enough."

Cole sighed. "And for me, being a poorly paid delivery boy would have been enough." Cole looked at his hands, which crackled with electricity and ice. "Being a hero sucks."

"Amen."

Ratchet and Clank, along with Jak, Daxter, and Sly, were chatting together.

"...And that's how we stopped an interdimensional invasion of pizza toppings." Ratchet finished narrating.

The others, except for Clank, started laughing, with Daxter laughing the loudest.

"Ha, ha, ha! What a story! What a story..." the weasel laughed. "What's a pizza?"

"I see you've had some crazy adventures since we last saw each other," Sly said.

"Yeah, all kinds, like that time we were poisoned and forced to participate in a deadly race," Jak said.

"Heh, heh, sounds like something that could happen to me..." Sly laughed.

"Mr. Cooper, what did you do?" the robot asked.

The raccoon's smile vanished. "Well... nothing interesting, I was just falling into a time portal before it appeared in the Spartan's world."

"Let me guess." Ratchet said. "You were fighting an enemy who wanted to use time travel to conquer reality or eliminate you."

"Exactly," Cooper replied. "Although I was able to defeat him, he begged for mercy, and I, being the kind-hearted person I am, helped him. In return, he stole my parachute and run away, and I was trapped in the time machine. I thought I was going to die or end up in another time, but it seems the universe had other plans."

"It's a classic. You kick the villain's butt, he begs for mercy so you lower your guard and he attacks you from behind. I've had experience with that before," Ratchet muttered.

Elsewhere, Cloud and Kratos were training.

Cloud was practicing with a dummy that, with each attack he landed, kept regenerating itself.

The dummy tried to attack, but the soldier stopped it and countered with a vertical slash, defeating it.

"Well done, kid," said Kratos, who had been watching everything.

Cloud turned to the other man. "Thank you... sir," he said, somewhat nervously. He had never seen a warrior like Kratos; he was both powerful and skilled, like HIM.

Kratos approached. "You're strong and skilled for your age. Where did you learn this?"

That question made Cloud uneasy. "Soldier training, in my world there's an energy company that trains enhanced soldiers. Although I could never make it into the elite, I was able to train and become strong."

Although he didn't know it was a "company," Kratos nodded. "Even so, you have enormous potential for being a 'Hoplitas'.'" Kratos raised his axe. "I'd like to test your strength."

This took the Soldier by surprise, who didn't know whether to accept the challenge or not.

"If you don't want to fight, I-"

Immediately, the Soldier raised his sword. "No, I want to test your strength too."

Kratos said nothing and got ready.

Cloud made the first move and attacked Kratos, who stopped the attack with his axe.

When the two weapons clashed, Cloud was nearly sent flying by the force, landing on his feet.

Surprised by this, the Soldier launched an Igni attack, which Kratos blocked with his shield.

The Spartan immediately charged at the soldier, who narrowly dodged the Spartan's axe.

The two began to fight, each able to evade the other's attacks, though Cloud was starting to struggle to keep up. Then, in a moment of weakness, Kratos knocked his sword away with a powerful blow.

Even more surprised by the man's strength, Cloud narrowly dodged a punch and, with incredible speed, landed several blows, though they seemed to have no effect on the Spartan.

Kratos, though not feeling the blows much, was amazed by the young man's reflexes and, with his axe, tripped him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Cloud tried to get up, but the Leviathan's thread held him fast.

"You have potential, young man, but you still have much to learn." Kratos removed the axe from his neck and extended his hand.

Cloud only grunted, swiftly defeated and humiliated, almost as if it reminded him of his time on the Shnira.

"You're stronger than I thought." The soldier grabbed the Spartan's hand. "Where did you learn all this?"

Kratos almost grimaced. "From childhood, I was trained in brutal warfare; everything I learned was through experience in the field."

Kratos just lowered his gaze. Remembering his past only depressed him, though he also found solace in recalling the good times before HE made him his slave.

"Father!" someone shouted, and the Spartan saw his son, but he wasn't alone.

"Brother, how are you?" Mimir asked, but he wasn't in the young man's arms; he was in the air, inside a metal contraption.

"Mimir?" Kratos asked. "What is that?"

"Oh, this? It's a hoverboat, a very 'modern' invention. It allows me to move around on my own without anyone's help," Mimir replied. "I still have to get used to using it."

Kratos simply nodded and looked at his son, who was licking something.

"Atreus, what's that?" he asked, though he felt he'd seen it before.

"It's ice cream," the young man replied. "It's very sweet."

Sensing this, Kratos grew nervous. "And who gave it to you?"

"That flaming head weirdo. Apparently, he was surprised when I found out I'd never eaten anything like that—"

"I don't want you going near him again, especially not alone," Kratos said coldly.

Atreus, somewhat surprised, simply nodded. "Right, Father."

Cloud was also somewhat surprised by Kratos's tone of voice, calm yet threatening at the same time.

Suddenly, a sound emanated from Mimir, drawing everyone's attention.

"Mimir, what's going on?" Kratos asked his companion.

Mimir simply opened a window in front of him and began to read.

Immediately, Polygon Man appeared, along with the others.

"What's going on? An attack?" the purple-headed man asked.

"The radars have just detected a massive enemy fleet heading toward another universe," Mimir announced.

This news took the others by surprise.

"What? Didn't you say they wouldn't attack other universes for a while?" Ratchet asked.

"Maybe they've already recovered," Clank theorized. "Or it could even be an unplanned attack."

"Whatever it is, those jerks think they can get away with anything," Polygon Man said, somewhat annoyed. "Only I can do it!"

That last comment made the others glare at him.

"Let's not waste any more time! EVERYONE TO YOUR POSITIONS!"

"But what about the others?" Drake asked.

"I'll warn them. Besides, I don't think they'll be that hard; we've kicked their butts every time, and we'll do it again," said Poligon Man.

"Um, Mr. Poligon?" Clank interrupted. "It's not very wise to underestimate the enemy, besides—"

"EVERYONE GET READY!" Poligon shouted and looked at Ratchet. "Furball, do you know how to fly a ship?"

ON AN EARTH IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE.

In one of the many variations of planet Earth, a desolate world where humanity was ravaged by its own creations—machines of many kinds that nearly drove them to extinction.

Despite everything, war still raged in this world.

On a battlefield, the same mechanical beings that had seized control of the planet were fiercely battling another, more modern type of machines, though the two sides seemed to be at a stalemate.

Somewhat distant from the battlefield, a group of people, led by a young woman with red hair, were climbing to a high point, admiring the massive battle from there.

And they weren't the only ones.

From the sky, another group of people, floating in the air, with a more futuristic appearance than those below, didn't seem pleased with this renewed attack, especially their leader.

The group began to descend, and the leader noticed them, especially one person.

"Ah, I knew she was involved in all this... Like the rat she is." The leader glanced at the man beside him, his right arm nodding as he pointed a weapon that had formed from his arm, firing at them.

The young woman, noticing the approaching attack, took refuge among the rocks, as did her companions.

One of them, a somewhat elderly man with dark skin, went to one of his companions, a robust man, and began assembling a kind of bomb that the latter carried on his back.

"Sylen, the Zeniths are coming." The young woman told the old man. "Can we deactivate their shields?"

"I'm activating it. It won't be long, Aloy." The older man replied as he continued assembling the device.

"This fight is pointless, failed clone." The leader spoke as he and the others landed on Earth. "You worms have lived here for far too long, a land that awaits us. While you fought and lived like cavemen, we have fought for the future of humanity, true humanity."

"By the sun, does this guy like to talk?" the other man grunted, trying to maintain his composure.

"You have no idea, Erend," the young woman replied.

"...But I would still be willing to let you live. Give us Tidas; I know she's hiding. Hand her over, and you and the other worms can 'live.'" The man couldn't help but laugh sadistically.

Aloy just groaned; she knew this was all a lie. She wanted to eliminate that worm, but until those shields were active, it would be impossible.

"Sylen?" she asked the other man.

"Just a few seconds..." the man replied, almost finished.

Receiving no response, the leader simply snorted.

"Nothing? Good..." He glanced at his men. "Everyone! Fire—"

Suddenly, a loud rumble startled everyone, even the machines on both sides stopped, somewhat stunned.

The humans, surprised, began to notice something in the sky.

"By Do..." The other woman in Aloy's group simply said, terrified by what she was seeing.

It was some kind of machine, or so they thought. It was enormous and unlike anything they had ever seen before; not even the titans they had encountered on their journey reached the height of this machine in the sky.

But those most surprised were the Zeniths, who, despite the rude and grotesque style, recognized it as some kind of spaceship, and it was larger than their own.

"Gerald, what the hell is that?" His right arm asked, alarmed and surprised.

Gerald simply said nothing. It wasn't possible that those savages had a spaceship, especially one like that, and Nemesis shouldn't have arrived so early. "Who were they?"

Aloy remained speechless at the appearance of that ship, being the only one, along with Sylen, in the group who knew what it was. Suddenly, she felt her Focus begin to go haywire.

"Aloy!" A voice came from the same device. "What...is this...Hap-"

The unknown ship began to open fire, targeting the Far Zenith base, bombarding it.

"Activate the shields!" Gerald ordered immediately, but before they could do anything else, his group was hit by the bombardment, scattering them.

Aloy's group was surprised by this, though somewhat relieved to see that it wasn't the Far Zeniths; they felt that the machine wasn't even with them.

And their worries became real when a projectile was heading straight for them.

"Run, everyone!" Sylen shouted, and without hesitation, the group started running, just in time to dodge the blast, although the force of the explosion sent them flying some distance.

"Guys!" Aloy cried as she was thrown to the ground.

The ship began an orbital attack, deploying its troops on the field, who began fighting fiercely against the machines, thus restarting a new battle.

Aloy, lying on the ground, stunned by the impact, began to regain her sight. She saw humans, but with distorted features and of many different types, fighting all the machines.

"YOU!" someone shouted, and Aloy saw that it was Gerald, still alive and very angry.

Seeing him approaching, Aloy got up and, grabbing her bow, prepared to defend herself.

But before the two of them could do anything, they were surrounded by the Soldats and Assaulters, cornered.

The two humans simply turned around, shoulder to shoulder, guards up.

"Who are these people?" Aloy asked Gerald, her bow ready.

"How should I know?!" the man replied, summoning his weapon from his right arm. "They don't look like they're on your side too."

"Don't tell me," she replied sarcastically.

The enemies began to close in.

Gerald just grunted. "Truce?"

Aloy, surprised by what she heard, just snorted and, with her bow, fired an explosive arrow at a Soldat. Upon impact, it exploded, affecting those nearby.

Gerald began firing at the enemies, managing to hit some.

The Assaulters began charging at them. Gerald transformed his weapon into a sword and began fighting them.

Aloy barely dodged an Assaulter's sword, responding with a heavy blow from her bow. She then used her spear to stab another and send him flying.

Gerald tried to use his plasma rifle, but anAssaulters surprised him, causing him to miss. Luckily, the shields protected his arm from being Amputated.

Gerald growled, converting his weapon back into a sword and slashed the Assaulter in two. But before she could do anything else, a Berserk kicked him, sending him flying.

Seeing the giant, Aloy began firing arrows, but the Berserk was unfazed and started moving toward her.

Just as he was about to attack, an axe struck his head, splitting it in two.

Shocked, Aloy thought one of her friends was responsible, until she saw the axe return and, turning around, saw a muscular man with a beard as the weapon returned to his hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Aloy couldn't answer because the soldats began firing at them. Kratos was quick and, stepping in front, stopped the fire with his shield.

It didn't last long, though, as the group was caught in Pyramid Head's red wires.

"Who... are you?" Aloy asked.

"There's no time to explain," the Spartan replied. "We can only say we're allies." Kratos hurled his axe at the trapped soldiers, decapitating them instantly.

Aloy, confused, simply grabbed her bow and prepared to fight. She didn't know who he was, but she knew he and that weird 'man' weren't the enemy, unlike those grotesque humans.

Somewhere in the distance, Gerald was getting up, dazed from the blow. Some Soldats saw him on the ground and prepared to finish him off, until lightning struck them.

Gerald, who witnessed the scene, was surprised, even more so when he saw a hand in front of him.

"Are you alright?" Cole asked.

Gerald, somewhat surprised, simply rejected the help caustically. "Who the hell are you?"

Cole couldn't help but sigh. "Just an ally. The guys who just arrived are the real problem."

More enemy troops began to arrive, armed to the teeth.

"I hope you know how to fight." Cole activated his powers. "Because we'll have a lot to do."

The other man, surprised to see Cole's powers, just grunted; his plans were more compromised than ever.