Commission for Xannador. I hope you like it!

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time fanfic

Genre: violence, action

Warnings: Violence, occasional cussing, some blood in later chapters

Hope you all enjoy!

Ice Shot

Ch. 1

Things could not get more complicated. Ratchet had finally found his friend Clank. After being taken by the Zoni, Ratchet knew he had to search for his best friend. According to the little robot, Dr. Nefarious was planning on using the Clock and had to be stopped.

The Lombax worried over some things. He knew the Doctor could be up to no good, and knowing him, he would most likely use the machine to control everything, including undoing his losses and failures as well as take over the whole universe. Also thinking, he figured the Doctor would probably even kill Clank and himself over and over just for the amusement out of it when he was done doing that to Qwark of course.

Another troubled thought the organic had was of a particular argument recently. After saving Clank, Ratchet and Clank had been talking with Alister about the Clock. The elder wanted to use it to fix his mistake and even offered to have the other Lombaxes help Clank. Both Clank and Ratchet knew where the general was coming from and why he wanted to bring the Lombaxes back, but the process was just too dangerous.

When Clank had said this, Alister tried to reason with the younger Lombax, but Ratchet trusted his friend and knew he would not lie for no good reason. He believed Clank and could see his reasoning. Because of this, Ratchet agreed with Clank that it was too much to risk. Hurt by this, Alister had left without another word.

The action hurt Ratchet, for he valued Alister as well as Clank. He even saw the elder as like a father type figure. However, he could not dwell on these thoughts any longer, for they had a Doctor to stop and a universe to save.

"Are you alright Ratchet?"

The Lombax's ear twitched at the question before turning his head slightly and moving his eyes to the right to look at the tiny robot beside him. He threw his companion a grin.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because I tell by looking that you are slightly worried about Dr. Nefarious but, more than that, the outcome of the disagreement between you and the General. As you would say, I could read it on your face. Am I correct in my assumption?"

Eyes widened slightly before to return to normal and focus back on the route ahead of them. Nothing was said which confirmed that Clank was right. They both knew each other pretty well, which is to be expected for how long they have known each other.

Suddenly, lights started to flicker in the ship. It seemed odd before the lights turned back on fully. Clank and Ratchet glanced at each other in confusion.

"How odd…" Clank observed quietly.

Ratchet nodded in agreement before pressing a button to talk to Aphelion. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, I think so," She responded in her usual feminine tone, "I had some strange power surge and could keep the lights on for a moment. I am not sure what happened but I think it is gone now."

"Hmm…" Clank mummed. "Ratchet, we must be careful. That is very odd. Power surges can happen though but we should be on our guard." The Lombax nodded before flying forward once more to get to the Doctor's base.

After flying for a while, Ratchet's thoughts began to drift once more. He wondered what to expect from the Doctor. He figured destruction and mayhem; that was a given. But what death traps and guards would there be? Even though the Lombax never acted scared, that didn't mean he never felt it. Acting like a smart ass and over confident, though lots of time he felt that way, helped him get through when he wasn't feeling like that.

The radio started to static some. Confusion crossed the Lombax's face once more. A hand went to mess with the controls to change the frequency until a voice was heard.

"Well well" A voice replied but nothing could be seen but a black screen, "Looks like we have a lost vessel me friends…"

Before more could be said though, the black screen disappeared to show the face of a ship pirate."

"Ah! Dammit Jim! Though' I told ya to keep the signal hidden so the scallywags wouldn' see me!"

Silence followed before a voice in the background, but the owner could not be seen, replied, "Uh, sorry boss."

"Ugh," A sigh escaped the pirate on the screen before taking a deep breath and continued what he was doing.

"Get that vessel boys!"

"Great," Ratchet mumbled before tightening his hands and heading into the ship battle.

There were fifteen ships total, which shouldn't be too bad considering he's had twenty before. The locking on mode was turned. Locking on to three ships, rockets were fired and those ships were destroyed easily.

A rocket then headed towards Aphelion. Spinning to the left, the missile was, without difficulty, dodged. Other smaller shots were taken but all missed their target.

Locking on again, but to five ships this time, five more ships were taken out in a matter of seconds. Having destroyed eight ships only left for seven more. Two more targeting systems used and this should be over rather quickly.

This game of cat and mouse lasted for another about five to ten minutes before all the enemy ships were destroyed and no damaged had been taken by Aphelion.

A grin of triumph formed on Ratchet's face before heading on his course once more. The flight had been taking longer than they had hoped because of that ship battle but they were going to stop Dr. Nefarious, they had to; there was no question to that.

Oddly, static started to filter through the radio once more. Confusion took over the Lombax again as he reached to mess with the frequency. He could have sworn he got rid of all the pirates. Strangely, the changing of the frequencies did nothing to get rid of the static from the radio. How odd…

Suddenly, a large explosion was heard. Alarms and warnings were heard blaring throughout the tiny ship. Panic rose.

"Aphelion! What's happening?!" Ratchet asked in a yelled over the alarm system.

"I… I do not know. I detected nothing yet I was still shot at. I don't know what happened."

A second fire shot, hitting the engine, which made the ship rocket out of control. The force of gravity could then be felt. They had hit a planet's surface. There was a good chance that they would not make it.

The eyes of both Clank and Ratchet widened as it felt like time slowed for a moment in fear and possible realization that their death would soon follow the fall, along with the destruction of the universe from a self-absorbed Doctor who wanted revenge against everyone.

After this thought, the crash came all too soon and a blackout followed right afterwards.

*This is a story commission for Xannador on Deviantart. I hope you like it. I thank others who have read it as well.