Can't Be Erased
"Okay, run this plan by me one more time?" Sunset whispered. "You think that a film reel can stop the ink demon?"
"I know it can," Penn whispered back. "It's how you win the game."
"And it's in the center of his lair? And you need ME to help you fight your way in?"
"That's right."
Sunset glanced up ahead at the two cartoons currently leading them into the center of his hellish world. "On my way down, I saw something. It looked like these... cracks in the world."
"Yeah, it's happening down here, too." Penn shook his head. "I think we're messing with the course of events here too much..."
"It didn't matter if we changed things in Remnant!"
"Remnant wasn't revealed to be a closed time loop at the end!" he hissed. "This whole game just starts over when you win, and it all happens again exactly the same way!" He seemed to catch himself after a moment, glancing up to see if their new "friends" had heard him. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that makes this place a LOT less flexible..."
Sunset sighed. "If it's all going to start over, why are we even doing this, then? We should be focused on getting out!"
"I don't know, maybe you're rubbing off on me..." he replied. "I couldn't just do nothing after they saved me and Missy."
"Of all the times for you to stop worrying about causing a paradox..." Sunset joked, causing them both to snicker. "And Missy's magic?"
"Currently out of commission. Looks like the demon's not going to let us use the same trick twice."
Sunset sighed as they emerged into a cavernous room with a huge pool of ink. For a moment, her breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of the "bigger" ink machine Missy had been talking about. It was at least the size of the Sweet Apple Acres barn, maybe bigger.
"If the end reel is anywhere, then it'll be in there..." Alice muttered.
Sunset was still trying to wrap her head around there being a second Alice Angel. It shouldn't have been THAT big of a surprise to her, considering everything else she'd seen, but it had seemed like the one upstairs had been one of a kind, like the ink demon. As it was, this one was definitely more pleasant than the first.
"And you guys really can't cross the lake?" Missy asked.
Alice shook her head. "A drop of water in the ocean is rarely seen again. It would be the same if the ink reclaimed us."
Sunset peered out over the ink, her nose scrunching up at the smell of it. "I don't see any monsters."
"Oh, give it time once we start wading..." Penn muttered, adjusting the black-and-white recreation of his shield. "It'll be there."
Sunset nodded, reaching down to her waist. "If I'm not careful, the saber will wind up shorting out again, and we'll be in trouble." She turned to look back at Penn. "Are you SURE about this?"
His gaze grew steely as he stared across the black lake. "Yes."
She flicked the switch, summoning her red blade. Once again, it felt like a breath of fresh air to see ANY color in this monochromatic world. "Then I guess we're doing this."
"Missy, you fly across and keep lookout. If we need a distraction, you're on deck."
Missy gave a quick salute and took to the air, keeping a high arc over the lake until she landed on the other side.
"Sunset, stick close to me. We're going to cover each other's backs." He gave his wrist a snap back and forth, loading fresh rounds into the swiveling barrels, then sat on the edge of the dock and lowered his feet into the black water.
Sunset nodded as she joined him. With a silent count of three, the two of them hopped off. The ink was indeed not as deep as it looked, barely coming up to her bellybutton. Well, at least I know my phone was already ruined, so I don't need to worry about THAT... She felt Penn's back press up against hers, leaving no space between them. Secure in the knowledge that nothing could sneak up on them, they began to wade across.
"Maybe if we don't kick up too much, it won't notice we're here..." Penn whispered.
"Let's hope so..." Sunset nodded. As they moved, a thought came to her that made her smirk. "You know, we never got a chance to fight together in Remnant like this. We were on opposite sides."
"I'm always on your side, Sunset, but I'll admit, this IS nice."
Both of them froze for a moment as something stirred nearby, causing ripples in the surface of the ink. Neither of them so much as dared to breathe as the movement traveled towards them. After a few seconds, it passed by, only barely missing them. Once it had moved on and sunken back under the surface completely, they both let out a synchronized sigh of relief.
"I retract my earlier doubts about a monster in here..." Sunset whispered.
"Told you so," Penn volleyed back.
"Yeah, yeah... So after this, we use the reel to beat the ink demon and get out of here?" Sunset asked, trying to distract herself from the terror of not being able to see their enemy.
"No..." Penn muttered. "Remember what I said about this being a time loop? We beat the ink demon, and the odds are good that it all resets."
"With us inside."
"Yeah."
"And that would be bad."
"Yeah."
"Then WHY-"
"Because maybe I'm wrong, okay? Maybe if we just play it on a normal projector, or if Alice or Tom do it, or if we just get out of here and THEN let them do it, maybe it'll give them a chance!" he hissed. "You got to make the call in Remnant, and I'm making one here! I just want to TRY..."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Never going to let that go, are you?"
"Not a chance, no."
Both of them stopped as another disturbance rippled across the surface. This time it began to swim in leisurely circles around them, keeping them locked in place.
"I think it knows we're here..." Sunset whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Steady..." Penn whispered in return. "I'm going to try to throw it off... Cover your ears."
Sunset did as she was told, doing her best to cover both ears without letting go of the saber. A second later, she felt a hard bump against her shoulder from the telltale force of recoil.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three shots rang through the room, and Sunset turned around for just long enough to catch sight of three splashes on the far side of the lake. Both of them watched as the monster instantly broke away from circling them and shot off in the direction of the bullets, kicking up a wide wake with its size and speed. With their hunter momentarily distracted, they began moving again.
"The biggest problem is that I don't know how we're going to make it back up to the top floor..." Penn muttered bitterly. "Since it all loops, you never see the main character backtracking."
"Don't worry. I've got an idea about that..." Sunset whispered in return. "We just need to get back to the elevator."
"I'm open to all suggestions, here... care to clue me in?"
"Later. Let's just focus on this for now." Sunset turned over her shoulder again, and the bottom fell out of her stomach as the realized that the surface of the lake had gone completely still. "Where did it go?"
They stopped again, and Sunset wanted to scream from the frustration. They were more than three-quarters of the way across. Missy was tantalizingly close, now.
"...Should I shoot again?" Penn whispered.
All at once, the ink beside them exploded as a huge figure rushed to the surface, a gigantic cartoon hand rearing over them with a misshapen white glove.
"YES! SHOOT AGAIN!"
Both of them raised their weapons, with Penn unleashing a spray of bullets while Sunset held her blade up defensively to ward the hand off from trying to crush them. The bullets only seemed to enrage the creature, with the holes they punched in it sealing within seconds. Sunset watched it lean back, readying for a lunging blow.
"SWITCH!"
The two of them rotated, bringing Sunset to the front and letting Penn take the rear as they continued walking backwards. When the hand lunged for them, Sunset swung her saber in a wide arc. There was a hiss of boiling ink as the palm of the glove split open, showering them both in a black spray as it recoiled and writhed in the air. The two of them used the time wisely, moving back and away from it as fast as they could until Sunset felt a hard surface pressing into her back.
"Made it!" Penn shouted, pointing out the obvious as they both scrambled to get out of the ink. In just a few seconds, they were all away from the edge and out of the giant hand's reach.
"That was close!" Missy sighed with relief as she grabbed Sunset in a tight hug.
"Looks like you managed to wound it..." Penn added as the hand sunk back into the lake. "I've got a feeling that getting back's not going to be so easy."
"That's a problem for later." Sunset switched off the saber and clipped it back to her waist. "For now, let's get that anti-ink-demon reel."
Penn nodded, anxiously adjusting his shield out of habit. "We're going right into the heart of the monster's lair, here. Stay alert."
Sunset felt Missy's grip on her tighten as the three of them stepped through the doorway at the front of the giant ink machine.
Inside, the space quickly opened up into a large series of halls. Penn took the lead here, clearly working from memory again. On every side, Sunset could see glass cases, like museum exhibits. Each case had a nozzle at the top that sprayed ink all over the insides. The thick fluid would soon begin to move and collect on its own, making new shapes inside the cases. As they passed more glass boxes in the walls, Sunset saw creatures in every stage of forming. Some were the same lost souls she'd witnessed huddled in masses earlier when Alice had driven the elevator down to force her to see the truth. Others were twisted monsters, like the fishing-pole-headed thing that had tried to attack her. The "lucky" ones seemed to be the copies of Boris, which mostly looked properly intact as they formed.
He created a factory rather than a paradise, and no one but the wise and the lucky were ever able to escape... Alice's words echoed in her mind again, sending chills down her spine. This WAS a factory. It was a machine cranking out cobbled-together pieces of human souls in an attempt to make something that could be marketed to the masses and save a failing vision.
Eventually, the hallway led them to a dead end, sealed by a huge metal door. There was a conspicuous lever attached to the wall nearby, which Penn approached and placed his hand on.
"There's not going to be a sneaky way to do this. Once we pull this lever, it'll know we're here. This is a smash-and-grab, not a heist. The reel is on the throne, that's all we need." He pointed to Missy. "Grab it and get it out of here FAST. Then it's just a matter of getting out of here before Bendy can..." he swallowed nervously and tugged at the neck of his shirt while glancing at one of the glass cases, "Well, before he has three fresh souls to feed to the machine. Sunset and I are going to cover your exit."
Missy floated away from Sunset just far enough to stretch herself out and give her wings a few test flaps. "Okay... I'm ready!"
Sunset switched on her saber and nodded. "I guess that this is my own fault, teaching you we can change things and help people..." she smirked.
That managed to get Penn to smile, in spite of the tension. His shield expanded, the metal plates shifting to cover a larger area. With one deep breath, he seemed to center himself... and pulled the lever.
All of them shuddered and cringed as the sound of grinding gears and squealing metal pierced the air, signaling their entrance as the doors began to part. Even cutting through with my saber would have been more subtle! Sunset regretfully bemoaned the realization too late. Missy rushed up to the doors, turning sideways and squeezing inside before they had even finished opening. Sunset stayed close behind, trying her best to force her way through after her.
The room was huge, with projectors playing the company's numerous Bendy cartoons on every inch of the walls. It seemed to be a monument to everything that had been created in Joey Drew studios, a lifetime's work all on display at once. In the center of the room was a chair crowning a pile of congealed ink, with cogs and other pieces of machinery embedded in it to create steps leading up to the top, where a pair of pipes had been mounted to the chair's back and bent into the rough shape of Bendy's horns. Guess that's as much as I should have expected for a "throne..."
Missy didn't hesitate when she spotted their objective sitting on the cushion of the seat. She rushed up and snatched the circular container with the reel inside, examining it closely. "The End! Just like Penn said!"
"Good! Now let's get out of here before- LOOK OUT!"
Her warning came too late as a huge black set of claws swung around from behind the chair, creating an impromptu prison with Missy locked inside. Sunset's eyes widened as the feeling of dark magic began to rise higher and higher, and a figure emerged from behind the throne.
At first, it looked like the same ink demon that they'd seen upstairs, but its body was rippling and shaking. Without warning, it began to swell and grow. The once-gnarled limbs became long and muscular as the last vestiges of the cartoon identity faded. Its crescent-shaped head grew and arched into a pair of tall devil's horns, spines and bone spikes grew out of its body, and the evenly-drawn cartoon teeth all sharpened and separated into a roaring maw of mismatched fangs that looked ready to eat her whole. This... thing wasn't Bendy any more. It wasn't even trying to pretend. This was a true, honest-to-Celestia demon.
"LET HER GO!" Sunset forced herself to shout through the fear, brandishing her saber in its direction.
The monster wasn't intimidated by her weapon, snapping at it before letting out a roar that shook Sunset to her very core.
Once again, Sunset felt like she was drowning in that malevolent aura of evil magic, but she forced her quaking knees to stay standing. This was do or die, with not only their lives, but their very SOULS on the line... and she wasn't about to lose hers for a second time.
"GRRRAAH!" Sunset roared as she ran forward and raked her saber across the massive claws of the monster, severing its fingers and freeing Missy from the cage. It hardly flinched at the pain, and they had already regrown by the time its hand lunged for her. Sunset couldn't help feeling a surge of satisfaction with the practiced ease that she transitioned to a tight roll across the ground, narrowly avoiding being grabbed. And Beacon Academy's training continues to be worth its weight in gold!
"SUNSET!" Missy cried, but Sunset was already up on her feet and waving Missy towards the door before the little angel could swoop in.
"GO! GET THE REEL OUT OF HERE!" she shouted as the now-massive devil glowered over her. The room was tall, but not very wide, and she knew Missy was realizing the same thing as her: she was cornered. "I'VE GOT ITS ATTENTION, JUST GO!"
Missy glanced uncertainly between Sunset and the exit before finally gritting her teeth and disappearing through the doors.
BANG! BANG BANG!
The demon flinched slightly and turned away from Sunset to look at the new intruder. Penn had entered the room shield-first, letting the swiveling barrels of his weapon do the work of targeting as he rushed in.
"How's this for a mouthful?" he shouted, swinging the shield to bash at the demon's head. While it was distracted, Sunset lunged forward, ready to plunge her saber straight into its heart.
The demon, however, was unperturbed, leaning back onto its smaller hind legs and grabbing at each of them with one massive hand, stopping both attacks short. Sunset grunted as she felt its claws coil around her, slashing desperately at its arm to try and sever the limb. The ink hissed and boiled as her blade passed through, but never severed completely. She tried reaching further, plunging the entire blade into its upper arm, but the moment that the base of the handle made contact with the liquid ink, it popped and sputtered, shorting out again and leaving her disarmed. The eyeless demon seemed to stare at her with a wicked grin, clearly enjoying watching her struggle. The pressure on her mounted as it squeezed her harder and harder, driving the air from her lungs and forcing the blood to rush to her head.
BANG! BANG!
"All eyes on ME, ugly!" Penn shouted, collapsing his shield to get it free and continue shooting point-blank. The bullets seemed to do little more than annoy the monster, turning its wicked grin to a frown. Its teeth parted, allowing a long, snake-like tongue dripping with black ichor to slather itself across the shield's surface. The moment that it made contact, the surface darkened and began to violently shudder. In a matter of seconds, Penn's shield had transformed back into a shapeless blob of ink. His expression changed from grit to horror as the blob rapidly crawled up his arm. It swelled up into what looked like a recreation of the cartoon Bendy's head, only to split vertically down the middle with a monstrous mouth and latch onto his face.
With the annoyance tended to, the ink demon flung Penn to the side, slamming him against one of the walls and leaving him slumped in a pile as the little Bendy head continued to chew on him.
"P-Penn... no..." Sunset could barely eke out more than a whisper of her worry, the lack of oxygen making sparks of light swirl in her vision. Things were starting to go dark, and it was clear that they had been outclassed from the start.
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Missy pushed herself like she never had before, feeling as if she were crashing into and scrambling on every wall on the way out. Despite her panic, however, she soon made it back out to the lake.
Was it always this far? she wondered as she zoomed on a beeline for the waiting Tom and Alice. It felt like the trip back across the lake was three times the distance it had been to reach the ink machine, but she still pushed herself to try and cross it as fast as she could.
Wait, aren't I forgetting something?
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she heard heavy splashes from behind her as the giant hand emerged, hot on her tail as it sped through the ink.
"Oh, for the love of Ra..." she muttered. "Would you give it a BREAK, already?" She turned her course upwards, barely escaping the monster's grip. Instead, it circled back around towards her goal, setting itself between her and the other pair.
She didn't have TIME for this, her friends needed her! She examined the reel, then the remaining distance to the shore. She couldn't run fancy calculations like Isis, but... she was pretty sure she could make it.
Plus it WAS shaped like a frisbee, so...
"HEY, CATCH!" she reeled back, judged the distance one last time, launched herself into a pirouette to build up speed... and released the reel into the air.
The precious film flew straight and true, sailing over the ink, the giant hand... and Alice's head. It was only a quick snatch from Tom that stopped it from colliding with the ground. He gave a silent wave in her direction, signaling their success.
"Yesss!" Missy pumped her fist with glee before turning on a dime and diving back in the direction of the ink machine. Her mission was finished, and there wasn't any sign of Penn and Sunset being on their way out, which meant that they were probably still fighting the ink demon inside.
I don't have my cards, I don't have a weapon, I can't use the ink to make things like Penn... She pounded her fist against her head, trying to shake loose some new idea or piece of information. Come on! What good is being an Angel of Mischief if you can't help fight DEMONS? Can't I wish for some kind of miracle, or something?
KA-KA-CRACK!
The air shuddered as a shock wave traveled through the world, and Missy's eyes widened. Beneath her, the lake was beginning to split. White cracks had started up on the rock and split open a rip in the surface of the lake. She could feel the same tingling, static-y sensation coming from them as they spread across the ink, not even slowing down as they reached the giant ink machine's base, both climbing its walls and burrowing into its floor inside. She forced herself to brave the strange sensation as she dove back into the hallway and sailed towards the throne room. She had NO idea what this meant, but she was pretty sure it wasn't good. Whatever was breaking this world had gotten worse when she'd delivered that reel.
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KA-KA-CRACK!
There was an ear-splitting screech, and Sunset felt the crushing grip on her body released. Her body instantly collapsed, but after several deep breaths of blessed oxygen she was able to force herself up onto her hands and knees.
The demon was reeling in the face of something new: white light. White light was spilling into the room from all sides. More of the cracks in reality had managed to reach the heart of the ink machine. She watched as the demon's hand slipped into one of the cracks, causing a terrible hissing noise and a crackle of static. It instantly pulled the offending hand back out again, but the damage appeared to have been done: the tips of its fingers were covered in what looked like TV static, black and white light constantly battling for supremacy and rapidly spreading down its hand. With a screech of pain it leaned down and bit off the hand at the wrist, its heavy fangs making quick work of its own sinew. Sunset watched, wide-eyed as the hand was rapidly transformed into a pile of oozing static that leeched away back into one of the cracks.
Crack! Cra-crack! More of the white spiderwebs traveled across the walls, multiplying the danger. The demon shook its head and roared in the face of this new threat, but the fracturing reality didn't seem to care. With one last howl, it turned and ran into the back of the room, sinking into and through the wall and leaving behind a huge version of the pentagram symbol.
Sunset coughed weakly as she tried to push herself back onto her feet, crawling across the floor and avoiding the splits in the surface of the world as best she could. When she reached Penn, she grabbed the little monster with one hand and flung it across the room, straight into the light, where it vanished with a sputtering fizzle.
"Penn... wake up..." she tried to yell, but the near-crushing of her ribcage left her with almost no voice, and certainly not one that could make itself heard over the explosions of failing machinery and crackling of the static. For a second, she considered leaving.
He was a copy. An imitation of her friend, just like everything else in this place. She couldn't even be sure that she COULD carry him out...
"All eyes on ME, ugly!"
"I don't know, maybe you're rubbing off on me..."
"I'm always on your side, Sunset, but I'll admit, this IS nice..."
No.
No, he wasn't just a copy. Now, as the world was crashing down around them, he'd been the same Penn she'd always known, with a joke and a forced smile meant to comfort her. When one of them was in danger, he still rushed in headfirst, swinging whatever heavy object he could find. At the end of the world, THIS was who was beside her. Whenever she'd had a question, he'd still had an answer. Everything he'd said, everything he'd done... she couldn't deny it, any more.
"Real... copy... it doesn't matter, does it?" she grunted as she yanked on his arm and pulled it over her shoulders. "It's still YOUR boat if it still sails and you're the one who sails it..."
She braced both of her feet against the floor and pushed up with all of her strength. At first, she could feel that she wouldn't be able to break free of gravity, but without warning he seemed to become lighter, allowing her to stand with him. On the other side of his shoulders, Sunset could see a smiling Missy practically beaming as brightly as the white light.
Between the two of them, they managed to stagger their way back out the same door they'd come in through, with only a few short brushes with the cracks being narrowly avoided by errant wings and feet. By the time they were standing on the shore of the ink lake, Penn was starting to stir, his eyes blearily cracking open.
"Wha... Wha' happuh?"
"You took a big hit, take it easy..." Missy gave him a pat on the back as they watched the surface of the lake. The giant hand was easily visible, now, writhing and shaking as more of the static consumed it. Clearly, it hadn't known to stay clear of the white light. Carefully, they eased Penn into the ink, followed shortly by themselves. The three of them waded together across the lake, and Penn slowly began to be able to take more and more of his own weight. Unfortunately, by the time they'd reached the other side where Tom and Alice were waiting to pull them out, he still couldn't seem to walk on his own, with a heavy limp in his left leg and still leaning on Missy for help. Eventually, Tom had used his mechanical arm to pick Penn up by the back of his shirt and put him on his back. It was almost funny, seeing Penn flopping and holding on for dear life, definitely a stark contrast to Missy's many weightless piggyback rides.
"I can't believe you DID it!" Alice cried as the hurried back down the hall.
"We didn't. The- you called it 'Whiteout,' right?- the Whiteout scared it off. We were as good as dead in there if it hadn't shown up when it did..." Sunset shook her head. "The demon's still out there, but hopefully you can use that reel to put it down for good once we're gone!"
Alice turned to Tom, a hopeful smile on her face. "See? I TOLD you everything happens for a reason!"
Tom simply rolled his eyes, but Sunset didn't miss the quick thumbs-up of gratitude he gave them.
Soon, the entire party was standing in the elevator. Tom carefully placed Penn in the corner before the two inky individuals stepped back and out of the box. Sunset stopped with her hand hovering over the "Level 9" button.
"Aren't you guys coming?"
"We've got our own safehouse, one the demon doesn't know about." Alice gave them a sad smile. "We'll hide there for a while, work on putting together some way to trap it in a room with a projector. Should give you plenty of time to escape." She held out her hand, which Sunset took. As they shook, Sunset found herself surprised. After all this time fighting ink monsters and running from them and trying to dodge their attacks, she'd thought that they would be as cold and clammy as the ink they were made from, but Alice's hand was warm to the touch, and hardly left a hint of any extra stain on her skin.
"Thank you. All of you. For the first time any of us can remember... the people here have hope."
Sunset felt her face flush slightly with embarrassment as she stepped over and pressed the button. The fence doors rattled shut and they began their long ascent. The trio and the pair waved to each other until they couldn't see each other.
Now, having what felt like a fleeting moment of peace, Sunset stepped over to Penn and let her legs finally collapse with relief, putting them both at eye level with each other.
"Hey..." he croaked.
"Hey, Penn."
There was only enough time for his eyes to slightly widen before Sunset leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she dared in his fragile state.
"Thank you..."
"F-for what?" he stuttered.
"For coming back."
From the side, Missy smiled wider. "What did I tell you? Different cards, SAME spirit."
Sunset chuckled, sitting back and giving her partner a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, now. You could have done a better job explaining it, though."
"HOW? I made it clear as day for duel spirits, didn't I?" Missy asked.
"Yeah!" Missy replied, leaning on her shoulder.
Both of the Missys paused for a moment before jumping back, pointing an accusatory finger at each other.
"YOU!"
"ME!"
"Here we go again..." Sunset chuckled to herself as she watched the world pass by outside the elevator. The fractures were everywhere, now, but things still seemed to still be holding themselves together.
"So, where we going?" Misprint asked, stepping over to lean on Sunset's shoulder and examine Penn more closely. "Oof, is it just me or is he looking a little pale?"
"I met someone on the ninth floor who can make the elevator go all the way up to the top. We help her and we'll be as good as home..." Sunset leaned in closer, realizing that Missy's cartoon double was right. Penn's face had a large... splotch on it that she hadn't noticed before. It was like someone had thrown a splash of sepia-colored paint on him. She reached out and tried to wipe it away, but it stayed put.
"I'm just a little tired..." Penn muttered as his eyes slid shut. "Gimmie a minute to pull myself together..."
Sunset glanced at the pair of angels, both of whom were nervously biting at their nails and exchanging worried looks.
"We'd better hurry..." Missy muttered
"Yeah."
"You said it, me!"
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"Well, well, well... the prodigal errand girl returns..." Alice Angel's voice purred over the loudspeakers. "Did you bring me what I asked for?"
Sunset grunted as she helped Penn to his feet. "Things have gotten more complicated, but I'm sure we can work it out..."
"Who's THAT?" Missy hissed.
"Somebody you REALLY don't want to meet..." Penn muttered. "Though I'll admit, I've always wanted to see her face to face... THIS is your friend upstairs, Sunset?"
Sunset shrugged as best she could "Well, I never said she was my friend..."
"What did she ask you to bring her?" Misprint added.
"Right now, she's our only hope of getting back to the surface!" Sunset whispered. "So just let me do the talking, okay?"
The two angels didn't take well to the hall of corpses that they had to trek through to reach Alice's room, but Sunset was able to keep them under control with a pile of hushed assurances that they wouldn't be next. Penn limped his way along the bridge, nearly pulling them both into a tumble into the ink multiple times before the two Missys would push him back into balance.
Alice was the picture of impatience as the motley crew entered her room, arms folded and fingers drumming on her arm.
"THIS is your friend who could make such perfect recreations? He's practically broken, himself!"
Sunset nodded. "Yeah. He made the other mes, and this other Missy, all without even trying, but-"
"Fine. Even if he IS damaged, I suppose it's better than nothing." Alice cut her off with an impatient wave of her hand. A door to the side slid open. "I'll take him, and you and your 'angel' can head to the surface."
"WHAT?" Missy and Misprint shouted in sync, and Penn's eyes widened with fear.
"Sunset, how COULD you?" Missy cried.
"This is a joke, right? A big joke!" Misprint pressed her fingers together. "Ha, ha, very funny but not really!"
Sunset took a deep breath. "You- We-" she stuttered for a moment as she accepted who was to blame. "I was wrong. He's not just a copy, he's as real as any of us! And..." she tightened her grip. "And he's my friend!" She glanced over at Penn, trying to not let her heart break at the look of betrayal on his face. "So I've changed my mind! You can't have him, but-"
"Can't? CAN'T?" Alice screeched, stepping up to the glass between them and pounding her fist against it. "Who are YOU to deny me perfection after so long? I CAN, and I WILL!"
"W-wait!" Sunset held up her free hand. "I- I think maybe he can still help you, all you have to do is ask!"
"He can?" Missy asked.
"He can?" Misprint echoed.
"Uh, what?" Penn added for good measure.
"Well... you made all the others right? Don't you think you could... help one who came out a little off?" Sunset forced a smile at Penn.
Alice glared at them for another moment before stepping away from the control panel and walking in the direction of the open doorway.
Penn leaned up to her ear, pushing his words right up against her eardrums. "There's a BIG difference between making something from scratch and changing someone else's work, Sunset! And I don't even know how I did that other stuff, to begin with!"
"Well, it's this or we're trapped down here with a crazy angel hunting us, so improvise!"
"Oh, and who's fault would THAT be?" he groaned.
"I made a mistake, aren't you glad I figured it out before we got HERE?"
"This is more than just a MISTAKE, Sunset!"
Their hushed argument came to a stop when Alice emerged from the dark door. She sauntered up to them with a confident strut and placed an inky finger under Penn's chin to force him to look up at her.
Sunset watched a shudder travel through him... as his face began to flush.
"Is she correct? Can you give me what I want, or shall I TAKE it from you?"
His face flushed harder, putting some very noticeable color into his cheeks. Sunset's eyes widened. You have GOT to be kidding me! Is he seriously-
"I-I'll try my b-best... he stammered, straightening his posture slightly.
This seemed to be enough of an answer for Alice, who stepped away and spread her arms. She slowly turned in a circle, letting him see every inch of her. Penn simply watched, perhaps a little TOO closely, until she was finished.
"Well?"
Penn swallowed loudly. "I- I think I get the picture..." He took a deep, shuddering breath, and closed his eyes. "As Joey Drew would say, 'Let's dream it until it's real...'"
Everyone fell silent as his brow furrowed in concentration, and all eyes were on Alice. With a tremble in his fingers, Penn slowly reached out, beginning to brush his fingertips across her face. Sunset forced herself to repress her gasp of surprise when the ridge of misshapen skin began to recede. The area around the corner of her mouth began to fill in, covering her exposed jaw and forming a pair of symmetrical lips.
It's working, it's WORKING!
Her hopes turned to fear, however, as a tremble began in Penn's hand. It started in his fingers, but soon traveled up to his wrist, his elbow, and finally all the way up to his shoulder. With one last grunt, his hand fell away, hanging limply at his side.
"I- I can't... I can't..." he stammered breathlessly as he shook his head.
Alice reached up to her face, hastily examining it with both hands. "No, no, no, no, NOOOOOO!" She screamed as she fell to her knees, pounding her fist against the floor repeatedly. Once she'd exhausted that avenue, she grabbed Penn by the shoulders, pulling him out of Sunset's grasp and pressing him against the wall.
"Do it again, it was working, I could FEEL IT!" When he didn't respond immediately, she shook him violently, slamming him against the wall. "DO IT AGAIN!"
"I- I can't..." Penn whispered. "I can't change... the creator's... vision..."
"GRRRRAAAAAAH!" Alice ripped herself away from him, throwing herself against the glass in a tantrum. Sunset rushed to where Penn was leaning, immediately helping him steady himself.
"You okay?"
"Y-yeah..." he stammered, eyes wide as he looked over her shoulder. "Hard to say if we're gonna stay that way, though..."
Sunset spun around, finding Alice staring them down, both her good and bad eyes fixed into the united effort of a soul-chilling scowl.
"If you can't do it, then I'll just have to take whatever it is that gives you this gift for myself..."
"H-Hey, that's not the deal!" Sunset interposed herself herself between them, reaching for her saber only to remember that she had shorted it out. I've GOT to get this thing waterproofed! Without a weapon, she simply spread her arms into a living barrier. "I told you, you can't have him!"
"That was EXACTLY THE DEAL!" Alice screamed. "You give me the one who can reshape the ink, and I let you and your little friend leave this place!" She seemed almost to grow as she advanced on them, a shadow stretching taller and taller until its terror rivaled the ink demon, itself. "You cannot leave without me, you cannot stop me, and you CANNOT DENY ME!"
Sunset raised her hands into a guarded position as Alice reeled back, ready to take this to hand-to-hand if need be, but everything was cut short as the sound of grating metal sliding into place caught everyone's attention. On the far wall, the door she had entered through had slotted shut, and up on her stage... was Misprint, leaning on the control panel with a grin.
"You know, I REALLY can't help myself around mysterious levers!" she giggled, shifting more of the controls and happily tapping away on the buttons.
"No! My controls!" Alice cried, running up to the glass. She pounded her fist against it, sending a series of cracks through the surface. Misprint giggled and stuck out her tongue as she pressed another button. Behind the glass, a series of metal shutters slid shut, locking Alice out.
"Going UP, anybody? Ooh, what's THIS button do?"
"Don't you DARE- GAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Alice's threat was cut off when arcs of electricity ran across the shutters, causing her to violently spasm before being flung against the back wall, where she collapsed unconscious.
After a few seconds that seemed to assure she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, the door slid open again, revealing Misprint dusting off her hands with a satisfied look on her face.
"And THAT is how you use a distraction properly!"
Missy flew up, examining her double again more closely before finally sighing and offering a friendly hand. "A trick for her and a treat for us... Okay... That was pretty good."
Misprint grinned and shook the original's hand, each one giving a satisfied hum. When the quiet moment was finished, she removed her tiny hat and took a sweeping bow. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitresses!"
"So, what'll we do about her?" Sunset asked, nodding towards the unconscious Alice.
"Well, going by Penn's reaction, maybe we should bring her along!" Missy folded her arms with a snicker. "We ALL saw him blushing!"
Penn had an indignant look on his face for a moment, looking as if he were going to deny it before sighing in defeat. "Look, I have a type, okay? I love the kind of woman who can kick my-"
"Aargh..." Alice grumbled, cutting him off and leaving everyone ready to run if she woke up. Thankfully, it only seemed to be a light stir, and she quickly settled again.
"Well, you know... she's been terrorizing the 'copies' down here for a long time, if our trip in was anything to go by..." Misprint muttered thoughtfully as a less-than-innocent grin spread across her face. "Maybe you should leave it to us copies to deal with her."
From the dark doorway, Sunset spotted two more figures walking in: Satanset and Chibiset, both looking as intact as when she had last seen them and each one wearing a smug grin.
"Somebody has to do something..." Chibiset smiled and rubbed her hands together evilly.
Satanset looked down at her tiny companion, seeming to be surprised at the sudden malice before turning back to Misprint for clarification.
"Was that REAL?"
Sunset felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of the empty operating table up on Alice's stage. She felt a trickle of pity for the unconscious angel... which dried up when she remembered her threat to cut Penn up on said operating table.
"I'll... leave you girls to it, then."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You know... it's too bad we didn't get to go to Bendy Land." Penn muttered as they ascended in the elevator.
"I think I've had enough of Bendy's world for a lifetime!" Missy declared.
"No, I mean there was a whole theme park prototype somewhere down there!" Penn chuckled. "But... I guess you're right. I think I can live with skipping it..."
Sunset smiled, watching as the elevator finally reached its last stop.
"So... we won?"
"Not until the last card's drawn..." Penn muttered in return, pushing himself onto his feet with Missy's help. "This place could still collapse at any minute. I don't think stopping Alice did TOO much damage, considering she was supposed to die anyway, but I'd rather not stick around to find out."
"How was she gonna die?" Missy tilted her head curiously.
"Stabbed in the back by Allison and Tom." It was somewhat unsettling how easily he shrugged off the intended death for Alice, but Sunset was too tired to care. "They get the jump on her while she's preoccupied with the player."
"Well, I just want to get home and get out of these ink-stained clothes..." Sunset took a moment to examine herself. "I look like I fell into a tar pit on my way to a funeral and tried to wash it off in an oil slick!"
The three of them giggled as they stepped out the door and into the hall. Sunset could tell almost instantly where they were, emerging from one of the locked doors she'd been forced to skip on their first pass.
The three of them slowly waded through the ink, finally able to do so without running for their lives.
"You know... I think I'm over my writer's block..." Penn muttered with a smile.
"Penn? Some advice for next time?" Missy leaned in. "Just do some drugs or drink yourself under the table, like a NORMAL writer, okay? It'll be slightly less destructive!"
The next round of laughs was cut off by another shudder through the building that threatened to knock them off their feet.
"Come on, let's pick up the pace..." Sunset whispered as she shifted more of Penn's weight off of his bad leg. Together, they made their way to the front of the studio, where the gaping hole in the floor that had gotten them stuck here was waiting with the portal home just behind it. Looking closely, Sunset could see that there was plenty of usable floor around the hole, they had simply stepped onto a perfectly-cut circular hole held up by only a single flimsy board.
She wanted to scream at someone or something, but she was too tired. She resolved that if she ever met the person who MADE this game, she'd settle for punching their lights out.
She carefully led Penn around the hole, watching for any more signs of sabotage until they'd reached the portal.
"Home sweet oldsmobile, here I come!" Missy cried as she flew through the portal.
The moment she was through, another tremor occurred, and a glance back revealed that the cracks had finally reached the top floor.
"Guess nobody's supposed to make it OUT of this place either, huh?" she muttered. Penn nodded.
"Hey, Sunset?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you came to my rescue and everything, but... we need to have a SERIOUS talk about you almost selling me out to Alice Angel."
Sunset's face flushed with shame. "That... that's fair. I was scared and confused, but I know I messed up."
"But for now... let's just call things good and work it out in the morning..." he raised his other hand to stifle a yawn.
Sunset nodded, and together the two of them stepped into the inky portal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The cold autumn air hit them like a truck, instantly chilling every inch of Sunset's soaked clothes.
"Welcome back, Sunset Shimmer.""Isis... I have NEVER been so glad to hear your voice." Sunset sighed with relief through her shivers. "Can you help get us some dry clothes?"
"Affirmative, right away."A few minutes and some turned backs later, all of them were dressed in multiple layers of warm clothing.
"And then there was this GIANT ink demon and it was all like 'RAAAARGH!' and Sunset was like 'Don't worry, I'll distract him!' and it was so scary and-"
Missy hadn't stopped talking to Isis since they'd gotten back, hardly so much as stopping for breath as she relayed their adventure to the drone. Sunset's attention, however, had been divided, and she noticed that she wasn't the only one. Both she and Penn had been keeping one eye always trained in the direction of the portal.
Something still felt... off. The portal hadn't been there when they'd arrived at the campsite, and none of them knew how it could be there now. If portals could MOVE, it went against everything Isis had told them about her mapping project. If they couldn't, as all the prior evidence would have suggested, then...
New portals are still opening... They can show up anywhere, at any time...
"And then I was like 'CATCH!' and I threw it as hard as I could and-"
KA-CRACK!
Everyone bolted upright as the sound rang out through the night, echoing multiple times in the air. Everyone except Isis was staring at the portal with varying degrees of horror, while the small droid floated across the camp and landed neatly in front of it.
The white cracks had spread to the actual edges of the PORTAL, now, like a mirror breaking at the edges.
"Fascinating. Hume levels are continuing to drop, now holding at thirteen..."Crack! went the portal as the white lines moved further in.
"Twelve. At this rate, it is possible we may be able to observe a full universal collapse from the outside.""Wait, it's gonna COLLAPSE? Like, just the portal, or the whole thing?" Missy asked as she floated over. "There's PEOPLE in there! There's another ME in there!
"Isis, be careful!" Sunset urged as they gathered a respectful distance behind her.
"Wait... Isis, you can measure Humes?" Penn asked.
"I acquired plans and a baseline measurement from a secure server some time ago.""Wait... you didn't try to hack the Foundation, did you?" Penn asked, eyes wide with fresh horror. He pressed his hand to his forehead with a groan. "No. No. I can only take so much horror in one night. That's something else I'll deal with in the-"
Without warning, every one of Sunset's senses seemed to explode, sending her reeling backwards. They all were telling her the same thing: DANGER!
"Sunset! Are you o-" Penn was interrupted as the surface of the portal swelled and bulged out. None of them were able to react in time when the massive hand of the ink demon grabbed him and yanked him through, drawing him inside.
"PENN!"
"PENN!"
"RED ALERT!"Sunset and Missy both rushed for the portal, but the cracks in the surface were already continuing their spread, beginning to meet up in the middle. Sunset tried to stop herself from crashing headfirst into them and was saved by a hard tug from Missy on the back of her shirt.
"DON'T! It'll erase you!"
Sunset spun back around, gesturing to the portal. "We can't let it just TAKE him!"
"Hume levels are dropping precipitously! Seven! Six!"The portal began to ripple and roll like cloth in the wind.
"Five! Four!""WHAT HAPPENS AT ZERO?" Missy screamed, picking up Isis's drone and shaking it.
"Three! Two! ONE!"With one final sound like shattering glass, the portal tore itself apart, splintering into a thousand pieces along the white fault lines. The pieces spread out like an explosion for a moment, then violently pulled in on themselves like a black hole. With what sounded eerily like a chorus of screams, the pieces all collapsed to a single point and vanished in a flash of white light that forced everyone except Isis to look away.
"Zero. The universe... appears to have imploded under the pressure of the surrounding realities."When Sunset looked back, she saw something that filled her first with relief, then horror.
Penn was there. He'd made it out, somehow. However... the back of his shirt had been violently torn open, and three huge claw marks had been left in his back. Rather than blood, they were festering and boiling with black ink. Sitting on top of him was a note in the same sepia color that had made up the whole world on the other side. Scrawled in messy handwriting was a message that sent shivers through Sunset's soul. As she picked it up with trembling hands, the sheer aura of dark magic threatened to burn her fingers. There was no doubt that this note had been written by the ink demon, itself.
CAN'T. BE. ERASED.
Sunset and Missy looked at each other, then the note.
"Did we just... accidentally break another universe so hard it imploded?" Missy whispered.
"What... have we done?" Sunset whispered. She reached down, giving Penn's shoulder a gentle shake. "Penn? H-Hey, you're back... Wake up."
"Penn?" Missy floated to the ground and lifted his face out of the dead grass, giving it a gentle turn to the side to let him breathe. "This- this isn't funny! We're outta Monster Reborns, and I-I can't handle re-convincing Sunset, anyway! Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"WAKE UP!"
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Oh, good. For a minute there, I was worried Sunset was gonna sell Penn out to the other Alice...
...SUUUUUNNNNNNSSSSSSEEEEETTTTTT!
Okay, good.
Are we gonna get an arc in the finale where all the surviving villains join forces to try and take them down?! Salem, Bendy, the Daleks, the Ender Dragon, maybe Joshua?
10545691
I dont want to speak definitively about the ending because it's so far off, but that is ABSOLUTELY a high-ranking contender for the final climax.
10545704
Oh, that would be SO COOL.
Whats the next world if you don't mind me asking. Also oof.
So when is the other rainbooms coming into the picture?
10545734
I refuse to give specifics about that because I want it to be a surprise, but... soon. Relatively soon, there's still at least one more arc between then and now. If you've read the crossover with Sunset's Isekai set slightly in the future then you know that almost all the requirements have been met.
I wanted the core group of Sunset, Penn, Missy, and Isis to have a very solid foundation before any other characters were introduced, since they'll be the ones the rest of the character dynamics are built off of. Penn's had his knowledge turned against him in RWBY, Missy had to confront responsibility in Undertale, Sunset had her moment of doubt in BATIM. They've all had trials that they struggled through and found a way out of as a group, a family. (Isis is a bit of an exception, given her nature. Her character development will be on a different timetable.) They're not out of the woods when it comes to rebuilding the trust they've lost in the last couple arcs, but once they do it'll be a trust that's unbreakable.
And THEN I'll feel comfortable starting to slowly introduce the rest of the Rainbooms and Missy's "Big Sis."
10545733
Afraid I can't say! You'll have to wait and see!
10545752
Fair enough, atleast we know Penn is fine cause of the sunset isekai crossover.
Kind of dumb of them to stand near a collapsing universe though but eh. Question; did anon a miss happen to this Sunset?
10545760
Probably. If it doesn't conflict with something said in-story, it's safe to assume all the stuff in official EQG media happened at some point. Only reason I've never referenced it is I haven't had reliable access to the comics.
So I guess this is where he gets his weird tastes from that spoiler thing I read in the future
10545766
Weird taste in drink chasers? Yes. Weird taste in women? That was always there.
10545750
Phew!!! I really want Pinkie to come first...to annoy the heck outta Penn and Sunset even more.
Someone is a fan of JT Music. đ
Penn has a bad habit of making the worst sort of enemies it seems.
10545769
Are you gonna clarify if the BATIM universe has been truly destroyed, alongside the people in it?
Seems a downer ending after all the effort of getting the reel (nevermind there was never a guarantee it would do anything but triggering another loop).
P.E: attracted to Susie Alice, seriously?
Oh... Oh my, Penn... Allow me to introduce you to a certain Pinkette I am sure you will LOVE! *Clear throat* Oh Yuno.... (Kinda want her to make a cameo now...)
Also... joyful days... The Foundation is in play. SCP-682 has breached containment. Again. So letâs introduce him to Salem! Go for a good old Kryptmannâs Gambit.
10545991
I think that will need some clarifying, which I plan to give in-story, yes.
And hey, Penn's got a type:
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/695/407/cd6.gif
((Additionally, as those who've read the "prototype" arc can tell you, this story wouldn't exist if I hadn't sat down one day and said "Huh. I wanna see these two monster girls fight. Imma write it."))
Oh my heavens Penn really does have the worst luck sometimes.
WHY IS IT THAT HES ALWAYS THE ONE TO SUFFER LIKE THIS
10546459
The unfortunate problem with traveling with a girl who has Plot Armor is that the disasters it deflects will often wind up bouncing onto the people nearby. Penn will toughen up...
And my earlier guess was correct for what Susie Alice wanted from Sunset. Not gonna count the fact that Sunset stopped giving a damn about Penn being a duplicate rather than the first one as that was obviously gonna happen. Still interesting way to end a arc and nice reference to JT Music's song for the game. On another note part of me wonders what happened to Penn in there given how his injuries look or if that's a result of getting injured by Bendy that we never see what happens to Henry when he gets hurt by the hostile ink creatures.
10545991
Hey, Some want the girls that can Kick their posteriors, some want the sweet and smart, and others want the ones that<t can kick their asses obsessed with them
10546415
Ah youâre a mane of couture and taste following Sensei Spiegel
Iâm happy to hear your family is doing OK so far, that being said you need to be cautious, as some of my distance family friends (people that I sadly never meet) began to recover from you know what, stared to work and act as normal only to fall back and... well, you can probably figure out the rest by what I wrote between parenthesis, so, just because the sound of bullets is stoping doesnât mean you can poke your head out of the trench yet
Any way, passing to more pleasant things... in the form of a fictional ink demon and an animation studio that is basically hell but full of inocentes... man 2020 has being quite the show hasnât it?
What ever, so... the Bendy arch being this short makes sense, a 8ish hour game that loops back to the begging at the end doesnât exactly sound like the most âfree world to manipulateâ, even in the raw power to the writer that fanfic brings in the form of its limitless and boundless potential (yeah, is it to obvios that I consider fanfic one of the most important things that has happened to literature since the appearance of fiction?), so a short arch makes sense.
That being said, itâs pretty obvious that this is a âTo Be Continued...â rather that a proper ending, for what I have understand of the lore of Bendy and the Ink Machine, the world of the game is actually a prison, created by that âI-need-a-punch-in-the-face-,-with-a-chairâ asshat know as Joey Drew, in order to contain his big woops (aka the ink demon) and to hide all the victims of his âattempts to make good of his investmentâ, basically the game takes place inside a universe in a permanent time loop inside the original ink machine that Joey brought back to his department to keep going with his
), I will say thatâs bad but honestly, considering everything, this is more like adding a class of gasoline to a termo-nuclear fuelled fire, is not going to make much of a difference in the grand scale, but then again, considering the ending that class of gasoline cause the fire to spread to Pennâs person so thatâs still a problem...
crimes against humanityâexperimentsâ while also trying to destroy Bendy by introducing new âcharactersâ aka victims that serve as wild cards that might be able to break the hellish cycle; so with that on top of the fact that Penn mentioned that we didnât visit Bendyâs World gives me enough confidence to predict that this isnât the last time we will see if Bendy and friends as the destruction of their universe only means that the cycle inside the original ink machine has being broken, realising everyone and everything trap inside it to the world somewhere (most likely killing Joey in the process... yay!Now as for this:
I get where Penn is coming form but, the foundation might prove to be useful, he only needs to get his hands on SCP-729-J and heâs pretty much OP invincible, he only needs to show it to Salem for her to have a breakdown :P although he technically can do the same with pretty much every bad guy the come across; and if he canât get his hands on 729-J at least Bright might be willing to give him a chainsaw-canon, maybe get a little of SCP-666½-J, tricking Salen and her guns or some other annoyances to eat it, it might not be a good solution, but causing Salem a total collapse of her digestive system before opening the gates of hell to destroy what is left of her insides might be a good starting point for Pennâs retribution against her.
But leaving the comedic part of the foundation behind, the posible roll of the foundation will definitely be interesting in this story, to start: just how stable is the universe? I mean, a lack of a define cannon with multiple dimensions, timelines and entities that can bend really as a pice of paper doesnât sound very sturdy; then thereâs the fact of hie this hole multiverse debacle has affected the world of the foundation, my best beat is that they are holding but a broken mascaraed scenario is just around the corner and they are running in borrow time, which is bad because the start or the Broken Mascaraed Cannon, is, unlike the rest of the of that cannon, very unstable period of time, as the foundation got it ass raided by everyone thx to the leaks of information, and well, a general crisis of the multiverse is probably not going to help; however thereâs also a list of things that might prove useful to Penn and friends as well as dangerous, finding SCP-4001 might prove to be useful or certain doom to the party, and considering Site-13 (SCP-1730) was in dimension limbo, the risk of coming across it are high, also, if Salen discovers 2935 is pretty much game over, she just needs to walk in and out and she wins; but whatever you plan to do with the SCP universe is up to you.
Now as for the Alice thing... considering this:
That Penn thought while fighting Cinder in chapter: ....To the Same Pitiful Fate. (and Iâm linking it because it took forever to find this) Iâm not that surprised, nice to see some character consistency, however I also being listening to âOverly Sarcastic Productions recently so I have Greek mythology in mind, so with that relatively dangerous combination my mind came up with this idea:
Medusa might be Pennâs kind of girl and she might want to keep Penn as company if he plays his cards right, you see the âoriginalâ version of Medusaâs story is that she was a priestess at one of Athenaâs temples, and she was so beautiful that people began to worship Medusa rather that Athena, and well, Athena being a greek god (and greek gods for nature were assholes) got jealous and decided to tricked Poseidon to go to the beach where Medusa was and have sex with her, the thing is both womans and mans needed to be virgins in order to be a priestess at the temples dedicated to Athena (if it was dedicated to Aphrodite that part would have being totally different :P), so not wanting to lose her status Medusa ran to the temple she was part of and begged Athena for protection as Poseidon had followed her to the temple, instead Athena watch with a diabolical smile as Poseidon rape Medusa and after he was down Athena came down and as punishment for âdesecratingâ her temple, turned Medusa into the snake woman with petrifying eyes we know today... (yeah, this is a remainder that Greek gods were assholes); any way, like I said if Penn plays his cards correctly with this version of Medusa he might be able to get in her good side, and she might wanna keep him as company, live company, but thatâs just a crazy idea I had...
Any way, at the risk of being repetitive take care of your family and yourself m8
10548703
The copy I read was a from a library, and I read it many years ago. I can't exactly remember which one it was.
And so ends the Bendy and the Ink Machine arc. This last chapter felt a little rushed but oh well.
Penn really can't catch a break. I suspect that the Ink Demon may have taken Penn's soul as the Bendy-verse collapsed. Fortunately there's another Penn soul still in Undyne. Just have to figure out how to transfer it from Undyne into the other Penn body. I imagine that's what's going to happen.
Look forward to the next installment. Keep up the good work.
On a more serious note, I hope you and your family get better soon. You'll be in my prayers.
I would also like to add that it brings a certain joy to my heart when I see references to the RWBY arc pop up in subsequent arcs.
it's only natural given that it was the longest arc so far. Especially given that Sunset's actions in that arc inspired Penn here to at least try to change the fate of the world of Bendy and the Ink Machine.
I'll admit I'm inspired now to check out a Bendy and the Ink Machine playthrough. (I saw one years ago on one of the React channels but they never finished the game.) GT Live has one and as a Matpat fan I'm inclined to check that one out. Probably won't take me as long to watch as RWBY did.
I might end up liking this arc more than the RWBY once I do. 
10545763
that one's available online, i'm pretty sure
Bendy and the Ink machine is not a TIME loop. It fakes you out with "sequel shows what happened before" stuff. The last cinematic with Joey Drew is what happened BEFORE you went to the studio. It shows WHY you went to the studio.