Memory Lane

32. Tactics

32. Tactics

Several more seconds were spent surging through the purple matter, when it finally gave out to the open plains of the Frontal Barrier. Fred crawled his way onto the purple grass, while Silhouette clambered from Fred's leg up to his hand, forming a dark face which was lifted to see where they had landed.

"yippee!!, we're not dead. Also, clever thinking" Silhouette's mood changed from pessimistic to optimistic upon observing the Wall of Reality in the distance.

"if I am correct in thinking, this must be the Frontal Barrier" Fred got up and looked around.

"it really is, and all we had to do was claw our way to the top" Silhouette reached down from Fred's hand and enlarged to mirror Fred's shadow on the ground with the purple sun at high noon in the distance.

"you might have to catch me up one everything here, in case we really need it, which would be now!!" Fred looked uneasy and quizzical about where he now was.

"well, that giant blue patch is the Wall of Reality separating the Conscious and Subconscious, while that building there should be the Memory Palace. Odd, I imagined it a little brighter, not dark and depressing" Silhouette pointed across the purple grass to the Memory Palace and the Wall of Reality.

"Anima must be in there, Superego too" Fred hypothesized.

"we need another plan" Silhouette suggested.

"observation" Fred concluded.

"that it?" Silhouette felt underwhelmed by his friend's proposals.

"what do you mean?" Fred replied.

"how about scouting, then finding Anima, then kicking Superego's arse and saving the day" Silhouette wondered.

"you know, that is a good plan" Fred decided in favor of the alternative plan. Per said plan, Fred and Silhouette made their way past the empty Memory Palace and around the back courtyard to find the infamous Superego punching repeatedly at the cracking Wall of Reality, flanked by his supporting legions and his one remaining minion, Ego. Fred ducked on the grass to avoid being spotted, but he believed he would be too far away to be seen as he and Silhouette had stopped halfway between the palace and the wall. Silhouette formed a small shadow on Fred's shoulder so he could see what was going on.

"oh no. he's almost through. Looks like the wall won't hold out for much longer at this rate" Silhouette examined the scene.

"we need to get to Anima before he tears down the wall" Fred asserted.

"I'll create a diversion while you go free Anima" Silhouette thought quickly.

"great" Fred agreed once again as the two split off to put their plan into action. Further away, Superego could see the fruits of his labor right in front of him as large chunks of the wall now came crashing down faster than ever before.

"it is almost time, Ego. My ascension is nigh" Superego proclaimed as he continued to deliver the final necessary blows to bring down the entire edifice. Inside the Memory Palace, Fred was surprised to see a complete lack of guards or anything terrifying to stop him in his tracks. it turned out the facelift Superego had given to the palace was only on the outside, with the inside remaining pearly white and bright.

 He searched down several hallways, opening up doors along the way so he could find Anima. The final door he entered was the master suite opposite the grand upper hall. Stepping inside slowly, Fred could see a large dark sarcophagus on the massive center bed and could hear a sound of muffled yelling and screams of frustration. Fred climbed onto the bed and kicked the sarcophagus off hard, causing Anima to tumble out draped in a straitjacket and muzzle. Fred then jumped off the bed and leaned Anima up.

"Fred, how did you...?" Anima could not believe her eyes.

"no time to explain, we need to go, now!!" Fred finished untying Anima before they escaped.

"you're not thinking of leaving, are you?" Anima asked in the hallway outside the office.

"of course not!!" Fred raised an eyebrow. His future argument was interrupted by a loud bang from outside. Anima and Fred both approached the back windows of the palace and looked out to find a large column of black smoke rise up from where several of Superego's soldiers once stood.

"what was that?!" Anima asked.

"that must be Silhouette's diversion. Quickly!!" Fred led the way back downstairs and out of the palace to re-join Silhouette. Several dark soldiers caught sight of Fred and Anima before moving into intercept. Despite being encircled, Fred and Anima managed to beat the soldiers with massive energy blasts, forcing the surviving soldiers to retreat back to the main group near Superego.

"my liege, he is here" one of the retreating dark soldiers told his creator.

"impossible!!" Superego paused from pummelling the wall and turned back to see two very distinct faces approaching.

"your orders?" the dark soldier knelt down and awaited a response.

"is that even a question?. KILL THEM ALL, YOU FOOLS!!!" Superego lashed out and pointed back for his armies to charge at the three assailants before returning to his business with the wall. The sudden tide of coming dark soldiers made Silhouette regress to his comrades.

"this is going to be harder than I thought" Anima looked to the wall of soldiers heading straight towards them, armed with multiple weapons born of Fred's mind and memories.

"you sure you two want to go through with this?" Fred turned his head to each side, where he saw Anima and Silhouette stand with him rather than leaving in a panic. Turning back to the coming army, he was now ready to go on the attack. Anima succeeded in collecting weapons from fallen dark soldiers, which she used to shoot and stab her way out of the battle. Fred and Silhouette both used their unique powers of energy manipulation and sheer force to break through the enemy lines. After nearly half an hour of constant fighting, most the great army of Superego had fallen to a ragtag team of rebels. The three then ran toward the Wall of Reality, where Superego and Ego remained.